Search Results (1,599)

While touch screen technology is largely available, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities might have difficulties using it due to erratic touch responses. This study included six adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who were managing touch screen technology modified via an input adaptation module. Such a module allowed them to activate the screen and access leisure events and complete match-to-sample tasks with various response configurations (e.g., precise clicks, heavy/prolonged touch, and taps). The first question of the study was whether successful history with the modified technology would facilitate the participants’ use of standard touch screen technology. A second (subordinate) question was whether practice with standard touch screen technology would improve their use of it. To address these questions, the participants were presented with series of sessions with standard technology in alternation with series of sessions with the modified technology. The results showed that the participants were highly successful with the modified technology and partially (or minimally) successful with the standard technology. Only three of them seemed to improve their performance with the standard technology following practice. In conclusion, the modified touch screen technology was consistently effective in helping participants with intellectual and developmental disabilities who continued to have difficulties in using standard touch screen technology. Full article

Transition towards sustainable and environmentally friendly practices within the field of chemistry and materials science has become essential in light of current environmental challenges. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities in the various steps involved in producing chitosan derivatives, with particular emphasis on eco-friendly strategies. Key methodologies for chitin isolation from diverse natural sources, chitin deacetylation, and the chemical modification of chitosan are discussed, integrating green chemistry principles and eco-efficient processes. Advances in sustainable technologies that prioritize cost-effectiveness, safety, and performance are highlighted. The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, innovative isolation and purification strategies, the adoption of continuous-flow processes, and greener synthetic approaches, such as click chemistry, are also explored. Overall, this work supports the adoption of a holistic approach for the development of chitosan derivatives, contributing to more sustainable and environmentally responsible materials and production processes. Full article

Tourism’s digital transformation has reshaped how travelers search for and evaluate destinations. However, relatively little empirical work has examined how user engagement translates into booking intent, especially under the emergent discovery channels mediated by artificial intelligence (AI). This study tests an engagement-driven referral framework using longitudinal behavioral data from a Mediterranean destination portal (April 2022–January 2026; 1.6 million sessions). Engagement depth, measured as average session time, significantly predicts booking intent click rate. Mobile drives 83% of sessions, but desktop users convert at nearly twice the rate (5.69% vs. 3.37%). High traffic, as it turns out, does not equal high commercial intent. Lower-volume international markets routinely outperform the dominant domestic market. The most striking result concerns AI referrals. Traffic arriving from AI assistants converts at 8.26%, more than double the organic search rate of 3.88%, despite shorter sessions, a pattern consistent with compressed decision-making under generative AI. These findings, grounded in real travel portal data, extend engagement theory beyond transactional settings and shed early light on how referrals from AI assistants like ChatGPT or Gemini differ behaviorally from organic search, with practical implications for portal managers, destination marketing organizations (DMOs), and sustainable demand management. Full article

1-Phenyl-4-p-tolyl-[1,2,3]triazole was obtained via a CuAAC reaction involving phenyl azide and 1-ethynyl-4-methylbenzene. The NMR spectra of the compound are discussed, and its crystal structure was studied by X-ray analysis. According to the latter analysis and a Hirshfeld surface analysis, the predominant intermolecular C-H⋅⋅⋅N and C-H⋅⋅⋅π interactions in this molecule are responsible for crystal packing. Full article

In this study, a non-typical luminescent organosilicone was synthesized through a click reaction and used as a cross-linker to cure hydroxyl-terminated dimethylsilicone oil at room temperature via the sol–gel process, followed by application as a coating on a glass surface. This organosilicone film functions effectively as a luminescent down-shifting (LDS) material. Additionally, the presence of methyl groups and voids in the structure imparts a low refractive index, allowing it to serve as an anti-reflective (AR) layer. Optical and structural analyses on organosilicone-coated glass samples were conducted, and the dual-functional layer was applied to the glass cover of a perovskite solar panel to evaluate its performance. The coating not only enhanced light transmission as an AR layer but also converted UV light into blue light, which was absorbed by the solar cell. The results indicated improved solar panel performance, particularly in short-circuit current (Isc), external quantum efficiency (EQE) in the UV wavelength range, and overall efficiency. Overall, this material is a promising candidate for solar panel applications owing to maximized UV absorption for LDS, preserved transparency of the top cover glass, and room-temperature gelation, which facilitates repair of the dual-functional coating. Full article

