Search Results (858)

This study explores the revival of cotton (Gossypium spp. L.) farming in Italy through sustainable practices, addressing economic and water-related challenges by integrating cultivar selection, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation, and deficit irrigation under organic farming. Field trials evaluated two widely grown Mediterranean cultivars (Armonia and ST-318) under three irrigation levels (I-100: 100% crop water requirement; I-70: 70%; I-30: 30%) across two Sicilian soil types (sandy loam vs. clay-rich). Under I-100, lint yields reached 0.99 t ha⁻¹, while severe deficit (I-30) yielded only 0.40 t ha⁻¹. However, moderate deficit (I-70) maintained 75–79% of full yields, proving a viable strategy. AMF inoculation significantly enhanced plant height (68.52 cm vs. 65.85 cm), boll number (+22.1%), and seed yield (+12.5%) (p < 0.001). Cultivar responses differed: Armonia performed better under water stress, while ST-318 thrived with full irrigation. Site 1, with higher organic matter, required 31–38% less water and achieved superior irrigation water productivity (1.43 kg m⁻³). Water stress also shortened phenological stages, allowing earlier harvests—important for avoiding autumn rains. These results highlight the potential of combining adaptive irrigation, resilient cultivars, and AMF to restore sustainable cotton production in the Mediterranean, emphasizing the importance of soil-specific management. Full article

Consumer interest in vegetarian, ethical, and clean-label foods is reviving the use of plant-derived milk coagulants. Cardosins from Cynara cardunculus (“thistle”) are aspartic proteases with strong clotting activity, yet their technological impact in cheese remains under-explored. This study compared a commercial thistle extract (PC) with traditional bovine rennet rich in chymosin (AC) during manufacture and 60-day ripening of Caciotta cheese. Classical compositional assays (ripening index, texture profile, color, solubility) were integrated with scanning electron microscopy, three-dimensional surface reconstruction, and descriptive sensory analysis. AC cheeses displayed slower but sustained proteolysis, yielding a higher and more linear ripening index, softer body, greater solubility, and brighter, more yellow appearance. Imaging revealed a continuous protein matrix with uniformly distributed, larger pores, consistent with a dairy-like sensory profile dominated by milky and umami notes. Conversely, PC cheeses underwent rapid early proteolysis that plateaued, producing firmer, chewier curds with lower solubility and darker color. Micrographs showed a fragmented matrix with smaller, heterogeneous pores; sensory evaluation highlighted vegetal, bitter, and astringent attributes. The data demonstrate that thistle coagulant can successfully replace animal rennet but generates cheeses with distinct structural and sensory fingerprints. The optimization of process parameters is therefore required when targeting specific product styles. Full article

Although there is growing agreement between scholars about the crucial role of Maraimalai Adigal in the early stage of the Tamil nationalist movement, the state of current understanding of this “religious phase of Tamil nationalism” is far from satisfactory. Authors of this article focused on three important claims in the currently accepted view on the character and goals of Adigal’s religious reform. The first stance portrays his efforts for purification of the Tamil language from foreign influences as “anti-Aryan” and “anti-Sanskritic.” The second claim describes the reformer’s efforts as a move from polytheism to “Shaiva monotheism”, and builds on ideas of the early Orientalists and Christian missionaries in India who formulated the “Sanskritic hegemony” thesis. As an assumption running through the debates about Adigal’s reforms, there is conviction that the Tamil intellectual basically accepted the crystallizing Aryan Invasion Theory as true description of both Ancient India and roots of the social problems in Tamilnadu of his times. In their thorough analysis of Adigal’s work and scholarly debates, authors of this article disclose the role of unexamined assumption about religious competition being the main form of cultural encounters in India, and argue for very different understanding of Adigal’s efforts to revive Shaivism. Full article

This article explores Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī’s political thought in relation to modern debates on secularism and Islamic reform. While often invoked by Islamist thinkers to support their anti-secular stance, al-Afghānī’s reflections on reason, religion, and constitutional politics show that he engaged with modernity in a more nuanced way than is commonly recognized. This article examines al-Afghānī’s writings and their reception. It argues that his thought was not about choosing a side between religion and secularism. Instead, his thought is better understood as a pragmatic anti-colonial strategy aimed at the revival of Muslim civilization. This reframing challenges the widely cited genealogical narrative that links him to later Islamists. His attempt to reconcile religious traditions with the imperative for reform provides valuable insights into the responses of Muslim reformers to modernity—insights that remain highly relevant today. Full article

