Search Results (20,848)

Teachers’ socio-emotional competencies are increasingly recognized as essential for professional well-being, adaptive teaching, and effective participation in digitally transforming educational systems. However, valid and culturally appropriate instruments for assessing these competencies among teachers remain limited, particularly in multilingual and underrepresented educational contexts. This study aimed to adapt the Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI) for teachers in Kazakhstan and to examine its preliminary psychometric properties and socio-emotional competency profiles. The instrument was translated and culturally adapted into Kazakh and Russian using a TRAPD-based (Translation, Review, Adjudication, Pretesting, and Documentation) procedure involving translation, review, adjudication, pretesting, and documentation. Data were collected from 1458 school teachers across Kazakhstan representing different subject areas and language groups. After data-quality screening, the final analytic sample included 918 valid observations. Reliability analyses demonstrated excellent total-scale internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.92; McDonald’s ω = 0.94), while domain-level reliability ranged from moderate to acceptable (α = 0.60–0.76; ω = 0.73–0.81). Exploratory factor analysis suggested an empirical eight-factor structure rather than a direct replication of the original BESSI framework, indicating that socio-emotional competencies may be organized differently in teacher populations. Model-based clustering identified four exploratory teacher profiles reflecting different configurations of self-management, emotional regulation, interpersonal, and innovation-related competencies. The profiles differed not only in overall competency levels but also in specific patterns of strengths and developmental needs. The findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the use of the adapted BESSI as a promising research and diagnostic instrument for assessing teachers’ socio-emotional competencies in Kazakhstan. At the same time, the results indicate the need for further confirmatory validation, measurement invariance testing, and external validity evidence before broader application. Full article

Respiratory-gated PET/CT generates phase-resolved biomedical imaging data, but respiratory motion can cause spatial mismatch and lesion-level quantitative instability, especially for small thoracoabdominal lesions. This study proposes SCAR-Net, a Similarity-Constrained Adaptive Respiratory Registration Network, for retrospective phase-to-reference correction of respiratory-gated ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT. SCAR-Net treats motion correction as a quantitative stability problem in phase-resolved PET/CT rather than only a generic registration task. It combines sampled group-aware feature encoding with adaptive group-attentive modulation to represent structured respiratory deformation and enhance motion-sensitive correspondence. The method was evaluated using controlled respiratory simulations and a retrospective two-center clinical cohort of 100 patients, jointly assessing lesion-level SUV repeatability, spatial correspondence, image similarity, deformation plausibility, center-stratified performance with B-spline FFD as a conventional reference, cross-dataset testing without target-domain fine-tuning, ablation behavior, and computational efficiency. In the independent clinical test set, lesion-level evaluation included 20 patients, 43 independent PET-avid lesions, and 245 evaluable lesion-phase pairs. In small-lesion phase pairs, SCAR-Net reduced median phase-to-reference variability to 6.45% for |ΔSUV_max| and 4.73% for |ΔSUV_mean|, and increased median lesion Dice from 0.55 to 0.72. In large-lesion phase pairs, SCAR-Net achieved a post-correction Dice of 0.89 and remained competitive for SUV repeatability. Descriptive center-stratified analysis showed a consistent lesion-level performance pattern across the two clinical acquisition settings. These findings suggest that SCAR-Net can improve phase consistency and quantitative stability in respiratory-gated PET/CT, with the clearest benefit observed in small-lesion assessment. Downstream clinical endpoints, such as diagnostic accuracy, tumor staging, PERCIST-based response assessment, and patient outcomes, were not evaluated and require future prospective validation. Full article

The widespread application of drones in complex environments imposes higher demands on flight safety. However, traditional anomaly detection methods often rely on mathematical models or large amounts of labeled samples, which makes them ill suited to address practical challenges such as unmanned aerial vehicle systems, which exhibit strong nonlinear characteristics, a scarcity of fault samples, and highly variable operating conditions. To overcome the above difficulties, this work puts forward a one-dimensional selective kernel convolutional autoencoder (1-D SKCAE) based on Bayesian optimization for unsupervised drone anomaly detection. Relying solely on normal operation data, this model achieves accurate anomaly identification by leveraging the sudden changes in reconstruction error. For the model architecture, this paper designs a multi-scale selective kernel convolution module and combines an attention mechanism to achieve adaptive feature weighting for various receptive fields. This method effectively improves the model’s ability to represent complex operational conditions and subtle fault characteristics. Simultaneously, Bayesian optimization is embedded into the model training process as a hyperparameter search strategy, enabling the adaptive configuration of key hyperparameters to further enhance detection performance. Extensive experiments were conducted using the RflyMAD simulation dataset and the 3DR Solo real flight dataset. The results demonstrate that the 1-D SKCAE outperforms multiple comparative models, exhibiting superior robustness particularly in complex scenarios such as mixed multi-fault superposition. This method enables drone anomaly detection without fault labels, showcasing strong potential for engineering applications. Full article

