Effects Of Practice Research Articles

The effects of mindfulness-based intervention on social anxiety, mindfulness, intolerance of uncertainty and emotion dysregulation——a serial multiple mediating structural equation model

Abstract To investigate the potentially unique effects of mindfulness practice on social anxiety in college-bound high school seniors and explore the psychological mechanisms by which it works, this study compared the mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) group with the wait-list control (WLC) group. A total of 66 students who had just graduated from high school and were about to enter college were randomly assigned to the MBI group (n = 33) or WLC group (n = 33) and conducted self-reported mindfulness, intolerance of uncertainty, emotion dysregulation, and social anxiety at baseline and post-intervention. Repeated measurement analysis of variance demonstrated that variables varied significantly over group (MBI group and WLC group) × time (pre-test and post-test). Based on structural equation models (SEM), it has been demonstrated the change in the degrees of mindfulness, intolerance of uncertainty, and emotion dysregulation plays a partial mediating role in the process of alleviating the level of social anxiety with mindfulness intervention. MBI can not only directly affect social anxiety, but also indirectly affect the level of social anxiety through three paths. In conclusion, MBI can effectively help high school leavers improve their level of mindfulness, reduce unbearable uncertainty and emotion dysregulation. Moreover, MBI can alleviate social anxiety in high school graduates preparing for university by improving their level of mindfulness and reducing intolerance of uncertainty and emotion dysregulation.

The challenges of evidence-based prehabilitation in a real-life context for patients preparing for colorectal surgery—a cohort study and multiple case analysis

BackgroundMultimodal prehabilitation programs are effective at reducing complications after colorectal surgery in patients with a high risk of postoperative complications due to low aerobic capacity and/or malnutrition. However, high implementation fidelity is needed to achieve these effects in real-life practice. This study aimed to investigate the implementation fidelity of an evidence-based prehabilitation program in the real-life context of a Dutch regional hospital.MethodsIn this observational cohort study with multiple case analyses, all patients who underwent colorectal surgery from January 2023 to June 2023 were enrolled. Patients meeting the criteria for low aerobic capacity or malnutrition were advised to participate in a prehabilitation program. According to recent scientific insights and the local care context, this program consisted of four exercise modalities and three nutrition modalities. Implementation fidelity was investigated by evaluating: (1) coverage (participation rate), (2) duration (number of days between the start of prehabilitation and surgery), (3) content (delivery of prescribed intervention modalities), and (4) frequency (attendance of sessions and compliance with prescribed parameters). An aggregated percentage of content and frequency was calculated to determine overall adherence.ResultsFifty-eight patients intended to follow the prehabilitation care pathway, of which 41 performed a preoperative risk assessment (coverage 80%). Ten patients (24%) were identified as high-risk and participated in the prehabilitation program (duration of 33–84 days). Adherence was high (84–100%) in five and moderate (72–73%) in two patients. Adherence was remarkably low (25%, 53%, 54%) in three patients who struggled to execute the prehabilitation program due to multiple physical and cognitive impairments.ConclusionImplementation fidelity of an evidence-based multimodal prehabilitation program for high-risk patients preparing for colorectal surgery in real-life practice was moderate because adherence was high for most patients, but low for some patients. Patients with low adherence had multiple impairments, with consequences for their preparation for surgery. For healthcare professionals, it is recommended to pay attention to high-risk patients with multiple impairments and further personalize the prehabilitation program. More knowledge about identifying and treating high-risk patients is needed to provide evidence-based recommendations and to obtain higher effectiveness.Trial registrationNCT06438484.

Opioidergic activation of the descending pain inhibitory system underlies placebo analgesia.

