Search Results (5,533)

Ensuring resilient controllability and observability in SCADA-based smart grids under coordinated cyberattacks remains a critical and unresolved challenge in modern cyber-physical power systems. This paper investigates the impact of coordinated cyberattacks on the stability and monitoring capabilities of SCADA-based smart-grid systems within a controlled cyber-physical environment. An active cyber-physical testbed representing a multi-bus power system was created to analyze how attacks targeting communication channels affect controllability and observability. Several attack scenarios were implemented, including remote access attacks via Secure Shell (SSH), Modbus/TCP flooding, and ICMP-based attacks, to monitor their impact on control actions, communication reliability, and system responsiveness. To address these vulnerabilities, a SCADA-based cybersecurity monitoring system was implemented within the controlled testbed environment. The system analyzes SCADA operational logs from smart grid devices while packet-level network traffic is captured and examined using monitoring tools such as Wireshark. A central monitoring layer coordinates system-wide attack detection and response. System resilience was evaluated using controllability and observability matrix rank analysis, together with dynamic stability metrics during attack conditions. Experimental and simulation results show that coordinated cyberattacks significantly degrade system performance, with the average delay rising from 12 ms to 210 ms, the packet loss rate increasing to 15.5%, and the command execution error rate reaching 40%. Furthermore, the ranks of the controllability and observability matrices dropped from 4 to 2, indicating a critical partial loss of the system’s control and monitoring capabilities. In this work, the federated-learning-based component is explored as a distributed, privacy-preserving cybersecurity monitoring framework for anomaly detection and observability enhancement using SCADA-derived datasets, rather than as a fully integrated real-time SCADA operational control mechanism. At the same time, the attack’s impact on electrical properties remained limited to less than 2%. Full article

A microgrid is a localized distribution network composed of electricity users who have access to local renewable and other energy sources. While the utility grid plays a critical role in the nation’s economy, security, and the well-being of its residents, connecting microgrids to the wider network via utility substations can introduce significant cybersecurity risks. Unlike most existing studies that rely on simulation, this research designs and implements a physical microgrid testbed to examine cybersecurity vulnerabilities in microgrid systems. We examine the impact of various cyberattacks—including denial of service (DoS) and communication hijacking—on microgrid operations, with a particular focus on system stability and communication networks. The findings reveal critical weaknesses within the existing communication infrastructure, providing valuable insights for designing more resilient and secure microgrids. This work offers a practical framework for addressing cybersecurity challenges in real-world industrial utility networks. Full article

Background: Telemedicine may advance endometriosis care, but few initiatives are integrated in outpatient follow-up. A novel telemedicine approach—tele-patient-reported outcome measures (telePROM)—includes an endometriosis-specific questionnaire and phone and video consultations combined with text messaging (chat) with a multidisciplinary endometriosis team. This study explores how healthcare professionals experience telePROM and its integration in clinical practice. Methods: A qualitative study guided by interpretive description methodology. Data were generated through observations and focus group interviews conducted between January 2023 and March 2024 at a referral centre for endometriosis within a university hospital. A purposive sample of ten healthcare professionals comprising physicians, nurses and a medical secretary participated in the focus group interviews. Inductive analysis was inspired by interpretive description and carried out through an iterative process involving four steps, leading to the development of final themes and interpretation. Results: Three themes were identified from analysis: (1) Balancing Personalised Care With Increased Clinical Complexity; (2) Changing Professional Boundaries in a Digitally Supported Care Model; and (3) System Friction and Flexibility when Integrating TelePROM. Conclusions: Telemedicine improved endometriosis care by supporting patient-initiated and personalised consultations. However, sustainable, effective, and safe integration of telemedicine appears to require clinical experience, interdisciplinary collaboration, and supervision. Text communication (chat) proved to be an important element to ensure collection of additional information to complement patient-reported outcomes and it is essential for patient triage; yet it is rarely described in the literature. Ensuring organisational resilience during the digital transformation of healthcare requires ongoing training of healthcare professionals’ communicative and digital competences and may necessitate restructured technical support, including designated telemedicine experts in clinical practice to eliminate technical disruptions. These initiatives may contribute to and support the future implementation of telemedicine in healthcare. Full article

