Search Results (12,767)

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

National soil-carbon assessments often emphasize carbon density without fully integrating soil depth and spatial extent. Here, we quantified the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock represented by the complete 1 km CSDLv2 raster domain across mainland China using six depth layers spanning 0–5, 5–15, 15–30, 30–60, 60–100, and 100–200 cm. Across 13,810,230 valid grid cells, the 0–200 cm soil profile stored 215.82 Pg C, of which 57.72 Pg C occurred in the upper 0–30 cm and 158.09 Pg C in the 30–200 cm subsoil. Although 73.2% of the total stock occurred below 30 cm, this large contribution primarily reflected the greater cumulative thickness of the subsoil interval; thickness-normalized SOC storage was substantially higher in the surface layer than in the subsoil (20.34 vs. 9.83 kg C m⁻² m⁻¹). Northwest China contained the largest integrated SOC stock (90.79 Pg C), whereas Northeast China exhibited the highest mean profile carbon density (33.17 kg C m⁻²), revealing a clear regional reversal between carbon density and total stock. Surface–subsoil decoupling and relative subsoil-carbon distance (CSD) further characterized regional differences in vertical SOC organization. Cross-dataset evaluation against an independent 2010–2024 SOC compilation comprising 17,990 depth intervals from 5870 profiles yielded an original-scale RMSE of 4.73 kg C m⁻², a mean bias of 0.44 kg C m⁻², and a Pearson correlation of 0.44. Replacing the 1 km layers with 90 m layers changed the national stock estimate by only 0.02%, while alternative DI thresholds and CSD reference quantiles affected screening magnitudes but preserved the broad regional patterns. These results highlight pronounced regional differences in the amount and vertical organization of soil carbon and support differentiated management priorities, including deep-carbon conservation in Northeast China, profile-structure diagnosis in North China and the Loess Plateau, water–soil coordination in Southern China, context-dependent water–carbon management in Northwest China, and disturbance avoidance and natural recovery in Southwest China and Tibet. Full article

Rising antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated infections have intensified the demand for antibacterial medical textiles that avoid metal-based or synthetic biocides. The present study is about an entirely plant-derived antibacterial and antioxidant finish for cotton fabric, using Fagonia arabica extract and clove oil as bioactive agents and tragacanth gum as natural polymeric binder. These bioactive loadings were applied via pad-dry-cure at varying percentages (1–5%). FTIR spectroscopy verified the successful bioactive deposition, while polarized optical microscopy showed that the structure of the fibers changed as a function of the amount of extract used, with Fagonia arabica extract causing swelling of the fibers and clove oil forming a coalescing surface film to provide complete web-like fiber coverage at the highest loading. Essential comfort characteristics were maintained together with functionalization, as all treated samples showed hydrophilic wettability with absorption times ranging from 1.8 to 7.5 s depending on different formulations. The Fagonia arabica–clove oil formulation (5% each) demonstrated the best antibacterial activity (in terms of zone of inhibition) and antioxidant activity radical-scavenging capacity using ABTS radical assay as compared to the clove-oil-only and Fagonia-only formulations. Beyond their antibacterial and antioxidant activities, the formulation of Fagonia arabica–clove oil proved to be effective (more than 69%) in all concentrations in repelling mosquitoes, indicating an additional protective function that is useful in environments where insects transmit infections. These results prove the feasibility of a completely natural bioactive-and-binder strategy that can provide relevant antibacterial, antioxidant, and mosquito repellency activity without sacrificing comfort, providing a scalable and sustainable paradigm for antimicrobial, antioxidant, and mosquito-repellent medical textiles. Full article

