Search Results (112,716)

Efficient inorganic carbon supply is a common limitation in microalgal cultivation, particularly in waste-derived media such as anaerobic digestate. Carbonic anhydrase (CA) accelerates the interconversion of CO₂ and bicarbonate and may therefore enhance carbon utilisation under conditions where inorganic carbon is abundant but not readily available. In this study, crude CA-containing extracts (aCA) were prepared from Scenedesmus-dominated algal biomass, and CA activity was quantified using an esterase assay (EAA). Although EAA activities varied depending on biomass pretreatment (0.15–0.47 U g⁻¹ DW), the physiological response to extract addition was consistent. In batch cultures of Chlorella sorokiniana grown in diluted digestate, aCA supplementation increased the specific growth rate (SGR) by 21–82%. In contrast, stimulation in a mineral medium was minimal, indicating that the benefit of aCA addition is most apparent under reduced inorganic carbon availability. In semi-continuous cultivation, repeated extract addition sustained a higher biomass productivity over time (rather than a specific growth rate). These results demonstrate that crude microalgal extracts containing CA can improve growth performance in digestate-based cultures and may offer a simple, low-cost approach to enhancing inorganic carbon utilisation in waste-integrated algal production systems. Full article

Genetically modified (GM) forage crops engineered to accumulate elevated levels of lipids offer potential benefits for ruminant nutrition and greenhouse gas mitigation. However, robust and reproducible workflows for producing, harvesting, and preserving GM forage biomass under containment remain a critical bottleneck, particularly where regulatory constraints preclude field-scale evaluation. Here, we describe a controlled-environment workflow for the repeated cultivation, harvesting, and ensiling of GM high-metabolizable-energy (HME) perennial ryegrass and corresponding null controls. Plants were grown under greenhouse containment, subjected to multiple regrowth cycles, and harvested biomass was wilted and ensiled using small-scale laboratory silos. Silage fermentation characteristics, total lipid content, and fatty acid (FA) composition were assessed following short- and long-term storage. Over 16 months, approximately 130 kg dry matter (DM) of each genotype was produced across multiple harvests and ensiling batches. Seasonal variation strongly influenced herbage composition, with water-soluble carbohydrate concentrations 4–5-fold higher in spring–summer than autumn–winter. Following ensiling, HME silage consistently retained elevated FA content compared with null controls (4.85% vs. 2.75% DM) and higher gross energy (18.1 vs. 17.5 MJ kg⁻¹ DM). FA profiling indicated that major FA classes in HME were preserved across storage durations. After 342 days of storage, HME silage maintained 76% higher FA content, 4% greater DM digestibility, and 0.3–0.8 MJ kg⁻¹ DM higher metabolizable energy. Both genotypes exhibited good fermentation quality, with pH consistently below 4.1 and adequate lactic acid production. This study does not evaluate animal performance or methane mitigation outcomes but establishes a practical and reproducible methodology for generating characterized GM silage material under containment suitable for subsequent in vivo studies, addressing a key translational gap between GM forage development and animal-based evaluation. Full article

Livestock health knowledge graphs are essential for decision-making and reasoning in animal husbandry, yet existing knowledge is scattered across unstructured literature and encoded in narrowly scoped, species-specific models, resulting in semantic fragmentation and limited reusability. To address these issues, we proposed FARM (Four-dimensional Automated-Reasoning Multi-agent), a zero-shot multi-agent framework used for constructing multi-species livestock health knowledge graphs. FARM is grounded in a Four-Dimension Livestock Health Framework encompassing Rearing Environment, Physiological Status, Feed & Water Inputs, and Production Performance, and employs a unified ontology strategy that integrates cross-species general labels with species-specific constraints to achieve semantic alignment. The framework orchestrates five specialized agents—Coordination, Entity Extraction, Ontology Normalization, Relation Extraction, and Knowledge Fusion—to automate the construction process. Experiments on 2478 expertly annotated text samples demonstrate that FARM achieves an entity-level F1 score of 0.8070 (IoU ≥ 0.5), surpassing the strongest baseline by 0.1627. Moreover, it attains a corrected entity label accuracy of 90.44% and an F1 score of 0.9277 in relation existence identification, outperforming the baseline by 0.1114. Validation on 500 image samples further confirms its capability in multimodal evidence fusion. The resulting knowledge graph contains 29,064 entities and 26,662 triples, providing a reusable foundation for zero-shot extraction and unified cross-species semantic modeling. Full article

