Search Results (2,866)

Background/Objectives: Vaccine attitudes are an individual’s beliefs, feelings, and evaluations regarding vaccines. Limited research has examined how students in faith-based university settings organize these attitudes. This study looked at vaccination attitudes among students at a religious university where faith, science, family, and politics often influence how students think and make decisions. Methods: This study used Q-methodology to examine shared viewpoints about vaccination. A concourse of 240 statements was developed from published literature, public discourse, and student interviews, then reduced to a 37-statement-Q-set. Undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory nonmajors biology course completed digital Q-sorts. We analyzed the data using by-person factor analysis, along with principal components analysis and Varimax rotation. Follow-up interviews helped us interpret the factors. Results: Three viewpoints explained 59% of the study variance. The first viewpoint, Faith-Integrated Institutional Trust, showed strong trust in science, public health agencies, and religious leaders. People in this group saw vaccination as both a moral duty and a way to protect others. The second viewpoint, Skeptical Autonomy and Institutional Distrust, emphasized personal choice, family influence, and distrust of government and official vaccine information. The third viewpoint, Pragmatic Autonomy and Science Confidence, endorsed vaccines and scientific evidence while also prioritizing individual decision-making over mandates. Conclusions: Science alone does not explain vaccination attitudes among college students. Trust, identity, and personal autonomy also play an important role. Vaccine communication should therefore connect scientific evidence with students’ moral commitments, trusted relationships, and concerns about freedom, especially in settings where faith influences health decision-making. Full article

Objectives: Explore and compare the effects of 8-week time-restricted eating (TRE), walking exercise, and their combination on fat and lean muscle distribution in female college students with hidden obesity. Methods: A total of 68 participants were randomly assigned to four groups: Control (CON), TRE, Exercise (EXE), and TRE + EXE. An 8-week intervention was begun according to a predetermined experimental plan, comparing changes in body fat and lean tissue indices before and after the intervention. Results: Before and after the intervention, the TRE group showed a significant decrease in body mass, body mass index (BMI), and total lean mass (p < 0.05). The EXE group saw a significant reduction in visceral fat area, visceral fat mass, and visceral fat volume (p < 0.01). The TRE + EXE group experienced a significant decrease in android lean mass (p < 0.05); Comparing before and after the intervention, there were no statistically significant differences in the body fat percentage, total fat mass, fat and lean in the android and gynoid areas, and %fat in trunk/%fat in legs among the CON, TRE, EXE, and TRE + EXE groups (p > 0.05). After the intervention, there were no significant differences in the body fat percentage, total fat mass, total lean mass, fat and lean in the android and gynoid areas, %fat in trunk/%fat in legs, visceral fat area, visceral fat mass, visceral fat volume, subcutaneous fat area, subcutaneous fat mass, and subcutaneous fat volume among the four groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: An 8-week TRE intervention in young women with hidden obesity reduced body mass and BMI but also decreased total lean mass, potentially compromising metabolic health, with no statistically significant changes in total body fat or regional fat distribution. Walking exercise showed significant reductions in visceral adiposity indicators (VFA, VFM, VFV), whereas the combined TRE + EXE group did not achieve comparable reductions. These findings suggest that while isolated TRE facilitates body mass loss, it carries a distinct risk of muscle tissue loss and may not confer comparable benefits on visceral fat reduction as walking exercise. However, the generalizability of these preliminary observations is constrained by methodological limitations including retrospective registration, participant attrition, and restricted statistical power. Consequently, these exploratory outcomes must be interpreted with caution, warranting future robust, large-scale trials with enhanced compliance monitoring to optimize prescriptive guidelines for this specific cohort. Full article

For modern agricultural management, the accuracy of plant identification is crucial. However, the task becomes challenging because crops and weeds at early growth stages often exhibit similar color, leaf morphology, and texture in two-dimensional images captured under field conditions, despite their clear biological differences in terms of botanical species, root systems, and phenological characteristics. Furthermore, computing hardware in the field also has strict limits. Therefore, we developed the RT-BMTR network to handle these physical constraints. Within this architecture, image data is processed through a bilateral hybrid backbone named Bi-HMB. The DSFM captures small local details, and MambaVision understands the broader background information. Then, these features are fused by RepNCSPELAN4. We adopted this structure to reduce redundant calculations. Next, the model determines its bounding boxes using the Inner-ShapeIoU loss function. This geometric constraint improves the detection of small targets. When evaluated on the CropAndWeed dataset, our model achieved an average precision (AP) at IoU threshold 0.5 (AP⁵⁰) of 68.1%, AP⁷⁵ of 54.8%, and a mean AP averaged over IoU thresholds from 0.5 to 0.95 (AP^50–95) of 50.9%. Detection precision recorded 26.5% for small objects, 44.7% for moderate ones, and with 59.3% for large objects. Rates for the first two categories saw enhancements of 16.2% and 4.6%. Overall, our modified model outperforms the original RT-DETR baseline. We also shrank the overall parameter count by 30.1%, alongside a 4.2% decrease in computational demand. Full article

