Search Results (5,998)

Single-atom–nanocluster (SA–NC) architectures combine atomically dispersed metal sites and nanoscale ensembles, leveraging high utilization, defined coordination, cooperative adsorption, and tunable electronics to generate synergy via spatial, electronic, and intermediate-transfer pathways. Metal–organic framework (MOF)-derived materials with ordered metal nodes and structural diversity enable regulating these active centers from atomic to nanometer scales. This review systematically summarizes recent advances in MOF-derived electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) from the perspectives of material classification, controllable synthesis, and active-site engineering. We highlight the coordination and electronic structure modulation of single-atom sites, the nuclearity control and interfacial effects of nanoclusters, and the synergistic mechanisms in SA–NC, which are categorized into adjacent, discrete, and core–shell configurations. We further discuss how spatial arrangement, electronic communication, and intermediate spillover collectively govern catalytic performance. Despite significant advances, a major challenge remains in correlating dynamically evolving active species under operating conditions with their intrinsic catalytic behavior. Future progress requires the integration of operando characterization and theoretical modeling to establish quantitative structure–activity relationships, thereby shifting catalyst design from composition-based optimization toward interaction engineering among multiscale active centers. Full article

Medicinal plants remain important components of rural healthcare and everyday household practices in Azerbaijan, yet their uses remain insufficiently documented in many culturally diverse regions. This study investigated which medicinal plants are used in the Guba District, how their uses vary according to informant characteristics and ecological setting, and which species–use records may differ from those documented elsewhere in the Caucasus. During 2024–2025, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 260 informants from 40 villages representing Azerbaijani, Lezgi, Tat, Khinalug, Kryts, Jek, and Mountain Jewish (Juhuri-speaking) communities. The principal dataset comprised 193 medicinal plant taxa belonging to 170 genera and 59 families, based on 7385 informant–taxon citations and 8682 use-reports. Eleven additional taxa, each cited by one to four informants within a single settlement, were documented separately as rare, locality-specific records. Descriptive comparisons showed that traditional healers reported broader medicinal plant repertoires than other community members, whereas differences according to gender, education, and ecological zone were comparatively modest. Comparison with selected primary ethnobotanical studies from Azerbaijan and neighboring Caucasian regions identified 36 species–use records as potentially novel within the defined comparative corpus. Thirty-five medicinal taxa were also used as foods and 22 as melliferous plants, demonstrating that local medicinal knowledge is embedded in dietary practices, beekeeping, animal husbandry, and other household activities. Twenty-four medicinal taxa were included in Azerbaijan’s national conservation lists. These findings demonstrate the biocultural importance of Guba’s medicinal flora and support community-centered multilingual documentation, safety awareness, and sustainable-harvesting initiatives. Full article

This work presents a compact, multi-mode reconfigurable filter fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process for Ku-/Ka multiband applications. The filter employs lumped-element LC series and parallel resonant networks to realize two transmission zeros (TZs) and two poles, with the TZs intrinsically clamped between the poles. Coarse-tuning is achieved by controlling voltage-controlled switches, enabling wide-range relocation of the pole–zero frequencies, while voltage-controlled varactors provide continuous fine-tuning. This pole–zero tracking mechanism allows the filter to suppress high-frequency image signals in Ku-band satellite communication terminals and low-frequency image signals in Ka-band applications. Measurements demonstrate 15-dB stopband fractional bandwidths of 58% and 58.3% in the coarse-low and coarse-high modes, respectively, with maximum attenuations exceeding 33 and 40 dB. Fine-tuning shifts the stopband center frequencies continuously from 14.5–19.7 GHz and 24.1–26.9 GHz, respectively, in close agreement with electromagnetic simulations. The measurement results confirm its suitability for multi-band and tunable image-rejection applications. Full article

