Search Results (210,863)

The phytoplankton community, which forms the base of aquatic food webs, plays a central role in ecosystem functioning and accounts for most primary production in aquatic systems, particularly in lentic environments. However, climate change and chemical pollution, especially herbicides, pose increasing threats to its structure and functioning. We hypothesized that herbicide exposure would alter both structural and functional attributes of the phytoplankton community, with primary production responding more strongly than community structure. This experimental study evaluated the effects of two widely used herbicides, atrazine and 2,4-D, applied individually and in combination, on a phytoplankton community maintained at a fixed elevated temperature representative of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP2-4.5 scenario described in the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Because temperature was not experimentally varied, the study was designed to assess herbicide responses under this fixed elevated thermal condition rather than warming effects or herbicide–temperature interactions. Phytoplankton samples collected from an artificial urban reservoir were exposed to six treatments, including a control, comprising different nominal concentrations of atrazine (32 and 64 µg L⁻¹) and 2,4-D (150 and 500 µg L⁻¹), applied alone or in mixture, in a completely randomized design with 10 independent replicates per treatment. Throughout the experiment, all samples were maintained under identical experimental conditions: a constant temperature of 31.8 °C, an irradiance of 140 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹, and a 12 h light/12 h dark photoperiod. Response variables included density, taxonomic composition, biomass (chlorophyll a), and primary production (net photosynthesis). The results showed that herbicide treatment altered taxonomic composition and was associated with a marginal response in density but had no significant effects on species richness, diversity, evenness, dominance, or biomass. In contrast, net photosynthesis was the only functional variable significantly affected by herbicide treatments, with post hoc comparisons revealing lower values in the Mixture treatment than in the 2,4-D High treatment. Overall, these findings suggest a decoupling between community structure and phytoplankton functional performance following exposure to atrazine and 2,4-D under a thermal condition representative of the SSP2-4.5 climate scenario, with net photosynthesis appearing more sensitive than conventional structural descriptors. Full article

Consumer financial services depend on interconnected institutions, products and regulatory processes, yet complaints about failures within this infrastructure are usually analysed as individual cases or grouped using administrative categories. This study examines whether large-scale complaint data can instead reveal recurring structures of failure. Using 4.7 million complaints submitted to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau between 2011 and 2024, we develop a Failure Ecosystem Framework that groups complaint narratives by semantic similarity and traces the institutions and products associated with each group over time. The analysis identifies 16 failure ecosystems, spanning credit reporting, identity theft, debt collection, payment disputes, mortgage servicing and digital finance. These ecosystems differ substantially: some failures concentrate among a few institutions while others are widely distributed, and in many, the same institution–product combinations recur from year to year. Greater concentration is not systematically associated with better or worse complaint outcomes, and the evidence is least conclusive for monetary compensation. Corrective outcomes vary more across failure types than with concentration, indicating that market structure alone cannot explain how consumer failures are remedied. Complaints can therefore reveal persistent structures of failure that case-by-case review does not expose, supporting system-level monitoring of vulnerabilities in consumer finance. Full article

Understanding the potential mechanisms of bacterial azo dye decolorization remains a challenge due to a limited understanding of the exact stereochemical forces guiding enzyme–substrate interactions. This study addresses these interactions by evaluating the in silico binding architectures of Orange G (OG) and Congo Red (CR) against the Bacillus-derived azoreductase model AzrA (PDB ID: 3W77). Computational modeling predicted favorable thermodynamic properties within the calculated active site, yielding binding energy scores of −8.17 kcal/mol for CR and −6.63 kcal/mol for OG. These simulations identified hydrogen-bonding and aromatic π-π interactions within the predicted binding pocket. These predictions suggest potential enzyme–dye association but do not demonstrate catalytic activity or azo-bond cleavage. Independently, Bacillus cereus BC WW Saida achieved an 81% decolorization of OG within 144 h and a 70% reduction in CR within 96 h. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) indicated chemical transformation, demonstrating a significant decrease in primary dye peaks alongside the emergence of novel intermediate peaks at 254 nm. Rather than definitively establishing a metabolic pathway, these outcomes deliver preliminary structural models of azoreductase-substrate affinities, offering a useful framework for the comparative evaluation of microbial catalysts for industrial effluent purification. Full article

