Search Results (6,380)

Landfills are complex repositories where macroplastics degrade into MPs. This review examines mechanical, chemical, and biological pathways of plastic fragmentation, as well as the occurrence, characteristics, and removal efficiency of MPs in landfill leachate. We also explore the landfill plastisphere from the perspective of this complex matrix, considering how plastic surfaces and microbial life may potentially converge to form a key biogeochemical interface that could influence carbon and nitrogen transformations The plastisphere’s complex surface structure drives microbial differentiation. Given its established links to GHG production in soil and water, we propose it likely represents a key contributor to GHG emissions in the more complex landfill environment. To bridge this conceptual gap, we review a mathematical scaffolding encompassing biofilm growth, polymer degradation kinetics, and gas flux, which can as a theoretical baseline requiring future in situ parameterization to evaluate plastisphere-driven biogeochemical interactions. Building on recent advances in monitoring and remote sensing technologies, including IOT networks, UAV imagery, and AI analysis, we outline a low-carbon landfill framework designed to optimize operational controls. This framework is described to simultaneously mitigate MP release and reduce GHG emissions, lowering carbon footprints. Amid surging plastic pollutants, this review underscores the necessity of holistic, integrated mitigation strategies. Full article

Silicon carbide (SiC) has emerged as a highly attractive material for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) operating in harsh environments, owing to its outstanding mechanical, thermal, and chemical properties. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the advantages and limitations of SiC-based MEMS, with particular emphasis on the strong interdependence between material structure, mechanical properties, and epitaxial growth processes. The role of defects, residual stress, and crystal quality is discussed in relation to device performance and reliability. Special attention is devoted to cubic SiC grown on silicon substrates, highlighting how growth-induced features influence the mechanical response of micromachined structures. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the quality factor (Q-factor) is presented for 3C-SiC (111)/Si resonators, including the development of analytical models and their validation through numerical simulations performed using COMSOL Multiphysics (Version 6.1). The necessity of incorporating anisotropic loss factors in numerical modeling is demonstrated to be essential for accurately describing the experimentally observed behavior. This review aims to provide design guidelines and modeling strategies for the optimization of SiC MEMS, supporting their further development for high-performance and extreme-environment applications, including pressure sensors, mechanical resonators and high-stress-tolerant sensors. Full article

AI data-center (DC) growth is increasingly constrained by limited deliverable electricity, interconnection capacity, and cooling demand. This study develops a boundary-consistent screening framework for waste-to-energy (WtE)-coupled AI DC cooling, treating cooling as an energy service that can be supplied through grade matching rather than solely through electricity-driven mechanical chilling. The framework translates plant-side exportable heat into corridor-level planning objects by explicitly accounting for thermal attenuation, absorption-based conversion, and parasitic electricity associated with delivery and auxiliaries. Three results structure the analysis. First, a reference-case energy-service ledger shows how a representative regulated WtE plant with municipal solid-waste throughput of 1500 t/day and lower heating value of 10 MJ/kg yields ~78.1 MWth of exportable driving heat and, at a 20 km corridor, ~53.0 MWcool of delivered cooling and ~8.0 MWe of net avoided cooling electricity after parasitic debiting. Second, the coupled system is governed by operating regimes, not a single efficiency score. Under the baseline package, full thermal coverage is maintained up to ~20.9 km, the stricter quality-adjusted criterion remains positive to ~22.9 km, and the electricity–relief criterion remains positive to ~44.7 km. Third, deployment-scale translation for a 1 GW IT campus (u = 0.70, L = 5 km) implies a net grid relief of ~116.9–264.4 MW across scenario packages, while the required WtE footprint ranges from roughly three to 148 equivalent representative plants, or about 0.6–40 full-load-equivalent plants at a 25% displacement target. The contribution is a siting-ready planning framework that identifies when WtE-coupled cooling remains corridor-feasible, when it becomes hybrid and marginal, and when infrastructure scale rather than thermodynamic benefit becomes the binding constraint. It is intended as a screening tool for planning and comparison, not as a project-specific hydraulic or plant-cycle design. Full article

