Analysis of The Equivalent Land Use (ELU) in the Milpa System Intercalated with Fruit Trees (MIAF) in Axochio, Veracruz

/0 Comments/in /by

The Intercropped Maize and Fruit Tree System (MIAF) represents an agroecological alternative aimed at improving the productivity, sustainability, and resilience of tropical agroecosystems in the face of the limitations of traditional monocultures. In this context, Land Use Equivalent (LUE) is a fundamental indicator for evaluating the productive efficiency of diversified systems. The objective of this research was to evaluate the Land Use Equivalent in the MIAF system established in Axochio, Veracruz, in order to determine its efficiency compared to monocultures. The research was conducted during the years 2024, 2025, and 2026 at the MIAF-INIFAP Module in Axochio, San Andrés Tuxtla, Veracruz. The evaluated system consisted of 16 species, including fruit trees and annual crops. To determine the LUE, the yields obtained in association within the MIAF system and the national yields for monoculture reported by SIAP and SIACON were used. The results showed high productive diversity, highlighting species such as sapodilla, Persian lime, starfruit, and maize. The total land use efficiency (LUE) obtained was 4.83, a value greater than one, indicating that the integrated agroforestry system (MIAF) uses land more efficiently than monocultures. The largest contributions to the UET came from maize and starfruit. It is concluded that the MIAF system promotes ecological complementarity among species, optimizes resource use, and constitutes a viable strategy for strengthening sustainability and food security in tropical regions.

War News Exposure and Household Economic Anxiety: The Perceived Impact of the United States–Israel–Iran Conflict on Fuel and Food Price Concerns in Depok, Indonesia

/0 Comments/in /by

This study examines the effect of exposure to war news on household economic anxiety, focusing on public concern over fuel and food price increases in Depok, Indonesia. The research was motivated by the increasing intensity of global conflict coverage and its potential to shape local perceptions of economic risk. Using a quantitative explanatory approach, this study surveyed 103 respondents who had access to mass or digital media and were exposed to news about the United States–Israel–Iran conflict. The independent variable was war news exposure, measured through frequency, duration, attention, and multiplatform intensity. The dependent variable was household economic anxiety, measured through concerns about fuel prices, food commodity prices, household living costs, and family economic stability. The data were analysed using simple linear regression. The findings show that war news exposure has a positive and significant effect on household economic anxiety, with a significance value of 0.000 and a regression coefficient of 0.642. The coefficient of determination indicates that exposure to war news explains 35.9% of the variation in economic anxiety. These findings suggest that global conflict news can shape local economic concerns through media exposure.

A Comparison of Some Common Source Domains in Vietnamese and American English Political Discourses

/in /by

This article identifies, describes, and compares a number of common source domains in Vietnamese and American English political discourses, with the aim of clarifying how politicians select source domains. In doing so, it affirms that through source–target mappings, abstract concepts and messages in political discourses are made concrete and more accessible to the public. A qualitative survey and analysis of 39 Vietnamese political discourse texts and 83 American English political discourse texts reveals that certain universal source domains such as JOURNEY, CONSTRUCTION, and FAMILY appear in both discourse systems, reflecting the way people conceptualize politics as a goal-directed process or a form of social construction. However, Vietnamese political discourses tend to prioritize source domains that emphasize collectivity, stability, and long-term orientation such as FAMILY and CONSTRUCTION; whereas American English political discourses are characterized by source domains that are competitive, confrontational, and individualized such as WAR, COMPETITION, and BUSINESS. These differences reflect the cultural characteristics, ideological orientations, and political organizational models of each country. The findings thus contribute to clarifying the relationship between language, cognition, and power in political discourses.

 

Real-Time Monitoring of Kindergarten Safety Using YOLO-11-Based Detection of Children and Adults

/in /by

Ensuring the safety and well-being of children in kindergartens requires continuous monitoring of their interactions with caregivers and the surrounding environment, as even short periods of inattentiveness can lead to accidents or unnoticed risky behavior. In this work, we present a computer-vision–based monitoring system that uses an improved YOLO-11 object detection model to localize and classify adults and children in surveillance video streams in real time. Based on the detection results, the system infers whether each child is currently supervised or unsupervised, and whether a child is present near predefined dangerous zones (such as exits, staircases, or other restricted areas) defined in the camera field of view.