The species diversity of lichenized fungi remains largely underestimated, yet the number of species in the cetrarioid core group of Parmeliaceae has remained stable while generic delimitations have been highly debated. Here, we performed a partitioned phylogenetic analysis incorporating secondary structure characters of three ribosomal loci (ITS, mtSSU, and nuLSU) combined with comprehensive phenotypic traits. Based on the results, we hypothesized that a Large Temporal Band (29.0–35.0 Mya) may serve as a baseline threshold for most generic divergences, corresponding to late-Oligocene global cooling and the primary cladogenesis of cetrarioid core lineages as documented in previous molecular dating studies. Additionally, we suggest a Small Temporal Band (14.0–18.0 Mya) for a subset of recently radiated genera that originated during the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum transition (~16 Mya). Two currently accepted genera (Cetraria and Nephromopsis) are largely supported in their current circumscriptions. Two new genera, Cetramelanelia and Tuckermanoides, are proposed to accommodate a clade of two species from Cetrariella and Tuckermanopsis platyphylla, respectively. Allocetraria is confirmed to resurrect as a genus separate from Cetraria, with Usnocetraria and Vulpicida treated as its synonyms. Foveolaria is reduced to synonymy with Nephromopsis. Ten new combinations and one new synonym at the species level are made. A dual-band temporal hypothesis for generic delimitation appears taxonomically reasonable for most macrolichens. Full article

This comparative study examines the interplay between moral rhetoric and material deprivation in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist and Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. Focusing on scenes in which authority figures articulate ideals of charity, order, or progress while children endure immediate neglect, the article argues that the irony resides not in individual dishonesty but in the structural failures of the institutions they represent. Through close reading of Dickens’s workhouse boardroom and McCourt’s leaking classroom, the analysis demonstrates how the child’s perspective exposes the chasm between abstract care and tangible neglect. Drawing on theories of spatial irony, ethics of care, and child narratology, the study suggests that literary representations of this contradiction offer a critical lens for understanding how poverty is managed through language rather than material intervention. By tracing this pattern from Victorian fiction to late-twentieth-century memoir, the article proposes that the leaking roof functions as an enduring symbol of social hypocrisy, wherein the discourse of compassion coexists with the architecture of decay. Full article

This study investigates the effects of institutional quality and economic diversification on macroeconomic resilience in Iraq during 1996–2025. A Composite Macroeconomic Resilience Index (CMRI) was constructed using Principal Component Analysis, while institutional quality and economic diversification were measured using composite governance and Herfindahl–Hirschman indices. The analysis employed Quantile Regression, Bayesian Regression, NARDL, Toda–Yamamoto causality, and FMOLS. The results consistently identify institutional quality as the principal determinant of macroeconomic resilience. Economic diversification exhibits a predominantly negative long-run association across the estimation frameworks, indicating that diversification has not yet generated sufficient structural transformation to reduce oil dependence. Overall, the findings highlight that strengthening institutional quality is essential for achieving sustainable macroeconomic resilience in Iraq. Full article

Accurate prediction and energy-efficient control of pig-house environments remain challenging because temperature, relative humidity, NH_3, and CO₂ are nonlinear, strongly coupled, and affected by ventilation and seasonal conditions. This study proposes an intelligent prediction-control framework integrating hybrid deep learning prediction with nonlinear model predictive control for multivariable pig-house environmental regulation. Several hybrid deep learning models were compared, including CNN-LSTM-standard transformer, CNN-LSTM-lightweight transformer, and the proposed CNN-LSTM-linformer-style model. The CNN-LSTM-lightweight transformer achieved the highest overall prediction accuracy, whereas the proposed CNN-LSTM-linformer-style model provided the most compact structure by using separable convolution, global average pooling, and linformer-style attention, reducing training time and memory usage by approximately 53% compared with the CNN-LSTM-standard transformer. The prediction model was integrated with FLC, NMPC, and ANMPC for closed-loop ventilation control. ANMPC adjusts control weights online according to environmental deviations to balance environmental regulation and energy use under disturbances. In the nominal closed-loop simulation, NMPC and ANMPC reduced ventilation energy consumption by approximately 44% compared with FLC, while ANMPC achieved a 4.35% lower NH₃ steady-state error and a 3.5% faster NH₃ recovery response than NMPC under disturbance conditions. In 24 -h pre-field verification, NMPC and ANMPC reduced energy consumption by 35.8% and 27.4%, respectively, while maintaining pollutant safety. Full article

