Search Results (124)

Background: Dietary advice for Paralympic athletes (PAs) with a spinal cord injury (PAs-SCI) requires particular attention and has been widely studied. However, currently, no particular attention has been addressed to nutritional guidelines for athletes with an amputation (PAs-AMP). This study aimed at filling up this gap, at least partially, and compared veteran PAs-SCI with PAs-AMP. Methods: A sample of 25 male PAs (12 with SCI and 13 with AMP), recruited during two training camps, was submitted to the following questionnaires: allergy questionnaire for athletes (AQUA), Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), Starvation Symptom Inventory (SSI), neurogenic bowel dysfunction (NBD), orthorexia (ORTO-15/ORTO-7), alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT), and Mediterranean diet adherence (MDS). The PAs were also submitted to the following measurements: dietary Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) and intakes, body composition, handgrip strength (HGS), basal energy expenditure (BEE), peak oxygen uptake (VO_2peak), peak power, peak heart rate (HR), post-exercise ketosis, and antioxidant response after a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) to voluntary fatigue. Results: Compared to PAs-AMP, PAs-SCI had higher NBD and lower VO_2peak (p < 0.05), peak power, peak HR, peak lactate, phase angle (PhA) of the dominant leg (p < 0.05), and ORTO15 (p < 0.05). The latter was related to NBD (r = −0.453), MDS (r = −0.638), and ORAC (r = −0.529), whereas ORTO7 correlated with PhA of the dominant leg (r = 0.485). Significant differences between PAs-AMP and PAs-SCI were not found in the antioxidant response, glucose, and ketone levels after CPET, nor in dietary intake, AUDIT, AQUA, NMQ, SSI, BEE, HGS, and FM%. Conclusions: The present study showed that PAs-SCI and PAs-AMP display similar characteristics in relation to lifestyle, energy intake, basal energy expenditure, and metabolic response to CPET. Based on both the similarities with PAs-SCI and the consequences of the limb deficiency impairment, PAs-AMP and PAs-SCI require personalized nutritional advice. Full article

With ketamine gaining attention as a therapeutic drug, oral administration offers an effective alternative to traditional parenteral routes. However, a significant gap remains in understanding its use via voluntary ingestion. This preliminary study aimed to explore the feasibility of oral ketamine self-administration in mice (Mus musculus), while investigating the effects of low concentrations on the brain, liver, and kidney. Adult mice were divided into three groups and received ketamine in their drinking water for 16 days at 0 (control), 5 (K5), or 10 mg/L (K10). A transient decrease in water consumption was observed in both sexes in the K10 group; however, only females in this group showed differences in ketamine intake between groups on some days. Oxidative stress markers measured in the brain, liver, and kidney only revealed higher catalase activity in the brains of females. No significant alterations were observed in liver and kidney function in either sex, nor in inflammation, apoptosis, or DNA damage in kidney tissues. Overall, these findings support the viability of voluntary oral ketamine administration and accentuate the need to refine the proposed model, not only to prevent water consumption inhibition but also to extend the exposure period, explore potential sex-related differences in ketamine intake, and further confirm the safety of oral ketamine administration. Full article

The present study explores the use of Instagram as an innovative strategy in the teaching–learning process in the context of animal reproduction topics. In the current era, with digital technology and social media transforming how information is accessed and consumed, it is essential for teachers to adapt and harness the potential of these tools for educational purposes. This article delves into the need for teachers to stay updated with current trends and the importance of promoting digital competences among teachers. This research aims to provide insights into the benefits of integrating social media into the educational landscape. Students of Veterinary Science degrees, Master’s degrees in Equine Sport Medicine as well as vocational education and training (VET) were involved in this study. An Instagram account named “UCOREPRO” was created for educational use, and it was openly available to all users. Instagram usage metrics were consistently tracked. A voluntary survey comprising 35 questions was conducted to collect feedback regarding the educational use of smartphone technology, social media habits and the UCOREPRO Instagram account. The integration of Instagram as an educational tool was positively received by veterinary students. Survey data revealed that 92.3% of respondents found the content engaging, with 79.5% reporting improved understanding of the subject and 71.8% acquiring new knowledge. Students suggested improvements such as more frequent posting and inclusion of academic incentives. Concerns about privacy and digital distraction were present but did not outweigh the perceived benefits. The use of short videos and microlearning strategies proved particularly effective in capturing students’ attention. Overall, Instagram was found to be a promising platform to enhance motivation, engagement, and informal learning in veterinary education, provided that thoughtful integration and clear educational objectives are maintained. In general, students expressed positive opinions about the initiative, and suggested some ways in which it could be improved as an educational tool. Full article

