Journals
2026 EN
SaboBrants Hagit Mercedes · Ariel Barak · Bushman Brad J.
ABSTRACT Aggression and emotional distress are all too common in at‐risk adolescents in closed residential institutions, which often contain restrictive conditions such as overcrowding, lack of autonomy, and shifting staff–youth relationships. In war‐torn areas like Israel, these restrictive conditions are amplified with additional stressors such as the threat of injury or even death. In such settings, feasibility studies are greatly needed to investigate how to reduce aggression and emotional distress in vulnerable adolescents. This feasibility randomized clinical trial evaluated the effectiveness of a virtual reality (VR)‐based relaxation intervention in decreasing self‐reported aggression tendencies and emotional distress and increasing positive psychological states among at‐risk Israeli adolescents in residential care. Fifty‐two participants from different residential facilities were randomly assigned to a treatment group ( n = 27), who received twice‐weekly VR relaxation sessions, or a waitlist control group ( n = 25). Self‐report measures of aggression and emotional distress were administered at baseline, midway through the intervention (2 weeks), and at the end of the intervention (4 weeks). Mixed‐effects linear models suggest that the treatment group demonstrated clear reductions in both aggression and emotional distress across the intervention period relative to the control group (Hedges' gs : 0.85–1.42). In addition, immediately before and after each VR session, participants in the treatment group reported consistent increases in positive mood and flow experience (Hedges' gs : 0.45–0.73). These preliminary findings support the utility of brief VR relaxation practices in reducing negative emotional states and fostering well‐being among high‐risk youth in closed institutional settings. Trial Registration: This study was pre‐registered on the Open Science Framework (OSF) prior to data collection. The pre‐registration is available at: https://osf.io/pr3md/ .
Journals
2026 EN
YeshuaKatz Daphna · Shapira Stav · BraunLewensohn Orna
Abstract Mobile technologies have become significant resources for crisis communication and social support in recent years. However, despite empirical evidence pointing to the centrality of these technologies for parenthood in everyday life, it is yet unknown how parents' coping resources play a role in the digital environment. In this study, we examined how parents cope with prolonged political violence online, based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory and the three levels of coping it encompasses: personal, family, and community. We employed a photo‐elicitation technique during in‐depth interviews with 21 parents residing in communities near the Israel‐Gaza border, to identify digital coping strategies in WhatsApp groups. The data were collected in January 2023, prior to the outbreak of the October 7th Israel‐Gaza war, and therefore reflect coping processes during a period that alternated between relative calm and episodes of escalation. Theoretically, our findings contribute to expanding the core concepts of coping theories, traditionally studied in offline environments, to the digital realm. Empirically, our analysis revealed that participants developed digital coping methods at two ecological levels: personal and community. At the personal level, our participants used local WhatsApp parent groups (WPGs) to manage stress by exchanging emotional and instrumental support and venting emotions. At the community level, our participants indicated that local WPGs could help address emergencies collectively through the provision of instrumental support, emotional support, relief through humor, and as a platform for venting. Our study, by identifying how they use local digital settings, indicates the ways residents can potentially increase their personal and community resilience.
Journals
2026 EN
Meyer Oanh L. · Farias Sarah Tomaszewski · Gavett Brandon E.
+11 more
Abstract INTRODUCTION We examined associations of early life adversity (ELA) and war exposures with late‐life cognition of participants in the Vietnamese Insights into Cognitive Aging Program (VIP). METHODS Participants completed psychosocial and neuropsychological assessments, the latter including measures of global cognition, executive function, semantic memory, episodic memory, and visuospatial skills. Principal component analysis identified four war exposure components (harsh conditions and witnessing death, personal life threat/endangerment, family endangerment, and displacement) that were included in multivariable Bayesian regression models and an ELA composite. RESULTS VIP participants’ ( N = 548) mean age was 73 years, and 55% were women. Having been displaced was associated with lower executive function, but greater ELA was associated with better executive function and language scores. Family endangerment was associated with poorer visuospatial skills. Depression and gender moderated associations between the exposures and cognition. DISCUSSION Both war exposures and ELA likely impact cognitive aging in nuanced ways.