Cybersecurity teams rely on signature-based scanners such as Loki, a command-line tool for scanning malware, to identify Indicators of Compromise (IOCs), malicious artifacts, and YARA-rule matches. However, the raw Loki log output delivered as CSV or plaintext is challenging to interpret without additional visualization and correlation tools. Therefore, this research discusses the creation of a web-based dashboard that displays results from the Loki scanner. The project focuses on processing and displaying information collected from Loki’s scans, which are available in log files or CSV format. DIGITRACKER was developed as a proof-of-concept (PoC) to process this data and present it in a user-friendly, visually appealing way, enabling system administrators and cybersecurity teams to monitor potential threats and vulnerabilities effectively. By leveraging modern web technologies and dynamic data visualization, the tool enhances the user experience, transforming raw scan results into a well-organized, interactive dashboard. This approach simplifies the often-complicated task of manual log analysis, making it easier to interpret output data and to support low-budget or resource-constrained cybersecurity teams by transforming raw logs into actionable insights. The project demonstrates the dashboard’s effectiveness in identifying and addressing threats, providing valuable tools for cybersecurity system administrators. Moreover, our evaluation shows that DIGITRACKER can process scan logs containing hundreds of IOC alerts within seconds and supports multiple concurrent users with minimal latency overhead. In test scenarios, the integrated Loki scans were achieved, and the end-to-end pipeline from the end of the scan to the initiation of dashboard visualization incurred an average latency of under 20 s. These results demonstrate improved threat visibility, support structured triage workflows, and enhance analysts’ task management. Overall, the system provides a practical, extensible PoC that bridges the gap between command-line scanners and operational security dashboards, with new scan results displayed on the dashboard faster than manual log analysis. By streamlining analysis and enabling near-real-time monitoring, the PoC tool DIGITRACKER empowers cyber defense initiatives and enhances overall system security. Full article

Coal combustion residues are often useful components for the cement industry. This study represents a material characterization and screening analysis by focusing on the mineralogical, physicochemical, and petrographic compositions of fly and bottom ash samples from four Greek power plants in order to evaluate their suitability and potential in industrial applications, especially as fillers in cement manufacturing. Proximate analysis revealed LOI values exceeding ASTM C618-22 limits. The sum of SiO₂, CaO, and Al₂O₃ classifies the studied samples as Class C except one. Iron and magnesium oxides are among the major components, while S, Ni, and Sr are also contained in significant amounts. Calcite, quartz, and plagioclases dominate, corresponding to their geochemical profile, while secondary mineral phases (i.e., neo-formed minerals during coal combustion) such as natrolite and gehlenite, were also identified. Relatively high amounts of carbonized organic matter and unburnt organic particles point to the incomplete combustion process, revealing the risk of slagging into the combustion chamber; this is confirmed through the high slagging and fouling indices. The amount of the magnetic fraction is low; magnetic spherules with complex surface structures and a wide range of spherule sizes were observed. While the pozzolanic character of the samples is strong, high values of LOI, S content, and carbonized organic material make them suitable for the cement industry after further treatment only. Full article

Microplastics spread through the environment in various ways. Inland waters are an ideal medium for their dispersal, as they collect pollutants from various sources and transport them over long distances. From there, microplastics can enter the marine environment, break down into smaller particles or end up in drinking water treatment plants. However, the fate, transport and potential health effects of microplastics after ingestion of drinking water and water in food are not yet fully understood. It is therefore necessary to evaluate the quantification and identification of microplastics in drinking water by analysing real samples in order to assess the potential impact on human health. To this end, microplastic contamination in 32 treated drinking water samples from a surface water treatment plant in north-eastern Italy were analysed using micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (µ-FT-IR). The results indicated low levels of contamination, with all the samples containing less than 170 microplastics per litre, which is in line with European drinking water levels. Polyolefins with size 50–500 µm, such as polypropylene and polyethylene, were the predominant polymers detected (50.2%), while surprisingly polyethylene terephthalate was scarcely present (0.1%, size range 10–50 µm). Statistical analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between microplastic concentration and sampling volume, with larger volumes yielding fewer particles. This inconsistency likely results from the lack of bottle rinsing when only a fraction of the sampling volume is filtered. It was also found that rinsing the sampling bottles with ethanol alone prior to analysis was sufficient to ensure accurate quantification. These results highlight the challenges in standardising the detection of microplastics in drinking water and underline the need for optimised sampling protocols. Full article

