Foundation models for autonomous driving: A comprehensive survey

In the rapidly evolving business landscape, blockchain technology emerges as a key innovator, enhancing trust, transparency, and security. However, the unique features of blockchain pose challenges in developing blockchain-based software (BSD) systems, demanding improvements in conventional software development processes. This study aims to identify BSD process areas and develop a success probability prediction framework, enhancing BSD process success and progression. We conducted a comprehensive literature survey and a questionnaire-based survey with practitioners to identify BSD process areas and gather training data. The study employs the Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) combined with the Naive Bayes Classifier to create a success probability prediction framework for BSD processes. Our research identifies 47 BSD process areas, categorized across five software process improvement (SPI) stages: initial, managed, defined, quantitatively managed, and optimizing. The GWO algorithm facilitates the design of a predictive framework, assessing the success probability of each stage, encompassing various process areas. The framework also prioritizes process areas for each stage, helping practitioners identify critical areas considering implementation cost and success probability. Organizations using BSD can leverage this framework to improve their BSD processes. This study contributes to blockchain technology applications in software development, offering a systematic, predictive approach to augment the effectiveness and success rate of BSD processes.

The nocturnal chronotypes may be associated with an increased susceptibility to depression. Furthermore, the chronotype shows long-term stability and is not easily changed. Considering that sleep quality is related to chronotype and depressive symptoms, assessing the role of sleep quality in the relationship between chronotype and depressive symptoms could help to identify intervention targets. This study analyzed the network structure of sleep quality, chronotype, and depressive symptoms. Data were obtained from the Psychology and Behavior Investigation of Chinese Residents (PBICR), a national, multi-cohort, comprehensive cross-sectional survey conducted in China. We used data from 2023 and included 28,312 individuals in our analysis. Identified central symptoms by expected influence value and bridge symptoms by bridge expected influence value. Among all the samples, 5327 (18.82%) reported experiencing depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 total scores≥10), and 7183 (25.37%) reported poor sleep quality (B-PSQI total scores >5). Network analysis demonstrated that "Sleep problem" had the highest expected influence centrality, followed by "Moving change", "Difficulty with concentrating", "Hopelessness" and "Sleep disturbance". Four bridge symptoms were identified: "Sleep problem", "Sleep disturbance", "Sleep efficiency", and "Suicidality". This exploratory study explored the inter-relationships between sleep quality, chronotype and depressive symptoms in Chinese adults. As central and bridge symptoms, sleep problems and sleep disturbance may represent potential intervention targets for addressing the depressive symptoms associated with chronotype.

Amid growing global concern about the impact of marine plastic debris on the marine environment, fishers are expected to remove debris from their fishing gear during day-to-day fishing, and bring it back to land for proper disposal. However, a comprehensive survey of stranded, drifting, and benthic marine debris removed by fishers across Japan has not yet been undertaken. This study aims to analyze fishers' removal activities and the challenges they encounter. Nominal variables-such as ocean currents, the size of Fisheries Cooperative Association (FCA), and fishing types-were selected as external factors to examine their statistical significance and contribution to removal efforts using inferential statistical analysis. Correspondence analysis was applied to illustrate the relationship between currents and types of debris. Nearly 90% of FCAs across Japan experienced at least one of the three categories of marine debris at the same time and carried out removal operations for at least one of them. Significant relationships were identified between ocean currents and the presence or absence of removal activities for all types of marine debris. FCAs engaged in small-scale trawl fisheries were more likely to carry out benthic debris removal. Correspondence analysis showed that plastic products were removed by fishers across nearly all areas. This study contributes to the policy implications of reducing plastic pollution and promoting sustainable marine management by highlighting the role of coastal fishers in the removal of stranded, drifting, and benthic marine debris.

A comprehensive survey of artificial intelligence advances in Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces-assisted wireless networks

Recent studies have focused on oral frailty and hypofunction, and their relationship with swallowing function and dysphagia. These play especially important roles in patients with dysphagia in medical-dental cooperation at acute hospitals. This study aimed to assess oral frailty, in terms of nutritional intake by evaluating oral and swallowing functions simultaneously, in patients consulting at an acute hospital. This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Center for Dysphagia of Tohoku University Hospital and involved a comprehensive survey of 183 patients. Their oral function and oral status were evaluated, which included factors such as poor oral hygiene, oral dryness, tongue-lip motor function, tongue pressure, and masticatory performance. Additionally, swallowing status was evaluated using various methods, including a questionnaire related to swallowing, Hyodo-Komagane score, modified water-swallowing, and repetitive saliva swallowing tests. This thorough approach ensured the validity and reliability of our findings. Approximately 60% of patients had head and neck tumours, degenerative diseases, and muscular diseases. Therefore, a high prevalence of oral hypofunction was observed. Furthermore, since 41.5% of patients had limited tongue movement, a characteristic correlation existed between the oral diadochokinesis and Hyodo-Komagane score. These results suggest that oral dryness score, oral diadochokinesis, and tongue pressure are associated with oral hypofunction and dysphagia. Additionally, patients with hypofunction and decreased tongue pressure may have hypopharyngeal residuals. The medical-dental cooperation in an acute hospital allows for the simultaneous assessment of oral and swallowing functions. This suggests a potential to contribute to the practice of safe oral intake and appropriate rehabilitation.

