Search Results (809)

The integration of olfactory feedback into Virtual Reality (VR) applications remains significantly underexplored compared with other sensory modalities, particularly within room-scale Cave Automatic Virtual Environments (CAVEs), where related research is even more limited. To address this gap, this paper presents Scentree, a custom olfactory system capable of delivering scents in real time based on user interactions, along with Smelling Ancient Greece, an olfactory-enhanced VR experience developed for integration within our CAVE system. Central to the proposed approach is the concept of the Diegetic Olfactory Feedback Loop, which reframes olfaction from a passive ambient effect into an active, interaction-driven feedback mechanism embedded within the narrative context of the virtual environment. To evaluate the system, we conducted a technical performance assessment and an exploratory user study ($N=51$) examining participant perceptions of immersion, presence, perceived realism, usability, and overall user experience. The findings support the feasibility of interaction-driven olfactory feedback as a multisensory design approach for CAVE environments and provide a foundation for future controlled investigations of olfactory feedback in immersive VR. Full article

Background: Obesity is a multifactorial metabolic disorder characterized by chronic low-grade inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, lipotoxicity, dysregulated adipogenesis, and alterations in the gut microbiota, which collectively contribute to insulin resistance and cardiometabolic complications. In this context, dietary patterns rich in bioactive compounds have gained relevance as potential strategies to modulate these interconnected pathways. Objective: To assess the potential of the Milpa Diet (a sustainable, plant-dominant Mesoamerican eating pattern centered on the ancient three sisters’ polyculture of maize, beans, and squash, along with chili) as a culturally relevant, multi-axis functional dietary pattern, and to evaluate the molecular mechanisms underlying obesity-associated with metabolic dysfunction. Methods: A scoping review of preclinical and clinical studies was conducted using Medline via PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. The ChEMBL database was also used to identify chemical structures. The search focused on evidence related to inflammation, oxidative stress, adipogenesis, lipotoxicity, mitochondrial function, and gut microbiota modulation in the context of the main foods of the Milpa Diet, including maize, legumes, chili peppers, nopal, and quelites. Studies were selected based on peer-review status and their relevance to molecular, metabolic, and functional outcomes. Results: The current evidence shows that the core components of the Milpa Diet provide dietary fiber and a broad range of bioactive compounds, such as flavonoids, carotenoids, capsaicinoids, phenolic acids, pigments, and vitamins, which exhibit antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. These compounds have been associated with modulation of adipogenesis and lipotoxicity, preservation of mitochondrial function, and favorable regulation of gut microbiota composition and activity, collectively influencing metabolic pathways relevant to obesity. Conclusions: Overall, mechanistic and emerging clinical evidence suggests that the Milpa Diet represents a multi-axis nutritional strategy with potential to mitigate obesity-related metabolic dysfunction through coordinated effects on inflammation, oxidative stress, adipogenesis, lipotoxicity, mitochondrial function, and gut microbiota regulation. Although comprehensive clinical trials evaluating this dietary pattern as an integrated intervention remain limited, current evidence supports its relevance for future translational research, public health strategies, and the development of sustainable dietary models aimed at improving metabolic health. Full article

Tomatoes are globally significant crops worldwide. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying their growth, development, and stress responses is crucial to enhance crop productivity and resilience. The WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) gene family is implicated in developmental processes and stress responses, yet its regulatory complexity in tomato remains underexplored. This study presents an integrative genome-wide analysis approach to characterize the WOX family in tomato. Ten SlWOX genes were identified and phylogenetically classified into three clades, WUS, intermediate and ancient, underscoring their evolutionary relationships. Structural analysis revealed significant variability in gene structure even within the same clade, indicating potential diversity in functional roles. Conserved domains’ screening enables the detection of conserved motifs, including the homeodomain and WUS box. Cis-element analysis showed diverse regulatory elements across the SlWOXs, with a strong emphasis on elements involved in growth and development and stress response. Expression profiling across different organs and growth conditions including abiotic and biotic stresses revealed variability in SlWOXs’ expression patterns. Furthermore, several miRNAs were predicted to target the SlWOXs, emphasizing the existence of post-transcriptional regulation. Functional annotation and interactome analysis further revealed the key role of some SlWOXs, mainly SlWUS, SlWOX4 and SlWOX13, as central regulatory hubs. Collectively, these findings uncover the structural diversity, regulatory mechanisms and functional flexibility of the SlWOX gene family. It also highlights potential targets for improving tomato crop resilience and productivity, making it a significant contribution to plant biology and agriculture. Full article

