BACKGROUND Environmental factors influence children's development. However, their impact on outdoor play among children from international settings remains understudied. This study examined associations between parent perceptions of environmental factors and outdoor play among an international sample of preschool-aged children. METHODS Data were sourced from the pilot phases of the SUNRISE International Study of Movement Behaviors in the Early Years. Parents completed a questionnaire about their child's outdoor play and environmental factors that influenced their child's participation in outdoor play in the past 3 days. RESULTS 1855 children from 19 countries (16 low- and middle-income countries) were examined. Heat (-25.6; 95% CI, -44.6 to -6.6), cold (-26.9; 95% CI, -45.9 to -8.4), and rain (-24.8; 95% CI, -43.3 to -6.6) were negatively associated with weekday outdoor play. Cold (-41.2; 95% CI, -62.4 to -20.0) and social instability (-40.7; 95% CI, -61.5 to -20.3) were negatively associated with weekend outdoor play. Playing at friend's or relative's homes (29.5 [95% CI, 18.6 to 40.5]; 37.9 [25.6 to 50.4]), greenspaces (23.1 [95% CI, 9.6 to 36.6]; 30.4 [95% CI, 15.1 to 45.8]), and on the street (41.4 [95% CI, 26.9 to 55.7]; 34.9 [95% CI, 18.2 to 51.3]) were associated with weekday and weekend day outdoor play, respectively. Playing on the family's property was also associated with weekend day outdoor play (25.5 [95% CI, 18.2 to 51.3]). CONCLUSIONS The environmental context is important to consider when developing interventions to promote outdoor play in young children across diverse international settings. Future research from representative populations is needed to confirm these findings.

This paper addresses gaps in prior research on empirical validation of Lehman’s laws of software evolution, which often focus on isolated aspects (e.g., defect frequency or architecture) and selected laws, overlooking broader trends and interdependencies. Through a comparative analysis of open-source and closed-source software, this paper introduces the impact of licensing models on software evolution. By examining real-world projects, the study evaluates Lehman’s laws in the context of modern software practices and user needs. This research shows that open-source solutions exhibit adaptability and continuous growth driven by contributor communities, while closed-source solutions prioritize development efforts aligned with business objectives. Adopting an open-source development approach may yield faster initial results but lead to significant technical debt and frequent code deprecation as the product evolves, while a closed-source approach ensures greater stability and consistency over time, though at a slower pace.

Liquid chromatography (LC) is a cornerstone of analytical separations, but comparing the retention times (RTs) across different LC methods is challenging because of variations in experimental parameters such as column type and solvent gradient. Nevertheless, RTs are powerful metrics in tandem mass spectrometry (MS2) that can reduce false positive rates for metabolite annotation, differentiate isobaric species, and improve peptide identification. Here, we present Graphormer-RT, a novel graph transformer that performs the first single-model method-independent prediction of RTs. We use the RepoRT data set, which contains 142,688 reverse phase (RP) RTs (from 191 methods) and 4,373 HILIC RTs (from 49 methods). Our best RP model (trained and tested on 191 methods) achieved a test set mean average error (MAE) of 29.3 ± 0.6 s, comparable performance to the state-of-the-art model which was only trained on a single LC method. Our best-performing HILIC model achieved a test MAE = 42.4 ± 2.9 s. We expect that Graphormer-RT can be used as an LC "foundation model", where transfer learning can reduce the amount of training data needed for highly accurate "specialist" models applied to method-specific RP and HILIC tasks. These frameworks could enable the machine optimization of automated LC workflows, improved filtration of candidate structures using predicted RTs, and the in silico annotation of unknown analytes in LC-MS2 measurements.