Maintaining upright stability in tandem-wheel robotic systems is particularly challenging during stationary and low-speed operation, where steering-induced stabilization and gyroscopic effects become limited. Also, alternative mechanisms such as reaction wheels, control-moment gyroscopes, and movable balancing masses can increase mass and mechanical complexity. To address these limitations, this paper proposes an elevated, vectored differential-propeller-thrust approach for active roll stabilization and presents the design, prototyping, and experimental validation of a self-balancing tandem-wheel mobile robotic system employing the proposed principle. Two laterally oriented ducted propeller fans are mounted above the vehicle’s center of mass to increase the available roll-moment arm, while thrust vectoring provides an additional contribution to the corrective rolling moment. The system integrates a perpendicular drivetrain, front-wheel steering mechanism, inertial sensing, wireless communication, and a real-time proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller utilizing direct gyroscope roll-rate feedback. The system is characterized through geometry-based roll-moment and dynamic analyses, including open-loop pole analysis and a Routh–Hurwitz assessment of the PID-controlled roll dynamics. A Python-based supervisory interface provides wireless command generation, real-time telemetry visualization, and data logging. Experimental evaluation includes static stability, dynamic roll-reference tracking, and variable-speed driving-performance tests. The analytical results identify an open-loop unstable upright equilibrium and reveal the mechanical and actuator parameter conditions for local asymptotic stability under PID-controlled differential thrust. The results of the experiments demonstrate effective upright stabilization, accurate roll-reference tracking, smooth differential-thrust allocation, and reliable attitude regulation during stationary and low-speed operation. The principal contribution is the development and experimental demonstration of an elevated, vectored differential-thrust stabilization architecture for active roll control of a slender tandem-wheel robotic platform, providing a foundation for further development of dynamically stabilized single-track robotic systems. Full article

Quasi-industrial zoning is often described either as a mechanism for protecting manufacturing or as a flexible platform for mixed-use redevelopment. Seongsu-dong, Seoul, suggests that the two functions can coexist while also pulling in different directions. This study combines a historical and institutional reconstruction with establishment and workplace-employment statistics for 2015–2024, building use-approval data for 2016–2025, and a limited secondary analysis of IRB-approved interviews collected in 2024 for ground-level validation. Because the national establishment survey changed its enumeration framework in 2020, business trends are read through two internally comparable intervals. Manufacturing contracted in both intervals, while information, communications, professional services, design, research, and other knowledge-intensive activities expanded. Knowledge industry centers (KICs) remained a major industrial development type during the same period, and several expanding knowledge-intensive sectors fall within their statutory eligibility categories. These parallel patterns are institutionally compatible, but the business statistics do not identify actual KIC tenants and therefore do not show that sectoral growth occurred within KICs. New-construction approvals also shifted sharply toward office and consumer-oriented development in 2021–2025; this development-flow evidence is interpreted separately from existing building stock and triangulated with recent registry-based research on Seongsu’s physical transformation. A selective re-analysis of four previously collected interviews provides mechanism-level evidence of short lease horizons, relocation pressure, productive-space requirements, KIC operational mismatch, and thinning supplier networks, without treating these cases as representative of the district. Seongsu is therefore better understood neither as a post-industrial district nor as a straightforward case of reindustrialization, but as a productive palimpsest in which successive forms of industry and urban use are layered unevenly. The case suggests that retaining diverse productive capacity within high-value metropolitan districts is one dimension of urban sustainability. Quasi-industrial zoning provides regulatory flexibility that can accommodate successive forms of production, but flexibility alone does not determine which activities remain under redevelopment pressure. Its strategic planning value therefore depends on how redevelopment incentives, productive-space performance, affordability, and long-term monitoring steer industrial recomposition over time. Full article

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) can extend diagnostic observation beyond episodic encounters by connecting wearable, point-of-care, imaging, and bedside devices to artificial-intelligence services. Yet continuous measurement is not itself diagnosis: a clinically useful system must establish signal validity, map an output to a defined diagnostic role, communicate uncertainty, and demonstrate agreement with an appropriate reference standard. This survey analyzes the complete IoMT diagnostic pathway from acquisition and quality control through edge–fog–cloud computation, machine and deep learning, federated training, and clinician-governed action. It distinguishes monitoring, screening, early detection, differential diagnosis, prognosis, and decision support because these tasks require different labels, thresholds, metrics, and evidence. Evidence is synthesized across electrocardiography and cardiovascular risk, glucose and metabolic assessment, connected imaging and oncology, respiratory and infectious-disease detection, electroencephalography and seizure recognition, and decentralized point-of-care testing. The analysis shows how sensor placement, missingness, compression, latency, privacy mechanisms, and site heterogeneity can change diagnostic performance even when the model is unchanged. A diagnostic evidence framework is therefore proposed that links reference standards and patient-level data separation to sensitivity, specificity, calibration, external validation, target-device feasibility, uncertainty-based referral, and prospective workflow utility. Security, explainability, and lifecycle monitoring are treated as conditions of diagnostic reliability rather than independent features. The resulting synthesis provides a clinically centered basis for deciding which IoMT outputs may support screening or diagnosis, which remain monitoring signals, and what evidence is still required before deployment. Full article

