Search Results (1,308)

Climate-driven range shifts are redistributing biodiversity, yet the niche dynamics of Afrotropical and Saharo-Arabian species expanding into the Palearctic remain poorly quantified. The Namaqua Dove (Oena capensis), an arid-zone columbid at the Palearctic margin, was used to assess current and future climatic suitability in Türkiye and to compare its colonised and native niches. An ensemble niche model was fitted from occurrence and climate data, evaluated by cross-validation, and projected to 2070 and 2100 under three emission scenarios and five climate models. Suitability was predicted chiefly by precipitation, with low winter temperature as a secondary constraint, and roughly 92,000 km² is already climatically suitable. In environmental space, the colonised records formed a contained, cool-margin subset of the native niche, indicating partial filling rather than expansion into novel climate. Low niche overlap, non-significant similarity tests, and a failed native-model transfer indicate a non-equilibrium, still-establishing front rather than full niche conservatism. The suitable area increased under every scenario and shifted predominantly eastward, with a north-eastward component, rather than poleward. The eastward pattern reflects the geometry of the suitable climate across Anatolia rather than an intrinsic directional preference. Because most of the projected climate has no present-day analogue, the direction of change is better supported than its magnitude, though both are conditioned by this extrapolation. The projected magnitude is reported as scenario illustration rather than forecast. These results indicate that suitability for O. capensis in Türkiye is shaped jointly by precipitation and winter temperature, with colonisation tracking suitable climate rather than shifting into novel conditions. Full article

Understanding the interactions between water resource utilization, socioeconomic development, and the ecological environment is fundamental to ensuring ecological security and promoting sustainable development in the lower Yellow River region. This study developed a composite system integrating water resources, socioeconomic development, and ecological environment for 27 cities in the lower Yellow River Basin. The indicator weights were determined using the combined Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and entropy weight method. Subsequently, several models, including Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), the coupling coordination degree (CCD) model, spatial autocorrelation, and obstacle degree analysis, were integrated to systematically evaluate the spatiotemporal evolution, coordination patterns, and key constraints of the composite system. The findings indicate that the development of the three subsystems surged with fluctuations, following the gradient pattern of ecological environment > socio-economic development > water resources. The water resource subsystem improved slowly and remained the main constraint. The CCD gradually shifted from barely and primarily coordinated stages to intermediate and well-coordinated stages. Spatially, Shandong outperformed Henan, eastern areas exceeded western areas, and core cities showed higher coordination levels than inland cities. Significant and increasing positive spatial autocorrelation indicated strengthened spatial agglomeration, with high–high clusters in eastern Shandong and low–low clusters in western and northwestern Henan. The per capita water resource indicator emerged as the dominant obstacle, while forest and grassland area, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), agricultural water use, and the share of the tertiary industry also constituted major constraints. Full article

Global demographic shifts and rising population mobility have created a profound decoupling between dynamic population distributions and static public service facility configurations. This socio-spatial mismatch is particularly acute in less-developed counties, where the widespread “multi-local living” practices among rural residents have rendered traditional planning models based on static administrative quotas ineffective. This study uses Pucheng County, China, as a case study; we integrate mobile phone signaling data with complex network analysis to construct population flow networks that capture actual service demand and usage preferences. A demand-driven improvement of the traditional Optimal Supply–Demand Accessibility (OSD) model is proposed through flow-based supply adjustment coefficients and determines the coverage and accessibility of public service facilities at the county level to achieve optimization of their layout. The findings reveal: (1) Villages are classified into five types (high-inflow, inflow, balanced, outflow, high-outflow). (2) Within a 30 min walking radius, the service coverage rates of the three facility types improved by an average of 25 percentage points, with medical and elderly care facilities showing significantly greater improvements. (3) Accordingly, a “precise gap-filling + medical-care integration + mobile services” allocation model is proposed. The study provides a transferable framework for improving public service accessibility in regions characterized by high population mobility and service underprovision. Full article

