Search Results (724)

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) gives language models access to external text and image collections, but it does not make the decisions taken on that content reproducible. Classical Belief–Desire–Intention (BDI) agents provide explicit plans and traceable decisions, although they normally expect beliefs in symbolic form. We connect these capabilities in a hybrid architecture in which RAG updates agent beliefs while BDI plans remain responsible for reasoning and coordination. The plans are implemented in AgentSpeak on JASON/JADE, agents communicate through FIPA-ACL, and probabilistic models are accessed as computational services through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). The orchestrator routes messages but does not derive authorization decisions. Domain agents and the fusion agent produce those decisions through plan execution. We instantiated it for multimodal access control over 167 research posters and compared it with AutoGen and LangGraph baselines on an identical service backend driven by one locally served model, qwen3.5:9b, so that only the control layer differs. Eight campaigns each vary one setting: pipeline length, tool declaration order, the prerequisite and terminal hints, the sampling seed and the fusion policy. They total 4800 baseline runs, with the plan-based arm measured in the two campaigns that have a plan-library counterpart, 300 runs each. Under a favorable configuration, both baselines schedule the workflow correctly and no verdict changes between repeats, yet only 52% and 86% of queries reproduce the same sequence. Their valid-schedule rate falls to 32.0% and 28.0% at nine agents, and presentational edits to the tool declarations move the ordering and, in one arm, the verdict. The plan-based arm returns 100.0% valid schedules and a single sequence in both campaigns. Full article

Quercetin (QUE) and resveratrol (RES) have complementary bioactivities but limited aqueous solubility and oral bioavailability. This study developed dual-loaded quercetin–resveratrol niosomes (QR-NIOs) for incorporation into hummus and screened quercetin:resveratrol molar ratios using antioxidant, erythroprotective, and enzyme-inhibition assays. The 50:50 formulation showed the broadest activity profile and produced vesicles with 90.63 ± 3.63% overall encapsulation efficiency, 149 ± 13 nm diameter, 0.21 ± 0.02 polydispersity index, and −34 ± 2 mV ζ-potential. After 24 h, dialysis passage was 51.63%, compared with 80.35% for the unencapsulated mixture. Following simulated intestinal digestion, enriched hummus yielded 5.8 milligrams of gallic acid equivalents per gram of dry weight (mg GAE/g D.W.) and 4.7 milligrams of quercetin equivalents per gram of dry weight (mg QE/g D.W.) in the dialyzable phenolic and flavonoid fractions, respectively, exceeding both controls while retaining antioxidant and enzyme-inhibitory activities. Over 28 days at 4 °C, microbial counts remained below detection limits and the tested pathogens were absent. Overall acceptability (8.23/9) did not differ significantly from commercial hummus. QR-NIO-enriched hummus represents a sensory-compatible functional-food prototype with sustained apparent release and increased intestinal recovery of assay-reactive phenolic and flavonoid compounds; compound-specific and in vivo validation remains necessary. Full article

Willis Mountain, near Dillwyn in central Virginia, is the world’s largest kyanite deposit located in the Chopawamsic Fm. of the Piedmont province. However, little is known about the temperature and pressure conditions under which the kyanite deposit and its surrounding rocks formed, compared with similar-aged rocks in the Blue Ridge province to the southwest. Willis Mountain is composed of kyanite-bearing muscovite schists to kyanite quartzites which contain up to 55% kyanite. The following methods were used to evaluate the metamorphic conditions, with multiple calibrations for each: phase equilibrium modelling; trace element thermometry (titanium in quartz and zirconium in rutile); garnet-biotite thermometry; and the garnet, aluminosilicate (Al₂SiO₅), silica, plagioclase (GASP) barometer. Phase equilibrium modelling of two garnet-bearing samples indicates peak conditions at 580–690 °C and 8–15 kbar. Trace element thermometry for titanium in quartz ranges from 512 to 726 °C whereas zirconium in rutile temperatures range from 603 to 692 °C. Garnet-biotite thermometry indicated a range of 536–649 °C. The GASP barometer indicates pressures between 7 and 15.6 kbar. Overall, this suggests that peak metamorphic conditions at Willis Mountain were 640–665 °C and 8.5–10 kbar. These conditions correlate well with the similar-aged, kyanite-grade rocks in the Blue Ridge province, which indicates that peak metamorphism may have occurred during the Taconian orogeny, the first tectonothermal event that contributed to development of the Appalachian Mountains. Full article

