West Nile virus (WNV), a mosquito-borne flavivirus, has circulated in the United States since 1999. In 2025, Florida was home to 24 million people, with projected increases in population and urbanization in a changing climate. The southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, is found in every county, and is a major vector for WNV. Describing shifting WNV transmission risk is important to inform public health and vector control planning. Using published estimates of thermal suitability of WNV transmission by Cx. quinquefasciatus, with climate models and population data, we calculated and mapped baseline and projected county-level transmission suitability and people at risk for 2000, 2030, and 2050. Five general circulation models and two mitigation scenarios (SSP2-4.5, SSP5-8.5) were used to explore future trajectories. At baseline, all 67 counties in Florida experienced 5-9 months of transmission suitability. Using the year 2000 census estimates, 2.33 million people in 2 counties experienced 9 months, and in 2030, across climate models, 8.93-12.26 million people (10-20 counties; SSP2-4.5), and 8.95-18.10 million people (11-26 counties; SSP5-8.5) are projected to experience 9 or more months of transmission suitability. In 2050, for both SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, 17.08-20.42 million people (23-26 counties), ranging to approximately 70% of the projected population of Florida will experience 9 or more months. The 10 most populated counties in 2000 are projected to experience 1-3 months of additional climate-driven transmission suitability in the future. The southern house mosquito was previously managed as a seasonal nuisance in Florida, but now represents an increasing public health exposure risk. Projections across climate trajectories underscore an increasing suitability and exposure risk for WNV in Florida, ranging as high as around 70% of the population exposed to suitable climate conditions for transmission for 9 or more months of the year in the 2050s. This means the types of operations and number of employees needed in vector control and public health will also increase.

Phylogeny, species delimitation, and biogeography of the arboreal land snail genus Amphidromus on Java Island, Sundaland.

A systematic typology and synthesis of aquatic refuges in freshwater ecosystems.

Establishing experimental parameters for biphasic transfer in vitro lipolysis model.

Abiotic hydrocarbons via hydromagnesite–FeO redox reactions

High-performance electrochemical sensors enhanced with Fe3O4/Graphene oxide catalyst and ionic liquid for monitoring bisphenol A, a toxic contaminant in food.

A large-diameter, radio frequency (RF) plasma source with an inner diameter of 53.8cm has been developed to evaluate high densification and the feasibility of such sources. This plasma source has a low aspect ratio with the source length shorter than the diameter. To evaluate the feasibility and plasma characteristics of this low-aspect-ratio device, preliminary measurements of plasma parameters, the electron energy probability function, and optical emission spectra were performed. The dependences on the RF input power and external magnetic field conditions suggest that inductively coupled plasma can be generated in the source. The results also indicate that suitable operational conditions for high-density plasma generation exist, which are related to the helicon wave dispersion relation under the available magnetic field strength.

Let $(M,h)$ be a connected, complete Riemannian manifold, $x\in M$, and $l>0$. Then $M$ is called a $Z^x$ manifold if all geodesics starting at $x$ return to $x$, and it is called a $Y^x_l$ manifold if every unit-speed geodesic starting at $x$ returns to $x$ at time $l$. It is unknown whether there are $Z^x$ manifolds that are not $Y^x_l$ manifolds for any $l>0$. By the Bérard-Bergery theorem, any $Y^x_l$ manifold of dimension at least $2$ is compact with finite fundamental group. We prove the same result for $Z^x$ manifolds $M$ for which all unit-speed geodesics starting at $x$ return to $x$ in uniformly bounded time. We also prove that any $Z^x$ manifold $(M,h)$ with $h$ analytic is a $Y^x_l$ manifold for some $l>0$. We start by defining a class of globally hyperbolic spacetimes (called observer-refocusing) such that any $Z^x$ manifold is the Cauchy surface of some observer-refocusing spacetime. We then prove that under suitable conditions the Cauchy surfaces of observer-refocusing spacetimes are compact with finite fundamental group, and we show that analytic observer-refocusing spacetimes of dimension at least $3$ are strongly refocusing. We end by stating a contact-theoretic conjecture analogous to our results in Riemannian and Lorentzian geometry.

