ABSTRACT This study examines how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping educational policies in the United States, with a focus on California, Texas, Florida, and New York. Drawing on policy diffusion theory and institutional isomorphism, this study examines state-level policy approaches to AI integration, equity, and ethics in K–12 education within the broader federal policy context. Data were drawn from policy briefs, executive orders, task force reports, guidance documents, and policy updates issued between January 2023 and January 2026. Using structured juxtaposition, the analysis examines cross-state variation in policy approaches and the extent to which federal guidance, equity, and ethical concerns are reflected in state-level responses. Findings reveal emerging patterns of convergence and divergence between federal guidance and state legislation shaped by political support, institutional capacity, and policy priorities. This study contributes to the literature by identifying emerging patterns of AI governance across states, clarifying the role of federal guidance as a normative reference point, and advancing understanding of how equity and ethical considerations are embedded in state AI education policies. This study also highlights implications for educational policy, practice, and future research to ensure AI in K-12 education is adopted in ethical and equitable ways within a decentralized federal system.

This study examines synchronic phonological variation in Bol-anon Binisaya across geographic and socio-demographic groups in Bohol, Philippines. Drawing on variationist sociolinguistics, lexical diffusion theory, and geolinguistic approaches to language change, the article investigates the distribution of two major phonological processes: the alternation between the innovative palatal glide [y] and the conservative voiced palatal affricate [dʒ], and the deletion or transformation of intervocalic /l/. Data were collected from 120 native Bol-anon Binisaya speakers using a friend-of-a-friend social network approach designed to reduce the Observer’s Paradox. Participants were stratified by district, age cohort, and socio-economic background. The findings show that the [y]/[dʒ] alternation remains a site of structured heterogeneity, with province-wide distributions close to equilibrium but strong geographic differentiation. District 2, shaped by maritime mobility and regular contact with Metro Cebu, shows the highest preference for the innovative [y] variant, whereas District 3 retains the conservative [dʒ] variant more strongly. By contrast, intervocalic /l/ deletion has largely stabilised as a community norm, with reduced forms such as bay from balay and dagan from dalagan reaching near-categorical use in several speaker groups. The study demonstrates that phonological change in Bol-anon Binisaya is not random but socially and geographically patterned. It also shows how mobility, regional contact, and local identity jointly shape the development of an island dialect under conditions of modernisation and urban influence.

Implementation research plays a key role in bridging the gap between evidence and practice, particularly in low-resource settings. In Ethiopia, persistent challenges in healthcare access, quality, and system performance highlight the need for context-specific implementation evidence. Although implementation research has been advancing in the country, its scope, practice, and contribution to health system improvement remain insufficiently characterized and documented. This gap underscores the need to assess the landscape of healthcare and health system implementation research in Ethiopia to inform decisions about health policies, programs, and practices. Therefore, this scoping review aimed to comprehensively investigate the current landscape of healthcare and health system implementation research in Ethiopia. We conducted a scoping review in accordance with Joanna Briggs Institute guidance and PRISMA-ScR reporting standards. A systematic search of major electronic databases and relevant sources was performed using the Population, Concept, and Context (PCC) framework, which involved keywords and MeSH terms. Two researchers independently screened the studies and extracted data using a piloted form, resolving and discrepancies through discussion. Extracted data included study characteristics, outcomes, contextual factors, and implementation strategies. We categorized implementation strategies using ERIC frameworks. The findings were analyzed through descriptive and thematic approaches and organized across key health system blocks and contextual dimensions. The search identified 10,853 studies. One hundred sixty-four articles underwent full-text review, and 96 were included in the analysis. The studies included in the review used 40 mixed methods, 23 quantitative, and 33 qualitative approaches. According to the health system building blocks, 70 studies focused on service delivery, 16 on health information systems, and 5 on leadership or health financing. Among the service delivery studies, neonatal, child, maternal, and reproductive health were most commonly addressed topics. Key implementation outcomes included fidelity, feasibility, acceptability, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. Forty-three studies used determinant, process, or evaluation frameworks, including Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research; Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance framework; Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, and Sustainment; Theoretical Domains Framework; Medical Research Council Framework; diffusion and social network theories; and Donabedian's quality framework. Fifty studies involved stakeholders in implementation research. Global funders supported 72 studies. A total of 55 studies reported the use of implementation strategies, with 27 out of 39 maternal and child health studies including such strategies. This review highlights implementation research conducted with a strong focus on service delivery, particularly in maternal, neonatal, and child health. Stakeholder engagement played a crucial role, while global funding supported research efforts. The broad use of implementation strategies demonstrates ongoing efforts to translate research into practice. These findings underscore the need for continued investment in implementation science to enhance healthcare delivery and outcomes.

