Search Results (1,742)

With the development of modern agricultural technology, plant factories have become an important way to achieve efficient and sustainable crop production. Accurate understanding of the light received by plants is the key to improving the light energy utilization efficiency of lamps and ensuring the benefits of plant factories. Ray tracing technology, as one of the key technologies in plant factories, is of great significance to analyze the growing light environment of vegetables. Spinach has high nutritional value and is loved by the public and is one of the main crops grown in plant factories. In this paper, LightTools, TracePro, and Ansys Lumerical FDTD Solution, which are currently mature light environment tracking software in the field of lighting, are selected as the research objects to investigate their performance in simulating the light environment of spinach leaf surfaces under different planting arrangements and different lamp source distances. The results show as follows: Under the rectangular planting arrangement, the leaves received more light, and the plants grew faster. Different planting arrangements of plants had little effect on the simulation effect of the same kind of software, but the simulation effect of the three kinds of software under the same planting arrangement was significantly different, and the difference between the simulated value and the measured value of TracePro was the least. Further, TracePro was used to trace and simulate the leaf surface light conditions of spinach under a rectangular planting arrangement at different lighting distances, and the simulation results showed that there was no significant difference between the software simulation value and the measured value, and the simulation accuracy was the highest when the distance from the light source was 30 cm. Therefore, TracePro software can accurately simulate the light intensity of spinach leaves during the growth process and is most suitable for monitoring the change of light environment of spinach growth in plant factories. Full article

This quantitative study examined the relationships between perceived social support, psychological resilience, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) among university students affected by the 6 February 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye. Utilizing a correlational design, the study tested whether psychological resilience mediated the relationship between perceived social support and PTG. The sample consisted of 769 undergraduate students from Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University and Malatya Turgut Özal University, selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected via standardized instruments: the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Resilience Scale for Adults, and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. A mediation analysis was conducted using the path analysis and bootstrapping methods with the IBM AMOS 24.0 software. The results revealed that perceived social support positively predicted both psychological resilience and PTG, and psychological resilience positively predicted PTG. The mediation analysis confirmed that psychological resilience partially mediated the relationship between perceived social support and PTG. Additionally, significant differences in PTG, resilience, and perceived social support levels were found across gender, housing conditions, psychological impact levels, and access to support. Notably, female students, those who lost loved ones, and those who received psychological or family support reported higher PTG levels. The results emphasize the critical role of social and individual resources in trauma adaptation. It is recommended that post-disaster psychosocial interventions prioritize strengthening both perceived social networks and individual resilience capacities to foster posttraumatic growth in affected populations. Full article

Drought and excess ambient temperature intensify abiotic and biotic stresses on agriculture, threatening food security and economic stability. The development of climate-resilient crops is crucial for sustainable, efficient farming. This review highlights the role of multi-omics encompassing genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics in identifying genetic pathways for stress resilience. Advanced phenomics, using drones and hyperspectral imaging, can accelerate breeding programs by enabling high-throughput trait monitoring. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) enhance these efforts by analyzing large-scale omics and phenotypic data, predicting stress tolerance traits, and optimizing breeding strategies. Additionally, plant-associated microbiomes contribute to stress tolerance and soil health through bioinoculants and synthetic microbial communities. Beyond agriculture, these advancements have broad societal, economic, and educational impacts. Climate-resilient crops can enhance food security, reduce hunger, and support vulnerable regions. AI-driven tools and precision agriculture empower farmers, improving livelihoods and equitable technology access. Educating teachers, students, and future generations fosters awareness and equips them to address climate challenges. Economically, these innovations reduce financial risks, stabilize markets, and promote long-term agricultural sustainability. These cutting-edge approaches can transform agriculture by integrating AI, multi-omics, and advanced phenotyping, ensuring a resilient and sustainable global food system amid climate change. Full article

