Search Results (1,637)

Background/Objectives: Smartphone use during public transit is widespread, yet the combined effects of posture, viewing duration, and sex on visual fatigue and visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) under real commuting conditions remain insufficiently understood. This study examined these factors during smartphone video viewing aboard Taipei MRT carriages. Methods: Forty healthy young adults (20 males, 20 females) completed four randomized conditions crossing two postures (sitting, standing) and two viewing durations (15 min, 30 min). Conditions were administered in a randomized order. Critical flicker fusion frequency (CFF), visual fatigue scale (VFS) scores, viewing distance, and VIMSSQ-short change scores were assessed as primary outcomes and analyzed using three-way mixed ANOVA. Results: Viewing duration produced the largest and most consistent effects across all outcomes (η²p = 0.658–0.969): 30 min viewing yielded greater CFF reduction, higher VFS scores, shorter viewing distance, and elevated VIMS compared with 15 min viewing. Standing posture significantly increased VFS scores, shortened viewing distance, and raised VIMS relative to sitting, though its effect on CFF reduction was not statistically significant. A significant sex × viewing duration interaction emerged with regard to VFS scores, with females showing a steeper increase in subjective fatigue over time, despite no significant sex main effect for any outcome. A significant posture × viewing duration interaction for VIMS indicated that standing was associated with greater VIMS responses during prolonged viewing. Conclusions: Prolonged viewing duration and standing posture are key contributors to smartphone-related visual and motion discomfort in metro environments. Limiting continuous viewing time and preferring a seated posture when using smartphones during commuting are recommended strategies to reduce both visual fatigue and VIMS among healthy young adults; generalizability to broader commuter populations warrants further investigation. Full article

Volcanic super-eruptions can perturb atmospheric composition and climate-relevant radiative properties in ways that are not captured by simple scaling from Pinatubo-like events. This study presents a reduced-order regime theory for the coupled evolution of stratospheric sulfur, sulfate aerosol burden, reactive halogens, ozone loss, stratospheric thermal adjustment, and aerosol residence time. The analysis is intended as an interpretive tool for organizing sulfur-rich volcanic scenarios, comparing literature-based benchmark classes, and designing chemistry–climate model experiments, rather than as an event-specific calibration or a substitute for three-dimensional models. Four control parameters structure the response: sulfur loading relative to microphysical saturation, effective halogen strength, ash-uptake efficiency, and dynamical lifetime sensitivity, with hemispheric asymmetry treated diagnostically. An external consistency check against published Pinatubo-like, idealized 10–40 teragrams of sulfur (Tg S), Toba-like, and Los Chocoyos-like responses is used to evaluate whether the reduced theory reproduces the expected rank ordering of aerosol saturation, forcing-efficiency decline, ozone-loss amplification, ash-driven sulfur suppression, and residence-time sensitivity. This comparison does not assign pointwise error margins against three-dimensional model output; it evaluates regime membership, sign of response, rank ordering, and broad magnitude behavior. The main conclusion is that volcanic super-eruption impacts are governed by interacting regime transitions rather than by sulfur mass alone. Microphysical saturation can limit forcing efficiency, halogens can shift the system toward chemically amplified ozone depletion, ash uptake can reduce the effective sulfur burden during the early phase, and dynamical state can control persistence and hemispheric expression. By separating these mechanisms, the study provides a compact basis for interpreting large volcanic perturbations to atmospheric chemistry and for designing targeted model experiments on extreme eruption scenarios. Full article