To support this task, a custom dataset was created and annotated with bounding boxes for “child” and “adult” classes using both publicly available images and collected video frames from kindergarten-like environments, covering different viewpoints, illumination conditions, and crowd levels. The YOLO-11 model was trained and evaluated using standard detection metrics (precision, recall, F1-score and mAP) on separate training, validation, and test splits. In addition, a simple geometric reasoning module was implemented on top of the detector outputs to derive high-level safety events, such as “unsupervised child in the room” and “child entering a danger zone.”

A prototype implementation demonstrates that the proposed approach can robustly separate adults and children, operate at real-time frame rates on GPU hardware, and automatically flag frames where a child remains alone or moves toward restricted areas, thus providing timely cues for caregivers. These preliminary results confirm the feasibility of applying modern YOLO-family detectors to real-time kindergarten safety monitoring and provide a practical foundation for further extensions toward action recognition (e.g., falling, aggression, social isolation), spatio-temporal behavior analysis, and affective state estimation in early childhood education settings.

Which Financial Signals Drive Stock Returns the Most? Evidence from Indonesia’s Miscellaneous Industry Sector 2022–2024

/in /by

This study examines the effects of profitability, liquidity, company size, price-to-book value, and leverage on stock returns of companies in the Miscellaneous Industry Sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the 2022–2024 period, grounded in signalling theory. The study employed a quantitative approach using purposive sampling, selecting 40 companies with a total of 120 observations across three years. Data were analysed using multiple linear regression, preceded by classical assumption testing including normality, multicollinearity, heteroscedasticity, and autocorrelation tests.

The results show that all independent variables simultaneously exert a significant effect on stock returns (F = 12.267; p < 0.001), with the model explaining 32.1% of the variation in stock returns. Partially, profitability measured by Return on Assets has a positive and significant effect on stock returns, while price-to-book value emerges as the most dominant predictor with a standardised coefficient of 0.605 and a p-value below 0.001. In contrast, liquidity measured by the current ratio, company size measured by total assets, and leverage measured by the debt-to-equity ratio show no significant effect on stock returns.

These findings suggest that investors in this sector respond more strongly to signals of profitability and market valuation than to liquidity, asset scale, or debt structure. This study contributes to the literature on financial signal-based investment decision-making in developing country capital markets and reinforces the practical relevance of signalling theory in emerging market contexts. Company management should prioritise improving profitability and managing stock market value to attract investor interest and sustain stock return growth.

Misrated Meanings: A Multimodal Semiotic Critique of Age Classification in Streaming Animation

/in /by

The globally increase of streaming media has changed not only the circulation of animation but also the structures through which this media content is categorized and controlled. This research critically studies the semiotic boundaries of age classification contexts practical to animated content on platforms like Netflix, arguing that existing age rating is rely unreasonably on superficial-level elements while ignoring the multimodal complexity of making meaning. Based on a qualitative multimodal content analysis of selected animation, K-pop-inspired demon-hunter narratives, this research examines how visual signs, sound design, narrative, and affective intensity interact to produce meanings that exceed their given ‘child-friendly’ category. This research shows that animation has bright color palettes, musical performance, and stylized character design is often considered as suitable for younger children without considering the presence of semiotically dense elements such as demonic symbolism, identity fragmentation, and emotionally intense transformation sequences. The results recommend that existing rating systems inadequately account for the affective and symbolic dimensions of media, particularly in hybrid forms that combine entertainment aesthetics with complex thematic content.

Conceptualization of Markov Processes in Cyber-Physical Systems: Modelling, Prediction, and Control

/in /by

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) bring together physical processes with computing, communication, and control. They often operate in environments full of uncertainty, noise, and constant change, which makes traditional deterministic models struggle to capture how these systems really behave. This work introduces a more flexible framework based on Markov processes that helps model, predict, and control CPS in a more realistic way. By viewing system behaviour as probabilistic transitions between states, it becomes easier to analyze uncertainty and understand how the system evolves over time. The study looks at discrete-time Markov chains and expands the discussion to Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and Markov Decision Processes (MDPs), allowing both visible and hidden aspects of system dynamics to be represented. It outlines a well-defined process for defining states, calculating transition probabilities, and making forecasts. The paper explores, in addition to that, the use of control techniques based on the use of probability theory and shows that these methods have a greater level of robustness compared to traditional control techniques. An example is given to show how this model improves performance and flexibility. All in all, Markov modelling is a good starting point for dealing with the challenges in CPSs, paving the way for integration with other tools.

