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16 pages, 729 KB  
Article
Mamba-Based Macro–MicroSpatio-Temporal Model for Traffic Flow Prediction
by Haoning Lv, Fayang Lan and Weijie Xiu
Electronics 2026, 15(6), 1327; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics15061327 - 23 Mar 2026
Viewed by 93
Abstract
Traffic flow prediction plays an important role in intelligent transportation systems. However, accurately modeling traffic dynamics remains challenging due to complex temporal correlations and spatial interactions across road networks. In this work, we propose a Mamba-based macro–micro spatio-temporal model for traffic flow prediction. [...] Read more.
Traffic flow prediction plays an important role in intelligent transportation systems. However, accurately modeling traffic dynamics remains challenging due to complex temporal correlations and spatial interactions across road networks. In this work, we propose a Mamba-based macro–micro spatio-temporal model for traffic flow prediction. Unlike graph-based approaches that rely on predefined adjacency matrices to model spatial relationships, our method treats sensor nodes as sequence elements and applies Mamba blocks along the spatial dimension. Through the global receptive field of the structured state space model, spatial dependencies are implicitly learned without requiring explicit graph structures. The proposed architecture consists of stacked spatio-temporal blocks, each composed of two Macro Feature Blocks and one Micro Feature Block. The Macro Feature Blocks are designed to capture global temporal dependencies and spatial interactions across all nodes, while the Micro Feature Block focuses on modeling localized spatio-temporal patterns at a finer granularity. By applying structured state space modeling along both temporal and spatial dimensions, the model is able to capture long-range temporal dependencies and global spatial correlations without relying on explicit graph structures. Experiments conducted on four real-world datasets demonstrate that the proposed model achieves competitive or improved performance compared with existing baseline methods under standard evaluation metrics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue AI Innovations in Smart Transportation)
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24 pages, 4228 KB  
Article
From Layout to Data: AI-Driven Route Matrix Generation for Logistics Optimization
by Ádám Francuz and Tamás Bányai
Mathematics 2026, 14(5), 910; https://doi.org/10.3390/math14050910 - 7 Mar 2026
Viewed by 346
Abstract
This study proposes an end-to-end mathematical framework to automatically transform warehouse layout images into optimization-ready route matrices. The objective is to convert visual spatial information into a discrete, graph-based representation suitable for combinatorial route optimization. The problem is formulated as a mapping from [...] Read more.
This study proposes an end-to-end mathematical framework to automatically transform warehouse layout images into optimization-ready route matrices. The objective is to convert visual spatial information into a discrete, graph-based representation suitable for combinatorial route optimization. The problem is formulated as a mapping from continuous image space to a structured grid representation, integrating image segmentation, graph construction, and Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP)-based routing. Synthetic warehouse layouts were generated to create labeled training data, and a U-Net convolutional neural network was trained to perform multi-class segmentation of warehouse elements. The predicted grid representation was then converted into a graph structure, where feasible cells define vertices and adjacency defines edges. Shortest path distances were computed using Breadth-First Search, and the resulting distance matrix was used to solve a TSP instance. The segmentation model achieved approximately 98% training accuracy and 95–97% validation accuracy. The generated route matrices enabled successful construction of feasible and optimal round-trip routes in all tested scenarios. The proposed framework demonstrates that warehouse layouts can be automatically transformed into discrete mathematical representations suitable for logistics optimization, reducing manual preprocessing and enabling scalable integration into digital logistics systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Computing in Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning)
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18 pages, 1203 KB  
Article
Memory-Augmented Spatio-Temporal Transformer for Robust Traffic Flow Forecasting
by Puqing Hu, Chunjiang Wu, Chen Wang, Xin Yang, Zhibin Li, Tinghui Chen and Shijie Zhou
Biomimetics 2026, 11(3), 170; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics11030170 - 2 Mar 2026
Viewed by 286
Abstract
Accurate traffic flow prediction plays a critical role in intelligent transportation systems, supporting traffic management, congestion mitigation, and efficient utilization of road resources. Advances in neural network-based methods, particularly graph neural networks (GNNs) and attention-based models, have demonstrated strong capability in modeling spatio-temporal [...] Read more.
