Search Results (5,547)

The MASW (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves) method oriented toward seismic microzoning has been evolving consistently and steadily for several decades, providing increasingly reliable solutions that are consistent with field and laboratory data typical of classical geotechnics. This study evaluates the improvement achieved when using a sequence of inversion algorithms on MASW test results: first with a global algorithm—specifically Differential Evolution (DE)—and subsequently, using the best model obtained from the global search, a second local algorithm—Trust Region Reflective (TRF). This second stage refines the previous model, further adjusting it to the borehole model used as the starting point of the sequence. The procedure has been automated using a Python script that incorporates two innovations compared to traditional inversion approaches. These consist of parameterising two variables: (i) an adaptive expansion factor for the $V_s$ limits establisheda priori in the borehole model, and (ii) a subdivision into thinner layers for borehole models with excessively thick strata. This provides the algorithms with greater flexibility, particularly in scenarios with complex stratification. Additionally, to better define the deeper layers, the passive ESAC method in an “L-shape” configuration was also employed. The parameterised sequential hybrid inversion process was validated using synthetic data from two curves (Curve #1 and Curve #2), obtained by adding 5% Gaussian noise to the forward modelling results of the same initial synthetic model. The TRF refinement stage in the sequential hybrid inversion succeeded in reducing the error obtained by the global algorithm by percentages ranging from 59.7% to 5.8% across all conducted tests, confirming the stability of the methodology used. Full article

Background: AI-supported game-based learning (AI-GBL) integrates artificial intelligence mechanisms, including adaptive difficulty adjustment, large language model (LLM) scaffolding, intelligent non-player characters (NPCs), and stealth assessment, into game-based educational environments. Objective: This systematic review synthesizes the empirical evidence on AI-GBL effectiveness, adaptive mechanisms, and intelligent assessment approaches across diverse educational contexts. Method: Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, 55 peer-reviewed empirical studies (2021–2026) were identified from Web of Science and Scopus databases. Two independent reviewers screened records (κ = 0.89; 100% consensus on disagreements), extracted data using a standardized coding scheme, and assessed methodological quality using a five-criterion rubric. A thematic synthesis approach was adopted due to the heterogeneity of the evidence base. Results: The reviewed studies generally suggest promising positive effects of AI-GBL on knowledge acquisition, intrinsic motivation, and affective engagement under a range of educational conditions. LLM-based scaffolding reduces cognitive load but risks fostering passive dependency; adaptive difficulty adjustment benefits depend critically on the direction and magnitude of adaptation; AI NPCs function as credible instructional partners in both EFL and STEM contexts; stealth assessment achieves AUCs of 0.848–0.913. Challenges include algorithmic bias in assessment models, LLM latency, over-reliance risks, and a near absence of longitudinal evidence. Conclusions: AI-GBL’s effectiveness rests on principled alignment between AI mechanisms and learning theory rather than algorithmic sophistication per se. Equity-by-design approaches and longitudinal evidence constitute the field’s priority research needs. Full article

Driven by increasingly severe drought stress associated with global warming, this study investigated a synthetic microbial community, SynCom-SASW01, with strong stress tolerance and plant growth-promoting potential, and systematically elucidated its mechanisms for enhancing drought resistance in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Dual-site field trials demonstrated that SynCom-SASW01 significantly alleviated drought-induced growth suppression, increasing grain yields by 10.42% and 8.52% at the Hohhot and Hulunbuir sites, respectively. This improvement was primarily associated with increased effective tiller number and enhanced root vigor. Physiologically, inoculation promoted root proline and glutathione accumulation and enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities, including superoxide dismutase, thereby reducing malondialdehyde levels. Environmental analyses showed that the consortium established rhizosphere “micro-reservoirs” through exopolysaccharide secretion, improving soil relative water content and the availability of alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen and phosphorus. High-throughput sequencing revealed that SynCom-SASW01 reshaped the endosphere microbiome through early colonization priority effects, selectively enriching beneficial taxa such as Pseudomonas. Functional prediction indicated upregulated branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis, promoting osmotic adjustment and redox homeostasis. These findings provide a microbiome-based strategy for stabilizing wheat productivity in arid regions. Full article

