Search Results (159)

Background/Objectives: Detailed study of the anatomy of the maxillary sinuses is crucial for reducing the risk of complications in sinus augmentation and implant procedures, endodontic surgical treatment, and other operations in the posterior maxilla. This retrospective cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) study aimed to investigate maxillary sinus volume, septal morphology and distribution, ostium height, and pathological findings, as well as their interrelationships, in a Saudi clinical cohort using combined three-dimensional volumetric and morphometric analyses. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 360 CBCT scans obtained from patients after applying predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The volumes of the maxillary sinuses were measured by means of semi-automatic segmentation with ITK-SNAP software, while the structure of the septum, anatomical position, orientation, and internal architecture were assessed with BlueSky Bio software. The vertical distance from the natural opening to the bottom of the sinus and pathologies of the Schneiderian membrane were also studied. Results: The mean volume of the left maxillary sinus was found to be larger than the right (14,948.6 ± 5473.5 and 13,937.6 ± 4020.7 mm³, respectively). No sexual differences were noted with regard to sinus sizes. The prevalence of septa was 80.3% for the left side and 77.5% for the right side. The septa were mostly incomplete, with complete septa being less common. Various types of positioning and orientation were recorded for the septa, with a peak in the molar region. In the case of the left sinus, the height of the ostium was greater in men than women (p = 0.007); no differences were observed for the right side. Conclusions: The anatomy of the maxillary sinus shows great three-dimensional variation in terms of the shape of septa, the volume of the sinus, the height of the ostium, and any pathological changes related to that anatomy. The significant relationship between the presence of septa and the pathology of the mucosa highlights the need for adequate preoperative CBCT analysis of the anatomy. Full article

Retrieving aerosol optical depth (AOD) over land remains challenging because the relatively weak aerosol signal in top-of-atmosphere (TOA) observations must be separated from strong and spatially heterogeneous surface reflectance. Here, we develop a physically informed random forest framework for global 1 km land AOD retrieval from MODIS. The framework integrates multispectral TOA reflectance, surface properties, observation geometry, meteorological conditions, topography, and physically informed aerosol–surface features. Long-term Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) observations from 2001 to 2017 were collocated with MODIS and ancillary datasets for model development and evaluation. Two physically informed features were introduced to improve retrieval robustness across diverse aerosol and surface conditions, including minimum AOD derived from long-term AERONET observations and time-series clear-sky reflectance (TSCR) in the blue, red, and shortwave-infrared bands derived using the 6S radiative-transfer model. Independent retrieval evaluation for 2013–2014 showed good agreement with AERONET observations, with R = 0.81, MAE = 0.063, RMSE = 0.096, and 74.93% of matched samples falling within the MODIS land expected-error envelope, although increasing underestimation was observed at high aerosol loading (AOD > 1). The proposed retrievals also showed better agreement with AERONET than the MOD04 Dark Target and Deep Blue products. These results demonstrate the value of incorporating physically interpretable aerosol-background and surface-reflectance information into data-driven retrievals for AOD over land surfaces. Full article

Although conventionally quantified as an urban–rural thermal anomaly, urban heat islands are systematic expressions of development choices that shape unequal exposures and health risks across cities. This article develops an integrated urban development-health framework explaining how imperviousness, vegetation deficit, landscape configuration, urban morphology, thermally absorptive materials and nocturnal heat retention connect heat exposure with physical disease, mental well-being and climate-responsive planning. A critical integrative review reported using PRISMA 2020 and PRISMA-ScR principles, organised evidence from urban climate, public health, environmental epidemiology and planning. The synthesis covers the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), Local Climate Zones (LCZs), sky-view factor (SVF), height-to-width ratio (H/W), land-surface temperature (LST), Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and nocturnal minimum temperature, together with cardiovascular, respiratory, psychiatric, sleep, mortality and well-being outcomes. Six recurrent amplification pathways were identified: imperviousness and low canopy cover; nocturnal heat retention; social vulnerability; blue-green and cool infrastructure; heat–pollution–humidity interaction; and sleep/mental-health disruption. The Urban Heat-Health Development Index (UHHDI) and Urban Heat-Health Amplification Pattern (UHHAP) are proposed as transparent, review-derived tools for urban diagnosis and policy prioritisation. A Spanish/Mediterranean climatic-zone transition analysis illustrates how future climatic severity can be translated into planning-relevant exposure potential. The findings support a shift from simply describing urban heat to diagnosing development-driven heat-health risk, with implications for urban regeneration, thermal justice, public-health adaptation and healthy-city governance. Full article

