Search Results (1,428)

To investigate photosynthetic physiological response mechanisms of rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedling leaves under drought stress, a pot experiment with controlled watering was conducted. Four treatments were applied—control (CK), mild drought (LD), moderate drought (MD), and severe drought (SD)—to four cultivars (H17B7, HY3015, LH1H, WNSM) at seedling stage. The results showed that, after drought stress, the morphological indicators and chlorophyll content of the four rice cultivars all showed decreased trend, but a compensatory effect appeared in some varieties under the LD treatment. As drought intensified, the chlorophyll fluorescence induction kinetics (OJIP) curves’ polyphasic rise was inhibited, mainly affecting the J-I and I-P phases. Under SD, the P-phase declined by 44.36%, 36.75%, 32.61% and 50.62% compared with CK, and positive L-band, K-band, and J-band. Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters showed dynamic changes. Most chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (e.g., F_v/F_m) decreased, whereas TR_o/CS_o and DI_o/CS_o exhibited cultivar-dependent variations. Principal components of the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters in seedling leaves of the four rice cultivars showed differences and were clearly distinguished. Plant height, chlorophyll content, etc., are highly significantly positively correlated with F_o, DI_o/CS_o, etc., as well as chlorophyll content with DI_o/CS_o. The OJIP/JIP-test responses suggest impairment of the PQ pool and downstream electron transport, with the extent of damage varying among cultivars. Full article

This study evaluated seasonal variations in mesozooplankton carbon biomass in Laguna de Terminos, a tropical coastal lagoon of the Southern Gulf of Mexico and a designated Ramsar site. We compared data from two contrasting 2022 sampling periods, the dry season (April) and the rainy season (October), coinciding with a strong La Niña event. Through systematic expeditions, we collected hydrographic and biological data to estimate zooplankton carbon biomass and assess its relationship with prevailing climatic conditions. Our results revealed distinct seasonal shifts. While surface water temperatures were higher in October (30 °C) than in April (28 °C), salinity and total dissolved solids exhibited the inverse trend. Chlorophyll-a peaked in April (>5 mg m⁻³) near river discharges and the lagoon’s connection to the Gulf of Mexico. Consistent with this, zooplankton carbon biomass was higher in April (up to 77.2 mg C m⁻³) than in October (up to 48.4 mg C m⁻³), with maximum concentrations observed in the eastern section of the lagoon. Given the scarcity of published reports for this system, these findings establish a critical baseline for future environmental monitoring. Furthermore, this data is essential for evaluating the lagoon’s primary and secondary productivity potential and for estimating the carbon pool held within lower-trophic-level organisms that support higher-level consumer groups. Full article

The Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) provides a European framework for assessing the capacity of buildings to optimise operation, respond to occupants and interact with energy grids. Its current catalogue covers nine domains: heating, cooling, domestic hot water, ventilation, lighting, dynamic envelope, electricity, electric vehicle charging, and monitoring and control. This Perspective argues that this boundary is too narrow for complex buildings, where services such as lifts, security, fire safety, swimming pools, irrigation, outdoor lighting, kitchens, laundries, refrigeration, laboratories, and information and communication technology (ICT) rooms may significantly affect energy use, water use, safety, resilience, maintenance and user experience. The paper proposes five additional service families for SRI 2.0: mobility and accessibility; safety and security; water and outdoor environmental services; outdoor and site infrastructure; and special energy-intensive and facility services. These should be introduced as optional, building-type-specific modules assessed through familiar SRI functionality levels. This would make the SRI more realistic, actionable and relevant. Full article

Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), a widely used endocrine-disrupting chemical, has been associated with reproductive toxicity; however, its long-term effects during aging remain poorly understood. In the present study, we examined the effects of prolonged BBP exposure on the male reproductive system using naturally aged C57BL/6J mice. Mice received BBP at 169 μg/kg/day in drinking water for 10 or 22 months and were analyzed at 24 months of age. No significant differences in body weight, food intake, or water consumption were observed among the experimental groups. Representative gross images showed apparent distension and dark-red discoloration of the seminal vesicles in BBP-exposed aged mice. Compared with Young mice, the BBP-exposed aged groups showed higher expression of IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα, SOD1, and SOD2 and lower CAT expression in the seminal vesicle. H₂DCFDA fluorescence showed a non-significant increasing trend. Because an untreated age-matched Old group was not included in the seminal vesicle analyses, the effects of aging and BBP could not be distinguished. In contrast, the testis showed limited changes in inflammatory cytokine-, antioxidant enzyme-, and steroidogenesis-related gene expression and in H₂DCFDA fluorescence relative to the untreated Old group. Exploratory miRNA sequencing of pooled testicular RNA and comparison with a TM3 Leydig cell dataset identified miR-664-5p as a candidate showing higher relative abundance in both datasets. TargetScan analysis predicted binding sites for miR-664-5p in FOXO1 and FOXO3. In BBP-treated TM3 cells, FOXO3 protein expression was decreased, and FOXO6 expression was increased, whereas FOXO1 showed no consistent dose-dependent change. These molecular findings do not establish direct regulation of FOXO proteins by miR-664-5p or explain the seminal vesicle findings. Full article

This article presents a systematic, evidence-weighted review of Deep Learning (DL) in farming, with a primary emphasis on the agricultural production stage and on four operational domains: precision crop management, precision livestock farming, soil and water resource management, and autonomous agricultural systems. Following a PRISMA 2020-oriented protocol, 56 primary studies (42 with quantitative results) were retained from an initial pool of 18,731 records. The reviewed literature reports applications in plant disease detection, weed recognition, yield prediction, fruit detection, livestock identification and health monitoring, soil-property estimation, crop-water-stress assessment, and robotic perception. High performance on controlled datasets, however, is frequently reported without external, temporal, or cross-site validation, making practical generalisation difficult to establish: in one widely cited benchmark, disease-classification accuracy fell from above 99% on held-out laboratory images to 31.4% on field-acquired images of the same classes. Persistent weaknesses include the limited availability of public benchmarks, inconsistent validation protocols, limited interpretability, fragmented data governance, and insufficient techno-economic analysis. The review argues that the next stage of agricultural AI should be judged less by isolated benchmark scores and more by field realism, reproducibility, deployment maturity, and practical usefulness. Unlike broad surveys that mainly catalogue architectures and applications, this review interprets the literature according to dataset representativeness, validation protocols, benchmarking transparency, deployment realism, and reproducibility, distinguishing algorithmic performance under controlled conditions from practical readiness for real farming environments. The most promising research directions include self-supervised and multimodal learning, explainable and privacy-preserving AI, edge-aware deployment, and hybrid process-informed models. Full article

Moss-dominated biological soil crusts are associated with carbon and nitrogen cycling in dryland and alpine sandy ecosystems, but functional differentiation among closely related moss species and their mixed assemblages remains unclear. We used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to compare below-crust soil associated with Didymodon constrictus (Mitt.) K. Saito (D. constrictus) crusts (mossC), ferrugineus (Schimp. ex Besch.) M.O. Hill (D. ferrugineus) crusts (mossF), and visually co-dominated mixed crusts (mossM) in the Gonghe Basin on the northeastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Fifteen spatially separated quadrats per category were pooled into three composite biological replicates (effective n = 3). KEGG, CAZy, and targeted carbon- and nitrogen-cycling annotations showed category-associated differences in relative gene representation. MossC had greater mean representation of glycoside hydrolases and several complex-carbon-processing functions, mossF had greater representation of nitrogen-assimilation and acetate-related functions, and mossM had greater representation of selected carbon-degradation, nitrogen-mineralization, and dissimilatory-nitrate-reduction functions. The full RDA model explained 58.4% of functional variation (adjusted R² = 0.334; exact permutation p = 0.028340), with single-variable associations retained for total carbon and soil water content. Genus-level taxonomic dissimilarity correlated with KEGG, CAZy, carbon-cycling, and nitrogen-cycling dissimilarities after FDR correction. MossM showed both positive and negative descriptive deviations from the approximate unweighted midpoint of mossC and mossF, but no inferential test was applied to these deviations. The small number of composite replicates, visually estimated moss proportions, edaphic confounding, and absence of activity measurements limit causal and confirmatory interpretation. Full article

