The Qiushuwan Cu-Mo deposit, located in the East Qinling molybdenum belt, which is a major mining site recognized for its enormous reserves of medium-sized molybdenum. In order to enhance our comprehension and ascertain supplementary mineral resources, it is critical to conduct an in-depth investigation of both the deep and peripheral regions. The primary goal of this study is to investigate the Qiushuwan Copper Molybdenum Mine, which is located in Zhenping County, Henan Province. The spread spectrum-induced polarization (SSIP) method is utilized as a means of conducting mining exploratory analysis. Significant findings have been obtained through the collection of SSIP data, geological analysis, and electrical parameter study of rock and ore samples along profile-80. By conducting a meticulous examination of the SSIP data at suitable frequencies, two prominent conductive ore bodies, specifically C2 and C4, have been successfully discovered. C2 exhibits a correlation with granite porphyry and molybdenum veins, while C4 is linked to a skarn deposit that contains a concentration of copper ore. The spatial differences in conductivity within the research area have been precisely characterized using resistivity models obtained from the SSIP data. The precision and dependability of our conclusions have been confirmed through the integration of borehole data and the matching of geological sections with inversion models. The recovered core samples show a diverse range of minerals, containing both valuable ores and minerals that have undergone alteration. Pyrite constantly appears with molybdenite in the majority of samples. The aforementioned results provide a strong foundation for future exploration initiatives and sustainable resource exploitation, enabling informed decision-making in the effective use and administration of natural resources. This study adds to the existing body of knowledge on the Qiushuwan Cu-Mo deposit and improves exploration methods in the region by utilizing the SSIP approach. The findings are a useful asset for geologists, mining experts, and stakeholders, offering essential knowledge for future exploration and sustainable utilization of resources.

Introduction:The concept of same-day discharge has garnered increasing significance within orthopedic surgery, particularly in hip and knee procedures. Despite initial concerns surrounding the absence of prolonged hospital care, a burgeoning body of evidence highlights numerous advantages associated with same-day discharge, ranging from mitigating in-hospital infections to offering substantial financial and psychosocial benefits for both patients and healthcare providers. In this study, we aim to scrutinize the trends in same-day discharge specifically within the realm of total hip arthroplasties. Method:This retrospective analysis delves into the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) database spanning from 2016 to 2021. Result:In this study, same-day hip patients skewed younger, comprising 48.3%females compared to 55.6% in hospitalized hip patients. Operatively, same-day hip surgeries boasted shorter durations, averaging 83.9 minutes, in contrast to the 92.3minutes for hospitalized hip procedures. Postoperatively, same-day hip patients exhibited significantly diminished rates of 30-day readmissions (1.7%vs. 3.5%), procedure-related readmissions (1.0%vs.2.1%), reoperations (1.1%vs.1.9%), and mortality (0.02% vs. 0.04%). In addition, we found that that unplanned readmissions in the same-day group are significantly predicted by being over 65 years old (OR: 2.0), having hypertension (OR: 1.6), chronic steroid usage (OR: 2.2), and severe COPD (OR: 2.0), while gender, emergent surgery indication, and smoking were not significant predictors. Moreover, the prevalence of the same-day discharge concept experienced a remarkable ascent from 2016 to 2021, with rates escalating from 1.5% to 25.6% of all total hip arthroplasties over a span of just six years. Conclusion:In conclusion, same-day discharge is a feasible and safe option for selected THA patients, improving healthcare efficiency and patient satisfaction.

The growing expansion of the economy and population has resulted in an increased inclination towards the utilization of groundwater resources. Conducting a geophysical survey is a widely employed method for subsurface mapping and the detection of groundwater. A geophysical study was conducted in Nanshan township, Huarong County, located in the Hunan province of the South-Central region of China. The investigation involved the utilization of a 2D Electrical Resistivity Imaging technique employing forward and inverse pole-dipole electrode array. A total of six survey lines were established, each with an electrode distance from the nearest measuring point to exceeding 800 m. The maximum current electrode separation was utilized in this setup. The spacing between the electrical resistivity sounding points was established at regular intervals. The findings from the exploration indicate the existence of multiple faults within the surveyed region. The study additionally identified two regions of structural failure, which occurred due to the convergence of faults oriented in different directions. This convergence led to the fracturing of rocks, an increase in water content, and a decrease in resistivity. The findings from the exploration were utilized in the formulation of five verification target boreholes. The results of this study offer significant insights that can inform future investigations into groundwater exploration endeavors within the region.

With the exponential growth of internet usage and mobile devices, the volume of user behavior data has surged, offering significant opportunities and challenges for businesses. This paper explores user behavior analysis in the context of big data, highlighting its pivotal role in driving innovation and strategic decision-making. We begin by discussing the importance of user behavior data and reviewing technological advancements such as machine learning, natural language processing, and data mining that enable deep insights into user behavior. Through a case study on linguistic analysis in livestreaming e-commerce, we demonstrate how text-mining techniques can correlate linguistic characteristics with sales performance, providing actionable marketing insights. We further explore the broader business applications, including personalized recommendations, user portraits, product design, and strategic decision-making. Technical and ethical challenges, such as data integration, privacy concerns, and algorithmic bias, are also addressed. The paper concludes with a discussion on future trends, such as AI and ML advancements, edge computing, IoT proliferation, and ethical AI frameworks, poised to shape user behavior analysis. Our findings underscore the transformative potential of user behavior data in enhancing business operations and user experiences, providing recommendations for future research focused on real-time analytics, privacy-preserving techniques, and ethical implications of data-driven decisions.

Models of subsurface structures are important for successful deposit exploration but are challenged by the need to integrate data from different geophysical methods. In the present study, we evaluated a method of joint inversion in which audio-magnetotelluric (AMT) and dual frequency induced polarization (DFIP) data sets are inverted simultaneously to produce a consistent 2D resistivity model to show a clear image of subsurface structures. To achieve the objectives, we conducted AMT and DFIP surveys first on the same survey line within the Dongjun lead-zinc deposit in inner Mongolia by developing 31 AMT survey sites with an interstation separation of 40 m on a 1440 m survey track and operated in fifty-three frequencies in the range 1–10,400 Hz to record the resistivity distribution of subsurface to depths exceeding 800 m. The same survey setup up was applied to the DFIP method by utilizing the SQ-3C model with a pole-dipole array configuration and conducted measurements at frequencies of 4 Hz and 4/13 Hz. We first separately inverted AMT and DFIP measurements. The two-dimensional (2D) model obtained from AMT data revealed distinct low resistivity anomalies in the middle of the 2D inversion model. In contrast, the DFIP inversion model showed a high resistive body in the same region. In response to the discrepancies observed in the separate 2D inversion models, we implemented a joint inversion for both the AMT and DFIP datasets. The joint inversion resistivity model shows surficial conducting bodies and a high conductive body along the profile with relatively high Percent Frequency Effect (PEF) indicating high chargeability. The final joint inversion resistivity model clearly images the large silica alteration zone and the Pb-Zn mineralization. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a joint inversion methodology and highlights the value of integrating geophysical methods through joint inversion for enhanced characterization and exploration of lead-zinc ores.

Successful geophysical exploration works in Gucheng-Yaxi area located in Gaochun District, Jiangsu province, China, have been limited partly due to complex geological condition of the area and high artificial noise in data acquired using electrical and electromagnetic methods. In this work, we deployed the new anti-interference spread spectrum induced polarization method (SSIP) and audio magnetotellurics (AMT) method to detect a copper-polymetallic deposit in the area. Two-dimensional (2D) inversion results at Gucheng-Yaxi Area revealed a high chargeability anomalous zone on SSIP profile that coincided with a zone of moderate resistivity located between two resistor bodies on AMT profile. A follow up 1200 meters drill hole was established at this high chargeability-moderate resistivity zone which encountered polymetallic (copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver) mineralization at the depth ≥ 400 m. Drill hole data analysis showed that mineralization occurs interspaced in marble rock mass at varies depth. Furthermore, several low resistivity-weak chargeability sections were revealed and inferred attributed to Cretaceous sediments and faults. These faults are thought to have played critical role in the polymetallic mineralization genesis. In summary, this work demonstrated the successful of application of SSIP and AMT at detecting a metallic deposit in an area with high artificial noise. Hence the geophysical prospection potential of Gucheng-Yaxi area is great.

A high intake of carbohydrates, associated with obesity, is one of the major causes of fatty liver disease in humans. This study investigated how high carbohydrate intake induces fatty liver disease in Blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala). Blunt snout bream were fed a high-carbohydrate diet (HCBD) for 60 days. Their growth indices were evaluated, and the transcriptomes, metabolites, biochemistry, and histology of their blood and livers were analyzed. The final weight, weight gain, specific growth rate, and feed conversion ratio were all higher in the HCBD group than in the control group, but not significantly so (P > 0.05). The hepatosomatic index (HSI) differed significantly in the two groups (P < 0.05), and the metabolomics results showed that a high carbohydrate intake induced significant increases in plasma α/β-glucose, succinate, and tyrosine, which could increase hepatic glycogen and triglyceride. Low levels of betaine were also found in the livers of the HCBD group. The histology and blood biochemistry results suggested abnormal liver, with excessive lipid accumulation and liver damage. A transcriptome analysis and quantitative reverse transcription–PCR (RT–qPCR) indicated that the expression of the factors INSR, IRS, PI3K, PDK, AKT, ACC, IL6, AP1, ChREBP-MLX, PEPCK, and FBP in the insulin signaling pathway was significantly upregulated and that of SOCS3, GSK3β, and AMPK significantly downregulated in the HCBD. This pattern is associated with the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) pathway. This study extends our understanding of how high carbohydrate causes increased fat deposition in the liver, enhanced glycolysis (α/β-glucose) in the plasma, and reduced betaine in the liver. This leads to activation of hepatocyte insulin resistance and lipogenesis by regulating the expression of genes related to fatty liver disease.

Soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase (sPPase), a pyrophosphate hydrolase, has been shown to play an important role in several physiological processes such as plant growth and development, metabolic activities, and response to abiotic stresses, but sPPase has been less studied in woody plants. In order to preliminarily verify whether the soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase in Eucommia ulmoides Oliver (E. ulmoides) has a role in resistance to drought stress, we amplified the EuSIP5 (E. ulmoides soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase 5) cDNA sequence from E. ulmoides by RT-PCR. In order to study the drought resistance of the Eucommia ulmoides soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase 5 (EuSIP5) gene, the cDNA sequence of the EuSIP5 gene was amplified from Eucommia ulmoides Oliver by RT-PCR. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that EuSIP5 might be an unstable amphipathic protein, mainly located in the cytoplasm. E. ulmoides, the highest expression of the EuSIP5 gene was found in male leaves and pericarp from April to October, and in leaves of E. ulmoides in July and September. During drought, the expression of EuSIP5 in seedling E. ulmoides leaves was significantly higher than that of the control. An overexpression vector harboring the EuSIP5 was constructed and introduced into the tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi). We found that during drought stress, the appearance of wilting was delayed by 4 days in transgenic tobacco plants (OE) compared with wild type plants (WT), and the expression of drought-related genes DET2, CYP85A1, P5CS, ERF1 and F-box was found to be increased in transgenic tobacco leaves, as well as the enzyme activities of the protective enzymes: peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were significantly higher than those of the WT, and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content was lower than the WT. These results indicated that the introduction of EuSIP5 gene into tobacco increased the expression of drought-related genes, enhanced the anti-membrane oxidation ability of tobacco, and reduced the oxidative stress damage, thus improving the drought resistance of tobacco.

This study aimed to compare the levels of physical activity and quality of life reported by Chileans with and without osteoarthritis (OA). Educational level and monthly income data were collected from eighty-two participants (62 women and 20 men), of whom 41 had OA. Concerning the medical information of the persons suffering from OA, diseases, and date of diagnosis were indicated. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) and its Elderly version (IPAQ-E) estimated physical activity levels. The Short Form 36 Questionnaire (SF-36) assessed health-related quality of life. The findings indicate that non-OA subjects scored higher on all dimensions of the SF-36, including physical function, physical role, bodily pain, general health, vitality, social function, emotional role, and mental health. Individuals with OA reported better physical function and role, general health, vitality, social function, and mental health when they walked more. However, no associations were found between any physical activity levels and the degree of pain in people with OA. Our findings underscore the critical role of investigating physical activity in OA patients to enhance their quality of life, particularly in light of the increased sedentary behavior observed post-pandemic.

The current study aimed to examine the relationship between sociodemographic variables (i.e., sex, age, marital status, educational level, socioeconomic status, and working mode) and physical activity levels declared by Chilean adults. The sample comprised 483 Chilean adults, 159 men (32.9%), and 324 women (67.1%) aged from 18 to 69 years old (36.5±12.0). The participants completed an ad-hoc sociodemographic online survey that included questions about characteristics of participants such as sex, age, educational level, household income, marital status, and working mode. Vigorous, moderate, and walking activities were measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF), a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Men declared significantly higher vigorous and moderated physical activity than women. People aged 18 to 25, single or unmarried, and with the lowest household income, showed significantly higher scores in vigorous physical activity than those aged 26 to 45, cohabiting with a partner or married, and middle household income, respectively. Regarding working mode, people working on their job site said walking more than people not working, working on hybrid, and online mode. Our findings suggest that promoting strategies that increase physical activity during the pandemic is necessary to avoid health problems.

