Search Results (2,955)

Background/Objectives: Multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis, especially those isolated from humans, remains a public concern. In the present study, S. Enteritidis strain 31404 was obtained clinically from a fecal sample of a fifteen-year-old girl, who was positive for bla_NDM-13. Methods: Antibiotic susceptibility testing and whole genome sequencing were performed. Core genome MLST and hierarchical clustering (HierCC) were performed using EnteroBase. Population structure analysis of 57 S. Enteritidis isolates collected between 2023 and 2025 in Jiaxing city was conducted. A comparative structure analysis of bla_NDM-13-positive plasmids was also performed. Results: S. Enteritidis strain 31404 was resistant to 13 antimicrobial agents. We found that strain 31404 belonged to ST11 and carried resistance genes, such as bla_NDM-13, bla_CTX-M-14, ble_MBL, fosA3, qnrS, and tet (A). bla_NDM-13 was located on an IncI1-I (α) plasmid designated as p31404-NDM13. S. Enteritidis isolate 31404 was closely related to PNUSAS514422, which was isolated from the United States in 2025. Comparative genetic environment related to bla_NDM-13-positive plasmids available in the NCBI database indicates that ΔTn125-mediated contexts were commonly associated with bla_NDM-13. IS1294 (IS91 family), which replaces ISAba125, is likely to mobilize bla_NDM-13. Conclusions: The findings in this study provide insights into the molecular characterization and diversification of bla_NDM-13. The identification of bla_NDM-13-containing transferable plasmids in different serotypes of Salmonella isolates (such as S. Rissen, S. Typhimurium, and S. Enteritidis) in different cities in China highlights the risk of the spread of carbapenem-resistant genes among Salmonella isolates. Full article

The growing production of lithium-ion batteries is leading to an increase in waste, which contains elements considered critical in industry, like cobalt, manganese and nickel. Urban mining offers an opportunity to recover these elements and reintroduce them into the value chain. This study aimed to detect and recover metals of interest present in discarded lithium-ion batteries and determine the influence of flotation operating parameters on the recovery of the detected elements through an experimental design. The batteries subjected to the flotation experiments were obtained from various types of common disused mobile devices. They were dismantled by separating the copper sheets from the anode and the aluminum sheets from the cathode, to be subjected to a comminution process and elemental composition analysis using X-ray fluorescence. Only the cathode components were subjected to flotation. The flotation process was carried out by controlling the level of agitation and aeration and the flotation time using an automated flotation cell. The experiments were configured in a 2³ experimental design. Average recoveries of approximately 67% for cobalt, 64% for manganese, and 63% for nickel were achieved at a pH of 12.5 and a pulp density of 3.33 g/L using MIBC as the sole reagent. Statistical analysis at a 95% confidence level identified agitation, aeration, and flotation time both individually and in combination as significant factors. Linear models were developed to predict metal recovery, showing good agreement with experimental data (errors < 10%; standard deviation < 3%). Full article

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are increasingly recognized as emerging contaminants in wastewater treatment systems; however, their responses to dissolved oxygen (DO)-limited conditions caused by insufficient aeration, particularly in the presence of microplastics, remain poorly understood. In this study, three sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were operated for 31 days under progressively oxygen-limited conditions with different concentrations of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics to investigate their combined effects on treatment performance, microbial communities, ARGs, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and PET degradation-related genes using metagenomic analysis. Prolonged oxygen limitation maintained relatively stable organic matter removal but progressively deteriorated ammonium removal and sludge settleability, while PET addition significantly aggravated these effects. PET exposure markedly increased the absolute abundance of ARGs without substantially altering resistome composition or dominant resistance mechanisms, suggesting an amplification rather than restructuring of the resistome. Correlation analyses indicated that ARGs enrichment was primarily host-associated and driven by the proliferation of a limited number of microbial taxa. Several potential ARG hosts were also strongly associated with PET degradation-related genes, indicating shared microbial populations linking PET-associated functions and antibiotic resistance. In addition, strong positive correlations between ARGs and MGEs suggested an important role of gene mobility in resistome dynamics under oxygen-limited conditions. Overall, these results demonstrate that oxygen limitation combined with PET microplastics promotes host-associated ARG enrichment in wastewater systems, highlighting potential environmental and public health risks and emphasizing the importance of maintaining operational stability to mitigate antibiotic resistance dissemination. Full article