Background/objectives: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men over 60 years of age. The development of assisted robotic surgery has improved surgical performance across several variables in dynamic ways, introducing new reconstruction techniques. The present study aims to show differences between Retzius-sparing robotic-assisted prostatectomy vs. Retzius-sparing and posterolateral fascial reconstruction in patients diagnosed with localized prostate cancer. Methods: A retrospective study was performed in a 3-year time period by a single surgeon using the Da Vinci X platform. Two groups were assessed for the study, with and without posterolateral fascial reconstruction. Demographic data were analyzed with central tendency measures, and mean differences were calculated with the Mann–Whitney test and t-test, being significant if p < 0.05. Results: A total of 199 patients were included. The posterolateral reconstruction group had 81 patients, and outcomes saw similar performances to the non-reconstruction group. Urinary continence showed a positive trend of higher percentages in the first week after surgery but had similar results after one year, with no statistically significant differences. Oncologic results and sexual dysfunction showed no statistically significant differences between groups. Conclusions: Posterolateral reconstruction combined with Retzius-sparing radical prostatectomy demonstrated improved continence and was shown to be safe, without increasing overall complications such as bleeding. Full article

This paper seeks to analyze and reassess the reform movement in Isfahan in the years leading up to the Constitutional Revolution in Iran, 1883–1906. In the first period, 1883–1906, two Azalí Bábís from Kirman, Shaykh Aḥmad Rúḥí and Mírzá Áqá Khán Kirmání, joined Sayyid Yaḥyá Dawlatábádí to form a group in Isfahan, although the evidence that they discussed much about reform is limited. The second period, 1886–1903, saw an active circle of reformers formed in Isfahan led by such figures as Maliku’l-Mutakallimín, Sayyid Jamálu’d-Dín Váʿiẓ and Majdu’l-Islám Kirmání and including about twelve other individuals. Each of these two periods ended with a persecution that drove the leading reformers out of Isfahan. Thus in the third phase, 1903–1906, a conservative governor Ẓillu’s-Sulṭán and reactionary clerics, led by Áqá Najafí, dominated Isfahan, having eliminated all discussion of reform. The second phase occupies most of the attention of this paper, especially since it is suggested that a revision is needed of some previous accounts of this period. It is the thesis of this paper that the evidence presented demonstrates that the main actors in this period were not Azalí Bábís as is usually stated but were either Bahá’ís or persons actively engaged with the Bahá’í community. Full article

Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) levels are associated with increased mortality and rehospitalisation in heart failure (HF) patients. Whether GDF15 is causally involved in the pathobiology of HF remains largely unknown. Using the transverse aortic constriction (TAC) mouse model, we investigated the role of GDF15 in pressure overload-induced HF. Following TAC, circulating GDF15 levels increased significantly. Compared to wild type (WT) littermates, genetically deficient Gdf15^-/- mice developed more pronounced adverse cardiac remodelling one week after TAC, characterised by increased cardiac volumes and impaired myocardial global deformation. This further aggravated into severe HF in Gdf15^-/- mice over 42 days follow-up. Cardiac remodelling in Gdf15^-/- was accompanied by enhanced perivascular fibrosis and increased co-localization of fibroblast- and endothelial-specific markers in the cardiac endothelium of Gdf15^-/- mice, suggestive of endothelial plasticity and Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal transition (EndMT)-like changes. To further explore potential endothelial mechanisms underlying these observations, we performed complementary in vitro experiments in GDF15 knockdown endothelial cells. GDF15 deficiency impaired barrier function and enhanced Activin A-induced mesenchymal marker expression, consistent with increased endothelial phenotypic modulation. Together, these findings demonstrate that the loss of GDF15 aggravates pressure overload-induced heart failure, hallmarked by perivascular fibrosis and signs of endothelial dysfunction. Our data further support a potential protective role for GDF15 in maintaining endothelial integrity during cardiac stress. Full article

