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This introduction synthesizes the research presented by the contributors to this special issue to explore sustainable educational practices for refugees. A common thread across the articles is that they share components of Nel Noddings’ ethics of care framework, which emphasizes establishing welcoming, nurturing, and supportive environments that enable refugees to build meaningful relationships while honoring their cultural identities. We recommend action steps gleaned from the 11 papers in this issue that call for the concerted efforts of all those involved. Central to this vision are teachers, who serve as the backbone of the education system; however, to fulfill this role, they must be equipped with the necessary resources and skills to foster culturally responsive educational environments that emphasize students’ identities and provide equitable learning. This introduction underscores the importance of holistic and relational approaches as foundational to achieving sustainable educational equity for refugee learners.

We report that the neutral hydrogen (H i) mass density of the Universe (ρH i) increases with cosmic time since z ∼ 5, peaks at z ∼ 3, and then decreases toward z ∼ 0. This is the first result of Qz5, our spectroscopic survey of 63 quasars at z ≳ 5 with VLT/X-SHOOTER and Keck/ESI aimed at characterizing intervening H i gas absorbers at z ∼ 5. The main feature of Qz5 is the high resolution (R ∼ 7000–9000) of the spectra, which allows us to (1) accurately detect high column density H i gas absorbers in an increasingly neutral intergalactic medium at z ∼ 5 and (2) determine the reliability of previous ρH i measurements derived with lower resolution spectroscopy. We find five intervening damped Lyα absorbers (DLAs) at z > 4.5, which corresponds to the lowest DLA incidence rate () at z ≳ 2. We also measure the lowest ρH i at z ≳ 2 from our sample of DLAs and subDLAs, corresponding to ρH i Mpc−3 at z ∼ 5. Taking into account our measurements at z ∼ 5 and systematic biases in the DLA detection rate at lower spectral resolutions, we conclude that ρH i doubles from z ∼ 5 to z ∼ 3. From these results emerges a qualitative agreement between how the cosmic densities of H i gas mass, molecular gas mass, and star formation rate build up with cosmic time.

Both urban and rural firm entry rates have declined over the last three decades, and the urban–rural gap in firm entry rates has increased. We investigate which local market factors are associated with the divergence between 1993 and 2019. Our model includes local measures of firm agglomeration, population agglomeration, human capital, consumption demand, government fiscal policies, and natural amenities. Their effects on firm entry are consistent over time and have similar signs in both rural and urban markets. While the magnitudes of these factors have remained fairly stable over time, their impact on firm entry has diminished in both markets, which has lowered the rate of firm entry overall. Larger rural market declines in the importance of firm agglomeration, population agglomeration, and educated labor supply are the main factors driving the rising gap in urban–rural firm entry.

Propaganda in the first half of the 20th century is usually associated with the atrocity stories from World War I and the anti-Semitic propaganda of the Nazi regime and World War II. This chapter provides a brief overview of the history of propaganda and propaganda theory before turning its attention to a theory of propaganda in civil war. It argues that what makes propaganda in a civil war unique is that it is a combination of both political and war propaganda. Current research on propaganda theory emphasizes that propaganda is in service of an ideology and focuses on propaganda as disseminating information that tries to avoid reason and veracity. The chapter argues that propagandists in a civil war setting are presenting the ‘truth’ as they understand it. Informed by Carl Schmitt’s “friend/enemy” distinction in his Concept of the Political, the author argues that each side argued and was convinced that they represented the values and interests of the nation and its people, and that because the stakes of the conflict were so high that all actions could be justified.

We report the measurements of proton-deuteron (p-d) and deuteron-deuteron (d-d) correlation functions in Au+Au collisions at sNN = 3 GeV using fixed-target mode with the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). For the first time, the source size (RG), scattering length (f0), and effective range (d0) are extracted from the measured correlation functions with a simultaneous fit. The spin-averaged f0 for p-d and d-d interactions are determined to be -5.28 ± 0.11(stat.) ± 0.82(syst.) fm and -2.62 ± 0.02(stat.) ± 0.24(syst.) fm, respectively. The measured p-d interaction is consistent with theoretical calculations and low-energy scattering experiment results, demonstrating the feasibility of extracting interaction parameters using the femtoscopy technique. The reasonable agreement between the experimental data and the calculations from the transport model indicates that deuteron production in these collisions is primarily governed by nucleon coalescence.

