Search Results (560)

The cooperatives combine a pyramidal structure, in which few members concentrate decision-making power, with ownership dispersed among a broad membership base. This configuration favors adverse selection and moral hazard arising from information asymmetry between managers and stakeholders, which legitimacy theory suggests may be reduced through sustainability disclosure. The study advances the literature by combining three elements not yet integrated in research on cooperatives: the cultural pillar as an autonomous dimension of sustainability, disaggregated analysis by pillar, and risk-adjusted financial performance. The level of sustainability disclosure was analyzed from a stakeholder perspective, along with its association with financial performance. Forty-four expert-validated indicators were applied to 39 cooperatives listed in the 2022 World Cooperative Monitor that published complete reports over the 2020–2022 triennium, resulting in 117 observations, estimated by fixed effects with cluster-robust standard errors. Mean disclosure was 0.52, led by the environmental pillar (0.70), followed by the economic (0.62), social (0.47), and cultural (0.33) pillars. The aggregate index showed no statistically significant association with risk-adjusted financial performance, either for ROA or for ROE, whereas the social dimension remained positive and significant regardless of the metric used. This pattern is consistent with the propositions of legitimacy theory regarding the social pillar, although the underlying mechanisms of information asymmetry reduction and legitimacy strengthening were not directly measured in this study. Full article

Real-time feedback-based training has emerged as a potentially time-efficient approach for enhancing neuromuscular performance, yet evidence in youth basketball athletes remains limited. This study examined the acute and short-term effects of a five-day simulator-based neuromuscular training program incorporating real-time feedback on vertical jump performance and reactive efficiency in youth basketball players. A quasi-experimental, single-group repeated-measures design was employed, with performance assessed at three time points: pre-intervention (T1), post-intervention (T2), and 7-day follow-up (T3). Twenty-one male junior athletes (15.1 ± 0.7 years) completed five consecutive sessions on a condition simulation device (ERGOSIM), designed to enhance force control and neuromuscular coordination through real-time visual feedback. Vertical jump performance was assessed using a 15 s repeated jump test (OptoJump), including bilateral and unilateral conditions. Primary outcomes were jump height (H), mean average power (PU), and contact time (CT), analyzed via the MGM-15 method. Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed significant time effects for bilateral performance: H (F(2,40) = 16.593, p < 0.001, η²_p = 0.453), PU (F(2,40) = 19.281, p < 0.001, η²_p = 0.491), and CT (F(2,40) = 6.009, p = 0.005, η²_p = 0.231). From T1 to T3, bilateral jump height increased by 17.0%, accompanied by a 14.5% increase in average power and a 10.3% reduction in contact time. Unilateral performance improved significantly in both limbs, with progressive reduction in inter-limb asymmetry across the intervention period. Performance gains were largely maintained at T3, indicating short-term retention of neuromuscular adaptations. These findings suggest that simulator-based, feedback-driven neuromuscular training represents a time-efficient strategy for optimizing explosive performance and inter-limb symmetry within competitive microcycles although the single-group design and absence of a control group warrant cautious interpretation. Full article

Recently, plant-based bioelectronic systems have been explored for environmental sensing applications. However, their intrinsically low electrical conductivity often limits signal sensitivity and measurement reliability. In this work, the electrothermal behavior of living Epipremnum aureum plants incorporating Ag/AgCl nanoparticles supported on nanocellulose was investigated. Electrical and thermal responses were simultaneously measured under controlled environmental conditions using external shunt resistances of 1, 10, 100, and 1000 Ω. Compared with the control without nanoparticle incorporation, the nanoparticle-incorporated plant exhibited stronger electrical responses and distinct electrothermal behavior over the studied temperature range. The measured signals showed nonlinear responses, temporal asymmetry, and resistance-dependent modulation, suggesting changes in charge transport within the plant tissues. Silver-enriched regions and the co-detection of chlorine within the nanoparticle-incorporated plant tissues were identified by environmental scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Five machine-learning regression models were trained to estimate temperature using the measured electrothermal voltage signals as predictors. The best-performing model, MLP FitRNet, achieved a mean absolute error of 0.598 °C, a root mean square error of 0.748 °C, and an $R^2$ value of 0.974. These results demonstrate the potential of nanoparticle-incorporated biohybrid plant systems for electrothermal signal analysis and data-driven temperature estimation, while providing a foundation for future intelligent environmental monitoring applications. Full article

