Abstract: The study was conducted to assess primary school teachers’ satisfaction with advocacy services in primary school social work and to identify influencing factors. Data were collected from 398 primary school teachers through a questionnaire, assessing aspects of advocacy services including reliability, responsiveness, competence, empathy and im-plementation conditions. The results of the study showed that teachers’ overall satisfaction was quite high (M = 4.01, SD = 0.27), with all components being positively evaluated. Analysis of differences by demographic factors showed that sex, age, location and region influenced teachers’ evaluation of service quality, while seniority and education level had only limited impact. Pearson correlation analysis shows that all service factors have a positive relationship with satisfaction, in which responsiveness, trust, empathy and im-plementation conditions are statistically significant. Service factors also have strong cor-relations with each other, reflecting the consistency in teachers' perceptions. The study provides a quantitative basis for improving and enhancing the quality of advocacy services in primary school social work, and suggests policies and directions for further research.

Abstract: This paper addresses the critical intersection of demographic shifts and private land conservation, with a focus on the implications for wildlife management in rural private ecosystems. As private land ownership, resulting from the phenomenon of amenity migration, continues to fragment and diversify, understanding how these emerging landowners interact with wildlife and engage in management practices is essential to achieving large-scale conservation outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on this understudied intersection of literatures through a review that synthesizes existing scholarship, identifies critical gaps, and outlines opportunities for future research and institutional response. Building on socio-ecological systems perspectives, our results showcase four themes where wildlife is mentioned in the amenity migration literature, yet wildlife is rarely treated as a managed social-ecological system in this literature. Our call for action argues that the implications of amenity migration on wildlife management extend beyond individual landowners to include institutional systems, shifting com-munity dynamics, and new patterns of land use that together shape the conditions under which wildlife can persist.

Abstract: Background and Aims: Since the early 2000s, scholarship and policy analysis on Nigeria’s extractive sectors have expanded beyond oil bunkering to encompass the illegal mining of solid minerals, artisanal economies and environmental degradation. These developments have produced new framings and critiques of the “resource curse,” linking extraction to governance, security and justice. This paper aims to elucidate how the idea of “resource governance” has been discussed and perceived across Nigerian scholarly and policy texts from 1999 to 2025. Methods: Terms like “resource governance in Nigeria,” “extractive industries,” “mining” and “illegal mining" were searched across academic databases and institutional repositories. 36 english-language publications explicitly or implicitly addressing Nigeria’s extractive governance, published from 1999 to 2025, were included in the final analysis. Texts were analyzed for discursive themes using a combined scoping review and critical discourse analysis framework. Metadata related to author identity, geography, institutional affiliation, and publication type were also recorded. Results: The criminal-economy discourse (linking extraction to illegality and insecurity) dominated the archive. Other discourses include ecological justice (framing harm as both environmental and moral) and displacement (highlighting exclusion and inequality). Conclusion: Findings indicate that resource governance in Nigeria is framed less as a technical challenge than as a field of political struggle and moral negotiation. These discourses collectively reveal how coercive governance, legitimized through security and reform narratives, helps sustain extractive inequality. The results underscore the need to integrate local agency and justice frameworks into national and transnational debates over resource policy.

Abstract:

Nature is often understood as a purely physical or biological entity governed by scientific laws and economic utility. In contrast, perspectives associated with dark green religion draw attention to how nature itself can be regarded as sacred and morally significant, revealing the cultural and ethical dimensions through which humans can relate to the environment. In this context, this paper examines religion as a symbolic and narrative system through which nature is socially constructed as a moral domain. Focusing on Indigenous Ijaw communities in the Niger Delta, this paper explains how rivers, creeks and wetlands are embedded within religious value systems that emphasize moral responsibility, respect and restraint in human-environment relations. Within this worldview environmental harm is understood not only as ecological degradation but also as a moral and spiritual transgression with consequences for communal well-being.

Abstract: Adapting to evolving resource landscapes, nonprofit organizations increasingly embrace hybrid models to ensure sustainability and impact. This paper investigates the leadership and strategic innovations driving traditional nonprofits to evolve into market-engaged social ventures. Through indepth qualitative analysis of organizational transformations, we identify pivotal entrepreneurial practices that foster commercial viability, professionalize operations, and legitimize a blended socio-economic mission. Our findings offer a practical framework for nonprofit leaders navigating organizational redesign and fostering sustainable social entrepreneurship.

