Search Results (2,148)

Soft sensors are designed to be flexible, making them ideal for wearable devices as they can conform to the human body during motion, capturing pertinent information effectively. However, once these wearable sensors are constructed, modifying them is not straightforward without undergoing a re-prototyping process. In this study, we introduced a novel design for a modular soft sensor unit (M2SU) that incorporates a short, wire-shaped sensory structure made of eutectogel, with magnetic blocks at both ends. This design facilitates the easy assembly and reversible integration of the sensor directly onto a wearable device in situ. Leveraging the piezoresistive properties of eutectogel and the dual conductive and magnetic characteristics of neodymium magnets, our sensor unit acts as both a sensing element and a modular component. To explore the practical application of M2SUs in wearable sensing, we equipped a glove with 8 M2SUs. We evaluated its performance across three common gesture recognition tasks: numeric keypad typing (Task 1), symbol drawing (Task 2), and uppercase letter writing (Task 3). Employing a 1D convolutional neural network to analyze the collected data, we achieved task-specific accuracies of 80.43% (Top 3: 97.68%) for Task 1, 88.58% (Top 3: 96.13%) for Task 2, and 79.87% (Top 3: 91.59%) for Task 3. These results confirm that our modular soft sensor design can facilitate high-accuracy gesture recognition on wearable devices through straightforward, in situ assembly. Full article

In this work, we describe the mechanical design, analysis, and tests of an innovative automatic high-speed industrial postal canceling machine. The main novelties of this machine are automatic feeding of heterogeneous letters in a very compact design, high speed of letter processing (>22,000 letters per hour), and letter jamming detection. This is the first time that such an industrial and automatic machine is being constructed in a reduced desktop size and is able to handle heterogeneous types of letters at a high-speed rate. The cancel machine includes a linear feeding belt for the letter feeding, assisted by a vacuum letter gripper and a set of conveyor belts that guide the letter to the impression. The machine has low energy consumption and is easy to maintain with multiple safety limit switches. The design is fully compliant with the new European machine regulations. We show the details of the mechanical design, and we present several performance and speed tests, demonstrating that the machine achieves more than 99.8% of canceling rate with different sizes and thicknesses of letters, padded and mixed-size, while having a letter canceling speed of more than 22,000 letters per hour. Full article

Background/Objectives: There is scientific evidence showing that body- and/or body weight-related blaming, guilting, and shaming continue to be both promoted and tolerated in many societal contexts, including schools and healthcare settings. A deeply ingrained belief still prevails among many individuals that inducing these negative emotions can serve as a motivator for children and adolescents to engage in obesity treatment. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review is to examine these emotions (blame, guilt, shame) in relation to body weight and their impact on psychological functioning within the pediatric population affected by overweight and obesity. Methods: Articles were searched up using PubMed and Web of Science in June 2023 and March 2025. The search was conducted without limiting the years of publication. The inclusion criteria included the following: (1) pediatric samples, (2) full text available, and (3) original research articles. Articles were excluded if they were editorials, letters, replies from authors, review articles, and articles without a full text. Results: The initial search returned 199 results. A total of 16 articles were included in the study. Analysis of the collected records revealed associations between body- or weight-related blame, guilt, and shame and various aspects of psychological functioning in the pediatric population such as (a) interpersonal context (e.g., social stigma, bullying, teasing history, social connectedness, weight-related language used by parents in conversations with children and adolescents; (b) intrapsychic context—relationship with eating and food (e.g., binge eating, dietary restraint, emotional eating, and the risk of developing eating disorders); (c) intrapsychic context—self-perception (e.g., self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, self-compassion, self-efficacy, perceived control); (d) intrapsychic context—emotional functioning (e.g., emotional distress, anxiety, depression, emotion regulation strategies); and (e) intrapsychic context—additional psychological factors (e.g., mindfulness, quality of life, willingness to seek help, and motivation for both help-seeking and sustaining successful lifestyle changes). Conclusions: Understanding the dynamics of body- and/or weight-related blame, guilt, and shame among children and adolescents with overweight and obesity is essential for developing effective support systems that enhance their well-being and psychological resilience in both the prevention and treatment of obesity. Further research is needed to explore the relationships between body- and weight-related blame, guilt, and shame and psychological functioning in pediatric populations with overweight and obesity, including the dynamics of child–parent–healthcare provider interactions, the context of parenting skills and attitudes that support the child during obesity treatment, the long-term consequences of body- and weight-related blame, guilt, and shame, the relationship between healthcare providers’ tendencies to engage in body- and weight-related shaming or blaming and their communication skills and mental well-being (e.g., levels of professional burnout, emotion regulation skills, and personality traits), as well as the influence of social media on body- and weight-related shame, guilt, and blame. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only triggered a global health crisis but also profoundly disrupted the psychological well-being of older adults, leading to heightened levels of burnout, uncertainty, and anxiety about the future. During times of crisis, intrinsic religious motivation may offer a spiritual grounding that fosters hope, a critical internal resource in sustaining emotional balance. This study investigates the mediating role of hope in the relationship between intrinsic religious motivation, pandemic-related burnout, and future anxiety among Turkish older adults. A total of 427 participants (M_age = 66.98, SD = 7.23) were recruited using a cross-sectional design. Participants completed validated measures of intrinsic religiosity, dispositional hope, pandemic burnout, and future anxiety. Structural equation modeling revealed that intrinsic religious motivation positively predicted hope and negatively predicted both burnout and future anxiety. Moreover, hope significantly mediated the relationship between intrinsic religious motivation and both outcome variables. These findings suggest that religious meaning-making may enhance psychological resilience by promoting hope, thereby mitigating the mental health burden during large-scale crises. The study enhances understanding of culturally embedded support mechanisms and highlights the role of faith-based inner resources, such as intrinsic religious motivation and hope, in fostering resilience among older adults during uncertainty and crisis. Full article

