Search Results (4,227)

This study constructs a research model with regulation and mediation based on the resource dependence theory to explore the nonlinear relationship between ESG responsibility fulfillment and firm value. This study uses a sample of Chinese A-share listed manufacturing firms from 2015 to 2022 and conducts empirical analysis using STATA version 18.0. The results indicate a U-shaped relationship between ESG responsibility fulfillment and firm value. Stakeholders’ interests play a partial mediating role in the above relationship. Moreover, institutional investors’ shareholding further strengthens the positive association between ESG responsibility fulfillment and stakeholder interests. The firm life cycle has a heterogeneous effect on the relationship between ESG responsibility fulfillment and stakeholder interests. Specifically, firms in the maturity stage exhibit the most pronounced protection of stakeholder interests, whereas firms in the decline stage show relatively weaker protection effects. Additionally, there is a complementary interaction between the firm life cycle and institutional investors’ shareholding. This combination significantly enhances the positive moderating effect of institutional investors’ shareholding on the relationship between ESG responsibility fulfillment and stakeholder interests only when firms are in the growth or decline stages. This study not only expands the boundaries of resource dependence theory, but also provides management insights for sustainable practices in the real economy. Full article

Background: Basketball is characterized as a high-intensity, intermittent sport that places considerable demands on the cardiorespiratory, neuromuscular, and mechanical systems. These physiological requirements are modulated by contextual variables and the athlete’s stage of biological maturation, both of which significantly influence physical fitness outcomes. Consequently, it is imperative to employ age- and development-specific assessment protocols. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the differences in physical fitness across competitive categories and to explore the interrelationships among the various physical assessment tests. Twenty-four male players (U14 = 12; U16 = 12) participated in this research. Methods: Athletes were monitored using WIMUPRO inertial measurement units and completed the SBAFIT test battery to evaluate physical fitness parameters. Statistical analyses included both inferential and correlational approaches, with effect sizes calculated for all relevant variables. The independent variable was the competitive age category of the players. Results: The results indicated notable differences in physical performance between developmental groups, primarily attributed to biological maturation. Significant disparities were observed in measures of aerobic capacity, linear speed, agility, and centripetal force. Conclusions: The comparative nature of this study across developmental categories offers novel insights and practical implications for talent development and training optimization. Full article

As governments increasingly explore digital financial instruments to diversify funding channels and expand citizen participation, Thailand’s G-Token represents an early attempt to integrate blockchain technology into sovereign debt issuance. This study examines its potential implications through a multi-dimensional risk and governance framework, situating the analysis within both domestic regulatory structures and international benchmarks. The evaluation considers macroeconomic effects—such as potential shifts in monetary policy transmission, bank disintermediation risks, and systemic liquidity impacts—alongside micro-level concerns involving investor protection, market integrity, and financial literacy. Using comparative analysis with the European Union, Singapore, and United States regulatory approaches, the paper identifies critical gaps in legal classification, oversight maturity, and structural safeguards. Findings indicate that while Thailand’s design—particularly its separation from payment systems—supports monetary coherence, its ad hoc legal integration, reliance on administrative investor protections, and early-stage market infrastructure pose vulnerabilities if adoption scales. The study concludes that achieving long-term viability will require explicit statutory authorization, enhanced disclosure and governance standards, strengthened interagency oversight, and inclusive market access strategies. These insights provide a structured basis for emerging economies seeking to adopt government-backed tokenized instruments without undermining financial stability or public trust. Full article

Human–machine trust has shifted over the past three decades from trust in automation to trust in AI, while research paradigms, disciplines, and problem spaces have expanded. Centered on AI in healthcare, this narrative review offers a longitudinal synthesis that traces and compares phase-specific changes in theory and method, providing design guidance for human-AI systems at different stages of maturity. From a cross-disciplinary view, we introduce an Interdisciplinary Human-AI Trust Research (I-HATR) framework that aligns explainable AI (XAI) with human–computer interaction/human factors engineering (HCI/HFE). We distill three core categories of determinants of human-AI trust in healthcare, user characteristics, AI system attributes, and contextual factors, and summarize the main measurement families and their evolution from self-report to behavioral and psychophysiological approaches, with growing use of multimodal and dynamic evaluation. Finally, we outline key trends, opportunities, and practical challenges to support the development of human-centered, trustworthy AI in healthcare, emphasizing the need to bridge actual trustworthiness and perceived trust through shared metrics, uncertainty communication, and trust calibration. Full article

