Search Results (3,652)

The reduction in embodied environmental impacts in residential construction is increasingly important as operational energy performance improves and the relative contribution of materials, replacements, and end-of-life processes grows. This study presents a building-level life cycle assessment of a block of flats in Czechia over a 50-year reference study period. The inventory was derived from the bill of quantities and technical documentation and modelled in LCA for Experts using the integrated Sphera database. The assessed modules comprise A1–A3, A4, B4, B6, C1–C4, and D. Operational energy use in B6 was the largest positive contributor to global warming potential, reaching 16.31 million kg CO₂ eq. (1111 kg CO₂ eq./m²). Product-stage impacts in A1–A3 amounted to 7.15 million kg CO₂ eq. (488 kg CO₂ eq./m²), while replacements in B4 generated 3.32 million kg CO₂ eq. (227 kg CO₂ eq./m²), equivalent to approximately 46% of initial product-stage impacts. Replacement hotspots occurred mainly in non-load-bearing elements, equipment and facilities, façade and roof components, and technical systems. Including B4 changes hotspot prioritisation: products with limited A1–A3 impacts may become significant because of shorter service lives and repeated replacement. Linking building parts, material categories, and individual datasets supports durability, maintainability, and replacement planning in life-cycle GWP reduction. Full article

By combining digital sensing, network connectivity, data-driven analyses, cloud services, and automated controls, smart farming has been increasingly adopted in agricultural production. Although these technologies have improved the precision and efficiency of farm management, they also increase cybersecurity exposure as agricultural facilities are connected to external networks, platforms, and remote-control environments. This review seeks to clarify why cybersecurity should be considered a fundamental requirement in smart farming and details the major system components, cybersecurity risks, and network design considerations required for secure operation. This review first explains the concept and application scope of smart farming, and then examines how sensors, communication networks, gateways, control systems, data platforms, user interfaces, cloud infrastructure, and physical support systems contribute to farm management and cybersecurity exposure. The review also emphasizes that smart farming differs from ordinary information systems because digital data and control commands can directly affect physical processes, such as irrigation, ventilation, heating, nutrient supply, and livestock management. Based on these cyber-physical characteristics, the review summarizes the key architectural considerations for reducing cybersecurity risks, including network segmentation, data and command flow mapping, gateway and wireless security, remote access management, cloud access control, device inventory, logging, monitoring, resilience, and local fail-safe operation. Overall, ensuring cybersecurity in smart farming requires an integrated approach that protects not only data and accounts but also the reliability and continuity of agricultural production. Full article

Climate-induced floods increasingly disrupt agricultural production systems, posing escalating threats to food security and economic stability in climate-exposed and trade-integrated regions. This study examines the relationship between flood shocks and agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) change across China and ten ASEAN economies and investigates whether public service capacity and structural conditions attenuate this negative association. A country–year panel dataset covering 1993–2024 is constructed by aggregating event-level flood records from EM-DAT and matching them with World Bank indicators of agricultural production, population, public services, and industrial structure. Agricultural TFP change is measured using the DEA-Malmquist index, with arable land, agricultural land, agricultural employment, fertilizer use, agricultural freshwater use, and rural electricity access as inputs and crop production and agricultural value added as outputs. A two-way fixed-effects model is then applied to examine the conditional association between flood mortality severity and agricultural TFP change. The empirical results show that greater flood mortality severity is significantly associated with lower agricultural TFP change. This negative contemporaneous association remains evident across the reported alternative specifications and sensitivity analyses. Current health expenditure per capita, energy use per capita, access to basic drinking-water services, and medium- and high-tech manufacturing value added are positively associated with an attenuation of the negative association between flood mortality severity and agricultural TFP change. These findings suggest that agricultural productivity performance under climate-related disturbances is shaped not only by exposure to flood shocks but also by policy-relevant capacities embedded in public service provision and structural conditions. A notable finding is that the marginal association becomes positive and statistically significant at high observed levels of health expenditure per capita and energy use per capita, whereas the corresponding estimates for drinking-water services and medium- and high-technology manufacturing remain statistically indistinguishable from zero. Full article