To address the existing gap in quantitative evaluation regarding the integrated visual effect of spring water landscapes and street spaces within Historical and Cultural Neighborhoods of Spring Zone, the Jinan Mingfu City area is selected as a typical case for this research. A quantitative framework for street view aesthetic perception based on deep learning is constructed. ResNet-101 predicts aesthetic scores using 6796 Street View Images (SVIs), while DeepLabV3+ extracts visual elements. A four-dimensional design quality system is established, including Traffic Safety, Street Vitality, Spatial Comfort, and Living Convenience. Clustering and regression analysis reveal the relationship between aesthetic perception and design quality. Results show: (1) the Water Blue View Index (WBVI) is the primary predictor of street aesthetic scores (β = 0.419), confirming the visual dominance of the “spring water” element; (2) WBVI, Green View Index (GVI), and Sky View Factor (SVF) constitute a “Natural Perception Triangle (NPT)” as the ecological comfort foundation; (3) streets are categorized into six types with significant design quality variations; (4) the proposed “Street Perception Optimization Matrix (SPOM)” provides differentiated renewal strategies for Spring Zone. This research presents a framework for visual quality assessment and refined renewal of Historical and Cultural Neighborhoods of Spring Zone. Full article

Background/Objectives: Thermal injury during implant osteotomy is a recognized complication of guided surgery. Closed guide architectures and metallic sleeves restrict coolant access to the drill–bone interface, reducing the effectiveness of conventional external irrigation. This study aimed to describe the design and fabrication of a 3D-printed surgical guide system with integrated internal irrigation channels and to evaluate its technical and clinical feasibility in guided implant surgery. Methods: The system was developed by integrating CBCT and IOS data into BlueSky Bio planning software. Irrigation channels were generated by CAD subtraction. Guides were fabricated by additive manufacturing—digital light processing (DLP) in biocompatible Asiga DentaGuide resin and, in one case, selective laser melting (SLM) in Mediloy metal—with metal auxiliary components incorporated where required. Channel patency was confirmed by flow equivalence testing and visual inspection. The design was evaluated for compatibility with the BioHorizons Pro Surgical Guide Kit and the Ticare Fidelis Kit. Clinical feasibility was assessed in two cases: maxillary All-on-6 rehabilitation and immediate implant placement in the esthetic zone. Results: Both guides were successfully fabricated with confirmed patent irrigation channels. Guide seating was verified through occlusal fenestrations and secured with fixation pins. Irrigation flow remained unobstructed throughout all osteotomy steps, and no guide-related or irrigation-related complications were observed. The system was integrated into standard drilling protocols without modification for either implant platform. Conclusions: This proof-of-concept study demonstrates the technical feasibility of an internally irrigated surgical guide across two implant systems and distinct clinical scenarios. The proposed design was successfully integrated into standard guided surgery workflows and maintained functional irrigation. Further in vitro thermal studies and prospective clinical investigations are required to evaluate its effect on temperature control. Full article

Rural coastal communities are grappling with climate change impacts, including the increased frequency of extreme storm events. Achieving sustainability goals requires addressing environmental, social, and economic dimensions of these events. Social vulnerability indices provide a means of addressing social vulnerability to advance sustainability goals. While such indices offer a metric for assessing relative social vulnerability at a community scale, they often fail to capture more nuanced dimensions of vulnerability. Our exploratory qualitative case study employed two community-driven exercises to examine the impacts due to loss of power, heat, and access to emergency services stemming from a storm event. Participants representing public, conservation, social service, emergency management, and business sectors received a customized social vulnerability index prior to the community exercise, which examined social vulnerabilities associated with an extreme storm event. Participants completed pre- and post-exercise surveys. Transcripts and notes from discussions were analyzed qualitatively. The results provide a refined understanding of who is vulnerable to climate change impacts, the limitations of vulnerability indices in capturing these vulnerabilities, and the potential for community-centered approaches for developing customized vulnerability indices. Such approaches can inform more comprehensive preparation and recovery initiatives in response to increasing extreme storm events. Full article