In the evolving trends of research and innovation (R&I) performance measurement and impact assessment, the traditional scientometric system – largely relying on quantitative metrics such as h-index and journal impact factors – is increasingly under scrutiny due to its limited capacity to capture a wider spectrum of scientific impact. The emergence of open science challenges traditional paradigms by advocating for more transparent and accessible research processes. Theoretically, this study expands the discourse on scientific impact evaluation by advocating for a broader set of criteria encompassing societal and economic dimensions. Integrating open science principles into research evaluation can provide a more comprehensive view of scientific contributions and enable academic inclusivity, transparency, and societal relevance, in line with the ethos of open science. Conceptually, the study analyzes the coexistence and dynamics between scientometric and open science evaluation systems, exploring their competitive and collaborative relationships. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of each system, revealing that a complete replacement of the scientometric approach by open science is unlikely, nor is there stagnation in their development. The main findings suggest a future where scientometric and open science systems coexist and partially converge, especially in the area of research and innovation outcome evaluation. This convergence heralds a more democratic and inclusive approach to evaluating scientific research. For policymakers and organizers of innovative systems, this study offers insights into possible policies that promote open science practices, developing evaluation metrics that acknowledge diverse scientific contributions, and fostering a research culture that values both scientific rigor and societal engagement. Using an exploratory method based on theoretical concepts and practical insights, this study contributes to more nuanced understanding of changing paradigms in research evaluation.

The text is a review of the book by Jasmin Branković et al. (ed.), 160 Bosnian-Herzegovinian Scientists: Small Biographical Lexicon, Mostar: Federal Ministry of Education and Science (Sarajevo: Dobra knjiga), 2022, presented at the Ceremonial Session of the Council for Science of the Federal Ministry of Education and Science in Sarajevo on 12th December 2024.

We describe a concrete device roadmap towards a fault-tolerant quantum computing architecture based on noise-resilient, topologically protected Majorana-based qubits. Our roadmap encompasses four generations of devices: a single-qubit device that enables a measurement-based qubit benchmarking protocol; a two-qubit device that uses measurement-based braiding to perform single-qubit Clifford operations; an eight-qubit device that can be used to show an improvement of a two-qubit operation when performed on logical qubits rather than directly on physical qubits; and a topological qubit array supporting lattice surgery demonstrations on two logical qubits. Devices that enable this path require a superconductor-semiconductor heterostructure that supports a topological phase, quantum dots and coupling between those quantum dots that can create the appropriate loops for interferometric measurements, and a microwave readout system that can perform fast, low-error single-shot measurements. We describe the key design components of these qubit devices, along with the associated protocols for demonstrations of single-qubit benchmarking, Clifford gate execution, quantum error detection, and quantum error correction, which differ greatly from those in more conventional qubits. Finally, we comment on implications and advantages of this architecture for utility-scale quantum computation.

In today’s fast-paced, ever-changing labor market, soft skills are in high demand, especially for new graduates. This study examined the impact of soft skills training on youth employment. As the first sample, the quantitative research method was conducted by applying a questionnaire to the students of Gaziantep University Vocational School of Social Sciences in Turkey. As the second sample, a qualitative research method was conducted by selecting HR Managers homogeneously according to the statistical regional classification throughout Turkey and conducting interviews focusing on the soft skills of new graduates. Based on the results of our analysis, 14 required soft skills were identified. In cooperation with European Union countries, a training curriculum was designed using these 14 soft skills. Participants of the training program were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group was only included in the soft skills training program. The employment rates of both groups were compared after nine months of follow-up. The findings showed that soft skills training resulted in higher employment rates.. The findings show that soft-skills training resulted in higher employment rates. Based on our findings, we propose that universities design and apply soft-skills curricula for young undergraduate and vocational school students to increase youth employment. Moreover, soft skills development must be considered when designing and conducting training programs for workers in public institutions and companies.

In this study, a modified 3D printer hotend equipped with a load cell, attached to the feeding system, was used to evaluate the effects of filament material composition and printing parameters on the extrusion force required. Four different materials (commercial PLA, pure PLA, wood-PLA with different ratios of wood particles, and wood-PLA with different ratios of thermally modified wood particles) were used for 3D printing, and the feeding resistance was measured. The filament feeder was connected to the extruder hotend via a load cell, which measured the forces required to push the filament through the extruder and the nozzle. Three printing nozzle temperatures of 200, 210, and 220 °C were used. The results show that the printing temperature and the material influence the required extrusion forces, which varied between 1 and 8 N, but the variation was high. With proper optimization and integration into the printer firmware, this setup could also be used to detect nozzle clogging during printing, modify printing parameters during the process, and prevent the uneven extrusion of composite filaments.