Background/Objectives: Exercise is pivotal for glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), yet the relative efficacy of various exercise modalities remains inconclusive. This network meta-analysis aimed to evaluate and provide a preliminary ranking of exercise interventions on HbA1c levels in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, to facilitate clinically relevant network comparisons and to generate evidence for future large-scale comparative trials. Methods: A systematic review and network meta-analysis were conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Electronic databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and ProQuest) were searched from inception to Dec 2024. Randomized controlled trials evaluating exercise interventions in adults with T2DM were included. Risk of bias was assessed independently by two reviewers using the JBI critical appraisal tool. The primary outcome was the change in HbA1c level. Results: Six randomized controlled trials involving a total of 511 participants (256 in the treatment group and 255 in the control group) were included in the final analysis. Both high-intensity interval training (MD = −0.322; 95% CI: −0.559 to −0.084; p = 0.008) and yoga (MD = −0.366; 95% CI: −0.534 to −0.198; p < 0.001) significantly reduced HbA1c compared with the active control. Although the preliminary ranking analysis suggested a higher probability of effectiveness for yoga (SUCRA 1) than for HIIT (SUCRA 0.5), the indirect comparison revealed no statistically significant difference in HbA1c reduction between the two interventions (MD = −0.044; 95% CI: −0.335 to 0.247; p = 0.766). Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary, evidence-generating; however, given the sparse network and absence of head-to-head trials, the treatment hierarchy should be interpreted with extreme caution and selected based on patients’ preferences and tolerance. Registration: PROSPERO [CRD42025650162]. Full article

Artificial intelligence is reshaping warehouse work through algorithmic task allocation, scanner-based monitoring, KPI feedback, dynamic scheduling, and real-time performance control. Although these systems can improve coordination and operational visibility, they also create governance risks related to fairness, transparency, autonomy, privacy, workload pressure, trust, and employee resistance. This study develops a human-centered decision framework for prioritizing algorithmic management governance packages in third-party logistics (3PL) warehousing. The main contribution is to translate employee-level governance concerns into a scenario-sensitive decision model that helps managers select appropriate governance packages under different operational pressures. The study uses survey data from 380 warehouse employees to examine key psychological and behavioral mechanisms, including procedural fairness, transparency, system/information quality, autonomy, privacy concern, workload, trust, acceptance, and resistance/disengagement. These survey-supported constructs are then converted into six governance criteria: procedural fairness, transparency and contestability clarity, system and information quality, autonomy support, privacy boundary governance, and workload protection. A seven-expert panel evaluates five governance packages under three scenarios: peak season surge, labor shortage/high turnover, and audit pressure/compliance scrutiny. Methodologically, the framework combines Dynamic Multi-Facet Fuzzy Sets to capture membership, non-membership, hesitancy, engagement, and resistance; Bayesian Network weighting to reflect dependencies among governance criteria; and PCA-based ranking optimization to generate scenario-specific and robust rankings. Comparative validation with SAW and TOPSIS is also used to assess ranking consistency. The findings show that effective algorithmic management governance is not a fixed compliance solution. Transparency, workload protection, autonomy support, privacy boundary governance, and procedural fairness become more or less important depending on the operational scenario. A2, which combines transparency, workload protection, and autonomy support, emerges as the strongest robust package. A1 performs best under labor shortage/high turnover, while A3 performs best under audit pressure/compliance scrutiny. These results suggest that 3PL warehouses should adopt adaptive governance routines that combine explainability, contestability, workload safeguards, privacy boundaries, and employee voice mechanisms. The study contributes to the literature on AI in socio-technical systems by showing how human, organizational, and ethical concerns can be embedded into an interpretable decision framework for responsible algorithmic management in logistics work environments. Full article

The development of sustainable tourism requires the use of planning methods that combine environmental protection with inclusive access to nature-based destinations. This article presents a macro-level spatial decision-support framework for planning service infrastructure for specialized off-road electric wheelchairs in mountain destinations. The proposed framework combines predefined static vehicle-related constraints, Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis using QGIS and OpenStreetMap data, and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). The spatial filtering stage evaluates terrain feasibility using an adopted maximum longitudinal slope threshold and minimum path-width requirement. The location–allocation stage combines Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) with a spatial-dispersion procedure to identify service hubs that are both suitable and regionally distributed. The method is not a dynamic engineering model of vehicle performance, but a GIS-MCDA planning tool for preliminary regional infrastructure siting under predefined operational constraints. Full article