Fleet electrification is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of urban decarbonization in high-density megacities. This study introduces a multi-scenario simulation framework integrating high-resolution mobile signaling data with traffic modeling to quantify the systemic environmental and energy impacts of road-based battery electric vehicle (BEV) integration in Shanghai. By evaluating both a fixed-fleet baseline and dynamic-fleet growth scenarios focused on the urban road network, we find that aggressive fleet electrification leads to a profound reduction in aggregate carbon emissions and criteria pollutants, effectively decoupling transit-related environmental burdens from urban growth. However, results also highlight a significant energy trade-off: while fossil fuel displacement accelerates, grid-based electricity demand increases under fleet growth conditions. Within this context, the expanded vehicle population exacerbates urban congestion, which disproportionately inflates the fuel consumption of remaining internal combustion vehicles. Their operational efficiency is severely compromised by frequent stop-and-go cycles, leading to an intensification of idling losses. Ultimately, this research highlights the capability of the proposed simulation framework to provide granular insights into urban emission dynamics, offering a quantitative foundation for policymakers to harmonize electrification targets with proactive traffic management and grid infrastructure strengthening to evaluate the systemic trade-offs toward achieving long-term urban sustainability. Full article

With the profound transformation of service-oriented manufacturing worldwide since the 21st century, a new industrial model based on the combination of products and services has become a new profit and value growth point for manufacturing enterprises. Enterprises are shifting from simple product production to providing a comprehensive product-service system, further evolving into a smart product-service system, and ultimately expanding into Sustainable Intelligent Interconnected Ecosystems (SICE). The complexity and dynamic nature of SICE make its business and value boundaries unclear, and there is no effective theoretical framework and method for boundary identification and value capture, which hinders the sustainable development of SICE. To clarify the effective boundaries of the operation of the SICE, an innovative model and methods of the framework process, system boundaries for the SICE have been proposed. This study constructs a systematic framework for SICE business and value boundary research to optimize business boundary integration, and verifies the model through empirical research in the smart-home industry, providing a new method for SICE boundary identification and value capture. The system boundary research methods proposed in this paper can identify the business boundary and value boundary of the smart-home product-service ecosystem through a hierarchical approach, and the case illustration shows that the methods have certain applicability and practical guiding significance for the construction of smart-home product-service enterprise business platforms. Full article

This experiment evaluated the effects of pellet diameter on growth performance and intestinal health of piglets during the creep feeding stage. A total of 144 7-day-old suckling piglets (body weight of 2.2 ± 0.3 kg) were randomly assigned to four groups and fed the same formula as meal feed and pellets of 2 mm, 4 mm, and 8 mm in diameter, respectively. Each treatment consisted of six replicates of six piglets. The trial was divided into two phases by weaning time: 7–21 days (breast milk + creep feed) and 21–35 days (creep feed only). After the feeding trial, piglets from the meal feed group and the 8 mm pellet group were selected for slaughter and sampling. The results showed that before weaning, average daily feed intake (ADFI) increased significantly with increasing pellet diameter (p < 0.001). Post-weaning, piglets fed 8 mm pellets presented significantly higher final body weight (FBW) and average daily gain (ADG) than those in the meal group (p < 0.05). Apparent nutrient digestibility (ATTD) in pellet groups was significantly higher than that in the meal feed group and rose with increasing pellet diameter (p < 0.001). The organ indices of the stomach and large intestine in the 8 mm group of piglets were significantly lower than those of the meal group. The jejunal villus height (VH) in the 8 mm group showed a trend toward an increase (p = 0.066), and the ileal crypt depth (CD) was significantly lower (p = 0.004), with significantly higher digestive enzyme activities in the jejunum and ileum (p < 0.05). In the 8 mm group, the relative abundances of Bacteroidetes in the jejunum and Actinobacteriota in the cecum and colon increased, while those of Pseudomonadota decreased; jejunal microbial relative richness increased significantly, while the ileal microbial operational taxonomic unit (OTU) richness decreased obviously. In conclusion, pellets improved the growth performance of creep feeding piglets. Compared with meal, 8 mm pellets can significantly enhance intestinal health level and nutrient digestion and absorption capacity by optimizing intestinal morphology, boosting digestive enzyme activities, and improving flora structure. Full article