The impact of interaction SS with MJO on rainfall along Java Island to East Nusa Tenggara has been studied using daily rainfall observation data from 2140 weather observation stations, which are also equipped with GSMaP, OLR, and ERA5 data. There were 61 SS events found, 17 during active MJO and 44 in inactive MJO. Rainfall increases more in the western study area when the active MJO and more in the eastern study area when the inactive MJO is due to SS. SS reduces rainfall in the Jakarta region, regardless of the activity or inactivity of the MJO. SS causes extreme rainfall to only occur in a small part of certain areas, so it tends to significantly reduce the possibility of extreme rainfall. In the southern part of the IMC, SS predominates over MJO in supporting increased water vapor transport. Large-scale synoptic circulations like the monsoon, SS, and MJO can interact with local land-sea wind circulation to produce spatiotemporal variability in rainfall on Java Island. Rainfall mostly increases in the afternoon and decreases in the morning when SS occurs, whether there is MJO or not. Convective instability analysis indicates that SS increases precipitation, most likely by lowering CIN and raising VIMFC.

Innovation in general education governance is one of the development trends not only in Vietnam but also in the world. This is also an important measure to change and improve the quality of education, especially expand autonomy of high schools and universities. The paper focuses on some main contents: overview of general education; the experiences of some countries in the implementation of the school administration model towards the school autonomy model so that give lessons for Vietnam’s education can be learned in the context of development conditions nowadays. The results in this work would be used to classify the schools into the various groups. The data also analysts on decision-making capability, on what we called an “index of school autonomy”, expressed the possible level of school-level decision-making.

The process of oxygenic photosynthesis is primarily driven by two multiprotein complexes known as photosystem II (PSII) and photosystem I (PSI). PSII facilitates the light–induced reactions of water–splitting and plastoquinone reduction, while PSI functions as the light–driven plastocyanin-ferredoxin oxidoreductase. In contrast to the highly conserved structure of PSII among all oxygen–evolving photosynthetic organisms, the structures of PSI exhibit remarkable variations, especially for photosynthetic organisms that grow in special environments. In this review, we make a concise overview of the recent investigations of PSI from photosynthetic microorganisms including prokaryotic cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae from the perspective of structural biology. All known PSI complexes contain a highly conserved heterodimeric core; however, their pigment compositions and peripheral light-harvesting proteins are substantially flexible. This structural plasticity of PSI reveals the dynamic adaptation to environmental changes for photosynthetic organisms.

Background: Despite the tremendous effort in hamstring injury prevention, injury rates in soccer remain elevated. Hypothesis: Hamstring and hip/pelvic isometric strength imbalances may increase the likelihood of hamstring strain injury (HSI) occurrence amongst soccer players.Study design: Case-control study.Methods: In 120 male soccer players (mean age: 20.0 +/- 6.96 years) pre-season maximum isometric strength of the hip adductors, abductors, flexors, and knee flexors were measured, and strength ratios were calculated. Previous injury and anthropometric data were registered. Injury data were collected following the FIFA/UEFA consensus. A multivariate and Machine learning-based Logistic Regression model was employed to estimate the likelihood of players sustaining a hamstring injury.Results: 21 players sustained 32 hamstring injuries. Players with higher abduction strength in the dominant leg had an 18.5% lower risk of sustaining a hamstring injury (OR = 0.818, CI 95% = [(0.695-0.964]). No other significant contributor variables were found to be significant predictors of hamstring injury in the player group (p> 0.05).Conclusion: Isometric strength of the abductor muscles in the dominant limb had a significant association with hamstring injury.Clinical relevance: Our findings indicate the utilization of hip strength measurements as an integral component of the pre-season screening assessment, thereby affirming prior research on the correlation between lumbo-pelvic stability and incidence of hamstring injuries. Consequently, clinicians should contemplate incorporating hip strengthening exercises into regular training sessions, rehabilitation programs, and injury prevention protocols especially indicated when lower hip strength levels are observed.

We are currently facing a potential ‘polycrisis’, a critical inflection point that requires a whole-of-society response aimed at building collective foresight and preparedness for short-, medium-, and long-term risks. The role of higher education institutions and social stakeholders is decisive to make an impact. This paper depicts the alignment of academia, governance, and industry with the aim to challenge, inspire, and encourage universities to go beyond commodified courses and mere employability, enhance student growth and bind macro-scale measures that lead to a sustainable future. A modest teaching innovation project has served as a transforming lever, with the private sector joining in, to create a platform that reaches more than 50 000 undergraduate students and teaching staff. The resulting structure, rooted in the University’s strategic plan, has served to channel local and regional initiatives, establish effective partnerships with broad social members, raise awareness and promote actions to advance in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals. Chronology, materials and methodology, together with a description of the different courses, programmes and actions are provided. The paper concludes with some recommendations for future research, policy and cooperation among stakeholders. Research methodology posted on clinicaltrials.gov under ID NCT04392869, NCT05598944, and NCT05775978.

We are currently facing a potential ‘polycrisis’, a critical inflection point that requires a whole-of-society response aimed at building collective foresight and preparedness for short-, medium-, and long-term risks. The role of higher education institutions and social stakeholders is decisive to make an impact. This paper depicts the alignment of academia, governance, and industry with the aim to challenge, inspire, and encourage universities to go beyond commodified courses and mere employability, enhance student growth and bind macro-scale measures that lead to a sustainable future. A modest teaching innovation project has served as a transforming lever, with the private sector joining in, to create a platform that reaches more than 50 000 undergraduate students and teaching staff. The resulting structure, rooted in the University’s strategic plan, has served to channel local and regional initiatives, establish effective partnerships with broad social members, raise awareness and promote actions to advance in the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals. Chronology, materials and methodology, together with a description of the different courses, programmes and actions are provided. The paper concludes with some recommendations for future research, policy and cooperation among stakeholders. Research methodology posted on clinicaltrials.gov under ID NCT04392869, NCT05598944, and NCT05775978.

While the role of safe riding behavior as a safety contributor for cyclists has been increasingly studied in recent years, there have been few studies analysing cycling behavior in relation to crash-related outcomes in Baltic countries. Indeed, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time this issue has been addressed in the case of Latvia. Aim: The objective of this study was to assess the relationships among self-repotted cyclists’ behavior, traffic safety literacy, and their cycling crash involvement rates. Method: A total of 299 cyclists aged M=32.8 from across Latvia (42% females) participated in an online survey, which comprised questions regarding respondents’ demographics, frequency of riding, and the number of crashes in the past five years. The Cycling Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ) and the Cyclist Risk Perception and Regulation Scale (RPRS) were applied to assess cyclists' behavior patterns and traffic safety literacy. Results: According to the findings, it can be inferred that cyclists frequently engage in riding errors and traffic violations while cycling. Those who exhibit more antisocial behavior patterns are also more likely to be involved in road crashes. Conversely, cyclists with greater positive behavior rates more often also tend to possess better knowledge of traffic rules and exhibit a heightened risk perception, indicating a greater awareness of road traffic safety. Conclusion: All in sum, this study underscores key age differences, with older individuals significantly less involved in riding crashes, exhibiting fewer driving errors and a higher level of risk perception, which serves as a crucial factor in road safety. At the practical level, these results stress the need to address both traffic safety literacy and protective cycling factors of cyclists, in a manner to improve overall road safety and promote active transport modes in Latvia.

Wavelength selective switches (WSSs) are essential elements for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical networks, as they offer cost-effective, high port-count and flexible spectral channel switching. This work proposes a new hybrid WSS architecture that leverages the beam shaping and steering features of uniform silicon nitride (SiN) based end-fire optical phased arrays (OPAs). By introducing beamforming to a WSS system, the spectral channels on the liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) panel can be tailored and arranged properly, depending on the optical configuration, using the beam control capabilities of OPAs. Combining 3D-FDTD and ray tracing simulations, the study shows that by reducing the input beam dimensions with proper sizing of the OPAs, the WSS design with the null-steering OPAs layout and 4×No switch size features increased spectral resolution. This extensive beamforming study on the steering-enabled layout reveals the acquirement of an even higher input channel number, achieving up to the 8×No WSS scheme with flexible channel routing on the LCoS panel. Such implementation of beamsteerers can unlock an extra degree of freedom for the switching capabilities of hybrid WSS devices. The results show great promise for the introduction of OPAs in WSS systems and provide valuable insight for the design of future wireless communication links and WDM systems.

Ox Tongue (Echium amoenum) is an important medicinal plant rich in secondary metabolites, including alkaloids, quinones, and unsaturated fatty acids. The present study examined the concentration of oil, fatty acid profiles, and antioxidant activity of six different Iranian Echium accessions. The oil concentration varied across these populations, ranging from 16.20% to 22.36% in the first year and from 21.00% to 25.50% in the second year. The major fatty acids identified in the oils were oleic acid (18.35% to 19.40%), linoleic acid (23.80% to 26.20%), and α-linolenic acid (32.30% to 34.20%) during the first year. In the second year, the predominant fatty acids were oleic acid (15.82% to 19.32%), linoleic acid (21.55% to 24.70%), and α-linolenic acid (33.95% to 37.40%). Principal component analysis revealed distinct profiles for each population: Sari was notable for its high α-linolenic acid and γ-linolenic acid content, Fasa was distinguished by its high stearidonic acid levels, Roodsar had a high concentration of stearic acid, Vazneh Sar was rich in linoleic acid and palmitic acid, and Leron had the highest oleic acid content. The Sari population had the highest oil content at 25.50%, while Fasa had the highest α-linolenic acid content at 37.40% during the establishment year. Leron exhibited the highest antioxidant attributes. These findings indicate that selecting elite Echium populations with high levels of unsaturated fatty acids and potent antioxidant properties could be advantageous for the food industry, as they offer enhanced nutritional and functional qualities.

Introduction:Lumbar radiculopathy, frequently triggered by disc herniation, affects around one in 50 young adults (30-55 ages), leading to significant impacts on quality of life. When conservative treatments fail to alleviate symptoms, surgical intervention such as discectomy is often pursued. Technological advancements have led to various minimally invasive techniques, promising improved outcomes. Our aim was to compare clinical outcomes of different techniques.Methods:We conducted a systematic search in PubMed using "lumbar disc hernia" and the meta-analysis filter. Inclusion criteria comprised meta-analyses focusing on lumbar disc herniation treatments, published in English. A rigorous selection process adhering to PRISMA guidelines ensured high-quality evidence extraction.Results:From 28,171 initial records, 31 meta-analyses involving 87,852 patients were included. Heterogeneity across the literature presented challenges, notably in study populations, surgical techniques, and research designs. Among the techniques evaluated, full-endoscopic lumbar discectomy (FELD) emerged as superior in various perioperative parameters, including Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), operation time, and complications. Conversely, automated percutaneous discectomy (AUTD) consistently exhibited poorer outcomes, suggesting limited effectiveness compared to other techniques. Conclusion:Despite advancements, the heterogeneity observed in the literature underscores the need for standardized approaches in minimally invasive spinal surgery research. FELD stands out as a preferred technique, offering favorable outcomes across multiple parameters. Conversely, techniques like AUTD raise concerns regarding efficacy. Future research should aim for uniformity in methodologies to facilitate accurate comparisons and guide clinical decision-making.

The present work investigates primarily the morphology evolution of the body-centered-cubic (BCC)/B2 phases in AlxNiCoFeCr high-entropy alloys (HEAs) with increasing Al content, which has been neglected so far. There exist two types of microscopic morphologies of BCC and B2 phases in this HEA series: one is the weave-like morphology induced by the spinodal decomposition, and the other is the microstructure of a spherical disordered BCC precipitation on the ordered B2 matrix that appears in HEAs with a much higher Al content. The shape of coherent precipitates is found to be closely related to the lattice misfit between BCC and B2 phases, which is sensitive to Al. The mechanical properties, including the compressive yielding strength and microhardness of the AlxNiCoFeCr HEAs, are also discussed in light of the concept of the valence electron concentration (VEC).

As modern systems are becoming more complex their control strategy cannot longer relay only on measurement information that usually comes from probes but also from mathematical models. Those systems models can lead to unbearable computation times due to their own complexity, turning the control process non-viable, which leads to the implementation of surrogate models that enable to achieve estimates within acceptable time to take decisions. A control trained with Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithm, using a Physics-Informed Neural Network to obtain the temperature map on the following time step, replaces the need of running Direct Numerical Simulations. On this work we considered an 1D heat conduction problem, which temperature distribution feeds a control system to activate a heat source aiming to obtain a constant, previously defined, temperature value. With this approach, control training becomes much faster without the need of performing numerical simulations or laboratory measurements, as well the control is taken based on Neural Network enabling its implementation on simple processors to edge computing.

This study explores the complexities of sport manager selection, investigating the impact of affirmative action, recruitment strategies, organizational culture, diversity initiatives in board selection, and career advancement insights from coaches' perspectives. To conduct this investigation, a purposive sampling technique was employed, selecting 65 prominent sports managers and coaches from Romania. Participants, aged between 35 to 58 years old, boasted an average of 10 to 20 years of sports experience and were chosen based on specific criteria, including academic qualifications. Data collection occurred over an extended period, spanning from fall 2022 to spring 2024, through semi-structured interviews with sport managers and coaches. The findings unveiled persistent challenges in effectively implementing affirmative action measures, as sport managers grapple with balancing the promotion of deserving candidates while maintaining continuity in board culture. Achieving meaningful diversity necessitates nuanced approaches that consider both candidate quality and cultural compatibility. Moreover, the study sheds light on coaches' perspectives when considering executive council positions, highlighting various pathways to career advancement. Recruitment practices prioritized informal methods, emphasizing board cohesion. Despite the recognized importance of diversity, challenges persist in selecting candidates solely based on demographic representation. The study provides valuable insights into promoting diversity and inclusivity within sports organizations' executive councils. Future research directions may include exploring longitudinal trends and delving into the qualitative experiences of underrepresented groups, with the aim of advancing understanding and promoting equity within sports organizations.