Background: Cervical cancer is among the most common cancers affecting women worldwide, with high morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries. In Saudi Arabia, most cases are diagnosed at a late stage despite the availability of free HPV vaccination and screening. Objectives: To identify Saudi women’s perceptions of the HPV vaccine using the Health Belief Model, estimate willingness to receive the HPV vaccine and the factors influencing it, assess uptake of Pap smear and HPV vaccine, and define barriers to both practices. Methodology: A cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of 1334 Saudi women aged 16 to 65 years, from all regions of Saudi Arabia, was conducted. Data were collected via an online questionnaire that included sociodemographic characteristics, beliefs about the HPV vaccine based on the Health Belief Model, vaccine hesitancy, and HPV vaccine and Pap smear uptake. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 29. Results: Only 6% completed their vaccination series or received at least one dose; 37.3% planned to get vaccinated; and 56.7% stated they do not intend to get vaccinated. The main reasons for vaccine refusal were lack of trust (41.8%) and fear of side effects (32.3%). Only 21% had undergone Pap smear testing, with barriers including embarrassment and fear. Among the HBM constructs, perceived susceptibility, benefits, and barriers remained statistically significant predictors of HPV vaccination. Increased perceived susceptibility and benefits raise the likelihood of accepting the HPV vaccine, while higher perceived barriers lessen it. Vaccine hesitancy had a significant negative effect on willingness to receive the HPV vaccine (OR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.69–0.90, p < 0.01). Additionally, Pap smear uptake was an independent predictor of the intent to get the HPV vaccine (OR = 1.78, 95% CI 1.25–2.54, p < 0.01). The independent factors influencing HPV vaccine uptake were largely similar to those affecting the willingness to receive the vaccine, except for age, perceived benefits, and Pap smear uptake. Conclusions: There is a gap between Saudi women’s intention to get HPV vaccinated and actual vaccination. Women who saw a high risk of HPV-related cancer, believed in vaccine efficacy, had a Pap smear, and were open to vaccination were more likely to vaccinate. Hesitant women and those perceiving barriers were less likely to vaccinate or consider it. The main gaps for future campaigns are perceptions of HPV severity and cultural factors influencing decision-making. Emphasizing HPV as a cancer-related virus rather than a sexually transmitted infection can reduce barriers and highlight its severity. Full article

The electromechanical coupling factor (K²) is one of the key parameters characterizing the performance of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. Conventional SAW structures suffer from a spatial mismatch between mechanical energy and electric fields, which severely limits improvements in K². To address this limitation, this paper proposes a novel microstructure based on trapezoidal etching of the piezoelectric layer. First, an Al/ZnO/Si trapezoidal etching model was established for simulation studies. The results show that trapezoidal etching reduces mechanical energy leakage and enhances the spatial overlap with electric fields. Subsequently, by varying the bottom width (S_ZnO), the variation of K² under three etching shapes (standard trapezoidal, rectangular, and inverted trapezoidal) was investigated. The results indicate that trapezoidal etching significantly enhances K², which gradually increases as S_ZnO decreases. Under the theoretical limit (S_ZnO = 0.1 μm), K² reaches a maximum of 14.34%, representing a 19-fold improvement over the conventional structure. Simultaneously, the figure of merit (FOM) and insertion loss (S₂₁) are also remarkably improved. Finally, considering practical manufacturing constraints, this paper discusses the configurations of S_ZnO = 0.2 μm and 0.4 μm, revealing that the performance of the SAW devices remains significantly enhanced in both cases, thereby providing a practically feasible solution for the design and fabrication of high-performance SAW devices. Full article

Effective management and conservation of sea turtles is often constrained by a lack of knowledge of at-sea distribution and abundance. While abundance estimates of nesting females are typically well-documented on nesting beaches, counting sea turtles at sea presents challenges due to their widespread distribution and cryptic habits. Given nesting beaches only document adult females, at-sea data are also more informative of greater population demographics. To estimate the abundance and density of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Red Sea waters of Saudi Arabia we conducted strip transect aerial surveys in four survey zones that spanned ~66% of shallow water habitats (<200 m depth), within which we counted sea turtles, and also other species such as dugongs and other marine mammals, sharks, and rays. Corresponding abundance estimates were modelled to account for perception bias (whether a surveyor saw a turtle that was available) and detection bias (whether a turtle was available to be seen). Our results suggest an abundance of ~201,427 green sea turtles potentially present between the 200 m bathymetric contour and the Saudi Arabian shore. However, there was a statistically significant relationship between turtle location and proximity to coral reefs, with over 90% of turtles found within 3500 m of coral reef structures (whether coastal fringing reefs, barrier reefs or atolls), and therefore it would be inappropriate to use an estimate assuming equal distribution. Adjusting for this buffer area we estimated ~95,000 turtles (95% CI: 64,000–142,000) within the proximity of reef structures. These findings represent the first abundance estimates of green turtles in the Red Sea. Repeated over time, surveys such as these can identify changes in population structure, distribution and abundance, and inform conservation and management agencies. Full article