Background/Objectives: Halitosis in geriatric patients is multifactorial, but the joint contribution of prosthetic rehabilitation type and polypharmacy after routine dental procedures has rarely been quantified. We investigated how prosthesis type, polypharmacy, and salivary function were associated with volatile sulfur compound (VSC) burden and self-perceived halitosis in elderly dental patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 88 patients aged ≥65 years, four weeks after completing routine dental procedures. Participants were stratified into three groups: complete denture wearers (n = 30), partial removable denture wearers (n = 28), and fixed prostheses/implants (n = 30). We measured unstimulated salivary flow rate (uSFR), tongue coating index (TCI), denture biofilm index, total VSCs (Halimeter^®), organoleptic score (0–5), and self-perceived halitosis. Polypharmacy, comorbidities, and the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) were recorded. Analyses included one- and two-way ANOVA, Spearman correlations, theory-informed multivariable linear and logistic regression, exploratory mediation analysis, and ROC curves. Results: Forty-two participants (47.7%) reported halitosis. Mean VSC differed across groups (complete dentures 278.2 ± 38.6 ppb; partial 211.2 ± 46.3 ppb; fixed 164.4 ± 43.9 ppb; ANOVA p < 0.001). uSFR correlated inversely with VSC (ρ = −0.61, p < 0.001) and TCI correlated positively (ρ = 0.56, p < 0.001). A significant prosthesis × polypharmacy interaction was observed (F = 3.74, p = 0.029, η²_p = 0.082): polypharmacy was associated with higher VSC most clearly among partial and fixed prostheses wearers, whereas complete denture wearers showed high VSC levels regardless of polypharmacy status. Exploratory mediation findings were consistent with partial indirect association, with 45.9% of the polypharmacy–VSC association statistically explained by reduced uSFR; however, the cross-sectional design precludes causal or temporal interpretation. The full multivariable model showed apparent discrimination for self-perceived halitosis (AUC = 0.92), while the simplified four-item chairside composite model showed AUC = 0.89; neither estimate was optimism-corrected or externally validated. Conclusions: In elderly post-procedure patients, complete denture wearing, polypharmacy, and salivary hypofunction were independently and jointly associated with higher halitosis burden. Reduced salivary flow was consistent with a partial indirect statistical pathway in the polypharmacy–VSC association, supporting hydration counseling and meticulous prosthesis hygiene as low-cost geriatric interventions. Sensitivity analyses excluding implant-supported restorations, participants with MMSE scores of 24–26, and expanded mediation models including TCI and biofilm/plaque did not materially change the main inference. Full article

The blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) is known for its high content of bioactive compounds, which are widely recognized for their health-promoting properties. This study aimed to characterize the fruit quality, total phenolic content (TPC), total monomeric anthocyanin content (TMA), anthocyanin profile and antioxidant activity of the nine Romanian V. corymbosum genotypes (‘Augusta’, ‘Azur’, ‘Delicia’, ‘Lax’, ‘Pastel’, ‘Prod’, ‘Safir’, ‘Simultan’, and ‘Vital’) over three consecutive harvest seasons (2023–2025). Significant genotype- and year-dependent variation was observed for all parameters. ‘Lax’ consistently accumulated the highest total anthocyanin content across all three seasons, while ‘Simultan’ exhibited the highest antioxidant activity and total monomeric anthocyanin content. ‘Prod’ consistently recorded the lowest phytochemical values despite achieving the highest firmness in 2025. UPLC analysis identified 10 anthocyanins, covering all five major anthocyanidin classes. Strong positive correlations were found between TPC, TMA, and antioxidant activity. These results confirm that genotype is the primary determinant of blueberry phytochemical composition, as indicated by the largest effect sizes in the two-way ANOVA, with harvest year and genotype × year interaction as statistically significant but secondary modulating factors, and identify ‘Lax’, ‘Simultan’, and ‘Safir’ as promising cultivars for nutraceutical and breeding applications. Full article

The rapid global expansion of 5G technology has increased concerns regarding its potential health effects. Postural balance, a complex sensorimotor function reflecting central nervous system integrity, may be susceptible to electromagnetic field exposure. However, evidence on 5G effects on comprehensive balance outcomes remains limited. This randomized controlled pilot study investigated the effects of short-term exposure to 5G mobile phones on static and dynamic postural balance using computerized posturography. Nineteen healthy adults (mean age: 31 ± 7 years) participated in a randomized crossover design involving three conditions: 5-min exposure, 20-min exposure, and sham. Static and dynamic balance were assessed using the NeuroCom Balance Master, including the Unilateral Stance, Rhythmic Weight Shift, and Limits of Stability tests, which were performed immediately before and after each condition. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA showed no significant interaction between exposure condition and time (pre vs. post) across all outcomes. Bayesian analyses provided support against detectable exposure-related interaction effects, although evidence for some time-related effects was inconclusive or varied across outcomes. These findings suggest that short-term 5G exposure did not produce detectable alterations in postural control under the experimental conditions tested. Full article

