Search Results (26)

Current sampling methods do not provide effective quantitative assessment mechanisms for evaluating the intrinsic credibility of negative samples. This impedes the systematic quantification of the effect of misselection of geologically predisposed areas (i.e., potential landslide zones) as negative samples on the accuracy of landslide susceptibility evaluation models. To overcome this challenge, this study proposes a fuzzy membership-based sampling method for assessing negative sample credibility in the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, where credibility is defined as the confidence level of stable nonlandslide samples. Subsequently, negative samples were sampled across stratified credibility thresholds to construct a frequency ratio–random forest coupled model. The influence of negative sample credibility on model performance was then systematically evaluated using various metrics, including the F1-score (metrics for evaluating classification performance), area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and actual landslide distribution ratio (landslide proportion) in high-susceptibility zones. The results are as follows: (1) Increasing the credibility threshold progressively improves model precision while inducing systematic overestimation bias in regional susceptibility assessment; (2) Integrated analysis of model performance and landslide distribution characteristics (where recall, F1-score, and AUC values initially increase then decrease) confirms the optimal effectiveness when selecting negative samples within a credibility threshold range of 0.7–1.0. This study innovatively achieves quantitative optimization of negative samples and provides a universal solution for improving the performance of diverse models reliant on negative sampling strategies. Full article

Long-term participation in marathon running involves complex psychological processes, yet existing research predominantly focuses on static, single-time-point analyses. This study addresses the gap by longitudinally examining the psychological evolution of an elite Chinese marathon runner (119 marathons completed) to uncover dynamic shifts from novice to master(s) level athlete stages. A longitudinal single-case study was conducted using inductive thematic analysis. Data included in-depth interviews, observational records, and archival materials spanning three life stages (youth, middle age, maturity). Five experts validated the credibility and validity of the findings. The results show that the runner’s psychological trajectory followed a three-phase model: competitive drive (youth: external achievement motivation), reflective transformation (middle age: health prioritization and identity reconfiguration), and value reconstruction (maturity: legacy mission and lifelong running). These stages were shaped by the interplay of achievement motivation, social roles, and physiological changes. Notably, the transition mirrored China’s marathon culture shift from elitism to mass participation. This study proposes a novel “motivation-physicality-society” interaction model, challenging static theories of sports psychology. It highlights how long-term runners dynamically balance extrinsic and intrinsic motivations while embedding personal growth within socio-cultural transformations. The findings offer theoretical foundations for optimizing psychological support systems and promoting sustainable marathon engagement. Full article

Background/Objectives: Suicides among U.S. military veterans are alarmingly high, driven by factors such as mental health issues, combat exposure, and history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)/concussion. This study aims to examine the relationship between concussion history, combat experience, and their effects on mental health issues and suicide ideation among military veterans. Additionally, this study investigates the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on these variables. Methods: A total of 78 veterans (62 males, 16 females) participated in this study. Participants completed a demographic survey and the Global Well-being Index (GWI) to assess concussion history and residual symptoms. A licensed social worker interviewed the veterans using the 9-Item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder survey (7 Items) (GAD-7) for anxiety, and the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) for suicide ideation. A 2 × 2 cross-tabulation analysis examined the relationships between concussion history, combat experience, and outcomes of anxiety, depression, and suicide ideation. PTSD was also assessed as both a predictor and an outcome. Statistical analyses yielded odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI), Chi-square, and Cramer’s V (V) correlations along with associated p-values. Results: The combination of concussion history and combat experience strongly predicted either anxiety, depression, or suicide ideation (OR = 7.97, 95% CI: 1.70, 37.44; V = 0.334, (p = 0.003)), more than either factor alone. Combat experience was the strongest predictor of PTSD (OR = 11.12, 95% CI: 3.30, 37.47; V = 0.485, p ≤ 0.001), both individually and when combined with concussion history. PTSD strongly influenced mental health issues and suicide ideation (OR = 8.16, 95% CI: 1.74, 38.25; V = 0.339, p = 0.003). Stratification by PTSD status (positive or negative) affected the relationships between independent and dependent variables. Small cell counts resulted in a wide 95% CI for some ORs, though some statistically significant Fisher’s Exact Test results were observed. Credibility analysis using the critical prior interval (CPI) metric confirmed the intrinsic credibility of the results. Conclusions: This study provides insights into the relationships between concussion history, combat experience, and their impacts on mental health issues and suicide ideation among military veterans. Full article