Serbia’s energy sector is undergoing structural transformation driven by European climate policies, market volatility, and the need for long-term energy security. In this context, geological storage of energy carriers represents a strategically important option. Depleted gas reservoirs, particularly within the Pannonian Basin, constitute a technically validated subsurface infrastructure suitable for repurposing as multifunctional storage systems for natural gas, CO₂, and green hydrogen. This study analyzes trends in European and Serbian natural gas markets, EU decarbonization targets, and Serbia’s energy balance to assess the feasibility of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and underground hydrogen storage. Key geological parameters governing long-term containment—lithology, effective porosity, permeability, caprock integrity, and structural stability—are evaluated, with emphasis on reservoirs combining favorable properties and proximity to existing infrastructure. Quantitative screening based on reservoir depth (approximately 1000–2500 m), effective porosity (15–25%), permeability (typically >50 mD), verified caprock integrity, and estimated geological storage capacities ranging from 0.17 to 1.25 billion m³ demonstrates that several depleted gas reservoirs in Serbia meet explicit fit-for-purpose criteria for underground storage applications. A comparative analysis of the physical and molecular behavior of H₂, CH₄, and CO₂ in porous media indicates that hydrogen storage is the most sensitive to reservoir integrity. The reported results provide quantitative and qualitative evidence that selected depleted gas reservoirs in Serbia satisfy essential requirements for project-level screening, including reservoir capacity, petrophysical suitability, caprock integrity, and infrastructure accessibility. These findings support the technical readiness of such reservoirs for staged deployment of natural gas storage, CO₂ sequestration, and underground hydrogen storage in the post-2035 energy system. Overall, combined subsurface storage of natural gas, CO₂, and hydrogen in Serbia is technically feasible, economically justified, and strategically relevant within the national energy transition framework. Full article

Background: Conservative management of port-related bacteremia often includes locally administered antimicrobials, known as antimicrobial lock therapy (ALT). Current guidelines recommend daily replacement of antimicrobial lock solutions (ALSs). We aimed to evaluate whether ALSs could remain effective with extended dwell times of up to 10 days. Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, patients with noninfected, recently implanted ports were assigned to one of five ALS dwell-time groups, ranging from 1 to 10 days. Each ALS contained heparin plus an antimicrobial at standard intraluminal concentrations: vancomycin 2 mg/mL, teicoplanin 10 mg/mL, linezolid 1.8 mg/mL, daptomycin 5 mg/mL, or tigecycline 4.5 mg/mL. The primary endpoint was the time at which intraluminal drug concentrations decreased below 1 mg/mL (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01592032). Results: Vancomycin and linezolid concentrations fell significantly below 1 mg/mL after 3 days of dwell time. Daptomycin and tigecycline concentrations decreased significantly after 7 days but remained above 1 mg/mL. Teicoplanin concentrations did not decline significantly after 7 days. Conclusions: Optimal ALS dwell time depends on the antimicrobial agent. Vancomycin and linezolid locks require daily replacement, whereas daptomycin, tigecycline, and teicoplanin locks maintain therapeutic concentrations for up to 7 days. These findings support individualized ALS replacement strategies, potentially reducing the need for daily interventions. Full article

Transcription factors (TFs) are ubiquitously distributed in plants and play pivotal roles in regulating plant growth and development. The present study aims to elucidate the function of transcription factors (TFs) in highland barley’s response to selenium stress. The results show that 89, 218, 141, 92, 23, and 34 genes were identified from the bHLH, MYB, NAC, WRKY, GATA, and HSF families, respectively. We analyzed the physicochemical properties of the transcription factor family, including amino acid number and molecular weight, theoretical PI, instability index, hydrophilicity index, and subcellular location. The majority of proteins encoded by these gene families are hydrophilic and predominantly localized in the nucleus. Structural analysis demonstrates that each family contains conserved motifs and domains. Most bHLH genes, such as KAE8811666.1 and KAE8789390.1, contain bHLH_SF superfamily domains. 45 MYB genes possess the myb_SHAQKYF domain. Most NAC genes possess typical NAM domains. Most WRKY proteins showed the WRKY superfamily domain. The 22 members of GATA possess the ZnF_GATA domain. HSF gene family showed that 24 gene family members contained HSF domains. Systematic evolutionary analysis indicates that the bHLH and NAC families can each be divided into nine subfamilies, while the remaining four families are categorized into five to eight subfamilies, respectively. Based on transcriptome data, under low selenium treatment, 56.25%, 76%, 67.39%, 47.37%, 50%, and 56.25% of the genes belonging to the bHLH, MYB, NAC, WRKY, GATA, and HSF transcription factor families were significantly upregulated, respectively. In contrast, under high selenium treatment, the proportions of upregulated genes in these families were 81.25%, 80%, 65.22%, 63.16%, 75%, and 75%, respectively. Additionally, qRT-PCR results were consistent with the trends of the transcriptome expression data, corroborating the reliability and accuracy of the transcriptomic findings. These results elucidate the molecular characteristics and response patterns of six transcription factor families to selenium stress in highland barley, laying a foundation for further in-depth research on the functions of transcription factors in highland barley plants. Full article

