AbstractSkin integrity is vital for fish survival, as injuries compromise the protective barrier and increase infection risk. This study introduces a simple and eco-friendly strategy to enhance skin wound healing in aquatic species using a PVA+borax hydrogel. The hydrogel, characterized by tunable cross-linking and biodegradability, was applied to zebrafish and tilapia via water immersion to evaluate its therapeutic efficacy. Full-thickness wounds were created in zebrafish via laser ablation for precise assessment of closure kinetics. Among tested conditions, the PVA+borax formulation significantly accelerated wound closure compared with individual components and untreated controls. Acute toxicity and behavioural analyses confirmed high biocompatibility and no developmental or neurological abnormalities up to higher concentration use (0.01–100 ppm). qRT-PCR analysis showed that treatment reduced injury-induced inflammatory and macrophage markers, suggesting modulation of inflammatory responses during wound healing. Concurrent changes in basement membrane-related genes indicate coordinated extracellular matrix remodelling, consistent with progression towards tissue repair and balanced regeneration. Both zebrafish and tilapia exhibited faster re-epithelialization and collagen deposition under hydrogel treatment. These findings suggest that PVA+borax hydrogel is a safe, cost-effective and promising platform for accelerating wound healing in aquatic models, with translational potential in both biomedical research and aquaculture health management.
AbstractOil palm cultivation on peatlands causes severe environmental damage, yet its greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint and underlying biogeochemical drivers remain poorly quantified. This study assessed how nitrogen fertilizer application impacts soil respiration and CH4 emissions across spatio-temporal scales in a fertilization trial with three application rates: 0 (N0), 154.5 (N1) and 309 (N2) kg N ha−1 yr−1. Fluxes and environmental variables were monitored monthly over a year and daily for a month after two fertilizations. Measurements were taken close to palms (CP), where fertilizer was applied, and farther from palm (FP). Soil respiration (Mg CO2-C ha−1 yr−1) was high compared to the literature, with N0 and N2 (27.3 ± 2.8 and 28.5 ± 3.0) exceeding N1 (18.8 ± 2.5). Fertilization triggered short-lived respiration increases, without affecting annual rates. Treatment and spatial differences (FP > CP) aligned with soil temperature and soil N2O emission patterns, suggesting links to peat mineralization. CH4 emissions (kg CH4-C ha−1 yr−1) were greater in N0 (3.9±1.5) compared to N1 (0.7 ± 0.6) and N2 (1.0 ± 1.3), inversely mirroring soil nitrate distribution under unfertilized conditions. A transient fertilizer effect occurred, without affecting annual rates. Our findings highlight strong interactions between soil respiration, CH4 emissions and N cycling in drained tropical peatlands, warranting further investigation to constrain GHG process-based modelling.
AbstractChanges in breeding periodicity in vertebrates can highlight important trends in population demographics that have conservation implications. Following widespread conservation measures, some previously endangered species have shown population recoveries across their range, with green turtles (Chelonia mydas) being an exemplar of global species recovery. At sites in the Indo-Pacific, green turtle nesting numbers have increased fourfold in 30 years. As sea turtles are generally non-annual breeders, we used a total of 1399 measurements of the breeding interval for marked individuals to reveal that the relative proportion of individuals breeding with a 4-year versus a 3-year interval has increased over time: 28% in 1997–2012 versus 37% in 2013–2024. Furthermore, this percentage of 4- versus 3-year nesting intervals was linked to annual nest numbers (R2 = 0.23, F1,23 = 6.92, p = 0.01). This lengthening of the breeding (remigration) interval may reflect density dependence, restricting foraging success so that individuals need longer to build body condition for migration and breeding. These results provide the first evidence for long-term lengthening of breeding intervals in this taxon and might have important global conservation implications in terms of reduced per capita reproductive output, a finding that echoes recent observations with cetaceans.
AbstractIn this paper, we consider Riemann–Silberstein (RS) helicity (RSH) given by the sum of the electric and magnetic helicities. We show that this quantity is chiral under parity transformation and invariant under duality. In the case of null fields in free space, we prove that the electric field behaves as a material, frozen-in field, and demonstrate the conservation of the electric and magnetic helicities; as a corollary, the conservation of the RSH follows suit. These results can find applications in many areas of current research, from the study of knotted fields in electromagnetism to the applications of Hopfion solutions in chiral meta-matter.
