The transition from university to the labor market represents a critical stage in the life course of young adults, with potential implications for well-being and long-term career development. Although this transition has been widely studied in Western contexts, less is known about its dynamics in low- and middle-income countries, and even less about cross-cultural comparisons among Lusophone populations. This study compared indicators of success in the university-to-work transition and levels of life satisfaction between Portuguese and Mozambican young adults. A total of 163 (59.5%) participants from Portugal and 111 (40.5%) from Mozambique, aged between 21 and 56 years (M = 26.54; SD = 6.01), participated in the study. Data were collected through a sociodemographic questionnaire and measures of transition success and life satisfaction. Comparative analyses between countries used t-tests for independent samples and Pearson correlations to examine associations between transition variables and life satisfaction. Portuguese participants reported higher means in integration and professional satisfaction, while Mozambicans stood out in confidence in career future and work adaptation, with no significant differences in other dimensions or life satisfaction. Correlations showed positive and significant associations between all dimensions of transition success and life satisfaction in both countries. These findings highlight that, despite cultural and contextual differences, successful navigation of the university-to-work transition is consistently associated with higher life satisfaction in both Portugal and Mozambique. Importantly, these results should also be interpreted through an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) lens. Differences in labor market structures, access to resources, and social inequalities may create unequal opportunities for career development and well-being. Strengthening EDI-oriented policies, including inclusive career guidance, equitable training access, and targeted support for underrepresented groups, could enhance fairness and inclusion in the university-to-work transition, particularly in low- and middle-income settings.

This paper explores the agricultural landscapes of the Ebro Lands (Catalonia, Spain) through the framework of ethical mapping in anthropology, which connects moral reasoning, embodied values, and ecological relations. This study aims to understand how ethical considerations, market dynamics, and ecological care intersect in shaping agricultural practices and the wellbeing of rural communities. It seeks to empirically trace how ethics operates within multispecies and socio-ecological contexts.
The research adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews with farmers, agronomists, and cooperatives, and survey data collected across the region. This integration of qualitative and quantitative sources allows for a nuanced understanding of how decisions concerning pesticide use, biopesticide innovation, or the preservation of ancient olive groves are negotiated across social, ecological, and institutional scales.
Findings show that agricultural choices are not merely technical or economic but also ethical gestures shaping both environmental and human wellbeing. Elder farmers associate moral value with continuity and discipline, while younger generations prioritize biodiversity and ecological care. Migrant workers, essential yet marginalized, reveal how inequalities affect collective health. Cooperatives and local institutions navigate between solidarity and market logics, mediating tensions that reverberate throughout the agroecosystem.
These dynamics generate what we conceptualize as a “perspectival carousel,” in which subjectivities, moral economies, and health practices continuously shift, collide, and realign. By mapping these ethical entanglements, this study highlights the interdependence of ecological, human, and social dimensions in imagining just and sustainable rural futures.

Background:
Autistic adults continue to experience disproportionately low employment rates, largely due to hiring processes that prioritize social communication and normative interaction styles over job-relevant competencies. Traditional structured interviews often disadvantage autistic candidates by amplifying anxiety and masking pressures. Emerging behavioural assessments such as immersive, game-based, or group simulations offer potential for fairer evaluation but remain underexamined in terms of accessibility, validity, and inclusion.

Objective:
This study aims to investigate how immersive behavioural assessments can be adapted to promote equity and inclusion for autistic job seekers. It examines participants’ experiences, fairness perceptions, and task performance across two immersive virtual hiring formats and co-develops evidence-based recommendations for inclusive assessment practices.

Methods:
Guided by a participatory framework and Human-Centred Design Thinking (HCDT), this mixed-methods study will engage a Community Partnership Team (CPT) consisting of 5-6 autistic job seekers and hiring professionals. Two immersive virtual assessments will be conducted with participants, including autistic participants, non-autistic participants, and hiring professionals: a structured panel interview using Arthur One and a team-based escape-room task using AlignVR’s Team Qualifier. Quantitative measures will include the Multiple Soft Skills Assessment Tool (MSSAT) and the Selection Procedural Justice Scale (SPJS) for fairness perceptions. Qualitative data will be derived from post-simulation reflections, open-ended surveys, and CPT workshop transcripts. Data integration will use descriptive statistics and reflexive thematic analysis to triangulate findings across stakeholder groups.

Expected Results:
Findings are expected to reveal whether immersive behavioural assessments provide more equitable opportunities for autistic candidates to demonstrate soft skills and whether perceived fairness and accessibility differ across interview formats.

Conclusion:
By combining immersive virtual technologies with participatory design, this study will generate co-designed best-practice recommendations and policy guidance for inclusive hiring. The outcomes aim to inform modernization of recruitment standards under Canada’s Public Service Employment Act, advancing equitable employment pathways for neurodivergent job seekers.

