Search Results (4,472)

Accurately quantifying carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks (HDTs) is crucial for developing effective transportation emission reduction strategies. In this study, we adopted a bottom–up approach and, in conjunction with the “International Vehicle Emissions” (IVE) model, constructed a high-resolution 1 × 1 km CO₂ emission inventory for the urban area of Kunming, China. Using data from 1.24 million track points collected from 5996 heavy-duty diesel trucks, we implemented a map matching algorithm based on a simplified hidden Markov model (HMM) to efficiently process large-scale GPS data. Furthermore, we improved upon traditional spatial allocation methods by dynamically integrating track point density with static road network density. The results indicate that although higher driving speeds correspond to lower CO₂ emission rates, heavy-duty diesel trucks typically operate within an observed speed range of 40–60 km/h, with an average emission factor of approximately 500 g/km. Vehicles compliant with the “National III” emission standards remain the primary source of CO₂ emissions in this region. Correlation analysis reveals a significant positive relationship (p < 0.01) between emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks and both traffic volume and mileage. Notably, daytime vehicle restriction policies led to a temporal redistribution of emissions rather than a net reduction in emissions; this resulted in increased activity levels of heavy-duty diesel trucks at night, leading to a surge in nighttime emissions. In terms of spatial distribution, the “dual-density” allocation method proposed in this study more accurately captured emission hotspots, revealing that CO₂ emissions are primarily concentrated in the southeastern part of the city—a distribution pattern largely influenced by the city’s industrial layout. Full article

Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) face profound and largely preventable physical health inequities shaped by social and structural conditions, representing a major public health concern related to avoidable health inequalities. Because many receive everyday support in community mental health (CMH) systems, these services represent a crucial arena for understanding how such inequities are encountered and made sense of in practice. The study examines how physical health is understood within German CMH practice. Five group discussions with 30 CMH workers were analysed using an interpretive qualitative approach. The analysis identified five professional logics through which physical health becomes part of CMH support: trusting relationships that both enable and limit action; psychological stability as a core mandate; physical health positioned between recognition and delegation; fragile motivation combined with an ethics of restraint; and health promotion situated between aspiration and structural constraint. The findings show that helping relationships, everyday environments, and organisational structures create specific conditions for health-related support. Strengthening these interconnected levels may enable CMH to integrate physical health more systematically, offering insights relevant to international CMH contexts facing similar relational and structural challenges. Full article

Pythiosis is a neglected infectious disease caused by the aquatic oomycete Pythium insidiosum and remains underrecognized in cattle, particularly in tropical regions. Here, we report the first molecularly confirmed outbreak of bovine pythiosis in the Amazon biome, affecting more than 400 animals raised under extensive production systems and areas with prolonged exposure to standing water. Clinically affected cattle presented ulcerative and exudative cutaneous lesions, predominantly involving the distal limbs. Given the diagnostic challenges associated with pythiosis, etiological confirmation was achieved through quantitative PCR (qPCR) targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of P. insidiosum, providing rapid and specific molecular detection during the outbreak investigation. Therapeutic interventions were implemented as part of routine field management, including intramuscular triamcinolone combined with topical copper sulfate; this regimen was associated with clinical improvement in a substantial proportion of affected animals, though treatment efficacy was not formally evaluated. The outbreak occurred in flood-prone pastures during the rainy season, highlighting the role of aquatic environments in pathogen transmission. These findings expand the current understanding of bovine pythiosis in tropical ecosystems and underscore the importance of molecular diagnostics, outbreak surveillance, and a One Health approach for the identification and management of water-associated pathogens in livestock. Full article

The photothermal effect is an important part of biological tissue optics. The reasonable use of temperature changes caused by the photothermal effect is of great value for the treatment of lesions. However, it is not easy to measure changes in light and heat temperatures in tissues experimentally. This paper combines Monte Carlo simulation and finite-element numerical calculation based on the Pennes biological tissue heat transfer equation to simulate light transmission and distributions of light and heat in biological tissues, including single-layer uniform biological tissue simulations and a classic three-layer skin optical model. Through the simulation of single-layer uniform biological tissue, the overall trend and range of biological tissue temperature change under different parameters are obtained in this work. Third, in the classic three-layer skin optical model simulation, this work combines a data-fitting method to derive a formula relating internal temperature and tissue depth to the absorption coefficient. Compared with the simulation standard results, the error of the above fitting formula is within 1.2%, and it can be applied in the field of photothermal therapy in the future to help medical workers understand the range of temperature changes in biological tissues. Full article

