Search Results (866)

Influenza A virus (IAV) surveillance in swine relies heavily on molecular detection, yet RNA stability in diagnostic specimens such as oral fluids can be rapidly compromised when cold-chain conditions are not maintained. This pilot study evaluated the ability of four molecular-grade carbohydrates (20% trehalose, sorbitol, sucrose, and mannitol) and two commercial nucleic acid stabilizers (PrimeStore^® MTM and RNAlater^®) to preserve RT-qPCR-detectable IAV RNA in swine oral fluids exposed to field-relevant stress conditions. Oral fluid samples collected from pigs experimentally infected with H1N2 (Study 1: n = 150; DPIs 2, 3, 4) or with H1N2 and H3N2 (Study 2: n = 58; DPI 5) were subjected to storage at 25 °C for up to 144 h (Study 1) or 2, 5, 10, or 15 freeze–thaw cycles (Study 2), with DPIs (Study 1) or subtypes (Study 2) serving as biological replicates, given the limited sample size. IAV detection was quantified as efficiency standardized Cq values (ECq) and analyzed using a linear mixed-effects model. Overall, both carbohydrates (trehalose, sorbitol, sucrose) and commercial stabilizers maintained higher ECq values than untreated oral fluids under both thermal and freeze–thaw stress conditions. Due to the limited sample size, these findings should be interpreted cautiously, yet they demonstrate the potential utility of carbohydrates as a low-cost, non-inactivating alternative for stabilizing IAV RNA in field-collected oral fluids. Full article

Asphalt pavements are essential to modern transport infrastructure but remain highly dependent on virgin aggregates and petroleum-based binders, resulting in high energy demand and significant greenhouse gas emissions. In response, research has advanced recycled-material solutions and low-temperature asphalt technologies. However, sustainability is still often inferred from isolated environmental indicators, without consistent consideration of mechanical durability or economic feasibility throughout the life cycle. This review provides an integrated synthesis of sustainable asphalt mixtures by jointly examining recycling strategies, temperature-reduction processes (warm-mix, half-warm-mix, and cold-mix asphalt technologies), and their combined applications through an integrated performance–cost–environment perspective. The literature reveals substantial methodological fragmentation, with limited harmonisation of functional units, system boundaries, and allocation rules, which constrains cross-study comparability. Evidence indicates that reclaimed asphalt, recycled concrete aggregates, and steel slag can maintain or improve rutting resistance, stiffness, and moisture durability while enabling material cost savings of approximately 5–68%. Temperature-reduction technologies further achieve significant energy and GHG reductions in the production phase (20–70%), with integrated recycling–temperature-reduction systems showing the most consistent combined benefits. Overall, this review demonstrates that asphalt sustainability cannot be established through single-dimensional assessments but requires harmonised life-cycle frameworks that explicitly link environmental gains to mechanical performance, durability, and economic viability. Full article

Comparing cold-recycled asphalt mixtures (CRAMs) to conventional hot-mix asphalt (HMA) shows that CRAMs offer several logistical, financial, and environmental advantages. However, such CRAMs, when using asphalt emulsion, still suffer from excessive water damage and poor early-age performance. The main aim of this study is to improve CRAMs by incorporating two biomass ashes and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP): palm leaf ash (PLA) and reed ash (RA) with different percentages of RAP. RAP was used in five percentage levels, 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% by weight of mix, to develop the CRAMs. In addition, the improvement in CMA mechanical properties was assessed by incorporating PLA as filler replacement in five percentages, namely: 0%, 1.75%, 3.5%, 5.25%, and 7% by weight of aggregate. RA was used as an activator at 0.25%, 0.5, 1%, and 2% by weight of aggregate. The moisture susceptibility test, Indirect Tensile Strength Test (ITS), and Marshall test were used to assess the mechanical properties. The results obtained showed that the durability and mechanical properties of CMA are effectively enhanced with the addition of 1.5% PLA, 0.45% RA, and 5.5% Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) as fillers. In addition, CRAMs with a higher percentage of RAP 75%, showed higher strength in terms of Marshall stability. These findings demonstrate that the studied CRAMs offer a reliable alternative for pavement applications, namely when sustainable and cost-effective materials are required. Full article

