Search Results (34)

To combat coastal wind erosion and develop sustainable stabilization technologies, a resource-efficient technique was developed based on the Enzyme-Induced Carbonate Precipitation (EICP) principle in the coastal regions of China. Utilizing seawater as a multi-ion source and discarded soybean hulls (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) as a crude urease source, this method is synergized with vegetation to form an environmentally friendly anti-erosion strategy. This study first explored the feasibility of soybean hull-derived urease, then analyzed the impacts of urease activity, reaction liquid volume, and seawater concentration on the germination and growth of Kalimeris indica. The results show that the biochemical mineralization process effectively sequesters soluble Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ from seawater into stable mineral phases, thereby mitigating salt-induced osmotic stress. Optimal plant growth was achieved at a seawater concentration of 0.2 mol·L⁻¹ and a liquid volume of 200 mL. Furthermore, the biocementation provided robust protection for initial plant growth, achieving an approximately 92.3% reduction in soil loss. Despite the presence of nitrogenous byproducts, the synergistic effect of EICP crusts and developing root systems ensures long-term wind erosion resistance and ecological integrity. This study highlights a functional transition from artificial mineralization to biological anchoring for sustainable coastal restoration. Full article

The growing interest in visual methodologies within the educational field reflects the need to rethink teaching–learning processes from a participatory, multimodal, and inclusive perspective. Among these approaches, PhotoVoice emerges as a research–action and training strategy that combines photography and autobiographical narration, activating accessible expressive practices centred on subjectivity and lived experience. This contribution presents a theoretical–methodological analysis grounded in pedagogical and visual research literature, aiming to outline an operational framework for the educational application of PhotoVoice in inclusive pathways addressed to individuals with intellectual disabilities. Framed within the paradigm of Visual Education and a pedagogy oriented toward recognition and relationality, PhotoVoice is examined as a pedagogical device capable of fostering symbolic mediation, identity construction, and narrative agency. The photographic image, conceived as an embodied, situated, and relational language, enables access to forms of knowledge often excluded from dominant verbal codes, restoring visibility and epistemic dignity to marginalised subjectivities. The paper delineates key operational phases of the method and identifies core educational objectives, including the strengthening of narrative agency, self-determination, and reflective participation. From this perspective, visual narration is configured as a situated pedagogical practice integrating aesthetics, ethics, and social transformation, capable of generating equitable and meaning-generative learning environments. Within this framework, PhotoVoice shifts inclusion from an abstract principle to a concrete educational process, enabling participants to narrate, interpret, and actively reshape their own learning contexts. Full article

Microbiome-based therapies are reshaping the therapeutic landscape for ulcerative colitis (UC), offering new avenues for disease management beyond conventional immunomodulatory and biologic treatments. UC remains a chronic, relapsing condition with significant unmet clinical needs, as many patients fail to achieve sustained remission or experience adverse effects with current therapies. The gut microbiome has emerged as a central contributor to UC pathogenesis, influencing epithelial barrier integrity, immune homeostasis, and metabolic signaling. Interventions such as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and defined microbial consortia have demonstrated proof-of-concept efficacy in early-phase clinical trials, each leveraging distinct mechanistic strategies. FMT, as a broad ecological intervention, restores microbial diversity and functional redundancy, potentially addressing multiple pathogenic mechanisms simultaneously. In contrast, defined consortia enable precise targeting of specific metabolic and immunological pathways, including short-chain fatty acid production, bile-acid remodeling, epithelial barrier reinforcement, immune modulation, and succinate degradation. Recent clinical evidence suggests that consortia with broader mechanistic coverage may achieve more consistent biological activity than narrowly focused designs. This review synthesizes mechanistic and clinical insights across broad and defined microbial consortia, integrates evidence from randomized controlled trials and early-phase LBP studies, and outlines a precision-medicine framework to guide therapy selection. We highlight the importance of aligning therapeutic mechanisms with patient-specific microbial, metabolic, and immune profiles, and discuss future directions including biomarker-guided stratification, hybrid consortia, and adaptive trial designs. Advancing both broad and defined approaches, while incorporating ecological principles, mechanistic understanding, and patient stratification, will be essential to realizing the full therapeutic potential of microbiome-based therapies in UC. Full article

