Search Results (1,723)

Arid and semi-arid regions are highly vulnerable to drought and depend heavily on rainfed agriculture. To minimize the impact of drought, a transition from crisis management to risk management is necessary, which requires a comprehensive risk assessment that accounts for not only drought hazard but also drought vulnerability and population exposure. However, integrated studies that account for socio-economic, agricultural, demographic, and climate factors are currently lacking in Iran. The objective of this study is to comprehensively assess the spatio-temporal changes in drought risk from 2000 to 2019 across Iran. We used the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and multiple socio-economic and demographic data to compute drought risk. In particular, we used the SPEI to map drought hazard, an analytical hierarchical process method to assess drought vulnerability, and population density data to compute population exposure. Drought risk increased in 57% of the area of Iran, mainly in the northwest, west, and central regions, at a rate of up to 10% per year. In 21% of the area of Iran, drought risk declined by up to 10% per year, predominantly in the northern and southern regions of the Alborz Mountains, encompassing the provinces of Tehran, Gilan, Mazandaran, and Khorasan Razavi. Our results show that the spatial patterns of drought risk vary across Iran and are modulated by the interaction between climatic and socio-economic factors. The results of this study provide useful information for drought risk management and intervention in Iran. Full article

Background: Dynapenia refers to the age-related decline in muscle strength that occurs even when muscle mass is preserved. It has become an important issue in older adults because reduced strength is strongly linked to many negative health outcomes. When dynapenia occurs together with obesity—referred to as dynapenic obesity or dynapenic abdominal obesity—the risks, including mortality, falls, and the development of multiple chronic conditions, appear to increase even further. This umbrella review aimed to bring together and summarize existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses that examined how dynapenia and its obesity-related subtypes are associated with mortality, falls, and multimorbidity among community-dwelling older adults. Methods: Following PRISMA 2020 and JBI guidelines, six major databases and search engines (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Scopus, CINAHL, and Airiti Library) were searched from their inception to October 2025. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses involving adults aged 60 years and older and reporting quantitative results on the relationships between dynapenia-related conditions and adverse health outcomes were included. The methodological quality of each review was evaluated using AMSTAR 2, and the certainty of evidence was assessed with the GRADE approach. This umbrella review followed the PRIOR framework and was reported according to PRISMA 2020. The protocol for this review was registered in PROSPERO (ID: CRD 42023415232). Results: A total of four systematic reviews and meta-analyses were included, covering more than 73,000 community-dwelling older adults. The pooled data showed that dynapenic obesity significantly increased the risk of all-cause mortality, with hazard ratios ranging from 1.50 (95% CI 1.14–1.96) to 1.73 (95% CI 1.38–2.16). Dynapenic abdominal obesity was also strongly linked to falls, with pooled estimates ranging from HR = 1.82 (95% CI 1.04–3.17) to RR = 6.91 (95% CI 5.42–8.80). For multimorbidity, older adults with dynapenia had 1.38 times higher odds of having two or more chronic diseases than those without dynapenia (OR = 1.38, 95% CI 1.10–1.72). Based on the GRADE evaluation, the certainty of evidence was moderate for mortality and falls and low for multimorbidity. Conclusions: Overall, the findings indicate that dynapenia and its obesity-related forms meaningfully increase the risks of mortality, falls, and multimorbidity among community-dwelling older adults. Importantly, these results position dynapenia not merely as a musculoskeletal condition, but as a clinically relevant marker of aging-related vulnerability. This underscores the need for early screening of muscle strength alongside obesity-related indicators, as well as the development of integrated preventive strategies that combine strength-oriented interventions with obesity management in older populations. Full article

This study quantitatively analyzed the impact of concurrent large-scale wildfires that occurred in Korea in March 2025 on air quality in agricultural regions and identified potential risks to agricultural workers. Analysis of air quality data from eight agricultural sites nationwide revealed that the average concentrations of PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 during the wildfire period increased by 47.3% and 24.9%, respectively, compared to non-fire periods. Multiple regression analysis indicated that PM₁₀ concentrations were dominated by physical dispersion and dilution effects driven by variables such as wind speed and distance. In contrast, PM_2.5 showed a strong positive correlation with relative humidity, suggesting it is significantly influenced by secondary formation and atmospheric stagnation. Notably, the potential for particulate matter accumulation was confirmed during high-humidity hours when atmospheric inversion layers form, combined with the basin topography characteristic of Korean rural areas. This implies that elderly agricultural workers may be exposed to high concentrations of hazardous substances even when smoke is not visually apparent. Therefore, this study suggests the necessity of establishing specific protective measures for agricultural workers, including the introduction of targeted, site-specific forecasting (“pinpoint forecasts”) for downwind farmlands and restrictions on outdoor work during early morning hours. Full article