The ongoing development of subtractive options for indirect restorations places clinicians in a position that requires adaptation, understanding and choosing of the most suitable option for the long-term survival of the restoration. Mechanical parameters represent important indicators of long-term success. Consequently, this research aimed to assess the impact of water sorption on the mechanical properties of two direct resin composites, Gradia Direct Anterior A2 and Filtek Z550 A2 and three CAD/CAM subtractively manufactured dental resin composites, Vita Enamic, Brilliant and Cerasmart. A total of one hundred specimens (50 control, 50 underwent this protocol: dehydration, immersion in distilled water for 30 days and then re-desiccation), standardized to the dimensions of 14 mm × 4 mm × 1.2 mm were subjected to three-point bending test (based on ISO 4049:2019 and ISO 6872:2015), in order to find out the flexural strength and the elastic modulus of the material at the breaking point. Then, the fractured sample surfaces were fractographical analyzed. Using the two-parameter Weibull approach, the Weibull modulus (m) and the characteristic strength (σ₀) were evaluated. In this investigation, the elastic modulus varied from 5.8 (Gradia Control) to 20.31 (Vita Degraded) GPa, with the upper limit close to the values of natural dentin (17.7–29.8 GPa). The values of flexural strength ranged from 174.47 (Brilliant Control) to 79.2 (Gradia Control), subtractively processed materials demonstrating higher flexural strength and elastic modulus values than the direct resin composites, which is related to their high inorganic filler content. All material groups, except for Gradia Control, had a flexural strength more than the 80 MPa minimum value needed to sustain masticatory force. The dehydration and hydration cycles did not have a statistically significant influence on the mechanical properties of the material. The fractographic analysis revealed fracture patterns and features associated with the microstructure, with the PICN category material being particularly notable. Weibull analysis revealed that the direct resin composite materials exhibited higher reliability, lower data scatter and CAD-CAM materials showed greater characteristic strength, with a notably high performance of the nano-hybrid direct resin composite. Full article

Selecting an appropriate statistical model to describe lifetime data with heterogeneous characteristics poses a considerable challenge due to the diverse distributional features exhibited by real-world datasets. One effective way to address this challenge is to develop flexible families of distributions capable of generating numerous member distributions. In this paper, the Transformed–Transformer framework is employed to introduce a new and more flexible class of continuous distributions, referred to as the Canonical Type II Unitary Weibull–H family. To illustrate the flexibility of the proposed family, four representative sub-models are derived. Among them, the Canonical Type II Unitary Weibull–Chen distribution is selected for a comprehensive theoretical and empirical investigation. The general properties of the proposed Canonical Type II Unitary Weibull–H family are established, while a detailed study of the Canonical Type II Unitary Weibull–Chen distribution is provided, including mixture representations, the quantile function, moments, probability-weighted moments, Rényi entropy, and order statistics. Moreover, five classical estimation methods, namely maximum likelihood, least squares, weighted least squares, maximum product spacing, and Cramér–von Mises estimation, are employed to estimate the model parameters. In addition, an extensive Monte Carlo simulation study is conducted to evaluate and compare the finite-sample performance of the different estimators. Finally, the practical usefulness of the proposed distribution is illustrated through the analysis of four real-world datasets representing waiting time, biomedical, survival, and reliability applications. Comparisons based on several goodness-of-fit criteria demonstrate that the Canonical Type II Unitary Weibull–Chen distribution provides a competitive and, in many cases, superior fit relative to several well-established competing models. Full article

Education is a well-established determinant of health and well-being, yet its benefits may not be equally distributed across populations. This study examines whether educational attainment predicts psychological well-being, financial difficulty, and social support among deaf adults and whether these associations differ from those observed among hearing adults. Using nationally representative data from the U.S. Household Pulse Survey, we analyzed a weighted sample of adults aged 25–54 (N = 36,810), employing multivariate linear regression models that included education, hearing status, their interaction, and demographic covariates. Higher education was generally associated with more favorable outcomes among deaf adults, particularly in psychological well-being and social and emotional support, though effects were modest and less consistent for financial difficulty. Hearing adults reported significantly better outcomes across all domains, and interaction effects indicated that the benefits of education were significantly larger for hearing adults than for deaf adults. These findings suggest that while education remains beneficial for deaf people, its protective effects are limited, likely due to persistent structural and communication barriers. Given the importance of education, improving access alone will not eliminate disparities in well-being without concurrent efforts to address structural and social inequities. Full article

