Search Results (4,013)

Background: Fresh-cut apples are highly susceptible to quality deterioration due to enzymatic browning and oxidative degradation of bioactive compounds. This study investigated the effects of conventional polyethylene packaging (PE, Pack 1) and two innovative biodegradable packaging materials (Pack 2 and Pack 3) on the stability of bioactive compounds in fresh-cut Golden Delicious apples during refrigerated storage. Individual phenolic compounds ((+)-catechin, caffeic acid, (−)-epicatechin, p-coumaric acid, rutin, and quercetin) were quantified by HPLC-PDA, while spectrophotometric assays were used to determine total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and antioxidant capacity (ABTS and DPPH). The environmental performance of the packaging materials was assessed through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) using SimaPro v.9.5.5. Results: Polyphenol stability was significantly influenced by packaging and storage time (p < 0.001). Compared with fresh-cut apples at t0, Pack 2 promoted a 17.4% increase in total phenolic content after 21 days, whereas Pack 1 and Pack 3 showed reductions of 31.0% and 37.6%, respectively. HPLC analysis revealed compound-specific responses, with rutin and quercetin being markedly better preserved in Pack 3 after 21 days (17.65 and 1.93 mg/100 g, respectively) than in Pack 1 (0.67 and 0.19 mg/100 g, respectively). Two-way ANOVA confirmed significant effects of storage time, packaging, and their interaction on TPC, TFC, ABTS activity, and all individual phenolic compounds (p < 0.001), whereas DPPH activity was not significantly affected (p > 0.05). Pearson correlation (TPC–ABTS, r = 0.6885, p < 0.001) and principal component analysis indicated that antioxidant capacity was more closely associated with the qualitative phenolic profile than with total phenolic concentration alone. LCA highlighted environmental trade-offs among the packaging systems: Pack 1 showed lower impacts in several categories, Pack 2 displayed an intermediate environmental profile, whereas Pack 3 reduced dependence on fossil resources but exhibited higher land- and water-use impacts together with limitations related to end-of-life management. Conclusion: Packaging materials significantly affected the preservation of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity in fresh-cut apples while exhibiting distinct environmental profiles. The results demonstrate that no packaging system simultaneously maximized product quality and environmental sustainability, highlighting the importance of integrating analytical performance with life-cycle assessment when developing innovative food packaging solutions. Full article

Post-disaster temporary housing (PDTH) plays a central role in bridging emergency response and long-term recovery, yet its implementation is affected by a wide range of institutional, economic, site-related, technical, and environmental risks. Existing studies commonly examine only one or a limited number of these risk categories, making it difficult to compare their relative importance within a common analytical framework. This study addresses this limitation by developing and empirically evaluating an integrated risk framework for PDTH. A systematic literature review based on the PRISMA protocol was conducted to identify relevant risks, followed by a questionnaire survey of construction professionals. Principal component and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to identify the underlying risk dimensions and assess the fit and measurement properties of the resulting structure. Meanwhile, fuzzy synthetic evaluation was utilized to determine the relative importance of these dimensions. Following significance-index screening and cross-loading assessment, 29 risks were retained and grouped into four dimensions: institutional and governance risks; economic and lifecycle risks; site planning and infrastructure risks; and design and environmental performance risks. The normalized coefficients were closely clustered, ranging from 0.247 to 0.255. Institutional and governance risks had the largest numerical coefficient (0.255), followed by economic and lifecycle risks (0.250), site planning and infrastructure risks (0.248), and design and environmental performance risks (0.247). The narrow spread indicates that respondents assigned broadly comparable importance to all four dimensions, rather than identifying a single dominant risk area. The findings, therefore, point to the need for a balanced approach to PDTH risk management across governance, economic, site-related, and design-related concerns. The study contributes an empirically supported classification and prioritization framework that brings previously fragmented risk categories into a single assessment structure. The analysis does not establish causal relationships or dynamic interactions among the identified risks; rather, it provides a basis for their systematic comparison and for more detailed investigation of risk interdependencies in future research. Full article