The DIGIT experiment was launched at the Tournemire Underground Research Laboratory (URL) with the aim of determining the effects of temperature on the transfer of tracers mimicking the most mobile radionuclides in the Toarcian clay rock. The properties of this rock are similar to those of the host rocks being considered for a future deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste (HLW). The experiment involves the monitoring of the interaction between a test water doped with stable halides and deuterium at constant concentration, and the porewater of the Toarcian clay rock under constant ambient conditions, as well as at higher temperature induced by artificial heating. This experiment seeks to partially address questions regarding the potential spread of contaminants during the thermal phase of HL waste packages. Specifically, the in situ experiment aims to evaluate the role of scale effects, thermodiffusion, a process that combines Fick’s law, the Soret effect, and convection in the transfer of radionuclides. This paper is the second part of a companion paper dedicated to predictive calculations and the installation of the experimental device. It presents the main experimental and modeling results obtained since the beginning of the installation and after 20 months of heat at 70 °C. The test was carried out in five phases, finishing with a sampling campaign: a phase 0 called “initial conditions”, followed by a pure diffusion phase (5 months), then three phases in a heated period lasting 1 year and 8 months. In total, 47 rock cores were analyzed, with approximately 170 samples tested by four diffusion methods (radial, outgoing, through and in vapor-phase) to determine the tracer concentrations in the porewater, their water content and their diffusive transport parameters. The results show a decrease in tracer concentrations with distance from the test zone, in the directions parallel and perpendicular to the stratification. The anisotropy of the medium results in greater migration in the direction parallel to the stratification. Thermal properties also confirm anisotropy with a higher thermal conductivity in the direction parallel to the stratification. Finally, an activation energy of 22.9 ± 1.7 kJ·mol⁻¹ could be proposed by NMR for deuterium, indicating diffusion behavior following an Arrhenius law between 30 and 70 °C. The experimental data allowed for the calibration of a 2D axisymmetric numerical model using the commercial finite element software COMSOL Multiphysics^®. The Fick’s law corrected by an Arrhenius law best reproduces the penetration of deuterium and anions. The Soret effect, integrated into certain scenarios, is only significant for anions’ migration, using a fitted Soret coefficient of 0.1 K⁻¹, as proposed in the literature for the Callovo-Oxfordian, the host rock of the Cigéo project in the east of France. The calibration of the simulated data with the experimental data allowed for the characterization of damaged and/or disturbed zones evolving over time. Simulations over 150 years, the duration of the thermal maximum for HLW packages, show that advection—modeled by Darcy’s law—would have a negligible role in this context due to the low permeability of the upper Toarcian. In conclusion, the DIGIT test showed that, for the Upper Toarcian clay rocks at the Tournemire URL in France, diffusion, corrected for the effect of temperature, is the mechanism that characterizes the transport of radionuclide analogues. The study showed that thermodiffusion has a limited influence on deuterium migration but remains significant for anions in the case of a coupling between temperature correction and thermodiffusion. The test also highlighted the impact of temperature on the spatiotemporal development of a damaged and/or disturbed zone. These new and relevant results in the field will need to be confirmed later through additional experiments. Full article

Background: Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli in intensive pig production represents a persistent animal health and One Health concern. Here, we integrated quantitative phenotypic susceptibility data with whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to characterize the resistome and its inferred genomic context (chromosomal vs. plasmid-predicted contigs and mobile genetic element (MGE)-proximal regions) in swine-associated MDR E. coli from Hungary. Methods: A total of 203 E. coli isolates from large-scale pig farms were tested by broth microdilution. Based on resistance-oriented screening from an extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-screen-positive pool, 116 isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing (WGS) as a resistance-enriched subset. Resistance determinants were annotated using the Comprehensive Antibiotic Resistance Database (CARD). Results: Resistance-oriented screening indicated frequent β-lactamase activity and ESBL screening positivity (110/203 and 127/203 isolates, respectively), consistent with strong antimicrobial selection pressure in the source population. Across the full phenotypic panel, 78/203 isolates (38.4%) met the MDR definition (non-susceptible to ≥3 antimicrobial classes), with marked between-farm variation (p < 0.001) but no age-group effect (p = 0.75). Non-β-lactam minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) distributions showed pronounced, site-dependent high-MIC “tails”, most notably for tetracyclines, trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole, fluoroquinolones, and colistin. In the WGS cohort (n = 116), we detected 82 distinct resistance determinants (5433 total occurrences), featuring a conserved chromosomal backbone enriched for intrinsic multidrug resistance components and lipid A modification pathways, alongside common plasmid- and MGE-associated acquired ARG modules involving tetracycline (tetA/tetB), sulfonamide/trimethoprim (sul/dfrA), aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes, and phenicol determinants (floR/cat). High-priority mobile determinants were rare but present, including mcr-1 (3/116; plasmid-associated) and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance qnrB5 (2/116). Conclusions: Importantly, mobility/context inferences are restricted to this ESBL-screen-enriched WGS subset. Swine-associated E. coli from Hungarian large-scale farms harbors complex resistance architectures shaped by co-selection of mobile ARG modules on top of a pervasive chromosomal resistance backbone. Mobility-aware surveillance and stewardship are warranted to mitigate dissemination risks at the animal–environment–human interface. Full article