Ocular ductions deform the optic disc and peripapillary blood vessels, and deformations can be interpreted as mechanical strain. We used confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO) to map strain in disc and peripapillary retinal vessels associated with the cardiac pulse and determine if such strain is influenced by gaze direction. Sets of 13 infrared cSLO images were obtained sequentially for each eye using a Heidelberg Spectralis scanner in cinematic mode over a 3 sec interval in adults. Imaging was repeated in central, and horizontally (30° adduction/abduction) and vertically eccentric gazes (10° supraduction/infraduction). Retinal vessels, optic disc, and fovea were segmented using custom-trained, deep learning-based models. Frame to frame vascular displacements were automatically determined using optical flow analysis, allowing computation of equivalent strain. A total of 25 eyes of 13 subjects of mean age 39 ± 18 (standard deviation, range: 25 to 81) years were included. Average equivalent strain over 3 sec ranging from 0.27% to 0.36% exceeded the 0.16% noise threshold across all gazes and regions, indicating measurable pulse-induced deformation. After adjustment for age and axial length, pulsatile maximum and minimum strain were influenced slightly by gaze direction, maximally for supraduction, whereas mean strain did not vary significantly with gaze. The cardiac pulse induces measurable deformation of retinal vessels that can be quantified as equivalent strain in the image plane using optical flow-derived displacement fields. However, the interaction of pulse strain with gaze direction is unlikely to be a significant confound for investigations of strains associated with eye movements. Full article

With the rapid development of urban construction, modern foundation pits present increasing excavation depth and scale. Most pits are close to building red lines, characterized by complex surrounding environments and rigorous deformation control limits. Targeting the defects of conventional monitoring methods, this study optimizes equipment layout and monitoring technologies based on the Vanke Nanbeikang B-6 project, and proposes an improved monitoring scheme for deep and large foundation pits. Monitoring results reveal that the maximum horizontal displacement at the pit top is 25.20 mm, and the maximum deep horizontal displacement reaches 26.18 mm at a depth of 17.0 m. Field verification indicates that the proposed scheme can quantify foundation pit deformation with measured data and guide dynamic construction adjustment. Through analysis of field deformation data, an efficient monitoring system is established and reasonable deformation control indicators are determined. The research results can provide technical references for similar foundation pit excavation projects. Full article

We present a fast time-domain simulator for optical cavities capable of reproducing non-linear dynamical regimes arising from the ring-down effect during resonance crossings at high mirror velocities or from abrupt changes of the input field. The model is based on a recursive formulation of the intracavity electric field as a sum over round trips, preserving the cavity memory while maintaining high computational efficiency. The simulator is designed to achieve three main goals. First, the boundary conditions of the cavity can be modified at each simulation step, allowing arbitrary time-dependent variations of both mirror positions and input electric field during the simulation run. Second, the sampling frequency can be flexibly chosen by the user; however, it is internally adjusted before effectively executing the simulation to remain consistent with the cavity round-trip structure. Finally, high computational efficiency was obtained by avoiding the repeated evaluation of the full electric field history. The framework is validated through comparison with experimental data from the Virgo interferometer during a mechanical excitation experiment, showing good agreement in non-adiabatic regimes. Due to its efficiency and flexibility, the oreonspy simulator provides a versatile tool for time-domain studies of optical resonators and future applications in real-time control and reinforcement-learning-based lock acquisition. Full article

Individual tree crown (ITC) segmentation in structurally complex mixed forests remains challenging under limited annotation, uneven effective height-structure support, and severe inter-crown adhesion. Existing end-to-end instance segmentation methods often require substantial instance-level annotation, and their cross-domain transferability can degrade when applied to plots with different forest structures. This study proposes a probabilistic prior-constrained instance reconstruction framework that treats semantic segmentation output as an interpretable canopy prior and reconstructs object-level crowns through a structured post-processing pipeline. A height-aware canopy support mask (HCSM) converts the probability field into a credible operational domain through hysteresis thresholding, morphological reconstruction, and a height constraint. Constrained recovery within the support domain (E2GROW) repairs coverage deficiency through spatially bounded boundary adjustment with guard rails on area ratio and buffer distance. Selective splitting then addresses residual merge errors through branch-specific seed-guided partitioning, including an aggressive Voronoi reference branch and a more conservative LOCAL/marker-controlled watershed branch with explicit trigger and child-object filtering criteria. An instance-level evaluation loop based on Gate-3 Recall, a precision proxy, and threshold-crossing audits is used during module development as an iterative safeguard. On a single 500 × 500 m mixed conifer–broadleaf plot with 306 reference crowns retained for evaluation, the high-Recall VORv1 branch improves Recall from 0.369 to 0.673 over the internal R2 baseline produced by the semantic-prior-to-instance initialization procedure, whereas the balanced E2GROW configuration achieves the highest F1_proxy with fewer predicted objects; the overall gain originates from two distinct mechanisms: threshold-crossing boundary recovery for coverage-deficient crowns and local structural decomposition for merged crown groups. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the support-domain construction is stable across the explored parameter ranges, and that the two splitting branches realize a structural Recall–precision trade-off with no evidence of simple additive gains. The framework is modular and auditable, and its demonstrated applicability is strongest for annotation-scarce closed-canopy plots where a usable semantic canopy prior and height information are available. The reported evidence represents a single-site, within-plot methodological demonstration. Full article