Urban residential outdoor spaces are increasingly affected by high temperatures, strong solar radiation, and uneven wind conditions, which influence residents’ outdoor activities and thermal comfort. This study proposes an evidence-based approach for the fine-grained design of residential outdoor activity spaces based on age-specific activity patterns and microclimatic conditions. Using 1096 valid questionnaires, field observations, and in situ microclimate measurements across four seasons, we quantified the activity patterns, temporal distributions, and spatial preferences of children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. Results reveal statistically significant age- and season-dependent differences in environmental preferences (Kruskal–Wallis H = 56.78, p < 0.001 for light priority; H = 26.81, p < 0.001 for thermal priority across age groups). Children and older adults exhibited sustained and widely distributed activities, whereas adolescents and adults showed more concentrated temporal patterns. In summer, activities shifted toward mornings and evenings to avoid heat, while in winter, activities peaked around midday and afternoon. Wind and light conditions were prioritized over thermal conditions across all seasons: in summer, 47.2% of respondents ranked wind first; in winter, 50.9% ranked light first. Tree shading consistently reduced air temperature, black globe temperature, and WBGT relative to open areas in every season, with the largest mean differences observed in spring (ΔT_g = 1.19 °C) and the largest instantaneous difference during summer early afternoon (ΔT_g = 1.51 °C at 13:00). Integrating these findings, this study proposes evidence-based design strategies, including optimized functional layouts, shading and ventilation features, sun-exposure management, and nighttime lighting, providing quantitative support for improving comfort, safety, and usability in residential outdoor spaces. Full article

Background/Objectives: College life shapes the dietary habits and food preferences of young adults by exposure to new foods and independence in dietary choices. This study described and compared self-reported food intakes and perceived dietary changes among International (34%), Multicultural (28%), and non-Hispanic White (38%) students at a Midwest United States university (n = 823; aged 18–34 years; 56% women). Importantly, the analysis extended to distinctions among multiple ethnic subcultures by nativity in the same setting. Methods: Students completed an online survey comprising a dietary fat food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), an acculturation scale, and reported intake patterns for alcohol, caffeinated beverages, four nutrient-rich food groups, and perceptions of cultural foods access and diet change. Results: International student diets had lower percentages of calories from fat (p = 0.006) and they reported less consumption of red meats and hyperpalatable foods compared to US non-Hispanic White and Multicultural students (both p < 0.001). Yet, International students showed the largest increases in intakes of these foods (p < 0.001). Alcohol consumption rose most sharply among US non-Hispanic White students. Multicultural ethnic subgroups had few significant differences. The Asian Indian, East Asian, and Middle Eastern International students showed strong differences in dietary patterns. Acculturation scales were not consistent predictors of food intake for International students. Middle Eastern and East Asian subgroups had the lowest dominant society immersion scores compared to other International students. Conclusions: These findings support the need for disaggregated data by cultural subgroups beyond the ‘international’ classification. Cultural affinity and acculturation have nuanced effects on perceived dietary shifts, underscoring the need for targeted nutrition support for all college students, especially vulnerable International students with limited cultural food access. Full article

Non-Revenue Water (NRW) from leakage represents a major global economic and environmental challenge for urban utilities. While Deep Learning (DL) offers transformative potential for leak detection in Water Distribution Systems (WDSs) and existing reviews provide critical assessments, a consolidated, quantitative evaluation of real-world applicability and performance consistency that is actionable for engineering practice remains absent. This systematic review critically evaluates DL applications for WDS leak detection and localisation, with a focused analysis of model accuracy in relation to data types, methodological rigour, and the validation gap between controlled experiments and operational deployment. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework, a systematic literature search was performed using Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis, and MDPI databases for publications spanning the period from 2015 to 2025. From an initial 5265 records, 72 studies met the inclusion criteria for qualitative synthesis. Analysis revealed a specialisation of DL architectures by data modality: Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) applied to acoustic or vibration data yield the highest reported accuracy for direct leak identification; Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Transformer models are predominant for temporal hydraulic data (pressure and flow); and Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) excel with topological data for state estimation. While reported accuracy is often high, performance is highly contingent on data quality and pre-processing. A significant disparity exists between results on synthetic versus real-world validation datasets, ranging from a decline of approximately 3 to 30 percentage points, with reported real-world accuracy spanning 70 to 79.7 percent. Moreover, DL demonstrates a paradigm shift in technical capability for leak management. However, transitioning to reliable field applications requires overcoming key challenges: standardising benchmarks and performance reporting, improving model generalisability and explainability, and fostering integration within practical Digital Twin (DT) frameworks to enable proactive infrastructure management. Full article