Large hydrocarbon fields are being developed in northern Sakhalin, whereas southern Sakhalin contains prospective resources hosted in unconventional, low-permeability siliceous source rocks. Their development requires stimulation to create conductive fracture networks, whose long-term integrity is critical for production feasibility. This study investigates permeability changes in four artificially fractured specimens subjected to cyclic confining pressure; the specimens are treated as case studies rather than as a statistically representative formation-scale data set. Cylindrical cores, 30 mm in diameter and approximately 30 mm long, containing an induced axial fracture were hydraulically tested under biaxial cyclic confinement. The tests showed irreversible loss of fracture conductivity, with residual permeability after unloading amounting to 7.1–37.4% of the initial value. Direct application of laboratory data to field scale fracture longevity models is inappropriate because cylindrical specimens develop nonuniform circumferential stresses and heterogeneous closure. A procedure is proposed to transfer core scale measurements to a planar fracture subjected to uniform normal stress in the rock mass. Fracture aperture was quantified by X-ray computed tomography (CT) and incorporated into a cell-based contact–hydraulic model accounting for geometric and hydraulic aperture. A nonuniform closure function was used to reconstruct the closure field and correct the laboratory results. At maximum pressure, Kmass/Klab ranged from 0.034 to 0.93 for the three specimens reproduced with acceptable fit; sample 3–4 was retained only as a diagnostic case because of its high root-mean-square error (RMSE). These values are model-based single-fracture scenario estimates pending direct-normal-loading validation. Full article

Low-temperature sintering flue gas contains both nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and carbon monoxide (CO), requiring bifunctional catalysts for concurrent pollutant abatement. Herein, CuSmTi composite oxides with an identical nominal composition were synthesized via impregnation, mechanical grinding, and sol–gel methods to examine the effects of preparation route on their structure, surface properties, and catalytic performance in coupled NH₃-SCR and CO oxidation. CuSmTi-SG exhibited the best performance, achieving >40% NO_x conversion at 125 °C, complete NO_x and CO conversion at 200 °C, and nearly 100% N₂ selectivity over 100–300 °C, with stable performance over 24 h. It possessed a higher surface area (131.4 m² g⁻¹), pore volume (0.230 cm³ g⁻¹), and smaller TiO₂ crystallite size (8.5 nm) than the other catalysts. Spectroscopic analyses showed that sol–gel synthesis altered the surface electronic states of Cu and Sm species, resulting in a higher Cu⁺ fraction and greater amounts of medium-to-strong Lewis acid sites and labile surface oxygen species. In situ DRIFTS indicated that CO oxidation proceeded predominantly via a Mars–van Krevelen mechanism over Cu⁺ sites, whereas NH₃-SCR mainly followed an Eley–Rideal pathway. CO and NH₃ preferentially interacted with different surface sites, resulting in limited mutual inhibition. These results demonstrate that the preparation route can modify the structure and surface chemistry of CuSmTi catalysts without changing their nominal composition, thereby affecting their performance in low-temperature NO_x and CO abatement. Full article

This study reports the development of an intelligent dual-layer wound dressing engineered to achieve active wound repair. The self-standing dressing integrates a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric electrospun membrane with a multifunctional hydrogel based on interfacial fusion. The PVDF layer converted mechanical energy derived from human body movement into electrical stimulation, which dramatically motivated the controlled release of diclofenac sodium (DFs) encapsulated in the hydrogel. The relatively small diameter fibers and network caused strong connection with the hydrogel and smooth transfer of electricity. When a positive potential of 1.5 V was applied, up to a 55 μg mL⁻¹ cumulative amount of DFs was released, about five times higher than that only based on drug diffusion. This enhanced release rate resulted from the cooperation of accelerated drug migration under electrically driven and dynamic changes of the gel’s microstructure, which was the result of reversible behavior of borate bonds within the hydrogel. Consequently, the hydrogel exhibited self-healing properties and a tensile strain of up to 600%, much higher than that of conventional hydrogels. Under mechanical motivation, the dressing exhibited enhanced DFs release ability, confirming the piezoelectric transition and controlled drug release abilities. Therefore, the present work offers an innovative solution for the intelligent management of chronic wounds. Full article