Soil salinization poses a significant global challenge to agriculture and the environment, leading to decreased soil fertility and hindered crop growth. Therefore, the development of effective and environmentally friendly soil improvement strategies is crucial for sustainable agriculture. In this study, a range of eco-friendly, versatile, and highly absorbent hydrogels for soil enhancement were created using itaconic acid (IA) as a hydrophilic monomer. Furthermore, their effectiveness and application in agriculture were thoroughly evaluated. The nano-iron-loaded IA-based hydrogels (nano-iron (III) oxide (nano-Fe₂O₃)/Poly itaconic acid (PIA)-Acrylamide (AM)/Sodium alginate (SA)) hydrogels demonstrated exceptional water absorption and retention capabilities. They exhibited remarkable soil conditioning properties by leveraging carboxyl groups for electrostatic adsorption of saline ions and the porous structure created by the crosslinked network. These features not only significantly facilitated gradual regulation of pH levels and salinity but also effectively enhanced organic matter in saline–alkali soil. Meanwhile, nano-Fe₂O₃ simultaneously served to stabilize the hydrogel structure and enhance crop nutrient absorption. Wheat cultivation trials demonstrated that the hydrogels notably enhanced the growth of 7-day-old wheat seedlings. The degradation rates of the hydrogels can be adjusted by varying the IA amount, allowing for the continuous release of small organic molecules to enhance soil quality, aligning with various crop growth cycles. Overall, these hydrogels function as environmentally friendly and versatile soil conditioners, offering significant potential for enhancing agricultural soil quality and expanding into related fields. Full article

Population aging has increased the need for public open spaces that older adults can use safely, comfortably, and confidently. In many urban parks and community squares, however, resting facilities are still designed as standardized street furniture, with cold materials, insufficient hand support, limited wheelchair-inclusive space, and weak support for everyday social interaction. This study examines age-friendly public facilities as micro-scale spatial elements that shape sitting, standing, staying, communication, and willingness to remain in small urban open spaces. Drawing on field observation, behavioral analysis, semi-structured interviews, and a multi-criteria design-evaluation process, the study identifies older adults’ key facility-use needs and translates them into design indicators and alternative facility schemes. The results show that physical support and inclusive spatial use are the most important design priorities. Standing-up assistance, sitting-posture support, perceived structural stability, and age-appropriate dimensional adaptation were more influential than purely decorative or auxiliary functions. Among the three alternative schemes, the modular pergola system performed best because it combined stable hand support, independent seating, an age-friendly interactive table, shaded resting space, wheelchair-inclusive layout, and wood-based sensory comfort. The sensitivity analysis further confirmed that this scheme maintained a stable advantage under most weight-adjustment conditions. The findings suggest that age-friendly public facility design should move beyond the improvement of individual furniture products and instead integrate bodily support, spatial accessibility, social interaction, material comfort, and environmental pattern quality. This study provides a design-decision framework for improving the inclusiveness, accessibility, and health-supportive capacity of urban public open spaces for older adults. Full article