ABSTRACT Small underwater targets may have characteristic dimensions comparable to the spatial width of an underwater-explosion shock pulse, making conventional local-loading assumptions unreliable. This paper develops a physics-based loading selection criterion by combining a diffusion-based shock-wave width model with a linear potential-flow impulse formulation. A dimensionless global-loading dominance number, Λ, is defined to quantify the relative target scale to shock-wave width and to guide the choice between global and local surface loading. The formulation is extended from 1D translation to 2D/3D vector decomposition for oblique incidence. Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian simulations are performed for six representative unmanned underwater vehicles and compared with analytical solutions. Global loading consistently provides smaller errors and higher agreement; for Hydroid Micro-REMUS, RMSE is reduced by 44% and R² exceeds 0.95. Based on Λ–error phase maps, local loading is recommended for Λ≤0.8 and global loading for Λ≥1.2, with intermediate cases assessed using interaction indicators.

ABSTRACT As digital streaming became the dominant mode of music consumption, the New Brunswick, New Jersey, music scene of the 1990s served as a pocket of resistance to the decline of vinyl records. This article uses a case study approach to examine how localized practices sustained vinyl culture through community-based production and distribution. Drawing on theories of diffusion of innovation, communities of practice, and the social construction of technology, this article explores how this scene’s attachment to analog formats helped lay the groundwork for vinyl’s cultural persistence and its broader resurgence in the 21st century.

ABSTRACT Polyurethane (PU) grouting is widely used to remediate settlement in ballastless track subgrades. The expansion force generated during this process is a key parameter for lifting the track. Generally, a larger grouting volume produces a greater expansion force and a higher lifting capacity. However, in practice, the grouting volume faces two main constraints. First, the allowable track uplift restricts the maximum lifting height. Second, the physical properties of the grouting medium restrict the injection volume. Therefore, a better understanding of the relationship between PU grouting volume and expansion force is needed. Based on traditional slurry diffusion and uplift theories, this paper develops a mechanical model for expansion force in ballastless track subgrades. Custom-designed tests were then conducted to obtain empirical equations for predicting expansion force and consolidation density. Using these equations, we propose a coupled model that links grouting volume to expansion force for track uplift. To verify this model, we performed physical lifting tests on graded crushed stone layers. The theoretical grouting volumes calculated by the coupled model closely match the experimental results. This agreement validates the proposed theoretical model.

Front-of-package warning labels on junk foods, first implemented in Chile in 2016, have diffused rapidly despite sustained opposition. This pattern challenges policy diffusion frameworks that inadequately explain how contested regulatory innovations spread. I propose communicative infrastructure-durable channels and routines enabling coordinated cross-national action-as a governance lever in global health policy transfer. Mixed-methods comparative case study of Chile, Mexico, and Peru using elite interviews (N = 18), document and media analysis (N≈200), participant observation and public meeting transcripts (2019-2025). Process tracing identified causal mechanisms. Three communicative mechanisms enabled policy diffusion despite industry contestation: strategic frame adaptation aligned policy rationales with diverse political cultures; coordinated counter-messaging provided policymakers with ready-to-deploy evidence to neutralize industry arguments; and, through networked knowledge exchange, national actors shared implementation lessons, enabling later adopters to design robust policies before adoption. These mechanisms operated synergistically as infrastructure, or systems that proved resilient to political turnover, legal challenges, and corporate resistance. This study extends policy diffusion theory by theorizing communication as infrastructure and demonstrating how it enables diffusion in contested regulatory spaces where traditional mechanisms prove insufficient. Findings contribute to scholarship on transnational advocacy networks, commercial determinants of health, and South-to-North policy flows.