Green spaces take part a vital role in reducing the harmful effects occurred through the process of rapid urbanization. This study focuses on evaluating the change of green space and per capita green space in Colombo District, Sri Lanka in between 2008 and 2015 using Landsat images. The NDVI differencing method and classification method were used to detect the change of land cover. According to the results, a gradual decline of green space from 629.1km2 to 591.16km2 with a rate of 6.03% can be depicted. The change is considerable in Kaduwela, Moratuwa and Maharagama DSDs and quite better in the areas such as Avissawella, Homagama and Padukka. The per capita green space has been decreased from 272.361 m2 to 248.811 m2. Though these rates are very well higher than the UN, EU and WHO standards for the district, Colombo DSD do not comply with UN and EU standards. The case would turn into worst in 2025, as the predictions with current rates. Therefore, the study recommends taking immediate actions to make a greener city. Further, a tax system is proposed to get the attraction of the general public.

This study explores the implementation of an interdisciplinary curriculum in product and media design education and its impact on knowledge innovation and competency development. The curriculum is based on scaffolding theory, incorporating design proposals, workshops, digital design, marketing tests, and marketing activities guided by teachers and mentors from a branded ceramic workshop. The research findings demonstrate that the interdisciplinary curriculum facilitates knowledge innovation and fosters the development of students' professional skills, creativity, and problem-solving skills. The study also highlights the importance of stable scaffolding, including artefact, peer, and teacher support, which significantly contributes to cultivating transformational competencies, as outlined in the 2030 OECD Learning Compass. Additionally, the collaboration with Shanshing Four Seasons Celadon Studio on a patented ceramic product, "Funny Monkey," is a tangible example of the journey towards a triple-helix knowledge economy. This research underscores the importance of interdisciplinary curricula in promoting knowledge innovation and integrating transformational competencies in education. Scaffolding theory provides practical guidance for student learning and teaching strategies, presenting a sustainable roadmap for developing interdisciplinary curricula and offering a concrete and transferable pedagogical prototype for educational innovation.

Background/Objectives: High-intensity anaerobic physical training frequently results in muscle damage among boxers and kickboxers, which can impede performance and recovery. Vibrational therapy (VT) and passive rest (PR) have been employed as methods to enhance muscular recovery and performance. This study evaluates the effectiveness of these two recovery methods on upper limb muscle strength and lactate levels in plasma after high-intensity exertion. Methods: Eighteen elite boxers and kickboxers, aged 19-32 years, underwent tests employing VT and PR as recovery methods in a controlled, crossover study. Muscle performance was assessed via isokinetic dynamometry, and lactate levels were measured pre-exercise, post-exercise, and post-recovery. The study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki guidelines and was approved by the relevant bioethics committee. Results: The results showed that VT led to a faster recruitment of muscle fibers and improved muscle endurance as indicated by decreased fatigue work indices compared to PR. However, no significant differences were observed in peak torque or lactate levels between the two recovery methods. The VT group exhibited quicker recovery times in torque generation and better performance in fatigue resistance. Conclusions: VT appears to provide superior muscular recovery compared to PR following intense anaerobic effort, particularly in terms of muscle strength endurance and activation speed. These findings support the potential of VT in sports recovery protocols, although similar lactate response suggests that metabolic recovery rates are not significantly affected.

The ever-growing concerns about global warming and the rapid depletion of fossil fuels have triggered a rising interest in research for cleaner, more efficient and cost-effective energy generation. Organic Rankine cycle systems have immense potential to become a strong alternative to conventional methods of energy generation. However, such systems’ efficiency is limited by the performance of the incorporated gas expanders or prime movers. Conventional gas expanders often utilize ports or cam-operated valves. Ported expanders offer limited efficiency and controllability, and produce high emissions causing a large amount of heated and compressed gas to be wasted. Cam-operated valves, in contrast, increase expansion performance compared to ported expanders, however, they have no variability and adaptability to changes in system parameters such as gas pressure, temperature, dryness fraction, and load variation to name a few. On a positive note, this issue can be addressed by adopting a variable timing and fast-operating, control valve with an accurate and adaptive control mechanism at the expander inlet. A properly designed and controlled valve can greatly improve the system performance of gas expanders and pave the way for an efficient low-cost alternative energy generation. This manuscript provides a comparative review of recent progress on the design, modeling, optimization, and control aspects of valves for gas expanders. A clear pathway on the scope of further development is also drawn based on the present state of the art.

This study explores innovation and sustainability within the Construction, Environment, and Territory (CAT) curriculum in Italian Upper Secondary Schools. It begins with an overview of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and its integration at various educational levels, focusing on technical/vocational curricula in Upper Secondary Education. The study examines the evolution of the technician's role, the CAT pathway in the Italian educational system, and comparisons with other European contexts. It analyzes the alignment between skills developed during the CAT course and the professional competencies required by the community and job market. A survey conducted among recent graduates and companies involved in the Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation (PCTO) at a CAT-focused school reveals significant training and professional needs related to Sustainable Development. To address these needs, the study proposes integrating ministerial programs in professional disciplines such as Topography, Building and Technological Systems Design, and Geopedology, Economics, and Appraisal, with new modules dedicated to Sustainable Development. These modules are to be integrated into the last three years of the course, utilizing the autonomy and flexibility in curricular planning per-mitted by current regulations. Additionally, the proposal includes actions to redistribute existing educational modules within ministerial programs without increasing teaching hours. An initial step in updating professional discipline programs involves implementing a cross-disciplinary educational path within Civic Education, focusing on Sustainable Mobility. The investigation, evaluation, and educational design process presented in this study aims to serve as a model for swiftly implementing structured curriculum reforms, emphasizing educational innovation and comprehensive student preparation to meet emerging social and professional needs.

Estimating ground surface PM2.5 with fine spatiotemporal resolution is a critical technique for exposure assessments in epidemiological studies of its health risks. Previous studies have utilized monitoring, satellite remote sensing or air quality modeling data to evaluate the spatiotemporal variations of PM2.5 concentrations, but such studies rarely combined these data simultaneously. We develop a three-stage model to fuse PM2.5 monitoring data, satellite-derived aerosol optical depth (AOD) and community multi-scale air quality (CMAQ) simulations together and apply it to estimate daily PM2.5 at a spatial resolution of 0.1˚ over China. Performance of the three-stage model is evaluated using a cross-validation (CV) method step by step. CV results show that the finally fused estimator of PM2.5 is in good agreement with the observational data (RMSE = 23.00 μg/m^3 and R2 = 0.72) and outperforms either AOD-retrieved PM2.5 (R2 = 0.62) or CMAQ simulations (R2 = 0.51). According to step-specific CVs, in data fusion, AOD-retrieved PM2.5 plays a key role to reduce mean bias, whereas CMAQ provides all-spacetime-covered predictions, which avoids sampling bias caused by non-random incompleteness in satellite-derived AOD. Our fused products are more capable than either CMAQ simulations or AOD-based estimates in characterizing the polluting procedure during haze episodes and thus can support both chronic and acute exposure assessments of ambient PM2.5. Based on the products, averaged concentration of annual exposure to PM2.5 was 55.75 μg/m3, while averaged count of polluted days (PM2.5 > 75 μg/m3) was 81, across China during 2014. Fused estimates will be publicly available for future health-related studies.

The prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse in school sport, specifically from coaches to their athletes remains a concerning and pervasive issue. In an attempt to better understand and prevent specific coach-behaviours associated with such sexual misconduct, researchers have developed the Sexual Violence Questionaire in Sport. While the reliability of this measurement tool has been tested in anglo-saxon cultural contexts, it is not known whether the questionnaire is applicable to other cultural contexts. A sample of 146 (52 female, 94 male) Bachelor students from a university in the Basque Country participated in this cross cross-sectional study. The questionnaire was administered twice over a two-week period to assess test-retest reliability. The internal consistency of the Sexual Violence Questionaire in Sport was high, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.891 for perceptions and 0.813 for experiences across all participants. Gender-specific analysis showed similar reliability, with females having slightly lower alpha values for perceptions. Significant differences between test and retest were found (10 from perceptions 2 from experiences). However, Cohen’s Kappa analysis showed significant agreement across all items. In conclusion, the study highlights the questionnaire’s overall reliability and suggests its effectiveness as a tool for measuring sexual violence in sports within the Spanish context. Nonetheless, the findings of this study underscore the need for further research to enhance the instrument's stability and to better understand gender differences in perceptions and experiences of sexual violence in sports contexts.

(1) The purpose of this study was to compare the percentages of quarterly change for each of the variables analysed (height, weight, body fat percentage and muscle mass) as a function of the quarter in a sample of adolescent football players. (2) The sample consisted of young male football players of different categories belonging to a high-performance football academy, (more than 5 years in football and have spent 1 full year at the academy). (3) Two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed for the anthropometric variable, P_value

This study presents a critical literature review on the models of users' adoption of blockchain applications in supply chains. This review pertaining to blockchain technology adoption by supply chain stakeholders is significant as it is a pre-requisite for the technical sustainability of blockchain technology in supply chains. Through a critical literature review, the previous studies related to technology adoption models were analyzed to explore practices brought about by blockchain applications for supply chain management. This study examined the suitability of the existing models (e.g., the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework, task technology fit (TTF), unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT)) of technology adoption for blockchain applications in supply chains and came up with a new unified model, namely, TOE-TTF-UTAUT. This review provides implications for a more appropriate research design using mixed methods. When adopting the TOE-TTF-UTAUT model in a study, two phases of research using mixed methods can be performed. The first phase is an exploratory sequential design in which a qualitative approach to explore the TOE and supply chain task constructs is followed by a quantitative approach using a survey and quantitative analyses to investigate the factors affecting blockchain adoption in supply chains. The second phase adopts explanatory sequential design in which the quantitative findings from the first phase are reviewed for follow-up by qualitative interviews to obtain explanations.

Adults’ with Intellectual Disabilities (ID) experiences on occupational participation were explored through the prism of Occupational Justice model (MOJ) aiming to shape and develop an occupation-centered model of Quality of Life (QoL). In this qualitative study participated thirteen adults with ID (N=13). A semi-structured interview based on MOJ was constructed and administered to explore perspectives on QoL, as well as injustices regarding occupational participation. The interviews were processed with QSR NVivo8 following content analysis research methodology. An Occupational – Quality of Life (O-QoL) model with an everyday occupations core component has been formed. This model includes three core O-QoL domains: (i) social well-being, (ii) emotional – physical well-being and (iii) material adequacy. Main indicators of O-QoL were the recreational occupations and social activities, while socio-environmental factors such as occupational deprivation have been identified as aggravating. In addition, specific occupations such as leisure activities, physical exercise / sports, art, video games and vocational training could also be beneficial for O-QoL. Moreover, the importance of promoting and supporting the rights of people with ID for employment, independent living and sexual expression was highlighted. The O-QoL could be a valuable conceptual framework in the field of ID, however further research for developing specialized assessment tools and Occupational Therapy interventions to promote O-QoL is needed.

First, an introductory essay is carried out to build a historical, economic-productive and legal theoretical framework of the origin and formation of Secondary Technical Schools in Europe, North America and the Argentine Republic. Then a normative introduction to Technical Education is carried out at the Technical School No. 2 “Independencia” of Concordia, Entre Ríos, Argentine Republic. Its regulations and Laws that govern technical education. We continue analyzing the development of five (5) case studies generated in the E.E.T. No. 2 “Independence” of the city of Concordia, Province of Entre Ríos, Argentine Republic. Case study No. 1: Face masks for Covid-19, designed with CAD-STL software and printed in polylactic acid (PLA) with 3D printers, for protection from SARS-CoV-2 (Coronavirus) or Covid-19. Case study No. 2: TURBO: air extractor/blower for environments contaminated by COVID-19. Case study No. 3: ROBOT-T2: Educational Robot Made by Students and Teachers of the Technical School No. 2 (E.E.T. No. 2) “Independencia”, Concordia, Entre Ríos, Argentine Republic. Case study No. 4: Self-construction EcoBlock, for social housing. Case study No. 5: Relationships of all sciences with abductive thinking, creativity, design, art and the main relationships between Social Sciences (philosophy, logic, hermeneutic research methodology, etc.) with Exact and Natural Sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, genetics), other sciences and disciplines such as engineering, medicine, etc. We obtain the conclusions of the development. Bibliography.

Exopolysaccharide (EPS)-producing bacteria were isolated from the intestines of freshwater fish as prebiotics. Among the isolates, Bacillus sp. P1 was the potent EPS producer with a high EPS production and was then identified as Bacillus subtilis P1 based on 16S rRNA and biochemical characteristics. The produced microbial EPS was characterized its functional groups by FTIR, showing a 90.20% correlation to inulin while the EPS molecular weight was approximately 105 Da with a high PDI (&gt;1.5). Moreover, the EPS from B. subtilis P1 was assessed for prebiotic properties by growing probiotic bacteria and the significant cell growth occurred in sugar-free TSB with 0.5% EPS (p&lt;0.05). EPS exhibited approximately 55.37% DPPH radical scavenging at 20 mg/mL and inhibited certain fish pathogens at 400 μg/mL (10-13 mm inhibition zone). EPS cytotoxicity was confirmed (&lt;1% hemolysis) prior to use as immunobiotics in Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) diet supplementation. Nile tilapia growth and immune response were monitored after feeding with control (C): Basal Diet (BD) and treatment (T): BD + EPS 5 g/kg. In the T-group, WG, %SGR, and ADG significantly increased compared to control (p&lt;0.05) by week 4th, with no negative effects on blood chemistry parameters. Lysozyme activity and respiratory burst activity in T-groups were significantly higher than control (p&lt;0.05), with a 50% RLP survival rate of Nile Tilapia challenged with Aeromonas veronii in the T-group within two weeks. On the other hand, for the proximate analysis revealed higher protein content in the T-group. These findings suggest that EPS from B. subtilis P1 in fish diets efficiently supports fish growth and stimulates innate immune responses in Nile Tilapia, thus showing potential as the immunobiotics for aquaculture.