Background/Objectives: No study has investigated the effect of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met rs4680 polymorphism in cognitive and executive performance in migraine. The current study investigated the potential influence of the Val158Met rs4680 polymorphism in cognitive performance/executive function in women with migraine. Methods: One hundred and forty women with migraine (70 chronic and 70 episodic) and 70 healthy controls completed the following neurocognitive tests (D2 Attention test and Rey–Osterrieth Complex Figure) and executive functions (subtest “Digits D/R/I” of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale WAIS-IV battery for, the 5-Digit test, the Symbol Search for and the Zoo Test) for evaluating selective attention, visual perception, working memory, mental inhibition, processing speed and planning/decision making, respectively. Thus, three genotypes (Val/Val, Val/Met, and Met/Met) of the Val158Met polymorphism were identified by polymerase chain reaction. The effect of group and Val158Met genotype in neurocognitive tests and executive functions was evaluated with multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). Results: The MANCOVA revealed a significant Val158Met polymorphism* group interaction on neurocognitive performance (Wilk’s λ = 0.393, F [76,688] = 2.425, p < 0.001, n2p = 0.208, 1 − β = 0.999), not influenced by age (Wilk’s λ = 0.920, F [19,174] = 0.743, p = 0.734, n2p = 0.035, 1 − β = 0.120), educational level (Wilk’s λ = 0.875, F [19,174] = 1.024, p = 0.440, n2p = 0.047, 1 − β = 0.190) and prophylactic medication (Wilk’s λ = 0.855, F [19,174]= 1.000, p = 0.467, n2p= 0.145, 1 − β = 0.686). Post hoc analyses revealed that women with chronic migraine with the Met/Met genotype exhibited domain-specific better performance (i.e., higher selective attention, visuospatial memory) and executive functioning (i.e., working memory, planning/decision making) than those women with chronic migraine carrying Val/Val or Val/Met genotypes. Conclusions: We found an association of the Met/Met genotype with neurocognitive performance/executive functioning, particularly in women with chronic migraine since women with chronic migraine carrying the Met/Met genotype showed domain-specific better cognitive performance/executive functioning than those with the Val allele. Future studies including large sample sizes from different geographic locations are needed to better generalizability and validity of the current results. Full article

The volume of academic and scientific publications grows rapidly, increasing the need for efficient mechanisms for accessing, obtaining and managing large collections of Open Access (OA) journal articles. For the purposes of an ongoing project requiring the analysis of thousands of OA Journal articles, a fast and reliable way to automatically download and rename PDF files was essential. To address this need, ChatGPT was employed to generate Python scripts from scratch, with the task deliberately assigned to a user with no Python programming experience, relying partially on his familiarity with HTML and CSS structures. Excluding one manually processed journal, which was used as a descriptive baseline, the study achieved a workflow-level success rate of 90.32% across the 31 AI-assisted journal workflows that were evaluated. Of these, 25 workflows were completed through fully functional downloader/renamer scripts, while three additional journals were processed through successful renaming workflows after automated downloading proved unsuccessful. Four MDPI journals were handled through a shared semi-automated workflow. The paper also presentsdescriptive observations from the documented workflow, indicating a gradual reduction in development time, prompts, and debugging iterations across later stages of the project, as the interaction process became more refined. Furthermore, within this feasibility case, the observed average operational time corresponded to approximately 15.8 s per file for the fully manual procedure, 13.8 s for the complete automated workflow corpus, and 10.8 s after excluding one highly time-consuming outlier case. Statistical analyses of the generated scripts, including imported modules, libraries, functions, constants, control structures, and total lines of code, are also presented. Overall, the study demonstrates the feasibility of AI-assisted scripting in one documented case involving a user without Python programming experience to accomplish tasks that were previously associated with programming expertise. Full article