A comprehensive survey of AI agents in healthcare.

Non-covalent interactions in thiosemicarbazone coordination chemistry: From crystal engineering to functional materials

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are crucial for animal development, growth and physiological regulation. Early vertebrate evolution was shaped by complex whole-genome duplications (WGDs); after a shared first event (1RV), jawed vertebrates underwent a second distinct WGD (2RJV), while cyclostomes (lampreys and hagfishes) experienced a different, lineage-specific genome expansion (2RCY). Despite their key evolutionary position, the FGF gene family in cyclostomes has remained largely uncharacterized, contrasting with extensive research in jawed vertebrates and their invertebrate chordate relatives. To illuminate this knowledge gap, we conducted a comprehensive genomic survey of FGF genes across four cyclostome species, five jawed vertebrates, and an amphioxus outgroup, leveraging newly available cyclostome genomes. Our analysis surprisingly reveals a significantly reduced FGF repertoire in lampreys (17 genes) and hagfishes (12 genes) compared to jawed vertebrates (22-32 genes). This finding suggests extensive FGF gene loss in cyclostomes following their unique genome duplication history. Phylogenetic and synteny analyses confirm that all eight ancestral FGF subfamilies were first established in the common ancestor of vertebrates. Significantly, we report the discovery of a novel FGF gene, Fgf25, within the FGF4/5/6/25 subfamily, uniquely retained in actinopterygians but lost in sarcopterygians. We also propose a new evolutionary model for Fgf3, suggesting its origin via tandem duplication of an unknown Fgf gene after the 1RV but before the second genome duplication, ultimately leading to the conserved Fgf3-Fgf4-Fgf19 gene linkage in jawed vertebrates. This detailed characterization of the cyclostome FGF repertoire provides insights into early vertebrate FGF evolution and a valuable resource for future investigations into cyclostome evolution and development.

The research investigates the influence of gender on the utilization of social media in academic libraries of India, using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT).Understanding the impact of gender on the acceptance of social media in library services is crucial as it becomes more integrated.The survey questions specifically target the perception of male and female academic librarians regarding the ease of using social networking platforms in terms of peer influence, service improvement, and user-friendliness.The study used a comprehensive survey methodology to evenly distribute 160 questions among both male and female participants, resulting in a 100% rate of response.In this research, percentage analysis is used to show and compare data, which makes it easier to understand and interpret.The study highlights the crucial impact of organizational infrastructure and support on social media usage.The main problems found consist of insufficient technical infrastructure, insufficient managerial assistance, and insufficient training opportunities.These challenges highlight the importance of collaborative efforts to maximize the use of social media in academic libraries.The study's findings suggest that to enhance digital engagement among academic librarians, it is crucial to address gender-related inequities.

Addressing Regulatory Gaps: Comprehensive Residue Survey & Risk Assessment for the Specialty Crop Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. in Hainan and Guangdong, China.

Wearable technology is breaking the confines of skin-surface monitoring, moving towards deep-tissue physiological insights. Within this evolution, wearable ultrasound is emerging as a transformative technology, offering a non-invasive and real-time window into deep physiological dynamics. This review systematically deconstructs the technological framework of a complete wearable ultrasound system. It provides an in-depth analysis of the system's three core components: (1) conformal transducers, examining progress in materials, microfabrication, and the critical trade-off between acoustic performance and mechanical compliance; (2) miniaturized hardware systems, detailing design strategies to resolve the fundamental conflict among processing power, energy efficiency, and form factor; and (3) advanced algorithms, highlighting their role as essential compensatory systems for ensuring data integrity in dynamic environments. Finally, the clinical power of this integrated technology stack is demonstrated through a comprehensive survey of its cardiovascular applications. By systematically analyzing the core technologies and future challenges, this review offers a forward-looking perspective on the evolution of wearable ultrasound, charting its path toward becoming a cornerstone of continuous, personalized health management.