Students have historically fared poorly on the West African Examinations Council’s (WAEC) mathematics exam. This study investigated senior high school students’ difficulties with studying Geometry in the Cape Coast Metropolis, Central Region, Ghana. Using the descriptive survey design, data were collected from 300 Senior High School Two (SHS 2) students using simple random sampling. Students responded to the questionnaire and a 30-item multiple-choice achievement test on geometry. Four geometry concepts students perceived difficult to study are Circle theorems, Perpendicularity of Tangent and radius of a circle, Angle between Tangent and a chord and Tangents from an external point. The reasons for the difficulty in studying geometry topics are the unavailability of instructional materials, the geometry topics being complex, and teachers not teaching geometry concepts to the students’ understanding. Students’ gender did not influence the learning of concepts in geometry at a 0.05 level of significance. There was an insignificantly weak positive correlation between the students’ performance and their perceived difficult geometry concepts. It was concluded that the Ministry of Education does not provide relevant instructional materials to the various schools to teach geometry concepts. Schools do not organise workshops and seminars for teachers on effectively teaching geometry concepts in mathematics.

Preventive Maintenance (PM) is a periodic maintenance strategy, which has great results for devices in extending their life, increasing productivity, and most importantly, help avoid unexpected breakdowns and their costly consequence. A preventive maintenance scheduling (PMS) is determining the time for carrying out PM, and it represents a sensitive issue in terms of impact on production if the time for the PM process is not optimally distributed. In this study, hybrid heuristic methods were used to solve the PMS problem, as genetic algorithm and Tabu research were adopted. The optimal solution was reached in a short time compared to previous studies in which optimal methods were used, integer programming and nonlinear integer programming. Also, sensitivity analysis was applied to measure the robustness and strength of the method used, where an optimal solution was obtained for all experiments and in record time. This method can be used for power plants in privet or public sectors, to generate an optimal PMS, to save money, and to avoid water or electricity cuts.

The use of educational robotics has become increasingly popular in STEM education, offering motivating and hands-on learning experiences. This paper explores the potential of educational robotics for teaching plane curves at the university level. Specifically, it investigates the development and implementation of a LEGO SPIKE Prime robot designed to draw various central trochoids, including epicycloids and hypocycloids. The robot’s construction and programming are described, emphasizing the relationship between the robot’s physical movements and the mathematical equations of the curves it produces. The study also examines the integration of dynamic geometry software, which allows for visualization of the curves and verification of the robot’s accuracy. The paper concludes that educational robotics can serve as a valuable tool for enhancing both theoretical and practical understanding of mathematical and engineering concepts, offering a more engaging and interactive approach to learning.

In this follow-up study, we aimed to assess the effectiveness of the “I do not smoke, I exercise”, anti-smoking preventive health education program. The program was based on the Theory of Planned Behavior supplemented with life-skills teaching and targeted at high school students. The intervention comprised ten one-hour online sessions, administered by physical education instructors. The study cohort comprised 222 students (109 boys, 113 girls) from 11 secondary schools, with an average age of 16.42 ± 1.36 years. Data collection involved pre- and post-intervention self-assessment questionnaires. The examined variables included attitudes towards smoking, intention to smoke, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control (PBC), knowledge about smoking, smoking behavior, exercise behavior, attitudes toward the program's implementation, and satisfaction with the program. Separate paired samples t-test revealed a significant improvement in students' knowledge about smoking, perceived behavioral control, and overall program satisfaction following the intervention. However, no significant changes were observed in the remaining variables. These findings suggest that the health education smoking prevention intervention incorporates techniques and strategies that influence the Perceived Behavioral Control variable, emphasizing students' strong interest in educationally theorized programs integrating technology into their design. Future studies should consider further examination of tobacco control strategies within the high school context.

The Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) poses a significant global public health concern, especially in Africa. Since its first isolation in Tanzania in 1953, CHIKV has caused recurrent outbreaks, challenging healthcare systems in low-resource settings. Recent outbreaks in Africa highlight the dynamic nature of CHIKV transmission and the challenges of underreporting and underdiagnosis. Here, we review literature and analyze publicly available cases, outbreaks, and genomic data providing insights into the epidemiology, genetic diversity, and transmission dynamics of CHIKV in Africa. Our analyses reveal the circulation of geographically distinct CHIKV genotypes, with certain regions experiencing a disproportionate burden of disease. Phylogenetic analysis of sporadic outbreaks in West Africa suggests repeated emergence of the virus through enzootic spillover, which is markedly different from inferred transmission dynamics in East Africa, where the virus is often introduced from Asian outbreaks, including the recent reintroduction of the Indian Ocean lineage from the Indian subcontinent to east Africa. Furthermore, there is limited evidence of viral movement between these two regions. Understanding the history and transmission dynamics of outbreaks is crucial for public health planning. Despite advances in surveillance and research, diagnostic and surveillance challenges persist. This review and secondary analysis highlight the importance of ongoing surveillance, research, and collaboration to mitigate the burden of CHIKV in Africa and improve public health outcomes.

The way people innovate and create new ideas and bring them to the market is undergoing a fundamental change from closed innovation to open innovation. Why and how do firms perform open innovation? Firms’ open innovation is measured through the levels of firms’ joint patent applications. Next, we analyze network structures and characters of firms’ joint patent applications such as betweenness and degree centrality, structure hole, and closure. From this research, we drew conclusions as follows. First, the structure of collaboration networks has both direct and indirect effects on firms’ innovative performance. Second, in the process of joint patent applications, there is a long tail phenomenon in networks of joint patent applications. Third, the number of patents and International Patent Classification (IPC) subclasses together constitute a meaningful measure of the innovation performance of firms.

Forest education is pivotal for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and promoting sustainable forest management in the face of global challenges. However, existing programs struggle to keep up with rapidly changing crises and uncertainties that contribute to deforestation and forest degradation. To address these challenges, integrating innovative approaches into forest education is crucial. This paper demonstrates the transformative use of a role-playing game as an innovative teaching method for integrated forest management. The game provides students with practical experience and a comprehensive understanding of landscape approaches, using the Congo Basin as a case study. Our research focuses on sustainable forest governance, stakeholder roles, and valuing natural assets and ecosystem services, supporting the transformation of economic, political, and social/cultural relationships at various scales. We highlight the potential of innovative forest education to foster sustainability, trigger critical thinking, resolve conflicts, and prevent costly forest losses.

Innovation is a crucial issue in healthcare services since it can affect job-related variables such as productivity, satisfaction and burnout. The aim of our study was to examine the impact of innovation support on quiet quitting, innovative behavior and innovation outputs among nurses. We conducted a cross-sectional study in Greece during April 2024. We employed a convenience sample of nurses. We used the following instruments: (a) the Innovation Support Inventory (ISI) to measure innovation support, (b) the Quiet Quitting Scale (QQS) to measure quiet quitting, (c) the Innovative Behavior Inventory (IBI) to measure innovative behavior, and (d) the Innovation Outputs (IO) scale to measure innovation outputs. Our multivariable analysis identified a negative relationship between innovation support and quiet quitting. Moreover, we found that managerial support and cultural support improved several aspects of innovative behavior, such as idea generation, idea search, idea communication, implementation starting activities, involving others, and overcoming obstacles. Additionally, managerial support improved innovation outputs. Our findings suggested the positive impact of innovation support on quiet quitting, innovative behavior and innovation outputs among nurses. Organizations and nurses’ managers should establish an innovative working environment to improve nurses’ passion, motives and productivity.

Taiwan's bed and breakfast (B&B) development has been more than 25 years ago, from the first generation of retirement to the B&B industry, serving tourists from all over the world accom-modation, providing breakfast and accommodation mode to the present, after the change of employees from the second generation, more and more attention is paid to the cultivation and cultivation of business ability. With the advent of the era of AI technology networking, the ca-pabilities required for B&B operation are more focused on all aspects of service, and the good marketing ability of B&B can promote a green chimney-free tourism economy, which is also a favorite industry of various governments and the public. This study explores the basic vocational competency indicators required for running a B&B, with (1)EQ emotion management skills, (2)Financial management ability, (3)(SK) technical skills, and (4)Marketing and promotion management capabilities. Through the study method, the K-S Z test was determined by the con-sensus conclusion of expert reliability and validity p value

The BL Lacertae (BL Lac) object OJ 287 underwent an intense X-ray activity phase, exhibiting its brightest recorded X-ray flare in 2016-2017, characterized by much softer X-ray spectra and, concurrently, its first-ever recorded very-high-energy (VHE) emission (100--560 GeV), reported by the VERITAS observatory. Broadband spectral energy distribution reveals a new jet emission component similar to high-synchrotron-peaked BL Lac objects, thereby implying the soft X-ray spectrum for the synchrotron emission. Using the advantage of simultaneous X-ray and VHE spectral information, as well as the source being a low-synchrotron-peaked BL Lac object, we systematically explored the extragalactic background light (EBL) spectrum by demanding that the VHE spectrum cannot be harder than the X-ray spectrum. We used three different phenomenological forms of the EBL spectral shape (power-law, parabola, and polynomial) motivated by current constraints on the EBL with the Bayesian Monte Carlo approach to infer the credible EBL range. Our study favors an almost flat power-law spectral shape and is consistent with previous studies. The other spectral forms capable of capturing curvature though result in a better statistics value; the improvement is statistically insignificant given the additional parameters.

We propose a neural-network-based watermarking method that introduces the quantized activation function that approximates the quantization of JPEG compression. Many neural-network-based watermarking methods have been proposed. Conventional methods have acquired robustness against various attacks by introducing an attack simulation layer between the embedding network and the extraction network. The quantization process of JPEG compression was replaced by the noise addition process in the attack layer of the conventional methods. In this paper, we propose a quantized activation function that can simulate the JPEG quantization standard as it is in order to improve the robustness against the JPEG compression. Our quantized activation function consists of several hyperbolic tangent functions and is applied as an activation function for neural networks. Our network was introduced in the attack layer of ReDMark proposed by Ahmadi et al. to compare it with their method. That is, the embedding and extraction networks had the same structure. We compared the usual JPEG compressed images and the images applying the quantized activation function. The results showed that a network with quantized activation functions can approximate JPEG compression with high accuracy. We also compared the bit error rate (BER) of estimated watermarks generated by our network with those generated by ReDMark. We found that our network was able to produce estimated watermarks with lower BERs than those of ReDMark. Therefore, our network outperformed the conventional method with respect to image quality and BER.

Despite ongoing efforts, the relationship between groin strength and injury remains unclear. The challenge of accurately predicting injuries presents an opportunity for researchers to develop pre-vention strategies to reduce the occurrence of such injuries. Consequently, this issue requires further investigation to obtain insights into effective mitigation strategies. In 120 male soccer players the maximum isometric strength of the hip muscle groups was measured, and the strength ratios were calculated. Previous injury and anthropometric data were registered. Injury data were collected following the FIFA/UEFA consensus. The K- Nearest Neighbour (k-NN), was used to predict the incidence of injury, while the significant predictive variables of the k-NN algorithm were fitted into a multivariate logistic regression model (LR) to analyze the likelihood of players sustaining a groin injury. The LR model determined two variables as significant predictors of groin injury. Players were less likely to sustain a groin injury by 76% for each decrease of the Adductors/Abductors isometric strength ratio in the non-dominant limb (OR = 0.238, CI 95%= [(0.098-0.572]). Players with a history of previous injury had a 67% greater risk of sustaining an injury (OR = 0.333, CI 95%= [(0.1068-1.038]). Isometric hip adductor and abductor strength im-balances of the non-dominant lower limb and a history of previous injury were risk factors for groin injury in soccer players.

Robotics offers innovative possibilities at all levels of education, which should be considered when planning the teaching process for certain topics of engineering mathematics in higher education. In this paper, we present a new teaching-learning technique using STEAM-based methods to explore the properties of cycloidal curves for Computer Science Engineering BSc students. Frontal teaching, which is part of the tradition of higher education, has been complemented with teaching methods that meet the generational needs of students: problem-based learning, integration of STEAM-based methods and project-based learning. We have developed a new methodological model that combines the advantages of the traditional teaching method with new forms of teaching that have proven to be effective in teaching Generation Z. The four-stage methodological model uses a variety of didactical approaches because each stage applies a different type of learning technique to make the learning process interesting, motivating and effective. One of the main pillars of the model is the use of Desmos dynamic geometry software to create animations, and the other is the use of educational robotics to support visualisation. The implementation of educational robotics and its potential for teaching cycloidal curves is discussed in detail. The effectiveness of the method was investigated with first-year undergraduate students in computer science engineering. Quantitative studies were carried out to test the effectiveness of the new teaching technique. The experimental results strongly indicate the value of using the four-stage methodological model to implement active learning in the field of cycloidal curves.

In order to solve the problem of large eddy current loss and high temperature rise caused by large amount of permanent magnet, a new type of combined magnetic pole permanent magnet motor is proposed in this paper. The sinusoidal distribution subdomain model of non-uniform air gap rotor is established by using Laplace equation, and the analytical expression of eddy current loss of rotor in uniform air-gap and non-uniform air-gap is derived. The effect of rotor eccentricity on eddy current loss is obtained. According to the characteristics of distributed winding of non-uniform air gap combined pole permanent magnet motor, equivalent treatment is performed to obtain the equivalent thermal conductivity, so as to establish equivalent thermal network model of motor, calculate the temperature value of each component of the motor, and verify the correctness of the thermal network model through the method of magnetothermal bidirectional coupling. Finally, an experimental platform is set up to carry out temperature rise experiments on the two prototypes respectively. Experimental results show that the non-uniform air-gap rotor structure can effectively reduce the rotor eddy current loss and motor temperature rise, and also verify the accuracy of the analytical model calculation results.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) continues to be a global threat due to its ability to evolve and generate new subvariants, leading to new waves of infection. Additionally, other coronaviruses like Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV, formerly known as hCoV-EMC) which first emerged in 2012, persists and continues to present a threat of severe illness to humans. The continued identification of novel coronaviruses, coupled with the potential for genetic recombination between different strains, raises the possibility of new coronavirus clades of global concern emerging. As a result, there is a pressing need for pan-CoV therapeutic drugs and vaccines. After extensive optimization of an HCV protease inhibitor screening hit, a novel 3CLPro inhibitor (MK-7845) was discovered and subsequently profiled. MK-7845 exhibited nanomolar in vitro potency with broad spectrum activity against a panel of clinical SARS-CoV-2 subvariants and MERS-CoV. Furthermore, when administered orally, MK-7845 demonstrated a notable reduction of viral burdens by &gt;6 log orders in the lungs of transgenic mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 (K18-hACE2 mice) and MERS-CoV (K18-hDDP4 mice).