Placebo analgesia is caused by inactive treatment, implicating endogenous brain function involvement. However, the neurobiological basis remains unclear. In this study, we found that μ-opioid signals in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activate the descending pain inhibitory system to initiate placebo analgesia in neuropathic pain rats. Chemogenetic manipulation demonstrated that specific activation of μ-opioid receptor-positive (MOR+) neurons in the mPFC or suppression of the mPFC-ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) circuit inhibited placebo analgesia in rats. MOR+ neurons in the mPFC are monosynaptically connected and directly inhibit layer V pyramidal neurons that project to the vlPAG via GABAA receptors. Thus, intrinsic opioid signaling in the mPFC disinhibits excitatory outflow to the vlPAG by suppressing MOR+ neurons, leading to descending pain inhibitory system activation that initiates placebo analgesia. Our results shed light on the fundamental neurobiological mechanism of the placebo effect that maximizes therapeutic efficacy and reduces adverse drug effects in medical practice.

The “prostate-pelvic syndrome” theory used in patients with type-III prostatitis and its correlation with prostate volume

BackgroundType-III prostatitis is the most common prostate disease in adult males below 40 years old. The actual operation of its diagnosis process is cumbersome. Recently, a group of top Chinese urologists have proposed the theory of “prostate-pelvic syndrome (PPS)” and suggested using it to replace the traditional term for type-III prostatitis. However, the practical application effectiveness of PPS theory in clinical practice is still unclear.ObjectiveThe aims of this study were to verify the clinical outcome of PPS theory in diagnosing the adult patients with type-III prostatitis below 40 years old and analyze the related factors for the main symptoms of PPS in adult males below 40 years old, providing references for the prevention and treatment of PPS in young adult males.MethodsThe clinical medical records of 548 adult outpatients with type-III prostatitis under 40 years old between August 2018 and May 2023 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were diagnosed retrospectively again by using PPS diagnostic criteria in this retrospective cohort study. Subsequently, the age, disease duration, prostate volume (PV), PV ≥ 20 mL detection rate and other related indicators among different symptom groups were analyzed by univariate analysis. The correlation between different symptoms of PPS patients and PV as well as disease duration was analyzed by correlation analysis. Additionally, the related factors for different main symptoms of PPS patients were analyzed by multivariate analysis.ResultsOf the 548 patients, 229 patients had lower urinary tract symptoms, 159 patients had pelvic pain symptoms, and 160 patients had lower urinary tract and pelvic pain symptoms, respectively corresponding to those with voiding symptoms (VS), pain symptoms (PS), and voiding + pain symptoms (VS + PS) defined according to the concept of PPS. There were significant differences in PV and disease duration among the three main symptoms groups of PPS. PV in the VS group was larger than that in the PS group. Spearman correlation analysis showed that VS was positively correlated with PV and disease duration, while four secondary symptoms (including sexual dysfunction, psychosocial symptoms, reproductive dysfunction and other symptoms) were not related to PV. The proportion of VS patients in the PV ≥ 20 mL group was higher than that in the PV < 20 mL group. Multivariate logistic analysis showed that PV and disease duration were independent related factors for VS in adult PPS patients below 40 years old.ConclusionsType-III prostatitis in Chinese adult males below 40 years old can be diagnosed and treated with PPS. PV and disease duration were independent related factors for VS in Chinese adult PPS patients below 40 years old. The risk of VS in PPS patients with PV ≥ 20 mL was 5.348 times as long as that in PPS patients with PV < 20 mL.

CoGames: Development of an adaptive smartphone-based and gamified monitoring tool for cognitive function in Multiple Sclerosis

AimAs part of the development of a smartphone-based app for monitoring MS disease activity and progression (dreaMS, NCT05009160), we developed six gamified tests with multiple difficulty levels as a monitoring tool for cognition. This study quantified the relative difficulty between levels and investigated their reliability, ability to depict practice effects, and user acceptance.MethodsHealthy volunteers played each game, covering five cognitive domains, twice per day for 11 consecutive days. Linear mixed models determined the relative difficulty of the levels. Spearman's correlation of the two daily repetitions measured test–retest reliability. Difficulty increased daily except for days 2, 6, and 11, when the easiest level (“Beginner”) was repeated to estimate practice effects. Participants rated enjoyment and other components of acceptance on a 5-point scale.ResultsWe included 82 participants from April to July 2023 in Basel, Switzerland, of which 76 (51 female, age: 40.3 ± 13.9 years, range 18–69) completed the study according to protocol. Generally, mean performances decreased with higher difficulty levels. Across all levels of all games, the median test–retest correlation was 0.825 (range of medians 0.55–0.9). Mean performance in level “Beginner” improved across all games. The mean enjoyment rating was 3.9 (range: 3.1–4.3).ConclusionOur study showed that the CoGames yield reliable measures across different cognitive domains and difficulty levels and were enjoyable to play. The observed practice effects must be considered, but also indicate sensitivity to change. These results support the hypothesis that adaptive gamified digital tests can serve as a reliable and well-accepted monitoring tool of cognition in PwMS.

