Search Results (352)

A comprehensive analysis of the vertical thermodynamic structure during a compound dust–heatwave (dust–HW) event over the south-western Iberian Peninsula is presented in this study to investigate potential impacts on surface heat stress and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) conditions. Lidar observations were performed at two dust-influenced stations, Évora (Portugal) and El Arenosillo/Huelva (Spain), during the intense June 2022 Saharan dust intrusion associated with a persistent HW event. The dust intrusion was characterized by high aerosol optical depths (up to ~1) and long duration (8 days). The dust layer extended from the surface up to approximately 6–7 km height, with the highest concentrations detected below 3–4 km. Similar temporal and vertical thermodynamic patterns were observed at both stations, indicating regional-scale consistency during the compound dust–HW event. Near-surface temperatures increased significantly during the dusty period compared with surrounding non-dusty days, suggesting enhanced surface heat-stress conditions under concurrent dust–HW environments. A distinct vertical thermodynamic structure was also identified, with air temperature (AT) increasing within the main dust layer, while relative humidity (RH) decreased below and increased above the layer where the highest dust concentrations were detected (3–4 km). Additional ERA5 vertical velocity diagnostics revealed ascending-motion signatures coinciding with RH-enhanced layers above the main dust intrusion, supporting dynamically consistent conditions for upward moisture transport during the event. Under these RH-enriched and ascending-motion conditions, retrieved CCN concentration estimates suggested potentially enhanced CCN activation environments above the main dust layer under moderate supersaturation scenarios. Overall, the results provide observational evidence consistent with a coupling among dust transport, thermodynamic variability, and CCN-related processes during HW conditions. These findings highlight the importance of understanding concurrent dust–HW environments in dust-influenced regions under projected future HW intensification associated with climate change, and their connection with aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI). Full article

As global warming intensifies and extreme heat events occur frequently, the human thermal environment is under severe threat. In this study, the thermal environment risk and spatial equity issues in residential areas of humid and hot summer cities have become increasingly prominent. This study assesses summer thermal environment risk in Wuhan’s central urban area—one of China’s four “Furnace Cities”—from a spatial equity perspective, using the factors from the IPCC Hazard–Exposure–Vulnerability framework. Factor weights were determined through questionnaire surveys and the entropy weight method. Calculation and analysis were conducted on the Open Geospatial Engine (OGE) based on weighted scores. Results show that Wuhan’s main urban area faces considerable thermal stress, with high-temperature zones highly overlapping with densely populated old residential neighborhoods. Building height follows a concentric “high-center, low-periphery” pattern, while housing prices decline along a center-edge gradient; mid-to-low price ranges exceed 90%, indicating limited thermal adaptive capacity among most residents. Although high-density areas account for only approximately 2.7%, they concentrate in high-risk zones such as core Hankou. Comprehensive assessment reveals a “central aggregation, riverside mitigation” risk pattern. Located in Hankou, Hanzheng Street, suffering from extreme heat, dense buildings, crowded residents, and low-quality housing, has the highest heat risk and the worst unequal spatial environment across the city. This study reveals thermal risk disparities in Wuhan’s central urban area and provides a scientific basis for formulating equitable and effective thermal environment risk mitigation strategies. Full article