Taeniasis and neurocysticercosis (NCC), caused by Taenia solium, are significant public health concerns recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) in developing countries across the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Taeniasis occurs in humans after consuming undercooked pork containing the larval stage (Cysticerci), which matures into the adult reproductive form in the intestine, releasing eggs through faeces. Accidental ingestion of these eggs by humans is the primary cause of NCC, a principal contributor to acquired epilepsy in endemic regions. Interrupting this transmission cycle is crucial to reducing the incidence of human NCC and porcine cysticercosis, thereby underscoring the need for accurate diagnosis and timely treatment of taeniasis. Current diagnostic tests for taeniasis, including microscopy, serology, copro-DNA, and coproantigen assays, exhibit variability in sensitivity, reproducibility, cross-reactivity, and accessibility. To overcome these limitations, bioinformatics tools were integrated with recombinant DNA technology to identify protein sequences with immunological potential. These sequences were evaluated in silico and used to construct an expression system. Subsequently, the antigens were expressed in a eukaryotic system, yielding two purified recombinant protein variants of 21 and 30 kDa. Their purification validated via Western blotting of the molecular tag, paves the way for the development of a direct immunological assay for the specific detection of Taenia solium carriers. Full article

Climate change significantly impacts fruit production and yield, affecting its commercial value. Foliar fertilization emerges as a fast and targeted strategy to address crop nutrient deficiencies and enhance fruit quality. Sweet cherry is among the most highly valued and widely appreciated fruit crops globally. This study was conducted over two consecutive years on the sweet cherry cv. Sweetheart. Calcium (300 g hL⁻¹ and 150 g hL⁻¹) and a seaweed-based biostimulant (150 mL hL⁻¹ and 75 mL hL⁻¹), as well as a combination of both nutrients (300 g hL⁻¹ calcium and 150 mL hL⁻¹ seaweed), in addition to a control treatment (water), were applied at the foliar level to improve sweet cherry quality. To assess cherry quality, including biometric, chromatic, texture, and biochemical parameters, as well as the sensory analysis, fruits from each treatment were harvested at the commercial maturity stage. Calcium treatments improved fruit size, total soluble solids, and firmness, while also delaying fruit ripening by increasing titratable acidity. The seaweed-based biostimulant enhanced fruit size, promoted color development, and accelerated ripening. Together, these findings highlight the crucial role of calcium in improving sweet cherry quality and underscore seaweed-based biostimulants as a promising and sustainable strategy for enhancing fruit quality. Although cherry quality is highly affected by environmental conditions, this study demonstrated that calcium fertilization, either alone or in combination with seaweed, enhances sweet cherry quality attributes, making it a suitable strategy for application in commercial orchards and for the global improvement of sweet cherry production. Full article

Scientific awareness is rising regarding fish and sea invertebrates’ sensitivity to the sound field’s particle motion component. The AquaVib, a distinctive laboratory setup, provides a practical methodology for controlled sound exposure experiments on small aquatic organisms, enabling a separate assessment of their acoustic pressure- and particle motion-elicited responses across a range of realistic scenarios. The chosen facility design permits the reproduction of realistic sound exposures at different kinetic-to-potential energy ratios, with characteristics similar to underwater-radiated noise from human activities such as shipping or offshore installations (<1 kHz). It provides a cost-efficient multimodal approach to investigate potential physiological, pathological, and ultrastructural effects on small aquatic organisms at any stage of maturity. This study details the vibroacoustic characterization of the AquaVib system, identifies key challenges, and outlines planned improvements. The ultimate goal of the presented approach is to contribute to the scientific community and competent authorities in covering the main gaps in current knowledge on the sensitivity of aquatic organisms to the particle motion component and to identify and quantify potential acute and long-term detrimental effects arising from human activities. Full article