The rapid expansion of digital and technology-enhanced assessments has enabled the capture of far more than final responses or total scores. As learners navigate traditional formats, such as multiple-choice, short-answer, and performance tasks, digital delivery platforms routinely capture response times, response revisions, navigation patterns, and item-level metadata. More advanced formats, including interactive simulations, scenario-based tasks, and game-based assessments, further record fine-grained actions such as mouse clicks, keystrokes, hint requests, sequence of operations, and decision pathways. These increasingly rich data streams provide a multidimensional view of test-taker behavior, offering evidence about cognitive processes, strategy use, persistence, and motivation that goes beyond what correctness alone can reveal. Assessment analytics refers to the systematic collection, integration, and analysis of such data generated during the assessment process. In practice, this emerging field combines principles from psychometrics, learning analytics, data science, and human-computer interaction to evaluate the quality, validity, and fairness of assessments in digital environments. The ultimate goal of assessment analytics is to produce actionable evidence about how assessments measure what they intend to measure in contemporary, technology-rich educational contexts. Full article

The rapid expansion of click chemistry reflects its transformative influence on contemporary drug discovery. This review highlights major advances in the application of click reactions within the kinetic target-guided synthesis (KTGS) paradigm for identifying potent inhibitors across a broad range of biological targets. KTGS constitutes a methodological shift that leverages the inherent dynamics of biomolecular systems, enabling biological targets to direct the in situ assembly of high-affinity bidentate ligands from a diverse repertoire of reactive building blocks. The review systematically classifies the principal bond-forming reactions that underpin effective inhibitor generation via KTGS. Collectively, it provides a comprehensive and scholarly analysis of how click-chemistry-enabled KTGS is redefining drug discovery and expediting the development of next-generation therapeutics. Full article

Silk fibroin (SF) is an ideal biomaterial for next-generation clinical wound dressings due to its biocompatibility and tunable mechanical properties. Cell therapies for wound healing have explored using SF as the base for delivering beneficial cargo; however, retention is poor due to exudate “wash out.” To address concerns with the premature release of cargo from SF-fabricated wound dressings, we utilized amine-reactive chemistry to conjugate SF mats with azido-reactive dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO) that can then attach complementary azido-tagged cargo through chemoselective immobilization. SF mats were made using electrospinning of a 1:1 SF/PCL solution and were then conjugated with N-Hydroxysuccinimide-dibenzocyclooctyne ester (DBCO). PBS soaking was used for control SF mats. SF mats were then imaged and characterized using the following metrics: pore size, fiber alignment, fiber distribution, fiber diameter, ultimate tensile strength, tangent modulus, proteolytic degradation, absorption, and retention. Successful DBCO conjugation of SF mats was confirmed through the presence of the Az-Cy5 dye while exhibiting no significant changes to the DBCO SF mats in any of the tested metrics compared to controls. Our results provide evidence that the amine chemistry responsible for the DBCO conjugation does not alter important SF mat properties. This confirms that DBCO augmentation paired with Az-Cy5 tags may be a viable approach for immobilizing different therapeutic cargoes to aid wound healing efforts. Full article

Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived brain organoids have emerged as powerful three-dimensional (3D) platforms for modeling human neurodevelopment and neurological disorders. However, the absence of a functional vascular network remains a critical limitation, restricting oxygen and nutrient delivery, impairing metabolic stability, and constraining long-term maturation. Conventional extracellular matrix (ECM) mimetics, such as Matrigel and other static synthetic hydrogels, provide biochemical support but fail to recapitulate the dynamic remodeling that characterizes the developing neurovascular niche. Recent advances in stimuli-responsive hydrogels offer spatiotemporal control over matrix stiffness, degradability, viscoelasticity, and biochemical cue presentation. In this review, we discuss dynamic hydrogel systems within a structure–property–function framework, highlighting how network chemistry and architecture may regulate endothelial sprouting, lumen formation, vascular stabilization, and neurovascular unit maturation in vascularized brain organoid models, based on evidence from both organoid studies and related biomaterial or vascular systems. Photoresponsive, enzyme-cleavable, thermo-responsive, supramolecular, bio-orthogonal click-based, and bioprinted platforms are discussed with emphasis on mechanotransduction, angiocrine signaling, and barrier specialization. Functional outcomes, including trans-endothelial electrical resistance, selective permeability, transporter expression, electrophysiological integration, and sustained perfusion, are discussed alongside translational challenges such as cytocompatibility, oxidative stress, scalability, and regulatory feasibility. Collectively, dynamic hydrogels provide a versatile biomaterial strategy for improving vascularization and aspects of functional maturation in brain organoid models with enhanced physiological relevance. Ultimately, stimuli-responsive hydrogel systems may serve as enabling platforms for engineering vascularized brain organoids and advancing human-relevant neurovascular disease modeling. Full article

