Search Results (29,509)

Domestic and family violence (DFV) is a key driver of women’s homelessness and financial insecurity. In Australia, Safe at Home (SAH) programs have emerged as an innovative, wrap-around service response that increases victim-survivors’ safety by implementing a range of strategies and tools that enables them to remain in their home or a home of their choice. SAH responses represent one strategy that effectively prevents homelessness and mitigates the financial, social, and emotional disruption associated with housing relocation after leaving a violent and abusive relationship. This paper examines the implementation of SAH responses in Australia through a critical synthesis of national policy documents and published literature. The paper outlines the four nationally endorsed pillars of SAH (maximising safety, integrated responses, homelessness prevention, and economic security) and examines how these pillars shape service design and outcomes. Evidence from evaluations and outcome studies indicate that SAH can enhance women’s sense of safety, support housing stability, and reduce the financial burden of leaving a violent partner. Access and effectiveness vary depending on the design of the response and location. Challenges include limited affordable housing supply, inconsistent perpetrator accountability, and structural barriers to long-term economic security. Sustained investment in SAH programs, robust data collection mechanisms, and stronger integration of housing and economic supports are ultimately needed to ensure SAH can fulfil its potential as a core component of Australia’s DFV service system. Full article

Pedestrian interaction remains a central safety challenge for autonomous driving, particularly under non-compliant or adversarial pedestrian behavior. Existing research and evaluations predominantly test against rule-following pedestrians, leaving a gap in understanding how learning-based agents handle worst-case interactions. We introduce the Jaywalkers Library, a novel configurable benchmark in CARLA with three adversarial pedestrian archetypes (Intruder, Indecisive Crosser, and Protester). We evaluate a DreamerV3 agent trained with sparse rewards, where the only pedestrian-specific signal is a terminal collision penalty. Evaluation employs a frozen-policy protocol with explicit train–test separation. Safety behavior is decomposed into endpoint outcomes, evasion dynamics, and efficiency costs. Under nominal conditions, the agent achieves high route completion and generalizes to an unseen town, whereas under adversarial exposure, an archetype-sensitive evasion strategy emerges. The agent swerves at speed against dynamic pedestrians but decelerates against the slow-moving Protester. Collision rates reveal a counterintuitive difficulty ordering in which the Protester is the hardest, followed by the Intruder, with the Indecisive Crosser as the most survivable. These findings show that a sparse terminal penalty suffices for emergent pedestrian avoidance in a world-model agent, but that effectiveness is bounded by the world model’s ability to predict pedestrian persistence. Full article

Wheat productivity and grain quality are strongly influenced by nutrient management and soil moisture availability. Nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) regulate biomass production, physiological stability and grain protein development. However, their efficiency varies under water-limited conditions. This study aimed to evaluate how soil moisture modulates nitrogen–potassium efficiency, nutrient partitioning, physiological responses and grain quality development in wheat. The current experiment was planned to assess the impact of varying but combined levels of N and K fertilizers on wheat crop growth and yield components as well as nutrient uptake and grain quality under different irrigation levels (i.e., normal irrigation Field Capacity (FC) 100%, partial water deficit FC75%, moderate water deficit FC50%, severe water deficit FC25%). The results of the study showed that increasing N-K supply enhanced biomass, chlorophyll contents, nutrient accumulation and grain quality under full irrigation, with N2K2 showing the highest growth, yield and quality traits. Under moderate deficit, N2K1 maintained a relatively stable yield and physiological performance, whereas severe moisture limitation markedly reduced nutrient uptake, grain development and fertilizer efficiency despite a higher NK application. Progressive reductions in irrigation also altered nutrient distribution among leaves, straw and grain, indicating moisture-regulated remobilization during grain filling. Maximum increments in values for plant height (27%), total biomass (108%), grain yield (183%), grain NPK content (38%, 6.3%, 26%), grain protein (38%) and wet gluten (38%) were noted in the N2K2 treatment at FC100%, but these parameters showed up to 80% reduction under the same treatment of N-K at FC25%. It is concluded that wheat response to N–K fertilization was moisture dependent and fertilizer rate alone did not ensure productivity under severe water deficit. Therefore, integrating nutrient supply with irrigation management is essential to sustain productivity and grain quality. Full article