Agriculture plays a crucial role in the development of countries whose economies rely heavily on food production. In the face of climate change and growing global population, plant breeders are challenged to adopt more efficient crop improvement strategies. The advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in large-scale data integration, analysis, and pattern recognition, have revolutionized several scientific disciplines, including plant breeding. In this review, we provide a comprehensive survey of the potential of AI tools in plant breeding with four key objectives: (i) revolutionizing high-throughput phenotyping, (ii) exploring AI-driven breeding methodologies beyond traditional approaches, (iii) optimizing breeding pipelines through improved modelling of genotype × environment × management interactions, and (iv) highlighting the limitations of AI in plant breeding and future directions. Case studies published during the past two decades illustrate successful implementations of AI-powered phenotyping and breeding frameworks for major traits across diverse crop species. Furthermore, AI tools show great promise in refining crop traits at the molecular level by increasing the accuracy and precision of emerging fields including gene editing and genomic selection. We emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to maximize the benefits of AI in plant breeding programs and to support the sustainable and food-secure future. This review bridges the gap between AI and agricultural applications, offering a roadmap for researchers, industry professionals, and policymakers to harness information fusion and computational models for advancing precision agriculture. It will serve as a valuable resource for future plant breeding, accelerating crop improvement from phenotyping to genomic selection and breeding decision support.

Traditional evaluations of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the dynamic, operator-dependent, and time-sensitive field of interventional radiology (IR), focusing solely on algorithmic performance, often fail to capture their real-world clinical impact. This narrative review aims to provide an overview of the current state of the art of AI integration in IR through human-AI interaction (HAI), while offering a critical perspective on their clinical integration, limitations, and future directions. A comprehensive survey of recent literature was performed, focusing on AI applications across procedural phases. The review emphasizes systems providing decision support, real-time procedural verification, and immersive interfaces (augmented and virtual reality), while critically evaluating determinants of effective clinical adoption. AI has shown preliminary potential to support operator performance in selected interventional radiology tasks, although most applications remain experimental, retrospective, or evaluated in phantom or preclinical settings. Potential benefits include structuring uncertainty in patient selection and procedural planning, supporting assessment of device positioning and treatment outcomes, and integrating AI-derived outputs into the operator's spatial field through immersive technologies. The clinical utility of these systems appears to be influenced by human-AI interaction, with interpretability, workflow integration, and trust calibration representing key determinants of effective use beyond algorithmic accuracy alone. The potential value of AI in interventional radiology appears to derive from its integration into human decision-making rather than from standalone predictive performance alone. A human-centered, interaction-based model supports understanding current applications, address challenges, and guide the development of adaptive, real-time systems for dynamic procedural environments.

Understanding how disability prevalence differs between social and medical models across socioeconomic contexts helps inform policies aimed at improving the well-being of children with disabilities. Additionally, consistent data collection methods are essential to support the shift from medical to social models of disability. This study examined associations between two measures of disability: parent-reported functional limitations based on the Washington Group/UNICEF Child Functioning Module (CFM) and medically documented impairments. We analyzed data from Türkiye's 2022 child survey, which provided a comprehensive assessment of parent-reported functional limitations and medically documented impairments in 14,705 children aged 0-17 from 9,010 households. Using principal component analysis and logistic regression, we identified and tested associations between the two measures. Disability prevalence was 2% based on medically documented impairments but rose to 14.1% when using the CFM, highlighting significant discrepancies across measures. The CFM responses suggested three distinct sub-populations: (1) physical, sensory, and cognitive domains, (2) social domains, and (3) emotional domains, with each group displaying unique socioeconomic characteristics. Additionally, children with medical disability reports were three times more likely to report symptoms of depression or anxiety than those without such reports, underscoring the importance of integrating functional and clinical measures for a comprehensive understanding of disability. The findings indicate that the CFM's functional approach provided a complementary perspective to the medical model, offering global comparability and a fuller profile of childhood disability. This dual-model approach supports disability-inclusive policies by capturing a broader spectrum of functional needs, thereby aiding resource allocation and public awareness initiatives.

