ABSTRACT Spatial thinking is an essential skill for geographers and can be taught and learnt at any age. Spatial thinking should, therefore, form part of the Geography curriculum at every study level. An initial desktop study by the authors has indicated that the inclusion of spatial thinking in the undergraduate Geography curriculum at South African universities needs improvement. Up to now, published research papers have focused mostly on questions on spatiality included in Geography textbooks at the school and tertiary levels. None of these papers focused on the spatiality of assessment questions. This research aims to assess the spatiality of questions posed in formative and summative assessments of undergraduate geography modules at six selected South African universities. The taxonomy of spatial thinking was used to determine the spatiality of 2864 formative and summative assessment questions used at the first, second and third-year levels at six selected South African universities. The results indicate that the assessment questions, generally, do not reach a desirable level of spatiality and will, therefore, contribute towards developing students’ spatial thinking skills only in a limited way. Based on the results, recommendations are supplied to improve the spatiality of undergraduate Geography assessment questions using the taxonomy of spatial thinking.

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Comprehensive art education (CAE) can be an effective way to develop children’s creativity development. However, little is known about how CAE is implemented in kindergarten classrooms in China. The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of CAE activity implementation. To assess the effectiveness of CAE in terms of early childhood creativity, 64 children in a Chinese kindergarten were assigned to experimental (n=32; 15 boys and 17 girls) and control (n=32; 15 boys and 17 girls) groups. The complete CAE intervention program, including teacher training and CAE activities, lasted for 11 months. Both groups of children took the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) pretest and posttest to assess their creativity. The findings showed that the experimental group had significantly higher TTCT scores than the control group. In addition, interviews with five teachers echoed the test results and raised the need for related teacher training. Practice or Policy: Results indicated a clear connection between the CAE activities and the enhancement of the children’s creative thinking abilities. These findings suggest that CAE nurtures children’s creativity and should form an essential component of early childhood and teacher education curricula.

ABSTRACT The residential sector is a critical contributor to global energy consumption. In Ghana, it accounts for 47% of the total electricity consumed. However, inadequate knowledge of categories of residential consumers, their profiles, and the implications on their consumption patterns could impede the development of targeted and sustainable interventions. This study examined the behavioral patterns among low-income urban households in Kumasi, using their socio-demographic and housing characteristics, and self-reported values. This is coherent to the current discourse on Ghana’s transition to zero carbon by 2070 given that Kumasi is the fastest-growing city in the country. Using quantitative methods within a transdisciplinary research design, a survey of 285 households was conducted. The findings yielded varied outcomes. Households reported good electricity use behavior (e.g. covering liquids in the refrigerator) and poor behaviors (e.g. not adjusting the power setting of refrigerators to weather conditions). Logistic regression operations showed associations between energy use behavior, the type of housing units and the type of electricity meters. A significant proportion of respondents exhibited pro-environmental behaviors across all nine value domains. The study concludes that low-income households engage in energy-saving practices. We suggest that policy mediation could enhance the effectiveness of behavioral interventions toward electricity use efficiency.

Utilizing steel slag aggregate (SA) as a substitute for river sand in 3D concrete printing (3DCP) has emerged as a new technique as natural resources become increasingly scarce. This study investigates the feasibility of using steel slag (SS) as fine aggregate for 3DCP. Ninety mixtures with varying steel slag aggregate-to-cement ratios (SA/C), water-to-cement ratios (W/C), and silica fume (SF) contents were designed to study the workability and compressive strength of the 3D-printed concrete. Additionally, the actual components were printed to evaluate the printability of these mixtures. The experimental results indicate that it is feasible to fully employ SA in concrete for 3D printing. Mixtures with slump values ranging from 40 to 80 mm and slump flow values varying from 190 to 210 mm are recommended for 3D printing. The optimal mix is determined to have SA/C and W/C ratios of 1.0 and 0.51, respectively, and an SF content of 10% by cement weight. A statistical approach was utilized to construct the prediction models for slump and slump flow. Moreover, to predict the plastic failure of the 3D-printed concrete structure, the modified prediction model with an SA roughness coefficient of 4 was found to fit well with the experimental data. This research provides new insights into using eco-friendly materials for 3D concrete printing.

ABSTRACT Heavy metal contamination has severe impacts on the natural environment. The currently existing physico-chemical methods have certain limitations, restricting their wide-scale application. The use of biological agents like bacteria, algae, and fungi can help eliminate heavy metals without adversely affecting flora and fauna. Due to their inherent ability to withstand adverse environmental conditions, nowadays, mycoremediation approaches are receiving considerable attention for heavy metal removal from contaminated sites. In this review, we emphasised the role of white rot fungi in remediation of heavy metal along with different factors influencing biosorption, effects on exposed fungi, and the mechanisms involved. Bibliometric analysis tools have been applied to literature search and trend analysis of the research on white rot fungi-mediated heavy metal removal. Annual growth rates and average citations per document are 5.08% and 35.48, respectively. Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Trametes versicolor have been widely explored for the remediation of heavy metals. In addition to providing some prospects, the review also highlighted a few limitations, including inconsistent removal and effects of environmental factors influencing the functioning of white rot fungi. Overall, white rot fungi have been found to have immense potential to be widely utilised for sustainable remediation of heavy metal-contaminated environments.

