Search Results (17,224)

This study aimed to examine the proximal effects of blood flow restriction (BFR) training on shoulder muscle function and subjective discomfort during low-intensity external rotation exercise. Twenty-four healthy adults were randomly assigned to a BFR group or a control group and performed shoulder stabilization exercises with or without BFR. Outcome measures included shoulder external rotation range of motion, maximal isometric strength, muscle endurance, electromyographic activity of the rotator cuff muscles, and perceived discomfort. Both groups demonstrated significant within-group improvements in all outcomes except posterior deltoid and supraspinatus activity (p < 0.05). Between-group comparisons showed significantly greater gains in maximal strength and infraspinatus and teres minor activation in the BFR group than in the control group (p < 0.05), while discomfort and fatigue scores were also higher in the BFR group (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that BFR applied at the proximal upper arm can enhance the strength and activation of key rotator cuff muscles even when cuff placement near the shoulder is limited by anatomy. Proximal BFR may serve as an effective intervention for improving shoulder function when high-intensity exercise is contraindicated, although strategies to minimize discomfort are needed to improve clinical feasibility. Full article

The rapid growth of urban populations intensifies congestion, air pollution, and energy demand. Green mobility is central to sustainable smart cities, and the Internet of Things (IoT) offers a means to monitor, coordinate, and optimize transport systems in real time. This paper presents an Internet of Things (IoT)-based architecture integrating heterogeneous sensing with edge–cloud orchestration and AI-driven control for green routing and coordinated Electric Vehicle (EV) charging. The framework supports adaptive traffic management, energy-aware charging, and multimodal integration through standards-aware interfaces and auditable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). We hypothesize that, relative to a static shortest-path baseline, the integrated green routing and EV-charging coordination reduce (H1) mean travel time per trip by ≥7%, (H2) CO₂ intensity (g/km) by ≥6%, and (H3) station peak load by ≥20% under moderate-to-high demand conditions. These hypotheses are tested in Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO) with Handbook Emission Factors for Road Transport (HBEFA) emission classes, using 10 independent random seeds and reporting means with 95% confidence intervals and formal significance testing. The results confirm the hypotheses: average travel time decreases by approximately 9.8%, CO₂ intensity by approximately 8%, and peak load by approximately 25% under demand multipliers ≥1.2 and EV shares ≥20%. Gains are attenuated under light demand, where congestion effects are weaker. We further discuss scalability, interoperability, privacy/security, and the simulation-to-deployment gap, and outline priorities for reproducible field pilots. In summary, a pragmatic edge–cloud IoT stack has the potential to lower congestion, reduce per-kilometer emissions, and smooth charging demand, provided it is supported by reliable data integration, resilient edge services, and standards-compliant interoperability, thereby contributing to sustainable urban mobility in line with the objectives of SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). Full article

Feedlots rely on corn-based total mixed rations (TMR) to finish yaks. However, corn is markedly deficient in lysine and, therefore, we hypothesized that feedlot yaks supplemented with rumen-protected lysine (RPLys) would improve performance. To test this hypothesis, twelve 2.5-year-old male yaks (122 ± 5.3 kg) were selected, and divided into a control (CON) and RPLys-supplemented (RPL) group. All yaks were provided with a pelleted diet that consisted of 25.0% corn stalk, 31.6% corn grain, and 24.0% corn by-products; while RPL yaks were supplemented with 37.0 g/d RPLys. Dry matter intake was not affected (p = 0.671) by RPLys supplementation, but the average daily gain was greater (p < 0.05; 1.46 vs. 1.25 kg/d) and the feed-to-gain ratio was lesser (p < 0.01; 3.39 vs. 3.90) in RPL than CON yaks. Serum urea nitrogen concentration and aspartate aminotransferase were greater (p < 0.05) in the CON than the RPL group. However, plasma lysine concentration was greater (p < 0.05), while threonine tended to be greater (p = 0.065) in RPL than CON yaks. Rumen ammonia-N concentration was lesser (p < 0.05) in RPL than CON yaks, but pH and volatile fatty acids concentration did not differ (p > 0.10) between groups. The relative abundances of the ruminal bacterial phyla of Firmicutes and Elusimicrobiota were greater (p < 0.05), whereas of the phylum Bacteroidota and genus Butyrivibrio were lesser (p < 0.05) in RPL than CON yaks. In general, the rumen microbiota was altered toward more abundant N utilization taxa in RPLys-supplemented yaks. RPLys-supplemented yaks had elevated plasma lysine and improved feed conversion ratio, providing the first evidence that bypass lysine improves the growth performance of yaks on corn-based diets in feedlots. Full article