The security of heterogeneous unmanned systems (HUSs) operating in open environments has become a key concern. Therefore, this paper focuses on the fractional-order adaptive resilient clustering synchronization control for a class of networked HUSs composed of multiple unmanned surface vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles subject to deception attacks and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. First, a distributed cluster trajectory generator is designed for each vehicle in a networked HUS to estimate the output trajectory of the leader in their respective clusters in the presence of DoS attacks on the communication layer. Then, by combining backstepping control and fractional calculus, and immersion and invariance (I&I) theory, a fractional-order adaptive synchronization tracking controller is developed to form the desired cluster formation configuration under disturbances and actuator attacks. Among them, the I&I adaptive strategy is designed to estimate the lumped uncertainty caused by attacks and disturbances. Finally, stability analysis and simulation experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. Full article

This Editorial introduces the Special Issue “Spatial Planning and Land-Use Management: 2nd Edition” and discusses the eight articles published in it. Taken together, these contributions demonstrate that contemporary spatial planning and land-use management can no longer be understood as narrowly regulatory or sector-specific activities. Rather, they must be approached as integrative and adaptive practices capable of mediating between ecological integrity, territorial cohesion, infrastructure provision, social justice, public health, and participatory governance. The Special Issue brings together case studies from China, the United States, Australia, Iran, Portugal, Slovakia, and Belgium, as well as comparative evidence from peri-urban landscapes, and spans a wide range of spatial scales, from neighbourhoods and urban forests to metropolitan green belts, urban agglomerations, peri-urban territories, and ecoregions. Several major lines of inquiry emerge across the volume. First, the articles reaffirm the need for multiscale planning frameworks able to connect local action with regional and supra-regional structures. Second, they broaden the understanding of infrastructure by including not only transport and urban facilities, but also ecological, green, and even nocturnal infrastructures. Third, they show that many of today’s most difficult planning questions arise in spaces of transition and overlap, especially peri-urban areas, where conflicts among land uses, ecosystem services, development pressures, and governance arrangements become particularly acute across sectors and across spatial and temporal scales. Fourth, they underline that planning effectiveness increasingly depends on participation, co-design, and cooperation among diverse actors, including civic initiatives and local communities. Overall, the Special Issue highlights spatial planning as a strategic field of action through which societies can address land-use conflicts, reconcile environmental and social objectives, and design more sustainable, resilient, and liveable territories. Full article

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) represent a sustainable and eco-friendly strategy to enhance crop productivity and support integrated agricultural systems. Among these, members of the genus Bacillus are highly valued for their resilience and multifaceted beneficial traits. The growth-promoting effects of Bacillus sp. L11 on S. lycopersicum seedlings were investigated in soil and artificial peat-based substrates. Rhizosphere microbial diversity was subsequently analyzed to investigate the interaction between L11 and the indigenous microbiota. We evaluated plant growth parameters, root growth parameters, and rhizosphere bacterial community dynamics using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. Overall, L11 inoculation was associated with significantly improved growth indices of S. lycopersicum seedlings in both cultivation systems. Notably, the phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)-resuspended L11 markedly increased shoot fresh weight and plant height, and enhanced root-associated parameters such as total root length and root surface area. While L11 did not significantly alter alpha diversity, principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) revealed that its presence was associated with substantial restructuring of the rhizosphere bacterial community. Inoculation specifically enriched beneficial genera, including Chitinophaga, Devosia, and Pseudomonas. Correlation analyses showed that these microbial shifts were positively associated with the enhancement of seedling biomass and development. In conclusion, these findings suggest that Bacillus sp. L11 may promote S. lycopersicum growth through direct stimulation and by reshaping the rhizosphere microbiome, positioning it as a promising microbial inoculant for sustainable vegetable production. Full article

