Search Results (8,210)

Mediterranean-type forest ecosystems are becoming increasingly vulnerable to intensifying drought, threatening the resilience of even highly adapted ecosystems such as the Northern Jarrah Forest in south-western Australia. This study quantifies multi-decadal dynamics of canopy water stress using a 36-year multispectral satellite archive (1988–2024) and the newly developed Infrared Canopy Dryness Index (ICDI). We combined this spatiotemporal dataset with a MaxEnt-based risk assessment framework to identify the biophysical drivers of drought-induced canopy loss and to delineate high-risk zones under accelerating climate-forcing changes. Our results demonstrate a systematic spatial expansion of canopy dryness, paralleling a deteriorating regional climatic water balance. Hotspot analysis revealed a transition from localized, peripheral stress to widespread, chronic drought conditions across the landscape. The modelling achieved high diagnostic accuracy (AUC = 0.952), significantly outperforming conventional assessment methods. Regolith depth was identified as the primary determinant of drought-induced canopy collapse, followed by ICDI, NDVI, and slope. Crucially, high-biomass stands exhibited disproportionately higher risk of collapse, revealing a density-dependent vulnerability that suggests productive forests are approaching critical hydraulic thresholds. Conversely, lower-stature forests to the east of the study area demonstrated greater stability, likely due to reduced evapotranspirative demand. These findings provide robust spatial evidence for transitioning from reactive monitoring to proactive forest management. We conclude that targeted interventions, such as ecological thinning and prescribed burning in identified high-risk zones, are imperative to protect the forest and preserve the structural integrity of Mediterranean ecosystems in a drying climate. Full article

Clarithromycin is a widely prescribed macrolide antibiotic that can enter soils using sewage treatment plant effluents, where it is frequently detected. Because it could exert selective pressure on soil microbes, this study examined whether bacterial communities in 12 agricultural soils developed tolerance to clarithromycin after 42 days of exposure to different clarithromycin concentrations (7.8 mg kg⁻¹–2000 mg kg⁻¹). Results showed that tolerance increased in a clear dose-dependent manner and was significantly higher than in control soils at concentrations of 31.3 mg kg⁻¹ and above. Soil characteristics also shaped the response. At lower clarithromycin doses, tolerance was restricted in those soils with higher values of _eCEC, clay content, organic carbon, and C/N ratio. At higher doses, tolerance increased with pH, likely due to increased clarithromycin bioavailability. This study provides evidence of the impact of clarithromycin on soil microbiota and suggests that contamination by this antibiotic may promote the development of bacterial tolerance. Future studies should be carried out to further clarify the factors that influence the development of tolerance and also to determine the possible spread of this resistance in the environment. Full article

This study investigates the nonlinear dynamic response and chaos evolution of a shape memory alloy hybrid composite (SMAHC) actuator beam under coupled thermal, harmonic, and aerodynamic excitations. A reduced-order nonlinear dynamic model was developed by combining Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, von Karman geometric nonlinearity, the Brinson SMA constitutive relation, and first-order piston-theory aerodynamics. The governing equations were derived from Hamilton’s principle, discretized by the weighted residual method, and solved using the Newmark-beta algorithm. Chaotic evolution was quantified using a largest Lyapunov exponent-based chaos intensity indicator rather than the exact Kolmogorov–Sinai entropy. The reduced-order model was compared with ABAQUS finite element simulations under representative coupled aerodynamic and harmonic loading. The MATLAB prediction and ABAQUS response gave a dominant frequency of approximately 9.50 Hz, close to the prescribed excitation frequency of 9.55 Hz, with peak displacement amplitudes of approximately 0.0285 mm and 0.0324 mm, respectively. A supplementary ABAQUS modal-frequency separation check supported the use of the two-mode reduced-order model for the dominant low-frequency response, while also clarifying its limitation for high-dimensional chaotic modal interactions. The parametric results showed that an increasing excitation amplitude and aerodynamic load promoted frequency broadening and chaotic transitions. The Lyapunov-based indicator rose near γ = 65 under λ* = 100 and near λ* = 328 under γ = 30. Temperature-dependent SMA recovery stress further shifted the transition threshold by modifying the effective stiffness and internal restoring action of the beam. These results provide a reduced-order framework for interpreting nonlinear response transitions in SMAHC actuator beams in thermo-aeroelastic environments. Full article

