Search Results (221)

Objectives: To investigate whether a Multimodal Rehabilitation Program (MRP) affects the change in visual–spatial abilities, especially attention, information-processing speed, visual–spatial learning, the severity of depression, and strategies for coping with pain in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) participants. Methods: The study was conducted between October 2021 and February 2023, with a 4-week rehabilitation program that included individual physiotherapy, manual and physical therapy, and psychological intervention such as psychoeducation, relaxation, and Graded Motor Imagery therapy. Twenty participants with CRPS and twenty healthy participants, forming a control group, were enlisted. The study was a 2-arm parallel: a CRPS group with MRP intervention and a healthy control group matched to the CRPS group according to demographic variables. Before and after, the MRP participants in the CRPS group were assessed for visual–spatial learning, attention abilities, severity of depression, and pain-coping strategy. The healthy control group underwent the same assessment without intervention before two measurements. The primary outcome measure was Reproduction on Rey–Osterrieth’s Complex Figure Test assessing visual–spatial learning. Results: In the post-test compared to the pre-test, the participants with CRPS obtained a significantly high score in visual–spatial learning (p < 0.01) and visual information-processing speed (p = 0.01). They made significantly fewer omission mistakes in visual working memory (p = 0.01). After the MRP compared to the pre-test, the CRPS participants indicated a decrease in the severity of depression (p = 0.04) and used a task-oriented strategy for coping with pain more often than before the rehabilitation program (p = 0.02). Conclusions: After a 4-week MRP, the following outcomes were obtained: an increase in visual–spatial learning, visual information-processing speed, a decrease in severity of depression, and a change in the pain-coping strategies—which became more adaptive. Full article

Articular cartilage (AC) plays an important role in the biomechanics of synovial joints. Its task is to enable smooth movement and transfer of mechanical loads with minimised friction. AC is characterised by unique mechanical properties resulting from its complex structure, in which the dominant components are type II collagen, proteoglycans and water. Healthy articular cartilage shows elasticity in compression, viscoelastic properties, and the ability to relax stresses under the influence of cyclic loads. In response to different loading modes, it shows anisotropic and non-uniform behaviour, which translates into its cushioning and protective function for the subchondral bone. Significant changes occur in the structure and mechanical properties of cartilage with age as a result of mechanical overload or degenerative diseases, such as osteoarthritis. This results in a deterioration of the cushioning and mechanical function, which leads to progressive degradation of joint tissues. Understanding the mechanical properties of AC is crucial for developing effective diagnostic methods. Analysis of changes in mechanical properties contributes to the early detection of pathological changes. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of knowledge regarding the structure and biomechanical properties of articular cartilage, and to analyse conventional and alternative diagnostic methods in the context of their suitability for assessing the state of AC, particularly in the early stages of degenerative processes. Full article

The emergence of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) presents new challenges in Industrial IoT (IIoT) environments. Unlike traditional real-time systems, FMS must accommodate task set variability driven by human–machine interaction. As such variations can lead to abrupt resource overload or idleness, a dynamic scheduling mechanism is required. Although prior studies have explored dynamic scheduling, they often relax deadlines for lower-criticality tasks, which is not well suited to IIoT systems with strict deadline constraints. In this paper, instead of treating dynamic scheduling as a prediction problem, we model it as deterministic planning in response to explicit, observable user input. To this end, we precompute feasible resource plans for anticipated task set variations through offline optimization and switch to the appropriate plan at runtime. During this process, our approach jointly optimizes processor speeds, memory allocations, and edge/cloud offloading decisions, which are mutually interdependent. Simulation results show that the proposed framework achieves up to 73.1% energy savings compared to a baseline system, 100% deadline compliance for real-time production tasks, and low-latency responsiveness for user-interaction tasks. We anticipate that the proposed framework will contribute to the design of efficient, adaptive, and sustainable manufacturing systems. Full article

This study explores the effects of interacting with AI vs. human interlocutors on English language learners’ speaking performance in a game-based learning context. We developed Taboo Talks, a word-guessing game in which learners alternated between giving and guessing clues with either an AI or a human partner. To evaluate the impact of interaction mode on oral proficiency, participants completed a story retelling task, assessed using complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) metrics. Each participant engaged in both partner conditions, with group order counterbalanced. The results from the retelling task indicated modest improvements in fluency and complexity, particularly following interaction with the AI partner. Accuracy scores remained largely stable across conditions. Post-task reflections revealed that learners perceived AI partners as less intimidating, facilitating more relaxed language production, though concerns were noted regarding limited responsiveness. Qualitative analysis of the gameplay transcripts further revealed contrasting interactional patterns: AI partners elicited more structured interactions whereas human partners prompted more spontaneous and variable interactions. These findings suggest that AI-mediated gameplay can enhance specific dimensions of spoken language development and may serve as a complementary resource alongside human interaction. Full article