Solidago canadensis L. is a regulated invasive alien species in China and was first recorded in the wild in Jiangsu Province. Despite widespread concern regarding its distribution and ecological associations, province-wide information on its current invasion status and associated plant community patterns in Jiangsu remains limited. To fill this gap, we conducted field surveys at 165 sites across Jiangsu Province and combined hierarchical clustering, plant-community diversity analysis, species-level analysis of accompanying-plant composition, redundancy analysis, and MaxEnt modeling to evaluate invasion-intensity patterns, associated environmental and anthropogenic factors, and plant-community responses in invaded communities. Solidago canadensis was recorded throughout the province, but invasion intensity was highest in southern Jiangsu. Hierarchical clustering classified the 165 sampling sites into three invasion-intensity groups. Group A (74 sites), concentrated in southern Jiangsu, was classified as the severe invasion group and showed generally lower plant diversity within the invaded-site dataset. Group B (60 sites) represented moderate invasion. Group C (31 sites), mainly distributed in northern and coastal Jiangsu, represented light invasion and retained relatively higher accompanying-plant diversity. Within S. canadensis-invaded communities, we documented 183 accompanying plant species from 43 families. Asteraceae and Poaceae were the most species-rich families, and annual or biennial herbs were the dominant life-form category. Species-level analysis further showed that accompanying-plant composition varied significantly along the invasion-intensity gradient (PERMANOVA, R² = 0.035), suggesting that differences in S. canadensis dominance were associated with detectable shifts in local plant assemblages. Redundancy analysis indicated latitude, transportation route density, and floating population density were closely associated with variation in S. canadensis invasion indicators and associated community variables, with soil pH, precipitation of the driest month, GDP, and motor vehicle ownership also contributing to the observed pattern. MaxEnt modeling identified southern and central Jiangsu as the main climatically suitable areas. This pattern was broadly consistent with the concentration of higher invasion intensity in southern Jiangsu. Nevertheless, field records in northern Jiangsu suggest that areas with lower predicted climatic suitability should also remain under continued monitoring. These findings suggest the need for coordinated management, particularly along major transportation corridors and in highly disturbed urban habitats. Control efforts should combine zoning management, source control, repeated removal, and habitat restoration tailored to local conditions. Full article

Introduction: Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are characterized by high levels of additives such as sugars, fats, and preservatives and, due to their composition, represent a major public health concern, being associated with several adverse effects, including impacts on the immune system. People living with HIV (PLHIV) present immune dysfunctions resulting from viral infection and may therefore be particularly vulnerable to the effects of UPF consumption. In this context, investigating this association is necessary to support healthcare strategies and improve assistance for PLHIV. Objective: To investigate the relationship between UPF consumption and the lymphocyte profile of PLHIV. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. PLHIV receiving outpatient follow-up care for at least six months participated in the study and were categorized according to UPF consumption (≤2 times/week; >2 times/week). Sociodemographic data, UPF consumption assessed through a food frequency questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, and blood samples were collected. Association, comparison, and correlation tests were performed, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. After adjustment, lymphocyte percentage remained independently associated with UPF consumption. Results: A total of 92 PLHIV participated in the study, with a mean age of 43.0 ± 12.0 years. PLHIV with higher UPF consumption presented lower counts of CD3+ lymphocytes (p = 0.03), CD45+ lymphocytes (p = 0.01), and total lymphocytes (p = 0.03) compared to those with lower UPF consumption. UPF consumption was negatively correlated with CD3+ (r = −0.21; p = 0.04), CD4+ (r = −0.20; p = 0.05), CD45+ (r = −0.23; p = 0.02), and total lymphocyte counts (r = −0.25; p = 0.01). No associations were found between sociodemographic or clinical variables and UPF consumption among PLHIV (p > 0.05). Conclusions: High UPF consumption was associated with lower lymphocyte counts in PLHIV, suggesting a potential association between dietary patterns and immune status. Therefore, the implementation of public health policies and nutritional follow-up is necessary to reduce UPF consumption and promote healthy eating among PLHIV. Full article