Traditionally, users have perceived that only manual laborers or those in repetitive jobs would be subject to technological substitution. However, with the emergence of technologies like Midjourney, ChatGPT, and Notion AI, known as Artificial Intelligence-Generated Content (AIGC), we have come to realize that cognitive laborers, particularly creative designers, also face similar professional challenges. Yet, there has been relatively little research analyzing the acceptance and trust of artificial intelligence from the perspective of designers. This study integrates the TAM/TPB behavioral measurement model, incorporating intrinsic characteristics of designers, to delineate their perceived risks of AIGC into functional and emotional dimensions. It explores how these perceived characteristics, risks, and trust influence designers’ behavioral intentions, employing structural equation modeling for validation. The findings reveal the following: (1) designer trust is the primary factor influencing their behavioral choices; (2) different dimensions of perceived risks have varying degrees of impact on trust, with functional risks significantly positively affecting trust compared to emotional risks; (3) only by enhancing the transparency and credibility of Artificial Intelligence-Generated Content (AIGC) can the perceived characteristics of designers be elevated; and (4) only by effectively safeguarding designers’ legitimate rights and interests can perceived risks be significantly reduced, thereby enhancing trust and subsequently prompting actual behavioral intentions. This study not only enhances the applicability and suitability of AIGC across various industries but also provides evidence for the feasibility of intelligent design in the creative design industry, facilitating the transition of AIGC to Artificial Intelligence-Generated Design (AIGD) for industrial upgrading. Full article

Membrane-based Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity (PIMs) are promising candidates for energy-efficient industrial gas separations, especially for the separation of carbon dioxide over methane (CO₂/CH₄) and carbon dioxide over nitrogen (CO₂/N₂) for natural gas/biogas upgrading and carbon capture from flue gases, respectively. Compared to other separation techniques, membrane separations offer potential energy and cost savings. Ultra-permeable PIM-based polymers are currently leading the trade-off between permeability and selectivity for gas separations, particularly in CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂. These membranes show a significant improvement in performance and fall within a linear correlation on benchmark Robeson plots, which are parallel to, but significantly above, the CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂ Robeson upper bounds. This improvement is expected to enhance the credibility of polymer membranes for CO₂ separations and stimulate further research in polymer science and applied engineering to develop membrane systems for these CO₂ separations, which are critical to energy and environmental sustainability. This review aims to highlight the state-of-the-art strategies employed to enhance gas separation performances in PIM-based membranes while also mitigating aging effects. These strategies include chemical post-modification, crosslinking, UV and thermal treatment of PIM, as well as the incorporation of nanofillers in the polymeric matrix. Full article

Greek consumers perceive an increased risk of pesticide residues in food. This study examined Greek consumers’ perceptions of the safety of Greek plant-based food compared to those from other EU countries. One-half of Greek consumers believe Greek food is as safe as other European foods, while the other half disagree. According to a principal component analysis and a bivariate logistic regression, several factors, such as the perceived safety of plant foods, education, age, gender, traceability, perceived benefits and risks of pesticides, actual pesticide use, and authoritative information sources, influence this attitude. Authoritative knowledge in this field can reduce risk perception and improve Greek consumers’ attitudes towards food safety. The latent class analysis identified two categories of consumers. The first class receives limited information about pesticides, leading to lower perceived pesticide benefits, higher mistrust of traceability, and concerns about pesticide residues. In contrast, the second class actively searches for information from credible sources, endorses the Greek plant foods safety, acknowledges the pesticide benefits, and trusts traceability. Official information is associated with reduced risk perception. Regulators should consider the impact of sociodemographic and other intrinsic characteristics on individuals’ risk perceptions and prioritise transparency in risk communication strategies. Full article

Heterogeneity exists inter- and intratumorally, which might lead to different drug responses. Therefore, it is extremely important to clarify the drug response at single-cell resolution. Here, we propose a precise single-cell drug response (scDR) prediction method for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. We calculated a drug-response score (DRS) for each cell by integrating drug-response genes (DRGs) and gene expression in scRNA-seq data. Then, scDR was validated through internal and external transcriptomics data from bulk RNA-seq and scRNA-seq of cell lines or patient tissues. In addition, scDR could be used to predict prognoses for BLCA, PAAD, and STAD tumor samples. Next, comparison with the existing method using 53,502 cells from 198 cancer cell lines showed the higher accuracy of scDR. Finally, we identified an intrinsic resistant cell subgroup in melanoma, and explored the possible mechanisms, such as cell cycle activation, by applying scDR to time series scRNA-seq data of dabrafenib treatment. Altogether, scDR was a credible method for drug response prediction at single-cell resolution, and helpful in drug resistant mechanism exploration. Full article

