Search Results (9,623)

Sustainable sources of natural antioxidants are increasingly important for circular bioeconomy strategies. Plant-derived waste streams represent an underexploited resource with significant potential for recovery of high-value antioxidant compounds such as carotenoids, polyphenols, and resveratrol. This review assesses potential alternative biomass sources, including nonhazardous wastes from agriculture, forestry, and fishing, as well as those from the manufacture of food products, beverages, and tobacco products. It evaluates their valorization potential using statistical evidence at the European level. EUROSTAT datasets were analyzed using XLSTAT 2025.2.0 through correlation analysis, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC), and k-means clustering. Variables included fresh vegetable production, plant waste generation, processed waste volumes, and national research and development expenditures and innovation. Correlation analysis revealed a strong association between total processed waste and research and development investments (r = 0.87), suggesting that technological capacity influences waste valorization. A moderate correlation (r = 0.55) between nonhazardous waste and processed quantities supports the operational feasibility of extracting antioxidants from residual biomass. PCA showed that Factor 1 (50.16% variance) is dominated by waste generation and processing capacity, whereas organic agriculture loads primarily on Factor 2 (21.6%). Cluster analyses grouped European countries by bioresource management efficiency, highlighting substantial heterogeneity in their readiness for valorization. The combined statistical evidence supports the use of plant-based waste streams as viable, sustainable feedstocks for antioxidant recovery. Strengthening processing infrastructure, harmonizing data reporting, and accelerating research and development investments are essential steps for integrating antioxidant extraction into circular bioeconomic processes. Full article

Advancements in Industry 4.0 technologies, which combine big data analytics, robotics, and intelligent decision systems to enable new ways to increase automation in the industrial sector, have undergone significant transformations. In this research, a Hybrid Attention-Gated Recurrent Unit (At-GRU) model, combined with Sand Cat Optimization (SCO), is proposed to enhance fault identification and predictive maintenance capabilities. The model utilized multivariate sensor data from cyber-physical and IoT-enabled robotic platforms to learn operational patterns and predict failures with enhanced reliability. The At-GRU provides deeper temporal feature extraction, thereby improving classification performance. The robustness of the proposed model is validated through analysis of a benchmark dataset for industrial robots, and the results demonstrate that the proposed model exhibits impressive predictive capacity, surpassing other prediction methods and predictive maintenance approaches. Additionally, the performance evaluation indicates a lower computational cost due to the lightweight gating architecture of GRU, combined with attention. The robotic motion is further optimized by the SCO algorithm, which reduces energy usage, execution delay, and trajectory deviations while ensuring smooth operation. Overall, the proposed work offers an intelligent and scalable solution for next-generation industrial automation systems. Furthermore, the proposed model demonstrates the real-world applicability and significant benefits of incorporating hybrid artificial intelligence models into real-time robot control applications for smart manufacturing environments. Full article

The rapid development of rural and peri-urban areas increases the demand for decentralized wastewater treatment systems. Small wastewater treatment plants (SWTPs) with a capacity below 2000 PE are becoming an important element of local water protection and circular-economy strategies, yet clear guidelines for selecting appropriate technologies are still lacking. This study analyzes the criteria used in decision-making for SWTPs from a multi-stakeholder perspective and evaluates the relative importance of technical, economic, environmental and social factors. The research was conducted in Poland and included a survey of 130 respondents representing six stakeholder groups (officials, operators, designers, contractors, scientists and residents). Respondents allocated weights to four main groups of criteria and assessed eleven detailed parameters on a 1–10 scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test with the Lilliefors correction to verify distribution assumptions, and the Kruskal–Wallis test to examine differences between stakeholder groups. The results show a consistent hierarchy of criteria, with technical reliability, treatment efficiency and operating costs ranked as the most important factors. Social and environmental aspects were assessed as relevant but secondary. Only minor differences between stakeholder groups were observed. The study highlights the need for integrated, multicriteria approaches in SWTP planning, particularly in dispersed rural areas. The findings may support local authorities, designers and investors in technology selection. The research is limited by the non-probability sampling strategy, the national scope of the dataset and the cross-sectional character of the survey. Full article

