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This paper empirically examines how consumers react when a company marks a product with a gay label. The company under scrutiny is one of the largest video game developers in the world, and the labeled product is a popular video game character. We use a regression discontinuity design to exploit the quasi-experimental setting. The main finding was significant drop in demand for this character and a return to previous levels after approximately 3 months. Possible mechanisms and dynamics were explored by analyzing demand for other characters and by surveying consumers. The results are consistent after performing robustness checks based on grid search, subsampling, and placebo tests.

This work presents a hybrid model that integrates a mechanistic multicomponent transport scheme in hollow-fiber membranes with an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). The physical model incorporates pressure drops on the feed and permeate sides (Hagen–Poiseuille), non-ideal gas behavior (Peng–Robinson equation of state), and temperature-dependent viscosity; species permeances are treated as constant for model validation. After validation, a post-validation parametric exploration of permeance variability is carried out by perturbing the methane (CH4) permeance by one decade up and down. From an initial set of 18 variables, 4 key parameters were selected through rigorous statistical analysis (Pearson correlation, variance inflation factor (VIF), and mean absolute error (MAE)); likewise, other physical criteria have been considered: permeance, retentate volume, retentate pressure, and retentate viscosity. Trained with 70% of the simulated data and validated with the remaining 30%, the model achieves a coefficient of determination (R2) close to 0.999 and a root mean square error (RMSE) below 8 × 10−8 m3/h in predicting the methane volume in the retentate, effectively responding to both steady and dynamic fluctuations. The combination of first-principles modeling and adaptive learning captures both steady-state and dynamic behavior, positioning the approach as a viable tool for real-time analysis and supervisory control in petrochemical membrane operations.

The present study analyzes the development of the visual recognition processing of the relevant stimulus in a Delayed Match-To-Sample (DMS) task during the matching phase. To do so, Electroencephalograms of 170 subjects between 6 and 26 years old were recorded. Behavioral responses and Event Related Potentials (ERPs) induced by the stimuli were obtained. Reaction times and errors, mainly omissions, were inversely related to age. The ERPs analysis showed a parietal negativity in the P7 and P8 electrodes when the relevant stimulus was presented in the contralateral site. This negativity resulting from the recognition and selection of the relevant stimulus was present in all age groups. However, the youngest children showed an extended latency in the recognition process. The results suggest that children and adults use similar processes to recognize the item maintained in visual short-term memory (VSTM), but children need more time to successfully recognize the memorized item.

This paper introduces a modified soft margin optimal hyperplane (MSMOH) algorithm, which enhances the linear separating properties of support vector machines (SVMs) by placing higher penalties on large misclassification errors. This approach improves margin symmetry in both balanced and asymmetric data distributions. The research is divided into two main stages. The first stage evaluates MSMOH for synthetic data classification and its application in heart disease diagnosis. In a cross-validation setting with unknown data, MSMOH demonstrated superior average performance compared to the standard soft margin optimal hyperplane (SMOH). Performance metrics confirmed that MSMOH maximizes the margin and reduces the number of support vectors (SVs), thus improving classification performance, generalization, and computational efficiency. The second stage applies MSMOH as a novel synthesis algorithm to design a neural associative memory (NAM) based on a recurrent neural network (RNN). This NAM is used for fault diagnosis in fossil electric power plants. By promoting more symmetric decision boundaries, MSMOH increases the accurate convergence of 1024 possible input elements. The results show that MSMOH effectively designs the NAM, leading to better performance than other synthesis algorithms like perceptron, optimal hyperplane (OH), and SMOH. Specifically, MSMOH achieved the highest number of converged input elements (1019) and the smallest number of elements converging to spurious memories (5).

Societies are increasingly multicultural and diverse, consisting of members who migrated from various other countries. However, immigrants and ethnic minorities often face discrimination in the form of fewer opportunities for labor and housing, as well as limitations on interactions in other social domains. Using mock email accounts with typical native-sounding and foreign-sounding names, we contacted 23,020 amateur football clubs in 22 European countries, asking to participate in a training session. Response rates differed across countries and were, on average, about 10% lower for foreign-sounding names. The present field experiment reveals discrimination against ethnic minority groups, uncovering organizational deficiencies in a system trusted to foster social interactions.

