Search Results (163)

Background/Objectives: Fasting, orthorexia nervosa, and eating disorders are increasingly prevalent and interconnected. Understanding their relationship is essential for identifying potential risks and developing effective prevention and intervention strategies. This study investigated these associations to enhance our knowledge of their interplay and implications for mental health. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in Poland in 2023. A sample of 214 participants aged 16 to 65 (M = 27.95, SD = 9.44) participated in this study. Fasting behavior was the predictor (independent) variable, orthorexia nervosa (measured using the Authorized Bratman Orthorexia Self-Test) was the mediator, and an eating disorder was the dependent variable (assessed using the Eating Attitude Test). Results: The Mann–Whitney U-test indicated that the fasting group scored higher in orthorexia and eating disorder symptoms than the non-fasting sample. Positive associations emerged between the fasting, orthorexia, and eating disorder scales. Linear regression analysis identified significant predictors of eating disorder symptoms, such as age, fasting, dieting, overweight status, and orthorexia. A path analysis revealed that fasting affected eating disorders directly and indirectly through orthorexia. Conclusions: This study identified fasting as a risk factor for orthorexia and other eating disorders, with orthorexia fully mediating the fasting–eating disorder relationship. Clinicians should consider both fasting and orthorexia when assessing patients at risk for eating disorders. This paper also proposes possible intervention and treatment strategies for affected individuals. Full article

The research presented in this paper takes another step towards developing methods for automatic condition verification to detect structural damage to vehicle wheel rims. This study presents the utilisation of vibration spectra via Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and a neural network’s learning capabilities for evaluating structural damage. Amplitude and time cycles of acceleration were analyzed as the structural response. These cycles underwent FFT analysis, leading to the identification of four diagnostic symptoms described by 20 features of the diagnostic signal, which in turn defined a condition vector. In the subsequent stage, the amplitude and frequency cycles served as input data for the neural network, and based on them, self-organizing maps (SOM) were generated. From these maps, a condition vector was defined for each of the four positions of the rim. Therefore, the technical condition of the wheel rim was determined based on the variance in condition parameter features, using reference frequencies of vibration spectra and SOM visualisations. The outcome of this work is a unique synergetic diagnostic system with innovative features, identifying the condition of a wheel rim through vibration and acoustic analysis along with neural network techniques in the form of Kohonen maps. Full article

Background/Objectives: Positive body image is linked to improved mental and physical well-being, healthier lifestyles, and fewer unhealthy weight control behaviors. Cultural factors also play a role in influencing body appreciation. This study investigated the associations between body appreciation, body weight, lifestyle factors, and subjective health among bachelor’s students in Lithuania and Poland. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 1290 students from universities in both countries. The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) measured body appreciation, while participants provided self-reported data on their dietary habits, physical activity, sleep, health perceptions, and body weight and height. Linear regression models explored associations between BAS-2 scores, actual and perceived body weight, lifestyle habits, and subjective health. Results: Gender and country-based differences in body appreciation were observed. Lithuanian female students reported a higher median BAS score of 33 compared to 32 among Polish female students (p = 0.02), despite having a higher median BMI (22.3 kg/m² vs. 21.1 kg/m², p = 0.001). Positive body appreciation was linked to healthier dietary behaviors, such as higher consumption of fruits, vegetables, fish, and regular breakfasts. Additionally, greater physical activity and sufficient sleep were associated with higher body appreciation, while higher intake of sweets, sugary drinks, and fast food correlated with lower BAS-2 scores. Both BMI and perceived weight were negatively associated with body appreciation, particularly among females. Conclusions: Body appreciation is closely linked to body weight, healthier lifestyle, and positive health perceptions, suggesting that promoting healthier habits may improve body appreciation. Full article

