Search Results (25)

As populations age, particularly in countries like Japan, mobility impairments related to ankle joint dysfunction, such as foot drop, instability, and reduced gait adaptability, have become a significant concern. Active ankle–foot orthoses (AAFO) offer targeted support during walking; however, most existing systems rely on rule-based or threshold-based control, which are often limited to sagittal plane movements and lacking adaptability to subject-specific gait variations. This study proposes an approach driven by neuromuscular activation using surface electromyography (EMG) and a Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU)-based deep learning model to predict plantar pressure distributions at the heel, midfoot, and toe regions during gait. EMG signals were collected from four key ankle muscles, and plantar pressures were recorded using a customized sandal-integrated force-sensitive resistor (FSR) system. The data underwent comprehensive preprocessing and segmentation using a sliding window method. Root mean square (RMS) values were extracted as the primary input feature due to their consistent performance in capturing muscle activation intensity. The GRU model successfully generalized across subjects, enabling the accurate real-time inference of critical gait events such as heel strike, mid-stance, and toe off. This biomechanical evaluation demonstrated strong signal compatibility, while also identifying individual variations in electromechanical delay (EMD). The proposed predictive framework offers a scalable and interpretable approach to improving real-time AAFO control by synchronizing assistance with user-specific gait dynamics. Full article

Background: The inability to ensure adequate nutrition for patients, and failure to provide adequate calorie and protein intake, result in malnutrition, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. The present study assesses the two approaches to enteral nutrition—intermittent and continuous enteral feeding—in critically ill pediatric patients in Türkiye to determine the superiority of one method over the other. Methods: Included in this multicenter prospective study were patients receiving enteral nutrition via a tube who were followed up over a 3-month period. Anthropometric data, calorie and protein intake, and signs of feeding intolerance were evaluated in a comparison of the different feeding methods. Results: A total of 510 patients were examined. In the continuous enteral feeding (CEF) group, 20.2% of patients developed metabolic abnormalities, and 49.5% experienced enteral nutrition intolerance, both of which were higher than in the intermittent enteral feeding (IEF) group, and the differences were statistically significant. No significant differences were observed between the two feeding methods in terms of reaching the target calorie intake on days 2 and 7 (p > 0.05). On day 7, there were significant differences between the two feeding methods in terms of calorie and protein intake (p = 0.023 and 0.014, respectively). Conclusions: In the present study, assessing the IEF and CEF approaches to enteral nutrition, critically ill pediatric patients receiving intermittent feeding exhibited lower rates of enteral nutrition intolerance and metabolic abnormalities. Furthermore, the calorie and protein intake on day 7 were noted to be higher in the IEF group than in the CEF group. Further randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm the findings of the present study. Full article

Three-dimensional knitted uppers for footwear enhance ergonomic properties and fit compared to conventional flat panels. The knitting process for these elements represents a bottleneck in footwear production because flat-knitting machines must knit the uppers individually, which limits production capacity. This study explores ways to optimize knitting processes for 3D uppers. The focus is on reducing production time while maintaining product quality, ensuring a precise fit, and minimizing material waste. A series of experiments conducted on a base sneaker model implemented techniques to streamline knitting operations. These techniques were later adapted to other footwear types, including ankle boots, loafers, and sandals, to meet the unique requirements of each design. These optimizations include replacing traditional operations, such as overlocking or stitch decreases, with more efficient methods, such as open loops, as well as eliminating costly-to-manufacture elements. The results show significant reductions in production time while maintaining the fit and functional integrity of the uppers. These findings demonstrate both the technical feasibility and economic impact of these optimizations, offering valuable insights for the large-scale adoption of knitting technology in the footwear industry. Full article

In this article, I attempt to contribute to further the understanding of what has happened with the so-called ‘theological turn in French phenomenology’ through juxtaposing two sets of discourses: the theological in Heidegger and the secular in Levinas. While Levinas was identified by Janicaud as the first mover in the theological turn, much attention has recently been given to the theological themes in Heidegger’s writings. Less attention has been given, however, to the way in which Levinas’ philosophical and Talmudic writings often seek to be a secular critique of Heidegger’s philosophy. Through showing how a Levinasian secularization of Heidegger’s theology can make sense, I hope to shake up the debate surrounding the theological turn by placing it on its head. Full article