Just-in-time adaptive interventions require timely and low-burden state estimation, while olfaction offers a programmable output channel with limited attentional demand. We describe a prototype architecture that links electroencephalography (EEG)-based emotion estimation to a six-channel odorant device and evaluate only the EEG sensing and decoding module. Forty EEG sessions from 39 adults were recorded with a 14-channel Emotiv EPOC X headset (128 Hz) during six standardized emotion-induction conditions. No odor was administered. Band-power, frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) and global field power (GFP) were analyzed with rank-based repeated-measures tests and explicit multiple-comparison correction. Emotion decoding used subject-aware cross-validation. Frontal beta power, the beta/alpha ratio and GFP differed across conditions after false-discovery-rate correction, although effect sizes were small (Kendall’s W = 0.089–0.155). On-line affective metrics showed larger effects (W = 0.130–0.365). Six-class accuracy was 45.1% ± 13.2% within participants (n = 29; chance 16.7%; p < 10⁻⁸) and 23.1% across participants after per-subject normalization (macro-F1 = 0.23; permutation p = 0.005). FAA did not differ. Consumer-headset EEG contained person-specific information about laboratory-induced states, but performance was not sufficient to establish a clinically usable regulator. The results validate neither a complete closed loop nor olfactory efficacy; end-to-end latency, artifact and temporal robustness, chemical characterization and controlled odor-regulation effects require prospective evaluation. Full article

Recent developments in NLP and web-scale document analysis have increasingly emphasized the importance of interpretability and contextual dependence in semantic representations. Although modern word embeddings achieve remarkable empirical performance, their semantic structure is often difficult to interpret, since meaning is encoded through latent geometric relations in high-dimensional spaces. This paper discusses an alternative conceptual framework based on explicit contextual semantic relations. Building on ideas from distributional semantics, co-occurrence analysis, and fuzzy set theory, the study revisits semantic projections and related count-based representations as interpretable directional semantic structures for semantic analysis in document corpora and web-based information environments. In this setting, several classical association measures, including PMI and related transformations, may be understood as derived from simpler conditional semantic projections. The methodology is illustrated through a comparative analysis of semantic associations related to “ChatGPT” across general web-scale data and specialized scientific repositories. Our results demonstrate that semantic projections effectively capture persistent contextual structures while remaining sensitive to corpus-specific discourse communities. The resulting perspective emphasizes interpretability, asymmetry, contextual dependence, and direct empirical meaning as central principles for semantic representation. Full article

The Timed Up and Go (TUG) test is widely used to assess functional mobility in Parkinson’s disease (PD), although total test duration may overlook phase-specific biomechanical alterations. This cross-sectional study investigated whether phase-specific analysis of the instrumented TUG (iTUG) could identify candidate biomechanical markers characterizing differences among early-stage PD subgroups and healthy controls. Seventy-nine participants (38 PD, 41 controls) performed four iTUG trials in the OFF-medication state. Movement data were collected using synchronized inertial measurement units and optoelectronic motion capture systems. The iTUG was segmented into six phases, and temporal, spatiotemporal, variability, and multisegmental kinematic parameters were analyzed. Participants with PD at modified Hoehn and Yahr (mH&Y) stage 2 performed the iTUG more slowly than controls (p < 0.001), mainly due to impairments during walking (p = 0.012) and turning. Turning was the only phase that distinguished controls from individuals with PD at mH&Y stages 1–1.5 (p = 0.015), who also showed increased elbow asymmetry (p = 0.009). Participants with PD at mH&Y stage 2 exhibited broader differences, including increased double-support time, shorter stride length, lower walking speed, reduced frontal-plane control, and reduced trunk, elbow, hip, and ankle motion, whereas gait variability did not differ significantly between groups. Sagittal trunk ROM on the less affected side was the only variable that significantly differed between the two PD subgroups. These findings suggest that phase-specific iTUG analysis may reveal candidate biomechanical markers associated with mH&Y stage and functional mobility impairment and support sensor-based assessment for objective characterization of functional mobility in PD. Full article