Germanium Processing from Primary and Secondary Resources: Occurrence, Extraction Technologies, and Circular Economy Perspectives

/in /by

Germanium is a critical technology metal used in fiber optics, infrared optics, photovoltaics, semiconductors, and emerging energy systems. Despite its strategic importance, primary germanium resources are limited, and global production remains heavily dependent on by-product recovery from zinc processing, coal fly ash, and copper-related residues. This review critically examines the occurrence, mineralogy, and distribution of germanium in both primary and secondary resources, emphasizing the growing importance of urban mining and industrial waste valorization. Current recovery technologies are analyzed, including pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical, chlorination, volatilization, solvent extraction, ion exchange, and biohydrometallurgical routes. Particular attention is given to the efficiency of selective separation, impurity behavior, energy demand, environmental constraints, process integration, and scale-up limitations. The review highlights that germanium dissolution is often less challenging than downstream purification and selective recovery from chemically complex, highly dilute process streams. Major technological barriers include ultra-low Ge concentrations, impurity-rich matrices, solvent degradation, reagent consumption, and the limited industrial maturity of several emerging recovery technologies. Recent advances in secondary recovery from electronic waste, coal-derived residues, and metallurgical by-products are critically evaluated within the broader context of circular economy strategies and integrated multi-metal recovery systems. The analysis indicates that future germanium supply will depend less on primary mining expansion and more on the ability to selectively recover Ge from complex secondary resources through integrated, economically robust processing systems.

Exploring the Role of Gender in Sustainable Consumption: A Moderated Mediation Model of Sustainable Marketing in the UK FMCG Industry

/in /by

This study investigates the influence of sustainable marketing activities on brand image, customer involvement, and sustainable purchase intention within the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector in England, while examining gender as a moderating variable. Grounded in Signaling Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the research adopts a positivist philosophical stance and a quantitative, deductive approach. Data were collected through a structured online survey administered to 273 FMCG consumers in England, ensuring balanced representation of male and female respondents. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS, along with regression analysis, was employed to test the proposed moderated-mediation model.

The findings reveal that sustainable marketing activities significantly enhance brand image, which in turn strengthens customer involvement and ultimately increases sustainable purchase intention. Brand image and customer involvement were found to act as sequential mediators in the relationship between sustainable marketing activities and sustainable purchase intention, confirming a partial serial mediation effect. The results also indicate that sustainable marketing has both direct and indirect effects on sustainable purchase intention, highlighting its significant role in shaping consumer behaviour in the FMCG sector.

However, the moderating effect of gender was found to be statistically insignificant. Although minor differences in path strengths were observed between male and female consumers, these differences did not significantly alter the overall relationships in the model. This suggests that sustainable marketing strategies are broadly effective across genders in the English FMCG context.

The study contributes to existing literature by providing empirical evidence on the integrated role of sustainability-driven marketing in shaping consumer behaviour and clarifying the limited moderating role of gender. It offers practical implications for FMCG companies, emphasising the importance of strengthening sustainable brand image and fostering consumer involvement to drive sustainable purchasing behaviour.

Ethics as Method: Repositioning Visual Communication Design in the Era of Manipulative Interfaces

/in /by

The rapid expansion of digital interfaces has positioned visual communication design as a central force in shaping user behavior through increasingly sophisticated forms of visual persuasion. Contemporary interfaces did not merely present information but actively structure choices through visual hierarchy, interaction flows, and algorithmic mediation, raising critical ethical concerns. The existing body of research remained fragmented, with inconsistent conceptualizations of persuasive versus manipulative design, limited empirical validation across platforms, and insufficient attention to cultural contexts. This study aimed to critically synthesize the literature on ethical issues in digital communication design, with a particular focus on dark patterns, user autonomy, and trust, while advancing a design-oriented perspective grounded in visual communication. Employing a narrative literature review (NLR) approach, the study systematically analyzed 47 selected articles from an initial corpus of 849 publications, using iterative search strategies, citation chaining, and thematic analysis to identify patterns, tensions, and gaps. The findings revealed five dominant themes: the proliferation of dark patterns as systemic manipulative strategies; the emergence of ethical design principles centered on transparency and user control; the limitations of current regulatory frameworks; the central role of trust as a key outcome; and the marginalization of cultural perspectives. Despite conceptual advances, the field remained methodologically fragmented and lacks integration between design practice, ethics, and regulation. This study contributed by proposing the Ethical Visual Communication Framework, which integrated visual interface design, persuasion mechanisms, user cognition, ethical principles, and regulatory context into a unified model. The framework repositioned visual communication design as a critical locus of ethical intervention, offering both theoretical advancement and practical guidance for developing more responsible, human-centered digital environments.