Reservoir-bank landslides may become unstable after reservoir impoundment and generate impulse waves, posing serious threats to hydropower hub structures, reservoir navigation, and downstream safety. The H1 landslide, with a volume of approximately 5.35 million m³, is located on the left bank of the near-dam reservoir area of Yangqu Hydropower Station. Reservoir operation and water-level fluctuations may affect the stability of the H1 landslide; if instability occurs, rapid water entry could generate impulse waves that threaten the hydraulic structures. To evaluate the impulse-wave hazards associated with the H1 landslide, a three-dimensional physical model was constructed at a geometric scale of 1:200. Representative experiments were conducted under landslide instability volumes of 100 × 10⁴, 200 × 10⁴, and 500 × 10⁴, reservoir water levels of 2710.0 m and 2715.0 m, and the corresponding prototype-oriented water-entry conditions. The generation, propagation, opposite-bank run-up, and wave responses in front of the hydraulic structures were investigated. The results show that both the initial wave height near the water-entry point and the wave height in front of the hydraulic structures increase with increasing landslide volume. At the water-entry point, the maximum wave height increases from 3.10–3.27 m for the 100 × 10⁴ m³ landslide to 4.50–4.64 m for the 200 × 10⁴ m³ landslide and further to 7.18–7.21 m for the 500 × 10⁴ m³ landslide. In front of the hydraulic structures, the maximum wave height at the spillway reaches 5.61 m for the 200 × 10⁴ m³ landslide under the ecological restricted water level of 2710 m. After superposition with the wind-wave run-up, the corresponding total wave elevation is 2718.8 m, which remains below both the dam crest elevation of 2721.0 m and the wave-wall crest elevation of 2722.2 m. However, under the normal pool level of 2715 m, the total wave elevations at the spillway and power station intake after superposition with wind-wave run-up exceed the wave-wall crest elevation, indicating a potential overtopping risk. The research results provide a scientific basis for reservoir impoundment scheduling, landslide-generated impulse wave risk prevention, and the safety protection of key hydraulic structures at Yangqu Hydropower Station. Full article

Sustainable primary producer communities depend on a diverse pool of physiologically active cells surviving transport through sediment pore spaces. However, algal transport through saturated sediments remains a major knowledge gap in surface water–groundwater (SW-GW) interactions. In this study, vertical column experiments used a conservative tracer (NaCl) to establish hydraulic baselines. Three algal groups (green algae, cyanobacteria, and diatoms) were then tested across pH 8, 7, and 6, with recovery measured through biomass quantification, morphological identification, and post-run culturing. Green algae showed the highest mobility, with recovery increasing from 14.42% at pH 8 to 38.39% at pH 6 and retardation factors (R) of 1.33–1.40. Cyanobacteria peaked at neutral pH (29.50%) with higher retardation (1.60–2.31), while diatoms were strongly retained (≤5.72%) with high retardation (1.87–2.31). These differing transport patterns are primarily driven by morphological traits. Small, unicellular green algae are less susceptible to mechanical straining, enabling higher mobility. Conversely, cyanobacteria and diatoms experience stronger retention due to physical straining of their complex morphologies (filaments and chains) and enhanced surface adhesion from extracellular polymeric substances. A permutation-based two-way ANOVA indicated that the algal group significantly affected percent recovery (p = 0.0034), whereas neither pH (p = 0.166) nor the pH × algal group interaction (p = 0.076) was significant. Post-run culturing showed approximately 68% of inoculated genera persisted after passage, suggesting that saturated sediments can function as a biological “seed bank” for algal communities. These results highlight group-specific transport patterns in controlled sand columns and may inform future studies of algal persistence in natural surface water–groundwater systems; however, field-scale transport will also depend on sediment heterogeneity, flow conditions, and changing pore-water chemistry. Full article

