Search Results (47,595)

Iron oxide-based nanomaterials have attracted considerable interest owing to their unique magnetic properties and potential biomedical and environmental applications. In this study, starch-coated superparamagnetic Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (Sta-MNP) were synthesized and comprehensively characterized using electron microscopy (TEM, SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). The results confirmed the formation of a magnetite-based iron oxide nanoparticles sample with a median physical diameter of 12.24 nm, superparamagnetic behavior with a saturation magnetization of 59.81 emu/g, and effective starch coating on the nanoparticle surface. The biological effects of Sta-MNP were assessed in Triticum aestivum L. using the mitotic index (MI) and aberration index (AI) as cytogenetic endpoints, respectively. Exposure-induced concentration-dependent increases in both parameters across the tested volume fractions (0–200 µL/L), suggesting a significant interaction between Sta-MNP and dividing cells. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive physicochemical profile of starch-coated magnetite nanoparticles and demonstrates their potential cytogenetic impact in a plant model system, supporting further investigation of their environmental interactions and potential agricultural applications. Full article

Carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites represent promising lightweight materials for automotive powertrain systems, where increasing demands for weight reduction, energy efficiency, and emission reduction are driving the replacement of conventional metallic components. However, automotive powertrain environments expose CFRP materials to elevated temperatures, cyclic mechanical loading, chemical exposure, and tribological interactions, creating complex degradation conditions that significantly influence long-term durability and reliability. This review systematically analyzes CFRP composites for automotive powertrain applications, focusing on the relationship between operational requirements, material selection, reinforcement architecture, manufacturing technologies, and degradation mechanisms. High-performance thermoplastic systems such as CF/PEEK, CF/PPS, and CF/PEKK are critically compared with conventional thermoset composites. CF/PEEK systems demonstrate superior thermomechanical stability, maintaining significant mechanical performance at temperatures approaching 250 °C and tensile strengths of approximately 1400–1600 MPa, whereas CF/PPS composites provide a more economically efficient compromise between thermal resistance, chemical stability, manufacturability, and recyclability for medium-temperature applications. The review further analyzes dominant degradation mechanisms, including creep deformation, fatigue damage, delamination, fibre–matrix interface degradation, and tribological wear. CFRP degradation is shown to result from the interaction of multiple coupled mechanisms rather than from isolated material failure modes. Tribological wear rates typically range from 10⁻⁶ to 10⁻⁵ mm³/(N·m), while creep–fatigue interactions may reduce component lifetime by up to 40–60% under combined thermomechanical loading. Advanced design strategies, including fibre orientation optimization, laminate architecture tailoring, thickness gradation, and hybrid metal–composite structures, are evaluated together with major manufacturing technologies such as injection moulding, compression moulding, overmoulding, automated fibre placement, and additive manufacturing. The presented review establishes an integrated framework linking material systems, operating conditions, manufacturing processes, and durability requirements for automotive powertrain applications. The analysis demonstrates that no universal CFRP system exists for all powertrain components and that optimal material selection requires balancing thermal stability, fatigue resistance, tribological performance, manufacturability, recyclability, and economic constraints according to the specific operating conditions of each component category. Full article

Hydrodynamic cavitation has attracted increasing attention in water and wastewater treatment because it can generate localized shear, pressure fluctuations, interfacial renewal, and reactive species in relatively simple continuous-flow devices. This review critically examines its main application domains, including microbial disinfection, cyanobacterial bloom control, organic micropollutant degradation, real wastewater treatment, sludge pretreatment for energy recovery, and hybrid process configurations. Rather than treating hydrodynamic cavitation as a single treatment mode, the discussion compares applications in relation to reactor design, matrix characteristics, treatment target, operating conditions, and assigned process function. The analysis shows that performance depends strongly on the interaction among device geometry, treated matrix, process configuration, and evaluation metrics. The same nominal process may therefore act as direct treatment, pretreatment, mass-transfer intensifier, oxidant-activation module, or support to downstream biological and polishing steps. The most consolidated evidence concerns microbial disinfection, sludge pretreatment, and several classes of organic contaminants, whereas PFAS treatment, field-scale validation, and system-level assessment remain less mature. Overall, hydrodynamic cavitation is best interpreted as a process-intensification platform rather than as a universally applicable stand-alone solution. Further progress will require more transparent assessment criteria, more comparable metrics, stronger validation in real matrices, more controllable reactors, and more rigorous energy, techno-economic, and scale-up evaluation. Full article

