Search Results (139)

Low-alcohol base baijiu, a by-product of Jiang-flavor baijiu production, contains abundant flavor compounds, yet its flavor structure remains insufficiently understood, limiting its high-value utilization. This study integrated flavoromics with interpretable machine learning to characterize the flavor structure of Jiang-flavor low-alcohol base baijiu and identify its key driving factors. During distillation, ethanol decreased from 38.67% to 6.50% (v/v), whereas total acidity increased from 2.74 to 7.53 g/L and pH decreased from 3.01 to 2.59, accompanied by a sensory transition from harmonious and full-bodied notes to sour and salty attributes. Based on sensory and flavor component analysis, the samples can be divided into three gradients according to ethanol volume fraction (>20%, 10–20%, <10%), and their flavor profiles exhibit a systematic evolution: as alcohol content decreases, the relative content of esters and alcohols decreases, while the relative content of acids increases. Random Forest identified 3-methyl-1-butanol, furfuryl ethyl ether, and tetramethyl pyrazine as key markers positively associated with harmonious and smooth attributes (r > 0.93) and negatively associated with sour and salty notes. Odor activity value analysis further quantified stage-dependent sensory contributions. The XGBoost model accurately predicted flavor stages (accuracy = 0.955), and SHAP analysis highlighted low-threshold esters and acids as critical regulators of flavor quality. These findings provide a quantitative and interpretable framework for precision blending, quality grading, and the valorization of low-alcohol base baijiu. Full article

This study addresses declining social trust and emerging moral challenges among youth in Thailand’s conflict-affected southern border provinces by developing a strategic framework grounded in the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy (SEP). A quantitative approach was employed, integrating the Modified Priority Needs Index and Priority Matrix analysis to examine discrepancies between current performance and perceived importance. The findings reveal differentiated patterns of moral development. Discipline and Responsibility are identified as a high-priority need, reflecting high importance but comparatively lower performance. Gratitude and Filial Piety, together with Kindness and Generosity, emerge as established strengths, functioning as cultural assets. Unity and Social Harmony and Social Sacrifice are classified as secondary yet contextually significant dimensions, indicating partial internalization. Based on this classification, the study proposes a differentiated strategy comprising targeted self-regulation development, strength-based reinforcement, and experiential activation through service-learning and multicultural engagement. Central to this approach is the creation of “multicultural social action spaces” that enable meaningful interaction across diverse groups. The findings suggest that aligning moral education with matrix-based priorities and contextual realities may support ethical resilience, social cohesion, and sustainable peace in pluralistic and conflict-affected societies. Full article

Softness-Weakness constitutes a core category in Laozi’s philosophy, while in Yan Zun’s Laozi zhigui of the Western Han dynasty, Harmony-Weakness becomes the key concept for interpreting Laozi’s thought. This conceptual transformation from Softness-Weakness to Harmony-Weakness both reflects the intellectual background of Confucian–Daoist synthesis in the Han dynasty and marks the creative development of Daoist philosophy during this period. Building upon complete inheritance of Laozi’s Softness-Weakness thought, Yan Zun achieved a theoretical reconstruction of Daoist philosophy through introducing Harmony—this Confucian core category. At the cosmological level, Yan Zun creatively incorporated Supreme-Harmony into the sequence of the Dao’s generation, establishing its ontological position as the “progenitor” of the myriad things. Through the proposition “Harmony is its destination, Weakness is its function”, Yan Zun endowed Harmony-Weakness with a clear teleological dimension and value orientation, elevating Harmony-Weakness from a survival strategy to a fundamental principle of cosmic generation. At the practical level, through the Harmony-Weakness concept, Yan Zun constructs a complete system integrating self-cultivation and politics, developing Daoist thought from relatively dispersed wisdom discourse into systematic theory. This conceptual transformation transcends the simple opposition between Softness-Weakness and hardness-strength, achieving a unity in which hardness and Softness mutually assist each other under Harmony’s regulation. However, while the introduction of Harmony deepened the theory, it may also have somewhat weakened the critical edge of Softness-Weakness thought, and the substantialization of Supreme-Harmony may have departed from Laozi’s nihilistic spirit. This theoretical tension precisely demonstrates the theoretical dilemmas and historical choices that Daoist thought faced in its Han dynasty development. Full article