Agape, philia, and eros are the forms of love that receive most attention in the work of the French philosopher Paul Ricœur. The general consensus among commentators is that when Ricœur talks about agape, he means a love that is all about giving, with no expectation of receiving anything in return; and when he talks about eros, he means something close to erotic love or erotic desire. This article builds on the research of two French commentators, Olivier Abel and Jérôme Porée, to offer a more detailed account of what Ricœur says about love of neighbour and concern for others, and where he says it, during one very specific period: 1947–1960. That is the period when Ricœur was very committed to education reform in France. However, the article disputes Abel and Porée’s interpretation of what Ricœur means by eros in Fallible Man, a work of philosophical anthropology published in 1960. The article shows that Ricœur’s interpretation of eros, far from being the standard one, is in fact highly original, and a perfect example of the imaginative use of philosophical resources that marked his early career. The article also discusses The Symbolism of Evil, a second work of philosophical anthropology that Ricœur published the very same year. In the context of that discussion, it draws attention to two references to “love” that link back to the eros of Fallible Man. It then offers a close reading of Marguerite Léna’s insightful commentary on a remarkable passage from The Symbolism of Evil, where Ricœur talks about the essential roles that love and fear play in all forms of education, including moral education. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic unprecedentedly challenged families worldwide, yet little is known about how parents from diverse cultural contexts retrospectively interpret their parenting roles and coping strategies. This study explores parenting adjustments two years after the pandemic’s onset among five cultural groups: Bulgarian and Spanish (Eastern and Western Europe), Israeli Arabs and Jews (Middle East), and U.S. families. Fifty parents, primarily mothers of children aged 2–8, were recruited through snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using the Parenting Pentagon Model (PPM), which includes five constructs: Partnership, Parental Leadership, Love, Encouraging Independence, and Adherence to Rules. Data were analyzed using grounded theory and directed content analysis. Across cultures, Love and Parental Leadership were central to maintaining emotional stability and family cohesion. Partnership showed cultural variation: Bulgarian and Spanish parents often shared responsibilities, while U.S. mothers reported handling childcare alone, heightening work–life tension. Israeli-Arab fathers became more involved in caregiving, while Israeli-Jewish mothers described both strengthened and strained partnerships. Coping strategies were shaped by cultural values and family demographics (e.g., family size). The findings emphasize parents’ vital role in fostering family resilience during crises and stress the importance of culturally sensitive support to enhance families’ adaptive capacity for future challenges. Full article

Remaining in the place of origin while family, friends, and neighbors emigrate can have adverse effects on psychological well-being. Specific important relationships absent from one’s social network can be especially impactful, while other relationships and network characteristics still available in the home network can be protective against psychological distress. The highlands of western Guatemala experience emigration at high rates and changing social network structures, affecting the mental health of those remaining at home. This study uses socio-centric network data from a single community (N = 653) to investigate the association between having emigrant ties in the United States and experiencing depressive symptoms according to an adapted CESD-20 scale. We also explore which types of relationships and network characteristics increase the likelihood of reporting depressive symptoms or moderate the relationship between emigration and depression. Our results indicate that having emigrant ties and more of them increases the odds of depression, even if only one friend or neighbor emigrated. Those with lower levels of education were also more likely to report depressive symptoms. However, more connected networks offered some protection from depression. Certain critical relationships still available at home, like a mother or sibling, lowered the likelihood of depression. For women, higher transitivity, or network cohesiveness, moderated the relationship between emigration and depression, and for men, a higher proportion of their connections outside of the household than within the household moderated that relationship. These findings may offer some insight into important relationships and network structures that may be leveraged to ease the mental health burden for those remaining at home while friends and loved ones emigrate. Full article

The 21st century has seen marine tourism in Southeast Asia transform in response to the rapid growth of SCUBA diving and snorkeling activities in the natural environment. However, despite this level of integration between recreation and the natural environment, few assessments have ever been conducted on the biodiversity or ecosystem values and experiences of the SCUBA diving community. Therefore, we explored the awareness, preferences and priorities of this community, with a particular emphasis on investigating the role of biodiversity documentation and species discoveries in motivating recreational diving. By conducting surveys of 366 recreational divers from Thailand, we were able to identify proportional priorities, finding greater valuation towards overall ecosystem esthetics than megafauna, with species-specific dive experiences being a niche but present interest. We also investigated diver priorities based on recently described or discovered marine fauna in Thai waters, focusing on five species of hard and soft coral, seven species of sea slug, and two species of shark. Of these, sea slug species were the most recognized and garnered the greatest potential economic value, likely due to their popularity with photographers. The results of this multidisciplinary investigation highlight the economic value of taxonomy and biodiversity research to the recreational SCUBA community. Full article