AbstractSalience, the degree to which cues capture attention, is not fixed but updated through experience. Learning which cues anticipate meaningful outcomes requires cue–outcome relationships to be perceptible to begin with, rendering salience a gate for behavioural change. Because salience is itself malleable, behaviour exhibits ‘meta-malleability’, whereby the modifier of behaviour (learning) can itself be modified. A cue's salience is determined partly by its physical properties and capacity to stand out, and partly by the subject's prior experience with it. Cues reliably followed by important outcomes capture more attention, as if they were physically intense, whereas poor predictors lose their attention-capturing potential even when physically intense. Concurrent cues compete for attention, and less salient cues are undermined by more salient counterparts. This competition occurs regardless of how each cue acquired its salience status. Under certain circumstances, organisms orient towards informative cues at the expense of biological needs; yet, they may sometimes orient towards cues with uncertain outcomes. Together, these findings demand an overarching framework. We synthesize behavioural, computational and neurobiological perspectives on salience dynamics. One pay-off of this framework is a principled account of why order matters across otherwise equivalent encounters with cues of varying salience, channelling behaviour down diverging trajectories.
AbstractThe human–horse relationship has evolved through centuries of domestication, shaping how horses are managed and interact with people. Horses show interindividual behavioural differences that constitute personality, with implications for welfare, management and human–horse interactions. Although equine personality has a genetic component, environmental and relational factors may influence its expression, yet effects of everyday management practices remain poorly understood. This study examined associations between owner-rated horse personality traits and human-controlled environmental and relationship parameters. Owners completed an online questionnaire (2767 horses) assessing horse personality and collecting data on housing conditions, riding, groundwork frequency, quality time, relationship duration, riders and ownership history, and headgear use. Analyses controlled for intrinsic horse characteristics (age, sex and breed). We identified four personality dimensions: human sociability, horse sociability, attentiveness and neuroticism. Human sociability was positively associated with age, quality time and relationship stability, and negatively associated with multiple owner changes. Horse sociability was associated with housing, with lower scores in singly housed horses. Attentiveness increased with age and riding frequency, while neuroticism was lower in more frequently ridden horses. Overall, personality ratings were associated with intrinsic characteristics and management and relationship factors, highlighting the importance of the human-shaped environment for equine personality and welfare.
AbstractOur research examines whether cyber behaviours can be classified through personality factors. The study involved 642 participants, including 314 from the United Kingdom (UK) and 328 from the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Using conscientiousness, neuroticism and need for cognition (NFC) along with problematic social media use (PSMU), fear of missing out (FoMO) and security attitude (SA), we identified three clusters in each cultural context, which showed broad similarities. To enhance interpretation, clusters were translated into behavioural personas. The UK personas were ‘methodical achievers’, ‘reactive explorers’ and ‘engaged seekers’, while the GCC personas were ‘analytical protectors’, ‘reactive explorers’ and ‘hyper-connected defenders’. Developing these profiles and presenting them as visual personas was a central aim of the research. The clusters revealed consistent relationships between cyber behaviours and personal factors. High NFC and conscientiousness were linked to stronger SAs and lower PSMU and FoMO, whereas higher neuroticism predicted weaker SAs and elevated PSMU and FoMO. These findings underscore the utility of clustering approaches that integrate multiple behaviours rather than isolating one. By connecting personality with cyber tendencies, this study provides a foundation for personalized interventions, promoting cyber safety in a more comprehensive and culturally sensitive manner.