Fire protection remains one of the key challenges in the field of architectural heritage conservation, particularly for heritage buildings dominated by timber structures, which face greater difficulties in fire prevention and risk assessment. To systematically evaluate the fire safety performance of high-rise timber heritage buildings, this study takes the Shengjin Pagoda, a typical brick–timber pavilion-style ancient tower in Jiangxi Province, China, as the research object. A three-dimensional performance-based fire assessment framework was developed using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) and PyroSim. Based on field survey data and historical documentation, the geometric characteristics, material properties, and vertical circulation system of the pagoda were reconstructed. Three representative fire scenarios, including bottom-floor ignition, simultaneous multi-level ignition, and wind-driven top-floor ignition, were established to investigate smoke propagation, thermal insulation degradation, and the thermal response of critical timber components under different fire conditions. The results show that brick walls provide effective thermal insulation during the early stages of fire, with efficiency exceeding 90%, but this decreases to approximately 55% in upper regions due to chimney-effect-driven smoke accumulation. Under wind-driven top-floor ignition, exposed dougong components can reach temperatures of 782 °C, resulting in a progressive “top-down and outside-in” failure mechanism. The study reveals the dominant smoke-driven heat transfer pathways and the failure sequence of critical load-bearing elements. Based on these findings, a performance-based fire protection strategy incorporating vertical virtual smoke control zoning and fire-resistance enhancement of key structural components is proposed to support the sustainable conservation of historic high-rise timber structures. Full article

Although long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) and short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) are typically passed down to descendants as part of the genome, the Bov-B LINE was likely horizontally transferred from a snake to the ancestor of ruminants. Plant RTE-clade LINEs and their associated SINEs possess a genomic insertion signature different from that of mammalian L1 LINEs. However, the reason for the increased frequency of horizontal transfer in RTE-clade LINEs such as Bov-B relative to that in L1-clade LINEs has not yet been clarified. In this study, we identified family members of the reptilian Bov-B LINE and associated Sauria SINE across various squamate species to determine the amplification timing of the LINE. The findings revealed that the LINE may be over 180 million years old. Moreover, profiling of target site duplications showed that a characteristic genomic insertion signature of the LINE and SINE closely resembled the signature of the plant RTE-clade LINEs. We conducted phylogenetic analyses of RTE-clade LINEs with characteristic genomic insertion signatures and estimated their divergence times. The findings suggest an ancient origin (over 411 MYA) of the retrotranspositional mechanism underlying this signature; however, a complex evolutionary trajectory of LINEs across species warrants further investigation. Full article

