Search Results (4,560)

This study investigated the long-term relationship between land-use change and land-cover-based ecological quality patterns in Ordos City, a typical coal resource-based city in northern China. To explicitly capture land-use transitions driven by coal exploitation, mining areas were classified as an independent land-cover type. An improved U-Net semantic segmentation model integrating multispectral information and land surface temperature was subsequently employed to generate multi-temporal land-cover maps. In the internal semantic segmentation validation, the proposed model achieved a mean Intersection over Union (mIoU) of 69.51%, a mean accuracy (mAcc) of 81.65%, and a pixel-level overall accuracy (aAcc) of 83.16%. An independent point-based accuracy assessment of the final land-cover map yielded an overall accuracy (OA) of 66.00% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.6033, indicating acceptable classification reliability in complex mining areas. Based on the classification results, three indicators, namely the land-use transition matrix, ecological environmental quality index (EQI), and ecological contribution index, were adopted to analyze spatiotemporal land-use dynamics and associated land-cover-based ecological quality patterns in Ordos City over the past 25 years. The results indicate that: (1) Marked land-use changes occurred in the land-use pattern of the study area during 2000–2025, with grassland and unused land consistently remaining the dominant land-use types. The area classified as Mining increased from 105.83 km² to 1184.17 km² in 2020, exhibiting distinct characteristics of phased expansion and subsequent adjustment. Built-up land continued to expand, whereas the water area decreased by 47.55%. (2) The land-cover-based EQI exhibited a pattern of decline, recovery, and stabilization, decreasing from 0.529 in 2000 to 0.489 in 2015 before recovering to 0.522 in 2025. This pattern was associated with changes in land-cover composition over the study period, including mining expansion and restoration-related transitions. The findings provide a scientific basis for ecological restoration planning and high-quality transformation in Ordos and other coal resource-based cities with similar arid and semi-arid environmental conditions. Full article

Commercial sesame paste exhibits substantial variations in color and aroma, reflecting differences in raw materials and commercial processing conditions, including roasting. This study investigated 15 commercial sesame paste products to characterize associations among color/browning characteristics, sensory attributes, and aroma-active chemical profiles. Across the commercial samples, darker color and higher browning index ($BI$) values were generally associated with stronger roasted nutty and burnt attributes and weaker grassy notes. Higher pyrazine levels were also observed in samples exhibiting more pronounced apparent roasting-related aroma characteristics and were positively associated with roasted nutty and burnt attributes. GC-O and OAV screening, together with exploratory PLSR further analysis, indicated that Strecker aldehydes, pyrazines, and phenolic compounds were candidate contributors to the observed sensory differences. In aroma addition experiments, under the tested addition conditions, the R mixture containing 2-methylbutanal and selected pyrazines enhanced roasted nutty intensity, whereas the B mixture containing guaiacol and 4-vinyl-2-methoxyphenol enhanced burnt/smoky intensity under the tested addition conditions. These findings demonstrate that color/browning characteristics and aroma-active compound profiles provide complementary information for characterizing apparent roasting-related differences and aroma quality in commercial sesame paste, without representing direct measures of controlled roasting degree. Full article