The article is aimed at building on the existing studies devoted to the last stage of the assimilation policy directed at the Muslim population in Communist Bulgaria during the second half of the 1980s. The 40th anniversary of the forced change of the given Turkish–Arabic and Persian names of this population is an occasion to revisit this dark period of the recent past. This study focuses on the short- and long-term consequences of the political measures, which became known as the ‘Revival process’ (1984/1985–1989). For the first time, the author presents new written sources, including analytical and field reports commissioned by the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party and prepared by Bulgarian scholars during the second half of the 1980s, as well as later collected biographical data related to Muslims affected by the events, derived through an (auto)ethnographic method of research among Turks, Crimean Tatars and Muslim Roma. Full article

This study investigates the efficiency of electrocoagulation–flotation (EC) as a pre-treatment method for industrial wastewater with a high chemical oxygen demand (COD), high levels of suspended solids (TSS), and different colors. Real wastewater from a brewery, dairy, winery, and marine oil processing industry was treated using aluminum electrodes under various current densities. Laboratory-scale experiments demonstrated significant COD, TSS, and color removal, with marine oils and dairy wastewater showing the highest COD removal efficiencies (up to 88.6%), while for all the examined wastewater samples, the TSSs removal exceeded 95%. The results confirm EC’s effectiveness and adaptability across diverse wastewater types, supporting its potential as a sustainable, low-cost alternative as a industrial wastewater pre-treatment process. Full article

This paper introduces a new conceptual framework for interpreting urethral retro-resistance pressure (URP) as a dynamic, intra-procedural tool—ΔURP—for evaluating external urethral sphincter (EUS) engagement during injection therapy. With renewed interest in therapies that directly target the EUS, there is a critical need for real-time functional feedback at the site of action. This conceptual review re-examines URP in the context of emerging EUS-targeted treatments—such as bulking agents, regenerative injections, and neuromodulatory interventions—and proposes a dynamic model (ΔURP) to measure changes in sphincteric resistance as a functional biomarker during intervention. We review the anatomical, neurophysiological, and histological features of the EUS complex; trace the clinical rise and decline of URP; and compare its utility to conventional diagnostic tools. ΔURP, defined as the change in URP from baseline, is explored as an objective measure of EUS function. We outline its potential applications in guiding therapy, evaluating response, and standardizing outcomes across treatments. Conventional urodynamic measures fail to isolate distal sphincter function. In contrast, URP directly challenges the EUS and, when combined with imaging or procedural tools, may provide real-time feedback on sphincter engagement. When reframed as a dynamic, motion-based readout, URP may fill a critical gap in procedural urology—offering a physiologic signal of therapeutic engagement during EUS-targeted interventions. ΔURP has the potential to revive and repurpose a once-abandoned method into a clinically actionable biomarker for next-generation continence care. Full article

Oases in arid regions are critical ecosystems, providing essential ecological, agricultural, and socio-economic functions. However, urbanization and climate change increasingly threaten their sustainability. This study examines land cover (LULC) and land surface temperature (LST) dynamics in four representative North African oases: Tolga (Algeria), Nefta (Tunisia), Ghadames (Libya), and Siwa (Egypt) over the period 2000–2023, using Landsat satellite imagery. A three-step analysis was employed: calculation of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), NDBI (Normalized Difference Built-up Index), and LST, followed by supervised land cover classification and statistical tests to examine the relationships between the studied variables. The results reveal substantial reductions in bare soil (e.g., 48.10% in Siwa) and notable urban expansion (e.g., 136.01% in Siwa and 48.46% in Ghadames). Vegetation exhibited varied trends, with a slight decline in Tolga (0.26%) and a significant increase in Siwa (+27.17%). LST trends strongly correlated with land cover changes, demonstrating increased temperatures in urbanized areas and moderated temperatures in vegetated zones. Notably, this study highlights that traditional urban designs integrated with dense palm groves significantly mitigate thermal stress, achieving lower LST compared to modern urban expansions characterized by sparse, heat-absorbing surfaces. In contrast, areas dominated by fragmented vegetation or seasonal crops exhibited reduced cooling capacity, underscoring the critical role of vegetation type, spatial arrangement, and urban morphology in regulating oasis microclimates. Preserving palm groves, which are increasingly vulnerable to heat-driven pests, diseases and the introduction of exotic species grown for profit, together with a revival of the traditional compact urban fabric that provides shade and has been empirically confirmed by other oasis studies to moderate the microclimate more effectively than recent low-density extensions, will maintain the crucial synergy between buildings and vegetation, enhance the cooling capacity of these settlements, and safeguard their tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Full article

