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Investigation of the Discrepancy Between Optically and Gravimetrically Calculated Fiber Volume Fraction in Flax-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer
Full text linkThe fiber volume fraction significantly influences the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced composites. However, accurate measurements can be particularly challenging in natural-fiber-reinforced polymers. This study compared indirect methods using gravimetric and volumetric measurements with a U-Net-based direct method using micro-CT images for flax-fiber-reinforced polymers made via compression molding at 2.33–13.5 bar. A notable discrepancy was observed between the direct and indirect methods, with the latter yielding a fiber volume fraction approximately 25% lower than what could be determined optically. This difference arose from the matrix being absorbed by the fibers, resulting in a mixed region between dry fiber and pure matrix, further explained using a four-phase model. Our findings indicate that the volume fraction depended on the applied pressure. Specifically, we established a linear relationship between the fiber volume fraction and the pressure up to 9.4 bar, beyond which the fiber volume fraction plateaued. Furthermore, we examined the impact of void distribution in relation to pressure. At lower pressures, voids were distributed irregularly throughout the composite, whereas at higher pressures, the overall number of voids decreased, and they tended to concentrate primarily in the center
Granting Rights to Naturals Objects: The Future of Environmental Protection or Cultural Mismatch?
Full text linkConclusion: To conclude, there is no doubt that humanity is currently facing a (man-made) climate crisis. Ecosystems are under increasing pressure and are changing rapidly (IPCC, 2023). Europe has a very extensive network of environmental laws and regulations that attempt to counteract climate change. However, it can be observed that these are not sufficient to solve today's environmental problems. Europeans show a high level of environmental awareness and dissatisfaction with current environmental policy. The insufficiency of environmental policies coupled with high environmental awareness in Europe is calling for a new approach to environmental protection.
The answer may lie in civic society: This article has demonstrated that Europe has a stable culture of committed citizens who fulfil their democratic responsibilities. Citizen movements have started to take inspiration from the Latin American examples and mobilize around granting rights to nature. The Rights of Nature initiatives that have emerged in Europe and the case of Mar Menor show that the concept of the rights of nature also fits into our European context and receives support. These actors already have influence as norm entrepreneurs: The study from Ireland shows that transnational networks such as The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund are important norm champions for greater diffusion and effectiveness. The overarching goal is effective environmental protection, and from the above arguments it can be concluded that European civil society is dynamic, flexible and motivated to take the next step with more room for action to achieve direct environmental justice
Reliability and validity of the German "Evidence-Based Practice Confidence (EPIC) Scale" for allied health professionals
Full text linkIntroduction: The Evidence-Based Practice Confidence (EPIC) Scale measures health professionals’ self-efficacy associated with evidence-based practice activities. The scale has been cross-culturally translated into German together with physical therapists. To support its use in German-speaking countries, the measurement properties of the scale need to be determined. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to assess the measurement properties of the German EPIC scale. In a preparatory step, we aimed to evaluate the comprehensibility of the scale among German-speaking occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, and nurses.
Methods: First, semi-structured cognitive interviews were used to evaluate the comprehensibility of the EPIC scale. Second, a longitudinal online survey with repeated measures (baseline and retest survey) was conducted. The target group included physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, and nurses from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Reliability, responsiveness, and validity were evaluated using internal consistency, test-retest reliability, standard error of measurement, known-groups method, exploratory factor analysis and the minimal detectable change, respectively.
Results: Comprehensibility of the German EPIC scale was confirmed by eleven health care professionals (four occupational therapists, two speech and language therapists, five nurses). The baseline and the retest surveys were completed by 708 and 222 participants, respectively. The measure demonstrated an internal consistency of .930, with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for test-retest reliability of .936 (95% CI: .917 to .951). The standard error of measurement was 4.92, and the minimal detectable change at the 95% confidence level was 6.02. All hypotheses in the known-groups method were confirmed, and construct validity was acceptable. Factor analysis revealed two main factors affecting the results of the scale.