Broiler chickens are commonly reared in closed housing systems with limited exposure to sunlight, thereby relying entirely on dietary sources of vitamin D. The hydroxylated metabolite 25-hydroxycholecalciferol [25(OH)D₃] has been proposed as a more potent form than native vitamin D₃ (cholecalciferol). This study evaluated the effects of dietary supplementation with vitamin D₃ alone or in combination with 25(OH)D₃ on growth performance, bone characteristics, and cecal microbiota in Ross 308 broilers. A total of 952 one-day-old male chicks were allocated to four treatments: a negative control (no vitamin D₃), a positive control (vitamin D₃ according to Ross 308 specifications), and a positive control supplemented with 25(OH)D₃ at 1394 or 2788 IU/kg, in a randomized design with 17 replicates per treatment and 14 birds per replicate. Over a 40-day feeding trial, diets containing vitamin D₃ (positive control) or supplemented with 25(OH)D₃ significantly improved final body weight, weight gain, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio compared with the negative control (p < 0.01), with no significant differences among the positive control and 25(OH)D₃-supplemented groups, with a clear linear dose-dependent response. Although tibia ash and bone-breaking strength were not significantly affected, linear responses indicated a slight numerical trend toward improved skeletal mineralization with increasing 25(OH)D₃. Microbiota analysis indicated that 25(OH)D₃ affected cecal microbial ecology: low-dose inclusion showed reduced species richness and evenness, whereas high-dose inclusion restored richness to levels comparable to the positive control and enriched taxa associated with fiber fermentation and bile acid metabolism while reducing Lactobacillus dominance. In conclusion, supplementation with 25(OH)D₃ in addition to vitamin D₃ enhanced growth performance and selectively shaped the cecal microbiota of broilers, with suggestive benefits for bone mineralization. These findings highlight 25(OH)D₃ as a more potent source of vitamin D than cholecalciferol alone and support its practical use in modern broiler nutrition to improve efficiency, skeletal health, and microbial balance. Full article

The proposed study explores the consistency of the geometrical character of surfaces under scaling, rotation and translation. In addition to its mathematical significance, it also exhibits advantages over image processing and economic applications. In this paper, the authors used partition-based principal component analysis similar to two-dimensional Sub-Image Principal Component Analysis (SIMPCA), along with a suitably modified atypical wavelet transform in the classification of 2D images. The proposed framework is further extended to three-dimensional objects using machine learning classifiers. To strengthen fairness, we benchmarked against both Random Forest (RF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers using nested cross-validation, showing consistent gains when TIFV is included. In addition, we carried out a robustness analysis by introducing Gaussian noise to the intensity channel, confirming that TIFV degrades much more gracefully compared to traditional descriptors. Experimental results demonstrate that the method achieves improved performance compared to traditional hand-crafted descriptors such as measured values and histogram of oriented gradients. In addition, it is found to be useful that this proposed algorithm is capable of establishing consistency locally, which is never possible without partition. However, a reasonable amount of computational complexity is reduced. We note that comparisons with deep learning baselines are beyond the scope of this study, and our contribution is positioned within the domain of interpretable, affine-invariant descriptors that enhance classical machine learning pipelines. Full article