During precast beam yard construction on soft ground, prestress tensioning-induced camber transforms the initially uniform load distribution into eccentric concentrated loads at the beam ends, thereby posing risks to foundation stability and geometric accuracy. This study investigates the mechanical responses of natural ground, single-pile reinforcement, and double-pile reinforcement under tension loading through field monitoring and numerical simulations based on a Hangzhou–Ningbo Expressway project. The results show that single-pile reinforcement exhibits a typical point-support behavior, characterized by significant stress concentration at the pile head, a pile–soil stress ratio ranging from 3.0 to 4.0, and a coefficient of variation in base pressure reaching 0.81. In contrast, the double-pile scheme enables load redistribution through a line-support mechanism along the beam length, improving stress uniformity and reducing the coefficient of variation to 0.62. Orthogonal test-based sensitivity analysis further identifies pile diameter and cushion thickness as the dominant factors influencing composite ground. performance. This study clarifies the differences in load-transfer mechanisms among various pile arrangements under tension loading and provides a theoretical basis for the optimized design of casting bed foundations for precast beam yards in soft soil regions. Full article

Background: Gaming is a common leisure activity among university students, a life stage marked by late adolescence and emerging adulthood, when digital habits and psychosocial outcomes are still developing. However, gaming behaviors and motivations differ by gender, making it important to understand these variations to identify trends and potential risks linked to excessive use. This study examines whether gender is associated with differences in gaming habits, motivations, and perceived toxicity within a sample of Italian university gamers. Methods: A total of 394 participants (M = 22.8 years, SD = 3.6; 58% male) who actively played video games completed an online questionnaire on sociodemographic and gaming variables. Data were analyzed using t-tests and linear discriminant analysis. Results: Results showed gender differences in age of gaming onset, weekly gaming time, perceived toxicity, and motivations such as violent gratification, cognitive challenge, coping, and social interaction. However, discriminant analysis identified weekly gaming hours, violent gratification, and age as key differentiating factors, but the model accounted for a limited proportion of between-group variability. Conclusions: These findings suggest that gender accounts for a limited proportion of variability, indicating a trend toward gender parity in the analyzed gaming variables. Full article

Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) has emerged as a central strategic priority in e-commerce management, yet its positioning within the broader interactive marketing paradigm remains theoretically underdeveloped. Interactive marketing, defined as a multi-directional value creation process through active customer connection, engagement, participation, and interaction, provides a critical lens through which the effectiveness and efficiency of digital marketing tactics can be understood, as each tactic mediates a distinct form of consumer brand interactivity. The academic literature, however, remains fragmented; no unified comparative framework exists that simultaneously assesses both effectiveness and efficiency of digital marketing tactics within an interactive marketing context. Drawing on the classical effectiveness and efficiency framework and interactive marketing theory, this study addresses this gap through a cross-sectional quantitative survey of 302 digital marketing professionals, evaluating a broad range of tactics across both dimensions using a validated psychometric instrument. The findings reveal that Email Marketing consistently dominates across effectiveness and efficiency assessments, reflecting its permission-based structure and its capacity to sustain ongoing consumer–brand dialogue. Search Engine Marketing exhibits the most pronounced divergence between effectiveness and efficiency, consistent with auction-driven cost dynamics that constrain interactive value creation. Attribution modelling difficulty emerges as the primary structural barrier to CRO implementation, revealing a systemic challenge to evidence-based resource allocation in multi-channel interactive environments. An exploratory factor analysis identifies a three-factor taxonomy of tactic effectiveness, distinguishing Paid Conversion tactics, data-driven optimisation tools, and organic or relationship-based channels, each representing a qualitatively distinct mode of consumer–brand interaction. This study advances interactive marketing theory by providing the first empirically validated effectiveness–efficiency framework for e-commerce CRO, and offers actionable guidance for cross-channel budget allocation decisions in interactive digital environments. Full article

Museums are increasingly recognized as important cultural institutions for promoting sustainability by shaping visitors’ values, experiences, and consumption-related decisions. This study investigates how interactive marketing in museum settings is associated with Generation Z visitors’ sustainable consumption intention and examines the conditions under which these effects become stronger. Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) framework, this study develops a moderated dual-mediation model in which interactive marketing represents the stimulus, experience value and green self-identity function as parallel organismic mechanisms, and sustainable consumption intention represents the behavioral response, with perceived authenticity serving as a boundary condition. Survey data were collected from 582 Generation Z visitors in China who had recently visited museums equipped with digital or interactive facilities. Using multi-item Likert scales adapted to the museum sustainability context, the proposed model was examined through structural equation modeling, bootstrapped mediation analysis, and latent interaction analysis. The results indicate that interactive marketing is positively associated with experience value, green self-identity, and sustainable consumption intention. Furthermore, experience value and green self-identity both mediate the relationship between interactive marketing and sustainable consumption intention, revealing two complementary mechanisms through which interactive museum experiences become behaviorally meaningful: an experiential pathway and an identity-relevant pathway. The findings further demonstrate that perceived authenticity strengthens the effects of experience value and green self-identity on sustainable consumption intention, suggesting that sustainability-oriented responses are more likely to emerge when museum sustainability practices are perceived as genuine and consistent with institutional values. This study contributes to sustainable consumption research by extending the S–O–R framework to museum-based cultural consumption and highlights the importance of integrating interactive experience design with authentic sustainability communication. Full article