Conclusion: The findings provide evidence that supports the use of the German EPIC scale among health professionals. For instance, it can be used to evaluate self-efficacy during EBP training.Hintergrund: Die „Evidence-Based Practice Confidence Scale“ (EPIC-Skala) misst die Selbstwirksamkeit von Angehörigen der Gesundheitsberufe bei Aktivitäten der evidenzbasierten Praxis. Die englischsprachige Skala wurde 2019 ins Deutsche übersetzt und anschließend mit Physiotherapeut*innen interkulturell adaptiert. Jedoch kann die Skala im deutschsprachigen Raum bislang nicht verwendet werden, da noch keine Bestimmung der psychometrischen Gütekriterien durchgeführt wurde. Deshalb ist das primäre Ziel dieser Studie die Ermittlung der psychometrischen Gütekriterien der deutschen EPIC-Skala. In einem vorbereitenden Schritt sollte die Verständlichkeit der Skala bei deutschsprachigen Ergotherapeut*innen, Logopäd*innen und Gesundheits- und Krankenpfleger*innen evaluiert werden.
Methode: Zunächst wurde die Verständlichkeit der EPIC-Skala anhand von semistrukturierten kognitiven Interviews untersucht. In einem zweiten Schritt wurde eine Online-Umfrage im Längsschnittdesign durchgeführt, wobei zunächst eine Basiserhebung und anschließend eine Retest-Erhebung stattfand. Die Zielgruppe der Untersuchung bildeten Physiotherapeut*innen, Ergotherapeut*innen, Logopäd*innen und Gesundheits- und Krankenpfleger*innen aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Die Reliabilität, Responsivität und Validität wurden anhand der internen Konsistenz, der Test-Retest-Reliabilität, des Standardmessfehlers, der Known-Groups-Methode, der explorativen Faktorenanalyse und der minimalen nachweisbaren Veränderung beurteilt.
Ergebnisse: Die Verständlichkeit der deutschen EPIC-Skala wurde von elf Angehörigen der Gesundheitsberufe (vier Ergotherapeut*innen, zwei Logopäd*innen, fünf Gesundheits- und Krankenpfleger*innen) bestätigt. Die Baseline- und Retest-Erhebungen wurden von 708 bzw. 222 Teilnehmenden abgeschlossen. Die Berechnungen zeigten eine interne Konsistenz von .930, mit einer Intraklassen-Korrelation für die Test-Retest-Reliabilität von .936 (95% CI: .917 - .951). Der Standardmessfehler betrug 4,92 und der minimale messbare Unterschied 6,02 (95%-Konfidenzintervall). Alle Hypothesen in der Known-Groups-Methode wurden bestätigt, sodass eine akzeptable Konstruktvalidität festgestellt wurde. Die Faktoranalyse ergab zwei Faktoren für die Skala.
Schlussfolgerung: Die Ergebnisse unterstützen die Anwendung der deutschen Version der EPIC-Skala durch Angehörige der Gesundheitsfachberufe, insbesondere bei der Evaluation von Fortbildungen zur Vermittlung von Kompetenzen im evidenzbasierten Arbeiten
Foundations for a theory of radical legal eco-innovation: the paradigm of Rights of Nature
Full text linkThe theory of legal eco-innovation elucidates and streamlines the processes by which innovative legal actions contribute to driving the necessary transition towards sustainability.
The goal of the present study is to understand the need, the processes and the conditions for the legal acceptability of radical legal eco-innovation, taking RoN as an example.
In practice this means that the legal fiction of Rights of Nature should not be interpreted as an exoteric proposal of eccentric lawyers but rather as a wise and coherent legal eco-innovation initiative with a strong effectiveness potential in the European framework
Public Support and Challenges in Recognizing the Rights of Nature: A European Perspective
Full text linkThe debate surrounding the recognition of the Rights of Nature has gained global prominence, providing a legal and ethical approach that fundamentally reshapes societal perspectives on their connection with the natural world.
This paper explores the challenges of aligning the Rights of Nature with European societal values, highlighting how conventional Western legal systems and cultural attitudes have limited public support for Rights of Nature initiatives. The Rights of Nature (RoN) grants natural entities—such as rivers, forests, and ecosystems—inherent rights, akin to human rights, to exist and thrive independently of human use or exploitation. This perspective, deeply rooted in ecocentric values and often influenced by Indigenous worldviews, diverges sharply from the anthropocentric frameworks that have historically shaped European legal and environmental policies (Kauffman & Martin, 2017). Influential milestones, such as Ecuador’s 2008 Constitution and New Zealand’s 2017 Te Awa Tupua Act, have set significant precedents for RoN by recognizing ecosystems and natural entities as legal persons, affirming their intrinsic right to exist and regenerate without serving solely human interests (New Zealand Parliament, 2017; Constitution of Ecuador, 2008). However, these advances stand in contrast to Europe’s generally anthropocentric legal and cultural perspectives, which frame environmental protection as a means to safeguard human interests.