The Global Virus Network (GVN) is a voluntary consortium of virology laboratories and affiliated scientists that seek to prevent and control global viral threats. The meetings of the GVN are characterized by academic, health center, government, and industry participation, sharing information that is designed to further the mutual mission. In September 2024, the meeting in Durban, South Africa, highlighted diseases and investigators from Africa, and paid special attention to pandemic preparedness. Selected highlights from the meeting are presented here, along with a call-to-action in defense of global partnerships for research in the origins of human and animal viruses, the risk to humans from other animal sources, the pathogenesis of given viruses, and their prevention and treatment. Discussions of laboratory discovery science are juxtaposed with development of vaccines, antiviral drugs, immunotherapies, and innovative field strategies for control of viral diseases. Full article

Background/Objectives: Environmental psychology has long investigated how exposure to natural versus urban environments influences cognitive processes, particularly attention. According to Attention Restoration Theory (ART), natural scenes promote involuntary attention and facilitate recovery from mental fatigue. In this study, we used a modified Posner cueing paradigm to assess how natural and urban backgrounds affect both exogenous (involuntary) and endogenous (voluntary) attention. To capture both behavioral and neural responses, the study collected reaction times (RTs) as a measure of task performance, alongside electrophysiological data (event-related potentials, ERPs: P1, N1, P2, N2, and P3) to explore underlying attentional processes. Methods: Participants completed a visuospatial task in which visual cues anticipated the appearance of a target stimulus, while background images depicting either natural or urban environments remained visible throughout. Attention was assessed under both valid (cue correctly predicts target location) and invalid (cue misleads target location) conditions. Results: The overall findings align with the existing literature: RTs were shorter in valid trials compared to invalid ones. No main facilitation effect from natural backgrounds was observed. However, participants showed slower RTs in invalid trials with natural backgrounds, which may support ART by suggesting that attention restoration could lead to slower responses in certain attentional scenarios. Electrophysiological data reinforced these behavioral results, revealing an increased N2 amplitude in the natural background invalid condition. Conclusions: Despite some limitations, this study provides novel insights into human–nature interactions, offering a fresh perspective on the complex relationship between environment and cognition. Full article

Adequately incentivizing firms to implement green technological innovation (GTI) is pivotal to achieving sustainable development. Green factory certification, a prominent example of voluntary environmental regulation, has garnered significant attention in both theoretical and policy concerns regarding its impact on green technological innovation. Leveraging green factory certification as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper utilizes a multi-timepoint difference-in-differences (DID) approach to systematically investigate its influence on firms’ green technological innovation. The findings reveal several important insights. (1) Green factory certification significantly enhances firms’ green technological innovation capabilities, facilitating substantial enhancements in both the quantity and quality of green technological innovation. (2) Mechanism analysis indicates that green factory certification promotes green innovation via three key channels—promoting the digitalization level, strengthening ESG practices, and facilitating financing constraints. (3) The green innovation incentive effects of green factory certification are particularly pronounced among firms in the eastern region, non-state-owned entities, and those exhibiting lower pollution levels. These findings underscore the critical role of green certification systems in fostering corporate green development, offering both theoretical insights and practical guidance for firms undergoing green transformation while contributing to the broader goal of sustainable development. Full article

Background/Objectives: Recurrent hip dislocations are a rare occurrence in pediatric patients. As there are few cases of voluntary habitual dislocation documented in the literature, there is a paucity of information available regarding its pathogenesis, risk factors, and classification. The prognosis for these patients is generally good. A long-term follow-up duration of two years was conducted to evaluate outcomes. Statistical analysis was performed to assess the impact of family structure and treatment approaches on outcomes. Methods: From January 2010 to December 2022, patients with voluntary habitual hip dislocation were retrospectively identified through the hospital information system. Data regarding demographic characteristics, clinical findings, and treatment outcomes were analyzed. A total of 13 patients (14 hips) met the inclusion criteria. Conservative treatment methods, including orthosis and family therapy, were applied. Statistical analysis was performed to assess the impact of family structure and treatment approaches on outcomes. Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 48.7 months, with 77% of cases being female. Posterior dislocation was observed in all cases, and no underlying bone pathology was detected on imaging. The prognosis for these patients is generally good. At the one-year follow-up, 85% of patients achieved a complete resolution of dislocations, increasing to 100% by the two-year follow-up. Patients from larger families demonstrated significantly slower recovery rates at the first- and sixth-month evaluations (p = 0.033 and p = 0.048, respectively), but outcomes were comparable by one year. A unique aspect of this study is the emphasis on family dynamics, which significantly influenced treatment adherence and recovery. Statistical analysis was performed to assess the impact of family structure and treatment approaches on outcomes. Conclusions: Voluntary habitual hip dislocation is a rare condition with good long-term outcomes under conservative management. This study highlights the importance of addressing family dynamics in the treatment plan, especially in larger families, where attention and psychological factors may play a significant role in delayed recovery. Full article

