Search Results (774)

Swinhoe’s pheasant (Lophura swinhoii) exhibits pronounced sexual dimorphism in adults. However, sexual differences are minimal in juveniles and subadults, making accurate early sex determination essential for captive breeding and conservation. Conventional PCR-based sexing methods require expensive equipment and are unsuitable for field or basic breeding facilities. We developed a novel recombinase-aided amplification (RAA) combined with a Pyrococcus furiosus Argonaute (PfAgo) nuclease system targeting the W-linked EE0.6 sequence (EE0.6–RAA-PfAgo) for rapid and visual sex identification in Swinhoe’s pheasant using DNA extracted from feather samples. In addition, a UCE-based RAA-PfAgo internal amplification control (UCE–RAA-PfAgo) was established to monitor DNA quality and amplification success. The optimal EE0.6-RAA reaction was performed at 39 °C for 20 min, followed by PfAgo-mediated product detection. The entire assay can be completed within 50 min, and results are visually interpretable under blue light. In our dilution experiments, the EE0.6–RAA-PfAgo assay showed a detection limit of 0.65 ng of genomic DNA, which was 10-fold lower than that of conventional PCR (6.5 ng). In a blind test of 19 field feather samples, the results were 100% concordant with conventional PCR. This study establishes a rapid, sensitive, convenient, and equipment-minimizing method for sex identification in Swinhoe’s pheasant, suitable for field applications and basic captive breeding facilities. Full article

Digital twin technologies provide new opportunities for visualizing, analyzing, and managing complex physical systems; however, effective methods are needed to transform digital twin data into immersive environments that support human interaction and decision-making. This study presents the development of a Digital Twin Immersive Environment (DTIE) prototype for facility visualization and analysis at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Mississippi. A photogrammetry-based workflow was used to capture the facility interior and generate a dense three-dimensional point cloud, while a separate Gaussian splat reconstruction was generated from the same image dataset. The Gaussian splat representation was spatially aligned with Revit-derived CAD geometry to provide complementary geometric and photorealistic representations within the immersive environment. A virtual reality (VR) environment was developed with a user interface (UI) supporting ray-cast interaction, speech-to-text data entry, multi-user collaboration, switching between CAD and Gaussian splat representations, in-scene web browsing, and occupant movement simulation. The resulting DTIE prototype demonstrates the technical integration of complementary CAD and Gaussian splat representations with immersive interaction capabilities for facility digital twins. The environment operated at approximately 71.8 FPS under the reported Meta Quest 2 configuration. This work establishes a prototype framework for future investigation of collaborative visualization, scenario analysis, and decision-support applications for complex infrastructure systems. Full article

The regeneration of brownfield sites in Belgrade represents an important component of sustainable urban development. Over the past two decades, Belgrade has experienced extensive redevelopment of brownfield sites, although these transformations have largely taken place without a coherent strategic framework for integrating the provision of public amenities with the needs and priorities of local communities. This study evaluates the regeneration potential of 23 brownfield sites representing different activation statuses using a multi-criteria assessment framework based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). As a case study, the proposed framework has practical applicability and can support decision-makers in the planning and activation of future brownfield sites by incorporating lessons learned from previous redevelopment processes. The ultimate contribution of this study therefore lies in bridging methodological assessment and practical decision-making, thereby supporting more sustainable, evidence-based, and context-sensitive brownfield regeneration. Thirteen criteria were grouped into three thematic categories: environmental safety; infrastructure development and spatial capacity; and quality of life and social well-being. The analysis integrated data from strategic planning documents, spatial datasets, satellite imagery, and field verification, while Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were used to process, spatially integrate, and visualize the results. The proposed framework integrates environmental, spatial, infrastructural, and social considerations to provide a systematic basis for assessing and prioritizing brownfield regeneration. The results indicate that brownfield activation in Belgrade has frequently occurred without sufficient alignment with a clearly defined urban development strategy. Brownfield sites have most commonly been converted into residential areas and shopping centers, while insufficient consideration has been given to the provision of green spaces, tourism-related uses, and potential environmental pressures. Sites located in the municipalities of Savski Venac and Rakovica demonstrate the greatest potential for the integration of green infrastructure. Based on the assessment results, three brownfield typologies were identified: sites suitable for ecological restoration and green corridor development; sites suitable for mixed-use regeneration incorporating public facilities; and sites requiring priority remediation before redevelopment. The findings provide practical guidance for environmental protection, urban safety, and multifunctional regeneration of post-industrial areas, while demonstrating the potential applicability of the proposed methodology to other urban areas facing similar brownfield regeneration challenges. Full article