The objective is to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) Scale as a tool to assess the experiences of households and the Argentine population regarding insecurity of access to water. Addressing water insecurity is critical for advancing several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), and SDG 1 (No Poverty), given the strong links between access to safe water, health, and poverty reduction. The scale was administered as part of the Argentine Social Debt Survey (EDSA), on a probabilistic sample of 5799 households. The HWISE Scale demonstrated high reliability both overall and at the item level (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.95 at a total level and greater than 0.94 for each of the items) and criterion validity in terms of correlation with a broad set of indicators: social deprivations, sanitary infrastructure, food insecurity, and psychological health. Finally, the scale showed internal consistency, with a total omega coefficient value of 0.96, suggesting that all scale indicators refer to the same concept of deprivation in water access. In sum, the HWISE Scale applied to the case of Argentina is deemed appropriate for estimating household water insecurity. Full article

International tourism plays an important role in the global service economy, contributing to trade, employment, and regional development. For this reason, identifying the factors that influence tourist flows is an important issue for tourism policy, market strategy, and infrastructure planning. A large body of research has applied gravity models to analyze tourism flows between countries. While this approach provides a clear economic interpretation, it is usually based on linear specifications and may therefore capture only part of the relationships present in tourism data. This study examines the economic and geographic determinants of international tourism flows to Mongolia using a framework that combines a traditional gravity model with machine learning techniques. Mongolia serves as an instructive empirical setting, a landlocked, geographically peripheral destination whose inbound demand determinants have received limited systematic empirical attention. The analysis uses panel data for 27 origin countries covering the period from 2000 to 2024. In the first stage, a gravity model is estimated to assess how tourism flows relate to economic size and geographic distance. The results show that tourism flows tend to increase with the economic size of origin and destination countries, while greater geographical distance is associated with lower tourism flows. The estimated distance elasticity ranges from approximately −1.85 to −2.10 across model specifications, which is larger in absolute terms than the values typically reported in cross-country studies. This result is consistent with the relatively high travel cost barriers associated with Mongolia’s geographic location. These findings are consistent with the distance decay relationship commonly reported in the tourism literature. In the second stage, machine learning algorithms, including Random Forest, LightGBM, and XGBoost, are used as complementary interpretive instruments rather than forecasting tools to explore possible nonlinear relationships among the explanatory variables. To make the results more interpretable, the contribution of individual variables is examined using SHAP (Shapley Additive Explanations). The machine learning results indicate that some relationships in tourism demand may be nonlinear and not fully captured by the linear gravity specification. Specifically, distance sensitivity is approximately 6.5 times greater in nearby markets than in long-haul markets, with a structural inflexion at around 5700 km. Further analysis suggests that the influence of geographical distance is not uniform across all markets. In particular, tourism flows originating from middle-income countries appear to be more sensitive to increases in travel distance than those from higher-income countries. Overall, the findings indicate that economic size and geographical distance remain key determinants of international tourism flows to Mongolia. At the same time, the use of machine learning methods provides additional insight into potential nonlinear patterns in tourism demand. By combining econometric modelling with explainable machine learning techniques, the study offers an integrated analytical perspective for examining international tourism flows at geographically peripheral destinations where standard gravity assumptions may be insufficient. Full article

The education systems, financial circumstances, and societal structures of our century expect educators to possess the most important characteristic: the ability to guide students who are highly digitally competent and keep themselves up to date. The “Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4)” emphasized by the According to the United Nations highlight the necessity of continuously updating teacher competencies for quality and inclusive education. Establishing music teachers’ “digital competencies” on a sustainable basis depends on combining technical skills with a pedagogical vision. Therefore, thoroughly examining music teachers’ digital competencies in light of international standards and the TPAC model is critical to ensuring the sustainability of digital transformation at both the institutional and individual levels. This study, which examines digital literacy as an important part of sustainable education in music education, has examined the digital skills of music teachers in Turkey within the scope of international digital literacy frameworks and the TPAC approach. Digital skills have been related to the status of teachers’ professional practices, teaching-learning processes, assessment approaches, and the support of students’ digital literacy. The research concluded that music teachers’ digital competency levels are at the “explorer” level, meaning they are individuals who are aware of digital technologies and conduct research to develop themselves in this area. Full article