Direct flood loss estimation for industrial complexes is jointly sensitive to terrain representation, rainfall magnitude, infiltration assumptions, and depth–damage function selection, yet these uncertainties are rarely evaluated together. We quantify their combined effects for the Gumi National Industrial Complex (GNIC), South Korea, using five DEM resolutions (0.5–10 m), six rainfall return periods (10–200 years plus the observed July 2024 event), and three infiltration regimes (5, 10, 20 mm h⁻¹), yielding 90 hydrodynamic realisations from a GPU-accelerated 2D shallow-water model. Each was combined with a harmonised inventory of 16,463 buildings (replacement value 43.07 trillion KRW) and three vulnerability-function families (HAZUS-MH, JRC Huizinga, Korean MD-FDA), producing 270 loss estimates under a common dimensionless transformation. A three-way ANOVA on log-transformed damage confirmed highly significant main effects of resolution, rainfall, and infiltration across all functions, more than an order of magnitude larger than interactions, and robust to heteroscedasticity-consistent and permutation tests. Coarsening the DEM from 0.5 to 10 m reduced expected annual loss (EAL) by 55–57%, while inter-function depth–damage divergence exceeded four-fold at shallow inundation. Validation against the July 2024 event gave the best skill at 2 m resolution (critical success index 0.80, accuracy 0.86). Multi-family residential and heavy industry accounted for 83–89% of total EAL. These results show that terrain resolution and damage-function selection are first-order, statistically independent controls on industrial flood loss, and that omitting any sensitivity axis can bias EAL by more than two-fold. Full article

Phase-inversion in situ implants (PIISIs) represent a versatile polymer platform in which the rational choice of matrix former and solvent system directly governs the macroscopic properties of the resulting depot. This study applied a Quality by Design (QbD) approach to rationalize a bleached shellac–based PIISI, with particular focus on the physicochemical interactions between the polymer and the injection vehicle. Bleached shellac—a natural, low-cost, biodegradable oligomeric resin bearing –COOH, –OH, and ester functional groups—was selected as the matrix former and screened in seven neat solvents and five 1:1 binary combinations at 25% (m/m). Twelve formulations were evaluated against a predefined set of critical quality attributes, including injectability, phase-inversion kinetics, solvent diffusion volume, and implant structure (n = 5 per formulation; mean ± standard deviation (SD); one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey’s post hoc test, p < 0.05). Three lead solvent systems—propylene glycol/N-methylpyrrolidone (PG+NMP), PG/dimethyl sulfoxide (PG+DMSO), and DMSO/benzyl alcohol (DMSO+BA)—were identified as those providing an optimal balance between hydrogen-bond donor/acceptor solvation and controlled solvent extraction. In the second stage, shellac concentration (20–35%) was optimized, with 30% shellac in PG+NMP yielding the fastest phase inversion (~50 s), a structurally uniform matrix, and the lowest swelling (22%). A working mechanistic framework consistent with all observed critical quality attribute (CQA) trends in which solvent hydrogen-bond donor/acceptor balance and water miscibility govern implant architecture is proposed, and it is intended as a hypothesis-generating basis for the rational design of PIISI formulations; direct validation by spectroscopic, thermal-analytical, and biological methods is identified as the next step. The developed formulations are presented as a preliminary physicochemical platform; biological validation (in vitro cytocompatibility and inflammatory response assessment) is required before the system can be considered a validated formulation for dental drug delivery. Full article