Global water scarcity constitutes a critical sustainability challenge, particularly in agricultural and rural contexts exposed to climate variability. Beyond technical and infrastructural solutions, collective and community-based water management practices have gained increasing relevance as sustainable alternatives grounded in local and ancestral knowledge. This study presents a systematic qualitative review of collective practices for alternative water management implemented worldwide between 2018 and 2023, following the PRISMA methodology, and based on a screening of the Scopus database, 31 peer-reviewed studies were selected and analysed through thematic synthesis. The systematic review identified five interconnected dimensions: (1) water management and governance, (2) conservation and storage, (3) hydrological restoration, (4) efficient water use, and (5) recognition of local knowledge. The results show that collective water management practices contribute to water security, ecological resilience, and adaptive capacity in rural territories, particularly when aligned with local socio-environmental conditions. The study highlights the importance of integrating scientific and community-based knowledge to advance context-specific and sustainable water management strategies, contributing to ongoing debates on sustainability, rural development, and adaptive water governance. Full article

Ensuring the sustainability of ageing water-storage infrastructure is an increasingly urgent challenge under climate-driven hydrological extremes. In the Republic of Korea, approximately 18,000 small and medium-sized agricultural reservoirs—many several decades old—pose escalating risks to downstream communities and threaten progress toward SDGs 6, 11, and 13. This study presents a 0.5 m airborne LiDAR-based, GPU-accelerated two-dimensional shallow-water simulation of a hypothetical breach of the Geumosan Reservoir, South Korea, using a MUSCL + HLL solver verified against the Ritter (1892) and Stoker (1957) analytical dam-break solutions. Two scenarios are compared: Run A with a uniform Manning coefficient (n = 0.035) and Run B with spatially variable roughness derived from the Korean Ministry of Environment land-cover map (mean n = 0.0711). Mass conservation is preserved to within 0.01% during the closed-domain phase. Spatially variable roughness expands the total inundated area by 8.5% (3.05 → 3.31 km²) while reducing the Extreme-hazard zone, defined by the DEFRA hazard rating HR = h(v + 0.5), by 24% (1.49 → 1.14 km²); arrival times in the downstream urban corridor are delayed by up to 30 min. Uniform Manning assumptions therefore systematically overestimate extreme-hazard extents while underestimating the broader shallow-inundation footprint—biases comparable in magnitude to breach-parameter uncertainty. By delivering reproducible, georeferenced hazard, arrival-time, and damage-class maps for emergency action planning, the proposed framework supports risk-informed and sustainable management of ageing reservoir infrastructure and community-level disaster resilience aligned with the Sendai Framework and SDGs 6, 11, and 13. Full article

Natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes cause severe physical, social, and economic losses, highlighting the critical need for timely and reliable early warning systems. Conventional water level and structural health monitoring technologies are often costly, limiting deployment to high-priority infrastructure only. This paper presents the development and validation of two low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) systems for multi-hazard disaster monitoring and early warning, explicitly supporting UN Sustainable Development Goals 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) by enabling equitable monitoring of rural or minor bridges. The proposed system achieves a significant cost reduction (approximately $300 compared to conventional systems typically exceeding $5000), highlighting its potential for scalable and sustainable deployment. The first system integrates a Raspberry Pi, Pi Camera, Lidar Lite V3, and ADXL355 accelerometer to simultaneously capture floodwater images, measure water levels, and record bridge vibrations, with distance measurements recorded at user-defined intervals and vibration data sampled up to 100 Hz. Laboratory repeatability and uncertainty analyses of the Lidar Lite V3 indicate a root mean square error of ~2.4 cm over a 0–25 cm range, demonstrating stable performance for flood monitoring and sufficient accuracy for early warning applications using low-cost sensing systems. The ADXL355 accelerometer is validated through harmonic excitation tests (0.1–2 Hz) and real earthquake recordings, confirming its suitability for low-frequency structural response monitoring. The second system combines a Raspberry Pi, an HX711 amplifier, and a CDP25 displacement transducer to measure bridge-bearing displacements up to 25 cm, with data acquisition at sampling rates of up to 80 Hz, with laboratory tests demonstrating consistent and repeatable measurements during both loading and unloading cycles. The IoT framework is resilient, incorporating solar power and local data storage to ensure operation during power or network outages. Unlike prior studies focusing on individual sensors, this work delivers a fully integrated multi-sensor platform with formalized early warning logic based on predefined thresholds. The results demonstrate the feasibility of scalable, real-time, low-cost monitoring for disaster risk reduction and infrastructure resilience, providing a sustainable solution for community-scale early warning applications. Full article