In March 2021, a trial operation set of ocean radar was first introduced in Hong Kong, and then in early 2022 became stably paired up with one operated by the South China Sea Bureau of the Ministry of Natural Resources of China for filling up the meteorological data void over the eastern part of the South China coastal waters. The ocean radar has undergone various enhancements of hardware and software over the years and has reached a stage of providing useful wind observations for weather monitoring purposes in the majority of cases. This paper documents the novel features of the hardware and software of the ocean radar. The performance of the derived wind and other data from the ocean radar is studied by comparing with two sets of weather buoy observations over an extended period of time (one year from June 2024 to July 2025). The quality of the wind data is considered to be reasonable as compared with the international standards of wind measurement errors. The application of the ocean radar wind observations in monitoring different weather systems is also described, including monsoon surges, surface troughs of low pressure, rainstorms and tropical cyclones. The radar is still found to have difficulties in retrieving the winds of high strength (hurricane force winds) and the circulating flow at the same time. Further research work with the ocean radar is also discussed. Full article

Background: Most individuals develop smoking habits in adolescence, highlighting the need for a smoking prevention program targeted at this age group. The use of “Implementation Intentions” (If-Then plans) about how to refuse a cigarette combined with anti-smoking messages has been shown to be effective in the UK. However, there is a scarcity of data regarding school-based smoking prevention interventions among adolescents available to countries with high tobacco consumption rates, like Greece. Objectives: To describe the cultural adaptation procedure and the evaluation protocol for the school-based “Implementation Intentions” program aimed at reducing tobacco use susceptibility among Greek adolescents aged 13–16 in school settings. Methods: The present study is part of the EU-funded FRESHAIR4Life Program. We will use a mixed-methods approach with a pre- and post-intervention design in six conveniently selected secondary schools in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, to measure the intervention’s Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance using the RE-AIM framework. The study plans to involve three Master Trainers (MTs), 20–25 school teachers (to be trained by the MTs), and approximately 480 students. Participating schools will receive the “Implementation Intentions” intervention, which is based on a goal-setting technique where individuals commit to perform a particular behavior when a specific context arises. The study will consist of five sequential phases: Phase I involves training three Master Trainers (MTs) using the International Primary Care Respiratory Group (IPCRG’s) Teach-the-Teacher (TtT) curriculum, specifically focused on the implementation of our intervention. In Phase II, workshops will be held to co-create and culturally adapt the intervention. Phase III will involve teachers trained by MTs on delivering the intervention. In Phase IV, teachers will deliver the intervention among students in their schools. Data will be collected pre- and post-intervention through surveys, session logs, fidelity observations, feedback forms, and follow-up interviews or focus groups (Phase V). Quantitative data will be analyzed descriptively and by using paired t-tests and multiple linear regression analyses, while qualitative data will undergo thematic analysis. Discussion: The study protocol’s potential benefits extend beyond educating Greek adolescents on the risks associated with smoking. Active participation will empower and motivate young people to make informed, healthy choices. We expect the results could help create more effective, context-specific interventions, support policy changes aimed at decreasing the prevalence of adolescent smoking in Crete, Greece, and potentially be used by other countries as well. Full article

There have been multiple examples in recent years of nationalisation being used as a strategy for protecting the functions of failing public service providers. In the UK, at present, there is a demand for the nationalisation of Thames Water, which supplies water to 16 million users but is struggling financially and operationally. Proponents of nationalisation often overlook the complexity of the process, which involves the expropriation of shares and can be an expensive option. The expense arises in part due to the globalised investment context, where bilateral investment treaties (BITs) between various countries require compensation from foreign investors who suffer expropriation. There is wide foreign ownership of Thames Water, as well as many other UK public service suppliers. The practical and legal obstacles to nationalisation may mean that compensation must be paid at full market value, or not far short of it, even where the nationalised company is insolvent or failing. This paper examines the compensation frameworks applicable to the nationalisation of distressed public service providers with foreign ownership, analysing both bilateral investment treaties and the European Convention on Human Rights. Using Thames Water as a detailed case study, we demonstrate that current international investment law standards, which were developed for the expropriation of profitable enterprises, prove ill-suited when applied to the nationalisation of insolvent companies. Requiring “prompt, adequate and effective” compensation at fair market value for failing public service providers, such as utilities, creates perverse outcomes, as the taxpayers are asked to fund both the rescue of failed private ownership and the infrastructure investments that private owners neglected, while the shareholders who presided over the decline receive windfalls from state intervention. We propose an alternative framework based on four graduated responses: (1) enhanced regulatory intervention before failure occurs; (2) the use of upstream insolvency procedures, including restructuring plans; (3) the use of ordinary insolvency procedures of liquidation and administration; and (4) nationalisation as a last resort when market-based solutions are exhausted. Crucially, in this last case, we advocate for compensation to be calculated on a basis that reflects the insolvency of the nationalised entity. This entails valuing expropriated interests at what shareholders and creditors would have received through the insolvency proceedings that nationalisation displaces, which will typically be well below market value, even zero. Full article