The detection and identification process in radar is susceptible to disturbances from numerous non-cooperative jamming signals in addition to target signals. Accurately estimating the parameters of these non-cooperative signals is crucial for extracting the target signal. Addressing the current lack of effective solutions for estimating parameters of different types of uncooperative combined signals, this paper proposes a method for parameter estimation of non-cooperative composite signals based on joint time-polarization domain separation. This method combines amplitude and phase information from both the time and polarization domains of non-cooperative signals and integrates the JADE separation algorithm to achieve the separation and estimation of specific non-cooperative signal combinations. Experiments compare the separation performance of this method with other signal separation algorithms for non-cooperative jamming signal combinations. The results indicate that, at jamming-to-noise ratio of −10 dB to 15 dB, this method achieves better separation accuracy and precision for specific non-cooperative jamming combinations, while also accurately estimating the parameters of the non-cooperative jamming signals. Full article

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are crucial for determining effective interventions but are costly, time-consuming, and complex. Electronic health records (EHRs) offer the potential to enhance research using clinical data, reducing costs and improving efficiency. We evaluated the accuracy of EHR-derived phenotypes for endpoint identification versus RCT-outcome ascertainment in the PRESERVE trial (NCT01467466), comparing sodium bicarbonate vs. sodium chloride and oral acetylcysteine vs. placebo in preventing serious adverse outcomes and contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CIAKI) after angiography. PRESERVE outcomes were compared with EHR data from the Veterans Affairs Corporate Data Warehouse. Real-world data (RWD) phenotypes captured serious adverse events within 90 days post-angiography, including death, dialysis need, and persistent kidney decline. Sensitivity, specificity, and percent agreement were calculated using trial outcomes as the gold standard. Among 4,196 PRESERVE patients, 95% had outcomes assessed. RWD outcomes showed mixed accuracy: 100% sensitivity/specificity for death; high sensitivity for primary composite events (71.2%), dialysis (75.0%), and hospitalization (78.1%); and low sensitivity for CIAKI (45.8%) and persistent kidney decline (40.5%). Substituting RWD outcomes into primary analysis produced conclusions matching the RCT conclusions. EHR phenotypes can substitute for traditional outcome collection, given adequate planning and validation. Despite variable accuracy, RWD outcomes yielded similar conclusions to RCTs, supporting their use for trial efficiency and reducing costs. Full article

“Shetaicui” is a distinctive quartzite jade from the Dashetai area of Inner Mongolia. Its green variety has attracted considerable academic attention because of its characteristic color and relatively high economic value, yet its color genesis and formation process remain poorly understood. Here, green “Shetaicui” was examined by petrographic observation, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorption spectroscopy, colorimetric measurements, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). These methods were used to characterize its mineral composition and textures and investigate its color genesis and formation process. The results show that the jade is a fine-grained muscovite quartzite, whereas the wall rock is a fine-grained chlorite–quartz–muscovite schist. Coloration is mainly associated with Cr-bearing muscovite. Cr is the principal chromogenic element, whereas Fe contributes to coloration to a lesser extent. Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression show that Cr₂O₃ is most strongly correlated with a* and C*, whereas FeO^T is most strongly correlated with L* and shows a weaker positive correlation with b*. Petrographic textures and mineral assemblages indicate that the jade and its wall rock underwent regional metamorphism broadly consistent with greenschist-facies conditions. Formation proceeded through three stages: sedimentary protolith formation, regional metamorphism, and jade formation during late fluid alteration. During regional metamorphism, quartz-rich sandy horizons formed a Qtz I-dominated pre-jade quartzite, whereas muddy horizons formed the chlorite–quartz–muscovite schist wall rock. Subsequent fluid alteration led to the formation of Cr-bearing muscovite and Qtz II within the pre-jade quartzite. Cr-bearing muscovite imparted the characteristic green coloration, completing the transformation of the pre-jade quartzite into “Shetaicui” jade. These results clarify the correlations between chromogenic elements and colorimetric parameters in green “Shetaicui” and provide petrographic and mineralogical evidence for this three-stage formation process. Full article

