Search Results (2,365)

Unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) remains challenged by an unstable target structure, pseudo-label noise, and heterogeneous transfer difficulty across domains. To address these issues, we propose Progressive Multi-View Graph Projection (PMGP), a two-stage framework that first learns transferable representations via source supervision, domain-adversarial training, and teacher–student consistency and then performs latent-space refinement through multi-view graph construction and projection learning. Specifically, three perturbation-induced views are considered for each sample: the original view, an input-space patch-masked view, and a representation-space feature-dimension masked view. After joint preprocessing with PCA and L2 normalization, PMGP constructs per-view affinity graphs by combining geometric neighborhood relations with pseudo-supervised semantic relations, and applies locality-preserving projection to learn a structure-aware shared subspace. In this subspace, target pseudo-labels are iteratively refined using source prototypes, target class centers, and progressive confidence filtering. Experiments on Office-Home, ImageCLEF-DA, and VisDA-2017 show that PMGP achieves competitive performance and stable behavior across different benchmark settings and backbone architectures. These results indicate that multi-view graph refinement provides an effective and interpretable way to improve target structure estimation and reduce pseudo-label error accumulation in UDA. Full article

Background and Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate impulsivity in childhood anxiety disorders and to examine its relationship with anxiety sensitivity and emotion regulation. Materials and Methods: The study group consisted of a total of 60 children aged 8–12 years diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD, n = 30) and other anxiety disorders (n = 30). The control group consisted of 40 healthy children of similar age without a psychiatric diagnosis. Data collection forms included the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Short Form (BIS-S), the Children’s Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI-3), the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC), and The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED). Results: Our study found no significant differences in BIS-S scores between GAD, other anxiety disorders, and the control group. The total/physical and ERC subscales of the ASI-3 were higher in the generalized anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorder group than in the control group. However, there were no significant differences in the social dimension and cognitive dimension scores of the ASI-3. It has been determined that anxiety sensitivity does not significantly mediate the relationship between emotion regulation and impulsivity, and that emotional variability/negativity is directly and completely related to impulsivity. Conclusions: Our study suggests that children with anxiety disorders experience greater difficulties in regulating their emotions compared to healthy children, and that emotional variability is directly related to impulsivity. In this context, enhancing emotion regulation skills in anxiety disorders may prove to be a pivotal factor in the efficacy of treatment and the maintenance of behavioral control. Full article

Objective: To evaluate changes in emotion regulation, skin-picking disorder (SPD) severity, and repetitive thoughts and behaviors in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and comorbid SPD during methylphenidate treatment, and to examine the association between emotion regulation and SPD severity. Materials and Methods: This naturalistic follow-up study included 26 adolescents aged 11–17 years with ADHD and comorbid SPD. Participants received methylphenidate and were reassessed after three months. Emotion regulation, SPD severity, and repetitive thoughts and behaviors were assessed at baseline and follow-up using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Skin Picking Scale–Revised (SPS-R), and Repetitive Thoughts and Behaviors Scale–Child Form (RTBS-CF). Pre–post differences were analyzed using paired-sample tests, and associations were examined using correlation and linear regression analyses. Results: Significant reductions were observed in total DERS scores (p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.35) and all subscales except non-acceptance (p = 0.686, Cohen’s d = 0.08). SPS-R and RTBS-CF scores decreased significantly (both p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.79 and 0.91, respectively). Changes in DERS scores were moderately correlated with changes in SPS-R scores (r = 0.554, p = 0.003). Changes in emotion regulation were significantly associated with changes in SPD severity, accounting for approximately 31% of the variance in this sample. Conclusions: Methylphenidate treatment was associated with significant improvements in emotion regulation and concurrent reductions in skin-picking severity in adolescents with ADHD and comorbid SPD. Given the single-arm, pre–post naturalistic design, these findings should be interpreted as associative and exploratory rather than causal. Full article

