Search Results (6,433)

In recent years, the public environmental protection consciousness has improved regarding the source of drinking water. However, the risk status and sources of heavy metals (HMs) in the soil around drinking water sources remain unclear. The typical Drawdown Zone (DZ) of Danjiangkou Reservoir is taken as an example in this study. Pollution levels of HMs and associated ecological and human health risks were evaluated under four land-use types during the low-water-level period. The sources of 10 HMs were determined using the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model and correlation analysis. Quantitative source-oriented risk identification was then conducted by integrating risk characteristics with source apportionment. The results indicate that soils in the study area are generally slightly polluted, with comprehensive potential ecological risks at a medium level. Farmland soils exhibit the highest pollution and ecological risk levels, particularly for Hg and Cd. Our Monte Carlo simulation-based human health risk assessment shows that, compared with non-carcinogenic risks, carcinogenic risks should be given further attention. Farmland poses higher health risks than other land-use types, and children are more vulnerable than adults. Four main sources were identified: transportation sources (29.5%), agricultural activities (32%), natural sources (19.3%), and atmospheric deposition (19.2%). The source-oriented risk assessment indicates that agricultural activities are the priority control source for ecological risks (64.7%), with Hg as the primary control element. Transportation and agricultural sources are the primary contributors to carcinogenic risks in children (57.1%) and adults (57.1%), with Ni as the primary control element. Full article

The main objective of this study is to enhance the understanding of the physical and chemical processes operating in a still understudied basin and to establish methodologies for assessing the impacts of climate change in an arid region of southern Spain. The work aims to identify areas that are vulnerable, or potentially vulnerable, to climate change and to evaluate the system’s response in terms of both water quantity and quality. To this end, we analyze the evolution of streamflow, suspended sediments, and nitrates, using the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model. A clear lack of observed data was the main limitation improving river flow calibration; however, the validation process showed a very satisfactory coefficient of determination (R²) for the two stations considered (R² = 0.78 and R² = 0.70). Due to the limited water quality dataset, the calibration and validation of nitrates and suspended sediments were performed using the LOAD ESTimator (LOADEST) program. Satisfactory results were obtained at both stations during the validation period for nitrates (R² = 0.52 and R² = 0.92) and suspended sediment (R² = 0.83 and R² = 0.95) load. Finally, the model was applied under two climate change scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways, RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5). Reduced precipitation, combined with temperature increases exceeding 1 °C in some areas, leads to decreased flows along the main channel, affecting suspended sediment concentrations. Nitrate levels generally decrease across the basin, although they increase from October to April at the river mouth. This area emerges as highly vulnerable to climate change, particularly regarding alterations in water flow and nitrate concentration. Full article

Human life expectancy has risen dramatically in the last century, but this demographic triumph has come at the cost of an explosion of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), threatening the sustainability of healthcare systems in aging, low-fertility societies. Evolutionary medicine provides a framework to understand, at least in part, this paradox. Many vulnerabilities to disease are not failures of design but the predictable outcomes of evolutionary trade-offs, constraints, and mismatches. Evolutionary mismatch theory explains how traits once advantageous in ancestral environments become maladaptive in modern contexts of abundance, sedentarism, and urbanization. The developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) concept describes how epigenetic plasticity in early life can buffer or amplify these mismatches, depending on whether adult environments align with developmental forecasts. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, even if still debated in humans, may further influence phenotypic plasticity, increasing or mitigating the mismatch. In evolutionary terms, the theories of mutation accumulation, antagonistic pleiotropy, and the disposable soma explain why longer lifespans, and ecological and social conditions profoundly different from those in which we developed, increase the likelihood that these costs are expressed clinically. Because most NCDs can be prevented and effectively controlled but not cured, efforts should prioritize quality of life for people, families, and communities. At the individual level, aligning lifestyles with evolved biology can mitigate risk, but the greatest leverage lies in population-level interventions. Urban health strategies represent a forward-looking attempt to realign modern environments with human biology. In this way, the concept of the evolutionary misfit becomes not just a diagnosis of maladaptation, but a guide for building healthier, more sustainable societies. Full article