This paper focuses on regeneration projects in ‘first-generation’ seaside resorts in England from the perspective of those leading and managing such projects. There have been numerous recent initiatives intended to revive seaside resorts and enable them to regain competitiveness, but limited analysis of what is necessary for such regeneration projects to be successful. This paper contributes to debates about the role of critical success factors (CSFs) in regeneration by identifying issues that apply to the specific context of seaside resorts. In-depth interviews were undertaken with ten managers responsible for individual projects focusing on the CSFs necessary for regeneration projects to succeed. Four such factors were identified: (1) the need to secure appropriate funding (and associated difficulties); (2) the importance of involving stakeholders (particularly the local authority and local community); (3) the need for a strong business plan (which must evolve as the project progresses); and (4) the importance of considering best practices elsewhere. The importance of each success factor varied by the sector (public/commercial/third) leading the regeneration initiative and varied at different stages of a regeneration project. These findings have practical implications for local authorities, commercial enterprises, and third-sector bodies in seaside destinations. Full article

Geoarchaeological work and excavations of the Helike Project over the last 30 years in the Helike coastal plain, Gulf of Corinth, have yielded abundant evidence on ancient settlements, as well as the surrounding landscape and environmental changes that resulted from geological phenomena and catastrophic events. The research methods applied by the Helike Project followed a multidisciplinary approach, including combined archaeological excavations and palaeoseismological trenching, geophysical prospection, archaeometric, environmental, and soil micromorphology analyses, and computer-based landscape modelling. A wealth of settlement remains that were unearthed across the plain, ranging in date from the Early Helladic period (3rd millennium BC) to the Late Antiquity (5th century AD), indicates that the ancient inhabitants of the area chose to always resettle in the area by adjusting their ways of living to the geomorphology and natural hazards, prevailing each time. Our results show that disasters in the area increased between the Geometric and Roman times due to severe earthquakes that occurred approximately every 300 years. In particular, archaeological and geological finds recovered from the Late Classical–Hellenistic Helike settlement, which was revived in the western part of the plain shortly after the disastrous 373 BC earthquake, have enriched our knowledge regarding the historical seismicity of the region and past human–environment relationships. Full article

Excessive hair loss can negatively impact psychological well-being and personal appearance. Providing effective hair growth products containing natural ingredients to people with hair loss can solve this problem. This study investigates Biosea^® Revive serum (BRS), a novel hair care product containing biotinoyl tripeptide-1 and Phyllanthus emblica fruit extract as the main ingredients, as a natural intervention for hair growth. Results from the in vitro study demonstrates that BRS not only increased human hair dermal papilla cell (HHDPC) cell proliferation, but also reduced reactive oxygen species generation and 5α-reductase expression when compared to the control group, with BRS showing similar effect to the positive control, minoxidil. In addition, a 90-day clinical trial with 40 participants (KMUHIRB-F(I)-20230125; approval date: 18 August 2023) was conducted to assess the effectiveness and safety of BRS. The results revealed that BRS can improve hair density and quality in both men and women participants, with a significant reduction in transepidermal water loss (TEWL) in women (p < 0.05). Moreover, there were no adverse effects on blood parameters or scalp irritation reported after BRS treatment. In conclusion, we suggest that BRS offers a safe and effective solution for improving hair follicle health and is suitable for long-term use. Full article

This paper reexamines the enduring role of esoteric traditions, as articulated by Frances Yates, in shaping the intellectual landscape of the scientific revolution and their resonance in the digital age. Challenging the linear, progress-centered narratives of traditional historiographies, it explores how esoteric principles—symbolized by transformative motifs like the Philosopher’s Stone—provided a framework for early scientific inquiry by promoting hidden knowledge, experimentation, mathematics, and interdisciplinary synthesis. This paper argues that moments of accelerated scientific and technological development magnify the visibility of esoteric structures, demonstrating how the intellectual configurations of Renaissance learned circles persist in contemporary expert domains. In particular, artificial intelligence exemplifies the revival of esoteric modes of interpretation, as AI systems—much like their Renaissance predecessors—derive authority through the identification of unseen patterns and the extrapolation of hidden truths. By bridging Renaissance esotericism with the modern information revolution, this study highlights how such traditions are not mere relics of the past but dynamic paradigms shaping the present and future, potentially culminating in new forms of digital mysticism. This study affirms that the temporal gap during periods of rapid technological change between industrial practice and formal scientific treatises reinforces esoteric knowledge structures. Full article