Modern agriculture’s integration of Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Control Systems (ICSs), and data analytics boosts productivity but introduces significant cybersecurity and data governance challenges. Existing scholarship is divided between policy-focused governance and technical attack analyses, hindering the development of comprehensive, enforceable defenses. This paper introduces an integrated framework that bridges normative data governance in smart farming (SF) with empirical, honeynet-derived threat intelligence. Drawing on the authors’ previous systematic review of SF data governance and a honeynet simulating agricultural IoT/ICS, the study maps governance challenges to quantitative attack indicators from honeynet logs, classifying each pairing as directly supported by telemetry, indirectly supported by telemetry, or not observable using the current methodology. The findings show that the services flagged as governance concerns face sustained attack pressure: the honeynet recorded brute-force attempts against SSH/Telnet on simulated irrigation controllers (149,000 events), connection and login attempts targeting SMB (Server Message Block) and MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) on automated machinery (67,156), credential-guessing attempts against management services (14,937), and ICS protocol probes (11,532). Geographic and protocol distributions reveal that legacy industrial protocols and weakly authenticated management interfaces, both highlighted as governance concerns, constitute the primary attack surface. This evidence supports a tiered governance model integrating protocol-level controls, identity governance, and data-sharing policy, demonstrating that effective SF cybersecurity requires empirically calibrated rather than purely policy-driven frameworks. The proposed framework offers actionable guidance for aligning technical defenses with data governance obligations. This work contributes a new methodological protocol (cross-evidentiary mapping), an empirically calibrated tiered framework, and a coherent research agenda at the intersection of governance and measurement, serving as a template for similar analyses in other critical infrastructure sectors. Full article

Shade coffee agroecosystems are recognized as biodiversity-friendly systems that make an important contribution to biodiversity conservation in tropical landscapes. This study synthesized the scientific evidence on biodiversity associated with Mexican coffee agroecosystems through a systematic review of literature published between 1990 and 2026. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, searches in ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Web of Science, Scopus, and SciELO yielded 1424 records, of which 126 met the inclusion criteria. The selected studies were further classified according to research axes, methodological approaches, production-system comparisons, and ecosystem functions. Research efforts were strongly concentrated in Veracruz and Chiapas, while several coffee-producing regions remained poorly represented. Arthropods were the most studied group, followed by plants and trees, while mammals and birds were equally represented; fungi and herpetofauna received comparatively less attention. Scientific output increased compared with the early years of the study period but showed considerable temporal variation, particularly during the most recent decade. Despite these advances, relevant geographic and taxonomic gaps persist, particularly for fungi, soil microorganisms, and herpetofauna. The evidence indicates that shade coffee agroecosystems serve as valuable reservoirs of biodiversity and support ecosystem services, ecological connectivity, and landscape conservation. Future studies should focus on underrepresented regions and taxa and incorporate functional diversity, ecological interactions, and landscape-scale approaches to strengthen biodiversity conservation and sustainable management in Mexican coffee-growing landscapes. Full article

Background/Objectives: Dental caries remains one of the most prevalent chronic diseases affecting children worldwide and continues to pose a substantial challenge to healthcare systems. Although the clinical consequences of paediatric dental caries are well documented, the associated economic burden has not been comprehensively synthesised. This systematic review aimed to evaluate and summarise the available evidence regarding the costs associated with dental caries in children and adolescents under 18 years of age. Methods: A systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 guidelines and registered in PROSPERO (CRD420251138979). MEDLINE via PubMed, Scopus, and Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source (EBSCOhost) were searched for studies published between January 2012 and July 2025. The MEDLINE and Scopus searches were conducted on 22 July 2025, and an additional search of Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source (EBSCOhost) was conducted on 19 August 2026. Eligible studies included peer-reviewed cost-of-illness studies, economic evaluations, cost analyses, cross-sectional studies, retrospective studies, and randomised controlled trials reporting economic outcomes related to the prevention or management of dental caries in individuals under 18 years of age. Methodological quality was assessed using the Drummond 10-item checklist. Data were extracted on study characteristics, population demographics, cost components, study perspective, and key findings. Reported costs were categorised as direct, indirect, and intangible costs where applicable. Due to substantial methodological heterogeneity among studies, a narrative synthesis was performed. Results: Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria. Most studies focused on direct medical costs associated with restorative treatment, hospital-based dental care, and emergency services. Direct costs were consistently substantial across different healthcare settings, particularly for cases requiring advanced treatment or general anaesthesia. Preventive interventions were generally reported to be more cost-effective than curative approaches. Indirect costs, including caregiver productivity losses, were infrequently assessed, while no study comprehensively evaluated intangible costs. Considerable variation in study design, costing perspective, and reporting methodology limited direct comparison across studies. Conclusions: Dental caries in individuals under 18 years of age imposes a considerable economic burden, driven primarily by direct treatment costs. Preventive oral health strategies appear to provide greater economic value than treatment-focused approaches. The limited assessment of indirect and intangible costs suggests that the overall societal burden of paediatric dental caries is likely underestimated. Future research should adopt standardised and comprehensive costing methodologies to better support policy development and resource allocation in paediatric oral healthcare. Full article