This study analyzes the design and performance of artificial lighting in a classroom setting, focusing on the balance between photopic and melanopic illuminance to optimize both visual comfort and circadian well-being. A three-dimensional simulated room model is used to evaluate three luminaires with different spatial distribution curves and two white LEDs, cool (CCT 6487 K) and warm (CCT 2268 K). The assessment includes an analysis of photopic and melanopic illuminance at the corneal plane, E_v and mEDI, respectively, with particular emphasis on the impact of the luminaires’ spatial distribution and the spectral characteristics of the light. The results indicate that a Lambertian spatial distribution of light achieves the best balance between illuminance uniformity and visual comfort. Illuminance uniformity is calculated on the horizontal work plane at 0.80 m, in line with the nature of visual tasks in classroom settings, making it the optimal solution for the simulated scenario. The cool LED provides greater melanopic stimulation, which is ideal for cognitive activation in the morning. Conversely, the warm LED creates a more relaxing atmosphere with lower melanopic values, making it better suited for the evening. Furthermore, this study proposes a dynamic lighting system that adjusts the correlated color temperature throughout the day by modifying the spectral power distribution of the light to accommodate both visual and biological needs. This research highlights the importance of integrating photopic and melanopic lighting considerations in luminaire design, offering practical insights for creating flexible and health-promoting environments in real-world settings. Full article

With the development of the knowledge economy, the significance of the creative industry has become increasingly prominent. Individual creativity can be stimulated by optimal lighting. This research consists of two parts: Part I examines the effects of illuminance and color temperature on creativity through three experiments, while Part II employs a two-factor repeated-measures design to investigate their interaction effects. The participants completed creativity tests during light exposure, including TTCT tasks in Part I of the experiment, and AUT and RAT tasks in Part II. They also completed questionnaires to assess their mood, and HRV data were collected for physiological analysis. The results showed that the subjects performed worse on a creativity test at an extremely low illuminance of 150 lx. Within a comfortable neutral lighting range, the participants’ creativity at 300 lx was superior to that at 1500 lx. In exploring light color, the conventional correlated color temperature (CCT) variable was replaced with colored lighting. The results indicated that both blue and orange light enhanced creative performance compared to white light. Additionally, an interactive effect of illuminance and colored lighting was observed. Fluency on the Alternative Uses Task (AUT) test was greater under 5000 K and 300 lx lighting, while originality on the AUT test was enhanced under 1500 lx, colored lighting. Emotional experience was found to be significantly correlated with creative performance. These findings contribute to the development of a design guideline that utilizes lighting intensity, color, and other elements to foster a relaxing indoor atmosphere that enhances positive mood and creativity. Full article

Inland waterway transportation is critical for the movement of hazardous liquid cargoes. To prevent contamination when transporting different types of liquids, certain shipments necessitate tank cleaning at designated stations between tasks. This process often requires detours, which can decrease operational efficiency. This study addresses the Tank Cleaning Station Location and Cleaning Task Assignment (TCSL-CTA) problem, with the objective of minimizing total system costs, including the construction and operational costs of tank cleaning stations, as well as the detour costs incurred by ships visiting these stations. We formulate the problem as a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model and prove that it can be reformulated into a partially relaxed MIP model, preserving optimality while enhancing computational efficiency. We further analyze key mathematical properties, showing that the assignment constraint matrix is totally unimodular, enabling efficient relaxation, and that the objective function exhibits submodularity, reflecting diminishing returns in facility investment. A case study on the Yangtze River confirms the model’s effectiveness, where the optimized plan resulted in detour costs accounting for only 5.2% of the total CNY 4.23 billion system cost and achieved an 89.1% average station utilization. Managerial insights reveal that early construction and balanced capacity allocation significantly reduce detour costs. This study provides a practical framework for long-term tank cleaning infrastructure planning, contributing to cost-effective and sustainable inland waterway logistics. Full article