Accurate traffic flow prediction plays a critical role in intelligent transportation systems, supporting traffic management, congestion mitigation, and efficient utilization of road resources. Advances in neural network-based methods, particularly graph neural networks (GNNs) and attention-based models, have demonstrated strong capability in modeling spatio-temporal traffic dynamics. However, existing approaches still face notable challenges: GNN-based models often rely on static adjacency matrices, limiting their ability to capture dynamic and long-range spatial dependencies, while attention-based models usually involve complex architectures and heavy reliance on large-scale pre-training data. To address these limitations, this study proposes a novel traffic flow prediction model that integrates a learnable memory tensor into an attention-based framework. The introduced memory mechanism provides persistent global context for modeling long-term temporal dependencies in an end-to-end manner, enabling efficient and dynamic spatio-temporal representation learning with a lightweight architecture. Extensive experiments on multiple real-world traffic datasets demonstrate that the proposed model achieves superior prediction accuracy and robustness compared with existing baselines. The proposed approach offers a new perspective for memory-enhanced spatio-temporal modeling and provides valuable insights for traffic forecasting and related intelligent transportation applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Biological Optimisation and Management)
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23 pages, 5518 KB  
Article
Investigation of Degradation Mechanism of Unsaturated Shear Strength at Geogrid–Sandy-Soil Interface Under Rainfall Infiltration
by Peng Liu, Yongliang Lin and Yingying Wang
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(5), 2212; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16052212 - 25 Feb 2026
Viewed by 216
Abstract
Reinforced-soil structures in rainfall-prone regions may deform or fail when infiltration weakens the geogrid–soil interface. This study quantifies the degradation of unsaturated shear strength at a geogrid–sandy-soil interface during rainfall infiltration. A large-scale direct shear apparatus was retrofitted with a controllable rainfall system [...] Read more.
Reinforced-soil structures in rainfall-prone regions may deform or fail when infiltration weakens the geogrid–soil interface. This study quantifies the degradation of unsaturated shear strength at a geogrid–sandy-soil interface during rainfall infiltration. A large-scale direct shear apparatus was retrofitted with a controllable rainfall system and real-time water-content monitoring. Interface shear tests were conducted under different normal stresses, rainfall intensities, infiltration durations, and shear rates. Peak interface shear strength increased approximately linearly with normal stress and remained about 50% higher than that of unreinforced sand. Rainfall infiltration caused pronounced strength loss; at 120 mm·h−1, extending infiltration from 10 to 30 min reduced apparent cohesion by ~56% and friction angle by ~23%. Cohesion decayed exponentially, whereas friction angle decreased nearly linearly, and faster shearing intensified both reductions. Response-surface regression further indicates that degradation is most severe under low normal stress, high rainfall intensity, and long infiltration duration. Water-content profiles reveal a persistent moisture-enriched zone adjacent to the shear plane (~3.4% higher than at 30 mm depth), implying reduced matric suction and promoting shear-band localization that accelerates interface weakening. These findings provide quantitative input for evaluating rainfall-induced performance loss of geogrid-reinforced soil structures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Civil Engineering)
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29 pages, 13675 KB  
Article
A Hybrid AE-SDGC-Autoformer Model for Short-Term Runoff Forecasting and Sustainable Water Resource Management
by Renfeng Liu, Liangyi Wang, Liping Zeng, Dingdong Wang and Xinhua Li
Sustainability 2026, 18(4), 2096; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18042096 - 19 Feb 2026
Viewed by 368
Abstract
Runoff forecasting is an essential application in the management of water resources and sustainable development. In practice, there are limitations in the forecast results because of factors such as data unavailability, noise interference, and spatiotemporal variation in multi-site data. To overcome the limitations, [...] Read more.