The digital economy is significantly transforming the global economic environment and has emerged as the primary driver behind China’s high-quality development. The comprehensive melding of the cultural and tourism sectors (CTI) serves as a strategic approach to boost regional competitiveness and enhance public welfare. This study investigates the mechanisms and boundary conditions through which the growth of the digital economy across China’s 31 provinces from 2011 to 2023 impacts CTI, aiming to address existing research gaps related to micro-level transmission mechanisms and the analysis of contextual variables. Utilizing a two-way fixed-effects moderated mediation model complemented by instrumental variable (IV-2SLS) regression for testing endogeneity, the research uncovers intricate interactions among the digital economy, CTI, and significant influencing factors. The results strongly suggest that advancements in the digital economy substantially facilitate the integration of cultural and tourism sectors. This beneficial effect is partially mediated through two primary channels: the construction of new infrastructure and enhancements in employment quality, underscoring the critical role of both material and human capital in digital empowerment. Significantly, this research uniquely identifies that new quality productive forces (NQP) have a notable negative moderating impact on the link between the digital economy and cultural–tourism integration. This indicates that in provinces exhibiting high levels of NQP, the positive influence of the digital economy on cultural–tourism integration is considerably diminished. This unexpected finding can be interpreted through mechanisms such as resource dilution, varied integration pathways or maturity effects, along with differences in developmental stages and priorities. Furthermore, it resonates well with the resource-based view, innovation ecosystem theory, and dynamic capability theory. Instrumental variable regression further substantiates the notable positive influence of the digital economy on the integration of cultural tourism. This approach effectively tackles potential endogeneity concerns and reveals the upward bias that may exist in fixed-effects models. The findings contribute significantly to theoretical frameworks by enhancing the understanding of the intricate mechanisms facilitating the digital economy and, for the first time, innovatively designating NQP as a surprising key boundary condition. This enriches theories related to industrial advancement and resource allocation in the digital age. On a practical note, the research provides nuanced and differentiated policy guidance aimed at optimizing pathways for integration across various Chinese provinces at different stages of development. Additionally, it underscores significant implications for other developing nations engaged in digital tourism growth, thereby improving its global relevance. Full article

The Qiongdongnan Basin constitutes a sedimentary basin characterized by elevated temperatures, significant overpressures, and abundant hydrocarbons. Investigations within this basin have identified hydrothermal fluid movements linked to overpressure conditions, comprising two vertically separated overpressured intervals. The shallow overpressure compartment is principally caused by a combination of undercompaction and clay diagenesis. In contrast, the deeper high-pressure compartment results from hydrocarbon gas generation. Numerical pressure modeling indicates late-stage (post-5 Ma) development of significant overpressure within the deep compartment. It is proposed that accelerated subsidence in the Pliocene-Quaternary initiated substantial gas generation, thereby promoting the formation of the deep overpressured system. Multiple organic maturation parameters, combined with fluid inclusion microthermometry, reveal a thermal anomaly adjacent to the upper boundary of the deep overpressured zone. This anomaly indicates vertical transport of hydrothermal fluids ascending from the underlying high-pressure zone. Laser Raman spectroscopy confirms the presence of both hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide within these migrating fluids. Integration of fluid inclusion thermometry with burial history modeling constrains the timing of hydrocarbon-carrying fluid charge to the interval from 4.2 Ma onward, synchronous with modeled peak gas generation and a phase of pronounced overpressure buildup. We propose that upon exceeding the fracture gradient threshold, fluid pressure triggered upward migration of deeply sourced, hydrocarbon-enriched fluids through hydrofracturing pathways. This process led to localized dissolution and fracturing near the top of the deep overpressured system, while simultaneously facilitating significant hydrocarbon accumulation and forming preferential accumulation zones. These findings provide critical insights into petroleum exploration in overpressured sedimentary basins. Full article

The swimming crab is a commercially and nutritionally important marine resource with the highest catch volumes in Mexico occurring along the East Pacific coast. Among the Pacific species of the genus Callinectes, the blue crab C. arcuatus has the widest distribution and is found throughout the year. Its close resemblance to the well-studied Atlantic blue swimming crab (C. sapidus) makes it an excellent model for molecular reproductive studies in the Mexican Pacific. Using next-generation sequencing, this study aimed to characterize maturation-associated genes in an ovary–hepatopancreas transcriptome of C. arcuatus, with a particular focus on vitellogenin (Vtg) and its expression in the ovaries and hepatopancreas across different gonadal maturity stages. The transcriptome library generated from pooled samples produced 27,729 unigenes, of which, 196 (1.81%) were identified as reproduction-related genes. Notably, 33 of these genes, including the complete Vtg sequence, have not been previously reported in this species. Vtg expression was found to be tissue-specific, with levels in the hepatopancreas up to 13 orders of magnitude higher than in the ovary. In the hepatopancreas, Vtg expression increased exponentially from stage I to stage V of gonadal maturity, whereas in the ovaries, its expression showed the opposite trend. These findings highlight that the hepatopancreas, with its abundant nutrient reserves, serves as the primary site of Vtg expression and synthesis. Full article