Reservoir operation under climate change poses significant challenges for hydropower-dependent countries, particularly in cascade reservoir systems. This study aims to derive optimal future operating rule curves for the Nam Khan 2 and Nam Khan 3 cascade reservoirs in Lao PDR to maximize hydropower generation under climate change. Genetic Algorithm (GA), Invasive Weed Optimization (IWO), and Harmony Search (HS) were integrated with a reservoir simulation model to optimize monthly upper and lower rule curves. Future reservoir inflows were generated using climate projections from the INM-CM5-0 climate model’s SSP245 scenario for 2025–2050. The aim was to maximize average annual electricity generation for the entire cascade system while ensuring practicable reservoir operation. The optimized rule curves obtained from all three algorithms exhibited similar seasonal patterns, reflecting regional hydrological characteristics. The proposed rule curves significantly improved hydropower performance compared to the existing operating policies. For Nam Khan 2, average annual electricity generation increased from 324.089 GWh under current operations to 788.246, 787.100, and 786.561 GWh using GA, IWO, and HS. Similarly, Nam Khan 3 achieved substantial improvements, with average annual generation increasing from 156.029 GWh to 270.049, 266.840, and 266.547 GWh. The optimized rule curves also contributed to better storage regulation and reduced variability in energy production. The findings demonstrate that integrating metaheuristic optimization techniques with reservoir simulation models provides an effective framework for adaptive hydropower-oriented reservoir operation under future climate uncertainty. Full article

We present the single-cell transcriptomic analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from individuals during acute HIV-1 infection caused by viral strains circulating in Russia and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. Using 10x Genomics single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on the Illumina NextSeq 550 platform, we have analyzed scRNA-seq data from three treatment-naive patients (viral load > 1 × 10⁶ copies/mL, estimated infection duration ≤ 4 weeks) and three healthy donors. Data integration (Seurat, Harmony), automated cell-type annotation (CellTypist), and GeneOntology (GO) enrichment analysis for highly expressed and low-expressed genes revealed a profound reorganization of transcriptional programs across key immune populations, including memory CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells, non-classical monocytes and natural killer cells (NK-cells). We observed signatures of hyperactivation of pro-inflammatory pathways (NF-kB, TNF, and type I/II interferon signaling), upregulation of genes associated with cellular migration (CXCR4, CCR7) and metabolic adaptation (oxidative phosphorylation components), alongside a mixed pro- and anti-apoptotic expression profile. Notably, our data pointed to a pronounced dysregulation of the TGF-β and mTOR signaling cascades, disrupted intercellular communication networks—particularly between cytotoxic cells and their regulators—altered expression of genes implicated in disease progression (OLR1, SERPINB2, COPS9) and viral persistence control (NEAT1, NAF1). This work provides an initial single-cell transcriptional atlas characterizing early immune responses to HIV-1 sub-subtypes A6 and CRF63_02A6, the predominant drivers of the HIV epidemic across the FSU region. Full article

