Social Sciences

Abstract: People often recognize spoken words more accurately and more quickly than written words. From the perspective of active inference under the free-energy principle, the present study develops a formal account of this speaking-over-writing advantage in production-modality retrieval. We modeled retrieval under spoken and written production-modality states, together with the selection of an early or late response policy according to its expected sensory consequences. University students spoke or wrote words presented on a computer screen and later judged the modality in which each word had been produced. Responses were followed by explicit visual feedback indicating whether each judgment was correct or incorrect, thereby providing an observable sensory consequence of the recognition response. Response times were implemented as early and late policies within a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP). The model included modality-specific likelihood parameters linking response timing to feedback outcomes. Spoken words were identified more quickly and accurately than written words, and early responding was more strongly associated with correct feedback under the speaking state than under the writing state. Bayesian model selection favored the POMDP over a simpler linear model estimated using Variational Laplace, indicating that the POMDP provided a better balance of fit and complexity. These findings show how production modality, response timing, and expected sensory consequences can be represented within a common generative framework. The framework provides a basis for future extensions that model uncertainty about production modality, preserve continuous response timing, incorporate learning across trials, and compare active-inference accounts with alternative models of recognition memory.

Abstract: The parallel evolution of agenda-setting and gatekeeping theory constitutes one of the most consequential intellectual trajectories in communication studies, yet the two traditions have developed largely in isolation from each other despite their deep functional interdependence. This paper undertakes a critical, integrative review of both traditions across the period 2000 to 2025, a quarter-century defined by the migration of public discourse from institutionally controlled media environments to algorithmically mediated digital platforms. Drawing on a structured synthesis of peer-reviewed scholarship, including the landmark platform-experiment literature of 2021–2025, the paper traces the transformation of gatekeeping from a process enacted by identifiable human decision-makers within institutional hierarchies to a distributed, computationally governed phenomenon in which algorithms, platform architectures, and user behaviors jointly determine the visibility of information. Simultaneously, it examines the reconfiguration of agenda-setting from a linear transfer of salience between media institutions and mass publics to a recursive, networked process shaped by personalization technologies, platform-specific affordances, and the fragmentation of formerly unified audiences into algorithmically constituted micro-publics. The paper introduces the concept of salience agency as an integrative meta-theoretical framework capable of capturing the convergence of gatekeeping and agenda-setting within contemporary communication systems. It argues that the algorithmic mediation of information visibility represents not merely a technological augmentation of existing communicative processes but a structural transformation that demands new theoretical vocabularies, new empirical methodologies, and new normative commitments. Implications for communication scholarship, media management, regulatory policy, and democratic governance are discussed, and priorities for future research are identified.

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly being integrated into university curricula, yet quantitative indicators of AI use reveal little about how learners use AI as a learning resource or what educational outcomes follow. This cross-sectional study of 212 university students enrolled in AI-integrated courses examined the associations of AI literacy, instructor feedback, the proportion of in-class AI use, and total weekly AI use time with self-perceived cognitive learning outcomes, measured across the six cognitive processes of the revised Bloom's taxonomy (remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create). Confirmatory factor analyses supported largely acceptable multidimensional and higher-order structures for self-perceived cognitive learning outcomes and AI literacy, although discriminant validity between some factors was limited. A regression model with the four predictors explained 46.3% of the variance in overall self-perceived cognitive learning outcomes (R²=.463). When all predictors were considered simultaneously, only AI literacy showed a significant positive association (B=.615, 95% CI [.475, .754], p< .001); instructor feedback and the two AI use indicators did not. AI literacy remained significantly associated with all six cognitive domains after Benjamini–Hochberg correction. These findings suggest that universities should distinguish the quantity of AI use from learners' capacity to understand, evaluate, and self-regulate their use of AI.

