Search Results (7,826)

Terrestrial environments function as major sinks and dynamic sources of microplastics. Land use strongly influences inputs, accumulation, and transport pathways of these contaminants in the environment. Despite the extensive literature, few reviews have compared contamination levels and the potential impacting factors across land uses. To fill this gap, this review synthesizes current knowledge on the origins, occurrence, pathways, and ecological effects of microplastics across diverse land uses. The review revealed multiple interconnected pathways that drive microplastic contamination in terrestrial systems. Abundances are consistently higher in intensively managed croplands, urban areas and industrial vicinities. However, their detection in remote environments underscores the critical role of diffuse inputs and long-range atmospheric transport. Vertically, microplastics are enriched in topsoils, and their concentrations declines with depth. Horizontally, concentration declines with increasing distance from major hotspots like agricultural fields, industrial facilities, and road networks. Ecologically, microplastics alter soil physical properties, modify chemical conditions, and shift microbial community composition and enzyme activities. Furthermore, they stress soil fauna and plants through ingestion, toxicity, and physical blockage, with impacts contingent on polymer type, particle morphology, and concentration. Collectively, this review reveals consistent spatial patterns and widespread adverse ecological impacts, highlighting the clear need for integrated management strategies to mitigate terrestrial microplastic pollution. Full article

This study examines the impact of agribusiness corporations (large-scale agricultural enterprises) and family farms on the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas in Ukraine, and considers implications for SDG-aligned agri-food value chains that rely on stable access to sustainably produced raw materials. The research applies a multi-criteria decision analysis framework integrating economic, environmental and social indicators at the regional level. Using min–max normalisation, scoring and ranking methods, composite indices of economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, and sustainable rural development were constructed for 20 selected Ukrainian regions, and an integral sustainability index was calculated. Spearman’s rank correlation was applied to identify relationships between sustainability indicators and the structural characteristics of agricultural production. The results reveal pronounced interregional differentiation and an overall predominance of economic over environmental sustainability. Regions with a higher share of family farming demonstrate stronger environmental sustainability and more balanced development patterns, whereas dominance of large-scale enterprises is associated with adverse environmental effects. At the same time, relationships between farm structure and sustainable rural development are weak and not statistically significant, suggesting that social sustainability outcomes depend on more complex and context-dependent mechanisms beyond production scale alone. The findings highlight structural trade-offs between economic efficiency and environmental sustainability and underline the importance of regionally differentiated policy instruments. Strengthening support for family farms is identified as a promising mechanism for improving environmental performance and enhancing upstream conditions for sustainability-oriented sourcing and agri-food value chains. Full article

Background/Objectives: Body mass index (BMI) trajectories and transitions across adulthood are dynamic processes influenced by aging and social- and health-related factors, yet long-term patterns in older adults from middle-income countries remain insufficiently characterized. The objective of this study was to characterize long-term BMI trajectories and transitions, and to identify sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with adverse BMI patterns among Mexican adults aged ≥50 years followed over 20 years. Methods: This study used data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study (ENASEM), a nationally representative longitudinal cohort. Participants aged ≥50 years with repeated BMI measurements across survey waves were included. BMI trajectories and transitions between BMI categories were described, and multinomial regression models were used to examine factors associated with upward transitions and unstable high-BMI patterns. Results: Distinct BMI trajectory patterns were identified over the 20-year follow-up. Participants in stable normal-weight trajectories were younger, more frequently female, and had higher educational attainment and income. In contrast, those with stable overweight/obesity or fluctuating–adverse BMI patterns had higher baseline BMI and a greater prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and multimorbidity. In multivariable analyses, age contributed to trajectory differences; however, sex, socioeconomic factors, baseline BMI, and chronic conditions remained independently associated with adverse BMI patterns. Conclusions: BMI trajectories in later life are heterogeneous and reflect the combined influence of aging, socioeconomic conditions, and chronic disease burden. Identifying groups at risk of adverse BMI patterns may support the development of targeted interventions to reduce obesity-related health consequences in older adults. Full article