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the impact of chromium (Cr) supplementation on glucose and lipid metabolism in breast muscle in broilers under heat stress. A total of 220 day-old broiler chicks were reared in cages. At 29 days old, 180 birds were randomly assigned to three treatments (0, 400, and 800 µg Cr/kg, as chromium picolinate) and transferred to climate chambers (31 ± 1 °C, 60 ± 7% humidity) for 14 days. Growth performance, carcass traits, serum biochemical indices, fasting glucose and insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), as well as muscle metabolomic profiles and gene expression related to energy and lipid metabolism were analyzed. The results showed that, compared with the heat stress group, the groups supplemented with 400 and 800 µg Cr/kg showed higher dry matter intake and average daily gain, breast muscle ratio, and lower feed conversion ratio and abdominal fat ratio; chickens supplemented with 400 and 800 µg Cr/kg showed significantly lower serum corticosterone (CORT), free fatty acids, and cholesterol levels compared with the heat stress (HS) group (p < 0.05). Fasting blood glucose and HOMA-IR were also significantly reduced, while fasting insulin was significantly increased in the Cr-supplemented groups (p < 0.05). Metabolomic analysis revealed that Cr supplementation regulated lipid and amino acid metabolism by altering key metabolites such as citric acid, L-glutamine, and L-proline, and modulating pathways including alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism, and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Furthermore, Cr supplementation significantly upregulated the expression of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1 α (PGC-1α), ATP Binding Cassette Subfamily A Member 1 (ABCA1), Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor α (PPARα), and ATP Binding Cassette Subfamily G Member 1 (ABCG1) in both the hepatic and muscle tissue. This paper suggested that chromium supplementation may enhance energy metabolism and lipid transport like the findings of our study suggested. Full article

Short-form video platforms have shifted advertising from standalone, time-bounded spots to feed-embedded, swipeable stimuli, creating a high-velocity processing context that can penalize casting complexity. We ask whether a “one face, many roles” casting strategy (a single actor playing multiple characters) outperforms multi-actor executions, and why. A two-phase pretest (N = 3500) calibrated a realistic ceiling for “multi-actor” casts, then four experiments (total N = 4513) tested mechanisms, boundary conditions, and alternatives. Study 1 (online and offline replications) shows that single-actor ads lower cognitive load and boost account evaluations and purchase intention. Study 2, a field experiment, demonstrates that Need for Closure amplifies these gains via reduced cognitive load. Study 3 documents brand-type congruence: one actor performs better for entertaining/exciting brands, whereas multi-actor suits professional/competence-oriented brands. Study 4 rules out cost-frugality and sympathy using a budget cue and a sequential alternative path (perceived cost constraint → sympathy). Across studies, a chain mediation holds: single-actor casting reduces cognitive load, which elevates brand authenticity and increases purchase intention; a simple mediation links cognitive load to account evaluations. Effects are robust across settings and participant gender. We theorize short-form advertising as a context-embedded persuasion episode that connects information-processing efficiency to authenticity inferences, and we derive practical guidance for talent selection and script design in short-form campaigns. Full article

Football-themed eSports, combining entertainment and learning elements, are booming, offering benefits in terms of cognitive and motor skill development. Despite this, with the increasing use of eSports and their impact on cognitive and motor skills, there is still a paucity of empirical studies that systematically explore how cognitive stimulation from eSports can translate into psychomotor performance on the field, particularly with regard to linear speed. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an ecological–dynamic training protocol, integrated with football eSports, on the development of linear sprint speed in young soccer players. Thirty-two male youth football players (age range: 12–16 years) participated in the study. Participants were divided into an experimental group, which followed a combined ecological–dynamic training protocol including football eSports, and a control group, which performed standard training sessions. Pre- and post-intervention assessments of 30 m sprint performance were conducted using electronic timing gates. Statistical analysis using repeated-measures ANOVA indicated a marked improvement in 30 m sprint performance within the experimental group, decreasing from 4.908 s to 4.651 s. A significant time × group interaction was observed (F = 74.076, p < 0.001). Moreover, a robust main effect of time emerged (F = 141.12, p < 0.001), confirming consistent gains in linear sprint speed. Post hoc comparisons revealed significant differences across all assessment points (p < 0.001). The findings suggest that embedding football eSports into an ecologically grounded training framework may enhance the development of linear speed in young soccer players. This integrated approach shows potential as an innovative tool for performance enhancement, although further investigations are needed to confirm long-term efficacy and generalizability to other sporting populations. Full article