Abstract: Physical exercise improves working memory (WM) across the lifespan, yet the neural mechanisms underlying this benefit remain incompletely understood, and it is unclear whether intervention-induced neuroplastic changes and long-term exercise-related differences converge on common neural circuits. We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and CNKI through June 2026 and included 11 task-based fMRI studies (6 longitudinal interventions and 5 cross-sectional comparisons; 403 par-ticipants) reporting whole-brain activation coordinates. Activation likelihood estima-tion (ALE) meta-analyses were performed separately for activation increases and de-creases within each design. Longitudinal studies revealed exercise-induced activation increases in the bilateral cerebellum (posterior lobe, cerebellar tonsil) and decreases in the right thalamus. Cross-sectional studies revealed greater activation in the left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21) and reduced activation in the right cingulate gyrus (BA 24) and left caudate body among long-term exercisers relative to controls. Critically, the two designs yielded spatially non-overlapping patterns. These findings support a du-al-mechanism model in which exercise strengthens task-positive network engagement while optimizing the suppression of task-irrelevant processing, and they suggest that exercise shapes working memory circuitry across distinct, timescale-dependent neural circuits.

Abstract: This paper examines the patentability of artificial intelligence (AI)-related inventions under the European Patent Convention (EPC), with particular attention to the framework developed by the European Patent Office (EPO) for mathematical methods and computer-implemented inventions.AI-related inventions remain subject to the ordinary patentability requirements of novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability, but the analysis requires three distinct inquiries. Under Article 52 EPC, an AI or machine-learning model claimed merely as an abstract mathematical method may be excluded, whereas a claim involving technical means may possess technical character as a whole. Under Article 56 EPC, AI-related features can support inventive step only insofar as they contribute to a technical solution to a technical problem.Under Article 83 EPC, the application must disclose the model, training process, relevant data characteristics and other implementation details to the extent necessary for the skilled person to reproduce the claimed technical effect without undue burden.EPO decisions T 0161/18 and T 1669/21 illustrate that inadequate disclosure of a neural network or computational model may result in insufficiency under Article 83 EPC and, depending on the circumstances, may also prevent reliance on the alleged technical effect for inventive step. The paper also presents an exploratory Espacenet search and a broader EP full-text patent-landscape analysis using the EPO Technology Intelligence Platform (TIP), illustrating the growth of AI-related European patenting and the effect of prosecution lag on observed grant rates.

Abstract: Green criminology refers to the study of harms on humanity, the environment and nonhuman species committed by powerful institutions and organisations as well as ordinary people. It addresses violations of environmental morality, environmental ethics, animal rights, nature rights, eco-justice and social justice. Analysing climate change crimes is particularly challenging. Few actors can cause great harm across the globe with many invisible victims. In addition, the International Court of Justice recently advised that nations that commit climate change crime can be held legally accountable if they fail to minimise severe harm to the climate system. Rising powers of far-right populists have come with increasing influence of climate change deniers over policy, and climate policies are denounced and aborted. In parallel, far-right politicians systematically use hate speech and hate crime as a tactic to polarise climate politics, mobilise ingroup followers, and delegitimise and silence pro-climate advocates, eventually harming democracy. This paper theorises on the links between climate change crime, hate crime and democracy crime and suggests a broadening of green criminology to better analyse crimes and victims of climate politics. Green criminology should not only address power in the political economy, but the ideologies and governance styles associated with politics.

Abstract: Audiences increasingly encounter the news not through newsrooms but through chatbots, AI-generated summaries, and platform intermediaries that reproduce the form of journalism while omitting the human judgment that produces it. This paper asks what is lost in that substitution. We argue that a central but invisible casualty is epistemic labor: the contextual, accountable human work that converts plausible-sounding information into locally trustworthy knowledge. We examine this from an unusual vantage point, inside a local television newsroom in the American Midwest that is integrating an AI-assisted editorial tool, where the same class of technology audiences meet outside the newsroom becomes briefly visible at the human-AI handoff. Drawing on an in-progress, IRB-approved qualitative case study (embedded observation, workflow mapping, journalist interviews, and participatory co-design), we introduce the provenance gap: the systematic invisibility of epistemic labor in AI-mediated news, which leaves audiences unable to distinguish accountable local reporting from outputs that merely resemble it. We discuss implications for provenance signaling, local news sustainability, and the design of AI news agents.