The global aging trend increases chronic diseases and lowers quality of life. Exercise is vital for physiological, cognitive, and mental health, countering age-related decline. Outdoor multidomain interventions enhance adherence, motivation, and resilience, supporting independence and well-being. Objectives: This paper aimed to apply an outdoor exercise protocol for middle-aged and older people and to study its preliminary effects on cognitive state, body composition, cardiovascular health, physical fitness, physiological function, physical activity, frailty, incidence of sarcopenia, and satisfaction with life. Methods: This protocol describes an eighteen-week, two-pronged, parallel, single-blind randomized controlled trial. This paper complies with the Consort and SPIRIT guidelines. A cohort comprising a minimum of fifty-two older adults from the University for Seniors program will be equally allocated to a multidomain training group (TG) and a passive control group (CG). Intervention: The TG will follow a multidomain outdoor intervention twice a week for a complete duration of 18 weeks, with recommendations for additional autonomous cardiorespiratory training. The supervised sessions will be divided into a 10-min warm-up session focusing on activation and joint mobility, followed by 40 min of resistance training, cardiorespiratory training, and balance and coordination; and it concludes with a 10-min cool-down featuring flexibility, relaxation, and playful emotional intelligence tasks. Cognitive training will be integrated across different parts of the session. Conclusions: This preliminary study aims to explore the feasibility and potential effectiveness of outdoor multidomain training in improving the health of older adults. Importantly, by including late middle-aged adults from the age of 55, this study also aims to explore the potential of preventive strategies initiated before reaching old age. This reflects a broader conceptualization of healthy aging as a lifelong process, where early interventions may help mitigate decline and extend independence into later life. The partnership between health professionals and physical activity fosters independence for older adults, addressing the increasing burden on health services. Full article

To tackle work-related stress in the evolving landscape of Industry 5.0, organizations need to prioritize employee well-being through a comprehensive strategy. While electrocardiograms (ECGs) and electrodermal activity (EDA) are widely adopted physiological measures for monitoring work-related stress, electrooculography (EOG) remains underexplored in this context. Although less extensively studied, EOG shows significant promise for comparable applications. Furthermore, the realm of human factors and ergonomics lacks sufficient research on the integration of wearable sensors, particularly in the evaluation of human work. This article aims to bridge these gaps by examining the potential of EOG signals, captured through smart eyewear, as indicators of stress. The study involved twelve subjects in a controlled environment, engaging in four stress-inducing tasks interspersed with two-minute relaxation intervals. Emotional responses were categorized both into two classes (relaxed and stressed) and three classes (relaxed, slightly stressed, and stressed). Employing supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms—Random Forest (RF), Logistic Regression (LR), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree (DT), and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN)—the analysis revealed accuracy rates exceeding 80%, with RF leading at 85.8% and 82.4% for two classes and three classes, respectively. The proposed wearable system shows promise in monitoring workers’ well-being, especially during visual activities. Full article

Time-delay reservoir computing (RC) systems, particularly those based on semiconductor lasers (SLs), have gained attention due to their low energy consumption, high response rates, and rich nonlinear dynamics. This work investigates the influence of key time parameters—virtual node interval (θ), delay feedback (τ), and data injection period (T) on the performance of SL-based time-delay RC systems. Using the Santa Fe time series prediction task and memory capacity evaluation task, we analyze how these parameters affect prediction accuracy and memory capability. The results reveal that θ = 0.2T_ro (where T_ro is the relaxation oscillation period of the SLs) optimizes prediction performance, while θ = 0.5T_ro maximizes memory capacity. Additionally, feedback delay τ significantly impacts system performance. Shorter τ values (e.g., τ = 0.54T) enhance prediction accuracy, whereas longer τ values (e.g., τ = 1.74T) improve memory capacity. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing time-delay RC systems, enabling better task-specific performance and stability. Full article

Living and dying well together in the Anthropocene, in the context of intensifying climate crises, global pandemics, and fast-paced hustle culture, is an increasingly daunting task. While many wellness movements call for strict regimes and vigorous activity, striving for largely unattainable bodily norms and longevity, an emerging trend centres on embracing natural processes and temporalities of resistance focused on relaxation, rest, and even decay. So-called ‘girl mossing’ and ‘girl rotting’ encourage women to be intentionally unproductive, and to spend time instead lying on a forest floor, staring up at a canopy of trees, caressing moss. Similarly, members of the ‘death positive’ and ‘new death’ movements advocate for sensorial connection with nature at the end of life, and for an embrace of practices of decay and decomposition. Both trends are dominated by women and influenced by Buddhist and Pagan traditions. They also exemplify spiritual complexity, particularly relating to biomedicine and consumerism. Examining these interconnected lifestyle and deathstyle movements, this article considers the uptake of ‘relational naturalism’ in contemporary societies as an antidote to the personal and planetary harms of neoliberal capitalism. Full article