Global agriculture faces the dual challenges of resource constraints and international competition, making the transition from quantitative expansion to quality upgrading a central imperative. While trade competitiveness is widely considered a key driver of agricultural transformation, the pathways and mechanisms through which it influences agricultural quality upgrading are far more complex than conventionally understood. Against this backdrop, this study constructs a moderated nonlinear mediation theoretical framework. Empirical analysis based on China’s provincial panel data (2014–2023) yields three key findings: (1) Trade competitiveness exerts a significant inverted U-shaped effect on high-quality agricultural development, revealing a dynamic trade-off between “competitive escape” and “competitive suppression.” (2) Optimization of the Agricultural Sectoral Structure serves as a mediating pathway, and this mediation itself exhibits nonlinear characteristics, further underscoring the nuanced nature of “structural dividends.” (3) Regional innovation capacity significantly moderates the latter stage of this pathway (from Optimization of the Agricultural Sectoral Structure to quality development). Viewed through the lens of appropriate technology theory, a robust regional innovation system can deploy context-appropriate technologies and knowledge, thereby mitigating the potential adverse impacts of agricultural structural transformation on quality-related outcomes. This research thus provides a new strategic framework for achieving sustainable, high-quality agricultural growth. Full article

Ningbo (NGB), a major port city on China’s east coast, is defined by a network of over 100 rivers across three major catchments. From the 1970s to the 2000s, extensive engineering, including channelisation and embankment construction, was used to manage flood risk during rapid urbanisation. Since the 2010s, however, the city has shifted towards smart flood management. The Ningbo government and Water Bureau have deployed digital twins and technologies like 3D flood mapping and real-time monitoring, significantly improving precision. Our study demonstrated that this smart technology performed effectively during recent extreme events, namely typhoons In-Fa (2021) and Muifa (2022), helping the Municipal Bureau to safeguard public safety. This success strengthens municipal and national commitments to climate resilience. Nevertheless, further advancement of the digital twin platform is required. Key priorities include boosting computational capacity, improving cross-departmental coordination, establishing open data sharing, and integrating artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance decision-making during future climate extremes. Full article

Urbanization in developing countries has intensified ecological degradation and reduced the availability of Urban Green Spaces (UGS), including in Bogor City, Indonesia, where public UGS covers only 4.26%—far below the national minimum requirement of 20%. Agroforestry is increasingly recognized as a viable strategy to enhance the ecological, economic, and social functions of limited urban green areas. This study assesses the sustainability of agroforestry practices in Bogor City’s public UGS using the Multi-Aspect Sustainability Analysis (MSA) method across five aspects: ecological, economic, social, infrastructure–technology, and legal–institutional. This study is grounded in three principal hypotheses: (i) the implementation of agroforestry exerts a positive effect on ecological, social, and infrastructural–technological sustainability; (ii) economic and legal–institutional dimensions constitute the major limiting factors affecting overall sustainability performance; and (iii) strategic improvements targeting key leverage factors can significantly enhance the composite sustainability index. Primary data were collected through field observations, interviews, and surveys, supplemented by secondary policy and spatial data. Results show an overall sustainability score of 51.84%, categorized as “sustainable”. Ecological (66.71%), social (60.71%), and infrastructural–technological (60.50%) aspects were sustainable, while economic (26.14%) and legal–institutional (45.14%) aspects were less sustainable. Key leverage factors influencing sustainability include microclimate regulation, canopy density, biodiversity, tourism management, consumer dependence on agroforestry products, product quality standardization, availability of processing industries, and the presence of management institutions and SOPs. Scenario analysis demonstrates that targeted improvements in these levers can substantially increase sustainability scores, with optimistic scenarios raising the aggregate index to 78.45%. Strengthening economic value chains, regulatory frameworks, management institutions, and data infrastructure is essential to enhance the adaptive capacity and long-term viability of urban agroforestry in Bogor City. Full article