Despite the growing recognition of heritage risk reduction, a comprehensive framework for multi-risk assessment remains notably absent within the context of historic urban landscapes (HULs) across diverse global contexts. This paper aims to fill this gap by developing an assessment framework to address multiple emerging risks in HUL management, considering climate-related, human-induced, and mixed hazards in UNESCO World Heritage properties. A four-step process is established—hazard identification, exposure categorisation, adaptation capacity-building, and vulnerability monitoring and evaluation. Using content analysis, this framework is applied to official reports from 33 World Heritage HUL cases across 33 countries. The results show that, although various hazards have been acknowledged by state parties, local governments prioritise human-induced or natural hazards more often than mixed hazards, leading to a shortage of comprehensive risk management plans and practical actions in most cases. Regarding heritage adaptation, the factors of capacity and governance are widely addressed, demonstrating the commitment of state parties to formulate strategies and solve problems. However, public participation and education practices remain insufficiently implemented, resulting in a relatively low degree of adaptation capacity-building. The proposed multi-risk assessment framework offers a crucial reference for global urban heritage management and risk reduction. Full article

The aim of this article is to present the social–ecological system (SES) as a unit of analysis for sustainable water management under conditions of anthropogenic pressure in Poland. In the face of accelerating climate change and growing human impacts, Polish water systems are exposed to increasing ecological stress and to material and immaterial losses affecting local communities. The SES approach provides an integrative analytical framework that links ecological and social components, enabling a holistic view of adaptive and governance processes at multiple spatial scales, from municipalities to areas that transcend administrative boundaries. Methodologically, this study triangulates three complementary approaches to strengthen explanatory inference. This conceptual SES review defines the analytical categories used in the paper, the bibliometric mapping (Scopus database with VOSviewer) identifies dominant research streams and underexplored themes, and the qualitative Polish case studies operationalize these categories to diagnose mechanisms, feedbacks, and governance vulnerabilities under anthropogenic pressure. The bibliometric analysis identifies the main research streams at the intersection of SES, water management and sustainable development, revealing thematic clusters related to climate change adaptation, environmental governance, ecosystem services and hydrological extremes. The case studies - the 2024 flood, the 2022 ecological disaster in the Odra River, and water deficits associated with lignite opencast mining in Eastern Wielkopolska - illustrate how anthropogenic pressure and climate-related hazards interact within local SES and expose governance gaps. Particular attention is paid to attitudes and social participation, understood as configurations of behaviors, knowledge and emotions that shape decision-making in local self-government, especially at the municipal level. This study argues that an SES-based perspective can contribute to building the resilience of water systems, improving the integration of ecological and social dimensions and supporting more sustainable water management in Poland. Full article

Influenza is typically framed as an acute respiratory infection, yet accumulating evidence suggests that—like SARS-CoV-2—it may trigger persistent, multi-organ morbidity consistent with a post-acute infection syndrome (“long flu”). Leveraging the nationwide FinnGen registry infrastructure, we conducted a temporally stratified disease-wide association study (DWAS) to map antecedent risk factors and long-term sequelae following clinically diagnosed influenza and COVID-19. We assembled an exposed cohort comprising 9204 individuals with influenza (ICD-10 J09–J11) and 4258 individuals with COVID-19 (ICD-10 U072) recorded in specialist inpatient/outpatient care between 1998 and 2021, and an unexposed comparator cohort of 420,005 individuals with no recorded influenza or pneumonia (J09–J18) across their available medical history. Across harmonized clinical endpoints, we fitted age- and sex-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models and controlled for multiple testing using a stringent false discovery rate threshold (FDR-adjusted p < 0.001), further interrogating temporal persistence within 1-, 5-, and 15-year windows. The DWAS revealed that both infections are associated with broad, system-spanning disease signatures extending beyond the respiratory tract, including circulatory, neurological, metabolic, musculoskeletal, digestive, mental/behavioural, ocular, and oncologic endpoints. Predisposition analyses demonstrated that infection risk is concentrated in individuals with substantial pre-existing multimorbidity, most prominently cardiovascular disease, alongside cardiometabolic, respiratory, renal, neuropsychiatric, and inflammatory conditions. Post-infection analyses identified a durable burden of incident multi-system morbidity after influenza, with particularly robust and persistent cardiovascular and neurological signatures—encompassing thromboembolic disease and major adverse cardiovascular outcomes, as well as migraine, neurodegenerative disorders, and depression—together with metabolic and renal sequelae that, in subsets, extended across multi-year horizons. Collectively, these longitudinal findings reframe influenza as a systemic event embedded within a chronic disease continuum, motivate recognition of “long flu” as a clinically meaningful post-viral risk landscape, and support intensified prevention and risk-stratified surveillance strategies alongside analogous efforts for long COVID. Full article

