Search Results (633)

Quantifying groundwater depletion and aquifer–stream interactions in intensively irrigated basins remains a critical challenge for sustainable water management. This study numerically examines these issues in the San Joaquin River Basin (SJRB) using the coupled SWAT+ gwflow framework. To manage computational demands across the 28,435 km² basin, upland contributing areas were represented as inlet point sources at five gauging stations at the outlets of each of the upstream subbasins, reducing computational cost by ~45% while preserving hydrological fidelity. A fine-resolution (300 m × 300 m) model was developed for the downstream valley floor, with release from reservoirs and mountain-block runoff incorporated as a surface boundary condition. We applied the water allocation module gwflow to withdraw water from the aquifer to satisfy crop water stress based on user-defined crop water coefficient values and compared the simulated and observed spatially distributed groundwater head values. Results show a persistent decline in groundwater storage and water levels from 2006 to 2022, with extraction exceeding recharge by ~40%, resulting in an average annual storage loss of 450,175 acre-feet. Intensive pumping also caused hydraulic disconnection between groundwater and some streams, where pronounced cones of depression developed in Turlock, Merced, and western Madera subregions. These findings indicate that targeted managed aquifer recharge and reductions in groundwater extraction in the most severely depleted subregions, are essential to restore aquifer–stream connectivity and ensure long-term water security in the SJRB. Overall, integrating gwflow with SWAT+ provides critical insights into groundwater dynamics in California’s Central Valley and supports sustainable groundwater management. Full article

Geological CO₂ storage represents one of the main strategies for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions within the framework of global energy transition. This study presents an integrated workflow for assessing the geological CO₂ storage potential of the Mugrosa Formation in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin (Colombia). The methodology integrates multicriteria analysis, seismic interpretation, sedimentological and petrophysical characterization, three-dimensional geocellular modeling, geomechanical analysis, and fault seal evaluation using Shale Gouge Ratio (SGR) approach to assess reservoir-seal integrity and storage feasibility. Based on regional evaluation, two targets were selected: North and Central Structures. Seismic interpretation identified faulted anticline traps associated with reverse faults within a compressional regime, revealing different degrees of reservoir compartmentalization. Petrophysical characterization showed a predominance of clay-rich facies, with shale volume > 90% in some intervals, limiting reservoir quality and restricting storage potential to discrete sandy bodies. Reservoir intervals exhibit effective porosity from 13–15% and permeability between 500–800 mD. Geomechanical analysis allowed the evaluation of system stability under injection conditions, main faults are close to critical reactivation conditions, although they remain stable under moderate injection pressures. High SGR values (>0.75) suggest favorable fault-sealing capacity. Storage feasibility is controlled by the balance between reservoir quality, structural integrity, and geomechanical behavior. The integrated workflow provides a robust framework for subsurface integrity assessment and early-stage screening of geological CO₂ storage prospects in structurally complex sedimentary basins. Full article

Užice, town in a river valley, surrounded by hills, with low wind is air polluted, during heating season. The prevailing wind direction is northwest (169‰), the most frequently in spring (192‰) and least in autumn (96‰). Atmospheric calms dominate (591‰), limiting pollutant dispersion. This study investigates the impact of heavy fuel oil combustion at the central heating plant on PM_2.5 concentrations under northwest wind. Simplified Gaussian dispersion equations were developed to model pollutant transport. The model demonstrated good agreement for daily PM_2.5 concentrations during December, with deviations within 10%, though lower accuracy occurred under unstable March and April atmosphere. The validation model yielded as follows: Mean Absolute Error 1.26 μg/m³, Root Mean Square Error 9.71 μg/m³, Coefficient of Determination R² 0.92. Fractional Bias is 1.18, Fraction of Prediction within Factor 2 is 0.26 and Normalized Mean Square Error 0.0036. The overall results confirm that the model holds stability, predictive value and provides highly reliable baseline for further analysis. A Geographic Information System with population density and PM_2.5 particles use for health risks evaluation. Within 500 m radius (population density: 20,840 inhabitants/km²), PM_2.5 exposure was 17.4 ug/m³. Within 300 m, population density is 22,791 inhabitants/km² and PM_2.5 reaches 18.9 ug/m^3. Full article