Diabetes is a major health concern that the next-generation of on-demand insulin releasing implants may overcome for personalized therapy. Therein, 3D-printed phenylboronic acid-containing subcutaneous implants with on-demand glucose-triggered drug release abilities are produced using high resolution stereolithography technology. To that end, the methacrylation of phenylboronic acid is targeted following a two-step reaction. The resulting photocurable phenylboronic acid derivative is accordingly incorporated within bioinert polyhydroxyethyl methacrylate-based hydrogels at varying loadings. The end result are sub-centimeter scaled 3D-printed bionert implants that can be remotely activated with 1,2-diols and 1,3-diols such as glucose for on-demand drug administration such as insulin. As a proof of concept, varying glucose concentration from hypoglycemia to hyperglycemia levels readily allow the release of pinacol, i.e. a model molecule with similar release properties than insulin, at respectively low and high rates. In addition, the results demonstrated that adjusting the geometry and size of the 3D-printed part is a simple and suitable method for tailoring the release behavior and dosage.

The purpose of this study is to examine the match-related performance (scores and penalties) of the athletes in the Junior EJC (European Judo Championship) and U23 EJC categories before and immediately after the Covid-19 quarantine, according to gender and weight category groups. Our sample was based on the junior and U23, male and females, 2019-2020 Junior European Judo Championships and 2019-2020 U23 European Judo Championships. A total of 1431 matches in these tournaments were analyzed: male (n=812) and female (n=619). The main findings of this study showed that most matches in both the male and female categories resulted in ippon (2019-2020 average: 64,35% for Junior male, 70,55% for U23 male and 69,3% for Junior female, 64,4% for U23 female). No significant differences (p &gt; 0.05) were observed between gender and age groups concerning the match scores. In the formation phase of the technique, considerations of high- and low-intensity actions, and analysis of the speed of athletes during matches in official competitions can help to better understand the dynamics of the variability of movements in judo matches. In addition, suggestions are presented to be applied to athletes in different age categories who are on the way to become Olympic athletes.

Citrus species essential oils (EOs) are significant sources of bioactive compounds and demonstrate diverse therapeutic effects. However, limited documentation exists regarding the phytochemicals associated with their biological activities. This study aims to assess the antioxidant activity, plant inhibitory properties, and brine shrimp cytotoxic effects of EOs derived from three Citrus species: C. sinensis, C. limon, and C. hystrix. Utilizing chemometric analysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) fingerprints, the volatile components contributing to antioxidant activity were elucidated. The peels of the Citrus samples were hydro-distillated to obtain EOs, and subsequently subjected to antioxidant, plant inhibitory, and brine shrimp cytotoxic assays. The results indicated that C. limon EO exhibited the highest antioxidant activity, while C. hystrix and C. sinensis EOs demonstrated pronounced inhibitory effects against Aetrmia salina and Lactuca sativa, respectively. GC-MS analysis facilitated the identification of key compounds in each EO. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchy cluster analysis (HCA) effectively categorized Citrus EOs based on their antioxidant properties, highlighting the proximity of C. limon and C. sinensis. Among the identified compounds, D-limonene, α-Terpineol, Caryophyllene, (+)-3-Carene, β-Pinene, (-)-Spathulenol, trans-p-Mentha-1(7),8-dien-2-ol, and trans-Verbenol were the most discriminating compounds affected the antioxidant activity of C.limon and C. sinensis EOs.

This work presents a novel compact CMOS potentiostat designed circuit for electrochemical cell. The proposed topology functions as a circuit interface, controlling the polarization of voltage signals at the sensor electrodes and facilitating current measurement during the oxidation-reduction process of a analyzed solution. The potentiostat, designed for CMOS technology, comprises a two-stage amplifier, two current mirror blocks coupled to this amplifier, and a CMOS push-pull output stage. It employs the electrochemical method of cyclic voltammetry, operating within voltage range of ±0.8 V and scan rates of 10mV/s, 25mV/s, 100mV/s and 250 mV/s. The circuit is capable of reading currents ranging from 10 µA to 500 µA. Experimental results were obtained using a potassium ferrocyanide (K3(FeCN)6) redox solution with concentrations of 10, 15 and 20 mmol/L, and their corresponding voltammograms were evaluated. The experimental results from a discrete circuit demonstrate that the proposed potentiostat topology produces outcomes consistent with those of classical topologies presented in the literature and industrial equipment.

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a plyometric training program designed to enhance agility, speed, and social interaction among boys with mild intellectual disability (ID) aged 10-12, within the Special Olympics framework. Participants: Thirty-two boys (mean age = 10.69 ± 0.8 years; mean IQ = 61 ± 7) from three inclusive education centers participated in the study. Methods: The intervention consisted of a 10-week plyometric training program, conducted twice a week. Pre- and post-intervention assessments included the Reaction Time Test, 4-Corner Agility Test, 10-Meter Speed Run, 4x5 Meter Relay Test, and the Friendship Activity Scale (FAS). Results: The study found significant improvements across all measures. Reaction time decreased by 0.83 seconds (t = 7.44, p < 0.001), 4-corner agility improved by 0.77 seconds (t = 11.93, p < 0.001), 4x5 meter speed improved by 0.61 m/s (t = 17.37, p < 0.001), and 10-meter run speed improved by 1.55 m/s (t = -12.76, p < 0.001). Additionally, the FAS score increased by 0.81 points (t = 9.59, p < 0.001), indicating enhanced social interactions. Conclusion: The plyometric training program significantly improved agility, speed, and social interaction in children with mild ID, demonstrating the effectiveness of inclusive, adaptive physical education strategies within the Special Olympics framework.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Blazepod technology when incorporated with various training regimens on the essential elements of physical fitness in volleyball, such as agility, speed, visual response time, and vertical leap. Thirty-six participants (age :17.33±0.48 y, height: 183.78±6.34 cm, weight: 77.14±5.16 kg) were in-volved in this study. In randomized design, three equal groups with two experimental groups and one control group were involved in the study over a period of six weeks: (GE1) used Blazepod technology to workout at a low level; (GE2) used Blazepod technology to workout at a higher intensity; (CG) did not employ Blazepod technology, but it adhered to the same fundamental training curriculum. We conducted agility, speed, reaction time, and vertical jump tests before, midway and after the study to determine optimal training volume, intensity, and frequency. A significant main effect of time (P0.01), and time×group interaction (P>0.001) were found for all tests. Post hoc test showed that the two experimental groups gadget significantly improved in all performance variables (P

Background/Objectives: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood neurodevelopmental disorder affecting 5.29%-7.2% of children worldwide. Research supports the use of physical activity programs for children with ADHD, which have been shown to provide benefits in neuropsychological and cognitive parameters, executive functions, and social-emotional development. One such program that incorporates physical activity is group psychomotor therapy (GPT), which utilizes inclusion as a key design and implementation principle. However, there is limited data on the effectiveness of GPT for children both with and without ADHD. This study investigated the effects of group psychomotor therapy (GPT), a physical activity-based approach emphasizing inclusion, on the socio-emotional competence and motor competence of preschool aged children with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods: A total of 54 children (19 with ADHD and 35 without; Mage= 61.80±5.40 months) participated in a 27-week GPT program. Assessments of motor competence and socio-emotional competence were conducted pre- and post- programme’s implementation, using the DEMOST-PRE© and the Psychosocial Adjustment Test, respectively. Results: Children without ADHD scored statistically higher scores across all assessed variables. However, both groups presented significant improvements in both motor and social-emotional competence. Conclusions: Children without ADHD scored statistically higher scores across all assessed variables. However, both groups presented significant improvements in both motor and social-emotional competence.

Circadian rhythm (CR) influences various physiological functions, including physical and cognitive performance, which fluctuate throughout the day. The present study aimed to investigate the combined and separate effects of CR and physical fatigue on cognitive and physical performance. A sample of 18 amateur athletes was subjected to a series of tests at three different times of the day: morning, afternoon, and evening. Fatigue was induced following isokinetic concentric exercise combined with a 20-minute treadmill run, followed by assessments of selected physical and cognitive tasks. Repeated measures ANOVA did not reveal an interaction between CR and fatigue in cognitive performance (p &gt; 0.05). However, a significant main effect of fatigue was observed in visual reaction time (VisRT) across all three time points. Moreover, peak torque (PT) and peak torque fatigue index (PTFI) showed significant differences between the three times of the day, peaking in the evening. Although we found no interaction between CR and physical fatigue state on selected cognitive parameters at the three times of day, a separate effect of fatigue on cognitive performance was identified. Additionally, physical parameters exhibited peak values occurring in the evening hours. Future research should further explore underlying mechanisms that potentially influence cognitive performance at different times of the day.

The aim of the current study has been to assess externalizing problems from a gender perspective in the juvenile population. This objective has been evaluated though the Child and Adolescent Assessment System questionnaire (SENA), to measure the dimension of externalized problems. A total of 128 Spanish students took part in the survey, comprising 58 (45.3%) male and 67 (52.3%) female, aged between 12 and 16 years old (M= 13,7; Sd= 1,14). The sample was taken from three High- Schools (state and private-subsidized) in Madrid, Spain. The research for this study was conducted through a descriptive, inferential, quantitative, ex post facto design. The data analysis was performed using SPSS 27.0. The result revealed an increase in externalized problems: Attention (M= 2.65, Sd=.88), Anger Control (M= 2.27, Sd=.85) and Hyperactivity- Impulsivity (M= 2.26, Sd=.68). In addition, female students score highly in Attention Problems (F= 4.124; Sig.: .004), Hyperactivity-Impulsivity (F: 6.18; Sig.: <.001), and Anger Control (F: 2.3; Sig.: .062). This study highlights the impact and increase on students externalized mental health problems currently. It is essential to have a protective environment and promote the development of emotional intelligence, encouraging the mental health in young people. This article is part of the findings of the research project “Therapeutic Innovation Classroom for the accompaniment of teenager with Serious Mental Disorder” (Reference: 2021V/EU-UNED/02).

The interaction forces and mechanical properties of the interaction between melittin (Mel) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) are considered a crucial driving force for Mel in killing Gram−negative bacteria (GNB). However, how their interaction forces are performed at the single−molecule level and the dissociation kinetic characteristics of the Mel/LPS complex remain poorly understood. In this study, the single−molecule level interaction forces between Mel and LPSs from E. coil K−12, O55:B5, O111:B4, and O128:B12 were explored using atomic force microscopy (AFM) based single−molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS). Further, the AFM−based dynamic force spectroscopy (DFS) and advanced analytical model were employed to investigate the kinetic characteristics of the Mel/LPSs complex dissociation. The results indicated that Mel could interact with both rough (R)−form LPS (E. coli K−12) and smooth (S)−form LPSs (E. coli O55:B5, O111:B4, O128:B12), and the S−form LPSs showed a more robust interaction with Mel than R−form LPS, and a slight difference existed in the interaction forces between Mel and diverse S−form LPSs. The Mel interacts with S−form LPSs showed greater specific and non−specific interaction forces than R−form LPS (p &lt; 0.05), as determined by AFM−based SMFS. However, there was no significant difference in the specific and non−specific interaction forces among the three S−form LPSs (p &gt; 0.05), indicating the variability of O−antigen could not affect the interaction between Mel and LPSs. The DFS result showed that the Mel/S−form LPSs complexes had a lower dissociation rate constant (koff), a shorter energy barrier width (xβ), a longer bond lifetime (τoff), and a higher height of the energy barrier (∆G), demonstrating that Mel could interact with S−form LPSs to form more stable complexes. In conclusion, this study promotes our knowledge of the interaction micromechanics and kinetics characteristics between Mel and LPS at the single−molecule level. Moreover, it can help us design and evaluate new anti−GNB drugs.

Developing sustainability competences is an important endeavor for education, as competence development can be complex and requires appropriate approaches. In the case of preparing future educators, this becomes even more important, because of their multiplier role. The current study presents how a project, based on living-lab methodology, helped preservice preschool teachers, attending a course on sustainability issues, develop sustainability-specific professional action competence. Students collaborated with an organization and a school and were trained to deliver to 6-year-old pupils, activities concerning the protection of sea turtles. The process included reflection, based on a given template. After the intervention, the preservice preschool teachers reflected upon their role and professional performance and discussed how they, benefited from this project. They further analyzed through a group interview, how the Living Lab methodology raised their professional confidence and self-efficacy, and helped them develop content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and a sense of purpose and motivation for teaching about sustainability. Outcomes indicate that participants felt confident and efficacious to teach about sustainability, and developed their content knowledge, pedagogy content knowledge, motivation, and volition due to a strong sense of purpose and responsibility. The overall process facilitated the development of critical thinking, systemic thinking, reflection, and collaboration..

