Search Results (21,614)

Geobacter sulfurreducens is a model bacterium widely used in microbial fuel cell (MFC) research due to its efficient extracellular electron transfer. However, the high cost of synthetic media limits the scalability of these systems, making agro-industrial byproducts like cheese whey a sustainable alternative. This study evaluated cheese whey as a growth medium for G. sulfurreducens and its influence on biofilm development on graphite bars electrodes. Bacterial growth kinetics and biofilm architecture were characterized using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) as the primary quantitative tool, supplemented by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Growth curves revealed a diauxic-like transition within the first 48 h, with high cell viability (94%). AFM analysis demonstrated a non-linear topographical evolution: an initial attachment phase was followed by a peak in structural heterogeneity at 14 days (S_q = 683.08 nm), eventually reaching a mature, confluent state at 21 days with a maximum thickness of ~8 μm. Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed an organic and mineral matrix consistent with bacterial biomass and whey components. These results demonstrate that cheese whey effectively supports the growth of G. sulfurreducens and the formation of structurally complex biofilms, highlighting its potential as a low-cost substrate for microbial cultivation and dairy waste valorization. Full article

Promoting the coordinated development of digitalization and greening has become an important pathway for firms to achieve high-quality growth. Using panel data for A-share listed firms in China’s Yangtze River Basin from 2010 to 2022, this study examines the effect of supply chain innovation policy on firms’ digital–green development. We measure the synergy between digitalization and greening using a composite system synergy approach and identify the policy effect through a quasi-natural experiment based on the supply chain innovation policy, combined with a synthetic difference-in-differences model. The results show that the policy significantly improves the coordinated development of firm digitalization and greening, and the findings remain robust across a series of tests. Mechanism analysis indicates that this effect operates through three channels: easing financing constraints, increasing supply chain diversification, and promoting industrial chain modernization. Moderating effect tests further show that supply chain efficiency, supply chain resilience, and entrepreneurship strengthen the policy’s positive effect on digital–green development. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the policy effect varies systematically with firm size, market competitiveness, and information asymmetry. This study provides micro-level evidence on how supply chain innovation policy can promote firms’ digital–green transformation and offers useful implications for policies aimed at improving firm competitiveness and supporting sustainable development. Full article

The intensification of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) aquaculture has increased the incidence of infectious diseases and metabolic disorders, raising concerns about antimicrobial resistance. Nutritional immunology offers a sustainable preventive strategy, with intestinal health playing a central role. Phospholipid (PL) additives—including soybean lecithin (SBL), lysophospholipids (LPLs), and marine phospholipids (MPLs)—have emerged as promising functional feed additives due to their roles in nutrition, lipid metabolism, and intestinal homeostasis. This review systematically summarizes current knowledge on the effects of these three PL types on growth performance, nutrient utilization, lipid metabolism, and intestinal health in largemouth bass. We discuss the underlying molecular mechanisms, including the regulation of intestinal barrier function, mucosal immunity, and gut microbiota composition. We also compare the efficacy of different PL types, revealing that their benefits are often context-dependent, especially when facing nutritional challenges. Finally, we identify critical knowledge gaps and propose future research directions while also acknowledging that most evidence originates from a limited number of research groups in China, underscoring the need for independent validation across diverse production systems to strengthen generalizability. Full article

Betalains are natural antioxidant pigments valued as food colorants (E162), yet their combined responses to light quality and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) during long-term growth remain poorly understood. In this study, the interactive effects of blue light and MeJA on growth, betacyanin, betaxanthin, antioxidant enzyme activities [peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT)], malondialdehyde (MDA), and proline (PRO) were investigated at weeks 3, 10, and 13 of sugar beet seedling growth. Four treatments were established: white light (W, control), white light + MeJA (WM), white light + blue light (WB), and white light + blue light + MeJA (WBM). The results showed that WB rapidly induced betaxanthin accumulation and enhanced SOD and POD activities while reducing MDA at week 3. MeJA alone triggered an explosive increase in betacyanin (45.74 mg·g⁻¹ FW) at week 10, accompanied by elevated activities of POD, SOD, and CAT. The combined treatment (WBM) maintained the highest betacyanin (36.48 mg·g⁻¹ FW) and betaxanthin (8.97 mg·g⁻¹ FW) contents, the lowest MDA level (17.17 nmol·g⁻¹ FW), and a high proline level (528.39 μg·g⁻¹ FW) at week 13, providing sustained pigment maintenance at the late stage. The three antioxidant enzymes exhibited a temporal division of labor: high SOD activity at the early stage, while POD and CAT activities continuously increased during the middle and late stages. Notably, the correlation between proline and MDA shifted from positive at week 10 to negative at week 13, suggesting a temporal transition in the protective role of proline against membrane lipid peroxidation during late-stage development. In conclusion, blue light and MeJA enhance the antioxidant capacity of sugar beet seedlings through a temporally synergistic pattern of “priming by blue light, burst by MeJA, and maintenance by combined treatment,” offering a potential preharvest regulation strategy for the production of natural pigments and functional food ingredients. Full article

