Search Results (19,574)

General models of talent development have highlighted the importance of a community of practice to nurture talent potential, with recent studies refining factors that contribute to the developmental journey. In music, an early model described three phases of talent development, while current research has focused on transitions between these. Choral music research has investigated conductors’ expertise and choristers’ experiences, highlighting positive social impacts for children in addition to the development of choral skills. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate talent development of 11 elite middle school choristers utilising interviews. Thematic analyses identified four themes and 10 sub-themes, demonstrating that choristers followed a developmental pathway similar to choral conductors, acquiring vocal competence and mastery, nurturing a sense of belonging to a choral community, participating in meaningful experiences, and becoming advanced choristers through intensive training. Chorister talent development was also linked to personality development, with transformation in choral identity leading to growth in personal confidence. This study extends research into choral talent development by documenting the voices of middle school children participating in an advanced choir, showing that high levels of performance can be achieved through expert choral coaching and without sacrificing the enjoyment of singing. Full article

The growing participation of elderly individuals in cruise tourism introduces asymmetry in passenger mobility and perception, posing challenges for onboard emergency evacuation. To address this, an interactive cellular automata model that enables dynamic human–signage interaction, incorporating age-dependent variations in walking speed and visual field. The model simulates passenger behavior during evacuation by integrating a static potential field, signage attraction, and directional guidance mechanisms. A bi-objective optimization framework is proposed to determine the optimal signage layout for symmetrical cruise ship theaters, balancing evacuation effectiveness across age groups with design constraints such as economic considerations. The optimization uses a genetic algorithm through simulation experiments under varying age compositions and smoke concentration levels. Results indicate that age-sensitive and interactive signage design substantially enhances evacuation efficiency, particularly for elderly passengers and under limited visibility conditions. This study offers practical insights into signage layout strategies for enhancing shipboard evacuation safety in diverse demographic and environmentally complex scenarios. Full article

Although prior research has examined how facial covering affects observers’ cognition and attitude, the psychological experiences of individuals with facial coverings themselves and their subsequent behavioral consequences still need to be more explored. From the embodied cognition perspective, we propose facial covering as a direct external stimulus, triggering a psychological gap between the current level of self-expression needs and the diminished self-expression pathways. Using face masks as a specific form of facial covering, five experiments were conducted in China. The results reveal that under facial covering, the surfaced need for self-expression can be transformed into the consumer preference for conspicuousness; and the self-construal type moderates this effect, with independent self-construals exhibiting a stronger covering-induced need for self-expression and subsequent conspicuous preferences compared to interdependent self-construals. The research makes a contribution by enriching the new perspective on the theoretical impact of facial covering. Practically, this research can also provide actionable insights for enterprises in the realms of marketing strategy design and behavior interventions. Full article

Background/Objectives: Pediatric acquired brain injury (ABI) often results in persistent challenges that extend beyond motor impairments, affecting quality of life (QoL), social participation, and engagement in physical activity. Given the complexity and chronicity of these outcomes, there is a pressing need for multidimensional interventions grounded in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Sport-based exercise interventions, when developmentally adapted and tailored to individual interests, may promote intrinsic motivation, peer connection, and sustainable engagement—factors especially relevant in pediatric ABI populations, who often experience reduced physical activity and social isolation. However, standardized, replicable protocols specifically tailored to this population remain scarce. This study presents the protocol for a randomized controlled trial evaluating the effects of a 16-week sport-based intervention on QoL, social participation, physical activity engagement, and motor functioning tailored for adolescents with pediatric ABI. Methods: Participants will be randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group receiving usual care. The intervention consists of one weekly 60-minute session, led by trained professionals in adapted physical activity and pediatric neurorehabilitation. It combines sport-based motor skill training, cooperative games, and group activities specifically tailored to each child’s developmental level, motor abilities, and preferences. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline and following the 16-week intervention period, focusing on QoL, participation, physical activity engagement, and motor functioning. Discussion: This study introduces a structured, child-centered model that bridges clinical rehabilitation and community-based sport. By integrating motor and psychosocial targets through a group sport-based intervention, it aims to enhance recovery across ICF domains. Findings may inform interdisciplinary practice and support the development of sustainable strategies to promote long-term engagement and well-being in adolescents with ABI. Full article