Open-pit mining increasingly substitutes truck-based haulage with continuous systems—such as mobile bridges and relocatable conveyors—to mitigate operational costs and environmental impacts. This PRISMA 2020-compliant systematic review (2010–2025) maps transferable evidence in structural analysis, optimization, and maintenance for truss-type mobile assets. Following a systematic search in Scopus and Web of Science, 94 studies were selected via MMAT quality appraisal and analyzed through cluster-based synthesis. Results reveal sustained publication growth since 2018, with a corpus dominated by finite element (FE) research on steel bridges and capacity assessment, supplemented by emerging areas in AI-driven structural health monitoring (SHM). Given the scarcity of mining-specific literature, bridge engineering serves as a structural proxy for mobile applications. Critical research gaps include full-scale operational validation, soil–structure interaction, and design–maintenance co-optimization. The study concludes with an evidence-anchored agenda toward validated, predictive, and sustainable monitoring frameworks, positioning digital-twin integration as a promising future horizon rather than a current industry-wide convergence. Full article

Whole-genome sequencing followed by comprehensive genomic analyses was used to characterize 16 Salmonella isolates from water-overlying sediments in Conococheague Creek (PA), an agricultural irrigation water source. Our goal was to characterize the genomic profiles and diversity of these Salmonella isolates. We identified eight distinct serotypes, including Newport, the most prevalent (43.8%), providing environmental context relevant to agricultural water systems. Genomic surveys showed various Salmonella Pathogenicity Island (SPI) profiles. Although widespread antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes were not detected, the consistent presence of the aac(6’)-Iaa gene across all isolates and a parC (T57S) mutation in 14 isolates were identified as inherent genotypic markers. Six distinct plasmid replicon types were observed in over 60% of isolates. Replicons for IncF and IncI2 plasmids, frequently associated with β-lactamase genes, were found, documenting the presence of mobile genetic elements despite a lack of acquired AMR genes. Restriction-Modification (RM) systems and CRISPR/Cas loci were also detected, suggesting Salmonella genomic plasticity. Our study showed that sediment-associated Salmonella, notably serotype Newport, harbored diverse virulence-associated genomic features. These findings contributed to the genomic baseline for irrigation water quality and food safety. Full article

Potentially toxic element (PTE) co-contamination in farmland severely threatens global food safety. To identify effective remediation strategies, large-scale field trials were conducted in two karst regions of Southwest China highly co-contaminated with Cd, Pb, As, Cr, and Hg. The efficacy of seven commercial soil amendments (biochar (BC), fused calcium–magnesium phosphate (FCMP), humic acid (HA), potassium humate (KH), oyster shell powder (OS), composite passivator (PA), and quicklime (QL)) on soil physicochemical properties, PTE bioavailability, maize (Zea mays L.) yield, and plant tissue distribution was systematically evaluated. The results indicated that organic amendments, specifically BC, HA, and KH, consistently outperformed inorganic treatments. These organic materials significantly decreased the diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)-extractable fractions of cationic PTEs (e.g., Cd and Pb decreased by up to 39.5% under KH treatment) without inadvertently mobilizing As, unlike the alkaline inorganic amendments. This reduction in soil bioavailability closely correlated with improved plant performance, leading to maximum increases in root biomass (up to 130% with BC) and grain yield (up to 27.6% with HA). Furthermore, BC and humic substances effectively restricted PTE accumulation in grains (Cd and Pb reduced by up to 42.1%). Tissue distribution analysis revealed a consistently low root-to-stem translocation factor (TF < 0.2), indicating that roots acted as the primary sink for absorbed PTEs. This study indicates that commercial organic amendments support the use of a superior, broad-spectrum strategy for mitigating multi-PTE risks and ensuring safe agricultural utilization in severely co-contaminated areas. Full article