Degree-based topological indices play a central role in characterizing graph structures and their chemical applications. Among these, multiplicative Zagreb indices have attracted considerable attention due to their strong discriminative power and relevance in chemical graph theory. Neighborhood versions of these indices extend the classical concept by incorporating the aggregate degree information of adjacent vertices, capturing more subtle structural effects related to local branching. Trees, as connected acyclic graphs, provide a natural and tractable class for studying the extremal behaviors of these indices, while molecular trees—trees with a maximum degree of at most four—serve as chemically meaningful models of acyclic organic compounds. Investigating extremal values on these structures offers both theoretical insight into the indices’ behavior and identification of molecular graphs that maximize or minimize them. In this work, we determine the maximal and minimal values of the neighborhood-based multiplicative Zagreb indices for trees of fixed order and prescribed maximum degree, and we provide a complete structural characterization of all extremal graphs. Special attention is given to molecular trees, for which explicit extremal bounds are derived and all optimal structures are identified. These results provide efficient tools for evaluating the indices and illuminate the structural principles governing their extremal behavior. Full article

Sustainable land-use regulation in historical and cultural cities requires balancing heritage conservation, development demand, cropland retention, and urban–rural spatial restructuring. However, the stage-wise reorganization of urban–rural construction land under these coupled pressures remains insufficiently understood. Taking Jingzhou District, China, as a case study, this study uses land-use data from 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 and integrates stage-wise random-forest analysis, consistency-based interaction-network mining, and multi-scenario simulation within the intPLUS framework. Population, GDP, and areal-water distance layers were matched to the corresponding stage-terminal snapshots where applicable, whereas 2020 POI data were used as contemporary spatial-context proxies. From 2000 to 2020, urban industrial land (UIL) expanded from 16.63 to 46.42 km², increasing by approximately 179.1%, whereas rural settlements (RS) increased more moderately from 56.59 to 60.27 km², increasing by approximately 6.5%. The stage-wise RF and interaction-network results show that UIL and RS followed different spatial association structures, with stronger UIL self-reinforcement and stronger RS self-continuity in the later stage. Historical validation showed overall accuracy values of approximately 91% and Kappa values around 0.80, but FoM values remained relatively low, ranging from 0.098 to 0.176. Class-specific mapping accuracy was higher for RS (81.90–82.37%) than for UIL (55.20–66.93%), indicating a weaker performance in locating UIL change. Therefore, the 2035 simulations should be interpreted as parameter-conditioned regulatory comparisons rather than deterministic pixel-level forecasts. The scenario results indicate that the conservation-oriented limited growth was associated with the restricted UIL expansion and better cropland retention under the prescribed demand and constraint settings, while the RS reduction occurred only under explicit village-consolidation and construction-land quota reallocation assumptions. By distinguishing UIL and RS, this study provides differentiated regulation-oriented evidence for sustainable land-use governance in historical and cultural cities. Full article

