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Among the polities in the Eastern European inter-imperial peripheries, Romania has witnessed a particular electoral effervescence in 2024/2025, with ripple effects across the region, and making the headlines across the world: the EU parliamentary elections organized concomitantly with local elections (in June 2024); the national legislative elections (in early December); and the presidential elect
This report presents findings from a case study on food sharing in Utrecht conducted within the CULTIVATE project (Co-designing Food Sharing Innovation for Resilience, https:// cultivate-project.eu/), funded by the EU Horizon Research and Innovation Programme (GA#101083377). It contributes to Task 3.1 in Work Package (WP) 3, examining the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of food shar
The alleged relation between mental disorder and violent criminal behaviour has been investigated mainly from an epidemiological perspective. Population-based registry studies have shown that violence occurs more frequently among people with mental disorders, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, compared with control subjects, but that the increased risk is largely mediated by drug abuse and s
Promoting Inclusion and Justice in University Teaching offers a theoretical and practical contribution to ongoing debates concerning why and how we need to expand the goals of education in an increasingly diverse academia to enhance inclusivity and equity. It integrates a wide range of well-designed teaching activities grounded in the principles of transformative pedagogy into university settings
This essay asks scholars to overcome the disciplinary divides between the humanities on the one side and the social sciences on the other in order to imagine hopeful future alternatives to petromodernity. This collaboration can only be effective if both sides are open to it, which is why I suggest leveraging speculative design as a means to bridging the disciplines. Speculative design not only unl
In this book, Ryszard Bobrowicz discusses why seemingly neutral rooms, multi-faith spaces, were subject to contestations from, and clashes between, their users, their managers, and those shaping policies concerning them. From street protests to parliamentary debates, from Sweden to Spain, this book explores the impact of multi-faith spaces in Europe by critically examining the visions of religion
Evaluating the repellency of essential oils against Tetranychus urticae requires robust methodologies to detect time-dependent changes in their efficacy, due to differential efficacy, volatility, and sustained effectiveness. This study introduces the Pole-dance bioassay, a novel no-choice method optimized for high-throughput screening of time-dependent repellency, demonstrated through tests on twe
BACKGROUND: Growing concerns over the environmental and human health impacts of conventional insecticides have intensified interest in botanical alternatives, including essential oils. However, their compositional complexity poses challenges for quality control and consistent efficacy. This study evaluated and compared the predictability of nonparametric and parametric models for predicting the mi
Recognizing the challenges in using botanicals as sustainable pest control agents due to compositional variation, this study addresses the limitations of traditional component-based approaches such as Hewlett and Plackett or Wadley’s models. Based on the assumption of noninteractivity among constituents, these models often fail to predict outcomes accurately due to dynamic intermolecular interacti
The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, is becoming a serious invasive insect pest in Asia, Africa, and Oceania due to its broad spectrum of host plants and long flight distances. In response to the increasing risk of insecticide resistance, there is a growing need to develop more effective pest management options. One such option involves the use of synergists, which are substances that, while
This study investigated the applicability of mixture experimental design-based modeling approach to analyze insecticidal activity of thyme essential oils, particularly focusing on the synergistic interaction of their major constituents against Musca domestica. Chemical compositions of twelve commercially available thyme oils were analyzed using GC-MS, revealing their major constituents to be α-pin
The increasing prevalence of insecticidal products containing mixtures of active ingredients has highlighted the need for computational approaches to predict the insecticidal activity at specific dose combinations. Several models predicting the interactions have been proposed, each based on different assumption regarding mixture toxicity. However, the lack of consensus on which model to adopt for
Fruit flies and other miniscule flying insects often cause a nuisance in the kitchen areas of our dwellings. To mitigate the invasion of indoor insect pests, behavioral modifications using spatial repellents containing natural products are emerging as alternatives to chemical insecticides especially around the kitchens and food storage areas. However, the absence of standardized testing methods fo
Plant essential oils are intricate blends comprising predominantly of monoterpenes and some sesquiterpenes. These oils display diverse bioactivities against targeted organisms, often arising from complex interactions among their constituents, which may demonstrate synergistic or antagonistic effects. Despite their wide use as botanical insecticides, the mechanisms behind these interactions and the
In South Korea, control agents for small flying insects are subjected to approval under newly enforced Act on biocidal products by the Ministry of Environment starting from 2019, along with other conventional household insecticides. The present study aimed to evaluate 18 compounds for their toxicity and repellency in various contexts. A tube assay revealed the greatest toxicity of synthetic repell
Plant essential oils are widely acknowledged for their insecticidal activities and synergistic interaction with conventional insecticides, but their insecticidal modes of action and the mechanism of synergy remain less understood. In this study, electrophysiological screenings on the larval central nervous system (CNS) of the common fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and the housefly, Musca domes
For the indoor and outdoor pest controls, various types of insecticide formulations are available including aerosols, sprays, electric vaporizers, mosquito coils, and traps. In the present study, the insecticidal activity of aerosols, the most commonly used formulation of household insecticides for mosquito control, against Aedes albopictus (Skuse) was assessed using seven commercial products and
Owing to the complexity in the chemical composition of plant essential oils, they often display enhanced insecticidal activity when applied as a mixture. Although the insecticidal activity of plant essential oils has been gaining more attention recently, understanding in the mechanism of synergy has not been studied as much. In the present study, insecticidal activity of 28 individual essential oi
This book challenges the prevailing notion of stability, cohesiveness, and uniformity within Christian communities, inviting readers to view contestation and disagreement as integral to theological reflection and church identity. While the volume focuses predominantly on the Roman Catholic Church as a case study, various chapters broaden the exploration across other Christian and non-Christian tr
