Search Results (8,377)

Bandlimited functions are functions whose Fourier transform is confined to a finite band of frequencies. We generalize this concept to representations other than the Fourier transform and show that this leads to a variety of inequalities in arbitrary representations. Several special cases are considered, including frequency, dilation, and the chirplet transform, among others. Examples are given to illustrate each result. We apply the results to quantum mechanical wave functions and probability distributions. For bounded momentum wave functions, we obtain explicit bounds on the position wave function and its derivatives, as well as bounds on the position probability distribution. We also consider the dual problem in which the position wave function is bounded, as in the case of a particle in a box with an arbitrary wave function, and obtain bounds on the corresponding momentum wave function and momentum probability distribution. The case of wave functions that are sums of a finite number of energy eigenfunctions is also developed, and bounds on the associated probability distributions are obtained. A number of specific examples are considered, including a truncated Gaussian wave function and a quantum bump wave function. Full article

This article explores Mihail Aslan’s volume of poetry Late Geometries, Rejected through the prism of an in-depth psychoanalytic reading. The text highlights how the poetic work constitutes an expression of deep psychic processes, centered around the concepts of early trauma, narcissistic deficit, and failure of the primordial environment. Through theories by authors such as Winnicott, Anzieu, Green, and Kristeva, the article reveals how Aslan’s creation functions as a transitional space, in which a complex dialectic takes place between Eros and Thanatos, between the constitution of the self and its waste. Writing thus becomes an act of psychic survival, a way to metabolize the traumatic experience and to reconstruct an inner geometry, albeit “late” and “rejected”. Full article

Nanobiotechnology, defined as the application of nanotechnology in biology and medicine, refers to the use of nanometric structures to solve complex clinical problems through precise interaction at the molecular level. Nanostructures such as lipid, polymer, and metallic nanoparticles offer unique properties that enable improved therapeutic and diagnostic efficacy and the integration of diagnostic and therapeutic functions within the concept of theranostics. Major applications of nanobiotechnology include targeted drug delivery in cancer, infection, and gene therapy; advanced molecular diagnostics and biosensors; tissue engineering and regeneration; and immune system modulation through modern nanotechnology-based vaccines and immunotherapies. The clinical significance of these technologies lies in their ability to improve drug bioavailability, minimize adverse effects, increase sensitivity in early disease detection, and support personalized treatment strategies. Nanobiotechnology also contributes to the development of precision medicine by combining diagnostics and therapy within a single nanosystem. Despite promising results, significant challenges remain related to safety, biocompatibility, toxicity, and translation from laboratory studies to clinical applications. Further research is needed to standardize methods, assess the long-term health impact of nanomaterials, and develop regulatory frameworks to fully realize the potential of nanobiotechnology in medicine. Full article

This first part of a two-part review examines how Computed Tomography(CT)-based, additively manufactured (AM) porous implants are used to reconstruct large segmental defects of the femur and tibia. We focus on lightweight patient-specific lattice implants, architected cages, and modular porous constructs that incorporate engineered porosity into the load-bearing structure and are deployed with plate-, nail-, or external-fixator-based stabilization. We show how defects are described and classified by size, morphology, and anatomical subsegment; how these descriptors influence fixation choice and the resulting mechanical environment; and where along the femur and tibia porous implants have been applied in clinical and preclinical settings. Across the literature, outcomes appear to depend most strongly on defect morphology and local biology, while fixation feasibility and construct behavior vary by subregional anatomy. Most reported constructs use Ti6Al4V porous architectures intended to share load with fixation, reduce stress shielding, and provide a regenerative space for graft and tissue ingrowth. Finite element analyses (FEA) and bench-top studies consistently indicate that lattice architecture, relative density (RD), and fixation concept jointly control stiffness, micromotion, and fatigue-sensitive regions, whereas early animal and human reports describe promising incorporation and functional recovery in selected cases. However, defect descriptors, fixation reporting, boundary conditions, and outcome metrics remain diverse, and explicit quantitative validation of simulations against mechanical or in vivo measurements is uncommon. Most published work relies on simulation and bench testing, with limited reporting of biological endpoints, leaving a validation gap that prevents direct translation. We emphasize the need for standardized defect and fixation descriptors, harmonized mechanical and modeling protocols, and defect-centered datasets that integrate anatomy, mechanics, and longitudinal outcomes. Across the 27 included studies (may be counted in more than one group), simulation and mechanical testing are reported in 19/27 (70%) and 15/27 (56%), respectively, while in vivo studies (preclinical or clinical) account for 9/27 (33%), highlighting a validation gap that limits translation. Part 2 (under review); of these two series review paper; Patient-Specific Lattice Implants for Segmental Femoral and Tibial Reconstruction (Part 2): CT-Based Personalization, Design Workflows, and Validation-A Review; extends this work by detailing CT-to-implant workflows, lattice design strategies, and methodological validation. Full article