Since the research of $\mu$-synchronization helps to explore how complex networks (CNs) work together to produce complex behaviors, the $\mu$-synchronization task for uncertain time-delayed CNs is studied in our work. Especially, bounded external perturbations and variable delays of unknown bounds containing coupling delays, internal delays, and pulse delays are all taken into consideration, making the model more general. Through the $\mu$-stable theory together with the hybrid impulsive control technique, the problems caused by uncertain inner couplings, time-varying delays, and perturbations can be solved, and novel synchronization criteria are gained for the $\mu$-synchronization of the considered CNs. Different from traditional models, it is not necessary for the coupling matrices to meet the zero-row-sum condition, and the control protocol relaxes the constraint of time delays on impulse intervals. Moreover, numerical experiments and image encryption algorithms are carried out to verify our theoretical results’ effectiveness. Full article

Radar is utilized as an active sensing device across many fields. Its waveform optimization is responsible for target signature extraction, profoundly influencing the overall performance. First, the principle of pulse radar waveform design is explored. Waveform design strategies vary based on target models, whether point-like or extended ones, and are often formulated as high-dimensional, non-convex optimization problems with multiple constraints, such as energy, constant modulus, and sidelobe ratios. Second, to address them, techniques like alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), semidefinite relaxation (SDR), and minimization-maximization (MM) algorithms are widely employed. Finally, challenges in multimodal sensing collaborative detection, joint multi-tasking, sparse signal recovery, and intelligent perception highlight the need for innovative solutions to meet future demands. Full article

Objectives: To investigate the dynamics of accommodation during and immediately after a sustained reading task on a digital device across various age groups under monocular and binocular conditions. Methods: Seventeen subjects were selected and divided into three age groups: young adults (n = 4, age: 21.3 ± 3.2 years), adults (n = 4, age: 34 ± 3.56 years), and incipient presbyopes (n = 9, age: 45 ± 3.61 years). Dynamic accommodation and disaccommodation were objectively measured using the WAM-5500 open-view autorefractor during 2 min of distance fixation (Maltese cross at 6 m), 5 min of sustained near reading on a teleprompter app at the nearest readable distance, and 2 min of distance vision. Six sequential temporal landmarks were identified. Quantitative metrics for accommodation lag (AL), slope of slow accommodation (SSA), slope of slow disaccommodation (SSD), peak velocity of accommodation (PVA) and peak velocity of disaccommodation (PVD) were obtained as absolute values of spherical equivalent refractive (SER) change. Results: SSA, SSD, and AL were significantly and positively correlated with age (ρ = 0.75, 0.73, 0.51, respectively; p ≤ 0.038). For subjects under 45 years of age SSA and SSD increased quadratically with age, while for those above 45 years, both SSA and SSD decreased linearly. Linear regression of PVA and PVD with age indicated that the disaccommodation mechanism is faster than accommodation (slope = –0.15 and –0.23, respectively). PVA was significantly faster under monocular than binocular conditions (p = 0.124). Conclusions: Incipient presbyopes demonstrate a complex response in both accommodation and disaccommodation. The accommodation system responds quickly, but there is also a slower response that can provide up to an additional 1D of accommodative response during sustained near reading tasks. It is hypothesized that the crystalline lens exhibits hysteresis in returning to its unaccommodated state, due to its viscoelastic properties, which means it takes time to relax. Full article

Background/Objectives: Dementia leads to cognitive decline, affecting memory, reasoning, and daily activities, often requiring full-time care. Multisensory stimulation (MSS), combined with cognitive tasks, can slow this decline, improving mood, communication, and overall quality of life. This systematic review aims to explore methods that utilize MSS in the rehabilitation of patients with dementia. Its clinical value is rooted in its ability to offer a deep comprehension of how MSS can be successfully incorporated into rehabilitation treatments. Methods: Studies were identified from an online search of PubMed, EBSCOhost, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus databases with a search time frame from 2014 to 2024. This review has been registered on Open OSF (n) 3KUQX. Results: Pilot studies investigating MSS interventions, encompassing Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST), Sonas therapy, and combined physical–cognitive exercise programs, have yielded mixed findings in individuals with dementia. CST has demonstrated significant improvements in general cognitive function, particularly in language skills, offering a promising approach for cognitive enhancement. Sonas therapy, while showing positive trends in some studies, does not consistently achieve statistically significant outcomes across all cognitive domains. Conversely, combined exercise programs have shown efficacy in improving dual-task performance, suggesting benefits for motor–cognitive integration. MSS delivered within specialized environments like Snoezelen rooms consistently produces positive effects on mood, reducing agitation and promoting relaxation. Conclusions: This review emphasizes how MSS can enhance cognitive, emotional, and behavioral results for individuals with dementia. It is essential for future research to standardize protocols, incorporate advanced technologies such as virtual reality, and rectify diversity gaps. Collaboration between different fields will improve the effectiveness and usefulness of MSS in caring for individuals with dementia. Full article