Translating Detective and Mystery Stories: A Skopos Perspective

The mysteries or the detective fictions are one type of popular novels which mainly describe the process of reasoning and detection of the case. With translation practice examples of two mysteries and detective fictions——A Philosophical Difference and Phoney Friend, the paper describes the translation skills on the titles, rhetorical devices and references of the mysteries from the perspective of Skopos theory and functional equivalence theory in details. It is found out that liberal translation is the best way to translate the titles with the guidance of Skopos theory, which is easy to attract the readers’ attention. The rhetorical devices like alliteration, pun and acrostic puzzle, can be translated in two ways--literal translation and amplification according to the functional equivalence theory. References can be translated in a repetitive way to realize the coherence in the text.This paper describes the translation skills of the titles, rhetorical devices and references in mysteries and provides a first-hand corpus for theoretical studies of translation, as well as methodological guidance for translation practice. It shows that flexible application of theories in translation can reach a better effect in translation practice.

Effect of Breathing Yoga Practice on Resting Vital Capacity in Elderly Women with Intellectual Disability

Effect of Breathing Yoga Practice on Resting Vital Capacity in Elderly Women with Intellectual Disability

Fault-tolerant consensus control of linear multi-agent systems with polynomial faults based on event triggered mechanism

This paper investigates the problem of fault-tolerant consensus control in multi-agent systems, with an emphasis on triggers induced by polynomial faults. Polynomial models are utilized to precisely capture the diverse range of faults that may manifest within the system, enabling an accurate representation of fault dynamics through polynomial approximations. An observer is subsequently designed to estimate both system faults and external disturbances with a high degree of accuracy. To optimize communication efficiency, an event-triggering mechanism based on periodic sampling is introduced, significantly reducing superfluous data transmissions. Based on the estimated faults and disturbances, a distributed fault-tolerant controller is devised. This controller effectively mitigates the impact of actuator faults while attenuating external disturbances, thereby substantially enhancing system robustness. The proposed approach ensures synchronization, disturbance rejection, and robust consensus control throughout the multi-agent network. The efficacy of the proposed methods is demonstrated through extensive simulation studies. Moreover, the approach not only decreases the frequency of event triggers but also enlarges the domain of attraction. The practical feasibility and effectiveness of the approach are further validated through two comprehensive simulation examples.

The Application of Stochastic Processes in Financial Mathematics

Stochastic processes are crucial in financial mathematics, providing a framework to model the inherent uncertainties of financial markets. This paper explores stochastic process application across various financial domains, such as option pricing, risk management, and financial engineering. Through case studies, literature review, and case analysis, the study demonstrates the practical effectiveness of stochastic processes in finance. The findings highlight the adaptability and robustness of these models in capturing market dynamics and optimizing financial strategies. This research particularly focuses on the implementation of Brownian motion and Its processes in derivative pricing, revealing significant improvements in accuracy compared to traditional methods. Additionally, we examine the integration of machine learning techniques with stochastic models to enhance predictive capabilities in risk assessment. This study also addresses the challenges and limitations of current stochastic approaches, proposing innovative solutions for practical implementation. These insights contribute to both theoretical understanding and practical applications in quantitative finance, offering valuable guidance for practitioners and researchers in the field