When the Sustainable Development Plan for National Resource-Based Cities (SDPNRBC) incorporated tourism into its 2013 policy framework, cities of all sizes pursued tourism-led transitions. More than a decade on, this study asks whether these efforts have translated into genuine improvements in tourism efficiency. Using panel data from 258 Chinese prefecture-level cities spanning 2003 to 2023, we treat the SDPNRBC as a quasi-natural experiment and apply a difference-in-differences framework. Cities covered by the plan saw significant expansion in tourism scale, but tourism total factor productivity declined over the same period, indicating that growth was driven by factor accumulation rather than by genuine efficiency gains. Two channels appear to explain this divergence. The policy triggered a green paradox in which extractive firms accelerated output before tighter regulations took effect, undermining the environmental quality on which tourism depends. In parallel, policy-induced structural reallocation expanded labour-intensive service activity at a pace that outstripped complementary capital and skill formation, a pattern analogous to Baumol’s cost disease. A life-cycle heterogeneity analysis sharpens these findings: efficiency losses concentrate in Growing cities, attenuate in Mature cities, and disappear in Declining and Regenerating cities. Successor-industry policies should therefore be calibrated to where each city stands in its resource life cycle. Full article

The increasing use of large language models (LLMs) in enterprises creates a need for routing mechanisms that select models according to both technical performance and organizational preferences. This article proposes a multicriteria decision-support framework for enterprise LLM routing that combines AHP-based criterion weighting with SAW-based prompt-level model selection. The framework evaluates prompts according to criteria related to required accuracy, business risk, reasoning depth, cost sensitivity, response-time sensitivity, standardization, and creativity. The empirical evaluation was conducted on 500 heterogeneous business prompts, using GPT-5-nano as the prompt-scoring router, GPT-4o-mini as the cheaper response model, and GPT-5 as the stronger response model. Costs were calculated from actual input and output token counts, including routing overhead. Response sufficiency was assessed using a structured LLM-as-a-judge protocol with three evaluator profiles. The proposed SAW routing variant with confidence margin and risk veto achieved a sufficiency rate of 94.4%, compared with 94.6% for the always-strong strategy and 86.8% for the always-cheap strategy. Relative to always-strong routing, it reduced total cost by 37.4%, with only a 0.2 percentage-point decrease in sufficiency. The framework was also compared with keyword-risk, token-threshold, TF-IDF centroid, logistic-regression, multiplicative-SAW, and TOPSIS baselines. The results indicate that an interpretable multicriteria router can achieve near-strong-model response sufficiency at substantially lower cost while preserving auditability and alignment with enterprise decision criteria. Full article

Biofouling presents numerous challenges across various sectors, including aquaculture, agriculture, infrastructure, and medicine. The development of anti-biofouling techniques remains a significant challenge. In the water industry, biofouling on monitoring sensors substantially compromises the accuracy of measurements by interfering with the sensors’ measuring ability. Biofouling also significantly increases the running costs by increasing the frequency of maintenance needed to keep sensors clean and accurate. Consequently, anti-biofouling techniques are widely employed to clean in situ optical sensors, ensuring accurate measurements while minimizing overall system costs. The conventional approach for preventing biofouling from in situ sensors typically involves the application of coatings, mechanical brushes, ultraviolet radiation, and ultrasonic waves, which possess distinct advantages and disadvantages contingent upon their application. The challenges associated with protecting the small windows of water quality sensors from biofouling over extended periods using current methods are either expensive or adversely affect the integrity of monitoring data. This study introduces a low-cost centimeter-scale high-frequency surface acoustic wave (SAW) device to protect the small windows of in situ water quality sensors continuously from biofouling, functioning as an auxiliary anti-biofouling mechanism. This study found that this 16 MHz SAW device can mitigate the formation of biofilms by adhesive diatom strains CS-1664, CS-1665, and by planktonic algae CS-327 by approximately 98% in comparison to control conditions, functioning effectively as an anti-biofouling tool for itself and surrounding surfaces without adversely affecting aquatic organisms. The dimension and resonance frequency (RF) of the SAW device are also capable of being fabricated according to the area requiring cleaning. A miniaturized 16 MHz SAW device can sustain operation for prolonged periods up to a couple of months without maintenance, at a low cost and power consumption, providing a new anti-biofouling technology. This methodology aims to assist the Australian inland and coastal water quality monitoring system by reducing maintenance costs while simultaneously enhancing the longevity of sensors submerged in water for extended periods. Full article