Research works

Crisis communication strategies, government reputation signals, and health compliance willingness during COVID-19: a randomized experiment in the context of China’s zero-COVID policy

Although government reputation is widely recognized as a resource for securing public compliance during health crises, little is known about which specific reputational attributes members of the public rely on when forming trust and deciding whether to comply with costly protecti...

High seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection among patients with HIV attending clinic in a tertiary hospital in Ghana: a cross-sectional survey

Toxoplasma gondii infects over a billion people globally, posing severe risks for HIV patients due to immunosuppression. High seroprevalence of T. gondii infection has been reported in sub-Saharan Africa, however, data from Ghana’s Volta Region remain limited. This study assessed...

Single-cell and bulk RNA sequencing demonstrate the critical function of the regulatory T cell-associated gene SIRPG in the prognosis and tumor microenvironment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Immunosuppression by regulatory T cells (Tregs) significantly contributes to poor prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), although the specific regulatory genes and mechanisms involved are not well understood. We analyzed single-cell RNA sequencing and bulk transc...

Essential oil from Piper aduncum L. leaves exhibits analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity in mice

Piper aduncum L. is a medicinal plant whose essential oil is rich in bioactive constituents, particularly dilapiol, and has attracted interest because of its diverse pharmacological properties. However, its anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, and antinociceptive activities and the me...

Not all debt is equal: Debt type, burden, and life satisfaction among urban young adults in Seoul

Young adults in rapidly growing cities face mounting financial pressures from escalating housing costs and limited access to stable employment. This study examines how different debt types and perceived debt burden are associated with life satisfaction among young adults in Seoul...

Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis of Oscillatory Behavior of Graphene Nano/Microelectromechanical System Using a Hybrid Morlet Wavelet Neural Network Framework

The Nano/microelectromechanical systems (N/MEMS), particularly graphene-based devices, exhibit highly nonlinear and oscillatory dynamic behavior that is complicated to solve accurately utilizing the conventional numerical and theoretical approaches. This study aims to design an a...

Mate-retention capacity and singlehood: evidence from the Greek, Russian, and Ukrainian cultural contexts

Evolutionary theorizing indicates that people vary considerably in their capacity to retain intimate partners, and part of this variation may contribute to singlehood. Candidate items were generated with AI tools and refined by the authors into an instrument to measure this capac...

Beyond think-aloud: Toward a representational–recursive agenda for multimodal process-tracing research in learning and instruction

Background Think-aloud traditionally has been conceptualized as a means of accessing cognitive processes through verbal report. The nine studies in this special issue reveal a broader methodological transition in which verbal protocols increasingly are combined with eye tracking,...

Effect of Y addition on microstructure, tensile properties, and corrosion behavior of high-speed-extruded Mg–5Bi–3Al alloy

This study investigates the effect of Y addition on the microstructure, tensile properties, and corrosion behavior of high-speed-extruded Mg–5Bi–3Al (BA53) alloy. Y-free BA53 and Y-containing BAW53 x alloys ( x = 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 wt.%) are extruded at a die-exit speed of 67 m/mi...

Mechanism of HO-1 in alleviating sepsis-associated acute kidney injury via regulating mitochondrial proteostasis and targeted intervention with DNA nanomaterials

Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (S-AKI) is a major driver of systemic mortality and chronic renal dysfunction, yet effective mechanism-based interventions are lacking. Clinical analysis revealed significant oxidative stress imbalance in patients with S-AKI, characterized by...

Optimizing motor functions in incomplete spinal cord injury with simultaneous application of transcranial direct current stimulation and virtual reality assisted treadmill training: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial {1a}

Incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) leads to significant motor impairments, affecting mobility and quality of life. Emerging rehabilitation strategies, including neuromodulation and virtual reality-assisted treadmill training, have shown potential in enhancing motor recovery amo...

How dupe types shape product attitudes: the moderating role of funsumer orientation

This study examines how dupe type influences product attitude and whether funsumer orientation moderates this relationship. A between-subjects experiment was conducted with 184 university students in South Korea, who were randomly assigned to a design-similar or function-similar...

Design and Development of Secure Authentication Protocol for Data Encryption in IoT

This paper devises a secure authentication technique in the Internet of Things (IoT) using the proposed Firefly Invasive Weed optimization (FIWO)-based authentication approach. The authentication technique devised for IoT allows secure communication among the devices. The propose...

Infrared thermography for mapping catalyst distribution and detecting defects in PEM fuel cell and electrolyzer electrodes

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells and electrolyzers require reliable quality control methods to assess catalyst distribution on electrode surfaces. Non-uniform catalyst deposition may reduce performance, increase platinum waste, and promote local degradation. In this work,...

Transport capital and regional economic performance in Korea: Implications for balanced regional development under the public investment appraisal system

In 1999, Korea introduced the Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS), a mandatory appraisal framework for large-scale public investment projects that designates balanced regional development as a core policy objective. As the primary gateway for major public construction projects, t...

Beyond replication: Technological transmission and adaptive organization of modern human populations during the terminal Pleistocene at Fenghuangling, North China

How technological knowledge is transmitted and transformed remains a central topic in human evolution and behavioral ecology. During the Last Glacial Maximum and the subsequent deglaciation, climatic instability and associated demographic shifts provide an ideal window for unders...

Psychometric validation of the Vietnamese Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a multi-site cross-sectional study

Anxiety and depression are common in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and are associated with poorer self-management and clinical outcomes. This study evaluated the measurement properties of the Vietnamese Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in adults with T2DM. In this m...

“This is a different café” – The qualitative exploration of fatigue within a professional basketball team

In competitive sports, elite athletes and support staff invest considerable physical and mental effort to achieve continuous performance improvement, which, inevitably, may lead to fatigue. This qualitative study aims to gain in-depth insight into the experiences of the members o...

Intracanal cryotherapy and postoperative pain relief in symptomatic apical periodontitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Postoperative pain remains a frequent complication following nonsurgical root canal treatment and is particularly associated with inflammatory pulpal and periapical conditions. Intracanal cryotherapy has been proposed as a simple and biologically plausible adjunctive strategy aim...

Engineering nickel-based catalysts for time-efficient cyclohexanol and cyclohexane production under mild conditions: role of loading, support, and oxidation state

Lignin is the largest renewable source of aromatic compounds, representing an attractive feedstock for the sustainable production of renewable fuels and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) precursors. Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignin-derived phenolics is a key upgrading strategy; h...