Urban green spaces are important nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change. While the distribution of green spaces within cities is well documented, few studies assess whether inequities in green space quantity (i.e., percent cover) are mirrored by inequities in green space quality (i.e., vegetation health or sensitivity to stressors). Green space quality is important to measure alongside green space quantity because vegetation that is healthier and less sensitive to stressors such as climatic fluctuations sustain critical ecosystem services through stressful environmental conditions, especially as the climate changes. We use a 40-year remote sensing dataset to examine the spatial patterns and underlying drivers of vegetation sensitivity to short-term (monthly) climate fluctuations in Chicago. Our results show that although vegetation cover was not equitably distributed between racially and ethnically segregated census tracts, socio-demographic composition was not a key driver of spatial variation in short-term vegetation sensitivity to climate. Instead, we found that vegetation growth form was a strong predictor of differences in vegetation sensitivity among communities. At the census tract level, higher herbaceous/shrub cover was associated with increased sensitivity to climate, while higher tree cover was associated with decreased sensitivity. These results suggest that urban green spaces comprising trees will be less sensitive (i.e., more resistant) to short-term climate fluctuations than those comprising predominately herbaceous or shrub cover. Our findings highlight that urban green space quality can vary spatially within cities; however, more work is needed to understand how the drivers of vegetation sensitivity vary among cities, especially those experiencing different climatic regimes. This work is key to planning and planting high-quality, climate change-resilient and equitable urban green spaces. Full article

Background/Objectives: Parents of individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) often carry significant emotional and relational burdens, yet their voices remain underrepresented in addiction research. This study explores how Greek parents navigate the long-term challenges of caring for adult children with SUDs, with a focus on emotional strain, caregiving identity, and culturally embedded coping strategies within a collectivist context. Methods: Eight Greek parents (six mothers and two fathers, aged 47–60) participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Conversations were conducted either in person or via video call, depending on participant preference and geographical constraints. Data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore lived experience and the meaning-making processes shaping parental coping over time. Results: Four overarching themes were identified as follows: (1) Living in Vigilance, reflecting constant hyper-alertness, emotional exhaustion, and social withdrawal rooted in trauma; (2) Shifting Parental Identity, capturing the evolution of parents into caregivers, advocates, and informal caseworkers amid systemic neglect; (3) Struggling Within Systems, highlighting exclusion, blame, and fragmentation in institutional care—with moments of empathy holding outsized emotional weight; and (4) Coping as Cultural Duty, showing how caregiving was sustained through values of sacrifice, loyalty, and protective silence, even at great personal cost. Conclusions: Greek parents supporting adult children with SUDs face a complex interplay of trauma, cultural obligation, and institutional strain. Their coping is shaped by deeply held familial values rather than access to effective support. The findings call for culturally attuned, family-inclusive interventions and further research into long-term caregiving across diverse contexts. Full article

Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is one of the most destructive pests of stored grains worldwide. Sublethal concentrations of insecticides are known to influence insect behavior, potentially disrupting critical processes such as mating. This study investigated the effects of λ-cyhalothrin at the lethal concentration (LC) values LC₁₀ and LC₃₀ and lateralization on the mating behavior patterns of S. zeamais males. Results showed that the exposure to sublethal concentrations of λ-cyhalothrin significantly altered the copulation success rate and key time-related parameters, including mate recognition and copulation duration, while the lateralization caused significant differences in mating time-related parameters within each tested group (control, LC_10, and LC₃₀). Additionally, the λ-cyhalothrin-treated groups showed prolonged mate recognition times and required more mounting attempts to achieve mating. These findings highlight the potential of sublethal insecticide applications to control S. zeamais populations by impairing reproduction. Full article

We offer a novel explanation for the widespread decline in U.S. firms’ reported book equity. We find that accounting conservatism is negatively associated with book equity, a result that is both economically and statistically significant, as well as robust to a variety of model specifications. Our findings suggest that the rise in accounting conservatism has significantly contributed to the declines in book equity over the decades. Full article