In this article, we analyse durational variation for inherently long consonants in Italian. Productions by 40 speakers of four regional varieties were elicited via a read-aloud task containing target words with inherently long consonants in the post-consonantal vs. intervocalic position. The analysis of acoustic durations revealed variation. Overall, we found that /ts/, /dz/ and /ʎ/ were considerably longer intervocalically than post-consonantally, although by smaller ratios than those reported in the literature for contrastive geminates; the effect was smaller for /ʃ/ and barely detectable for /ɲ/. We also detected a trend to lengthen /dz/ and /ʃ/ after a morphemic boundary. In terms of regional variation, north-eastern speakers were found to diverge from the others, with shorter durations and less consistent durational patterns. Additionally, we verified the existence of lengthening induced by double letters for /ts/ (vizi—vizzi) and /dz/ (Gaza—gazza), and only found it for /dz/, particularly for north-eastern speakers. We argue that this may originally have been an orthographic effect due to the acquisition of Italian at school via the written form by past generations, which has been lost for /ts/ but preserved for /dz/ under the influence of loanwords spelled with <z> and pronounced as short intervocalically. Full article

Some realist views about fiction are non-objectual in that they see fictional characters not as objects but rather as properties or the like; notably, kinds, roles, or denoting concepts. The view centered on denoting concepts proposed in Orilia’s “A Theory of Fictional Entities Based on Denoting Concepts” (2012) is presented in this paper with further motivations and details and in relation to issues not previously dealt with from its perspective. This view differs from other proposals of this sort, such as those by Cocchiarella and Landini, for its flexibility in allowing for story-free fictional characters: they can migrate from one story to another. This migration is granted in two ways, one that relies on the preservation of salient common features and another grounded on an appropriate causal connection between stories, typically involving authorial intentions. A more detailed account of this connection and of its interplay with the preservation of salient features is elaborated. Moreover, the phenomenon of fictionally non-existent characters (as in fiction within fiction) is addressed. Finally, the presence in fiction of historical, plural, indeterminate, and identity-inconsistent characters is examined and analyzed in terms of denoting concepts. Full article

Visual imagery (VI) is a mental process in which an individual generates and sustains a mental image of an object without physically seeing it. Recent advancements in assistive technology have enabled the utilization of VI mental tasks as a control paradigm to design brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) capable of generating numerous control signals. This, in turn, enables the design of control systems to assist individuals with locked-in syndrome in communicating and interacting with their environment. This paper presents an electroencephalogram (EEG) dataset captured from 30 healthy native Arabic-speaking subjects (12 females and 18 males; mean age: 20.8 years; age range: 19–23) while they visually imagined the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet. Each subject conducted 10 trials per letter, resulting in 280 trials per participant and a total of 8400 trials for the entire dataset. The EEG signals were recorded using the EMOTIV Epoc X wireless EEG headset (San Francisco, CA, USA), which is equipped with 14 data electrodes and two reference electrodes arranged according to the 10–20 international system, with a sampling rate of 256 Hz. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first EEG dataset that focuses on visually imagined Arabic letters. Full article