Background Event-related potentials (ERPs) may be used as a highly sensitive way of detecting subtle degrees of cognitive dysfunction. On the other hand, impairment of cognitive skills is increasingly recognised as a hallmark of patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). We sought to determine the psychophysiological pattern of information processing among MS patients with the relapsing-remitting form of the disease and low physical disability considered as two subtypes: 'typical relapsing-remitting' (RRMS) and 'benign MS' (BMS). Furthermore, we subjected our data to a cluster analysis to determine whether MS patients and healthy controls could be differentiated in terms of their psychophysiological profile. Methods We investigated MS patients with RRMS and BMS subtypes using event-related potentials (ERPs) acquired in the context of a Posner visual-spatial cueing paradigm. Specifically, our study aimed to assess ERP brain activity in response preparation (contingent negative variation -CNV) and stimuli processing in MS patients. Latency and amplitude of different ERP components (P1, eN1, N1, P2, N2, P3 and late negativity -LN) as well as behavioural responses (reaction time -RT; correct responses -CRs; and number of errors) were analyzed and then subjected to cluster analysis. Results Both MS groups showed delayed behavioural responses and enhanced latency for long-latency ERP components (P2, N2, P3) as well as relatively preserved ERP amplitude, but BMS patients obtained more important performance deficits (lower CRs and higher RTs) and abnormalities related to the latency (N1, P3) and amplitude of ERPs (eCNV, eN1, LN). However, RRMS patients also demonstrated abnormally high amplitudes related to the preparation performance period of CNV (cCNV) and post-processing phase (LN). Cluster analyses revealed that RRMS patients appear to make up a relatively homogeneous group with moderate deficits mainly related to ERP latencies, whereas BMS patients appear to make up a rather more heterogeneous group with more severe information processing and attentional deficits. Conclusions Our findings are suggestive of a slowing of information processing for MS patients that may be a consequence of demyelination and axonal degeneration, which also seems to occur in MS patients that show little or no progression in the physical severity of the disease over time.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of the environment on the financial performance in public sports agencies at the local level. Design/methodology/approach The influence of the socio-demographic, socio-economic and political environment on the financial condition of municipal sports agencies in Spain from 2003 to 2011 was studied by several regression models. Findings The results show a negative influence of the size of the population and a positive influence of the municipal taxes per capita. The influence of the political context is not demonstrated. However, the set of variables only explain a small percentage of the variance. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this study is the possible existence of other non-controlled environmental variables. However, this study approaches genuinely the effect of the environment on municipal sports agencies, which has important research implications as it shows additional information to be contrasted with other researches in different countries or regions. Practical implications The information provided in this study will be of great importance for managers to select more objectively other entities in benchmarking development. Originality/value Finally, this study uses a non-exploited database and redirects performance management studies to other areas of service provision such as sport. Objetivo El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar la influencia del entorno sobre el rendimiento financiero de las agencias de servicios deportivos municipales. Diseño y metodología Se ha analizado la influencia del entorno socio-demográfico, socio-económico y político sobre la condición financiera de las agencias de servicios deportivos municipales en España, del 2003 al 2011, a través de diversos modelos de regresión. Resultados Los resultados muestran una influencia negativa del tamaño de la población y una influencia positiva de los impuestos municipales per cápita. La influencia del contexto político no queda demostrada. Sin embargo, el conjunto de variables utilizadas solo explica un pequeño porcentaje de la varianza. Limitaciones e implicaciones de la investigación La principal limitación de este estudio es la posible existencia de otras variables del entorno que no han sido controladas. Sin embargo, este estudio es pionero al analizar la influencia del entorno en agencias deportivas, lo cual conlleva implicaciones de investigación ya que muestra información para ser contrastada con nuevos estudios en otros países. Implicaciones prácticas La información proporcionada en este estudio será de utilidad para los gestores, al poder seleccionar de forma más objetiva otras entidades para el desarrollo de actividades de benchmarking. Valor y originalidad Por último, este estudio utiliza una base de datos no explotada, redireccionando los estudios de gestión del rendimiento a otras áreas de servicios concretas como la deportiva.

The formation of massive stars remains one of the most intriguing questions in astrophysics today. The main limitations result from the difficulty to obtain direct observational constraints on the formation process itself. In this context, the Carina High-contrast Imaging Project of massive Stars (CHIPS) aims to observe all 80+ O stars in the Carina nebula using the new VLT 2nd-generation extreme-AO instrument SPHERE. This instrument offers unprecedented imaging contrast allowing us to detect the faintest companions around massive stars. These novel observational constraints will help to discriminate between the different formation scenarios by comparing their predictions for companion statistics and properties.

Abstract Despite adjustments in work-life balance and the distribution of household tasks, the gender gap in physical activity remains persistent. Physical activity plans should target the gap’s root causes. We aim to identify key factors by decomposing differences into observable characteristics and other sources of disparity. Using data from 9,695 individuals from the 2021−2022 Survey on Cultural Habits and Practices in Spain, we examine income, education, employment, marriage, childcare, family responsibilities, and leisure choices. We estimate a two-part logit model to analyze the determinants of participation and frequency, and apply the Oaxaca-Blinder method to decompose gender differences. The results show a gender gap in participation of approximately nine percentage points. Differences in childcare, employment, and age impact physical activity differently, but 92% of the disparity remains unexplained by observable characteristics. Both general policies promoting sports practice and specific policies designed to alleviate childcare and household responsibilities can help bridge the gap.