Abstract: Objective: This review examined the influence of anthropometric characteristics, such as height and body mass, on the impact of punches in striking combat sports. Despite their perceived importance for combat strategy, the relationship between these characteristics and punch impact remains unclear.Methods: We included Experimental, Quasi-experimental and Cross-sectional studies. The search was conducted on August 30, 2024, in three databases. The review analyzed 23 studies involving 381 participants (304 men, 30 women, 47 unknown gender). Various instruments were used in the included studies, including 10 instruments to measure impact force and 2 instruments to measure impact power. Results: Impact force ranged from 989 ± 116.76 to 5008.6 ± 76.3 N, with rear hand straight punches and rear hand hooks producing the greatest force. The PowerKube revealed that the rear hand straight punch generated the highest power, ranging from 15183.27 ± 4368.90 to 22014 ± 1336 W. While heavier weight categories were associated with stronger punches, body mass alone was not the only predictor. Other factors, such as technique, gender, and sport type, also played roles. The relationship between height and punch impact showed mixed results.Conclusion: The data suggest that while higher weight categories are associated with greater punch impact, body mass is not the only determining factor. The relationship between height and impact also showed mixed results, with no clear association. The review highlights the lack of a gold standard instrument for evaluating punch impact.

Abstract: A radiocarbon study of a painting that might have been made by Titian or Tintoretto or by their workshops is presented. It could be the lost Titian self-portrait or, more convincingly, the sitter might be the Venetian Andrea Cappello, elected Procuratore de Supra in 1537 AD. The calibrated 14C ages of the painted canvas are 1450-1530 and 1540-1635 AD (2 σ), those of the wooden frame are 1504-1597 and 1616-1657 AD (2 σ). They are also consistent with previous analyses based on scanning macro X-ray fluorescence. These results favor chronology for the painting as having been made in the first half of the 16th century by Titian or his workshop. Indirect evidence suggests that the painting was executed between 1523 and 1528.

Abstract: The Micia site, is recognized as an archaeological civil settlement that was inhabited, and soldiers from several troops, were stationed in the Roman camp. From the end of the 2nd century AD, the civil settlement was rebuilt, with residential areas, industrial areas, port, public baths (civilian and military), amphitheater, religious areas (temples) and enjoying the facilities of a city. In this regard, the present work will first address the composition of the samples taken from the Roman monuments identified in Micia area and will highlight for the first time for this Roman site the presence of a form of tremolite-asbestos. This paper analyzes for the first time the presence of traces of tremolite-asbestos in stone samples collected from Roman monument buildings extracted from quarries near the city of Deva and used in civil, military and funerary structures from Micia. Highly performant and sensitive analytical techniques have been used to put into evidence the tremolite-asbestos species, to identify the structure, composition and morphology of these minerals inside of the building materials from Roman monuments, as follows: optical, stereo and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence with wavelength dispersion (EDXRF), FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, thermal analysis (TGA/DTA). It is presumed that tremolite-asbestos species has been included in the material layers used as mortars at Micia settlement in order to protect these monuments.

Abstract: The Spanish Merino is the most significant sheep breed globally due to its economic and cultural importance in human history. It has also had a substantial influence on the development of other Merino and Merino-derived breeds. Historical sources indicate that crossbreeding to produce finer, higher-quality wool was already taking place in the south of the Iberian Peninsula during the Roman era. This evidence suggests that individuals with a racial pattern very similar to that of the modern Merino may have already existed on the peninsula. The presence of skeletal remains of these animals at various human settlements dated to the late fourth and third millennia BC could provide insights into the genomics of these ancestral sheep. This study analyzes ancient DNA extracted from nine skeletal remains from three archaeological sites in southern Iberia, dated to the third millennium BC. The samples were sequenced and aligned with the ovine genome. The genetic distances observed among the samples indicate a closer relationship between several animals from the Marinaleda (Seville) and Grañena Baja (Jaén) sites, suggesting possible shared livestock practices among these communities, while this was not evident at the La Minilla site (La Rambla, Córdoba). The varying ages of sacrifice or death identified in the faunal studies of the sites producing the samples suggest a focus on meat exploitation at La Minilla (La Rambla, Córdoba), while in Grañena Baja (Jaén) and Marinaleda (Sevilla), the emphasis appears to have been on the use of secondary products. The genomic results of the nine Ovis aries individuals support this hypothesis.

Abstract: This article provides a comprehensive overview of the moral, political, and philosophical aspects of migrant integration, using Michel Foucault’s concept of subjectivation and Pope Francis’s Common Home Agenda as analytical frameworks. It dives deeper into the role of spirituality in the integration process, relating it to Foucault’s idea of a polyhedron of intelligibility. Later, it describes Portugal’s migration landscape and the research project, Researching Needs and Hope through Visual Storytelling, which aims to shed light on the local migrants’ subjective integration experiences. Based on the projects’ interview statements, the article then describes the different spiritual aspects of migrants’ integration into the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. Finally, it concludes with how spirituality includes many disciplines and ways of life choices and how the projects’ migrants interpret the concept of spiritual integration in a multifaced polyhedron manner. Creating strong ties to their homes, traditions, cultures, spirituality, sports, and culinary practices, as well as practicing, sharing, and teaching these practices, protects them from total subjectivation.

