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19 pages, 3047 KB  
Article
Spinal Versus General Anesthesia for Acute Kidney Injury and Transfusion in One-Week-Staged Bilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty
by Jaemin Lee, Jun Suh Moon and Doo Sup Kim
J. Clin. Med. 2026, 15(13), 4937; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm15134937 (registering DOI) - 25 Jun 2026
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Evidence on spinal versus general anesthesia in unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) may not extend to one-week-staged bilateral surgery, where older patients receive two anesthetics in a short interval and intra-operative spinal-to-general conversion is common but rarely reported transparently. We compared peri-operative [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Evidence on spinal versus general anesthesia in unilateral total knee arthroplasty (TKA) may not extend to one-week-staged bilateral surgery, where older patients receive two anesthetics in a short interval and intra-operative spinal-to-general conversion is common but rarely reported transparently. We compared peri-operative acute kidney injury (AKI) and transfusion between strategies in this setting. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 207 patients (414 surgeries) undergoing one-week-staged bilateral primary TKA at one center. Co-primary endpoints were creatinine-based AKI (patient level) and packed-red-blood-cell transfusion (surgery level). Because 42 general-anesthesia-classified surgeries had an attempted spinal injection, the primary analysis used the initial anesthetic plan (an intention-to-treat analogue), reclassifying these as spinal, with as-treated classification as a sensitivity analysis; AKI was modeled at the patient level (any general anesthesia versus spinal–spinal) and transfusion per surgery. Results: Median age was 75 years and 82.6% were female; AKI affected 74 of 207 patients (35.7%) and transfusion 185 of 414 surgeries (44.7%). The adjusted any-general-anesthesia versus spinal–spinal estimate was not statistically significant and opposite the spinal-protective hypothesis (adjusted odds ratio 0.49, 95% confidence interval 0.23–1.01, p = 0.054), and no pre-specified sensitivity scenario survived Benjamini–Hochberg correction. Transfusion did not differ between strategies; among secondary endpoints, length of stay, hemoglobin drop, peak C-reactive protein, and intra-operative hypotension likewise showed no significant difference after multiplicity correction. Conclusions: These hypothesis-generating findings do not support changing anesthetic practice; the choice should remain individualized. Approximately 12% of attempted spinal anesthetics converted intra-operatively to general anesthesia—a record-based observation, not a validated failure rate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical Management of Knee Arthroplasty)
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23 pages, 1713 KB  
Article
Performance Optimization of Distributed Data Processing in Centralized Control System Based on Spark and GPU Collaboration
by Xunting Wang, Cheng Xie, Jinjin Ding, Bin Xu, Jianlin Li and Weimin Huang
Information 2026, 17(7), 625; https://doi.org/10.3390/info17070625 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
Limited by the computational performance limits of the CPU(Central Processing Unit), the traditional Spark architecture struggles to achieve high throughput and low latency under the dual pressure of a large data scale and real-time requirements in centralized control systems. This work uses a [...] Read more.
Limited by the computational performance limits of the CPU(Central Processing Unit), the traditional Spark architecture struggles to achieve high throughput and low latency under the dual pressure of a large data scale and real-time requirements in centralized control systems. This work uses a publicly available CNC(Computer Numerical Control) milling dataset as a functional validation proxy for time-series data processing, then extends validation to a large-scale synthetic power transmission grid dataset. Furthermore, Spark-GPU(Graphics Processing Unit) collaboration suffers from load balancing failure due to heterogeneous resource scheduling and communication overhead, thus failing to unleash its performance potential. This paper proposes a Spark-GPU fusion acceleration technology path. The path consists of three key components: first, it integrates the RAPIDS accelerator; second, it designs a GPU-aware partitioning and task co-scheduling strategy; and third, it optimizes the zero-copy data path. Together, these components realize an integrated collaboration of heterogeneous resources. Validation on real-world datasets yields the following results. In real-time aggregation scenarios, the proposed solution improves throughput by a factor of 3.7 over the pure CPU baseline and reduces end-to-end latency by 62%. Compared with the basic GPU solution, GPU utilization rises from 51.7% to 72.3%, representing a relative improvement of 39.8%. Furthermore, the solution meets industrial-grade high availability requirements. This research significantly improves the processing throughput and reduces end-to-end latency in typical centralized control scenarios, thus providing a feasible technical route for demanding concurrent centralized control scenarios such as electric power industry manufacturing with high real-time demands. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Information Processes)
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40 pages, 5102 KB  
Article
Algorithm-Driven Demand Optimization as an Enabler of Industrial Prosumers in Renewable Energy Communities: A Techno-Economic Assessment of a Flat Glass Processing SME
by Ateeq Ur Rehman, Dario Atzori, Sandra Corasaniti, Paolo Coppa, Muhammad Mazhar Rathore and Gianluigi Bovesecchi
Processes 2026, 14(13), 2053; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14132053 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
This study addresses the multi-objective optimization of characterizing a flat glass processing plant. To assess the operational conditions required for a flat glass processing small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) to become a prosumer compatible with renewable energy community (REC) participation. This work is [...] Read more.