Background: Divorce and separation represent major life transitions involving substantial changes in family organization, interpersonal relationships, and individual functioning. Despite the end of the romantic relationship, parents often remain connected through ongoing coparenting responsibilities, making post-separation adjustment a continuing relational process. The aim of the study was to examine the associations between coparenting dimensions, psychological distress, and life satisfaction among Romanian parents who were divorced, separated, or in the process of separation. Methods: A convenience sample of 206 divorced or separated parents (83.5% women; Mage = 43.39) completed a self-report questionnaire collecting sociodemographic data and identifying scores for coparenting quality of relationship (Coparenting Relationship Scale), psychological distress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale—DASS-21), and life satisfaction (Satisfaction with Life Scale—SWLS). Results showed that positive coparenting dimensions were positively associated with life satisfaction, whereas conflictual dimensions and psychological distress were negatively associated with well-being indicators. Psychological distress was strongly negatively associated with life satisfaction. In the regression model, only higher coparenting closeness and lower psychological distress emerged as significant predictors of greater life satisfaction. Conclusions: These findings indicate that, when considered simultaneously, the emotional quality of coparenting—particularly closeness—and individual psychological distress are the most relevant predictors of life satisfaction in post-separation parents. The findings suggest that interventions aiming to strengthen coparenting relationships and address psychological distress may be associated with improved well-being among separated or divorced parents. However, these implications should be interpreted considering the cross-sectional design. Full article

After more than a century, factor analysis remains one of the most popular tools in applied statistics. Exploratory factor analysis tends to be driven by iterated principal axis factorization. Confirmatory factor analysis tends to rely on maximum likelihood estimation. This paper demonstrates the computational superiority of the Gauss–Newton method in minimizing the principal axis loss. On sample problems, Gauss–Newton is more than three orders of magnitude faster than popular implementations of maximum likelihood factor analysis. As part of this comparison, we derive an alternative Gauss–Newton method that leverages the MM principle of optimization. We also explore a simple perturbation correction that dramatically improves the accuracy of the factor loading matrices derived from approximate spectral decompositions. Finally, we suggest a robust version of iterated principal axis factorization that leverages the MM principle, block descent, and the Gauss–Newton method. These innovations are implemented in Julia code and applied to a sequence of representative problems. Full article

Woodpeckers (Picidae) are exposed to repeated mechanical loading and particulate material during climbing, drilling, pecking, and foraging on tree trunks, but the microscopic organization of their eyelids and nictitating membrane remains poorly known. This study asked whether European woodpeckers share a common histological pattern of ocular adnexa and whether selected structural features may be interpreted in the context of ocular surface protection. The upper eyelid, lower eyelid, and nictitating membrane were examined in 40 birds representing six European woodpecker species using routine histological and histochemical methods. In all of these species, the eyelids showed a layered organization with a keratinized anterior palpebral surface, non-keratinized conjunctival surface with goblet cells, marginal zone, musculofibrous stroma, and no tarsal glands. Species-related differences were observed in the examined material in epithelial thickness, skin fold development, melanin pigment distribution, and marginal zone organization. The lower eyelid contained a compact fibrous tarsal plate and CALT represented by lymphoid nodules and diffuse lymphocytes, with morphologically identified HEV-like venules located within or close to lymphoid tissue. The nictitating membrane showed regional variation in the marginal plait, leading edge, epithelial surfaces, stromal pigmentation, and fold organization. These findings provide the first comparative histological baseline for the eyelids and the nictitating membrane of European Picidae and support the cautious interpretation that these structures may contribute to mechanical, mucosal, and immune protection of the ocular surface in woodpeckers. Because sample sizes were unequal, these interspecific observations should be treated as descriptive, sample-level findings rather than definitive species-level traits. Full article

Leprosy presents a broad clinical–immunological spectrum, whose heterogeneity challenges early diagnosis and disease stratification. Metabolomic approaches have emerged as promising tools for identifying potential biomarkers associated with the disease’s pathophysiology. This study aimed to investigate metabolic profiles associated with the different clinical forms of leprosy using untargeted metabolomics in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted with 55 patients classified according to the Ridley–Jopling spectrum. Metabolites were extracted from FFPE skin biopsies and analyzed by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS). From 908 metabolites initially detected, 27 were retained after frequency filtering. Six metabolites ultimately met the criteria of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA, p < 0.05) and fold-change (FC ≥ 2.0) for differential expression, while N-stearoyl tryptophan was identified as an additional candidate metabolite based on its contribution to multivariate group discrimination. These included 11-hydroperoxy-H4-neuroprostane, which showed a specific association with bacterial load, and the Gly-Pro-Lys tripeptide, which correlated with markers of infection progression. Metabolomics applied to FFPE samples proved feasible for discriminating the clinical spectrum of leprosy and annotating signatures associated with immune response. This approach represents an innovative strategy for exploratory biomarker discovery using archived histopathological samples in translational research. Full article