This study presents a numerical investigation of natural convection in a two-dimensional inclined square cavity filled with air and subjected to differential heating. The effects of the Rayleigh number and cavity inclination on heat transfer and flow behavior were investigated for 10³ ≤ Ra ≤ 10⁹ and inclination angles of 0°, 15°, 30°, and 45°. The dimensionless Navier–Stokes and energy equations were solved using the finite-element method under the Boussinesq approximation with a steady laminar formulation. A structured quadrilateral mesh with boundary-layer refinement was employed near the differentially heated walls. Mesh-refinement tests and comparisons with benchmark data for the classical square cavity were used to assess the numerical accuracy of the model. The results show that the average Nusselt number increases with the Rayleigh number, reflecting the progressive intensification of buoyancy-driven heat transfer. The effect of inclination is non-monotonic and depends on the Rayleigh number. At Ra = 10⁴, the highest average Nusselt number is obtained at 45°, whereas for Ra ≥ 10⁵, the maximum is consistently observed at 15°. At Ra = 10⁹, the average Nusselt number is 54.475, 55.617, 53.224, and 49.408 for inclination angles of 0°, 15°, 30°, and 45°, respectively. The results indicate that moderate cavity inclination can enhance heat transfer by favorably modifying the interaction between buoyancy and the imposed thermal gradient, whereas larger inclinations progressively reduce the heat-transfer rate. The present results provide a systematic characterization of the coupled effects of Rayleigh number and cavity inclination within the scope of the steady two-dimensional formulation considered. Full article

Bio-inspired architectural design increasingly relies on generative artificial intelligence to expand early-stage concept exploration, yet current workflows often suffer from vague requirement definition, subjective proposal selection, and weak connections between user expectations, visual generation, and design evaluation. This study proposes a closed-loop human–AI decision-support framework for biomimetic architectural concept generation. The framework first uses Kansei-oriented requirement analysis and the KANO model to identify and classify stakeholder expectations concerning morphology, structural rationality, environmental integration, cultural narrative, visual novelty, interactivity, and sustainability. On the basis of 282 valid questionnaire responses, the most influential requirement categories are further translated into an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) hierarchy, where expert judgement from a five-member specialist panel is used to derive criterion and sub-criterion weights. These weights are then converted into structured prompts—via a formally specified weight-to-language conversion strategy—to guide a diffusion-based image-generation system toward more targeted biomimetic concepts. Finally, TOPSIS is applied to rank generated design alternatives according to the same weighted criteria, thereby creating a traceable link from requirement discovery to generation and decision-making. Case studies involving eagle-, manta ray-, and cheetah-inspired architectural concepts indicate that the framework improves the explicitness of design objectives, supports more consistent comparison among alternatives, and reduces reliance on purely intuitive aesthetic judgement. An ablation comparison confirms that each stage of the framework contributes incrementally to the quality of final outcomes. This study proposes an integrated workflow that combines requirements modeling, multi-criteria evaluation, and AI-assisted visual design. Full article