Abstract: Background: Food swamps, which have a high density of outlets selling unhealthy food relative to healthier options, are a major driver of diet-related disparities in urban communities. However, no validated food swamp measurement tools exist at the neighborhood level. Methods: We developed the Food Swamp Environment Audit Tool (FS-EAT) using community-based participatory research. FS-EAT includes 19 items as-sessing street-level food outlet types, accessibility features, food marketing, pricing, social features, and store-level information and food availability. Reliability and validity testing were performed using stakeholder surveys and feedback from the community advisory board (CAB). We compared secondary National Establishment Time Series (NETS) 2020 with FS-EAT food store data using positive predictive values and sensitivity scores. We computed Spearman's rank correlation coefficients to measure the alignment between block group-level food swamp and non-food swamp classifications, comparing FS-EAT data with NETS 2020 data. Results: Interrater reliability was strong (κ = 0.82), and 80% of stakeholders rated FS-EAT items as relevant/extremely relevant. CAB members con-firmed that FS-EAT maps aligned better with lived experiences than the secondary NETS data. GIS analyses showed that FS-EAT maps captured more accurate and timely food swamp exposure compared to NETS. When validated against the NETS 2020 business list, the FS-EAT demonstrated an overall sensitivity of 45.3% and a PPV of 68.2%. We con-firmed fewer than half of NETS-listed outlets through FS-EAT ground observation, yet more than two-thirds of audit-identified stores were also present in the NETS database. Sensitivity was highest for convenience stores (74.4%) and lowest for limited-service restaurants (29.2%). Resident perceptions were moderately correlated with FS-EAT scores (r = 0.5). While both sources agreed on the food swamp classification in 18 block groups, 15 block groups (38.5%) were classified as food swamps by the FS-EAT audit data but as non-food swamps by the NETS data. Discussion: The FS-EAT tool captures nuanced features needed to assess the level of neighborhood food swamp exposure and contributes a systematic, cost-effective way to identify neighborhood-level food swamps.

Abstract: Corporate real estate leaders routinely justify technology investment by portfolio scale, square footage, building count, headcount, yet scale predicts almost nothing about whether that investment succeeds. This study examines what does predict organisational maturity in adopting Integrated Workplace Management Systems and Computer-Aided Facility Management platforms. Drawing on anonymised data from 125 enterprise CRE firms spanning 21 industry sectors, we assess two candidate predictors, on-site operations staffing intensity and portfolio scale, using Spearman rank correlation, hierarchical regression, and k-means cluster analysis. Staffing intensity proves a stronger predictor of technology adoption maturity than portfolio scale (ρ = 0.52 versus ρ = 0.20, p < 0.001 and p = 0.032, respectively). A combined regression model explains 26.3% variance in maturity scores, with staffing intensity contributing the majority of explanatory power. Cluster analysis identifies two distinct firm segments: a Foundational group (n = 36) and an Advanced/Strategic group (n = 86), differentiated primarily by staffing profile rather than portfolio size. A cross-cutting finding, near-zero adoption of Artificial Intelligence enabled IWMS features across both segments, reveals a persistent gap between technology availability and organisational readiness, irrespective of overall maturity level. These findings reframe technology adoption as an organisational design and human capital challenge, not a procurement decision. The practical implication for managers is direct: before committing technology budgets, organisations should audit staffing capacity. Technology procurement without adequate human capital is a systematic overestimate of returns.