This study addresses the multi-objective optimization of characterizing a flat glass processing plant. To assess the operational conditions required for a flat glass processing small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) to become a prosumer compatible with renewable energy community (REC) participation. This work is motivated by the presence of more than 300 SMEs in Italy, like this, where RECs represent one of the few viable strategies for achieving the European Union’s 2050 decarbonization targets. The research is carried out in two scenarios; Scenario-I includes Stage-i and Stage-ii with the mutual goal of forecasting and optimizing. Forecasting is used in Stage-i to optimize the factory load, and in Stage-ii to shift and curtail energy loads based on the forecast, considering the Italian national energy price and the regional price bands (“fasce orarie”) F1, F2, and F3. Forecasting and the indicators of environmental and social performance are the means to ensure the best energy utilization and management, as they prove that the reduction in CO2 emissions and benefits on the community level can be both obtainable. Subsequently, the techno-economic analysis and evaluation of prosumer-readiness conditions are carried out through the optimization of industrial energy demand: three optimization objectives are assessed in this study (i) energy cost, (ii) carbon emission, and (iii) load curtailment. Four algorithms are put into effect to solve the tri-objective optimization: multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), multi-objective ant nesting algorithm (MOANA), non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), and multi-objective grey wolf optimization (MOGWO). The algorithms are validated in Stage-ii to find the desired optimum in the cost of energy, reduce peak formation, and carbon emissions. To achieve this goal, a stochastic approach based on Monte Carlo simulations and VIKOR is used to optimally select the results. The findings show that the NSGA-II, MOPSO, and MOANA are more effective in solving the problem, while the MOGWO algorithm more quickly finds the optimal solution. Based on the defined objectives, a new configuration for the energy community is introduced, together with a community well-being index and an evaluation of the resulting benefits for the factory. In Scenario-II, the PV plants’ installation on the factory is sized, and the excess energy shared with the grid is evaluated. The Scenario-II results show that 497.184 MWh (33.9%) of energy is shared with the grid. Both results suggest how optimized industrial demand profiles improve SME participation in future RECs. Full article
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30 pages, 11471 KB  
Article
NDF Controller-Based Stability Analysis and Vibration Mitigation of a Nonlinear Electromechanical Oscillator Under Primary Resonance
by Ashraf Taha EL-Sayed, Rageh K. Hussein, Yasser A. Amer, Fatma Sherif Mohammed, Sharif Abu Alrub and Taher A. Bahnasy
Machines 2026, 14(7), 717; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines14070717 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
This work examines how well a Negative Derivative Feedback (NDF) controller suppresses vibration in a nonlinear electromechanical oscillator that is subjected to mixed excitations. Coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations are used to model the system and show how mechanical and electrical components interact. [...] Read more.