This study investigates the pervaporation dehydration of a quaternary esterification mixture containing water, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, 2-ethylhexanol, and propionic acid using a pilot-scale HybSi membrane (BTESE on Al₂O₃). A design of experiments was implemented to evaluate the influence of mixture composition on water content in the retentate, permeation flux, and water removal efficiency. Descriptive analysis revealed that the initial water content is the dominant factor governing both permeation flux and dehydration performance, whereas acid, alcohol, and ester have secondary but interactive effects. Reduced cubic polynomial models including linear, binary, and ternary interactions were developed, showing good agreement with experimental data. Ternary diagrams highlighted composition regions where molecular interactions significantly affect separation performance. Multi-response optimization based on desirability functions identified optimal operating conditions at high initial water content (1.146 wt.%), yielding a permeation flux of 0.144 kg·m⁻²·h⁻¹, a final water content close to the industrial target (0.2 wt.%), and a water removal efficiency of 86%. Experimental validation confirmed the reliability of the predictive model. The results provide insights into composition–performance relationships and demonstrate the suitability of BTESE membranes for low-water-content esterification systems. Full article

Understanding the spatiotemporal evolution of rural settlements in ethnic minority regions is essential for coordinated rural development, cultural landscape conservation, and rural revitalization. Taking Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County in Northeast China as a case study, this study examined rural settlement patterns and their driving mechanisms from 2000 to 2024 using GIS-based spatial analysis, landscape pattern metrics, and the optimal parameter-based geographical detector (OPGD) model. A multidimensional indicator system was constructed from four dimensions: natural environment, production-resource environment, ethnic–cultural environment, and socioeconomic environment. The results show that rural settlements remained significantly clustered, although clustering gradually weakened, with average nearest-neighbor ratios increasing from 0.7729 in 2000 to 0.8370 in 2024. High agglomeration was mainly concentrated in the southern and southeastern areas, whereas low agglomeration occurred in the western and northwestern areas. Annual average temperature had the strongest explanatory power (q = 0.2492), followed by road network density (q = 0.1786) and elevation (q = 0.1716), indicating that thermal conditions, transportation accessibility, and topographic constraints were dominant drivers. All two-factor interactions showed enhancement effects, suggesting a coupled rather than single-factor mechanism. Ethnic–cultural variables had relatively lower q-values but remain important for interpreting cultural continuity, heritage conservation value, and differentiated rural development. Full article

The rhizosphere bacterial community is an important determinant of plant health and disease resistance. To investigate bacterial community characteristics associated with Fusarium wilt resistance, we used full-length 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to characterize rhizosphere bacterial communities. The analysis included seven banana germplasms with contrasting resistance levels. Significant genotype-dependent differences in bacterial community composition were detected among the germplasms. Alpha diversity analysis showed that bacterial richness and diversity were not consistently associated with Fusarium wilt resistance. In contrast, highly resistant germplasms were enriched in potentially beneficial taxa, including Bacillus and Nitrospira, whereas Chujaibacter and Acinetobacter were more abundant in moderately resistant and low-resistant germplasms. Beta diversity analysis further revealed distinct community structures across the germplasms. Functional prediction indicated that bacterial communities associated with highly resistant germplasms possessed greater potential for carbohydrate metabolism, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, and antibiotic biosynthesis. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed distinct bacterial interaction patterns among germplasms with different resistance levels. Highly resistant germplasms showed strong associations among several key bacterial taxa. In contrast, moderately resistant and low-resistant germplasms exhibited different patterns of positive and negative bacterial associations. Collectively, these results suggest that Fusarium wilt resistance in banana is associated not with increased bacterial diversity but with the enrichment of potentially beneficial bacterial taxa, enhanced bacterial functional potential, and distinct bacterial interaction patterns. Full article