The blasting-induced environmental impact of tunneling is a major concern in drill and blast excavation practice, particularly in urban areas. The present paper carries out comprehensive numerical modeling to study the vibration attenuation at the soil surface away from the blasting source as well as the resulting interactions between a historical structure and the surrounding soil, with particular attention to the effects of a millisecond delay. Special attention is given to the interpretation of the role of the local site effects in terms of the frequency-dependent changes of the vibration attenuation mechanism and the response of the historical structure. The velocity responses along the ground surface generally exhibit higher-frequency suppression and low-frequency amplification for both instantaneous blasting and millisecond delay blasting cases in the layered soil–rock site. The millisecond delay blasting can effectively avoid excessive vibration velocity and thus reduce the vibration amplitude at the ground surface by 60–70% (compared with instantaneous blasting), with the predominant frequency mainly concentrated in the high frequence band of 400–500 Hz. The empirical formulae for predicting the vibration attenuation along the scale distance in a soil–rock site has been proposed for both instantaneous blasting and millisecond delay blasting. Through the HHT spectral analyses of the velocity response of the historical structure, it is seen that the difference of structure properties between the wood-frame tower and the base masonry structure has a remarkable influence on the structural vibration. The numerical results can provide a reliable reference for the practical blasting scheme and the systematic study of the dynamic responses of historical structures subjected to blasting-induced vibrations. Full article

Ancient human beings started “external entropy production” in a late stage of evolution, in addition to the internal entropy production by which energy was dissipated within the body of life, as previously described consistently with the birth of life by maximum entropy production principle. In this paper, the mechanism for development of external entropy production, which is strongly related with the use of tools and controlling fire, is theoretically investigated. Archaeological data show that the brain size of ancient human beings started to rapidly increase around 2.5 million years ago when the usage of tools and control of fire started. It may be natural to assume that the rapid growth of brain size is related to the growth of awareness that helped cooperation with the other human beings for control of fire. Coupled equations for the growth rate of the brain, including awareness, and for the growth rate of the size of the interacting human beings are analyzed. External entropy production per human being, which is directly related to the group size of cooperating human beings, is estimated to increase on a timescale of ∼20 million years from the beginning after the critical time. This evolution created the coexistence of the internal entropy production of traditional multi-cellular life and the new external entropy production of multi-body life. A psychological problem due to the coexistence of two kinds of entropy production mechanisms in human beings and the concept of technologies based on the present thermodynamic evolution theory are discussed. It is suggested that the evolutionary understanding of the origin of global warming based on external entropy production may be important to create an useful countermeasure. Full article

One of the indicators of high social status of women in ancient societies is the funerary costume, whose main element is the headgear. In our previous work, we drew attention to several female burials in the first half of the 6th century BC, which featured funerary headdresses adorned with gold plaques of several types. All of them come from the territory of forest-steppe Scythia. During recent excavations at one of the largest necropoleis of the Bilsk hillfort, a burial mound of the last quarter of the 6th century BC yielded another grave of a member of the local elite, whose funerary headdress was decorated with gold plaques. Among the objects placed in the grave was a unique set of Central European leather items (a belt and a cap), which, although not belonging to the funerary costume proper, were nevertheless used in the funerary rite. Being found among sacred objects, the belt and the cap may be attributed to female ceremonial dress, emphasizing the special position of the deceased woman in society. The state of preservation of these items makes it possible to reconstruct their shape; trace a number of features of cut and manufacturing technique, as well as the design of a previously unknown type of Central European headdress of the Hallstatt period; propose their reconstruction; discuss the probable place of manufacture of these unique artifacts and the mechanism by which they reached the barrow necropolis of forest-steppe Scythia; and extend the chronological framework of the period of burials of elite women in this region. Full article

Named entity recognition (NER) of ancient Chinese texts is the foundation for their development and utilization. Previous studies have focused on the data-driven methodology which tries to utilize the semantic features of ancient Chinese text. With the continuous accumulation of ancient Chinese linguistic resources and textual data, how to fully utilize the data resource and lexical knowledge related to ancient Chinese text with the help of new-generation information technology, so as to improve the ability of semantic comprehension and achieve good performance of NER, has become a great challenge to be solved. In view of this, this paper proposes a named entity recognition model for ancient Chinese text by fusing explicit feature and implicit feature (NERM), on the basis of extracting the explicit features and implicit features of ancient Chinese texts using a pre-trained model and a multi-head attention mechanism. In this model, the GuwenBERT model is introduced to extract the semantic features of ancient Chinese texts, namely the explicit features. The implicit features include relative positional relations, part-of-speech, and character radicals. The experimental results on the corpus GuNER 2023 show that the proposed model NERM achieves an F1 value of 90.67%, outperforming the existing models. The ablation experimental results show that implicit features provide a modest but meaningful improvement over explicit features, and implicit features can be arranged in order of importance as follows: character radicals, part-of-speech, and relative positional relations. Full article