Photovoltaic (PV) systems, which are renewable energy sources, are increasingly being utilized in distributed generation. To maintain a stable energy balance, energy storage systems such as batteries (BAT) play a vital role. Electric vehicles (EVs) offer a promising solution with rechargeable battery systems for operation. The BATs must maintain their state of charge within design boundaries, despite intermittent PV and load power fluctuations, and advanced power control and management techniques are essential for their effective operation. The article evaluates an intelligent controller that uses a Sliding Mode Control adaptive deep learning algorithm Convolutional Neural Networks (SMC-CNN) and a unique Strategy for managing supervisory power. (SPMS) for photovoltaic systems with battery energy storage for better regulation of DC bus voltage. SMC-CNN offers exceptional resilience and seamless functionality, minimizing fluctuations in DC bus voltage in the control strategy design requirements. The primary goals are maintaining a consistent power supply and ensuring continuous service by preventing system components from exceeding capacity. This study aims to enhance the control of DC bus voltage in the PV and battery system, with the primary significance focusing on the following aspects. The advanced SPMS has been created, incorporating control system constraints to enhance SOC balancing speed and reduce fluctuations in DC bus voltage. Power flow management involves optimizing energy flow between the PV system, battery system, and load while minimizing battery capacity requirements. The proposed SMC-CNN and SPMS are demonstrated through real-time simulation using Matlab/Simulink, as demonstrated in comprehensive case studies.

High resolution information on nucleotide arrangement in the genome of any or-ganism is critical to understand its genetic makeup, function, and evolutionary his-tory. For years, DNA sequencing has provided crucial breakthroughs in the field of genomics and molecular biology. With the advent of technology, Next Generation Sequencing has now transformed the whole genome sequencing prospects, thus unveiling the novel and interesting features of an organism genome that can behold. Next generation sequencing platforms offer realistic approach to identify and anal-yses whole genome with high throughput, accuracy, scalability in a very short time span. Information obtained can be further used in improving our existing healthcare systems, designing novel and personalized therapeutic modules, making the envi-ronment sustainable and proactively preparing ourselves for future pandemics and outbreaks. This article discusses the various NGS technologies and approaches, their advantages, drawbacks, and futuristic usage in different fields. Though still in nascent stages and marred with flaws, with ongoing advancement, NGS will indeed have promising impacts in the future.

Digital transformation provides new drivers for economic performance growth in enterprises, but can it further improve ESG performance and support sustainable development? Based on the perspective of resources and capabilities, this paper uses the relevant data of 1588 listed companies in strategic emerging industries from 2011 to 2021 to study the differential impact of digital transformation on enterprise ESG performance, and further tests the mediating role of absorptive capacity and the moderating role of regional digital level. The research results indicate that: firstly, digital transformation of enterprises can positively promote the improvement of ESG performance; Secondly, there are significant differences in the impact of digital transformation on the ESG performance of enterprises in terms of property rights and industry characteristics. The ESG performance of state-owned enterprises and high-end equipment manufacturing enterprises is more sensitive to digital transformation; Thirdly, absorptive capacity plays a mediating role between digital transformation and corporate ESG performance; Fourthly, the positive regulation of regional digital level promotes the ESG performance of enterprises through digital transformation. The research conclusion is based on a digital perspective, providing relevant insights for improving the ESG performance of strategic emerging industry enterprises and expanding their ESG development paths.

The clinical application of collagen-based biomaterials is expanding rapidly, especially in tissue engineering and cosmetics. While oral supplements and injectable skin boosters are popular for enhancing skin health, clinical evidence supporting their effectiveness remains limited. Injectable products show potential in revitalizing skin, but safety concerns persist due to challenges in sterilization and the risk of biological contamination. Traditional methods of sterilization (heat and irradiation) can denature collagen. This study addresses these issues by introducing a novel technique: double filtration and low-temperature steam sterilization of a collagen gel. In vitro tests document sterility and confirm that the collagen structure remained intact without modification. An in vivo study found no adverse effects in rats or significant lesions at the implantation site over 13 weeks. These results suggest that this novel method to process collagen gels is a safe and effective skin booster. Advanced processing methods are likely to mitigate safety risks associated with injectable collagen products, though further research is needed to validate their biological effectiveness and clinical benefits.

Producing translucent eggs has been found to reduce the quality and safety of the eggs produced., as well as the demand from consumers. However, the intestinal function and the molecular mechanism for the production of translucent eggs remain uncertain. A total of 120 eggs were allocated into two groups, one for the translucent egg group (group T) and one for the normal group (group C), according to the degree of eggshell translucence. Translucent eggs showed thicker eggshell and lower egg yolk color. We also detected the plasma biochemical index, intestinal morphology and structure, enzyme activity, and antioxidant capacity of the hens’ producing translucent eggs and normal eggs. The results showed that the ratio of duodenal villus length to crypt depth, succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity, chymotrypsin, total ATPase (T-ATPase), alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were decreased in the hens produced translucent eggs (P &lt; 0.05), but malondialdehyde (MDA) content was increased (P &lt; 0.05); jejunal lipase activity, Na+K+-ATPase activity, total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), GSH-Px activities were decreased (P &lt; 0.05) in group T; ileal amylase and Ca2+Mg2+-ATPase activities were also decreased (P &lt; 0.05) in group T. In addition, we identified a total of 471 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in duodenal tissue, with 327 up-regulated genes and 144 down-regulated genes (|log2FC| ≥ 1 and P &lt; 0.05). Enrichment analysis showed that the up-regulated genes, such as GSTT1, GSTO2, GSTA3, were mostly enriched in metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450, drug metabolism-cytochrome P450 and oxidative phosphorylation pathways. The results of our study indicate that plasma lipid metabolism disorder, decreased intestinal antioxidant capacity, and altered intestinal metabolism capabilities may influence the formation of translucent eggs.

Aim: This study aimed to understand the role of workforce agility as a coping strategy to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: The study reviewed and integrated two lines of literature to develop a theoretical framework to help business organizations to respond, adapt, and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Results: The results showed that there are several commonalities between the workforce agility literature and the crisis management literature, mostly manifested in the speed of responding to uncertain and unpredictable, adverse events in the business environment. A thorough review of key themes in both kinds of literature led to developing a theoretical framework that links crisis drivers, crisis enablers, crisis capabilities, and response strategy. Workforce agility can be used as a coping strategy to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Both kinds of literature evolve to respond to any crisis; the crisis management literature focuses on Meso-level (organizational level) or collective actions to mitigate the crisis, while the workforce agility literature focuses on the Micro-level (individual level). However, the successful response to any crisis requires the synergy of both actions. Future Studies: The results of this research are of prime importance for both researchers and practitioners. Researchers can use the theoretical framework as a baseline for building empirical research design. The current study also sets the context for future researchers who are interested in workforce agility to test the validity of agile work behaviors in real adverse context. It also opens a new stream of debate by deconstructing understudied links between workforce agility, resilience, and crisis management. Mangerial implication: For practitioners to ensure a successful response to any impending crisis, they must develop their employees’ agile behaviors. Practitioners can also redesign their recruitment strategy to select the right individuals with the right agile attributes, abilities, and behaviors to easily alter their behaviors according to the progressing crisis phases. Finally, practitioners can design continual learning interventions to include required agile skills and competencies to prepare their employees for future crises.

Lean body mass (LBM) is correlated with powerlifting performance in athletes competing in different bodyweight classes. However, it remains unknown whether changes in LBM are correlated with performance changes in powerlifters preparing for a competition. Aim of the study was to investigate the changes in LBM and performance in powerlifters preparing for a competition. Eight male powerlifters (age 31.7±9.8years, height 1.77±0.06m, weight 99.2±14.6kg) and three female powerlifters (age 32.7±16.3years, height 1.54±0.06m, weight 66.6±20.9kg), participated in the study. Athletes followed individualized periodized training programs for 12 weeks aiming to maximize their performance for the national championship. Maximum strength (1-RM) in squat, bench press, and deadlift, body composition, grip strength, anaerobic power, quadriceps’ cross sectional area and vastus lateralis muscle architecture were measured before and after the training period. Significant increases were found after the training period in squat (5.8±7.0%, P

A model for enabling the production of lower carbon cement paste is proposed in this research. The model is based on predicting the strength of cement pastes with partial replacement of wheat straw ash (WSA) and silica fume (SF), two major wastes of agricultural and industrial production. The model is set up based on response surface methodology and Box-Behnken design, and included a suite of mechanical tests with distinct replacements following a micro an meso characterization. The model shows capability for predicting strength of any cement paste, including partial substitution of WSA and/or SF at any combination level with excellent accuracy, which is verified with three validation mixtures demonstrating maximum errors of less than 6% at the three ages. The analysis of the response surface evidences that any cement replacement in the range of 0-20% WSA and above 5% SF allows the reduction of the carbon footprint by maximizing the incorporation of both wastes. The proposed model can be used by setting the required strength of cement paste and calculating the maximum possible replacement, which should contribute to making the construction industry more sustainable by utilizing local waste.

Soybean is the primary oilseed crop in the United States, with significant industrial value. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of heat stress tolerance in soybean is critical for developing stress-resistant cultivars. Current knowledge about the role of fatty acid desaturases (FADs) in modulating membrane fluidity under abiotic stress prompted this investigation into the impact of mutations in the FAD genes on seed germination from heat-stressed plants. In soybean, exposure to heat stress during anthesis is known to significantly reduce seed germination. In silico expression analysis indicated high levels of expression of the soybean FAD2 and FAD3 genes in leaves. Therefore, a detailed expression analysis of these genes was conducted using qRT-PCR from leaf tissue. Generally, downregulation of these genes was observed in the mutants; however, two genes, FAD3A and FAD2-3, showed a more than 2-fold increase in expression in six out of ten mutants under heat stress. This upregulation was particularly pronounced (7-fold) in mutant S17CR-170. Correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation (0.5) between the expression level of FAD3A, FAD3B, FAD3C, and FAD2-3 and the decline in germination from heat-stressed plants. This suggests these FAD genes may act as negative regulators of germination under heat stress conditions.

Background We investigated to determine the effectiveness of verbal feedback in learning the round-off back somersault on the balance beam with stable landing. Methods: The research material consisted of female gymnasts (n = 16). They were randomly assigned to one of two groups: FKE group (n = 8) with feedback on key elements, or FAE group (n = 8) with 100% feedback on all errors made in the phase structure of the task. Results: Based on research, it was established that key elements could be identified in the preparatory, main and final phases. Mixed ANOVA showed that significant differences (p &lt; 0.05) were noted due to the teaching method used (Group x Time factor) when performing the gymnastic routine of round-off back somersault with stable landing on the balance beam. Based on the Welch t test for independent data it was revealed that the group with feedback on the key elements obtained significantly higher mean scores from judges at the end of the experiment. Conclusions: The findings of the present study point to a possibility of offering coaches teaching methods that increase the effectiveness of learning complex motor skills and indicate a possibility of applying such solutions in groups of female gymnasts both in training and during competitions.

Yoga promotes acceptance, compassion, physicality, active postures, mental and emotional awareness, and spiritual benefits. It involves breath techniques, postures, and body locks, maintaining balance and strength. It's based on ethical principles. Beyond simple performance, swimming is a catalyst for overall well-being. Complementarily, yoga serves as an invaluable adjunct for swimmers, enhancing flexibility, strength, and body awareness - a triad essential to aquatic excellence. The confluence of yoga and swimming, particularly through the practice of aqua yoga asanas, presents a new paradigm for both athletes and non-performers alike. Athletes who embrace the harmonious fusion of swimming and yoga unearth the potential for achieving not just athletic mastery but also a more balanced and fulfilling lifestyle. This blend provides a route not only to enhance performance in the water but also to elevate the overall quality of life. We examined the feasibility of incorporating yoga and swimming practice into Romanian subjects' lifestyles, designing a factor analysis in SmartPLS software, based on an online survey. The study assesses the participants' knowledge of yoga's theory and philosophy, as well as their perceptions of the swimming practice's benefits for social and health issues. According to our study, Romanian participants practice yoga and swimming as often as possible to reduce stress, improve concentration for work-related tasks, and improve joint elasticity, balance, and muscular tone. Thus, Yoga and swimming are substitutes for other approaches in prevention and therapy.

This study presents a comprehensive investigation into the spectrum and determinants of child abuse and neglect in Nkpor-Uno, a community in Anambra State, Nigeria. Through a descriptive surveys design, the study explores various forms of abuse and neglect experienced by children, as well as the underlying factors contributing to these phenomena. The population for the study consisted of 1000 parents/ caregivers who are residents of Nkpor-uno. The sample for the study consisted of 100 respondents, purposive sampling techniques was used for the study. The questionnaire was a self-designed structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed using frequency, mean and standard deviation. Findings reveal alarming prevalence rates of child maltreatment, including physical, emotional, sexual abuse, and neglect. Socioeconomic factors such as poverty, parental substance abuse, family dynamics, and inadequate sex education emerged as significant contributors to child maltreatment. The study underscores the urgent need for targeted interventions and support systems to address the root causes of abuse and neglect and safeguard the well-being and development of children in Nkpor-Uno. By raising awareness, enhancing access to resources, and promoting positive parenting practices, we can strive towards building a safer and healthier environment for children, ensuring they are protected from harm and given the opportunity to thrive.

This paper presents an innovative multi-agent, data-driven reinforcement learning (RL) approach to develop and utilize the thermal equivalent network model that represents the motor's thermal dynamics. A multi-agent reinforcement learning is designed and trained to adjust the model parameters using data from several motor driving cycles. To ensure the incoming driving cycle matches the historical data before employing the pre-trained RL agents, offline statistical analysis and clustering techniques are developed and used. Numerical simulations highlighted the RL agent's ability to develop strategies that effectively address the variability of driving cycles. The proposed RL framework showed its capability to accurately reflect the motor's thermal behavior under various driving conditions.

The aim was to identify if surface electromyography (sEMG) parameters are indicative of post-activation potentiation (PAP)/post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE), in terms of twitch potentiation and voluntary performance. Three databases were used in March 2024, with the following inclusion criteria: (a) original research, assessed in healthy human adults, (b) sEMG parameters were measured. The exclusion criteria were: (a) studies with no PAP/PAPE-protocol, (b) non-randomized control trials. The following data were extracted: study characteristics/demographics, PAP/PAPE-protocols, sEMG parameters, twitch/performance outcomes, and study findings. A modified physiotherapy evidence database (PEDro) scale was used for quality assessment. Fifteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs), with a total of 199 subjects were included. The M-wave amplitude (combined with a twitch torque outcome) was shown to generally be indicative of PAP. The sEMG amplitude (in some muscles) were found to be indicative of PAPE during ballistic movements, while a small decrease in the MdF (in certain muscles) were shown to reflect PAPE. Changes in the Hmax/Mmax ratio were found to contribute (temporally) to PAP, while the H-reflex amplitude was shown to be neither indicative of PAP nor PAPE. This review provides preliminarily findings suggesting that certain sEMG parameters could be indicative of PAP/PAPE. However, future research is warranted.