INPP5D, which encodes Src homology 2 domain-containing inositol 5-phosphatase 1 (SHIP1), has emerged as an Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-associated gene with strong links to microglial biology. As a hematopoietic-enriched lipid phosphatase, SHIP1 converts phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate to phosphatidylinositol-3,4-bisphosphate, thereby regulating phosphoinositide-dependent receptor signaling, membrane remodeling, phagocytosis, vesicle trafficking, and inflammatory responses. In AD, microglia are chronically exposed to amyloid-β, lipid-rich debris, damaged synapses, complement-tagged structures, and inflammatory mediators. These substrates require coordinated uptake, endolysosomal processing, autophagic adaptation, and controlled inflammatory output. Current data place INPP5D/SHIP1 at a step after receptor engagement, where microglial uptake must be coupled to vesicular routing and lysosomal degradation. When this coupling fails, engulfed amyloid, lipid debris, or synaptic material may accumulate in stressed endolysosomal compartments, promoting defective autophagy, NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and sustained cytokine release. Although current data support a primarily microglial or myeloid-centered role for INPP5D in the brain, altered microglial states may secondarily affect the neurovascular unit through cytokine release, complement activation, oxidative stress, and impaired amyloid or lipid clearance. This review summarizes the molecular function of INPP5D/SHIP1 in AD-related microglial signaling and discusses its implications for phagocytosis, endolysosomal stress, inflammasome activation, therapeutic targeting, and microglia–vascular communication. Full article

Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting (PDEP) is a non-violent, developmentally informed parenting program. This qualitative descriptive study explored how mothers in the United Arab Emirates described applying PDEP, including in disability-related caregiving contexts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 mothers who completed PDEP between 2022 and 2024; 13 had at least one child with a disability and six had typically developing children only. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Six themes were identified: (1) child-centered foundations; (2) transformation of parenting practices; (3) parental emotional regulation; (4) perceived child and parent–child changes; (5) implementation challenges and adaptation; and (6) program evaluation and recommendations. Mothers described greater attention to children’s developmental needs; calmer emotional responses; reduced reliance on punitive practices; and increased use of communication, warmth, structure, and individualized strategies. Disability-related accounts highlighted adapting expectations and strategies to children’s developmental abilities, communication needs, emotional regulation, and the need for predictable routines. Participants also described difficulty unlearning traditional disciplinary habits, navigating social expectations, and maintaining consistency under stress. Mothers perceived PDEP as relevant and adaptable within the UAE context. The findings illustrate how universal PDEP principles were adapted to disability-related caregiving in an underrepresented Arab Gulf context. Because the findings were retrospective and perception-based, they should not be interpreted as evidence of causal program effects. Full article

Background: The ongoing conflict in Sudan has caused internal displacement. While pre-war baselines have been established, a critical gap remains in the literature on pediatric health in post-conflict reclaimed urban centers. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of anemia and identify its associated factors among children aged 6–59 months in Singa, Central Sudan. Methods: A community-based, multistage stratified cross-sectional study was conducted in Singa, Central Sudan, between August and September 2025. Sociodemographic characteristics were collected through face-to-face interviews. Anemia was defined according to the 2024 WHO age-specific hemoglobin criteria. Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: A total of 450 children aged 6–59 months were included in the study. The median age was 23.5 months (interquartile range [IQR]: 13.0–38.0), and 252 (56.0%) were male. Most children were delivered vaginally (65.6%), had mothers with at least secondary education (53.1%), and were completely immunized (76.7%). The prevalence of anemia was 74.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 70.4–78.4%). In the univariable binary logistic regression analysis, younger age, smaller family size, younger maternal age, lower body weight, and a recent history of diarrhea were associated with anemia. After adjustment for potential confounders, while maternal age was inversely associated with anemia (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.92–0.99) a recent history of diarrhea (aOR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.22–3.17) was positively associated with anemia. The multivariable model demonstrated good calibration (Hosmer–Lemeshow p = 0.177). Conclusions: Anemia is a major public health concern among children aged 6–59 months returning to post-displacement settings. Anemia is primarily driven by younger maternal age and recent acute infectious diarrhea. Integrated strategies focusing on maternal education and support, diarrhea prevention and management, and early identification of at-risk children are needed to reduce the burden of anemia in this population. Full article