Heat stress limits dairy production. The temperature-humidity index (THI), combining temperature and relative humidity, is widely used to assess heat stress. However, in Chinese Holstein cattle, the phenotypic responses of milk traits and genotype-environment interaction mechanisms under different THI conditions are understudied. Based on 63,334 records from 7240 cows (milk yield, fat percentage, protein percentage), matched with meteorological data and 113,297 SNPs, we employed a random-effects GWAS to examine SNP effects across a continuous THI gradient, comparing results with conventional, temperature-, and humidity-interaction GWAS. As THI increased, all traits declined with distinct patterns. Random regression GWAS identified 149 significant SNP × THI interactions (5 for MY, 86 for FP, 58 for PP), distributed across BTA5, BTA6, BTA14, and BTA20. Candidate gene annotation identified 52 candidate genes near significant SNPs, of which 50 core candidate genes were supported in both temperature and humidity GWAS. The most robustly supported core candidate genes include DGAT1, CPSF1, ABCG2, MGST1, VPS28, PPP1R16A, ZNF250, GRID2, KCNC2, and LOC787350—of which DGAT1, ABCG2, and MGST1 have been functionally validated in milk production traits, whereas others represent novel candidates requiring further investigation. Temperature and THI-GWAS showed high consistency, while humidity-GWAS detected both overlapping and specific signals. Incorporating THI as a continuous environmental gradient identifies environment-dependent regulatory signals not captured by conventional GWAS, providing candidate genes that may contribute to future breeding strategies after further validation. Full article

Field high-temperature and high-humidity (HTH) stress causes soybean seed deterioration, including shrinkage, moldiness, browning, and reduced germination rate, thereby decreasing seed vigor, emergence performance, and commercial value. Clarifying the molecular mechanisms of seed vigor formation under HTH stress is critical for identifying key genes and improving spring soybean seed quality. Plant homeodomain (PHD) proteins are conserved zinc-finger transcription factors involved in chromatin remodeling and stress responses. GmPHD3, a soybean PHD family member, has only been studied via heterologous expression in Arabidopsis; its authentic function in soybean remains unclear. In this study, we functionally characterized GmPHD3 in soybean. GmPHD3 is a nuclear-localized transcription factor containing Alfin and PHD domains, and is evolutionarily conserved across legumes and other plant species. Expression analysis showed that GmPHD3 was strongly induced by HTH stress, with rapid induction at 6 h in the tolerant cultivar Xiangdou No. 3 but delayed induction at 48 h in the sensitive Ningzhen No. 1. The GmPHD3 promoter harbors abscisic acid (ABA) and stress-responsive elements, and GUS assays confirmed its response to ABA and HTH. Overexpression of GmPHD3 in soybean significantly enhanced seed vigor under artificial accelerated aging by increasing the germination speed and activities of SOD, POD, while reducing TBARS content. Meanwhile, GmPHD3 negatively regulated seed longitudinal elongation, leading to a short and round seed shape without changing single-seed weight. It also significantly decreased the proportion of palmitic acid, a major saturated fatty acid. These results demonstrate that GmPHD3 positively regulates soybean seed vigor and stress resistance under HTH stress by modulating the antioxidant system and modifying seed morphology and fatty acid composition, providing a valuable target for soybean molecular breeding. Full article

The Eddy Covariance station provides observations of agrometeorological variables and surface energy fluxes, collected from 2019 to 2022, in a citrus orchard located in the Souss-Massa plain, Morocco. The present dataset comprises measurements recorded via a set of aboveground and subsurface sensors. The aboveground setup consistently measures air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, net radiation, and precipitation. Additionally, the subsurface setup continuously tracks soil temperature, moisture, and electrical conductivity at depths from 5 to 80 cm, along with soil heat flux. Moreover, these setups enable the measurement of turbulent fluxes (sensible and latent heat). Given the limited availability of long-term agrometeorological data in semi-arid regions of the Mediterranean, this paper addresses a critical data gap by providing a reliable agrometeorological dataset. The latter consists of two types of data: 30 min interval files and high-frequency files (20 Hz, i.e., one measurement every 50 ms). The processing of this data involved Card Convert, MATLAB EC-Pack, and Excel, with data quality control performed by removing outliers and excluding nighttime fluxes. The dataset is organized in a table and provided in a .csv format with standard metadata. It is designed for a wide range of applications, including evapotranspiration modeling, satellite product validation, agroclimatic monitoring, determining crop irrigation requirements, precision irrigation planning, and water management. Additionally, the dataset can be reused for crop and hydrological model calibration, as well as soil moisture and crop stress prediction using machine learning algorithms. Full article