In this article we compute many topological indices for the family of Möbius ladder. At first we give general closed form of M-polynomial of this family and recover many degree based topological indices out of it. We also compute Zagreb indices and Zagreb polynomials of this family.

Brown rice is a familiar whole grain in Japan. We examined national trends in brown rice consumption among Japanese adults aged ≥ 20 years old, using individual-level data from the National Health and Nutrition Surveys conducted between 2012 and 2019. We employed multivariable logistic regression to identify factors associated with brown rice consumption. The 95th percentile of daily brown rice intake remained at 0.0 grams throughout the study period. The percentage of brown rice consumers increased from 1.8% (95% confidence interval: 1.6–2.1) in 2012 to 2.3% (95% confidence interval: 1.8–3.0) in 2019. Compared with individuals who consumed only white rice, brown rice consumers had significantly higher mean intake levels of macronutrients, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Brown rice consumption was positively associated with certain sociodemographic characteristics (being female, older age, residing in a major city, living without very young children, and having higher education levels) and health behaviors (lower body mass index, engaging in regular exercise, and being a former or never smoker). Despite its potential nutritional benefits in balanced diets, only a small fraction of adults in Japan consume brown rice, indicating a need for further promotion, particularly among individuals with characteristics associated with brown rice consumption.

Despite the recognized influence of body mass on combat techniques, the relationship between body segment mass (BSM) and combat moves remains unexplored. This study aimed to examine the relationship between striking arm mass (SAM), kicking leg mass (KLM), and body mass (BM) with the dynamic forces of the direct punches (DP), palm strikes (PS), elbow strikes (ES), front kicks (FK), and countermovement jumps (CMJ) performance. Sixteen male military cadets (22.3 ± 1.8 years, 181.4 ± 7.0 cm, 82.1 ± 8.5 kg) performed combat techniques, with performance measured by using a force plate and body segment mass assessed by Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Spearman's correlation analysis, the Wilcoxon test, and Cohen's d were applied. Results indicated the relationship between KLM or BM and FK impulse (r = 0.64, p = 0.01; r = 0.52, p = 0.04, respectively) and CMJ impact force (r = 0.80, p ≤ 0.01; r = 0.70, p ≤ 0.01, respectively). Moreover, FK peak and impact forces were moderately correlated with CMJ jump height (r = 0.74, p ≤ 0.01; r = 0.77, p ≤ 0.01). The highest relationship was found between KLM and FK impulse; however, the difference in variability explained by KLM versus body mass is only 12%. This suggests that knowledge of BSM did not provide a significantly better estimate of the dynamic forces of the punches and FK than BM.

'Cv 'Doña María' table grape is a high-quality table grape variety included in the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) of the European Union "The bagged grape of the Vinalopó." The PDO stipulates that grape clusters must be protected with paper bags from inclement weather and insects, which helps enhance the final grape quality. However, 'Doña María' is a variety prone to high shattering in the late stages of ripening on the vine and during postharvest. Inorganic calcium treatments are one of the most commonly used tools to reduce this disorder, but the translocation of this mineral from veraison onward has been questioned. In this study, five applications were performed, from veraison to harvest, using sorbitol-chelated calcium (0.7 % + 1.0 %), Ca(NO3)2 (Ca) at 0.7% and sorbitol at 1%. It was observed that bagged grapes (not wetted with the solutions) only increased the concentration of total and bound calcium when treated with Sorbitol-Ca. This resulted in reduced berry drop during cultivation and postharvest and improved fruit firmness. Additionally, it reduced grape metabolism indicators such as respiration rate, weight loss, malic acid degradation, prevented abscisic acid (ABA) and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation, and favored the accumulation of secondary metabolites such as total polyphenols, increased antioxidant activity, and sugar content. The application of sorbitol-chelated calcium is an effective and safe tool that enhances fruit quality and prevents losses due to shattering during postharvest.

Stroke constitutes a significant public health concern due to its impact on mortality and morbidity. This study investigates the utility of machine learning algorithms in predicting stroke and identifying key risk factors using data from the Suita study, comprising 7,389 participants and 53 variables. Initially, unsupervised K-prototype clustering categorized participants into risk clusters, while five supervised models including Logistic Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Light Gradient Boosted Machine (Light-GBM) were employed to predict stroke outcomes. Stroke incidence disparities among identified risk clusters using the unsupervised K-prototype clustering method are substantial, according to the findings. Supervised learning, particularly RF was a preferable option because of the higher levels of performance metrics. The Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) method identified age, systolic blood pressure, hypertension, estimated glomerular filtration rate, metabolic syndrome, and blood glucose level as key predictors of stroke, aligning with findings from the unsupervised clustering approach in high-risk groups. Additionally, previously unidentified risk factors such as elbow joint thickness, fructosamine, hemoglobin, and calcium level demonstrate potential for stroke prediction. In conclusion, machine learning facilitated accurate stroke risk predictions and highlighted potential biomarkers, offering a data-driven framework for risk assessment and biomarker discovery.

In recent years, bioengineered and biotechnological products have gained tremendous attention to identify unique biologic features associated with oncology. To overwhelm the complexity of tumor personalized medicines (PM) or vaccines could be a promising way-out to be considered. Cancer is a heterogeneous disease. This characteristic variability of cancer provides itself to the emergent era of PM i.e., precision oncology. The prime objective of PM is merely to deliver the right treatment to the right patient at the right time. For instance, imatinib was effectively targeted chronic myeloid leukemia. To date, attainment in using PM approaches to cancer treatment have been mixed. The next-generation sequencing (NGS), and the use of several biomarkers (e.g., HER2, BRAF, ALK, etc.), to drive precise cancer treatment through a timely and cost-effective manner. In current review, author summarizes the advancement in the field of PM such as CRISPR-Cas9, NGS, pharmacogenomics, and the benefits of machine learning techniques. The precise communication between healthcare professionals, regulatory bodies, and patients is essential to translate advances in PM into immense benefits for patients with cancer globally.

To address the problems of insufficient semantic fusion between text and questions and the lack of consideration of global semantic information encountered in machine reading comprehension models, we proposed a machine reading comprehension model called BERT_hybrid based on BERT and hybrid attention mechanism. In this model, BERT is utilized to separately map the text and questions into the feature space. Through the integration of Bi-LSTM, attention mechanism, and self-attention mechanism, the proposed model achieves comprehensive semantic fusion between text and questions. The probabilities distribution of answers is computed using Softmax. Experimental results on the public dataset DuReader demonstrate that the proposed model achieves improvements in BLEU-4 and ROUGE-L scores compared to existing models. Furthermore, to validate the effectiveness of the proposed model design, we analyze the factors influencing the model’s performance.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health threat, necessitating innovative strategies for control and prevention. This comprehensive review explores the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Lysine Exporter (LysE) gene, unveiling its multifaceted roles and potential uses in controlling and preventing tuberculosis (TB). As a pivotal player in eliminating excess L-lysine and L-arginine, LysE contributes to the survival and virulence of M. tuberculosis. This review synthesizes findings from different electronic databases and includes 13 studies focused on the LysE of M. tuberculosis. The research unveils that LysE can be a potential drug target, a diagnostic marker for TB, and a promising candidate for vaccine development. The absence of LysE in the widely used BCG vaccine underscores its uniqueness and positions it as a novel area for TB prevention. In conclusion, this review underscores the significance of LysE in TB pathogenesis and its potential as a drug target, diagnostic marker, and vaccine candidate. The multifaceted nature of LysE positions it at the forefront of innovative approaches to combat TB, calling for sustained research efforts to harness its full potential in the global fight against this infectious disease.

Chemical pollution poses a significant threat to human health, with detrimental effects on various physiological systems, including the respiratory, cardiovascular, mental, and perinatal domains. While the impact of pollution on these systems has been extensively studied, the intricate relationship between chemical pollution and immunity remains a critical area of investigation. The focus of this study is to elucidate the relationship between chemical pollution and human immunity. To accomplish this task, this study presents a comprehensive review that encompasses in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo studies, shedding light on the ways in which chemical pollution can modulate human immunity. Our aim is to unveil the complex mechanisms by which environmental contaminants compromise the delicate balance of the body's defence systems going beyond the well-established associations with defence system delving into the less-explored link between chemical exposure and various immune disorders, adding urgency to our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and their implications for public health.

DSSC devices are among the most widely studied thin-film solar cells because of their cost-effectiveness, low toxicity, and simple fabrication method. However, there is still much scope for replacing current DSSC materials due to their high cost, low volume, and lack of long-term stability. Accordingly, ITO-nanorod films were fabricated by E-beam evaporation using the glancing angle deposition method in this study. Then, the ITO-nanorod was treated by oxygen plasma via a bias-magnetron RF sputtering process to improve the efficiency of DSSC under a varying gas flow rate of 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 sccm. The FE-SEM investigation of the ITO film structure revealed that the obtained nanorod structures have slightly different diameters. At the same time, an increase in the oxygen flow rate resulted in a rougher film surface structure. In this, the lower sheet resistance was received because of rougher morphology. When comparing the DSSC efficiency test results, we found that at a gas flow rate of 100 sccm, the highest efficiency value showed by 9.5%. On the other hand, the ITO-nanorod without plasma treatment exhibited the lowest efficiency. Hence, plasma technology can be practically applied to improve the efficiency of DSSC devices. This study will be a prototype of a highly advanced solar cell manufacturing method for the solar cell industry.

Plant activators have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional pesticides for crop disease manage-ment due to their unique mode of action. By priming the plant's innate immune system, these compounds can induce systemic acquired resistance against a broad spectrum of pathogens without directly inhibiting their proliferation. Key advantages of plant activators include prolonged defense activity, lower effective dosages, and negligible risk of developing pathogen resistance. Among the various defensive pathways tar-geted, the salicylic acid (SA) signaling cascade has been extensively explored, leading to the successful devel-opment of commercial activators like benzothiadiazole for widespread application in crop protection. While the action sites of many SA-targeting activators have been preliminarily mapped to different steps along the pathway, a comprehensive understanding of their precise mechanisms remains elusive. This review provides a historical perspective on plant activator development and outlines diverse screening strategies employed across multiple levels, from whole-plant bioassays to molecular and transgenic approaches. We expound on the intricate components, biological relevance, and regulatory circuits governing the SA pathway, while criti-cally examining the structural features, bioactivities, and proposed modes of action of classical activators such as benzothiadiazole derivatives, salicylic acid analogs, and other small molecules. Insights from field trials as-sessing their practical applicability are also discussed. Furthermore, we highlight the current status, challenges, and future prospects in the realm of SA-targeting activator development globally, with a focus on recent en-deavors in China. Collectively, this comprehensive review aims to synthesize existing knowledge and provide a roadmap for future research toward developing more potent and mechanistically understood plant activa-tors that fortify crop immunity against disease.

This systematic review explores the cross-cultural validation of neuropsychological assessments and their clinical applications in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), focusing on culturally adapted CBT (CA-CBT) across diverse populations and settings. Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, a comprehensive search was conducted in multiple academic databases, including PubMed, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science. Keywords related to cognitive-behavioral therapy, cultural adaptation, and specific populations were used. Inclusion criteria encompassed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and pilot studies that assessed CA-CBT for various mental health conditions. Results: The review included studies involving Chinese Americans, Latino caregivers, Syrian refugees, Jordanian children, Malaysian Muslims, Afghan refugees, Iraqi women, Japanese children and adolescents, and Tanzanian and Kenyan children. CA-CBT demonstrated significant effectiveness in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and psychosis. For instance, Research has shown that CA-CBT is more effective than standard CBT in reducing depressive symptoms among Chinese Americans and significantly lowering PTSD symptoms in Syrian refugee women. The method has been well-received and feasible in diverse populations, such as Jordanian children and Afghan refugees. Long-term benefits are promising, with sustained improvements reported in various studies. Additionally, digital and remote delivery methods have demonstrated potential for expanding the accessibility of CA-CBT. Conclusions: CA-CBT is a valuable and effective intervention for diverse cultural populations, significantly improving mental health outcomes. However, future research must address limitations such as small sample sizes, short follow-up periods, and variability in assessment tools. Studies should include larger and more diverse sample sizes, longer follow-up periods, rigorous control groups, and comprehensive outcome measures to further validate and enhance the application of CA-CBT across different cultural contexts.

Background: Bioelectrical impedance (BIA) and ultrasound (US) have become popular for estimating body fat percentage (BF%) due to their low cost and clinical convenience. However, agreement of these devices with gold standard method still require investigation. The aim was to analyze the agreement between a gold standard %BF assessment method with BIA and US devices. Methods: Twenty-three men (age 30.1 ± 7.7 years, 82.5 ± 14.9 kg, 1.77 ± 0.05 m) underwent Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA), BIA (tetrapolar) and US (three-site method) %BF assessment. Pearson and concordance correlations were analyzed. T-test compared means between methods, and Bland Altman plots analyzed agreement and proportional bias. Alpha was set at &lt; .05. Results: Pearson coefficients between BIA and US with DXA were high (BIA = 0.94; US = 0.89; both p &lt; .001). Concordance coefficient was high for BIA (0.80) and moderate for US (0.49). BF% measured by BIA (24.5 ± 7.5) and US (19.4 ± 7.0) were on average 4.4% and 9.6% lower than DXA (29.0 + 8.5%), respectively (p &lt; .001). Lower and upper agreement limits between DXA and BIA were -1.45 and 10.31, while between DXA and US were 2.01 and 17.14, respectively. There was a tendency of both BIA (p = .09) and US (p = .057) to present proportional bias and underestimate BF%. Conclusions: Despite the correlation, the mean difference between the methods were significant, and the agreement limits are very wide. This indicate that BIA and US, as measured in this study, have limited potential to accurately measure %BF compared to DXA, especially in individuals with higher body fat.