The Changbai Mountain Forest Region contains one of the best-preserved mountain forest ecosystems in eastern Asia and serves as a critical ecological barrier in China. Using the Baihe Forestry Bureau as the study area, this research quantified forest surface fire behavior, and based on the historical wildfire occurrence data and the forest fire spread trends, proposed targeted strategies for fire prevention and emergency resource allocation. Forest fires in the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed near-mature forest pose the greatest threat to the region. The establishment of five supply storages in five strategic locations and the construction of new firebreak roads are essential for effective fire management in the Baihe Forestry Bureau. Full article

Mango (Mangifera indica L.), a major tropical fruit crop, suffers severe anthracnose damage caused by Colletotrichum spp., and traditional chemical control has environmental and food safety risks, with plant-microbe interaction-based biological control as a sustainable alternative. However, the regulatory role of phyllosphere microbiota in the tripartite interactions among mango, beneficial microbes and Colletotrichum remains unclear. This study explored phyllosphere microbiota’s function in mango resistance to Colletotrichum and clarified the biocontrol mechanism of key beneficial isolates. We found Colletotrichum infection significantly reshaped mango leaf endophytic and epiphytic microbial communities, enriching Burkholderia, Acinetobacter, Bacillus and other dominant genera. We isolated a B. subtilis strain L-1 from the epiphytic microbiota that was 18-fold enriched in Colletotrichum-infected mango leaves. This strain exhibited potent antagonistic activity against Colletotrichum siamense with a relative inhibition rate of 82.10%, and delivered 79.77% biocontrol efficacy on mango leaves via two synergistic pathways: inhibiting pathogen spore germination and penetration by producing antimicrobial secreted metabolites and volatile organic compounds, and enhancing host disease resistance. Our findings advance the understanding of plant-phyllosphere microbiota-pathogen tripartite interactions and provide elite microbial resources for sustainable anthracnose management. Full article

Background: Congenital hearing loss occurs in about 2 of every 1000 newborns, of which half probably have a genetic origin. In syndromic patients, hearing impairment often results from craniofacial malformations affecting the outer and middle ear. Anatomical limitations such as microtia or external auditory canal atresia often preclude conventional air-conduction hearing aids, leaving bone-conduction devices as one viable option. However, surgical intervention in such patients is challenging. This study aimed to evaluate the audiological outcomes, safety, and effectiveness of the Bonebridge BCI 602 implant in 10 patients with genetic syndromes. Methods: The case series was made up of 10 patients aged 6–45 years, each diagnosed with a congenital syndrome affecting the external and/or middle ear. All cases involved surgical implantation of the Bonebridge system. Audiological outcomes were evaluated in free-field conditions on the day of sound processor activation and at 3–6 months follow-up via pure-tone and speech audiometry. Results: All surgical procedures were completed without serious adverse events, and the incidence of postoperative complications was low. Audiological outcomes showed clinically significant hearing improvement in all patients following Bonebridge implantation. Post-implantation hearing thresholds ranged from 25 to 40 dB HL, with notable gains in speech perception in both quiet and noisy environments. Conclusions: The Bonebridge implant appears to be a safe and effective option for auditory rehabilitation in patients with hearing loss associated with various genetic syndromes involving craniofacial malformation. However, this complex patient population requires individual assessment, interdisciplinary evaluation, and careful surgical planning. Full article

Ipê trees (Bignoniaceae), mainly belonging to the genus Handroanthus, are widely used in urban landscaping and reforestation programs in Brazil. Anthracnose, typically associated with species of Colletotrichum, represents one of the major diseases affecting ipê seedlings and ornamental trees. However, the etiological agents involved have not yet been fully clarified using modern phylogenetic tools. In this study, we identified Colletotrichum species associated with anthracnose in ipê trees from Pernambuco, Brazil. A total of 22 isolates were obtained from symptomatic leaves of Handroanthus impetiginosus and H. chrysotrichus. Species identification was based on multilocus phylogenetic analyses using CAL, GAPDH, GS, and TUB2 loci. The isolates were assigned to three species: Colletotrichum siamense, C. tropicale, and C. karsti. Colletotrichum siamense was the most prevalent species (50%), followed by C. tropicale (36.3%), while C. karsti represented 13.7% of the isolates. Pathogenicity tests confirmed that all isolates were pathogenic to both ipê species, producing typical anthracnose symptoms. Aggressiveness differed between hosts, with H. impetiginosus showing higher susceptibility, as indicated by larger lesion development, whereas H. chrysotrichus exhibited lower disease aggressiveness. Thus, our findings represent the first multilocus-based identification of Colletotrichum species causing anthracnose in ipê trees, providing new insights into the diversity and epidemiology of this disease in urban environments. Full article