Effective intergovernmental collaboration is essential for regional environmental sustainability. Using the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region as a case study, this research examines how different collaborative relationships influence governance behaviors and outcomes. By classifying collaborations into formal and informal types, we employ a Probit model to analyze their intrinsic dynamics. The key findings are as follows: (1) Under different types of intergovernmental collaborative relationships, governments adopt distinct collaborative governance behaviors. The Probit estimates indicate that under hierarchical pressures, Multi-level relations significantly increase the likelihood of formal tools (β = 1.010, p < 0.05), whereas Diagonal ties strictly favor flexible informal mechanisms (β = −1.116, p < 0.01). (2) Cumulative cooperation experience reduces transaction costs, driving a profound shift toward informality at the 1% significance level across all baseline models. (3) When addressing collaborative governance matters that require cross-provincial cooperation, governments tend to adopt formal collaborative behavior models. (4) When facing urgent environmental issues that demand rapid resource mobilization and immediate decision-making, collaborative governance participants prefer informal collaborative governance approaches. This study clarifies the behavioral logic of local policy tools, offering an institutional framework to optimize regional collaborative networks and advance long-term environmental sustainability in complex eco-corridors. Full article

Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) is an acellular biomineralisation process in which free plant-derived urease catalyses the hydrolysis of urea to precipitate calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), thereby sealing cracks and densifying porous construction materials. EICP has attracted growing interest as a cell-free, shelf-stable, and field-deployable alternative. This critical review synthesises evidence on EICP for the repair of cracks and the enhancement of durability in cementitious and related construction materials. Genuine concrete/mortar crack-repair EICP constitutes the largest experimental category in the field. Across this core, narrow cracks below about 0.3 mm respond to EICP-only treatment with compressive-strength recovery of up to 98.4% and permeability reductions of two to three orders of magnitude, while additive- and fibre-assisted strategies extend the effective repair envelope to approximately 2.0 mm at 45–69% strength restoration. Soybean-derived crude urease is the overwhelmingly preferred source. CaCO₃ polymorph outcome is study- and condition-dependent: calcite dominates the literature, vaterite is characteristic of rapid or narrow-crack precipitation, and additive control can shift the calcite fraction from 38% to 81%. Durability evidence is the field’s weakest dimension, with only one study reporting a coupled freeze–thaw and carbonation dataset and none exceeding roughly six months of monitoring. We discuss why EICP has not attracted the same research intensity as MICP, identify the principal barriers to translation, and outline the standardisation, durability-validation, and regulatory steps required for EICP to mature into a mainstream low-carbon repair technology. These figures are aggregated performance ranges drawn from studies with differing specimen geometries, curing regimes, and loading ages, and are therefore reported as an envelope rather than as directly normalised single values. Because the corpus was assembled principally from Scopus and Web of Science, supplemented by manual searching, relevant studies indexed elsewhere cannot be fully excluded. Full article

This study selected three lactic acid bacteria strains (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum CGMCC 1.12974, Limosilactobacillus fermentum CICC 22704, and Lactobacillus acidophilus CICC 22162) to pre-ferment brown and polished glutinous rice grains followed by semi-dry milling, aiming to systematically compare the differential effects of various strain treatments on the structure, functionality, and flavor of glutinous rice flour. Pre-fermentation decreased protein content (11.23–20.80% in polished flour, 0.14–2.45% in brown flour), enriched γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA, up to 6.94 mg/100 g), increased relative crystallinity and gelatinization enthalpy, and altered hydration properties. Dumplings from fermented flours showed higher soup transmittance (up to 44.93% in the brown rice group), reduced hardness (24.82–67.32%) and chewiness, and improved cohesiveness and resilience. Volatile profiles shifted towards higher acids and esters and lower alcohols, aldehydes and ketones, with strain-specific features. Redundancy analysis confirmed that starch became the dominant texture-determining factor after fermentation. Among the three strains, Lp. plantarum CGMCC 1.12974 exhibited the best improvement for most quality attributes. In conclusion, pre-fermentation of rice grains effectively enhances whiteness, GABA content, textural softness, and flavor diversity of semi-dry milled glutinous rice flours. Full article