Journals
2026 EN
Chen Moyu · Findlay Christopher · Sheng Yu
+2 more
ABSTRACT Australiaʼs agricultural sector has experienced a remarkable resurgence in economic growth since the late 1970s, effectively reversing decades of stagnation following World War II. At the heart of this resurgence lies the pivotal role of agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth, which has been 1.4% a year accounting for more than two‐thirds of the growth in agricultural output. Crucially, government interventions, encompassing a range of institutions, policies, and investments (IPIs), have significantly contributed to this transformation process. These IPIs include deregulation, substantial investments in research and development, and effective water management. This paper reviews agricultural development in Australia since the 1950s and the profound role of IPIs on agricultural TFP. By drawing valuable insights from the Australian experience, we shed light on the pivotal role that governments can play in fostering agricultural GDP growth, sustainability, and resilience within an ever‐evolving global landscape.
Journals
2026 EN
Castro Renato Cruz De
ABSTRACT This article examines system‐ and unit‐level drivers that create a lattice work of Indo‐Pacific alliances and security partners. Consequently, these developments are leading to a multilateral security network that is comparable to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). It observes the emergence of an Asian‐style NATO in the Indo‐Pacific region, which is gradually replacing the Cold War‐era hub‐and‐spoke system of alliances. It argues that this type of security architecture has emerged as a result of Chinaʼs rise as a great power in the Indo‐Pacific region, with a focus on expansion in the South and East China Seas, as well as Washingtonʼs decision to engage Beijing in strategic competition. The following variables indicate the formation of this Asian‐style NATO: a changing US grand strategy vis‐à‐vis China, the creation of mini‐laterals, and US alliesʼ efforts to confront Chinaʼs expansion and aggression by strengthening their alliance with the US. In conclusion, the article argues that this Asian‐style NATO is still in its formative stages compared to the time‐tested, well‐established, and highly institutionalised Euro‐Atlantic NATO.
Journals
2026 EN
Bonny Pierre
ABSTRACT Sylvia Plath wrote with great precision about her deep depression and her vital need to write, before committing suicide shortly after the publication of her only novel, The Bell Jar . Our contribution, distinct from previous studies of her life and work, highlights an aspect that has been little explored until now, but which is crucial to re‐examining her suicide and identifying a central risk of psychotherapy. Drawing on her journals, we explain how, in seeking to encourage her creativity, Plath's psychotherapy paradoxically destabilized her. We situate this experience in the post‐war American context, marked by the importation of psychoanalysis into psychotherapy and psychiatry, where the sublimation of drives was conceived as an individual and collective requirement for producing a normalized individual. Based on a re‐examination of Freud's and then Lacan's conceptions of sublimation, we show how this “push towards sublimation” led Plath to produce, with The Bell Jar, a final work, mortally accomplishing the unconscious aim of her sublimatory process. Finally, we draw attention to the risk of psychotherapies centered on the idea that the patient could find their highest good in sublimation: taken to the extreme, such a dynamic can pave the way for the expression of the self‐destructive tendencies of the subject and of civilization.
Journals
2026 DE
Geske Mara · Standecker Benjamin · Völker Conrad
Abstrakt Bei der energetischen Analyse von Bestandsgebäuden kommt sowohl der Bewertung der flächenbezogenen Bauteileigenschaften durch den U‐Wert als auch der Identifikation energetischer Schwachstellen, wie z. B. Wärmebrücken, eine zentrale Bedeutung zu. Ziel dieser Studie ist es, die Eignung der Thermografie zur qualitativen und quantitativen In‐situ‐Bewertung von Wärmebrücken zu überprüfen. Dazu werden drei Versuchswände in einem realitätsnahen Versuchsaufbau parallel untersucht. Die thermografischen Messergebnisse (IRT) werden sowohl mit kontaktbasierten Messwerten (NTC) als auch mit einer thermischen Modellierung verglichen und eingeordnet. Die Auswertung zeigt hohe Übereinstimmung zwischen NTC‐ und IRT‐Messungen mit Bestimmtheitsmaßen zwischen 0,80 und 0,88. Die festgestellten Unterschiede zwischen den Messarten treten insbesondere an der Außenoberfläche der Versuchswände als systematische Verschiebung um im Mittel 0,7 K auf. Eine Abschätzung des ƒ Rsi ‐Wertes war aufgrund ausgeprägter transienter Effekte weder aus den thermografischen noch aus den kontaktbasierten Messdaten möglich. Damit lassen sich qualitative Aussagen zur Wärmebrückenerkennung einfach und zuverlässig ableiten, während belastbare quantitative Auswertungen Langzeitmessungen unter stabilen Randbedingungen erfordern. Insgesamt verdeutlicht diese Untersuchung das Potenzial thermografischer Methoden in Kombination mit weiterentwickelten Analyseverfahren.