The rapid growth of large language models (LLMs) has made training energy efficiency a major systems and sustainability challenge. Training requires substantial computation, memory, communication, and electrical energy, yet the literature often treats runtime, floating-point operations, memory, communication, cost, energy, and carbon as interchangeable indicators of efficiency. This survey critically reviews 54 research papers and one supporting software tool across measurement and carbon accounting, model and numerical efficiency, memory and communication, distributed planning, GPU power control, carbon-aware scheduling, lifecycle design, and reliability. We classify evidence as direct, modeled, simulated, reported-comparison, or enabling, and interpret results only within their stated workload, hardware, quality condition, and measurement boundary. The synthesis shows that individual mechanisms are mature, yet cross-paper comparison remains difficult because studies use inconsistent boundaries, quality targets, platforms, and accounting methods. We, therefore, propose a quality-aware reporting framework centered on energy to target quality, explicit boundaries, uncertainty, and reproducibility. The survey establishes an evidence-disciplined framework for evaluating energy-efficient LLM training and identifies integrated, quality-aware, whole-system energy optimization as the principal research direction. Full article

Medicaid insurance plans provide free or low-cost healthcare coverage to individuals with limited incomes and serve vulnerable populations that experience health inequities. Community health engagement programs provide Medicaid recipients with opportunities for health screening, health education and participatory chronic disease prevention programs to reduce the risk of premature mortality. Although community-engaged programs have been identified as a promising strategy for improving chronic disease health outcomes, insufficient evidence exists regarding their effectiveness. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions, attitudes and understanding of population health following a community-engaged intervention and the impact it may have on health outcomes among individuals diagnosed with chronic disease in receipt of Medicaid. This study adopted the process evaluation method with the aim of understanding the relationship between a community engagement program and its impact on promoting health outcomes for individuals diagnosed with chronic disease. Focus groups were carried out with eight participants in a private meeting room at the end of the community-engagement program. A semi-structured interview guide was used. The findings of this study identified two themes from a subset of the data, which were (1) understanding the population health concept for chronic disease management within the community and (2) personalized learning for promoting health outcomes. Using a community-engaged approach with short health seminars demonstrates a unique and community-centered approach that facilitates health literacy and helps improve health outcomes for individuals diagnosed with chronic disease. Full article

Facility-based birth is an important strategy for reducing maternal and neonatal mortality, yet institutionalization has also been associated with overmedicalized and disrespectful care. Midwifery centers (MCs) may offer an alternative, but evidence on their implementation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains limited. This study explored barriers and facilitators to MC implementation and functioning in LMICs. A scoping review conducted in 2020 identified 15 publications. Ten key informants were interviewed in 2020 to complement and contextualize the literature findings. Findings were analyzed thematically and organized within a SWOT framework. A literature update conducted in 2026 identified 13 additional publications, resulting in 28 included publications. Facilitators included enabling environments for midwives, internal standards, sustainable financing, community-centered care, and professional collaboration. Barriers included workforce and education gaps, insufficient professional and regulatory recognition, weak health-system integration, and inadequate maternity care infrastructure. Expert insights complemented the literature by highlighting practical implementation challenges. Successful MC implementation requires context-sensitive approaches supported by adequate health-system infrastructure, professional autonomy, and functional referral networks to enable safe and respectful maternity care. Full article

Artificial intelligence is included in several parts of education, and it serves as an important tool for it. In this study, we present the initial design and pre-deployment formative evaluation of an AI-powered educational chatbot, called TouriBot, from the perspective of different stakeholders. TouriBot is part of a gamified learning environment created specifically for students in primary education (ages 9–12). The application is intended to support potential engagement with critical literacy-related tasks in the setting of misinformation. The evaluation involved three stakeholder groups, namely, in-service primary school Information and Communication Technology (ICT) teachers (N = 112), ICT educational advisors (N = 13) serving as institutional pedagogical experts and user experience (UX) experts (N = 8). No student data were collected in this evaluation phase. Structured questionnaires assessed perceived usability and pedagogical value as well as behavioral intention to use the tool. The results show that stakeholders evaluated the chatbot positively regarding usability, pedagogical alignment and stated intention to use. ICT teachers indicated high perceived usefulness and ease of use and strong intention to use the system in their teaching environments. The user interface perception-based assessments from the UX experts were mainly positive, and the ICT educational advisors highlighted the chatbot’s alignment with the intended pedagogical goals. However, TouriBot had limitations and drawbacks identified during this initial phase of the study. These stakeholder evaluations provide perception-based feedback that can inform further system refinement and guide student-centered evaluation in classroom settings. Full article