Disclosing the Spirit in Evangelical Leadership Discourse

This article offers a theological reflection on the leadership discourse of four senior evangelical leaders in the Church of England. The justification for a discourse-led approach within the discipline of practical theology is that discourse is itself a socially informed practice. Discourse is constructive for meaning-making and has ongoing constituting effect for practice. Thus, any theological bias found in evangelical discourse is of interest since that discourse has a practice-shaping effect. Using the method of content analysis, I undertake an audit of four leadership texts to find out how often God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are referenced. The content analysis reveals a quantitative disparity. The Person of the Spirit is referenced far less, and any references to Spirit are qualitatively limited. These quantitative results offer evidence to suggest that a full account of the Divine Move that is Spirit, and the leading activity of the Spirit, fails to be disclosed in these texts. I suggest that these findings indicate an imbalance in the discourse which I hope prompts evangelicals to further reflect on, and explore, the place of the Spirit in their theology and practice.

From artifacts to human lives: Investigating the domain-generality of judgments about purposes.

People attribute purposes in both mundane and profound ways-such as when thinking about the purpose of a knife and the purpose of a life. In three studies (total N = 13,720 observations from N = 3,430 participants), we tested whether these seemingly very different forms of purpose attributions might actually involve the same cognitive processes. We examined the impacts of four factors on purpose attributions in six domains (artifacts, social institutions, animals, body parts, sacred objects, and human lives). Study 1 manipulated what items in each domain were originally created for (original design) and how people currently use them (present practice). Study 2 manipulated whether items are good at achieving a goal (effectiveness) and whether the goal itself is good (morality). We found effects of each factor in every domain. However, whereas morality and effectiveness had remarkably similar effects across domains, the effects of original design and present practice differed substantially. Finally, Study 3 revealed that, within domains, the effects of original design and present practice depend on which entities design and use items. These results reveal striking similarities in purpose attributions across domains and suggest that certain entities are treated as authorities over the purposes of particular items. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Secrecy Analysis of LEO Satellite-to-Ground Station Communication System Influenced by Gamma-Shadowed Ricean Fading

The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) small satellites are extensively used for global connectivity to enable services in underpopulated, remote or underdeveloped areas. Their inherent broadcast nature exposes LEO–terrestrial communication links to severe security threats, which always reveal new challenges. The secrecy performance of the satellite-to-ground user link in the presence of a ground eavesdropper is studied in this paper. We observe both scenarios of the eavesdropper’s channel state information (CSI) being known or unknown to the satellite. Throughout the analysis, we consider that locations of the intended and unauthorized user are both arbitrary in the satellite’s footprint. On the other hand, we analyze the case when the user is in the center of the satellite’s central beam. In order to achieve realistic physical layer security features of the system, the satellite channels are assumed to undergo Gamma-shadowed Ricean fading, where both line-of-site and scattering components are influenced by shadowing effect. In addition, some practical effects, such as satellite multi-beam pattern and free space loss, are considered in the analysis. Capitalizing on the aforementioned scenarios, we derive the novel analytical expressions for the average secrecy capacity, secrecy outage probability, probability of non-zero secrecy capacity, and probability of intercept events in the form of Meijer’s G functions. In addition, novel asymptotic expressions are derived from previously mentioned metrics. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the effects of beam radius, satellite altitude, receivers’ position, as well as the interplay of the fading or/and shadowing impacts over main and wiretap channels on the system security. Analytical results are confirmed by Monte Carlo simulations.

CUMPRIMENTO DE SENTENÇA EM LOCAIS DOMINADOS PELO TRÁFICO DE DROGAS

This textual production deals with the inefficiency of the State in enforcing sentences in areas dominated by drug trafficking due to the high degree of dangerousness. For the most part, for reasons of preserving their physical integrity, court officials decline their duties and, any right recognized in a sentence ends up having no effect in practice, not because there was no recognition from the judiciary, but rather because of the lack of State control and mechanisms that enable civil servants to enter the regions and comply with intimidation mandates. In this sense, it is concluded that Brazilian justice is in fact only present in places where state power still has control, residents and rights holders who are in risk areas end up being unaware of the effects of justice.