Background/Objectives: University students are a population vulnerable to psychological distress due to academic and lifestyle transitions. This study examined the relationships between physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, and subjective well-being among Slovak university students, with attention to gender-specific and non-linear patterns. Methods: A total of 1314 first-year students (69.5% women; mean age = 20.7 ± 1.4 years) completed the IPAQ-Short Form and the Bern Questionnaire on Subjective Well-Being (BSW/A). PA levels were categorized as low, moderate, or high according to standard MET thresholds. Group differences were analyzed using nonparametric tests with Benjamini–Hochberg FDR correction. Results: Higher PA levels were associated with more favorable well-being outcomes, particularly higher self-esteem and joy of life and lower depressed mood and somatic complaints. Effect sizes ranged from small to moderate. Gender-specific patterns emerged: among men, well-being indicators tended to plateau beyond moderate PA, whereas among women, moderate PA showed an inverse association with self-esteem despite slightly higher median scores in the moderate-activity group. Sedentary time showed weak and mostly non-significant associations after FDR correction. Conclusions: Physical activity was positively associated with subjective well-being in a non-linear, gender-dependent manner. These findings suggest that approaches to supporting student well-being may benefit from considering gender differences, individual activity patterns, and motivational context. Full article

Sparse Distributed Memory (SDM) provides a biologically inspired mechanism for associative and online learning. Transformer architectures, despite exceptional inference performance, remain static and vulnerable to catastrophic forgetting. This work introduces Continual Associative Learning Model (CALM), a conceptual framework that defines the theoretical base and integration logic for the cognitive model seeking to establish continual, lifelong adaptation without retraining by combining SDM system with lightweight dual-transformer modules. The architecture proposes an always-online associative memory for episodic storage (System 1), as well as a pair of asynchronous transformer consolidate experience in the background for uninterrupted reasoning and gradual model evolution (System 2). The framework remains compatible with standard transformer benchmarks, establishing a shared evaluation basis for both reasoning accuracy and continual learning stability. Preliminary experiments using the SDMPreMark benchmark evaluate algorithmic behavior across multiple synthetic sets, confirming a critical radius-threshold phenomenon in SDM recall. These results represent deterministic characterization of SDM dynamics in the component level, preceding the integration in the model level with transformer-based semantic tasks. The CALM framework provides a reproducible foundation for studying continual memory and associative learning in hybrid transformer architectures, although future work should involve experiments with non-synthetic, high-load data to confirm scalable behavior in high interference. Full article

Background/Objectives: Perinatal infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria pose a significant risk to neonatal health, especially in low-resource settings. These infections often lead to severe complications due to diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. This study aimed to clinical characterize, early outcomes, and risk factors associated with Gram-negative infections in neonates admitted to the tertiary neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at “Louis Turcanu” Children’s Hospital, Timisoara. Methods: A retrospective, case–control study was conducted at a tertiary neonatal care unit in Timișoara, Romania, including neonates with microbiologically confirmed Gram-negative infections (n = 44) and a matched control group without infection (n = 47). Clinical, laboratory, and microbiological data were analyzed. Statistical comparisons and logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate risk factors and outcomes. Results: Male sex (79.5% in infected vs. 57.4% in controls; p = 0.0418) and vaginal delivery (43.2% vs. 17.0%; p = 0.00001) were significantly associated with infection. Respiratory distress (72.7%) and digestive symptoms (75.0%) were common in infected neonates. C-reactive protein and procalcitonin levels were markedly elevated in infected infants. Escherichia coli was the most common pathogen, with multidrug-resistant strains observed in bloodstream infections. Mechanical ventilation was required in 75% of infected neonates compared with 16.2% in controls (p < 0.0001). Mortality was higher among infected neonates (25% vs. 4.3% in the control group), although not statistically significant. Conclusions: Gram-negative perinatal infections are associated with considerable morbidity, particularly in male neonates and those delivered vaginally. Early identification, antimicrobial stewardship, and intensive respiratory support are essential to improving outcomes in this vulnerable population. Full article