Devoting attention to the mechanisms of enhancing energy efficiency through the transition to clean energy sources plays a vital and active role in moving forward towards environmental sustainability in the industrial economy. Industrial CO₂ emissions across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) remain persistently high despite growing regional commitments to clean energy transition and sustainability. This study examines the key determinants of industrial CO₂ emissions in all six GCC member states over the period 2004–2022, focusing on energy efficiency, electricity consumption, oil use, trade openness, and economic growth. The analysis employs advanced panel econometric techniques, including cross-sectional dependence tests, second-generation unit root tests, and panel autoregressive distributed lag estimators, to identify both short-run and long-run relationships among the variables. The results reveal that in the short run, energy intensity is the sole statistically significant driver of industrial emissions. In the long run, energy intensity continues to increase emissions, while trade openness significantly reduces them. Neither oil consumption nor industrial electricity use exerts a significant positive long-run effect on emissions, pointing to a gradual decoupling driven by improving industrial energy efficiency and cleaner electricity generation. These findings suggest an emerging decoupling between industrial activity and carbon emissions in the GCC, driven by improvements in energy efficiency. For GCC economies pursuing economic diversification and net-zero targets, reducing industrial energy intensity and expanding low-carbon energy sources remain critical pathways toward sustainable industrial development. Full article

This study examines how the strategic integration of digital transformation and national innovation capacity contributes to accelerating sustainable development in Saudi Arabia by focusing on six Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 4—Quality Education, SDG 7—Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8—Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 9—Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG 12—Responsible Consumption and Production, and SDG 13—Climate Action. Using annual data on ICT use, ICT access, R&D expenditure, and patent applications, the analysis evaluates both the direct and joint relationships between these indicators and SDG performance. Digital transformation is captured through ICT use and ICT access, while national innovation capacity is represented by R&D expenditure and patent applications, reflecting the input and output dimensions of formal innovation activity. The findings indicate that the direct long-run effects of digital transformation and national innovation capacity on the six SDGs are not statistically significant, suggesting that these domains have not yet become standalone drivers of educational advancement, clean-energy adoption, economic performance, industrial upgrading, sustainable resource management, or emissions reduction. In contrast, their interaction produces substantial positive effects on SDG 4, SDG 7, SDG 8, and SDG 9, highlighting improvements in educational quality, renewable energy transition, productivity, and industrial innovation. The interaction also has significant negative effects on SDG 12 and SDG 13, as reflected by reductions in CO₂ intensity and environmental pressures. These results indicate that meaningful progress toward the SDGs emerges when digital capabilities and national innovation capacity evolve jointly, rather than through isolated improvements in ICT infrastructure or innovation inputs. Robustness checks using a composite SDG index confirm the stability of these complementary effects. These findings suggest that Saudi Arabia can accelerate progress toward the SDGs by adopting integrated policies that link ICT expansion with stronger R&D systems, patent commercialization, technological innovation, and sustainability-oriented industrial transformation across education, energy, industry, resource efficiency, and climate action. Full article