Total postharvest losses of fresh fruits and vegetables in tropical and subtropical agricultural systems frequently exceed 30 percent, driven by high crop perishability, limited cold-chain infrastructure, and the geographic concentration of conventional processing facilities far from production zones. This review examines the engineering principles, operational architecture, and applied performance of mobile aseptic processing platforms (MAPPs) as a decentralized strategy for postharvest stabilization of perishable agricultural commodities. MAPPs integrate in-line homogenization, high-temperature short-time (HTST) or ultra-high-temperature (UHT) thermal treatment, clean-in-place (CIP) and sterilization-in-place (SIP) cycles, and aseptic filling within transportable, modular units engineered for field deployment. Projected MAPP capacities reach up to approximately 11,300 kg (25,000 lb) per 8 h shift, while still complying with internationally recognized food safety frameworks, including HACCP, ISO 22000, and SQF. Comparative analysis with centralized processing infrastructure and earlier decentralized initiatives, including the EU Horizon 2020 Food Processing in a Box (FOX) project, indicates that mobile aseptic systems uniquely combine field mobility with the production of ambient-stable shelf-life formats independent of refrigerated distribution. Conservative impact modeling suggests that single-unit deployments may recover on the order of 3000 t of edible product annually, with corresponding water, fertilizer, and greenhouse gas externality reductions. The review synthesizes the current state of the technology, identifies engineering and socioeconomic knowledge gaps, and proposes research priorities for scaled adoption in tropical and subtropical food systems. Full article

An HIV vaccine will be a critical tool for ending the epidemic, yet the next vaccine efficacy trial is likely five or more years away as the field focuses on the early-phase evaluation and optimization of vaccines that induce broadly neutralizing antibodies. At the same time, the HIV prevention landscape has evolved substantially, with the discovery of highly effective means of preventing HIV, challenging the identification of HIV prevention trial designs that are ethically sound and scientifically robust. We explore a population-based, individually randomized, proof-of-concept trial design for evaluating the efficacy of a future candidate vaccine to prevent HIV acquisition and to validate the neutralizing antibody marker as an immune correlate. The design is intended to lay the foundation for a subsequent licensure trial and the development and refinement of future HIV vaccine regimens. Key design features include broad, population-based eligibility criteria; the incorporation of external data; decentralized approaches to recruitment, specimen, and data collection; and strong community partnerships. We compare the approach with alternative trial designs and outline their limitations. The population-based design represents a compelling option for generating credible and generalizable evidence, while enabling future HIV vaccine licensure and development. Full article

Background: Immersive virtual reality (VR) may support rehabilitation and patient engagement; however, little is known about how frontline healthcare professionals perceive its clinical relevance and feasibility in post-acute community care settings. This study explored healthcare professionals’ perceptions of the potential clinical uses, usability, and implementation requirements of patient-facing immersive VR in a community hospital providing post-acute care in Singapore. Methods: Using purposive sampling, nineteen healthcare professionals from a subacute hospital in Singapore participated in individual semi-structured interviews. Participants discussed their expectations of VR, experienced approximately 10–15 min of a reminiscence-oriented virtual tour of a local (now defunct) village, using an Oculus Quest head-mounted display, and subsequently reflected on its usability and potential applications. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 informed the interview guide and was used as a sensitising framework. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using hybrid deductive–inductive framework analysis. Results: Four themes were identified: (1) clinical value was conditional on therapeutic relevance; (2) anticipated patient acceptability depended on person–content fit and social context; (3) simple navigation did not remove physical and sensory barriers; and (4) clinical integration required a supporting service model. Conclusions: Healthcare professionals viewed immersive VR as potentially useful but not yet ready for routine clinical implementation. Adoption in post-acute care should be guided by therapeutic purpose, accessibility, and integration into existing workflows rather than technological novelty alone. Future research and development should prioritise co-designed therapeutic content, patient selection, accessibility, workflow integration, and implementation support. Full article