Background/Objectives: The association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a common one, with long-term therapeutic and prognostic impact. In view of the high pulmonary and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, self-management contributes to decreasing the risk of an acute cardiac event or pulmonary decompensation. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study on 100 patients admitted to Iasi Clinical Rehabilitation Hospital who were divided into two groups according to the presence (67 patients) or absence (33 patients) of MetS. All patients benefited from multidisciplinary counseling sessions on their active role in improving modifiable cardiovascular risk factors and thus increasing quality of life. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of metabolic syndrome on lung function and the role of self-management in a 6-month follow-up period. The demographic, anthropometric, cardiovascular risk factors, and respiratory function were analyzed at baseline and at 6 months. Results: The presence of MetS was associated with higher fasting blood glucose (p = 0.004) and triglycerides (p = 0.003) but not with higher levels of interleukins or TNF-alpha. At the 6-month follow-up, abdominal circumference, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), dyspnea severity, and blood pressure values improved in male patients with COPD. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased in the COPD group as a whole, but especially in male patients with and without associated MetS. BMI was positively correlated with FEV1 (r = 0.389, p = 0.001) and the FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio (r = 0.508, p < 0.001) in all COPD patients and in the MetS subgroup. In the COPD group as a whole. the six-minute walk test (6MWT) results (m) were positively correlated with FEV1 and FVC. The correlation remained significant for FVC in COPD patients with and without MetS. An increase in BMI by one unit led to an increase in TG values by 3.358 mg/dL, and the presence of metabolic syndrome led to an increase in TG values by 17.433 mg/dL. Conclusions: In our study, MetS is a common comorbidity in patients with COPD and is associated with higher BMI, fasting glucose, and triglycerides but not with the inflammatory parameters. A mixed pulmonary–cardiovascular rehabilitation intervention leads to improvement in various parameters in both female and male COPD patients. Full article

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), as the world’s most sensitive single-dish radio telescope, necessitates highly accurate positioning of its feed cabin to utilize its full observational potential. Traditional positioning methods that rely on GNSS and IMU, integrated with TS devices, but the GNSS and TS devices are vulnerable to other signal and environmental disruptions, which can significantly diminish position accuracy and even cause observation to stop. To address these challenges, this study introduces a novel time-series prediction model that integrates Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks with a Self-Attention mechanism. This model can hold the precision of feed cabin positioning when the measure devices fail. Experimental results show that our LSTM-Self-Attention model achieves a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of less than 10 mm and a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of approximately 12 mm, with the errors across different axes following a near-normal distribution. This performance meets the FAST measurement precision requirement of 15 mm, a standard derived from engineering practices where measurement accuracy is set at one-third of the control accuracy, which is around 48 mm (according to the accuracy form the official threshold analysis on the focus cabin of FAST). This result not only compensates for the shortcomings of traditional methods in consistently solving feed cabin positioning, but also demonstrates the model’s ability to handle complex time-series data under specific conditions, such as sensor failures, thus providing a reliable tool for the stable operation of highly sensitive astronomical observations. Full article

Introduction There is increasing interest in food biomarkers to address the shortcomings of self-reported dietary assessments. Berries are regarded as important fruits worldwide; however, there are no well-validated biomarkers of berry intake. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify urinary biomarkers of berry intake. Methods For the discovery study, participants consumed 192 g strawberries with 150 g blueberries, and urine samples were collected at 2, 4, 6, and 24 h post-consumption. A dose–response study was performed, whereby participants consumed three portions (78 g, 278 g, and 428 g) of mixed strawberries and blueberries. The urine samples were profiled by an untargeted LC-MS metabolomics approach in the positive and negative modes. Results Statistical analysis of the data revealed that 39 features in the negative mode and 15 in the positive mode significantly increased between fasting and 4 h following mixed berry intake. Following the analysis of the dose–response data, 21 biomarkers showed overall significance across the portions of berry intake. Identification of the biomarkers was performed using fragmentation matches in the METLIN, HMDB, and MoNA databases and in published papers, confirmed where possible with authentic standards. Conclusions The ability of the panel of biomarkers to assess intake was examined, and the predictability was good, laying the foundations for the development of biomarker panels. Full article