The proficient supply of water and nutrients is a key factor for successful vegetable production under greenhouses. This field experiment was conducted during 2018–2019 under a completely randomized design to evaluate the effects of drip irrigation and nutrient schedule on soil water dynamics and the productivity of greenhouse tomato. The experiment consisted of two irrigation schedules, i.e., I₁ (irrigation applied from week 1 to 2 on the basis of 100% pan evaporation (E_pan), week 3 to 8 on the basis of 40% of E_pan, week 9 to 14 on the basis of 60% of E_pan, week 15 to 20 on the basis of 80% of E_pan, week 21 to 24 on the basis of 100% of E_pan) and I₂ (irrigation applied on the basis of 100% of E_pan throughout the crop period) with a five-nutrient schedule, viz., F₁ (100% NPK applied through the conventional method), F₂ (100% N applied through fertigation + PK through the conventional method), F₃ (100% NK applied through fertigation + P through the conventional method), F₄ (100% NPK applied through fertigation) and F₅ (50% NPK applied through the conventional method + 150% NPK applied through fertigation). The soil moisture content (SMC) and its depletion were measured during growing season. The tomato yield was significantly higher under I₂. However, water use efficiency (WUE) was significantly higher under I₁ treatment. Among the nutrient schedules, the yield and WUE were significantly higher in F₅ treatment. The net returns were highest under F₅ and lowest under F₁. The Benefit:Cost ratio was highest in F₄ and lowest under F₁. The irrigation level I₂ (irrigation applied on the basis of 100% of E_pan throughout the crop period) with fertigation treatment F₄ (100% NPK applied through fertigation) was the best strategy for obtaining the maximum productivity of tomato under the greenhouse. It can be concluded that the drip-based fertigation enhances the crop yield and net returns and therefore may be promoted to increase the income of the farmers. Full article

The spotted bollworm Earias vittella (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) is a polyphagous pest with enormous economic significance, primarily affecting cotton and okra. However, the lack of gene sequence information on this pest has a significant constraint on molecular investigations and the formulation of superior pest management strategies. An RNA-seq-based transcriptome study was conducted to alleviate such limitations, and de novo assembly was performed to obtain transcript sequences of this pest. Reference gene identification across E. vittella developmental stages and RNAi treatments were conducted using its sequence information, which resulted in identifying transcription elongation factor (TEF), V-type proton ATPase (V-ATPase), and Glyceraldehyde -3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) as the most suitable reference genes for normalization in RT-qPCR-based gene expression studies. The present study also identified important developmental, RNAi pathway, and RNAi target genes and performed life-stage developmental expression analysis using RT-qPCR to select the optimal targets for RNAi. We found that naked dsRNA degradation in the E. vittella hemolymph is the primary reason for poor RNAi. A total of six genes including Juvenile hormone methyl transferase (JHAMT), Chitin synthase (CHS), Aminopeptidase (AMN), Cadherin (CAD), Alpha-amylase (AMY), and V-type proton ATPase (V-ATPase) were selected and knocked down significantly with three different nanoparticles encapsulated dsRNA conjugates, i.e., Chitosan-dsRNA, carbon quantum dots-dsRNA (CQD-dsRNA), and Lipofectamine-dsRNA conjugate. These results demonstrate that feeding nanoparticle-shielded dsRNA silences target genes and suggests that nanoparticle-based RNAi can efficiently manage this pest. Full article

Gait and balance are an intricate interplay between the brain, nervous system, sensory organs, and musculoskeletal system. They are greatly influenced by the type of footwear, walking patterns, and surface. This exploratory study examines the effects of the Infinity Walk, pronation, and footwear conditions on brain effective connectivity patterns. A continuous-wave functional near-infrared spectroscopy device collected data from five healthy participants. A highly computationally efficient connectivity model based on the Grange causal relationship between the channels was applied to data to find the effective relationship between inter- and intra-hemispheric brain connectivity. Brain regions of interest (ROI) were less connected during the barefoot condition than during other complex walks. Conversely, the highest interconnectedness between ROI was observed while wearing flat insoles and medially wedged sandals, which is a relatively difficult type of footwear to walk in. No statistically significant (p-value $<0.05$) effect on connectivity patterns was observed during the corrected pronated posture. The regions designated as motoric, sensorimotor, and temporal became increasingly connected with difficult walking patterns and footwear conditions. The Infinity Walk causes effective bidirectional connections between ROI across all conditions and both hemispheres. Due to its repetitive pattern, the Infinity Walk is a good test method, particularly for neuro-rehabilitation and motoric learning experiments. Full article