ABSTRACT This participatory action research initiative was undertaken in Thailand to promote carbon-neutral tourism (CNT). The research involved the engagement of multiple stakeholders in the value chain to co-create a valuable CNT route for Nong Khao sub-district tourism in Kanchanaburi Province. A service design approach was applied in this study, consisting of four phases: building engagement and awareness, exploring customer needs, co-creating a route, and assessing the results. The findings revealed that tourists exhibited a strong preference towards the CNT trip option. The implementation of the activities resulted in an increased net profit margin of 165.31% due to cost reduction, sale-price growth, and larger tourist numbers. The research provides important value co-creation of CNT management guidelines for community tourism.

ABSTRACT There is a well-established body of literature on parent-child sexual communication (PCSC) among Black families. Still, most of this work focuses on reducing sexual risk behaviors among Black girls and focuses less on the multidimensionality of PCSC among Black parents and their daughters. In this qualitative study, we explored Black mother-daughter PCSC by analyzing interviews with 29 Black mothers in the U.S. with daughters ages 6–11. We used consensual qualitative research methods to analyze mother’s responses to questions about the messages and strategies they used when educating their daughters about sex-related topics, such as pleasure and sexual identity. We identified the following themes related to mothers’ goals with their messages: (1) increasing awareness through neutral information, (2) building daughter’s sense of self, (3) challenging societal norms and White heteropatriarchy, and (4) upholding societal norms and White heteropatriarchy. We also developed five themes for mother’s strategies for PCSC: (5) direct and open PCSC, (6) modeling, (7) integrating real-life examples, (8) centering the child, and (9) monitoring and tailoring daughters’ experiences with others. Our findings add to existing research on sex-positive practices among Black families, highlight the need to use critical lenses when exploring PCSC, and have important implications for parent education.

The article presents the results of a method based on asynchronous delay-tap sampling (ADTS) and convolutional neural network (CNN) for determining simultaneously occurring disturbances described using the chromatic dispersion (CD), crosstalk and optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) parameters. The ADTS method was used to generate training and test data for the convolutional network, which in turn was used to learn to recognize interference from said data. The tests were carried out for a transmission speed of 10 Gbit/s and for on-off keying (OOK) and differential phase shift keying (DPSK) modulation. Very good results were obtained in recognizing simultaneously occurring phenomena. Accuracy of over 99% was achieved for CD and crosstalk for DPSK modulation and over 98% for OOK modulation. In the case of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise, slightly weaker results were obtained, above 95–96% for both modulations. Based on the conducted research, it was determined that the use of ADTS and CNN methods enables monitoring of simultaneously occurring CD, crosstalk, and ASE noise in the physical layer of the optical network, while maintaining the requirements for modern monitoring systems.

ABSTRACT The present cross-sectional study aimed to compare climacteric symptoms and arterial stiffness indices between perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. The study sample comprised 70 healthy female participants, including 27 perimenopausal (49.8 ± 3.8 years) and 43 postmenopausal (55.7 ± 4 years) individuals. Validated methods were used to assess physical activity level, quality of life, climacteric symptoms, and anthropometric data. Arterial stiffness parameters were measured using Mobil-O-Graph. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) had a higher mean in the postmenopausal group than in the perimenopause group [8.04 m/s (SD 0.79) vs 7.01 m/s (SD 0.78), p < .001). PWV was strongly correlated with peripheral (r = 0.619) and central (r = 0.632) Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) in postmenopausal group and an even stronger correlation was observed in perimenopausal group (r = 0.779 pSBP and 0.782 cSBP). BMI was a risk predictor in the perimenopausal group contributing positively to increase Pulse Pressure Amplification (PPA) (0.458, p < .05). In postmenopausal women, heart rate (HR) was a stronger predictor for central SBP, cardiac output, and total vascular resistance, whereas perimenopausal women HR influenced central diastolic blood pressure and PPA. Vascular changes initiating during perimenopause may contribute to the development of cardiovascular pathologies in the postmenopausal period. Further research with larger, representative samples is warranted to corroborate these findings.

ABSTRACT Due to the popularity of Walt Disney Studio films and characters, and the fact that young audiences often emulate their favorite Disney characters’ actions, an understanding of the values depicted by Disney’s popular heroes and villains is warranted. Guided by the model of intuitive motivation and exemplars, and extending previous work investigating broader altruism and egoism in Disney films, we content-analyzed the population of N = 442 family-rated (i.e. G- and PG-rated) Walt Disney Studio film synopses to extract the specific values depicted by films’ heroes and villains and examined the extent to which values depicted as socially desirable were predictive of audience reception (i.e. IMDb.com ratings and votes). Results from this research brief revealed that (1) heroes were more likely to violate personal safety considerations in pursuit of upholding care, loyalty, competence, autonomy, and relatedness, (2) villains were more likely to violate care and fairness in pursuit of power goals, and (3) films emphasizing the desirability of care, loyalty, and relatedness values were more popular with audiences via IMDb votes. Implications of these results are discussed.