Background: Toxoplasma gondii infection during pregnancy may lead to congenital toxoplasmosis and serious pregnancy complications. In Kenya, however, toxoplasmosis is not screened during routine antenatal care, and there is limited local data on maternal seroprevalence and associated risk factors. This study determined the seroprevalence of T. gondii infections. It examined its association with socio-demographic, obstetric characteristics, awareness levels, and exposure behaviours among pregnant women visiting the antenatal clinic at Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 298 pregnant women consecutively recruited at Pumwani Maternity Hospital in Nairobi County between July and October 2025. Data on socio-demographics, obstetric characteristics, knowledge, and exposure practices were collected using a structured questionnaire. Blood specimens were obtained from consenting prenatal patients, and anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were detected by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Associations between seropositivity and risk factors were assessed using univariable logistic regression, followed by two separate multivariable models. Variables with p < 0.25 were considered for multivariable analysis, followed by backward likelihood-ratio elimination. Model calibration was assessed using the Hosmer–Lemeshow test. Results: The overall seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii IgG was 24.5% (73 of 298). In the sociodemographic model, women who were self-employed (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.26, 95% CI: 0.13–0.53) and formally employed (AOR = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.11–0.59) had lower odds of seropositivity than unemployed women. Women aged 25–33 years had higher odds than those aged 18–24 years (AOR = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.06–5.62). Having two children was associated with lower odds than a first birth (AOR = 0.40, 95% CI: 0.18–0.90), while parity of four or more showed a borderline increase in odds (AOR = 3.11, 95% CI: 0.99–9.76). In the knowledge/exposure model, good awareness of population risk groups was linked to higher odds of seropositivity (AOR = 3.34, 95% CI: 1.21–9.24), but exposure-practice variables were not independently associated. Stratified analyses showed significant demographic differences in exposure practices, such as eating undercooked meat in the third trimester of pregnancy (p = 0.021) and unwashed vegetable consumption by pregnant women from Kamkunji Sub-County (p = 0.005). Parity of three increased infection risk (p = 0.007). Conclusions: About 25% of participants showed evidence of prior T. gondii exposure. Seropositivity correlated with specific sociodemographic and obstetric factors as well as awareness of groups at risk. These results endorse targeted antenatal education that emphasises practical food safety and environmental hygiene, aligned with a One Health approach. Further longitudinal and multicenter research, including IgM and IgG avidity testing, is needed to differentiate recent from past infections and to better understand risks associated with congenital toxoplasmosis. Full article

Gene therapy is undergoing continued clinical translation and technological development. This progress has been marked by regulatory approvals and broadened therapeutic indications across genetic, metabolic, and oncologic diseases and disorders. The field has evolved over decades from early viral-mediated gene addition to approaches capable of targeted editing, regulation, or replacement of genetic information. These systems include base and prime editors, epigenetic modulators, CRISPR-Cas, RNA therapeutics and programmable integration platforms. When paired with increasingly sophisticated viral and nonviral delivery strategies, these technologies enable greater control over tissue targeting, duration of activity, and therapeutic exposure. Recent clinical successes, including approved ex vivo CRISPR-based therapies for hemoglobinopathies, in vivo CRISPR editing for transthyretin amyloidosis, and emerging clinical applications of base and prime editing, provide growing clinical evidence for the feasibility of genetic medicines. However, technological advancement has also made platform selection increasingly complex. Therapeutic performance is determined not by editing efficiency alone, but by the interaction among genetic precision, temporal control, dosage tunability, delivery efficiency, durability, and disease-specific safety requirements. A molecularly efficient platform may still have limited therapeutic value if it cannot reach the disease-relevant cell population at sufficient and safe exposure. In this review, we examine recent technological and clinical advances in genetic medicine with particular emphasis on developments during the past approximately five years. We propose a multidimensional framework in which gene therapy platforms are evaluated according to three intrinsic properties—genetic precision, temporal control, and dosage tunability—while delivery, clinical maturity, and disease context act as major translational constraints. This framework highlights that no single platform is universally optimal; rather, successful therapeutic design depends on matching the biological characteristics of the intervention to the requirements of the disease and target tissue. Remaining challenges in extrahepatic delivery, genomic safety, immunogenicity, manufacturing, and long-term monitoring remain important determinants of broader clinical implementation. Full article