This work examines how well a Negative Derivative Feedback (NDF) controller suppresses vibration in a nonlinear electromechanical oscillator that is subjected to mixed excitations. Coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations are used to model the system and show how mechanical and electrical components interact. The method of multiple scales (MMS) is used to develop analytical approximate solutions up to the second order, specifically for the primary resonance scenario. This study’s main contribution is a thorough bifurcation analysis and proof of the NDF controller’s high efficacy, which effectively lowers the first and second mode resonance amplitudes by roughly 99.8% and 98%., respectively, with impressive reported effectiveness values of roughly 590 and 51.5. Additionally, the quantitative error analysis between the numerical simulation and the analytical approximation solution demonstrates a high degree of agreement, with a maximum error of less than 105% for the second mode and just 0.01% for the first mode. Furthermore, we present the impact of parameters on FRCs. Frequency response curves (FRCs) are used in a thorough comparison analysis to assess the behavior of the system both before and after the controller is activated. A strong degree of connection between the analytical conclusions and numerical simulations carried out using the “fourth-order Runge–Kutta method” rigorously validates the accuracy of the perturbation analysis. Additionally, a performance benchmark between different control techniques, such as the NDF controller, Positive Position Feedback (PPF), and Linear Negative Position Feedback (LNPF), is shown in the paper. When compared to alternative approaches, the NDF controller shows the greatest reduction in oscillation amplitudes and higher robustness, as shown by transient response analysis (time history) at various time intervals. The outcomes validate the NDF approach’s dependability and efficiency in stabilizing intricate nonlinear electromechanical systems. The chaotic response and system periodicity were demonstrated through bifurcation diagrams and Poincaré maps. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Machines Testing and Maintenance)
33 pages, 7181 KB  
Article
Finite-Time Disturbance Compensation for Hierarchical Formation of Dual AGVs in Smart Ports
by Qiang Zhang, Bo Yuan, Li He, Zhengfang Xu and Dudu Guo
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(13), 1166; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14131166 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
This paper proposes an integrated formation control framework with a finite-time nonlinear disturbance observer (FT-NDO) for automated guided vehicles (AGVs) operating in port environments, where constrained workspace, narrow formation spacing, and complex external disturbances pose significant challenges. An adaptive leader–follower formation strategy with [...] Read more.
This paper proposes an integrated formation control framework with a finite-time nonlinear disturbance observer (FT-NDO) for automated guided vehicles (AGVs) operating in port environments, where constrained workspace, narrow formation spacing, and complex external disturbances pose significant challenges. An adaptive leader–follower formation strategy with dynamic inter-vehicle spacing is developed to enhance maneuverability during turning. Within a hierarchical control structure that decouples lateral and longitudinal dynamics, two sliding mode controllers (SMCs) are designed: (a) a lateral SMC that prioritizes heading accuracy, limiting yaw angle error to within ±2°; and (b) a nonsingular terminal SMC (NTSMC) for longitudinal control, improving error convergence speed compared to conventional SMC. An FT-NDO is further incorporated into both control loops to estimate and compensate for external disturbances in real time, achieving a disturbance estimation accuracy of over 95% and significantly attenuating the impact of environmental disturbances. Validation through simulation and physical experiment of a dual-AGV formation in a realistic port scenario demonstrates that the proposed approach restricts formation deviation to 0.015 m and maintains stable operation under various disturbance conditions. This study provides a practical solution for dual-AGV collaborative transportation in spatially constrained and dynamically disturbed environments, with direct implications for improving operational efficiency and safety in port logistics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
39 pages, 7507 KB  
Article
Energy-Aware Digital Twin Frameworks for Port Building Clusters: Integrating Structural Health Monitoring, Smart Metering, and Retrofit Prioritization
by Rossella Roversi, Fabrizio Cumo, Elisa Pennacchia, Virginia Adele Tiburcio and Claudia Zylka
Sustainability 2026, 18(13), 6443; https://doi.org/10.3390/su18136443 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
Ports combine clusters of operational buildings, shared energy infrastructure, and structurally critical assets requiring coordinated management to ensure safety and efficiency. Nevertheless, existing Digital Twin (DT) frameworks for building energy management rarely integrate Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) with energy performance assessment, while port-specific [...] Read more.
Ports combine clusters of operational buildings, shared energy infrastructure, and structurally critical assets requiring coordinated management to ensure safety and efficiency. Nevertheless, existing Digital Twin (DT) frameworks for building energy management rarely integrate Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) with energy performance assessment, while port-specific implementations remain scarce. This paper presents a pre-operational energy-aware DT architecture for port building clusters, structured in a unified five-layer framework integrating three capabilities: (i) EGMS/InSAR-based SHM screening with planned in situ sensing and computer-vision inspection workflows; (ii) smart metering and measurement and verification (M&V) protocols aligned with ISO 50001/50015 and IPMVP standards; and (iii) weighted multi-criteria prioritization considering structural condition, energy saving potential, service continuity, and cost. The framework is applied to the Port of Formia (Italy), a brownfield district comprising nine buildings (3371 m2), 16 high-mast lighting towers, shore power infrastructure, and 90 kWp of planned photovoltaics. In the absence of operational metering, energy and carbon values are reported as bounded ex-ante scenario estimates, not as verified performance outcomes. The analysis estimates photovoltaic generation of 116–137 MWh/year and lighting retrofit savings of 31.5–36.8 MWh/year; the related carbon values are treated as gross grid-displacement upper bounds pending measured self-consumption and export data. A four-phase validation roadmap with quantitative acceptance criteria supports the transition from feasibility assessment to verified performance. Full article
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21 pages, 1240 KB  
Article
Robust 3D Eccentric Field Synthesis for OTA Testing via an Enhanced Spherical Vector Wave Approach
by Jianchuan Wei, Zhanying Peng and Xiaoming Chen
Sensors 2026, 26(13), 4012; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26134012 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
Traditional over-the-air (OTA) testing typically requires the device under test (DUT) to be positioned at the geometric center of the anechoic chamber, which limits the flexible evaluation of modern wireless terminals. Although the spherical vector wave (SVW) method provides a rigorous electromagnetic mode [...] Read more.