Managing safety and operational efficiency in large-scale events requires decision-support tools capable of representing complex crowd dynamics while enabling rapid and evidence-based operational assessment. This paper presents a Generative AI-driven simulation-enabled digital twin prototype that integrates an agent-based crowd simulation framework, an API-based execution pipeline, and a Large Language Model (LLM)-driven conversational interface within a unified architecture. The proposed framework enables the dynamic configuration, execution, and analysis of crowd scenarios under different operational conditions, including high-demand situations and emergency evacuation contexts. Experimental results show that the system can reproduce nonlinear crowd dynamics, identify congestion patterns, and assess evacuation performance. While evaluated under TRL-4 conditions, these results demonstrate the framework’s architectural potential to provide actionable insights for planning and safety evaluation once empirically calibrated with real-world data. A central contribution of this work is the introduction of an API-based execution paradigm that exposes the complete simulation lifecycle, including configuration, validation, execution, and output retrieval, through programmatic interfaces. This design supports reproducible, modular, and scalable what-if analysis. In addition, the integration of an LLM-based conversational interface allows non-technical users to interact with complex simulation models through natural language, improving accessibility without compromising execution control. The framework is validated through a TRL-4 prototype, demonstrating stable performance and reliable interaction behavior. Scalability is strictly confirmed within the evaluated hardware configuration, model abstraction level, and tested agent scale (up to 60,000 agents), providing a foundation for localized event management. Overall, the proposed system serves as a simulation-enabled digital twin prototype, demonstrating how models can transition from static analytical representations toward executable, interactive, and user-centered platforms, laying the necessary architectural groundwork for future operational decision support in complex urban environments. Full article

With the rapid development of recycling and secondary utilization of end-of-life battery materials, it is crucial to clarify the impact of full-lifecycle degradation on the thermal safety limits of lithium-ion batteries. This study focuses on a 16 Ah NCM613|graphite pouch battery. First, it analyzes the evolution of capacity decay, thickness expansion, and internal resistance during cycling at room temperature (25 °C) and high temperature (45 °C). Furthermore, an adiabatic accelerated calorimeter (ARC) is employed to investigate the influence of different states of health (SOH) levels (95% and 85%) on the battery’s thermal runaway characteristics. The findings indicate that, macroscopically, batteries in all states follow similar voltage–temperature failure pathways, with mass loss rates confined to a narrow range of approximately 16%, emphasizing the low catastrophic potential of mid-nickel chemistry. However, the microscopic kinetic mechanisms exhibit significant anisotropy: although thickness and internal resistance display no apparent abrupt increase during the late stage of room temperature aging, the capacity exhibits a highly nonlinear plunge behavior. The severe internal lithium plating side reaction triggered by this phenomenon causes the self-heating onset temperature to drop rapidly from 130.0 °C in the fresh state to 79.7 °C. Concurrently, the activation energy of the exothermic side reaction, fitted using a simplified Arrhenius equation, exhibits a non-monotonic variation with aging progress. In the early stages of aging at 95% SOH, due to high temperatures promoting more significant growth of the interfacial film or moderate film formation at room temperature enhancing interfacial thermal stability, the activation energies for both aged batteries increase, and the energy barrier at high temperatures is slightly higher than at room temperature; however, during the deep aging stage at 85% SOH, due to the degradation of active material components and the emergence of lithium plating characteristics, the energy barrier significantly decreases, with high-temperature-aged batteries exhibiting a greater reduction, highlighting the cumulative negative impact of prolonged high-temperature exposure on thermal safety. The research provides a core scientific basis for establishing a battery safety early warning and dynamic health management system covering the entire lifecycle. Full article

