Search Results (2,181)

The arts sector—museums, theaters, and orchestras—in the United States and Europe faces increasing financial and operational challenges, from declining attendance to reduced public and private funding. While these organizations have historically pursued their goals independently, their future may depend on fostering collaboration across these traditionally siloed institutions. By pooling resources, expertise, and, most importantly, audiences, cross-disciplinary partnerships can amplify the impact of cultural institutions while addressing shared challenges. For instance, museums and performing arts organizations could collaborate on immersive experiences that integrate visual and performing arts, attracting a broader and more diverse audience base. Similarly, joint programming and shared digital platforms could reduce overhead costs and expand outreach. These partnerships also enable the arts to present a unified case for public and philanthropic support, leading to greater collective societal impact. Drawing on successful examples of cross-sector collaboration, this paper explores practical strategies for fostering synergies among arts institutions. By working together, the arts can not only enhance their resilience in a challenging environment but also redefine how cultural experiences are created and consumed, ensuring their relevance and vibrancy for future generations. Full article

Edge intelligence plays an increasingly vital role in ensuring the reliability of distributed microservice-based applications, which are widely used in domains such as e-commerce, industrial IoT, and cloud-edge collaborative platforms. However, anomaly detection in these systems encounters a critical challenge: labeled anomaly data are scarce. This scarcity leads to severe class asymmetry and compromised detection performance, particularly under the resource constraints of edge environments. Recent approaches based on Graph Neural Networks (GNNs)—often integrated with DeepSVDD and regularization techniques—have shown potential, but they rarely address this asymmetry in an adaptive, scenario-specific way. This work proposes Heterogeneous Graph Adaptive Augmentation (HGAA), a framework tailored for edge intelligence scenarios. HGAA dynamically optimizes graph data augmentation by leveraging feedback from online anomaly detection. To enhance detection accuracy while adhering to resource constraints, the framework incorporates a selective bias toward underrepresented anomaly types. It uses knowledge distillation to model dataset-dependent distributions and adaptively adjusts augmentation probabilities, thus avoiding excessive computational overhead in edge environments. Additionally, a dynamic adjustment mechanism evaluates augmentation success rates in real time, refining the selection processes to maintain model robustness. Experiments were conducted on two real-world datasets (TraceLog and FlowGraph) under simulated edge scenarios. Results show that HGAA consistently outperforms competitive baseline methods. Specifically, compared with the best non-adaptive augmentation strategies, HGAA achieves an average improvement of 4.5% in AUC and 4.6% in AP. Even larger gains are observed in challenging cases: for example, when using the HGT model on the TraceLog dataset, AUC improves by 14.6% and AP by 18.1%. Beyond accuracy, HGAA also significantly enhances efficiency: compared with filter-based methods, training time is reduced by up to 71% on TraceLog and 8.6% on FlowGraph, confirming its suitability for resource-constrained edge environments. These results highlight the potential of adaptive, edge-aware augmentation techniques in improving microservice anomaly detection within heterogeneous, resource-limited environments. Full article

This article deals with the analysis and exploration of the concept of integrating human knowledge (HK) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the management process. The authors point out that the implementation of advanced AI technologies into already functioning and often complex systems, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), presents significant technical challenges and requires a well-thought-out integration strategy. The complexity arises from the need to align new solutions with existing processes, resources, and data. Using the example of a fuel distribution system, the authors present the concept of integrating human knowledge (HK) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the management process. The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the smart upgrade of fuel delivery management (FDM) architecture by incorporating an AI app to solve complex problems, such as predicting demand or traffic flows, as well as correctly detecting near-miss events. Technological convergence enables the mutual pursuit of improving the management process by developing soft skills and expanding knowledge managers. The authors’ findings show that an important factor for successful convergence is horizontal and vertical matching of the human knowledge and artificial intelligence cooperation for archive max positive synergy. Some recommendations could be useful for tank truck operators as a starting point to predict demand patterns, smart route planning, etc., where an AI app could be very successful. Full article

Congenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is the most common vertically transmitted viral infection, and it affects 1 in 200 live births worldwide. While neonates are often asymptomatic at birth, congenital HCMV infection can result in long-term complications, including microcephaly, sensorineural hearing loss, and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. Developing antiviral strategies for the treatment and prevention of congenital HCMV infections is a global public health priority. However, licensed anti-HCMV vaccines are not yet available, and therapeutic options for use during pregnancy remain limited. The complement system is a crucial component of the innate immune system that plays essential roles in both fetal development and maternal defense against infectious pathogens. In cases of congenital HCMV infection, complement may contribute to the successful containment of the virus, but dysregulation and overactivation could concurrently drive tissue-damaging inflammation. This review discusses the known roles of the complement system in fetal development and in HCMV pathogenesis and synthesizes existing research to develop the hypothesis that a dysregulated complement system is a key mechanism in the development of congenital HCMV-related pathogenesis and neurodevelopmental sequelae. We explore how HCMV may perturb the complement system during pregnancy and use one inhibitor example to illustrate the broader potential of targeting complement in limiting disease. Full article

Background: Midwifery leadership is central to delivering safe, high-quality maternity care. Yet despite sustained investment in leadership development and governance frameworks, UK national reviews consistently identify leadership as a weakness. Understanding why this persists is vital to achieving meaningful improvement. Objective: This paper offers a reflective commentary on the challenges of midwifery leadership in the UK, drawing on national evidence, leadership theory, and professional experience. Methods: A reflective commentary approach was adopted, informed by over 30 years of practice across clinical, academic, and national improvement roles. The discussion integrates insights from national maternity inquiries, academic literature, international comparisons, and leadership theories including compassionate, courageous, and adaptive leadership. Findings: Structural and cultural barriers—including workforce shortages, rising clinical complexity, tensions between midwifery- and medically led models of care, and punitive governance systems—limit the effectiveness of midwifery leadership. These conditions erode psychological safety, fuel attrition, and constrain succession planning. Reflection on professional experience highlights the impact of these dynamics on leaders’ ability to act with confidence and influence. Evidence also points to the value of relational, values-based behaviours—compassion, courage, adaptability, and systems thinking—in enhancing resilience and outcomes. International examples show that supportive policy environments and greater autonomy enable midwifery leadership to thrive. Conclusions: Midwifery leadership requires both individual capability and structural support. Practical priorities include dismantling punitive cultures, embedding Safety-II approaches, investing in leadership development, and enabling professional autonomy. Without such systemic reform, the ambitions of the NHS Long Term Plan will remain at risk, regardless of individual leaders’ skills. Full article

The contraction method is a procedure that allows to establish non-trivial relations between Lie algebras and has had successful applications in both mathematics and theoretical physics. This work deals with generalizations of the contraction procedure, with a main focus on the so-called S-expansion method, as it includes most of the other generalized contractions. Basically, the S-expansion combines a Lie algebra $\mathcal{G}$ with a finite abelian semigroup S in order to define new S-expanded algebras. After giving a description of the main ingredients used in this paper, we present a Java library that automates the S-expansion procedure. With this computational tool, we are able to represent Lie algebras and semigroups, so we can perform S-expansions of Lie algebras using arbitrary semigroups. We explain how the library methods have been constructed and how they work; then, we give a set of example programs aimed to solve different problems. They are presented so that any user can easily modify them to perform their own calculations, without necessarily being an expert in Java. Finally, some comments about further developments and possible new applications are made. Full article

Post-occupancy evaluation is a critical mechanism for ensuring the sustained success and continuous improvement of industrial heritage revitalization initiatives. The quality of the visitor experience plays a key role in determining a project’s long-term vitality. This study focuses on assessing user satisfaction with a revitalized industrial heritage site by employing web crawling and data mining techniques to systematically collect and analyze user-generated reviews from major online platforms. Using the 1933 Old Millfun in Shanghai, China, as an example, this research identifies six core evaluation dimensions derived from extensive user commentary: project accessibility, cultural legibility, aesthetic distinctiveness, commercial appeal, facility completeness, and sense of security. These dimensions are integrated into a comprehensive analytical framework, with the Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE) method applied to quantitatively assess the site’s performance across each category. By combining qualitative sentiment data with quantitative evaluation techniques, the data-driven presentation provides nuanced insights into the evolving user experience. The research results contribute to the development of a replicable and scalable paradigm for measuring user experience in industrial heritage revitalization and highlights the potential of digital platforms as valuable tools for heritage site management and continuous optimization. Full article