Planning serves as a vital tool for achieving orderly land management and utilization. The success of conservation planning hinges on its ability to translate cultural heritage preservation needs into rational allocation and guidance of land resources, ultimately realizing a win–win outcome that fosters cultural continuity, social harmony, and economic development. Historic and cultural towns are highly representative urban and rural historic and cultural heritage sites. However, the participation components in the conservation planning of historic towns are complex, and the misalignment of the functions, rights and responsibilities, and interest demands of the participants often leads to a loss of actual benefits. To help achieve a reasonable transformation of the protection needs of historic towns and guide the cultural inheritance and socially harmonious development of urban and rural construction, based on game theory and the logic of planning rights games, this paper begins with an understanding of the relevant laws and regulations, conducts an empirical analysis of the game processes and situations of conservation planning in two provinces and four towns, and incorporates publicly available data from the internet for argumentation to explore the game states and operation mechanisms of conservation planning in historic and cultural towns. The findings reveal the following regarding historic town conservation planning: (1) it proceeds lawfully and rationally, reflecting collective rationality; (2) it exhibits two equilibrium modes: relatively static and dynamic; (3) game conflicts mainly manifest as multi-planning conflicts and the resulting conflicts among systems and inter-systems. The game dynamics are influenced by the value of the historic town, resource allocation, and the relationship between rights, responsibilities, and interests. To overcome the game dilemma, it is essential to establish effective cooperative mechanisms at the legal and regulatory levels based on the value of the historic town, allocate resources reasonably, and achieve a balance between rights, responsibilities, and interests. Full article

Sustainable urban development is a critical pathway to harmonize economic growth, environmental protection, and public well-being, playing a vital role in addressing air pollution. The Key Cities for Air Pollution Control (KCAP) policy is a representative mandatory environmental regulation aligned with sustainable development principles. It aims to promote economic stability, environmental sustainability, and public welfare, thereby fostering harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. This study treats the KCAP policy as a policy-induced quasi-natural experiment and applies a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to evaluate the ecological welfare performance (EWP) of 207 Chinese cities from 2007 to 2023. The results show that KCAP policy significantly improved EWP by 1.33 percentage points. Spatial spillover analysis reveals heterogeneous impacts: no significant effect within 30 km, a negative effect between 30 and 70 km, and a positive effect at 70–80 km. Mechanism analysis indicates that labor misallocation weakens policy effectiveness, whereas stronger market-oriented regulation enhances it. The policy effects are more pronounced in heavily polluted regions, old industrial bases, and large city centers. These findings provide theoretical and policy insights for advancing equitable ecological welfare in the context of dynamic development. Full article

Public ecological products constitute the most fundamental public goods supporting human well-being. Enhancing the high-quality supply of public ecological products is critical for maintaining ecological safety, ensuring the ecological regulation function, and promoting the harmonious coexistence of humans and nature. To deeply investigate the supply process and behavioral mechanisms of public ecological products, this study constructs a simulation model based on Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) to simulate the behavior rules and dynamic processes of four main subjects involved in the supply of public ecological products: government, enterprises, the public, and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs). After calibrating the model parameters with relevant data from the water production and supply industry in Beijing, the good fit of the model output results verifies the effectiveness of the model. This study reveals the operating mechanism of multi-subject collaborative supply of public ecological products, providing a basic model for investigating the mechanism and evolution process of ecological product supply under more complex conditions, and also providing a powerful tool for the ex-ante evaluation of the implementation effect of public ecological product supply policies. Full article

This article analyzes prohibitions against the destruction of flora in the calendrical regulations of the late Western Han period and in the millenarian cosmological discourses in the Taiping jing 太平經 (Canon of Great Peace). The study focuses on the “Zhaoshu sishi yueling wushi tiao” 詔書四時月令五十條 (“Edict of Monthly Ordinances for the Four Seasons in Fifty Articles”) which was promulgated by Wang Mang in 5 CE. The Edict prohibited setting fire to forests and was intended to restore cosmic harmony. At the time, natural disasters and celestial anomalies were interpreted as signs of the loss of the Mandate of Heaven. Heavenly patterns and hemerology play a central role here by enabling environmental regulations to be incorporated into a political logic of legitimization. The Canon of Great Peace reinterprets these norms by replacing seasonal cycles with an interpretation of balance between yin and yang and by giving environmental prohibitions eschatological significance. Thus, calendrical regulations for natural resource management transform into an apocalyptic discourse in which the natural environment becomes the setting for cosmic disorder that must be avoided. Full article