The systemic shift in the energy consumption structure from high-carbon fossil fuels to low-carbon clean energy constitutes a critical pathway toward global climate governance and carbon neutrality. However, this sustainable transition is consistently impeded by deep-seated institutional frictions and structural barriers, such as governance fragmentation and carbon lock-in effects embedded in traditional industrial organization. Whether digital government development can overcome these barriers by nurturing resilient business ecosystems and thereby promote a systemic low-carbon energy transition remains an urgent question within sustainable development research. To address this issue, this study integrates digital government development, regional e-commerce ecosystem competitiveness, and the low-carbon transition of the energy consumption structure into a unified analytical and sustainable governance framework. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2012 to 2022, we exploit the institutional reform of provincial big data administrations as a quasi-natural experiment to identify the impacts of digital government. Regional e-commerce ecosystem competitiveness is comprehensively evaluated across four sustainable dimensions: ecological innovation capacity, market connectivity, ecological global integration, and inclusive infrastructure. Methodologically, we employ a spatial difference-in-differences model to capture geographic interdependencies alongside a double machine learning framework to handle high-dimensional confounding and nonlinear disturbances. The empirical findings reveal that both digital government development and regional e-commerce ecosystem competitiveness significantly drive the low-carbon transition of the energy consumption structure. The institutional effect of digital government exhibits strong regional embeddedness with localized impacts, whereas e-commerce ecosystem competitiveness generates positive spatial spillovers that accelerate energy optimization in neighboring regions. Crucially, regional e-commerce ecosystem competitiveness serves as a significant partial mediator, constructing a reliable transmission channel from institutional design to market-based decarbonization. Further pathway analysis indicates that market connectivity and inclusive infrastructure function as the primary transmission channels, effectively mitigating transportation energy intensity and bridging the digital-green divide, while the mediating contribution of ecological innovation capacity is relatively constrained due to cross-organizational coordination thresholds. This study clarifies the interactive mechanism between public digital governance and market ecosystem competitiveness in advancing environmental sustainability, thereby offering fresh theoretical insights and actionable policy implications for emerging market economies striving for economic growth and decarbonization. Full article

The transition process from synchronous condenser pump (SCP) mode to pumping mode determines the response rapidity of the startup procedure and operational stability of pump-turbines; however, the complex gas–liquid interaction and transient hydraulic characteristics during this process remain insufficiently understood. To address this, this study develops a numerical framework for the SCP-to-pumping transition process, incorporating the full-passage system, a multiscale mesh strategy for coupling mainstream and clearance flow regions, and a gas–liquid two-phase flow model based on the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. The reliability of the numerical model is verified through comparison with model experiments, demonstrating good agreement between simulations and experimental data. Based on the validated model, the transient evolution of hydraulic forces, pressure pulsations, and internal flow structures is systematically analyzed. Axial force analysis reveals a significant internal equilibrium; the crown bears a maximum instantaneous fluctuation of approximately 2800 kN. Conversely, the radial force is primarily dominated by blade hydraulic thrust (1294 kN), showing distinct anisotropic behavior. The runner blade channels and the upper draft tube region are identified as critical areas with intense pressure fluctuations, with peak-to-peak pressure amplitudes reaching 45~48 m and 54 m head, respectively. Furthermore, reducing the duration of the exhaust process constitutes the main strategy for accelerating the transition and mitigating prolonged high-amplitude force and pressure fluctuations. The findings provide new insights into the transient hydraulic mechanisms of SCP-to-pumping transitions and offer guidance for optimizing transition control strategies in pumped-storage units. Full article

Ferroptosis has emerged as a promising strategy to overcome resistance to conventional cancer therapies. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is characterized by hypoxia, therapy resistance, and an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Although hypoxia is likely to influence ferroptosis susceptibility and the associated inflammatory pathways that regulate antitumor immunity, their impact on ferroptosis sensitivity and innate immune responses remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of hypoxia on the induction of ferroptosis and immune-related signaling in PDAC cell lines. We examined how hypoxia affects the responses of Panc-1, BxPC3, and Capan-1 cells to the ferroptosis inducers RAS-selective lethal 3 (RSL3)/Imidazole ketone erastin (IKE) under normoxic and hypoxic (0.1% O₂) conditions. Cell viability assays were used to assess ferroptosis sensitivity, and rescue experiments were performed using liproxstatin-1 (LIP). Gene expression analysis was conducted to evaluate changes in immune, interferon, inflammatory, and hypoxia-related genes following ferroptosis induction. Panc-1 cells were the most sensitive, whereas Capan-1 cells were resistant, particularly under hypoxia. Ferroptosis triggered cell line-specific responses involving interferon signaling, inflammation, and stress pathways. Panc-1 cells showed over-expression of RIG-I, MAVS, IRF3/7/9, STAT1/2, and CXCL10, particularly under hypoxia, indicating activation of Type I interferon (IFN)-associated transcriptional program. BxPC3 cells demonstrated broader cytokine induction, including IL-8, CCL2, CXCL2, GM-CSF, and IL-11, whereas Capan-1 cells were minimally responsive. Hypoxia also increased ANGPTL4 and GDF15 expression following ferroptosis induction. These findings show that hypoxia differentially affects ferroptosis sensitivity and immune responses in PDAC, revealing complex interactions among ferroptosis, innate immunity, and the tumor microenvironment. Full article