Runoff forecasting is an essential application in the management of water resources and sustainable development. In practice, there are limitations in the forecast results because of factors such as data unavailability, noise interference, and spatiotemporal variation in multi-site data. To overcome the limitations, this paper proposes a hybrid forecast model based on Autoencoder (AE), Sparsified Dynamic Graph Convolution (SDGC), and Autoformer. The AE cleans noise and sharpens feature representation, the SDGC constructs dynamic adjacency matrices via the Multidimensional Dynamic Time Warping (MDTW) and sparsifies with a parameterized Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) to capture time-varying spatial correlations among stations, and the Autoformer decomposes features to model long-term nonlinear runoff trends through its autocorrelation mechanism. The experiment was carried out in six locations in the southeastern part of Guizhou province during the wet and dry periods and was contrasted with different mainstream models and supplemented with hydrological mechanism consistency analysis. Experimental results show that the hybrid model performs better than all the other models. In the short-term runoff simulation at XingHua Station during the wet season, NSE attains the maximum value of 0.891, with RMSE decreased by 6.5% to 24.1% and MAE by 20.2% to 35.5%. This model provides accurate runoff data to support flood early warning, dry-season water scheduling, and ecological flow protection, offering a reliable tool for sustainable water resource management in complex karst basins. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Water Management)
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27 pages, 17688 KB  
Article
Causal-Enhanced Spatio-Temporal Markov Graph Convolutional Network for Traffic Flow Prediction
by Jing Hu and Shuhua Mao
Symmetry 2026, 18(2), 366; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym18020366 - 15 Feb 2026
Viewed by 354
Abstract
Traffic flow prediction is a pivotal task in intelligent transportation systems. The primary challenge lies in accurately modeling the dynamically evolving and directional spatio-temporal dependencies inherent in road networks. Existing graph neural network-based methods suffer from three main limitations: (1) symmetric adjacency matrices [...] Read more.
Traffic flow prediction is a pivotal task in intelligent transportation systems. The primary challenge lies in accurately modeling the dynamically evolving and directional spatio-temporal dependencies inherent in road networks. Existing graph neural network-based methods suffer from three main limitations: (1) symmetric adjacency matrices fail to capture the causal propagation of traffic flow from upstream to downstream; (2) the serial combination of graph and temporal convolutions lacks an explicit modeling of joint spatio-temporal state transition probabilities; (3) the inherent low-pass filtering property of temporal convolutional networks tends to smooth high-frequency abrupt signals, thereby weakening responsiveness to sudden events. To address these issues, this paper proposes a causal-enhanced spatio-temporal Markov graph convolutional network (CSHGCN). At the spatial modeling level, we construct an asymmetric causal adjacency matrix by decoupling source and target node embeddings to learn directional traffic flow influences. At the spatio-temporal joint modeling level, we design a spatio-temporal Markov transition module (STMTM) based on spatio-temporal Markov chain theory, which explicitly learns conditional transition patterns through temporal dependency encoders, spatial dependency encoders, and a joint transition network. At the temporal modeling level, we introduce differential feature enhancement and high-frequency residual compensation mechanisms to preserve key abrupt change information through frequency-domain complementarity. Experiments on four datasets—PEMS03, PEMS04, PEMS07, and PEMS08—demonstrate that CSHGCN outperforms existing baselines in terms of MAE, RMSE, and MAPE, with ablation studies validating the effectiveness of each module. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Computer)
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21 pages, 7919 KB  
Article
Design of a Four-Dimensional Discrete Chaotic Image Encryption Algorithm Based on Dynamic Adjacency Matrix
by Hua Cai, Wenxia Xu, Ziwei Zhou and Guodong Li
Mathematics 2026, 14(4), 616; https://doi.org/10.3390/math14040616 - 10 Feb 2026
Viewed by 388
Abstract
Chaotic systems, with their characteristics of high sensitivity to initial conditions, pseudo-randomness, and ergodicity, provide high-quality pseudo-random sequences. Graph theory, through mechanisms such as vertex mapping, path traversal, and graph partitioning, can enhance data confusion and diffusion capabilities. This research designs an image [...] Read more.