As a typical human–nature coupled region, the coordination between the agricultural resource–environment system and regional development in the Fujian-Taiwan region is crucial for sustainable development. However, the underlying mechanisms and scale heterogeneity of this relationship remain unclear. This study employed a comprehensive evaluation approach to assess Agricultural Resource and Environmental Carrying Capacity (ARECC) and Regional Development Level (RDL) in the Fujian-Taiwan region in 2010, 2015, and 2019. A Coupling Coordination Degree (CCD) model was used to quantify the coordination relationship, while a geographical detector was applied to identify influencing factors at multiple scales. The main findings are as follows: (1) ARECC in Fujian increased gradually (average value: 0.046 → 0.052 → 0.075), whereas Taiwan exhibited a decline followed by recovery (average value: 0.449 → 0.408 → 0.491), with overall levels remaining higher than those of Fujian. RDL in Fujian was generally higher than that in Taiwan (average value: 0.260 > 0.212), and the average growth rate of Taiwan’s counties and cities was lower than that of Fujian (10.42% < 16.62%). (2) Overall, Fujian maintained a comparatively balanced relationship between ARECC and RDL, with maladjustment occurring only in Nanping City. In contrast, Taiwan experienced a substantially higher degree of maladjustment, with 40.90% of its counties and cities falling into maladjusted categories. Spatially, CCD in Fujian displayed a gradient decline from Fuzhou toward the southern, northern, and western regions, while high- and low-value areas in Taiwan were interspersed. (3) The coupling coordination mechanism exhibited significant scale heterogeneity, and corresponding differentiated regulation strategies were proposed. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the coordination mechanisms between ARECC and RDL in the Fujian–Taiwan region and provide references for promoting cross-regional agricultural collaboration and sustainable development. Full article

Insect farming has rapidly expanded in Europe following regulatory approval of insect-derived proteins in aquaculture feed and increasing interest in the valorization of insect by-products. Insect frass, consisting of excreta and exuviae, is a nutrient-rich material with beneficial microorganisms and potential as a sustainable alternative to conventional fertilizers, although its composition varies with insect species and feedstock. EU legislation requires thermal sanitization prior to market release, yet the effects of the thermal treatment on frass nutrient composition and biofertilizer performance remain poorly understood. Insect frass from black soldier flies (BSFFs) fed on a diet based on dairy industry byproducts was sanitized and mixed with sandy soil and used in two lettuce pot trials under greenhouse conditions. The aim of our study was to determine the effects of thermal sanitization on (1) macro- and micronutrient contents and dynamics (plant N and P uptake); and (2) biofertilizer potential, including plant physiology (chlorophyll, anthocyanins, flavonols, Fv/Fm), plant growth (biomass), and soil microbial activity (dehydrogenase and β-glucosaminidase). BSFF showed a clear potential to induce growth of lettuce plants by increasing chlorophyll content, biomass and microbial activity. Furthermore, the sanitization process did not significantly alter the measured agronomic performance of frass under the tested conditions or reduce its benefits on biomass growth, chlorophyll content, microbial enzyme activity and on nutrient uptake by the lettuce plants. These findings suggest that the mandatory sanitization does not compromise its agronomic functionality, supporting its strong potential within circular agricultural systems under the tested conditions. However, the results are valid under greenhouse conditions and for the specific frass, soil and crop combinations; field validation is needed to confirm these results under large-scale high-value crop production conditions. Full article

Urban expansion has reshaped land-use patterns, altered the provision of ecosystem services, and brought challenges to regional sustainable development. However, studies on urban agglomerations with uneven development remain insufficient. This study takes the core development area of the Central Plains Urban Agglomeration as the study area and explores changes in ecosystem services during multidimensional urbanization from 2000 to 2020. Using the CASA and InVEST models, three ecosystem services, namely net primary productivity (NPP), water yield (WY), and soil conservation (SC), were quantified. Spatial associations and local heterogeneity were analyzed using the bivariate Moran’s I. The results show that regional urbanization exhibited a Zhengzhou-centered monocentric pattern, with rapid growth in GDP density and significant expansion of urban land. The responses of ecosystem services to urbanization showed divergent trends, with NPP increasing slightly, while WY and SC decreased. NPP and SC showed a synergistic effect, whereas WY had trade-off relationships with both services. Due to uneven regional development, urbanization indicators and ecosystem services showed evident spatially heterogeneous relationships. This study provides evidence for ecological conservation, ecosystem-service management, and sustainable spatial governance in developing urban agglomerations where rapid growth and ecological constraints coexist. Full article