This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of environmental stressors and physical exertion on human nociceptive processing across multiple ecologically relevant conditions. Using a repeated-measures design, participants (N = 45) completed up to five controlled laboratory (thermoclimatic chamber) sessions (baseline, simulated altitude at 4200 m asl, heat at +42 °C, cold at −10 °C, and exertion). Participants were tested by using electrical stimuli. Linear mixed-effects models with participant-level random intercepts, alongside estimated marginal means and bootstrap derived effect sizes, enabled robust characterization of within-subject differences. Thermal stress emerged as the strongest modulator of nociception. Heat exposure significantly elevated sensory and pain thresholds compared with all other conditions, whereas tolerance thresholds peaked during cold exposure, yielding the largest observed effects. Altitude consistently produced the lowest thresholds across all modalities. These contrasts were confirmed statistically in the mixed-effects models, and effect-size analyses indicated substantial within-subject differences between the thermal extremes. By integrating three distinct nociceptive modalities and extreme environment simulations, this work offers novel and informative insights into how environmental stressors shape pain processing. The discovery of opposing thermal effects on sensory/pain versus tolerance thresholds—within the same cohort and design—reveals modality-specific patterns not previously documented and suggests that hypoxia may further modulate these responses. Full article

Freeze–thaw damage significantly reduces the performance and durability of airport pavements in cold regions. Traditional assessment methods, such as the F300 freeze–thaw test, are time-consuming and hinder rapid optimisation of mix design. In addition, previous studies have mostly relied on long-term laboratory testing and have evaluated phase-change concrete (PCC) independently, without considering synergistic effects. These approaches lack fast, synergy-aware predictive capability and interpretable tools for mix proportion design, resulting in a gap between laboratory research and practical engineering applications. To address this issue, this study proposes an intelligent and explainable framework for predicting freeze–thaw damage and guiding mix design of steel fibre-reinforced phase-change concrete (SF–PCC). A boundary-controlled experimental programme was first conducted, varying steel fibre (SF) content from 0 to 1.2% and phase-change material (PCM) content from 0 to 12% under fixed mixture conditions. The freeze–thaw test results were recorded sequentially and used to construct a supervised learning dataset. Then, an XGBoost model was developed to predict two key durability indicators: relative dynamic modulus of elasticity (RDEM) and mass loss. SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) analysis was further applied to quantify feature importance and interaction effects. The model achieved high predictive accuracy (R² = 0.9938 for mass loss and R² = 0.9935 for RDEM) under controlled experimental conditions. After 300 freeze–thaw cycles, the reference mix exhibited an RDEM of 61.2%, while optimised configurations showed improved performance. The economical design (9% PCM + 0.9% SF) achieved an RDEM of 66.8%, and the high-performance design (12% PCM + 1.2% SF) reached 72.6%. These results demonstrate that the proposed framework can effectively enhance durability and support rapid preliminary decision-making. The framework significantly accelerates freeze–thaw performance evaluation by enabling near-instant prediction and serves as an efficient supplementary tool for mix design optimisation alongside conventional laboratory testing. It also provides interpretable, data-driven insights for the design of freeze–thaw-resistant airport pavement concrete in cold regions. Full article

As a typical industrial solid waste-based concrete material, activated coal gangue cementitious concrete is prone to the freeze-thaw cycle in cold-region engineering applications, leading to durability degradation that severely limits its service performance. In this paper, freeze-thaw cycle tests were designed to reveal the influence of different ratio designs on the freeze resistance of materials. Scanning electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were employed to observe the microstructural changes in the internal pores of activated coal gangue cementitious concrete after freeze-thaw degradation. The optimal replacement ratio for activated coal gangue powder was analyzed. The results showed that, as the number of freeze-thaw cycles increased, the pore structure within the activated coal gangue cemented concrete deteriorated significantly, though the degree of deterioration varied. With the gangue powder content increasing, both the number of pores and porosity within the concrete initially decrease and then increase. According to the test results, when the activated coal gangue powder content was 35% in the concrete mix, the freeze-thaw resistance performance was optimal. This mixture maintained a good pore structure and superior porosity, indicating that the concrete with 35% activated coal gangue powder content was the best mix design. The result provides a reference for enhancing the freeze-thaw resistance of activated coal gangue cementitious concrete in cold environments. Full article