Facility-layout decisions in small manufacturing firms are often evaluated with heterogeneous indicators, which complicates comparison and reproducibility. This study develops a traceable decision-support workflow and applies it to two manufacturing SME cases in Cotopaxi, Ecuador. Systematic Layout Planning and Guerchet were used as the common core, complemented by case-specific location and prioritization tools, three-dimensional discrete-event simulation in FlexSim, bounded surrogate-model screening, and Meta Quest 2-based immersive review. IPMATOAH’s model comparison increased output from 116 to 120 bales per working day (3.44%) while reducing flow-process-chart total time; VELPACK’s documented 112-to-360 bales/8 h comparison reflects the combined effects of layout redesign, machinery modernization, and capacity expansion and is therefore not attributed to layout alone. A 1200-scenario Latin Hypercube dataset was used only for exploratory screening: random forest reached 0.958 balanced accuracy with the full derived feature set, but a leakage-control analysis excluding direct target proxies reduced balanced accuracy to 0.656, confirming that field-level predictive interpretation is not warranted. Twelve domain professionals evaluated the two implemented immersive tasks (VRUC-01 and VRUC-02), yielding a SUS score of $86.25\pm 9.74$. The results support the workflow as a two-case methodological demonstration while identifying the need for replicated simulation experiments, longitudinal operational validation, and broader usability testing. Full article

Demand for nature-based recreation has increased the need for recreational-service planning in National Forest Parks (NFPs). Existing studies evaluate recreational services, but translating findings into actionable planning remains challenging. This study developed a vLLM-assisted framework linking indicator prioritization, image-based diagnosis, optimization simulation, and model-based reassessment. Questionnaire data comprised 238 responses from eight NFPs in Hangzhou, with 23 predictors measured predominantly at the park level. SHAP analysis ranked the recreational-service dimensions by predictive importance: facility (25.6%), activity (21.6%), tourist use experience (19.7%), information (17.5%), and accessibility (15.6%). Their weights guided image-based assessment of 73 NFPs across the Yangtze River Delta. Of 353,608 tourist-generated images collected, 96,876 passed screening. Human-reference evaluation showed correlations between model and human dimension scores of 0.815–0.898. Image diagnosis highlighted visible problems in signage, resting and public-service facilities, environmental interpretation, activity-space organization, and path legibility. Optimization simulation increased the mean model-assessed composite score of 365 selected low-scoring scenes from 6.26 to 7.32 (16.93%), with higher park-grouped means in 71 of 73 NFPs. The framework provides a scalable pathway for translating satisfaction-informed priorities into scene-level recreational-service diagnosis and visual planning support. Full article

Low-pressure gas wells treated by foam-assisted deliquification often suffer from poor temporal coordination between foamer and defoamer injection, excessive defoamer consumption under continuous dosing, and foam carryover into surface facilities. This study proposes a coordinated intermittent strategy based on the complete foam-transport timeline. A visual vertical-pipe facility quantified the effects of chemical concentration on foam generation, liquid holdup, frictional pressure loss, and foam collapse. A gravity-driven annular falling-film model predicted the time required for the foamer to reach the bottomhole. The wellbore was then discretized, and local liquid holdup was coupled with actual liquid velocity to predict foam return from the bottomhole to the wellhead. Together, the models determine the defoamer start time, injection duration, and dose. Increasing foamer concentration reduced liquid holdup but increased flow resistance above an effective range; excess defoamer likewise produced little additional collapse. In a tight-gas well, the optimized schedule maintained liquid unloading and stable surface operation while reducing daily defoamer consumption from 36 to 6 L and chemical cost by more than 80%. The method provides a quantitative basis for digitally controlled chemical dosing in foam-assisted gas-well deliquification. Full article