Waste liquid crystal displays (LCDs) were a significant secondary source of indium. This study introduced a low-temperature reduction roasting method for selectively volatilizing and recovering indium from waste LCDs. Suitable conditions and thermodynamic feasibility were verified via thermodynamic calculations. The process of volatilization and separation was elucidated by studying the phase behavior in CO-CO2 and H2-H2O atmospheres. The key to the procedure was controlling the indium to produce indium(I) oxide (In2O), while retaining the nonvolatile tin. CO reduction failed to achieve effective separation even at high temperatures. In contrast, roasting at 875 °C for 2 h under a 50% H2 atmosphere attained an In/Sn separation coefficient of 11,761 and an indium recovery of 98.5%. Lowering the temperature via H2 preserved the intact glass structure. The recovered product was a mixture of metallic indium (In) and indium(III) oxide (In2O3) nanoparticles with a purity of over 99.5% and an average size of approximately 262.9 nm. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations elucidated the advantages of H2 for molecular adsorption. This study provided a viable strategy for the clean, effective recycling of waste LCDs.

In this study, the chemical leaching and bioleaching behaviors of a complex carbonate-rich sphalerite ore were statistically evaluated using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based on Central Composite Design (CCD) and the effects of process parameters on Zn and Fe recovery were assessed. The maximum Zn recovery obtained in the chemical leaching process was 59.16%, while the maximum Zn recovery in the biological leaching process was determined to be 37.26%. Statistical analyses showed that the solid-to-liquid ratio and leaching time had a significant effect on chemical leaching performance, while the effect of Fe(II) concentration on biological leaching performance was limited. During biological leaching, pH increases occurred due to the ore’s carbonate-rich structure, and periodic sulfuric acid adjustments were made to maintain suitable biological leaching conditions. The findings indicate that carbonate-rich mineral structures significantly influence both chemical and biological leaching behavior, and that this effect must be taken into account in the processing of complex sphalerite ores.

Worldwide, only 11% of dialysis patients are treated by peritoneal dialysis (PD), however many of those treated by haemodialysis (HD) do not receive any pre-dialysis education thereby excluding informed choice. Just over 4% of such patients are treated by PD in Poland. This study retrospectively evaluates the impact of pre-education on patient decisions made for renal replacement therapy to determine those factors that limit making PD as the treatment of choice in Poland. Subjects were 118 patients having received pre-dialysis education for over 3 years consisting of a fixed scheduled meeting lasting 1.5-2.0h, according to patient needs, during routine work at a PD clinic in Warsaw. Subjects were broken down into groupings according to demographics, clinical features, lifestyle/domestic conditions and criteria used for PD/HD inclusions to determine significant factors affecting treatment choice by using parametric or non-parametric significance testing as appropriate. Significant associations were determined by univariate logistic regression. No medical or psychosocial obstacles to PD treatment were found in 75 patients (63.5%), whereas relative contraindications were found 17 patients (14.4%), assisted dialysis was necessary in 19 patients (16.1%) and 7 patients (6.0%) were disqualified. PD was chosen by 74 patients (62.7%) and 44 patients (37.3%) decided on HD, where in the former group, PD treatment was actually undertaken in 61 (52%) of study subjects. Occupationally active people and retirees/pensioners chose PD more often and most patients (91.5%) declared having suitable home conditions for PD treatment. Factors significantly reducing prospects for PD were advanced age (p = 0.010), diabetes (p = 0.008), high BMI (p = 0.010), presence of scars from abdominal surgeries (p = 0.029) and reliance on third parties (p = 0.013). Most subjects qualifying for renal replacement therapy had no contraindications for PD. Thanks to pre-dialysis education, > 50% could choose this treatment option. The main barriers found to having home-based renal replacement therapy were a lack of appropriate education and limited access to assisted PD.

Amylase of moderate thermophilic Niallia alba BT-5: Production, purification, characterization and industrial use potential.