In the context of high-density urban renewal, aligning community-based eldercare centers with the heterogeneous needs of older adults is essential for sustainable aging in place. This imperative demands a paradigm shift from supply-side spatial accessibility to demand-side perceived suitability. Grounded in Person–Environment Fit (P–E Fit) theory, this study establishes a multi-scalar evaluation framework comprising three core dimensions: accessibility and equity, functional efficiency, and environmental performance. Drawing on empirical survey data from 586 older adults across 13 typical communities in Gongshu District, Hangzhou, the framework was supported by a third-order CFA with acceptable absolute fit, although incremental fit indices were attenuated by model complexity. The empirical findings yield two key insights. First, environmental performance emerges as the primary determinant of perceived spatial suitability (weight: 0.3429), suggesting a potential “quality–proximity compensatory” tendency wherein older adults tend to prioritize refined spatial quality over mere physical proximity, although this interpretation requires further empirical validation. Second, within the surveyed cohort, perceived importance declined markedly around age 75, reflecting an experiential transition window rather than an invariant chronological threshold, and pointing to a potential divergence between standardized spatial provision and the heightened dependencies of advanced age. To operationalize these findings, an exploratory four-tier suitability classification tool coupled with differentiated spatial programming strategies was developed. This research provides urban planners and policymakers with a bottom-up decision-support framework to advance precision governance in high-density cities. Full article

Background/Objectives: Accelerating population ageing has made community-based frailty prevention among older adults an important public health priority. Guided by the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance Qualitative Evaluation for Systematic Translation (RE-AIM QuEST) framework, this mixed-methods study assessed the implementation outcomes and contextual factors of the multi-component Exercise, Fruit intake and Vitamin Supplementation (EFVF) program and identified factors relevant to its sustainability and potential adaptation to other settings. Methods: This implementation evaluation was embedded within a cluster-randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06225271) conducted across 14 community clusters in Wuzhong District, Suzhou, China, from March 2024 to April 2025. Quantitative data from participation records, implementation supervision records, and post-intervention follow-up questionnaires were combined with qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 17 stakeholders, including 3 CDC administrators and 14 frontline primary care providers. Qualitative data were analyzed using a hybrid framework-guided inductive–deductive approach. Quantitative and qualitative findings were analyzed separately and integrated within the RE-AIM QuEST dimensions at the interpretation stage. Results: Of the 1380 eligible older adults in the intervention clusters, 475 (34.42%) initiated the EFVF program. Compared with 2248 eligible non-participants, participants showed similar sex distributions (p = 0.880) but differed significantly in age (p < 0.001), educational level (p = 0.002), and marital status (p < 0.001). Material incentives, health-seeking needs, community trust, and accessible venues facilitated participation, whereas agricultural work, family responsibilities, limited health literacy, and geographic barriers constrained Reach. Frontline providers perceived improvements in health awareness, dietary practices, exercise behaviors, and social interaction, while also reporting variation in participant responsiveness and limited maintenance of some behaviors after structured support ended. All seven intervention community health centers adopted the program, and 34 of 75 eligible frontline providers participated in delivery (45.33%). All 168 directly observed site-sessions met the prespecified core fidelity criteria, and 393 participants (82.74%) completed both intervention months. At follow-up, provider willingness for continued delivery varied, with 21.43% expressing unconditional willingness to continue the program. Conclusions: The EFVF program was implemented with high fidelity under trial-supported community primary care conditions, while frontline workload, behavioral maintenance, and organizational support remained important implementation considerations. These findings support feasibility under the study conditions but do not establish routine-care feasibility or scalability to other settings. Future adaptation should consider local population characteristics, staffing and workflow capacity, flexible delivery arrangements, and sustained organizational support. Multi-site pragmatic evaluation, including implementation cost assessment and longer-term maintenance, is needed before broader implementation can be established. Full article