Moringa oleifera seed cake is the byproduct of moringa oil extraction and the most valuable source of 4-(α-L-rhamnosyloxy)benzyl glucosinolate (glucomoringin; GMG), the precursor of 4-(α-L-rhamnosyloxy)benzyl isothiocyanate (moringin; GMG+M). The vascular fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) is an important soil-borne pathogen of tomato in cultivated areas worldwide. Coating seeds with phytochemicals has been reported to prevent seed transmission and control seedling infection. In this work, GMG was extracted and purified from moringa seed cake on the multigram scale, and GMG+M solutions obtained through controlled hydrolysis of the precursor with commercial myrosinase were evaluated against the pathogen both in vitro and in planta. FOL conidia germination and mycelial growth were significantly inhibited by GMG+M solutions in the range 1–1000 µM, in a dose-dependent manner, compared to GMG and control treatments, which did not differ significantly. Interestingly, the coating of tomato var. crovarese seeds with GMG or GMG+M (100 µM) resulted in equally effective reduction (70%) of the disease severity in post-emergence, suggesting a plant-mediated mechanism underlying the efficacy of the intact glucosinolate. Seed coating with both phytochemicals triggered polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity in five-day-old tomato sprouted rootlets. This study highlighted the potential biotechnological value of M. oleifera seedcake for the development of a sustainable biopesticide. Full article

Superfoods have gained increasing attention for their nutritional and functional properties, with avocado (Persea americana Mill.) among the most prominent examples owing to its health-promoting compounds. However, avocado cultivation is associated with several challenges, including high water demand, environmental impact, seasonal variability, and post-harvest losses. To address these limitations, in vitro plant cell cultures represent a sustainable and controlled alternative for producing avocado-derived material. In this study, avocado var. Hass callus cultures were established and evaluated as a potential source of functional metabolites. Colourimetric assays performed at different growth stages identified 14-day-old callus as the most enriched in phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity; this material was therefore selected for further analyses. LC–ESI–QTOF–MS/MS profiling revealed a phenolic-rich composition, including flavonoids, proanthocyanidins, galloyl derivatives and phenylpropanoid-related compounds, consistent with vegetative plant tissues. Nutritional analysis showed high moisture content and low lipid levels, differing in composition from the avocado pulp, along with a high content of attention-grabbing nutrients, such as protein and fibre. Overall, although further studies are required to confirm compound identity and assess safety for future applications, avocado calli represent a promising sustainable platform for the production of value-added bioactive compounds. Full article

Understanding how economic growth (GDP), livestock production (LPI), agriculture, forestry and fishing (AFF), renewable energy consumption (REN), and urbanization (URB) influence carbon emissions is essential for designing effective climate policies in rapidly developing economies such as India. This study examines the long-run and short-run effects of these factors on CO₂ emissions in India during 1990–2024 using the Dual Adjustment Approach (DAA) and the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model. The DAA framework decomposes variables into permanent (trend) and transitory (cyclical) components, allowing a simultaneous assessment of long-run equilibrium and short-run dynamics. Both DAA and ARDL models indicate that GDP and LPI increase CO₂ emissions in the long run, while REN reduces them. AFF exerts a weak effect on emissions compared with the other determinants. URB is associated with lower long-run emissions, supporting the urban efficiency hypothesis, but this depends on sustained infrastructure investment and policy support, rather than automatic results of current urbanization levels. The transitory component analysis shows that short-run fluctuations in GDP increase emissions, while the effects of the remaining variables are driven by long-run structural changes. The findings highlight the importance of expanding renewable energy deployment, improving environmental efficiency in agricultural and livestock production systems, and promoting sustainable urban development to reduce carbon emissions in the case of India. Full article