We present the EGIDE (Edge-on Galaxies in the DESI survey) project—a catalog of 149,215 edge-on galaxy candidates created using the data of the DESI Legacy Imaging Survey DR10 images. The catalog size is ten times greater than its predecessor and covers more than half of the sky. It is constructed in an automatic way, utilizing the full power of manual annotations from the GalaxyZoo volunteers, implemented in the Zoobot neural model, which was fine-tuned to search for edge-on galaxies specifically. To ensure the credibility of the dataset, subsequent manual supervision was performed. The EGIDE catalog provides homogeneous SExtractor photometry in the $griz$ bands, total stellar mass estimates, redshifts for 98% of the sample, star formation rates, and other information. All of this is publicly available at The Edge-on Galaxy Database site. The preliminary analysis focused on differences between edge-on galaxies in the so-called blue sequence and red cloud populations. These galaxies demonstrate distinct properties: the number of redder galaxies decreases with increasing $a/b$ ratio faster than that of the bluer galaxies; galaxy thickness varies with galaxy color: red sequence galaxies are thicker than blue cloud galaxies; the flattening ratio $q=b/a$ increases significantly with total stellar mass $M_{★}$ only among redder cloud galaxies. It is an intriguing result that the same trend of q increasing at the high-mass end is detected by both the statistical models of figures of revolution and direct observations of edge-on galaxies in EGIDE independently. The full extent of this relationship’s validity can only be determined after properly accounting for the contributions of the bulge and the PSF. Full article

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) have achieved a high level of technical maturity. In spite of that, the installed capacity remains limited. To stimulate the integration of solar panels in the built environment, aesthetical features like color and freedom in size and shape are of key importance for architects and building owners. Multilayer interference coatings are an attractive coloring technique for solar panels, as they are known for their high solar transmission and tuneable reflection peak. The latter gives rise to an intense metallic reflection color. In this study, the outdoor performance of colored versus non-colored BIPV panels was investigated, and a method has been developed to measure the color variation of the solar panels with respect to outdoor conditions, viewing angles and tilt angles of the setup. A limited performance loss of 15% was measured for colored solar panels compared to their black counterparts, caused by a reduction in generated photocurrent due to light loss. Outdoor color measurements showed that the cloudiness of the sky and the tilt angle of the setup are key parameters causing a color variation from yellow-green to blue-green. In addition, the developed method and tailored measurement setup have proven their value in quantifying color appearance of colored BIPV in realistic and varying outdoor conditions. Full article

White pine blister rust disease (WPBR), caused by Cronartium ribicola, ranks among the most destructive pathogens of five-needle pines. We developed a hydroxynaphthol blue (HNB)-based Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay enabling rapid, visual detection of C. ribicola directly following DNA extraction. LAMP primers targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region were designed and validated through in silico comparison with related Cronartium species and in vitro testing against sympatric forest fungi. The optimized 25 μL reaction contained 8.0 mM Mg²⁺, 1.0 mM dNTPs, and an inner-to-outer primer ratio of 8:1, with amplification conducted at 62 °C for 40 min. Positive amplification produced a distinctive color transition from purple to sky blue, enabling visual interpretation without instrumentation. Under the tested conditions, the assay achieved a detection limit of 460 ± 3.2 fg/μL genomic DNA—a 10-fold improvement over conventional PCR in concentration-based sensitivity. Assay applicability was evaluated using 211 field-collected Pinus armandii samples sourced from China. Detection efficiency varied significantly across tissue types. Symptomatic bark exhibited a substantially higher positive detection rate (68.97%, 95% CI: 49.2–84.7%) compared to needles from symptomatic trees (18.75%, 95% CI: 4.1–45.7%). Among asymptomatic samples, 3.75% of bark samples tested positive for C. ribicola DNA, whereas all needle samples were negative. Geographically, positive detections clustered at several discrete sampling sites in southwestern China, predominantly at elevated elevations. The established LAMP-HNB assay provides a rapid, visually interpretable diagnostic tool for early detection and quarantine monitoring of WPBR following DNA extraction. Beyond its practical utility, this assay establishes valuable baseline data for targeted disease surveillance in the context of evolving climate conditions. Full article