Zymoseptoria tritici (Desm. Quaedvlieg & Crous), known as the wheat leaf spot disease agent, is a highly virulent fungus that induces blotch and necrosis on leaves. Although it is known to cause severe infections under humid conditions, recent observations suggest that it can also infect wheat leaves under drought and high-temperature conditions, possibly influenced by global warming. Recent findings showed that Z. tritici could easily tolerate various abiotic stresses, including drought, water stress, salinity, and temperature. It has been evident that the fungus can tolerate pesticide stress, as indicated by the increased frequency and number of pesticide applications throughout the growing season. Under stress conditions, the fungi, unlike crop plants, could easily tolerate stress by rapidly modifying gene expression and reducing spore production and mycelial growth without downregulating major biochemical components that play significant roles in pathogenicity and virulence. Z. tritici can accumulate melanin under stress conditions; therefore, an increase in pathogenicity under drought or salinity stress is not unexpected. Recent studies have shown that the pathogenicity of the fungus is increasing, and more virulent, toxin-producing pathogens might emerge in the future. Since drought and high-temperature stresses significantly affect crop plants, the adaptation of pathogenic microorganisms to these conditions could be inevitable if abiotic stress persists. Under these circumstances, the crop loss would be more pronounced. A critical aspect of this process is the assessment of DNA integrity in both wheat and the pathogen under drought stress conditions. The organism that better maintains DNA integrity is considered to exhibit greater drought tolerance. Therefore, our main target should be DNA health when developing or breeding new wheat varieties, considering double- or even multiple-stress conditions. We should finally state that we are very optimistic about generating highly stress-tolerant wheat varieties via metabolomic and proteomic approaches without compromising quality. However, the impact and combination of stress factors are becoming increasingly complex. Full article

Historic residential buildings in Lingnan are affected by hot–humid and disaster-prone weather conditions, including high temperature, high humidity, intense solar radiation, monsoon winds, and typhoon-related climate stress, which challenge indoor thermal comfort, daylighting, natural ventilation, and adaptive reuse. Taking Jingzu Jiashu, a historic Chaoshan residence associated with overseas remittance culture, as a case study, this study develops a simulation workflow for climate-adaptive green retrofit. Digital documentation, architectural survey, material investigation, and climate data were integrated to establish a baseline model. PMV, DA300, and ACH/ACR were used to evaluate thermal comfort, daylighting, and natural ventilation. The baseline results show summer overheating, insufficient daylighting in deep rooms, and inadequate ventilation in representative rooms. Comfortable hours accounted for only 7.29–7.78%, thermally uncomfortable hours reached 42.84–51.53%, and the maximum PMV reached 4.65 in the rear hall and 3.54–3.65 in representative rooms. The effective daylight areas of the front and rear rooms were approximately 40% and 31%, while baseline ACH values ranged from 1.06 to 1.89 h⁻¹. An integrated retrofit strategy was proposed, including functional reorganization, envelope optimization, opening adjustment, ventilation-path organization, and courtyard/transitional-space improvement. After retrofit, comfortable hours increased to 32.00–42.45%, thermally uncomfortable hours decreased to 17.25–21.28%, maximum PMV values decreased to 1.82–1.86, daylight areas increased to 81% and 74%, and ACH values rose to 2.97–4.49 h⁻¹. The results indicate that building performance simulation can provide quantitative support for climate-adaptive green retrofit of historic Chaoshan residences in Lingnan, offering a methodological reference for healthier, lower-carbon, and more resilient reuse of similar historic dwellings. Full article