What is “new” in the New European Industrial Policy (NEIP), for whom, and to what extent? While recent scholarship has documented the “return” of a more interventionist, selective and strategically oriented EU industrial policy, this article asks whether these changes amount to a transformation of the policy model or rather to a reconfiguration of pre-existing policy logics. More specifically, it examines whether the expansion of financial resources, strategic objectives and sectoral priorities has also altered the institutional conditions through which firms, projects and territories gain access to public intervention. The article applies Documentary Process Tracing (DPT) to a corpus of EU industrial-policy documents from 2000 to 2026, comparing successive Commission cycles across five analytical dimensions—objectives, instruments, conditionality, governance and selectivity—alongside their dominant legitimating frames. The NEIP therefore represents neither simple continuity nor a complete paradigmatic rupture. Rather, it constitutes a process of functional verticalisation in which stronger strategic direction coexists with institutional mechanisms inherited from earlier phases of European industrial policy. The findings suggest that assessing the novelty of the NEIP requires moving beyond the question of whether industrial policy has “returned” and examining how its new strategic priorities interact with the pre-existing conditions that shape access to public intervention. Full article

Due to the high saturated fat content, increasing cost, and supply instability of cocoa butter (CB), the development of structured lipid systems with improved nutritional profiles and suitable technological functionality has received increasing attention. This study aimed to optimize a coriander seed oil-based oleogel (COG) using a D-optimal mixture design and evaluate its potential as a structured lipid phase for dark chocolate formulation. The effects of coriander seed oil, monoglycerides, candelilla wax, xanthan gum, and polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR) on the physicochemical, rheological, and mechanical properties of the oleogel were investigated. The optimized COG formulation exhibited a maximum crystallization temperature of 30.159 °C, enhanced viscoelastic characteristics, and a stable three-dimensional lipid network. The optimized oleogel retained substantial amounts of bioactive compounds, including α-tocopherol, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and linalool, together with antioxidant activity, and showed a lower accumulation of primary oxidation products during storage than the non-structured oil. Dark chocolate prepared with the optimized oleogel (COG-Ch) was evaluated in comparison with cocoa butter-based chocolate (CB-Ch) in terms of thermal behavior, rheological properties, texture, and storage-related whitening changes. Although COG-Ch showed comparable onset and maximum melting temperatures and a lower increase in whiteness index during storage at 35 °C, significant differences remained in melting enthalpy, hardness, and several rheological parameters compared with CB-Ch. These differences reflect the distinct lipid organization and crystallization behavior of the oleogel system. Therefore, the developed coriander seed oil oleogel should be considered a promising structured lipid phase for chocolate applications rather than a complete functional equivalent of cocoa butter. Further investigations involving sensory evaluation, crystal polymorphism analysis, microstructural characterization, and comprehensive oxidative stability assessment are required to determine its broader applicability in chocolate manufacturing. Full article

Background/Objectives: In food-image nutrient estimation with vision-language models (VLMs), portion size is a dominant source of error, yet how a prompt shifts the estimated amount—and in which direction—remains uncharacterized. We tested whether a Japanese-dietitian prompt acts as a systematic, directional influence on a model’s quantity estimates and what an explicit magnitude instruction does by comparison. Methods: Six VLMs from three vendors were evaluated on two datasets with contrasting portion regimes—NutriImage (Japanese cafeteria dishes; dietitian-calculated ground truth) and SNAPMe (US meal photographs)—under persona conditions (none, Japanese-dietitian, US-dietitian) crossed with two portion-specification levels, with five additional prompt-control conditions, image-level paired statistics with bootstrap confidence intervals, interaction tests, equivalence tests, and a repeated-call variability analysis. Results: The Japanese-dietitian prompt lowered predicted energy in all six models and both datasets (persona main effect p < 10⁻⁹⁴), approximately preserving predicted macronutrient composition in relative terms; the US prompt produced only small, sign-inconsistent changes. The effect was not reproduced by an explicit “assume smaller portions” instruction, which shifted estimates further but far less consistently, whereas an “assume larger portions” instruction was followed almost uniformly by four of the six models, with both OpenAI models largely insensitive to explicit magnitude instructions in either direction. Accuracy consequences were dataset-dependent: error decreased on the small-portion dataset (up to ~20 MedAPE points) and was statistically equivalent (±5-point margin) on the larger-portion dataset in 11 of 12 model × portion cells. All principal effects were confirmed in a unified analysis that randomizes model identity over a pooled image set (n = 2159 independent images; Holm-corrected; robust across 1000 random re-assignments). Conclusions: A Japanese-dietitian prompt acts as a consistent downward influence on VLM quantity estimates that is distinct from explicit downscaling instructions; its accuracy value is domain-specific and requires validation on the target domain before any practical use. Full article

