Search Results (26,079)

The language of wine is richer and more complex if compared to that of other alcoholic beverages, including the tasting, production, history, and culture associated with it. The evolution of the language employed to define the quality and the characteristics of wine from the “òstrakon” of the Ancient Egyptians to the present is shown in the article. The symbolic aspects of wine, the communication of emotions, the wine sensory analysis, and the wine tasting are discussed. The glossaries which appeared in France, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, are mentioned: they attest both the beginning of tasting, and the official recognition of the sensory evolution of wine. Moreover, some considerations are reported on some particular words employed to describe wines: vinous, aftertaste, and body. The language employed to evaluate wine is still evolving. It expresses the need and the desire to communicate and define the perceptions and the emotions derived by drinking wine. Finally, the pleasure of wine is not only a physical pleasure, but above all it is a pleasure of the brain, as well as, naturally, of the word. Full article

Background: There is a lack of empirical data on the school-age population’s attitudes toward refugees. Despite this, the attention being paid to the integration of refugee students in schools worldwide is increasing. Objectives: First, the present study aims to explore the attitudes of eighth-grade students in Slovenia regarding refugees and to investigate whether there are differences in their attitudes based on the geographical areas from where refugees originate. Second, the study also explores the connections between attitudes and some characteristics of students. Methods: The present study is quantitative; sample: 3466 respondents (representative sample; year 2022). Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression are used. Results: Most of the students would be willing to help refugees coming from any country. The students are least willing to help refugees from Syria and Afghanistan or Africa. A high proportion of students express fears about what refugees bring, though these fears are varied. Logistic regression shows that civic knowledge and positive attitudes towards immigrants are significantly and negatively related to students’ opinion that refugee children should study in separate schools, while student socio-economic status (SES) and own immigration status are not. Conclusions: The results call for different approaches to be maintained/introduced in schools for tolerance and reducing prejudices for (certain) groups of immigrants/refugees. Full article

Food waste has become an increasingly common and serious global problem, affecting the guarantee of food security in China and the sustainable development of the national agricultural and food system. Urban households are the main source of food waste on the consumer side. Given China’s unique culture, economy, and social environment, the drivers of food waste in urban households need to consider broader social, psychological, and situational factors in order to provide a basis for formulating and implementing targeted policy measures. This article conducts a grounded theoretical analysis of semi-structured interview data from 56 urban households in China and constructs a driving factor model for food waste in urban households in the Chinese context. Research has found that the influencing factor system of food waste in Chinese urban households includes seven interrelated main categories. Among them, risk perception has a direct effect on responsibility awareness and behavioral tendencies, responsibility awareness and environmental pressure have a direct effect on behavioral tendencies, behavioral tendencies have a direct effect on behavioral choices, perception barriers play a moderating role in the impact of risk perception on responsibility awareness and behavioral tendencies, and behavioral constraints play a moderating role in the impact of behavioral tendencies on behavioral choices. This study enriches the research on the mechanism of food waste behavior in Chinese households, providing scientific basis for the formulation of intervention strategies for food waste in Chinese households, and also providing reference for revealing the mechanism of food waste behavior in other countries with similar cultural backgrounds. Full article

The perception of time undergoes a radical shift between the human scale and the nanoscale. In an age of rapidly evolving media and scientific technologies, we need to understand how these impact human perception and visual culture. This essay explores computational molecular simulations through the lenses of temporal media theory and moving image practice. Emerging from a creative fellowship with a physical chemistry research group, I focus on two moving image works that depict crystalline structures. One is a nanoscale computational simulation of soot formation and the other is a durational video artwork showing the dissolution of sugar. Computational molecular simulations are shown to produce a feeling of time by smearing an extremely short duration across a longer perceptible duration. This analysis uncovers how the awareness of media as a construct troubles our chronoception (perception of time), while unexpectedly, the screen becomes complicit in scientists’ expert temporal understanding. The videos present vastly different spatial and temporal scales and have different chronoceptive effects: one gives a sense of being within time, the other across time. Ultimately, computational simulations emerge as isomorphic media that have explicit aesthetic properties that connect us to the implicit, abstract energetics of chemical reactivity. Full article