Traditional over-the-air (OTA) testing typically requires the device under test (DUT) to be positioned at the geometric center of the anechoic chamber, which limits the flexible evaluation of modern wireless terminals. Although the spherical vector wave (SVW) method provides a rigorous electromagnetic mode expansion, its direct use in eccentric testing scenarios is prone to coefficient-domain overfitting. In the conventional coefficient-domain formulation, the increased involvement of high-order evanescent modes can lead to overfitting of physically insignificant coefficients, resulting in unstable and oscillatory reconstruction. To explain this behavior, an analytical periodicity model is developed and validated by numerical simulations, showing good agreement across all tested configurations. To overcome this limitation, this paper develops a unified 3D eccentric spatial–spectral composite operator for eccentric field synthesis by directly incorporating the three-dimensional offset into the field evaluation process. The proposed operator maps probe excitation weights to the translated 3D local test-zone field samples, thereby reformulating the synthesis problem from coefficient-domain fitting to field-domain matching. This field-domain formulation naturally downweights high-order modal components with negligible local-field contributions, thereby improving numerical stability. Numerical simulations in a 3D multi-probe anechoic chamber (MPAC) demonstrate that, under significant eccentric conditions, the conventional SVW method essentially fails, while the plane wave synthesis (PWS) method achieves less accurate reconstruction than the proposed scheme. In contrast, the proposed scheme maintains stable, oscillation-free reconstruction and consistently outperforms PWS by 5 to 15 dB across all evaluated scenarios. This work provides a promising solution for flexible 3D OTA evaluation of large-scale wireless terminals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Communications)
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28 pages, 862 KB  
Article
QC-MM: A Metadata and Schema Model for Traceable Quantum-Circuit Experiments
by Nawel Huenchuleo, Samuel Sepúlveda and Alejandro Fernández
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(13), 6346; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16136346 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
Context: Modern quantum-computing experimentation generates heterogeneous, context-dependent execution data whose scientific value depends on preserving calibration state, compilation decisions, and run outcomes in a traceable and repository-ready form. In the NISQ era, probabilistic outputs, time-varying hardware conditions, and opaque transpilation pipelines create a [...] Read more.
Context: Modern quantum-computing experimentation generates heterogeneous, context-dependent execution data whose scientific value depends on preserving calibration state, compilation decisions, and run outcomes in a traceable and repository-ready form. In the NISQ era, probabilistic outputs, time-varying hardware conditions, and opaque transpilation pipelines create a data-management problem that directly affects reproducibility, traceability, and long-term reuse of experimental records. Goal: This paper aims to address this gap by proposing a specialized metadata and schema model for managing quantum-circuit execution data as governed, machine-interpretable, and evolvable repository artifacts. Proposal: We propose QC-MM, a platform-agnostic metadata model for capturing, validating, and relating contextual evidence of quantum-circuit experiments. The model integrates time-indexed calibration binding, transpilation traceability, lightweight provenance links, validation rules, and controlled schema evolution through a JSON Schema specification. Results: The evaluation follows a multi-scenario protocol and shows that QC-MM captures dynamic calibration context in IBM Quantum Cloud, remains interoperable through a local SpinQ NMR device, and makes transpilation effects traceable through structured records. It also supports repeated-run statistical reporting and links compilation decisions to execution outcomes, including circuit-depth reductions and changes in an estimated fidelity proxy under different optimization settings. Conclusions: QC-MM provides a specialized data-modeling and schema-governance foundation for traceable quantum-experiment repositories. Beyond improving reproducibility-oriented reporting, the proposal contributes to metadata validation, controlled schema evolution, and repository-oriented management of contextual experimental data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Database Systems)
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39 pages, 840 KB  
Perspective
Trustworthy Companion AI for Human-Aware Transition of Control: Motivation, Architecture, and Research Roadmap
by Roberta Presta, Flavia De Simone, Lorenzo Bacchiani and Roberto Girau
Technologies 2026, 14(7), 386; https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies14070386 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
[d=LE]Transitions of control between automated driving systems and human drivers remain safety-relevant and cognitively demanding moments in human–automation interaction. Recent studies show that transition performance depends not only on takeover timing or response speed but also on traffic complexity, driver readiness, automation limitations, [...] Read more.
