ABSTRACT Scientization tends to be understood as a process whereby a form of knowledge is rendered scientifically legitimate. In this way, scientists work with other experts and lay theories to move claims into the realm of fact, where they are stabilized and expanded through scientific practice. Paradoxical scientization describes a process in which efforts to render cultural values scientifically legitimate depend on and reproduce claims to cultural specificity. The recent scientization of sisu – a historically mutable Finnish concept and cultural value that is typically translated as grit or resilience while cast as ‘impossible to translate’ – has occurred in three steps: the datafying of affect, the creation of a measurement scale, and the scale's extension through machine-learning methods. Through this process, what was previously seen as a mutable cultural value has been transformed into a measurable affective capacity. Paradoxical scientization relies on sisu being both cultivatable and universal to all humans, yet unique to the Finnish culture, language, and people. It also lays the ground for sisu’s commercialization as a neoliberal self-help product. Scientization does not occur in isolation, but must be analyzed in context. In the case of sisu, scientization is taking place alongside neoliberal restructuring and ethnonationalist mobilization – contexts in which appeals to sisu are made to advance ideological agendas. By leaving unresolved the paradox at its heart, the scientization of a cultural value can reinforce racialised, ableist and classist exclusions.

Abstract This paper advocates for an “evolutionary turn” in the philosophy of technology, emphasizing the biological dimension of our relation to technology. Rather than replacing the well-established empirical turn, this approach aims to enrich it by addressing overlooked aspects of the role played by technology in human evolution. First, I argue that adopting an evolutionary viewpoint strengthens the relationship between philosophy and scientific practice by both necessitating analyses that align with up-to-date scientific paradigms like the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis and scrutinizing how technologies also constitute scientific insights into our evolution. Second, I show that technology shapes human biology even today and, therefore, this perspective also contributes to elucidating current debates about technological interventions in the human lifeform and the biopolitical implications of our evolutionary self-representations. Third, I emphasize the limitations of the human–technology relations approach exemplified by postphenomenology and, by drawing on Stiegler’s “general organology,” I propose to reconceptualize the human lifeform as the evolving negotiation between biological organs, technologies and social organizations and their historically situated reconstruction.

Researchers need training to develop adequate competence before using animals in experimental procedures. In contrast to medical training, there has been almost no scholarly attention to questions of methodology for teaching practical skills with laboratory animals. In this paper, we explore how the experience of laboratory animal trainers can be combined with existing scholarship on learning and teaching practical skills in related fields. Data were collected through facilitated group discussions in a series of workshops involving a total of 72 participants from 18 countries. Participants identified the 'See one, Do one' method as their preferred teaching approach in practical classes, and recognised the importance of strategies for progressive and adapted learning. They also acknowledged different types of challenging situations, including trainees who have previously developed proficiency with incorrect techniques, trainees who appear uninterested, trainees expressing aversion to animals and trainees who are reluctant to subject animals to harmful procedures. Although participants presented strategies for overcoming the majority of these challenges, they also highlighted specific scenarios where they felt unable to provide adequate support or overcome the challenges within the training environment. This work represents a first systematic scholarly effort to capture and describe teaching strategies used by practical laboratory animal science trainers, an essential step for education and competency development research and practice in the field.

Trustworthiness and Transparency Features Were Less Frequent in Randomized Trials Presenting Large Effects for Continuous Outcomes in Abstracts.

Virtual communities of practice in health and social care: Early outcomes from a developmental evaluation in Quebec.

Livestock farming plays a vital role in the rural economy of Chhattisgarh State. This investigation was conducted to evaluate the existing feeding and housing management practices adopted by local cattle farmers of Bastar, Narayanpur and Dantewada districts from the Bastar Plateau zone of Chhattisgarh. The study revealed that all respondents adopted an extensive system of cattle farming, with feeding primarily dependent on grazing, crop residues, and grasses. Only 19.5% of respondents offer concentrate ratios, whereas very few supplied mineral mixtures to the animals. All the farmers constructed sheds for their animals using locally available low-cost materials, such as polypropylene or thatched roofs, and earthen flooring. Most of the sheds lack electricity, although cleanliness and ventilation facilities are maintained. The investigation highlights that the cattle farmers followed traditional low-input rearing with limited scientific management practices. Therefore, it reveals the urgent need for strengthened extension services and farmer,s training programme to promote scientific management practices among farmers.