The following section provides an overview of the global RoN movement, underscoring its ecocentric and animistic roots, which emphasize nature’s intrinsic value and agency beyond human utility.
A closer look at Europe in section three reveals specific cultural, legal, and political barriers that hinder public support for RoN, including societal unfamiliarity with ecocentric ideals and an ongoing resistance to legal frameworks that prioritize nature's rights. This foundation helps illustrate why Rights of Nature remains an unfamiliar and often controversial concept in Europe, where environmental legislation predominantly supports human welfare and economic growth rather than advocating for nature's independent rights (de Lucia, 2015).
The challenges faced by public advocacy for Rights of Nature in Europe are examined in section four through the case of the Mar Menor Lagoon in southeastern Spain. This coastal lagoon, severely impacted by agricultural runoff and nutrient pollution, sparked public campaigns and regional support for its protection. Yet, despite these efforts, proposals to establish the lagoon’s legal personhood encountered substantial resistance. Opposition stemmed from concerns over economic interests, political inertia, and a general lack of societal awareness regarding RoN concepts (García Ruales, Hovden, Kopnina, Robertson & Schoukens, 2023; Guaita-García, Martínez-Fernández, Barrera-Causil, & Fitz, 2022).
In the fifth section, this paper advocates for a bottom-up, community-led approach to RoN in Europe, emphasizing the importance of decentralized solutions and public engagement as pathways to overcoming resistance. By fostering local awareness and encouraging grassroots movements, Europe may be better positioned to adopt Rights of Nature frameworks that reflect both ecological needs and societal values.
Through this analysis, the paper seeks to provide insights into the interplay between cultural ideologies, legal frameworks, and public perceptions that influence RoN's potential to reshape Europe’s approach to environmental protection
The Rights of Nature: The Answer to a Poorly Framed Debate
Full text linkThe purpose of this work is to critically examine and reflect on the feasibility of granting legal rights to nature within the context of the European social and legal reality. We aim to address the following question: Should we grant legal rights to nature?
This is not merely a legal debate; rather, it extends to our fundamental understanding of the relationship between humanity and the environment. Some argue that we are at a turning point where granting rights to nature is the only way to protect our planet and ensure an environment suitable for future generations. Others, however, warn of the risks of creating a "legal chaos," considering the economic implications that such a radical shift might entail
Catch effectiveness, complementarity and costs of five sampling techniques for flying insects across different land use types
Full text link1. In times of insect decline, sampling programmes are fundamental for monitoring and protecting insect populations. Different types of traps are currently used for insect monitoring, which makes trap selection more challenging and impedes the comparability of results among methods.
2. Trap comparisons, which reveal the species richness, complementarity and costs for the materials and operation of different trap types, help identify sampling designs that ensure (cost-)efficient insect capture.
3. For our study, we selected five sampling techniques for flying insects: canopy Malaise traps (CAMTs), caterpillar traps, branch sampling and white and blue pan traps. We compared them across four habitats (forest, margin and centre of short rotation coppices and maize fields) using detected Barcode Index Numbers (BINs). Comparisons were performed for the total arthropod community and separately for the Coleoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera orders.