[d=LE]Transitions of control between automated driving systems and human drivers remain safety-relevant and cognitively demanding moments in human–automation interaction. Recent studies show that transition performance depends not only on takeover timing or response speed but also on traffic complexity, driver readiness, automation limitations, trust calibration, and situational-awareness recovery. As in-vehicle interaction evolves toward conversational and agentic AI assistance, takeover support also becomes a problem of governing how natural-language AI systems communicate with the driver under uncertainty.Transitions of control between automated driving systems and human drivers remain safety-relevant and cognitively demanding moments in human-automation interaction. Recent studies suggest that transition performance should not be assessed only through takeover timing or response speed since control resumption quality also depends on traffic complexity, driver readiness, automation limitations, and situational awareness recovery. [d=LE]This paper proposes a digital-twin-mediated framework for human-aware takeover support in automated driving. In this framework, the companion AI is treated as an assumed LLM-based in-vehicle conversational or agentic assistant used as an advisory interaction component. The contribution is defined at the architectural level: human, vehicle, and context/road digital twins provide structured semantic state abstractions through a semantic state interface exposing confidence, freshness, provenance, and consistency metadata, while a trustworthy companion AI (TCAI) layer grounds, constrains, validates, and governs companion AI output proposals before HMI delivery.This paper motivates and defines a trustworthy companion AI (TCAI) layer for human-aware transition support in automated driving. The TCAI is conceived as a bounded, supervised, and explainable advisory agent that supports the driver without entering the safety-critical vehicle-control loop. It reasons over structured semantic state abstractions derived from a human digital twin, a vehicle digital twin, and a context/road digital twin, exposing driver readiness, automation capability, and contextual urgency in a form that supports traceable, uncertainty-aware, and degradation-aware assistance. [d=LE]Building on the research on driver-state monitoring, adaptive HMI, trust calibration, explainability, conversational assistance, and human assistance systems (HASs), the framework coordinates advisory interaction across vigilance support, contextual explanation, trust-calibrating communication, and directive handover guidance. The TCAI layer combines bounded reasoning, human-factor-derived guardrails, state-consistency management, dynamic explanation-depth control, trust-dynamics modeling, graded watchdog veto handling, mandatory access-control assumptions, and deterministic fallback. Safety-critical vehicle-control and minimum risk condition (MRC) functions remain assigned to the deterministic vehicle-control stack, while the authorized output path of the TCAI layer is validated HMI delivery.Building on the research on driver-state monitoring, adaptive HMI, trust calibration, explainability, and conversational assistance, we propose a conceptual architecture in which the TCAI coordinates multimodal assistance across different interaction conditions, including vigilance support, contextual explanation, trust-calibrating communication, and directive handover guidance. The companion does not actuate the vehicle; its outputs are constrained by runtime governance, policy enforcement, and deterministic fallback mechanisms. [d=LE]The paper concludes with a validation agenda and technical roadmap covering planned transitions, urgent handovers, degraded or adversarial conditions, temporal fusion of driver-state evidence, phase-sensitive HMI policies, trust-calibration trajectories, driver veto and partial-disabling mechanisms, and staged simulator-to-vehicle evaluation. Although motivated by SAE Level 3 automation, the framework may also inform fallback-related Level 4 scenarios in which human and automated agency must be managed under uncertainty.The paper concludes with a research roadmap for validating the proposed architecture under planned transitions, urgent handovers, and degraded or adversarial conditions. Although motivated by SAE Level 3 automation, the approach may also inform fallback-related Level 4 scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Human–AI Collaboration: Emerging Technologies and Applications)
17 pages, 3209 KB  
Article
A Spatiotemporal Interpolation Method for Regional Precipitation Data Based on a Spatiotemporal Decay Graph Model
by Li Liu, Chuhan Lu, Julong Huang, Feng Zhang, Guangyu Qu, Lu Guo and Runze Luo
Climate 2026, 14(7), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14070136 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
Traditional meteorological data spatial interpolation methods often rely on linear or static assumptions, which are inadequate for complex terrain and fail to exploit continuous spatiotemporal variation information. This paper proposes a Spatiotemporal Graph Network with Adaptive Temporal Decay (DG) that integrates a learnable [...] Read more.