Preventing agglomeration is crucial for polymeric nanoparticles (PNP) for drug-delivery applications. Suitable conditions for maintaining the size of doxorubicin (DOX)-loaded poly-(diisobutyl glycolide) (PDIBG) and poly-(diisopropyl glycolide) (PDIPG) nanoparticles (NP) during long-term storage were investigated in this study. After the synthesis of PDIBG and PDIPG homopolymers, DOX-loaded NPs were produced from these homopolymers by using a single-emulsion solvent evaporation method. The optimal formulations of DOX-loaded PDIBG and PDIPG-NPs were obtained with particle sizes of 253 ± 7 nm, PDIs of 0.06 ± 0.02, and an EE value of 58.3%, and particle sizes of 253 ± 7 nm, PDIs of 0.08 ± 0.04, and an EE value of 73.9%, respectively. To extend their shelf life, the developed NPs at three different concentrations (50, 70, and 90 mg/mL) were subjected to a comprehensive lyophilization process at two different freezing temperatures (-20 and -50 °C). As a result of the systematic lyophilization of sugar-containing and sugar-free formulations of DOX-loaded PDIBG and PDIPG-NPs under specific conditions, it was found that they could be stored at 4 and -20 °C for 2 months while maintaining their particle sizes and PDI values in the presence of glucose and sucrose (at 5 and 10% concentrations).

Time series forecasting aims to discern latent patterns and predict future states. The incorporation of covariates, such as seasonal information, has effectively improved medium- to long-term forecasting accuracy by capturing cyclical trends. However, the gradual accumulation of errors continues to constrain performance over ultra-long horizons. Often treated as unknown, information from the future remains underutilized. In this work, we demonstrate that in a coupled dynamical system, providing the future state of the effect enables accurate forecasting of the cause for thousands of timesteps. The forecasting error remains bounded even in the presence of an unobserved variable driving the target (i.e., ), confirming that future effect information inherently stabilizes and guides the trajectory of present causes. In light of this, we propose a time series forecasting paradigm that introduces anticipated covariates to represent such known future states. We validate this finding across several widely adopted benchmarks. Under suitable conditions, ultra-long-term predictions become feasible with forecast errors substantially reduced. We expect the anticipated covariates paradigm to be a powerful tool for situations constrained by high data costs, limited historical data, or unobservable causal factors, and to prompt a re-evaluation of reverse time-dependent causality.

Since lipid bilayers are self-assembled macroscopic aggregates, their constituent lipid molecules can spontaneously transition between the two leaflets. This so-called "flip-flop" is almost universally described via first-order chemical kinetics: the net "flux" leaving a given leaflet is proportional to the number of lipids it contains. However, this model ignores interactions, such as those arising from packing or non-ideal mixing, and restricting the analysis to macroscopic rate equations misses fluctuations. Here, we employ tools from the field of stochastic processes to examine the impact of stress and non-ideal mixing on lipid flip-flop, and we discuss several methods for quantifying the associated fluctuations-ranging from stochastic trajectories to evolution equations for probability densities. We show that differential stress strongly enhances the rate at which lipid abundance asymmetry decays, while compositional relaxation in mixed systems can be closer to ideal under suitable conditions. For the case of binary systems in the presence of packing constraints, we employ a linear noise approximation to the system's master equation and show that it leads to an easily manageable Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process for the fluctuations of (and correlations between) compositions. We also show how to include non-ideal mixing, which leads to large and very slow compositional fluctuations as we approach the critical point.

This article presents a prototype design and experimental validation of intelligent control of a street light luminaire containing CW (cool white) and WW (warm white) LED based on human or object detection, motion, and weather conditions. The system is mainly controlled by a Raspberry Pi 5(RPi 5) integrated with a wireless CCTV camera for obtaining real-time object presence and speed estimation, along with a DHT11 sensor and LDR for temperature, humidity, and light level detection, and sensing of fog and rain from a weather application programming interface (API). The designed system uses vision-based object detection, determines the type and speed of object movement, and then dynamically adjusts the LED light output, consists of alternate array of CW and WW LED arrays, based on the required illuminance on road surface corresponding to the object's speed. On the other hand, it senses weather behaviour from weather API data to generate control signal and transfer via IoT network to ESP8266 to switch between CW and WW LEDs in a single LED module. In this system, sensor fusion techniques are used to correlate environmental parameters to actuate the situation demanded light level. A hardware prototype is designed and experimentally tested in a controlled environmental scenario to evaluate system response time, light output adjustment variation with speed, and lighting performance under dynamic weather conditions. This control setup helps to develop a smart street lighting solution as well as to provide suitable visual conditions and safety to support the development of a smart city.

