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Background: Religious institutions play a crucial role in health promotion and hold significant influence in the public health field., Aim: The aim of this review is to examine outcomes of health-promoting interventions involving the use of mosques as the intervention venue, its role in promoting health behavior change, and the role of theory in each intervention., Methods: A scoping review was conducted across 17 databases for relevant publications published up to and including August 2023 that involved the use of mosques as the intervention venue. Fourteen articles met inclusion criteria and were reviewed., Results: The studies featured a wide range of interventions. However, only eight of these studies integrated theoretical frameworks into their approaches, indicating a need for more structured guidance in this field. These theoretical frameworks included Participatory Action Research (PAR), the theory of planned behavior, behavior-change constructs, the patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) framework, and prolonged exposure techniques within Islamic principles. The review identified three main health-focused intervention categories: mental health, prevention, and communication, each providing valuable insights into initiatives within Muslim communities., Conclusions: This review underscores the significance of inclusive and culturally sensitive health interventions, emphasizing the effectiveness of faith-based approaches in improving health outcomes, promoting positive health behaviors, and addressing communication and cultural barriers. The reviews findings stress the need for further research that incorporates theoretical frameworks and tailored interventions to meet the specific cultural needs of these communities, ultimately contributing to enhanced well-being within them., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

With the continuous change and progress of the world system, cultural communication has become a vital topic in today's society. This study aims to optimize the communication effect of Chinese film in Portuguese-speaking countries and promote the development of cultural communication in China through deep learning (DL) technology. First, this study utilizes DL technology to design film feature recognition and classification models to provide technical support for Chinese film communication. Second, by exploring the principle, development, and function of the digital Internet of Things, the study analyzes the evolution and spread of Chinese film in Portuguese-speaking countries and uses the Bayes algorithm to optimize the model. The results show that the calculation time of the designed model is shorter and the accuracy is higher, which offers an important reference for the effective communication of Chinese films in Portuguese-speaking countries. Hence, this study not only provides technical support for the improvement of the international communication effect of Chinese film but also contributes to the development of cultural communication in China., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The concept of soft power has engendered lively discourse within the international community. The development of a nation's soft power frequently hinges on cultural communication and the promotion of language. This manuscript concentrates on Japan as a case study and undertakes an investigation of the methods it has employed to cultivate its soft power. To accomplish this objective, Japan's strategies for cultural communication and the promotion of the Japanese language are comprehensively examined. From the perspective of language planning, prestige planning of language and culture constitutes a crucial mode of cultural communication, whereas language education planning (or acquisition planning) is the primary method of language promotion. Japan has adeptly disseminated its culture overseas through cultural communication and language promotion. On one hand, it fashions a "cool culture" embodied by anime and manga to augment cultural appeal and amplify national image. On the other hand, it advances the Japanese language abroad by establishing supportive institutions, dispatching experts and volunteers, and creating online teaching materials. Building on Japan, this paper establishes a theoretical framework for the construction of soft power, employing the aforementioned two approaches as valuable guides for research on soft power., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Gu and Deng.)

This study aims to develop a conceptual model for the application of digital technology in museums, using a case study of a cultural site in Greece. Museums, as sites of cultural transmission and regeneration and the embodiment of local culture, influence not only the cultural vitality of communities and regions but also the power of this culture to spread globally. Against the backdrop of Greece's announcement of the gradual restoration of public places, it is crucial to rebuild local cultural sites and strengthen cultural heritage protection. This article proposes a conceptual model suitable for digital museums, which integrates the spatiotemporal relationship between ruins and social groups in digital virtual space, and obtains two potential research concepts: "the extension of time and space" and "thin-wall communication". These results can be used to optimize the reconstruction of cultural place., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper, (© 2023 The Author.)