Berth Allocation and Quay Crane Assignment Considering the Uncertain Maintenance Requirements

The strategic optimization of a container terminal’s quayside assets, including the berth and quay cranes, is crucial for maximizing their deployment and utilization. The interrelated and complex challenges of Berth Allocation (BAP) and Quay Crane Scheduling (QCSP) are fundamental to enhancing the resilience of container ports, as berths and quay cranes constitute essential infrastructure. Efficient berth allocation and quay crane scheduling can mitigate operational disruptions, even in the face of maintenance or failures, thereby improving both operational reliability and resilience. However, previous studies have often overlooked the uncertainty associated with quay crane maintenance when planning these operations. This paper aims to minimize vessel turnaround time by accounting for the uncertain in quay crane maintenance activities. To address this novel problem, we propose a proactive-reactive method that incorporates a reliability-based model into the Swarm Optimization with Differential Evolution (SWO-DE) algorithm. Computational results confirm the practical relevance and effectiveness of our proposed solution methods for container terminals.

The Role of Fabric Modification in Enhancing Brand Recognition in Fashion

In the highly competitive fashion industry, fabric modification has become one of the most important strategies for brand differentiation and increasing brand recognition. This study will look into how fabric modification techniques, such as advanced dyeing, texturing, and the use of sustainable materials, can be used to build a distinct brand identity that contributes to improved consumer memory and loyalty. The focus of the study is based on how fabric innovations could give consumers better visual and tactile experiences besides strengthening their ties to whatever brand. To explore the relationships above, the study adopts a qualitative approach by conducting in-depth research in leading fashion brands, such as Burberry, Nike, and Stella McCartney, accompanied by interviews that have been conducted with experts in textile production and marketing. The case studies delineate the different ways through which fabric manipulations relate to consumer perception and loyalty through practical, aesthetic, and functional effects. The findings indicate that fabric innovations do not only increase the aesthetic appeal in fashion products but also play a substantial role in the formation of consumer perception through the creation of emotional links and sensory engagement. Practices in sustainable fabric modification, such as using recycled or biodegradable materials, give a competitive advantage by appealing to environmentally conscious consumers. This research will highlight how fabric innovation can provide an important source of competitive differentiation and congruence with consumer values, rendering actionable insight for designers and marketers in a dynamic marketplace.

Mining functional gene modules by multi-view NMF of phenome-genome association

BackgroundMining functional gene modules from genomic data is an important step to detect gene members of pathways or other relations such as protein-protein interactions. This work explores the plausibility of detecting functional gene modules by factorizing gene-phenotype association matrix from the phenotype ontology data rather than the conventionally used gene expression data. Recently, the hierarchical structure of phenotype ontologies has not been sufficiently utilized in gene clustering while functionally related genes are consistently associated with phenotypes on the same path in phenotype ontologies.ResultsThis work demonstrates a hierarchical Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) framework, called Consistent Multi-view Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (CMNMF), which factorizes genome-phenome association matrix at consecutive levels of the hierarchical structure in phenotype ontology to mine functional gene modules. CMNMF constrains the gene clusters from the association matrices at two consecutive levels to be consistent since the genes are annotated with both the child-level phenotypes and the parent-level phenotypes in two levels. CMNMF also restricts the identified gene clusters to be densely connected in the phenotype ontology hierarchy. In the experiments on mining functionally related genes from mouse phenotype ontology and human phenotype ontology, CMNMF effectively improves clustering performance over the baseline methods. Gene ontology enrichment analysis is also conducted to verify its practical effectiveness to reveal meaningful gene modules.ConclusionsUtilizing the information in the hierarchical structure of phenotype ontology, CMNMF can identify functional gene modules with more biological significance than conventional methods. CMNMF can also be a better tool for predicting members of gene pathways and protein-protein interactions.