Background: Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) and post-infectious fibrotic lung disease are characterized by marked heterogeneity in radiologic patterns, physiologic impairment, and clinical presentation. Conventional analytic approaches often fail to capture non-linear and multimodal relationships between structural imaging findings and functional limitation. Integrating imaging-derived representations with clinical and functional data using artificial intelligence (AI) may provide a more comprehensive characterization of disease heterogeneity. Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a multimodal AI framework combining imaging-derived embeddings and structured clinical data to identify atypical clinical–radiologic profiles in patients with pulmonary fibrosis using unsupervised anomaly detection. Methods: A retrospective cohort of 41 patients with radiologically confirmed pulmonary fibrosis or post-infectious fibrotic lung disease was analyzed. Deep imaging embeddings were extracted from baseline thoracic CT examinations using a pretrained convolutional neural network and integrated with standardized clinical and functional variables. A multimodal variational autoencoder (VAE) was trained in an unsupervised manner to learn the distribution of typical patient profiles. Patient-specific anomaly scores were derived from reconstruction error plus latent regularization (β·KL divergence). Associations between anomaly scores, disease severity, and clinical markers were assessed using Spearman rank correlation. Results: Anomaly scores were right-skewed (median 26.91, IQR 22.87–32.11; range 19.75–46.18). Patients above the 85th percentile (anomaly score ≥ 33.85) comprised 7/41 (17.1%) of the cohort and occurred across all clinician-assigned severity categories (mild 3, moderate 1, severe 3). Anomaly scores overlapped substantially across severity groups, with similar medians (mild 26.47, moderate 28.55, severe 28.23). Correlations with conventional severity markers were weak and non-significant, including DLCO (% predicted; ρ = −0.25, p = 0.115) and FEV₁ (% predicted; ρ = −0.22, p = 0.165), a pattern consistent with anomaly scores reflecting multimodal deviation rather than severity alone, while acknowledging the exploratory nature of the analysis. Highly anomalous patients frequently exhibited discordant clinical–radiologic profiles, including preserved functional capacity despite marked imaging-derived deviation or disproportionate physiological impairment relative to imaging patterns. Conclusions: This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that multimodal VAE-based anomaly detection integrating imaging-derived embeddings with clinical data can quantify clinical–radiologic heterogeneity in pulmonary fibrosis beyond conventional severity stratification. Unsupervised anomaly detection provides a complementary framework for identifying atypical multimodal profiles and supporting individualized phenotyping and hypothesis generation in fibrotic lung disease. Given the modest cohort size, these findings should be interpreted as illustrative and hypothesis-generating rather than generalizable. Full article