Multilithologic interbedded reservoirs commonly consist of frequent alternations of fine-grained rocks, carbonate rocks, and soluble evaporite interlayers. The contrasts in mechanical properties and fluid–rock interactions tend to induce hydraulic-fracture deflection, height containment, and complex cross-interface propagation. To elucidate fracture initiation and cross-layer connectivity, a self-developed true-triaxial hydraulic fracturing simulation system was used to systematically investigate the effects of lithologic configuration, fracturing-fluid viscosity, injection rate, interface position, and injection-fluid type on fracture morphology and cross-interface behavior. Integrated analyses were performed by jointly interpreting injection-pressure responses and three-dimensional fracture reconstructions. The interactions between hydraulic fractures and lithologic interfaces/natural fractures can be categorized into three modes: (i) deflection with restricted growth, (ii) penetration without activation, and (iii) penetration with synchronous activation. Under water-based fluids, soluble evaporite interlayers predominantly develop dissolution-induced conductive pathways, which reduce stress concentration at the fracture tip and weaken interface strength, thereby promoting activation of interfaces or natural fractures. Moderately increasing viscosity and injection rate enhances cross-layer connectivity while lowering the probability of passive activation of interfaces/natural fractures; however, excessively high injection rates may induce fluid diversion and increase the likelihood of complex fracture growth. The injection-fluid type exerts a pronounced control on breakdown pressure and connectivity patterns: supercritical CO₂ yields the lowest initiation pressure, water-based fluids the highest, and alcohol-based fluids an intermediate response. In the pressure curves, attenuation of propagation pressure corresponds to enhanced cross-layer penetration, whereas a sustained pressure increase indicates dominant diversion or restricted propagation. These findings provide experimental support for parameter optimization and fracture-control design in multilithologic interbedded reservoirs in Southwest China and analogous geological settings. Full article

Localized optical absorption by nanoscale inclusions can profoundly alter energy deposition in optical traps, giving rise to nonlinear and long-timescale dynamics. Recent experiments have reported the formation of expanding optically darkened regions and episodic plasma-like emission during pulsed near-infrared optical trapping of magnetic beads interacting with biological cells. Here, we develop a reduced-order mechanistic model to investigate whether absorber-driven optical–thermal feedback associated with Fe₃O₄ inclusions is sufficient to reproduce the observed pre-plasma darkening dynamics. The model is constructed progressively from first-principles electromagnetic absorption and pulse-scale thermal diffusion to nonlinear feedback mediated by an evolving optically modified region. Single-pulse and multi-pulse simulations demonstrate that isolated iron-oxide absorbers cool too rapidly to sustain long-timescale thermal accumulation through linear heating alone. However, incorporation of a bubble-mediated optical feedback channel produces bounded growth, partial optical darkening, and slow relaxation dynamics consistent with experimentally observed minute-scale evolution. Electromagnetic absorption was computed using full core–shell Mie theory, yielding absorption cross-sections sufficient to support strong localized optical attenuation under experimentally relevant trapping conditions. The resulting reduced-order feedback framework reproduces stable growth–relaxation cycles, finite transmission plateaus, and self-limited optical darkening without requiring runaway heating or catastrophic cavitation. To evaluate the model quantitatively, simulated transmission dynamics were compared against experimentally measured normalized transmission traces digitized from previously reported optical trapping experiments. The fitted model reproduced the observed finite transmission plateau and slow post-activation relaxation with good agreement ($R^2\approx 0.86$, RMSE $\approx 1.3\times {10}^{-2}$). These results support the interpretation that experimentally observed optical darkening arises from a feedback-regulated optical–thermal process involving slowly evolving structural modification of the trapping region rather than cumulative thermal storage within isolated absorbers. The present framework provides a quantitatively constrained reduced-order description of feedback-mediated optical darkening under pulsed optical trapping conditions and establishes iron-oxide absorption as a physically plausible ignition mechanism for dark-state formation in the pre-plasma regime. Full article

Soil salinization represents one of the most severe abiotic constraints on global agricultural productivity, threatening crop yields and food security across increasingly large areas of cultivated land. Among the molecular mechanisms underlying plant physiological adaptation to salinity, histone methylation has emerged as a central epigenetic regulatory layer governing salt-responsive transcriptional reprogramming through the coordinated and opposing actions of histone methyltransferases, demethylases, and reader proteins at specific chromatin loci. Recent advances reveal how dynamic changes in activating marks, principally H3K4me3 and H3K36me3, and repressive marks, H3K9me2 and H3K27me3, orchestrate the activation of stress-responsive gene networks and the silencing of growth-incompatible programs under salt stress. How these modifications establish and sustain stress memory across somatic and transgenerational timescales is discussed. Recent technological advances, including single-cell epigenomics, CUT&RUN, CUT&Tag, and spatial transcriptomics, are assessed as future research priorities. The application of CRISPR/dCas9-based epigenome editing and epigenetic breeding strategies for improving crop salt tolerance is further explored. Full article