An overview of the Common Rail (CR) diesel engine challenges and of the promising state-of-the-art solutions for addressing them is provided. The different CR injector driving technologies have been compared, based on hydraulic, spray and engine performance for conventional diesel combustion. Various injection patterns, high injection pressures and nozzle design features are analyzed with reference to their advantages and disadvantages in addressing engine issues. The benefits of the statistically optimized engine calibrations have also been examined. With regard to the combustion strategy, the role of a CR engine in the implementation of low-temperature combustion (LTC) is reviewed, and the effect of the ECU calibration parameters of the injection on LTC steady-state and transition modes, as well as on an LTC domain, is illustrated. Moreover, the exploitation of LTC in the last generation of CR engines is discussed. The CR apparatus offers flexibility to optimize the engine calibration even for biofuels and e-fuels, which has gained interest in the last decade. The impact of the injection strategy on spray, ignition and combustion is discussed with reference to fuel consumption and emissions for both biodiesel and green diesel. Finally, the electrification of CR diesel engines is reviewed: the effects of electrically heated catalysts, electric supercharging, start and stop functionality and electrical auxiliaries on NO_x, CO₂, consumption and torque are analyzed. The feasibility of mild hybrid, strong hybrid and plug-in CR diesel powertrains is discussed. For the future, based on life cycle and manufacturing cost analyses, a roadmap for the automotive sector is outlined, highlighting the perspectives of the CR diesel engine for different applications. Full article

Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) have emerged as a key enabler of more efficient, safer, and environmentally sustainable road traffic by allowing vehicles and infrastructure to exchange information and coordinate behavior. To evaluate their benefits, impact assessment studies are essential. However, most existing studies focus on individual C-ITS services in isolation, overlooking how combined deployments influence outcomes. This study addresses this gap by presenting the first systematic evaluation of individual and joint deployments of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) and Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) under diverse conditions. A dual-model simulation framework is applied, combining controlled artificial networks with calibrated real-world corridors in Upper Austria. This allows both statistical testing and validation of plausibility in real-world contexts. Key performance indicators include travel time and CO₂ emissions, evaluated across varying lane configurations, numbers of traffic lights, demand levels, and equipment rates. The results demonstrate that C-ITS effectiveness is strongly context-dependent: while CACC generally provides larger efficiency gains, GLOSA yields consistent emission reductions, and the combined deployment offers conditional synergies but may also diminish benefits at high demand. The study contributes a guideline for selecting service configurations based on site conditions, thereby providing practical recommendations for future C-ITS rollouts. Full article

This paper investigates the channel performance through a high-gain, circularly polarized microstrip patch antenna that is developed for contemporary wireless communication systems. The proposed antenna creates two orthogonal modes for circular propagation with slightly varying resonance frequencies by using a cross line and truncations to circulate surface currents. Compactness, reduced surface wave losses, and enhanced impedance bandwidth are made possible by the coaxial probe feed, periodic electromagnetic gap (EBG) slots, and fractal patch geometry. For in-phase reflection and beam focusing, a specially designed single-layer metasurface (MTS) reflector with an 11 × 11 circular aperture array is placed 20 mm behind the antenna. A log-normal shadowing model was used to test the antenna in real-world scenarios, and the results showed a strong correlation between the model predictions and actual data. At up to 250 m, the polarization-agile, high-gain antenna demonstrated reliable performance across a variety of channel conditions, enabling accurate characterization of the Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), and Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP). By combining cutting-edge antenna architecture with an empirical channel performance study, this research presents a compact, affordable, and fabrication-friendly solution for increased wireless coverage and efficiency. Full article

Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) has become an attractive option for maritime communication because it is low-cost, long-range, and energy-efficient. Yet its performance at sea is often limited by fading, interference, and the strict energy budgets of maritime Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This review, prepared in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, examines 23 peer-reviewed studies published between 2019 and 2025 that explore adaptive antenna solutions for LoRaWAN in marine environments. The work covered four main categories: switched-beam, phased array, reconfigurable, and Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (AI/ML)-enabled antennas. Results across studies show that adaptive approaches improve gain, beam agility, and signal reliability even under unstable conditions. Switched-beam antennas dominate the literature (45%), followed by phased arrays (30%), reconfigurable designs (20%), and AI/ML-enabled systems (5%). Unlike previous reviews, this study emphasizes maritime propagation, environmental resilience, and energy use. Despite encouraging results in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), packet delivery, and coverage range, clear gaps remain in protocol-level integration, lightweight AI for constrained nodes, and large-scale trials at sea. Research on reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) in maritime environments remains limited. However, these technologies could play an important role in enhancing spectral efficiency, coverage, and the scalability of maritime IoT networks. Full article

A compact fork-shaped four-element multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system with wide bandwidth for 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) applications is presented. The antenna elements are arranged orthogonally to achieve a compact footprint of $20\times 26{\mathrm{mm}}^2$. To enhance the gain, a frequency selective surface (FSS) is placed above the MIMO system, providing an average gain improvement of 1.5 dB across the entire operating band and achieving a peak gain of 7.5 dB at 41 GHz. The proposed design operates in the Ka-band (22–46 GHz), making it well suited for 5G communications. The antenna exhibits an isolation greater than 20 dB and radiation efficiency exceeding 80% across the band. Moreover, key MIMO performance metrics, including diversity gain (DG ≈ 10) and envelope correlation coefficient (ECC < 0.05), meet the required standards. A prototype of the proposed system was fabricated and measured, with the experimental results showing good agreement with simulations. Full article

Three-dimensional object detection based on the fusion of millimeter-wave radar and cameras is increasingly gaining attention due to characteristics of low cost, high accuracy, and strong robustness. Recently, the bird’s eye view (BEV) fusion paradigm has dominated radar–camera fusion-based 3D object detection methods. In the BEV fusion paradigm, the detection accuracy is jointly determined by the precision of both image BEV features and radar BEV features. The precision of image BEV features is significantly influenced by depth estimation accuracy, whereas estimating depth from a monocular image is naturally a challenging, ill-posed problem. In this article, we propose a novel approach to enhance depth estimation accuracy by fusing camera perspective view (PV) features and radar perspective view features, thereby improving the precision of image BEV features. The refined image BEV features are then fused with radar BEV features to achieve more accurate 3D object detection results. To realize PV fusion, we designed a radar image generation module based on radar cross-section (RCS) and depth information, accurately projecting radar data into the camera view to generate radar images. The radar images are used to extract radar PV features. We present a cross-modal feature fusion module using the attention mechanism to dynamically fuse radar PV features with camera PV features. Comprehensive evaluations on the nuScenes 3D object detection dataset demonstrate that the proposed dual-view fusion paradigm outperforms the BEV fusion paradigm, achieving state-of-the-art performance with 64.2 NDS and 56.3 mAP. Full article

Water walls in power plant boilers are prone to failure under extreme conditions involving high temperature, corrosion, and wear, which severely threaten unit reliability and operational economy. In this work, a NiCr-Cr₃C₂ protective coating was deposited on SA213-T12 steel substrates using high-velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) spraying, with arc-sprayed PS45 coating as a reference. The NiCr-Cr₃C₂ coating exhibited a dense, low-porosity structure with homogeneous dispersion of Cr₃C₂ hard phases in the NiCr matrix, forming a typical cauliflower-like composite morphology. During high-temperature sulfate corrosion tests at 750 °C, the NiCr-Cr₃C₂ coating demonstrated superior corrosion resistance, with a weight gain of only 2.7 mg/cm², significantly lower than that of the PS45 coating and the SA213-T12 substrate. The higher microhardness and lower friction coefficient also indicate excellent high-temperature wear resistance. The enhanced performance of the NiCr-Cr₃C₂ coating is attributed to the high Cr content, which promotes the formation of a continuous and protective scale composed of Cr₂O₃ and NiCr₂O₄, effectively inhibiting corrosive diffusion and penetration. This work demonstrates the application prospects of NiCr-Cr₃C₂ coatings on water walls of power plant boilers and guides the development of advanced HVOF coatings. Full article