Background/Objectives: Survival after pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission has improved, yet many children experience post-intensive care syndrome in pediatrics (PICS-p), including persistent feeding difficulties that impair growth and quality of life. An intensive feeding program (IFP), also known as intensive interdisciplinary behavioral treatment (IIBT), reduces tube dependence and improves oral intake; however, outcomes in PICU survivors remain understudied. This study aimed to evaluate feeding outcomes in children with prior PICU admission who completed IIBT. Methods: This study was a retrospective case series of children (0–18 years) admitted to the HDVCH, Corewell Health, Grand Rapids, Michigan, who subsequently completed IIBT (from 2007 to 2024). Variables included demographics, PICU course (admission indication, complications, length of stay, ventilation, and nutrition status) and IIBT outcomes (feeding modality, oral skills, and malnutrition status). Feeding outcomes were compared pre- and post-IIBT. Results: Sixteen patients were included (62.5% female; mean age 1.44 ± 1.21 years). Primary PICU admission causes were post-operative recovery (68.8%) and acute respiratory failure (25%). PICU complications included acute respiratory failure (43.8%) and the need for respiratory support beyond baseline (62.5%). At PICU discharge, 75% remained tube-fed and 18.8% were malnourished. The mean time from PICU discharge to IIBT initiation was 641 ± 385 days. At IIBT baseline, 75% were tube-fed and all were non-self-feeders. Following IIBT completion (mean length of stay 4.8 ± 0.9 weeks), 58% of tube-fed patients achieved tube removal eligibility; 44% transitioned to partial or full self-feeding; problematic mealtime behaviors decreased (45.7% → 9.9%); oral acceptance improved (62% → 95%); and mouth clearance improved (59% → 96%). Malnutrition prevalence decreased (20% → 12%). Conclusions: Children with prior PICU admission demonstrated substantial feeding and behavioral improvement during IIBT participation, with over half achieving tube-weaning eligibility. The time from referral to program start reflects barriers that delay intervention. Full article

Decarbonising greenhouse food production requires improvements in thermal management, energy efficiency, and system integration. Greenhouse energy demand is shaped by coupled heat and mass transfer processes, particularly envelope performance, ventilation, and latent heat associated with humidity control. This article synthesises recent advances in greenhouse microclimate control with emphasis on heat transfer, low-carbon heating and cooling, thermal storage, renewable and waste heat integration, and advanced modelling and control approaches. The review shows that humidity control and latent load management are primary drivers of winter energy use, as moisture removal through ventilation and dehumidification directly increases the sensible heating required to maintain indoor temperature setpoints. When assessed using realistic psychrometric relationships, ventilation and dehumidification can dominate peak heating demand and seasonal consumption. The performance of heat pumps, storage systems, semi-closed greenhouse concepts, and renewable heat pathways depends on how thermal loads are defined, how system boundaries are set, and how technologies are integrated in operation. Digital twins, predictive control, and hybrid physics-data models are increasingly used to manage variability in weather, energy prices, and infrastructure constraints. Greenhouse decarbonisation cannot be treated as a simple substitution of energy sources. System performance depends on coordinated design and operation, including heat recovery, moisture removal, and integration of supply technologies. Semi-closed and heat recovery-based configurations can reduce the ventilation–heating penalty and lower primary energy demand compared with vent-to-dry approaches. Long-term market projections suggest that the commercial greenhouse sector could expand substantially by 2050 under plausible growth scenarios, reflecting increased capital investment rather than a proportional rise in global food output. Net-zero greenhouse production is achievable through combined improvements in thermal management, electrification, and renewable energy integration. However, large-scale deployment depends on consistent modelling assumptions, credible economic assessment, and alignment with heat and CO₂ supply infrastructure. The transition is therefore shaped by system integration and planning as much as by individual technologies. Full article

Objective: To evaluate the Tumor-Immune-Proliferation-Inflammation (TIPI) score as a composite biomarker for predicting pathological complete response (pCR) in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant therapy. Methods: This retrospective single-center study included 75 patients with HER2-positive invasive breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus dual anti-HER2 blockade (trastuzumab and pertuzumab). The association between the TIPI score and pCR was assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and logistic regression. Results: pCR was achieved in 34 patients (45.3%). The optimal TIPI cut-off was 11.41. Patients with high TIPI scores had a higher pCR rate than those with low TIPI scores (56.3% vs. 25.9%, p = 0.016). However, the discriminative performance of the score was modest (AUC 0.598, 95% CI: 0.467–0.730; p = 0.145). In the adjusted analysis, hormone receptor negativity remained the most consistent factor associated with pCR. Conclusions: The TIPI score was developed as a preliminary composite model integrating selected tumor- and host-related biological variables and showed an exploratory association with pCR in this single-center HER2-positive cohort. Given the modest discriminative performance and lack of external validation, these findings should be interpreted cautiously. Further validation in larger independent cohorts is required before the score can be considered for clinical stratification or implementation. Full article