Medical examination of human tissue is preferably performed by imaging the tissue surface. Optical imaging techniques are limited by low penetration depth due to high tissue scattering, whereas sensing techniques can detect changes deeper inside the tissue. Near-infrared sensing methods such as oximetry and fNIRS are already used clinically but have not yet been applied in endoscopy. We investigate the existence of iso-pathlength (IPL) points in endoscopic geometry, with the goal of extending the concept of IPL points from cylindrical and half-infinite geometries into hollow cylindrical tissue relevant to endoscopy. In addition, we demonstrate the ability to extract the absorption properties of a tissue at this structure by the IPL and demonstrate it by ex vivo experiment. The IPL point is a unique position in the full scattering profile, independent of tissue scattering and dependent only on the tissue absorption and geometry. We studied two directions in cylindrical endoscopic geometry: azimuthal and longitudinal. First, diffusion theory with extrapolated zero-boundary conditions was applied to predict IPL positions. These predictions were then tested using Monte Carlo simulations of photon distribution and validated experimentally using phantoms with cylindrical air holes measured by endoscopy. Finally, using the experimentally identified IPL point and applying the same procedure to a standard phantom, a hemoglobin-agar phantom, and chicken breast tissue, we were able to estimate the absorption coefficient of the chicken tissue. Both azimuthal and longitudinal IPL points were identified. The experimental azimuthal IPL point was found at an angle of , whereas the longitudinal IPL point appeared at a distance of from the laser spot center. These findings confirm the theoretical and simulation predictions. Moreover, from the ex vivo experiment of a chicken breast, the IPL point enables us to calculate the absorption coefficient and get , within the range of . The demonstration of IPL points in endoscopic geometry provides a new framework for depth-resolved optical sensing in hollow cylindrical tissues. This approach may enable self-calibrated absorption measurements and open the way for improved diagnostic tools in the digestive system, esophagus, and other hollow organs where conventional endoscopy lacks depth information.

Purpose This paper aims to examine how peripheral innovators in secondary management functions gained professional recognition through consulting associations. It traces the career of Henri Bernaténé (1906–1995), focusing on how professional affiliations legitimised his contributions and enabled diffusion of his B.G. chart. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative historical case study is used, drawing on archival research, publications, biographical interviews and secondary literature. The analysis integrates Rogers’ diffusion model, recent work on ideational diffusion and the outsider innovator perspective. Findings Although peripheral to mainstream industrial management, Bernaténé gained recognition through professional affiliations and publications. Institutional support and linguistic niches were decisive in sustaining the visibility of his work. Research limitations/implications Evidence relies primarily on published sources and professional association records. Establishing direct causality between affiliations and diffusion is difficult with historical data. Nevertheless, the case demonstrates how institutional affiliations and linguistic niches enabled recognition. Practical implications Bernaténé’s trajectory offers lessons for contemporary practitioners in emerging fields – such as data analytics or AI ethics – where formal credentials do not yet exist. The case illustrates barriers to adoption and the continuing role of professional associations in legitimising new methods. Social implications The study challenges the conventional Anglo-American dominance in management history and demonstrates how peripheral or overlooked innovations can contribute meaningfully to global practice. More broadly, the research illustrates that valuable ideas often emerge outside the mainstream centres of power and that recognising such contributions is vital for building a more inclusive and diverse understanding of innovation. Originality/value This study highlights an overlooked figure and neglected function in management history. By integrating diffusion theory with the outsider innovator perspective, it offers a novel framework for understanding how peripheral innovations travel across cultural and national boundaries.