Abstract: Crypto currency is one of most interesting financial innovation of 21st century. Crypto currency trading not only involve financial literacy while trading but also there are psychological factors affecting the decision of traders. Keeping in view the psychological factors and investors’ decision, this research study is designed to investigate the complex interplay between psychological triggers and market dynamics in the cryptocurrency sector in Pakistan, specifically examining how these elements coalesce to drive investor behavior and market volatility. While traditional financial models often attribute asset fluctuations to technological or fundamental shifts, this study posits that cryptocurrency markets are fundamentally driven by human perception and emotional reactivity. Utilizing a quantitative methodological approach, data was collected from a sample of 175 experienced traders to analyze the impact of emotional states, market sentiment, and behavioral discipline on trading outcomes. The empirical results, derived through multiple linear regression analysis, reveal that the model possesses a high level of explanatory power, accounting for 56% of the variance in emotional trading behavior (R2=0.56R2=0.56). Market sentiment emerged as the primary determinant of impulsive trading (β=0.48β=0.48), demonstrating that external social cues often exert a stronger influence on decision-making than internal emotional states. Among specific psychological variables, Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) were identified as the most significant predictors of rash choices (β=0.34β=0.34), while the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) also demonstrated a substantial, though secondary, effect (β=0.21β=0.21). Conversely, the study found that trading experience and the application of systematic strategies serve as vital moderating factors that decrease emotional reactivity and enhance behavioral stability (β=−0.19β=−0.19). The findings contribute to the fields of behavioral finance and digital economics by illustrating that the volatility inherent in digital assets is a systemic byproduct of individual psychological biases aggregated through digital narratives. The research concludes that achieving a sustainable financial ecosystem requires moving beyond purely technical regulations. Instead, it advocates for the implementation of behaviorally-informed safeguards, such as algorithmic "cooling-off" periods and sentiment-aware trading tools, to mitigate the risks associated with reactive investing. Ultimately, this work provides a blueprint for a more resilient digital financial future by prioritizing human factors in market governance.

Abstract: Racial stigma reflects internalized beliefs about Black people that can shape identity development and psychological wellbeing. Research on the impact of daily racial dis-crimination on Black girls’ development of racial stigma beliefs is scarce. The current study examined Black girls (Mage = 14, N = 118) reports of racial discrimination experiences and the association on racial stigma beliefs (i.e., endorsing negative stereotypes about Black Americans). The protective role of racial socialization strategies was also examined. Using a hierarchical regression analysis, the findings revealed that higher levels of racial discrimination was associated with higher levels of racial stigma. Spiritual and religious coping and racial awareness teaching were associated with lower levels of racial stigma. The interaction effects indicated that Black girls who reported higher levels of daily racial discrimination and lower levels of cultural pride reinforcement were more likely to endorse negative stereotypes about Black people.

Abstract: The Alqueva Multifunctional Project was conceived as a development infrastructure for southern Portugal, promising agricultural modernisation, demographic stabilisation, job creation and territorial cohesion. This article examines the gap between these promises and the project’s outcomes through an analysis of documents, census data, sectoral indicators and a territorial case-study approach. The results reveal a clear paradox, as significant achievements were observed in the water, agriculture, energy and tourism sectors, including the expansion of irrigation, growth in exports, greater water security and innovation in the field of renewable energy. However, these sectoral gains have coexisted with ongoing depopulation, an ageing population, the precarious nature of the migrant workforce, land concentration, poor local value retention and growing environmental pressures. The article argues that this contradiction reflects a development model shaped by neo-extractivism, accumulation through dispossession and the limited capture of territorial rent. Alqueva thus demonstrates how technically successful infrastructure projects can fail to generate inclusive territorial development when redistribution, institutional coordination and local integration remain inadequate and when effective mechanisms for spatial justice are lacking.

Abstract: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a major public health and human rights issue worldwide. This study investigated the association between IPV and mental health among women in Greece. We used the Woman Abuse Screening Tool to measure levels of IPV. The lifetime prevalence of physical, psychological/emotional, and sexual IPV was assessed using three dichotomous (yes/no) self-report items. We used validated scales to measure anxiety-like and depressive-like symptoms, sleep quality, self-esteem, loneliness and life satisfaction. In our sample (n=1212), 32.4% of women has experiencing IPV in their current relationship. The lifetime prevalence of physical, psychological/emotional and sexual IPV was 38.5%, 68.4%, and 19.3% re-spectively. Higher levels of current IPV were associated with increased anxiety and depressive symptomatology, worse sleep quality, lower self-esteem, greater loneliness, and lower life satisfaction. Lifetime physical IPV was associated with higher levels of anxiety-like symptoms and depression-like symptoms, and worse sleep quality. Lifetime sexual IPV was associated with higher anxiety-like symptoms, depression-like symptoms, and loneliness, as well as lower life satisfaction and worse sleep quality. Women who reported lifetime psychological/emotional IPV demonstrated worse sleep quality and lower self-esteem. In conclusion, IPV is significantly associated with worse mental health and psychosocial well-being among women in Greece.