The conservation of geosites is essential for geoconservation. It requires systematic management, particularly for severely degraded and threatened geosites, along with consistent monitoring to ensure the long-term preservation of geoheritage. This study reviews the main concepts, principles, and frameworks for geosite monitoring and proposes a systematized model applicable across diverse geological frameworks. Management is the planned and sustainable use, conservation, restoration, and protection of geosites to maintain their value (scientific, educative, cultural and touristic) and the benefits they provide to society. Monitoring is highlighted as a critical tool for evaluating conservation status, guiding decision-making, and establishing cause–effect relationships between processes and degradation of the most threatened sites. Although international initiatives have advanced geoheritage sites recognition, the lack of standardized monitoring indicators for geoconservation remains a significant challenge. To address this gap, we propose a framework comprising two phases and twelve stages, integrating geoconservation strategies and monitoring phases: threat identification, indicator selection, parameter definition, and measurement techniques. The model emphasizes the interdependence of conservation status, potential use, and conservation needs in prioritizing actions. Future challenges include adapting the methodology to varied legal and administrative contexts, developing multidisciplinary management teams, and applying the framework in other study cases. By systematizing monitoring procedures, this study contributes to establishing clearer cause–effect relationships in geoconservation threats, enhancing scientific communication, and supporting sustainable site use. The proposed framework provides a flexible yet robust tool to strengthen geoconservation through monitoring and promote the long-term safeguarding of geoheritage. Full article

High-energy ballistic and avulsive injuries to the face represent some of the most complex challenges in modern reconstructive surgery. Since Robertson and Manson’s 1999 management protocol, extensive military experience and technological advancements have transformed the treatment principles while preserving the core tenets of staged care. This updated review synthesizes evidence from 36 studies published since 2000, encompassing over two decades of global experience in both military and civilian trauma. Advances in damage-control resuscitation, wound decontamination, and early skeletal stabilization have improved survival and functional outcomes. Modern imaging—particularly intraoperative CT and navigation—enables the precise verification of the reduction and removal of retained fragments, while virtual surgical planning and patient-specific implants allow the accurate restoration of facial buttresses. Early vascularized tissue transfer has reduced contracture and infection rates. Adjuncts such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy, permissive hypotension, and advanced hemostatic agents further optimize recovery. The updated four-phase protocol—resuscitation, reconstitution, reconstruction, and rehabilitation—emphasizes early definitive repair, multidisciplinary collaboration, and the integration of digital planning. These refinements extend Robertson and Manson’s foundational principles into the era of precision surgery, achieving superior aesthetic and functional outcomes for patients with devastating facial injuries. Full article

Background: This study examined how patients and caregivers perceive and experience AI-based care technologies through text mining analysis. The goal was to identify major themes, sentiments, and value-oriented interpretations embedded in their narratives and to understand how these perceptions align with key dimensions of patient-centered care. Methods: A corpus of publicly available narratives describing experiences with AI-based care was compiled from online communities. Natural language processing techniques were applied, including descriptive term analysis, topic modeling using Latent Dirichlet Allocation, and sentiment profiling based on a Korean lexicon. Emergent topics and emotional patterns were mapped onto domains of patient-centered care such as information quality, emotional support, autonomy, and continuity. Results: The analysis revealed a three-phase evolution of care values over time. In the early phase of AI-mediated care, patient narratives emphasized disruption of relational care, with negative themes such as reduced human connection, privacy concerns, safety uncertainties, and usability challenges, accompanied by emotions of fear and frustration. During the transitional phase, positive themes including convenience, improved access, and reassurance from diagnostic accuracy emerged alongside persistent emotional ambivalence, reflecting uncertainty regarding responsibility and control. In the final phase, care values were restored and strengthened, with sentiment patterns shifting toward trust and relief as AI functions became supportive of clinical care, while concerns related to depersonalization and surveillance diminished. Conclusions: Patients and caregivers experience AI-based care as both beneficial and unsettling. Perceptions improve when AI enhances efficiency and information flow without compromising relational aspects of care. Ensuring transparency, explainability, opportunities for human contact, and strong data protections is essential for aligning AI with principles of patient-centered care. Based on a small-scale qualitative dataset of patient narratives, this study offers an exploratory, value-oriented interpretation of how relational care evolves in AI-mediated healthcare contexts. In this study, care-ethics values are used as an analytical lens to operationalize key principles of patient-centered care within AI-mediated healthcare contexts. Full article