Academic success is now coupled with social media engagement. Social media has become so normalized in the academy that absent a carefully curated social media presence, scholars risk being seen as unscholarly, unproductive, and unpopular. This article lays bare the pressures, mechanisms, and monstrosities of using social media to promote scholarship. We argue that the widespread adoption of social media outpaces critical attention to its ethics and wonder about the future of public scholarship and the monstrous scholarly selves we are becoming. Thinking of monstrosity, with Krecˇicˇ and Žižek, as the preontological domain that rests beneath society and constitutes alterity and otherness, we ask what kinds of #scholarfamousmonsters we want to be, become, and promote in the digital era.

As the U.S. population continues to age, increasing the prevalence of persons impacted by dementia in the community, faith communities are challenged to address the growing needs of their members. However, research has not looked specifically at the effects of religious social support on caregivers for persons living with dementia experiencing burden. This study aimed to address this gap by utilizing an exploratory, cross-sectional design to survey U.S. caregivers of persons living with dementia who expressed faith to be an important aspect of their life (n = 158). This study found that religious social support is a significant predictor of reducing burden among caregivers.

Photovoltaic systems have proven to be one of the most widely used renewable energies and the best replacement for conventional energy. Yet, their non-linear nature remains a challenge when it comes to extracting maximum power from photovoltaic modules. Therefore, in this work, a nonlinear PID controller has been used to meet the requirements of the photovoltaic system. In addition, to improve system performance and response, metaheuristic search algorithms were introduced into the tuning process of both the NPID controller and conventional PID controller parameters in order to compare them. The use of Artificial Intelligence to fine-tune the controller parameters will enable the optimum values of proportional, integral, derivative and nonlinear gains to be determined as system condition change. Finally, a comparison between the algorithms applied is conducted in terms of efficiency, rise time, settling time and overshoot as well as the overall system stability.

There is an “under-representation problem” in philosophy departments and journals. Empirical data suggest that while we have seen some improvements since the 1990s, the rate of change has slowed down. Some posit that philosophy has disciplinary norms making it uniquely resistant to change. We present results from an empirical case study of a philosophy department that achieved and maintained male-female gender parity among its faculty as early as 2014. Our analysis extends beyond matters of gender parity because that is only one, albeit important, dimension of inclusion. We build from the study to reflect on strategies that may catalyze change.

Using a dynamic panel dataset of 150 countries for the period of 2006-2018 and a two-step system GMM estimation model, this paper shows that natural resources have a positive effect on economic development while holding corruption constant. Our findings support the notion that natural resources have a positive effect on the economy of a nation. When a country has less corruption, it improves the appropriation of economic gains from natural resources which serves as natural capital that would drive further capital accumulation and further development. We also find that physical capital, human capital, and freedom from corruption show strong positive effects on economic development, controlling for other economic and institutional variables. © 2025 Joshua P. Ang and Jason C. Patalinghug.

Narrative language samples can be used to measure language development in children, but research on narrative development in deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children is scarce, limiting knowledge of developmental stages and best practices for collection and analysis. This scoping review included 39 articles that explored recent methodologies and achievements in oral or signed narratives of DHH children, including comparisons with hearing peers and within-group analyses of early auditory experience, device use, and other measures. Articles featured DHH participants aged < 4 to 18 years, varying in device use, communication modalities, and educational settings. Most studies utilized story generation tasks with early elementary-aged children and analyzed either microstructure or macrostructure. Mixed results in comparisons with hearing children emphasized the need to consider individual differences (e.g., speech perception and age of spoken language access) in DHH narrative assessments. Findings also suggest that comparability across studies would be improved by more consistent terminology and procedures in narrative collection/analysis.

The occupational therapy profession faces critical workforce shortages, and the demand for services to meet the needs of diverse communities continues to rise. Underdocumented individuals represent a diverse pool of potential practitioners who face barriers to licensure if they pursue a career in occupational therapy. Despite being eligible for occupational therapy education and the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy exam, inconsistent state licensure requirements, which often mandate a Social Security number (SSN), pose a significant barrier to licensure and employment. We examine the challenges underdocumented individuals encounter in pursuing occupational therapy education and careers and argue for removing such barriers to enable them to become licensed practitioners. Addressing these barriers could diversify the workforce, enhance access to culturally responsive care, and alleviate shortages in underserved areas. We propose six actionable steps for the profession: (1) investigating and clarifying state licensure requirements; (2) ensuring accurate information dissemination to the public and students; (3) advocating for inclusive licensure policies, such as accepting Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers instead of SSNs; (4) addressing inconsistencies in reciprocity agreements across states; (5) funding research to better understand workforce demographics and needs; and (6) advocating for increased tuition equity and scholarship opportunities. By fostering an inclusive pathway to licensure and embracing diversity in cultural backgrounds, languages, and life experiences, the occupational therapy profession can become a meaningful career option for underdocumented individuals who can contribute to the development of a more resilient and representative workforce to effectively serve diverse populations and address health disparities.