Abusive news refers to digital content designed to maximize clicks and advertising revenue through sensational headlines, repetitive postings, or emotionally charged language, rather than upholding journalistic integrity. Despite growing concerns about its impact on media credibility and public trust, existing detection approaches lack systematic categorization and type-specific methodologies. This study addresses this gap by proposing a six-type typology of abusive news—content recycling, keyword insertion, title–body inconsistency, commercial promotion, emotionally stimulating headline, and automatically generated types—based on five analytical dimensions: content structure, authenticity, algorithmic manipulability, sensationalism, and information-ecosystem impact. We developed type-specific detection pipelines combining BERT-based embeddings, TF-IDF features, and rule-based indicators and evaluated them using a large-scale Korean clickbait corpus. Results demonstrate that BERT achieves higher F1-scores (0.89) for automatically generated content, while TF-IDF with SVM provides more stable precision (0.60) for emotionally charged articles under class imbalance. Cross-domain experiments confirm that models trained on diverse, balanced topic sets generalize better than volume-focused models, with diversity improving F1-scores by up to 0.07. BERT models show higher false positive rates on repetitive legitimate content compared to TF-IDF approaches, highlighting the importance of type-adaptive architectures and diversity-aware data design in abusive news detection systems. Full article

AI travel assistants are increasingly designating hotels as “eco”, yet when the evidence is not independently verifiable, these recommendations may serve as persuasive cues or credible decision support. We present a preregistered 2 × 2 between-subject laboratory experiment (n = 63) that manipulates autonomy framing (Recommend vs. Plan) and evidence verifiability (verifiable vs. non-verifiable) in a realistic hotel-booking workflow with a standardized “Verify eco-claim” drawer. Phasic arousal was recorded at recommendation onset (E1) and verification initiation (E3), employing eye-tracking indexed verification behavior (verify clicks, time-to-verify, verification depth) and event-locked galvanic skin response (GSR). Verifiability did not directly speed up or deepen verification (H1 not supported), but verification was common (74.6% clicked Verify). Rather, autonomy influenced checking: Plan slowed verification and altered verification depth. E1 SCR revealed an Evidence × Autonomy interaction, which is consistent with an autonomy-boundary account (H4), rather than credibility stress emerging as a simple evidence main effect at E1 (H2 not supported as stated). Verification served as a repair moment: depending on the availability of diagnostic cues, arousal dynamics from E1 to E3 supported differential “repair” (H3). SCR dynamics explained incremental variance in perceived manipulation/greenwashing concern beyond condition and eye-tracking indices (H5b supported), but verification depth did not mediate effects on trust or delegation (H5a not supported). Overall, users’ interpretation of AI sustainability advice is influenced by autonomy, and multimodal process measures offer useful signals for auditing eco-recommendation designs in travel platforms. Full article

Background: Clinical interpretation of the auditory brainstem response (ABR) relies on precise normative data. While our previous work provided evidence of sex-based differences in ABR latencies in a normative sample (N = 73), this larger-scale investigation (N = 244) validates these findings and extends them to other features of the ABR, such as wave amplitude and interaural latency asymmetry. Methods: This retrospective, cross-sectional study collected ABRs from 244 participants aged 3–79 years (134 men, 110 women) with normal hearing. All underwent basic audiological assessment and click-evoked ABR measurement with the NeuroAudio system. Wave latencies, interpeak intervals, and amplitudes were analyzed. Results: Absolute latencies for wave III and wave V, and all interpeak latency intervals, were significantly shorter in women versus men (p ≤ 0.001). No statistically significant sex-based differences were found for wave I and V amplitudes. Statistically significant right versus left ear differences were found for wave V absolute latency and for interpeak intervals I–III and I–V, with the left ear consistently showing prolonged responses compared to the right. No significant interaural differences were identified for waves I and III, or for the III–V interval. Conclusions: This study confirms the significant effect of sex on ABR temporal parameters, but not on wave amplitudes. There were also significant interaural asymmetries. These findings support the use of sex-specific, and potentially ear-specific, normative data to maximize diagnostic accuracy in audiology. Full article