Magnetorheological (MR) dampers have emerged as one of the most promising semi-active control devices for mitigating seismic responses in civil engineering structures due to their rapid response capability, low power requirement, and adaptive damping characteristics. Although numerous studies have investigated the design, modeling, and control performance of MR dampers, the scientific development of this research field has not yet been comprehensively evaluated from a bibliometric perspective. Therefore, this study aims to systematically evaluate the scientific development of MR-damper applications for seismic structural control through a comprehensive bibliometric analysis based on publications retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection. Following a systematic screening process, 409 publications published between 1996 and 2025 were analyzed using performance analysis and science-mapping techniques implemented in VOSviewer. The analysis evaluates publication trends, leading journals, influential authors, productive institutions, international collaboration networks, highly cited publications, and thematic patterns through keyword co-occurrence and science-mapping analyses. The findings reveal a sustained increase in research activity over the past two decades, with the United States and China emerging as the leading contributors to scientific production. Structural Control and Health Monitoring and Engineering Structures are identified as the most influential publication sources, while keyword analysis indicates an increasing emphasis on intelligent control algorithms, experimental validation, and advanced seismic-control strategies. The findings provide a quantitative overview of the scientific development of MR-damper research and highlight potential directions for future research in intelligent seismic structural control. Full article

Background: Creatine is now discussed beyond sports performance and within women’s health, cognition, fatigue, and healthy-aging contexts. However, little is known about the characteristics of women who use creatine or whether these characteristics differ across durations of use. This study characterized women reporting current or past-12-month creatine use in a large cross-sectional sample and benchmarked findings against men. Methods: In a cross-sectional, supplement-platform convenience survey (approximately 2.0% response rate; a secondary analysis of a previously reported cohort), 2094 current or recent creatine users (1055 women, 1039 men; mean age 53 years [54.0 in women and 52.5 in men]) reported duration of use, supplementation goals, information sources, creatine knowledge alignment using a five-item battery, self-rated confidence, satisfaction, and intent to continue supplementation for another six months. Representation of women across six ordered duration bands was evaluated using an age-adjusted logistic model with duration as a categorical factor, with a Cochran–Armitage trend test reported alongside it. Among women, goals and information sources were compared across duration-of-use bands using unadjusted tests of homogeneity, and knowledge alignment was evaluated using an ordered trend test. Gender differences were estimated in age- and duration-adjusted models, pooled across duration groups, with Benjamini–Hochberg correction within domain; gender × duration interactions were tested for the goal and information-source outcomes. Self-rated confidence was modeled as a function of knowledge, gender, and their interaction. Results: Women comprised 50.0–63.9% of respondents across each reported duration category below three years but only 19.7% of those reporting 3+ years of use. In the primary age-adjusted analysis, gender composition differed strongly across duration categories (global p < 0.001); relative to the 3+ year group, the odds of identifying as a woman were 3.9- to 7.5-fold higher in every shorter-duration category. Among women, knowledge alignment was higher at longer reported durations in the unadjusted analysis and remained associated with duration after adjustment for age, BMI, and physical activity (global categorical test, p < 0.001). Lower knowledge alignment among shorter-duration women reflected greater uncertainty rather than greater myth endorsement, which remained rare across duration groups. Compared with men, women were less likely to report athletic performance as a goal (adjusted 37.5% vs. 50.2%) and more likely to report healthy aging, while six of seven information sources differed by gender. Women also had lower knowledge-alignment scores overall, yet the largest gender difference emerged in confidence: at equivalent observed knowledge alignment, women reported progressively lower self-rated confidence than men as scores increased (interaction p = 0.012), with an adjusted difference of −0.38 points at the highest observed knowledge score. Conclusions: Among current and recent SuppCo users who responded to this survey, women showed a pattern of creatine use that differed from the historically performance-focused populations underlying much of the evidence base. Women were disproportionately represented in shorter reported duration-of-use categories, more often endorsed healthy aging and less often athletic performance, and reported different information sources than men. Lower knowledge alignment among shorter-duration women reflected greater uncertainty rather than greater endorsement of misconceptions, while women reported lower confidence than men at the highest observed knowledge levels. These findings suggest future research and education should go beyond efficacy trials in women to address who is using creatine, the outcomes they expect, where they obtain information, and how knowledge and confidence shape decision-making. Prospective studies are needed to determine what underlies the difference in women’s representation across reported duration-of-use groups. Full article