Conditional promotions are designed to entice consumers to increase their basket sizes to meet a preset promotional threshold. In this research, we examine consumers' basket sizes, promotional thresholds, incentive framing and seemingly irrelevant cues in shopping environment as the factors that may jointly influence the effectiveness of a conditional promotion in inducing shoppers to increase their basket sizes. Our findings from five studies demonstrate that (i) the difference between basket sizes and promotional thresholds or seemingly irrelevant cues in shopping environment may induce an experience of psychological distance, (ii) the experience of psychological distance may interact with incentive framing to influence consumers' search likelihood in response to a conditional promotion such that psychological proximity (remoteness) leads to higher search likelihood in response to negatively (positively) framed incentives. We found that this effect is consistent across studies with different values of basket sizes and promotional thresholds and across behavioral and self‐reported measures representing search likelihood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Migratory fishes are renowned for their ability to home to natal streams for spawning. Learned olfactory cues play a critical role in natal homing of Pacific salmon and other fishes, but the underlying chemical signature of streams remains poorly understood after decades of study. The molecules that convey a stream-specific odour must differ among sites but remain constant over time. Among leading odorant candidates are amino acids; however, little research has assessed the spatial and temporal variability of amino acid profiles in streams. We report a comprehensive chemical study of dissolved amino acids as potential olfactory cues for homing by migratory fish. Specifically, we profiled amino acids in water from 23 streams in the upper Laurentian Great Lakes basin over 2 years. We investigated variation in amino acid profiles (1) among regions and rivers within a year, (2) between years and (3) among sites and across the seasons of migration and early life history within a stream. Liquid-chromatography tandem mass spectrometry revealed nanomolar concentrations for most of the 20 L-amino acids measured, above the levels detectable by studied migratory fishes. Moreover, amino acid profiles were temporally stable between 2 years and across an annual season from adult spawning migration through offspring early-life development within a stream. However, spatial differences in amino acid profiles were evident primarily over large geographic distances (among regions) but not among tributaries within regions or among sites within a stream. Collectively, our results indicate dissolved amino acids may be consistent components of rivers' odorant profiles but suggest additional molecules are likely important for natal homing of migratory fishes to specific spawning sites. We suggest that future studies consider the combined importance of amino acids and molecules from other chemical classes. Understanding the chemical basis of olfactory-guided natal homing is especially important as human activities could alter the odorant profiles of streams and thereby disrupt fish migrations and negatively impact population recruitment.

Background Patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) following nonfatal opioid overdose represent a high-risk population with 5 % of patients dying within a year of the index visit. Objective To evaluate subsequent overdose and death before and after the implementation of an ED discharge naloxone program. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of ED patients who presented at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health ED with an Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) chief complaint before and after a discharge naloxone program. The pre-naloxone cohort was consecutive ED OUD patients from August 15, 2021, to August 14, 2022, and the post-naloxone cohort from August 15, 2022, to August 14, 2023. The outcomes were subsequent overdose, ED visit to same hospital (VCU), and death within six months of the index visit. Results In total, 1,053 patients were included, of which 529 were in the pre-naloxone cohort and 524 patients in the post-naloxone cohort. The mean age was 44.2 years (SD = 14.0) and 69 % were males. There was a reduction in overdose requiring ED visiting (subsequent ED overdose) and death (4.6 % vs 9.2 % p = 0.03 and 2.0 % vs 5.6 % p = 0.02 respectively) in the post-naloxone cohort compared to the pre-naloxone cohort. After adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical factors, there was a 48 % reduction in the risk of subsequent ED overdose (RR = 0.52, 95 % CI: 0.27, 1.02) and a 63 % reduction in the risk of death (RR = 0.37, 95 % CI: 0.14, 0.95). Conclusion Implementing an ED take-home naloxone program was associated with a reduction in subsequent overdose and death at six months.