The South China Sea serves as a premier location for investigating sediment provenance and source-to-sink processes within marginal seas. However, the sediment composition and transport mechanisms within the deep-water areas of the Qiongdongnan Basin remain poorly understood. This study analyzed the grain-size distribution, bulk geochemistry, and clay mineralogy of surface sediments to identify their origins and transport controls. Results indicate that the sediments are predominantly silt-sized with a high smectite content. Major element geochemistry suggests derivation from stable ancient terranes, while trace element patterns—characterized by LREE enrichment and negative Eu anomalies—point toward a multi-source contribution. Our analysis suggests that the Red River is the primary sediment source, supplemented by inputs from the Pearl River, the Vietnamese coast, and Hainan Island. We propose that monsoon-driven surface circulation is the primary transport driver, while deep-water currents and a branch of the Kuroshio Current facilitate the influx of Taiwan-derived materials. Our study clarifies the source–sink relationship and transport mechanism in a semi-quantitative manner, offering new insights into sediment dynamics in monsoon-influenced marginal seas. Full article

In recent times, the importance given to versatile functional nutrition has increased, escalating interest in fermented foods and their potential health benefits. Fermentation is an ancient method frequently used to develop functional and bioactive products. Fermented microalgae and their biomass are important sustainable biotechnological resources for increasing the nutritional value, healthiness, and functionality of foods and for producing high-value-added bioactive compounds. The fermentation of microalgae encompasses the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar or organic substances by a range of microorganisms, particularly lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The fermentation process can activate numerous beneficial mechanisms by enhancing the bioavailability of bioactive compounds in microalgae. Lactic acid bacteria are widely used in food fermentation due to their safety and metabolic versatility. Their ability to produce organic acids, enzymes, and bioactive metabolites makes them suitable for modifying microalgal biomass. This review aims to provide a detailed and critical evaluation of fermented microalgae, including health effects, functional enhancements, bioactivities, and industrial applications. Full article

Transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channels detect noxious cold and inflammatory mediators in mammals; yet their evolutionary origins and roles in neuro-immune integration remain unclear. Here, we investigated TRPA1 in Hydra vulgaris, an early metazoan with a simple nervous system, exposing polyps to noxious cold and Pseudomonas aeruginosa lysate. Using Western blotting, pharmacological modulation, and gene expression analyses, we demonstrated that TRPA1 mediates upregulation of nociceptive markers (Nrf2, NOS, SOD) and immune effectors (NF-κB, NOS, periculin, hydramacin). TRPA1 antagonism significantly reduced these responses, indicating its role as an amplifier of both nociceptive and innate immune signaling. These findings suggest that TRPA1-dependent coupling of nociceptive-like and immune responses is an ancient, conserved mechanism, providing insights into the molecular basis of integrated threat detection and offering potential avenues for targeting pain and inflammation-associated pathologies. Full article

Given the great burial depth, ancient depositional age, and multi-phase tectonic evolution of deep formations, drilling operations are highly susceptible to wellbore instability. The design and deployment of directional wells further exacerbate this risk, underscoring the need for quantitative risk assessments for directional drilling operations. Based on linear poroelasticity theory, a mechanical model for directional wellbore stability is established to enable wellbore stability evaluation and trajectory optimization design. Furthermore, an intelligent prediction method for collapse pressure is proposed using the XGBoost algorithm. The results indicate that the prediction accuracy of collapse pressure reaches 93%. Under strike-slip in situ stress regimes, wellbore stability is most critical for vertical wells, whereas horizontal and directional wells exhibit lower collapse pressure. The optimal wellbore trajectory is determined to be a horizontal well with an azimuth approximately 36° deviated from the maximum horizontal principal stress direction. The intelligent prediction results show a 98% goodness-of-fit with theoretical calculations, reducing the calculation time from hours to seconds. This study provides a novel approach for wellbore stability analysis and offers a practical tool for the rapid risk assessment of wellbore collapse during directional drilling operations. Full article