Traditional meteorological data spatial interpolation methods often rely on linear or static assumptions, which are inadequate for complex terrain and fail to exploit continuous spatiotemporal variation information. This paper proposes a Spatiotemporal Graph Network with Adaptive Temporal Decay (DG) that integrates a learnable graph convolution module and a temporal attenuation mechanism, enabling accurate precipitation estimation for target stations or regions at consecutive time steps. The method is evaluated using daily precipitation data from nine stations in Longnan City, Gansu Province, China, along with ERA5 (0.25°) and GPCP (0.5°) gridded reanalysis products. In the station-to-station interpolation scenario, DG significantly outperforms ordinary Kriging (OK), reducing the average RMSE from 1.4 mm/day to 1.2 mm/day, with a 28.6% improvement at mountainous stations. The DG model also exhibits superior performance in grid-to-station interpolation, achieving an average RMSE of 1.9 mm/day (OK: 2.5 mm/day). On heavy precipitation days (≥20 mm/day), DG reduces the RMSE nearly by half (11.7 mm/day) compared to OK (23.2 mm/day). A temporal-only LSTM baseline and three ablation variants (spatial-only OSI, temporal-only OTI and dgcn-only OD) are also compared, and DG consistently outperforms them, confirming the essential role of spatiotemporal integration. Additional baselines including IDW and Co-Kriging further validate the superiority of DG. The proposed method offers a promising new approach for high-precision spatiotemporal interpolation of meteorological elements in complex terrain. Full article
41 pages, 2309 KB  
Article
CertiFlash: A Cryptographic Framework for Secure Firmware and Logic Updates in SCADA and Industrial IoT Networks
by Pruthviraj Pawar and Gregory Epiphaniou
Electronics 2026, 15(13), 2780; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics15132780 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
Across the world’s electrical substations, water-treatment plants, and manufacturing lines, a single engineer with valid credentials and a laptop can today push new control logic to a programmable logic controller (PLC) and change the physical behaviors of safety-critical equipment within minutes. Firmware and [...] Read more.
Across the world’s electrical substations, water-treatment plants, and manufacturing lines, a single engineer with valid credentials and a laptop can today push new control logic to a programmable logic controller (PLC) and change the physical behaviors of safety-critical equipment within minutes. Firmware and ladder-logic updates on SCADA and industrial IoT systems are privileged operations: an attacker installing a malicious update controls the physical process. Existing protections concentrate install authority in a single party with no externally verifiable record; compromise of the vendor key, the engineering workstation, or any operator credential suffices to deliver an attacker-chosen payload to a PLC. CertiFlash binds every update to four independent approvals: a vendor signature, a FROST-Ed25519 threshold signature from an operator quorum, a per-session nonce from the PLC, and a monotonic counter. Every decision is recorded in an append-only Merkle transparency log. The PLC verifies the aggregate with a standard RFC 8032 Ed25519 verifier, requiring no FROST-specific device code. Four security properties (authenticity, authorization, rollback resistance, auditability) are machine-checked in Tamarin under a Dolev–Yao adversary with up to t − 1 compromised operators and corroborated through ten attack scenarios. The implementation runs with concurrent Modbus TCP and Siemens S7 traffic, blocks all attacks, signs in 27–192 ms (k = 3–10), keeps ML-DSA-65 within 6% of Ed25519 from 1 KiB to 10 MiB, and sustains 30.1 updates/s on 100 PLCs. The operator-quorum signature remains FROST-Ed25519: the design is partially post-quantum in the evaluated version. The framework maps to IEC 62443-3-3 SR 3.4 and NIS2 Article 21(2)(d–e). Full article
24 pages, 5266 KB  
Article
Prediction of Groundwater-Level Fluctuations Under Climate Change Conditions in the Berrechid Plain (Morocco) Using a Hybrid Physical–Machine Learning Approach
by Adil Zerouali, Mohamed Jalal El Hamidi, Abdelkader Larabi, Mohamed Faouzi and Omar Chafik
Hydrology 2026, 13(7), 166; https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology13070166 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
The issue of water resources in a semi-arid country such as Morocco has been present for many years and is becoming increasingly critical. The droughts experienced over recent decades have demonstrated the country’s extreme vulnerability to any water deficit. In this context, the [...] Read more.