Chaotic systems, with their characteristics of high sensitivity to initial conditions, pseudo-randomness, and ergodicity, provide high-quality pseudo-random sequences. Graph theory, through mechanisms such as vertex mapping, path traversal, and graph partitioning, can enhance data confusion and diffusion capabilities. This research designs an image encryption method that combines graph theory and chaotic systems. Firstly, a four-dimensional discrete chaotic system is constructed based on the Hénon map, and its chaotic characteristics and high complexity over a wide range of parameters and initial values are verified using Lyapunov exponents and permutation entropy. Secondly, an encryption framework based on a dynamic adjacency matrix from graph theory is proposed: image pixels are mapped to a dynamic graph structure, and sparse adjacency matrices are generated using chaotic sequences to achieve pixel scrambling based on graph traversal; then, chaotic sequences are used for feedback diffusion with pixel values to enhance the confusion effect. Multiple sets of experiments verify its effectiveness and robustness in terms of key sensitivity, statistical analysis, resistance to differential attacks, and resistance to cropping attacks. Full article
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23 pages, 893 KB  
Article
Dynamic Graph Information Bottleneck for Traffic Prediction
by Jing Pang, Minzhe Wu, Bingxue Xie, Yanqiu Bi and Zhongbin Luo
Electronics 2026, 15(3), 623; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics15030623 - 1 Feb 2026
Viewed by 385
Abstract
Traffic forecasting in large-scale urban networks must operate reliably under imperfect sensing conditions, where measurements may contain noise or missing values. Most existing spatio-temporal graph neural networks focus primarily on modeling spatial–temporal dependencies, while paying limited attention to the propagation of irrelevant or [...] Read more.
Traffic forecasting in large-scale urban networks must operate reliably under imperfect sensing conditions, where measurements may contain noise or missing values. Most existing spatio-temporal graph neural networks focus primarily on modeling spatial–temporal dependencies, while paying limited attention to the propagation of irrelevant or unstable information through dynamic graph structures. In this work, we propose a Dynamic Graph Information Bottleneck (DGIB) framework that enhances prediction stability by introducing task-aware representation compression into dynamic graph learning. Instead of relying solely on architectural complexity, DGIB explicitly regulates the information flow within spatio-temporal embeddings through a variational bottleneck objective. The model adaptively constructs time-evolving adjacency matrices, extracts spatial features via graph convolutions, captures temporal dependencies using recurrent modeling, and constrains the latent representation to retain only predictive content relevant to future traffic states. By jointly optimizing topology adaptation and information-theoretic regularization in an end-to-end manner, the proposed framework mitigates the amplification of noisy or redundant signals in dynamic graphs. Experiments on multiple benchmark traffic datasets demonstrate that DGIB achieves competitive forecasting accuracy while maintaining strong robustness under noisy and incomplete data scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Topic Data-Driven Optimization for Smart Urban Mobility)
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29 pages, 24210 KB  
Article
MFST-GCN: A Sleep Stage Classification Method Based on Multi-Feature Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolutional Network
by Huifu Li, Xun Zhang and Ke Guo
Brain Sci. 2026, 16(2), 162; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci16020162 - 30 Jan 2026
Viewed by 372