Modern Chinese traditional-style buildings (MCTBs) preserve the beam–column –construction of historical architecture, but the irregularity of joints continues to constrain their seismic performance. To enhance the energy-dissipation capacity of these joints, viscous dampers were installed at the Que-Ti braces (cantilever corbels beneath beam ends) of beam–column joints. Six 1/2.6-scale specimens were designed and tested under periodic dynamic loading. The experimental results indicate that the installation of viscous dampers significantly improved the failure modes by delaying the formation of plastic hinges at beam ends, as well as the initiation of base material cracking and weld fracture. After damper installation, the joint strength increased by 18–46%, and the improvement was more pronounced in double beam–column joints. A finite element model was established in ABAQUS to investigate the effects of axial load ratio, damping coefficient and damper length on joint strength, hysteretic energy dissipation, and damper mechanical response. The results revealed that the axial load ratio has a limited influence on the overall joint strength and damper contribution. Increasing the damping coefficient significantly enhances the joint hysteretic energy dissipation and peak damper force, exhibiting an approximately linear relationship. The damper length has a minor influence on joint strength, but a longer damper slightly increases the hysteretic energy dissipation and equivalent viscous damping, while the maximum damper displacement is mainly governed by the damper length. Similar damper contributions are observed in single beam–column and double beam–column joints, indicating stable and reliable energy-dissipation behavior. The proposed numerical approach can predict the axial deformation, velocity, and force demands of dampers under various loading conditions. In addition, preliminary design recommendations for irregular steel joints with supplemental viscous dampers in MCTBs were developed based on ancient Chinese architectural literature and refined through combined experimental observations and finite element analyses (FEA). Full article

Goose blood has anticancer properties and was recorded in ancient China, but the specific molecular mechanisms underlying this effect still require further exploration. In this study, SW1990 cells were treated with goose serum or plasma, and transcriptome analysis was performed to explore the function of goose blood on cancer cells. Metabolomic profiling was also performed on goose serum, goose plasma, chicken serum, and chicken plasma to identify the bioactive substances responsible for the anticancer effect. The study examined the effects of goose plasma and serum on SW1990 cells and compared the metabolites between goose and chicken blood. Wound scratch, CCK-8, and Annexin V-PI assays showed that goose plasma and serum inhibited SW1990 cell proliferation at 24 and 48 h. Both treatments reduced cell viability, with serum inducing early and late apoptosis and plasma inducing late apoptosis. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) identified 2259 (1418 upregulated, 841 downregulated) and 2731 (1844 upregulated, 887 downregulated) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the plasma and serum groups versus the negative control (NC), respectively, and 689 DEGs between the plasma and serum groups. Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway analyses revealed that the DEGs were enriched in processes such as lipid metabolism, JAK-STAT, and IL-17 pathways. Untargeted liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis identified distinct metabolites in goose and chicken blood, with unique metabolites and differential ones between groups. In SW1990 cells, four metabolite subclusters matched the plasma and serum effects. In summary, goose blood can suppress cancer cells by regulating gene expression to affect the key signaling pathways involved in cancer cell apoptosis and autophagy. Certain metabolites present at high concentrations in goose blood, such as cucurbitacin D and Oleoyl-L-carnitine, may also contribute to the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation and migration. These findings suggest that goose blood holds broad application prospects as a future auxiliary drug for cancer treatment, and this study provides a theoretical basis for the further application of goose products. Full article