This study proposes an intelligent method for identifying wiring errors in three-phase three-wire electricity meters using a gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) under complex load conditions, including light load and overcompensation. The work addresses a gap where intelligent fault-detection techniques have rarely been applied to three-phase three-wire wiring errors specifically under these conditions, and contributes a mechanism-informed data generation strategy tied to phase-angle behavior that can cause misidentification. Data generation and model training/evaluation were implemented in Python using LightGBM. The experiments demonstrated faster convergence (a 92.4% reduction in loss by the 50th round) and sub-2-s training time for 300 rounds, with >80% overall accuracy and 100% accuracy in specific normal-wiring scenarios relevant to misidentification risk. Feature-importance analysis identified total reactive power as the most informative input (19.8%) and confirmed the consistency between mechanism and model behavior. These results suggest a practical path to automated and accurate wiring-error detection in modern power systems with significant load variability. Full article

Natural resource assets inherently integrate tripartite synthesis of legal, economic, and ecological attributes. They serve dual critical functions as foundational elements supporting the evolution of new-quality productive forces and pivotal mechanisms safeguarding ecosystemic integrity. It has become a global consensus and direction of action to advance comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets and practice the concept of “Community of Life for Human and Nature”. Under the background of the super-ministry system restructuring in China, comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets remains challenged by system fragmentation in supervision objectives and multifaceted interest conflicts among stakeholders. In light of this, this research focuses on the theoretical justification and system optimization of the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets in China. Using comparative analysis and normative analysis methods, we validate the system’s function on the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets, summarize foreign experiences, and ultimately aim to explore the optimization pathway of the legal system for the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets. The results show the following: (1) The choice of the legal system for the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets emerges as the functional product aligning societal objectives, the rational paradigm for achieving efficient resource allocation, and the adaptive response to the external effects of common property. (2) The system supply of comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets in foreign countries is characterized by normative convergence in conceptual elements and typological categorization in objectives and objects. Therefore, this research recommends that, in order to optimize the system of the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets in China, (1) in terms of protection of source, natural resource assets should be categorized, with operational natural resource assets focusing on management and public welfare natural resource assets focusing on conservation. (2) In terms of valuation, the economic valuation of natural resource assets should be integrated with ecosystem service assessments to enhance fair market equity. (3) In terms of method, the big data center should be established to enable the synergistic integration of technological innovation and system reforms. (4) In terms of subject, requiring the participation of various government departments, non-governmental organizations, the general public, and other parties could realize the connection of different legal bases for the comprehensive supervision of natural resource assets and the balance of multiple rights and interests, which should help to achieve balanced resource efficiency and biodiversity conservation and safeguard national ecological security. Full article

Introduction: Recent guidelines developed by the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) and the European Federation of the Associations of Dietitians (EFAD) focused on the dietetic management of obesity in adults. The present study aimed to explore the perspectives of healthcare professionals regarding these guidelines. Methods: In total, 85 registered dietitians/nutritionists from Greece, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom completed an online survey, and 10 were interviewed, in February–March 2023. Demographic data were also collected. Results: Awareness of the EASO-EFAD guidelines among registered dietitians/nutritionists was moderate (57.6%), but only 20% had read them in full. Dietitians with higher education and relevant experience were more likely to have read the guidelines. Less than half reported that key evidence-based recommendations, such as individualized medical nutrition therapy and intensive behavioral interventions, are already included in national guidance. Recommendations like portfolio or DASH diets, partial meal replacements, and calorie restriction were less commonly part of national guidance/usual practice. A small percentage of participants described their adoption of several nutritional approaches novel to them. These included the portfolio dietary pattern, partial meal replacements, and intermittent fasting or continuous calorie restriction. For some Irish dietitians, prioritizing weight as the main outcome conflicted with their emphasis on overall health and individualized nutrition therapy. Other barriers of recommendation implementation included exclusive availability in English, rapid changes in obesity management, staffing shortages, limited multidisciplinary collaboration, and inconsistent knowledge among healthcare providers. Conclusions: The present study identified gaps in the adoption of the EASO-EFAD guidelines into dietetic/clinical practice. EFAD will develop strategies to disseminate these guidelines at different levels of stakeholders (national/local authorities, dietitians/nutritionists, and patients). Full article

To improve the separation efficiency of chili seeds, heat treatment on the adhesion between the seeds, peel, and embryo seat was studied. This study was conducted to explore the separation effect of heat treatment on chili seeds based on different temperature conditions. Firstly, the physical properties and thermal properties parameters of the materials (chili seed, peel, and embryo seats) were measured. These physical data were imported into ANSYS 2022 software to carry out a thermal steady-state simulation experiment. And the effects on seed activity were studied with different temperature conditions. The results indicated that it can effectively reduce the adhesion force between seeds, fruit peels, and embryo seats at 120 °C for 60 s. The maximum thermal stresses of the chili peel, seed, and embryo seat were 3.687 MPa, 0.878 MPa, and 0.662 MPa, respectively. At the same time, the germination rate of seeds under this treatment condition remained above 80%, ensuring the high activity of the seeds. This study provided a theoretical basis for the separation technology of chili seeds, and it was expected to bring practical guidance for the efficient utilization and extraction of chili seeds. Full article

Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) is a Gram-negative bacterium responsible for severe diseases in several commercially significant crops, including olive, grapevine, citrus and almond. Its management is particularly challenging due to its transmission via widespread vector insects, its ability to form biofilms, its high genetic diversity and, sometimes, latent symptoms. Current control strategies focus on integrated and preventive approaches, including the use of resistant varieties, agronomic practices, and vector control through chemical and biological methods. Direct control of the bacterium has always been a complex challenge that includes strategies to limit vector presence and activity in the field; however, several compounds have recently been evaluated that are able to inhibit biofilm formation and Xf growth. This review provides an up-to-date summary of studies investigating the efficacy of various treatments based on organic compounds, synthetic molecules and salt- or metal-based formulations. By evaluating the results of in vitro and in vivo experiments, the most promising solutions were identified that address the main challenges and limitations of chemical control strategies. These include N-acetylcysteine and zinc- and copper-based formulations, which are effective and potentially transferable to the field for crops such as citrus and olive trees. Antimicrobial peptides and nanoparticles, on the other hand, have demonstrated high efficacy in vitro, although further studies directly in the field are required. The evidence emerging from the analyzed studies offer insights to guide future research towards more effective and sustainable management approaches to mitigate the spread and impact of Xf. Full article

Efficient modeling of acoustic scattering from water-filled thin shells remains challenging due to prohibitive computational costs of rigorous methods and oversimplifications in ray-based approximations. This paper develops an iterative physical acoustics (IPA) method, presenting simple and explicit formulations for scattering by penetrable objects immersed in fluids. The method combines Kirchhoff integral frameworks with thin-plate effective boundary conditions, discretizes mid-surfaces into triangular facets, and iteratively converges pressure fields to characterize the mechanisms of multiple reflections and transmissions. Validated against analytical solutions, numerical simulations, and scaled experiments, IPA provides comprehensive field predictions encompassing internal cavity fields, external near-fields, and far-field scattering patterns within a unified framework. It achieves significant computational efficiency gains while maintaining engineering practicality, successfully reproducing distant-range highlights from these mechanisms in time-domain spectra. Limitations are observed at low frequencies and high-curvature regions where elastic-wave effects become significant. The IPA framework enables engineering-efficient scattering analysis for complex thin-shell structures. Full article

Tissue engineering has the potential to overcome the limitations of using autografts in nerve gap repair, using cellular biomaterials to bridge the gap and support neuronal regeneration. Various types of therapeutic cells could be considered for use in aligned collagen-based engineered neural tissue (EngNT), including Schwann cells and their precursors, which can be derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). Using Schwann cell precursors may have practical advantages over mature Schwann cells as they expand readily in vitro and involve a shorter differentiation period. However, the performance of each cell type needs to be tested in EngNT. By adapting established protocols, hiPSCs were differentiated into Schwann cell precursors and Schwann cells, with distinctive molecular profiles confirmed using immunocytochemistry and RT-qPCR. For the first time, both cell types were incorporated into EngNT using gel aspiration–ejection, a technique used to align and simultaneously stabilise the cellular hydrogels. Both types of cellular constructs supported and guided aligned neurite outgrowth from adult rat dorsal root ganglion neurons in vitro. Initial experiments in a rat model of nerve gap injury demonstrated the extent to which the engrafted cells survived after 2 weeks and indicated that both types of hiPSC-derived cells supported the infiltration of host neurons, Schwann cells and endothelial cells. In summary, we show that human Schwann cell precursors promote infiltrating endogenous axons in a model of peripheral nerve injury to a greater degree than their terminally differentiated Schwann cell counterparts. Full article

People’s perceptions of architectural spaces are shaped by multiple senses, including vision and hearing. While vision has received extensive attention, hearing is often overlooked in architectural design, with a primary focus on sound insulation and noise reduction rather than on using acoustics to enhance spatial experience. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of acoustic environments on two key spatial perceptions: Spaciousness and transparency. Two laboratory experiments were conducted with 60 participants. Thirty subjects evaluated 96 audiovisual stimuli for perceived spaciousness, and another 30 subjects assessed 128 audiovisual stimuli for perceived transparency. The results indicate that sound type significantly affects perceived spaciousness, while sound type and sound pressure level (SPL) significantly influence perceived transparency. Reverberation time (RT, T60) had no effect on either spatial perception. Interaction analysis further revealed that sound type affects transparency across different space sizes and window proportions, while SPL only influences small spaces and standard window proportions, with transparency decreasing as SPL increases. Mediation analysis showed that the effects of sound type on both spaciousness and transparency are partially mediated by subjective spatial perceptions, such as building environment preference and alignment with the outdoor environment. These findings emphasize the importance of integrating acoustic considerations into architectural design, which can enhance spatial experiences and provide valuable insights for future design practices. Full article