Urban environments expose individuals to multiple stressors, including air pollution and noise, which significantly impact health by causing cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and sleep disruption. Effective monitoring of these stressors through intelligent sensing technologies can support the mitigation of long-term deterioration in both physical and mental health. In this context, this pilot study presents a multimodal approach that integrates environmental sensing and physiological monitoring to assess stress responses of the human body to urban conditions. Indoor and outdoor air quality were measured using smart sensor nodes that captured particulate matter (PM₁, PM_2.5, PM₄, PM₁₀), air temperature and relative humidity. The physiological response to urban noise exposure was evaluated using electrodermal activity (EDA) and heart rate variability (HRV) acquired via a wearable biomedical device, while sound pressure levels (dBA) were measured using a professional sound level meter. Preliminary results indicate that indoor particulate matter concentrations greatly exceeded outdoor levels, despite outdoor sensors being deployed in a high-traffic urban environment. Physiological analysis revealed increased tonic electrodermal activity under noise exposure, indicating increased sympathetic activation. Complementary HRV analysis showed elevated heart rate (HR), reduced parasympathetic activity, and increased sympathetic dominance under high-noise conditions, confirming a measurable physiological stress response to urban environmental exposure. Full article

Under low-temperature and high-humidity conditions, stable ice layers readily form on asphalt pavements in cold regions, and the enhanced ice–asphalt interfacial adhesion significantly increases deicing difficulty and traffic safety risks. To clarify the factors governing ice–asphalt interfacial adhesion strength, this study combines macroscopic pull-off tests and molecular dynamics simulations to systematically investigate the effects of interfacial contact area, temperature, pull-off rate, and molecular characteristics of representative asphalt components. The pull-off results show that adhesion strength increases markedly with decreasing temperature, rising from approximately 163 kPa at −2 °C to 242 kPa at −10 °C. In contrast, the nominal adhesion strength decreases with increasing ice specimen size, suggesting that size-related interfacial heterogeneity and nonuniform stress transfer may contribute to the pull-off response. The adhesion strength also generally decreases as the pull-off rate increases. Molecular dynamics simulations show that smaller asphalt–ice interfacial models exhibit higher molecular-scale nominal adhesion responses, while temperature-dependent simulations provide short-range asphalt–ice interaction descriptors for interpreting the experimental temperature trend. The calculated short-range asphalt–ice interaction energy becomes less negative from −531.4 to −352.5 kJ mol⁻¹ with increasing temperature, supporting the experimentally observed strengthening of adhesion at lower temperatures. Single-molecule pull-off simulations of 12 representative asphalt molecules reveal pronounced molecular differences, with molecular-scale nominal adhesion strengths ranging from 303.7 to 734.6 MPa. Asphaltene and polar aromatic molecules generally show stronger adhesion, which is associated with larger projected contact area, flatter molecular configurations, and heteroatom-induced polar sites. The molecular polarity index shows a moderate positive association with molecular-scale nominal adhesion strength. These results establish a scale-aware mechanistic correspondence between macroscopic pull-off behavior and molecular interaction descriptors at the ice–asphalt interface, providing insights for interfacial adhesion regulation and anti-icing design of asphalt pavement materials in cold regions. Full article

Accurate building energy prediction is essential for climate-resilient design, retrofit planning, and long-term energy management. However, most machine-learning models are developed using historical weather data, implicitly assuming that future climatic conditions will remain similar to the past. This assumption is increasingly challenged by climate change, which is altering temperature patterns, solar exposure, humidity levels, and the frequency of extreme weather events. This study presents a climate-scenario-aware artificial intelligence framework that integrates future climate conditions into simulation-driven machine-learning development and validation. Using a UK hotel case study based on the Hilton Watford context, future weather scenarios were derived from CIBSE datasets informed by UKCP18 and CMIP6 climate projections. EnergyPlus version 23.2.0 simulations were performed under baseline, moderate-warming, high-warming, and heatwave stress-test scenarios to generate hourly building energy data. Random Forest, XGBoost 2.1.1, Multiple Linear Regression, and Multi-Layer Perceptron models were trained and evaluated using both Historical-Only and Climate-Scenario-Aware training approaches. Results show that models trained exclusively on historical conditions maintain high present-day accuracy but experience notable performance degradation under future climate scenarios, particularly for cooling demand and peak-load prediction. In contrast, Climate-Scenario-Aware models demonstrated improved robustness, reduced prediction errors, and greater physical consistency during extreme heatwave conditions while maintaining comparable performance under current climatic conditions. The proposed framework provides a reproducible methodology for developing climate-resilient AI models for building energy prediction and highlights the importance of incorporating future climate scenarios into model training and validation. The findings suggest that climate stress-testing should become a standard component of AI-based building energy analytics, digital twins, and long-term energy planning tools. Full article