The chain rule is a foundational concept in calculus, critical for differentiating composite functions, especially those appearing in modern AI techniques. Its extension to fractional calculus presents challenges due to the integral-based nature and intrinsic memory effects of these fractional operators. This survey provides a review of chain-rule formulations across major known FDs, including Riemann-Liouville (RL), Caputo, Caputo-Fabrizio (CF), Atangana-Baleanu-Riemann (ABR), Atangana-Baleanu-Caputo (ABC), and Caputo-Fabrizio with Gaussian kernel (CFG). The main contribution here is the introduction of a unified criterion, denoted as $C$, which synthesizes and extends previous classification frameworks for systematically formulating the chain rule across different operators. Each chain rule is examined in terms of its derivation, operator structure, and scope of applicability. In addition, the survey analyzes series-based approximations that appear in computing these derivatives, highlighting the minimum number of terms required to achieve acceptable mean absolute error (MAE). By consolidating theoretical developments, derivation methods, and numerical strategies, this paper provides a comprehensive resource for researchers and practitioners working with fractional-order models. Full article

This paper presents a hybrid qualitative–quantitative framework for assessing the technical feasibility and system readiness of emerging multimodal mobility concepts, with specific application to the Pods4Rail project. The methodology integrates expert-based Technology Readiness Level (TRL) assessment with a probabilistic System Readiness Level (SRL) estimation that incorporates uncertainties in both TRLs and Integration Readiness Levels (IRLs). The qualitative component uses expert judgment and visual heat maps to identify subsystem-specific maturity gaps, particularly in automation, digitalization, and sustainability. The quantitative component explicitly separates three methodological layers often treated implicitly in prior research: (i) the probabilistic model representing uncertainties in TRL and IRL, (ii) the uncertainty-propagation problem linking these variables to system-level readiness, and (iii) the Monte Carlo algorithm employed to solve this problem. This structure enables the derivation of SRL distributions that reflect uncertainty more realistically than deterministic approaches, allowing statistical analysis of different characteristics of these distributions and exploratory sensitivity analysis. Results show that the Pods4Rail system is positioned between SRL 1 and SRL 2, corresponding to concept refinement and technology development stages. While hardware-related subsystems such as the Transport Unit and Rail Carrier Unit exhibit relatively higher maturity, planning, logistics, and operational management functionalities remain at early development stages. By combining interpretative insight with statistical rigor, the proposed framework offers a transparent and reproducible approach to early-phase readiness assessment. Its transferability makes it suitable for other innovative mobility systems facing similar challenges of incomplete information, uncertain integration pathways, and high conceptual complexity. Full article

This study explores how teachers interpret the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 13 (Climate Action), as pedagogical frameworks and how they translate these goals into pedagogical practice through the design of digital comics. Adopting a qualitative case study design, the research was conducted within the scope of a professional development project entitled Comics of Values and the Environment. The participants consisted of 36 in-service teachers who took part in expert-led training focusing on sustainability education and digital comics design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 teachers, teachers’ self-produced digital comics, and researcher observations of the design process. All qualitative data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. The findings indicate that prior to the training, teachers’ understanding of the SDGs was largely superficial and remained at the level of general awareness. Following the sustainability-oriented training and design-based activities, teachers developed more concrete and pedagogically grounded interpretations of SDG 4 and SDG 13. Quality education was increasingly conceptualized as a holistic process extending beyond academic achievement to include critical thinking, creativity, multimodal literacy, and lifelong learning. Climate action was interpreted not merely as raising awareness but as improving responsibility, agency, and action-oriented learning. Teachers perceived digital comics as effective pedagogical tools for making abstract environmental issues more concrete, enhancing student engagement, and supporting inquiry-based learning. Despite challenges related to technical infrastructure, curriculum constraints, and the need to simplify complex sustainability concepts, the digital comic design process functioned as a form of professional learning. It supported teachers’ reflective thinking, creative problem-solving, and pedagogical agency. The study demonstrates that sustainability-oriented digital comics design can support the translation of global sustainability goals into meaningful classroom practices and highlights the importance of design-based professional development in education for sustainable development. Full article