Detecting transient “click” sounds during connector insertion is pivotal for automotive assembly quality but remains intractable due to high-intensity, non-stationary industrial noise. This paper introduces a physics-aware generative demasking framework that integrates acoustic spatial priors with conditional diffusion modeling. We propose the spatially conditioned diffusion probabilistic model (SC-DPM), where an ambient reference signal acts as a physical constraint to steer the reverse diffusion process. By exploiting the spatial decay of insertion sounds, this mechanism effectively disentangles the target transient from the background noise manifold, reconstructing high-fidelity spectro-temporal features. Discriminative temporal patterns are extracted using causal random convolutional kernels with causal dilations and local proportion of positive values (LPPV) pooling. Experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate 93.3% accuracy. The proposed “restore-then-classify” paradigm significantly enhances robustness against acoustic variability, establishing a scalable methodology for precise industrial monitoring under extreme noise conditions. Full article

Swallowing is a critical marker of neurological and emotional health. The ability to monitor it continuously and non-invasively, especially through smart ear-worn devices, holds significant promise for clinical applications. Despite this potential, no public audio datasets currently support reliable swallowing sound detection. Existing datasets focus primarily on speech and breathing, offering limited coverage and lacking detailed annotations for swallowing events. To address this gap, we introduce an in-ear audio dataset specifically designed to capture a wide range of verbal and non-verbal sounds. It includes comprehensive labeling focused on swallowing. The dataset was collected from 34 healthy adults (14 females and 20 males) between the ages of 20 and 29. Each participant performed a series of predefined tasks involving both non-verbal and verbal events. Non-verbal tasks included swallowing, clicking, forceful blinking, touching the scalp, and physical movements such as squatting or walking in place. Verbal tasks consisted of speaking (e.g., describing an image). Recordings were conducted in both quiet and noisy environments to better reflect real-world conditions. Data were captured using a combination of in-/outer-ear microphones, a chest belt to record electrocardiogram (ECG), respiration and acceleration signals, and an ultrasound probe to track tongue movement, which served as a reference for swallowing annotation. All signals were precisely synchronized. To ensure high data quality, the recordings were reviewed using both algorithmic analysis and manual inspection. Swallowing events were identified based on ultrasound signals and validated by an expert to guarantee accurate labeling. As a proof of concept that in-ear audio supports swallow classification, we fine-tune a fully connected neural network on YAMNet embeddings plus zero-crossing rate (ZCR) features. Across the completed folds, the model reaches an F1 score of 0.875 ± 0.013. Full article

This study presents a comparative evaluation of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) within the traditional ceramic industry, emphasizing how differences in data structures, reporting formats, and background databases influence the interpretation of environmental performance. Four product categories—ceramic tiles, sanitary ware, clay bricks, and clay roof tiles—were analyzed using datasets from One Click LCA and the International EPD System. Environmental indicators assessed include fossil-based and total Global Warming Potential (GWP), freshwater consumption, and energy demand, standardized per 1 kg of product. The analysis reveals that discrepancies between platforms arise primarily from the limited level of process-specific information required by current EPD formats, rather than from the platforms themselves. Missing details on raw material composition, firing conditions, and energy sources restrict comparability and hinder the development of robust benchmarks. Furthermore, the study highlights the need for harmonized databases, more transparent PCR requirements, and consistent reporting rules to support meaningful cross-platform comparisons. As the first study to examine EPD data structures for ceramic products across two major reporting systems, it highlights the need to expand product-specific benchmarks and enhance disclosure practices to strengthen the role of EPDs in sustainable market design and climate policy. Full article