Seaweeds, such as the fast-growing green alga Ulva prolifera, can be harnessed as valuable marine crops. The lack of scalable genome-editing tools hampers functional genomics to explore and elucidate algal molecular pathways with industrial importance. Here, we expanded precision genome modification in seaweeds by successfully demonstrating gene editing with a transgene-free AT-rich-targeting Cas system in U. prolifera. By evaluating various delivery buffers, comparing different Cas systems, and optimizing incubation temperatures, we determined suitable conditions for higher applicability of a novel Cas12a-aligned ST8 editor. We obtained more than 50 ST8-mediated knock-out mutants of a toxin-based endogenous marker gene, UpAPT, at 28℃ post-delivery incubations. Our work diversified the applicable genome editing tools in seaweeds, advancing algal functional genomics, and providing more strategies to precisely target unexplored seaweed resources.

Brown bears (Ursus arctos) mate in late spring to early summer, and their embryos enter diapause until winter. Embryonic diapause (i.e., delayed implantation) enables them to postpone parturition until suitable conditions are met. In this pilot study, whether gene expression levels vary across reproductive stages in female brown bears was tested. Peripheral blood samples were periodically collected from five captive female brown bears across reproductive stages, and their transcriptome profiles were determined. Results showed immune-related genes and pathways, including several nuclear factor kappa B-associated ones, may downregulate during late delayed implantation, although these immune system changes are unrelated to progesterone levels. Thus, we propose a possibility that the maternal immune system of brown bears fluctuates before implantation to maintain embryo survival. Further sampling effort will show the molecular mechanism of embryonic diapause in brown bears.

The determination of hazardous gases in confined environments, such as underground mines, is essential for ensuring suitable occupational health conditions. Although gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is the gold-standard analytical technique for gas analysis, its application is not feasible in this context due to the bulkiness of the instrumentation and the inability to provide real-time responses. Alternative low-cost sensing techniques, such as metal oxide semiconductors (MOXs), are limited by low molecular selectivity, susceptibility to humidity interference, and long-term instability. Herein, we propose an integrated and compact analytical platform that combines multiple quantum-cascade lasers (QCLs) with substrate-integrated hollow waveguides (iHWGs) acting as miniaturized gas cells for the real-time quantification of hazardous gases, including SO2, H2S, CO2, CH4, NO, and NO2, in confined workspaces such as underground mines. Each QCL was selected and tuned to match the absorbance profile of a particular target analyte, with the exception of H2S, which was converted to SO2 via UV irradiation prior to quantification. An Arduino-based system facilitates signal acquisition and processing, enabling rapid data interpretation and wireless communication with external devices. At optimized conditions, the system enables the quantification of all target gases near their permissible exposure limits (PELs) in underground mines, with limits of detection of 0.3, 7, 100, 100, 5, and 3 ppmv for SO2, H2S, CO2, CH4, NO, and NO2, respectively. The entire system has a footprint of 470 × 320 × 100 mm, which is compatible with real-world deployment scenarios in underground mines. This advanced sensing platform provides real-time monitoring of toxic gases in confined environments with high molecular selectivity and suitable sensitivity. Designed for harsh conditions, it can operate reliably at high humidity, dust, vibrations, and electromagnetic interferences.

Efficient optimization of crystal-growth conditions is often hindered by variations in furnace design, which require reoptimization whenever the configuration changes. We propose a method to transfer an optimized growth environment from one furnace design to others by representing complex thermal-flow distributions through a variational autoencoder. In this approach, the optimized reference environment is represented as a target point in the latent space constructed by the VAE, and the growth conditions are optimized to reproduce an environment close to this target point. A surrogate model of computational fluid dynamics simulations and a genetic-algorithm-based multiobjective optimization are combined to rapidly identify suitable process conditions. The method was applied to the top-seeded solution growth of 200 mm-diameter 4H-SiC, successfully reproducing and further improving the optimized environment obtained in the reference furnace. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework enables efficient transfer and enhancement of growth conditions across different furnace systems.