Abstract: Tourists visiting tsunami‑prone destinations often have limited familiarity with local hazards, making their preparedness a critical component of disaster risk reduction. This study examines the determinants of tourist preparedness in Pangandaran, Indonesia, using the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) framework. Data were collected through an online survey of domestic tourists and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that both threat appraisal and coping appraisal significantly shape preparedness outcomes. Risk perception increases self‑efficacy and behavioral intention, while coping appraisal, particularly self‑efficacy, emerges as the strongest predictor of both intention and actual preparedness behavior. Response efficacy also contributes positively to intention, whereas perceived obstacles reduce preparedness motivation. Behavioral intention significantly predicts actual behavior, although the moderate behavioral scores indicate an intention–behavior gap. Socio‑demographic characteristics exert limited influence, with only age, education, and income showing modest associations with selected PMT constructs. These findings highlight the central role of cognitive mechanisms in shaping tourist preparedness and underscore the need for targeted communication, capability‑building interventions, and coordinated institutional support to enhance safety in tsunami‑prone destinations.

Abstract: The hypothesis defended here is as follows. Before the emergence of predication, language consisted only of pre-words used exclusively to request something or call someone over, with only one pre-word occurring in each message and always with the same intonation. How did these meanings become detached from their invariant function and intonation and thereby turn into genuine words? The most plausible possibility is that a recipient was puzzled upon hearing a request for something that was no longer available or a call addressed to someone who was not in the area. The recipient would then repeat the pre-word, but without its conative function and intonation, using it instead as a thema, and would add another former pre-word that now functioned as a rhema or predicate. The transformation this entailed soon required a further innovation: vocal signifiers had to split into two mutually detachable planes, the articulatory-phonetic and the intonational. In this way, each signifier could be perceived as exactly the same both when it constituted a message used to call someone over or to ask for something and when it was integrated with one or more other signifiers into a single intonational pattern.

Abstract: Background: Deafblindness is a distinct disability with major implications for communication, mobility, access to information, and participation. Population estimates vary substantially. Methods: We conducted a secondary cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative Spanish microdata from EDAD-Households 2020 and EDAD-Centres 2023, including persons aged ≥ 6 years. Functional deafblindness was defined as severe limitation in one sensory domain with at least moderate limitation in the other, accounting for residual functioning with assistive products. Weighted prevalence estimates and approximate 95% uncertainty intervals (UI) were obtained using a cluster bootstrap. Results: The integrated population represented 44.9 million persons. The primary definition identified an estimated 45,951 persons with functional deafblindness, corresponding to 102.3 per 100,000 population (95% UI, 82.5–125.1). Prevalence increased markedly with age, reaching 438.0 per 100,000 among persons aged ≥ 65 years. A broader sensitivity definition yielded 202.3 per 100,000 (95% UI, 175.8–231.2). Conclusions: Functional deafblindness affects tens of thousands of people in Spain and is concentrated at older ages and in residential settings. Population-based estimates are needed to complement administrative data and inform equitable planning of specialized, accessible health, social-care, and communication services.

Abstract: The western populist radical right has turned culture oriented. With this comes an increased focus on religion, particularly Christianity. Previous studies tend to see the relationship between the populist radical right and Christian theology as a case of hijacking where religion is abused. This review article takes another perspective and analyses the relationship between Christian theology and practice on the one hand, and the populist radical right politics as strategy and style in governance. The analysis centres around five interlinked core traits of nasty politics. It is found that the strategies and styles applied by populist radical right leaders and parties in Europe as well as the US, as manifested in the core traits, are well established in Christian theology and practice. Power over thought, dualistic polarisation and persuasion are found more generally in different mainstream Christian theologies and practices. Punishment and disruption are less articulated in mainstream Christianity but are central in American evangelical Christianity. The study adds new knowledge, first from its focus on politics as strategy and style rather than politics as ideology, second from its identification of Christian influence not only within a country, but from other countries and continents through an international networked movement.