In this study, the effects of oven dehydration on chemical and bioactive properties, fatty acids, polyphenolic compounds and minerals of sandal strawberry tree fruit were investigated. While total carotenoid contents of the sandal strawberry tree fruit are determined between 4.20 (120 °C) and 5.43 µg/g (70 °C), tannin amounts of the sandal strawberry tree fruit were recorded between 5.13 (control) and 6.37% (70 and 120 °C). While total phenolic contents of dehydrated sandal strawberry tree fruit were found between 444.16 (120 °C) and 665.13 mgGAE/100 g (control), total flavonoid amounts of dehydrated sandal strawberry tree fruit were recorded between 592.91 (control) and 788.71 mg/100 g (120 °C). Antioxidant activity values of fruit ranged from 4.10 (120 °C) to 7.30 mmol TE/kg (control). Both total phenolic amounts and antioxidant activity values of untreated (control) sandal strawberry tree fruit were found to be higher than dehydrated ones, and a linear relationship was determined between the total phenolic amounts of the samples and their antioxidant activities. The highest amounts of phenolic compounds (ferulic acid, resveratrol and kaempferol) were detected in strawberry tree fruit dehydrated at 70 °C, followed by the control group and fruit dehydrated at 120 °C in decreasing order. Gallic acid, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, catechin, caffeic acid and rutin were the main constituents of the strawberry tree fruit, followed by syringic acid, p-coumaric acid and ferulic acid in descending order. Palmitic, stearic and oleic acid amounts of dehydrated strawberry tree fruit oils compared to the control were observed to increase with the applied temperature, while the contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic) decreased. In general, the mineral content of dehydrated strawberry tree fruit increased compared to the control. Since the oil, carotenoid, total phenol and phenolic component contents of sandalwood tree fruit are higher in the sample subjected to dehydration at 70 °C, this temperature can be considered as the ideal one for drying. In addition, considering the fatty acids, heat treatment at 120 °C can be preferred. Full article

The coloring behavior of santalin, a natural reddish-brown dye derived from sandalwood, has been investigated in this work for the dyeing of silk fabrics while being heated in MW radiation. Microwave (MW) radiation up to 5 min has been employed to isolate colorant (Santalin) from red sandalwood (Ptrecarpus santalinus) in selected medium, and bio-mordants in competing with salts as chemical-mordants have been included. Statistical analysis was made and dyeing variables were selected for getting dark shades though mordants. MW treatment for 3 min. to both extract and fabric was selected and mild dyeing conditions were optimized statistically to get dark shades. On applying chemical mordants, selected amount of salts of Al⁺³, Fe⁺² and T.A. before and after dyeing, has given good results. Comparatively, selected extracts of plant based sources have shown colorfast shades of high strength. The MW radiation has excellent potential to extract dye form plants using optimum medium through less time and energy, and the application of plant extracts along with sustainable salts have developed colorfast shades. Full article

Psychological distress is linked to unhealthy eating behaviors such as emotional eating and consumption of high-sugar food and drinks. Cross-sectional studies from early in the COVID-19 pandemic showed a high occurrence of worries and psychological distress, and this was associated with emotional eating. Few larger studies have examined how this coping pattern develops over time. This cohort study with 24,968 participants assessed changes over time in emotional eating, consumption of sugary foods as an example of unhealthy food choices, and consumption of fruits and vegetables as an example of healthy food choices. Further, associations between these and psychological distress, worries, and socio-demographic factors were assessed. Data were collected at three time points (April 2020, initially in the COVID-19 pandemic, then one and two years later). Emotional eating and intake of sugary foods and drinks were high at the start of the pandemic, followed by a reduction over time. High psychological distress was strongly associated with higher levels of emotional eating and high-sugar food intake, and lower levels of healthy eating habits. The strength of this association reduced over time. Our findings indicate the high frequency in unhealthy food choices seen early in the COVID-19 pandemic improved over time. Full article

Good hygienic practices are required to reduce the risk of microbial contamination during meat processing. We evaluated good hygiene and meat safety practices among different village butcheries (6), commercial butcheries (8), and supermarkets (18) through direct personal observations. The supermarkets and commercial butcheries wore personal protective equipment (PPE) and used proper waste procedures. Moreover, there were pest control devices, a safe water supply, and staff handling money away from meat. At village butcheries, wearing hairnets and aprons, and the display of raw meat being separate from offal were identified as good practices. The irregular washing of hands (67%), less use of gloves (83%), wearing of open sandals (67%) and jewelry (33%), use of the same coat for different activities (100%), lack of paper towels (100%) and pest control devices (67%) and mismanagement of waste (33%) were practices that led to unsafe meat handling. Our study identified good meat safety practices at supermarkets. A combination of good and unhygienic meat handling practices were identified at commercial and village butcheries. These findings suggest a need for intervention through training on food safety in order to improve the hygienic practices of meat handling along the beef supply chain, more especially in commercial and village butcheries. Full article