Leakage identification in water distribution networks must estimate leak locations and magnitudes under demand fluctuations, similar adjacent-node responses, and superimposed multiple-leak signals. This study combines physics-based joint inversion with ExtraTrees candidate re-ranking. Using an EPANET model of the Hanoi network, emitter candidates were placed at pipe midpoints, and scenarios were generated across demand periods, global demand factors, and four regional demand fluctuations. Sixteen pressure residuals and 22 flow residuals formed the observation vector. The physical stage enumerated zero- to three-leak combinations and used bounded least squares to estimate leakage flows and demand corrections; standardized pressure-flow residuals and penalty terms produced the candidate pool. ExtraTrees then re-ranked candidates using candidate structure, physical scores, flow statistics, and operating-period features. In 2000 independent blind-test scenarios, complete localization accuracy, leak-number identification accuracy, and total leakage-flow MAE were 90.55%, 97.10%, and 0.841 L/s; for 1500 leakage scenarios, they were 87.53%, 96.27%, and 1.117 L/s. Re-ranking increased leakage-scenario complete localization from 76.13% to 87.53%, while final candidate-pool recall reached 99.15%. Robustness tests involving measurement noise, hydraulic-model mismatch, sensor density, computational time, and Net1 indicated that the method improves candidate discrimination under simulation, although roughness bias and weak multiple-leak signals remain challenging. Full article

Portland cement production accounts for roughly 8% of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, driving interest in low-carbon geopolymer binders. One-part (“just-add-water”) geopolymers, which replace hazardous liquid activators with a dry, pre-blended solid activator, are especially suited to field deployment where handling safety and logistics are decisive. However, their formulation space is combinatorially vast, and trial-and-error development cannot efficiently navigate it. This paper reviews one-part geopolymer science, presents a new comparative and interpretable ML analysis of a published 80-mixture one-part fly-ash/ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS, hereafter slag) geopolymer dataset from twelve studies, and proposes an AI-assisted design framework. The ML demonstration targets 28-day compressive strength only. Under leave-one-source-out (LOSO) cross-validation—the appropriate test for a literature-pooled dataset—gradient-boosted trees achieved R² = 0.61 (RMSE = 15.5 MPa; 95% bootstrap confidence interval on R², 0.44–0.75), well above a linear baseline (0.36), suggesting that non-linear structure transfers across studies; a random split gives a higher but less reliable R² = 0.90 on only 16 test mixtures. Because fly-ash and slag contents are near-perfectly anti-correlated ($r=-0.99$), we model the precursor axis as a single slag fraction descriptor; SHAP then identifies this precursor balance and the activator’s Na₂O dosage as the dominant statistical predictors of strength in this dataset, an ordering consistent with known activation chemistry; causal confirmation of these associations awaits the experimental validation stage of the proposed framework. Demonstrated for strength only, at paste level, the framework offers a transferable route toward multifunctional low-carbon binders for protective and infrastructure applications; the multifunctional extensions are proposed, but not yet demonstrated. Full article