Contemporary rural public buildings in China are undergoing a critical transition from single-function administrative facilities to multifunctional hubs that integrate public services, industrial support, cultural inheritance, and community interaction. However, existing studies predominantly rely on isolated case descriptions or region-specific practices, lacking systematic synthesis of their functional composition and design mechanisms. To address this gap, this study adopts a qualitative multiple-case analysis of 42 representative rural public service buildings completed after 2018 across China’s five major climatic zones. Through a systematic three-layer coding framework—functional configuration, spatial organization, and environmental strategy—cross-case comparisons were conducted to identify recurring compositional patterns and design strategies. The findings reveal a hierarchical “Three-Core, Six-Auxiliary” functional composition pattern, anchored by convenience, production, and cultural services as cores, supplemented by skills transmission, digital stations, shared storage, exhibition sales, mutual-aid services, and reusable facilities. A four-type design strategy system is distilled: “sharing–activation” for functional complexity, “narrative–identity” for cultural locality, “region–prototype” for climate responsiveness, and “material–craftsmanship” for ecological inheritance. This framework not only clarifies the hierarchical organization between core and auxiliary functions but also demonstrates how these strategies synergistically optimize resource allocation, sustain vernacular heritage, and support low-carbon goals. This study provides a testable and transferable design paradigm, moving rural public building practices beyond empirical intuition toward evidence-based methodological guidance. Full article

Ukraine entered the definitive period of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in January 2026 as the largest exporter of CBAM-covered goods to the EU by physical volume, while its industrial base remains under direct wartime pressure. This study provides the first structural analysis of the open microaggregated dataset of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine (SSSU) on air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions, covering 1990–2025 across 1284 territorial units, 128 substances, and 605 economic activities (NACE/KVED-2010). A documented harmonization procedure is proposed that resolves the 2020/2021 dimensional break and the ambiguity between oblast (region)- and hromada (municipality)-level records, yielding consistent 36-year series with independent national total validation for 2015–2025. Four phases are identified: transformational decline (1990–1999, −56.5%), stabilization (1999–2013, +4.6%), post-2014 structural decline (2013–2021, −47.9%), and the full-scale war shock (2021–2025, −55.0%). Stationary source emissions fell by 89.3% overall, but the wartime reduction reflects destruction and occupation of capacity, not decarbonization, as reflected in the collapse of metallurgy (−73.8%) and coke production (−89.6%) and the loss of the Mariupol district from statistical coverage after 2022. Mobile sources now supply 65% of the national total. Coal mine methane dominates stationary CH₄ (301 kt in 2021; ≈9.0 Mt CO₂ eq), directly relevant to Regulation (EU) 2024/1787. The regional Herfindahl–Hirschman index fell from 1847 (2021) to 1524 (2025), indicating war-driven regional deconcentration and a westward shift in the emission center of gravity. The findings are validated against independent satellite-based and conflict attribution estimates, and implications for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) infrastructure, CBAM default value exposure, and the phased design of Ukraine’s emissions trading system are derived. 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