Lanthanum silicate oxyapatite (LSO) is a promising oxide ion conductor for low-temperature-operating electrochemical devices owing to its high ionic conductivity along the c-axis. However, the fabrication of thin films with controlled crystallographic orientation remains challenging. In this study, polymer-assisted deposition (PAD), a solution-based technique offering precise microstructural and compositional control, was employed to fabricate c-axis-oriented LSO thin films. The fabrication of undoped LSO and the effects of Al and Mg incorporation on its microstructure, orientation, and ionic conductivity were systematically investigated. Undoped LSO thin films crystallised with a preferential c-axis orientation in the annealing temperature range of 800 and 1100 °C, and scanning transmission electron microscopy observations revealed a highly crystalline, void-free microstructure. Upon annealing at 1200 °C, the undoped LSO exhibited columnar grains with anisotropic in-plane grain growth, whereas Al- or Mg-doped LSO suppressed anisotropic in-plane grain growth and retained an out-of-plane c-axis orientation. The undoped LSO showed higher in-plane ionic conductivity than the doped thin films, consistent with their distinct crystallographic orientations. These results demonstrate that PAD provides a viable pathway for tailoring the microstructure and the composition of LSO thin films, thereby facilitating their applications in solid oxide electrochemical devices. Full article

Tumor oxygenation is a key determinant of cancer biology and treatment response, correlating with angiogenesis, recurrence, and malignant progression. Hypoxia is a defining feature of glioblastoma (GBM) and adult diffuse gliomas, generating low-oxygen niches that promote invasion, stem-like states, immune suppression, and resistance to radiotherapy and temozolomide, contributing to poor outcomes. Measuring tissue partial pressure of oxygen (pO₂) and mapping its spatial heterogeneity can, therefore, inform mechanistic understanding and therapeutic development, including hypoxia-activated prodrugs, hypoxia-responsive gene therapy, and optimized radiotherapy planning. Although direct pO₂ assessment is challenging, invasive probes and multimodal imaging can characterize regional hypoxia pre-operatively, support patient stratification, monitor treatment effects, and improve outcome prediction. This review summarizes oxygen dynamics in GBM; analyzes causes of hypoxia (rapid growth outpacing supply, diffusion-limited hypoxia, and abnormal/chaotic vasculature); compares methods to quantify oxygenation from direct measurements to noninvasive imaging surrogates; and evaluates preclinical and clinical strategies that target hypoxia to enhance standard therapy, including barriers to translation. We further integrate oxygenation with cell signaling and redox biology: oxygen gradients are transduced via hypoxia-inducible factor programs and redox-sensitive pathways (NRF2/KEAP1, NOX-derived ROS, nitric oxide/S-nitrosylation, and sulfur metabolic routes), shaping mesenchymal-like transitions and cell-death programs such as ferroptosis. Framing oxygenation as both a microenvironmental and redox-signaling variable positions oxygen imaging as an entry point to biomarker-guided therapies that exploit oxidative vulnerabilities. Full article

While Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) have revolutionized skeleton-based action recognition, existing methods face a critical efficiency–accuracy dilemma: state-of-the-art approaches achieve high performance through computationally expensive multi-stream fusion (joint, bone, joint motion, and bone motion) and deep architectures, limiting real-world deployment on resource-constrained devices. We propose LST-AGCN (Lightweight Spatial–Temporal Attention Graph Convolutional Network), introducing three technical contributions that address this challenge: (1) Unified Attention Module (UAM)—a framework that integrates channel, spatial, and temporal attention through a single compact operation, significantly reducing attention parameters compared to separate attention mechanisms; (2) Depthwise Separable Attention Mechanism (DSAM)—a factorization using depthwise separable convolutions that achieves linear complexity reduction from $O\left(C^2\right)$ to $O\left(C\right)$ in attention operations; and (3) Efficient Topology-Aware Fusion (ETAF)—an adaptive Joint-wise Attention strategy that captures fine-grained spatial relationships without quadratic complexity growth. Extensive experiments on NTU RGB+D 60 and NTU RGB+D 120 datasets demonstrate that LST-AGCN achieves strong performance using only joint modality (86.14%/94.0% and 79.5%/82.0% Top-1 accuracy with 99.0% Top-5 on cross-view) while requiring 14.11 M parameters and 19.02 GFLOPs, delivering efficient inference suitable for edge deployment. Full article