The increasing concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in agricultural soils has greatly disturbed the quality and productivity of soils. In this study, we investigated the uptake and distribution of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and nickel (Ni) by two Brassica cultivars (Khanpur raya and Sandal canola) grown on soil irrigated with metal-contaminated water. Distilled water was spiked with salts to prepare irrigation water with various levels of metals (Ni application at 90, Cd at 20, Pb at 500, Ni + Pb at 20 + 500, Ni + Cd at 90 + 20, Cd + Pb at 20 + 500, and Ni + Cd + Pb at 90 + 20 + 500 mg L⁻¹). These treatments were compared with water without the addition of any salt. The results indicated that compared to the control treatment, increasing metal concentrations decreased the shoot weight (44.25%, 29.03%), root length (33.33%, 12.74%), and shoot length (19.73%, 11.06%) in Khanpur raya and Sandal canola, respectively. Compared to the control treatment, irrigation with contaminated water decreased the photosynthesis rate (98.42%, 99.34%), chlorophyll content (18.27%, 13.73%), respiration rate (7.97%, 6.47%), and transpiration rate (9.90%, 33.33%) in both varieties, respectively. Notably, the concentrations of Ni (0.01 and 0.003), Cd (0.01 and 0.012), and Pb (0.03 and 0.05%) in the seeds were increased, as well as in Khanpur raya and Sandal canola, respectively, compared to the controls. Furthermore, the PTE accumulation in different components was recorded, with the order of soil > root > shoot > seed. It was observed that brassica cultivars differed significantly in their response to the growth and accumulation of PTEs in edible parts. It was concluded that Khanpur raya did not exhibit a decline in growth due to PTEs in irrigation water and prevented the translocation of PTEs towards edible parts compared to Sandal canola and thus can be safely grown in soils receiving PTE-contaminated water. Full article

Almost every supplier faces uncertain and time-varying demand. E-commerce and online shopping have given suppliers unprecedented access to data on customers’ behavior, which sheds light on demand uncertainty. The main purpose of this research project is to provide an analytic tool for decentralized supply channel members to devise optimal long-term (multi-period) supply, pricing, and timing strategies while catering to stochastic demand in a diverse set of market scenarios. Despite its ubiquity in potential applications, the time-dependent channel optimization problem in its general form has received limited attention in the literature due to its complexity and the highly nested structure of its ensuing equilibrium problems. However, there are many scenarios where a single-period channel optimization solution may turn out to be myopic as it does not consider the after-effects of current pricing on future demand. To remedy this typical shortcoming, using general memory functions, we include the strategic customers’ cognitive bias toward pricing history in the supply channel equilibrium problem. In the form of two constructive theorems, we provide explicit solution algorithms for the ensuing Nash–Stackelberg equilibrium problems. In particular, we prove that our recursive solution algorithm can find equilibria in the multi-periodic variation of many standard supply channel contracts such as wholesale, buyback, and revenue-sharing contracts. Full article

The aim of this scoping review was to investigate the impact of footwear on worker physical task performance and injury risk. The review was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews protocol and registered in the Open Science Framework. Key search terms were entered into five academic databases. Following a dedicated screening process and critical appraisal, data from the final articles informing this review were extracted, tabulated, and synthesised. Of 19,614 identified articles, 50 articles informed this review. Representing 16 countries, the most common populations investigated were military and firefighter populations, but a wide range of general occupations (e.g., shipping, mining, hairdressing, and healthcare workers) were represented. Footwear types included work safety boots/shoes (e.g., industrial, gumboots, steel capped, etc.), military and firefighter boots, sports shoes (trainers, tennis, basketball, etc.) and various other types (e.g., sandals, etc.). Occupational footwear was found to impact gait and angular velocities, joint ranges of motion, posture and balance, physiological measures (like aerobic capacity, heart rates, temperatures, etc.), muscle activity, and selected occupational tasks. Occupational footwear associated with injuries included boots, conventional running shoes, shoes with inserts, harder/stiffer outsoles or thin soles, and shoes with low comfort scores—although the findings were mixed. Occupational footwear was also linked to potentially causing injuries directly (e.g., musculoskeletal injuries) as well as leading to mechanisms associated with causing injuries (like tripping and slipping). Full article

This project examines how Turkish postmigrants in Germany position themselves against the influences of the German state’s integration and the Turkish government’s diasporic policies. We argue that the double influx of host and home states lures Turkish postmigrants into an identity trap subjecting their in-between position to exploitation in transnational negotiations. As their own perspective is poorly addressed in literature, this study fills this gap by reference to postmigrants’ standpoint. We hypothesize that the positioning of Turkish postmigrants in Germany is reflected through identity expressions and priority of belongings. We will carry out an exploratory assessment with three work packages. Study 1 will decode the Turkish postmigrant figure addressed by both states. Major media outlets most attended by postmigrants will be analyzed to display the imagined figure. Study 2 will inform the trajectory of the Turkish national identity narrative across important milestones over the migration chronology. A structured archival study will unearth the discursive mutations through political leaders’ speeches. Finally, Study 3 will exclusively confer postmigrants’ viewpoints against both influences. The project consults a conceptual framework in terms of diaspora generating, diaspora shaping, collective nostalgia, and social cohesion to expand on understanding how Turkish postmigrants express their identities and prioritize their belongings across their in-between existence. Full article