Adaptive reuse of industrial heritage has become an important approach for extending building life cycles, preserving cultural identity, and promoting urban regeneration. However, limited research has examined how users’ perceptions of regenerated industrial spaces relate to broader evaluations of adaptive reuse outcomes. This study investigates ZhiYin 1953, a commercially reused former textile factory complex in Shijiazhuang, China. Using an extended Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, we analyzed data from 396 valid on-site questionnaires using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results show that industrial heritage perception, spatial environmental quality, and commercial vitality are positively associated with place attachment (PA). PA is positively related to both behavioral intention (BI) and perceived human settlement value (PHSV), while BI is also positively associated with PHSV. Mediation analysis suggests that PA and BI represent important indirect pathways linking site-related perceptions with users’ evaluations of adaptive reuse outcomes. By contrast, commercial–industrial culture coordination does not significantly predict PA, suggesting that symbolic coordination between commercial functions and industrial cultural elements may not be sufficient to strengthen users’ emotional connections. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating industrial heritage adaptive reuse beyond physical conservation and functional transformation by considering users’ perceptions of heritage meaning, spatial quality, public life, and continued engagement. Sustainable regeneration strategies should therefore integrate heritage-sensitive design, accessible public spaces, balanced commercial activation, and meaningful cultural interpretation. Full article

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by thrombotic and inflammatory manifestations whose molecular regulatory mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and N6-methyladenosine (m6A)-related regulation are increasingly recognized as components of immune gene regulation, but their involvement in APS remains poorly characterized. This study investigated BRD3OS (LINC00094) expression in APS and explored its molecular and predicted structural context in relation to m6A-associated regulation. An exploratory case–control study was conducted using an initial lncRNA PCR-array discovery cohort followed by targeted RT-qPCR validation in an independent cohort. Candidate prioritization incorporated multiple expression and technical features and was evaluated through sensitivity analyses. BRD3OS expression, selected m6A regulators (METTL3, METTL14, WTAP, and FTO), inflammatory mediators, and global m6A abundance in total peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) RNA were evaluated. Bioinformatic network analysis was used to contextualize BRD3OS within APS- and m6A-related molecular systems. RNAfold and RNAplfold were used to characterize the predicted structural context and accessibility of DRACH consensus motifs, with additional analyses evaluating fragment-boundary and composite-score robustness. BRD3OS was significantly downregulated in PBMCs from patients with APS in the independent validation cohort. METTL3, METTL14, and WTAP expression was also reduced, whereas global m6A levels in total PBMC RNA were increased. These observations indicate concurrent alterations in BRD3OS expression and the broader m6A-related molecular environment but do not establish transcript-specific methylation of BRD3OS. Bioinformatic network analysis placed BRD3OS within predicted RNA-centered regulatory relationships relevant to APS. DRACH motifs exhibited heterogeneous predicted structural accessibility, with unpaired structural environments showing greater RNAplfold-derived accessibility than paired regions. Quantitative accessibility estimates were highly concordant across overlapping transcript fragments, although sensitivity analyses indicated that the identity of individual highest-ranked candidates depended on the weighting scheme. BRD3OS downregulation represents a reproducible molecular finding in APS. Concurrent alterations in global m6A abundance and selected m6A regulators suggest broader epitranscriptomic dysregulation; however, these measurements cannot establish m6A modification of BRD3OS or a causal relationship between these observations. Structural and network analyses therefore provide a hypothesis-generating framework for prioritizing candidate regions and interactions for future transcript-specific methylation mapping and functional validation. Full article

This article reconsiders Pjetër Budi’s Christian Doctrine as a formative work of early Albanian literature in which biblical reception, vernacular writing, and communal address become mutually constitutive. Rather than treating Budi’s poetry as a derivative versification of Scripture or as a document whose religious purpose excludes literary analysis, the article argues that biblical material is transformed through poetic re-creation in Albanian. Budi receives Scripture as a narrative sequence, moral pattern, image, voice, and rhetorical authority. His retellings of the Fall, Cain and Abel, the Flood, the Passion, and Resurrection preserve recognizable biblical structures while changing their mode of address through rhythm, compression, repetition, dramatic speech, and collective exhortation. The article further argues that vernacularization is itself a literary event. Budi’s insistence that prayer must be understood in the language of the community, together with his invocation for divine illumination so that he may sing a “new song” in Albanian, makes language part of the work’s theology and poetics. Scripture thus becomes more than a source behind the poems: it becomes a medium through which Albanian acquires spiritual, poetic, and public authority. Budi’s work offers a significant case for biblical literary studies because it shows how a small vernacular literary culture with limited institutional infrastructure can convert inherited sacred forms into an instrument of literary formation and communal self-recognition. Note on translations: Unless otherwise indicated, English translations of quotations from Albanian sources are the author’s. Full article