We study positive–negative guarded systems of language equations over a fixed finite alphabet. The ambient space is the complete ultrametric space of all formal languages equipped with a length-based distance, where two languages are close whenever they agree on all words up to a sufficiently large length. The systems considered here contain both positive recursive dependencies and negative dependencies expressed through language complements. To handle this mixed structure, we introduce a suitable product order on pairs of languages and prove that the associated system operator has the weak monotone property. We show that the complement is an isometry for the length-based ultrametric and establish a signed wrapping estimate for guarded positive and negative language terms. These estimates lead to an ordered contraction principle for comparable pairs. As a consequence, the canonical lower and upper Picard iterations converge to the same limit, which is the unique fixed pair of the system. We also derive an explicit convergence rate and a finite-depth certification result: after a prescribed number of iterations, the approximants agree with the fixed-point semantics on all words below a given length. Additional symmetry assumptions are shown to force the unique fixed pair to be diagonal, reducing the system to a single language equation. Finally, we discuss an application to trace-based policies for tool-using AI agents. In this interpretation, finite executions of an agent are represented as words over an alphabet of observable tool-events, and the two components of the fixed point provide a stable semantics for policy-defined admissible and risky trace classes. The resulting framework gives a mathematically certified method for finite-depth analysis of recursive trace-based policies based on ultrametric fixed-point techniques. Full article

This study examines graphs that demonstrate Gallai’s property, particularly those in which for every prescribed set S of vertices with $\left|S\right|=j$ there exists a longest path or cycle that avoids that set. Such graphs are naturally fault-tolerant in the structural sense: if some vertices fail, there can still exist longest routes that bypass the failed vertices. Our main purpose is to construct explicit Gallai-type graphs that admit embeddings into a rigorously defined three-dimensional geometric adjacency structure derived from an icosahedral–tetrahedral polyhedral cell complex. We show that similar graphs may be found in three-dimensional structures obtained from a periodic polyhedral packing (cell complex) built from tetrahedral and icosahedral cells. Importantly, we do not claim a face-to-face tessellation of ${\mathbb{R}}^3$ by congruent regular icosahedra and tetrahedra; instead, we define a specific periodic cell complex ${\mathcal{IT}}^3$ and work in its associated adjacency graph $\mathsf{\Gamma }\left({\mathcal{IT}}^3\right)$. These geometric constructions expand lattice-based findings to a three-dimensional adjacency setting and provide new embeddings for Gallai-type graphs. Connections to AI systems are mentioned at the conceptual level. Full article

Introduction: Lutein+Zeaxanthin (L+Z) are the major constituents of macular pigments of the retina. There is a lack of information on the bioavailability of the two compounds in the presence and absence of omega-3 fatty acids in L+Z supplements which are commonly prescribed to treat macular degeneration. Despite growing interest in L+Z supplementation, there remains a limited understanding of their short-term bioavailability dynamics and the potential added value of omega-3 co-supplementation. This pilot study reports on the bioavailability of serum responses to L+Z supplements in the presence of omega-3 fatty acids and evaluates time-resolved analytical approaches using Area Under the Curve. Subjects/Methods: A total of 10 men and six women with an average age of 31.38 ± 1.27 years participated in this randomised, non-blinded, controlled study for a total of 19 days (7-day wash-out period plus 12-day intervention period). The control group (n = 9) consumed the L+Z supplement (12 mg/d) only, while the intervention group (n = 7) consumed the L+Z supplement along with 900 mg/d of an omega-3 supplement (540 mg EPA + DHA 360 mg). Each group adhered to a comprehensive low-carotenoid and omega-3 diet list (LCOD) for the 7-day wash-out period and the 12-day intervention period. The participants reported the foods they consumed daily in their diet logbooks, online logs, and the ASA 24 diet assessment log over the study period. The body composition of each subject in the two groups was assessed before and after the study using a SECA body composition analyser, and the relative serum L+Z response in both groups was determined using Area Under the Curve (AUC and incremental AUC) by trapezoidal approximation. Results: The mean ± SEM baseline serum lutein+zeaxanthin (L+Z) concentrations measured at the end of the wash-out period (Day 7) were 2.23 ± 0.65 µg/mL in the control group and 1.20 ± 0.53 µg/mL in the intervention group. Following wash-out, serum L+Z concentrations increased in both groups, reaching 2.81 ± 0.90 µg/mL (control) and 2.63 ± 1.21 µg/mL (intervention) at Day 13, and 2.98 ± 0.69 µg/mL (control) and 3.02 µg/mL (intervention) at Day 19. Total exposure assessed by AUC₇–₁₃ and AUC₁₃–₁₉ did not differ significantly between the groups (p > 0.05). Incremental exposure analyses identified the post-wash-out period as the primary biologically responsive window, with higher mean incremental L+Z bioavailability in the intervention group (4.36 µg/day/mL) compared with the control group (3.00 µg/day/mL), although this difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). No significant effect of omega-3 co-supplementation on oxidative stress biomarkers was observed (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Omega-3 co-supplementation did not demonstrate a consistent additional benefit on L+Z bioavailability or oxidative stress markers. Day-resolved analyses using iAUC revealed temporal patterns not captured by conventional AUC measures. These exploratory findings should be interpreted with caution and confirmed in larger, longer-term studies. Full article