Citizen science is increasingly recognized as a valuable scientific approach across disciplines, contexts, and research areas. However, its rapid expansion and diverse methodologies make it challenging to establish a single definition or universal criteria for what constitutes citizen science. Building on our previously published work that detailed findings from a vignette study used to identify the ECSA Characteristics, this paper specifically focuses on the descriptive results from that study and examines the Characteristics in relation to the ECSA 10 Principles of Citizen Science. We developed the ECSA Characteristics through a vignette study, a survey method that captures diverse perspectives on complex topics. We then reviewed the ECSA 10 Principles of Citizen Science, a broad framework for best practices in citizen science, to identify its gaps and limitations, showing how the ECSA Characteristics can help address them. The results highlight the disciplinary distinctions as well as ambiguities surrounding various citizen science practices. In this context, it is beneficial to adopt an inclusive approach and language that allows the audience to define its own criteria depending on its needs, intended use and specific circumstances. The ECSA Characteristics were developed in a spirit of openness; identifying areas with diverse and even conflicting views was central to this practice. We recommend their use as a whole set and contend that no one area or characteristic is more important than the other. They should be considered as a toolkit with examples that can guide efforts towards defining citizen science for a specific context and purpose. They are built on the ECSA 10 Principles, addressing some of their gaps and limitations, while at the same time acknowledging the need to update and improve the 10 Principles based on developments in the field.

Wheat productivity in Sikkim remains below the national average due to fragmented landholdings, soil acidity, erratic rainfall, and limited adoption of scientific agronomic practices. This study evaluated three widely cultivated wheat varieties—UP 2338, PBW 343, and VL 804—under optimised and farmer-managed agronomic practices across Sikkim’s mid- and high-hill agro-climatic zones. A two-year field experiment using a Randomised Complete Block Design (RCBD) assessed growth dynamics, yield attributes, grain quality, soil health parameters, and economic returns. Optimised management significantly enhanced grain yield (18–27%), improved protein content (0.6–1.1%), and increased benefit–cost ratio (1.48 to 2.12). Among varieties, VL 804 performed best in high elevations, while PBW 343 showed superior performance in mid-hills under improved nutrient scheduling. Results provide region-specific, evidence-based recommendations for sustainable wheat production in Sikkim.

Contemporary gastronomy is experiencing a structural transformation driven by technological innovation, cultural reconfiguration, sustainability, and digitalization. Rather than breaking with tradition, culinary evolution reflects a dynamic reinterpretation that integrates scientific knowledge, creative practices, and environmental responsibility while preserving cultural heritage. This narrative review analyzes interactions between innovation, tradition, sustainability, and digital transformation using peer-reviewed studies (2020–2025). Findings show that molecular gastronomy, artificial intelligence, and digital systems expand culinary possibilities, while local ingredients and ancestral knowledge reinforce identity. An integrative four-axis model is proposed, highlighting balance between authenticity and modernization as the sector’s key strategic challenge.

ABSTRACT The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) calls for assessments that can measure students’ three-dimensional (3D) science learning. In this study, we developed and collected validity evidence for 3D assessment tasks that assess students’ ability to reason about energy disciplinary core ideas using science and engineering practices and crosscutting concepts across three grade bands. We field tested the tasks with 3446 elementary, middle, and high school students. Validity evidence based on test content, response processes, internal structure, and relations to other variables was collected. The evidence supports the use of these tasks as measures of students’ ability to reason about energy as recommended by NGSS. The field test data revealed that while many middle and high school students demonstrated understanding of the elementary-level NGSS expectations, many have not yet met the NGSS expectations for their own grade levels. This finding likely reflects the uneven implementation of NGSS-aligned instruction.