Urban heat stress is a growing challenge in hot semi-arid cities, where neighbourhood urban design influences microclimate and outdoor comfort. This study evaluates the effect of neighbourhood spatial layout in Erbil city, using ENVI-met simulations. Five neighbourhoods with varying layouts were modelled under standardized conditions, including uniform building height, surface characteristics, and meteorological forcing. Hourly outputs of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, surface temperature, mean radiant temperature, universal thermal climate index, and sky view factor were analyzed after excluding the spin-up period. Results indicate that, while all neighbourhoods exhibited similar diurnal timing of thermal extremes, a key distinctive finding is the identification of a neighbourhood that behaves differently across seasons. The Pavilion neighbourhood remained cooler during summer conditions, while maintaining warmer thermal conditions during winter. This dual seasonal behaviour contrasts with the other neighbourhoods, which generally exhibit a trade-off between reduced summer heat stress and winter cooling. The Pavilion neighbourhood is distinguished by the presence of integrated water lagoons, suggesting that the blue infrastructure, in combination with spatial openness and greenery, can moderate thermal extremes. Overall, the study highlights the importance of neighbourhood-scale spatial design in mitigating urban heat and provides evidence to support the development of sustainable neighbourhoods. Full article

As a core tenet of Green Urbanism, fostering social sustainability through restorative urban environments is essential for enhancing the psychological resilience of active urban generations. While urban parks are recognized as critical blue-green infrastructure, the micro-mechanisms through which their morphological configurations influence perceived restoration remain insufficiently understood. The aim of this study is to investigate how specific landscape element types and proportions in urban parks modulate the visual behavior and psychological restorative outcomes of young urban populations through a multimodal experimental approach. This study employs a novel assessment framework, integrating VR-based eye-tracking and physiological monitoring (HRV, EDA, EEG), with a sample of 77 young adults (aged 18–30) to investigate how landscape element types and proportions modulate visual behavior and restorative outcomes. The findings indicate that landscape components drive restoration through divergent visual cognitive pathways: natural elements promote recovery by fostering sustained visual engagement and exploratory saccades, whereas artificial elements function as cognitive stressors that fragment visual continuity. Mediation analysis further reveals a “quality-over-quantity” effect, demonstrating that restorative efficacy is governed by specific morphological configurations rather than mere green coverage. We identify critical restorative thresholds where the systematic reduction in artificial visibility, combined with the strategic prioritization of multi-layered vegetation and optimized sky openness, significantly maximizes restorative fascination and physiological relaxation. These evidence-based design strategies offer a precise toolkit for sustainable urban renewal, allowing urban planners to optimize the restorative quality of public spaces. By aligning micro-scale visual perception with macro-scale social sustainability goals, this research contributes to the development of resilient and health-promoting cities under the principles of Green Urbanism. Full article

Background/Objectives: Pterygoid implant placement represents a valuable alternative to conventional bone grafting procedures in the rehabilitation of the atrophic posterior maxilla; however, the procedure remains technically demanding because of limited visibility, difficult access, complex pterygomaxillary anatomy, and the need for precise angulation and distal bicortical anchorage. Although digital guidance has increasingly been applied in implant dentistry, a clearly described workflow integrating automatic segmentation, selective virtual trimming of the posterior maxillary anatomy, and direct three-dimensional planning for static-guided pterygoid implant placement remains insufficiently detailed in the literature. The aim of this report was to describe and illustrate such a workflow in a proof-of-concept clinical application. Methods: This work was designed as a methodological proof-of-concept with a single clinical illustration. A CBCT dataset was imported into BlueSkyPlan, where automatic segmentation was used to generate three-dimensional models of the maxilla, teeth, and pterygoid process. The segmented volumes were then selectively trimmed to expose the relevant pterygomaxillary anatomy and to support direct three-dimensional planning of the implant axis in the rendered model. A static surgical guide with combined tooth and mucosal support was subsequently designed, positioned on a printed jaw model derived from the intraoral scan, and assessed by CBCT-based internal verification. Results: In this proof-of-concept application, the workflow enabled three-dimensional visualization of the pterygomaxillary trajectory, supported implant axis planning in the rendered model, and facilitated guide design and radiographic verification of the planned trajectory. The verification step provided an internal methodological consistency check between the planned implant axis and the drill-guided direction visible on CBCT. Conclusions: The present report describes a segmentation-assisted three-dimensional planning workflow for static-guided pterygoid implant placement in a single proof-of-concept clinical application. The workflow should be interpreted as a methodological illustration rather than a quantitative validation study. Further investigations are required to evaluate accuracy, inter-operator reproducibility, and broader clinical applicability. Full article