Tight oil and gas reservoirs have become an important alternative to conventional hydrocarbon resources worldwide. They are characterized by dense formations, strong heterogeneity, and the low natural productivity of individual wells, making well pattern deployment and injection–production parameter optimization highly challenging. In real development, tight oil and gas fields usually involve hundreds or even thousands of wells. If each well is analyzed and optimized individually, a large amount of computation is required. Meanwhile, uncertainty in geological models further increases the complexity of development scheme design. Traditional manual adjustment methods based on engineering experience are inefficient and make it difficult to obtain an optimal well pattern suitable for the efficient development of tight oil and gas reservoirs under complex constraints, thus showing obvious limitations. To address these problems, this study first analyzes the strengths, weaknesses, and applicability of existing well placement optimization methods. Based on this analysis, we propose an optimization design method that integrates numerical simulation software for tight oil and gas reservoirs with modern intelligent optimization algorithms, enabling rapid and effective integrated optimization of horizontal well placement and fracturing in tight reservoirs. After being applied to Block X of a tight oil field, this optimization method achieved favorable field results, with an average cumulative oil and gas equivalent production of 31,400 metric tons per well, providing a new approach for the effective development of similar tight oil and gas reservoirs. Full article

Saline irrigation is a major constraint to crop production in newly reclaimed desert lands, even when pre-sowing soil salinity is low. This two-season field study evaluated whether plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria could improve barley performance under saline irrigation water with an electrical conductivity of 11.8 dS m⁻¹ in the El Moghra region, Egypt. The barley cultivar Giza 2000 was grown under five inoculation treatments: an uninoculated saline-irrigated control; a single inoculation with Azospirillum lipoferum; and combined inoculations with A. lipoferum and Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus circulans, or Enterobacter cloacae. Because freshwater was unavailable at the experimental site, treatment effects were evaluated relative to the saline-irrigated control. Across both growing seasons, single inoculation with A. lipoferum produced the most consistent improvements in growth, yield formation, nutrient accumulation, soil biological activity, and seed nutritional quality. The combined treatment of A. lipoferum and B. circulans was generally the second-most effective. Bacterial inoculation also improved adjustment to physiological stress, as indicated by greater proline accumulation, lower antioxidant enzyme activities, and enhanced expression of stress-related genes associated with proline biosynthesis and secondary metabolism. Overall, the results indicate that A. lipoferum applied alone was more effective than the tested combinations of bacteria under saline irrigation. These findings provide field-based evidence that inoculant performance depends on strain composition and that single-strain inoculation can be a promising strategy for improving barley production in reclaimed sandy soils irrigated with saline water. Full article

Accurate and scalable urban land cover mapping is critical for sustainable urban planning and environmental management. While deep learning models offer powerful tools for this task, their performance is often constrained by the need for vast, manually labeled datasets, which are costly and challenging to acquire for diverse urban environments. To address this limitation, we propose the Cross-Scale U-Net, an original, highly adaptable operational framework that systematically exploits the inherent scale effects of remote-sensing imagery to optimize transfer learning. By operationalizing prior theoretical findings on receptive fields, this workflow provides an actionable method for users to manipulate spatial resolution, identify an optimal scale to bridge the domain gap, and subsequently automate feature extraction with significantly reduced manual effort. Using the well-annotated ISPRS Potsdam dataset as the source domain, our framework transfers learned knowledge to classify National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) data from Phoenix, AZ (2015), into four primary land cover classes. We systematically evaluated the framework’s performance across spatial resolutions ranging from 15 cm to 100 cm, achieving a peak overall accuracy (OA) of 82.45%. To assess generalizability, the model was applied in a label-free transfer scenario to NAIP imagery from Las Vegas, NV (2015), and Phoenix, AZ (2013 and 2019), consistently delivering OA values above 70%. In a comparative analysis, the Cross-Scale U-Net significantly outperformed traditional classification techniques. While our current empirical validation is focused on arid urban environments due to experimental constraints, the framework introduces a highly flexible, actionable scale-adjustment process. This approach offers a scalable workflow that can be tailored to various landscape scales—such as expanding to coarser resolutions for large-scale forests or protected areas—delivering high-fidelity maps while mitigating data scarcity. Full article