Electrochemical treatment can provide contaminant destruction, phase separation, ionic polishing, and resource recovery; however, performance cannot be judged by removal efficiency alone. This structured critical review compares electro-oxidation (EO), electrocoagulation (EC), electro-Fenton (EF), electrodialysis (ED), electrodeionization (EDI), capacitive deionization (CDI), flow-electrode CDI (FCDI), and bioelectrochemical systems (BES) in municipal wastewater, industrial effluents, sludge-related applications, and treatment side-streams. Searches of Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and PubMed were updated to 22 July 2026, and the evidence was assessed according to treatment function, wastewater realism, operating mode, durability, residual fate, energy and cost boundaries, resource recovery, and life cycle implications. Recent advances include porous flow-through anodes, oxygen-efficient cathodes, selective ion separation materials, and pilot BES configurations. However, scale-up remains constrained by electrode aging, by-products, sludge and concentrate management, oxygen transfer, fouling, competing ions, internal resistance, biological instability, and incomplete long-term economic and environmental evidence. The quantitative results show that the energy, cost, and carbon outcomes depend strongly on the treatment function and system boundary. The evidence for sludge and biosolids is less mature than that for liquid wastewater. Therefore, electrochemical technologies are best positioned as function-specific units within hybrid treatment trains rather than as universal replacements for conventional treatments. Full article

The Taklimakan Desert Highway shelterbelt is the world’s largest ecological protection system established along a highway in a shifting desert environment and plays a critical role in mitigating wind-blown sand hazards and ensuring transportation safety. However, its long-term stability and protective capacity after more than two decades of operation remain insufficiently understood. In this study, Landsat imagery from 2005 to 2025 was used to monitor the long-term evolution of the shelterbelt along the Middle Section (~180 km) of the Taklimakan Desert Highway. A Random Forest classifier was employed to extract shelterbelt distribution, and classification results were validated using high-resolution Google Earth imagery and unmanned aerial vehicle observations. To quantify shelterbelt condition, a Shelterbelt Stability Index (SSI) was developed by integrating fractional vegetation cover (FVC), connectivity index (CI), percentage of landscape (PLAND), and perimeter-area fractal dimension (FRAC). The shelterbelt experienced initial seedling decline from 2005 to 2011, followed by progressive restoration during 2011–2020 and finally entered a stable saturated stage after 2020. Affected by saline water drip irrigation, wind-sand erosion and pipeline clogging, the overall vegetation condition deteriorated continuously before 2011. After targeted irrigation regulation, optimization of planting patterns and replanting measures were implemented; the degradation trend was reversed, contributing to the sustained improvement of vegetation thereafter. Significant spatial heterogeneity was observed along the highway, with certain sections maintaining high continuity and vegetation coverage, while others exhibited fragmentation, local discontinuities, area shrinkage, and increasing structural complexity. The proposed SSI effectively captured long-term structural dynamics and identified vulnerable sections subject to degradation. This study provides new insights into the life-cycle evolution of desert highway shelterbelts and offers scientific support for the sustainable management of ecological protection systems in arid environments. Full article

Buildings have significant impacts on the environment throughout their life cycle in terms of energy and water consumption, material usage, and waste generation. This study aims to evaluate the Sivas Train Station and Sivas High-Speed Train Station buildings, which were constructed in different periods and with different construction techniques, within the scope of sustainable renovation. In the study, the literature on sustainable architecture and building renovation approaches was reviewed; field observations, archival documents, interviews, and on-site measurements of temperature, thermal transmittance, and lighting were utilized. The buildings were compared based on criteria such as energy and water efficiency, material selection, and waste management. The findings indicate that the lack of insulation, old joinery, and absence of windbreaks in the Sivas Train Station, as well as the extensive glass surfaces, high user traffic, entrance layout, and operational issues with technical systems in the High-Speed Train Station, lead to energy losses. The lack of independent monitoring of water consumption in both buildings, the absence of systems for using rainwater, snow and graywater, and the inadequacy of waste separation practices have been identified as significant deficiencies. As a result of the study, different renovation strategies were proposed, preserving the original values of the historical structure and adapting the new structure to real usage conditions. It was concluded that sustainable renovation should be considered a continuous and holistic process that includes not only physical interventions but also building management, user training, regular monitoring, inspection, and certification. Full article