Excessive osteoclast activity drives inflammatory bone loss in osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and periodontitis. Natural compounds represent promising therapeutic candidates with favorable safety profiles; however, few exhibit pathway-biased mechanisms of action. Here, we report that angelic acid (AA), a naturally occurring unsaturated monocarboxylic acid, potently inhibits RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis. This effect occurs with an IC₅₀ of 1.9 µM without cytotoxicity. Mechanistically, AA selectively suppressed RANKL-activated phosphorylation of ERK1/2, p38, and JNK (all three MAPK branches), while leaving NF-κB transcriptional activity unaffected. This preferential MAPK suppression disrupted downstream NFATc1 nuclear translocation, thereby preventing NFATc1-driven transcription of osteoclast-specific effector genes including TRAP, cathepsin K, and Atp6v0d2. These findings identify AA as a novel inhibitor of the RANKL–MAPK–NFATc1 axis, providing a mechanistic foundation for its therapeutic development in osteoporosis and other osteolytic diseases. Full article

Vaccinium bracteatum Thunb. leaves (VBTL), a traditional medicinal plant historically consumed as food in certain regions of China, have been documented to possess potent in vitro antioxidant activity. However, its in vivo anti-aging effects and underlying mechanisms remain to be fully elucidated. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate its anti-aging efficacy to support its potential value as a functional food constituent for healthy aging. Anti-aging efficacy was systematically assessed using D-galactose-induced aging mice, a Caenorhabditis elegans model, and an H₂O₂-induced cellular senescence model. Key active constituents were identified via untargeted metabolomics. In D-galactose-induced aging mice, VBTL extracts effectively ameliorated oxidative stress, significantly increasing the activities of endogenous antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), while reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. In Caenorhabditis elegans, VBTL extended lifespan, reduced lipofuscin accumulation, and demonstrated no reproductive toxicity. Untargeted metabolomics identified xanthotoxol as a key active constituent, which was then selected for mechanistic investigation. In a cellular senescence model, xanthotoxol alleviated H₂O₂-induced oxidative stress, significantly enhanced SOD activity, reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and MDA levels, inhibited senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) activity and the expression of senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors (IL-6, MMP1, MMP3), and downregulated the expression of genes in the P53/P21/P16 signaling pathway. Mechanistically, xanthotoxol activated the Nrf2 signaling pathway, promoting the expression of its downstream targets heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NAD(P)H quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1). This study demonstrates that VBTL and its active compound xanthotoxol exert anti-aging effects across multiple models by modulating the Nrf2 pathway, providing both theoretical and experimental foundations for developing VBTL as a novel, safe, and effective natural ingredient in anti-aging functional foods. Full article