Background: The species richness and endemism of the species of the tribes Astragaleae, Crotalarieae, Genisteae, Indigofereae, and Loteae in northeastern Mexico are poorly documented and the systematics of these groups in the study area have not been updated according to the new taxonomic modifications proposed by the LPWG. Objective: Our objective is to update the taxonomy and to document the richness and endemism of legumes of the tribes Astragaleae, Crotalarieae, Genisteae, Indigoferae, and Loteae distributed in northeastern Mexico. Methods: This work is based primarily on fieldwork conducted by some of the authors over the past 40 years, and on the review of botanical specimens held in national and international herbaria. Results: Five tribes, eight genera, and 60 species of legumes were recorded and distributed as follows: Astragaleae, one genus (Astragalus), 29 species, and eight infraspecific categories; Crotalarieae, one genus (Crotalaria), 10 species, and three infraspecific categories; Genisteae, two genera (Lupinus and Spartium) and 11 species; Indigofereae, one genus (Indigofera), six species; Loteae, three genera (Acmispon, Coronilla, and Hosackia), and four species. Four introduced species were recorded: Coronilla varia, Crotalaria retusa var. retusa, Indigofera subulata var. scabra, and Spartium junceum, all of them with few records in the wild or cultivated as ornamentals, with no reports of weedy behavior or threats of population expansion. Twenty-nine species and two infraspecific categories are endemic to Mexico, of which 18 are exclusive to the northeastern region. Half and one-third of the recorded species are endemic to Mexico and northeastern Mexico, respectively, demonstrating their uniqueness and importance for conservation purposes. Astragalus and Lupinus constitute up to 95% of the endemic species for the northeastern part of the country. The taxa richness of legumes in NE Mexico is unique, because almost half of them are endemic to the country and a third are endemic to this region, which requires the creation of appropriate measures for the conservation of the specific ecosystems where these species grow. Full article

Titus Brandsma (1881–1942), Dutch Carmelite and martyr, canonized in 2022, has been widely studied as a journalist, mystic and writer on spirituality. His poetry, however, still remains a relatively understudied part of his work. The purpose of this article is to provide a new evaluative survey of Brandsma’s poetic oeuvre, and to trace the reception of his poetry during his lifetime, and through the post-war period until the present day. One of the effects of this research, presented in this article, is a bio-bibliographic analysis, which for the first time offers a comprehensive overview of Brandsma’s poetry. As regards critical reception, this article focuses on the reasons why Brandsma’s verse was initially neglected and he himself was not considered a poet by his biographers. It examines the factors responsible for a recent revival of interest in several, though not all, of Brandsma’s poems, and their representation in recent biographies. The findings suggest that the post-war popular appeal of Brandsma’s poetry, especially his prison poem “Before the picture of Jesus”, and its growing international circulation, combined with an increased literary awareness and new methods of analysis, as well as changes to the understanding of literature itself, led to a much-needed reassessment of Brandsma as a poet in the first decades of the 21st century. However, the bibliography of Brandsma’s poetry indicates that the majority of his poems require further in-depth research using modern literary-critical methods. Full article