A Case Study of a Solar Oven’s Efficiency: An Experimental Approach

This research presents the design, construction, and experimental evaluation of a novel box-type solar oven optimized for enhanced thermal efficiency and heat retention, developed to address the challenges of sustainable cooking in temperate climates. The solar oven, measuring 120 cm × 60 cm × 45 cm, incorporates strategically designed rock wool insulation and 5 kg of steel plates as thermal mass, along with a double-glazed glass cover tilted at an experimentally optimized angle of 15° relative to the horizontal plane. Extensive experimental testing was conducted in Viseu, Portugal (40° N latitude) under varying meteorological conditions, including solar irradiance levels ranging from 400 to 900 W/m2 and wind speeds of up to 3 m/s. The results demonstrated that the oven consistently achieved internal temperatures exceeding 160 °C, with a peak temperature of 180 °C, maintaining cooking capability even during periods of intermittent cloud cover. Quantitative analysis showed that the thermal efficiency of the oven reached a peak of 38%, representing a 25–30% improvement over conventional designs. The incorporation of thermal mass reduced temperature fluctuations by up to 40%, and the enhanced insulation reduced conductive heat loss by approximately 30%. Cooking tests validated the oven’s practical effectiveness, with the successful preparation of various foods including rice (90 min), cake (120 min), vegetables (60 min), and bread (110 min). This study provides comprehensive performance data under different meteorological conditions, including detailed temperature profiles, heating rates, and thermal efficiency measurements. By addressing key limitations of prior models, particularly the challenge of temperature stability during variable solar conditions, the proposed solar oven offers a cost-effective, efficient solution that can be adapted for use in diverse climates and regions, with particular relevance to areas seeking sustainable alternatives to traditional cooking methods.

The Driving Effect of ESG Practice on Financial Performance of E-Commerce Enterprises

The Driving Effect of ESG Practice on Financial Performance of E-Commerce Enterprises

Person-centered support for patients with a pituitary tumor following surgery.

To evaluate whether a person-centered care practice following surgery for pituitary tumors increased psychological well-being. Secondary aims were to study whether person-centered care would lead to better health status, less fatigue, and better self-efficacy. The study is a prospective, single center study using a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effect of a 12-month person-centered practice by means of a name-given nurse care manager, an interdisciplinary team, and peer-support against usual care. All patients (≥ 18 years) with a benign pituitary tumor and planned for endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery were consecutively invited to participate. Psychological well-being, self-reported health, fatigue, and self-efficacy were assessed before surgery, at discharge, and at 3-6 and 12 months after surgery. In total, 82 patients in the intervention group and 66 patients in the control group were included. Psychological well-being improved 12 months following surgery in both groups to comparable levels. The intervention group had greater improvement in anxiety compared to the control group (P = 0.02). No differences were seen between groups in self-reported health status, fatigue, or self-efficacy. Patients in the intervention group with other types of pituitary tumors than non-functioning pituitary adenomas showed greater improvement in psychological well-being than the control group. The intervention did not result in major advantages in terms of health or psychological well-being. The study does, however, suggest that the intervention may reduce anxiety 12 months after surgery and that certain subgroups of patients may benefit more from a structured person-centered practice following pituitary surgery.

Optimizing convex hull discovery: Introducing a quintuple-region algorithm with enhanced computational efficiency

This paper introduces a novel algorithm for computing the convex hull of a finite set of points in two-dimensional space. Unlike traditional methods, this algorithm strategically partitions the input set into five distinct regions, isolating interior points to reduce computational efforts while determining the convex hulls of the four boundary regions. This innovative approach significantly diminishes the required number of operations, achieving a computational complexity of O(nk), where k denotes the number of vertices on the convex hull and n is the number of vertices. The study methodically elaborates on the development of this algorithm, starting with a comprehensive overview of convex hull-related terminology and existing methodologies. Subsequent sections detail the process of identifying endpoints within the set, the division of the set into specific regions, and the application of proposed algorithms for each region to efficiently compute their convex hulls. Through theoretical analysis and case studies presented in the latter sections, this paper not only enhances understanding of convex hull computation but also demonstrates the practical efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in various scenarios. This advancement represents a significant contribution to the field of computational geometry, offering improved solutions for problems involving two-dimensional spatial analysis.