Uterine infections (metritis and endometritis) are a leading cause of culling and reproductive failure in transition dairy cows, and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative pathogens limit conventional therapy. This randomized, controlled, multi-farm field trial evaluated whether four intravaginal infusions of a host-adapted lactic acid bacteria (LAB) cocktail (Lactobacillus sakei FUA3089, Pediococcus acidilactici FUA3138, P. acidilactici FUA3140; 10⁸–10⁹ cfu/dose) at −3, −2, +3, and +4 weeks relative to calving reduce periparturient disease and improve milk production. A total of 526 pregnant cows (426 Holstein, 100 Jersey) from four commercial Alberta farms (automatic-milking, parlor, and certified-organic systems) were block-randomized within farm and parity to TRT1 (saline; n = 175), TRT2 (saline + skim milk; n = 176), or TRT3 (LAB cocktail in saline + skim milk; n = 175). Uterine infection incidence was assessed by Metricheck™ mucus scoring and transrectal ultrasonography at +3 and +4 weeks postpartum. Across the principal peripartum infectious outcomes, TRT3 showed a consistent protective effect: uterine infection incidence was lowest in TRT3 (18.8% vs. 25.1% in pooled controls; OR = 0.69; 95% CI, 0.44–1.09; an approximately 25% relative reduction; exact p = 0.12), and this metritis signal was additionally supported by a repeated-measures mixed model accounting for farm, parity, and week (p = 0.0175), although the Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise contrasts were tendencies (adjusted p ≈ 0.12), and the effect did not differ by parity (treatment × lactation interaction, p = 0.97). Subclinical mastitis was numerically lower in TRT3 than in pooled controls (5.3% vs. 8.9%; OR = 0.57; 95% CI, 0.27–1.24; exact p = 0.16), whereas retained placenta, milk fever, displaced abomasum, and lameness showed no clear cow-level treatment effect in the cow-level exact analyses. Milk yield increased significantly in multiparous cows, which produced 4.6 L/day more milk than TRT1 and 3.22 L/day more than TRT2 over the first 50 days in milk (p < 0.01 for both contrasts; treatment × parity interaction, p = 0.01). No effect was seen on milk composition, uterine involution, or reproductive performance. The trial supports intravaginal LAB as a candidate antibiotic-free prophylactic whose response depends on farm- and cow-level contexts and whose mechanisms require confirmation through microbiological and metabolic measurements. Full article

This retrospective quantitative data analysis study aimed to investigate sex- and age-related differences in the physiological distribution of [¹⁸F]FDOPA uptake in long axial field-of-view (LAFOV) PET images across a range of organs and tissues. A retrospective quantitative data analysis study of 106 anonymized PET/CT images acquired from vertex to mid-thigh with minimal abnormalities, divided in two gender groups and two age groups was used for this study. The mean and max lean body mass weighted standardized uptake values ($SU{L}_{mean}$, $SU{L}_{max}$), target-to-background ratios ($TBR$), and coefficients of variation ($CoV$) were used to quantify tracer uptake. Sex- and age-related differences in uptake were organ- and metric-specific. Most organs showed comparable uptake between males and females. However, males exhibited higher absolute uptake in metabolically active organs and females showed greater intra-organ heterogeneity. Aging was generally associated with increased tracer uptake and variability, especially in women, with the hip showing higher uptake in younger individuals. Statistically significant differences were most prominent in women and varied by organ and metric. In conclusion, both sex and age significantly influence [¹⁸F]FDOPA PET tracer uptake and variability in an organ- and metric-specific manner. Incorporating sex- and age-adjusted reference values may improve the accuracy and personalization of PET imaging in clinical and research settings. Full article

The dynamic reliability of steam-turbine governing systems is essential for the safe operation of nuclear power units. As a key regulating and protection component, the reheat valve must complete rapid closure under abnormal operating conditions. This study addresses the closing timeout problem observed in a nuclear reheat-valve oil-motor actuator after domestic substitution, with particular attention to sluggish motion and discontinuous closing at small openings. A coupled hydraulic–mechanical model was then established by integrating the coned-disc spring assembly, hydraulic circuit, cartridge valve, gear–rack transmission, and load resistance based on the mathematical model. The model was used to identify the dominant parameters controlling the fast-closing process, and the optimization strategy was subsequently verified by experiments on an actual actuator platform. The results show that coned-disc spring degradation is a critical source of closing timeout risk. When the equivalent elastic modulus decreases to approximately 195 GPa, the fast-closing time approaches the critical limit of 0.8 s, while further degradation results in evident timeout. The C0 throttling orifice has the strongest influence on the effective closing time by governing the pressure-relief capacity of the working chamber. A coordinated correction strategy, involving coned-disc spring force compensation and throttling parameter adjustment, restores the closing margin, shortens the fast-closing time to 0.78 s, and improves closing smoothness. This work provides the practical guidance for design verification, field commissioning, and domestic improvement of nuclear reheat-valve oil-motor actuator systems. Full article