Imaging underpins the diagnosis and structural staging of osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) but does not directly quantify functional impairment during weight-bearing walking. We developed a subject-level ONFH classification framework using multilevel gait features acquired with wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs). Thirty healthy controls and 21 participants with imaging-confirmed ONFH completed self-paced walking trials recorded at 100 Hz. Gait cycles were segmented from bilateral foot-contact events, normalized to 120 points, and represented as 17-channel kinematic waveforms, 22-dimensional cycle-level scalar features, and 7-channel dynamic absolute asymmetry waveforms. These inputs were encoded by CNN–CBAM–BiLSTM, multilayer perceptron, and one-dimensional convolutional branches, respectively, and fused at the feature level. Evaluation used 51-fold leave-one-subject-out cross-validation, training-fold-only preprocessing, within-subject probability averaging, and five predefined random seeds. The five-seed ensemble achieved an accuracy of 0.9412, sensitivity of 0.8571, specificity of 1.0000, F1-score of 0.9231, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.9556. Ablation analysis identified the scalar-feature vector as the principal source of incremental performance; the dynamic asymmetry branch contributed complementary information only in the complete model. These findings provide preliminary evidence for further evaluation of wearable gait-based ONFH classification in independent cohorts and objective functional assessment. Full article

Wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) offer an accessible alternative to optical motion capture (MoCap) gait analysis, but their performance in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) requires validation. We assessed the concurrent validity of IMU-derived versus MoCap-derived gait metrics and static postural sway in 30 patients with PSP using Bland–Altman analysis, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC), and Spearman rank correlations. Finally, we assessed equivalence using the Two one-sided tests (TOST) procedure. Multivariable linear regression was used to determine whether clinical severity, as measured by the PSP Rating Scale (PSPRS), independently predicted absolute IMU measurement error while controlling for patient age and gait velocity. IMUs demonstrated excellent between-system agreement for parameters such as cadence (100.76 ± 11.42 vs. 100.52 ± 11.59) and cycle time (1.21 ± 0.15 vs. 1.22 ± 0.15; ICC > 0.98), despite a systematic underestimation of gait velocity (p < 0.05). Agreement significantly diminished for micro-phases (e.g., single/double support times) and spatial asymmetry. Interestingly, the TOST procedure revealed that only sagittal and transverse trunk kinematics were equivalent between systems, with all other measures failing to find equivalency. For static sway, the IMU demonstrated strong rank-order correspondence for tracking relative postural instability (ρ = 0.82, p < 0.05). Multivariable analysis revealed that higher PSPRS scores are independently associated with greater between-system discrepancies in support phases and pelvic and trunk kinematics (p < 0.05), irrespective of reduced gait speed. These findings highlight the need to develop disease-specific algorithms, rather than relying on normative commercial models, to establish reliable digital biomarkers for monitoring progressive motor decline. Full article