Christian Orthodox iconography is a fundamental element of the religious cultural heritage of many countries. Iconoclasm, vandalism, and the passage of time ruined the appearance of icons, making it difficult to recognize the depicted saints. This work aims to test the performance of 13 state-of-the-art deep learning models for the task of Christian Orthodox saints’ recognition from images of preserved wooden hand-painted icons, which has never before been reported in the literature. Additionally, this work introduces the first public image dataset (ICONSAINT—ICONographic SAINT Recognition Dataset) of saint icons for classification tasks, including 2730 annotated images of 546 icons of 123 classes. All models were tested in three experimental setups, involving a balanced part of the dataset of six classes, an imbalanced part of the dataset of 12 classes and a medium-imbalanced part of the dataset of eight classes, reporting accuracy of up to 89% with VGG19 for the balanced data, of up to 78% for MobileNet with the imbalanced data, and of up to 87% with DenseNet201 for the medium-imbalanced data. Moreover, Class Activation Maps (CAMs) were considered to highlight the regions of the input image that mostly influenced the decision of the models towards adding valuable explainability to the results through visual explanations. Full article

Background/Objectives: Municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) act as reservoirs for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which pose a threat to global public health. In this study, we used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to characterize antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and their association with mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in five multidrug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli isolates from dewatered sludge cake samples collected from a municipal WWTP in Cheongju, Republic of Korea. Methods: Susceptibility to nine antibiotics was evaluated via disk diffusion assay. Among the isolates exhibiting multidrug resistance (MDR) to three or more antibiotic classes, five isolates were randomly selected for whole-genome sequencing using the Illumina NovaSeqX platform. Additionally, we compared the genomic structures of five WWTP isolates with 35 environmental E. coli isolates from South Korea deposited in the NCBI pathogen database. ARGs and MGEs, including plasmids, integrons, and insertion sequences (ISs), were detected in the genome assemblies. Results: ARGs were differentially distributed between chromosomal and plasmid-derived contigs. Efflux pump-related genes were predominantly located on the chromosome across all isolates, whereas several beta-lactamase genes (e.g., bla_TEM-30 and bla_TEM-33), fluoroquinolone, and tetracycline resistance genes were localized on putative plasmid contigs. Furthermore, we characterized specific MGEs associated with these ARGs, including a class 1 integron gene cassette (dfrA17–aadA5–qacEΔ1–sul1) and an IS-mediated module (mph(A)–mrx–IS6100). Core-genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) revealed that these MDR isolates represented diverse genetic lineages rather than a single clonal cluster. Conclusions: The results from this study highlight the necessity of enhanced post-treatment management of wastewater byproducts and WGS-based surveillance to mitigate the environmental spread of MDR bacteria. Full article

The lack of centralized waste management infrastructure in certain regions makes plastic waste an escalating environmental and economic problem. This research investigates how modular portable pyrolysis systems function as sustainable decentralized solutions. A standard shipping container houses a custom-designed pyrolysis unit which demonstrates flexibility and adaptability. The system contains a batch rotary kiln reactor with a processing capacity of 750 kg per batch which is fed with urban plastic waste, to produce pyrolytic oil, syngas and char. The produced pyrolytic oil exhibits an energy content comparable to that of conventional diesel fuel. Additionally, the integration of biomass briquettes and recycled pyrolytic gas can reduce to a big extent the external energy requirements, improving the system’s overall energy autonomy. Therefore, the system becomes economically reliable due to its low operational expenses and the short cycle of approximately 7-h operation. The unit’s mobility enables on-site treatment operations which reduces both transportation emissions and expenses. The analysis includes technical design elements together with performance metrics for different plastics. This conceptual study demonstrates the feasibility of containerized pyrolysis as a practical method to enhance plastic waste chemical recycling rates while presenting a scalable framework for industrial symbiosis and local waste-to-energy conversion. Full article

This paper investigates the use of adaptive beamforming algorithms for communication systems and sensing networks using motion-dynamic distributed random arrays. These distributed arrays include swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and are formed by unconnected antennas mounted on independent mobile platforms. This paper investigates the robustness of adaptive beamforming algorithms subject to nonidealities intrinsic to distributed random arrays such as positional error, hardware noise variations, and non-uniform elements. A simulation framework developed to evaluate various beamforming algorithms in the presence of non-idealities demonstrates that minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamforming is sensitive to nominal positional errors, while minimum mean squared error (MMSE) beamforming maintains interference suppression regardless of positional error and is robust to non-uniform elements. Experiments confirm that MMSE beamforming demonstrates interference suppression in real-world channels with heterogeneous hardware. These results establish adaptive mean-squared-error-based beamforming as a robust solution for distributed random arrays. Full article