A critical sustainability task is to communicate an organization’s sustainability values in a manner which yields favorable new hire perceptions and involvement. However, factors influencing the impact of sustainability messaging on new hire perceptions remain unexplored to the authors’ knowledge. This exploratory study explores these factors using an experimental vignette study design in which signal costliness and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were manipulated in the administration of a hypothetical new employee orientation presentation. The findings suggest that conditions in which extrinsic motivating factors were noted as the reason for organizational sustainability yielded higher perceived credibility and involvement intention among respondents. More costly sustainability messaging was detrimental to the perceived message credibility and employee involvement intentions. Full article

The recurrence of prostate cancer (PCa) is intrinsically linked to increased mortality. The goal of this study was to develop an efficient and reliable prognosis prediction signature for PCa patients. The training cohort was acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset, while the validation cohort was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset (GSE70769). To explore the Gleason score (GS)-based prediction signature, we screened the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between low- and high-GS groups, and then univariate Cox regression survival analysis and multiple Cox analyses were performed sequentially using the training cohort. The testing cohort was used to evaluate and validate the prognostic model’s effectiveness, accuracy, and clinical practicability. In addition, the correlation analyses between the risk score and clinical features, as well as immune infiltration, were performed. We constructed and optimized a valid and credible model for predicting the prognosis of PCa recurrence using four GS-associated genes (SFRP4, FEV, COL1A1, SULF1). Furthermore, ROC and Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed a higher predictive efficiency for biochemical recurrence (BCR). The results showed that the risk model was an independent prognostic factor. Moreover, the risk score was associated with clinical features and immune infiltration. Finally, the risk model was validated in a testing cohort. Our data support that the GS-based four-gene signature acts as a novel signature for predicting BCR in PCa patients. Full article

Hyper-heuristics are widely used for solving numerous complex computational search problems because of their intrinsic capability to generalize across problem domains. The fair-share iterated local search is one of the most successful hyper-heuristics for cross-domain search with outstanding performances on six problem domains. However, it has recorded low performances on three supplementary problems, namely knapsack, quadratic assignment, and maximum-cut problems, which undermines its credibility across problem domains. The purpose of this study was to design an evolutionary algorithm-based iterated local search (EA-ILS) hyper-heuristic that applies a novel mutation operator to control the selection of perturbative low-level heuristics in searching for optimal sequences for performance improvement. The algorithm was compared to existing ones in the hyper-heuristics flexible (HyFlex) framework to demonstrate its performance across the problem domains of knapsack, quadratic assignment, and maximum cut. The comparative results have shown that the EA-ILS hyper-heuristic can obtain the best median objective function values on 22 out of 30 instances in the HyFlex framework. Moreover, it has achieved superiority in its generalization capability when compared to the reported top-performing hyper-heuristic algorithms. Full article

Background: Vaccine hesitancy decreases adult vaccination coverage and has been recognized by WHO as a major health threat. Primary care physicians (PCP) play a key role in vaccination by giving vaccine counselling to their patients. The aim of this systematic review is to identify the knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and barriers (KBAB) associated with own vaccination and patient recommendation in primary care physicians. Methods: MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases were used to search and identify relevant studies based on their title and abstract. In the next step, the full text of each previously selected article was read for eligibility. Articles were selected by two independent reviewers and data extraction was performed using tables. The following information was extracted: methodological characteristics, demographic factors, professional characteristics, and intrinsic or extrinsic factors influencing vaccination or recommendation. Results: Our search yielded 41 eligible papers, data-sources, previous practices, belief in the effectiveness or safety of the vaccine, perceived risk, and trust in health authorities were all shown to be related to own vaccination and patient recommendation. Conclusion: Internet is the main source of information for PCP related to vaccine hesitancy. It is therefore essential to increase the presence and access to pro-vaccination content in this area. In addition, involving PCP in the establishment of vaccination recommendations could improve their credibility in the institutions. On the other hand, training in communication skills and establishing reminder systems could reflect higher vaccination coverage among their patients. Full article