The widespread adoption of positive psychology at the beginning of the century has fortified the scholarly foundations of "happiness." Thus, researchers have focused on "happiness" rather than "suffering" in boosting the joy of life within positive psychology, aiming for individuals to achieve peace with themselves and society. With the developments in positive psychology, over recent years, the idea of integrating both positive and negative aspects of human nature to build a better life for oneself and others has contributed to the rise of second-wave positive psychology (PP 2.0). The present study aimed to explore suffering and happiness in Turkish folk culture through a sample of poems by Asik Mahzuni Serif and Neset Ertas . The study results indicated that suffering-themed concepts were mentioned more than happiness-themed concepts. Within the theme of suffering, the world was the most frequently mentioned concept in Mahzuni's works. He emphasizes in his works that the world is the source of many sufferings. In Ertas's poems, moreover, love was found to be the most frequently mentioned suffering-themed concept. Ertas considers love to be the most significant source of suffering. It was also determined that while separation is the least used concept in the theme of suffering in Mahzuni's verses, it is never mentioned in Ertas's poems. Other concepts pointing to the theme of suffering are poverty, ignorance, longing, death, and slavery. We found that the theme of happiness is mentioned much less frequently than the theme of suffering. While the most used happiness-themed concept is misery/remedy, in Mahzuni's words, love is cited in Ertas's poems. Expressing the view that suffering can be an opportunity for people, Mahzuni emphasizes in his poems that people can grow by learning lessons from their suffering. Ertas, moreover, sees love as the most important source of happiness. The other concepts referencing happiness in the poems were friend, mother, soft answer, and spring. Overall, the results suggest that suffering is an important source of building resilience, which, in turn, can produce happiness. People can grow with the help of the experience of suffering so that this experience can contribute to their flourishing., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The handling editor PW declared a past co-authorship with the author GA., (Copyright © 2023 Güven and Arslan.)

As a global cooling event, many of the climatic and socio-cultural mechanisms that resulted in changes after the 2. 8 ka BP event remain unclear. In China, this period roughly corresponds with the Zhou Dynasty (1046-212 BC), a critical period when ancient Chinese civilization was experiencing significant cultural and technological changes, including the movement of people to modern-day Jiangsu Province, where they intensively used the natural resources found in this the coastal area. Recent archaeobotanical evidence, and two radiocarbon dates on wheat and foxtail millet, indicate that the Datongpu site, which dates around 2,600 cal a BP, was occupied during this period of transition around the 2.8 ka BP climate event. In total, our investigations recovered 3,399 carbonized seeds from seventy-four flotation samples, of which rice, foxtail millet, broomcorn millet, and wheat seeds where predominant along with 2,296 weed seeds. Additionally, we identified several rice spikelets and wheat rachises. The high number of carbonized rice grains indicates that rice farming was the primary crop in an otherwise mixed rice-dry farming system at Datongpu. In addition, we argue that the "2.8 ka BP cold event" probably influenced population growth and caused food shortages throughout Central China, leading people to migrate southeastward along the Huai River to the coastal areas of Jianghuai Region. We argue that this abrupt shift in the climate indirectly facilitated the exploitation and emergence of large-scale agriculture in this area. Our study provides an example for the indirect impact of climate change in areas with relatively favorable climate conditions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Jia, Zhao, Storozum, Shi, Bai, Liu, Hu, Sun, Wang and Li.)

Contributing to Taijiquan studies, this research uses spatial analysis tools in ArcGIS 10.3 and SPSS 23.0 to map out the spatial distributional pattern of the Taijiquan organizations in London, and then explores factors attributing to the spatial distribution of Taijiquan culture. The result shows that the distribution of Taijiquan organizations in London generally presents a spatial distribution structure of "dense center + sparse periphery"; the spatial distribution is unbalanced, showing a cohesive distribution; the directional distribution tends to be obvious in areas that are proximate to urban traffic arteries and afforestation in London. Through multivariate hierarchical regression analysis, the study explores the influential factors for the spatial distribution of Taijiquan organizations in London. The results show that: population size, economic level, and education level have little influence on the spatial distribution of Taijiquan organizations; however, the population density of people over 65 years old, the accessibility of public service facilities such as green spaces, and public urban traffic has a significant impact on the spatial distribution of Taijiquan organizations.

The Baby Teeth Talk Study (BTT) is a partnership-based research project looking at interventions to prevent early childhood caries (ECC) in First Nations populations in Canada. Community-based researchers (CBRs) conducted preventive and behavioral interventions that targeted expectant mothers and their newborns, over a 3-year period. The work of the CBRs requires a great deal of training and skills to administer the interventions. It also requires a broad set of strategies to meaningfully engage participants to make health-promoting changes in their behavior to prevent ECC in their children. After implementing the intervention, BTT CBRs participated in interviews to explore the strategies they employed to engage participants in the prevention of ECC. CBRs perceived two key strategies as essential for meaningful engagement with BTT participants. First, CBRs indicated that their shared experiences through motherhood, First Nations identity, age, and childhood experience provided a positive foundation for dialog with participants that lead to build trust and rapport. Second, supportive interpersonal and culturally based communication skills of the CBR provided further foundation to engage with participants from a strength-based approach. For example, the CBRs knew how to effectively communicate in ways such as being gentle, non-intrusive, and avoiding any perception of judgment when discussing oral health behavior. In First Nations health research, CBRs can provide an essential link in engaging participants and the community for improvements in health. Researchers should carefully consider characteristics such as shared experience and ability to understand cultural communication styles when hiring CBRs in order to build a solid foundation of trust with research participants.