Browse Articles

Associations of pre-stroke function disability and post-stroke cognitive impairment among older adults in China

30,000 years of fire history in the Cerrado

Risk maps for urban fire with geospatial model-based framework

Abstract Accurate identification of urban fire spatial patterns and governing factors is critical for optimizing firefighting resource allocation and developing sustainable cities resilient to evolving risks. Identifying spatial patterns of urban fires depends critically on the scale at which clustering is analyzed, yet a systematic approach to determine this optimal scale remains lacking. Moreover, the quantitative influence of fine-grained land-use structure on fire occurrence is not well understood. To overcome these gaps, this study proposes a novel three-stage framework for constructing hierarchical urban fire risk maps conditioned on built-environment macrostructure: (1) Investigation and selection of influencing factors, innovatively introducing high-resolution urban land-use attributes as variables, alongside traditional factors such as population density and socioeconomic indicators; (2) Determination of optimal grid size by integrating two key indicators: the Moran’s Index and Silhouette Score, ensuring precise spatial clustering. Subsequently, the spatial autocorrelation of urban fires is quantified; and (3) Negative binomial regression-driven risk quantification, deriving factor weights to calculate cell-level risk scores and generate hierarchical risk levels. Finally, a case study is conducted using fire data from Xiaoshan, China, a typical urban district with a population of about 2 million, covering 4,967 incidents from 2020 to 2023. The fire risk map indicates that urban fire distribution demonstrates striking conformity to the 80/20 rule, with a small share of cells concentrating most of the risk. This methodology provides stable, actionable risk mapping for strategic fire resource deployment and urban planning.

Mechanical and thermal performance of magnesium carbon fiber sandwich composites with variable fiber orientations for aerospace structures

Climate change drives convergent evolution of root traits on Sky Island climate relicts

Dual-functional amino-carboxyl co-modified Fe3O4 nanoparticles for synergistic selective adsorption of lead and cadmium ions from aqueous solutionss

Optimisation and economic assessment of a lowcost insecticide for stored product insect pest control and seed viability

ESO based adaptive neural network control for a quadrotor against wind and payload disturbances

Effect of fabrication error on the sensitivity of a one-dimensional photonic crystal sensor for cancer detection

DFT study of frontier orbitals and NLO properties of a phenanthroline and nitrophenol complex

First-principles investigation of spin-dependent thermoelectric transport and spin Seebeck in Fe(110)/Co($$11\bar{2}0$$) heterostructures

Single-station analysis of Campi Flegrei (Italy) seismic signals using multiscale entropy and unsupervised learning

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in Colombia a case series

Abstract Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES) is a rare clinical and radiological condition. There is limited information regarding the characteristics of PRES in the Colombian population. This study aims to describe the clinical-radiological characteristics of PRES in a series of cases in Colombia. A retrospective study was conducted between 2018 and 2024 with adult patients with PRES in two high complexity centers in Bogota, Colombia. Demographic, clinical, radiological, electroencephalographic, neurological complications and clinical outcomes were registered. Comparison of outcomes was performed between patients with and without neurological complications (ischemia, hemorrhage, or status epilepticus). A bivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the risk factors associated with neurological complications of PRES. We included 60 patients with a median age of 55 years, 68.3% women. The most frequent risk/triggering factor was high systemic blood pressure (55%). Main symptoms reported were seizures (73.3%), impaired consciousness (60%), headache (43.3%) and visual changes (36.6%). Vasogenic cerebral edema was more common in the occipito-parietal region (33.3%). No fatalities were reported. The most frequent neurological complication was intracranial hemorrhage. Absence of complications was associated with shorter hospital stay (6 vs. 14 days). Additionally, a history of cerebrovascular disease and decreased visual acuity at presentation were associated with a lower observed rate of neurological complications following PRES (OR 0.1; 95% CI 0.01–0.91). Clinical-radiological characteristics of PRES in the Colombian population studied are similar to those described in literature. In our analysis, a history of cerebrovascular disease and decreased visual acuity at presentation were associated with a lower observed rate of neurological complications following PRES.