Marine pollution in the Philippine archipelago poses increasing threats to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human health due to rapid urbanization, population growth, and inadequate waste management. As a core region of the Coral Triangle, the Philippines is particularly vulnerable to pollutants transported across interconnected marine ecosystems. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the occurrence, sources, analytical approaches, risk assessment, and knowledge gaps associated with conventional and emerging major marine pollutants, including oil, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, persistent organic pollutants, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, plastics, and additional stressors such as nutrients, pathogens, and shipping-related contaminants. Available evidence indicates widespread contamination of coastal waters, sediments, and marine biota, with pollution hotspots commonly associated with urbanized coastlines, river systems, industrial zones, shipping routes, aquaculture areas, and tourism centers. Emerging pollutants such as plastics and microplastics are increasingly detected even in remote environments, highlighting limitations in current monitoring and management frameworks. However, significant gaps remain in long-term monitoring, standardized methodologies, human health risk assessment, and interdisciplinary integration. This review emphasizes the need for harmonized monitoring programs, improved waste management infrastructure, strengthened regulatory enforcement, expanded analytical capacity, and integrated science-based policies to support sustainable marine management and ocean governance in the Philippines. Full article

Mungbean is a nitrogen-fixing break crop in subtropical broadacre cereal rotation, yet how high nighttime temperatures (HNTs) threaten its agronomic contributions remain poorly characterized. A controlled environment (CE) experiment (low nighttime temperature, LNT: 20 °C vs. high nighttime temperature, HNT: 25 °C) and a two-year staggered-sowing field trial at Rockhampton, Queensland, evaluated HNT impacts on two genotypes, Jade AU and Green Dragon. In the CE experiment, HNT produced a strong, time-dependent increase in the respiration-to-photosynthesis (Rn/A) ratio, evident within two days of treatment imposition, compressed the pod-filling duration by 15%, and reduced grain yield by 21% through fewer mature pods without impairing individual grain filling. The sowing dates generated a contrasting combination of nighttime heat, daytime heat, solar radiation, and seasonal conditions. The harvest index was lower across the 2024 environments than the 2025 environments, but these year-level contrasts reflect co-varying thermal and radiation conditions rather than isolated HNT and High daytime temperature (HDT) environments. Although unadjusted Rn/A–grain yield associations differed between years, split-plot mixed models showed that Rn/A did not explain additional grain yield variation after accounting for sowing date, genotype, and experimental blocking structure. Therefore, Rn/A remains a candidate physiological response indicator, requiring further validation across broader germplasms and independently replicated environments. Green Dragon maintained a larger pod pool and showed less observed Rn/A than Jade AU in selected field environments. These traits identify Green Dragon as a promising source of reproductive resilience for further multi-environment evaluation. To align the reproductive phase with fewer warmer nights, sowing date management is the most accessible strategy for sustaining mungbean yield in subtropical broadacre cereal rotation systems under asymmetric warming. Full article

Differential Evolution (DE) is one of the most successful population-based optimization algorithms, and numerous adaptive variants, such as JADE, L-SHADE, and jDElscop, have been proposed to improve its search performance. Although these methods consistently outperform classical DE variants, whether they genuinely improve the balance between exploration and exploitation remains largely unexamined, since prior evaluations relied on imprecise diversity-based measures. This paper presents a detailed study of DE variants using the recently proposed attraction basin-based measures that distinguish between different types of exploration (successful, failed, deceptive, and successful rejection) and exploitation (successful and unsuccessful). The exploration and exploitation behavior of JADE, L-SHADE, and jDElscop is compared with four classical DE strategies: DE/best/1/bin, DE/best/1/exp, DE/rand/1/bin, and DE/rand/1/exp. The results show that adaptive DE variants prolong the exploration phase and improve the balance between successful and unsuccessful exploitation compared with the classical strategies, though each achieves this through a distinct mechanism. The presented findings improve the understanding of adaptive DE search behavior and demonstrate the usefulness of attraction basin-based measures for analyzing evolutionary optimization algorithms. Full article