A dead-end road is a roadway whose terminus does not connect with other established networks. In remote mountainous regions distant from human habitation, these endpoints often correlate with specific features like mine shaft entrances, underground engineering access points, or specialized non-residential facilities, making them critical indicative clues in optical remote sensing. However, the effective identification of these dead-end road association zones and the classification of their features remain a key technical challenge. This paper proposes a classification framework for dead-end road association-zone scene classification. Road network information is first exploited to locate dead-end endpoints and construct direction-constrained association zones along road extension directions. Scene classification is then performed by integrating global visual context with object-level semantic relations to enhance discriminability under complex spatial layouts. Using a newly constructed dataset of 4409 image samples spanning seven scene categories, extensive experiments conducted across six representative mountainous regions demonstrate stable and consistent classification performance of the proposed framework, with a combined overall accuracy of 92.16% across all study areas. The results indicate that direction-constrained context modelling effectively reduces background interference and improves scene discriminability in mountainous environments. While the proposed method can improve scene discriminability, we acknowledge that it remains challenging to distinguish visual dead-ends (e.g., tunnel portals) from functional dead-ends (e.g., mine entrances) using only optical imagery. Overall, this work provides an effective solution for analyzing dead-end-road-associated scenes from optical remote sensing imagery, providing a reference for infrastructure monitoring and land-use analysis in complex terrain regions. Full article

This study investigated the root cause of severe corrosion damage observed on G-X4CrNi13-4 martensitic stainless steel turbine blades at the Brežice hydroelectric power plant on the Sava River in Slovenia. The investigation employed a comprehensive analytical approach, including on-site visual inspections, non-destructive testing with a portable microscope (Struers, Ballerup, Denmark), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA), and 3D topographical mapping (Bruker Alicona, Graz, Austria). Laboratory analyses utilized scanning electron microscopy (ZEISS, Oberkochen, Germany) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX, Pleasanton, CA, USA) to examine surface deposits, biofilms, and corrosion products, complemented by physical and chemical water quality assessments. A visual inspection revealed a dense layer of biological deposits, approximately 0.3 mm thick, with stochastic pitting damage located beneath the biofilm. The analytical results confirmed that the blade material met the specifications; however, EDS analysis (EDAX, Pleasanton, CA, USA) revealed significant localized manganese enrichment within the pits (~1.4 wt%) and in the biofilm (>10 wt%). Although water analysis showed relatively low manganese concentrations (7–18 µg/L), these values may be sufficient to support the metabolic activity of manganese-oxidizing microorganisms. Historical hydrological data suggest that extreme drought conditions in 2022, stagnant water, and elevated temperatures facilitated the attachment of microorganisms and the formation of a corrosive biofilm. These findings highlight the impact of changing environmental conditions and low-flow periods on the integrity of stainless steel components in hydroelectric facilities. Full article

Older adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in long-term care face dietary self-management challenges arising from standardized routines, sensory and cognitive variability, and reliance on caregivers. This study used participatory co-design to develop and preliminarily evaluate an equity-oriented digital dietary management prototype. From June 2024 to December 2025, a four-phase study was conducted at a long-term care facility in Beijing, China. Semi-structured interviews with 20 stakeholders (12 residents, 5 family caregivers, and 3 nurses) and a one-day shadowing observation of one of these residents informed a 90 min co-creation workshop with 20 stakeholders (12 residents, 4 family caregivers, and 4 nurses) and iterative prototyping. All 12 residents in the workshop had participated in the interviews, including the resident involved in the shadowing observation. The resulting high-fidelity prototype integrated a consolidated reminder dashboard, an adaptive portion-control slider, and glucose–meal feedback visualization. Task-based usability testing with an independent sample of 12 participants (6 residents, 3 family caregivers, and 3 nurses) who had not participated in the preceding phases yielded a mean task-success rate of 94.44% (SD 0.43), a mean task-completion time of 1.9 min (SD 0.40), a mean error count of 0.33 per session (SD 0.47), a mean System Usability Scale score of 81.0 (SD 5.23), and satisfaction of 4.5/5 (SD 0.50). Qualitative feedback indicated that participants perceived the prototype as easy to navigate and potentially supportive of resident autonomy and coordinated record-keeping. These findings provide preliminary support for its usability and acceptability in the evaluated tasks. Field studies are needed to assess implementation, workflow effects, and behavioral or clinical outcomes. Full article