In Hungary, a particular form of state church developed during the Middle Ages. The legal nature of royal power was ensured by the crowning with the state and church founder Saint Stephen’s crown. Following the example of the apostolic succession of rights ensured by the laying on of hands at the consecration of bishops, we can, in fact, speak of a similarly sacral ‘successio regia’ in Hungarian terms. This sacral succession was created by the cultic relationship with the first holy king. In parallel, along the same ideology, the Hungarian kings took full control of the country’s church organization by the 15th century. However, while this control was linked to the person of the king, the Holy Crown also became, from the 15th century onwards, a symbol of state power independent of the king’s personal authority (Sacra Corona Regni Hungariae). This crown, however, was not merely an abstract idea, as in England, but an ideology tied to a concrete, sacred object that had developed. After the end of the reign of the foreign Habsburg dynasty from 1526 to 1918, the dignity of ‘apostolic king’, recognized by the Holy See in 1758, was no longer a realistic option. State control over the Catholic Church organization had disappeared. In contrast, the idea of the Holy Crown proved to be virulent, thanks to its independence from the person of the monarch. This explains why, after the fall of state socialism and the disappearance of the Soviet-Russian sphere of interest in Central Europe, the ancient crowned coat of arms was chosen in 1990 by the first freely elected parliament as the coat of arms of the Republic of Hungary, which had been proclaimed the previous year. This originally sacral symbol and the historicity and ideality it represented became the cornerstone of Hungarian statehood and the constitution in the third millennium, which, not incidentally, separated the state from all denominations. Full article

Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy has transformed the treatment landscape of cancer, yet major challenges remain in enhancing efficacy, reducing adverse effects, and expanding accessibility. Autologous CAR-T cells, derived from individual patients, have achieved remarkable clinical success in hematologic malignancies; however, their highly personalized nature limits scalability, increases costs, and delays timely treatment. Allogeneic CAR-T cells generated from healthy donors provide an “off-the-shelf” alternative but face two critical immune barriers: graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), caused by donor T-cell receptor (TCR) recognition of host tissues, and host-versus-graft rejection, mediated by recipient immune responses against donor HLA molecules. Recent advances in genome engineering, particularly Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9, allow precise modification of donor T cells to overcome these limitations. For example, TRAC gene knockout eliminates TCR expression, preventing GvHD, while disruption of HLA molecules reduces immunogenicity without impairing cytotoxicity. Beyond hematologic cancers, CRISPR-edited allogeneic CAR-T cells targeting the NKG2D receptor have shown promise in preclinical studies and early-phase trials. NKG2D CAR-T cells recognize stress ligands (MICA/B, ULBP1–6) expressed on over 80% of diverse solid tumors, including pancreatic and ovarian cancers, thereby broadening therapeutic applicability. Nevertheless, the genomic editing process carries risks of off-target effects, including potential disruption of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes, underscoring the need for stringent safety and quality control. This review examines the distinguishing features of allogeneic versus autologous CAR-T therapy, with a particular focus on NKG2D-based allogeneic CAR-T approaches for solid tumors. We summarize current strategies to mitigate immune barriers, discuss practical manufacturing challenges, and analyze available clinical data on NKG2D CAR-T trials. Collectively, these insights underscore both the promise and the hurdles of developing safe, universal, and scalable allogeneic CAR-T therapies for solid malignancies. Full article

Adversarial attacks against deep learning models achieve high performance in white-box settings but often exhibit low transferability in black-box scenarios, especially against defended models. In this work, we propose Multi-Path Random Restart (MPRR), which initializes multiple restart points with random noise to optimize gradient updates and improve transferability. Building upon MPRR, we propose the Channel Shuffled Attack Method (CSAM), a new gradient-based attack that generates highly transferable adversarial examples via channel permutation of input images. Extensive experiments on the ImageNet dataset show that MPRR substantially improves the success rates of existing attacks (e.g., boosting FGSM, MI-FGSM, DIM, and TIM by 22.4–38.6%), and CSAM achieves average success rates 13.8–24.0% higher than state-of-the-art methods. Full article

The advancement of science and technology has elevated the practice of surgery where computer systems now perform the majority of calculations required for successful interventions. This technological progress can be leveraged to foster surgical improvements by developing and implementing novel computer models for the preoperative planning of surgical treatments. Such systems enable surgeons to select optimal treatment tactics and dosages of operative interventions tailored to individual patients. Currently, there is no consensus on the use of expectant management for hemangiomas, as the most effective therapeutic strategy often depends on the tumor’s type and location, with early treatment being critical in some cases. Accurate diagnosis and effective treatment necessitate precise determination of the tumor’s type, growth characteristics, structure, and location. The use of a surgical method for hemangiomas removal is better for the removal of small formations in places that are not critical from a cosmetic prospective (for example, for males this might be the back and legs). This paper presents a method for creating a three-dimensional (3D) model of hemangioma using polynomial approximation and spline modeling to assist surgeons. The development of the mathematical model, the software implementation, and a comprehensive error analysis are explained in this work. The resulting model demonstrated an average approximation error of 5.6%, and a discriminant analysis confirmed the significance of five key parameters for successful resection. The proposed system offers a robust and economically viable tool for improving the accuracy and outcomes of hemangioma surgery. Full article