Efficient and resilient humanitarian logistics is critical for smart cities facing large-scale disasters, where infrastructure disruptions, uncertain demand, and time-critical deliveries complicate operational planning. This study proposes a multi-echelon vehicle-routing framework that integrates trucks, electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and micromobility systems under uncertainty. Demand and travel-time variability are modeled through scenario-based representations, while delivery flexibility is captured through triangular fuzzy time windows defined by earliest-acceptable, preferred, and latest-tolerable delivery times. The problem is formulated as a four-objective optimization model that minimizes total cost, response time, CO₂ emissions, and fuzzy lateness. To solve the resulting highly constrained multi-objective problem, NSGA-II and NSGA-III are adapted with problem-specific repair operators, including capacity-splitting, range-feasibility correction, and fuzzy time-shift adjustment mechanisms, and embedded in a simulation-based evaluation framework. The proposed approach is validated using a geo-referenced earthquake scenario in Istanbul, constructed from open-source GIS, traffic, and demographic data. The computational results show that evolutionary methods generate feasible solutions within minutes, whereas exact optimization approaches fail to converge for realistic instances. Compared with NSGA-II, NSGA-III achieves superior performance, including a 9% higher hypervolume and improved robustness under stress-test scenarios. Furthermore, the hybrid truck–UAV–micromobility strategy reduces average cost by up to 30%, delivery time by 43%, and CO₂ emissions by 65% relative to a truck-only baseline, while eliminating fuzzy lateness. These findings demonstrate that evolutionary multi-objective optimization provides an effective and scalable decision-support framework for uncertainty-aware and sustainable humanitarian logistics in smart cities. Full article

We investigate the effects of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) on the resonance structure of the Z boson in high-energy collider experiments. Building on previous work where resonance line-shape distortions were established, we extend the analysis to include spacelike and lightlike orientations of the LIV vector. The modified dispersion relation induces rapidity-dependent distortions of the resonance profile, with effects growing strongly at large rapidities. In anisotropic scenarios, the signal exhibits characteristic sidereal-time modulation due to the rotation of the Earth relative to the preferred LIV direction. We show that, while global analyses dilute the effect, dedicated studies focusing on high-rapidity bins and sidereal-time dependence can significantly enhance sensitivity. The resulting shifts in reconstructed resonance parameters can reach or exceed current experimental precision for LIV scales as low as ${\delta }_{LIV}\sim {10}^{-8}$. These results demonstrate that collider measurements of unstable gauge bosons provide a complementary and competitive probe of Lorentz violation. Full article

Ocean acidification poses a critical threat to marine invertebrate survival and diversification, yet the post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms underlying acid stress responses remain poorly understood. Here, we employed Oxford Nanopore long-read RNA sequencing to systematically characterize transcriptional and post-transcriptional responses to acidic pH stresses in the marine nematode Litoditis marina. Our analysis revealed 912 upregulated and 728 downregulated genes enriched in autophagy, fatty acid metabolism, and peroxisome activation, alongside 327 differential alternative splicing events and 1512 transcripts with significant usage changes under severe acidic pH stress. By integrating weighted gene co-expression network analysis with databases such as WormExp2, we found that acidic pH stress response exhibited resemblance to oxidative stress response. Specifically, we identified genes involved in the oxidative stress response, such as gpx-1, cyp-13A11, trxr-1, cyc-1, and key regulators, including hlh-30/TFEB. Genes such as gpx-1, trxr-1, and cyp-23A1 might protect L. marina from oxidative stress under acidic pH. Moreover, several ferroptosis-related genes, such as gpx-5, fat-2, and smf-1, might render L. marina vulnerable to acidic pH stress. Among the genes with splicing changes, we identified oxidative stress responding genes such as sod-4, prx-2, coq-2, coq-3, prx-10, ctl-2, gst-7, trx-1, mdt-15, and fat-2. Additionally, we discovered the preference for proximal 3′ UTR under acidic pH stress. Genes related to ferroptosis, including cyp-23A1, C07E3.9/PLA2G1B, and C53D5.5/GGT1, exhibited differential 3′ UTR usage under acidic pH stress. Our findings shift the focus from traditional gene-centric analyses to capturing the full breadth of post-transcriptional diversity, providing novel insights into post-transcriptional gene regulation in marine metazoans under environmental stress, as well as revealing that alleviating oxidative stress might increase resistance to acid pH stress. Full article