Pre-service biology teachers as developers of mobile augmented reality teaching materials: Enhancing, not replacing, science practices and connections with the natural environment

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) increase student access to research, providing opportunities for more students to engage with science practices and make novel science contributions. However, little is known about how to teach CUREs effectively. Effective CURE instruction relies on an instructor's knowledge of students, which is used to notice and respond to students as they conduct research. This study investigates CURE instructor knowledge of students that resulted from previous noticing when students experience research challenges. We surveyed a national sample of experienced CURE instructors about the challenges they have seen students experience that are distinctive to CUREs. Analysis from our deductive and inductive qualitative analysis of instructors' knowledge of students indicated that they paid attention to student struggles in two main areas: nature of science and research as a practice. Instructor interpretations within these two areas provided nuanced insight into their knowledge of students' knowledge, skills, and emotions across research challenges. Our results provide new insight into CURE instructor knowledge of students that was developed from noticing, which has implications for future research on CURE instruction and instructor professional development.

Moving beyond anecdotes: An empirical investigation of scientists' and engineers' views about and engagement with philosophy of science.

This study aimed to examine how science education grounded in scientific practices, socioscientific issues (SSI), and the integration of STEM–Computational Thinking (CT) can foster future competencies among elementary school students. The method employed is a literature review analyzing relevant studies on 21st-century science learning, scientific literacy, and technology integration. The findings indicate that when science is taught as an epistemic activity—through inquiry, modeling, and evidence-based argumentation—and connected to meaningful social and environmental contexts, it simultaneously strengthens the 4C skills (critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication), scientific literacy, data-digital literacy, and scientific character. The review also highlights key implementation prerequisites, including curriculum autonomy, formative performance-based assessment, meaningful technological ecosystems, and sustained teacher professional development. In conclusion, science education built upon practice, context, and technology offers a strategic framework for developing cross-domain competencies in elementary education. Keywords: Future Competencies, Scientific Practices, Socioscientific Issues, STEM-CT, Elementary Science Education

Abstract: Concerns about the credibility, transparency, and trustworthiness of empirical findings are changing research practices in work and organizational psychology, contributing to a slow but visible growth in interest in Open Science practices. As one Open Science practice that has received comparatively limited attention, registered reports (RRs) constitute an empirically oriented publication format that shifts peer review prior to data collection. To make this format more popular, this article offers a practical primer for scholars considering RRs. Specifically, to turn potential authors into authors who realize the potential of RRs, I draw on the cognitive–affective–behavioral framework and outline what to think about, which emotions to expect, and how to act when preparing a Stage 1 submission and navigating the subsequent review, data collection, and Stage 2 submission process. I pay particular attention to considerations for early-career researchers and conclude with implications for editors and reviewers.

In contemporary engineering and scientific practice, multi-objective optimization often facilitates the search for compromise solutions without prescribing weight coefficients or bounds, forming a Pareto front via heuristic approximation based on genetic algorithms. However, even an approximated Pareto front consists of a large set of points, which complicates analysis and selection of solutions. To organize and structure the obtained results, clustering can be employed to identify representative groups of trade-offs. The scientific novelty of the proposed clustering method lies in the combination of Ordering Points to Identify the Clustering Structure and k-means algorithms with the introduction of medoids identification, which ensures automatic noise removal and a compact representation of representative strategies. A two-stage clustering approach is proposed. At the first stage, Ordering Points to Identify the Clustering Structure algorithm is used to construct an ordered density profile and to automatically filter out noise points based on the reachability threshold. At the second stage, the k-means algorithm is applied to the filtered Pareto front core to partition it into clusters, compute the centroids, and then determine the medoids — real representative data points. Two experiments were conducted on three-dimensional Pareto front datasets (1226 and 2514 core points after filtering). As a result of applying the proposed approach, a partition into 10 clusters was achieved. It was found that after filtering, the proportion of noise points was less than 1 % of the total number of solutions. The filtering step significantly reduced the metric assessing the quality of cluster centers, with only a moderate increase in the total clustering time. A small discrepancy between centroids and their corresponding medoids indicates the high representativeness of the resulting clusters. The proposed hybrid method, combining Ordering Points to Identify the Clustering Structure and k-means algorithms, requires the adjustment of only two parameters and automatically adapts to nonlinear densities and input data scales. The scope of this method can be extended to any multi-objective optimization problems solved through the construction and analysis of the Pareto front, including engineering optimization, logistics, energy systems, and financial modeling. In the future, the approach may be enhanced by integrating adaptive mechanisms for automatic determination of optimal algorithm parameters, as well as dynamically changing multi-objective problem settings