Agricultural production is consistently threatened by stressors such as salinity. Few studies have reported on the released antioxidative enzymes and the salinity-responsive genes identified using RNA sequencing and de novo assembly in maize. To further understand the harmony between stressing the maize with a NaCl solution as a compensatory water-irrigation method and spraying regulatory zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO/NPs), the salinity-responsive genes were analyzed using RNA sequencing and bioinformatics tools, and the antioxidant enzymatic activities were determined. Differential expression analysis was used to uncover genes that were up-/down-regulated during the experiment. The regulatory pathways and functions of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were estimated. Glutathione reductase/-s-transferase (GR/GST), peroxidase (POX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) enzymes were determined spectrophotometrically. Mitigating salinity stress with 150 mM NaCl led to significant oxidative stress, markedly elevating enzyme activities: POX and GST by 275% and 254%, GR by 166%, CAT by 91%, and SOD by 56%. Treatment with ZnO/NPs alleviated this stress, decreasing enzyme activity by 61% for GST, 55% for POX, 38% for CAT, 28% for SOD, and 25% for GR. The results of RNA-seq revealed candidate genes related to changes in stressed/non-stressed maize plants, regardless of whether they were sprayed with the nanoparticles or not. This study’s results offer novel insights into the genetic traits of maize subjected to salinity stress and ZnO/nanoparticle application, thereby advancing the comprehension of how ZnO/nanoparticles might alleviate the detrimental impacts of salinity on plants whose properties were enhanced to be used in the eco-friendly synthesis of nanoparticles that were used as a bio-fertilizer in priming plants. Full article

Integrating renewable energy into heritage buildings poses technical, aesthetic, and regulatory challenges, especially in Andean cities with a rich historical legacy, such as Cuenca, Ecuador. This study addresses the design and implementation of a prototype for handcrafted photovoltaic roof tiles that comply with the conservation regulations of the Historic Center. The proposed solution is sustainable, visually unobtrusive, and suitable for heritage urban environments. A technical assessment was conducted for 23 educational institutions located in the Historic Center to evaluate the structural suitability of their roofs for solar panel installation. Based on this assessment, a photovoltaic roof tile prototype was developed using accessible materials, such as terracotta-tinted acrylic, and evaluated in terms of energy efficiency, architectural integration, and regulatory compliance. As a result, 12 buildings were found to be structurally suitable for system installation, of which 11 had sufficient roof space to meet their daytime energy demands. The prototype proved to be functional, replicable, aesthetically harmonious with the heritage setting, and fully compliant with current municipal regulations. The School of Law at the Catholic University of Cuenca was selected as a demonstration site due to its technical suitability and heritage significance. Thus, handcrafted photovoltaic roof tiles emerge as an innovative and viable solution for incorporating solar energy into protected urban settings, offering environmental, technical, and social benefits. Lastly, this study outlines future research pathways aimed at developing new materials, advancing energy storage strategies, and exploring community perceptions in heritage environments. Full article

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate to what extent the ambiguity and excessive detail of the provisions of local spatial development plans (LSDPs) lead to an increase in investment risk and destabilization of the real estate market. The analysis was conducted based on a study of the content of selected LSDPs and their impact on property values and investment processes. The scope of the study includes the analysis of cases of municipalities (local administrative units) with a different approach to spatial planning as well as Polish regulations in the field of spatial planning. Case studies of cities and areas in which the adopted local plans had an impact on investment decisions and property values were taken into account. The conclusions from the analysis will be used to assess the effectiveness of the regulations used and to formulate recommendations regarding the optimization of the spatial planning in a way that enables the harmonious combination of the interests of investors, residents, and local government authorities. Full article