Boundary Layer Ingestion propulsors operate in an adverse aerodynamic environment with high levels of distortion. With the purpose of extending the operating range of transonic fan rotors for BLI applications, in this paper we present an optimisation study focused on blade profiles design under different working conditions. Quasi-2D blade sections are optimised using a genetic algorithm and numerical simulations, by varying the camberline and thickness distribution. A method to efficiently achieve a combination of total pressure ratio at a given relative inlet Mach number is devised. The isentropic efficiency is optimised at the design point, concurrently with the stall total pressure ratio at a lower inlet Mach number, in a multi-objective fashion. Pareto-optimal profiles exhibit a moderate leading edge concavity for high efficiency and a straighter fore part with increased trailing edge deflection for higher compression at stall. Optimised airfoils are used in a preliminary three-dimensional evaluation with a realistic BLI inflow, in which the unsteady full-annulus analysis corroborates the approach of the sectional optimisation, also showing the possibility of estimating the integral performance of the machine with a simplified approach based on a single-passage simulation with a circumferential-averaged inflow distribution. Full article

In this work, we assessed the impacts of biostimulant application on pot-grown Sonchus oleraceus L. plants under saline conditions. The biostimulant products tested were an experimental formulation based on humic and fulvic acids (HF) and the commercial product Sipfol Star^® (SS), which comprises amino acids (mainly glutamic acid, alanine, and aspartic acid). Our results highlight that biostimulants mitigated the negative impacts of high salinity only on specific morphological traits, such as the dry matter of leaves. Accordingly, the HF treatment reduced the fat and protein content (under low and high salinity, respectively) and energetic value (under high salinity), while the carbohydrate content increased under high salinity for the SS treatment and the untreated plants compared to the respective treatment under low salinity. The nitrogen content of leaves was negatively affected by biostimulant application at high salinity, whereas the HF and SS treatments induced the accumulation of sodium and potassium under high salinity compared to the untreated plants. The total flavonoid content also increased in biostimulant-treated plants under high salinity, whereas no effects on total phenol content were recorded. Moreover, the plants treated with biostimulants under low salinity conditions showed higher antioxidant activity for the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay than the respective treatments at high salinity and the control treatment. The content of oxidative markers, such as malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), was higher under low-salinity levels, whereas biostimulant-treated plants showed the lowest content under high salinity. Overall, the application of biostimulants showed promising results in mitigating the adverse impacts of high salinity on S. oleraceus plants. However, further research is needed on more biostimulatory products and application regimes (e.g., different doses and application times) to elucidate the mechanisms of action and bolster the positive effects of this sustainable agronomic tool. Full article

In complex real-world scenarios, object detection faces significant challenges due to severe noise interference and feature degradation. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes DFA-YOLO, an enhanced YOLOv11 framework integrating three key innovations. First, a Deformable Spatial Attention (DSA) module is introduced into the C3k2 backbone blocks, which dynamically adjusts the receptive field to focus on informative spatial regions. This significantly enhances the model’s adaptability to geometric variations and occluded objects. Second, a Hierarchical Multi-Scale Fusion Module (HMFM) is designed to dynamically recalibrate feature responses across scales, enhancing the model’s perception of multi-scale targets. Third, an improved Wasserstein loss function combines small-object adaptive weighting with dynamic gradient modulation to address boundary ambiguity and scale sensitivity under adverse conditions. Extensive experiments on the RTTS dataset validate the superiority of our approach, achieving improvements of 3.4% and 2.8% in mAP50 and mAP50-95, respectively. Additional experiments on the Exdark dataset confirm the method’s robust generalization capability, with significant accuracy gains observed across all benchmarks. Full article

Caring for children with physical disabilities can be a daunting responsibility, often placing significant financial, psychological, social and health-related strains on the primary caregivers. This qualitative study explored the experiences of caregivers caring for children with physical disabilities in the Hardap region of Namibia. Using purposive sampling, twenty caregivers were selected as participants in the study. Data was collected using semi-structured interview schedules. Following the interviews, the data were manually analysed and categorised into distinctive themes and sub-themes and summarised in the final report as verbatim quotations. Study findings reveal that caregivers are motivated and determined to provide optimum care for children with physical disabilities under their care by acquiring assistive devices for them and assisting the children with activities of daily living. However, poverty and the general shortage of assistive devices, mostly wheelchairs, provide adverse conditions that are inimical to the development of children’s functional independence in daily living tasks. The burden of carrying the children was noted to be potentially deleterious to the caregivers’ physical health. The study concluded that providing assistive equipment for the children will ease the caregivers’ burden of care while equalising socioeconomic opportunities for both children with physical disabilities and their caregivers. The study only covered a small sample size in a small geographical area of Namibia. Therefore, interpretation and generalisation of the findings need to account for the specific context in the Hardap region of Namibia. Therefore, there remains scope for conducting further research with a larger sample size and one that is more geographically representative of Namibia. Full article