In the United States (US) kindergarten through twelfth-grade public school system, the classroom library has come to be a critical part of literacy instruction within the language arts classroom. This fact is especially true in the middle school grade levels (grades five through eight), where reading volume begins to rapidly increase. Additionally, a developmental norm for students within this age range includes a growing sense of independence and choice, as well as a desire to share and voice opinions. Classroom libraries have come to be tools that are used regularly and are heavily influential on the way that students grow to perceive themselves, the world around them, and the way they fit into that world. However, classroom libraries have remained stagnant and underrepresent the diverse populations of the students in those classrooms. This article aims to connect deep reflective thinking with anti-oppressive and transformative learning theories, exploring how these frameworks can be used to problematize current practices in classroom libraries. Through a content analysis of what is seen as deep and critical thinking practices and reflective thinking practices, anti-oppressive and transformative learning theories can be linked to foster a social justice classroom culture within US public middle school language arts classrooms. © 2025 Common Ground Research Networks. All rights reserved.

Background: Social determinants of health account for racial inequities in breastfeeding rates in the United States. There is a gap in the role of neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES) as it relates to breastfeeding disparities.Methods: Using longitudinal data from the Black Women’s Health Study, we assessed associations of NSES with breastfeeding initiation and duration in a cohort of primiparous U.S. Black women. We also explored associations within strata of important economic indicators, including education, occupation, and marital status.Results: Breastfeeding initiation (n = 2,705) increased with NSES quartile, from 75.2% in the lowest quartile to 88.3% in the highest quartile (p < 0.0001). Compared with women living in the highest NSES quartile, those in the lowest quartile had a 41% (odds ratio: 0.59 [95% confidence interval: 0.43, 0.81]) decreased odds of initiating breastfeeding. For breastfeeding duration (n = 2,172), women residing in NSES quartiles 1–3 were significantly less likely (p < 0.0001) to breastfeed (44.4%) for 6+ months compared with those living in the highest quartile (62.8%). Adjusted relative risks for those in quartiles 1–3 compared with 4 (highest) were 0.63 (0.45, 0.87), 0.50 (0.37, 0.68), and 0.64 (0.47, 0.86), respectively (p = 0.0001). There was no statistically significant evidence of effect modification by education, occupation, marital status, and region (Pinteraction = >0.05).Conclusion: Living in a lower NSES environment was associated with reduced breastfeeding initiation and duration compared with a higher NSES environment. Research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which neighborhood-level factors influence breastfeeding initiation and duration for Black women in the United States.

We investigated whether more arterial stiffness changes could be induced by fragmentation of Swiss ball balance, and examined the role exercise order played in the modulation of arterial stiffness when on-ball kneeling and sitting were combined. Twenty-three healthy young adults (23.8 ± 0.3 years) performed 7 trials in a randomized crossover fashion: CON (non-exercise control), K (on-ball kneeling, 5 min), fK (fragmented on-ball kneeling, 2 × 2.5 min), S (on-ball sitting, 5 min), fS (fragmented on-ball sitting, 2 × 2.5 min), SK (5-min sitting before 5-min kneeling) and KS (5-min kneeling before 5-min sitting). Arterial stiffness in Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) was measured at baseline (BL), immediately (0 min), and every 10 min after exercise, and its changes from BL (ΔCAVI) were calculated. Area under curve (AUC) of ΔCAVI was calculated for SK and KS. The results showed that relative to CON, ΔCAVI decreased at 0 min and 10 min in K and fK, and remained decreased at 20 min in fK only. However, ΔCAVI in S and fS increased with time similarly, with no difference relative to CON. Though ΔCAVI decreased at 10 min in SK, it decreased at both 0 min and 10 min in KS, relative to CON. AUC of ΔCAVI was greater in KS than in SK. The study indicated that compared to continuous mode, fragmented kneeling results in more arterial stiffness improvements, while fragmented sitting exerts no additional effects. When kneeling and sitting are combined, kneeling before sitting elicits more arterial stiffness improvements than sitting before kneeling. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025.

Diabetes, affecting more than 500 million individuals worldwide, is the most widespread non-communicable disease, globally. The early identification and effective management of diabetes are crucial for controlling its spread. Currently, the HbA1c test is the gold standard for the detection of diabetes with high confidence. But this is an invasive, expensive pathology test. Therefore, alternative non-invasive and inexpensive methods have been proposed in the literature for the early detection of diabetes.