This article summarizes the existing literature on the study of tax compliance at the individual and corporate levels and the investigation of the factors that shape and influence it. In addition, it assesses the relationship of digital transformation with the concept of tax compliance, as the former refers not only to the introduction of modern technological tools and procedures, but also to the shift of attention of tax administrations from ex post compliance and the imposition of fines, to voluntary compliance and the adoption of friendlier, cheaper and more efficient services for taxpayers. A special mention goes to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue of Greece, which, as the official tax authority, has introduced and continues to introduce innovative digital tools that increase tax revenues. Full article

This paper examines the relationship between the voluntary disclosure of intangible assets and financing constraints using a sample of 2850 listed companies from 2017 to 2021. Additionally, we examine the moderating effects of prudence in accounting and the attention given to the disclosures by analysts from both an internal and an external perspective. The results show that voluntarily disclosing intangible assets helps to alleviate a firm’s financing constraints, with more significant effects observed in state-owned enterprises and companies listed on the Growth Enterprise Market index than for private enterprises and those listed on the main board of the Chinese capital market. Further, conservatism in accounting and attention given by financial analysts both positively moderate this relationship. The theoretical and empirical insights provided by this study should help listed companies in China to enhance the quality of their voluntary intangible asset disclosures, while also helping to mitigate financing constraints. Full article

Background/Objectives: The development of techniques for assessing cognitive functions using eye tracking is particularly important for children with developmental disabilities. In this paper, we present pilot results from the validation of two methods for assessing voluntary attention based on eye tracking. Methods: The study involved 80 children aged 3 to 8 years with neurodevelopmental disorders. Children performed two eye-tracking tests in which they had to ‘catch’ a stimulus by looking at it. They also completed the Attention Sustained subtest of the Leiter-3 International Performance Scale. In the first test, the stimuli were presented at different locations on the screen in subtests with stimuli onset asynchrony of 2 s and 1 s. A translucent blue marker marked the position of the gaze on the screen. The number of trials in which the gaze marker approached the stimulus was determined. In the second test, the location of the stimuli on the screen was changed based on gaze fixation in the ROI area. The time taken to complete the task was evaluated. Results: The results of both eye-tracking tests showed significant correlations with scores on the Attention Sustained Leiter-3 subtest and significant test–retest reliability. Conclusions: The results indicate that the present eye-tracking tests can be used for assessing voluntary attention in children with some neurodevelopmental disorders, and further research is warranted to assess the feasibility of these tests for a broader range of developmental disorders. Our findings could have practical implications for the early intervention and ongoing monitoring of attention-related issues. Full article

This article lies at the intersection of migration studies and disability studies and aims to contribute to redressing the considerable gap in knowledge regarding disabled voluntary migrants. These two areas, migration and disability, respectively, have rarely been considered together, a significant gap given the situation faced by disabled migrants and crosscutting issues confronting disabled people and migrants. Dynamics of exclusion are viewed as a shared experience of migrants, disabled people and disabled migrants. This paper is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with voluntary EU migrants to the UK, disabled British people and disabled EU migrants, which are supplemented by key informant interviews. All were conducted in 2019 in the north of England. The findings highlight that when migration and disability are considered concurrently, barriers multiply and result in a nuanced disadvantage and experiences of social marginalisation. Migrant and disability experience translates into social vulnerability and is a contributing cause of exclusion in relation to social expectations and mainstream services. This paper concludes that there is an urgent need to change the narrative and perception that migrant and disabled people are less worthy of attention and bring their needs to the fore. Full article

The aim of this study is to reveal in an interpretive way how computer-mediated communication, the Internet, and social media can be grasped by authority models and how these new types of authority influence religious communities that are (also) present on online platforms. In some cases, computer-mediated communication weakened and made traditional church authorities porous, but in other cases, it specifically helped and strengthened them. In other words, the impact of digital media is not uniform or unidirectional in this respect. Although there is no doubt that the Internet has multiplied it, made it optional, and personalized it from the user’s point of view, it has made religious authority customizable. The power of choice means that, in the digital sphere, the user decides when, what form of network authority they will submit to, for how long, and why they do so. In the classics of the sociology of religion, the concept of authority appears in a hierarchical representation under the concepts of (social) order and rationality. In other words, it cannot be thought of in a way that is contrary to rationality and contrary to social order. In network communication, the concept of authority is subordinated to technology, or as Castells puts it, power can only be interpreted with the logic of the network. Of course, the technological network and its contents are under external (legal) control, but it is precisely the power of the symbolic struggles taking place here that shows how important this issue is in the 21st century. The concept of authority classified under technology will no longer be linked to order or rationality, but to the processes of control, datafication, and attention management on the part of the owners of the platforms, while from the users’ side to concepts such as identity, authenticity, choice, and voluntariness. Its boundaries will be malleable, and the phenomenon itself will multiply. In summary, we cannot talk about one single online religious authority but more types of religious authorities, which are continuously and discursively formed, change, and occasionally hybridize. Full article