Refractory high-entropy and compositionally complex alloys are routinely compared by nominal composition and as-processed phase, yet processing changes the material that is actually tested. This is a critical, mechanism-led narrative review rather than a systematic review; the databases, complete search strings, screening sequence, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and evidence-grading rubric are reported so that coverage and selection bias can be assessed independently. This review synthesizes 186 publications around the NbTaV compositional core and compares alloys through directly measurable features of the processed state: interstitial content, local chemical order, grain-boundary chemistry, defect and grain architecture, phase morphology, compositional gradients and surfaces. Every source is assigned to a compositional tier and graded along four evidence axes: 96 of the 186 sources report Nb–Ta–V-containing states (Tier I), 58 are body-centered cubic refractory comparators (Tier II) and 32 are transferred-mechanism analogues (Tier III), and only 14 Tier I sources supply direct tensile, fracture or tensile-creep measurements. This asymmetry, rather than any disagreement between compositions, is the field’s binding evidence constraint. Direct tensile, fracture, and creep measurements are kept separate from compression, hardness, calculation, and screening evidence. This separation reconciles observations that otherwise appear to conflict: oxygen can strengthen or embrittle; lattice distortion can raise strength while lowering dislocation mobility; local order can harden the alloy, redirect defects or precede decomposition; and second phases help only within morphology- and service-specific compatibility windows. The strongest tensile behavior is obtained when mobile plasticity carriers are preserved, and interstitials, interfaces and phase continuity are simultaneously controlled. High-temperature, environmental, and irradiation performance depend additionally on the transition from the as-manufactured condition to the state that evolves during service. Quantitative matching tolerances for the convergent-state falsification test, service-condition-specific validation hierarchies, ordinal scoring rules for the phase-compatibility map, and a source-level audit of every quantitatively compared value are provided so that the framework can be tested and the synthesis independently checked. Full article

Magnesium-based materials are promising candidates for solid-state hydrogen storage due to their high gravimetric capacity; however, their practical application is limited by slow sorption kinetics and high thermal stability. This study investigates the influence of hydride additives on the microstructure and hydrogen desorption performance of ball-milled Mg–Co composites. Flake-like magnesium particles modified with 7 wt.% cobalt were processed by high-energy ball milling and subsequently doped with sodium hydride, potassium hydride, and calcium hydride at concentrations of 0.5 and 5 wt.%. Microstructural, phase, and surface chemical characterization revealed that additive type strongly affects dispersion, interfacial distribution, and the formation of additive-derived surface species within the Mg–Co matrix. Hydrogen sorption measurements conducted at 300–350 °C under different pressure conditions show that alkali hydrides significantly enhance low-temperature hydrogen desorption. In particular, the composite containing 5 wt.% potassium hydride exhibits a marked improvement, releasing approximately 4 wt.% hydrogen at 300 °C, while the unmodified material shows negligible desorption under the same conditions. Thermal analysis confirms that the additives modify the dehydrogenation response, although improved performance is not solely correlated with lower onset temperatures. The results demonstrate a clear asymmetry between hydrogen absorption and desorption, indicating that the primary effect of hydride additives is an enhancement in dehydrogenation kinetics. This behavior is associated with microstructural features, including additive dispersion and interfacial effects induced during processing. These findings provide insight into the design of magnesium-based hydrogen storage materials through microstructure–property relationships. Full article

Background/Objectives: Facial deformities compromise craniofacial aesthetics and functionality. Maxillofacial surgery and orthodontics require meticulous planning utilizing tomography and clinical photography. Although tomography provides precise information about bony structures, it has limitations in evaluating soft tissues. Three-dimensional photography emerges as a complementary alternative; however, there is limited information regarding morphological facial analysis in three dimensional (3D) images. Methods: A scoping review was conducted according to PRISMA-ScR guidelines and the Joanna Briggs Institute methodological framework. The MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, SciELO, and Web of Science databases were searched for studies published between 2017 and 2025 evaluating the use of 3D facial photography in orthodontics, orthognathic surgery, maxillofacial surgery, and related craniofacial applications. Two independent reviewers performed study selection and data extraction, with disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. Anatomical landmarks and facial measurements were descriptively synthesized according to facial regions and measurement type. Results: Out of 79 initially identified articles, 18 observational studies examining 3D facial photographs were included. Consequently, the “3D FullFace A” tool was developed, incorporating 13 midline points and 12 bilateral points, enabling 18 linear and 28 angular measurements for comprehensive facial analysis. Conclusions: Available evidence suggests that 3D facial photography is a promising tool for orthognathic surgical planning. Key advances identified include reliable stereophotogrammetric landmark identification, quantification of soft-tissue changes following orthognathic and orthodontic treatment, and characterization of facial asymmetry and proportionality. Full article