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Accurate sleep stage classification is essential for evaluating sleep quality and diagnosing sleep disorders. Despite recent advances in deep learning, existing models inadequately represent complex brain dynamics, particularly the time-lag effects inherent in neural signal propagation and regional variations in cortical activation [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Accurate sleep stage classification is essential for evaluating sleep quality and diagnosing sleep disorders. Despite recent advances in deep learning, existing models inadequately represent complex brain dynamics, particularly the time-lag effects inherent in neural signal propagation and regional variations in cortical activation patterns. Methods: We propose the MFST-GCN, a graph-based deep learning framework that models these neurobiological phenomena through three complementary modules. The Dynamic Dual-Scale Functional Connectivity Modeling (DDFCM) module constructs time-varying adjacency matrices using Pearson correlation across 1 s and 5 s windows, capturing both transient signal transmission and sustained connectivity states. This dual-scale approach reflects the biological reality that neural information propagates with measurable delays across brain regions. The Multi-Scale Morphological Feature Extraction Network (MMFEN) employs parallel convolutional branches with varying kernel sizes to extract frequency-specific features corresponding to different EEG rhythms, addressing regional heterogeneity in neural activation. The Adaptive Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolutional Network (ASTGCN) integrates spatial and temporal features through Chebyshev graph convolutions with attention mechanisms, encoding evolving functional dependencies across sleep stages. Results: Evaluation on ISRUC-S1 and ISRUC-S3 datasets demonstrates F1-scores of 0.823 and 0.835, respectively, outperforming state-of-the-art methods. Conclusions: Ablation studies confirm that explicit time-lag modeling contributes substantially to performance gains, particularly in discriminating transitional sleep stages. Full article
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23 pages, 1277 KB  
Article
A Few-Shot Optical Classification Approach for Meteorological Lightning Monitoring: Leveraging Frame Difference and Triplet Network
by Mengmeng Xiao, Yulong Yan, Qilin Zhang, Yan Liu, Xingke Pan, Bingzhe Dai and Chunxu Duan
Remote Sens. 2026, 18(3), 386; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18030386 - 23 Jan 2026
Viewed by 274
Abstract
To address the challenges of scarce labeled samples, strong instantaneity, and variable morphology in lightning optical classification—issues that traditional methods struggle to handle efficiently and often require extensive manual intervention—we propose a frame difference triplet network (FD-TripletNet) tailored for few-shot lightning recognition. The [...] Read more.
To address the challenges of scarce labeled samples, strong instantaneity, and variable morphology in lightning optical classification—issues that traditional methods struggle to handle efficiently and often require extensive manual intervention—we propose a frame difference triplet network (FD-TripletNet) tailored for few-shot lightning recognition. The lightning optical dataset used in this study was collected from two observation stations over six months, comprising 459 video samples that include lightning events with diverse morphologies (e.g., branched, spherical) and non-lightning events prone to misclassification (e.g., strong light interference, moving objects). Considering the critical feature of lightning—abrupt single-frame changes—we introduce adjacent frame difference matrices as model input to explicitly capture transient brightness variations, reducing noise from static backgrounds. To enhance discriminative ability in few-shot scenarios, the model leverages Triplet Loss to compact intra-class features and separate inter-class features, combined with a dynamic sample matching strategy to focus on challenging cases. The experimental results show that FD-TripletNet achieves a classification accuracy of 94.8% on the dataset, outperforming traditional methods and baseline deep learning models. It effectively reduces the False Negative Rate (FNR) to 3.2% and False Positive Rate (FPR) to 7.4%, successfully distinguishing between lightning and non-lightning events, thus providing an efficient solution for real-time lightning monitoring in meteorological applications. Full article
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7 pages, 1557 KB  
Proceeding Paper
Allais–Ellsberg Convergent Markov–Network Game
by Adil Ahmad Mughal
Proceedings 2026, 135(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2026135002 - 19 Jan 2026
Viewed by 194
Abstract
Behavioral deviations from subjective expected utility theory, most famously captured by the Allais paradox and the Ellsberg paradox, have inspired extensive theoretical and experimental research into risk and ambiguity preferences. While the existing analyze these paradoxes independently, little work explores how such heterogeneously [...] Read more.