The energy sector is considered one of the most critical sectors because disruptions to the power supply, problems with systems for monitoring operational parameters, and issues with power management processes have a direct impact on the economy, public order, and national security. On the one hand, the technological maturity of energy facilities is changing, and the share of grid-inverter-connected renewable energy sources (GICRES) is expanding. In this article, the authors discuss the basic concepts and classifications of stability-related subsystems. The new trends and challenges facing the resilience of the electrical energy system (EES) in the context of dynamic processes arising from the deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) are analyzed. This paper aims to present a more comprehensive concept of the static and dynamic stability of the EES, considering the impact of grid-inverter-connected renewable energy sources (GICRES). Full article

Background: Although dietary fat and carbohydrates are major determinants of gut microbiota composition, their interactive effects across changing dietary monosaccharide-to-lard energy ratios remain incompletely understood. This study descriptively examined treatment-level cecal microbiome profiles across dietary gradients in which lard (L) was progressively replaced with glucose (G) or fructose (F). Methods: A carbohydrate-free, lard-rich control diet was formulated, and lard was progressively replaced with glucose or fructose while maintaining a constant protein-to-energy ratio. Cecal contents from eight rats per dietary group were pooled in equal amounts, yielding one composite microbiome sample per treatment. Pooled samples were characterized by shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Sequencing/classified read counts (CRs) and relative abundance (RA) were treated as complementary sequencing-derived representations rather than measures of absolute bacterial abundance. Microbiome outcomes were interpreted descriptively at the treatment level. Results: Across the pooled treatment profiles, CRs and RA showed non-linear patterns and did not consistently change in parallel, providing complementary descriptions of treatment-level taxonomic responses. CR patterns indicated a combined effect of L and monosaccharide content, with several mixed L–monosaccharide diets showing lower CRs than both the L_6.03 reference and the lard-free endpoints. Differences between the G and F series were most apparent at low L and high monosaccharide levels, particularly under lard-free conditions, although their magnitude and direction varied among taxa. Hierarchical clustering and exploratory correlation networks provided complementary descriptions of treatment-level community organization. Conclusions: The pooled treatment-level microbiome profiles revealed non-linear responses to changing dietary L–monosaccharide composition, with CRs and RA providing partly different information on taxonomic patterns. Differences between the G and F series were most apparent at low L and high monosaccharide levels, particularly under lard-free conditions. Full article

Nickel coatings were deposited onto the surfaces of red mud, Al₂O₃, and Fe₂O₃ particles via an electroless plating technique. The nickel-coated particles (1.5 wt.%) were subsequently incorporated into a ZL109 aluminum alloy matrix to fabricate three types of composites using a stir-casting process, followed by a T6 heat treatment consisting of solution treatment at 515 °C for 8 h, water-bath quenching at 90–100 °C, and artificial aging at 175 °C for 12 h. The microstructural morphology and phase identification were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Furthermore, the high-temperature tensile properties of the fabricated alloys were evaluated at 350 °C and 400 °C. The results showed that the addition of 1.5 wt.% nickel-coated red mud led to a more uniform distribution of eutectic silicon and an increase in the content of the Al₅Cu₂Mg₈Si₆, Al₇Cu₄Ni, and Al₂Cu strengthening phases. These microstructural changes significantly enhanced the high-temperature tensile performance of the alloy. At 350 °C and 400 °C, the alloy reinforced with 1.5 wt.% nickel-coated red mud achieved tensile strengths of 97.8 MPa and 86.2 MPa, respectively. The combination of an appropriate amount of nickel-coated red mud and a suitable heat treatment process effectively improves the high-temperature stability and tensile properties of the ZL109 aluminum alloy, which could be attributed to the synergistic strengthening effect arising from the precipitation of high-temperature stable phases and the Orowan mechanism. Full article