This scoping review intervenes in a fast-growing yet fragmented field. Sex dolls and sex robots are cast as artefacts that promise the personalization of intimacy (Illouz 2007; 2012), while scholarship ranges across ethical–normative debates, STS/posthumanist perspectives, the sociology of emotions, and sexual-script theory under heterogeneous labels that hinder comparison. We ask how sociology has conceptualized and labelled these artefacts (2000–2025), which theoretical frames and lexicons predominate and how they have evolved, and which methodological approaches are privileged alongside the main thematic, geographical, and methodological gaps. Following Arksey & O’Malley (2005) and PRISMA-ScR (Tricco et al., 2018), we search Scopus and Web of Science using strings that combine “sex robot,” “love doll,” “real doll,” “sex doll,” and “companion robot.” We include peer-reviewed contributions adopting a social perspective that treat dolls/robots as a primary object or a relevant case, and exclude studies that are purely clinical/medical, legal, engineering, or psychological without sociocultural analysis. Data are organized in an extraction matrix (Excel) and analysed with Biblioshiny to provide an initial quantitative mapping and a qualitative, directed content analysis that identifies and defines the field’s core conceptual frames. The study starts in 2000 to capture shifts that precede and accompany two symbolic milestones: David Levy’s Love and Sex with Robots (2007) and the public unveiling of Roxxxy at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo (Las Vegas, 9 January 2010). A prior synthesis (Döring & Pöschl, 2018) offers interdisciplinary context but is not a sociological scoping review and does not systematically map theoretical frames—gaps this study addresses. Preliminary patterns indicate a predominance of ethical/speculative discourse over empirical research, Western/Anglophone concentration, non-standardized terminology, limited attention to everyday practices (care, partner negotiation) and to disability/LGBTQ+ perspectives, and few mixed-methods designs. Expected outputs are a reproducible corpus, a typology of sociological frames, and an indicator matrix to operationalize core constructs, improving comparability and cumulative knowledge.

India, home to nearly 8.6% of the tribal population, has long been celebrated for its cultural diversity and ancestral wisdom. However, the rapid expansion of globalisation, digital connectivity, and urban migration has profoundly altered the cultural landscape of tribal communities, particularly affecting their younger generations. Once deeply rooted in collective traditions and local epistemologies, many tribal youths today find themselves negotiating the complex intersection of inherited values and modern aspirations.

The increasing penetration of social media has further intensified this cultural transition. Despite economic hardships, smartphones and internet access are widespread among tribal youth. Young tribal men and women engage actively as digital content creators, often seeking visibility and validation in virtual spaces that seldom reflect their lived realities. While a few benefit economically, many experience confusion, imitation, and detachment from their cultural roots.

This paper explores the emergence of hybrid identities among tribal youth that fluctuate between the community's cultural ethos and the mainstream world's individualistic values. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interpretive frameworks from social anthropology, this study examines how social media and urban exposure act as both agents of empowerment and vehicles of cultural dissonance. It argues that the tribal self today is neither entirely traditional nor fully modern, but dynamically situated in a “third cultural space” marked by negotiation, adaptation, and emotional ambiguity. This study concludes by emphasising the importance of culturally responsive education and inclusive policies that honour indigenous identity while supporting social mobility and creative self-expression.

Japan’s internal migration and foreign population inflows have exhibited strong regional disparities, with urban prefectures continuing to attract disproportionate shares of new residents. This study investigates the spatial diffusion patterns of foreign populations across Japan’s 47 prefectures from 2020 to 2025 using official migration statistics and GIS-based prefectural boundary data. Tokyo recorded the highest foreign inflow (47,384 persons in 2023), followed by Kanagawa (25,286) and Saitama (29,020), while Chiba (−11,590) and Aichi (−4,765) exhibited substantial net outflows. Although diffusion-based models traditionally assume continuous local movement across adjacent regions, foreign migration in Japan often involves selective, policy-driven, and non-adjacent flows. To address this, the study extends the Laplacian diffusion framework by integrating gravity-based spatial terms that account for long-distance attraction effects. Each prefecture was represented as a node within an adjacency matrix derived from polygon neighbor analysis, and migration potential was estimated as a function of inter-prefectural connectivity and population differentials. Preliminary Laplacian coefficients indicate high diffusion intensity within the Tokyo–Kanagawa–Saitama cluster and low gradient values in peripheral prefectures such as Akita, Tottori, and Kochi, reflecting weak inflow attraction. The hybrid Laplacian–gravity model improved the predictive accuracy of migration patterns and revealed that regions with strong labor demand and foreigner integration programs act as key population attractors. The findings highlight spatial inequities in foreign migration diffusion and underscore the potential of targeted migration policies to facilitate the redistribution of foreign residents toward rural prefectures. This research provides empirical evidence that managed foreign migration can contribute to Japan’s regional revitalization and sustainable demographic balance.

Introduction
Tourism is one of the world’s most dynamic industries, yet the employment inclusion of people with disabilities remains limited. This paper examines how labour inclusion in the tourism sector can contribute simultaneously to social equity, business competitiveness, and destination sustainability. This study highlights the ethical, social, and strategic relevance of integrating workers with disabilities as both a human rights issue and an opportunity for organizational innovation.

Methods
A systematic literature review was conducted to synthesize existing research on the employment of people with disabilities in the tourism and hospitality industries. Peer-reviewed journal articles, institutional reports, and case studies from international and Spanish contexts were analyzed. Particular attention was given to sociological perspectives that address diversity management, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and inclusive organizational cultures.