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards have received widespread attention in the quest for sustainable development. However, a comprehensive understanding of the current status of ESG standards, particularly in the context of China, remains a scientific gap. This study bridges this gap by adopting a bibliometric analysis to comprehensively analyze the current status of ESG standards. Based on an analysis of 213 articles involving ESG standards in the Web of Science Core Collection database from 2015 to 2024, this study identified the global distribution of ESG standards organizations, research hotspots, trends, and cutting-edge status of ESG standards research. It was found that the research on ESG standards shows a growing trend: the research hotspots mainly focus on the areas of performance, rating, investment, and sustainability. Crucially, this study offers novel insights into the current development status of ESG standards in China, emphasizing the significant roles of the government’s promotion of ESG standard formulation and regulation, corporate voluntary compliance, and academic research and communication. Future research directions on ESG standards are proposed and imply that the implementation of ESG standards in China should be beneficial to sustainable development. Full article

Conservation easements (CEs) are used as a conservation mechanism to conserve the biodiversity and ecosystem on private land, and are receiving increasing attention around the world. Most of the literature mainly focused on the contribution of CE to private land conservation in the U.S. and other countries, while its role in collective land conservation remains underreported. China planned to build the world’s largest national parks (NPs) and faced the conflict between nature conservation and social development. As a private and voluntary conservation tool, CEs have the potential to fill the conservation gap, reduce conservation costs, promote adaptive management, and incentivize sustainable national park construction. We reviewed the recent CE practices in Qianjiangyuan, Wuyishan and Nanshan National Parks. The local government and NP administration drove its practices in China’s NPs, whereas non-profit organizations have few opportunities to participate. Furthermore, due to the current legislation’s lack of explicit specifications regarding CEs, the provisions outlined in the CE agreement were insufficiently constructed and did not align with the unique circumstances of the park. Thus, the implementation of the National Park Act serves as a fitting means to introduce the CE in China. Full article

In the European Union, greenhouse gas emissions statistics indicate only a slight decreasing trend over the last number of years in emissions from agricultural sources. Unless drastic action is taken in other sectors, the European Union’s 2030 and subsequent climate targets are unlikely to be met without greater reductions made in agricultural emissions. The policy instruments aimed at reducing agricultural emissions that are currently in place have proven to be ineffective; therefore, there is a need to look for new approaches towards bringing agricultural emissions down faster and farther. One obvious new approach is to integrate agricultural emissions into the European Union Emissions Trading System, which, so far, has proven very successful in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy and industrial sectors. Hardly any attention has been paid in the scholarly legal literature to the question of integrating agricultural GHG emissions into emission trading systems. This article seeks to fill this gap. This paper presents the concluding findings of a Dutch Research Council-funded research project that aimed to assess whether and under what conditions the European Union Emissions Trading System could play a role in compelling the agricultural sector to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. We answered this question by looking at lessons learned from existing examples in the world of market-based approaches to integrating agriculture into emission reduction schemes. To do this, we performed an ex-post assessment of three of the very few examples that exist in the world of such schemes in Canada, California, and Australia, followed by an ex-ante assessment of the prospect of including agricultural emissions under the European Union Emissions Trading System based on the practical experiences of those examples. In the ex-ante study, we evaluated how such inclusion could work, either indirectly, through allowing on-farm offset programs to reward increased carbon sequestration, or directly, by requiring farmers and/or other actors in the agricultural sector to surrender allowances for their direct emissions. As lawyers, we focused mainly on the legal considerations of such a proposition. Having conducted both the ex-ante and ex-post assessments, we conclude that introducing stricter legal instruments of one form or another that will reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon removal on agricultural land seems necessary for the European Union if it is serious about achieving its commitments under the Paris Agreement and meeting its obligations under its own Climate Law. The project makes a novel contribution to the legal scholarship in concluding that the most viable starting point for such stricter legislation would be to include methane and nitrous oxide emissions from livestock keeping and synthetic fertilizer use, respectively, under the European Union Emissions Trading System. To start with, this could be conducted by obliging meat and dairy processors and synthetic fertilizer producers to surrender allowances for the on-farm emissions associated with their products. This could be complemented by introducing a voluntary, but still highly regulated, carbon credits scheme that could encourage and reward farmers for reducing their own emissions and for transitioning to net-zero, and overall, more climate-resilient and environmentally friendly farming practices. Such credits could be offered for sale on the private carbon market as well as to Member State governments and the European Commission (through, for example, the Common Agricultural Policy, State Aid schemes, or the Innovation Fund). Full article