High-altitude rural settlements on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau have developed through long-term adaptation to terrain, hydrology, infrastructure, and socio-cultural organization. However, quantitative evidence on how settlement morphologies are typologically structured and how contextual constraints are associated with their differentiation remains limited. Taking 20 Tibetan rural settlements in the Lhasa River valley as samples, this study develops a hierarchical morphological typology and examines its contextual associations. Spatial indicators describing boundary form, building layout, and spatial organization were constructed from remote sensing imagery, settlement mapping, and field observations. Hierarchical clustering identified a two-level typological structure, comprising two higher-order morphological branches and four detailed settlement archetypes. ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis tests indicated significant inter-type differences in key morphological indicators, including shape index, building density, inter-building distance, building disorder, and spatial centrality. Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was then conducted at the higher-order branch level to explore how elevation, slope, river proximity, road accessibility, and religious-spatial context combine in relation to broader morphological differentiation. The results indicate that high-altitude settlement morphology is associated with multiple contextual configurations, with no single condition acting as a universal explanatory factor. Extended–loose settlements are generally linked to more open valley settings, whereas constrained organized settlements are associated with stronger terrain, accessibility, or corridor-based spatial constraints. Although the identified archetypes are specific to the Lhasa River Valley, the analytical framework provides a basis for comparative studies of rural settlements in other high-altitude and mountainous regions. The findings provide a quantitative basis for understanding the morphological diversity of Tibetan rural settlements and offer typology-based implications for rural planning, infrastructure allocation, and landscape conservation in environmentally sensitive plateau regions. Full article

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a mosquito-borne zoonotic pathogen that causes substantial livestock losses and a range of severe human illnesses, including hemorrhagic disease, hepatitis, retinitis, vision loss, and delayed encephalitis. Despite its public health and One Health importance, no approved RVFV-specific antiviral therapy or licensed human vaccine is available. Therapeutic development is challenged by the progression of RVFV disease from acute viremia and hepatic injury to delayed neurologic and ocular complications, highlighting the need for countermeasures that protect both systemic organs and CNS tissues. This review examines RVFV antiviral development in the context of neuroinvasive disease. We summarize evidence on RVFV neuroinvasion and central nervous system injury, including route-dependent entry, blood–brain barrier interactions, immune responses, neuroinflammation, and neuronal damage. We then evaluate major antiviral strategies by mechanism, treatment timing, tissue exposure, and central nervous system relevance. Finally, we propose that future RVFV therapeutics are assessed not only by survival, viremia, and hepatic viral-load endpoints, but also by blood–brain barrier penetration, brain pharmacokinetics, efficacy in neuroinvasive models, delayed-treatment activity, and protection against encephalitis-associated injury. This framework may help prioritize antivirals that control both acute systemic disease and delayed neurological complications. Full article