This study examines the demographic dynamics of Extremadura and Andalusia, two autonomous communities in southern Spain characterized by low income levels and marked territorial differences in terms of ageing and depopulation. Based on the observation of growing demographic pressure associated with low birth rates and emigration to more economically dynamic areas, a methodological approach based on spatial analysis techniques is proposed. In particular, the ageing index and demographic dependency ratio indicators are used, applying tools such as Hot Spot Analysis and Cluster and Outlier Analysis to identify significant spatial patterns and outliers. The results show a high concentration of ageing and dependency in provinces such as Cáceres and Almería, suggesting greater demographic vulnerability. In contrast, urban areas such as Seville and Granada, as well as the Guadalquivir depression, show more favorable indicators, reflecting greater resilience. Likewise, municipalities with demographic behavior that is anomalous with respect to their surroundings are detected, which raises the need for micro-territorial studies aimed at understanding these exceptions and designing more effective public policies adapted to the local context. Full article

In recent decades, various communities and organizations have been working to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion and justify their equal rights. This task becomes more complex within religious communities that are based on traditional values that reject homosexuality. This historical-anthropological study presents “K’Afikim BaNegev”—a special manual that includes more than 347 pages and incorporates 73 diverse sources distributed in early 1994 in American Conservative Jewish congregations aimed at combating homophobia. I clarify how the documents reveal progressive qualitative methodologies for identifying and understanding barriers and mechanisms of community change. Textual analysis of personal letters, educational programs, workshops, and rabbinical sermons revealed two methods for creating this egalitarian change and constructing the Jewish community as a safe space for gay men and lesbian women and their family members: (1) using and promoting personal narrative (storytelling) as a channel to voice LGBTQ+ people’s stories and (2) adapting a text-centered approach that considers biblical sources as authoritative in recognizing LGBTQ+ identity. Thus, the acceptance of homosexuality was not conceptualized in terms of liberal human rights rhetoric but rather as a religious commandment. Thus, I define this novel initiative as an act of ‘queer Jewish activism,’ offering a new typology for community development and practice that advocates for LGBTQ+ individuals within contemporary religious communities. Full article

This study explores the relationship between addictive behaviors, online behaviors, and adolescents’ ability to manage conflict. Effective conflict management is influenced by emotional self-regulation, empathy, and the digital environment. The literature suggests that deficits in these areas may exacerbate antisocial behavior and social adjustment difficulties. This study evaluates the influence of emotional intelligence, addictive behaviors, and online behaviors on conflict management. The hypotheses include adolescents with a high level of emotional adjustment who manage conflicts more effectively (H2) and that addictive and problematic online behaviors increase the risk of conflict escalation (H1, H3). The research involved 403 adolescents, selected through non-probabilistic methods using structured questionnaires. Statistical analysis included normality tests, Spearman’s correlations, and Mann-Whitney U tests to identify group differences. Adolescents with high emotional adjustment obtained significantly higher scores in conflict management and emotional self-regulation. Addictive and problematic online behaviors are associated with more significant difficulties in conflict management. Adolescents involved in minor crimes demonstrate deficits in emotion and conflict management. The results confirm the essential role of emotional intelligence in conflict management and the negative impact of addictive and problematic online behavior. Educational interventions promoting emotional intelligence development and responsible use of technology can reduce antisocial behaviors and improve adolescents’ social adjustment. Full article

The First Epistle of Peter is a writing that addresses a new way of understanding and practicing worship among the followers of Jesus. The Christians, recipients of the letter, due to the imminent identity distinction from the Jews and their distancing from the practices of imperial worship, live in a difficult social and religious situation. This situation demands the author to recall the theological foundations of Christian identity and redefine the meaning of traditional ritual concepts in new ethical and communal terms. This article, through a historical and theological analysis, examines the concepts of “sacrifice” and “submission” in their Christian reinterpretation and how they shape the worship practices of Jesus’ followers. To this end, the cultic elements present in the exhortative discourse are analyzed to explore the development of their theological significance at the dawn of the second century. Furthermore, considering the current appreciation of these attitudes as outdated values, this article evaluates whether the ethical discourse of the letter can have an impact on contemporary society. The study seeks to offer a renewed reading of 1 Peter that contributes to understanding the particularity of Christian worship in the Greco-Roman society of the first century and to ascertain whether its message is still relevant today. Full article