This study explores novel silica gel/sulfonated polymer composite coatings for enhanced thermal management in electric vehicles via sorption technology. Leveraging the cost-effectiveness of silica gel as a filler and a readily available, water vapor-permeable sulfonated polymer as the matrix, we developed and characterized these materials. Mechanical assessments revealed varied performance: coatings with lower silica gel content (80 and 85 wt%) demonstrated suitable scratch resistance (damage width ~1100 µm at 1300 g load) and superior impact resistance (damage diameter ~2.4 mm). Pull-off adhesion strengths for these batches were 1.26 MPa and 1.36 MPa, respectively, though higher filler loading (90 and 95 wt%) led to a ~30% reduction and a shift to cohesive failure for high-filler-content batches. Thermogravimetric analysis confirmed thermal stability up to 280 °C. Adsorption studies revealed that the composite coating with 95 wt% of silica gel achieved the highest water uptake (just under 30 wt%), with all batches exhibiting capacities comparable to commercial adsorbents. This comprehensive characterization confirms that these composites offer a compelling balance of mechanical robustness, reliable adhesion, and high adsorption efficiency, positioning them as promising, cost-effective solutions for EV thermal management. Full article

Pure tantalum (Ta) is widely used in applications such as capacitors and semiconductor coatings due to its high melting point, excellent corrosion resistance, and good biocompatibility. In this study, spark plasma sintering (SPS) technology has been employed to successfully prepare high-density, fine-grained pure Ta through systematic optimization of sintering temperature, pressure, and holding time. The results indicate that sintering temperature plays a predominant role on the densification behavior. Increasing the sintering pressure and prolonging the holding time also contribute to further enhancing the densification. Under the process conditions of 1450 °C, 40 MPa, and a holding time of 10 min, the relative density of the sample reaches 98.7%. Microstructural analysis reveals that the sintering process of pure Ta can be divided into two main stages: densification-dominated and grain growth-dominated. When the relative density exceeds a threshold value (approximately 96% in this study), the grain size increases rapidly from 4.43 μm to 28.87 μm. This grain coarsening leads to a transition in the fracture mechanism from a mixed mode of intergranular and cleavage fractures to completely intergranular fracture, which significantly reduces the bending strength and plastic deformation capacity of the material. Full article

Advancing Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is essential for integrating land and water strategies and ensuring access to safe and secure water services. Yet, assessing the quality of IWRM implementation remains a persistent challenge for policy and practice. This study presents the first systematic review of 375 empirical articles to consolidate evidence on how enablers and obstacles shape IWRM’s effectiveness in advancing Sustainable Territorial Development (S-TD). Following PRISMA guidelines and combining bibliometric and qualitative coding procedures, we identify ten categories of enablers and eleven categories of obstacles. Results show that institutional strengthening, stakeholder participation, and technological innovation are the most frequent enablers, while fragmentation, coordination challenges, and financial limitations are the most prevalent obstacles. Beyond frequency patterns, this review highlights that outcomes depend on the configurations and interactions of these factors, which condition IWRM’s capacity to steer sustainable development trajectories in the territory. By comparing enablers and obstacles across nexus sectors (food, energy, land) and geographic scales (sub-basin, basin, transboundary, urban, national), we delineate scale- and sector-sensitive pathways linking IWRM to S-TD. To support further research, we provide an open-access dataset as a unique resource for replication, comparative analysis, and policy design, enabling evidence-based decision-making toward sustainability and resilience across diverse geographical and institutional contexts. Full article

Accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) is widely used for recovering bioactive compounds from hops; however, the extent to which global antioxidant assays reflect changes in molecular composition remains unclear. This study evaluated the relationship between global antioxidant parameters and targeted profiling of prenylated flavonoids in hop extracts obtained under different ASE conditions. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total phenolic content (TPC), and concentrations of xanthohumol, isoxanthohumol, and 8-prenylnaringenin were determined in extracts prepared using different solvents, extraction temperatures, and homogenization approaches. Global antioxidant parameters responded consistently to technological factors and exhibited a strong mutual correlation. In contrast, their correlations with individual prenylated flavonoids were moderate, indicating that global assays capture only part of the variability associated with specific bioactive compounds. Extraction temperature emerged as a key modulating factor, inducing compound-specific and partly non-linear responses that were not fully reflected by global antioxidant methods. Principal component analysis confirmed a shared chemical trend linking global and targeted parameters while separating extraction temperature as an independent technological driver. Overall, global antioxidant assays provide a robust but simplified assessment of hop extract quality. Their combination with targeted chromatographic analysis enables more accurate interpretation of extraction behavior and supports informed process optimization aimed at preserving and recovering bioactive compounds. Full article

Opuntia ficus-indica L. is a prominent crop in Mexico, requiring advanced non-destructive technologies for the real-time monitoring and quality control of fresh commercial cladodes. The primary research objective of this study was to develop and validate high-precision mathematical models that correlate hyperspectral signatures (400–1000 nm) with the specific nutritional, morphological, and antioxidant attributes of fresh cladodes (cultivar Villanueva) at their peak commercial maturity. By combining hyperspectral imaging (HSI) with machine learning algorithms, including K-Means clustering for image preprocessing and Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) for predictive modeling, this study successfully predicted the concentrations of 10 minerals (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, B, Mn, Zn, and Cu), chlorophylls (a, b, and Total), and antioxidant capacities (ABTS, FRAP, and DPPH). The innovative nature of this work lies in the simultaneous non-destructive quantification of 17 distinct variables from a single scan, achieving coefficients of determination (R²) as high as 0.988 for Phosphorus and Chlorophyll b. The practical applicability of this research provides a viable replacement for time-consuming and destructive laboratory acid digestion, enabling producers to implement automated, high-throughput sorting lines for quality assurance. Furthermore, this study establishes a framework for interdisciplinary collaborations between agricultural engineers, data scientists for algorithm optimization, and food scientists to enhance the functional value chain of Opuntia products. Full article

In the context of globalization, balancing economic growth with social equity is a critical challenge for achieving sustainable development. While Global Value Chains (GVCs) have become a defining feature of the contemporary economy, their specific impact on the urban–rural income gap—a key indicator of common prosperity—remains under-explored. This study empirically investigates the impact of GVC embedding on urban–rural common prosperity in China using panel data from 30 provinces spanning the period 2011–2022. Adopting a dual perspective of “efficiency” (income growth) and “equity” (income distribution), this study constructs a mediation model to analyze the transmission mechanisms. Research indicates that embedding in global value chains not only enhances the income-generating capacity of urban and rural residents but also effectively narrows the urban–rural income gap. Furthermore, its positive contribution to urban–rural common prosperity is both long-term and sustainable. This effect of GVC embedding on urban–rural common prosperity remains significant after conducting various robustness tests. Mechanism analyses reveal that GVC embedding achieves these outcomes by promoting agricultural industrial upgrading, fostering agricultural technological innovation, and stimulating rural entrepreneurial vitality. Notably, heterogeneity tests indicate that these positive effects are more pronounced in eastern, coastal, and economically developed regions, whereas the impact is less evident in central, western, and inland areas. This study holds important policy implications for promoting the development of China’s open economy to a higher level in the era of economic globalization, as well as for realizing urban–rural common prosperity and balanced, sustainable development. Full article