Morocco’s recent legalization of industrial and medicinal cannabis has created a rapidly expanding seed-oil sector whose sustainability has yet to be fully assessed. This study applies an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) in accordance with ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006, complemented by a qualitative social responsibility assessment based on ISO 26000:2010, aiming to evaluate the life cycle sustainability of Moroccan cannabis seed oil. Three representative processing chains, traditional artisanal presses, producer cooperatives and regulated industrial plants are compared using a functional unit of 1 kg of cold-pressed oil packaged for local distribution. Inventory data were drawn from field measurements and interviews and were modeled in OpenLCA with background datasets from Ecoinvent 3.8 and Agribalyse v3.1. Impact assessment used the ReCiPe 2016 (H) method at the midpoint level across nine categories (climate change, fossil resource scarcity, water use, freshwater eutrophication, terrestrial acidification, land occupation, carcinogenic, non-carcinogenic human toxicity, and fine particulate matter formation). Sensitivity analyses varied seed yield, electricity mix and transport distances by ±20% to gauge uncertainty. Results show that the cooperative scenario achieves the lowest impacts across nearly all categories because of higher extraction yields (3 kg seed per kg oil), lower energy use (0.54 kWh kg⁻¹ oil) and more effective co-product recovery. In contrast, artisanal extraction requires approximately 1 kg of additional seed input per functional unit compared to optimized scenarios, significantly increasing upstream environmental burdens and causing upstream agricultural burdens to multiply. Industrial facilities perform comparably to cooperatives if powered by renewable electricity. Integrating a semi-quantitative social responsibility assessment reveals that legalization has markedly improved organizational governance, labor conditions, consumer protection and community involvement. Cooperatives display the most balanced social performance, whereas industrial plants excel in governance and quality control. A set of recommendations, including drip irrigation, cultivar improvement, co-product valorisation, renewable energy adoption, eco-designed packaging and cooperative governance, is proposed to enhance the environmental and socio-economic sustainability of Morocco’s emerging cannabis seed-oil industry. Full article

Automated pig-welfare monitoring needs scalable, non-invasive signals that work across ages and individuals. A key methodological contribution of this study is the use of subject-wise validation, which ensures generalization to unseen animals and prevents inflated accuracy caused by growth-related and individual ‘voice’ differences. Vocalizations can help, but growth and individual “voice” differences can confound distress patterns and overstate accuracy without subject-wise validation. In our study, we explicitly accounted for individual variability by including animal identity as a random effect in mixed models and by using grouped cross-validation, where models were tested only on pigs not seen during training. This approach ensures that the reported accuracy reflects generalization across different individuals rather than memorization of specific vocal signatures. We analyzed 2221 vocal samples from 40 pigs (20 males, 20 females) recorded across four growth phases (farrowing, nursery, growing, finishing) under six conditions (pain, hunger, thirst, cold stress, heat stress, normal). Acoustic features extracted in Praat included energy, duration, intensity, pitch, and formants (F1–F4). Using blockwise variance decomposition, we quantified contributions of distress exposure, growth phase, and sex, and estimated the additional variance explained by animal identity. Distress exposure dominated intensity and spectral traits, particularly Formant 2, whereas the growth phase produced systematic shifts in duration and pitch. Animal identity added a modest but consistent increment in explained variance (~+0.02–0.03 R² beyond sex, phase, and distress). For prediction, we used 5-fold cross-validation grouped by animal. A Random Forest achieved a modest balanced accuracy of 0.609 and macro-F1 of 0.597; pain was most separable (recall 0.825), while other states showed moderate recall, indicating overlap. These results support hierarchical acoustic encoding of distress and establish a benchmark for precision welfare monitoring. Furthermore, they highlight that resolving complex physiological overlaps, such as heat stress and resource competition, requires a shift from unimodal acoustic models to multimodal Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) systems that integrate bioacoustics with continuous environmental and behavioral data streams. Full article

Located in the north of Yunnan Province, China, the Wuding geothermal area is a typical medium- and low-temperature geothermal system with strong hydrothermal activity and development potential as a clean and renewable energy resource. This study systematically investigates the main controlling factors of the Wuding geothermal field through field investigation, hydrochemical analysis, and stable isotope analysis, and puts forward a genetic model of the geothermal field. The results show that the Wuding geothermal field is a medium- to low-temperature, conduction-dominated geothermal system, and its geothermal water is predominantly of the Ca–HCO₃ (calcium bicarbonate) type. The recharge area lies at an altitude above 2250 m, which is speculated to be within the mountainous area in the southwest of the study area. The underground hot water in the area is immature water. The source water circulates to the deep heat storage zone along faults, rises to the surface through heat convection, and is exposed as hot springs. Upon discharge, the geothermal water mixes with shallow cold water, with cold-water dilution accounting for up to 85% of the total volume. Using the silica thermometer, cation thermometer, and silicon enthalpy model, the maximum temperature of heat storage is estimated to be 91 °C, with the depth of geothermal water circulation reaching 2200 m. The thermal reservoir is composed of dolomites of the Upper Cambrian Erdaoshui Formation (∈3e) and Sinian Dengying Formation (Zbd). Its heat source is heat flow from the upper mantle and the decay of radioactive elements. Continuous heat flow to the thermal reservoir is maintained through the fold fracture zone and faults in the core of the Hongshanwan anticline. The proposed genetic model of the Wuding geothermal field provides a scientific basis for the sustainable redevelopment and utilization of this geothermal resource and is of significance for regional low-carbon energy use and socio-economic sustainable development. Full article