Background/Objectives: Dental caries and candidiasis are major health problems worldwide. Dental caries is caused by cariogenic bacteria, especially those belonging to the Streptococcus genus, whereas candidiasis is caused by Candida species. In this study, the antimicrobial activity of a series of synthetic N-methyl-4-piperidone-derived monoketone curcuminoids (MKCs) against Candida albicans, C. krusei, and a representative panel of cariogenic bacteria was assessed. Methods: Fifteen MKCs were synthesized using an environmentally friendly base-catalyzed Claisen–Schmidt condensation between an aromatic aldehyde (R-PhCHO) and N-methyl-4-piperidone ethanol using NaOH as the catalyst. These compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial activity against a representative panel of cariogenic bacteria, along with their antifungal activity against Candida krusei and C. albicans. The antimicrobial activity was determined based on the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values. Results: Most of the compounds were obtained in about 2 h in yields ranging from 40 to 70%. None of the compounds displayed antifungal activity, even at 100 μg/mL, the highest tested concentration. Similarly, none of the compounds were active against Enterococcus faecalis. On the other hand, compounds 1 (R = H), 10 (R = 3,4,5-OMe), and 13 (R = 3-F) displayed moderate activity against Streptococcus mutans (13), S. salivarus (1), L. paracasei (1 and 10), S. mitis (1, 10, and 13), S. sanguinis (1, 10, and 13), and S. sobrinus (13), with MIC values of 250 μg/mL and 500 μg/mL. The presence of the N-methyl-4-piperidone ring was found to boost the antibacterial activity as compared to the corresponding acetone-derived MKCs. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of compounds 10 and 13 was associated with the presence and position of the fluor atom and the methoxy groups at the aromatic ring. Conclusions: This study contributed to a better understanding of the antimicrobial activity of MKCs, whose data in the literature are still scarce. Full article

In July 2024, the “Investigating the Archaeology of Death in Pompeii Research Project” carried out a scientific and methodical excavation of the areas outside two of the gates to the city of Pompeii. One of them is the funerary area of Porta Nola (next to the tomb of Obellio Firmo) and the other is outside Porta Sarno area (east of the tomb of Marcus Venerius Secundius). The investigated funerary area to the east of Porta Sarno corresponds with the area excavated in 1998 for the construction of the double Circumvesuviana rails. The 1998 excavations recorded the presence of more than 50 cremation burial sites, marked by stelae (columelle) and a monument with an arch, which are delineated by a boundary wall. The tombs were initially dated to the Late Republican period. In order to carry out comprehensive studies of the funerary area uncovered in 1998, a four metre by four metre trench was stratigraphically excavated. This investigation allowed mapping of the area and the carrying out of archaeological analysis and bioarchaeological studies in order to answer the questions that guided our archaeological research, such as whether the funerary area was abandoned and, if so, when? What was the chronological succession, monumentality, and prestige of this funerary space? Was it a single family and private funerary enclosure, or was it an open public space? How were this funerary area and the spaces destined to preserve the memory of the deceased managed? How were the funerary and mortuary rituals and gestures articulated and what did they consist of? Our methodical excavation discovered a monumental tomb which allows us to answer many of the questions raised by our research. This extraordinary monument consists of a wide wall with several niches containing the cremated remains of the deceased built into its structure and which is crowned by a relief of a young couple. The symbolism of the carved accessories of the wife may identify her as a priestess of Ceres. Additionally, the quality of the carving in the sculptures and their archaic characteristics suggest a Republic period dating, which is uncommon in southern Italy. Full article

Teaching self-efficacy refers to a teacher’s confidence in their ability to engage students and foster learning, directly influencing their instructional planning, strategies, and student assessment practices. Neuroscience education for teachers has been shown to increase enthusiasm and support professional growth by introducing essential brain-related principles. This study investigated whether prior exposure to neuroscience predicts teaching self-efficacy among Brazilian basic education teachers. A total of 1120 teachers completed online surveys, providing sociodemographic information, educational background, teaching experience, and data regarding their previous neuroscience exposure. Participants’ neuroscience knowledge was assessed through a questionnaire designed to measure familiarity with fundamental neuroscience concepts, and teaching self-efficacy was evaluated using the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES). The results indicated that teachers with prior exposure to extracurricular neuroscience courses demonstrated significantly higher neuroscience knowledge. Additionally, those with previous neuroscience exposure exhibited a marginally significant increase in self-efficacy for instructional strategies and a significant increase in classroom management, while no significant differences were observed in student engagement. Regression analyses confirmed that neuroscience exposure significantly predicted self-efficacy in instructional strategies and classroom management. These findings reinforce the connection between neuroscience education and enhanced teaching self-efficacy, underscoring the importance of neuroeducation programs as valuable tools for supporting teachers’ professional development and well-being. Full article

The article examines the inspiring relationship between the well-known Prague journalist Milena Jesenská and the world-famous writer Franz Kafka—authors of different genres who shared reflections on being human, the world, religion, and prose. It elaborates on the commonalities and the divisions, the mutual admiration as well as the irreconcilable differences, which can also be mapped onto selected works by both authors. In her articles, Jesenská criticizes social and political issues, elaborating a normative position, in the sense of describing the stance, attitudes, and politics that are needed for change. Kafka’s position, as if complementary to Jesenská’s, shows only this human world. On the basis of some of their letters, articles, and prose works, this article examines the relationship between the two authors and the textuality of their relationship, as well as their shared and different values in the contexts of various power relations. Full article