Coxiella burnetii is an intracellular bacterium responsible for an anthropozoonosis that can be asymptomatic or manifest as acute or chronic Q fever. This extensive series of 588 patients represents one of the largest single-center studies on sporadic acute Q fever, highlighting the Canary Islands as a high-incidence region in Spain. Epidemiologically, the domestic cycle is the primary driver of infection, with caprine livestock serving as the main reservoir, showing a local prevalence of 60.4%. Transmission is predominantly airborne via aerosols; the environmental resilience of C. burnetii facilitates its transport into urban areas, where the majority of patients reside despite lacking direct animal contact. While fever, headache, and diaphoresis are hallmark symptoms, over 90% of patients exhibit transient urinalysis abnormalities, a finding that often leads to misdiagnosis and inappropriate antimicrobial use. Clinically, the non-specific (45.7%) and hepatic (44.1%) forms are most prevalent, whereas the pulmonary form (7.8%) is strongly associated with smoking and alcohol consumption. Although localized forms affecting the nervous system or skin (such as panniculitis) were observed, the overall prognosis remains excellent with no progression to chronic Q fever in this series. In summary, the extensive series described characterizes acute Q fever patients in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands, with features that are similar in some cases but also show notable differences compared to other national and international series. Furthermore, depending on the patients’ age, the time elapsed between the onset of clinical manifestations and hospital evaluation, and the clinical form, acute Q fever displays significant differences. Full article

Rhizosphere microbiome engineering is a promising approach that can enhance crop resilience and input use efficiency by redirecting plant–microbe–soil interactions toward predictable functions. Here, we review the mechanistic bases underlying rhizosphere assembly and stability, including root exudate-mediated selection, priority effects, keystone taxa, and metabolite-driven signaling, and connect these principles to proposed design rules for microbial inoculants. We present a generalizable Design–Build–Test–Learn (DBTL) framework for engineering synthetic microbial consortia, covering trait-to-module mapping (nutrient acquisition, phytohormone modulation, ACC deaminase activity, stress-protective metabolites, and biocontrol), compatibility screening, minimal yet robust community architectures, and iterative optimization driven by multi-omics and high-throughput phenotyping. Translation to field settings is framed as an engineering challenge defined by formulation and administration limitations, including carrier type, seed coating and encapsulation methods, shelf life, strain invasiveness, and permanence of colonization amid environmental diversity. We also summarize how integrative measurement pipelines (amplicon and shotgun sequencing, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and network or causal analyses) can advance microbiome studies from correlation to actionability. We describe how precision agriculture (sensors, remote sensing, and variable-rate inputs) and AI/ML (split-sample comparisons, transfer learning, and active learning) approaches can accelerate strain discovery, mixture optimization, and adaptive experimentation, driven by the need for stringent controls, metadata-rich reporting, and cross-site comparability. Use cases focus on stress conditions (drought, salinity, thermal extremes, and biotic stress) to demonstrate how microbial functions translate to agronomic outcomes and to highlight critical bottlenecks for reproducible, scalable microbiome products. Full article

Contemporary studies of religious modernity tend to view faith systems as static traditions that resist secularization. Although it has recently been acknowledged that local religions may be resilient, scholars often overlook the internal creativity of action that enables such faiths to actively navigate secular constraints. To address this gap, this study investigates a shamanistic folk religion, the Moed faith, to answer a critical question: How can a marginalized religious system innovate to survive within a strict secular order without compromising its spiritual principles? This paper proposes Performative Adaptation as a mechanism of religious creativity by combining historical analysis and ethnographic data through the lens of Actor-Network Theory. It argues that the Moed faith reassembles itself as a dynamic ritual-art continuum rather than remaining a fixed entity. The findings reveal that practitioners actively separate ritual form from function, transforming sacred exorcism chants into the secular performing art of Modlaenz to secure Intangible Cultural Heritage status. Furthermore, this adaptation fosters a transnational Pan-Tai spiritual community, turning rigid geopolitical borders into zones of cultural contact. Ultimately, this research challenges the view of religion as merely a repository of tradition, demonstrating that faith systems can actively engage in institutional innovation and identity construction. Full article