Psychological adjustment in adolescents living in residential care settings is a multidetermined process. This study explores the psychological adjustment of adolescents living in residential care, aiming to identify distinct psychosocial profiles. The sample comprised 433 adolescents (196 boys and 237 girls), aged 12 to 18 years, from 46 Portuguese institutions. Participants self-reported on key variables, including social support, coping strategies, emotion regulation, Dark Triad traits, attachment, and institutional integration. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three theoretically coherent profiles, differentiated by number of close friends, duration of institutionalization, substance use, and psychiatric medication. These profiles reflect varying levels of psychological, emotional, behavioral, and social adjustment and align with international literature. This study offers a novel contribution by identifying specific adjustment patterns among adolescents in care, providing valuable insights to inform more tailored intervention and prevention strategies aimed at fostering healthier development and well-being in this vulnerable group. Full article

Coastal erosion poses a significant risk to the Romanian Black Sea coast, a region characterized by the interaction of natural geomorphological processes and anthropogenic pressures. The research focuses on developing a tool to quantify the cumulative impact of hydro-geo-morphological factors and to assess the vulnerability of the coastal zone to these influences. The approach involves adapting the Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI)—previously applied in various methodologies—to the specific characteristics of this semi-enclosed basin, which included the exclusion of the tidal range variable due to the Black Sea’s negligible tidal amplitude. The selection of key variables, including coastal geology and geomorphology, shoreline change rates, coastal slope, sea level, and wave regime, was conducted with consideration for the specific characteristics of the Romanian coastal zone. By classifying these variables on a semi-quantitative scale and integrating them into a CVI, the study identifies and maps areas of high vulnerability. The analysis, based on a 1 × 1 km grid resolution, identified sectors of very high vulnerability in the northern Danube Delta unit, particularly along the coastlines of South Sulina–Câşla Vădanei, Sahalin, and Periboina-Edighiol-Vadu. These findings are validated through a comparison with long-term, multidecadal shoreline evolution data, confirming the model’s predictive accuracy. While the 1 × 1 km grid is effective for a macro-scale assessment, the study highlights the need for a finer resolution (e.g., 100 × 100 m) for detailed analysis in the southern region, due to localized geodynamic conditions and the significant influence of coastal infrastructure. Full article

Because of the advancement of IT, cross-domain environments have emerged where independent clouds with different security policies share data. However, sharing data between clouds with heterogeneous security levels is a challenging task, and most existing access control schemes focus on a single cloud domain. Among various access control models, RBAC is suitable for cross-domain data sharing, but existing RBAC schemes cannot provide strong role privacy and do not support freshness in role verification, so they are vulnerable to replay-based misuse of credentials. In this paper, we propose an RBAC scheme for cross-domain cloud environments based on a hash-chain-augmented zk-SNARK and identity-based signatures. The TA issues IBS-based role signing keys to users, and the user proves, through a zk-SNARK circuit, that there exists a valid role signing key satisfying the access policy without revealing the concrete role information to the CDS. In addition, a synchronized hash chain between the user and the CDS is embedded into the proof so that each proof is tied to the current hash-chain state and any previously used proof fails verification when replayed. We formalize role privacy, replay resistance, and MitM resistance in the cross-domain setting and analyze the proposed scheme by comparing it with Saxena and Alam’s I-RBAC, Xu et al.’s RBAC, MO-RBE, and PE-RBAC. The security analysis shows that the proposed scheme achieves robust role privacy against both the CDS and external attackers and prevents replay and man-in-the-middle attacks. Furthermore, the computational cost evaluation based on the number of pairing, exponentiation, point addition, and hash operations confirms that the verifier-side overhead remains comparable to existing schemes, while the additional prover cost is the price for achieving stronger privacy and security. Therefore, the proposed scheme can be applied to cross-domain cloud systems that require secure and privacy-preserving role verification, such as military, healthcare, and government cloud infrastructures. Full article