This paper demonstrates the application of cognitive modeling methods to study problems relating to the functioning and advancement of a strategy for the development of rural areas. Rural areas play a vital role in human life; they have enormous economic, natural, demographic, historical, and cultural potential, and their revival ensures the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the field of SDG 2: “End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. The relevance of the study lies in the need to develop approaches in order to improve the efficiency of agriculture and to ensure the sustainable development of rural areas. The goal was to use cognitive modeling tools to understand the cause-and-effect mechanism of ensuring sustainable development of rural areas and analyze their possible development under the influence of internal and external factors to select the best strategy for sustainable development. Based on 24 selected quantitative and qualitative indicators, a cognitive map “Sustainable Development of Rural Areas” was constructed, and an analysis of 351 cycles of the cognitive model was carried out, among which 286 positive and 65 negative cycles were observed, indicating the structural stability of the model. Computational experiments were carried out using pulse and scenario modeling; the results are presented and visualized in the form of five scenarios for complex systems development. The results of this study can be used as decision support tools for substantiating strategies and developing policies for the balanced development of rural areas. Full article

From the mid-Ming to early Qing dynasties, Mount Jizu 雞足山 in Yunnan achieved unexpected prominence within China’s Buddhist sacred landscape—an event of regional, national, and transnational significance. Employing an explicit comparative lens that juxtaposes Jizu with China’s core-region sacred sites like Mount Wutai and Emei, this study investigates the timing, regional dynamics, institutional mechanisms, and causal drivers behind the rapid ascent. Rejecting teleological narratives, it traces the mountain’s trajectory through four developmental phases to address critical historiographical questions: how did a peripheral Yunnan site achieve national prominence within a remarkably compressed timeframe? By what mechanisms could its sacred authority be constructed to inspire pilgrimages even across vast distances? Which historical agents and processes orchestrated these transformations, and how did the mountain’s symbolic meaning shift dynamically over time? Departing from earlier scholarship that privileges regional and secular frameworks, this work not only rebalances the emphasis on religious dimensions but also expands the analytical scope beyond regional confines to situate Mount Jizu within national and transnational frameworks. Eventually, by analyzing the structural, institutional, and agential dynamics—spanning local, imperial, and transnational dimensions—this study reveals how the mountain’s sacralization emerged from the convergence of local agency, acculturative pressures, state-building imperatives, late-Ming Buddhist revival, literati networks, and the strategic mobilization of symbolic capital. It also reveals that Mount Jizu was not a static sacred site but a dynamic arena of contestation and negotiation, where competing claims to spiritual authority and cultural identity were perpetually redefined. Full article

We study the entanglement dynamics of a pair of non-identical interacting atoms (qubits) coupled off-resonance to a single-mode cavity radiation field and exposed to dephasing environments. The qubits are studied starting from various initial states that are disentangled from an initially coherent field. The system models the basic building units of quantum information processing (QIP) platforms under the realistic considerations of asymmetry and external environmental influences. We investigate how introducing a radiation field alters the system’s entanglement dynamics in the presence of dephasing environments, and how it impacts the effects of the dephasing environments themselves. The work examines the problem under various settings of inter-qubit interactions, which are now experimentally controllable in some of the newly engineered artificial qubit systems. We illustrate that only upon introducing the radiation field, the system suffers a terminal disentanglement (followed by no revivals) in a finite time. This behavior is exacerbated when the atoms’ interaction with the field is stronger. Moreover, the effects of the field’s intensity and the atoms’ detunings are vastly sensitive to the choice of the initial state. We also demonstrate that the closer the atoms’ transition frequencies are to resonance with the field, the more pronounced are the effects of strengthening the independent dephasing environments corresponding to some initial states. Those states also suffered a greater reduction in entanglement content when the qubits with stronger atom–field interaction strength were influenced by a stronger independent dephasing environment. In addition, we examined the ability of the correlated dephasing environment to induce a noise-enhanced efficiency in the presence of an external radiation field. We showed that the radiation field could play a decisive role in enabling or restricting noise-enhanced efficiency, but one that is also highly sensitive to the system’s initial state. Full article