4. Our trap selection demonstrated high complementarities of 66–77% depending on the habitat. Our findings indicate that, in most cases, CAMTs, branch sampling and caterpillar traps were the most effective and cost-efficient options when used individually or in combination. Caterpillar traps were particularly effective in forests and detected far more taxa than only lepidopterans. Pan traps demonstrated the lowest species richness and poorest cost efficiency. Nevertheless, it is important to consider individual groups and habitats, such as Diptera, Coleoptera and maize fields, for which pan traps can also be an effective method
Analysis of water-in-gasoline emulsions via experiments and direct numerical simulations
Full text linkThis work explores the combination of direct numerical simulations (DNSs) and experimental approaches for studying technical emulsification processes. Although emulsions have long been used in a variety of industries and many important research papers have been published over the years, quantifying and predicting the dispersion of droplets in another liquid remains challenging because of the complex multiphase nature and microscopic droplet scales. This study focuses on water-in-gasoline emulsions, which have the potential to improve efficiency and reduce emissions in combustion-based power generation. Experimental data from two different emulsion injection systems are complemented with DNS to gain insight into emulsification and the resulting droplet size distribution. In situ shadow imaging is used to acquire the experimental droplet size distributions, whereas DNS is performed via the geometric volume of fluid (VoF) method with the open-source code PARIS. The results indicate consistent agreement between the experimental and simulation results. Additionally, a corresponding trend of increasing droplet size is observed as the volume fraction of the dispersed phase increases. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of various probability density functions for modeling droplet size distributions (DSDs) reveals that the gamma distribution is the most appropriate. Overall, this work demonstrates that DNS can be successfully combined with experiments to increase the understanding of emulsification processes
Human contributions to global soundscapes are less predictable than the acoustic rhythms of wildlife
Full text linkAcross the world, human (anthropophonic) sounds add to sounds of biological (biophonic) and geophysical (geophonic) origin, with human contributions including both speech and technophony (sounds of technological devices). To characterize society’s contribution to the global soundscapes, we used passive acoustic recorders at 139 sites across 6 continents, sampling both urban green spaces and nearby pristine sites continuously for 3 years in a paired design. Recordings were characterized by bird species richness and by 14 complementary acoustic indices. By relating each index to seasonal, diurnal, climatic and anthropogenic factors, we show here that latitude, time of day and day of year each predict a substantial proportion of variation in key metrics of biophony — whereas anthropophony (speech and traffic) show less predictable patterns. Compared to pristine sites, the soundscape of urban green spaces is more dominated by technophony and less diverse in terms of acoustic energy across frequencies and time steps, with less instances of quiet. We conclude that the global soundscape is formed from a highly predictable rhythm in biophony, with added noise from geophony and anthropophony. At urban sites, animals experience an increasingly noisy background of sound, which poses challenges to efficient communication
Reflection of mind on body
Full text linkThrough jewelry, I aim to raise awareness of psychosomatic disorders conditions many silently endure. Jewelry, as a personal and tangible medium, interacts directly with the body, making it a powerful channel for expressing inner emotional wounds in a visible and intimate form. Inspired by psychologists such as Gabor Maté, Alice Miller, and Joyce McDougall who emphasize the deep connection between emotional experiences and the body my work seeks to spark honest and meaningful conversations about mental health and also drawing on the theories of Tilmann Habermas and Donald Winnicott, I explore how objects can embody vulnerability rooted in childhood. Jewelry, like a childhood doll, can act as a transitional object, worn close to the body, symbolizing connection, memory, and emotional support. Jewelry is more than physical adornment. It holds psychological and emotional weight, reflecting our inner states. Jewelry, in particular, shows how adornment can mirror mental and emotional realities. These objects are not only wearable but also speak on behalf of important issues such as mental health, making them both intimate and socially resonant. According to my research about psychosomatic problems, repressed emotions from childhood remain stored within the body. A child who feels hurt, ignored, or abandoned may find those realities too overwhelming to face, and in response, constructs a fantasy world to emotionally survive. To represent this imagined world, I create jewelry with playful, illusory, and childlike forms. However, their rough, organic textures made from bio-based materials hint at the hidden pain beneath the surface. These works expose how childhood coping mechanisms quietly persist into adulthood. To express the lingering impact of unresolved childhood experiences, I use incomplete forms and contrasting elements to evoke fragility. For me, incompleteness symbolizes wounds that never fully heal, continuing to shape our emotional lives. In some pieces, I incorporate heavy stones to represent the burden of unresolved psychological struggles and the weight of pressure that cannot easily be escaped. These works illustrate the emotional labor of confronting our past and emphasize the importance of selfawareness and healing. In my practice, I developed my bio-based materials with tactile textures sometimes harsh, raspy, and even unsettling that gradually evolved into a durable and waterproof form suitable for wearing on the body. These materials, along with irregular shapes and tension-filled contrasts in size, color, and form, visually express anxiety, inner conflict, and emotional pressure. Inspired by red AIDS ribbon, a small, simple symbol that raised global awareness, reduced stigma, and sparked compassion. It was powerful precisely because it had no author, no profit motive it was universal. Inspired by this concept, I created a series of simple brooches priced at 10 euros each, with the intention of producing many more. They are symbols of resilience and hope, designed to be accessible and to start conversations. Changing society is a big idea, but real change begins with individuals. If just one person is moved or transformed by wearing or encountering one of these pieces, then the work has succeeded. My goal is that each piece serves empathy, mindfulness, dialogue and creat awareness