Industrial synthetic dyes are among the most common and hazardous pollutants in manufacturing wastewater. In this study, effective dye-decolorizing fungi were isolated from industrial discharge and evaluated for their decolorization efficiency for various dyes, including a triphenylmethane (malachite green, MG), an anthraquinone (reactive blue 19, RB19), and an azo dye (reactive black 5, RB5). The fungus with the highest potential for MG decolorization was identified as Penicillium rubens, whereas Aspergillus fumigatus proved to be the most effective for RB19 and RB5 decolorization. Maximum decolorization for all dyes occurred at pH 9 and 30 °C after 6–7 days of shaking in the dark. Enzyme activity assays revealed that both P. rubens and A. fumigatus produced multiple oxidative and reductive enzymes, including laccase, azoreductase, anthraquinone reductase, triphenylmethane reductase, lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase, and tyrosinase. The decolorized filtrates of MG, RB19, and RB5 exhibited very low phytotoxicity for RB5 and no phytotoxicity for MG and RB19. Furthermore, these filtrates demonstrated significant reductions in chemical oxygen demand (46%, 63%, and 50%) and biological oxygen demand (37%, 60%, and 40%) for MG, RB19, and RB5, respectively, compared to untreated dyes. Given their efficient biological removal of dyes under alkaline conditions, these fungal isolates are promising candidates for sustainable wastewater treatment. Full article

Background: Workplace violence (WPV) is a pervasive occupational hazard in healthcare that undermines staff safety and quality of care. In Bulgaria, WPV remains widespread and underreported, despite recent legislative initiatives. This study assessed healthcare professionals’ perceptions of the effectiveness of WPV prevention strategies and examined how prior exposure shapes these perceptions. Methods: A nationwide cross-sectional online survey was conducted in December 2024 with 944 healthcare professionals from multiple sectors. Participants rated the perceived effectiveness of 11 prevention strategies, including environmental/security measures, organizational, and national-level interventions, on a three-point scale. Friedman ANOVA with Kendall’s W assessed overall strategy rankings, while Mann–Whitney U tests with rank-biserial correlations compared specific effectiveness ratings between subgroups defined by WPV exposure (experienced or witnessed vs. not exposed in the previous 12 months). Results: In the previous 12 months, 34.7% of respondents reported direct WPV, and 43.4% had either experienced or witnessed incidents. Friedman ANOVA indicated significant differences in perceived effectiveness across strategies (Kendall’s W = 0.13), with stronger differentiation among violence-exposed respondents (W = 0.37) than among non-exposed respondents (W = 0.09). National-level interventions and security/response measures were consistently ranked the highest. Mann–Whitney tests showed significantly higher endorsement of most strategies among violence-exposed professionals, with large effect sizes for security measures and enforcement of sanctions. Conclusions: Bulgarian healthcare professionals view WPV prevention as requiring a multicomponent approach that integrates robust national policy with organizational and environmental measures. Direct exposure to violence is associated with stronger support for security-focused and national interventions. These findings inform context-specific, evidence-based WPV prevention programs for Bulgarian healthcare facilities. Full article