The ti-yong (體用, substance-and-function) dyad is one of the most fundamental theoretical patterns in Chinese philosophy. As the primary framework for articulating the relationship between noumenal ground and phenomenal manifestation, it runs continuously through the Xuanxue (玄學), Buddhist, and Neo-Confucian traditions, with the core presupposition that ti (substance) independently precedes and governs yong (function). When this presupposition entered the Buddhist context and encountered the Mahāyāna logic of dependent origination and emptiness (yuanqi xingkong 緣起性空), a deep structural tension was generated. Taking this tension as its point of departure, this article examines changes in Buddhist accounts of ganying (感應, stimulus-and-response) during the Jin-Song (晉宋) transitional period through the writings of Huiyuan (慧遠), Kumārajīva (鳩摩羅什), and Daosheng (道生). Huiyuan’s questions concerning the dharmakāya (法身) expose a persistent difficulty: How can that which is unchanging and beyond determinate form become perceptible and effective in responsive activity? Kumārajīva’s discussions of “not-form” (fei se 非色), the pool-water analogy, and “responding without fixed mode” (wu fang zhi ying 無方之應) shift attention from identifying a fixed body of the dharmakāya to explaining the varied conditions of its manifestation. Daosheng’s accounts of inherent Buddha-nature (foxing benju 佛性本具) and ji (機, capacity) further bring the recipient’s capacity into the explanation of effective response. Read together, these positions show a shift in explanatory focus: from distinguishing an enduring source from responsive activity to asking how that source becomes accessible through activity. The expression ji-yong-jian-ti (即用見體, perceiving substance through function) names this disclosure of ti through yong: the ground is not produced by responsive activity but becomes perceptible and soteriologically effective through it. This development illuminates an important change in early Chinese Buddhist reflections on dharmakāya, manifestation, and the capacities of sentient beings. Full article

Background/Objectives: Three-dimensionally (3D) printed resins are increasingly used for removable orthodontic appliances, but how their mechanical reliability changes in the oral environment is unclear. This study evaluated the effect of bio-ageing environment and material type on the biaxial flexural strength and Weibull reliability of one conventional acrylic resin (Orthocryl, OC) and two 3D-printed photopolymer resins (BioMed Clear, BMC; and KeySplint Hard, KH). The Weibull modulus (m) reflects how consistent, or predictable, the strength is among specimens, independent of its average value. Methods: Disc specimens (n = 32) were aged for 24 h at 37 °C in pooled human saliva, a Streptococcus mutans biofilm, or water, and the biaxial flexural strength was measured by the piston-on-three-balls method (1 mm/min). Data were analysed with two- and three-parameter Weibull statistics to estimate the Weibull modulus (m), characteristic strength (σ₀), strength at 5% failure probability (σ₅%), and threshold strength (σ_μ), with model selection guided by the Akaike Information Criterion. Results: Biofilm exposure lowered m while σ₀ was preserved: m fell from 9.96 (saliva) and 7.98 (water) to 1.95 for OC, and from 17.61 and 13.01 to 2.62 for BMC, whereas σ₀ stayed near 55 MPa (OC) and 64 MPa (BMC). Under biofilm the modulus of all three converged to low values (1.4–2.6), abolishing the differences among materials; OC and BMC required a three-parameter model only after biofilm (σ_u ≈ 41 MPa), whereas KH required it in every environment (σ_u = 28.9–38.7 MPa). Conclusions: Biofilm ageing mainly reduced strength predictability, while characteristic strength was largely preserved. This indicates that flexural strength alone may be insufficient to qualify resins for removable appliances, and that printed resins studied here are not inherently superior or inferior to conventional acrylic. Full article

Kinetic shock triggers thigmomorphogenetic responses in plants, posing both an unintended handling risk and a deliberate technique to enhance ornamental value. Detecting its immediate, non-visual impacts remains a challenge. This study used non-destructive contact spectroscopy to detect short-term kinetic stress in three species with distinct leaf anatomies (Alocasia sp., Monstera deliciosa, Ficus elastica) under 20 s and 40 s stimuli. While a pooled global classification model failed due to anatomical variations masking the universal stress signal (70% accuracy), optimized species-specific models revealed distinct dynamics. At 0 min post-stress, high variance and low separability occurred across all species. However, a diagnostic change emerged within 30 min for Alocasia sp. (79.37%) and Ficus elastica (77.50%); the same tendency could not be confirmed for Monstera deliciosa, and further investigation is needed to support this pattern. Ficus elastica’s distinct architecture also proved consistently the least sensitive of three species in the pooled control-versus-treated comparison. A significant dosage effect was captured only in Alocasia sp. (87.50% accuracy). Spectral index analysis showed the dominance of the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), suggesting the change reflects micro-structural leaf turgor modifications rather than biochemical changes. Results indicate that leaf spectroscopy has the potential to diagnose transport injury and monitor conditioning. Full article