This paper provides a research review regarding the creep of ultra-high-performance concrete with or without the addition of fibers. Unlike other similar studies that mainly considered influential factors and their effects on the creep behavior, this research focuses more attention on the analysis of UHPC creep models. For the creep strain assessments of these concretes, the creep models given in the latest standards cannot be used, but it is necessary to modify them to give reliable results, given the rather complex composition of UHPC. Several proposed creep models for UHPC are presented with comparative analysis. The observation is that by varying key parameters such as compressive strength, relative humidity, cross-sectional dimensions, and temperature, there may be major discrepancies between models, so additional experimental investigations are necessary to perform their calibration. In this paper, the parameters α1, α2, and γ of FIB Model Code 2010 have been modified in order to obtain a match with other proposed models in terms of the final value of the creep coefficient and the creep curve. The creep coefficient of the UHPC decreases when steel fiber content increases, but it is important to consider the excessive fiber addition because very often it causes an increase in creep strain. The application of thermal treatment at a temperature of 90 °C for 48 h significantly improves the time-dependent properties of UHPC. An analysis of the impact of the steel fiber content, fiber type, thermal treatment, and the age of the concrete under load on strains of UHPC specimens and beams under long-term loads is performed.

Research on attitudes toward English varieties has been identified as a crucial contextual issue that is relevant to the implementation of the Teaching English as an International Language approach. Thus, the current study explores the attitudes of 400 Bosnian respondents toward different English varieties, employing a verbal guise technique for attitude elicitation. It also examines the respondents’ perceived intelligibility of these varieties and their conative responses and recognition rates. The results consistently showed that inner‐circle varieties, Standardised British in particular, were rated more favourably than expanding‐circle varieties and were perceived as more desirable and better understood. Their correct recognition rates were also much higher than those for expanding‐circle varieties. Expanding‐circle varieties were rated much less favourably, with the exception of moderately accented Bosnian English. All the other expanding‐circle varieties, heavily accented Bosnian English, Arabic and Turkish English, were not perceived as desirable. They were also considered less easily understood, and their recognition rates were low.

The great Pannonian Rebellion. the Bellum Batonianuni of AD 6 — 9 was one of the most significant events, if not the most significant one in the history of Roman dealings with Illyricum.' Its significance went far beyond local, provincial history, shaping the future foreign policy conduct of the Empire in the early principate, and perhaps, combined with the clades Variana in the Teutoburg forest, stopped Roman political and military expansion in North and Central Europe. For the first time in many years, even Italy was in fear from the external enemy. This was the first rebellion of this kind after the end of the Republic that seriously undermined the Roman confidence and even shook their position and prestige in recentlv occupied territories. 

Orbit-based methods are widespread in strong-field laser-matter interaction. They provide a framework in which photoelectron momentum distributions can be interpreted as the quantum interference between different semiclassical pathways the electron can take on its way to the detector, which brings with it great predictive power. The transition amplitude of an electron going from a bound state to a final continuum state is often written as multiple integrals, which can be computed either numerically or by employing the saddle-point method. If one computes the momentum distribution via a saddle-point method, then the obtained distribution is highly dependent on the time window from which the saddle points are selected for inclusion in the “sum over paths.” In many cases, this leads to the distributions not even satisfying the basic symmetry requirements and often containing many more oscillations and interference fringes than their numerically integrated counterparts. Using the strong-field approximation, we find that the manual enforcement of the energy-conservation condition on the momentum distribution calculated via the saddle-point method provides a unique momentum distribution which satisfies the symmetry requirements of the system and which is in a good agreement with the numerical results. We illustrate our findings using the example of the Ar atom ionized by a selection of monochromatic and bichromatic linearly polarized fields. Published by the American Physical Society 2025