Multidrug resistance (MDR) presents a significant challenge in the treatment of glioblastoma. We evaluated six novel adamantane–sclareol hybrids that integrate a natural labdane diterpene scaffold with an adamantane moiety to address this issue. Compounds 2, 5, and 6 demonstrated the ability to bypass P-glycoprotein (P-gp)-mediated resistance in resistant U87-TxR cells and induced collateral sensitivity, with compound 2 exhibiting the highest selectivity for glioblastoma compared to normal glial cells. Mechanistic studies revealed that compounds 2 and 5 selectively triggered early apoptosis in MDR cells, significantly elevated levels of H₂O₂ and peroxynitrite, and disrupted mitochondrial membrane potential. Additionally, these compounds altered the expression of key genes involved in glutathione (GSH) and thioredoxin (Trx) antioxidant defense systems and increased ASK1 protein levels, indicating the activation of ROS-driven apoptotic signaling. Both compounds inhibited P-gp function, leading to enhanced intracellular accumulation of rhodamine 123 (Rho 123) and synergistically sensitized U87-TxR cells to paclitaxel (PTX). A preliminary Rag1 xenograft study demonstrated that compound 5 effectively suppressed tumor growth without causing significant weight loss. Collectively, these findings position adamantane–sclareol hybrids, particularly compounds 2 and 5, as promising strategies that exploit an MDR-associated reactive oxygen species (ROS) vulnerability, combining selective cytotoxicity, redox disruption, and P-gp modulation to eliminate resistant glioblastoma cells and enhance the efficacy of chemotherapeutics. Full article

Electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain–computer interface (BCI) mimics the brain’s intrinsic information-processing mechanisms by translating neural oscillations into actionable commands. In motor imagery (MI) BCI, imagined movements evoke characteristic patterns over the sensorimotor cortex, forming a biomimetic channel through which internal motor intentions are decoded. However, this biomimetic interaction is highly vulnerable to signal degradation, particularly in mobile or low-resource environments where low sampling frequencies obscure these MI-related oscillations. To address this limitation, we propose a robust MI classification framework that integrates spatial, spectral, and temporal dynamics through a filter bank common spatial pattern with time segmentation (FBCSP-TS). This framework classifies motor imagery tasks into four classes (left hand, right hand, foot, and tongue), segments EEG signals into overlapping time domains, and extracts frequency-specific spatial features across multiple subbands. Segment-level predictions are combined via soft voting, reflecting the brain’s distributed integration of information and enhancing resilience to transient noise and localized artifacts. Experiments performed on BCI Competition IV datasets 2a (250 Hz) and 1 (100 Hz) demonstrate that FBCSP-TS outperforms CSP and FBCSP. A paired t-test confirms that accuracy at 110 Hz is not significantly different from that at 250 Hz (p < 0.05), supporting the robustness of the proposed framework. Optimal temporal parameters (window length = 3.5 s, moving length = 0.5 s) further stabilize transient-signal capture and improve SNR. External validation yielded a mean accuracy of 0.809 ± 0.092 and Cohen’s kappa of 0.619 ± 0.184, confirming strong generalizability. By preserving MI-relevant neural patterns under degraded conditions, this framework advances practical, biomimetic BCI suitable for wearable and real-world deployment. Full article

Financial literacy plays a crucial role in promoting social and economic resilience, particularly in vulnerable contexts where access to education and financial services is limited. This study provides the first empirical analysis of the determinants of financial literacy among women horticulturists in Guinea Bissau in West Africa, a group that sustains household income and local markets through informal work. A survey with face-to-face data collection was employed, using a structured questionnaire to assess financial literacy across three dimensions: financial attitude, financial behavior, and financial knowledge. All 978 women horticulturists at the Pessubé Farm were invited to participate in the survey, and 200 valid questionnaires were returned and used as the final sample. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. Results revealed prudent and consistent financial behaviors, mid to low financial attitudes marked by concern about expenses and short-term planning, and limited conceptual financial knowledge, with frequent uncertainty on basic topics such as inflation, interest, and diversification. Regression analysis showed that financial satisfaction and food sufficiency are positively associated with higher levels of financial literacy, while overdue debts exert a negative effect. These findings highlight that strengthening financial literacy in low income and informal settings requires context sensitive strategies integrating financial education, debt management, and food security initiatives, emphasizing the multidimensional nature of financial literacy and its role in inclusive and sustainable development. Full article