Digital technologies have significantly advanced documentation, management, and dissemination of Cultural Heritage (CH) through reality capture, Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM), and Extended Reality (XR). However, the digitisation of large and historically stratified heritage sites still relies on fragmented workflows that compromise interoperability and interrupt the continuity of geometric and semantic information throughout the heritage lifecycle. This paper proposes and validates a platform-independent, ecosystem-based methodology integrating multi-scale reality capture, hybrid Scan-to-HBIM modelling, semantic information management, interoperability, and XR within a continuous digital workflow. The methodology was validated through the large-scale digitisation of the Certosa di Pavia, where more than 1500 terrestrial laser scans, over 200,000 photographs, and approximately 50 billion points were acquired across a monumental complex covering nearly 331,000 m². The proposed framework reconstructs irregular architectural geometries with millimetre-scale accuracy (σ = 0.005 m) while preserving geometric reliability, semantic consistency, and information traceability across point-cloud processing, HBIM environments, Common Data Environments (CDEs), and XR applications. The results demonstrate that the effective digitisation of complex CH depends not only on the accuracy of individual technologies but also on their coordinated integration within interoperable digital ecosystems. The proposed methodology provides a transferable framework for preserving knowledge continuity throughout the heritage lifecycle, enabling HBIM to evolve from a geometric representation into a dynamic knowledge environment supporting conservation, management, research, education, and public dissemination. Full article

Municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration with energy recovery is embedded in national decarbonization strategies but emits fossil CO₂ from plastic-derived combustion, challenging the long-term sustainability of waste-to-energy systems. Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) offers a potential mitigation route, yet assessments rarely link technology economics, environmental performance, and the carbon-pricing instruments that would finance deployment. This study develops a break-even carbon-pricing framework integrating life-cycle CO₂ emissions (LCCO₂) and discounted annualized life-cycle cost (LCC; capital-recovery-factor annualization at a 4% real discount rate) for two CCU routes—methanation and methanol synthesis—applied to a 300 t/day Japanese incineration facility (84,000 t/y) under 2024 and 2050 energy-system conditions, thereby quantifying the environmental and the economic dimensions of sustainable CCU deployment in the waste sector. Two complementary indicators are distinguished: an incremental break-even carbon price, the price at which adding CCU to the existing waste-to-energy facility becomes economically neutral, and a plant-level cash balance price. Under the product-system boundary and photovoltaic-electrolysis hydrogen, both routes show lower life-cycle emissions than the baseline in both years; the magnitude—and, for methanation in 2024, the sign—of the net climate benefit depends on the downstream-use accounting boundary. The incremental break-even price for methanol falls from 20.3 × 10⁴ JPY/t-CO₂ (≈1293 USD/t-CO₂) in 2024 to 1.90 × 10⁴ JPY/t-CO₂ (≈122 USD/t-CO₂) in 2050, while that for methanation falls from 32.2 × 10⁴ JPY/t-CO₂ to 0.75 × 10⁴ JPY/t-CO₂ (≈48 USD/t-CO₂)—about half the 2023 EU ETS average price—and approaches zero at approximately a one-third capital subsidy. This collapse is driven largely by the assumed hydrogen-price decline (100 → 20 JPY/Nm³); hydrogen-supply policy, rather than carbon pricing alone, therefore appears to be the dominant lever for making CCU at MSW incineration a viable contribution to sustainable, carbon-neutral waste management. Sensitivity analyses covering the discount rate (2–8%), plant scale (300–900 t/day), methane leakage, product-market absorption, and hydrogen delivered price premiums support the robustness of this sequencing conclusion. Full article