Flexible electronic skin (e-skin) can enable robots to have sensory forms similar to human skin, enhancing their ability to obtain more information from touch. The non-invasive nature of electrical impedance tomography (EIT) technology allows electrodes to be arranged only at the edges of the skin, ensuring the stretchability and elasticity of the skin’s interior. However, the image quality reconstructed by EIT technology has deteriorated in multi-touch identification, where it is challenging to clearly reflect the number of touchpoints and accurately size the touch areas. This paper proposed an EIT-based flexible tactile sensor that employs self-made hydrogel material as the primary sensing medium. The sensor’s structure, fabrication process, and tactile imaging principle were elaborated. To improve the quality of image reconstruction, the fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm (FISTA) was embedded into the EIDORS toolkit. The performances of the e-skin in aspects of assessing the touching area, quantitative force sensing and multi-touch identification were examined. Results showed that the mean intersection over union (MIoU) of the reconstructed images was improved up to 0.84, and the tactile position can be accurately imaged in the case of the number of the touchpoints up to seven (larger than two to four touchpoints in existing studies), proving that the combination of the proposed sensor and imaging algorithm has high sensitivity and accuracy in multi-touch tactile sensing. The presented e-skin shows potential promise for the application in complex human–robot interaction (HRI) environments, such as prosthetics and wearable devices. Full article

Background: Consistent use of effective contraceptives is directly associated with a lower risk of unintended pregnancies, a significant public health burden in the U.S. The Asian American population is heterogeneous and fast-growing. However, patterns and disparities in contraceptive use among Asian American women, particularly within racial/ethnic subgroups, have been understudied, hindering effective family planning. Objectives: This study aimed to identify the prevalence of contraceptive use and its pattern in Asian American women using the 2015–2016 California Health and Interview Survey (CHIS) data, with a focus on different Asian ethnic subgroups. Study Design: A composite score of acculturation level (0–5) was created based on place of birth, years in the U.S., and language spoken at home. Data on demographics, self-rated health, contraceptive use, and related information were collected from women aged 18–44 years who were at risk of unintended pregnancy. Adjusted multivariable logistic regressions were conducted to examine contraceptive use and patterns in relation to race/ethnicity and other factors. Results: Over 18.20% of the overall sample (pop estimated N = 16,177,759) were Asian Americans, and among them, 24.62% were Chinese, followed by other Asian subgroups (28.83%), Filipina (25.49%), Korean (11.25%), and Vietnamese (9.80%). Overall, Filipina, Korean, and Vietnamese women were less likely to use contraception compared to their non-Hispanic White (NHW) peers, whereas acculturation level was positively associated with contraceptive use. Among different types of contraceptives, Filipina, Korean, and Vietnamese women were less likely to use long-acting reversible contraceptives compared to NHW. Such racial/ethnic disparities were not observed with less or moderately effective contraceptives. Conclusions: Patterns of contraceptive use and associated disparities varied among Asian American subgroups. Providers working with Asian American women should be aware of these racial disparities in contraceptive use and seek ways to address barriers to effective contraception use in this diverse population in order to provide culturally competent family planning services. Full article

Phaeodactylum tricornutum (PT) is a microalgae extract that contains fucoxanthin and has been shown to enhance cognitive function in younger populations. The present study assessed if PT supplementation affects cognition in healthy, young-old, physically active adults with self-perceptions of cognitive and memory decline. Methods: Forty-three males and females (64.3 ± 6.0 years, 79.8 ± 16.0 kg, 27.0 ± 4.0 kg/m²) with perceptions of cognitive and memory decline completed the double-blind, randomized, parallel-arm, placebo-controlled intervention clinical trial. Participants were counterbalanced by sex and BMI and randomly allocated to their respective 12-week supplementation interventions, which were either the placebo (PL) or 1100 mg/day of PT containing 8.8 mg of fucoxanthin (FX). Fasting blood samples were collected, and cognitive assessments were performed during the testing session at 0, 4, and 12 weeks of intervention. The data were analyzed by multivariate and univariate general linear model (GLM) analyses with repeated measures, pairwise comparisons, and mean changes from baseline analysis with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the clinical significance of the findings. Results: FX supplementation significantly affected (p < 0.05) or exhibited tendencies toward significance (p > 0.05 to p < 0.10 with effect sizes ranging from medium to large) for word recall, picture recognition reaction time, Stroop color–word test, choice reaction time, and digit vigilance test variables. Additionally, FX supplementation promoted a more consistent clinical improvement from baseline values when examining mean changes with 95% CIs, although most differences were seen over time rather than between groups. Conclusions: The results demonstrate some evidence that FX supplementation can improve working and secondary memory, vigilance, attention, accuracy, and executive function. There was also evidence that FX promoted more positive effects on insulin sensitivity and perceptions about sleep quality with no negative effects on clinical blood panels or perceived side effects. Additional research should investigate how FX may affect cognition in individuals perceiving memory and cognitive decline. Registered clinical trial #NCT05759910. Full article