Background/Objectives: Comparative evidence for GPR system selection in forensic search is scarce. This exploratory study assesses the short-term repeatability and inter-system concordance of two GPR acquisition–interpretation chains: the multi-frequency Cobra CBD and the lightweight single-frequency Zond Aero 500 NG. Methods: At a forensic test facility containing nine graves (six pig carcasses, three controls; burial depths 30–90 cm), of which five (one carcass grave per depth class) were traversed and scored, record windows (50, 100, 200 ns) were compared under harmonized settings. At an anonymized operational site (≈9 × 7 m), a cart-based grid protocol was executed in duplicate with both systems. Independently interpreted anomalies were compared via one-to-one centroid matching, endpoint offsets, and repeat-survey variability. Results: All five traversed graves were visually confirmed by both systems at 50 and 100 ns and none at 200 ns (unblinded assessment at known markers). One-to-one matching paired every Zond Aero 500 NG segment with a Cobra CBD segment within 1.5 m (medians 0.48 m longitudinal, 0.72 m transverse); surplus Cobra CBD segments (27–36%) reflect finer segmentation. Consensus re-interpretation of all datasets altered segmentation (33–27; 22–31 segments) more than localization. Between-system endpoint offsets (0.6–3.2 m) resembled repeat-survey offsets (1.1–2.9 m). Conclusions: The concordance characterizes complete acquisition–interpretation chains: sensor, survey, and interpreter effects cannot be separated, and without ground truth they quantify concordance, not detection accuracy. Within the tested cart-based configurations, no localization difference exceeding repeat-survey variability was resolved. Broader equipment-selection claims require ground-truthed, multi-site studies, and the record window should match expected burial depth. Full article

This study investigates how online discourse on sport tourism was structured during the COVID-19 pandemic and reshaped as tourism entered a period of recovery and restructuring. The analysis covered two three-year periods: 1 July 2020–30 June 2023, representing the pandemic and early recovery period, and 1 July 2023–30 June 2026, representing the post-pandemic recovery and restructuring period. Unstructured online texts related to sport tourism were collected and processed through text cleaning, morphological analysis, and stop-word removal. The 50 core keywords identified for each period were then examined using frequency analysis, degree and closeness centrality, semantic network visualization, and convergence of iterated correlations (CONCOR) analysis. During the first period, the discourse was largely organized around travel, hotels, tourism destinations, domestic tourism, facility operation, and outdoor or participatory leisure activities. In the second period, regional destinations, marine and water-based leisure, festivals, sport competitions, booking and ticketing, accommodation, and spectatorship became more prominent. CONCOR analysis further revealed four clusters in each period. The first-period clusters concerned destination and marine leisure tourism, regional sport events and industry support, facility operation and COVID-19 response, and active outdoor participation. The second-period clusters focused on marine and destination-based leisure experiences, the recovery of sport events and spectator tourism, regional sport facilities and support programs, and booking-, accommodation-, and consumption-related activities. Taken together, the findings indicate that online sport tourism discourse moved from a pandemic-era structure centered on domestic travel, outdoor participation, and operational concerns toward a more diversified configuration linking regional destinations, marine leisure, event resumption, spectatorship, and tourism consumption. The study contributes to sport tourism research by showing how participation, spectatorship, destination experience, accommodation, and consumption are connected within a broader discourse structure. Full article

Macacine alphaherpesvirus 1 (McHV-1, commonly known as Monkey B Virus) is a fatal zoonotic pathogen naturally prevalent in macaques. In this study, we developed and conducted a proof-of-concept analytical validation of a HotStart Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) assay targeting a conserved, moderately GC-rich (61–62%) region of the UL1 gene in McHV-1. The reaction was optimized at 70 °C using engineered HotStart Bst 3.2/4.2 DNA Polymerase, tracked via real-time fluorescence and closed-tube visual colorimetric detection (pre-added L-HNB dye) without post-amplification tube opening to reduce the risk of post-amplification aerosol carry-over contamination. The assay achieved a preliminary practical analytical limit of detection (analytical LOD) of 100 copies/reaction (3/3 replicates) within a 15–30 min diagnostic cutoff window, matching the practical sensitivity of reference qPCR. Strict analytical specificity was demonstrated against a comprehensive panel of human herpesviruses (HHV-1 through HHV-5) and host macaque genomic DNA. As a single-target analytical prototype, this visual HotStart LAMP platform provides a rapid, equipment-free molecular tool with promising potential for McHV-1 surveillance in resource-limited settings and macaque breeding facilities upon further clinical validation. Full article