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries represent one of the most common and disruptive conditions in sport. Effective return-to-play (RTP) monitoring requires multidimensional approaches capturing physical, psychological, and sport-specific components rather than reliance on isolated benchmarks. This study aimed to longitudinally examine the RTP process of a female varsity basketball athlete following ACL reconstruction, using a framework integrating physical performance (capacity), biomechanical sport-specific (capability), and psychological (confidence) components relative to pre-injury benchmarks. Data collection included countermovement jump testing with force plates, on-court inertial measurement unit (IMU) monitoring of limb-loading, and psychological questionnaires, analyzed relative to the athlete’s pre-injury baseline, with post-surgical change interpreted against that individualized reference using minimal detectable change thresholds. Pre-injury monitoring indicated stable movement profiles with minor fluctuations. Following ACL reconstruction, jump height recovered within seven weeks of RTP initiation, but notable inter-limb asymmetries persisted in force plate and IMU measures despite high confidence scores. Symmetry improved over time, yet variability in on-court loading remained after clinical clearance. These findings highlight the value of integrated, multidimensional monitoring to detect residual deficits that may be overlooked by traditional outcome-based assessments. This study demonstrates that integrating athlete-specific biomechanical, psychological, and sport-specific assessments relative to pre-injury baselines can support RTP decision-making to enhance individualized recovery trajectories in female athletes. Full article

The single-leg countermovement jump (SL CMJ) is widely used to assess limb-specific neuromuscular function, with interpretation commonly centred on inter-limb asymmetry. However, contextualising unilateral performance relative to bilateral capacity remains less clearly defined. This retrospective cross-sectional study aimed to develop exploratory descriptive benchmarks for SL CMJ kinetic, kinematic, and temporal variables expressed as a percentage of bilateral CMJ performance in a heterogeneous athletic cohort. A total of 348 athletes completed bilateral and unilateral CMJs using dual force plate sampling at 1000 Hz. The best trials were selected using the modified reactive strength index (mRSI), and averaged unilateral variables were expressed relative to bilateral potential. Unilateral-to-bilateral transfer was non-uniform across metric domains. Median relative jump height and the mRSI were 44.8% and 39.4%, respectively, whereas median average relative braking and propulsive force values were 76.0% and 75.4%, respectively. Gross impulse measures were retained to a greater extent than power- and rate-dependent variables, while temporal metrics showed prolonged unilateral phase durations. Exploratory sex-based analyses indicated trivial-to-small differences in selected variables; however, these findings should be interpreted cautiously because of unequal group sizes and the descriptive nature of the dataset. These results provide broad exploratory percentile benchmarks that may help practitioners contextualise SL CMJ performance relative to bilateral execution. However, the values should not be interpreted as universal clinical thresholds, injury-risk markers, or sport-specific normative standards without consideration of sex, sport discipline, competitive level, injury history, and longitudinal athlete context. Full article

This study investigated the effects of alpha-band EEG neurofeedback on load-specific lower body strength performance in competitive judokas and examined whether training status modulates neuromuscular adaptation. Twenty-four male athletes (advanced vs. intermediate level) completed 15 neurofeedback sessions targeting the Frontal Alpha Asymmetry Index (FAAI) using real-time EEG from F3/F4 electrodes. Squat performance was assessed across five relative loads (35–100% 1RM) pre- and post-intervention. Key outcomes included ∆Reps at each intensity, EEG changes (∆FAAI, ∆F3, ∆F4), and a composite neural efficiency index (∆Reps/∆FAAI). Statistical analyses included RM-ANOVA, MANOVA, and ANCOVA with FAAI baseline as a covariate. Neither group showed significant within-group performance improvements across load conditions, and multivariate analysis revealed no significant group effect on EEG change outcomes (Wilks’ Λ = 0.930, p = 0.688). None of the individual EEG change metrics differed significantly between groups (∆FAAI, ∆F3, ∆F4; all p > 0.28). Efficiency indices likewise did not differ significantly by group (all p > 0.32), and FAAI baseline did not predict performance transfer. Despite uniform intervention exposure, cortical EEG changes did not differ significantly between experienced and Intermediate-level athletes, and squat performance remained load invariant in both groups. Because the design did not include a placebo or non-neurofeedback control condition, and given the small sample (n = 12 per group) and the non-significant multivariate effect, these findings should be regarded as preliminary and associative rather than causal. They suggest that alpha-band neurofeedback was not associated with training-status-dependent EEG changes over this protocol, and that cortical changes did not translate into measurable gains in maximal strength output under progressive loading. Further studies using placebo-controlled designs and larger samples should extend training duration and consider multimodal interventions to bridge cortical gains with functional strength improvements in elite sport contexts. Full article