Accommodation establishments constitute a core component of tourism infrastructure, and their location choices directly affect water resource utilization, land pressure, and the spatial equilibrium of tourism development—issues that are particularly acute in vast arid regions. Yet the spatial organization of accommodation supply across extensive drylands characterized by fragmented oasis distribution, and the reasons why standard and non-standard accommodation follow divergent location logics, remain poorly understood. This study addresses three questions: (1) How are nine accommodation categories, differentiated by type and quality, distributed across Xinjiang? (2) Do directional spatial associations exist among categories that are consistent with hierarchical, path-dependent development? (3) Which factors drive these patterns, and do their effects exhibit the nonlinearity and threshold behavior predicted by location theory? Drawing on 12,073 accommodation establishments from the Ctrip platform, we construct a staged analytical framework in which each technique answers a specific question: the nearest-neighbor index and standard deviational ellipse characterize global patterns; kernel density estimation and OPTICS clustering identify local agglomerations; directional local co-location quotients measure asymmetric spatial associations; and XGBoost–SHAP isolates nonlinear drivers and threshold effects. Results reveal a highly concentrated “single-core, multi-center” structure anchored by Urumqi, Yining, and Kashgar, with rapid expansion toward the Ili Valley, Kashgar, and Altay since 2019. Standard accommodation tracks urban centrality and transport nodes, while non-standard accommodation tracks tourism resource endowments, consistent with location-theoretic expectations. Directional co-location analysis reveals hierarchical spatial associations among categories, and driving factors exhibit pronounced nonlinear threshold effects. From a sustainability perspective, the identified thresholds—elevation (1360 m), water-body proximity, and distance to rural tourism demonstration sites (3 km)—constitute quantifiable, spatially explicit sustainability indicators that can be incorporated into planning tools to monitor and steer accommodation development away from ecologically sensitive zones. Global Moran’s I diagnostics of model residuals (reduction of 83–99.7%) suggest that these findings are unlikely to be artifacts of spatial autocorrelation; this diagnostic, however, complements rather than replaces spatially blocked validation. The study contributes category-differentiated, spatially directed evidence for policies balancing tourism expansion against water security and ecosystem integrity, serving sustainable tourism development in arid-region destinations. Full article

To address rain erosion damage of oriented polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) under high-speed droplet impact, three types of tests (single pulsed jet impact, continuous single pulsed jet impact and continuous twin pulsed jet coupled impact) were conducted using a self-developed continuous jet rain erosion test system. High-speed photography, optical microscopy, optical profilometer and computed tomography (CT) were used to investigate the effects of impact velocity, number of impacts, and twin pulsed jet coupling on damage evolution. Single pulsed jet impact tests show that with increasing velocity, damage evolves from slight annular crazing to a central undamaged region surrounded by extensive annular crazing. Continuous single pulsed jet impact tests indicate that higher velocity shortens the incubation period and accelerates volume loss and damage area growth. The erosion crater profile exhibits a “two valleys and one peak” morphology: a central protrusion from repeated water-hammer compression, and side depressions from lateral outflow scouring. Continuous twin pulsed jet coupled impact tests reveal distinct features: due to mutual hindrance of lateral flows, ring cracks appear only on the side away from the adjacent impact; stress wave superposition may cause stress concentration between impact points, resulting in an asymmetric “single-peak” crater cross-section. This study achieves laboratory simulation of twin pulsed jet coupled impacts, providing an experimental basis for multi-jet interaction damage mechanisms. Full article

The Siberian Traps have been a reference object for geologists for many years in understanding the origin of Large Igneous Provinces on Earth. Data from high-magnesium rocks in its northern region have traditionally been used to create genetic models. However, the central and southern parts, consisting of the tholeiitic basaltic rocks (platform basalts, or typical traps), remain significantly unexplored, despite their important role in volcanic evolution within the province. This article presents new structural, mineralogical, and geochemical data from the tuff-lava sequences in the central regions of the Tunguska syneclise, i.e., along the Lower Tunguska River Valley and near Vanavara settlement in the Podkamennaya Tunguska Valley. The studied sections include pyroclastic rocks of the Korvunchansky Formation and overlaying basalts and tuffs of the Nidymsky and Kochechumsky Formations (Early Triassic, 251 Ma). Major and trace element analyses of 64 samples show that basalts from these formations are similar in composition, with MgO contents ranging from 4.2% to 7.8%. Trace element patterns exhibit negative Ta-Nb anomalies and positive Pb anomalies, which are typical of the Siberian platform basalts. Tuffs, on the other hand, differ from the basalts by having higher SiO₂ and K₂O contents and steeper rare earth element (REE) patterns. Isotopic analysis (Sr-Nd) confirms the difference between basalts and tuffs and suggests their origin from two distinct magma sources. The Nidymsky basalts have positive Ɛ_Nd values (+2.21 to +3.10), similar to those of the Morongovsky and Mokulaevsky basalts in the Norilsk area. Tuffs, on the other hand, exhibit negative Ɛ_Nd (−1.33 to −4.5) and elevated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (>0.706), in comparison with the basalts (0.704–0.706). Geological observations reveal that pyroclastic rocks play a significant role at the initial stage of volcanic activity. The main result of this study is that tuffs from the Korvunchansky and Khakanchansky Formations (in the south and north of the province, respectively) are identical in their geochemical characteristics. This similarity suggests the existence of a single pyroclastic cover, closed in composition to Lower crust, over the Siberian platform. These pyroclastic rocks mark the beginning of trap magmatism in the Siberian province, rather than picrites, as suggested by the plume model. Full article

Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) drives ozone and secondary aerosol formation and harms human health. Chongqing, a mountainous megacity of 32 million people, lacks a fine-scale satellite assessment of its NO₂ evolution. We analyzed tropospheric NO₂ vertical column density (VCD) over Chongqing for 2019–2024. The analysis used Sentinel-5P TROPOMI observations. We computed monthly, seasonal, and annual composites at 5.5 km resolution. Trends were quantified with the Theil–Sen slope and, at the pixel level, the Seasonal Mann–Kendall (SMK) test applied to the full 72-month series. A MODIS land-cover mask separated urban built-up from non-urban pixels. NO₂ concentrated in the central districts and along the Yangtze valley. The core exceeded the mountainous counties by a factor of 3 to 4. TROPOMI resolved the Wanzhou and Yongchuan–Jiangjin hotspots as separate features. The record was divided into three phases. The 2020 lockdown produced the minimum, 31% below the prior February. Rebound emissions produced the 2021 maximum of 5.6 × 10¹⁵ molecules cm⁻² under near-normal dispersion conditions, with ERA5 (the European Centre of Medium-range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis v.5) showing the January 2021 boundary layer 4.3% deeper than its climatological norm. Thereafter the regional mean stabilized: the area-weighted SMK slope was +0.042 × 10¹⁵ molecules cm⁻² yr⁻¹ and not significant (p = 0.14), because emission controls in the core and rising county emissions canceled in the average. Trends diverged sharply in space. The nine core districts declined (median urban Sen slope −0.11 × 10¹⁵ molecules cm⁻² yr⁻¹), whereas 41% of peripheral pixels rose significantly (p < 0.05). The urban-to-rural ratio narrowed from 3.0 in 2019 to 2.3 in 2024 (annual means). This convergence was robust to the built-up threshold (30–50%). Industrial relocation and county urbanization explain the peripheral rise. The results support extending vehicle and industrial emission standards from the core to the receiving counties. Full article

This study investigates the spatial association between metro network topological centrality and the distribution of commercial establishments in Wuhan, China, with attention to its implications for sustainable urban development. Metro station data and commercial point-of-interest (POI) data were integrated with space syntax and GIS-based spatial analysis to examine commercial spatial patterns at both the citywide and station levels. Kernel density estimation was used to identify commercial agglomerations, while station-level Spearman correlation analysis, bootstrap comparison, Gini coefficient analysis, and Local Moran’s I were employed to evaluate the spatial association between metro network topological centrality and different commercial sectors. The results show that: (1) Wuhan exhibits a “primary core–multiple nodes” commercial spatial structure, and the current distribution of commercial establishments differs among planned city-level commercial centers despite their comparable planning hierarchy. (2) A significant positive spatial association exists between metro network topological centrality and commercial establishment distribution at the station level. However, substantial spatial heterogeneity is observed across the network. For example, Optics Valley Square and Zhuyehai contain relatively dense commercial establishments despite comparatively low topological centrality, whereas Wuhan Business District Station exhibits relatively high topological centrality but limited surrounding commercial development. (3) All seven commercial sectors show significant positive spatial associations with metro network topological centrality, although finance exhibits the strongest association. The remaining sectors display broadly comparable correlation strengths but differ considerably in their spatial concentration patterns. These findings enhance understanding of the spatial organization of commercial activities in relation to metro network topology and provide empirical evidence to support commercial planning, transit-oriented urban development, and more sustainable patterns of urban commercial development. Full article