Over the past two decades, due to the combined effects of natural and human factors, the ecological environment and resources of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP) have faced serious threats, profoundly impacting its ecosystem and the lives of its residents. Therefore, the establishment of the ecological security pattern (ESP) is crucial to cope with climate change, maintain ecosystem function, and sustainable development. Based on the Pressure–State–Response (PSR) model, this study constructed an evaluation index system for the ecological security (ES) of the QTP, evaluated the ES of the QTP during 2000–2020, and predicted the ES of the QTP during 2025–2035 based on the deep learning model. Combined with the residents’ perception of ES, the ES of the QTP was evaluated comprehensively. The results showed that: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the ES value of the QTP continued to rise, the number of dangerous and sensitive counties decreased, and the number of other counties increased. The overall spatial distribution features higher values in the southeast and lower values in the northwest and central regions. (2) From 2000 to 2020, both hot spots and cold spots on the QTP decreased, with the hot spots mainly concentrated in the southeast of the QTP, represented by Yunnan Province, and the cold spots shifting from west to east, mainly concentrated in the central QTP, represented by Qinghai Province. (3) The Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model demonstrates high prediction accuracy. Based on the prediction of LSTM, the ES value of the QTP will continue to rise from 2025 to 2035, and the number of safe counties will reach the highest level in history. The spatial distribution is still higher in the southeast and lower in the northwest and central regions. (4) By analyzing residents’ perception of 25 potential factors that may affect the ES of the QTP, the results show that residents generally believe that these factors have an important impact on ES, and their evaluation is between “important” and “very important”. In addition, there is a significant correlation between these factors and the predicted values of ES. The results of the study will help to improve our understanding of the overall ecological environment of the QTP, provide accurate positioning and reasonable help for the government to formulate relevant protection strategies, and lay a methodological and practical foundation for the sustainable development of the QTP. Full article

Background: Topical corticosteroids are commonly used to treat several skin conditions, most notably atopic dermatitis. Many studies have found that patients lack knowledge about the safety, potency, and appropriate use of topical corticosteroids. This can be due to ineffective education by pharmacists and other healthcare providers. This study aims to evaluate the appropriateness of dispensing and counseling practices of community pharmacists towards topical corticosteroids in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional survey study was conducted in Saudi Arabia among 418 community pharmacists from different regions of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire that covered community pharmacists’ sociodemographic information, their perceptions of patient knowledge about topical corticosteroid use, and their dispensing and their counseling practices, in addition to their perceived barriers to counseling. Results: The majority of the participating community pharmacists were Saudi (57.4%), female (66.7%), holding a bachelor’s degree (63.4%), and full-time workers (91.1%). Most of the time, community pharmacists counseled patients on the frequency of application per day and the duration of treatment (75.8% and 74.8%, respectively). The median counseling practice score was 17, with an IQR of 14–21. The main barrier to counseling was lack of time (33.7%). Only 15% of community pharmacists accurately identified all scenarios that necessitate medical referrals. Dry skin, itchiness, and irritation were the most common side effects reported by community pharmacists for patients to complain about (69.4%). Most pharmacists agreed that misuse is the most likely cause of topical corticosteroid adverse drug events (53.7%), followed by medication overuse, such as patient self-treatment (48%). Conclusion: Community pharmacists counseling practices to their patients about the use of topical corticosteroids require improvement. Continuing education and hands-on training are needed for community pharmacists regarding counseling about topical corticosteroids use. Full article

The present study aimed to investigate the properties of calcium-rich soy protein isolate (SPI) gels (14% SPI; 100 mM CaCl₂), the effects of incorporating different concentrations locust bean gum (LBG) (0.1–0.3%, w/v) to the systems and the stability of the obtained gels. Also, the incorporation of solid lipid microparticles (SLMs) was tested as an alternative strategy to improve the system’s stability and, therefore, potential to be applied as a product prototype. The gels were evaluated regarding their visual aspect, rheological properties, water-holding capacities (WHCs) and microstructural organizations. The CaCl₂-induced gels were self-supported but presented low WHC (40.0% ± 2.2) which was improved by LBG incorporation. The obtained mixed system, however, presented low stability, with high syneresis after 10 days of storage, due to microstructural compaction. The gels’ stability was improved by SLM incorporation, which decreased the gelled matrices’ compaction and syneresis for more than 20 days. Even though the rheological properties of the emulsion-filled gels (EFGs) were very altered due to the ageing process (which may affect the sensory perception of a future food originated from this EFG), the incorporation of SLMs increased the systems potential to be applied as a calcium-rich product prototype. Full article

