Under unsaturated conditions, carbonation of the concrete cover is one of the main mechanisms responsible for reinforcement corrosion, resulting from the loss of alkalinity in the concrete due to reactions between CO2 and cement hydrates in the pore solution. Carbonation kinetics are closely linked to CO2 transport through the pore network, which depends on both pore structure and degree of saturation. This study investigates how the water retention curve (WRC) can contribute to explaining differences in natural carbonation rates of concretes with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs - silica fume and blast furnace slag) exposed for 21 years under sheltered outdoor conditions. A novel approach for determining the WRCs of both concrete and mortar was developed, utilizing the chilled-mirror technique and specimen conditioning. The WRCs were analysed in conjunction with microstructural and physicochemical characterisation. The results indicate that the WRC provides a sensitive description of changes in the pore network induced by both SCMs and long-term natural carbonation. More generally, the internal hygrometric state of concrete, defined by the way in which water is retained and redistributed within the pore network under unsaturated conditions, is shown to be closely associated with the advancement of the carbonation front. These findings support the use of WRC-based parameters as a physically grounded link between pore structure, moisture transport, and carbonation kinetics, with direct implications for long-term durability assessment and performance-based service-life modelling of concrete structures.
Communication barriers between Deaf patients and healthcare professionals remain a critical challenge in ensuring equitable medical care. This study examines the application of immersive technologies to facilitate anamnesis processes in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), to improve accessibility and autonomy for Deaf individuals in medical settings. We conducted a systematic mapping of immersive applications designed for the Deaf community, which informed the development of two augmented reality–based solutions: one tailored for magnetic resonance imaging anamnesis and another for pupillometry examinations. Both applications enable interaction through Libras, hand gestures, and touch inputs, avoiding reliance on spoken or written language. To validate these tools, we carried out a usability evaluation with 27 Deaf participants using SUS-Libras, a culturally adapted version of the System Usability Scale. Results indicated an average score of approximately 55 points, classified as “OK” on the adjective rating scale, suggesting a satisfactory though improvable usability perception. No significant differences were found between the two applications, and demographic factors such as age, gender, education, and exposure time to Libras showed no predictive effect on usability outcomes. The research contributes to inclusive design practices and provides a foundation for future studies that extend immersive technologies to other medical scenarios.
In mid-2026 a slogan reorganized how practitioners talk about coding agents: stop prompting your agent, start designing the loop that prompts it. We take this claim seriously and give it a careful treatment. We call the object of the new practice the loop specification: a bounded, reusable artifact, made of a trigger, a goal, a verification step, a stopping rule and a memory, that a human hands to an agent harness (such as Claude Code or Codex) so the agent pursues a goal on its own, in place of step-by-step prompting. We distinguish this external loop specification from two things it is often confused with: an ordinary programming loop, and the internal perceive-act-observe cycle that the harness already provides as plumbing. We position loop engineering as a new layer in the progression from prompt to context to harness to loop, and we argue, against the stronger headlines, that it does not retire prompt engineering; loop and prompt are distinct tools with distinct uses. We offer four contributions: a definition and scope for the discipline; an anatomy and taxonomy of loop specifications organized around trigger, goal type, a five-level verification ladder, architecture, and named terminal states; a descriptive analysis of the Loop Library, a public corpus of fifty real loops that we code by hand; and a set of design principles and anti-patterns grounded in the scientific literature on self-correction, reward hacking and model-as-judge fragility. The corpus shows that practice has matured most where the discipline says it matters: seventy percent of loops verify in the autonomous zone of the ladder and seventy-four percent name their terminal states, while automated triggering and durable memory remain comparatively underdeveloped. We close with the limits the practice must respect, including the verification burden, comprehension debt and the risk of cognitive surrender.
Bees are essential for ecosystem functioning, pollinating many wild and crop plant species. Predicting which species are most vulnerable to global changes, and how their loss may impact ecosystems and human well-being, is critical. Comprehensive information on bee response and effect traits is fundamental to these assessments. However, the Raunkiærian shortfall-insufficient trait data-remains significant for bees, particularly in the Neotropics. Moreover, it remains uncertain whether conservation strategies based on functional diversity from temperate regions can be generalized to the Neotropics. To address this gap, we compiled a comprehensive and validated dataset on Brazilian bee traits, covering 24 traits related to sociality (100% of the species with some information), nesting (88%), body size (71%), and buzzing capacity (42%) on 2,066 Brazilian bee species. The trait data here presented is a crucial resource for evaluating bee species' pollination effectiveness and susceptibility to global change. Comparative analysis with regions with ample trait data-USA, Europe, and China-revealed notable differences. Brazilian bees exhibited a higher prevalence of aboveground nesting species, especially compared to Europe. The proportion of eusocial species was also greater than in Europe and the United States, and more similar to China. Differently from other regions, Brazilian eusocial bees were significantly smaller than their non-eusocial counterparts. These cross-regional comparisons highlight the importance of geographically tailored conservation strategies and underscore the need for extensive trait data to accurately predict regional vulnerabilities and ecological impacts in a rapidly changing world.
Peptide nanostructures are versatile supramolecular systems with potential applications in biomaterials and nanotechnology, where stability emerges from the cooperative action of noncovalent interactions. In this study, we investigated the bola-amphiphilic peptide EF4K assembled into nanomembranes, focusing on the combined effects of temperature and multilayer organization. Molecular dynamics simulations were conducted at 250, 270, 300, 320, and 350 K in monolayer and multilayer configurations, allowing direct evaluation of peptide-peptide and peptide-solvent interactions. The results demonstrate that while the number of hydrogen bonds increases with temperature, their lifetimes decrease markedly, with reductions of nearly 79%. Peptide-solvent interactions weaken significantly, with losses of up to 90%, whereas multilayer assemblies partially compensate this destabilization by reinforcing peptide-peptide hydrogen bonds and van der Waals contacts. Electrostatic contributions between peptides remain stable and even strengthen in multilayers, indicating supramolecular reinforcement upon stacking. Confined water within multilayers exhibits longer hydrogen bond lifetimes despite a lower number of contacts, contrasting with the destabilization of hydration shells observed in monolayers at higher temperatures. These findings reveal that EF4K membranes undergo a redistribution of stabilizing forces under thermal stress, with multilayers achieving enhanced internal cohesion, thereby highlighting their potential as robust peptide-based nanomaterials.