Rock burst is a worldwide prevention and control problem, and the main reason for its occurrence is the concentration of stress in the surrounding rock of the coal roadway. Therefore, it is of great significance to realize the rapid and accurate detection of the stress distribution in the surrounding rock of the roadway for the prevention and control of rock burst. Based on the principle of charge induction, this paper adopts a research method combining theoretical analysis and indoor and field tests to carry out a study on the charge induction detection of stress distribution of surrounding rock in coal seam roadways using the self-developed coal rock charge induction monitor. A theoretical analysis of the charge induction intensity in relation to the stress level is carried out. Indoor tests on the law of charge induction for graded loading of large sized coal samples are carried out. Field detection tests of the charge induction law at different drilling depths on the solid coal side and the large coal pillar side of the coal seam roadway are carried out. The results show a positive correlation between the charge signal intensity and the stress magnitude. The induced charge of coal samples has a tendency to increase with the increase in graded loading stress level. The magnitude of the induced charge can reflect the stress level of the coal body. On the solid coal side, the induced charge has a tendency of increasing and then decreasing with the increase in detection depth. The final results are in good agreement with the results of the drill chip method, which better reflects the distribution of the lateral support pressure of the roadway. On the side of the large coal pillar, the induced charge has a tendency to increase, then decrease, and then increase with the increase in probing depth, which is in good agreement with the distribution of lateral support pressure formed in the elastic core area of the large coal pillar. Therefore, the charge induction technology can be used as a fast, non-contact detection means for the partitioning and stress distribution of the roadway enclosure, which can provide guidance for the target prevention and controlling rock burst and for designing roadway support. Full article

The study of the intricate flight patterns and behaviors of swarm insects, such as drosophilas, has long been a subject of interest in both the biological and computational realms. Tracking drosophilas is an essential and indispensable method for researching drosophilas’ behaviors. Still, it remains a challenging task due to the highly dynamic nature of these drosophilas and their partial occlusion in multi-target environments. To address these challenges, particularly in environments where multiple targets (drosophilas) interact and overlap, we have developed a long-term Trajectory 3D Position and Orientation Tracking Method (Long 3D-POT) that combines deep learning with particle filtering. Our approach employs a detection model based on an improved Mask-RCNN to accurately detect the position and state of drosophilas from frames, even when they are partially occluded. Following detection, improved particle filtering is used to predict and update the motion of the drosophilas. To further enhance accuracy, we have introduced a prediction module based on the self-attention backbone that predicts the drosophila’s next state and updates the particles’ weights accordingly. Compared with previous methods by Ameni, Cheng, and Wang, our method has demonstrated a higher degree of accuracy and robustness in tracking the long-term trajectories of drosophilas, even those that are partially occluded. Specifically, Ameni employs the Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) combined with the Global Nearest Neighbor (GNN) assignment algorithm, primarily designed for tracking larger, more predictable targets like aircraft, which tends to perform poorly with small, fast-moving objects like drosophilas. The method by Cheng then integrates particle filtering with LSTM networks to predict particle weights, enhancing trajectory prediction under kinetic uncertainties. Wang’s approach builds on Cheng’s by incorporating an estimation of the orientation of drosophilas in order to refine tracking further. Compared with those methods, our method performs with higher accuracy on detection, which increases by more than 10% on the F1 Score, and tracks more long-term trajectories, showing stability. Full article