The professional dog training field sits at the intersection of applied behavioral science, ethics, and lived experience. Despite its significant animal welfare implications, it remains largely unregulated. This primarily qualitative study, complemented by quantitative analyses, examined how professional trainers with differing methodological orientations conceptualize humane and effective practice. Using stratified sampling, 35 trainers affiliated with independent certification directories (17 reward-based; 18 mixed methods) completed a pre-screen survey and semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed to explore associations among training approach, certification, and demographics, as well as differences in ethical reasoning, evidentiary interpretation, and views on industry regulation. Across orientations, trainers consistently identified positive reinforcement as their most frequently used and effective method, expressed strong commitments to canine emotional well-being and owner education, and voiced concern over the industry's lack of professional regulation. However, ethical and epistemic orientations diverged. While both groups evaluated methods in relation to canine welfare and behavioral outcomes, reward-based trainers more often grounded their practice in behavioral science and articulated deontological concerns regarding the intentional use of fear or pain. Mixed methods trainers more frequently employed consequentialist reasoning, supporting conditional use of aversive methods in specific contexts and placing comparatively greater emphasis on practitioner-based expertise when interpreting evidence. Although mixed methods trainers reported using positive reinforcement most often, they rated positive punishment and positive reinforcement as equally effective in independent assessments. Overall, the findings depict a profession characterized by ethical pluralism and epistemic tension, yet marked by sustained reflection and adaptive learning. To strengthen professional cohesion and enhance the practical relevance of future research and ethical frameworks, we recommend structured adversarial collaboration embedded within a community-based participatory research approach.

Sex and Gender: Toward Transforming Scientific Practice, edited by L. Zachary DuBois, Anelis Kaiser Trujillo, and Margaret M. McCarthy

ABSTRACT Criminal justice research faces a credibility crisis—one that predates recent political turbulence but has been exposed and accelerated by it. For decades, our discipline has tolerated questionable research practices: publication bias, underpowered studies, p-value hacking, and HARKing. These problems have always undermined the reliability and replicability of our work, but we have largely gotten away with them. We cannot anymore. At a time when universities face political scrutiny, federal funding streams remain unstable, and public trust in science is increasingly fragile, our longstanding transparency problems are now being weaponized against us. Drawing on our experiences as mid-career scholars at a R-2 university collaborating with agencies in Nebraska and across the United States, we argue that the field must move beyond discussion to action. We must embrace open science practices—transparent articulation of assumptions and hypotheses, clear documentation of data-generating processes, and the sharing of data and code whenever possible. These practices not only strengthen research credibility but also build trust with practitioners and communities who still need rigorous research to guide their decisions. In an era when the legitimacy of science itself is contested, transparency and local engagement are essential for ensuring the future resilience and relevance of criminal justice research.

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas, with livestock rumination being a significant contributor to global emissions. This study developed a real-time monitoring system utilizing Off-Axis Integrated Cavity Output Spectroscopy (OA-ICOS) to simultaneously track rumination behavior and CH4 concentrations in cattle breath. By optimizing the off-axis integrated cavity structure and implementing a specialized environmental control system, we enhanced stability and detection accuracy, achieving a rapid 3 s response time to dynamic concentration changes. Laboratory stability tests and Allan deviation analysis demonstrated a minimum detection limit of 0.07 ppm. Continuous field monitoring of Simmental cattle revealed a daily methane production of approximately 311.83 L. The emission rates exhibited a distinct double-peak pattern heavily influenced by feeding schedules. Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed between the time elapsed post feeding and both the frequency and intensity of methane emission peaks. This method enables highly dynamic, stable, long-term monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions from ruminants, providing a robust tool for quantifying emissions and informing scientific feeding practices.