Real-time monitoring of hazardous gas emissions in open environments remains a critical challenge. Conventional spectrometers and filter wheel systems acquire spectral and spatial information sequentially, which limits their ability to capture multiple gas species and dynamic dispersion patterns rapidly. A High-Resolution Snapshot Multispectral Imaging System (HRSMIS) is proposed to integrate high spatial fidelity with multispectral capability for near real-time plume visualization, gas species identification, and concentration retrieval. Operating across the 7–14 $\mathsf{\mu }$m spectral range, the system employs a dual-path optical configuration in which a high-resolution imaging path and a multispectral snapshot path share a common telescope, allowing for the simultaneous acquisition of fine two-dimensional spatial morphology and comprehensive spectral fingerprint information. Within the multispectral path, two $5\times 5$ microlens arrays (MLAs) combined with a corresponding narrowband filter array generate 25 distinct spectral channels, allowing concurrent detection of up to 25 gas species in a single snapshot. The high-resolution imaging path provides detailed spatial information, facilitating spatio-spectral super-resolution fusion for multispectral data without complex image registration. The HRSMIS demonstrates modulation transfer function (MTF) values of at least 0.40 in the high-resolution channel and 0.29 in the multispectral channel. Monte Carlo tolerance analysis confirms imaging stability, enabling the real-time visualization of gas plumes and the accurate quantification of dispersion dynamics and temporal concentration variations. Full article

Protecting aquatic biodiversity while ensuring reliable hydropower production and water supply remains a core challenge for both water security and biosecurity. In this PRISMA-based systematic review, we synthesize evidence from 96 studies on fish guidance and deterrence at hazardous water intakes. We examine non-physical barriers, including acoustic and light cues, electric fields, bubble curtains, and chemical stimuli, as well as physical barriers such as racks, guidance structures, and nets or screens that aim to divert fish away from intakes and toward selective passage routes. Overall, guidance and deterrence performance is strongly species- and site-specific. Multimodal systems that combine multiple cues show the highest mean guidance efficiency (~80%), followed by light-based deterrents (~77%). Acoustic, electric, and bubble barriers generally achieve intermediate efficiencies (~55–58%), whereas structural devices alone exhibit lower mean performance (~46%), with substantial variability among sites and designs. Physical screens remain effective for larger size classes but can increase head loss and debris accumulation. By contrast, non-physical systems offer more flexible, low-footprint options whose success depends critically on local hydraulics, the sensory ecology of target species, and ambient environmental conditions. We identify major knowledge gaps relating to underlying sensory and behavioral mechanisms, hydraulics-based design rules, and standardized performance metrics. We also highlight opportunities to integrate advanced monitoring and AI-based analytics into adaptive, site-specific guidance systems. Taken together, our findings show that carefully selected and tuned barrier technologies can provide practical pathways to enhance water security and biosecurity, while supporting sustainable fish passage, improving invasive-species control, and reducing ecological impacts at water infrastructure. Full article

Stromboli’s volcanic activity fluctuates in intensity and style, and periods of heightened activity can trigger hazardous events such as crater collapses and lava overflows. This study investigates the volcano’s explosive behavior surrounding the 19 May 2021 crater-rim failure, which primarily affected the N2 crater and partially involved N1, by integrating high-frequency thermal imaging and high-resolution unmanned aerial system (UAS) surveys to quantify eruption parameters and vent morphology. Typically, eruptive periods preceding vent instability are characterized by evident changes in geophysical parameters and by intensified explosive activity. This is quantitatively monitored mainly through explosion frequency, while other eruption parameters are assessed qualitatively and sporadically. Our results show that, in addition to explosion rate, the spattering rate, the predominance of bomb- and gas-rich explosions, and the number of active vents increased prior to the collapse, reflecting near-surface magma pressurization. UAS surveys revealed that the pre-collapse configuration of the northern craters contributed to structural vulnerability, while post-collapse vent realignment reflected magma’s adaptation to evolving stress conditions. The May 2021 events were likely influenced by morphological changes induced by the 2019 paroxysms, which increased collapse frequency and amplified the 2021 failure. These findings highlight the importance of integrating quantitative time series of multiple eruption parameters and high-frequency morphological surveys into monitoring frameworks to improve early detection of system disequilibrium and enhance hazard assessment at Stromboli and similar volcanic systems. Full article