Abstract: Background: Youth from Malaysia’s low socioeconomic communities frequently face chronic instability, limited parental involvement, and restricted access to developmental support. Within such conditions, coaches often assume relational roles extending beyond technical instruction. Methods: This autoethnographic study draws on 20 weeks of longitudinal coaching, reflective journals, and fieldnotes to examine how the coach–athlete relationship evolved into a form of “social fathering” for one low-income youth athlete, Derrick, and how this contrasted with the developmental trajectory of Chia, an athlete from a more stable socioeconomic background. Guided by Nasheeda et al.’s three-layered narrative framework, the analysis integrates personal narrative, thematic interpretation, and sociocultural discourse. Results: Structured adversity—deliberately designed challenges embedded within a trusting relationship—served as a key mechanism for cultivating grit, resilience, and moral reasoning. Father-like practices such as boundary-setting, moral guidance, and life-navigation support compensated for socioeconomic gaps in Derrick’s home environment, whereas Chia’s growth reflected a faster transition toward self-regulated grit due to his more stable support structures. Conclusions: Coaching within disadvantaged contexts functions as relational labour that provides youths with social capital, emotional stability, and developmental resources otherwise inaccessible to them. Implications highlight the need for culturally informed coach-education programmes that integrate relational ethics, adversity-based pedagogy, and contextual awareness of poverty-related challenges.

Abstract: This paper introduces the Sextuple Helix Innovation Model as an extension of the Quintuple Helix Innovation Model by Carayannis and Campbell. It considers the understanding of generative AI (GenAI) as a sixth helix of knowledge production in sustainable innovation ecosystems. Accordingly, the knowledge economy of GenAI will be discussed in the context of innovation processes of cultural and creative industries. While GenAI is largely described in social discourses as a tool that potentially replaces human creativity and thus destroys jobs, this paper discusses GenAI as an entity with a specific knowledge economy that contributes to creative innovation processes in exchange with the five established helices of science, politics, economy, the media- and culture-based public and the natural environment of societies. With the help of a scoping review, a comprehensive evaluation of academic literature from the fields of creative industries, cultural policy, and innovation research, based on a constructivist epistemological approach and knowledge economy theory, confirmed that the positioning of GenAI as an epistemic actor in the Sextuple Helix Innovation Model reframes and redefines discourses beyond the prevailing narratives of disruption and regulation.

Abstract: Climate change poses a growing challenge for high Andean communities around the world, whose livelihoods depend directly on agriculture, livestock farming, and the stability of local ecosystems. In this context, the study sought to understand the construction of social imaginaries among agricultural producers around the dynamics of climate variability, with the aim of analyzing both the vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities that emerge in their daily practices. Based on a qualitative approach, supported by 32 interviews with key informants from 16 communities, four focus groups, and documentary analysis, data was collected in the field and, using Atlas.ti software, the testimonies of community members from Cojata, in Puno, Peru, were processed, revealing the social imaginaries and collective responses linked to the phenomenon. The findings reveal feelings of concern and uncertainty, diverse interpretations of the dynamics of climate change, a reconfiguration of cultural meanings, and the deployment of hybrid adaptation strategies that combine ancestral knowledge and contemporary resources. Taken together, these findings show that social imaginaries play a central role in how communities face the climate crisis, revealing both the persistence of structural inequalities and the need to strengthen intercultural territorial policies that recognize local knowledge, enhance community cooperation, and promote a horizon of resilience and climate justice.

Abstract:

We exist within the confines of an information system called human culture which has evolved over tens of thousands of years alongside humanity itself. Evolution is a dual process comprised of the evolution of the biological systems along with the evolution of the information systems, both of which affect and support each other. Functional Idea (FI) – this is that smallest “piece of software”, an evolutionary product, a concept developed to perform a function in society. Soft Force (SF) – this is a psychological force, a vector that has magnitude and “direction”. There is a direct correlation between FI and SF, with an SF vector being formed in the subconscious based on the FI. Idearchy – this is a collection of all the main FIs comprising human culture. This term facilitates discussion concerning the evolution and health of the Idearchy and the way a society develops means to maintain it. All social systems are formed by agents connecting to them through a set of SFs. Positive or attracting SF vectors are formed in the subconscious for each FI. Also, the negative or repelling SF vectors are formed. All decisions, including the decision whether to stay as part of a social structure, are made on the Soft Force level, not on a logical level. The brain, like any other organ, communicates with our consciousness through a set of signals or symptoms. Emotions are only symptoms of the SF vector interaction.