Radiomics promises quantitative biomarkers extracted from routine hip imaging to support diagnosis, prognosis, and surgical planning, but current evidence is fragmented across pathologies, modalities, and computational pipelines. We conducted a scoping review following PRISMA-ScR and the Population–Concept–Context framework, including peer-reviewed original studies on adults (≥18 years) that applied radiomics or deep-radiomics to hip imaging (X-ray, CT, MRI, DEXA) with clinically relevant outcomes. PubMed (MEDLINE), Embase and Scopus (Elsevier) were searched from 1 January 2021 to 30 August 2025 and complemented by snowballing; screening and data charting were performed in duplicate. Given heterogeneity, findings were synthesized narratively by a priori clusters. In fragility/osteoporosis, opportunistic CT and radiograph-based models frequently achieved AUCs around 0.90–0.96, while DXA-radiomics added information beyond bone mineral density/FRAX and trabecular MRI provided complementary microarchitectural signals. For osteonecrosis of the femoral head, multisequence MRI enabled early diagnosis with AUCs > 0.94; radiomics differentiated transient bone marrow edema with AUCs~0.92–0.94 and predicted collapse using radiographs or MRI with AUCs~0.85–0.90, including automated pipelines with external validation around 0.85. In femoroacetabular impingement, 3D Dixon-MRI studies reported very high performance (~0.97–1.00) with preliminary multicenter generalizability and added value from periarticular soft-tissue features. In total hip arthroplasty, radiomics anticipated press-fit cup stability from preoperative radiographs (AUC~0.82) and predicted 6-month functional recovery using clinico-radiomic CT models (AUC~0.95). Across clusters, methodological robustness was variable (sample sizes, harmonization, leakage control, external/temporal validation, calibration, clinical utility). Radiomics for adult hip disorders shows tangible translational promise in opportunistic screening, complex differential diagnosis, and perioperative decision support, but broader clinical adoption will require multicenter datasets, IBSI-aligned standardization, transparent reporting of calibration and decision-curve analyses, and prospective validation. Full article

As urbanization increasingly compresses ecological spaces, traditional urban greening faces dual challenges of high maintenance costs and diminished ecological functions. Within this context, urban walls—characterized by their widespread distribution, diverse microhabitats, and relatively low levels of human intervention—are gaining recognition as valuable components of urban green infrastructure. Spontaneous wall vegetation, with its strong local adaptability and ecological functions, aligns well with emerging concepts of low-intervention, nature-based urban restoration. This study investigates the composition and environmental drivers of spontaneous wall plant communities across 321 plots on 100 urban walls in central Nanjing, China. Standardized vegetation surveys recorded species composition, cover, and wall-related environmental variables. Variance partitioning, canonical correspondence analysis, and multiple linear regression were applied to elucidate the relationships between plant diversity patterns and environmental factors. Results revealed high species diversity on urban walls, with 163 vascular plant species across 125 genera and 60 families. Retaining walls and spring plots exhibited more complex community structures. Environmental factors collectively explained 58.1% of the variation in plant communities, with wall inherent attributes contributing 23.1%. Diversity indices indicated a moderate level of richness and evenness, with an average Shannon index of 1.3 (0.6–2.5), Simpson index of 0.6 (0.02–0.9), and Patrick index of 1.9 (0.3–3.8). Microstructural attributes such as joint degradation and surface roughness facilitated colonization, highlighting the critical role of microhabitat heterogeneity in community assembly. As one of the first systematic studies on spontaneous vegetation of urban vertical structures in the Yangtze River Delta, this research provides foundational data on urban wall biodiversity and offers valuable insights for integrating native species into green infrastructure planning. Full article