Background/Objectives: Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways affecting over 10% of the global population. It is characterized by airway inflammation, mucus hypersecretion, and bronchial hyperresponsiveness, driven predominantly by type 2 helper T cells (Th2) and type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) in a subset of patients. However, a significant portion of asthmatic individuals present with "type 2-low" asthma, often refractory to standard inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy. Therefore, developing innovative therapeutic strategies has become essential. Recent studies have highlighted cannabidiol (CBD) as a promising anti-inflammatory agent capable of modulating immune responses. This study investigates the therapeutic potential of a high-CBD extract (CBD-X) in asthma; Methods: We evaluated the effects of CBD-X on cells involved in asthma pathogenesis using primary human Th2 cells, neutrophils and asthma mouse model; Results: Our findings indicate that CBD-X extract inhibits Th2 differentiation and reduces the secretion of IL-5 and IL-13, which are crucial cytokines in asthma. Additionally, CBD-X significantly reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-8 and IL-6 in neutrophils and impairs their migration, a critical step in airway inflammation. In a murine asthma model, CBD-X administration led to marked downregulation of IgE and pro-asthmatic cytokines, along with reduced leukocyte, eosinophil, and neutrophil infiltration in lung tissues; Conclusions: These results suggest that CBD-X extract could offer a novel, complementary approach to managing both type 2-high and type 2-low asthma by targeting key inflammatory pathways and modulating immune cell behavior.

Aspalathin (ASP) can protect H9c2 cardiomyocytes against high glucose (HG)-induced shifts in myocardial substrate preference, oxidative stress and apoptosis. While the protective mechanism of aspalathin remains unknown, nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) has emerged as a key factor for intracellular responses against oxidative stress. Therefore, we hypothesized that aspalathin protects the myocardium against hyperglycemia-induced oxidative damage by up-regulating Nrf2 expression in H9c2 cardiomyocytes and diabetic (db/db) mice. Using an oxidative stress RT2 Profiler PCR array, ASP at a dose of 1 µM was demonstrated to protect H9c2 cardiomyocytes against HG-induced oxidative stress, but silencing of Nrf2 abolished this protective response of ASP and exacerbated cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Db/db mice and their non-diabetic (db/+) littermate controls were subsequently treated daily for 6 weeks with either a low (13 mg/kg) or high (130 mg/kg) ASP dose. Compared to nondiabetic mice the db/db mice presented increased cardiac remodeling and enlarged left ventricular wall that occurred concomitant to enhanced oxidative stress. Daily treatment of mice with ASP at a dose of 130 mg/kg for 6 weeks was more effective at reversing complications than both a low dose ASP or metformin, eliciting enhanced expression of Nrf2 and its downstream antioxidant genes. These results indicate that ASP maintains cellular homeostasis and protects the myocardium against hyperglycemia-induced stress through activation of Nrf2 and its downstream target genes.

As companies increasingly undergo digital transformation, the role of talent management pro-cesses becomes pivotal in enhancing overall organizational performance. The research addresses the significance of talent management in corporate digital transformation, examining whether variations in the digitalization of these processes can be attributed to company size. A qualitative approach was employed, utilizing a questionnaire, collecting responses from 202 organizations across diverse sectors. Findings reveal disparities in digitalization throughout the talent man-agement process, with pronounced presence in the attracting, selecting, and rewarding phases, but diminishing in deployment and development, further declining in planning. A positive cor-relation between company size and adoption of specific digital platforms was observed. Larger enterprises exhibit greater utilization of digital platforms in talent deployment and development. Moreover, corporate communication tools are consistently utilized in the rewarding phase, irre-spective of company size. These findings offer practical insights for organizations to optimize their digitalization strategies based on their scale, thereby contributing to more effective and tailored digitalization endeavors. The uniqueness of this research lies in its exploration of the in-fluence of company size on the digitalization of talent management processes and its potential to explain variations across different stages of these processes.

The achievement of size uniformity and monodispersity in perovskite quantum dots (QDs) requires the implementation of precise temperature control and the establishment of optimal reaction conditions. Nevertheless, the accurate control of a range of reaction variables represents a considerable challenge. This study addresses the aforementioned challenge by employing manganese (Mn) doping to achieve size uniformity in CsPbBr₃ perovskite QDs without the necessity for precise control of the reaction conditions. By optimizing the Mn:Pb ratio, it is possible to successfully dope CsPbBr₃ QDs with appropriate concentrations of Mn²⁺ and achieve a uniform size distribution. The spectroscopic measurements on single QDs indicate that the appropriate Mn²⁺ concentrations can result in a narrower spectral linewidth, a longer photoluminescence (PL) lifetime, and a reduced biexciton Auger recombination rate, thus positively affecting the PL properties. This study not only simplifies the size control of perovskite QDs, but also demonstrates the potential of Mn-doped CsPbBr₃ QDs for narrow linewidth light-emitting diode applications.

This study investigated the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) technology in table tennis education compared to traditional training methods. A 12-week randomized controlled trial was conducted with 120 participants divided equally between VR and traditional training groups. Performance metrics, learning motivation, and satisfaction were assessed at regular intervals. Results demonstrated significant advantages of VR training, with the VR group showing superior improvements in serve accuracy (23.5% vs. 15.8%, p < 0.001), rally endurance (increase of 8.2 vs. 5.7 shots, p < 0.01), and overall skill scores (18.7 vs. 13.2 points improvement, p < 0.001). The VR group also exhibited higher increases in learning motivation (23.5% vs. 12.8%, p < 0.001) and satisfaction (31.5% vs. 18.7%, p < 0.001). Subgroup analysis revealed particular benefits for novice players and younger participants. These findings suggest that VR technology offers a promising approach to enhance table tennis education, potentially revolutionizing sports training methodologies. Future research should focus on long-term skill retention and the optimization of VR training protocols.

Microparticles derived from biomaterials are becoming increasingly popular for various applications, particularly in drug delivery systems. In this study, the water-in-oil (W/O) emulsification-diffusion method was used to create cellulose (C), silk fibroin (SF), and C/SF composite microparticles. We then observed the morphology of all obtained microparticles using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), evaluated their functional groups using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and conducted thermogravimetric analysis using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). SEM micrographs indicated that the native SF microparticles have the highest spherical shape with smooth surfaces. With blue dextran, the C microparticle was smaller compared to the native microparticle, while the drug-loaded SF microparticles were bigger than the native microparticle. The morphological surfaces of the C/SF composite microparticles were varied in shape and surface depending on the C/SF ratio used. The spherical shape of the C/SF composite microparticle was increased as SF content increased. Furthermore, the size of drug-loaded C/SF composite microparticles was gradually increased by the SF content. The significant functional groups in the C and SF structures were identified based on the ATR-FTIR data, and a suggestion was made regarding the interaction between the functional groups of each polymer. When compared to both native polymers, the C/SF composite microparticles exhibit improved thermal stability. The C/SF composite microparticle at a 1:3 ratio had the lowest drug release content, whereas the hydrophilicity of the C microparticle affected the highest drug release content. As a result, one crucial factor affecting the medication released from the microparticle is its thermal stability. According to the obtained results, C, SF, and C/SF composite microparticles show promise as delivery systems for drugs with controlled release.

With more companies entering the realm of electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL), and governments enacting policies to support the development of low-altitude economies, the commercial potential of eVTOL is being recognized by the public. However, true commercialization is still a long way off. This article analyzes the technologies, product features, potential markets, and government policies related to eVTOL, and constructs a four-stage, four-layer Policy-Technology Roadmap (P-TRM) model to guide the R&D process of eVTOL. Then transform it into a system structural model, and the Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is used to identify several key nodes in the R&D process. Utilizing the Technology Adoption Life Cycle (TALC) theory for interpretation and analysis, the article concludes by proposing strategies in product, technology, and policy support for how eVTOL can successfully cross the chasm. This preliminary analysis of the development path, key nodes, and necessary measures for crossing the chasm provides insights for the R&D and commercialization of eVTOL.

This study explores the public library service evaluation domain through user-generated content on Google Maps, highlighting digital feedback's significant yet underexplored potential in understanding public library patronage across Taiwan's six major cities. Utilizing a mixed-methods research design, this study integrates Google Maps review content analysis with Social Network Analysis to delineate public perceptions and identify areas for service enhancement in public libraries. It innovatively leverages personal experiences extracted from over 60,000 Google Maps reviews to evaluate public library services in cities such as Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung. The research taps into the National Library of Taiwan's National Library Statistics System to provide a robust analysis of library performance and user satisfaction, offering a novel perspective by emphasizing user-centric feedback from Google Maps as a primary data source. This approach provides quantitative data on library usage and geographic distribution and enriches our understanding of the qualitative experiences of library users. In analyzing the keywords from Google Maps reviews of public libraries, we categorize and interpret these under the three core LibQUAL+ dimensions—Affect of Service, Information Control, and Library as Place. The findings expose variances in perceived service quality among the cities, with Kaohsiung and Taichung receiving the highest accolades for service satisfaction. Simultaneously, the study identifies potential areas for improvement, particularly in cities with lower satisfaction ratings like Taipei. This personalized feedback illustrates the intimate relationship between public libraries and their communities, offering invaluable insights for policymakers and library management to enhance service delivery and user experience.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role and impact of public governance on European supranational public policies that seek to foster scientific and economic growth within innovation ecosystems (IEs) through the PITCCH initiative. The PITCCH is a European innovation development initiative funded by Horizon 2020 under the 'Innovation in SMEs' measure.The research methodology for this study is based on a 10-month real-time ethnographic field study of the PITCCH project, which allowed for the observation of the project governance and the capture of the perspectives of innovation-driven small and medium enterprises (i-SMEs) in their engagement with IE stakeholders.The findings of this research demonstrate the role of public governance in providing result-oriented practical support to the IE through the lens of i-SMEs, and they contribute to the existing literature on regional economic growth supported by supranational public policies. These findings have both academic and practical applications. They enrich the current literature on this topic and provide insights for policymakers and governing representatives seeking to implement effective public policies.

Aspalathin, a C-glucosyl dihydrochalcone, has previously been shown to protect cardiomyocytes against hyperglycemia-induced shifts in substrate preference and subsequent apoptosis. However, the precise gene regulatory network remains to be elucidated. To unravel the mechanism and provide insight into this supposition, the direct effect of aspalathin in an isolated cell-based system, without the influence of any variables, was tested using an H9c2 cardiomyocytes model. Cardiomyocytes were exposed to high glucose (33 mM) for 48 hours before post-treatment with or without aspalathin. Thereafter, RNA was extracted and RT2 PCR Profiler Arrays were used to profile the expression of 336 genes. Results showed that, 57 genes were differentially regulated in the high glucose or high glucose and aspalathin treated groups. STRING analysis revealed lipid metabolism and molecular transport as the biological processes altered after high glucose treatment, followed by inflammation and apoptosis. Aspalathin was able to modulate key regulators associated with lipid metabolism (Adipoq, Apob, Cd36, Cpt1, Pparγ, Srebf1/2, Scd1 and Vldlr), insulin resistance (Igf1, Akt1, Pde3 and Map2k1), inflammation (Il3, Il6, Jak2, Lepr, Socs3, and Tnf13) and apoptosis (Bcl2 and Chuk). Collectively, our results propose that aspalathin could reverse metabolic abnormalities by activating Adipoq while modulating the expression of Pparγ and Srebf1/2, decreasing inflammation via Il6/Jak2 pathway, which together with an observed increased expression of Bcl2 prevents myocardium apoptosis.

Background and Objectives: Cancer as the second leading cause of death in the United States poses a huge healthcare burden. Barriers to access to advanced therapies influence the outcome of cancer treatment. In this study, we examined whether insurance types affect the quality of cancer clinical care regarding access to an important monoclonal antibody, ramucirumab. Materials and Methods: Data for 13,340 cancer patients with Purchased or Medicaid insurance from the All of Us Database were collected for this study. The Chi-square test of proportions was employed to determine the significance of patient cohort characteristics and ramucirumab usage between Purchased and Medicaid insurance groups. The independent t-test was utilized to assess the influences of other determinants on insurance types. Results: Cancer patients who are African American, with lower socioeconomic status, or with lower educational attainment are more likely to be insured by Medicaid. Analysis of survey questions demonstrated the relationship between income and education level with insurance type as Medicaid cancer patients were less likely to receive primary care and specialist physician access and more likely to request lower cost medications. In addition, those with Medicaid insurance were identified to have poorer access to expensive therapeutics like ramucirumab compared to those with Purchased insurance.  Conclusions: The inequities of the US healthcare system are observed for cancer patient care; access to physicians and therapeutics are highly varied and dependent on insurance types. Socioeconomic status determines insurance type, which unfortunately generates a significant impact on cancer treatment and disease outcome.

This paper proposes a novel single-stage buck-boost three-Level neutral-point-clamped (NPC) inverter with two independent dc sources coupled for the grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) application, which can effectively solve the unbalanced operational conditions generally appeared between two coupled independent PV sources induced by the unequal irradiation and temperature distribution. The proposed control scheme can simultaneously guarantee the maximum power point (MPP) operation of both PV sources and maintain the output waveform quality. Compared to the traditional two-stage PV inverter, the proposed NPC inverter could reduce the PV array voltage requirement and dc-link capacitors’ voltage rating, meanwhile show the advantage in operational efficiency. MATLAB simulations and the captured experimental results are presented to show the performance of the proposed three-level inverter.