Abstract: Annotation is often a time-intensive and costly aspect of social sciences research utilizing natural language data. Recent advances in large language models (LLM) and general pretrained transformers promise new methods for quick and easy annotation but often rely on commercial APIs or cloud services that introduce costs, limit researcher control, and raise concerns about privacy. Bias from training data introduces further issues for this approach. This paper investigates the feasibility of LLM annotation using small (less than 14B parameters) models executed on consumer-grade hardware, further investigating potential issues of model bias. The study examines binary topic annotation task quality for 6 different models, two different topics, and two different historical periods on political speeches from the German Bundestag between 1949–2025. Standard metrics, including F1 scores, are calculated against a human-annotated gold standard. Results indicate that most models tested achieve strong performances with F1 scores ranging from 0.7 to 0.9 for both topic annotation tasks, with the annotation of discussions of abortion generally surpassing the annotation of economic topic mentions. Performance varies systematically for the sample origin time, with annotation quality being higher for older speeches. The findings suggest that small, locally executed LLMs can serve for low-cost annotation tasks while also highlighting the need to account for topic, period, and model-specific bias when crafting a studies research design utilizing LLM annotation.

Abstract: Radical environmental protests (REPs) have become more frequent and, in some contexts, increasingly supported by the public. Amid ongoing climate change, biodiversity loss, governmental backsliding, and political polarization, REP is likely to grow, with implications for both social and environmental sustainability. This study examines whether support for REP stems primarily from general pro-environmental attitudes and frustration with the limits of moderate protest, or from radical beliefs such as anti-speciesism (AS). Using UK survey data from 2024–2025 (N = 1163), we assessed support for REP through established measures like the Nature Connectedness Scale and New Ecological Paradigm, alongside new scales measuring governmental efficacy and principled support for radical protest. Moderated multiple regression analysis found that AS significantly predicts support for REP, even when controlling for general pro-environmental behavior. Notably, engagement in public environmental actions was an even stronger predictor. While perceived governmental efficacy did not moderate these relationships, it was an independent positive predictor—indicating that support for REP is linked to political optimism, rather than disillusionment. These findings challenge assumptions that REP emerges from political disengagement, suggesting instead that it reflects a broader, hopeful commitment to environmental action in the face of global crisis.

Abstract: District heating (DH) is increasingly recognised as a crucial solution for urban energy needs, contributing to energy efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the transition towards adopting renewable energy sources (RES) in DH poses several challenges. The success of such a transition depends on technological innovation, acceptance, and public perception as well as a range of socio-economic, regulatory, and behavioural factors. This study investigates how these key dimensions influence public attitudes towards renewable DH systems in Italy. Based on a survey of 1,200 citizens in Turin we examine how public attitudes towards decarbonised heating options, the integration of renewables and demand-side flexibility are influenced by socio-economic characteristics. These characteristics include income, education, age, housing tenure, eco-awareness, trust in institutions, and technological affinity. Results show widespread support for efficiency and comfort benefits of DH. However, the results also show a limited willingness to pay more for renewable heat, particularly among economically vulnerable groups. The study has important implications for strategies that can facilitate the transition towards adopting RES in DH. In particular, the study points to the relevance of economic incentives, institutional trust, and clarity about benefits, as well as community engagement in supporting this transition.

Abstract: This mixed-methods interdisciplinary study examines critical psychological dimensions underpinning organizational sustainability. Utilizing qualitative interviews with 42 organizational leaders, quantitative survey data from 218 organizations across 11 industries, and a systematic review of 157 empirical studies, the research identifies key psychological constructs associated with organizational resilience and adaptability. The integrated theoretical framework connects psychological safety, positive psychological capital, leadership approaches, and organizational systems within specific contextual moderators. Findings reveal significant associations between psychological safety and innovation (r = .42, p < .001, 95% CI [.36, .48]), psychological capital and organizational resilience (r = .38, p < .001, 95% CI [.32, .44]), and servant leadership practices and employee well-being (r = .45, p < .001, 95% CI [.39, .51]). The study acknowledges important limitations regarding causal inference and demographic generalizability. Implementation challenges and measurement considerations are discussed, with evidence-based considerations for practitioners. The study concludes with directions for future research in this evolving field.