Human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neural organoids have emerged as valuable models for investigating human neurodevelopment and neurological disorders. However, their complex three-dimensional architecture poses significant challenges for conventional histological approaches, which rely on physical sectioning and inevitably disrupt spatial relationships within the tissue. Volumetric imaging of intact organoids typically requires light-sheet fluorescence microscopy, a technology not widely accessible to standard cell biology laboratories. Here, we show that solvent-based tissue clearing, using the iDISCO+ and Visikol^® HISTO protocols, combined with conventional laser-scanning and spinning-disk confocal microscopy, platforms already available in most imaging facilities, is sufficient to resolve neuroepithelial rosette-like structures, neuronal networks, and astroglial components within intact human cortical and retinal organoids, while preserving immunofluorescent labeling and tissue architecture. The workflow was also compatible with commonly used immunofluorescence markers. Although light-sheet fluorescence microscopy remains advantageous for large-scale whole-sample imaging, our results show that cleared human organoids within the size range analyzed here can be effectively visualized using accessible confocal systems. This study provides a practical strategy for three-dimensional imaging of intact human neural organoids, facilitating spatial analysis of developmental organization and disease-relevant phenotypes in laboratories without dedicated light-sheet microscopy infrastructure. Full article

As urban development in China shifts toward improving existing areas, the focus of evaluation is moving from availability to quality, yet assessments of the neighborhood built environment and living circles still stop at facility provision. This study decomposes the conversion from spatial supply to need fulfillment into three links—availability, reach-and-visibility, and need fulfillment. Encounterability (E) captures how far a spatial element enters everyday experience through physical reach or visual exposure; perceptual affordance (P) captures how well an encountered element supports six perceptual needs: social interaction, recreation and leisure, aesthetic experience, emotional experience, broad learning, and humanistic enrichment. Taking Xi’an’s historic old city as a typical case, public needs were translated through grounded coding into auditable elements, which trained assessors evaluated at the city, district, and neighborhood levels, with a four-quadrant diagnosis locating the gaps. The results show that, within this context of comparatively rich provision, the principal experiential gaps arise at the encounter and support links: encounterability is similar across levels while perceptual affordance diverges, and the share of synergy categories differs significantly across levels (p = 0.007), forming resource–encounter, node–route, and frequency–support mismatches; the principal mismatch patterns are robust to equal weighting and to moderate shifts in the quadrant thresholds. Basic needs fail on quality and advanced needs fail on encounter and interpretation, pointing to three renewal actions: retrofitting, opening, and interpretation. This study extends evaluation objects from facilities to a fuller spectrum of spatial elements, extends encounter to reach and visibility together, and extends output from ranking to gap localization, offering a low-cost diagnostic tool for the human-centered assessment of the built environment, applicable to living-circle evaluation, urban physical examination, and livability improvement in historic neighborhoods. Full article

Continuous monitoring of water quality is essential for supporting environmental management and enabling timely decision-making in wastewater treatment facilities. Although numerous Internet of Things (IoT) solutions have been proposed for environmental monitoring, many rely on proprietary cloud platforms or commercial gateways that limit flexibility, scalability, and integration with customized applications. This paper presents the design, implementation, and field validation of a modular IoT architecture for real-time water quality monitoring based on distributed sensor nodes, long-range LoRa communication, and a self-hosted web platform. The proposed architecture integrates sensor nodes equipped with calibrated pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity sensors, a hybrid LoRa/Wi-Fi Main Controller implementing a custom master–slave communication protocol, and a Python-based back-end with a PostgreSQL database for data acquisition, storage, visualization, and historical analysis. The complete system was deployed and experimentally validated in a real coupled constructed wetland located at the Universidad del Atlántico, Colombia, where three monitoring stations continuously acquired and transmitted water quality measurements over a one-month evaluation period. During the experimental deployment, the system generated more than 4.5 million measurement records (297 MB) while recording average RSSI values between −55.7 and −58.1 dBm (standard deviation: 1.6–2.2 dB). The developed web platform successfully supported real-time visualization and historical analysis of all acquired measurements. These results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed architecture as a practical, scalable, and modular solution for continuous environmental monitoring that can be readily adapted to other distributed water quality monitoring applications. Full article