Heavy metal wastewater, characterized by high toxicity, poor biodegradability, and strong bioaccumulation potential, poses a serious threat to the ecological environment and human health. Conventional chemical treatment methods are costly and prone to secondary pollution. In contrast, using solid waste to prepare environmental functional materials for “waste control by waste” has emerged as a research hotspot in the field of synergistic water pollution control and resource recovery. This review systematically consolidates the sources, physicochemical properties, and compositional characteristics of typical industrial solid wastes—including red mud, electroplating sludge, fly ash, copper slag, and blast furnace slag—and elucidates how compositional variations constrain the selection of functionalization pathways. On this basis, key preparation techniques, namely hydrothermal synthesis, surface modification/impregnation, thermal treatment, geopolymerization, and sol–gel/polymerization, are critically reviewed and compared in terms of product structural regulation, process complexity, and engineering scale-up potential. Subsequently, the adsorption performance of the resultant materials toward heavy metals such as Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺, Cr(VI), As(VI), Cd²⁺, Ni^2+, and Zn²⁺ is discussed, with particular emphasis on the pronounced effects of pH, temperature, initial concentration, coexisting ions, and adsorbent dosage on adsorption capacity. Notably, Pb²⁺ exhibits the highest adsorption capacity, whereas the removal of Cr(VI) and As(V) is strongly governed by the positive charge density and reduction efficiency of the material surface. In quinary heavy metal competitive systems, marked differences in the affinity of adsorption sites toward distinct metal ions have been observed. Mechanistic analysis identifies ion exchange, surface complexation, electrostatic attraction, and redox reactions as the predominant removal pathways. This review further incorporates engineering-oriented assessments, including multi-component competitive adsorption, fixed-bed column operation, and regeneration stability, and identifies the critical bottlenecks currently impeding the transition from laboratory-scale research to practical implementation—namely, performance instability arising from feedstock variability, attenuation of adsorption capacity during prolonged operation (with a 10–40% decline over 5–10 cycles), underdeveloped regeneration and recovery routes, and a systemic deficiency in techno-economic analysis and life-cycle assessment data. Finally, future research directions are proposed, emphasizing the development of low-carbon and energy-efficient preparation technologies, the promotion of synergistic valorization of multiple solid wastes alongside critical metal recovery, and the advancement of this field toward engineering applications through artificial intelligence-assisted design and life-cycle assessment, thereby furnishing theoretical references and technical support for the integrated management of industrial solid waste resource utilization and heavy metal wastewater treatment. Full article

The maritime sector is increasingly focused on green propulsion technologies to address stringent regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. In recent years, research has proposed novel electric and hybrid propulsion architectures and advanced energy management systems. This paper reviews the fundamentals and the most recent developments of hybrid and electric propulsion technologies, evaluating their environmental and economic implications. Particular attention is given to the various onboard energy storage, conversion, and generation technologies, outlining their potential and limitations. Through the analysis of numerous research studies in alternative marine propulsion, the suitability of Li-ion batteries, supercapacitors, flywheels, and different types of fuel cells for maritime transport needs is evaluated, along with the possibilities offered by renewable energy to reduce the environmental impact of marine energy systems. Additionally, it discusses important future directions, research gaps, and emerging paradigms in sustaining maritime eco-systems. Unlike previous reviews that mainly focus on individual technologies, this study provides an integrated analysis connecting propulsion architectures, energy storage systems, fuel cells, alternative fuels, renewable energy integration, and energy management strategies. The review also discusses technology limitations, operational suitability for different vessel categories, and future research challenges toward maritime decarbonization. In presenting these issues, the author’s intention is to promote interdisciplinary cooperation between shipbuilders, policymakers, and researchers for the benefit of more sustainable development of the maritime industry. Full article

Smart buildings increasingly depend on dense, distributed sensing infrastructures to improve energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality and operational flexibility. However, large-scale IoT/WSN deployment is still constrained by wiring effort, battery maintenance and limited access to sensing locations. Energy harvesting (EH) offers a promising approach toward low-maintenance and partly autonomous sensing, but its practical value in building automation depends on more than the output of individual transducers. This article presents a structured review of EH for IoT/WSN and edge-enabled building automation, focusing on smart-building, Building Management System (BMS) and Building Automation and Control System (BACS) contexts. Light-based, thermoelectric, mechanical, RF/wireless-power-transfer and hybrid harvesting technologies are interpreted through a system-oriented chain linking energy sources, power management, storage, communication, adaptive operation, gateways, diagnostics and edge intelligence. The synthesis shows that EH is most promising for low-duty-cycle environmental monitoring, envelope and façade sensing, occupancy and human–building interaction, airflow-related sensing, technical monitoring and retrofit automation. The main challenges concern the transition from device autonomy to sensing-service autonomy, complete-node evaluation under real building conditions, interoperability with supervisory systems and diagnostic interpretation of intermittent operation. Further research is also needed on lifecycle value assessment and safe transferability toward remote, temporary, resilient and closed ecological infrastructure applications. Full article