Microplastics (MPs) are synthetic polymer particles that are generally less than 5 mm in size and have attracted heightened scrutiny due to their pervasive presence in the environment, along with their toxicological significance. Several research investigations documented its presence in humans as a profound finding in biological tissues and fluids crossing barriers, leading to oxidative and inflammatory pathways alterations associated with blood, placenta, cardiovascular, pulmonary, nephrotic, other systems, and their disorders. Given the ubiquitous utilization of microplastics across diverse sectors, it is imperative to systematically investigate and elucidate their potential toxicological effects on biological systems through rigorous and mechanistically informed research. This review will also provide the synthesis of recent mechanistic data on the toxicity that can be caused by MPs and will determine key gaps that impede efficient human health risk evaluation. A structured literature search was conducted via PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases, mostly from the studies published between 2010 and 2026. The studies of exposure characteristics and biological effects were analyzed in vitro, in vivo, and in human biomonitoring, and the primary focus of the interventions includes oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, hepatotoxicity, and metabolic malfunction. MPs possess various physicochemical properties, such as a low particle size, various shapes, surface area, polymer composition, and the presence of sorbed or intrinsic additives. When MPs are taken up by cells, they can induce oxidative stress via increasing ROS, eventually leading to high lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial malfunction, DNA fragmentation, and eventually cell death. MPs also cause pro-inflammatory cytokine responses, including TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, altering the immune system and cell profile, leading to systemic inflammation. In aquatic and terrestrial organisms, these microplastics have a harmful impact on growth, reproduction, and behavior in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Under conditions of controlled exposure, the organ-specific toxicities that have been reported include hepatic, renal, neurological, reproductive, and cardiovascular systems. Although the fields of mechanistic knowledge are growing, there is still a substantial amount of uncertainty; there is a lack of characterization of the long-term effects of low-dose chronic exposure, the kinetics of bioaccumulation, biodegradation potential, and transgenerational effects. In addition, there are no standardized procedures for the characterization of MPs, nor the reporting of the distribution of size or exposure measurements, which limits the comparability of cross-studies and makes it difficult to assess risks quantitatively. The dynamics of interactions of MPs between co-adsorbed contaminants like heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals are also yet to be explored. Although all evidence available to date does indicate biologically plausible mechanisms of MP-induced toxicity, integrated research employing standardized analytical protocols, an environmentally relevant exposure model, and human epidemiological data is required to ensure that laboratory results are translated into evidence-based public health and regulatory actions. This review offers an in-depth analysis of the existing molecular understanding of MP-induced toxicity, demonstrates organism-level impacts throughout species, and establishes vital fields for future studies. In order to develop competent guidelines to minimize MP exposure and its adverse health effects, it is crucial to cover these gaps via research that incorporates toxicology and environmental science. Full article

Dry-type electrical transformers are essential components in commercial, industrial, and residential power distribution systems, as they adapt voltage levels required by a broad range of load types. Although they are robustly constructed, they are exposed to adverse operational and environmental conditions such as dust, humidity, and electrical disturbances that may cause premature winding damage, such as inter-turn short circuits. This study focuses on the detection of inter-turn short-circuit faults in a 15 kVA commercial dry-type transformer, where a fault equivalent to 11.54% of short-circuited turns was induced in the tap changers. Axial, radial, and rotational leakage magnetic flux signals were captured using a low-cost, non-invasive triaxial Hall-effect magnetic flux sensor. During data processing, Fisher Score feature selection was applied to identify the most relevant indicators. Subsequently, feature extraction techniques, including Linear Discriminant Analysis, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection, and Isometric Mapping, were evaluated. The technique that best preserved global and local data structures was selected using Trustworthiness, Spearman’s correlation, and Kruskal’s stress metrics. PCA was selected as the optimal technique based on these quality metrics, achieving the highest classification performance. The resulting subspace data were classified using support vector machines and applying K-fold cross-validation. The proposed system achieved classification accuracies above 95%, with high recall and F1-score values, for inter-turn fault detection in each winding, confirming its effectiveness for reliable inter-turn fault detection in each transformer winding. Full article