Results
The findings reveal that inclusive employment practices improve workplace climate, foster innovation, and enhance the tourist experience by promoting empathy and accessibility. Case studies such as ILUNION Hotels demonstrate that integrating employees with disabilities strengthens brand reputation, increases staff engagement, and aligns business models with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, inclusive tourism contributes to the humanization of destinations, benefiting both workers and visitors.

Conclusions
This study concludes that employment inclusion should be viewed not merely as a moral or legal requirement but as a strategic asset for sustainable tourism development. Promoting inclusive policies requires joint efforts among companies, policymakers, and educational institutions to overcome structural and attitudinal barriers. Ultimately, fostering diversity within the tourism workforce creates more humane, equitable, and competitive destinations.

Design is often positioned as collaborative problem-solving, yet in contexts marked by structural inequity, historical trauma, or power asymmetry, collaboration itself can (re)produce harm. Conflict-Sensitive Design (CSD) integrates principles of Trauma-Informed Restorative Practice (TIRP) with participatory and peacebuilding design traditions. It extends the static philosophy of “Do No Harm” into an active process of inclusion. Drawing conceptually from conflict transformation, design justice, and critical social theory, CSD frames conflict not as a disruption to be managed but as a lens through which exclusion and relational imbalance become visible and can be addressed. Its foundational elements, contextual awareness, reflexivity, iterative feedback, and process transparency, align with trauma-informed commitments to safety, trustworthiness, and empowerment. CSD conceptualizes design as a sequenced, mediated process in which stakeholders situated in unequal or adversarial relationships engage through structured reflection and facilitated exchange. By integrating restorative principles of acknowledgment, repair, and inclusion, the framework reconceptualizes participation as resilience building through relational healing rather than procedural consensus. Understanding the emotional and historical dimensions of conflict deepens a society or community’s capacity for equity and inclusion. Conflict-Sensitive Design promotes a design ethic and implementation process grounded in care, accountability, and adaptive learning. CSD offers hope and a pathway for reimagining inclusion in divided societies and institutions.

Introduction: The increasing digitization of society has exacerbated the digital divide, particularly affecting older adults and creating significant barriers to social participation. This study addresses this challenge by analyzing the role of informal support networks in facilitating digital inclusion. These individuals, found within an older adult's immediate social circle, offer accessible, non-professional technological assistance. Understanding their characteristics and potential is crucial for developing effective community-based interventions to bridge this gap.

Methods: A qualitative methodological approach was employed. Data were collected through two focus groups with older adults (n=16) and semi-structured interviews with additional older adults (n=8) and potential informal experts (n=5), including family members, local merchants, and volunteers. The study aimed to identify the ideal profiles, desired characteristics, and challenges associated with these informal support figures from the perspective of both those receiving and providing help.

Results: The findings indicate that informal experts are most often family members, although neighbors and community professionals also play a role. Participants highly valued non-technical attributes such as patience, trustworthiness, availability, and the ability to explain complex tasks in simple terms. Key limitations identified were the lack of availability of these support figures and the significant emotional burden associated with both requesting and providing assistance. Furthermore, the study identified the emergence of "virtual" informal experts, such as voice assistants, AI chatbots, and online content creators, which expand the traditional definition of the concept.

Conclusion: Informal experts are a key resource for promoting the digital inclusion of older adults. The preference for relational, patient, and accessible support over formal technical expertise highlights the need for community-based interventions that empower these informal networks. These interventions can play a vital role in identifying, training, and supporting these individuals to create sustainable ecosystems of digital support.

Introduction. Mental health systems worldwide face criticism regarding power imbalances between professionals and service users. This research examines how individuals with psychiatric diagnoses in Spain experience marginalization of their knowledge and testimony within psychiatric care settings. Drawing on Fricker's epistemic injustice framework, this study investigates patterns of testimonial and hermeneutic injustice that affect patient autonomy, treatment participation, and social citizenship. Methods. A qualitative descriptive approach was implemented. Five focus group discussions involving 32 participants diagnosed with mental health conditions were conducted. Participants were recruited from mental health activism networks, ensuring diverse experiences across different psychiatric services and treatment trajectories. Thematic analysis identified patterns of epistemic injustice in clinical encounters and broader social contexts. Results. Analysis revealed systematic patterns where participants' testimonies were devalued by mental health professionals, limiting their credibility as knowers of their own experiences. Participants described exclusion from treatment decision-making processes and inadequate opportunities to articulate experiences for which interpretive resources were unavailable. These epistemic injustices extended beyond clinical settings, creating barriers to full participation in civic and social life due to stigmatized psychiatric identities. Conclusions. Findings demonstrate that epistemic injustices constitute a significant but underrecognized dimension of mental health care quality. Addressing these injustices requires structural reforms promoting shared decision making, valuing experiential knowledge, and challenging credibility deficits assigned to psychiatric service users. Implications extend to policy development emphasizing patient-centered approaches and social inclusion strategies that recognize individuals with mental health diagnoses as legitimate epistemic agents.