This study investigates the fracture initiation and propagation mechanisms of continuously reinforced concrete–asphalt (CRC+AC) composite pavements under the synergistic effects of diurnal temperature fluctuations and non-uniform tire loading. A three-dimensional (3D) thermo-mechanical coupled finite element (FE) model was developed, with its underlying mechanical framework validated through laboratory-scale model tests conducted at 20 °C. The experimental results, involving strain monitoring at varying depths, demonstrated a high degree of consistency with numerical predictions in terms of spatial strain distribution, thereby ensuring the model’s reliability in capturing interlayer load-transfer efficiency. Building upon this validated mechanical foundation, numerical simulations were extended to analyze the low-temperature fracture response. The numerical results indicate that the maximum longitudinal and transverse tensile stresses in the asphalt layer are concentrated at the pavement surface, whereas the maximum shear stress occurs at a depth of 2–3 cm near the leading and trailing edges of the wheel load. Under low-temperature gradients, the Mode I stress intensity factor (K_I) at the crack tip exhibits a distinct diurnal opening–closing–reopening pattern, peaking at approximately 220 kPa·m^1/2 during the early morning hours (05:00–06:00). Furthermore, numerical simulations reveal the significant sensitivity of shear-sliding to axle loads; specifically, the peak Mode II stress intensity factor (K_II) increases monotonically from 190 to 230 kPa·m^1/2 as the axle load rises from 10 t to 16 t. Under non-uniform contact pressure, longitudinal cracking is primarily characterized by a mixed Mode I and Mode II mechanism driven by coupled tensile and shear stresses, whereas transverse cracking is dominated by Mode II shear failure. These findings suggest that implementing targeted traffic restrictions for overloaded vehicles during identified high-risk time windows can significantly enhance the structural durability and service life of composite pavements in cold regions. Full article

Issues related to the environmental safety of transport vehicles, the operation of which leads to environmental pollution, continue to be highly relevant. In this work, we consider the use of biofuel mixed with diesel fuel for internal combustion engines operating at low temperatures. This approach does not reduce the efficiency of transport, while also solving the issue of organic waste recycling. In this work, we address the possibility of reducing environmental pollution using carbon-neutral blended fuels based on esters of waste cooking oil (WCO), biobutanol, and diesel fuel for transport, tractor, and other equipment powered by a diesel internal combustion engine. In terms of the rate of biofuel implementation, Russia is still lagging behind the EU, China, and Japan, largely due to, inter alia, its climatic conditions with cold and long winters. The article also provides data on the possibility of using mixed biofuels under sub-zero temperatures. The process of forming a volumetric fuel supply through the common rail injector of the D4CB engine under changes in fuel pressure and drive pulse duration was also investigated, with the corresponding regression dependencies being presented. The losses of heat supplied into the cylinder when using a blend of diesel fuel and biodiesel (with 20 wt% butanol) in comparison with diesel fuel were analytically calculated. This made it possible to identify a function for adjusting fuel supply to compensate for power losses. The lubricity of fuel blends was assessed using the HFRR method. Full article

Climate-induced migration is increasingly recognized as a major demographic consequence of environmental change, yet projections vary widely due to differences in spatial scale, hazard coverage, and modeling approaches. This study introduces the First Street Global Climate Migration Model (FS-GCMM), a globally consistent, multi-hazard framework that estimates climate-driven population redistribution at a 12.5 km resolution across all countries through 2100. The model integrates high-resolution global climate hazard datasets, including flood (GloFAS), wind (IBTrACS and ERA5), drought (ERA5), wildfire (Global Fire Atlas), and extreme heat and cold (ERA5-LAND) datasets, with gridded population data from NASA SEDAC’s Gridded Population of the World (GPWv4) and Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) projections. To identify climate-related migration effects, we applied within-country propensity score matching to construct balanced samples of exposed and unexposed grid cells with similar socioeconomic, demographic, geographic, and governance characteristics. Hazard-specific impacts on annualized population change from 2000 to 2020 were then estimated using mixed-effects ridge regression with country-level random effects to account for cross-national heterogeneity and multicollinearity. These empirically derived coefficients were applied to SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5 scenarios to project future climate-driven outmigration, which was subsequently redistributed using a spatial attractiveness framework incorporating economic opportunity, population density, climate safety, and geographic proximity. Results indicate statistically significant negative effects of all modeled hazards on population retention globally, with approximately 199.5 million people projected to experience climate-driven displacement by 2055 under SSP2-4.5. Full article