Abstract: A single paragraph of about 200 words maximum. Ecotourism has the potential to support biodiversity conservation and community development, particularly in biologically rich regions such as the Amazon. The Área de Conservación Regional Comunal Tamshiyacu Tahuayo (ACRCTT), located in the Loreto region of Peru, provides a case study in which local communities collaborate with ecotourism initiatives and researchers to protect biodiversity. This study examined whether varying levels of community involvement in ecotourism were associated with differences in conservation attitudes, knowledge, and self-reported conservation behavior. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with one adult from nearly every household in three adjacent villages within the ACRCTT between November and December 2019. The villages differed in ecotourism participation, allowing comparative analysis within a shared environmental and governance context. Findings indicated that villages with greater ecotourism involvement demonstrated significantly higher levels of self-reported conservation-oriented behavior. Employment in ecotourism was also positively associated with greater conservation awareness and knowledge, although conservation knowledge was more strongly associated with formal education. Qualitative responses suggested that residents perceived ecotourism as an alternative to hunting, logging, and other extractive activities. While the study design does not allow causal inference, the findings suggest that community-based ecotourism may contribute to conservation-oriented attitudes and behaviors by increasing environmental awareness and diversifying local livelihoods.

Abstract: Within the first year of life, infants can perceptually discriminate people by race. However, beyond perceptual discrimination, it remains unclear whether infants use race to guide their social behaviors, such as whether they approach or withdraw from people of different races. This question is particularly understudied during toddlerhood (between 1 and 2 years of age), before children can reliably report racial attitudes around 3 to 4 years of age. The present study examined whether 12- to 25-month-old U.S. toddlers (N = 118) show greater wariness toward strangers from unfamiliar than familiar racial groups in a within-subject design to determine whether toddlers use a person’s race to guide their social behaviors. Toddlers did not exhibit significantly greater wariness toward strangers from unfamiliar than familiar racial groups, and this pattern was not moderated by their racial backgrounds, temperament, or racial diversity of their social networks or neighborhoods. These findings suggest that race may not function as a salient cue for guiding toddlers’ social responses during the second year of life. More broadly, these findings contribute to growing evidence that early perceptual sensitivity to race does not necessarily entail race-based biases in evaluations or behaviors in early childhood.

Abstract: Language development is frequently described as a process of discourse expansion in which learners gradually acquire new lexical and grammatical resources. However, observations from academic and specialized communication suggest that language growth involves more than the accumulation of new expressions. Learners also eliminate inaccurate usages, refine semantic distinctions, and develop sensitivity to stylistic and rhetorical conventions. For this reason, the notion of linguistic enrichment provides a more comprehensive description of language development than the notion of simple expansion. In this paper, we propose a formal framework for modeling linguistic enrichment in academic discourse. The framework views language development as a sequence of enrichment processes that may simultaneously introduce, modify, and remove linguistic elements. Particular attention is paid to the emergence of stable discourse repertoires, representing relatively balanced states in which further enrichment no longer produces substantial changes. The approach also allows for the existence of multiple stable outcomes, reflecting the diversity of discourse communities and communicative goals. The proposed framework is illustrated through examples drawn from everyday language and mathematical academic writing. These examples demonstrate how learners gradually move from broad and often undifferentiated language use toward more precise and context-sensitive discourse practices. The analysis highlights the distinction between vocabulary growth and discourse refinement and emphasizes the role of semantic, stylistic, and rhetorical differentiation in advanced language development. The study contributes to the growing dialogue between formal language modeling and discourse-oriented approaches to language learning by providing a conceptual framework in which language development is interpreted as a process of enrichment rather than mere expansion.