Atherosclerosis is a chronic, progressive disease of the arterial wall and the principal pathological substrate underlying most cardiovascular diseases, including ischemic heart disease, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease. Despite advances in prevention, imaging, and therapy, atherosclerosis remains the leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide. From a pathological perspective, the disease represents a dynamic and heterogeneous process characterized by endothelial dysfunction, lipid retention and modification, chronic inflammation, immune activation, smooth muscle cell phenotypic modulation, extracellular matrix remodeling, and thrombogenic surface alterations. This review provides a comprehensive overview of atherosclerosis from a pathologist’s perspective, integrating classical morphological concepts with contemporary insights into immunopathology, plaque classification, and mechanisms of plaque instability. We summarize the structure and function of the arterial wall, the stepwise pathogenesis of lesion initiation and progression, and the histopathological classification systems established by the American Heart Association and subsequently refined through Virmani’s framework. Particular emphasis is placed on plaque instability, highlighting the qualitative features—such as fibrous cap thinning, necrotic core expansion, macrophage-driven inflammation, plaque erosion, and calcification patterns—that determine clinical outcomes rather than luminal stenosis alone. Furthermore, the review discusses the expanding role of immunohistochemical markers in defining plaque biology, including lineage markers and functional indicators of inflammation, matrix integrity, osteogenic signaling, and local anticoagulant balance. These pathological insights are integrated with contemporary risk assessment tools, imaging modalities, preventive strategies, and therapeutic interventions, including emerging lipid-lowering and RNA-based therapies. In conclusion, pathology remains central to understanding atherosclerosis as a biologically active disease and to refining concepts of plaque instability. Integrating histopathology with molecular profiling, imaging, and clinical data is essential for advancing precision prevention and targeted treatment strategies in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Full article

Background and Objectives: Septic shock is marked by profound circulatory and cellular dysfunction, with mortality rates of 25–40% despite guideline-based resuscitation. Normalization of macrohemodynamic variables often fails to restore tissue perfusion, a concept known as hemodynamic incoherence. Persistent microcirculatory dysfunction is associated with organ failure and poor outcomes, underscoring the limitations of systemic monitoring alone. This focused narrative review synthesizes current evidence on microcirculatory monitoring in septic shock, with emphasis on bedside and emerging optical technologies, and evaluates their role as adjuncts to traditional hemodynamic assessment for perfusion-targeted resuscitation. Materials and Methods: A concept-driven search of PubMed/MEDLINE (January 2015 to January 2026) was performed, incorporating MeSH and free-text terms for septic shock, microcirculation, hemodynamic coherence, and monitoring modalities. Foundational pre-2015 studies were included for context. Articles were screened using predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria to minimize bias, with thematic qualitative synthesis. A PRISMA-inspired flow diagram was used to summarize the study selection process. Results: Microcirculatory alterations in septic shock include reduced functional capillary density, perfusion heterogeneity, and impaired oxygen extraction, persisting despite macrohemodynamic correction. Bedside markers, such as capillary refill time (CRT) and mottling, track microvascular recovery more closely than lactate. When used to guide resuscitation, CRT-based strategies show a non-significant mortality trend in randomized evaluation, with later studies reporting benefit in composite clinical outcomes. Optical technologies offer non-invasive insights: photoplethysmography (PPG) and perfusion index (PI) show prognostic value and early detection of incoherence; automated CRT (aCRT) enhances reproducibility; advanced modalities, such as laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and sublingual videomicroscopy, provide detailed physiological data but face standardization challenges. Recent interventional evidence, including peripheral perfusion-targeted RCTs, supports improved outcomes, though large-scale trials remain limited. Conclusions: Microcirculatory monitoring provides complementary, physiologically relevant information to macrohemodynamic assessment in septic shock. Emerging bedside tools, such as PI and aCRT, are poised for routine use, while multimodal integration may enable personalized management. Future research should prioritize standardization, AI-driven analysis, and randomized trials to confirm outcome benefits. Full article