Over the past several decades, numerous methods have been developed to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, perceptual quality, and intelligibility of speech. In practice, no single method is universally optimal, as each category exhibits distinct strengths and limitations under specific acoustic conditions. The proposed taxonomy classifies speech enhancement methods according to their dominant signal modeling and enhancement mechanism, ranging from the classical signal processing approaches to modern machine learning techniques and advanced hybrid frameworks. The mathematical formulation illustrates the theoretical foundations of the different approaches, providing a clear understanding of their underlying principles and the evolution of performance across successive generations of speech enhancement methods. The comparative analysis demonstrates that statistical and subspace-based approaches offer low operational complexity but show limitations under highly nonstationary acoustic conditions. Adaptive filtering, transform-domain, and speech model-based methods exploit temporal, spectral, and speech production characteristics to achieve improved noise suppression, while perceptual methods improve subjective listening quality by incorporating psychoacoustic principles, thereby providing a more natural and intelligible listening experience. Machine learning-based techniques achieve excellent performance; however, they incur higher computational complexity and substantial training requirements. More recently, hybrid approaches have integrated complementary techniques from multiple paradigms, achieving robust performance under adverse acoustic environments. Overall, this review provides a unified perspective on speech enhancement techniques, identifies their strengths, and highlights emerging research opportunities for the development of robust, efficient, and intelligent speech enhancement systems. Full article

OS is the most common primary malignant bone tumor, predominantly affecting children, adolescents, and young adults. Despite advances in multimodal treatment, patient outcomes have remained largely unchanged over the past decades, particularly in cases of metastatic or recurrent disease. Increasing evidence highlights the pivotal role of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in OS progression, metastasis, immune evasion, and therapeutic resistance. The OS TME comprises a complex and dynamic network of tumor cells, immune cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts, mesenchymal stromal cells, endothelial cells, extracellular matrix components, and soluble factors that collectively regulate tumor behavior. This review summarizes the current understanding of the OS TME, highlighting the interactions between malignant cells and their surrounding microenvironment and their contribution to tumor growth, angiogenesis, invasion, metastatic dissemination, and treatment response. Moreover, here we discuss the strengths and limitations of the most relevant preclinical models currently used to investigate OS biology and evaluate novel therapeutic strategies. Three-dimensional (3D) culture systems, including spheroids, organoids, and biomimetic scaffold-based models, today are considered the models able to best recapitulate the structural, mechanical, and cellular complexity of the native tumor microenvironment than conventional two-dimensional cultures. In addition, patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models are reviewed for their ability to preserve the histopathological, molecular, and genetic characteristics of the original tumors, making them valuable platforms for translational research, biomarker discovery, and personalized medicine. Full article

Gonococcal and chlamydial conjunctivitis and keratoconjunctivitis are potentially sight-threatening ocular manifestations of sexually transmitted infections. Recent epidemiological data indicate rising rates of gonorrhoea and chlamydia infections worldwide, raising concerns about a possible increase in associated ocular infections. This retrospective single-center study analyzed the frequency and temporal trends of laboratory-confirmed gonococcal and chlamydial ocular infections in adults treated at the University Hospital Zurich between January 2005 and July 2025. Clinical characteristics, treatment, complications, and outcomes were additionally assessed for gonococcal cases. We identified 17 gonococcal and 121 chlamydial conjunctivitis or keratoconjunctivitis cases over the past approximately 20.5 years. A marked increase in gonococcal cases was observed between 2021 and 2025 (p < 0.0001), during which 70.6% of all cases were diagnosed. Complications occurred in 41.1% of gonococcal infections, including one corneal perforation requiring keratoplasty. Although gonococcal conjunctivitis and keratoconjunctivitis remain rare, their recent increase and risk of severe ocular complications highlight the importance of early recognition and prompt treatment. In contrast, chlamydial conjunctivitis was more common, affected a younger population, and showed a significant declining trend, with an average annual decrease of 5% (p = 0.0015). Full article