As Virtual Try-On (VTON) technology matures, 2D VTON methods based on diffusion models can now rapidly generate diverse and high-quality try-on results. However, with rising user demands for realism and immersion, many applications are shifting towards 3D VTON, which offers superior geometric and spatial consistency. Existing 3D VTON approaches commonly face challenges such as barriers to practical deployment, substantial memory requirements, and cross-view inconsistencies. To address these issues, we propose an efficient 3D VTON framework with robust multi-view consistency, whose core design is to decouple the monolithic 3D editing task into a four-stage cascade as follows: (1) We first reconstruct an initial 3D scene using 3D Gaussian Splatting, integrating the SMPL-X model at this stage as a strong geometric prior. By computing a normal-map loss and a geometric consistency loss, we ensure the structural stability of the initial human model across different views. (2) We employ the lightweight CatVTON to generate 2D try-on images, that provide visual guidance for the subsequent personalized fine-tuning tasks. (3) To accurately represent garment details from all angles, we partition the 2D dataset into three subsets—front, side, and back—and train a dedicated LoRA module for each subset on a pre-trained diffusion model. This strategy effectively mitigates the issue of blurred details that can occur when a single model attempts to learn global features. (4) An iterative optimization process then uses the generated 2D VTON images and specialized LoRA modules to edit the 3DGS scene, achieving 360-degree free-viewpoint VTON results. All our experiments were conducted on a single consumer-grade GPU with 24 GB of memory, a significant reduction from the 32 GB or more typically required by previous studies under similar data and parameter settings. Our method balances quality and memory requirement, significantly lowering the adoption barrier for 3D VTON technology. Full article

Vorticity budgets in traditional height or pressure coordinates are commonly examined to help explain how tropical cyclones evolve over time. One disadvantage of using these coordinates is that the vorticity flux due to diabatic heating cannot be easily assessed. Isentropic coordinates naturally lend themselves to determine the effect of diabatic heating—the vorticity budget simplifies, and a clear-cut distinction can be made between adiabatic (advective) and diabatic vorticity fluxes. Above the boundary layer, advective vorticity fluxes alone would lead to a quick spin-down of the mature tropical cyclone. Do diabatic processes prevent this from happening? If so, how? This paper investigates the vorticity budget of Hurricane Irma (2017) in its mature quasi-steady phase. We analyse a simulation of Irma with an operational high-resolution weather forecasting model. During Irma’s remarkably long period (37 h) of steady peak intensity, the radially outward advective isentropic vorticity flux in the eyewall above the boundary layer is balanced by a radially inward diabatic isentropic vorticity flux. Frictional effects and asymmetrical flow properties are of little importance to the maintenance of cyclone intensity in its mature phase, provided enough latent heat is released in the eyewall to maintain an inward vorticity flux that balances the advective flux. Full article