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is universally recognized as the gold standard for evaluating anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. However, differentiating partial tears from complete ruptures using the standard sagittal plane remains a diagnostic challenge. The oblique coronal orientation of the ACL often leads to volume averaging artifacts and inaccurate interpretations. While axial imaging offers a favorable alternative, distal tears near the tibial attachment are frequently missed. This review synthesizes current concepts in the anatomical and radiological evaluation of the ACL and introduces the “Namaste sign,” a novel and proposed preliminary imaging marker observed on coronal MRI to help assess ACL integrity. Grounded in the distinct native double-bundle architecture of the ACL, the Namaste sign utilizes the coronal plane to evaluate the transverse relationship and physiological tension of the anteromedial and posterolateral bundles. In a normal knee, these bundles converge symmetrically from their distinct tibial footprints and maintain tight contact with the lateral femoral condyle, mimicking hands pressed together in a traditional “Namaste” gesture. This article details the anatomical basis of this sign, provides a systematic method for its identification, and illustrates how morphological variations such as “broken hands,” “absent hands,” “absent proximal hug,” or “separation of hands” may correspond to specific ACL lesions. As a preliminary conceptual marker, the Namaste sign is intended to serve as an educational adjunct to combined three-plane evaluation rather than a standalone diagnostic criterion. Notably, this sign is not applicable to postoperative ACL reconstructions. A preliminary pilot study of 50 cases utilizing thin-slice MRI (≤3 mm) demonstrated nearly 100% visibility of the sign, 98% diagnostic accuracy, and almost perfect inter-observer agreement between two radiologists with more than 10 years of experience (Cohen’s kappa = 0.92). However, future diagnostic studies with rigorous arthroscopic reference standards are required to establish its clinical performance and reliability in larger cohorts. Full article

Jadeite transparency grading is challenging because adjacent categories exhibit high visual similarity and commercial images often contain complex backgrounds and acquisition-related variations. This study proposes a lightweight grayscale-guided visual perception network based on YOLOv10s for joint jadeite localization and transparency-category grading. First, the Jade Texture Layered Convolution (Jade-TLC) module replaces the initial CBS layers and combines asymmetric convolution for slender linear textures with dilated grouped convolution for regional granular features. The two branches are adaptively fused using the whole-image grayscale mean as an auxiliary image-level statistic rather than a physical measurement of transmittance. Second, an improved SimBAM module applies lightweight dual-pooling spatial attention before each detection head to suppress background interference. Third, the Anisotropic Minimum Point Distance IoU (A-MPDIoU) loss normalizes horizontal and vertical coordinate deviations by the ground-truth width and height to improve localization of boxes with unequal scales. Experiments on 4325 images show that the proposed model achieves 94.25% mAP@50, 93.34% precision, 92.11% recall, and 92.72% F1-score, with 7.82 M parameters, 23.4 G FLOPs, and 95.21 FPS. Controlled ablation, sensitivity, and replacement experiments support the complementary contributions of the proposed components. Further validation on independently collected datasets is required. Full article

The Sanchakou tremolite jade deposit in Qinghai Province represents a significant contact-metasomatic jade resource. Unlike typical contact-metasomatic (D-type) deposits—commonly associated with intermediate-to-acidic intrusions and magnesian carbonate protoliths—the Sanchakou deposit is genetically linked to a relatively SiO₂-poor gabbro intrusion and dolomite. This atypical geological setting raises fundamental questions concerning the sources of ore-forming components and the nature of metasomatic processes involved. To address these questions, this study integrates petrographic observations, whole-rock major- and trace-element geochemistry, and Sr isotopic analyses of tremolite jade, host dolomite wallrocks, gabbro, and their hydrothermally altered counterparts to constrain the origins of Ca, Mg, and Si and to reconstruct the metasomatic evolution of the system. Our results reveal a multi-sourced contribution to ore formation: Ca is derived exclusively from dolomite; >98% of Si originates from an external crustal fluid; and Mg is supplied predominantly (77%) from dolomite, with the remaining 23% sourced from altered gabbro. Strontium isotopic data further confirm the involvement of a gabbro-derived fluid characterized by elevated ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios but low Sr concentrations. A well-defined, continuous metasomatic sequence—comprising silicification → diopsidization → tremolitization → nephritization—is clearly documented. The deposit formed in a post-collisional extensional tectonic setting, driven by heat-induced double metasomatism. This study clarifies the provenance and evolutionary pathways of ore-forming materials in this atypical contact-metasomatic system and provides a genetic framework for analogous jade deposits associated with mafic intrusions. Full article