The search for new therapeutic principles is essential for treating relapsed/refractory (r/r) acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Novel principles include genome-agnostic differentiation induction, controlling AML-triggering inflammation, potentiating the immune response and ‘normalizing’ AML metabolism. This review summarizes data from a phase I study (10 patients, pts) and three case reports reporting 7 pts on the treatment of r/r AML by reprogramming AML hallmarks using APA, low-dose azacitidine, pioglitazone (PPARα/γ agonist) and all-trans retinoic acid. APA reprograms the r/r AML phenotype in patients with clinically and molecularly/genetically unfavorable risk profiles (17 pts, 16 refractory, one relapsed) in a genome-agnostic manner, restoring the plasticity of AML hallmarks, thereby improving immune surveillance, attenuating inflammation-triggered promotion of AML and distant microbial inflammation (healing of fungal pneumonia during induction of complete remission (CR) with APA), while normalizing leukemia metabolism (restoring phagocytosis and ROS production in leukemic neutrophils). APA induces CR in 10 pts (59%), with only modest hematotoxicity following CR induction. This allows treatment to be carried out in an outpatient setting, including for elderly and comorbid patients. Triple transcriptional modulation, facilitated by epigenetic modelling with azacitidine, targets reprogramming of non-oncogene addiction networks in AML, re-establishing functionally active, closely interrelated myeloid hallmarks and AML cell death genome-agnostically. Full article

We present novel proofs of the Riemann hypothesis by extending the standard complex Riemann zeta function into a quaternionic algebraic framework. Utilizing λ-regularization, we construct a symmetrized form that ensures analytic continuation and restores critical-line reflection symmetry, a key structural property of the Riemann ξ(s) function. This formulation reveals that all nontrivial zeros of the zeta function must lie along the critical line Re(s) = 1/2, offering a constructive and algebraic resolution to this fundamental conjecture. Our method is built on convexity and symmetrical principles that generalize naturally to higher-dimensional hypercomplex spaces. We also explore the broader implications of this framework in quantum statistical physics. In particular, the λ-regularized quaternionic zeta function governs thermodynamic properties and phase transitions in Bose–Einstein condensates. This quaternionic extension of the zeta function encodes oscillatory behavior and introduces critical hypersurfaces that serve as higher-dimensional analogues of the classical critical line. By linking the spectral features of the zeta function to measurable physical phenomena, our work uncovers a profound connection between analytic number theory, hypercomplex geometry, and quantum field theory, suggesting a unified structure underlying prime distributions and quantum coherence. Full article