This paper investigates some ${\mathcal{H}}_{\infty }$ control problems for linear continuous-time singular systems. The objective is to design controllers that guarantee the admissibility of the closed-loop system and simultaneously achieve a prescribed ${\mathcal{H}}_{\infty }$ disturbance attenuation level. To this end, a framework based on novel strict LMIs (Linear Matrix Inequalities) is developed using a Lyapunov function approach for the analysis of admissibility and ${\mathcal{H}}_{\infty }$ performance. In particular, an additional scalar parameter $\alpha$ is introduced to generalize the condition reported in previous results in the literature, providing greater flexibility. Then, sufficient LMI conditions are derived for the synthesis of both state-feedback and static output-feedback controllers. Finally, some numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Full article

Background: Debate continues to swirl around the effectiveness of novel nicotine-delivery products such as snus and e-cigarettes as tobacco cessation aids. The purpose of this review is to quantify the state of research on modern products, including e-products, and established or developing pharmaceuticals on assisting nicotine users in achieving cessation. Methods: This study relied on a comprehensive assessment of research articles, clinical trials, drug approvals, and textbook material available via PubMed, Ovid Wolters Kluwer, and Wiley. We utilized Python 3.14.2, Anaconda3, the ShinyWeb App, and Py.Litstudy to investigate the selected literature. Our key study elements are product evolution and cessation behavior associated with e-cigarettes, snus, nicotine gum, nicotine dermal patches, bupropion, varenicline, and cytisine. Results: This manuscript assessed 144 manuscripts published between 1952 and 2025. E-cigarettes and snus, while containing some limited cessation benefit, were not identified to be effective enough at attaining cessation (when used exclusively) to be prescribed as cessation tools. Cytisine was identified as having very similar cessation outcomes to established pharmaceuticals such as varenicline. Conclusions: Since their iteration, e-cigarettes and snus products were marketed as cessation aids. This review found that there is scant evidence to support that modern snus and e-cigarette products work as cessation aids when used in exclusion of other more traditional approaches to cessative aid. Additionally, more modern pharmaceuticals such as cytisine may have benefit as solo cessation tools over novel nicotine-delivery products. Full article

Micro quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are highly sensitive to external disturbances and model uncertainties because of their small mass, low moment of inertia, and limited onboard computational resources. To improve the disturbance rejection and trajectory tracking performance of micro quadrotor UAVs, this paper proposes an event-triggered extended state observer (ET-ESO)-based prescribed-time funnel control (PTFC) method. First, a control-oriented dynamic model of the micro quadrotor is established, in which wind disturbances, unmodeled aerodynamic effects, damping uncertainties, and parameter perturbations are represented as lumped disturbances in the translational and rotational subsystems. Then, two event-triggered ESOs are designed to estimate the lumped disturbances of the velocity and angular velocity channels. Compared with conventional continuously sampled ESO schemes, the proposed event-triggered mechanism reduces the frequency of sensor-to-controller information transmission while preserving disturbance estimation capability. Furthermore, a prescribed-time funnel control law is developed to constrain the position and attitude tracking errors within predefined performance boundaries and ensure convergence to the desired accuracy region within a user-specified time. Lyapunov-based stability analysis is provided to prove the boundedness of all closed-loop signals and the validity of the prescribed funnel constraints. Finally, MATLAB/Simulink simulations based on the Parrot Mambo mini-drone parameters are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the proposed controller achieves robust trajectory tracking, effective disturbance compensation, improved transient performance, and reduced control update frequency. Full article