The improvement in urban greening has led to the generation of large amounts of landscape litter, and determining how to efficiently utilize this organic waste has become an urgent issue. Composting, as a pollution-free method of organic waste treatment, can improve the soil environment. However, there remains a lack of systematic research on the effects of compost on soil microbial communities. This study was conducted at the Tuanlin Forestry Station in Qinhuangdao City. By applying different levels of compost and combining measurements of soil properties with high-throughput sequencing, the study investigated the effects of compost application on soil microbial community. Compost application increased available phosphorus, available potassium, and microbial biomass, while simultaneously lowering pH. Compost application caused significant changes in β-diversity, altering the composition of the microbial community. Redundancy analysis indicated that available phosphorus and pH were the primary factors driving changes in microbial communities. In addition, compost application increased the number of nodes in the co-occurrence network and the average degree of connectivity. Overall, compost drives changes in microbial communities by modulating the soil environment. This study provides a theoretical basis for the resource utilization of landscape litter and the management of compost application. Full article

The droplet evaporation method (DEM) is an analytical approach in which substances dissolved or suspended in a liquid self-assemble into characteristic patterns upon evaporation. Applied to blood and blood-derived fluids, DEM has shown potential for diagnostics. In a previous study, we identified optimal temperature and relative humidity (rH) conditions for generating two main pattern features in dried serum and plasma droplets: crystalline structures (favored at high rH) and peripheral cracks (favored at low rH). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether sequential exposure to two humidity conditions, first 45% rH and then 15% rH, during the evaporation phase of a single experiment could combine both structural features and thereby enhance donor-specific pattern characteristics. Droplets of serum and plasma from eight healthy donors were evaporated under three conditions: constant 45% rH, constant 15% rH, and a changing condition (45% rH for 2 h, followed by 15% rH until completely dry). Evaporation temperatures were 24.5 °C for serum and 30.5 °C for plasma. Computerized texture (GLCM) and fractal (LCFD, MFD, BCFD, lacunarity) image analysis was used to correlate image features with serum and plasma parameters and contents. The donor differentiation was performed by a convolutional neural network (CNN) trained on the droplet pattern images. The changing-humidity condition produced patterns combining the central crystalline structures characteristic of the high-rH condition with the peripheral cracks characteristic of the low-rH condition and yielded the highest CNN-based donor classification accuracy for both fluids, 84.4% for serum, 83.3% for plasma, compared with 66.2–80.8% under the stable conditions. Selected image-evaluation parameters further correlated with the blood derivate contents and parameters including glucose, total protein, triglycerides, homocysteine, urea and the age of the donor. These results suggest that sequential humidity exposure substantially enriches the structural information content of DEM patterns and the amount of donor-specific information that can be extracted from them, with potential implications for diagnostic applications. Full article

Wheat and corn have a dominant part in cereal structure production in the Republic of Serbia. Considering the importance of these products, two studies were carried in the paper. First, one had the goal of analyzing the economic results of wheat and corn production in Serbia in the period from 2014–2024. Second, the other had the goal of analysing the intensity of the drought and its harmful impact on wheat and corn production in Serbia in the perid from 2014–2024. The research question that is analyzed in this paper refers to the analysis, whether direct payments were a sufficient incentive to achieve short-term economic sustainability in production of wheat and corn in Serbia in drought conditions during the period from 2014–2024. For the purpose of economic analysis, the method of analytical calculations is used on the basis of variable costs; that is, on the basis of the calculation of the contribution margin. The SPEI method is used in order to analyze the intensity of the drought. The authors conclude that the amount of the direct payments plays the key role in achieving a positive contribution margin; that is, in achieving the short-term economic sustainability in wheat and corn production in Serbia in drought condition. To achieve long-term economic sustainability in this production in Serbia, in changed climatic conditions, adaptive varieties and hybrids, education of farmers, adequate sources of financing, application of irrigation systems, and application of the concept of climate-smart agriculture are needed. Full article