Behavioral deviations from subjective expected utility theory, most famously captured by the Allais paradox and the Ellsberg paradox, have inspired extensive theoretical and experimental research into risk and ambiguity preferences. While the existing analyze these paradoxes independently, little work explores how such heterogeneously biased agents interact in networked strategic environments. Our paper fills this gap by modeling a convergent Markov–network game between Allais-type and Ellsberg-type players, each endowed with fully enriched loss matrices that reflect their distinct probabilistic and ambiguity attitudes. We define convergent priors as those inducing a spectral radius of <1 in iterated enriched matrices, ensuring iterative convergence under a matrix-based update rule. Players minimize their losses under these priors in each iteration, converging to an equilibrium where no further updates are feasible. We analyze this convergence under three learning regimes—homophily, heterophily, and type-neutral randomness—each defined via distinct neighborhood learning dynamics. To validate the equilibrium, we construct a risk-neutral measure by transforming losses into payoffs and derive a riskless rate of return representing players’ subjective indifference to risk. This applies risk-neutral pricing logic to behavioral matrices, which is novel. This framework unifies paradox-type decision makers within a networked Markovian environment (stochastic adjacency matrix), extending models of dynamic learning and providing a novel equilibrium characterization for heterogeneous, ambiguity-averse agents in structured interactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The 1st International Electronic Conference on Games (IECGA 2025))
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22 pages, 5440 KB  
Article
Multi-Task Deep Learning Model for Automated Detection and Severity Grading of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis on MRI: Multi-Center External Validation
by Phatcharapon Udomluck, Watcharaporn Cholamjiak, Jakkaphong Inpun and Waragunt Waratamrongpatai
Diseases 2026, 14(1), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/diseases14010032 - 14 Jan 2026
Viewed by 512
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Accurate and reproducible grading of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is clinically critical for guiding treatment decisions and patient management, yet manual assessment remains challenging due to imaging variability and inter-observer subjectivity. To address these limitations, this study aimed to evaluate the [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Accurate and reproducible grading of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is clinically critical for guiding treatment decisions and patient management, yet manual assessment remains challenging due to imaging variability and inter-observer subjectivity. To address these limitations, this study aimed to evaluate the generalizability of deep learning–based feature extraction methods—VGG19, ConvNeXt-Tiny, and DINOv2—combined with classical machine learning classifiers for automated multi-grade LSS assessment. Automated grading enables objective, reproducible, and scalable assessment of lumbar spinal stenosis severity, addressing key limitations of manual interpretation. Methods: Axial MRI images were processed using pretrained VGG19, ConvNeXt-Tiny, and DINOv2 models to extract deep features. Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and LightGBM were trained on internal datasets and externally validated using MRI data from the University of Phayao Hospital. Performance was assessed using accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, confusion matrices, and multi-class ROC curves. Results: VGG19-based features yielded the strongest external performance, with Logistic Regression achieving the highest accuracy (0.9556) and F1-score (0.9558). External validation further demonstrated excellent discrimination, with AUC values ranging from 0.994 to 1.000 across all severity grades. SVM (0.9333 accuracy) and LightGBM (0.9222 accuracy) also performed well. ConvNeXt-Tiny showed stable cross-model performance, while DINOv2 features exhibited reduced generalizability, especially with LightGBM (accuracy 0.6222). Most classification errors occurred between adjacent grades. Conclusions: Deep convolutional features—particularly VGG19—combined with classical machine learning classifiers provide robust and generalizable LSS grading across external MRI data. Despite advances in modern architectures, CNN-based feature extraction remains highly effective for spinal imaging and represents a practical pathway for clinical decision support. Full article
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36 pages, 1377 KB  
Review
Hydrogels and Organogels for Local Anesthetic Delivery: Advances, Challenges, and Translational Perspectives
by Jong-Woan Kim, Jin-Oh Jeong and Hoon Choi
Gels 2026, 12(1), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels12010022 - 25 Dec 2025
Viewed by 744
Abstract
Gel-based depots are increasingly recognized as platforms to extend the intratissue residence of local anesthetics (LAs) while reducing systemic exposure. Hydrogels, organogels, and emerging bigels represent three distinct architectures defined by their continuous phases and drug–matrix interactions. Hydrogels provide hydrated polymer networks with [...] Read more.