Background/Objectives: Detailed study of the anatomy of the maxillary sinuses is crucial for reducing the risk of complications in sinus augmentation and implant procedures, endodontic surgical treatment, and other operations in the posterior maxilla. This retrospective cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) study aimed to investigate maxillary sinus volume, septal morphology and distribution, ostium height, and pathological findings, as well as their interrelationships, in a Saudi clinical cohort using combined three-dimensional volumetric and morphometric analyses. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 360 CBCT scans obtained from patients after applying predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The volumes of the maxillary sinuses were measured by means of semi-automatic segmentation with ITK-SNAP software, while the structure of the septum, anatomical position, orientation, and internal architecture were assessed with BlueSky Bio software. The vertical distance from the natural opening to the bottom of the sinus and pathologies of the Schneiderian membrane were also studied. Results: The mean volume of the left maxillary sinus was found to be larger than the right (14,948.6 ± 5473.5 and 13,937.6 ± 4020.7 mm³, respectively). No sexual differences were noted with regard to sinus sizes. The prevalence of septa was 80.3% for the left side and 77.5% for the right side. The septa were mostly incomplete, with complete septa being less common. Various types of positioning and orientation were recorded for the septa, with a peak in the molar region. In the case of the left sinus, the height of the ostium was greater in men than women (p = 0.007); no differences were observed for the right side. Conclusions: The anatomy of the maxillary sinus shows great three-dimensional variation in terms of the shape of septa, the volume of the sinus, the height of the ostium, and any pathological changes related to that anatomy. The significant relationship between the presence of septa and the pathology of the mucosa highlights the need for adequate preoperative CBCT analysis of the anatomy. Full article

This work reports the synthesis and characterization of sustainable, multifunctional chitosan/graphene oxide hybrid nanoparticles (GOCS_NPs) prepared via a low-temperature ionotropic gelation method utilizing sodium tripolyphosphate as a green crosslinker. Combined DLS and TEM analyses confirmed the successful formation of submicron spherical nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 295 ± 15 nm (PDI 0.26), and GOCS_NPs were evaluated as a dual-action platform for the adsorption of a model cationic dye, Methylene Blue (MB), and for antimicrobial remediation against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Equilibrium adsorption studies revealed that incorporating GO dramatically increased the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity from 2.78 mg g⁻¹ (for CS_NPs) to 37.16 mg g⁻¹ (for GOCS_NPs), closely following the Langmuir and Sips models through a pseudo-second order sorption mechanism. Furthermore, desorption investigations demonstrated that the GOCS_NPs maintained substantial adsorption performance over multiple adsorption–desorption cycles under controlled conditions. Concurrently, GOCS_NPs exhibited a dose-dependent enhancement in antibacterial efficacy, showing greater activity against Gram-negative E. coli (MIC of 1.25 mg mL⁻¹) than against Gram-positive S. Aureus (MIC of 2.50 mg mL⁻¹). Overall, these findings elucidate the structure–property–performance relationships of these carbon–biopolymer hybrid nanocomposites, validating their suitability as an advanced, eco-friendly, and reusable platform for comprehensive and sustainable wastewater remediation. Full article