Purpose This paper provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of scholarly literature on the economic dimensions of space tourism. It maps key themes, influential contributors, and evolutionary trends to reveal the intellectual structure of this emerging field, highlighting how economic research has evolved alongside technological advancements and identifying critical theoretical and practical gaps. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the Scopus database up to 2024, a final dataset of 357 documents was selected following the PRISMA framework. The study employs performance analysis and science mapping to examine publication trends, collaboration patterns, and citation impact. Findings The analysis indicates a field in an early, technology-driven stage, evidenced by the dominance of conference papers (64.15%) and a focus on Engineering (90.76%). Research output accelerated significantly after 2018, coinciding with the first commercial suborbital flights. While research is globally distributed, the United States and the United Kingdom show the highest citation impact. Thematic analysis identifies the “aerospace industry” as the field's conceptual nexus. A strategic diagram shows that while technical topics like “rockets” are motor themes, core commercial concepts such as “space tourism” and “commerce” are highly central yet theoretically underdeveloped. Research limitations/implications The study reveals a structural lag where technological maturity outpaces economic institutionalization, extending innovation diffusion theory by highlighting how high-capital and data-constrained industries experience delayed market formation. Practically, it signals a need for policymakers to move toward early-stage regulatory and sustainability frameworks before mass-market expansion. Industry stakeholders are encouraged to prioritize evidence-based pricing and risk-sharing models to ensure long-term commercial viability. Originality/value This study provides a systematic bibliometric mapping specifically focused on the economic and business dimensions of space tourism research. It fills a knowledge gap by quantitatively deconstructing the field's intellectual foundations and revealing the structural imbalance between its technological maturity and its economic development.

Measuring the optical properties of small-volume turbid samples remains a significant challenge. This work presents the experimental optimization and validation of a frequency-domain diffuse optical method applied to media in a standard cuvette geometry. We assessed the impact of boundary conditions, determining that reflective cuvette walls provide superior precision and reproducibility compared to absorbing walls. Additionally, we developed a physics-informed lookup table based on diffusion theory and calibrated it using experimental data from optically characterized samples. Results demonstrate a precision of about 0.3% for the measured optical data and accuracies of approximately 20% for absorption and 10% for scattering using only four calibration samples, confirming the method's feasibility for milliliter-scale optical characterization. To our knowledge, this represents the first experimental validation of a cuvette-based system for the quantitative optical characterization of turbid media.

Sustainability impacts of green hydrogen production technology: An agent-based model simulation.

As generative AI tools rapidly enter higher education, the determinants and mediating mechanisms underlying Chinese college students' intention to use ChatGPT remain underexplored, particularly regarding innovation-related perceptions beyond conventional TAM-style direct effects. This study examines the factors that drive Chinese college students' intention to use ChatGPT by integrating the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT), introducing perceived popularity and perceived compatibility to extend the model. Questionnaires were distributed to 451 college students through a combination of purposive sampling and convenience sampling, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation and bootstrapping to test the hypothesized relationships and mediation effects. The results showed that perceived compatibility and perceived popularity had significant positive effects on intention to use ChatGPT; perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use played partial mediating roles in the relationships between perceived compatibility, perceived popularity, and use intention; and perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness jointly formed significant sequential mediation paths linking perceived compatibility and perceived popularity to use intention. Overall, the study clarifies a TAM-IDT-based mechanism through which innovation-related perceptions shape students' intention to adopt ChatGPT, offering implications for enhancing educational value by improving task-tool fit, usability support, and benefit salience in higher education.