Journals
2026 DE
Abstrakt Zum Titelbild : Das Nürnberger Herrenschießhaus mit seinem Fachwerkspeicher von 1441 und dem Renaissancebau von 1582/83 wird bis 2027 in ein modernes Kinder‐ und Jugendhaus umgewandelt. Auf der historischen Bausubstanz einen neuen, leichten und stabilen Bodenaufbau zu schaffen, der gleichzeitig brandschutzkonform ist und wärmedämmend wirkt, war eine der zentralen Anforderungen bei der Sanierung. Die Lösung bot Liapor‐Leichtbeton, der als innovativer Baustoff hier Denkmalschutz, Statik, Brandschutz und Bauphysik zusammenbringt (Planung: Gumbrecht Architekten BDA GmbH). (Foto: Oliver Heinl/heinl‐foto.de) Meldung siehe S. A4
Journals
2026 DE
Kloft Harald
Abstrakt Der Beitrag reflektiert auf Grundlage persönlicher Erfahrungen die Entwicklung der digitalen Baufabrikation mit Blick auf das Zusammenwirken von Material, Prozess und Form. Deren Einheit bildet seit jeher die Grundlage des Bauens und muss konstant an neue technologische Entwicklungen angepasst werden. Während in früheren Epochen die Einheit von Material, Prozess und Form durch handwerkliche und industrielle Fertigungstechniken geprägt war, markiert die digitale Baufabrikation den nächsten entscheidenden Technologieschritt: digital gesteuert und durchgängig vernetzt – von der Planung bis zur Fertigung. Die Freiformarchitekturen der 2000er‐Jahre markieren den Beginn der digitalen Baufabrikation. Sie waren von der architektonischen Form geleitet und für die Realisierung wurden erstmals durchgängige digitale Workflows entwickelt. Doch erst die weiterführenden Forschungen und Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre, insbesondere der additiven Fertigung, zeigen das transformative Potenzial für das Bauwesen. Die digitale Baufabrikation ist der Schlüssel, um das baukulturelle Prinzip der Einheit von Material, Prozess und Form in das digitale Zeitalter zu überführen. Zugleich eröffnet diese den Einstieg in eine Bauindustrie 5.0, welche Mensch, Maschine und Material digital vernetzt. Die Einheit von Material, Prozess und Form ist die Grundlage, um ökonomische, ökologische sowie gesellschaftliche Anforderungen in Einklang zu bringen.
Journals
2026 DE
Neubauer Gregor · Wagner Valentin · Chen TzuYing
+3 more
Abstrakt Der Hybrid‐Flachs Pavillon der Landesgartenschau 2024 in Wangen im Allgäu dient als Demonstrator für die Entwicklung, Herstellung und Verwendung neuartiger, robotisch gefertigter Naturfaserelemente auf Basis von Flachsfasern in einer Gebäudestruktur. Ziel war es, ein leichtes, ressourceneffizientes und zugleich leistungsfähiges Konstruktionssystem auf Basis von Naturfasern für lastabtragende Bauteile zu demonstrieren. Die verwendeten Naturfasern wurden lokal bezogen und im Wickelverfahren mit Epoxidharz zu komplexen Tragstrukturen verarbeitet. Durch die Kombination aus experimentellen Untersuchungen im Maßstab 1:1 und numerischer Modellierung wurde ein Verfahren zum Nachweis der Tragfähigkeit entwickelt, das die Geometrie, die Materialeigenschaften sowie die Bedingungen der Herstellung berücksichtigt. Großversuche lieferten wesentliche Erkenntnisse zu Steifigkeit, Bruchlast und Versagensmechanismen, insbesondere zum Faserabriss an den Bolzenverankerungen. Auf dieser Grundlage wurden detaillierte FE‐Modelle erstellt und zu vereinfachten Hybridmodellen weiterentwickelt, um eine realitätsnahe Abbildung der Tragwirkung in einem statischen Gesamtmodell des Pavillons zu ermöglichen.