Abstract: Global environmental governance has expanded significantly, yet it remains politically inadequate to address planetary crises in the Anthropocene. Despite the proliferation of multilateral environmental agreements, governance arrangements continue to suffer from fragmentation, weak authority, limited accountability, and a sovereignty-bound logic that constrains collective action. This article critically examines these limitations through an assessment of polycentric and Nested Systemic Governance approaches. While nested governance can reduce fragmentation and enhance participation, it remains dependent on voluntarism and lacks the political authority and democratic anchoring required for durable coordination. Drawing on debates in environmental politics and global governance, the article advances a longer-term institutional perspective that conceptualises a gradual evolution toward a federative framework combining multilevel participation with enforceable authority and democratic legitimacy.

Abstract: A survey was conducted involving 2,137 university students from over 10 universities in Zhejiang Province, Jiangsu Province, and other regions. The data were analyzed using correlation analysis and moderated mediation model testing. This study found that group psychological factors, such as emotional infection, depersonalization, the spiral of silence, relative deprivation, group polarization, and action mobilization, positively predicted network cluster behavior. The action mobilization of opinion leaders mediated the relationship between emotional infection and network cluster behavior. Group polarization mediated the relationship between the spiral of silence and network cluster behavior. Additionally, group efficacy moderated the latter part of the mediation process between group polarization and network cluster behavior.

Abstract: Background/Objectives: Sichuan Mandarin is often described as exhibiting overlap or merger between word-initial /n/ and /l/, but perceptual sensitivity across phonetic contexts remains underexplored. This study examines whether perception of the /n–l/ contrast varies by vowel context and listener experience. Methods: Thirty-two Sichuan Mandarin listeners completed categorical identification and same–different AX discrimination tasks using seven-step /n/→/l/ continua derived from native-speaker productions in /i/ and /a/ contexts. Sensitivity, response bias, accuracy, and response times were analyzed alongside individual differences. Acoustic properties of the stimuli were quantified using spectral and amplitude-based measures. Results: Listeners showed overall reduced sensitivity to the /n–l/ contrast, with substantially stronger perceptual differentiation in /i/ than /a/ context. Bias patterns were comparable across contexts, indicating sensitivity-driven effects. Acoustic analyses showed more robust cue structure in the /i/ continuum. Age, education, and Standard Mandarin experience modulated response efficiency but did not eliminate the vowel asymmetry. Conclusions: Results support a context-dependent near-merger of /n/ and /l/, shaped by acoustic cue availability and experience-based cue exploitation.

Abstract: Psychologists and economists have employed mean national IQ as a human capital variable to characterize a nation’s potential for economic growth. While previous studies consistently show a high positive correlation between a nation’s average IQ and its wealth, there is disagreement regarding the reason behind this relationship. Some believe high IQs facilitate economic growth while others believe wealth explains why IQs vary across nations. To address this uncertainty, this study analyzes retrospective observations across time within a wealth-equated sample of underdeveloped nations. The correlation between the level of economic growth experienced by the nations sampled and their average IQ across five decades was r = .74 (R² = .548). Statistical tests demonstrate that high IQ nations displayed significantly more growth and that nations experiencing more growth had higher IQs. These results support the use of average national IQ as a human capital variable and demonstrate its causative role in economic growth.

Abstract: Gamified language teaching has expanded rapidly, yet evidence remains uneven because studies often report outcomes without specifying the psychological processes and boundary conditions that generate observable learning behaviors. This 30-year bibliometric review maps research published from 1995 to 2025 using records from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace was used to examine collaboration pattern, co-occurrence trajectory, and document co-citation clustering with timeline views. Results show a technology-led and highly interdisciplinary field with a persistent core to periphery collaboration structure and thematic fragmentation across education, psychology, linguistics, and computer science. Keyword and co-citation analyses indicate a shift from feasibility-oriented applications toward mechanism focused work that links game design conditions to motivation, engagement, and skill specific language outcomes, with increasing attention to mobile platforms, learning analytics, and immersive modalities. While self-determination theory (SDT) remains the most visible explanatory lens, the intellectual base also recurrently invokes social comparison, achievement goals, self-efficacy and expectancy value beliefs, reinforcement and feedback, habit formation, and achievement emotions. Building on these signals, we synthesize a three-module model that connects technology-mediated design conditions, psychological mechanisms, and learning outcomes, and we provide a mechanism comparison map that translates common game elements into competing testable propositions and behavioral signatures under explicit boundary conditions. The review offers a behaviorally grounded agenda for cumulative theory development and evidence-informed design in language education.

Abstract: Teacher burnout is a pressing global issue with significant implications for educational quality. Although work-family conflict (WFC) is a well-documented cause of teacher burnout, the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship remain insufficiently understood and warrant examination through the lens of individual resources and positive psychology. This study investigated the relationship between work-family conflict (WFC) and burnout among Chinese elementary and middle school teachers, with a specific focus on the mediating and moderating roles of hope and a stress-is-enhancing mindset. Data were collected from 452 teachers (including 355 females) using well-validated scales. The results revealed that: (1) WFC was found to be directly and positively associated with burnout, as well as indirectly associated through the mediating role of hope. (2) A stress-is-enhancing mindset moderates the negative association between WFC and hope. Specifically, the negative association of WFC and hope was significantly weaker among teachers with a high level of this mindset compared to those with a low level. These findings suggest that fostering hope and cultivating a stress-is-enhancing mindset can mitigate burnout risk, pointing to a viable pathway for promoting occupational well-being by developing teachers' psychological resources.