Background/Objectives: Compression therapy serves as first-line conservative management for low-flow vascular malformations and Klippel–Trénaunay syndrome (KTS). However, ready-made garments are frequently ill-fitting for patients with limb overgrowth, asymmetry, deformity, or heterogeneous body habitus. Custom-made compression elastic garments offer an individualized solution, yet systematic data across diverse clinical entities remain scarce. This study evaluated objective and subjective outcomes of custom-made compression garments across vascular anomalies and edematous disorders in a multi-institutional real-world setting. Methods: A retrospective observational case series was conducted between May 2023 and September 2025 at four institutions: a tertiary medical center, a pediatric specialty hospital, a corporate hospital, and a corporate clinic. Patients who received custom-made compression elastic garments for vascular anomalies, edema, varicose veins, post-traumatic or post-burn venous stasis, or postoperative conditions were included. Objective outcome (limb circumference change) and subjective outcome (patient satisfaction) were analyzed. Results: A total of 191 patients who received custom-made garments were described (117 females, 61.3%; 74 males, 38.7%; mean age 36.3 years; median 22 years; range 1–96 years). The age distribution was bimodal, with 91 patients (47.6%) aged 0–19 years and 50 patients (26.2%) aged ≥70 years. The tertiary center and pediatric hospital treated vascular anomaly patients exclusively (n = 102), while the corporate hospital and clinic primarily served adult and elderly edematous disorder patients (n = 88; one additional vascular anomaly case was managed at the corporate hospital). Quantitative paired outcome analysis was feasible in the subgroups with complete paired data: 20 vascular anomaly patients (objective outcome) and 20 edematous disorder patients (subjective outcome). In the vascular anomaly subgroup (n = 20), the affected limb showed a significantly greater circumference reduction at the ankle’s narrowest point (median −2 mm, IQR −4.2 to 0.0) compared with the unaffected contralateral limb (median +0.5 mm, IQR −0.2 to +1.0; Wilcoxon signed-rank test T = 4; p < 0.001; effect size r = 0.83). In the edematous disorder subgroup (n = 20), patient satisfaction scores improved significantly from a median of 3 (IQR 2.0–4.0) to 4 (IQR 3.0–6.0) after garment use (Wilcoxon signed-rank test T = 0; p < 0.001; effect size r = 0.83). Representative cases illustrated pediatric vascular anomaly (Case A, vascular malformation; Case C, KTS) and adult edematous disorder (Case B, chronic lower limb edema) presentations and outcomes. Conclusions: Custom-made compression elastic garments were feasible and well tolerated across a broad real-world spectrum of vascular anomalies and edematous disorders. In the analyzed subgroups, a measurable reduction in affected-limb circumference was observed in pediatric vascular anomaly patients, and patient satisfaction improved in adult and elderly edematous disorder patients. Because each subgroup was evaluated with only one outcome domain and no head-to-head comparison of measures was performed, these findings should be regarded as hypothesis-generating. We propose that outcome measures may need to be tailored to disease background and age, a hypothesis that warrants testing in prospective studies capturing both objective and subjective endpoints across all patient groups. Full article