Integrated thin film-based shape memory polyimide composites (SMPICs) are potentially attractive for efficient and compact design, thereby offering cost-effective applications. The objective of this article is to design and evaluate a mirror manipulator using an SMPIC as an actuator and a sensor with control. A sensor-less control strategy using the SMPIC (a self-sensing actuator) with a proportional derivative combined variable structure controller (PD-VSC) is proposed for position control of the mirror in both the vertical and angular directions. The mirror manipulator is able to move the mirror in the vertical and angular directions by 3.39 mm and 10.5 deg, respectively. A desired fast response is obtained as the performance under control. In addition, some benefits from the proposed control realization include good tracking, stable switching, no overshoot, no steady state oscillations, and robust disturbance rejection. These superior properties are experimentally validated to reflect practical feasibility. Full article

Aiming at the cooperative localization problem for the dynamic UAV swarm in an anchor-limited environment, an adaptive Wasserstein filter (AWF) with distance-constrained bare bones self-recovery particles (CBBP) is proposed. Firstly, to suppress the cumulative error from the inertial navigation system (INS), a position-prediction strategy based on transition particles is designed instead of using inertial measurements directly, which ensures that the generated prior particles can better cover the ground truth and provide the uncertainties of nonlinear estimation. Then, to effectively quantify the difference between the observed and the prior data, the Wasserstein measure based on slice segmentation is introduced to update the posterior weights of the particles, which makes the proposed algorithm robust against distance-measurement noise variance under the strongly nonlinear model. In addition, to solve the problem of particle impoverishment caused by traditional resampling, a diversity threshold based on Gini purity is designed, and a fast bare bones particle self-recovery algorithm with distance constraint is proposed to guide the outlier particles to the high-likelihood region, which effectively improves the accuracy and stability of the estimation. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is robust against cumulative error in an anchor-limited environment and achieves more competitive accuracy with fewer particles. Full article

In the stage of aircraft development and airworthiness verification, it is necessary to master the influence of lithium-ion battery (LIB) thermal runaway (TR) propagation. In this paper, the battery TR propagation behavior under different trigger positions and modes is studied experimentally, and the calculation and comparison are carried out from the parameters of real-time temperature, voltage, propagation speed, total energy released, and solid ejecta. When the two adjacent cells at the top corner, side, and center of the module are overheated, TR occurs at about 1000 s for the triggered cells, while the whole-overheating trigger mode takes a longer time. The latter’s transmission speed is extremely fast, spreading 2.67 cells per second on average. The heat generated by the solid ejecta of the whole-overheating trigger mode is 82,437 J, which is more destructive. The voltage of the triggered cell fluctuates abnormally in a precursor manner when the internal active substances in the cell undergo a self-generated thermal reaction. This work can provide a reference for the safety and economical design of system installations and the correct setting of airworthiness verification Method of Compliance (MoC) experiments to verify whether the aircraft can bear and contain the adverse effects caused by LIB TR. Full article

One of the contemporary challenges facing urban areas is the necessity to identify novel approaches to resident involvement in solution creation, with a particular focus on ensuring the best possible nutrition. By investigating the process of co-participation of city dwellers in a unique education project, this paper aims to gain a deeper understanding of the health-related motivations that underpin the decision of early adopters of the implemented technological innovations to join the social experiment. The qualitative study employed purposive sampling and in-depth interviews conducted in two waves, the first between October and November 2022 and the second between September 2023 and January 2024. The study comprised 42 participants drawn from two communities of residents in Łódź and Warsaw, Poland. Transcriptions of the interviews were carried out using semantic field analysis, employing a quantitative approach that counts the frequency of keyword occurrences. Three categories of semantic fields were identified: associations, oppositions, and actions toward the subject, including positive, neutral, and negative temperatures. The findings demonstrate that the health concerns of residents are a pivotal factor in their decision to participate in urban food self-production initiatives, given their limited access to nutritious and healthy vegetables. This is related to several factors, including restrictions related to urbanization and the displacement of local suppliers, lifestyle, and the fast pace of urban life. The dissemination of innovative solutions for growing food in urban environments could, therefore, facilitate awareness-raising and motivation to alter the dietary habits of inhabitants. Full article