Drought stress profoundly affects plant growth and survival, but comparisons of integrated adaptive strategies across multiple tree species remain unclear. In this study, seedlings of Elaeagnus angustifolia (E. angustifolia), Populus euphratica (P. euphratica) and Xanthoceras sorbifolium (X. sorbifolium) were subjected to well-watered (CK), mild (T1), moderate (T2), and severe (T3) drought treatments. Leaf microanatomical traits, non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs), stoichiometric elements, biomass allocation, and key stress indicators were measured. The results showed that P. euphratica seedlings thickened leaves and vascular tissues and accumulated soluble sugars (SSs) and starch (ST) under T1–T2, but under T3, they prioritized root investment (root biomass +26.0%); their antioxidant enzymes were activated only under mild-to-moderate stress and declined under severe stress. E. angustifolia seedlings exhibited moderate leaf structural thickening, sharply increased root biomass (+97.2% under T3) while maintaining stem biomass, continuously elevated activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) as well as osmoregulatory substances (soluble protein SP, proline Pro), and showed the lowest malondialdehyde (MDA) content; their leaf carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) contents decreased the least, and their stoichiometric ratios remained stable. In contrast, X. sorbifolium seedlings progressively reduced leaf thickness and vascular area, depleted NSC reserves, exhibited unstable antioxidant responses, showed a significant decrease in Pro under severe drought, accumulated the highest MDA, and had the lowest N/P ratio, indicating the strongest nitrogen limitation. These results demonstrate that E. angustifolia combines structural plasticity, efficient nutrient use, robust osmotic adjustment, and sustained antioxidant capacity, conferring the strongest drought tolerance; P. euphratica* shows moderate tolerance through transient structural and carbon investment but suffers under extreme drought; X. sorbifolium has the weakest drought tolerance. Full article

Though the European Commission has repeatedly stated that the necessary energy transition in Europe should leave “no one behind”, this paper describes a building refurbishment case that has entailed economic hardships for the low-income families involved. The project is located in the area of P. D. Orcasitas in southern Madrid, led by a grassroots neighbours’ movement, comprising one hundred and seven housing blocks, containing more than 2000 dwellings. The main source of funding for the operation consists of subsidies granted by the Madrid City Council; however, Spanish legislation requires the state Agency of Tax Administration to classify these subsidies as capital gains derived from lucrative transfers. Based on the tax data of vulnerable beneficiaries, the conclusion is that the recipients have ended up returning part of the subsidies to the State through their Income Tax Return. In addition, the Spanish Social Security Institute requires the return of social benefits associated with non-contributory retirement pensions and the Minimum Living Income. Apart from tax accounting, regulations are revised to draw conclusions. Unlike most actuations of this kind, in this case the negative effects are obvious. Although intended to alleviate fuel poverty, the initiative has exacerbated vulnerability due to the impact of the imposed penalties on household income. In conclusion, unless preventive measures are implemented, the mandatory refurbishment of inefficient buildings may place an undue burden on vulnerable low-income occupants and hinder the effective implementation of energy-efficiency regulations. Full article

Large-scale smart city Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructures must simultaneously provide strong cybersecurity protection, real-time anomaly detection, and energy-efficient operation despite the strict resource limitations of sensing devices. The current body of research typically addresses secure data management, edge intelligence, or energy optimization in isolation, leaving a practical gap in unified frameworks that jointly optimize these objectives. This paper proposes a jointly co-designed energy-aware cybersecurity framework that integrates lightweight secure sensing, hybrid edge-based anomaly detection, Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT)-enabled blockchain integrity, and Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO)-driven edge deployment within a single end-to-end architecture. The practical contribution of the proposed framework lies in enabling tamper-evident trusted sensing, real-time detection of both data and energy anomalies, and communication-efficient operation suitable for scalable smart city deployments. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves strong operational efficiency, reaching up to 234.6 transactions per second while maintaining end-to-end latency of approximately 140–194 ms and reducing total energy consumption to about 1.68 J under high-load conditions. In addition, the hybrid anomaly detection mechanism achieves an F1-score of 0.985 and ROC-AUC of 0.992, confirming strong detection capability under realistic sensing and attack scenarios. Full article

Plant foods have been the cornerstone of human diets since ancient times, fueling civilization and shaping cultures. Plants became central to sustainable food systems, offering diverse and nutritious options for the future. Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) has attracted growing scientific interest due to the presence of bioactive compounds, polyphenols, fatty acids, phytosterols, carotenoids, vitamins, and minerals in its fruit, seeds, and leaves. Moreover, sea buckthorn exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, anticancer, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, and metabolic regulatory properties supported by in vitro and in vivo models. The biological activity of these phytochemical compounds plays a crucial role in regulating the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) signaling pathways, as well as pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), cell proliferation, and apoptosis. Furthermore, its potential against microbial growth, including S. aureus, S. epidermidis, S. intermedius, and S. pyogenes, among others, not only expands its applications in the pharmaceutical industry but also attracts researchers to incorporate it into food products. This could lead to the discovery of plant-based therapeutic products without significant adverse effects. However, further exploration of each component’s potential side effects is necessary to support the commercialization of formulated products in either the pharmaceutical or food industries, ensuring the highest safety standards for consumers. Including studies on bioavailability and pharmacodynamics could further strengthen the scientific evidence supporting the specific phytochemicals in sea buckthorn and their mechanistic interactions. Full article