Natural weak discontinuities, such as natural fractures, bedding planes, and coal–rock interfaces, are widely developed in deep coal reservoirs. During hydraulic fracture propagation, induced fractures readily interact with these weak planes through crossing, deflection, and combined activation, thereby forming complex fracture geometries and significantly affecting proppant transport and placement. To clarify the transport behavior of proppant under different fracture geometries, four representative tortuous wedge-shaped fractures were constructed to characterize typical fracture propagation patterns in deep coal reservoirs, namely a vertical straight fracture (“|”), a horizontal straight fracture (“—”), a T-shaped fracture, and a cross-shaped fracture (“+”). On this basis, a two-way coupled fluid–particle model was established using the CFD–DEM method to systematically investigate proppant migration, settling, and placement in different fractures, as well as the effects of injection velocity, particle size, and fluid viscosity. The results show that fracture geometry exerts a significant influence on proppant transport patterns and placement performance. Specifically, proppant transport in the “|”-shaped, T-shaped, and “+”-shaped fractures can be divided into three distinct stages: rapid start-up, stratified transport, and front advancement. In contrast, particles in the “—”-shaped fracture are only weakly affected by gravity and remain almost entirely in an orderly front-advancement regime, exhibiting the most stable and continuous placement behavior. Increasing injection velocity and fluid viscosity both improve proppant placement uniformity and markedly promote branch entry in the T-shaped fracture, whereas their improvement in the “+”-shaped fracture is relatively limited. When the fluid viscosity increases from 1 mPa·s to 5 mPa·s, the placement uniformity coefficient (PUC) of the “—”-shaped, “|”-shaped, T-shaped, and “+”-shaped fractures increases by approximately 3.2%, 5.6%, 6.3%, and 7.1%, respectively. These findings provide mechanistic insight into geometry-dependent proppant transport and placement in complex fractures of deep coal seams, and offer theoretical support for hydraulic fracturing design and parameter optimization. Full article

Sustained engagement in physical activity during adolescence is a critical determinant of long-term health and well-being. Performance feedback is widely used in youth sport settings, yet its motivational impact may depend on athletes’ developmental stage and training experience. This study examined adolescents’ motivational responses following individualized sprint performance feedback and investigated whether training experience and sprint performance moderated these responses. Fifty-three adolescent athletes (mean age = 14.86 ± 0.81 years) completed a brief five-item questionnaire assessing commitment, enjoyment, self-determination, intention to continue training, and self-efficacy immediately after receiving individualized sprint performance feedback. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate the scale’s factorial structure and reliability. A two-way analysis of variance examined the effects of training age (1–6 vs. 7–12 years) and sprint performance (faster vs. slower) on overall motivational response. Factor analyses provided preliminary support for a unidimensional motivational response construct (ω = 0.92; α = 0.92). Overall motivational responses following feedback were moderately positive. Sprint performance demonstrated a significant main effect on motivation. Importantly, a significant interaction between training age and performance emerged as the key finding, indicating that less experienced athletes were more sensitive to performance outcomes, whereas motivation among more experienced athletes remained relatively stable. Individualized sprint performance feedback appears to be associated with moderately positive motivational responses in adolescent athletes, particularly during early stages of sport participation. These findings highlight the importance of developmentally appropriate feedback strategies that emphasize progress and competence development to support engagement in youth sport, which may be relevant for sustained participation over time. Full article

Highway slope instability under coupled traffic and environmental loading poses critical threats to transportation safety in mountainous regions, where dynamic vehicular forces interact with complex geological conditions in ways that single-modality monitoring cannot fully resolve. This study proposes MMDF-DEWS, a multi-modal data fusion and deep learning-based early-warning system that, for the first time, treats quantified traffic-loading parameters as a first-class input modality alongside Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) displacement, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements, and embedded geotechnical sensor outputs. A hybrid Transformer–bidirectional LSTM backbone with hierarchical attention-guided fusion enables the model to capture both long-range temporal deformation trends and short-term dynamic responses triggered by heavy-vehicle passage. To guard against over-fitting on a limited number of instability events, we adopt chronological training/validation/test partitioning, five-fold cross-validation for hyper-parameter selection, stratified focal-loss training, and cross-dataset evaluation on two independent public benchmarks: the Three Gorges Reservoir Area Landslide Monitoring Dataset (TGRA-LMD) and the European Ground Motion Service Sentinel-1 (EGMS-S1) dataset. The framework outperforms six state-of-the-art baselines by 4.7–11.2% in F1-score, and ablation studies confirm that the explicit inclusion of traffic-loading features alone improves Warning-class recall by 6.3 percentage points, demonstrating a direct and physically grounded link between cyclic vehicular loading and slope-state prediction. The system satisfies operationally relevant engineering targets for warning lead time and false-alarm rate, and provides interpretable attention maps suitable for transportation-authority decision support. Full article