The π–π interaction is a major driving force that stabilizes protein assemblies during protein folding. Recent studies have additionally demonstrated its involvement in the liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). As the participating residues in IDPs are exposed to water, π–π interactions for LLPS must be modeled in water, as opposed to the interactions that are often established at the hydrophobic domains of folded proteins. Thus, we investigated the association of free energies of benzene and phenol dimers in water by integrating van der Waals (vdW)-corrected density functional theory (DFT) and DFT in classical explicit solvents (DFT-CES). By comparing the vdW-corrected DFT and DFT-CES results with high-level wavefunction calculations and experimental solvation free energies, respectively, we established the quantitative credibility of these approaches, enabling a reliable prediction of the benzene and phenol dimer association free energies in water. We discovered that solvation influences dimer association free energies, but not significantly when no direct hydrogen-bond-type interaction exists between two monomeric units, which can be explained by the enthalpy–entropy compensation. Our comprehensive computational study of the solvation effect on π–π interactions in water could help us understand the molecular-level driving mechanism underlying the IDP phase behaviors. Full article

YouTube usage as a learning tool is evident among students. Hence, the goal of this study is to examine the various factors that influence the use of YouTube as a learning tool, which influences academic achievement in a bilingual academic context. Using survey data from 704 YouTube users from Jordan’s bilingual academic institutes, the research model was empirically validated. Using Amos 20, structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to assess the study hypotheses. SEM permits concurrent checking of the direct and indirect effects of all hypotheses. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to validate the instrument items’ properties in addition to machine learning methods: ANN, SMO, the bagging reduced error pruning tree (RepTree), and random forest. The empirical results offer several key findings: academic achievement (AA) is influenced by the information adoption (IA) of YouTube as a learning tool. Information adoption (IA) is influenced by information usefulness (IU). Source credibility (SC) and information quality (IQ) both influence information usefulness (IU), while information language (IL) does not. Information quality (IQ) is influenced by intrinsic, contextual, and accessibility information quality. This study adds to the literature by empirically testing and theorizing the effects of YouTube as a learning tool on the academic achievement of Jordanian university students who are studying in bilingual surroundings. Full article

Quetiapine (QTP) is a short-acting atypical antipsychotic drug that treats schizophrenia or manic episodes of bipolar disorder. Human serum albumin (HSA) is an essential transport protein that transports hormones and various other ligands to their intended site of action. The interactions of QTP with HSA and their binding mechanism in the HSA-QTP system was studied using spectroscopic and molecular docking techniques. The UV-Vis absorption study shows hyperchromicity in the spectra of HSA on the addition of QTP, suggesting the complex formation and interactions between QTP and HSA. The results of intrinsic fluorescence indicate that QTP quenched the fluorescence of HSA and confirmed the complex formation between HSA and QTP, and this quenching mechanism was a static one. Thermodynamic analysis of the HSA-QTP system confirms the involvement of hydrophobic forces, and this complex formation is spontaneous. The competitive displacement and molecular docking experiments demonstrated that QTP is preferentially bound to HSA subdomain IB. Furthermore, the CD experiment results showed conformational changes in the HSA-QTP system. Besides this, the addition of QTP does not affect the esterase-like activity of HSA. This study will help further understand the credible mechanism of transport and delivery of QTP via HSA and design new QTP-based derivatives with greater efficacy. Full article

Beef consumption and production in Spain and Brazil are different with the consumption of beef in Brazil being three times higher than in Spain. In addition, there are variations in the economic value of production and in the traceability system. Therefore, the aim of this research was to understand the purchasing and consumption patterns using the customer behavior analysis technique of focus groups, which analyzed motivations for the consumption of beef, classifying their preferences by the intrinsic and extrinsic attributes at the time of purchase. The key aspect of the consumption of beef, both for Spanish and Brazilian consumers, was personal satisfaction/flavor. Spanish consumers were more conscious than Brazilians of the beneficial and harmful qualities that meat provides. The presence of fat was the factor that most restricted intake in both countries. The most important intrinsic attributes for Spanish and Brazilian consumers were the visual aspects of the meat: color, freshness, and the quantity and disposition of fat. The most important extrinsic characteristics were the price and expiration date. Spanish consumers see packaged meat as convenient and safe, although it is considered by Brazilians to be over-manipulated. The traceability certification on the label provides credibility to the product for the Spanish but only partially for Brazilians. Full article