The use of Shakespeare within warzones and at the frontline of conflict centralizes vital questions about the role of the arts during times of profound crisis, when lives and liberties are under direct attack. This article first considers Shakespearean productions linked to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, concentrating on the inaugural Ukrainian Shakespeare Festival and two documentaries that reveal how staging Shakespeare can serve humanitarian needs, promote political debate, and help individuals to process their wartime experiences. It then expands to include examples from other conflicts, including the First World War and the ongoing crisis in Gaza, and argues that warzone productions—in addition to embracing what theatre can achieve at times of conflict—also address its limitations. Warzone performances often acknowledge a gulf between representation and lived experience, between tragedy as a dramatic form and reality, which is reinforced when the individuals staging Shakespeare are also ‘actors’ in the war. This article proposes that what unites war and theatre is the power of narrative for shaping action and interpretation, and this recognition underlines the responsibilities of political and theatrical narratives at times of war, as well as the role of the critic. Full article

The adoption of exotic animals as pets is increasing across Europe. This study explores the human–chelonian relationship in the Italian population, specifically the motivations for acquiring reptiles as pets and the nature of the emotional bonds between guardians and chelonians. A total of 91 chelonian guardians replied to an online survey. Data was analyzed through a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative analyses. Most participants (85.7%) owned Hermann’s tortoises (Testudo hermanni), having received them as gifts (50.5%) or purchased them (31.9%). Pet chelonians living outdoors had an almost five times higher odds of being reported as non-family members compared to those with indoor access (OR = 4.90, 95% CI = 1.34–23.41, p = 0.02). No significant relationship was detected between other demographic factors and bond type. When asked whether they consider their pet a family member, 70 out of 91 participants reported information for both their reptile and dog/cat. Among these, pets were seen as family members for 44.3% of chelonians and 92.4% of dogs/cats. In turn, qualitative responses from 85 participants showed that 45% expressed a strong emotional connection to their pet chelonians, using language denoting affection, love, and fascination. These findings suggest that, while emotional bonds between guardians and chelonians may be less interactive and intimate than those with conventional pets, they nonetheless reflect a meaningful bond rooted in personal values of entertainment, convenience, and duty of care. Full article

Background: This study explored the dynamics of sustainability literacy among industry professionals to advance the adoption of sustainability initiatives within the Malawi construction industry. Specifically, it examined the key attitudinal indicators (KAIs), driving factors, and barriers influencing sustainability literacy. Method: A quantitative research approach was employed, utilizing a well-structured questionnaire for data collection with a sample size of seventy-five (75) and built environment professionals as respondents. The collected data were analyzed using two inferential statistical methods: the Mean Item Score (MIS) and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Results: The EFA results identified two key components of KAIs that affect sustainability literacy: an inertia mindset and psychosocial inertia. Two primary driving factors were revealed: Perceived Benefits and Integrated Digital Capacity-Building Initiatives. This study also highlighted two major categories of barriers: inter- and intra-institutional barriers and Poor Sustainability Governance. Based on the research findings, this study proposes six policy recommendations: (1) development of a Green Paper on sustainable practices, (2) mandatory SLP on sustainable and green building practices, (3) continuous professional development (CPD) incentives for sustainability literacy, (4) economic incentives for sustainability adoption, (5) establishment of sustainability learning hubs, and (6) leveraging Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies to enhance practical sustainability training. Conclusions: The study concludes that achieving meaningful progress in sustainability literacy requires transformational leadership to drive change across the industry. Full article

The study examined the relationships between the perceived quality of life (QoL), well-being (WB), and curiosity of older adults. A convenience sample of 199 subjects answered the CASP12 questionnaire (measuring QoL), the 5-DCR scale (measuring curiosity), and a brief demographic questionnaire (referring to gender, age, marital status, and continued interest in the profession). The qualitative layer consisted of twenty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with curious older adults. Findings of the quantitative layer pointed to an substantial association between curiosity and QoL, underscoring the direct and indirect (through curiosity) effects of the demographic factors on QoL, particularly curiosity’s mediating effect on the relationships between continued interest in the profession and QoL. The impact of curiosity, love of learning, and personal attributes on WB were highlighted in the qualitative layer. Implications for cultivating a growth mindset focusing on curiosity across the lifespan and publicizing their role in fostering adaptive aging were discussed. Full article