Background: The GALERNA study is a retrospective real-world observational study conducted across 21 hospitals in Spain, aiming to evaluate long-term clinical benefits and adherence to benralizumab in 255 adult patients with severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA) over a follow-up period of up to 144 weeks. Objectives: Primary objectives focused on assessing adherence to benralizumab, while secondary objectives included the description of severe asthma exacerbation rates, systemic corticosteroid (SCS) use, persistence to benralizumab, lung function, asthma control, and the proportion of patients achieving super-response or clinical remission. Data were collected at baseline (48 weeks prior to benralizumab initiation/index date), follow-up 1 (FUP1) (0–48 weeks), FUP2 (49–96 weeks), and FUP3 (97–144 weeks) after the index date. Results: At baseline, patients demonstrated a substantial disease burden characterised by impaired lung function, poorly controlled asthma, and frequent severe exacerbations. The results indicated high adherence rates to benralizumab, with 92.9% of patients receiving each of the prescribed doses of benralizumab at week 48 and 70.6% at week 144. Patients showed substantial and sustained clinical improvements, with a reduction in the proportion of individuals presenting at least one severe exacerbation from baseline to FUP3 and a 74% decrease in SCS use for the same period. Lung function also improved, with the proportion of patients achieving pre-bronchodilator FEV₁ ≥ 80% rising to 52% at 144 weeks. Furthermore, mean Asthma Control Test (ACT) scores increased to 20.5, with 68.5% of patients achieving well-controlled asthma (ACT ≥ 20). By the end of the study, 63.6% of patients achieved super-response and 39.1% showed clinical remission, with an overall benralizumab persistence of 79.8% during all follow-up periods. Conclusions: The GALERNA study provides compelling real-world evidence that benralizumab affords marked and sustained clinical benefits together with high long-term adherence in Spanish SEA patients, reinforcing its usefulness as a long-term therapeutic option in routine clinical practice. Full article

Pediatric respiratory infections remain among the leading causes of emergency department visits, hospitalization and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission. Although most acute respiratory infections in children are viral, clinical manifestations overlap substantially among viral, bacterial and atypical pathogens, creating diagnostic uncertainty and promoting empirical antimicrobial use. Rapid antigen tests, nucleic acid amplification tests, multiplex respiratory panels and metagenomic sequencing have expanded the ability to detect pathogens within clinically actionable timeframes. However, evidence from pediatric emergency trials indicates that rapid pathogen detection alone does not necessarily reduce antibiotic prescribing or healthcare costs. These findings suggest that the value of rapid diagnostics depends less on analytical breadth than on whether testing is applied to the right child, in the right clinical scenario and within a predefined decision pathway. This narrative review reorganizes the evidence around a scenario-driven top-pathogen framework. Top pathogens are defined as organisms that, in a specific age group, syndrome, season or care setting, have high prevalence, severe disease potential, transmissibility, treatment implications, antimicrobial resistance relevance or infection-control value. We discuss how top-pathogen testing should differ across emergency triage, inpatient ward management, severe pneumonia, PICU care, hospital-acquired pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia and outbreak settings. We further examine the economic mechanisms through which rapid testing may generate value, including reduced unnecessary antibiotics, timely antiviral therapy, optimized isolation, shorter length of stay, reduced repeated testing and prevention of healthcare-associated transmission. Finally, we propose implementation principles centered on diagnostic stewardship, antimicrobial stewardship, local epidemiology and real-world cost-effectiveness evaluation. A scenario-driven top-pathogen strategy may provide a practical bridge between broad syndromic testing and precision infectious disease management in children. Full article