Docking vessels are used to transport and launch landing crafts, for launching offshore platforms, and in other marine operations. This research develops a new concept for docking vessels, with the aim of optimizing landing operations. Our idea involves separating the functions of transit and landing into two different vessels, where the transporter is the docking vessel of the lander. This generates an efficient concept, as efficient transportation craft and efficient landing craft have different properties to fulfil their functional requirements. The separation enables the design of each vessel with appropriate performance in areas such as cruising speed, range and seakeeping. These functional specifications affect the whole naval architecture of the vessels. This concept is applicable for shores with no harbor facilities, where landing may be necessary for supply or survey. The transporter provides a floating base to the landing craft, with advanced cruising performance, while the lander design has optimal features for shallow water maneuvering and for landing. The docking vessel is of a Semi-SWATH (Small Water-Plane Area Twin Hull) type. A critical aspect of the design concept is the feasibility of launching and docking operations. This research develops this new concept for docking vessels and applies hydrodynamic response analysis to the transporter’s interaction with the lander, for several operational sea states. The method used for the hydrodynamic analysis involves modeling the vessels and solving the wave–body problem for the two interacting vessels, in the frequency domain as well as in the time domain. The time domain analysis enables us to determine the motion of the vessels in real sea spectra, including the representation of the nonlinear response of fenders between the vessels. We apply the AQWA software 2021 developed by ANSYS. The results validate the suitability of this docking application up to a significant wave height of 1.5 m, which present a margin of 0.1 m above the upper limit of sea state 3: 1.4 m. This shows the feasibility of conducting launching and docking operations using this unique design; there is a significant possibility of using this technique to achieve fast and comfortable transportation to a natural shore with no terminal facilities. Full article

We present the case of a 27-year-old woman diagnosed with Löffler’s endomyocarditis complicated by intraventricular thrombus and cerebral infarction. She was treated with prednisolone and anticoagulation therapy; however, tapering of corticosteroids resulted in recurrence of intraventricular thrombosis. Given disease relapse after medication withdrawal, lifelong anticoagulation was indicated. At 29 years of age, she sought pregnancy counseling. Conception was permitted after stabilization of prednisolone dosage, with a planned switch from a vitamin K antagonist to therapeutic-dose unfractionated heparin during pregnancy. Following disease stabilization, she conceived via artificial insemination. Serial echocardiography at 22 and 34 weeks of gestation demonstrated preserved cardiac function without thrombus recurrence. She delivered a healthy infant by emergency cesarean section at 39 weeks of gestation due to fetal distress. No thrombus recurrence was observed postpartum, and she remained clinically stable during 13 months of follow-up. This represents the case of a successful pregnancy in a woman with a history of recurrent intraventricular thrombosis due to Löffler’s endomyocarditis, highlighting the importance of early diagnosis, sustained immunosuppression, individualized anticoagulation, and multidisciplinary preconception planning. Full article

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the leading cause of chronic liver disease worldwide, distinguished by pronounced clinical heterogeneity and a frequent dissociation between metabolic risk factors and the degree of hepatic injury. These observations, together with the limited contribution of genetic heritability, have prompted a re-evaluation of the traditional conceptual framework of the disease. In this context, the question has emerged as to whether MASLD could be, at least in part, a transmissible condition. While there is no evidence to suggest that MASLD is contagious in humans, as no data support person-to-person transmission, gnotobiotic animal studies demonstrate that human gut microbiota can transfer susceptibility to steatosis, inflammation, and systemic metabolic disturbances through immunometabolic mechanisms, independent of host genetics. In parallel, human studies involving microbiota-targeted interventions support the concept that the gut ecosystem is a modifiable determinant of metabolic and hepatic phenotypes. Crucially, these findings do not imply natural transmission of disease, but rather underscore the functional plasticity of microbiota-host interactions. This narrative review integrates epidemiological, experimental, and clinical data to explore the hypothesis that MASLD may be functionally transmissible. MASLD is increasingly recognized as an eco-biological disease, where liver disease risk is not only shaped by host genetics and environment, but also by the ecological configuration and functional outputs of the gut microbiome. This perspective redefines disease susceptibility as, in part, context-dependent and microbiota-mediated, without implying infectiousness in the traditional sense. Full article