The issue of water resources in a semi-arid country such as Morocco has been present for many years and is becoming increasingly critical. The droughts experienced over recent decades have demonstrated the country’s extreme vulnerability to any water deficit. In this context, the Berrechid plain represents a relevant case study illustrating both the practical and theoretical challenges of groundwater governance. The aquifer is heavily exploited to satisfy agricultural, industrial, and domestic needs. This study develops a hybrid “grey-box” modeling approach for predicting groundwater depth (GWD) fluctuations under climate change (CC). Unlike conventional black-box machine learning models, our framework combines a deterministic physical engine with a stochastic machine learning corrector. The physical component simulates aquifer mass balance using the Hargreaves method for evapotranspiration, linear drainage, climate memory via exponential decay, and an anthropogenic trend parameter (xi). The machine learning component—XGBoost with quantile regression—is trained exclusively on physical model residuals and predicts the 5th, 50th, and 95th percentiles, providing explicit 90% confidence intervals. Hydrological states (dry, normal, wet) are identified via K-means clustering for context-aware correction. The model is calibrated using historical data (1972–2019) and validated using blocked time-series cross-validation. Climate projections under the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios were used to forecast GWD up to 2100. At piezometer 3933/20, the best performance was achieved, with an RMSE of 0.347 m and a KGE of 0.742 during the validation period. The proposed approach is suitable for seasonal GWD forecasting and offers practical value for water managers and decision-makers in the Berrechid region. Full article
42 pages, 11037 KB  
Article
A Multimodal Closed-Loop Framework for Vital Sign Monitoring and Intelligent Diagnosis of Amusement Ride Passengers Under High-Dynamic Motion
by Yikun Wu, Yulong Song, Hao Yang and Ming Zhang
Sensors 2026, 26(13), 4003; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26134003 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
High-dynamic amusement ride conditions involving impacts, rapid rotations, and abrupt posture changes introduce severe motion artifacts that degrade vital sign quality and destabilize physiological state recognition. This study aims to develop an engineering-ready closed-loop framework for robust passenger monitoring and intelligent diagnosis. A [...] Read more.
High-dynamic amusement ride conditions involving impacts, rapid rotations, and abrupt posture changes introduce severe motion artifacts that degrade vital sign quality and destabilize physiological state recognition. This study aims to develop an engineering-ready closed-loop framework for robust passenger monitoring and intelligent diagnosis. A multimodal sensing and modeling pipeline was designed to jointly leverage physiological signals such as heart rate and SpO2 and kinematic measurements, including acceleration, angular rate, velocity, and attitude. Inertial and PPG signals were preprocessed into supervised samples through wavelet multiresolution denoising and coordinate frame unification, while a strapdown inertial navigation system was used to propagate a 12-channel physical quantity sequence. To ensure interpretability and standards compliance, constraints from GB 8408-2018 were translated into executable threshold rules, enabling standards-driven auto-labeling and rule-based early warning. Building on this foundation, three learning modules were developed: a fusion model for high-dynamic heart rate estimation, a CNN–LSTM dynamic-threshold-enhanced network TAPNet for rapid kinematic anomaly screening, and an attention-augmented hybrid model HS-BANet integrating one-dimensional residual blocks, bidirectional LSTM, and multi-head attention for fine-grained arrhythmia classification. Experimental results demonstrated accurate and consistent heart rate estimation with RMSE of 1.18 bpm on HSSH-I and 1.24 bpm on the independent HSSH-II set, strong agreement with training and testing correlations of 0.9928 and 0.9865, and near-zero bias in Bland–Altman analysis. TAPNet achieved 96.9% validation accuracy and 98.2% test accuracy for kinematic anomaly recognition, maintaining robust generalization under class imbalance. HS-BANet enabled multi-class identification of PVC, PAC, VT, SVT, and AF, achieving an accuracy of 92.37%, an F1-score of 86.87%, a precision of 88.45%, a sensitivity of 88.14%, and a specificity of 89.42%. Overall, the proposed two-stage multimodal closed-loop—fast, interpretable early warning based on physical quantity thresholds followed by fine-grained diagnosis from physiological signals—supports stable feature extraction and reliable decision-making under strong motion artifacts and non-stationary dynamics, balancing responsiveness and diagnostic credibility, while showing potential for practical safety early warning and future deployment-oriented operational support in amusement ride scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Biomedical Sensors)
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15 pages, 31475 KB  
Article
Evaluation of Sequential Hybrid Inversion in the MASW Method: A Case Study in Santa Fe, Granada, Spain
by J. J. Hellín-Rodríguez, I. Valverde-Palacios, A. García-Jerez, P. Martínez-Pagán and M. Martínez-Segura
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(13), 6343; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16136343 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
The MASW (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves) method oriented toward seismic microzoning has been evolving consistently and steadily for several decades, providing increasingly reliable solutions that are consistent with field and laboratory data typical of classical geotechnics. This study evaluates the [...] Read more.