Abstract: The architecture in the title refers to physical buildings, spaces, and walls. Dominant architectural culture prefers a minimalist environment that contradicts the information setting needed for the infant brain to develop. Much of world architecture after World War II is therefore unsuitable for raising children. Data collected by technological tools, including those that use AI for processing signals, indicate a basic misfit. Results from the way AI software works, together with mobile robotics and neuroscience back up this conclusion. Human intelligence arose as a response to information from the natural environment consisting of bushes, rocks, trees, and animals including other humans. Geometrical features in the ancestral setting shaped neural circuits that determine cognition. Human neurophysiology has worked well in abstract thinking to develop mathematics, science, and technology. However, the contemporary built environment consisting of raw concrete, plate glass, and exposed steel sharply contrasts with natural geometries. It appears that traditional and vernacular architectures are appropriate for life, while new buildings and urban spaces will adapt to human biology and be better for raising children only if they follow living geometry.

Abstract:

The recent pandemic driven by COVID‐19 has not only rewritten the way the world operates but also significantly reshaped higher education, driving a pre‐existing process of digital transformation while encouraging, in totality, a comprehensive review of the traditional model of teaching, learning, and operations in institutions. During this period, access issues on one hand and problems of engagement and resource on the other have persistently raised questions for all institutions that transitioned to remote and hybrid learning systems. This paper reviews, within the context of these changes, how the shift might determine the future of higher education in terms of online learning theoretical perspectives and adaptability in institutions. This paper examines core areas of change from digital learning platforms to support and develop students and faculty, then assesses the potential for more flexible, more accessible, more skills‐focused approaches to higher education.

Abstract: : The architectural artefacts, materials, and techniques for building shelters may have some common properties from the architectural culture that evolved during the human species. This article studied the material features and settlement organisations used by the first human species’ nest-building activities and shelter forms belonging to indigenous people living in sub-Saharan Africa. The article questioned that early modern human species’ unsubstantiated notions of architectural heritage may have been carried out across the nest construction, typological differentiation, material use, and transfer to new generations and habitats. The focus was on the home-based spatial organisation and structure building. We were aware we needed to point out some fundamental misunderstandings regarding the nature of cultural and archaeological taxonomies and the misuse of analogical reasoning when comparing recent hunter-gatherer populations with some hominin groups. The paper aimed to discuss whether that early Homo ‘architecture’ in Africa may have some resemblance features to that of recent or current Africans. The discussion may imply that architectural products used in the settlement remains of early Homo species may have similar characteristics to the huts of the San people living as hunter-gatherers in Sub-Saharan Africa. We thought discussing different human species’ architectural activities was productive as early human species’ architectural understanding and principles may be adapted to current placemaking scenarios, urban design attitudes, and housing models. We think that with further evidence, the basis of the idea may be developed.

Abstract: This paper explores the intersection between Advaita Vedanta's non-dualistic conception of consciousness and the evolving field of quantum physics, offering a dialogue between ancient metaphysical insights and modern scientific thought. Advaita Vedanta, an Indian philosophical tradition, posits that consciousness is the fundamental reality, transcending the material world, which it views as an illusion, or Maya. Similarly, contemporary developments in quantum physics challenge the classical materialistic worldview by revealing that reality, at its most fundamental level, is interconnected, probabilistic, and observer-dependent. This philosophical dialogue aims to bridge these two domains by examining how quantum phenomena, such as wave-particle duality, non-locality, and the observer effect, resonate with Advaita’s concept of Brahman as the ultimate, non-dual consciousness. By exploring parallels between these seemingly disparate fields, this paper questions the limitations of materialistic interpretations of consciousness and proposes that quantum physics could offer a scientific framework to support Advaita’s assertion that consciousness is the substratum of reality. The discussion further investigates how the observer effect in quantum mechanics might align with the Advaitic principle that reality is shaped by consciousness. This study contributes to contemporary debates in the philosophy of mind and philosophy of science by proposing a unified model of consciousness that transcends dualistic divisions between mind and matter, advancing the possibility of a deeper metaphysical understanding of the universe.

Abstract: This article champions a decolonial praxis that seeks to fundamentally reconfigure the moral, organizational, and institutional foundations of the academic research enterprise. Departing from the Eurocentric rationalities and technocratic orientations that have long defined the modern university, this transformative framework centers the marginalized epistemologies and subaltern knowledge systems of the Global South and Indigenous communities. By excavating the complex histories and ongoing legacies of colonial science, the article lays bare the entrenched power hierarchies and epistemic injustices that have systematically suppressed non-Western ways of knowing. In response, it champions a radical pluralism that empowers diverse epistemes as vital sources of insight, resilience, and emancipatory potential essential for navigating our cascading global crises. Beyond the mere valorization of marginalized knowledge systems, the article also catalyzes a profound reconfiguration of the research enterprise's modalities and organizational structures. By championing collaborative, place-based, and community-embedded modes of knowledge co-production, it directly challenges the extractive, exclusionary, and technocratic tendencies of the traditional university model. Ultimately, this decolonial praxis holds the power to catalyze a radical renewal of the social contract linking academic inquiry and societal transformation - unleashing the emancipatory potential of knowledge in service of global justice, ecological regeneration, and collective flourishing.