Climate change has intensified the need for adaptation in urban environments, yet its integration into historic urban squares, where recreational activities were heavily concentrated, has remained underexplored. In this context, the study examined the square located between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, which is also defined as an urban recreation area and a focal point of culture-based tourism, during periods of extreme weather conditions and high flows of both local (n = 152), and international tourists (n = 236), evaluating it through different spatial activity typologies. A total of 388 participants were surveyed at 25 survey points within the square, while meteorological parameters were obtained from meteorological stations. The findings showed that the lowest level of heat stress across all typologies corresponded to “slight heat stress,” while user responses varied according to spatial characteristics. In movement spaces, the absence of shading elements increased both heat stress and shade demand, whereas in stationary spaces, the presence of trees reduced heat stress but preferences for lower air humidity persisted even under shaded conditions. Sky openness was not identified as a direct determinant of thermal sensation, with meteorological and perceptual factors proving more influential. PET explained approximately 65% of the variation in MTSV among tourists, compared to 55% among local residents. Across typologies, only increases in air temperature negatively affected thermal satisfaction. Moreover, tourists perceived the square more holistically and reported higher satisfaction compared to locals, whose environmental demands were distinct. These results highlighted the importance of spatial activity typologies in shaping thermal experience and underlined the necessity of design strategies that extended beyond heat-mitigation measures. Holistic and flexible approaches that accounted for user profiles, activity types, and intensity of use were found to be essential for improving thermal comfort in historic urban squares with diverse spatial configurations. Full article

Drones are expected to support applications such as emergency response, parcel delivery, and infrastructure monitoring in dense urban airspaces, creating traffic levels that are unmanageable for human operators. Autonomous separation management is therefore essential, combining strategic and tactical control to prevent conflicts. This paper addresses the tactical landing phase by introducing a centralized landing flow manager—a reinforcement learning (RL) agent that adjusts drone speed and heading to merge landing flows safely and efficiently prior to a final approach fix. The objective of the work was to demonstrate the potential of reinforcement learning in this novel context, by implementing and evaluating it in simulation and testing its capabilities with 10 concurrent landing drones. The RL agent learns to successfully separate traffic, thereby lowering intrusion counts compared to the baseline autopilot, but is outperformed in safety by the decentralized Modified Voltage Potential (MVP) method due to outlier scenarios. Nevertheless, the RL-based system achieves faster scenario completion and thus a higher overall throughput, by speeding up the vehicles towards the final approach fix. Future work will explore improved network architectures, transfer learning across varied scenarios, and algorithmic fine-tuning to further enhance safety performance. Full article

Urban waterfront walkways are everyday public built environments where people commonly engage in slow walking, yet evidence remains limited that links what pedestrians see to immediate psychophysiological responses under controlled first-person dynamic exposure. To address this gap, we developed a fixed-speed, fixed-duration VR walk-through model using real-world 360° panoramic video and quantified scene visual composition via computer vision-based image analysis. Based on the visible shares of key components (greenery, water, sky, hardscape, and built structures), clips were grouped into four interpretable waterfront typologies: Vegetation-Enclosed, Built-Dominant, Hardscape-Plaza, and Blue-Open. Fifty healthy adults completed within-subject VR exposures to the four typologies (50 s per clip), while multimodal physiological signals and brief affect and landscape ratings were collected before and after exposure. The results showed that scenes with more water and vegetation coverage, along with expansive views, were associated with promoted autonomic nervous system calming responses, whereas scenes with fewer natural elements and higher built structure density were more likely to induce tension responses. Negative emotions decreased significantly across all four scene experiences, though artificial scenes concurrently exhibited emotional improvement alongside physiological tension. Overall, brief first-person dynamic VR exposure can yield immediate emotional benefits, and waterfront designs combining water proximity, abundant greenery, and expansive vistas may maximize short-term restorative potential, offering quantitative targets for health-supportive planning and retrofitting. Full article