Background/Objectives: Disease-related malnutrition affects millions of patients worldwide. Nutrition support therapy (NST), namely oral nutritional supplements (ONSs), serve as a cornerstone therapeutic intervention. However, treatment effectiveness depends not only on an appropriate prescription but also on patient acceptance and adherence. This study evaluates the provision pathway of ONSs within a co-payment healthcare system, focusing on patient acceptance patterns, barriers to adherence, and the critical yet underexplored role of pharmacist–patient interactions in determining treatment outcomes. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted across 100 Croatian community pharmacies during September–October 2025. Pharmacists prospectively documented 973 patient encounters involving ONS prescriptions requiring co-payment using real-time patient record forms. Data captured patient demographics, diagnoses, prescription patterns, prior knowledge of co-payment requirements, acceptance responses, and pharmacist-assessed reasons for refusal. Results: While 65% of all patients knew about co-payment requirements in advance, 51% of first-time users arrived uninformed, leading to dramatically different acceptance patterns (93% immediate acceptance when informed versus 33% when uninformed, p < 0.05). Overall, 8–12% of patients refused or reduced prescribed ONSs. Among refusals, 59% cited the financial burden, but, critically, 23% appeared not to understand why an ONS was prescribed or what benefits to expect, revealing significant communication gaps in the care pathway. Overall, fifteen percent of patients required an explanation from the pharmacist before accepting their prescription, demonstrating pharmacists’ decisive role as gatekeepers of nutritional therapy. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the pharmacy dispensing encounter is an important decision point in the ONS care pathway, where insufficient preparation and coordination may be associated with suboptimal treatment outcomes among vulnerable patient populations. Improved prescriber–patient communication about co-payment and clinical rationale, pharmacist education in disease-specific nutrition and ONS counseling, and structured communication protocols between prescribers and pharmacists represent areas that may warrant further attention and evaluation. Full article

Background: Overuse of short-acting reliever inhalers, particularly short-acting β₂-agonists (SABAs), is linked to poor asthma control, higher exacerbation risk, and increased mortality. Data on reliever overuse in severe asthma and the role of short-acting muscarinic antagonists (SAMAs) remain limited. Objective: This study aims to assess the prevalence of rescue inhaler overuse in adults with severe asthma and examine its associations with maintenance therapy adherence, biologic treatment, oral corticosteroid use, asthma control, lung function, allergic sensitization, and comorbidities. Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study of 223 adults with severe asthma followed at a tertiary multidisciplinary clinic in 2024. Clinical, functional, pharmacological, and pharmacy-dispensing records were reviewed. Rescue inhaler overuse was defined as dispensing ≥ 3 SABA and/or SAMA canisters per 12 months. Associations with clinical and treatment variables were analyzed. Results: Among 223 patients, 144 (64.6%) had a prescribed rescue inhaler; 85 (38.1%) met the criteria for overuse. Of those prescribed rescue therapy, 59.0% overused, with 47.2% classified as low overuse and 11.1% as high overuse. Overuse was more frequent in patients with maintenance adherence > 50%. Biologic therapy was associated with reduced odds of overuse, while oral corticosteroid use showed no significant effect. Poor asthma control (ACT < 20) was strongly associated with overuse. Lung function did not differ significantly, though overusers tended to have lower FEV₁. Allergic sensitization was not associated with overuse; bronchiectasis was the comorbidity most frequently linked. Conclusions: Rescue inhaler overuse is common in severe asthma and closely linked to inadequate disease control. Lower overuse rates among biologic-treated patients suggest improved control reduces reliance on short-acting relievers. Systematic monitoring of reliever use may help identify high-risk patients and guide individualized management strategies. Full article