The Banji Mine, located in the western part of the Huainan Coalfield, is characterised by a deep burial depth and multiple aquifers. It faces significant water inflow risks from roof aquifers, especially from the sandstone aquifer above the No. 9 coal seam. To explore the hydrochemical evolution of this sandstone aquifer and address key scientific challenges in water hazard prevention, an integrated approach combining mathematical statistics, Piper trilinear diagrams, Gibbs diagrams, and principal component analysis (PCA) was employed. Results show that from 2020 to 2023, the average TDS increased from 1729.51 mg·L⁻¹ to 2061.22 mg·L⁻¹, and the hydrochemical types transitioned from a mix of Cl-Na (48.6% of samples) and HCO₃·Cl-Na to a dominant Cl-Na type (91.1% in 2023), exhibiting high mineralisation and a distinct trend of water salinisation. The dissolution of evaporites and evaporative concentration were identified as the primary processes influencing the hydrochemical characteristics, with PCA indicating that the dominant factor (F1) explained 66.269% of the variance. Saturation index (SI) analysis revealed that calcite and dolomite were saturated to supersaturated (SI: 0.73–2.15 and 1.66–4.81, respectively), while gypsum and halite were undersaturated but showed a tendency to dissolve towards equilibrium. Over time, the cation exchange and sulfate reduction processes weakened, indicating that mining activities have disrupted the hydrochemical equilibrium of the roof sandstone aquifer, accelerating water salinisation. This study provides a theoretical foundation for identifying the causes and early warning signs of water hazards in the roof strata of the Banji Mine. Full article

To ensure the safety of vehicles and occupants under failures or functional limitations of ego vehicles, a minimum risk maneuver (MRM) has been proposed as a key automated driving system (ADS) function. However, executing an MRM may pose certain potential risks when sensor failures occur. This study proposed an MRM strategy designed to enhance highway-driving safety during MRM execution under multiple sensor-failure conditions. A hazard and operability study analysis, based on an ADS behavior model, is conducted to systematically identify hazards, determine potential hazardous events, and categorize the associated safety risks arising from sensor failures. Within the proposed strategy, virtual objects are generated to account for potential hazards and support risk assessments. Adaptive MRM behavior is determined in real time by analyzing surrounding objects and evaluating time-to-collision and time headway. The strategy is verified by using a MATLAB–CARLA co-simulation environment across three representative highway scenarios with combined sensor failures. The result demonstrates that the proposed MRM strategy can mitigate collision risk in hazardous scenarios while effectively leveraging the remaining functional sensors to guide the ego vehicle toward an appropriate minimum risk condition during MRM execution. Full article

The construction of undersea tunnels involves multiple potential hazards, among which water-related risks are particularly critical during the construction phase. Tunnel water inrush can trigger serious safety incidents and increase maintenance costs during operation. Therefore, accurately predicting water inflow is essential to ensure construction safety and long-term operational reliability. This study calculated the water inflow per meter of an undersea tunnel using the built-in FISH programming language in FLAC^3D 7.0 finite difference software. A series of numerical models was established to examine the effects of eight influencing factors, including seawater depth, permeability of the surrounding rock, overburden thickness, and the thickness and permeability coefficients of both the grouting ring and the lining. The results indicate that water inflow generally increases linearly with greater seawater depth and overburden thickness. Although higher permeability of the surrounding rock leads to increased inflow, the growth rate gradually decreases. When the thickness of the grouting ring exceeds 6 m, the marginal benefit of its effect gradually decreases. The inflow was found to decrease as the lining permeability declined, with a more evident reduction under higher grouting ring permeability. Sensitivity analysis further revealed that seawater depth exerts the most significant influence on water inflow, whereas the thickness of the grouting ring has the least effect. Full article

Coastal flooding can result from multiple interacting drivers and can be a complex, challenging topic for learners to grasp. Interactive learning with apps offers new opportunities for improving comprehension and engagement. We present the Floodport app, an educational interactive tool that puts students in the role of coastal risk analysts exploring how natural hazards threaten port safety. Users have to adjust key parameters, including high tides, storm surges, terrestrial rainfall contribution, sea-level rise, and engineered features such as dock height. These forces, individually or jointly, result in water-level rises that may flood the app’s port. The app supports exploration of mitigation designs for the port. Developed in Excel and Python 3.11.4 and deployed as an R/Shiny application, Floodport was used as a classroom game by 153 students with no prior knowledge on coastal flooding concepts. Pre–post survey statistical analysis showed significant learning gains and positively correlation with willingness to engage further. Floodport was found to be a useful tool for basic introduction to flooding concepts. The results indicate strong pedagogical promise and potential for using the app beyond the classroom, in contexts such as stakeholder engagement and training. Full article