While Microservice Architectures (MSAs) offer enhanced scalability and maintenance, they introduce significant complexity for access control and, specifically, the rigorous enforcement of the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP). This lack of clear privilege boundaries is a major security vulnerability in microservice-based systems. To address this gap, this study conducts a systematic mapping study to provide a comprehensive guide and taxonomy on implementing PoLP in MSA. We identify and categorize existing mechanisms, best practices, and the technical and non-technical challenges encountered during implementation. The systematic search identified 25 primary studies, revealing a significant contribution from journal venues, particularly Computers & Security. Key findings detail the top technical challenges, including performance overhead, fragile container isolation, and authentication/authorization gaps inherent in service-to-service communication. Proposed mechanisms are categorized into four groups: policy and access control, code and configuration hardening, runtime/kernel-level methods, and general frameworks. Similarly, organizational challenges are grouped by people/culture, tooling/architecture, process/governance, and resource/expertise. This study provides a valuable roadmap and taxonomy for diverse security stakeholders. The identified research gaps—concerning AI integration, DevSecOps adoption, education, and dynamic analysis—underscore the need to shift from the currently predominantly theoretical approaches towards practical, experimental research to advance the real-world application of PoLP. Full article

Background/Objectives: Dental caries remains one of the most prevalent chronic diseases worldwide, making enamel remineralization a key objective in minimally invasive dentistry. This in vitro study compared the remineralization efficacy of five therapeutic toothpastes containing fluoride, NovaMin, CPP-ACP, nano-hydroxyapatite, arginine, and xylitol. Methods: Sixty enamel specimens were prepared from extracted human posterior teeth and artificially demineralized. Samples were randomly allocated into six groups (n = 10): one negative control (C1) stored in artificial saliva and five treatment groups (P1–P5). A 28-day remineralization protocol with twice-daily applications was performed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) were used to assess surface morphology and elemental composition (Ca, P, F, Na, O, Ca/P ratio) at days 1, 14, and 28. Vickers microhardness testing was used to evaluate changes in mechanical properties. Statistical analysis included one-way ANOVA, repeated measures ANOVA, Tukey’s post hoc test, and Kruskal–Wallis where appropriate (α = 0.05). Results: All therapeutic toothpastes produced some increase in mineral content compared to the demineralized control. At day 28, significant intergroup differences were observed for calcium, phosphorus, and fluoride (p < 0.001). The arginine–fluoride formulation (P4) and the NovaMin-based formulation (P3) showed the most consistent increases in Ca and P, with SEM revealing the formation of a continuous, compact surface layer and marked reduction in prismatic porosities. Fluoride-containing toothpastes (P1, P3, P4) showed significant fluoride incorporation (p < 0.001 vs. control). The nano-hydroxyapatite/xylitol prototype (P5) produced a delayed but progressive increase in Ca and P, with partial filling of prismatic spaces. The CPP-ACP-based toothpaste (P2) led to limited changes, with only slight differences vs. control at day 28. Vickers microhardness values increased significantly in groups P1, P3, P4, and P5 (p < 0.05), in agreement with the higher mineral levels found in these samples. Conclusions: Under the present in vitro conditions, toothpastes containing fluoride in combination with NovaMin or arginine, as well as nano-hydroxyapatite/xylitol, demonstrated the highest remineralization potential under the present in vitro conditions, both chemically and mechanically. Xylitol-based formulations without a direct mineral supply showed limited effects. The pH and active composition of the toothpaste strongly influenced enamel remineralization outcomes. Full article

The topic of chaotic thresholds for piecewise linear discontinuous (PWLD) systems with multiple-well potentials is a persistent topic in the research of a number of authors. In this article we investigate the chaos of a modified piecewise linear discontinuous (MPWLD) system. The model, containing N free parameters, could be of interest to specialists working in this area. With a specially developed software product, we generate the Melnikov equation $M\left(t\right)=0$ and examine all its zeros. This opens up an opportunity for researchers to correctly understand and formulate the classical Melnikov criterion for the possible occurrence of chaos in dynamical systems. Several simulations are composed. We also demonstrate some specialized modules for investigating the dynamics of the proposed model. Intriguing and new generalizations made through probabilistic constructions are considered. Full article

