58622 research outputs found
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Mafia Expansion: The 'Ndrangheta in Established Democracies by Z. L. Hauser Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2025, 288 pp., £100 (hardback), ISBN: 9780198895541
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Learning Disease-Sensitive Latent Interaction Graphs From Noisy Cardiac Flow Measurements
Get PDFCardiac blood flow patterns contain rich information about disease severity and clinical interventions, yet current imaging and computational methods fail to capture underlying relational structures of coherent flow features. We propose a physics-informed, latent relational framework to model cardiac vortices as interacting nodes in a graph. Our model combines a neural relational inference architecture with physics-inspired interaction energy and birth-death dynamics, yielding a latent graph sensitive to disease severity and intervention level. We first apply this to computational fluid dynamics simulations of aortic coarctation. Learned latent graphs reveal that as the aortic radius narrows, vortex interactions become stronger and more frequent. This leads to a higher graph entropy, correlating monotonically with coarctation severity (, Spearman ). We then extend this method to ultrasound datasets of left ventricles under varying levels of left ventricular assist device support. Again the latent graph representation captures the weakening of coherent vortical structures, thereby demonstrating cross-modal generalisation. Results show latent interaction graphs and entropy serve as robust and interpretable markers of cardiac disease and intervention
A Comparative Analysis of FLE Wellness Benefits and Customer Responsiveness:A Social Exchange Theory Perspective
Get PDFGiven the importance of frontline employees (FLEs) for organizations and consumers, it is important to motivate them to achieve optimal performance. One way to motivate FLEs is through employer-provided wellness benefits, which might increase FLEs’ responsiveness to customer needs. Building on social exchange theory, this research simultaneously examines five different wellness benefits to identify factors that can enhance FLEs’ feelings of being valued and an induced sense of indebtedness, which in turn can have downstream effects on customer responsiveness. The results of five studies, including a pilot study, preliminary sales study, field studies, and an internal meta-analysis, demonstrate how food and social benefits exert the strongest effects, with food yielding stronger direct effects on customer responsiveness and both showing indirect effects through value and indebtedness feelings. The next strongest effects are from mindfulness benefits. Physical and health wellness benefits exert the weakest downstream consequences. Importantly, if FLEs are in a supportive work environment, the effects of food and social benefits are enhanced. Conversely, job stressors and motivational constructs do not significantly impact the effects of employer-provided wellness benefits. By adopting the provided recommendations, retailers and service providers can institute effective and optimal wellness programs to enhance their FLEs’ customer-facing behaviors
Learning Disease-Sensitive Latent Interaction Graphs From Noisy Cardiac Flow Measurements
Get PDFCardiac blood flow patterns contain rich information about disease severity and clinical interventions, yet current imaging and computational methods fail to capture underlying relational structures of coherent flow features. We propose a physics-informed, latent relational framework to model cardiac vortices as interacting nodes in a graph. Our model combines a neural relational inference architecture with physics-inspired interaction energy and birth-death dynamics, yielding a latent graph sensitive to disease severity and intervention level. We first apply this to computational fluid dynamics simulations of aortic coarctation. Learned latent graphs reveal that as the aortic radius narrows, vortex interactions become stronger and more frequent. This leads to a higher graph entropy, correlating monotonically with coarctation severity (, Spearman ). We then extend this method to ultrasound datasets of left ventricles under varying levels of left ventricular assist device support. Again the latent graph representation captures the weakening of coherent vortical structures, thereby demonstrating cross-modal generalisation. Results show latent interaction graphs and entropy serve as robust and interpretable markers of cardiac disease and intervention
Compression of Currents and Varifolds
Get PDFWe derive an algorithm for compression of the currents and varifolds representations of shapes, using the Nystrom approximation in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces. Our method is faster than existing compression techniques, and comes with theoretical guarantees on the rate of convergence of the compressed approximation, as a function of the smoothness of the associated shape representation. The obtained compression are shown to be useful for down-line tasks such as nonlinear shape registration in the Large Deformation Metric Mapping (LDDMM) framework, even for very high compression ratios. The performance of our algorithm is demonstrated on large-scale shape data from modern geometry processing datasets, and is shown to be fast and scalable with rapid error decay
Olympic Ice Sports:A Narrative Review and Perspectives Toward Milano-Cortina 2026
Get PDFAs the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics approach, a consolidated understanding of performance determinants across the diverse spectrum of ice sports is crucial, yet the scientific literature remains unevenly distributed. This structured narrative review synthesizes available evidence on key performance-determining factors and contemporary training characteristics for Olympic ice sports, based on topic-driven literature searches and qualitative synthesis. Disciplines are grouped according to their primary performance demands. (1) High-volume gliding sports (long- and short-track speed skating): Performance balances biomechanical efficiency (e.g., aerodynamic posture) against physiological constraints. This necessitates high annual training volumes (900–1100 h·year−1), polarized, mixed-modal training, with short-track adding critical tactical and pack-dynamic elements. (2) Exposure-driven gravity sports (bobsleigh, skeleton, luge): Performance is overwhelmingly determined by start velocity, with the initial 15–65 m contributing disproportionately to overall race outcome. Bobsleigh and skeleton training mirrors sprint athletes, prioritizing lower-body power, while luge demands explosive upper-body strength. (3) Arena-based sports (ice hockey, figure skating, curling): These sports show varied demands. Ice hockey requires managing high-intensity intermittent efforts, with 40%–50% of on-ice distance performed at high skating speeds; figure skating hinges on the power and precision of high-value jumps (e.g., triple and quadruple rotations); and curling relies on delivery accuracy and sweeping strength-endurance. Sex-specific differences, often related to absolute power output (skating, sliding) and biomechanics, are evident, although evidence remains limited or uneven across several disciplines. Rather than providing prescriptive training models, this review identifies discipline-specific training priorities and key gaps in the current evidence base relevant to athlete preparation for Milano-Cortina 2026
“I want to be honest...but how much can I share?”:Sustainable Influencing and Experiences of Moral Residue
Get PDFTransparency is the cornerstone of social media influencing. Research has explored how influencers disclose commercial interests, yet little is known about influencers’ self-disclosure of private consumption. Building on the transparency management and moral hypocrisy literatures, this paper explores how sustainable influencers navigate moral dilemmas as they communicate about sustainability. Through interviews and analysis of media articles, we find that sustainable fashion influencers experience persistent emotional baggage, which we frame as moral residue as well as moral hypocrisy, in navigating three moral dilemmas: (anti)consumption; (non)promotion; and (non)commercialization. To reconcile this, sustainable fashion influencers engage in transparency management, choosing between strategies of confessing, concealing, and/or conning. These strategies may inadvertently lock sustainable influencers in perpetual cycles of moral residue and moral hypocrisy. In explicating the process and potential outcomes of managing transparency around moral dilemmas, we provide an intrapersonal view of moral hypocrisy and offer implications for theory and practice
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