The escalating demands of industrial applications, particularly those involving severe wear, temperature, and corrosive environments, present significant challenges for the long-term strength of critical components, often fabricated from high-value materials such as super duplex stainless steel alloys. Super duplex can withstand the corrosive environment (in particular, crevice corrosion and pitting damage) and maintain mechanical integrity sufficient for high-pressure pumping applications such as seawater injection and crude oil. Conventional repair methodologies frequently result in component rejection due to process-induced distortions or detrimental phase transformations, contributing to substantial material waste and hindering the adoption of circular economy principles. This research addresses this issue by developing and validating a novel repair process utilizing laser metal deposition (LMD) additive manufacturing. The research focuses on establishing optimized process parameters to ensure the salvaging and restoration of damaged super duplex components while preserving their requisite mechanical integrity and corrosion resistance, in accordance with industry standards. Comprehensive characterization, including microstructural analysis, chemical composition verification, hardness profiling, and mechanical fatigue testing, confirms the efficacy of the LMD repair process. This work demonstrates the potential for extending the service life of critical components, thereby promoting resource efficiency and contributing to a more sustainable and resilient industrial paradigm. Full article

We are confronted with an urgent imperative to transition from merely minimizing harm to developing sustainable, regenerative, and net-positive solutions that systematically restore ecosystems, achieve decarbonization, and enhance health outcomes. This study presents a phased Digital Sustainable Regenerative Design Studio framework, which was implemented in a third-year architecture studio at the Canadian University of Dubai. This methodology incorporates bespoke environmental simulation tools alongside quantitative metrics for climate adaptation, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and health outcomes to inform creative design solutions. The students devised interventions across 20 urban plots in Dubai. A comprehensive analysis, encompassing real-time engagement with computational tools, reflective journals, feedback sessions, project analysis, and surveys, was conducted to assess the framework’s effectiveness in enhancing students’ comprehension of regenerative design and to examine their responses to complex, interdisciplinary challenges. Key findings reveal improved student performance in applying regenerative design principles and the formulation of strategies for climate-adaptive urbanism. The results suggest that this educational framework has the potential to influence and enhance pedagogical approaches, fostering architects committed to advancing sustainable, regenerative, and climate-adaptive urbanism. Full article

The transition to inverter-dominated power systems with novel control strategies has created weak grid scenarios, prompting extensive research into grid-forming (GFM) converters and advanced GFM control schemes. This study evaluates two GFM control strategies for their stabilizing effects in weakly interconnected and islanded power systems: the established Virtual Synchronous Machine (VSM) control and the newly developed Phase-Restoring Principle (PRP). The evaluation is conducted using a real-time electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulation testbed with Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) capabilities. The system includes a multi-terminal medium-voltage (MVDC) and high-voltage direct current (HVDC) network weakly coupled to a network equivalent, represented by a scaled synchronous machine (SynM) to replicate grid inertia. Modular multilevel converters (MMCs) model the converters, while Power Hardware-in-the-Loop (PHiL) experiments integrate real power hardware. Dynamic interactions, including islanded conditions, are emulated to assess the performance of GFM controls and their interactions in HV/MV and AC/DC systems. The results demonstrate the compatibility of diverse GFM schemes with grid-following controls and synchronous machines, emphasizing their positive contributions to system stability. This modular demonstrator, as a realistic prototype of future power systems, provides a flexible platform for testing emerging GFM strategies and hardware, supporting the development of robust and stable inverter-based grids. Full article

This study aims to elucidate the historical justification for protection and restoration efforts in China while also examining the theoretical underpinnings of ecological conservation and restoration. Utilizing a literature review method, logical reasoning method, and inductive summarizing method, the historical and theoretical frameworks of territorial spatial ecological conservation and restoration are elucidated, leading to the following conclusions: (1) The ecological protection and restoration of national land space represents an advanced form of land remediation; however, they differ in terms of objects, principles, goals, and measures. (2) Territorial space ecological protection and restoration is historically unavoidable due to the current phase of societal development, driven by the natural environment and the necessity to establish an ecological civilization. (3) To implement territorial spatial ecological protection and restoration effectively and rationally, it is essential to comprehend its systematicity, territoriality, dynamics, and scientificity. By clarifying its historical and theoretical rationale, we can achieve a deeper understanding of its current relevance. This can effectively inform practical efforts in territorial spatial ecological protection and restoration. Full article