The MASW (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves) method oriented toward seismic microzoning has been evolving consistently and steadily for several decades, providing increasingly reliable solutions that are consistent with field and laboratory data typical of classical geotechnics. This study evaluates the improvement achieved when using a sequence of inversion algorithms on MASW test results: first with a global algorithm—specifically Differential Evolution (DE)—and subsequently, using the best model obtained from the global search, a second local algorithm—Trust Region Reflective (TRF). This second stage refines the previous model, further adjusting it to the borehole model used as the starting point of the sequence. The procedure has been automated using a Python script that incorporates two innovations compared to traditional inversion approaches. These consist of parameterising two variables: (i) an adaptive expansion factor for the Vs limits establisheda priori in the borehole model, and (ii) a subdivision into thinner layers for borehole models with excessively thick strata. This provides the algorithms with greater flexibility, particularly in scenarios with complex stratification. Additionally, to better define the deeper layers, the passive ESAC method in an “L-shape” configuration was also employed. The parameterised sequential hybrid inversion process was validated using synthetic data from two curves (Curve #1 and Curve #2), obtained by adding 5% Gaussian noise to the forward modelling results of the same initial synthetic model. The TRF refinement stage in the sequential hybrid inversion succeeded in reducing the error obtained by the global algorithm by percentages ranging from 59.7% to 5.8% across all conducted tests, confirming the stability of the methodology used. Full article
(This article belongs to the Collection Advances in Theoretical and Applied Geophysics)
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29 pages, 1861 KB  
Article
Physics-Supported Linear and Nonlinear Dimensionality Reduction for Supervised Adaptive Channel Selection in Hybrid RF-FSO-THz Communication Systems
by Luis Miguel Pires and Vitor Fialho
Electronics 2026, 15(13), 2778; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics15132778 (registering DOI) - 24 Jun 2026
Abstract
Hybrid RF-FSO-THz communication systems are promising candidates for future Internet of Things (IoT) and 6G networks because they combine the robustness of radio frequency links, the high-capacity potential of Free-Space Optical communications, and the ultra-wideband capabilities of terahertz transmission. Adaptive channel selection in [...] Read more.
Hybrid RF-FSO-THz communication systems are promising candidates for future Internet of Things (IoT) and 6G networks because they combine the robustness of radio frequency links, the high-capacity potential of Free-Space Optical communications, and the ultra-wideband capabilities of terahertz transmission. Adaptive channel selection in such systems depends on multiple correlated environmental and physical-layer variables, including distance, rain intensity, humidity, visibility, turbulence strength, signal-to-noise ratio, channel capacity, and energy-efficiency metrics. This paper presents a physics-supported benchmark framework for supervised adaptive channel selection in hybrid RF-FSO-THz systems and systematically investigates the impact of linear and nonlinear dimensionality-reduction techniques on predictive performance, statistical robustness, computational complexity, and physical interpretability. A multi-scenario dataset comprising 5000 samples was generated using calibrated RF, FSO, and THz propagation models under clear, rain, fog, and worst-case environmental conditions. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Kernel PCA were evaluated together with Random Forest, Support Vector Machines (SVMs), XGBoost, Gradient Boosting (GB), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Logistic Regression, and Decision Trees. The results demonstrate that PCA preserves nearly all predictive capabilities while reducing the original 33-dimensional feature space by approximately 81.8%, maintaining accuracies close to 97–98% with the best-performing classifiers. Statistical significance analysis confirms that PCA introduces only modest degradations, whereas Kernel PCA consistently reduces the predictive performance while increasing memory requirements and inference latency. Additional environmental-only validation experiments indicate that adaptive channel selection remains highly learnable even when only pre-selection environmental descriptors are available, partially mitigating concerns regarding self-consistency bias. Overall, the results suggest that PCA provides an advantageous compromise among predictive accuracy, computational efficiency, statistical robustness, and physical interpretability for supervised adaptive channel selection in physics-supported hybrid wireless communication systems. Full article
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