Background/Objectives: Youths with cerebral palsy (CP) have reduced levels of physical activity (PA) due to motor impairments and functional difficulties. Few studies have observed its link with various factors and none in young adults with CP. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between PA and various factors in young adults with CP, such as gait function, endurance, participation, and personal/environmental influences. Methods: Participants over 15 years old with CP who underwent Clinical Gait Analysis (CGA), the 6 min walk test, and wore an actimeter (ActiGraph GT3X+) for seven days were included. PA was assessed by daily step count (NbSteps/day). Explanatory factors included the Gait Profile Score (GPS), walking speed, subjective walking perception, joint pain, fatigue, 6 min walk distance, SF-36 questionnaire scores, and lifestyle habits. Correlations, univariate, and multivariate regression models were used for the analysis. Results: Forty-seven CP patients (28 males, 19 females, mean age 23.6 years) were included, with 82% classified as GMFCS I and 18% as GMFCS II. The average NbSteps/day was 5685. Significant correlations were found between NbSteps/day and subjective perception, pain, GMFCS level, and walking speed. Multivariate regression identified walking speed and physiotherapy (PT) sessions as significant predictors of PA. Conclusions: PA in young adults with CP is linked to walking speed, GMFCS level, joint pain, fatigue, and PT. No differences have been observed between patient unilateral or bilateral CP. However, individual behaviors vary and are not fully explained by linear regression analysis. Full article

Suicidal behavior among adolescents and young adults represents a growing public health concern due to its high prevalence and its negative impact on psychological well-being. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between emotional regulation, attachment styles, cyberviolence, and suicidal ideation among Chilean university students. A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed with a sample of 1083 participants, using the Suicidal Ideation Frequency Inventory, the Close Relationship Experience Questionnaire (ECR-R), the Spanish Modified Version of the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS-24) and the Cyber Dating Violence Instrument for Teens (CyDAV-T). Bivariate analyses and binary logistic regression were conducted to identify significant predictors of suicidal ideation. The results revealed a high prevalence of suicidal ideation, particularly among women (19.06%; p < 0.001). Difficulties in emotion regulation were strongly associated with a higher likelihood of suicidal ideation (p < 0.001), whereas adequate (p < 0.001) or excellent (p < 0.01) regulation functioned as a significant protective factor. In addition, a disorganized attachment style was identified as a risk factor (p < 0.05), especially among women (p < 0.01). In conclusion, emotion regulation emerges as a key protective factor against suicidal ideation, underscoring the importance of implementing socioemotional training programs within university settings. Full article

To meet the real-time computational requirements of active suspension control systems, this study shifts from complex microscopic physical equations to a direct nonlinear functional mapping between the relative motion states (displacement and velocity) and the output force of air springs. This approach aims to preserve critical nonlinear hysteresis characteristics while significantly reducing the computational overhead. A progressive modeling strategy is implemented to characterize these complex behaviors. Initially, polynomial fitting is employed to identify key input features; however, its limited capacity to capture intricate nonlinearities necessitates more advanced methods. Subsequently, standard Feedforward Neural Networks (FNNs) are explored for their nonlinear mapping capabilities, yet their inherent “black-box” nature often leads to convergence difficulties and restricted generalization. To address these issues, a Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN) architecture is introduced, embedding physical governing equations as regularization constraints within the loss function to integrate data-driven flexibility with mathematical rigor. Recognizing that conventional PINNs often encounter convergence challenges due to conflicts between PDE constraints and data-driven loss terms, this research develops a Physics-Embedded Hierarchical Network (PEHN). By deriving specialized PDE constraints tailored to air spring dynamics and designing a hierarchical architecture aligned with these physical requirements, the PEHN effectively balances physical priors with experimental data. Experimental results demonstrate that, compared to the baseline models, the proposed PEHN exhibits stronger stability and superior accuracy in capturing the complex nonlinearities of air spring dynamics. Full article