Heat-resistant superalloys (HRSA) offer good oxidation, corrosion, and creep resistance and exhibit better rupture strength characteristics. These HRSA are used under cyclic loads and high-temperature environments such as turbine blades, pressure vessels, turbocharger rotors, seals, boilers, and high-temperature fasteners. Inconel 718, Inconel 825, Nimonic 80A, Nimonic C263, Incoloy/Inconel 800, and Inconel 617 are some of the most used superalloys. Despite several advantages and applications, poor thermal conductivity, a tendency towards work hardening, and outstanding metallurgical consistency all adversely affect the machining of these alloys. This study reviews the various machining possibilities for Incoloy 800 superalloys to date. The present article aims to investigate multiple conventional and non-conventional machining studies on Incoloy 800 in terms of machining conditions, surface roughness (SR), Tool wear (TW), and the optimization of process parameters. Furthermore, this article summarizes the developments in machining Incoloy 800 over the past few years and identifies a prominent research gap for future studies. Full article

Although Baegjinju rice flour is widely used in Korea, its functionality in meat batter systems remains unclear. This study investigated the effect of Baegjinju rice flour particle size (approximately 60–177 µm) on flour physicochemical and pasting properties, rice flour gel texture, and the quality characteristics of batter-coated deep-fat-fried chicken. Rice flour was sieved into fractions and formulated into batters for chicken coating, and frying performance was assessed by measuring batter pick-up, cooking loss, moisture content, and texture with a conventional wheat flour batter included as a practical reference. As particle size decreased, water-holding capacity and heating viscosity increased, markedly increasing batter pick-up (7.54–36.68%) and reducing cooking loss (41.82–16.40%). Finer rice flour batters also improved moisture retention and reduced hardness, yielding texture comparable to that of wheat flour-coated samples. Rice flour particle size influenced hydration behavior, coating performance, and fried-product quality, supporting the use of finely fractionated Baegjinju rice flour in fried chicken batter applications. Full article

Oxalis tuberosa (oca) is an underutilized Andean tuber with potential as an alternative starch source. This study compared native starches isolated from locally recognized yellow, pink, and black oca materials using compositional, structural, morphological, hydration, pasting, and thermal analyses. All starches exhibited B-type crystallinity but differed significantly in their measured characteristics. Black oca starch had the highest amylose content (28.1%), relative crystallinity (35.8%), median granule diameter (22.8 μm), and FTIR 1047/1022 ratio (1.36). Conversely, pink starch showed the highest swelling power at 90 °C (17.5 g g⁻¹), peak viscosity (3900 cP), and gelatinization enthalpy (12.83 J g⁻¹), compared with 10.9 g g⁻¹, 2350 cP, and 7.61 J g⁻¹, respectively, for black starch. The ordering of DSC parameters did not parallel XRD-derived relative crystallinity, indicating that relative crystallinity alone did not explain the thermal behavior. The contrasting functional profiles suggest that pink starch warrants further evaluation for applications requiring high hydration and viscosity development, whereas the lower RVA breakdown of black starch may be advantageous where resistance to viscosity loss during heating and shear is required. These findings demonstrate starch-level variation among the three local oca materials; however, application performance requires formulation-level validation, and broader multi-location and multi-harvest studies are needed to establish the stability of these characteristics. Full article