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), one of the most established metal additive manufacturing technologies, depends strongly on the physical, morphological, and rheological characteristics of the powder feedstock to ensure process stability, layer uniformity, and final part quality. This study compared three AlSi10Mg powders intended for LPBF: one ultrasonic-atomized powder and two gas-atomized powders from different suppliers. The powders were evaluated in the as-received condition and after exposure to high-temperature/high-humidity and high-temperature/low-humidity environments. Particle size distribution, SEM/EDS, helium pycnometry, Karl Fischer moisture analysis, apparent density, Carney funnel flow, FT4 powder rheometry, and a LAMMPS-based Carney funnel simulation were used. The ultrasonic-atomized powder showed the lowest moisture uptake (77.74 ppm after humid conditioning, compared with 386.9 and 495.7 ppm for the gas-atomized powders), fewer satellite particles, lower agglomeration, and higher apparent density. Its Carney funnel flow time remained nearly constant (8.0–8.6 s), whereas one gas-atomized powder increased from 12.2 to 15.2 s after humid exposure. FT4 measurements also indicated lower effective internal friction and wall-friction angles for the ultrasonic-atomized powder, while the gas-atomized powders exhibited greater resistance to motion and stronger sensitivity to the applied stress state. Although the powders showed broadly similar chemical composition, differences in particle size distribution, morphology, moisture sensitivity, and frictional behavior led to clear differences in flow performance. Because the powders also differed substantially in particle-size distribution, the effects attributed to atomization route are interpreted together with particle size and supplier effects rather than as route effects alone. The LAMMPS simulation remained qualitative because the modeled mass was limited to 10% of the estimated powder mass; nevertheless, it reproduced the same discharge ranking observed experimentally in the Carney funnel tests. Full article

Heat stress is a major constraint on poultry productivity in tropical environments, where persistent high temperature and humidity intensify its negative effects on production traits. In this study, we quantified the relationship between thermal load and monthly egg production in black-boned and Thai native chickens and developed a refined temperature–humidity index intended to improve the assessment of heat stress under tropical conditions. A large dataset comprising 136,816 monthly egg production records from 11,530 birds was analyzed using regression models and seven THI equations. The results confirmed that heat stress significantly reduces monthly egg production, while conventional indices showed only moderate explanatory power. In contrast, the refined index consistently improved model performance, providing modest improvements in model fit compared with the original formulation. Notably, genotype-specific responses were identified, with Thai native chickens exhibiting greater tolerance to elevated thermal conditions. Distinct heat stress thresholds were also established, with values of 72 for black-boned and 74 for Thai native chickens. These findings highlight the environmentally sensitive nature of monthly egg production traits and demonstrate that targeted refinement of thermal indices enhances the detection of heat stress effects. This study provides a practical framework for integrating environmental indicators into management and breeding strategies aimed at improving thermal resilience in poultry systems. Full article