Background/Objectives: Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is the most common cyanotic congenital heart defect, and cardiac computed tomography (CT) is increasingly central to its anatomical and pre-procedural assessment. Artificial-intelligence research in TOF is dominated by MRI; deep learning on cardiac CT in congenital heart disease exists but addresses multi-class diagnosis and segmentation, and the one binary TOF-versus-control CT study used slice-level validation without confounder control, and, to our knowledge, no CT study reports controlling the confounding intrinsic to a TOF-versus-control comparison. This confounding is structural: TOF is imaged predominantly in infancy, so a naive classifier can learn age, body size, and acquisition protocol rather than pathology. We develop and internally evaluate a confounder-matched, anatomy-guided deep-learning pipeline for TOF on cardiac CT. Methods: Contrast-enhanced cardiac CT from a single scanner was de-identified and restricted to one reconstruction (FC15 kernel, 0.5 mm), then matched 1:1 on age and sex, yielding 42 TOF and 42 controls (n = 84); controls were children imaged for suspected but excluded cardiovascular disease, so scan indication, unlike age and sex, was not matched. Standardized volumes were decomposed into four fixed sub-volumes positioned to approximate the components of the diagnostic tetrad: malalignment ventricular septal defect (VSD), overriding aorta, right-ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), and right-ventricular hypertrophy (RVH). Whether each sub-volume contains its named target was audited against independent physician region-of-interest annotations. Per region, a 2.5D transfer-learning classifier (ImageNet ResNet18) and a 3D CNN (DenseNet121) were trained with leak-free patient-level five-fold cross-validation and the branches fused. Optimism was assessed by repeated cross-validation and, for model selection, by nested cross-validation with the component subset and operating point chosen inside an inner loop. Discrimination was reported with bootstrap 95% confidence intervals (CIs); AUROCs were compared by DeLong test, with Benjamini–Hochberg correction applied to a seven-member family (the four within-component comparisons, two hybrid-versus-VSD contrasts, and hybrid versus whole-heart) and other comparisons reported uncorrected. Results: Matching removed the age difference (median 0.33 years, IQR 0.17–0.92 vs. 0.33, IQR 0.27–0.73; p = 0.86) with balanced sex (p = 1.00). The pre-specified four-component hybrid reached AUROC 0.829 (95% CI 0.74–0.91); the VSD region alone reached 0.828 (0.74–0.91), so the tetrad decomposition did not improve accuracy, and the containment audit shows it does not deliver the intended anatomical interpretability either. The 2.5D model exceeded the 3D CNN for every component (0.769–0.828 vs. 0.573–0.656; raw DeLong p = 0.007–0.037, Benjamini–Hochberg q up to 0.065 under a seven-member family, the weakest comparison (RVH) not surviving correction). Repeated cross-validation gave 0.811 ± 0.026 and nested cross-validation 0.787 ± 0.029; a stronger backbone with multi-phase data, handcrafted radiomics, and a large CT foundation model did not significantly improve on the matched pipeline. Grad-CAM maps were sensitive to both model weights and labels and superior to a centred-blob null in all eight comparisons and significantly so in seven, but not consistently superior to a resolution-matched random attribution, so no localization claim is made. Calibration was imperfect (slope 0.67) and recalibration gave no net gain; at an in-sample Youden threshold sensitivity was 0.93 and specificity 0.64. Occlusion sensitivity on the whole-heart baseline model showed it relies on the physician-marked septal, aortic and right-ventricular sites 1.8–4.1 times more than distance-matched surrounding tissue, while gross morphometry alone reached 0.651–0.663. Two of the four sub-volumes did not contain their target: the RVOT prior contained the physician annotation in 48.1% of cases and, because the model samples only the central band, excluded it in 99.4%; the RVH box was offset toward the midline, containing the marked target in 43.4% of annotations. Repositioning the priors, leak-free and derived from controls only, did not change discrimination (all p≥ 0.10), and boxes placed at random positions inside the standardized heart reached 0.765 on average against 0.796 for the published priors, a difference this cohort cannot resolve. Conclusions: As a proof of concept, confounder-matched deep learning can recognize TOF on cardiac CT. Increasing model capacity did not significantly improve on the matched pipeline; the separate contribution of matching itself was not isolated against an unmatched comparator. Given the small, single-centre sample and the absence of external validation, these findings are hypothesis-generating and require external, multi-centre confirmation before any clinical use. Full article