Conveyor belt systems are commonly treated as industrial equipment, although their operational value, degradation, risk, and renewal potential are distributed along the route and evolve through identifiable belt sections, splices, inspections, repairs, inserts, and refurbishment cycles. This article redefines conveyor belt loops as digital twin-ready linear assets and proposes a transferable asset management framework integrating three coupled layers: performance and physics, condition data and belt passport, and renewal decisions. The study is designed as a conceptual engineering article based on targeted literature synthesis, structured cross-sector analogy and framework development, rather than as a bibliometric review or a new optimization model. The proposed framework builds on previous work on structure-aware segment renewal by positioning it within a broader data and governance architecture. The article shows that a conveyor digital twin becomes operationally meaningful only when physics-based interpretation, spatially anchored diagnostics, intervention history, operating context, residual value, and auditable decision rules are connected through a persistent belt passport. The framework supports more transparent life-cycle decisions and positions conveyor belt loops as a reference case for infrastructure asset management, condition traceability, and digital twin governance. Full article

Vertical farming (VF) offers a smart way to grow crops in stacked layers inside controlled indoor environments. By doing so, it uses far less land and water than traditional open-field agriculture, making it a promising solution for cities with limited space and resources. In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have begun to transform vertical farming. These tools are moving the industry away from rigid, rule-based systems toward more flexible, data-driven operations that can adapt in real time. This paper presents a systematic review of 208 peer-reviewed studies from 2015 to 2025. It explores how AI, ML, and IoT are applied across the VF ecosystem, focusing on key areas such as computer vision for disease detection, crop growth and yield prediction, smart climate control, and precision nutrient and irrigation management. This review examines the performance of different algorithms, including Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Random Forest, XGBoost, and LSTMs across hydroponic, aeroponic, and aquaponic systems. The review also covers IoT setups with multi-sensor networks, edge-cloud computing, and automated control systems. Commercial farms have shown real gains in resource efficiency and shorter supply chains. However, challenges remain: high energy use (especially from LED lighting, which makes up 40–60% of costs), expensive setup, scattered datasets, and limited real-world testing. Many high-accuracy claims (>95%) come from lab conditions and need better validation in actual farms. Overall, AI-powered vertical farming has strong potential to support resilient urban food systems. Future work should focus on lightweight edge AI models, improved data standards, explainable AI, and robust life cycle assessments to ensure the benefits outweigh the environmental and economic costs. Full article

Phosphogypsum (PG), a gypsum-rich by-product of wet-process phosphoric acid production, is increasingly considered for land application because it can supply calcium and sulfur and alleviate constraints such as sodicity, subsoil acidity, and vegetation establishment limitations. However, PG may also contain residual acidity, soluble salts, fluoride, heavy metals, and naturally occurring radionuclides, creating multiple exposure pathways. This critical review distinguishes direct PG evidence from gypsum or sulfate analogue evidence, life cycle assessment/material flow analysis evidence, and risk control studies. It evaluates PG land application according to receiving soil conditions, diagnosed constraints, exposure pathways, and environmental safety boundaries. The strongest evidence supports use in diagnosed sodic and saline–sodic soils, whereas applications in Al-toxic acid subsoils, flooded paddy systems, contaminated or degraded soils, and non-food vegetated systems require conditional assessment. PG should therefore be treated as a context-specific management option rather than an unrestricted disposal route. By linking waste valorization with soil demand, source quality, exposure control, and long-term monitoring, the proposed framework contributes to sustainability by integrating circular resource use with soil health, water protection, food/feed safety, and risk-informed governance, while helping to prevent the transfer of environmental burdens across ecosystems or generations. Full article