Gel-based depots are increasingly recognized as platforms to extend the intratissue residence of local anesthetics (LAs) while reducing systemic exposure. Hydrogels, organogels, and emerging bigels represent three distinct architectures defined by their continuous phases and drug–matrix interactions. Hydrogels provide hydrated polymer networks with predictable injectability, tunable degradation, and diffusion- or stimulus-responsive release, enabling sustained analgesia in perineural, peri-incisional, intra-articular, and implant-adjacent settings. Organogels, formed by supramolecular assembly of low-molecular-weight gelators in lipids or semi-polar solvents, strongly solubilize lipophilic LA bases and enhance barrier partitioning, making them suitable for dermal, transdermal, and mucosal applications in outpatient or chronic pain care. Bigels integrate aqueous and lipid domains within biphasic matrices, improving rheology, spreadability, and dual-solubilization capacity, although their use in LA delivery remains at the formulation stage, with no validated in vivo pharmacology. This narrative review synthesizes the design principles, release mechanisms, and translational evidence across these platforms, highlighting domain-specific advantages and barriers related to mechanical robustness, sterilization, reproducibility, and regulatory feasibility. We propose a platform-level framework in which depot selection is aligned with LA chemistry, anatomical context, and clinical objectives to guide the development of workflow-compatible next-generation LA depots. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrogels and Organogels for Biomedical Applications)
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22 pages, 3335 KB  
Article
Estimate Laplacian Spectral Properties of Large-Scale Networks by Random Walks and Graph Transformation
by Changlei Zhan, Xiangyu Li and Jie Chen
Mathematics 2026, 14(1), 26; https://doi.org/10.3390/math14010026 - 21 Dec 2025
Viewed by 377
Abstract
For network graphs, numerous graph features are intimately linked to eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix, such as connectivity and diameter. Thus, it is very important to solve eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix for graphs. Similarly, for higher-order networks, eigenvalues of combinatorial Laplacian matrices [...] Read more.
For network graphs, numerous graph features are intimately linked to eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix, such as connectivity and diameter. Thus, it is very important to solve eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix for graphs. Similarly, for higher-order networks, eigenvalues of combinatorial Laplacian matrices are also important for invariants of graphs. However, for large-scale networks, it is difficult to calculate eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix directly because it is either very difficult to obtain the whole network structure or requires a lot of computing resources. Therefore, this article makes the following contributions. Firstly, this paper proposes a random walk approach for estimating the bounds of the greatest eigenvalues of Laplacian matrices for large-scale networks. Considering the relationship between the spectral moments of the adjacency matrix and the closed paths in the network, we utilize the relationship between the adjacency matrix and the Laplacian matrix to establish the relationship between the Laplacian matrix and the closed paths. Then, we employ equiprobable random walks to sample the large graph to obtain the small graph. Through algebraic topology knowledge, we obtain the bounds of the largest eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix of the large graph by using Laplacian spectral moments of the small graph. Secondly, for high-order networks, this paper proposes a method based on random walks and graph transformations. The graph transformation we propose mainly converts graphs with second-order simplices into ordinary weighted graphs, thereby transforming the problem of solving the spectral moments of the second-order combined Laplacian matrix into solving the spectral moments of the adjacency matrix. Then, we use the aforementioned random walk method to solve bounds of the greatest eigenvalue of the second-order combinatorial Laplacian matrix. Finally, by comparing the proposed method with existing algorithms in synthetic and real networks, its accuracy and superiority are demonstrated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Dynamic Analysis and Decision-Making in Complex Networks)
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11 pages, 267 KB  
Article
On the Characterization of the Unitary Cayley Graphs of the Upper Triangular Matrix Rings
by Waldemar Hołubowski, Bogdana Oliynyk and Viktoriia Solomko
Symmetry 2025, 17(12), 2180; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym17122180 - 18 Dec 2025
Viewed by 441
Abstract
There are several graphs naturally associated with rings. The unitary Cayley graph of a ring R is the graph with vertex set R, where two elements x,yR are adjacent if and only if xy is a [...] Read more.
There are several graphs naturally associated with rings. The unitary Cayley graph of a ring R is the graph with vertex set R, where two elements x,yR are adjacent if and only if xy is a unit of R. We show that the unitary Cayley graph CTn(F) of the ring Tn(F) of all upper triangular matrices over a finite field F is isomorphic to a semistrong product of a complete graph and the antipodal graph of a Hamming graph. In particular, when |F|=2, the graph CTn(F) has a highly symmetric structure: it is the union of 2n1 complete bipartite graphs. Moreover, we prove that the clique number and the chromatic number of CTn(F) are both equal to |F|, and we establish tight upper and lower bounds for the domination number of CTn(F). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry in Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics)
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