The surface roughness (Ra) and coefficient of friction (COF) of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) parts fabricated through fused deposition modelling (FDM) are key determinants of their functional service performance. However, these two objectives often present a trade-off relationship in single-objective optimisation. To achieve synergistic optimisation of surface quality and surface performance of FDM ABS parts, this paper proposes a multi-objective optimisation framework integrating response surface methodology (RSM) with a chaotic whale optimisation algorithm (CWOA). A Box–Behnken design (BBD) was employed to establish quadratic regression models for Ra and COF as functions of layer thickness (0.16–0.24 mm), extrusion ratio (0.9–1.0), infill density (20–100%) and extrusion temperature (240–270 °C). Based on analysis of variance (ANOVA) and response surface analysis, a non-linear mathematical model with dual responses was constructed. Pareto-dominated CWOA was introduced for multi-objective optimisation, and the optimal process parameter combination was selected using the TOPSIS method. The results showed that the optimal parameters were: layer thickness 0.16 mm, extrusion ratio 0.9, infill density 66%, and extrusion temperature 270 °C. Under these conditions, the experimentally measured Ra was 7.7921 μm (2.04% error from the predicted value) and COF was 0.1504 (2.80% error from the predicted value). Compared with the benchmark reference (the average value of the BBD central experimental runs), a synchronous decrease in Ra and COF was achieved (Ra reduced by 27.4% and COF reduced by 14.9%). Metallographic morphology analysis revealed that the optimal specimen surface exhibited wide filament ridges, narrow and well-defined inter-filament valleys, and no obvious forming defects, achieving synergistic low roughness and low friction. The proposed RSM-CWOA framework provides an effective method for multi-objective optimisation of FDM processes and can be extended to other polymer additive manufacturing systems. Full article

With the electrification of urban bus fleets, the sustainability of public transport operation increasingly depends on resource-efficient energy management at bus depots. Under time-of-use electricity pricing and limited depot resources, shifting many charging tasks to low-price periods may increase depot-level peak load and charger competition, thereby affecting vehicle time windows and departure state-of-charge (SOC) requirements. This study formulates a multi-objective nighttime centralized charging scheduling model that minimizes an economic objective while controlling depot-level peak load. The model combines staged charging characteristics with an interval-overlap-based load calculation method to link SOC evolution, time-window occupancy, and depot load formation. For the resulting constrained discrete scheduling task, a problem-specific SPEA2-based solution framework, named DCS-SPEA2, is developed with vehicle-block encoding, repair-coupled decoding, and archive-based Pareto search. A case study using Shanghai bus route 71 shows that the compromise solution achieves a 100% minimum departure SOC compliance rate, reduces the depot-level peak load to 562.74 kW, and decreases the economic objective by 17.97% and 16.30% compared with first-come-first-served charging and valley-price-priority charging, respectively. Compared with standard SPEA2, DCS-SPEA2 increases the average hypervolume from 0.5783 to 0.6620 and reduces the average inverted generational distance from 0.2505 to 0.1993. These results indicate that coordinated charging scheduling can improve resource use efficiency and operational reliability at electric bus depots, thereby supporting sustainable public transport operation under limited depot resources. Full article

With the advancement of net-zero targets and the large-scale deployment of distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and electric vehicles (EVs) in residential sectors, home energy management systems (HEMS) have become central to improving end-use energy efficiency. However, reliance on synthetic data, simplified and homogeneous load modeling, and lack of coordination between dynamic pricing mechanisms and multi-device scheduling, make them practically inefficient. Furthermore, most studies address only unilateral user-side optimization while neglecting the distribution network operational constraints and omitting rigorous anti-arbitrage mechanisms to preclude speculative user behavior. To address these gaps, this paper proposes a data-driven coordinated scheduling framework for residential PV-BESS and multi-device systems formulated within bi-level game-theoretic architecture. The upper-level employs particle swarm optimization (PSO) to determine dynamic additional price signals for peak shaving and distribution network security, with explicit constraints on distribution transformer capacity, node voltage deviation, and load ramp rate adapted to three-user scenarios. The lower-level formulates a mixed-integer quadratic programming (MIQP) model to achieve multi-objective optimization of user electricity cost, thermal comfort, device usage preference, battery cycle degradation, and end-of-cycle energy balance. Simulation results for representative summer and winter days indicate that the proposed framework reduces user-side electricity cost by around 30%, elevates PV self-consumption rate to over 70%, and achieves about 20% peak load reduction with around 15% peak-valley difference narrowing on the grid side. All distribution network security constraints and anti-arbitrage rules are strictly satisfied. The framework effectively reconciles the objectives of both residential users and the distribution grid. Full article