Smart feedlots are increasingly adopting Precision Livestock Farming technologies to enable continuous, individual-animal monitoring and more proactive management in intensive beef production systems. This narrative review synthesises evidence from approximately 350 academic publications, of which 117 are formally cited, complemented by industry deployments and the authors’ experience in smart feedlot system development. We cover enabling digital infrastructure (power, sensing networks, wireless connectivity, and gateways), animal identification and sensing (RFID, automated weighing, wearables, and pen-side sensors), machine vision (RGB, thermal, and multispectral imaging from fixed and mobile platforms), and AI-based analytics and decision support for health, welfare, performance, and environmental management. Across the literature, key components have progressed beyond proof-of-concept toward operation under commercial constraints. Reported outcomes include reduced reliance on routine pen-rider observation and yard handling, earlier triage of emerging morbidity risk and behavioural change, and more standardised welfare auditing. Vision-based methods are repeatedly validated against trained human scorers in both on-farm and abattoir contexts, while automated weighing and image-based liveweight estimation support higher-frequency growth monitoring with low single-digit percentage error in representative studies. Precision feeding and targeted supplementation are associated with improved feed utilisation and reduced resource wastage, although effectiveness and adoption vary across animal classes and production stages. We identify priorities for robust, scalable deployment: resilient communications in harsh environments, appropriate edge–cloud partitioning under intermittent connectivity, and interoperable multi-sensor data fusion to deliver trustworthy alerts and actionable insights. Persistent barriers remain cost, durability, maintenance burden, integration and interoperability, data governance, and workforce capability. Full article

Objective: This study compared fetal adrenal gland ultrasound parameters between pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction (FGR) diagnosed according to Delphi consensus criteria and gestational-age-matched normally grown controls, and interpreted their apparent discriminatory performance cautiously. Methods: This prospective single-center case–control study with a cross-sectional ultrasound assessment enrolled 60 singleton pregnancies (30 FGR, 30 controls) between 24 and 41 weeks’ gestation. Controls were recruited contemporaneously from the same unit and had normal fetal biometry and Doppler findings. All examinations were performed using a Voluson E8 system by a single experienced operator; operator blinding to group status was not feasible in routine clinical practice. Standard fetal biometry and Doppler indices (umbilical artery [UA] PI, middle cerebral artery [MCA] PI, uterine artery [UtA] PI) were recorded and the cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) was calculated. Fetal adrenal assessment included the total adrenal gland volume, fetal zone (FZ) width, and middle adrenal artery (MAA) Doppler PI. Results: Maternal age, body mass index, and gestational age at scan were similar between groups (p > 0.05). Compared with controls, the FGR group had higher UA PI and UtA PI and lower MCA PI and CPR (all p < 0.001). Absolute adrenal gland volume was lower in FGR (0.46 ± 0.03 vs. 0.68 ± 0.04 cm³; mean difference −0.22 cm³, 95% CI −0.24 to −0.20; p < 0.001), and FZ width was smaller (median 4.70 vs. 6.55 mm; Hodges–Lehmann shift −1.80 mm, 95% CI −2.00 to −1.70; p < 0.001). MAA PI was higher in FGR (2.44 ± 0.14 vs. 1.79 ± 0.12; mean difference 0.65, 95% CI 0.58–0.72; p < 0.001). In this selected case–control dataset, adrenal volume, FZ width, and MAA PI each showed apparent complete separation (empirical AUC = 1.00); however, these findings should be interpreted cautiously because absolute adrenal measures were not adjusted for fetal size and such performance may reflect spectrum effects in a relatively small sample. Conclusions: In pregnancies with Delphi-defined FGR, absolute fetal adrenal volume and fetal zone width were lower, and MAA PI was higher than in controls. These findings should be considered hypothesis-generating and require external validation in larger multicenter cohorts using standardized and size-adjusted measurement approaches before clinical implementation. Full article

The development of effective water disinfection treatment processes will be crucial to help food producers save water and cope with the inevitable challenges resulting from increases in human population and climate change, while promoting sustainable agriculture. The inactivation efficiency of UV-C light emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit light at 280 nm was tested as a disinfection method. Water samples from a horticulture industry were collected and characterized in terms of total microorganisms, total coliforms, Escherichia coli and enterococci as well as parameters that influence photolysis such as the percent transmittance of the irrigation water (that, due to the nutrients added for plant growth, was extremely low and varied between 40 and 55%). Nevertheless, laboratory scale results showed that three single small UV LEDs that emit light at 280 nm were extremely efficient for the inactivation of microorganisms present at occurrence levels in the irrigation water samples, as well as Phytophthora capsici and Escherichia coli spiked in sterile distilled water and filtered irrigation water samples. Overall, the findings demonstrate that UV-C LEDs operating at 280 nm represent a promising sustainable disinfection strategy for modern food production systems facing tightening environmental and public-health pressures. Full article