Background: High-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC) is the most common and lethal subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer and is frequently diagnosed at advanced stages. Because currently available blood-based biomarkers have limited performance in early-stage disease, there is a need to identify circulating biomarker candidates associated with early-stage HGSOC. In this retrospective multi-institutional case–control study, we evaluated whether serum extracellular vesicle (EV)-associated protein signatures distinguish early-stage HGSOC from healthy controls. Methods: Serum samples (n = 252) were obtained retrospectively from multiple institutions and included healthy controls and patients with early- and advanced-stage HGSOC. EV-associated proteins were profiled using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) and proximity extension assay (PEA) to identify candidate proteins enriched in early-stage HGSOC. Selected candidates were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and tissue-level expression was examined in early-stage HGSOC specimens. A multimarker combination model was generated using a smoothed empirical estimate of hyper-volume under the manifold (SHUM) approach and internally assessed by leave-one-out cross-validation. Results: Ten EV-associated serum proteins were prioritized on the basis of differential expression and fold change and were confirmed to be expressed in early-stage HGSOC tissues. In ELISA-based analyses, the combined 10-protein EV panel distinguished early-stage HGSOC from healthy controls with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.99 in the study dataset, whereas MUC16 (CA-125) showed substantially lower performance in this comparison. The SHUM-based model yielded a true-positive rate of 0.971, a false-positive rate of 0.057, and a Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.915 in the analyzed cohort. Several candidate proteins were differentially enriched in EV fractions but not in matched whole serum. Conclusions: Serum EV-associated proteins are altered in early-stage HGSOC and define a multi-protein signature associated with this disease state in a retrospective case–control setting. These findings support further evaluation of EV-based biomarker candidates in clinically representative and prospectively collected cohorts that include benign gynecologic conditions, symptomatic patients, and pre-diagnostic samples. Full article

Reliable temperature distribution measurement in ultra-low temperature (ULT) chest freezers is crucial for preserving biospecimen integrity in cryopreservation, but dense sensor arrays required for accuracy are often impractical due to space constraints and cost limitations. To address this critical challenge, this work presents a systematic data-driven framework for optimal sensor placement in large-scale (3 m³) ULT chest freezers under stable operating conditions. To our knowledge, it is the first realization of high-fidelity cryogenic temperature field reconstruction coupled with sparse sensor layout optimization tailored to large-volume ULT chest freezers. First, high-resolution reference temperature fields were constructed via universal kriging interpolation, validated with leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) to achieve mean absolute error (MAE) $\le 0.67 °\mathrm{C}$ and coefficient of determination $R^2>0.92$. Principal component analysis (PCA) was then applied to training data to extract a tailored proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) basis. The first three principal components captured 99.8% of cumulative energy. Optimal sensor locations were determined via QR-column pivoting on the rank-3 POD basis, converging to a minimal configuration of 3 sensors (a 94% reduction from the 48-sensor full-scale setup). This sparse sensor network achieved exceptional reconstruction performance: grid-level MAE $\le 0.079 °\mathrm{C}$ and root mean squared error (RMSE) $\le 0.093 °\mathrm{C}$ against reference fields ($R^2\ge 0.999$), while point-level validation against experimental measurements yielded MAE $\le 0.502 °\mathrm{C}$ and RMSE $\le 0.842 °\mathrm{C}$ ($R^2\ge 0.971$). The results demonstrate that, for large-scale ULT chest freezers, the proposed data-driven approach is capable of automatically determining an optimal sparse sensor subset and enabling reliable 3D cryogenic temperature field reconstruction for efficient thermal monitoring. By resolving the trade-off between monitoring accuracy, space efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, this framework provides a scientifically rigorous alternative to empirical sensor deployment standards, offering practical scalability for cryogenic biobanking applications. Full article