Background: The global spread of monkeypox virus (MPXV) highlights an urgent need for thermostable and easily administrable vaccines. Current orthopoxvirus vaccines are limited by cold-chain dependence and inconvenient injection-based delivery. Objectives: This study aimed to develop a dissolvable microneedle (DMN) vaccine against monkeypox based on a replication-deficient orthopoxvirus platform, through systematic formulation screening, stabilization mechanism exploration, and rigorous in vivo immunogenicity evaluation. Methods: A film-based approach was adopted for efficient, high-throughput formulation screening and thermostability assessment. NTV was mixed with excipients and dried into solid films. Stability was monitored via RT-qPCR after storage at 4 °C to 40 °C. The lead formulation was physically characterized, then used to fabricate MVA-BN-loaded DMN patches, which were further evaluated for in vivo immunogenicity via immunization in BALB/c mice. Results: The optimal formulation F2 (containing dextran, L-threonine, and BSA/HSA) showed a potency loss of only ~1 log₁₀ after 2 months at 25 °C, and <1 log₁₀ loss after 1 week at 37 °C. SEM revealed a porous virus-entrapment morphology, and FTIR indicated enhanced hydrogen bonding between the virus and the dextran matrix. The formulation was successfully manufactured into DMNs that dissolved within 5 min. In mice, these DMNs elicited robust MPXV-specific IgG and neutralizing antibody responses, with immunogenicity comparable to that induced by conventional intramuscular injection. Conclusions: This study successfully established a thermostable formulation and dissolvable microneedle delivery platform for replication-deficient orthopoxvirus vaccines against monkeypox. The optimized DMN vaccine induced robust MPXV-specific immune responses in mice with immunogenicity comparable to intramuscular injection, addressing the core limitations of current vaccines and providing a promising solution for monkeypox prevention. Full article

Wintertime extratropical cyclones frequently traverse the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension frontal system. However, their net impacts on synoptic sea-surface temperature (SST) variability and mixed-layer structure remain uncertain in the presence of strong fronts and intrinsic ocean variability. Using reanalysis data, we classify extreme events into cyclone cold-sector and warm-sector types based on synoptic air–sea flux anomalies. With ensembles of single-column model experiments, we decompose the upper-ocean response into surface heat-flux forcing, wind-driven mechanical mixing, Ekman temperature advection, wave-breaking mixing, and freshwater effects. Cold-sector events amplify synoptic SST variability and deepen the mixed layer, whereas warm-sector events suppress SST variability and shoal the mixed layer. Surface heat flux is the primary driver of both responses. Ekman advection provides crucial modulation within the frontal zone. Wave-breaking mixing generally damps temperature perturbations. Freshwater forcing exerts a pronounced regional influence southeast of the subarctic front. The combined effects yield an asymmetric spatial fingerprint on SST variability and mixed-layer depth across the frontal system. Comparison between forced variability and total reanalysis variability indicates that within the frontal zone, atmospheric impacts can be redistributed or partly offset by intrinsic ocean processes, while outside the frontal zone, the behavior is closer to an externally forced response. Full article

Winter survival in barley depends on freezing tolerance and de-acclimation tolerance, yet their genetic determinants under increasingly unstable winters remain poorly understood. Here, 188 Polish barley accessions were evaluated over two consecutive growing seasons (2021–2022) using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with a mixed-linear model (MLM) and high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and diversity arrays technology sequencing (DArTseq) markers. Freezing and de-acclimation tolerance were quantified by 16 chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and post-freezing survival rates in plants subjected to 21 days of cold acclimation (4 °C/2 °C, day/night) and 7 days of de-acclimation (12 °C/5 °C, day/night). The results showed that freezing and de-acclimation tolerance are related but genetically distinct. The cold-acclimated (CA) state exhibited significant marker–trait associations on chromosomes 2H and 6H, whereas the de-acclimated (DA) state displayed a broader, more complex genetic architecture, particularly on chromosomes 2H and 7H. F_v/F_m showed the strongest associations for both SNP and DArTseq markers in both states. PI_(csm), followed by PI_(cs0) and PI_(total), showed high SNP associations in the DA state, indicating a strong relationship between photosynthetic performance and freezing tolerance after de-acclimation. Notably, the DArTseq marker 11400277 on chromosome 7H showed multiple marker–trait associations across both states. These findings provide a genomic basis for marker-assisted selection of climate-resilient winter barley cultivars. Full article