A case study assessing energy-exergy-economic (3E) performance in solar air heaters with different winglet geometries and air flow rates

Abstract Solar air heater (SAH) research focuses on modifying absorber plates to enhance heat transfer through artificial roughness, fixing, and other cost-effective techniques. The objective of this investigation is to compare the energy, environmental, and economic (3E) performance of SAH with inclined triangular winglet (IWSAH) and sinusoidal winglet (ISWSAH) under diverse air flow rates (0.01 kg/s, 0.02 kg/s, and 0.03 kg/s). The results indicate that both winglet configurations exhibit improved performance, with IWSAH being considered the best. The output air temperature reaches a maximum of 82.7 °C at 0.01 kg/s flow rate in IWSAH and decreases as the airflow rate increases. With 1.12 times higher heat transfer coefficient, the average thermal efficiency of IWSAH reached 73.1% compared to 68.8% for ISWSAH. IWSAH achieves a net energy increase of approximately 4–6% more than ISWSAH. ISWSAH shows the maximum average heat loss when the airflow rate is at its minimum of 0.01 kg/s. A significant 52.3% gain in thermo-hydraulic efficiency occurs when the airflow rate is raised from 0.01 kg/s to 0.03 kg/s. This improvement is primarily due to the blower’s reduced power consumption in the IWSAH system, which was previously at 25.7%. IWSAH outperforms ISWSAH in both economic and environmental assessments. The economic and environmental analysis shows that the IWSAH system outperforms the ISWSAH system with a shorter energy payback time (1.33 vs. 1.62 years), higher energy production factor (2.96 vs. 2.71), better life cycle conversion efficiency (43.6% vs. 39.1%), and reduced emissions of CO2 (2147.2 vs. 2201.3 kg), NO (16.3 vs. 16.6 kg), and SO2 (6.7 vs. 6.9 kg), alongside lower annualized costs (₹3195.7 vs. ₹3268.5), demonstrating its superior economic and environmental viability.

Strategic prioritization for Tehran’s electronic waste management via integrated SWOT and QSPM analysis

Urban environmental determinants and their effects on mental health, physical function, and quality of life in older adults: a multidimensional study in Shiraz, Iran

Abstract Urbanization and aging populations challenge public health in developing cities like Shiraz, where environmental factors significantly influence old adults’ health. This study examined urban environmental impacts on older adults’ health in Shiraz and developed predictive machine learning models for health outcomes. A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2024 to January 2025, involving 3,000 older persons aged 60 years and above across 11 municipal zones of Shiraz. Stratified random sampling was used. Environmental data (green space per capita, population density, waste production) were extracted from municipal records. Health outcomes (BMI, frailty, depression, anxiety, and life satisfaction) were assessed using validated tools (GDS-4, GAI-5, LSI-Z). Statistical analyses included regression models and machine learning (Decision Tree, SVM). The SVM model demonstrated superior predictive performance (R²=0.75 for frailty) compared to Decision Trees (R²=0.71). Key predictive relationships emerged: each 1 m² increase in green space per capita predicted a 0.8-point reduction in depression scores (95% CI: -1.2 to -0.4) and 0.3-point lower frailty index. Waste production exceeding 250 kg/capita was associated with 35% greater fall risk (OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.12–1.63). Population density showed nonlinear associations with outcomes in SVM models, with thresholds varying by health indicator. Environmental quality plays a critical role in older adults’ health. “Urban planning strategies that enhance green spaces and strengthen waste management systems may substantially improve health outcomes among older adults in urban settings.

Cross-stage edge information fusion network for small object detection in aerial images

A hybrid stacked ensemble learning framework for multilabel text emotion detection

Comparison of vertical jump performance between the Maasai, track and field athletes, and non-athletes: a cross-sectional study

Headroom based adaptive droop control for regulating DC voltage and active power in MTDC grid with integrated renewable energy

Abstract Active power and DC voltage regulation is the key control challenge in a voltage source converter based multi-terminal high voltage direct current system (VSC-MTDC), particularly when integrating renewable energy sources. In such a system, the droop control may result in VSC overloading, leading to unequal power distribution and DC voltage instability following a major disturbance. To enhance the control performance, this paper presents an adaptive droop control technique based on the headroom of VSC (HR-ADC). The designed approach uses the headroom of rectifying and inverting converters to adaptively adjust values of droop coefficient, thereby avoiding converter overloading when significant power interruptions occur. The planned strategy is adopted for the rectifying and inverting converters. To validate its effectiveness, the HR-ADC is compared with the variable droop control using the four terminal ± 400 kV MTDC transmission system in PSCAD. Simulation results demonstrate that the designed HR-ADC is autonomous and resilient, ensuring stable system operation even during significant disturbances such as converter outage or fault conditions in the MTDC grids.