Glioblastoma is known as the most aggressive primary brain tumor in adults, and it is still largely not curable, with a median survival of approximately 15 months when standard multimodal therapy is applied. The standard treatment nowadays is maximal safe surgical resection, associated with radiotherapy and temozolomide. Treatment effectiveness is limited not only by an impassable blood–brain barrier (BBB) to drug delivery to the brain, but also by the heterogeneity of the tumors and intrinsic or acquired drug resistance, resulting in a certain and inescapable tumor relapse. Therefore, novel drug delivery systems are being designed to overcome the BBB and improve therapeutic efficacy. These approaches include nanoparticle-mediated delivery systems, convection-enhanced intra-tumoral infusion, implantable drug-releasing devices, and noninvasive focused ultrasound technology, which induced transient disruption of the BBB. These approaches are designed to enhance local drug exposure and reduce systemic toxicity with promising preclinical and early clinical results. However, many clinical and technical challenges remain, especially the need for safety, homogeneous drug delivery, and translation of these advances into effective clinical therapies. Current glioblastoma treatment landscape and opportunities include maturing delivery systems, novel therapeutic approaches, including targeted molecular therapies and immunotherapy, as well as personalized regimens. This multidisciplinary modality may have the capacity to help not only patients with GBM but others as well through a multimodal approach of targeted drug delivery and innovative therapy in the long run to improve clinical outcomes of GBM in patients. Full article

The development of low-permeability reservoirs faces significant challenges, particularly regarding low recovery rates. Conventional water injection is often limited by poor injectivity and low waterflood efficiency. As a key technology to enhance development effectiveness, enhanced water injection requires a systematic investigation into its intrinsic mechanism for improving recovery. This study focuses on a typical low-permeability reservoir. Through laboratory experiments on rock fracturing and spontaneous imbibition, the mechanism by which enhanced water injection increases recovery rates is elucidated. COMSOL Multiphysics is employed to simulate the enhanced water injection process and examine the multi-field coupling patterns during injection. The results indicate that (1) low-permeability rocks in the study area exhibit strong oil–water exchange capabilities driven by capillary forces, with average imbibition capacity ranging from 0.6 to 0.7 g/cm³ and oil displacement efficiency between 20% and 30%; (2) fracturing experiments demonstrate that the injection of low-viscosity fluids at low flow rates (15 mL/min) can induce complex fracture propagation, thereby expanding flow pathways; and (3) the evolution of fluid–solid coupling is jointly governed by injection pressure and damage effects. Specifically, coupling intensity and fracture propagation potential increase with pressure, with optimal injection pressure ranging from 20 to 25 MPa. Rock damage exacerbates the nonlinear response of this coupling. This study combines experimental validation with numerical simulation to provide theoretical support for field practice. Full article

Addressing the challenges of poorly developed fractures and low individual well water yields within the Tianjin Ordovician–Wumishan carbonate thermal reservoir, alongside the rapid reaction rates and short effective distances observed during conventional acid fracturing operations, this study employed an XRD core analysis to confirm reservoir calcite contents exceeding 90%. Based on this finding, an acid formulation incorporating a 2% SPR-12 retarder was developed. High-temperature high-pressure reactor experiments demonstrated that this system successfully reduced the acid–rock reaction rate from 0.122 g·min⁻¹·cm⁻² to 0.037 g·min⁻¹·cm⁻² and increased the retardation efficiency from 34.07% to 68%. This significantly extended the acid penetration distance and enhanced the fracture network connectivity within the reservoir. The field trial conditions informed the parameter optimization via E-StimPlan^® 3D simulations, ultimately determining that a fracture extension of 400 m could be achieved with a 20 MPa breakdown pressure. Conductivity experiments validated that a flow rate of 1.3 m³/min generated pillar-supported wormhole structures, yielding a final conductivity of 46.8 μm²·cm. The pumping pressure plummeted from 20 MPa to 1 MPa, confirming effective fracture network communication. Gas lift backflow for 20 h mitigated secondary precipitation risks. After implementation, the water production rate of this well increased from 12.33 m³/h to 95 m³/h, with a dynamic water level of 158.85 m. The water temperature rose from 62 °C to 88 °C and remained stable. Compared to current acidizing and fracturing methods applied in geothermal wells, the new acid fluid system and process have increased the geothermal production capacity by 275.8%, while reducing acid consumption by 50%, providing critical technological support for the efficient development of carbonate thermal reservoirs. Full article