Abstract: This study explores a circular economy approach to agricultural waste transformation through an in-depth case study of Taiwan Enzyme Village Company. In response to global challenges related to food waste, resource inefficiency, and environmental degradation, the company has developed a low-energy fermentation system that converts surplus fruits and vegetable residues into a range of value-added products, including enzyme liquids, organic fertilizers, seed paper, and biodegradable packaging. The research employs the BS 8001 Circular Economy Principles as an analytical framework to evaluate the company’s operational model, stakeholder engagement, and environmental contributions. Findings reveal a highly localized and replicable circular system that emphasizes low-carbon production, community collaboration, and innovative reuse of biological resources. The study contributes practical insights for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) aiming to implement circular economy practices within the agricultural sector and highlights strategic pathways for sustainable rural development.

Abstract: Demographic trends over the last decades and future projections clearly indicate a steady increase in the proportion of older adults (65+) relative to both the working-age (15-64) and child populations (0-15) across Europe. This demographic shift – driven by rising life expectancy and declining fertility – raises pressing challenges for intergenerational equity and questions the sustainability of the implicit formal and informal social contract that links generations through the distribution of rights, responsibilities, and resources. In particular, the two fundamental pillars of European post-industrial societies, namely an extensive welfare state and a liberal-democratic institutional framework, appear to be at risks. To address this issue, the notion of “intergenerational fairness” recently adopted by social policies in both USA and Europe, appears flexible and fundamentally ambiguous. As a substantial variant of neoliberal austerity policies, it is simply used as a justification for further austerity measures, the withdrawal of entitlements to social and economic rights by citizens and the dismantling of welfare states. A second meaning of “intergenerational fairness” is possible starting from the concept of ambivalence used to describe the mix of conflict and solidarity that characterizes intergenerational relations in contemporary post-industrial societies. In this respect, the two concepts of “successful ageing” and “active ageing” often considered as overlapping, actually involve very different perspectives: successful ageing adopts a substantially reductionist, individualistic and static approach to the process of ageing, whereas active ageing is a more comprehensive and dynamic strategy that seeks to overcome all these limitations by a life course perspective. This recognizes that a person’s path to old age is not predetermined but depends primarily on earlier life experiences and their influence: the ageing process affects people of all ages, not just the elderly. And since the subjectivization of ageing in contemporary societies has challenged the conventional notion of “natural life stages”, the new concept of “ageing lifestyles” becomes central to understanding the ageing process today. Ageing styles are the outcome of the interplay between the objective and subjective dimensions of the life course, represented respectively by the life chances (social structure) and the life choices (agency). A framework is proposed for analysing ageing styles that can be used from a life course perspective to highlight their complex and dynamic nature. To this end, the methodology of intersectionality is particularly suited to address diverse health inequalities, especially those linked to forms of discrimination such as ageism, sexism, and racism, which are at the origin of unequal ageing styles. Key concepts of role transitions, trajectory, agency, historical time and spatial context that can be employed for sorting out intersectional subgroups are illustrated, along with five guidelines which can be followed to analyse unequal ageing styles and identify the prevailing “matrix of domination” that originate them. An evidence-based European political strategy aimed at promoting active ageing from a perspective of intergenerational fairness, based on the eight principles indicated, can be flexible enough to ensure that everyone can adopt their preferred ageing style without top-down imposition and contribute to the maintenance of the intergenerational social contract.

Abstract: This paper explores the use of Qualitative Pretest Interviews (QPIs) to refine the IT questionnaire module for the 10th wave of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The study aimed to improve question clarity and validity by identifying respondent misunderstandings and to adapt the QPI method for large-scale, multinational surveys. An in-house team conducted 17 interviews with adults aged 50 and older, focusing on device access, online activities, and digital literacy. Analysis revealed ambiguities in question wording and response categories, leading to targeted revisions—such as clarifying definitions, adding examples, and simplifying response options—while balancing the need for longitudinal comparability. The findings highlight the effectiveness of QPIs in enhancing questionnaire quality and address challenges like sample diversity, interviewer training, and cross-cultural adaptability, offering insights for future survey development.