This study evaluated the effects of winter green manure incorporation on grain yield, nitrogen uptake, and use efficiency in ratoon rice production. A two-year field experiment (2019–2021) was conducted using a split-plot design, with main plots comprising three cropping systems: fallow–ratoon rice (FA), rapeseed–ratoon rice (RA), and milk vetch–ratoon rice (MV). In the RA and MV systems, green manures were incorporated in situ, while subplots featured two ratoon rice varieties (Yliangyou 911, YLY911; Liangyou 6326, LY6326). Compared to FA treatment, RA and MV treatments significantly increased main crop yields by 16.37% and 9.31%, respectively, with corresponding annual total yield improvements of 11.34% and 7.78%. Under RA treatment, LY6326 achieved significantly higher yields than YLY911. Biomass accumulation analysis revealed that RA and MV treatments enhanced plant dry matter by 24.40% and 5.63% at heading stage, and 9.83% and 7.47% at maturity, respectively, relative to FA treatment. Green manure incorporation improved plant nitrogen content at maturity (9.42% and 10.29% for RA and MV, respectively) and panicle nitrogen accumulation (11.73% and 38.26%, respectively) compared to fallow treatment. Nitrogen use efficiency metrics demonstrated that RA and MV treatments enhanced nitrogen harvest index by 1.54% and 5.65%, respectively, while nitrogen partial factor productivity increased by 11.34% and 7.78%. Varietal comparison confirmed that LY6326 exhibited superior nitrogen accumulation and utilization compared to YLY911. These findings demonstrate that winter green manure incorporation significantly enhances grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency in ratoon rice systems, providing a scientific foundation for developing sustainable and productive rice cropping practices. Full article

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, multi-party collaboration based on data sharing has become an inevitable trend. However, in practical applications, shared data often originate from multiple providers. Therefore, achieving secure and efficient data sharing while protecting the rights and interests of each data provider is a key challenge currently faced. Existing access control methods have the following shortcomings in multi-owner data scenarios. Most methods rely on centralized management, which makes it difficult to solve conflicts caused by inconsistent permission policies among multiple owners. There are problems such as poor consistency of permission management, low security, and lack of protection for the autonomous will of each owner. To this end, our paper proposes a fine-grained decentralized autonomous access control scheme based on blockchain, which includes three core stages: formulation, deployment, and execution of access control policies. In the access control policy formulation stage, the scheme constructs a multi-owner data policy matrix and introduces a benefit function based on a Stackelberg game to balance conflicting attributes to form a unified access policy. Secondly, in the access control policy deployment stage based on smart contracts, all data owners vote on the access control policy by calculating their own benefits to achieve a consensus on joint decision-making on the policy. Finally, in the policy execution and joint authorization phase, a decentralized authorization method based on threshold passwords is used to distribute access keys to each owner, ensuring that data is only granted after receiving authorization from a sufficient number of owners, thereby ensuring the ultimate control of each owner and the fine-grained access control. Finally, we verified the feasibility of the solution through case analysis and experiments. Full article

Efficient production scheduling is a key challenge in industrial operations and continues to attract significant interest within the field of operations research. This paper investigates a range of methodological approaches designed to solve the permutation flow shop scheduling problem (PFSP) with sequence-dependent setup times (SDST). The main objective is to minimize the total weighted flow time (TWFT) while ensuring a no-wait production environment. The proposed solution strategy is based on using algorithms with a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation, heuristics, and their combination. The heuristics utilized in this paper include an advanced greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP) based on a priority rule and Hybrid-GRASP-NEH (HGRASP), where Nawaz-Enscore-Ham (NEH) takes place to initiate solutions, based on iterative global and local search methods to refine exploration capabilities and improve solution quality. These approaches were validated using a comprehensive set of experiments across diverse instance sizes that proved the efficiency of HGRASP, with the results showing a high-performance level that closely matched that of the exact MILP approach. Statistical analysis via the Friedman test (χ² = 46.75, p = 7.04 × 10⁻¹¹) confirmed significant performance differences among MILP, GRASP, and HGRASP. While MILP guarantees theoretical optimality, its practical effectiveness was limited by imposed computational time constraints, and HGRASP consistently achieved near-optimal solutions with superior computational efficiency, as demonstrated across diverse instance sizes. Full article