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remains a significant global health burden with limited survival improvement in locally advanced disease despite multimodal therapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway have demonstrated substantial clinical benefit in recurrent or metastatic HNSCC, establishing PD-1 blockade as a standard of care. Similar approaches in locally advanced disease, including concurrent administration with chemoradiotherapy or use in the adjuvant setting, have not demonstrated improvement in survival outcomes across multiple randomized trials. Perioperative strategies incorporating neoadjuvant and adjuvant checkpoint inhibition have shown improved event-free and disease-free survival in resectable disease. Meta-analyses of concurrent and adjuvant approaches confirm limited benefit in unselected populations, with modest improvements restricted to biologically defined subgroups. Trial outcomes across disease settings demonstrate a consistent pattern in which therapeutic efficacy varies despite the use of similar agents. Rather than simply summarizing these clinical findings, this review integrates evidence across recurrent/metatstatic, unresected locally advanced and perioperative disease settings into a biologically focused framework to help explain the varying efficacies of immune checkpoint inhibition in HNSCC. Current evidence indicates that the effectiveness of immunotherapy in HNSCC is determined by the biologic context of treatment, including tumor antigen availability, host immune competence, and timing of immune activation. Administration of checkpoint blockade in the presence of intact tumor antigen and preserved immune function is associated with improved outcomes, whereas treatment delivered during or after cytotoxic therapy is limited by lymphopenia and reduced antigen exposure. By synthesizing randomized clinical evidence through this biologic framework, the review provides a conceptual perspective that may help explain previous trial outcomes and inform future biomarker-driven patient selection and treatment sequencing. Optimization of immunotherapy in HNSCC will depend on the integration of immune activation with disease context rather than an escalation of therapeutic intensity. Full article

Global climate change is intensifying water scarcity in Mediterranean agroecosystems, demanding a transition from rainfed to irrigated management for high-value crops like vineyards and olive groves. This study introduces a novel hydrologic framework to assess field-scale rainwater harvesting potential across nearly 60,000 individual vineyard and olive grove parcels in continental Portugal. Unlike conventional valley-focused models that delineate catchments at drainage junctions, our approach uses high-resolution digital elevation models and open-source spatial libraries (Python’s Fiona, Rasterio, Whitebox) to link every agricultural pixel to its unique upstream hillslope catchment. We quantify and compare “in-parcel” resources (direct precipitation, Vp) with “ex-parcel” resources (upstream runoff, Vup) under historical (1981–2010) and future (2041–2070) climate scenarios (CMIP6; SSP1-2.6, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5). A central contribution of this study is the evaluation of water security, defined here as the relative safety buffer between harvested water and the biological irrigation requirements (Vip) prescribed for both cultures in each of seven agroclimatic zones defined across the country. Security categories are based on the ratio (Vp − Vip)/Vip for in-parcel resources and (Vup − Vip)/Vip for ex-parcel resources, where values above zero indicate a sustainable surplus, and negative values signify a state of insecurity. Results demonstrate that ex-parcel resources are significantly more substantial, offering 2.5 to 35 times the potential of in-parcel counterparts. While vineyards currently exhibit high security nationwide, southern olive groves face a critical degradation from “secure” to “insecure” status by 2070 under fossil-fueled pathways (SSP5-8.5), with security indices dropping as low as −33.2 in the southern Alentejo region. This highlights ex-parcel runoff as a vital, underutilized hydrologic buffer that can safeguard Mediterranean agriculture against projected climate-induced deficits. Full article