Zn-Al-Mg (ZAM) coatings have attracted significant attention in the field of corrosion protection owing to their combination of excellent corrosion resistance and cost-effectiveness. However, the corrosion behavior of ZAM coatings was governed by the synergistic coupling effects of multiple factors, including alloy composition, coating thickness, corrosive medium, and multiphase microstructure, making it challenging for traditional empirical analysis to systematically reveal the underlying mechanisms. To address this challenge, we constructed a multidimensional corrosion dataset comprising alloy composition, corrosive medium, coating thickness, and phase composition, based on literature data from the past three decades combined with self-measured potentiodynamic polarization experimental results. After data normalization and correlation analysis, we introduced phase structure features—including the Al-rich phase, MgZn₂ phase, Mg₂Si phase, and eutectic microstructures—to enhance the model’s capability in representing microstructural factors. On this basis, we established random forest (RF), support vector regression (SVR), and artificial neural network (ANN) models to predict the corrosion current density, and subsequently conducted an interpretability analysis using the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. The results demonstrated that the expanded feature set significantly improved the prediction performance of the models. Among them, the RF model exhibited the best performance, achieving a determination coefficient (R²) of 0.7363 on the test set, which represented a substantial improvement over the baseline dataset. Feature importance analysis revealed that coating thickness, Mg content, NaCl concentration, and Zn content were the primary factors influencing the corrosion current density. Further SHAP analysis showed that the marginal contribution of the eutectic phase was more prominent in local samples. Meanwhile, the Mg element exhibited distinct non-linear regulation characteristics, exerting varying impacts on the corrosion behavior across different concentration ranges. This study demonstrated that the interpretable machine learning models constructed via feature engineering not only improved the prediction accuracy of the corrosion performance of ZAM coatings, but also provided a novel data-driven approach to revealing the intrinsic correlations among alloy composition, phase structure, and corrosion response. Full article

Optimizing transmission efficiency is critical for advancing electric vehicle (EV) technology. This review paper covers advanced driveline schemes for electric cars and electric heavy vehicles through a selection and analysis of articles published over the past decade, focusing on passenger and commercial electric vehicle drivetrains, transmission efficiency modeling, gear optimization, and tribological and NVH outcomes. The selected sources are grouped into analytical themes to map current academic and industrial developments in transmission topologies, specifically comparing single-speed reduction units with two-speed and multi-speed configurations. A comparative summary is discussed to consolidate the characteristics, complexity, efficiency impact, and typical applications of the various gearbox types. The review article is complemented by an examination of loss mechanisms through the lens of international tribological research. Key focal points include mechanical power losses, gear and bearing friction, and the trade-offs associated with low-viscosity fluids for electric vehicles to provide a comprehensive support resource for researchers and designers in the field of transmissions for EVs. Future development trajectories are delivered regarding the increase in efficiency and specific challenges of EV gearboxes. Full article

Micron-sized spherical gold powders possessing high dispersibility and favorable sintering performance are critical for high-performance thick-film gold conductor pastes. Herein, monodisperse micron-sized spherical gold powders were fabricated through an environmentally benign chemical reduction route, where L-ascorbic acid served as the reductant and gum arabic acted as the dispersant. The influences of solution pH, reaction temperature, stirring speed and reaction time on particle morphology and size distribution were systematically explored. With the mass ratio of gold precursor to reductant maintained at 1:1, the optimal synthetic conditions were determined as pH 3, 20 °C, 550 rpm and 20 min. Under such optimized conditions, spherical gold particles with an average diameter of 0.88 μm were harvested, featuring narrow particle-size distribution, high sphericity, good dispersibility and low organic residue of 0.70 wt%. The as-prepared powder delivered high crystallinity and appropriate sintering activity. Quantitative porosity characterization demonstrated that the thick film derived from this micron-scale gold powder achieved the minimum residual porosity in comparison with the other two counterparts, verifying its outstanding densification behavior. Benefiting from the well-developed dense conductive network, the resultant thick film achieved a low sheet resistance of 1.73 mΩ/sq, a superior adhesion strength of 3.65 N/mm², as well as reliable multi-firing stability. This work offers a feasible approach for large-scale manufacturing of high-quality gold powders toward thick-film electronic devices. Full article