The building and construction sector is a major contributor to global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, underscoring the need for material-level strategies to minimise environmental impacts throughout the building life cycle. This study presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a prototypical two-storey brick veneer residence in Sydney, Australia, using eToolLCD software V4.7 to V5.40. Two environmental impact categories were evaluated, namely embodied energy (EE) and global warming potential (GWP). Over the 55-year reference service life, the case study residence generated a total EE of 1,191,015 MJ NCV and a total GWP of 82,678 kg CO₂ eq, equivalent to 98.18 MJ NCV/m² gross floor area (GFA)/year and 6.816 kg CO₂ eq/m² GFA/year, respectively. The products stage dominated both environmental impact indicators, accounting for 99.35% of total EE and 67.85% of total GWP. Among the building elements, the wall structure was identified as one of the primary contributors, accounting for 29.54% of total EE and 31.12% of total GWP. To identify sustainable alternatives, two international case studies employing AAC block walls were examined, namely, the Wilson Residence in Florida, United States, and the IPCW Residence in Surabaya, Indonesia. A controlled wall area-based comparative environmental analysis of three wall construction systems (brick veneer, AAC blocks, and hollow concrete blocks) demonstrated that the AAC block wall system exhibited the lowest EE (9.752 MJ NCV/m² GFA/year) and GWP (1.2615 kg CO₂ eq/m² GFA/year), representing approximately a 44.1% reduction in EE and 23.9% in GWP compared to the brick veneer wall system. This wall-system finding was corroborated by a supplementary comparative analysis using environmental product declaration (EPD) data for generic AAC blocks and clay brick. Under the specific assumptions, system boundaries, and impact categories examined, AAC block walls demonstrated lower EE and GWP than brick veneer walls in this Sydney case study residence, indicating their potential as a lower-impact wall material for Australian residential construction. Compared to brick veneer walls, AAC block walls may reduce both EE and GWP while maintaining high thermal performance, durability, and construction efficiency, thereby contributing to more sustainable housing and support Australia’s transition towards net-zero emissions. Full article

Polyurethane (PU) is widely used in construction, transportation, automotive products, decorative materials, and related industries because its molecular structure can be tailored to diverse service requirements. This versatility has stimulated growing interest in polyurethane-modified asphalt for pavement engineering. This review examines the chemical structure, reaction mechanisms, and principal synthesis routes of polyurethane-modified asphalt and discusses polyurethane-modified emulsified asphalt, polyurethane composite-modified asphalt, and polyurethane-modified asphalt mixtures. Engineering applications in permeable pavements, bridge and tunnel surfacing, as well as crack and pothole repair are also considered. The review further addresses green in situ polymerization, high-content polyurethane systems, waterborne polyurethane, interfacial adhesion, bio-based formulations, recycled asphalt mixtures, and life-cycle performance. The available evidence indicates that polyurethane can improve high-temperature stability, durability, fatigue resistance, mechanical strength, adhesion, and aging resistance. In suitable formulations, it can also reduce production temperatures and construction-related emissions. Economic feasibility, unresolved technical issues, and future research priorities are discussed at the end of the review. Full article

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in cybersecurity, especially for creating Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs), has become increasingly important. These systems are essential for detecting malicious behaviour, identifying network issues, and stopping cyberattacks in real time. Despite extensive research on various ML and Deep Learning (DL) models for IDS, the current literature remains incomplete. It has many different datasets, methods, and evaluation standards. As cyber threats become more advanced, it is crucial to conduct a thorough analysis of ML techniques for intrusion detection. The goal of this Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is to provide a full picture of the most recent academic articles on ML-based IDS. The study addresses important research questions about the most widely used algorithms, the types of attacks and network environments covered, the methodological problems that remain unsolved, and the new trends that should shape future research. Following the PRISMA framework, we conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed articles published between January 2022 and May 2025. We searched IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, and SpringerLink, yielding 22,558 initial records. After carefully applying strict inclusion criteria, 125 papers were selected for the final analysis. We created a standardised data extraction form (i.e., using MS Excel) to gather bibliographic details, research emphasis, methodological strategies, datasets, evaluation criteria, and recognised constraints. We employed thematic analysis to develop a clear taxonomy. We identified five main research themes in our analysis: (1) ensemble and hybrid learning pipelines focused on performance optimisation (30 papers), (2) context-specific IDS designs for Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) environments (34 papers), (3) data-centric engineering that deals with class imbalance and feature selection (20 papers), (4) deep neural architectures for representation learning (31 papers), and (5) trustworthiness concerns like adversarial robustness, zero-day detection, and Explainable AI (XAI) (10 papers). Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and Random Forests are the most commonly used algorithms, often combined. Nonetheless, significant deficiencies remain: about 2% of papers incorporate XAI, only 4% focus on adversarial robustness, and none validate their models in real-world production settings. Denial-of-Service (DoS) and Distributed DoS (DDoS) attacks are the most common types in the literature, whereas Web attacks, ransomware, and advanced persistent threats remain poorly studied. The number of publications grows at an average of 30.2% annually, but the field still relies on legacy benchmark datasets rather than operational validation. Full article