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are widely used in behavioral neuroscience and ecotoxicology to study stress-related responses. Traditional plus maze paradigms rely on arm preference, with arms differing in perceived safety. Here, we propose an alternative approach using a plus maze with identical arms, where stress is assessed based on movement patterns rather than preference. Fish explored the maze for 20 min under baseline conditions, followed by exposure to hyperosmotic stress (5‰ salinity). Behavior was quantified using automated video tracking, including locomotor activity, spontaneous alternation, and transition patterns between arms. Salinity stress did not significantly affect overall locomotor activity or spontaneous alternation. However, it markedly altered movement structure. The proportion of circular transitions decreased significantly. Most notably, transitions between adjacent arms declined, while transitions between opposing arms increased to nearly 50% of total entries. The runs test analysis further indicated an increased tendency toward repetitive movement sequences under stress conditions. These behavioral changes were associated with significantly increased whole-body cortisol levels. The findings identify a shift toward opposing-arm transitions as a potentially sensitive and previously underappreciated behavioral correlate of stress in zebrafish. This metric may complement conventional behavioral endpoints and offers particular promise for automated high-throughput applications in ecotoxicology and preclinical research. Full article

Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] has emerged as a major genetically determined cardiovascular risk factor that extends beyond the traditional low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)-centred model of atherosclerotic disease. Despite optimal LDL-C lowering, a substantial proportion of patients continue to experience cardiovascular events, highlighting the clinical relevance of residual cardiovascular risk. This review summarizes current evidence regarding the epidemiology, genetics, pathophysiology and therapeutic implications of Lp(a) in cardiovascular disease. Epidemiological, genetic, and Mendelian randomization studies consistently demonstrate an independent and likely causal association between elevated Lp(a) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, ischemic stroke, calcific aortic valve stenosis, heart failure, and recurrent cardiovascular events, even in patients with well-controlled LDL-C levels. Lp(a) promotes atherosclerosis through proatherogenic, proinflammatory, and prothrombotic mechanisms, largely mediated by oxidized phospholipids and the structural homology of apolipoprotein(a) with plasminogen. Current guidelines increasingly recognize Lp(a) as a risk-enhancing factor capable of refining cardiovascular risk stratification beyond traditional algorithms, thus recommending measuring Lp(a) at least once in a lifetime in all adults. Accurate measurement and standardization of Lp(a) remain essential in clinical practice due to apo(a) isoform size variability; reporting in molar concentrations (nmol/L) is preferred as it better reflects particle number being less affected by isoform size variations and improves the reliability of cardiovascular risk stratification. Collectively, these findings support the integration of Lp(a) into precision-based cardiovascular prevention strategies and suggest a paradigm shift from an exclusively LDL-centric approach toward genetically informed risk assessment and treatment. Full article

We study a retrial queueing system with N ranked heterogeneous service devices where processing times at each device follow a phase-type ($PH$) distribution with device-dependent parameters. Requests arrive according to a Batch Markovian Arrival Process ($BMAP$). The system uses a preemptive priority rule: idle devices with smaller serial numbers are preferred, and when a lower-numbered device completes service, the request being processed at the highest-numbered busy device is moved there and its service restarts. Requests that cannot be served immediately join an orbit of infinite capacity and retry after random time intervals. We describe the system dynamics by a multidimensional continuous-time Markov chain with a block upper-Hessenberg generator. A sufficient ergodicity condition for this Markov chain is derived. We present formulas for the key performance measures, including the mean orbit length, device utilizations, and the probability of immediate service. Numerical experiments show how the arrival rate and the coefficient of variation of processing times affect system performance. In particular, higher processing-time variability (hyperexponential case) in the considered example widens the stability region, while lower variability (Erlang case) narrows it, compared with exponential service. A supplementary study shows that higher arrival correlation under the chosen set of the system parameters amplifies orbit congestion and shifts utilization from the fastest server to the slower ones. Full article