Abstract: Promoting sustainable mobility is a critical component of advancing sustainable development in higher education. This study explores how different communication strategies influence the perceived effectiveness of messages promoting sustainable mobility among university communities. Using focus groups, we examined the responses of students and staff at the University of Navarra (Pamplona, Spain) to messages emphasizing personal benefits, community engagement, and immediate action ("here and now"). Nine messages were evaluated, varying in tone (youthful vs. adult) and inclusion of data. Results reveal that message effectiveness differs significantly between students and professionals, highlighting the importance of tailoring communications to their audience’s motivations, social context, and structural barriers. Students responded most positively to direct, actionable messages emphasizing the present, while professionals valued messages highlighting personal and collective benefits. Findings underscore the need for segmented, context-aware strategies in promoting sustainable mobility, contributing to broader sustainability goals in higher education.

Abstract: Big players of information and communication technologies are investing in the metaverse for their businesses. Meta company, as main player of social media worldwide, is massively developing its "social" metaverse as a new paradigm by depicting it with nice and endless features and by expecting to turn current socials into it. What would be the attitude of users towards this future scenario? Very few studies specifically focused on this question have been found. In this work a scale for assessing the attitude of people towards social metaverse has been developed. A questionnaire composed of 38 Likert items, inspired by such features of social metaverse, has been generated and administered to 184 Italian subjects; the results have been analyzed with exploratory factor analysis; the final scale is composed of 15 items gathered in 4 factors that have been interpreted. Aspects consistent both with preliminary work of the authors and with some previous works have been found. Considerations are made, also in relation to the analysis of contents of Meta.

Abstract: In France, the extractive and recycling (ExtRec) sector plays a critical role in resource recovery and circular economy transitions; and representing complexity in the modelling and simulation of material and waste flows would allow the sector to better capture the effects of various stakeholders’ decisions on waste management. However, the sector remains reluctant to adopt complexity, particularly agent-based modelling and simulation (ABM&amp;S) whereas the approach is now developing elsewhere (in other sectors, other countries). Our sociological question is then: how such a reluctance could exist in this sector? Using a qualitative method, this study identified 5 reasons for this reluctance including limited knowledge of ABM&amp;S, entrenched reliance on classical practices (MFA, LCA …), and workplace and institutional influences. This research then shows that reluctance toward ABM&amp;S in the French ExtRec sector is not simply a technical gap but a socially and institutionally embedded phenomenon. Addressing this reluctance requires both technical innovations (coupling, data frameworks) and sociological strategies (participatory approaches, institutional practice reform). Nevertheless, the sector expressed conditions under which ABM&S could gain acceptance; furthermore, we provide recommendations that would remove adoption barriers. More globally, this paper contributes to debates on modelling approaches for waste policy and circular economy strategies.

Abstract: As the digital access divide narrows, disparities in university students’ innovation capacity and entrepreneurial intention continue to widen. To move beyond the binary of technological versus structural determinism, we advance a technology–cognition–institution framework to illuminate less visible pathways that reproduce urban–rural inequality. Drawing on a national survey of 31,779 Chinese university students, we estimate multilevel mixed-effects models and a theory-ordered structural equation model. Three patterns emerge. (1) We observe pronounced gradient differences across digital literacy, information perception, innovation capacity, and entrepreneurial intention (urban > county > township), including a medium effect size for digital literacy (Cohen’s d = 0.428). (2) The sequential pathway “digital literacy → information perception” statistically operates as the core channel, accounting for roughly one-third of the modeled total association in innovation capacity and more than four-fifths in entrepreneurial intention. (3) University institutional resources exhibit compensatory features: Double First-Class universities both partially substitute for deficits in digital literacy through offline support (interaction β = −0.039, p < .05) and attenuate the cognition-formation link by reshaping the “digital literacy → information perception” pathway (β = −0.021, p < .05). Taken together, the findings are consistent with the view that digital habitus—conceived as a new form of cultural capital—sustains inequality via cognitive mechanisms. County regions, with their transitional position, emerge as pivotal nodes for policy targeting. We propose an integrated governance approach of stepwise intervention, institutional compensation, and dual-track strategies to support inclusive digital transformation.