Character strengths are the positive personality traits essential for a meaningful life. Recognising and applying character strengths is crucial to becoming high-quality learners. This study explores the role of character strengths in enhancing the quality of education within Hungarian Higher Education, an area often neglected in discussing quality education. Using purposive sampling, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten international students enrolled in BA and MA Teacher Education programs. The study explored how students perceive and apply character strengths to support learning and academic engagement. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis with ATLAS.ti software. The findings highlight several key strengths—such as creativity, hope, curiosity, teamwork, and self-regulation—as essential to fostering effective learning environments. Four predominant thematic areas emerged: the importance of positive personality traits, the pivotal role of the teacher–student relationship in fostering a conducive learning environment, the integration of character strengths in education, and personal development and character strengths, elucidating the integral role of character strengths in promoting quality education, advocating for a harmonious equilibrium between academic knowledge and personal growth. The study also contributes to the limited literature on character strengths in Hungarian Higher Education and suggests directions for future research. Full article

In recent years, soil heavy metal pollution has become increasingly serious, particularly Cd and Pb pollution, and heavy metals have been accumulating in soil–crop systems, posing great risks to human health. In this study, four Chinese cabbage varieties with different Cd and Pb accumulation traits were cultivated using hydroponics and transcriptome sequencing technology to reveal the response mechanism of Chinese cabbage to Cd and Pb stress at the molecular level. The numbers of upregulated genes in Harmony Express (H) and Ziwei F1 (F) were 2904 and 3004, respectively, under Cd stress (0 mg/L vs. 80 mg/L), whereas the numbers of upregulated genes in Green Crown (L) and Suzhou Green (S) were 3424 and 2724, respectively, under Pb stress (0 mg/L vs. 1200 mg/L). GO enrichment analysis revealed that 52 functional subgroups were enriched in H0 vs. H80 and F0 vs. F80, and 79 functional subgroups were enriched in L0 vs. L1200 and S0 vs. S1200. KEGG enrichment indicated that secondary metabolite biosynthesis, metabolic pathways, and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis are important regulators of the response to Cd and Pb stress in Chinese cabbage. In addition, genes related to antioxidant enzymes (e.g., CAT and glutathione transferase), metal transporter proteins (e.g., ABC), mitogen-activated protein kinases, and calmodulin were significantly differentially expressed, suggesting that they are jointly involved in the detoxification of Chinese cabbage in response to heavy metal stress. In total, 881 and 858 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the transcription factor family responded to Cd and Pb stress, respectively. This study reveals the response mechanism of Chinese cabbage to Cd and Pb stress at the molecular level and provides a theoretical basis for the cultivation of low-Cd and low-Pb-enriched varieties and the mining of heavy metal tolerance genes. Full article

The body–soul relationship serves as a crucial entry point for exploring the intersection of Plato’s dialogues with ancient Greek religious thought, particular Orphic doctrines. In critically inheriting and reconstructing core elements of Orphism, Plato initiates a paradigm shift from mythos to logos—transitioning from mythic narrative to philosophical reasoning. In the context of Greek religious history, Orphism was the first to articulate a dualism between soul and body, depicting the body as a “prison” that confines the divine soul. While Plato frequently references this framework in his dialogues, he simultaneously exposes its inherent contradictions. By distinguishing between the soul’s pure and embodied states, Plato rejects the Orphic notion of bodily impurity. Instead, he reinterprets the body’s negativity not as religious “original sin,” but as the interference of sensory experience and desire in rational life. He affirms that the soul maintains its rational autonomy even in embodiment, with desire and thymos (spirit) emerging naturally from this process, thereby disclosing the soul’s intrinsic structure. In place of a strict dualism, Plato introduces a tripartite model of the soul, positioning thymos as the mediating force between reason and desire. The ambiguity of thymos functions as a self-regulating mechanism that enables the soul to maintain dynamic balance. In this moral psychology, virtue is no longer defined as the soul’s rejection of the body, but as the soul’s harmonious order and natural growth within it. Plato thus adopts a complex and cautious stance toward Orphism, ultimately transcending its passive ethical outlook and transforming a mythical doctrine into a rational philosophical system. Full article