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At the SciCultureD intensive course in Malta, JOSHA’s editor-in-chief, Neher Aseem Parimoo, alongside co-authors and program coordinators Flora Brégeon and Valentina Delconte, explored how interdisciplinary collaboration can foster sustainable, inclusive cities. She reflects on the course's unique blend of workshops on placemaking, urban transformation and cultural identity, alongside discussions on inclusivity and participatory approaches. Using creative pedagogies such as embodied dialogue and soundscapes, the programme highlighted the importance of dialogue, creativity and co-creation in addressing societal challenges. Guided by the program’s innovative framework and supported by Flora and Valentina’s insights, Neher credits SciCultureD for its holistic approach to combining art, science and entrepreneurship, which has reshaped her perspective and guided her work at JOSHA. This blog was first published on the SciCultureD course website (https://scicultured.

The authors, a German student of international affairs and a Nobel laureate, document the experience of cataloging the large scientific archive of the latter, reaching back to the 1960s in Germany. Piduhn’s background in economics prompted him to analyze factors influencing innovation as evident in the archive, while Frank, confronted with the details of the written documents, was compelled to muse about surprising inconsistencies with his memory and the specter of different might-have-been trajectories in his career. Their experience is further documented in a video interview published by JOSHA, which can be accessed via the following YouTube link: https://youtu.be/-PTA7QErEUY?si=ZM1Tnl-sRy1DcdYj.

This paper addresses the complexity of the concepts of health and illness, highlighting the interconnection with social, emotional and environmental factors. The biopsychosocial approach is fundamental to understanding the impact of a cancer diagnosis and the emotional challenges faced by cancer patients and their families. Psycho-Oncology is emerging as a vital discipline, providing emotional support, demystifying the diagnosis and promoting a holistic view of care, considering family care and the training of the healthcare team as a key to improving the quality of treatment and outcomes for patients.

The paper examines the contentious issues in Nigeria’s federalism, especially the revenue rights and fiscal jurisdictions of the local governments in the country. Thus, the paper seeks to answer the following research questions: What are the constitutionally sanctioned revenue rights and fiscal jurisdictions of the local governments in Nigeria’s federation? What are the challenges confronting the revenue rights of local governments in Nigeria? What can be done to protect the revenue rights and fiscal autonomy of local governments in Nigeria? To provide answers to the questions, the paper conducted desk research by collecting data from published articles, reports, and administrative records relating to Nigerian fiscal federalism, especially local government revenues rights and fiscal jurisdictions.

Dear josha-journal readers, In this issue, we would like to highlight this year's winners of the Demetrios Prizes: Márcio Bruno Barra Valente, Aspasia Marmaritsaki and María Fernanda Cadena Vizuete convinced the jury with their work. Márcio Bruno Barra Valente received the prize for his doctoral thesis “We, the Mourners of the Pandemic in Brazil: Relationships between Mourning and Politics Based on the Loss of Mothers or Fathers by Covid-19” on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. María Fernanda Cadena Vizuete received the prize in the Master's category for her thesis “Automated Microfluidic System for Suspension Cell Culture Using Lab-on-Chip Devices”. Aspasia Marmaritsaki was awarded for her Bachelor's thesis “Dance through Traditional Rhythms: A Practice-as-Research Exploration of Colombian Rhythms Informing and Shaping Contemporary Dance”.

In this essay, I reflect on my engineering work on integrating lab automation with artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize cancer research. This novel technology aims to use high-throughput automation to generate reproducible data and analyze it using AI, particularly reinforcement learning. This approach automates the feedback loop between experiments and analysis, finding solutions through trial and error. The aim is to manage the complexity of cancer's genetic mutations and optimize the development of personalized therapies. This essay was submitted to the BioInnovation Institute (BII) & Science Prize for Innovation in 2023.

In his speech, Nobel Laureate Prof. Dr. Joachim Frank reflects on the theme "Science, Arts and Humanities in a Changing World". He highlights the holistic vision of the Journal of Science, Humanities and Arts (JOSHA), founded by Prof. Dr. Roland Mertelsmann, which seeks to unite these fields in the spirit of the Renaissance. Prof. Frank emphasised how science, the arts and the humanities, while different in method, share a common thread of human ingenuity and creativity. Prof. Frank identifies two modern trends: increasing specialisation and the oversimplification of these disciplines in popular culture. He warns that artificial intelligence could reduce complex knowledge to superficial interpretations, likening it to parrots mimicking speech without understanding. Despite this, he concludes on an optimistic note, advocating authentic engagement with the sciences, arts and humanities through direct encounter with original works, and thanking Prof. Dr.

Microfluidic systems, known as the miniaturization of the laboratory, allow the development of experiments on a minimal scale and the automatization of the process, minimizing experiment and personnel costs and maximizing reproducibility. These systems work with Lab-on-Chip (LOC) devices, which allow the constant renewal of fresh medium making long-term experiments feasible. Despite this, working with suspension cells is complicated as they do not attach to surfaces. Therefore, this project implements a suspension cell culture in LOC devices using a pressure-driven flow-controlled microfluidic system. Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and Jurkat cells (T-cell line) were used as a representative of suspension cells. Two different LOC devices were tested and then the microfluidic system was validated by comparing the expansion of cells and the action of poly-L-lysine and etoposide with a 96-well plate.

Dear josha-journal readers, We have once again put together a diverse selection of topics for July and August. Some contributions come from the University of Amazon in Belém, Brazil: Alaide Vitória Cardoso Garcia writes about the lack of elaboration of emotions. Person-centered therapy is an excellent tool for understanding and elaborating symptoms in the treatment of people affected by psycho-emotional disorders. In a medical study, Lenilda Souza Simas investigated the relationship between a mother's perception of pain signs in a newborn and congenital heart defects using a scale of behavioral and physiological signs - the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale. Ana Clara Solon Rufino and Rosngela Arajo Darwich work in a completely different field. They deal with socio-cultural aspects that are present in the photographic records of Nayara Jinknss.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most frequent and most malignant human brain tumor which consists of distinct subtypes characterized by their gene expression profile. The Zinc Finger and BTB Domain Containing 18 (ZBTB18) is a transcriptional repressor that plays a crucial role in brain development and neuronal differentiation. A previous study in Carro 's group provided evidence of the role of ZBTB18 in a network of transcription factors that control mesenchymal transformation in GBM. More recently, our group displayed that ZBTB18 overexpression leads to a loss of the mesenchymal and proliferative signatures and downregulation of an array of genes involved in glioblastoma tumorigenesis. These surveys support the role of ZBTB18 as a tumor suppressor in GBM and raise further questions as to how this is carried out in different tumor samples.