Stressful effects on agriculture are of paramount importance in the 21st century. Water deficiency is considered a major constraint in crop succession, particularly for maize. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potential roles of brassinolide (BL) and silicon (Si) in mitigating biotic (incidence of pests and diseases) and abiotic stresses (naturally occurring water deficit) in maize grown after soybean harvest. The field experiments were conducted over two growing seasons on a Rhodic Haplustox in the Cerrado, Goiás, Brazil. A randomized complete block design was employed in a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement, with five BL doses (0.000, 0.050, 0.100, 0.150, and 0.200 mg L⁻¹) and two Si treatments (absence and presence), each with four replicates. BL was applied immediately when the soil moisture in the 0–0.20 m layer reached 16.25%, corresponding to the crop’s critical water threshold. This specific phenological point corresponded to the R₂ stage in the first off-season and the V₁₀ stage in the second off-season. Si applications were performed at the V₃ and V₈ stages. BL application enhanced growth, as well as physiological and metabolic performance by increasing protein synthesis and sugar content, thereby maintaining relative water content, sustaining antioxidant enzyme activity, and reducing lipid peroxidation under water-deficit conditions. The BL doses that achieved the highest yields were 0.149 mg L⁻¹ (R₂ stage) in the first off-season and 0.134 mg L⁻¹ (V₁₀ stage) in the second off-season. Si application effectively reduced pest damage and disease severity while improving plant water status. However, in the second off-season, a significant BL × Si interaction was limited to carotenoids, pheophytinization index, and disease severity. These results indicate that the combined use of BL and Si provides a promising strategy to enhance maize resilience by integrating BL-mediated yield promotion with Si-driven physical and biotic protection under adverse environmental conditions. Full article

Adverse environmental and postharvest conditions challenge the functional quality of lemons, an economically vital citrus crop. Melatonin (MEL) has emerged as an effective regulator of plant stress responses and secondary metabolism. This study evaluated the effects of pre- and postharvest MEL treatments, combined with cold storage, on the fruit quality of two lemon cultivars (‘Fino’ and ‘Verna’). The research focused specifically on endogenous MEL and flavanone dynamics. Three experimental conditions were assessed: (a) preharvest MEL application at 0.1 and 1 mM; (b) preharvest treatment followed by cold storage; and (c) combined pre- and postharvest MEL treatment followed by cold storage. Preharvest treatments increased endogenous MEL at harvest in a dose- and cultivar-dependent manner. Specifically, 1 mM being optimal for ‘Fino’, while 0.1 mM was more effective for ‘Verna’. During cold storage, ‘Fino’ fruit, characterized by low basal endogenous MEL levels, showed a marked increase in MEL accumulation, suggesting the stimulation of biosynthesis. In contrast, ‘Verna’ fruit, which had initially high endogenous MEL content, exhibited a pronounced decline, indicating MEL consumption to counteract oxidative stress. Flavanone content increased dose-dependently after preharvest treatment and was preserved during storage in ‘Fino’ but declined in ‘Verna’. These findings demonstrate that the fruit cultivar must be considered a critical factor in MEL-based strategies, as identical treatments may yield markedly different outcomes even within the same species. Full article

Remote sensing has become a cornerstone of modern agricultural monitoring, addressing the dual challenges of increasing production while ensuring environmental sustainability. Based on a conceptual framework developed over the past decade, key application areas include yield estimation, phenology, stress assessment (e.g., drought), crop mapping, and land-use change detection. In Central Europe, regionally specific conditions such as fragmented land ownership, small and irregular plots, and high climate variability shape these applications. Annual field crops, such as cereals, oilseeds, maize, and forage crops dominate production and represent the primary focus of monitoring efforts. Optical data from Sentinel-2 are effective for mapping crop types and analyzing phenology, especially when dense time series are available. However, persistent cloud cover during critical growth phases limits the effectiveness of optical approaches, prompting the integration of radar data from Sentinel-1. Multi-sensor strategies increase the robustness of classification and temporal continuity, supporting monitoring under adverse conditions. Reliable reference data from systems such as the Land Parcel Identification System enables parcel-level validation and facilitates object-oriented analyses in line with management needs. Future developments will increasingly rely on advanced time-series analysis, machine learning, and the integration of agrometeorological and crop model data. As climate change intensifies drought frequency and yield variability, remote sensing will play a pivotal role in enabling near-real-time monitoring and decision support within the evolving landscape of digital agriculture ecosystems. The aim of this review article is to provide an overview of crop monitoring in the Central European region over approximately the past fifteen years, emphasizing trends in subsequent technological and procedural developments. Full article