Rapid and accurate identification of Candida species is critical for guiding antifungal therapy, especially with the emergence of intrinsically resistant pathogens. However, diagnostics using culture-based methods remain slow and labor-intensive, limiting timely treatment decisions. This systematic review evaluated the diagnostic performance and clinical applicability of nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) for Candida species identification using a PubMed search completed on 23 June 2025. A total of 888 records were screened, 333 full-text articles were assessed, and 158 studies were included based on criteria including comparison with standard diagnostic methods, diagnostic performance reporting, and involvement of clinical samples. PCR-based approaches were the most widely used, including conventional, nested, multiplex, real-time, and droplet digital PCR. Isothermal methods such as loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) were increasingly represented. Common molecular targets included the ITS and 18S/28S rDNA regions. The risk of bias assessment was completed with the QUADAS-2 tool. Diagnostic performance varied depending on assay design, specimen type, gene target, and reference method. Excellent specificity and low limits of detection were achieved, especially with isothermal platforms offering the shortest turnaround times and greatest potential for point-of-care implementation. Multiplex assays were particularly advantageous for detecting mixed-species samples, while highly specific assays were optimal for distinguishing clinically important species such as Candidozyma auris, Nakaseomyces glabratus, and Pichia kudriavzevii. Overall, NAATs represent a promising diagnostic tool for Candida species identification, but broader clinical adoption will require improved standardization, validation across diverse patient populations, and clearer interpretation of fungal burden in the context of colonization versus infection. Full article

Although advanced machine-learning and deep-learning models have greatly expanded the toolbox for time-series prediction, their performance usually depends on sufficient training data. In engineering monitoring, however, only sparse observations are often available because of limitations in instrumentation, power supply, communication, maintenance and project duration. Under such conditions, traditional curve extrapolation methods remain attractive due to their simplicity and interpretability, but a single deterministic curve is often insufficient to describe both the global nonlinear evolution and local stochastic fluctuations of displacement time series. To address this problem, this study proposes a nonlinear-trend regression Kriging framework for sparse nonstationary time-series prediction, with landslide displacement monitoring used as a representative engineering application. In the proposed framework, several nonlinear trend functions, including logarithmic, hyperbolic, exponential, Verhulst-type and improved Verhulst-type functions, are first used to model the deterministic deformation trend. The residual sequence between the observed displacement and the fitted trend is then extracted and transformed using the Box-Cox transformation to improve its distributional and variance characteristics. Kriging interpolation is subsequently performed on the transformed residuals, and the final prediction is obtained by combining the nonlinear trend prediction with the inverse-transformed residual estimate. The framework is evaluated using cumulative displacement data from three landslide monitoring points under three sparse-sample schemes. The results show that the proposed nonlinear-trend RK models achieve statistically significant improvements over corresponding standalone curve extrapolation methods and polynomial-trend RK models, while showing competitive but not statistically superior performance compared with the best classical benchmark models. These results demonstrate the potential of the proposed framework for sparse engineering monitoring data. Full article

Colombia ranks third among South American countries in terms of fungal diversity (including lichens); however, the lichen diversity of tropical dry forest ecosystems, particularly those in the Caribbean region, remains relatively understudied. The typical lichens found in tropical dry forest are crustose/corticolous microlichens (adapted to the xerophytic environments), which produce certain secondary metabolites that act as protective agents against ultraviolet radiation/decomposition/depredators; nonetheless, secondary metabolites of most of these lichens have not yet been described. This study focused on the compositional analysis and the extrolite content of seven lichens: Cryptothecia sp., Cryptothecia scripta, Graphis dendrogramma, Leucodecton occultum, Helminthocarpon leprevostii, Pyrenula ochraceoflava, and Allographa seminuda, using thin-layer chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detector, liquid chromatography–electrospray–mass spectrometry and/or liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. The main findings were: (i) two Cryptothecia spp. contained 2′-O-methylperlatolic acid (97%) or ovoic/gyrophoric acids (67%/28%); (ii) two specimens of G. dendrogramma had stictic/norstictic acids (33–60%/40%); (iii) three samples of L. occultum were characterized by norstictic acid (42–82%); (iv) schizopeltic/3-O-methylschizopeltic acids (58%/32%) were found in one specimen of H. leprevostii; (v) one sample of P. ochraceoflava was represented by unidentified xanthone-type metabolite/7-chloroemodin/ (26%/24%); and, (vi) the extrolite content in one specimen of A. seminuda was negligible. Finally, 10 of the 11 lichen specimens studied from the Department of Atlántico within Colombia contained certain secondary metabolites that likely reflect the common types of extrolites, namely, di-/tri-depsides, depsidones, dibenzofurans, and chlorinated anthraquinones/xanthones, which could be hypothetically related to the evolutionary patterns of this type of organism. Full article