Depopulation and structural demographic challenges affect social and territorial cohesion in Europe, a phenomenon that is particularly evident in rural municipalities in Spain, where the loss of the working-age population and the concentration of older adults threaten sustainability. This study analyzes the case of Pescueza (Cáceres, Spain) using a mixed-methods design that combines longitudinal demographic analysis (2000–2024) with a qualitative evaluation of the community project “Quédate con nosotr@s,” which focuses on comprehensive care and intergenerational participation. The results are critical regarding the demographic structure, with an aging index of 500% and dependency levels three times higher than the national average, although a slight demographic recovery linked to local initiatives is observed. This project has positive effects on social cohesion, community capital, and resilience in the face of demographic challenges, establishing itself as a replicable model for rural micro-territories. The study proposes a strategic framework based on the SWOT-CAME matrix and social sustainability indicators, aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals and European territorial cohesion policies. It concludes that social innovation, collaborative governance, and multilevel cooperation are key elements for addressing rural aging, and recommends public policies aimed at stable funding, inclusive digitalization, attracting young people, specialized training, and the creation of adapted infrastructure. Full article

The rapid proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in cloud-based e-learning platforms has posed significant security risks, particularly in protecting learner information, authentication of devices, and safe communication in the highly heterogeneous learning settings. Current cryptographic solutions are largely based on classical public-key infrastructure (PKI) protocols such as RSA and ECC, which will become vulnerable with the advent of large-scale quantum computers capable of executing Shor’s algorithm. In addition, traditional perimeter-based security models are inadequate for handling the dynamics, scattered, and resource-limited characteristics of IoT-enabled educational systems. As a solution to these problems, this paper introduces ZeroTrustEdu, a scalable zero-trust cryptographic solution that combines lightweight post-quantum key management with adaptive trust scoring of cloud-connected IoT e-learning infrastructure. The proposed framework makes three fundamental contributions namely: (1) a hierarchical zero-trust security model with no implicit trust, operating across device, edge, and cloud layers; (2) a lightweight key distribution protocol based on the Module-Lattice Key Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM) compliant with NIST FIPS 203 standards and (3) an adaptive behavioral trust scoring engine that dynamically adjusts device and user trust levels based on real-time interaction analytics. The architecture is evaluated using extensive NS-3 network simulations with up to 100,000 concurrent IoT nodes with formal security analysis under Chosen Plaintext Attack (CPA) and Chosen Ciphertext Attack (CCA) threat models. Comparative evaluation against RSA-2048, ECC-P256, and AES-256 baselines demonstrates that, ZeroTrustEdu delivers a 62% ± 3% (95% CI, 10 independent runs) reduction in ML-KEM encapsulation latency (12.8 ms for key encapsulation/decapsulation, contributing to a complete device authentication latency of 47.3 ms including ML-DSA signature operations), 45% reduced communication overheads, and 38% reduction in energy consumption on ARM Cortex-M4 constrained devices compared to RSA-2048 and achieves provable post-quantum security reducible to the hardness of the Module Learning With Errors (MLWE) problem. These findings demonstrate that the proposed architecture provides a viable, scalable, and quantum-resilient security solution for next-generation IoT-enabled e-learning environments. The cryptographic security of ZeroTrustEdu is guaranteed at the primitive level through NIST-standardized ML-KEM (FIPS 203) and ML-DSA (FIPS 204), with IND-CCA2 and EUF-CMA security formally proven in the respective standards; full protocol-level formal verification using automated theorem provers (ProVerif, Tamarin) is identified as valuable future work to rule out protocol-composition vulnerabilities beyond primitive-level guarantees. Full article

This review paper examines innovative urban design strategies for sustainable noise management through a structured analysis framed by ten guiding questions. It begins with an overview of conventional noise assessment technologies and progresses to advanced mitigation approaches. Core principles of sustainable urban design are explored, alongside evaluations of urban and transportation planning, traffic-reduction measures, green infrastructure, and resilient architectural strategies. Material innovations and modern noise-control technologies are presented as complementary solutions. Community-based methods, including citizen science and participatory planning, are highlighted for fostering inclusive governance. The discussion concludes by addressing key challenges and future directions, underscoring interdisciplinary collaboration to transform urban noise pollution into opportunities for healthier, more livable cities. Full article