Background: Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally, largely due to delayed diagnosis in its early stages. While conventional diagnostic tools like low-dose CT and tissue biopsy are routinely used, they suffer from limitations including invasiveness, radiation exposure, cost, and limited sensitivity for early-stage detection. Liquid biopsy, a minimally invasive alternative that captures circulating tumor-derived biomarkers such as ctDNA, cfRNA, and exosomes from body fluids, offers promising diagnostic potential—yet its sensitivity in early disease remains suboptimal. Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and radiomics are poised to bridge this gap. Objective: This review aims to explore how AI, in combination with radiomics, enhances the diagnostic capabilities of liquid biopsy for early detection of lung cancer and facilitates personalized monitoring strategies. Content Overview: We begin by outlining the molecular heterogeneity of lung cancer, emphasizing the need for earlier, more accurate detection strategies. The discussion then transitions into liquid biopsy and its key analytes, followed by an in-depth overview of AI techniques—including machine learning (e.g., SVMs, Random Forest) and deep learning models (e.g., CNNs, RNNs, GANs)—that enable robust pattern recognition across multi-omics datasets. The role of radiomics, which quantitatively extracts spatial and morphological features from imaging modalities such as CT and PET, is explored in conjunction with AI to provide an integrative, multimodal approach. This convergence supports the broader vision of precision medicine by integrating omics data, imaging, and electronic health records. Discussion: The synergy between AI, liquid biopsy, and radiomics signifies a shift from traditional diagnostics toward dynamic, patient-specific decision-making. Radiomics contributes spatial information, while AI improves pattern detection and predictive modeling. Despite these advancements, challenges remain—including data standardization, limited annotated datasets, the interpretability of deep learning models, and ethical considerations. A push toward rigorous validation and multimodal AI frameworks is necessary to facilitate clinical adoption. Conclusion: The integration of AI with liquid biopsy and radiomics holds transformative potential for early lung cancer detection. This non-invasive, scalable, and individualized diagnostic paradigm could significantly reduce lung cancer mortality through timely and targeted interventions. As technology and regulatory pathways mature, collaborative research is crucial to standardize methodologies and translate this innovation into routine clinical practice. Full article

The cultural landscape of Gubeikou, with distinct historical stratification and event-relatedness, bears unique value. Against the backdrop of increasingly prominent themes of cultural heritage development and transformation, research on Gubeikou’s cultural landscapes remains fragmented and lacking in depth. This research explores its evolution mechanism via historical events to fill gaps. This study takes Gubeikou Town as the research object, applies the text analysis method to sort and categorize 302 historical events, summarizes 12 event types, identifies 19 landscape elements, and constructs a data matrix based on co-occurrence frequencies. It performs clustering analysis on these using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC), while integrating historical and geographical data. Findings: (1) The landscape evolution of Gubeikou can be divided into four main stages: the military embryonic period, the functional expansion period, the system maturity period, and the multi-element integration period. (2) The dynamic evolutionary trajectory of the correlation between its landscapes and events shows that the core factors affecting the evolution of cultural landscapes in each period not only maintain the dominance of military elements throughout the evolutionary process but also integrate diverse elements like economy, culture, and folk customs with social development, presenting the characteristics of composite evolution. (3) The landscape evolution is driven by the “primary–secondary synergy” dynamic structure composed of four types of activities: military–political, transportation, production–trade, and construction. It is the product of the coupling effect of political goals, social operation, and geographical conditions. This study provides a basis for the sustainable protection and utilization of Gubeikou, and also offers a reference for other regions. Full article

Numerous factors, including genetic, environmental, and nutritional, are involved in testicular development and spermatogenesis. However, little is known about the effects of seasonal factors on pre-sexual maturity testicular development in Hu rams, which are famous for their high fertility and year-round estrus onset. This study explored the effect of the birth season on testicular development and spermatogenesis in Hu sheep. Thirty-six 6-month-old male lambs born in summer (n = 18) and winter (n = 18) were selected for analysis. Results showed that summer-born lambs exhibited significantly higher cauda sperm density (102.65 ± 9.56 vs. 16.86 ± 2.02 × 10⁷/g), antioxidant indices such as superoxide dismutase (SOD: 6.29 ± 1.01 vs. 4.09 ± 0.25 U/mgprot), and higher expression levels of glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPX3), glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), and copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) than winter-born lambs. Conversely, the malondialdehyde content (1.08 ± 0.32 vs. 2.13 ± 0.34 nmol/mgprot) was significantly lower in the summer-born group (p < 0.05) than in the winter-born group. A total of 44 differential oxylipins and 326 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and transcriptomics, respectively. An integrated analysis of oxylipins and transcriptomics revealed that these differential molecules were enriched in metabolic pathways. Notably, downregulated DEGs (e.g., UAP1L1 and NAT8L) were significantly correlated with upregulated differential oxylipins (e.g., epoxyeicosatrienoic acids and dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids). These results indicate that compared to the winter-born group, the testicular tissues of summer-born rams showed stronger testicular antioxidant capacity and lower lipid peroxidation at the sexual maturity stage, which contributes to spermatogenesis. Full article