A storage-aware water-scarcity risk assessment framework coupling satellite remote sensing, geospatial datasets with the IPCC exposure-hazard-vulnerability (EHV) paradigm was designed to evaluate the spatiotemporal dynamics of global water scarcity risk over the past two decades. To achieve this, a performance-weighted ensemble machine learning approach was employed to reconstruct long-term terrestrial water storage (TWS) from satellite observations, augmented with glacier-mass calibration to improve reliability in cryosphere-affected regions. Global water withdrawal dataset was generated by integrating remote sensing, geospatial dataset, and machine learning to mitigate the dependency of parameterized land surface hydrological models and enable consistent risk mapping. Satellite-derived results reveal obvious TWS declines in Asia, Northern Africa, and North America, particularly in irrigated drylands and glacier-dominated regions. EHV paradigm and big datasets further identified high-water scarcity risk in Asia and Africa, especially in agricultural regions. Water stress has intensified in Africa over the past two decades, while a decreasing trend is observed in parts of Asia. Vulnerability levels in Asia and Africa are approximately eight times higher than those in other global regions. Results reveal a strong connection between water stress and socioeconomic factors in Asia and Africa, reflecting global disparities in water resource availability. Full article

Water erosion is a major driver of soil degradation in the Brazilian Cerrado, intensified by the conversion of natural vegetation into agricultural land. The excessive runoff and sediment generated in poorly covered karst slopes impact the hydrologic cycle of the biome’s sinkholes and underground rivers. This study evaluated the effectiveness of pasture restoration in reducing runoff and soil loss in three experimental farms situated in a vulnerable karst area of Central Brazil. Runoff and soil loss were monitored during three hydrologic years in plots of degraded pasture (DP), restored pasture (RP), and natural savannah (NS), using unbound Gerlach settings. The experiment was carried out on three farms in the Vermelho river basin, which were treated as blocks. The results indicate that pasture restoration reduced runoff by 50% and soil loss by 55–95% when compared to degraded pasture conditions, below on-site erosion tolerance thresholds. Runoff and soil loss in restored pasture (RP) plots fell between DP and NS, though in some cases, soil loss in RP reached levels that are comparable to the natural savannah. Normalized soil loss was highly correlated with runoff (R² = 0.94), allowing for the latter to be used as a proxy of the former. The increased groundwater recharge and reduced sediment yield resulting from pasture restoration improve on- and off-site resilience in vulnerable karst landscapes and could be utilized as a sustainable soil conservation policy. Full article

The conservation of cultural heritage is highly influenced by environmental factors, including chemical and biological air quality and microclimatic conditions. Understanding their combined effects is essential for developing preventive conservation strategies. This study focuses on the indoor air quality in the King’s Apartment in the Royal Palace of Turin (Italy), a historic building lacking air-conditioning systems, where a multidisciplinary approach was applied to assess the conservation environment. Continuous monitoring of Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC), particulate matter (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀), temperature and relative humidity was performed between March 2024 and July 2025 using portable sensors; aerobiological analyses were carried out through active and passive sampling, while volatile compounds were identified via SPME-GC/MS. Pollutants and biological monitoring revealed fluctuations influenced by microclimatic variations and spatial position. Notably, results showed that one room exhibited the highest levels of concern across all monitoring activities, representing the most vulnerable environment. The use of a multidisciplinary approach enabled a comprehensive understanding of the environmental conditions affecting the King’s Apartment, highlighting the relevance of collaboration in heritage science to guide evidence-based preventive conservation strategies. Full article