Working conditions in the offshore oil and gas industry can expose workers to fatigue and sleep deprivation due to extended working hours, irregular shift schedules, and highly complex operational environments. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review of scientific literature on fatigue and sleep deprivation in the offshore oil and gas sector and their implications for health, performance, and safety. The systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and included primary studies published between 2015 and 2025, retrieved from the Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Embase databases. Following the eligibility assessment, fifty studies were included in the final analysis. The selected studies were classified according to their level of direct relevance to offshore oil and gas operations, distinguishing evidence derived from offshore platforms from that obtained in analogous operational settings. The findings demonstrate consistent associations between fatigue and chronic sleep deprivation and adverse occupational health outcomes. Regulatory gaps were also identified when comparing different international approaches to fatigue risk management in the offshore sector. Overall, the results underscore the need for integrated fatigue management strategies aligned with best international practices to enhance health and safety in offshore operations. Full article

Background and Clinical Significance: The optimization of soft tissue healing following oral surgical procedures remains a key factor for achieving long-term functional and esthetic success. This article aims to explore the clinical application and healing potential of zinc-containing stents in the management of various oral soft tissue conditions. Case Presentation: Four clinical cases involving different etiologies of soft tissue lesions were included: (1) persistent pregnancy-associated gingival enlargement, (2) prosthesis-related gingival inflammation, (3) plaque-induced gingivitis, and (4) palatal thermal injury.Zinc-containing stents were fabricated from preheated granulate and applied following initial or supportive plaque control. Patients were instructed to wear the stents for a prescribed period. Clinical parameters, including the full mouth plaque score (FMPS), full mouth bleeding score (FMBS), tissue appearance, and patient comfort, were evaluated during follow-up. All four patients demonstrated complete resolution of clinical signs, including reduced inflammation, improved gingival contour, and accelerated tissue healing, without reported discomfort or adverse effects. In inflammatory cases, FMPS and FMBS values decreased markedly after stent use, while the palatal burn lesion showed complete re-epithelialization within five days. No adverse effects or complications were observed during follow-up periods ranging from one week to one year for the different cases. Conclusions: Zinc-containing stents show promising clinical potential as adjunctive tools in the management of periodontal and oral mucosal conditions. Their bioactive properties—anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and regenerative—may enhance soft tissue healing and patient comfort. Further controlled clinical studies are needed to establish standardized treatment protocols and optimize zinc formulations for wider adoption in clinical practice. Full article

Image restoration under adverse weather conditions has attracted increasing attention because of its importance for both human perception and downstream vision applications. Existing methods, however, are often designed for a single degradation type. We present WeatherMAR, a multi-weather restoration framework that formulates adverse-weather restoration as a paired-domain completion problem in a shared continuous token space. Specifically, WeatherMAR concatenates degraded and clean token sequences into a joint paired-domain sequence and performs restoration through masked autoregressive modeling, in which self-attention enables direct cross-domain interaction. To strengthen conditional learning while avoiding trivial paired correspondences, we introduce complementary bidirectional masking together with an optional reverse objective used only during training to encourage degradation-aware representations. WeatherMAR further employs a conditional diffusion objective for continuous token prediction and adopts a progress-to-step schedule to improve inference efficiency. Extensive experiments on standard multi-weather benchmarks, including Snow100K, Outdoor-Rain, and RainDrop, show that WeatherMAR achieves the best PSNR/SSIM on Snow100K-S (38.14/0.9684), the best SSIM on Outdoor-Rain (0.9396), and the best PSNR on Snow100K-L (32.58) and RainDrop (33.12). These results demonstrate that paired-domain token completion provides an effective solution for adverse-weather restoration. Full article