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The masking of bitterness is considered important because many pharmaceutical compounds have a bitter taste. The bitterness-masking effect of powdered roasted soybeans (PRS) was investigated using a bitter taste sensor. PRS was revealed to significantly suppress the bitterness of quinine hydrochloride and denatonium benzoate. Furthermore, the bitterness-masking mechanism of PRS extracts was evaluated using dynamic light scattering. These results showed that the extracted suspension consisted of particles that were several hundreds of nanometers in size. Analysis of the PRS extracts by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy indicated that denatonium benzoate was entrapped in the PRS extracts. Thus, PRS may be useful as a bitterness-masking agent in orally administered pharmaceuticals.

Background The global youth myopia rate continues to rise, and the vision health of primary and secondary school students has become a global concern. This cross-sectional study aims to explore the vision status of primary and secondary school students in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and its internal relationship with influencing factors under regional characteristics. Methods A survey was conducted among 1,670 primary and secondary school students in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China using a snapshot method and random sampling techniques from September to October 2023. The survey instruments included vision examination, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the Lifestyle Behavior Scale, and the Student Academic Stress Questionnaire. The data was tested with descriptive statistics, difference test, correlation analyses, regression analyses, and so on using SPSS 25.0 and SPSSAU, and the target model was established and tested for the goodness-of-fit with AMOS 23.0. Results There was a significant negative correlation between vision status and lifestyle behaviors ( r =-0.360, p  < 0.01), physical activity level ( r =-0.058, p  < 0.05). The physical activity level played a significant masking effect between lifestyle behaviors and vision status (a*b = 0.002, c’=-0.044), and academic stress played a moderating role in the process of lifestyle behaviors affecting physical activity level and vision status. A moderated mediator model was constructed and fitted well (RMSEA = 0.028, CFI = 0.953, NFI = 0.934). Conclusions The prevalence rate of myopia among primary and secondary school students in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is lower than the national average, and its prevalence is related to lifestyle behaviors, physical activity level, and academic stress. The impact of lifestyle behaviors on vision status is controlled by physical activity level and academic stress. A strategy of coordinated education involving families, schools, and communities should be implemented. Parents should avoid having excessive expectations and additional academic burdens on their children and encourage them to actively participate in sports; schools should fully implement the ‘’Double Reduction’’ policy, making myopia prevention and control an important part of health education; communities should carry out publicity work for myopia prevention and control, raising adolescents’ awareness of eye health.

The just noticeable difference (JND) model reflects the visibility limitations of the human visual system (HVS), which plays an important role in perceptual image/video processing and is commonly applied to perceptual redundancy removal. However, existing JND models are usually constructed by treating the color components of three channels equally, and their estimation of the masking effect is inadequate. In this paper, we introduce visual saliency and color sensitivity modulation to improve the JND model. Firstly, we comprehensively combined contrast masking, pattern masking, and edge protection to estimate the masking effect. Then, the visual saliency of HVS was taken into account to adaptively modulate the masking effect. Finally, we built color sensitivity modulation according to the perceptual sensitivities of HVS, to adjust the sub-JND thresholds of Y, Cb, and Cr components. Thus, the color-sensitivity-based JND model (CSJND) was constructed. Extensive experiments and subjective tests were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the CSJND model. We found that consistency between the CSJND model and HVS was better than existing state-of-the-art JND models.

Visual sensory memory constructs representations of the physical information of visual objects. However, few studies have investigated whether abstract information, such as semantic information, is also involved in these representations. This study utilized a masking technique combined with the partial report paradigm to examine whether visual sensory memory representation contains semantic information. Here, we regarded the concept of orientation carried by the visual stimulus as semantic information. In three experiments, participants were asked to remember the orientation of arrows. Visual stimuli with orientation information (triangles, rectangles, and Chinese characters) and without orientation information (circles, squares, and different Chinese characters) were used as masks. The results showed that memory performance was worse when masks contained orientation information compared to when they did not, as similar orientation semantic information between masks and targets created visual representation conflicts. These findings suggest that visual sensory memory representation includes the semantic information of orientation.

Strain data of structural health monitoring is a prospective to be made full use of, because it reflects the stress peak and fatigue, especially sensitive to local stress redistribution, which is the probably damage in the vicinity of the sensor. For decoupling structural damage and masking effects caused by operational conditions to eliminate the adverse impacts on strain-based damage detection, small time-scale structural events, i.e., the short-term dynamic strain responses, are analyzed in this paper by employing unsupervised modeling. A two-step approach to successively processing the raw strain monitoring data in the sliding time window is presented, consisting of the wavelet-based initial feature extraction step and the decoupling step to draw damage indicators. The principal component analysis and a low-rank property-based subspace projection method are adopted as two alternative decoupling methodologies. The approach’s feasibility and robustness are substantiated by analyzing the strain monitoring data from a customized truss experiment to successfully remove the masking effects of operating loads and identify local damages even concerning accommodating situations of missing data and limited measuring points. This work also sheds light on the merit of a low-rank property to separate structural damages from masking effects by comparing the performances of the two optional decoupling methods of the distinct rationales.

Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) applied to the Early Visual Cortex (EVC) has demonstrated the ability to suppress the perception on visual targets, akin to the effect of visual masking. However, the reported spTMS suppression effects across various studies have displayed inconsistency. We aim to test if the heterogeneity of the spTMS effects can be attributable to variations in experimental factors. We conducted a meta-analysis using data collected from the PubMed and Web of Science databases spanning from 1995 to March 2024. The meta-analysis encompassed a total of 40 independent experiments drawn from 33 original articles. The findings unveiled an overall significant spTMS suppression effect on visual perception. Nevertheless, there existed substantial heterogeneity among the experiments. Univariate analysis elucidated that the spTMS effects could be significantly influenced by TMS intensity, visual angle of the stimulus, coil type, and TMS stimulators from different manufacturers. Reliable spTMS suppression effects were observed within the time windows of -80 to 0 ms and 50 to 150 ms. Multivariate linear regression analyses, which included SOA, TMS intensity, visual angle of the stimulus, and coil type, identified SOA as the key factor influencing the spTMS effects. Within the 50 to 150 ms time window, optimal SOAs were identified as 112 ms and 98 ms for objective and subjective performance, respectively. Collectively, multiple experimental factors accounted for 22.9% (  = 0.3353) and 39.9% (  = 0.3724) of the variance in objective and subjective performance, respectively. Comparing univariate and multivariate analyses, it was evident that experimental factors had different impacts on objective performance and subjective performance. The present study provided quantitative recommendations for future experiments involving the spTMS effects on visual targets, offering guidance on how to configure experimental factors to achieve the optimal masking effect.

This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the Big Five Personality Traits and the occurrence of thyroid nodules (TNs), so as to provide evidence for individualized treatment from the perspective of personality and raise public awareness about thyroid health. A total of 331 participants who underwent physical examinations and thyroid ultrasound at the Health Management Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University were included in this survey and completed a panel of questionnaires including a general demographic questionnaire, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Among the 331 subjects, 42.9% (142/331) had TNs, 72.51% (240/331) were female, and 70.69% (234/331) were younger than 45 years old. There were statistically significant differences between the TNs group and the non-TNs group in terms of gender, age, age group, education, occupation, conscientiousness, smoking status, sleep disturbances, daytime dysfunction, total PSQI score, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and blood glucose (all P s < 0.05). Logistic regression showed that conscientiousness was positively correlated with the occurrence of TNs in people under 45 years old ( P  < 0.05). Mediating effect analysis indicated that sleep quality had a masking effect between conscientiousness and the occurrence of TNs. Conscientiousness increases the risk of TNs, and sleep quality plays a masking role in the influence of conscientiousness on the occurrence of TNs among adults aged < 45 years old.

Along with the continuous improvement of industrial intelligence, robots are widely used in various aspects of production and life, playing an essential role in achieving carbon reduction targets. However, the existing research on the carbon reduction effect of robots and its mechanism is limited. Therefore, this study aims to explore the impact of robot adoption on carbon emissions and analyzes the mechanism by taking 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2019 as research objects. It found that robot adoption can significantly reduce carbon emissions. However, the degree of marketization plays a masking effect, which limits robots’ carbon reduction effect to some extent. Furthermore, the carbon reduction effect of robot adoption is stronger in provinces with lower carbon emissions. Finally, robot adoption has a significant spatial spillover effect on neighboring regions. The improvement of robot adoption will positively affect the region’s and surrounding areas’ carbon emission reduction. The relevant findings provide empirical support for further deepening the policy implementation of robot-assisted carbon emission reduction.

The mismatch between the engine noise and the vehicle speed of hybrid vehicles in the state of battery depletion constitutes one of the main noise sources of the vehicles. A noise testing method for the hybrid engine was proposed with the aid of the rotating hub test bench. The data of the in‐vehicle engine noise under various operating powers were parsed, and simultaneously, the background noise data within the vehicle during the uniform‐speed driving in the pure electric driving mode of the vehicle were collected. Based on the acoustic masking effect, a subjective evaluation method has been developed to assess the masking impact of background noise on engine noise within vehicles. Analysis of the subjective evaluation results revealed that a fundamental condition for effective masking of engine noise by background noise is that the latter must sufficiently envelop the characteristic spectrum of the engine noise. Ultimately, the vehicle calibration strategy was refined based on the outcomes of subjective evaluations. This adjustment not only enhanced the vehicle’s NVH performance but also introduced an innovative approach to engine noise control in hybrid vehicles operating in series mode.

Background and objectives: White spot lesions (WSLs) represent a common enamel demineralization complication associated with fixed orthodontic treatment. Resin infiltration is widely used as a minimally invasive approach to arrest lesion progression and improve esthetics; however, the influence of lesion severity on treatment effectiveness remains insufficiently understood. This in vitro study aimed to investigate how different severities of white spot lesions influence the structural, optical, and mechanical outcomes of resin infiltration. Materials and Methods: Ninety extracted human premolars were subjected to controlled acidic demineralization to produce mild, moderate, and severe lesions. All specimens were treated using a standardized resin infiltration protocol. Lesion depth, resin penetration, optical masking effect (ΔE), and surface microhardness were evaluated using confocal microscopy, spectrophotometry, and Vickers hardness testing. Results: Lesion depth increased significantly with demineralization duration (p < 0.001). Resin penetration showed a strong positive correlation with lesion depth (r = 0.81), while infiltration efficiency was highest in moderate lesions. Optical masking effectiveness decreased significantly with increasing lesion severity (p < 0.01). Surface microhardness improved significantly after infiltration in all groups, with the greatest recovery observed in moderate lesions. Conclusions: Lesion severity significantly influences the structural, optical, and mechanical outcomes of resin infiltration. Early and moderately developed WSLs respond more favorably to infiltration treatment, emphasizing the importance of timely intervention during orthodontic therapy. The integrated evaluation of penetration depth, color masking, and microhardness recovery provides a comprehensive understanding of how lesion severity influences the performance of resin infiltration.