This comprehensive survey reviews the trajectory of research dissemination in the field of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) from 1 July 2023 to 10 February 2025. It provides a systematic overview of books, reviews, tutorials, and patent applications, alongside a vast array of innovative theoretical concepts and diverse applications that had emerged during this period. Beyond reporting advancements, this review critically examines instances of improper usage or citations of 2D-COS to promote methodological rigor within the community. The survey highlights significant innovations in probe integration, chemometric data analysis, and technical methodologies. These developments underscore the expanding role of 2D-COS in materials science, environmental monitoring, and complex biological systems. By synthesizing recent literature, this review illustrates dynamic growth, increasing refinement, and multi-disciplinary diversification of 2D-COS across the global scientific landscape.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of intellectual capital, represented by its dimensions of human capital, relational capital, and structural capital, on enhancing production flexibility with its various dimensions, including machine flexibility, new product introduction flexibility, and human resource flexibility, through an applied study at Dubai Pharmaceutical Industries Company. The main objective of the study was to analyze the nature of the relationship between intellectual capital and the organization’s ability to adapt to operational and production changes, as well as to determine the extent to which each dimension of intellectual capital contributes to enhancing production flexibility within the company. The descriptive analytical approach was adopted because it is suitable for the nature and objectives of the research. This approach helps in describing phenomena and analyzing relationships among variables scientifically and systematically. The study population included all employees working at Dubai Pharmaceutical Industries Company located in Samarra, Salah Al-Din Governorate, Iraq - a total of (101) employees. Since this is a relatively small study population, the comprehensive survey method (Census Method) was used to represent fully all members of the population and achieve more accuracy in results. However, (22) questionnaires were excluded due to incomplete data or inconsistencies that would affect the validity of statistical analysis. Therefore, valid questionnaires for analysis came down to (79), with a response rate of 78.2%. The results of the study showed a statistically significant positive effect of intellectual capital on production flexibility at the significance level (α ≤ 0.05). Results also indicated that intellectual capital has a significant effect on all dimensions of production flexibility, i.e., machine flexibility, new product introduction flexibility, and human resource flexibility.

Carnivores frequently rely on scent and visual markings for intraspecific communication, delineating territorial boundaries, attracting mates and assessing competitors. However, studying such behaviours in rare and elusive species poses significant challenges. To enhance our understanding of the diel marking behaviours of common leopard (Panthera pardus), from November, 2019 to June, 2023, we conducted a comprehensive camera-trap survey in Luolong county of Tibet, China. Our monitoring encompassed 159 locations yielded 1,208 (excluded 700 unknown sex) individual leopard detections over 60,000 trap days, allowing us to quantify the frequency and temporal patterns of marking behaviours. Of these, 153 detections involved territorial marking in snowy conditions, while 355 occurred in snow-free environments. Female leopards in mixed forests and shrublands exhibited higher diurnal activity in snow-presence days. Male leopards engaged in a range of behaviours - including sniffing and rolling - primarily within mixed, coniferous and shrubland habitats. Male leopards engaged more frequently in behaviours such as sniffing, scraping, urine spraying, body rubbing, vocalizations, rolling and scat deposition with notable differences in scraping frequency compared to females. Female leopards displayed similar behaviours but at reduced levels particularly in scraping activities. The number of scrapes observed at camera-trap sites appears to be an indicator of leopard visitation rates suggesting its usefulness for optimizing monitoring efforts. Our findings contribute valuable insights into how environmental factors influence social communication strategies in leopards, enhance our understanding of male and female leopard territorial and making behaviours in various environments, and benefit for the conservation and monitoring of carnivore populations.

Study DesignInternational Expert Cross-Sectional Survey.ObjectivesTo establish international expert consensus on the definition, diagnostic criteria, imaging requirements, and surgical management of recurrent lumbar disc herniation (RLDH).MethodsA comprehensive survey was developed based on current literature and disseminated globally via professional, academic, and personal networks among clinicians with expertise in spinal disorders. The survey covered core definitions, clinical symptoms, imaging criteria, and surgical preferences. Consensus was predefined as ≥70% agreement. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests, Rasch analysis, and post-hoc analysis using adjusted standardized residuals with Bonferroni correction.ResultsA global cohort of 510 experts participated (62% neurosurgeons, 30% orthopedic surgeons), primarily from Europe (42%), North America (25%), and Asia (19%). Strong consensus was reached for defining RLDH as a new herniation at the same level (83.5%) and same side (72.4%) as the index surgery, following a pain-free interval (77.0%). No consensus was reached on interval duration. MRI confirmation was considered necessary (96.7%), with differentiation from postoperative scar tissue (87.0%). Open microdiscectomy remains the global gold standard (43%), with significant geographic (P < 0.0001) and specialty-based (P < 0.0001) variations. North Americans more often preferred tubular microdiscectomy (25%), Asians full endoscopic techniques (25%), and Europeans open microdiscectomy (56%). Neurosurgeons favored open procedures (55%), while orthopedic surgeons preferred full endoscopic approaches (29%) and fusion (21%).ConclusionsThis study establishes a foundation for an international consensus definition of RLDH as a new herniation at the same level and side as the initial herniation, with a pain-free interval and MRI confirmation differentiating from postoperative scar tissue.

A comprehensive survey on blockchain and IoT for healthcare security, efficiency and data interoperability