Ammonia, as a hydrogen carrier and clean fuel, has an increasingly urgent demand for large-scale transportation. Utilizing the existing refined oil pipeline network for sequential transportation of ammonia and refined oil is an economically and efficiently feasible solution. However, the unique micro-solubility characteristics of ammonia and refined oil can cause significant differences in the mixing mechanism of the two substances during sequential transportation in the pipeline compared to traditional oil products. This study conducts transient flow numerical simulation and mechanism research on the mixing problem during the sequential transportation process of ammonia and refined oil under the influence of micro-solubility transfer. Using the ANSYS Fluent platform and combining it with the dynamic mesh technology, a sequential transportation pipeline model was constructed. In the VOF multiphase flow model framework, the Fick diffusion and convective transfer theories were coupled. Through the development of user-defined functions, a transfer model was established to describe the ammonia dissolution process in refined oil during sequential transportation. This model characterizes the axial transfer process of the two-phase flow and the dissolution transfer in the pipeline. Then, the correctness and accuracy of the transfer model were verified, proving that the model has reliable simulation capabilities. To evaluate the comprehensive influence of various engineering factors on the mixing law, this study selected seven key parameters. It then designed and simulated multiple sets of comparative conditions. The influence of each parameter on the development of the mixing section was analyzed, and a sensitivity analysis was conducted. Subsequently, using the growth rate of the mixing length (dL/dt) as the dependent variable to represent the dynamic development of the mixing process, and using the above seven parameters as independent variables, a semi-empirical fitting formula was established. This formula can comprehensively reflect the coupling effect of multiple factors. The results show that the model has good generalization ability and extrapolation robustness. It provides a prediction model and theoretical tool with certain engineering practical value. This can be used for predicting the amount of mixing and optimizing operating parameters in actual pipeline sequential transportation systems.

ABSTRACT China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) strategy is the cornerstone of the country’s poverty reduction efforts, lifting hundreds of millions of rural people out of poverty. However, existing research has seldom explored the dynamics of policy effects and the impact of phased implementation. This study, based on Amartya Sen’s ‘Capability Approach to Poverty’ and ‘Public Policy Diffusion Theory’, utilizes panel data from the 2010–2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and employs a Multi-period Difference-in-Differences (DID) model to identify the causal impacts and regional heterogeneity of the policy. The empirical results show that the TPA policy significantly reduced the provincial poverty incidence rate. Moreover, the policy demonstrates characteristics of dynamic persistence, meaning that its poverty reduction effects are cumulative and strengthen over time rather than diminishing. Importantly, the study reveals significant differences in policy effects during the ‘pilot-to-promotion’ diffusion process: early pilot regions, benefiting from the ‘first-mover advantage’, achieved better poverty reduction outcomes; while later promotion regions showed a similar poverty reduction trend, their effects were weaker. These findings provide crucial empirical evidence for the ‘post-poverty alleviation era’, indicating the necessity of transitioning to the governance of relative poverty and suggesting optimized, differentiated resource allocation strategies for future policy diffusion.

Abstract 2D laser rangefinders are widely used in autonomous driving and robotics due to high sampling rate and reliability. However, raw data is inevitably contaminated by noise, degrading subsequent feature extraction and recognition. This paper presents an adaptive smoothing method for noisy 2D range images based on feature estimation within a scale-space framework. To better preserve the original features, an adaptive smoothing mask is introduced which incorporates local geometric structure of the range image and the probabilistic characteristics of noise. Consequently, the smoothing mask can adjust spatially to encourage intra-region smoothing, aligning with anisotropic diffusion theory. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves competitive performance compared with state-of-the-art approaches. It can enhance the quality of 2D range images and provides an effective preprocessing scheme.

This study proposes an understanding of public integrity as a comprehensive multilevel policy framework, develops analytical schemes for examining and comparing international standards and integrity systems, and explores the Brazilian case to illustrate their application. It draws on policy diffusion and convergence theories and adopts an exploratory and qualitative research design with content analysis and documentary techniques. Documentary data were gathered between June 2023 and December 2024 through web-based strategies and requests for information, resulting in a corpus consisting of 69 documents produced between 2011 and 2023, containing evidence on the sources, fundamentals, and justifications of the rules, structures, and measures within the Brazilian integrity system. Findings suggest fragmentation of public integrity in this country, ambiguities in domestic norms and guidance concerning high-risk sectors and processes and state-owned enterprises, blurred definitions of integrity violations, and the predominance of the compliance-based approach. Beyond presenting a new understanding of public integrity, analytical schemes, and findings and discussions resulting from the analysis of the Brazilian case, this study’s contributions should provide insights for comparative and in-depth studies that enhance the scientific debate and the formulation and implementation of public integrity systems.