Urban heat stress is intensifying under climate change, particularly in outdoor public spaces where conventional mechanical cooling is impractical. This study develops a climate-driven, system-level numerical framework to evaluate the pre-deployment feasibility of modular, solar-powered spray cooling canopies across 110 cities in Türkiye. Hourly Typical Meteorological Year (TMYx) weather files, representing a single typical year constructed from 2009 to 2023 source data, are used to estimate photovoltaic (PV) energy yield, electrical load, feasible misting duration, water demand, and PV-to-load autonomy under summer daytime conditions. The misting operation is governed by a rule-based adaptive control strategy based on air temperature, relative humidity, and plane-of-array irradiance. To support transferable comparison, the cities are classified into six summer climate-archetype zones using k-means clustering of standardized climate variables, including temperature, humidity, irradiance, wind speed, and summer precipitation. Results show that evaporative cooling feasibility is governed primarily by humidity rather than temperature alone. Hot–Dry Inland cities exhibit the longest mean misting duration (501.90 h) and highest water demand (30,152 L per module), but the lowest PV-to-load autonomy ratio (1.55) because of high pump-driven electrical demand. In contrast, Humid Black Sea cities show minimal misting duration (11.43 h) and water use (465 L per module), but the highest autonomy ratio (39.68) due to very limited system activation. Thus, high autonomy does not necessarily indicate high cooling usefulness. The proposed framework provides a reproducible screening tool for identifying where PV-powered spray cooling canopies are climatically suitable, where water and PV sizing become limiting, and where alternative outdoor heat-mitigation strategies may be more appropriate. Full article

Biocontrol using antagonistic bacteria is considered a promising and sustainable approach for managing tomato bacterial diseases. Many antagonistic bacterial strains show strong activity under laboratory conditions, but their performance in greenhouse and field conditions is often unstable. This discrepancy is commonly described as the “translation gap”, meaning the gap between laboratory/greenhouse success and inconsistent field performance. This review examines the main causes of this gap. The analysis indicates that inconsistent field performance is not caused by a single factor, but by the combined effects of limited ecological fitness, environmental variability, formulation and delivery problems, and differences in agricultural management practices. Laboratory and greenhouse systems often simplify plant–bacteria–pathogen interactions and do not fully reflect the complexity of field environments. As a result, they may overestimate the practical potential of bacterial biocontrol agents. A conceptual framework is proposed to link biological, environmental, technical, and operational constraints and to explain why bacterial biocontrol often fails under practical conditions. Special attention is given to tropical tomato production systems, with emphasis on Vietnam, where high temperature, rainfall, humidity, intensive cultivation, and limited field-based evidence further increase the difficulty of achieving consistent disease control. Overall, this review highlights the need to move beyond simple antagonistic activity-based screening and to give greater attention to ecological fitness, rhizosphere colonization, stress tolerance, formulation quality, and compatibility with local farming practices. Full article

In tropical countries, broiler chickens are exposed to elevated ambient temperatures and humidity, which are sometimes exacerbated by high stocking densities and poor litter quality, thereby predisposing birds to severe stress, weakening immune function, and promoting BCO lameness progression. BCO lameness causes tremendous economic losses to the poultry industry and increases the risk of foodborne disease. BCO is frequently underdiagnosed in live populations, resulting in an iceberg phenomenon in which subclinical lesions are more prevalent than clinically apparent lameness. Therefore, a total of 500 Cobb500 broiler chickens from five commercial broiler flocks in Central Java, Indonesia, were randomly selected, weighed, slaughtered, and necropsied to evaluate the prevalence of BCO lameness lesions in the proximal femoral and tibial heads across distinct market ages ranging from 33 to 43 days. The ambient housing temperature in the region can reach 28–29 °C during the day. The results showed that more than 80% of the samples had normal femora at 33 days of age with an average body weight of 1.9 kg. A significant increase in the frequency and severity of femoral and tibial lesions was recorded at 35 to 36 days of age, when the average body weight reached approximately 2.5 kg. The high frequency of worsening BCO lesions observed during the 5th week suggests an age-related pattern in BCO occurrence during the late stages of grow-out. These findings suggest that improvements in nutrition, environment, and production management strategies before 36 days of age are necessary to mitigate the impact of BCO lameness in the poultry industry. Full article