Protein toxins are biologically active polypeptides produced by a variety of organisms, including bacteria, plants, fungi, and animals. These molecules exert potent and specific toxic effects on target cells and are primarily associated with pathogenicity and defense mechanisms of the organisms. In the past few decades, significant progress has been made in understanding their structure, mechanisms of action, and regulation. Among these, bacterial protein toxins have emerged as valuable tools particularly in the development of targeted therapies. A notable example is Botulinum toxin, originally known for its neurotoxic effects, which was approved as a therapeutic agent in 1989 for strabismus treatment, paving way for repurposing bacterial toxins for clinical use. This review provides an overview of the different classes of bacterial toxin-based therapeutics, with a particular focus on Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and anthrax toxin from Bacillus anthracis. The modular architecture and potent cytotoxicity of these A-B type toxins have enabled their successful adaptation into targeted cancer therapies. The clinical approval of the PE-based immunotoxin, moxetumomab pasudotox, for the treatment of hairy cell leukemia, underscores the potential of this strategy. This review also discusses current challenges and outlines future directions for the advancement of bacterial toxin-based therapeutics. Full article

Triticale is a cereal that currently has a cultivated global area of approximately 3.8 Mha. It is widely used as a feed and forage crop. Although winter triticale cultivars are planted in Poland, Germany and Belarus (the main producers), a significant portion of their cultivation is carried out in the Mediterranean basin using spring cultivars. Spain and Türkiye are two examples of the success of this crop in terms of promotion, breeding, and expansion. Thus, in 2022/23, 280,000 hectares of triticale were planted in Spain, while 100,000 hectares were planted in Türkiye, ranking 5th and 8th in the world, respectively. Current triticale cultivars have high grain and/or forage yield. Furthermore, dual-purpose cultivars are available and can be intercropped with legumes, which increases their possibilities in the field. Triticale competes well with weeds and is resistant to many diseases. It performs well in acidic soils, and it is tolerant to drought, conditions common in the Mediterranean basin. In the future, funding for spring triticale breeding programs (which are scarce and declining) should be maintained, and projects to improve agronomic techniques and publicize the advantages of this crop could be implemented. Furthermore, the use of triticale for human food could expand in the region, especially in MENA countries. Full article

Adversarial examples pose a severe threat to deep neural networks. They are crafted by applying imperceptible perturbations to benign inputs, causing the model to produce incorrect predictions. Most existing attack methods exhibit limited generalization, especially in black-box settings involving unseen models or unknown classes. To address these limitations, we propose MAAG (multi-attention adversarial generation), a novel model architecture that enhances attack generalizability and transferability. MAAG integrates channel and spatial attention to extract representative features for adversarial example generation and capture diverse decision boundaries for better transferability. A composite loss guides the generation of adversarial examples across different victim models. Extensive experiments validate the superiority of our proposed method in crafting adversarial examples for both known and unknown classes. Specifically, it surpasses existing generative methods by approximately 7.0% and 7.8% in attack success rate on known and unknown classes, respectively. Full article

Twenty causative genes have been reported that cause non-syndromic childhood glaucoma associated with anterior segment dysgenesis. FOXC1, PAX6 and PITX2 are the most well-known, but cases linked to SLC4A11, PITX3 and SOX11 have also been reported. As genetic testing becomes increasingly widespread and rates of molecular diagnosis rise, the extent of phenotypic overlap between the different genetic causes of non-syndromic glaucoma associated with anterior segment dysgenesis is becoming more evident. Taking aniridia as an example, whilst PAX6 mutations remain the predominant cause, variants in CYP1B1, FOXC1, PXDN and SOX11 have also been reported in patients with childhood glaucoma and aniridia. Developments in molecular-based therapies for retinal and corneal disease are advancing rapidly, and pre-clinical studies of gene-based treatments for glaucoma and aniridia are showing promising results. Use of adeno-associated viral vectors for gene delivery is most common, with improvements in intraocular pressure and retinal ganglion cell survival in Tg-MYOC^Y437H mouse models of glaucoma, and successful correction of a germline PAX6^G194X nonsense variant in mice using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. This review will explore the actions and interactions of the genetic causes of non-syndromic glaucoma associated with anterior segment dysgenesis and discuss the current developments in molecular therapies for these patients. Full article