Carbon nanotube yarns (CNTYs) have received more consideration recently due to their excellent specific mechanical, electrical and thermal properties, making them promising materials for different applications. Until now, the axial properties of the yarn have been thoroughly investigated; however, the transverse or radial properties, orthogonal to the fiber axis, remain relatively unknown due to the challenges associated with their measurement. In this study, the transverse or radial response of the CNTY including its elastic modulus was determined using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Raman Spectroscopy. Determining transverse properties in fibrous materials presents challenges owing to their geometry, inherent anisotropy, whereby mechanical characteristics exhibit directional disparities; i.e., the properties in the transverse direction may be several orders of magnitude smaller than those in the axial direction. To overcome these difficulties, AFM was utilized to perform nanoindentation experiments, where a tipless flexible cantilever probe was used to apply a controlled force to the CNTY surface. The resulting indentation depth was then analyzed to determine the transversal elastic modulus. Preliminary findings indicate that the transverse elastic modulus of the CNTYs ranges from 10–54 kPa for strain levels below 3%. Complementary Raman spectroscopy provided insight into the bulk-scale mechanical behavior of CNTYs. Incremental compressive loading between microscope slides induced nonlinear upshifts in the 2D Raman band (from ~2686.6 to 2691.4 cm⁻¹), indicating nanoscale tube realignment, inter-tube densification, and compaction. From lateral diameter measurements under load, a stress–strain curve was constructed, revealing three distinct regimes: one with an initial elastic modulus of 3.12 MPa (0.3–11.2% strain), another one with an elastic modulus increasing to 8.46 MPa (11.2–14.4%), and finally one with an elastic modulus peaking at 16.86 MPa beyond 14.4% strain. Together, these methods delineate the hierarchical and anisotropic nature of CNTYs, validating the importance of multiscale mechanical characterization for their deployment in piezoresistive sensors and multifunctional composites. This study establishes a robust framework for quantifying the transverse mechanical response of CNTYs. Full article

Background: General anesthesia (GA) plays a key role in pediatric dentistry by enabling comprehensive dental treatment in children who cannot be adequately managed using conventional behavioral techniques, local anesthesia, or sedation. While previous reviews have primarily focused on safety outcomes and adverse events, less attention has been given to patterns of GA utilization and their broader clinical and public health implications. Objective: The objective was to synthesize and critically analyze contemporary evidence on utilization patterns, clinical indications, and treatment characteristics associated with GA in pediatric dentistry and to interpret variability in GA use as a clinical and health-system indicator. Methods: A systematic review with qualitative synthesis was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Electronic searches were performed in EBSCOhost, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library to identify observational studies published between 2015 and 2025 reporting clinical data on pediatric dental treatment under GA. Results: Twenty-two observational studies met the inclusion criteria. Severe early childhood caries was the most frequently reported indication for GA, followed by behavioral management difficulties and treatment of children with special health care needs. Reported utilization rates varied widely across healthcare systems. Conclusions: GA remains an essential modality for managing complex pediatric dental cases; however, variability in utilization appears to reflect differences in preventive access, disease burden, and health-system organization. Interpreting GA use as a healthcare utilization indicator may support improved preventive strategies and policies aimed at reducing repeated GA exposure in vulnerable pediatric populations. Full article

This work presents a method for implementing dynamic difficulty adjustment in the arcade game of Air Hockey using reinforcement learning. The resulting AI-controlled opponent is capable of adapting its skill level to the player’s performance to maintain engagement and provide a balanced gameplay experience. The approach relies on generating several AI agents through progressively longer training durations, resulting in distinct and smoothly transitioning difficulty levels that can be switched dynamically. We discuss how this scheme can be extended with manually selected parameters that influence physical aspects of the agent’s behavior—such as movement speed, reaction latency, and control precision—to complement the variations in decision-making quality. The proposed method is applicable to a wide range of video games, and experimental results demonstrate its effectiveness in producing adaptive and varied opponent behavior. Full article