Background: Humans perceive and interpret the world through the lens of self-reference processes, typically facilitating enhanced performance for the task at hand. However, this research has predominantly emphasized the automatic facet of self-reference processing, overlooking how it interacts with control processes affecting everyday situations. Methods: We investigated this relationship between automatic and control self-reference processing in neuropsychological patients performing self-face perception tasks and the Birmingham frontal task measuring executive functions. Results: Principal component analysis across tasks revealed two components: one loaded on familiarity/orientation judgments reflecting automatic self-reference processing, and the other linked to the cross task and executive function indicating control processing requirements. Voxel-based morphometry and track-wise lesion-mapping analyses showed that impairments in automatic self-reference were associated with reduced grey matter in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and right inferior temporal gyrus, and white matter damage in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Deficits in executive control were linked to reduced grey matter in the bilateral inferior parietal lobule and left anterior insula, and white matter disconnections in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus and arcuate fasciculus. Conclusions: The causal evidence suggests that automatic and control facets of self-reference processes are subserved by distinct yet integrated ventral prefrontal–temporal and dorsal frontal–parietal networks, respectively. Full article

Chinese farmers, especially small ones, always sell their food at low prices during harvest season rather than storing it for a better price. Based on a theoretical framework of expected utility, this paper examines the mechanism by which risk perception affects farmers’ timing choices of food sales and the role played by risk preference, utilizing data from the 2019 China Family Database and the China Household Finance Survey of farmers in six provinces of the main wheat-producing regions. This study shows that farmers with a high risk perception are more likely to choose current sales compared with intertemporal sales. The channel and mechanism analysis finds that increased risk perception leads to risky returns from intertemporal sales lower than certain returns from current sales in utility comparisons. It is further found that risk preference has a substitution effect on risk perception in farmers’ intertemporal food sales. Full article

The travel behavior of urban residents has gradually changed in response to the widespread adoption of ride-hailing services. This paper explores the travel mode choices made by individuals utilizing multiple forms of ride-hailing services. Eight scenarios were established, which considered combinations of activity types (commute or recreation), travel periods (peak or off-peak), and price levels (discounted or normal rates for ride-hailing). Moreover, socio-psychological variables such as perceived value, behavioral intention, and subjective norm were integrated into the analysis. The findings reveal that consumers of ride-hailing services generally exhibit characteristics such as being younger in age, having higher income, lack of car ownership, and having greater experience in using ride-hailing services. Furthermore, the inclusion of socio-psychological variables significantly improved the model’s fitness. Travelers exhibit a preference for ride-hailing services in scenarios involving recreational activities, normal travel periods, and discounted ride-hailing prices. In conclusion, this study sheds light on the evolving travel behavior of urban residents in light of the widespread availability of ride-hailing services. The incorporation of socio-psychological factors is essential in comprehending and predicting travel mode choices. The insights derived from this research contribute to a nuanced understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of and preference for ride-hailing services among urban commuters. Full article

This research paper evaluates the commitment, attitude, and performance of various stakeholders, particularly the local government authorities, academic institutions, local businesses, media, and private sector, in the sustainable development of tourism villages. Quantitative data were collected through a survey questionnaire to gather perceptions and feedback from 384 tourism awareness group leaders in the province of West Sumatra, Indonesia. This study employs Partial Least Squares–Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypotheses. The findings indicate that stakeholders’ commitment, attitude, and performance exert a strong influence on sustainable tourism villages. In addition, community culture moderates the relationship between the attitudes of stakeholders and sustainable tourism villages as opposed to the stakeholders’ commitment and performance. These findings provide valuable insights and far-reaching consequences for stakeholders, tourism village heads, and the community. There is a need to continuously enhance a comprehensive plan for sustainable tourism, one that goes beyond cultural implication and incorporates a broader range of influencing factors. Full article

As an emerging direction of multi-agent collaborative control technology, multiple autonomous underwater vehicle (multi-AUV) cooperative area search technology has played an important role in civilian fields such as marine resource exploration and development, marine rescue, and marine scientific expeditions, as well as in military fields such as mine countermeasures and military underwater reconnaissance. At present, as we continue to explore the ocean, the environment in which AUVs perform search tasks is mostly unknown, with many uncertainties such as obstacles, which places high demands on the autonomous decision-making capabilities of AUVs. Moreover, considering the limited detection capability of a single AUV in underwater environments, while the area searched by the AUV is constantly expanding, a single AUV cannot obtain global state information in real time and can only make behavioral decisions based on local observation information, which adversely affects the coordination between AUVs and the search efficiency of multi-AUV systems. Therefore, in order to face increasingly challenging search tasks, we adopt multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) to study the problem of multi-AUV cooperative area search from the perspective of improving autonomous decision-making capabilities and collaboration between AUVs. First, we modeled the search task as a decentralized partial observation Markov decision process (Dec-POMDP) and established a search information map. Each AUV updates the information map based on sonar detection information and information fusion between AUVs, and makes real-time decisions based on this to better address the problem of insufficient observation information caused by the weak perception ability of AUVs in underwater environments. Secondly, we established a multi-AUV cooperative area search system (MACASS), which employs a search strategy based on multi-agent reinforcement learning. The system combines various AUVs into a unified entity using a distributed control approach. During the execution of search tasks, each AUV can make action decisions based on sonar detection information and information exchange among AUVs in the system, utilizing the MARL-based search strategy. As a result, AUVs possess enhanced autonomy in decision-making, enabling them to better handle challenges such as limited detection capabilities and insufficient observational information. Full article