The regulation of chloride levels is a crucial part of controlling inhibitory signals, but does not occur uniformly throughout the body. Recent data suggest that chloride is regulated within localized “microdomains” which are defined by the interaction of KCC2 and NKCC1, structural restraints on cells due to their internal structure, the metabolic condition of the cell, and the external environment modified by astrocytes. The gradients of chloride concentrations within these compartment-specific microdomains define the local chloride reversal potential, and thereby determine the directionality (i.e., whether excitatory or inhibitory), magnitude, and timing of GABAergic inhibition. The disruption of this organized chloride gradient within microdomains impairs the stability of inhibitory activity at multiple levels of integration, including dendritic input, spike timing, interneuron synchronization, and network oscillation. Disturbances in inhibitory stability have been found in a variety of diseases, including epilepsy, neonatal seizure, neuropathic pain, and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. This supports the hypothesis that disturbances in chloride homeostasis lead to a loss of stability in cortical circuits. This review will provide a synthesis of the molecular, spatial, and circuit level principles involved in the regulation of chloride and discuss how failures of these mechanisms produce clinically relevant disturbances in inhibitory signal processing. In addition, we will be discussing new therapeutic strategies for the restoration of chloride homeostasis, including KCC2 repair, selective modulation of NKCC1, targeting astrocytes, and microenvironmental engineering. Overall, the studies reviewed here provide a unified model for understanding the pathophysiology of inhibitory dysfunction, and demonstrate that the regulation of chloride microdomains provides a novel and promising area of research for translational intervention. Full article

The aspiring United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Global Geopark of Chefchaouen includes part of the Talassemtane National Park (TNP), classified by UNESCO as an exceptional natural heritage site within the Intercontinental Mediterranean Biosphere Reserve (RBIM). The other section corresponds to the Ghomara Coast (GC), characterized by an outstanding succession of metamorphic rocks. This study identifies and highlights the most significant sites of geological interest (geosites and geodiversity sites) in the territory. Forty-two sites are proposed as geological heritage sites, thirty of which are organized into four accessible georoutes (Oued Laou Valley, Ghomara Coast, Talambote–Akchour, and Chaouen–Ametrasse), while the other twelve are located along trails and forest tracks inside or near the TNP. These sites cover a wide range of geological typologies, including structural geology, stratigraphy–sedimentology, paleontology, geomaterials, petrology, geomorphology, and hydrogeology. To classify and rank the sites objectively, a numerical methodology based on the recent literature was applied. Scientific value (SV), Potential Educational Use (PEU), and Potential Touristic Use (PTU) were quantified using multiple criteria, facilitating route selection according to user needs. Degradation Risk (DR) was also measured, providing managers with essential guidance for an appropriate geoconservation plan. Actions consistent with UNESCO Global Geoparks Network criteria are proposed to improve conservation, support education, and promote sustainable tourism, thereby enhancing economic activity in the region. The initiative aims to promote the region’s exceptional geological, cultural, and natural heritage. The Chefchaouen Geopark was designated a deferred candidate during the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council meeting of 8–9 September 2024. According to Section 5.5 of its guidelines, the Council may defer an application for up to two years to allow improvements without requiring a second field evaluation. To consolidate the Chefchaouen candidacy, we developed a strategy to strengthen compliance with UNESCO requirements, reduce the risk of final rejection, and maintain the territory’s credibility with international networks and partners. This work presents an operational, costed, and scheduled roadmap enabling stakeholders at all levels to converge toward a complete and coherent application. Full article

Despite their significance as forensic targets, alkyl nitrites, classified as illegal drugs, have received little attention in forensic analysis due to their high volatility and chemical instability. Here, we present a high-performance analytical approach using a pulsed dc soft plasma ionization-quadrupole mass spectrometry (pulsed dc SPI-MS) system, uniquely designed to operate using ambient air as the discharge gas. In this system, the modulation of the duty ratio functions as a “structural probe” to identify reactive isomers. Unlike conventional dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) sources that typically operate at atmospheric pressure, our SPI system utilizes a controlled pressure regime of several kPa, where the nitrogen in the ambient air effectively functions as a third-body gas to suppress excessive internal energy. The control of the duty ratio in our pulsed dc SPI source allowed for the successful manipulation of ion–molecule reaction pathways for highly reactive analytes. By optimizing several parameters, including duty ratio and discharge pressure, we achieved a unique ionization regime where the molecular-related ion [2 M − 3 H]⁺ was predominantly detected as the base peak with minimal fragmentation. Notably, by reducing the duty ratio from 50% to 5%, both the target ion occupancy and signal intensity were significantly enhanced, achieving a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 0.16 parts per million by volume (ppmv). This sensitivity is several orders of magnitude higher than previously reported thresholds, enabling rapid identification of C4–C6 alkyl nitrite isomers. This method transforms the duty ratio into a powerful diagnostic tool for identifying reactive intermediates, providing a practical and efficient approach for the onsite identification of illegal alkyl nitrites in forensic and security fields. Full article