Petroleum hydrocarbons remain major environmental contaminants, and understanding the mechanisms governing their biodegradation is essential for designing effective remediation plans. The strategy in this article is slightly different from other cases in the literature. Such literature models require, for their elaboration, a significant number of experiments; the number of experimental determinations is at least proportional to the square of the number of constants introduced in the mathematical expressions. For this reason, the strategy followed in this article is different—starting from a set of experiments carried out and presented in a coherent and published manner, a simple methodology for building specific and minimal models, which will allow solving specific problems, was effectively developed. This study develops a nonlinear mathematical structure, expressed as a system of coupled differential equations, that simultaneously describes the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons and the dynamics of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria and fungi in soil–sludge mixtures. The model was calibrated using experimental data obtained from biopiles prepared with different volumetric ratios of contaminated soil and sewage sludge. Approximate analytical solutions were derived and the distributed constants were evaluated. For a consistent discussion, the analytical solutions were assessed against numerical desk simulations performed with a classical fourth-order Runge–Kutta method, which accurately reproduced the nonlinear behavior of the specific system. This numerical approach was chosen in order to overcome the proper difficulties encountered in this strategy implementation. The results show that the soil–sludge ratio strongly influences biodegradation efficiency, while kinetic parameters determine whether microbial communities evolve toward a stationary regime or accelerated contaminant removal. The combined analytical–numerical framework provides a robust predictive tool for optimizing mixture composition and improving the design of bioremediation treatments for petroleum-contaminated soils. Full article

Hydrogen embrittlement is defined as the phenomenon wherein materials undergo sudden degradation in mechanical properties due to the ingress of hydrogen atoms, and its occurrence is closely linked to hydrogen diffusion behavior. Here, first-principles calculations are employed to systematically investigate the hydrogen diffusion characteristics of both perfect and vacancy-containing α-Fe, γ-Fe, and ε-Fe crystal structures. The dissolution energies of hydrogen atoms in perfect α-Fe, γ-Fe, and ε-Fe crystals were calculated at different interstitial sites and transition states along various pathways. Hydrogen atoms preferentially occupy tetrahedral interstitial sites in α-Fe crystals, with diffusion occurring between two nearest-neighbor tetrahedral interstitial sites. In γ-Fe crystals, hydrogen atoms favor octahedral interstitial sites, diffusing along paths from octahedral sites to tetrahedral sites and then to other octahedral sites. In ε-Fe crystals, hydrogen atoms preferentially occupy octahedral interstitial sites and diffuse along pathways between nearest octahedral interstitial sites. The hydrogen diffusion coefficients calculated based on the Arrhenius equation follow the order α-Fe > γ-Fe > ε-Fe, indicating that hydrogen atoms diffuse most readily in α-Fe crystals. Notably, examination of the relationship between the interatomic distance and interaction energy in α-Fe reveals that hydrogen atoms have difficulty aggregating and forming hydrogen molecules within defect-free α-Fe crystals. However, introducing vacancy defects increases the mutual attraction between hydrogen atoms, thereby facilitating hydrogen bubble nucleation. Furthermore, the introduction of vacancy defects in α-Fe, γ-Fe, and ε-Fe alters the preferential occupancy sites and diffusion pathways of hydrogen because of vacancy trapping effects. Compared with diffusion in perfect crystals, hydrogen atoms must overcome substantially higher energy barriers to escape vacancy trapping and diffuse into defect-free lattice regions. Full article

Drawing on the Seeking Proxies for Internal States (SPIS) model and the concept of Difficulties in Accessing Internal States (DAIS), the present study examined the statistical associations among self-esteem, DAIS, body-checking, and disordered eating patterns (DEP). Within the SPIS framework, self-esteem is conceptualized as an evaluative internal state that may be appraised through externally observable proxies, such as body appearance. Cross-sectional data were collected from 200 adults recruited through Prolific Academic. Hayes’ PROCESS macro was used to test simple and serial mediation models examining whether DAIS and body-checking statistically account for associations between state self-esteem and DEP. Lower self-esteem was associated with higher DEP. Both DAIS and body-checking statistically accounted for portions of this association in simple mediation models. In a serial mediation model, the fully sequential pathway (self-esteem → DAIS → body-checking → DEP) remained statistically significant after accounting for shared variance among mediators. Given the cross-sectional design, these findings cannot establish temporal or causal relationships, but the observed pattern of associations is compatible with the proposed conceptual process. Additionally, our findings are based on a nonclinical sample and reflect variability in subclinical eating pathology. Implications for extending the SPIS framework to dimensional eating-related phenomena are discussed. Full article