An eco-friendly green synthesis approach was employed to produce copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) using a polyherbal extract derived from two medicinally important plant species, Hygrophila auriculata (Schumach.) Heine and Leucas aspera (Willd.) Link. The plant extracts were initially subjected to phytochemical screening to identify bioactive constituents potentially involved in nanoparticle synthesis. The synthesized CuNPs were characterized using UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), field-emission scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (FESEM-EDAX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thin-layer chromatography (TLC). UV-visible spectroscopy revealed a characteristic absorption peak at 233.6 nm. FTIR analysis indicated the presence of functional groups associated with nanoparticle reduction and stabilization, whereas FESEM imaging showed predominantly spherical particles with sizes ranging 63–68 nm. Elemental composition was confirmed using EDAX analysis. XRD analysis demonstrated polycrystalline nature of the CuNPs, with an average crystallite size of 11.5 nm. GC-MS analysis and phytochemical screening further confirmed the presence of bioactive compounds, whereas TLC analysis revealed differences in mobility between the plant extract and synthesized CuNPs. Antibacterial activity of the synthesized CuNPs was evaluated using the agar well diffusion method against clinically relevant bacterial strains, including those of Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus pyogenes. The polyherbal-derived CuNPs produced larger inhibition zones than the individual plant extracts, particularly against multidrug-resistant pathogens such as P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. Additionally, the nanoparticles exhibited concentration-dependent antioxidant activity in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay at concentrations ranging 10–50 mg/mL, with radical scavenging activity increasing from 29.9% to 76.5% and a corresponding decrease in absorbance from 0.698 to 0.234 (p < 0.05). Cytotoxic evaluation in HepG2 cells after 48 h of exposure demonstrated dose-dependent morphological changes and reduced cell viability. These findings suggest that polyherbal-derived CuNPs possess antibacterial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic properties with potential relevance for biomedical applications. Full article

Serratia marcescens is a highly adaptable Gammaproteobacterium with broad ecological distribution and growing clinical importance. Advances in whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and pangenome analysis reveal extensive genomic plasticity, driven by mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as plasmids, transposons, integrons, prophages, and extracellular vesicles, which collectively accelerate virulence and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) evolution. S. marcescens displays a dynamic accessory genome enriched in resistance and virulence determinants, supporting persistence in diverse environments, including hospital water systems. Clinically, S. marcescens is an emerging opportunistic pathogen associated with severe healthcare-associated infections, ICU outbreaks, and multidrug-resistant “superbug” phenotypes. Its resistome includes intrinsic AmpC β-lactamase, broad efflux systems, and chromosomal determinants conferring resistance to β-lactams, polymyxins, and multiple additional drug classes, while acquired ESBLs and carbapenemases urther limit therapeutic options. Integrating genomic, evolutionary, and clinical insights underscores the urgent need for improved surveillance, mechanistic understanding, and targeted interventions against carbapenem-resistant S. marcescens (CRSM). Full article

This study evaluates the real-world environmental impact of electric vehicle usage in Italy, with a specific focus on the city of Florence. It aims to address existing gaps in Life Cycle Assessment studies of the use phase, which often neglect dynamic conditions such as temperature variability, electricity grid mix composition, and traffic conditions. A computational LCA method is applied, using Python-based modeling and real-time data integration via APIs. This approach allows for a more precise evaluation of EVs’ environmental performance by considering dynamic elements that affect energy use and emissions. The findings highlight significant variations in environmental impact depending on real-world conditions. Traffic congestion, lower temperatures, and a carbon-intensive electricity grid contribute to increased emissions and reduced efficiency, while battery degradation further affects overall performance. Additionally, this study introduces an innovative methodology that integrates LCA with real-world dynamic data through a computational tool, improving the reliability of environmental impact assessments. This work serves as the basis for a more holistic investigation of the effects of EVs’ use phase, considering real-world dynamics. It also opens possibilities for future research, like Vehicle-to-Grid applications, where flexible consumers can support the grid and, if properly optimized, contribute to reducing the overall environmental impact. The insights provided may help inform and enhance the development of more sustainable mobility and energy policies for policymakers and stakeholders. Full article