Objective: The usefulness of available wound debridement strategies, including endogenous autolysis and enzymatic, larval, and surgical approaches, is often limited by poor wound bed biology, availability, and invasiveness. Although copper oxide-containing dressings (CODs) have demonstrated broad wound-healing activity in basic science and clinical studies, their potential to modulate debridement has not been specifically characterized. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of five severe clinical cases (six limbs) characterized with extensive necrosis, impaired perfusion, and frequently compromised systemic conditions. Sequential clinical imaging and detailed follow-up were used to assess wound bed dynamics. All cases demonstrated a period of clinical stagnation prior to COD initiation under standard wound care, ranging from 1–4 weeks in the acute cases to approximately 8 years in the chronic venous ulcer, allowing within-case temporal comparison of wound behavior before and after COD introduction, during which no other major changes in local wound management were made. Observations were interpreted in the context of relevant published basic science. Results: In five of the six limbs, major amputation or revision to a higher level had been indicated prior to COD initiation. In all cases, application of COD was associated with rapid and extensive clearance of devitalized tissue, with major wound-bed changes observed within 2–6 weeks, consistent with activation of endogenous autolytic mechanisms. Relevant published literature identifies copper-dependent pathways (CDPs), including the MMP–TIMP axis, inflammatory signaling via NF-κB, and macrophage polarization, that may provide a biologically plausible explanation for these clinical observations. Analysis of serial photographs demonstrated concurrent emergence of granulation tissue and vascularization, supporting synergism among angiogenesis, granulation tissue formation, and debridement, all induced by COD. Conclusions: The observations support the hypothesis that copper ions and CODs may amplify autolytic tissue clearance through CDPs, with concurrent synergistic interaction between angiogenesis and debridement. Full article

The rapid emergence of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii has become a major health concern, primarily driven by the dissemination of class D β-lactamases, particularly OXA-23, which compromise the efficacy of last-line β-lactam antibiotics. Drug repurposing combined with structure-based computational approaches provides a promising strategy for accelerating the discovery of novel therapeutic candidates against multidrug-resistant pathogens. This study aimed to identify FDA-approved non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) with potential inhibitory activity against OXA-23 β-lactamase by using a comprehensive computational drug discovery workflow. Twenty-six FDA-approved NSAIDs were evaluated using an integrated computational pipeline comprising network pharmacology, KEGG pathway analysis, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations and ADMET profiling. KEGG pathway analysis confirmed the central role of OXA-23 in β-lactam resistance, while network pharmacology prioritized nine candidates NSAIDS for subsequent structure-based investigation. Molecular docking was performed using the crystal structure of OXA-23 β-lactamase (PDB ID: 4K0X), followed by molecular dynamics simulations to assess the stability of the protein–ligand complexes. Among the prioritized compounds, sulfasalazine demonstrated the most favorable predicted binding affinity (−8.3 kcal/mol), forming stable interactions with key catalytic residues, including SER126, VAL128, and LEU166 and exhibiting a more favorable docking profile than the reference drug imipenem (−5.7 kcal/mol). Molecular dynamics simulations supported the structural stability of the sulfasalazine OXA-23 complex throughout the simulation period. Furthermore, ADMET analysis indicated favorable pharmacokinetic characteristics including good oral bioavailability, high gastrointestinal absorption, low central nervous system penetration, and an acceptable predicted safety profile. This integrated computational study identifies sulfasalazine as a promising repurposing candidate for targeting OXA-23 β-lactamase in carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii. The findings demonstrate the utility of combining network pharmacology with molecular modeling to prioritize candidate therapeutics and provide a computational framework for accelerating antimicrobial drug discovery. Experimental validation is warranted to confirm the inhibitory activity and therapeutic potential of sulfasalazine against multidrug-resistant A. baumannii. Full article