Ochroma lagopus is a fast-growing, low-density broadleaf tree species with increasing importance for tropical plantation forestry and lightweight bio-based materials. However, juvenile plantations may be sensitive to seasonal changes in water availability and soil nutrient status, particularly in tropical monsoon regions with strong drywet season transitions. In this study, two-year-old O. lagopus plantations in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China, were used to compare leaf anatomical structure, non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) components in leaves and roots, and C:N:P stoichiometric characteristics between the wet and dry seasons. Correlations among leaf structure, carbon allocation, and nutrient stoichiometry were also analyzed. The results showed significant seasonal differences in leaf anatomical structure. Leaves in the wet season had more developed vascular bundles and midrib tissues, whereas leaves in the dry season had deeper substomatal chambers and higher tissue looseness. NSC components were mainly affected by organ differentiation, whereas seasonal effects were weak. Roots maintained relatively high and stable carbohydrate levels. C:N:P stoichiometric characteristics were affected by both season and organ, and root P concentration and P-related ratios were more sensitive to seasonal transition. Leaf and root N/P ratios were generally below 14, indicating a nutritional status associated with relative N limitation. Correlation analysis showed that leaf anatomical traits were significantly correlated with leaf NSC, C, N, and P concentrations and stoichiometric ratios, revealing a coordinated structural carbon nutrient response of O. lagopus during the dry wet season transition. These findings suggest that the response of juvenile O. lagopus plantations to seasonal environmental variation is not driven by water availability alone, but is jointly regulated by leaf structural plasticity, root carbon pool stability, nutrient leaching during the wet season, and P availability in red soil. This study provides a theoretical basis for the introduction and cultivation, nutritional diagnosis, and seasonal management of juvenile O. lagopus plantations in tropical regions. Full article

The hydraulic characteristics of vertical-slot double-chamber fishways are critical determinants of fish passage efficiency. Various geometric dimensions and hydraulic operating parameters jointly determine the internal flow characteristics of vertical-slot double-chamber fishways, such as chamber aspect ratio, side slot width, bed slope and inlet discharge. Focusing on the relative width of the middle vertical slot (b₀/B), this study employs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate its regulatory mechanism on hydraulic performance. The evolution of the flow-field structure in a double-chamber fishway was analyzed under 12 groups of relative slot-width conditions, and the influence of b₀/B on key hydraulic parameters was quantitatively evaluated, including flow velocity distribution, vortex structure, mainstream attenuation, and water exchange between chambers. The results indicate that the impact of b₀/B on hydraulic characteristics exhibits a distinct phased behavior. By modifying the momentum distribution between the vertical slot and the pool, b₀/B regulates the formation, development, and interaction of the dominant vortex system. When b₀/B ranges from 0.13 to 0.16, the flow-field structure is optimal, characterized by a high effective utilization rate of the mainstream, a stable along-course energy attenuation rate of approximately 40%, a relatively uniform flow velocity distribution at the vertical-slot section, and a turbulence kinetic energy level in the chamber that falls within the literature-based reference range for fish-passage hydraulics. This study characterizes the internal evolution mechanism of fishway hydraulic characteristics regulated by the relative width of the vertical slot, providing a robust theoretical basis and practical parameter-selection guidance for the refined design and performance optimization of vertical-slot double-chamber fishways. Full article