Full-arch zirconia restorations on implants have gained popularity due to zirconia’s strength and aesthetics, yet they are still associated with challenges like structural fractures, peri-implant complications, and design misfits. Advances in CAD/CAM and digital workflows offer potential improvements, but a technique that consistently addresses these issues in fixed, full-arch, implant-supported prostheses is needed. This novel technique integrates a facially and prosthetically driven treatment approach, which is divided into three phases: data acquisition, restoration design, and manufacturing/delivery. Digital tools, including intraoral scanning and photogrammetry, facilitate accurate implant positioning, while 3D design software enables functional and aesthetic validation before final milling. A dual software approach is used to reverse engineer a titanium bar from the final restoration design, ensuring a superior outcome to other protocols. The restoration incorporates a zirconia–titanium hybrid structure, optimizing strength, flexibility, and weight. The proposed workflow enhances restoration precision and predictability through a prosthetically driven treatment plan, by ensuring passivity and aligning with biological and mechanical principles to promote long-term stability. By starting with the proposed restoration design and reverse engineering the bar, while also allowing for flexibility in material and component choices, this technique accommodates both patient needs and financial considerations. This approach demonstrates potential for improving patient outcomes in full-arch implant restorations by minimizing complications associated with traditional methods. Further research is recommended to validate the technique’s efficacy and broaden its clinical applications. Full article

The accelerated process of urbanisation in China is resulting in a decline in and threat to the historic landscape of historic districts. This study is based on the theory of historic urban landscapes and employs a multi-dimensional layers research framework for historic districts. It adopts a single case study and a research method that combines quantitative and qualitative methods. The stratification elements of Fangcheng in Shenyang are identified and summarised, the process of stratification is analysed, and the stratification patterns and laws are summarised through the acquisition and collection of multivariate data. The findings of this study indicate that the stratification elements of the Fangcheng Historic District have undergone five distinct phases of stratification evolution. The resulting stratification pattern can be summarised as follows: newborn, preserve, override, juxtaposition and decession. The spatial elements are layered in the following pattern: The historic landscape can be conceptualised as comprising four layers: (1) the layering of the historic landscape with large public buildings as the anchor point; (2) the layering of the historic landscape with the spatial pattern as the skeleton; (3) the layering of the historic landscape with the iconic buildings as the nodes; and (4) the layering of the historic landscape with the correlative elements as the substrate. The law of value element layering primarily reflects the principles of concentration, diversity and adaptation. In light of the urban historic landscape theory, the reconstruction and restoration strategies, integration of old and new and adaptive conservation of historic landscapes are proposed to offer novel insights and guidance for the conservation of the historic landscape in the Fangcheng Historic District. Full article

Active shooter events involving an armed perpetrator(s) on campus are one of the main risks facing K-12 schools. Defined as planning for and responding to emergency situations, emergency or crisis management allows for an ‘acceptable’ level of risk to be achieved. This paper will go through the four principles of emergency management, detailing what each stage involves and how it can reduce risk. The first of these is mitigation, which prevents crises occurring in the first place. Effective risk and threat assessment are pertinent to this stage. Secondly, there is preparedness, which enhances the capacity of an organization to respond to various incidents. This involves drafting emergency management plans and practicing these to ensure readiness to respond. The next principle is responding to a crisis, denoting the actions taken during and immediately after a crisis, should one transpire. The final facet of emergency management planning is recovery, referring to the short-to-long-term phase of restoring a community following an incident. This paper will share insights obtained from a recent event, The Briefings, held by the I Love U Guys foundation, one of the leading school safety organizations in the United States. Specifically, the paper will focus on a possible training approach to active shooter events and other emergencies, the organization’s emergency management framework called the ‘Standard Response Protocol’. Additionally, this paper will incorporate relevant scholarly readings in order to provide an introduction to the topic of emergency management. Full article