The Global Neuronal Workspace (GNW) hypothesis states that the visual percept is available to conscious awareness only if recurrent long-distance interactions among distributed brain regions activate neural circuitry extending from the posterior areas to prefrontal regions above a certain excitation threshold. To directly test this hypothesis, we trained 14 human participants to increase blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals with real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI)-based neurofeedback simultaneously in four specific regions of the occipital, temporal, insular and prefrontal parts of the brain. Specifically, we hypothesized that the up-regulation of the mean BOLD activity in the posterior–frontal brain regions lowers the perceptual threshold for visual stimuli, while down-regulation raises the threshold. Our results showed that participants could perform up-regulation (Wilcoxon test, session 1: p = 0.022; session 4: p = 0.041) of the posterior–frontal brain activity, but not down-regulation. Furthermore, the up-regulation training led to a significant reduction in the visual perceptual threshold, but no substantial change in perceptual threshold was observed after the down-regulation training. These findings show that the up-regulation of the posterior–frontal regions improves the perceptual discrimination of the stimuli. However, further questions as to whether the posterior–frontal regions can be down-regulated at all, and whether down-regulation raises the perceptual threshold, remain unanswered. Full article

Background: Lymphedema is a debilitating condition that significantly affects quality of life due to its chronic nature and visible symptoms. Lymphaticovenous anastomosis (LVA) has emerged as a promising surgical intervention, yet its effects on body image and spiritual health alongside physical symptoms have not been thoroughly examined. This study evaluates the efficacy of LVA in improving symptoms, quality of life (QOL), body image, and spiritual well-being in lymphedema patients. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, involving 44 patients with lymphedema undergoing LVA surgery. Evaluations were made pre-surgery, one month post-surgery, and six months post-surgery using the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), Multidimensional Body–Self Relations Questionnaire-Appearance Scales (MBSRQ-AS), and a spiritual health scale. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way repeated measures ANOVA. Results: Significant improvements were observed in lymphedema symptoms and QOL measures at six months post-operation. SF-36 results showed enhanced scores in nearly all domains, particularly in physical functioning and role-physical. The appearance orientation scores from the MBSRQ-AS significantly increased, indicating improved perceptions in some dimensions of body image. Conclusions: LVA surgery significantly enhances physical and psychological outcomes in patients with lymphedema, with marked improvements in symptoms, QOL, and body image perceptions. The findings suggest that while LVA is effective in addressing the physical and psychological aspects of lymphedema, it does not impact spiritual dimensions. This underscores the need for holistic approaches in the management of lymphedema to address all facets of patient well-being. Full article

This research studies the prevalence of digital violence exercised through new information and communication technology (ICT) among university couples. A comparative study was carried out in England, United Kingdom, and in Spain with 831 participants. A quantitative methodology was applied with different sampling: in the United Kingdom, 303 (M_Age = 22.79; SD; 47.32; 58.7% male) and in Spain, 528 (M_Age = 24.29; SD = 21.41; 69.5% female). An ad hoc questionnaire was used, created for the detection, measurement and analysis of digital violence within affective-sexual relationships. The results reveal proportions of 51.04% and 49.82% in the perception of digital violence through electronic devices in dating relationships among young people; 15.84% and 11.05% in the prevalence of digital violence in young couples’ relationships; 9.36% and 6.17% in the prevalence of traditional violence; and 35.78% and 22.43% in the tolerance of digital violence among students, for the English and Spanish samples, respectively. The results also show a slightly lower prevalence of digital violence in the Spanish sample with respect to the English sample, where females scored slightly higher in the perpetration of digital violence. There is a need to develop awareness, training and prevention programs against digital violence in the university context. Full article