Background/Objectives: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have difficulty maintaining effective and routine oral hygiene practices because of sensory sensitivities, behavioral challenges, and barriers to dental care. These difficulties may adversely affect oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). Parental oral health literacy may also influence oral health outcomes in this population. This study compared parental oral health literacy and OHRQoL between children with ASD and typically developing children and examined the association between parental oral health literacy and OHRQoL in the ASD group. Higher POQL scores indicate poorer OHRQoL. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 72 children with ASD and 70 typically developing children aged 3–15 years. Data were collected using the Sociodemographic and Oral Health Behaviors Questionnaire, the Turkish version of the Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task for Pediatric Dentistry (TOHLAT-P), and the parent-report Pediatric Oral Health-Related Quality of Life measure (POQL). Group differences were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test. Associations were evaluated using Spearman correlation and multivariable linear regression. Results: Parental oral health literacy scores were significantly lower in the ASD group than in the control group (26.89 ± 7.94 vs. 31.61 ± 10.98; p = 0.002). Significant between-group differences were found in the POQL total score and the social functioning subscale (p = 0.025 and p = 0.003, respectively). In the ASD group, higher parental oral health literacy was associated with lower POQL total scores (Spearman r = −0.239; p = 0.043). In multivariable linear regression, parental oral health literacy remained significantly associated with the POQL total score in children with ASD (B = −0.589; p = 0.029; R² = 0.117). Conclusions: Parental oral health literacy was associated with OHRQoL in children with ASD, although the explained variance was modest. These findings support the potential value of family-centered oral health education in this population. Full article

In smart campus construction, behavior pattern recognition and perturbation analysis serve as the cornerstones for achieving a transition from passive response to dynamic regulation, with intelligent perception and anomaly diagnosis methods based on campus traffic flow underpinning transportation system resilience. Traditional research methods suffer from issues such as privacy risks, coarse modeling, and limitations from single data formats, labeling difficulties, and coverage gaps. This study proposes a refined semantic trajectory construction method that integrates multi-source data (e.g., mobile signaling data, maps and weather conditions), known as the Campus Transportation Semantic Trajectories Space (CTSTSpace) framework. It enables the precise identification of semantic origin–destination points from dynamic personnel trajectories, quantifies service performance through real-time road network mapping, and models multidimensional perturbations, achieving full campus coverage without complex labeling while ensuring robust privacy protection. Under clear weather conditions, the analysis demonstrates accurate recognition of travel behavior patterns (dwelling, aggregation, mobility, and congestion) that synchronize with class schedules, where vehicle speeds drop by over 50% during peak hours. Under rainy weather perturbations, it captured demand shifts (e.g., peak hour offsets of 30–60 min and a 6.8–9.2% reduction in long-distance dining trips) and speed reductions (52.15–73.74%). This approach provides critical insights for resilient smart campus traffic management. Full article

Background: The present study examines sensory differences in children referred for autism evaluations and explores associations between sensory differences, autism symptomatology, and adaptive skills. Using a clinically referred sample, this study captures the heterogeneity of diverse developmental profiles observed in everyday clinical practice and provides a nuanced understanding of sensory differences in an ecologically valid way in the context of autism assessments. Methods: Participants included 238 children (41 females/3–14 years), referred to a university-based autism clinic due to concerns related to autism. Autism diagnoses were confirmed using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2, DSM-5 criteria, and expert clinical judgement informed by comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluation. Additional measures were collected to obtain information on sensory processing (Sensory Profile-2/SP-2) and adaptive functioning (Vineland-II/-3). Diagnostic outcomes were classified as autism (n = 121) versus non-autism (n = 117). Results: Non-autistic children scored higher than autistic children in sensory avoiding and sensitivity, with no group differences in sensory seeking or registration as measured by the SP-2. Correlational analysis showed negative associations between sensory differences and both autism symptomatology and adaptive functioning. Regression analysis further indicated that higher sensory differences predicted lower adaptive functioning, with sensory sensitivity showing the most widespread associations across communication, daily living skills, and socialization. Conclusions: Non-autistic children exhibited greater sensory avoiding and sensitivity than autistic children, which may possibly reflect co-occurring concerns such as anxiety or attentional difficulties (e.g., avoiding noisy environments due to anxiety rather than sensory sensitivity). Across groups, higher sensory differences showed consistent associations with lower adaptive functioning, highlighting the importance of assessing sensory behaviors in children with diverse clinical profiles. Full article