This study examines whether retail social media sentiment and community attention explain daily net capital flows into U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and whether issuer brand visibility conditions that relationship. We construct a balanced panel of $N=10$ ETFs over $T=514$ trading days (January 2024 to January 2026) and combine it with 162,819 cleaned Reddit posts to derive three AI-driven discourse variables: engagement-weighted sentiment, community attention, and a novel issuer-specific BrandScore. Entity fixed-effects regressions show that neither aggregate sentiment nor BrandScore level alone significantly predicts fund-level flows; however, the Sentiment $\times$ BrandScore interaction is significant ($\widehat{\beta }=2.930$, $p=0.038$), indicating that sentiment becomes economically meaningful only when attached to a visible issuer. This interaction survives two-way (entity + date) fixed effects ($p=0.012$) and winsorization ($p=0.004$). Panel quantile regressions reveal distributional heterogeneity in the brand-sentiment channel. Rolling 90-day window estimation confirms the mechanism is episodic, with the interaction achieving significance in 62.8% of subsample windows. These results provide suggestive evidence for a brand-filtered sentiment transmission mechanism in digital asset markets. Full article

Emotional well-being is an important consideration when applying non-invasive brain stimulation to regions involved in visual and oculomotor control. This study assessed affective changes following transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting the frontal eye field (FEF) and cerebellum using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Twenty-five healthy adults completed PANAS assessments after anodal and sham tDCS delivered in separate sessions. A repeated-measures general linear model evaluated stimulation type (anodal vs. sham), stimulation site (FEF vs. cerebellum), and time (pre- vs. post-stimulation). For positive affect, no significant interaction or main effects were observed across type, site, or time (all p > 0.05), with nonsignificant effects of site (p = 0.07) and stimulation type (p = 0.97). For negative affect, neither type (p = 0.11) nor site (p = 0.48) showed significant main effects; however, a significant three-way interaction among time, site, and type emerged (p = 0.01). Across all stimulation conditions, both positive and negative affect decreased post-stimulation. These findings indicate that tDCS targeting oculomotor regions does not produce adverse affective outcomes and is emotionally safe for experimental use. Future work should use extended stimulation protocols in clinical populations to further examine tDCS-related emotional modulation. Full article

Accurate complete-arch digital implant impressions remain challenging because cumulative image stitching distortion may increase across geometrically complex edentulous arches. This in vitro study evaluated the influence of implant spatial configuration on the trueness of complete-arch digital implant impressions obtained using current-generation intraoral scanners. Three edentulous mandibular models representing different implant spatial configurations were fabricated: closely spaced parallel implants, widely distributed parallel implants, and angulated implants. Seven intraoral scanners (Trios 3, Trios 4, Trios 5, Medit i500, Primescan 1, Primescan 2, and Aoralscan 3) were evaluated. Ten scans were acquired per model and scanner, generating 210 STL datasets. A CAD replacement workflow based on scan body library geometries was performed prior to deviation analysis. Trueness was evaluated using root-mean-square (RMS) deviation values following iterative closest point alignment with reference datasets obtained using a laboratory scanner. Statistical analysis was performed using two-way ANOVA and post hoc comparisons (α = 0.05). Significant differences were observed among scanners (p < 0.001), implant configurations (p < 0.001), and their interaction (p < 0.001). Lower RMS deviation values were generally observed in the closely spaced implant configuration, whereas widely distributed implants demonstrated the highest deviations across most scanners. Primescan 1 and Primescan 2 exhibited lower RMS deviation values and smaller increases in distortion across geometrically complex configurations. The spatial configuration of implants significantly influenced the trueness of complete-arch digital implant impressions. Increased implant spatial complexity was associated with greater cumulative stitching distortion during intraoral scanning procedures. Scanner performance varied with implant configuration, suggesting differing resistance to cumulative distortion among current-generation intraoral scanners. Full article