Optimizing resource use in smallholder coffee production promotes environmental sustainability. Coffee production in the Sierra Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico, is dominated by small-holder systems characterized by high production variability and limited access to resources. Although organic and conventional systems coexist under similar agroecological conditions, limited evidence exists on how agronomic practices influence efficiency. This study estimated technical efficiency and its determinants using a one-stage stochastic frontier model with data from 290 coffee growers. Mean efficiency was 0.762 for conventional growers and 0.566 for organic growers. In the conventional system, planting density, plantation age, weed control, and shade management significantly reduced inefficiency, whereas off-farm employment increased it. In the organic system, training was the only factor significantly associated with higher efficiency. Despite tending to achieve higher average production and yield, organic growers exhibited larger production gaps and greater heterogeneity in resource use, indicating substantial opportunities to increase output through more efficient input utilization rather than expanding cultivated areas. These findings demonstrate that higher production does not necessarily imply greater technical efficiency, providing evidence to support public policies aimed at strengthening extension services, promoting training, and encouraging agronomic management to improve efficiency and enhance the sustainability of smallholder coffee production systems. Full article

Circular economy is today a key driver of every transformation process aimed at reducing and optimizing the use of energy and materials. The production of solid biofuel from waste is a typical route to lower the potential impact of greenhouse-gas emissions. In this context, olive pomace is a relevant feedstock, as 4 million tonnes are generated worldwide each year alongside olive oil production. However, only a small fraction of olive pomace is currently valorized. Fresh olive pomace must first be quickly dried to a low, controlled moisture. This step is performed poorly and at a high energy cost. This paper presents an automation-based approach to enhance biomass production from olive pomace, thereby advancing circular-economy practices in olive oil production. The work is focused on four aspects. In the first part, a review of the state of automation in agricultural engineering with a focus on biomass and olive pomace is proposed. Then, the design and construction of an innovative drying system that integrates an infrared solution directly into the transporting screw conveyor is described, integrating real-time online microwave moisture sensing and PLC control. After that, a cloud-based service is presented for remote monitoring, data analysis, and optimization. The innovative and automated drying system was validated during a preliminary field campaign at an olive mill. After about sixteen hours of continuous, cloud-monitored operation, the resulting olive pomace moisture fell below the 5% threshold across a wide range of inlet-moisture conditions, with a stable electrical power demand of approximately 1.85 kW. Finally, an environmental analysis is provided to evaluate the environmental aspects related to the proposed system. The preliminary analysis confirms a significant avoided-carbon potential if the resulting olive pomace is reused as biomass for energy production. The impact associated with 1 kWh_-eq produced from olive pomace is in the range of 0.006–0.033 kg CO_2-eq. Full article

Background: South Asian Muslim (SAM) communities remain significantly underserved by mainstream drug and alcohol (D&A) recovery services in England. Cultural and religious misalignment in service design creates structural barriers to engagement. Family members from SAM communities who support individuals with substance use disorders have identified structural, cultural, and religious barriers that hinder engagement with mainstream treatment services. This study builds on this body of evidence by working with service providers, commissioners and community stakeholders through participatory co-production to examine how these barriers can be addressed. Methods: Three participatory co-production workshops were held over a 12-week period. Data were also generated from a field visit to a culturally adapted recovery service and a content analysis of an Islamically adapted 12-step recovery workbook. Participants included commissioners, service providers, community ambassadors and service users (total n = 42 across three workshops; some participants attended more than one workshop). Results: Four interconnected themes that shaped recovery engagement were identified: (1) stigma and izzat operating as a collective structural risk management system; (2) confidentiality functioning as a precondition for engagement rather than a by-product of it; (3) service design, space and visibility as determinants of access; and (4) co-construction of religiously coherent recovery pathways. Low engagement among participants reflected rational risk management, in response to real social consequences, rather than cultural resistance. Conclusions: Findings suggest that inclusive recovery systems may benefit from the adaptation of mainstream services rather than the creation of parallel provision. Six evidence-based design principles are proposed for commissioners and service providers. Findings contribute to the evidence base for equitable health, culturally responsive D&A intervention design and have relevance beyond SAM communities to other marginalised faith communities across England. Full article