This paper examines the emerging landscape of municipal currencies in Brazil using government-program documents submitted by mayoral candidates to the Brazilian Electoral Court (TSE) during the 2024 elections. We employ computational text analysis to identify and classify municipal currency proposals and our findings reveal 98 elected mayors proposing such initiatives: 61 “social currencies” connected to municipal basic income programs, 40 “green currencies” linked to recycling schemes, and three hybrid cases. Results reveal important regional and partisan dynamics shaping municipal monetary innovation in Brazil and open a broader discussion about the rise of city-level policymaking. These initiatives are strongly concentrated in the Southeast and Northeast regions, supporting policy diffusion theories that emphasize neighborhood effects and the role of pioneering municipalities such as Maricá (RJ). City-level analysis indicates that, once major outliers are excluded, the adoption of municipal currencies is not restricted to wealthier municipalities, suggesting that fiscal capacity alone does not explain their diffusion. Politically, the findings challenge conventional expectations by showing that municipal currencies are not confined to left-wing agendas: most proposals originate from right-wing and center-right parties, particularly in the case of green currencies, pointing to a reframing of these instruments as tools of local economic management rather than purely redistributive policies. Finally, the paper suggests that municipal currencies in Brazil have evolved from isolated experiments into a diversified and politically transversal policy instrument. The study also provides a basis for monitoring the implementation of these commitments during the 2025-2028 municipal mandates.

Classical Fickian diffusion theory often fails to capture the complex structure of turbulent dispersion in the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL), particularly regarding the description of memory effects and plume retention. This work investigates the Bi-flux dispersion theory, which extends the advection-diffusion equation by incorporating a fourth-order derivative term to model non-Fickian transport phenomena. Unlike previous analytical approaches limited to constant coefficients, this study develops a numerical model using a high-order implicit finite difference scheme that incorporates realistic height-dependent profiles for both wind speed and vertical eddy diffusivity. A novel physical parameterization is proposed for the fourth-order retention coefficient, defined as Kz2 ∝ u*|L|3, linking the non-Fickian mechanism to the local atmospheric turbulence scales (friction velocity and Monin-Obukhov length). The model was validated against the Copenhagen Experiment dataset. A sensitivity analysis of the partition parameter β revealed an optimal performance at β=0.99. The results demonstrate that the physically parameterized Bi-flux model significantly outperforms the classical Fickian formulation (β=1.0), achieving a 24.1% reduction in the Normalized Mean Square Error (NMSE) and a 70.4% improvement in the Fractional Standard Deviation (FS). These findings confirm that the inclusion of an atmospheric-scaled fourth-order term effectively preserves the internal variance of the plume, offering a superior predictive capability for pollutant dispersion in unstable boundary layers.

This article offers the first systematic, comparative analysis of China’s AI diplomacy across all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – foregrounding Gulf governments’ agency in negotiating the intersection of Chinese digital infrastructure and global AI governance. Challenging portrayals of the region as a monolithic or passive recipient of external influence, the study advances a polycentric negotiation framework that integrates theories of norm diffusion, strategic hedging, and co-production to reveal how Gulf states selectively absorb, filter, or recalibrate Chinese technological offerings and regulatory models. Drawing on systematic documentary analysis and comparative case studies, the research uncovers significant intra-GCC divergence: while some states exhibit high infrastructure dependence with limited normative alignment, others compartmentalize Chinese participation and prioritize regulatory convergence with Western frameworks. The findings highlight Gulf states’ strategic use of digital sovereignty and alignment flexibility to maximize autonomy amid intensifying US–China competition. Ultimately, the analysis demonstrates how Gulf agency and institutional innovation shape the global diffusion and localization of AI norms, providing a replicable model for understanding digital diplomacy in other geopolitical contexts.