Background/Objectives: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continues to pose a significant challenge for infection prevention, particularly because of its ability to persist on surfaces and form resilient biofilms. Although bacteriophages have attracted renewed interest as alternatives or complements to chemical disinfectants, their applied use requires careful assessment of antimicrobial performance, formulation tolerance, and genomic context. Methods: Staphylococcus-infecting bacteriophages were isolated from environmental sources and examined against reference Staphylococcus isolates. Two phage isolates, designated MRSA-W3 and SA-W2, displayed lytic activity against a broad subset of clinical MRSA strains. Using a time-resolved agar-based infection assay, phage exposure resulted in a multiplicity-of-infection-dependent decline in viable MRSA populations. Results: Time-resolved infection assays revealed a multiplicity-of-infection-dependent reduction in viable MRSA, with a pronounced decrease observed approximately 40 min post-infection. At this time point, phage-treated cultures showed a reduction of 1.2–1.8 log₁₀ CFU/mL relative to untreated controls (mean Δlog₁₀ = 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1–1.9), while control cultures remained stable. Quantitative biofilm assays demonstrated that both phages reduced biofilm biomass compared with untreated conditions, with inhibition values ranging from 20% to 45% across isolates (p ≤ 0.05), reflecting strain-dependent but reproducible effects. Assessment of formulation compatibility indicated that both phages retained infectivity following exposure to sodium dodecyl sulfate, Triton X-100, and Tween 80, whereas ethanol (≥10%) and higher concentrations of dimethyl sulfoxide were associated with rapid loss of activity. In surface disinfection models, selected phage–surfactant formulations achieved a maximum reduction of 2.18 log₁₀ CFU/cm² compared with untreated controls (p ≤ 0.05). Infection-coupled whole-genome sequencing of MRSA-infecting phage MRSA-W3 produced a high-quality assembly (99.99% completeness; 0.13% contamination) and revealed a mosaic genome containing incomplete prophage-like regions, which were interpreted conservatively as evidence of shared phage ancestry rather than active temperate behavior. Conclusions: Therefore, these findings suggest that bacteriophage-based approaches may be feasible for MRSA surface decontamination, while clearly emphasizing the need for context-specific validation before practical implementation. Full article

In this work, we extend the classical framework of quantization for Borel probability measures defined on normed spaces ${\mathbb{R}}^k$ by introducing and analyzing the notions of the nth constrained quantization error, constrained quantization dimension, and constrained quantization coefficient. These concepts generalize the well-established nth quantization error, quantization dimension, and quantization coefficient, which are traditionally considered in the unconstrained setting and thereby broaden the scope of quantization theory. A key distinction between the unconstrained and constrained frameworks lies in the structural properties of optimal quantizers. In the unconstrained setting, if the support of P contains at least n elements, then the elements of an optimal set of n-points coincide with the conditional expectations over their respective Voronoi regions; this characterization does not, in general, persist under constraints. Moreover, it is known that if the support of P contains at least n elements, then any optimal set of n-points in the unconstrained case consists of exactly n distinct elements. This property, however, may fail to hold in the constrained context. Further differences emerge in asymptotic behaviors. For absolutely continuous probability measures, the unconstrained quantization dimension is known to exist and equals the Euclidean dimension of the underlying space. In contrast, we show that this equivalence does not necessarily extend to the constrained setting. Additionally, while the unconstrained quantization coefficient exists and assumes a unique, finite, and positive value for absolutely continuous measures, we establish that the constrained quantization coefficient can exhibit significant variability and may attain any nonnegative value, depending critically on the specific nature of the constraint applied to the quantization process. Full article

This paper presents a comparative analysis of time parameters involved in the preparation phase of machining processes of the taper tap, contrasting traditional and modern approaches. The study examines the time required for the creation of a technological process sheet using traditional methods, and the time necessary for 3D modeling and CNC machine programming using modern CAD/CAM software Fusion 360 software (version v2.0.21286). Both approaches are based on the same workshop drawing so initial input data is consistent. The modern approach utilizes the Fusion 360 software (version v2.0.21286) for the creation of a 3D model and CNC machine programming. The traditional method relies on manual interpretation of the workshop drawing and handwritten technological process sheet that contains information about machining operations. Time consumption for each phase (technological planning in the traditional method and digital modeling and programming in the modern method) is measured and compared. The study aims to determine which approach demonstrates higher practical efficiency in specific production contexts and conditions. The scientific contribution of this work lies in providing quantifiable insights into the differences between traditional and modern production preparation methods, thereby supporting decision-making processes in the selection of optimal machining preparation strategies. Full article