AbstractThis paper presents a comprehensive assessment of the surface and functional properties of selected tool steels (1.2343, 1.2083, 1.2378 and Toolox 44) coated with BALINIT LUMENA, BALINIT CROVEGA, BALINIT CROMA PLUS and BALITHERM PRIMEFORM protective coatings. The research aimed to determine their suitability for industrial applications, in particular in polymer injection moulds exposed to high temperatures, pressure and corrosive environments. The evaluation included microhardness analysis (HV1), surface roughness measurements, morphological observations using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Keyence optical microscopy, as well as tribological tests. In addition, techniques such as ellipsometry and reflectance angle analysis were used to characterize the surface properties of the coatings in detail. To determine chemical stability, corrosion resistance tests were performed under hydrothermal incubation conditions (80°C, distilled water, 14 days) and the chemical composition of the substrate was analysed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Comprehensive testing has shown that the correct choice of protective coating is crucial for the durability and reliability of moulds in injection moulding processes. In particular, the BALINIT® CROMA PLUS coating, thanks to the synergy of high microhardness, corrosion resistance and stable optical and tribological properties, is the most promising solution for industrial injection moulding applications.
AbstractGranular computing (GrC) models complex systems through hierarchically organized information granules, whereas soft set theory offers a flexible mathematical framework for parameter-dependent uncertainty. Motivated by their strong conceptual affinity, this paper develops a soft topological GrC framework grounded in Molodtsov's proximity-oriented soft topology, which is unexplored to a great extent until now by the researchers of soft computing and related areas. New granular operators, reachability relations and saturation concepts are introduced, which lead to a unified structure that integrates soft neighbourhoods with multi-level granularity. Several non-trivial theorems are established concerning granular closure, connectivity, convergence and structural equivalence with examples, which reveals the intrinsic multi-resolution nature of soft topological spaces. The theoretical framework is further interpreted in the context of multi-criteria social network analysis, where contextual interactions induce soft neighbourhoods, and granular communities represent stable influence formations. The present study is primarily theoretical in nature and lays a rigorous foundation for future computational and empirical investigations.
AbstractThe evolution of webbed limbs represents a recurrent adaptation to aquatic life in tetrapods, facilitated by the dynamics of embryonic digit development. Digits form at the distal tip of the limb bud as cartilage condensations surrounded by mesenchymal cells, a process described as a Turing-type reaction between activator and inhibitor molecules. In species with free digits (lacking interdigital membranes), extensive programmed cell death occurs in the interdigital tissue, whereas this process is reduced in species with webbed limbs. Other factors potentially involved in the development of webbed limbs are fluctuations in oxygen tension, production of reactive oxygen species, and vascular remodelling, all of which have been documented in the embryonic interdigital tissue. Whether and how these phenomena are interrelated to the regression or persistence of the interdigital membrane remains poorly understood. On the basis of the analysis of skeletal and vascular development in ducks, using whole-mount immunofluorescence, we identified transient populations of chondrocytes that appear to influence the maintenance of interdigital vasculature and permit the continued growth of the membrane. Finally, we propose that current Turing models can explain the formation of these transient chondrocytes in ducks.
AbstractUnderstanding the effects of increasing anthropogenic changes on ecological communities is integral to predicting and mitigating such changes in the future. Insect pollinators are vital to ecosystem health. Quantifying pollinator phenology (i.e. flight period) offers insight into human impacts on ecosystem function, yet research is often constrained to narrow geographic and taxonomic scales. To address these constraints, we conducted a large-scale assessment of pollinator phenology across an anthropogenic modification gradient in the eastern USA using citizen science data from iNaturalist. We integrated 83 012 pollinator observations of 52 species with a remotely sensed layer of human modification to quantify species-specific differences in phenological change. We tested whether anthropogenic modification was a predictor of phenology. Our results reveal both taxonomic and spatial variation across a gradient of anthropogenic modification, with 19 species from three orders experiencing phenological shifts. We found evidence that pollinators in more anthropogenically modified areas of the eastern USA have seasons that start and end later in the year. By leveraging citizen science data, this study expands phenological research and provides a broader assessment across taxonomic and spatial scales.
AbstractStanding starts in track cycling appear paradoxical: a departure ‘from rest’ can exhibit a non-zero bike velocity at the official signal. We resolve this apparent contradiction by identifying a brief transitional regime, initiated around the gate-release window and preceding steady pedalling, in which coordinated whole-body motion provides the initial impulse. Using direct characterization of the starting gate, high-speed videography of elite specialist starters, anthropometric centre-of-mass (CoM) reconstruction and instrumented crank-torque measurements, we separate three concurrent contributions to the early motion: gate braking, inertial forcing from rapid CoM motion and pedalling propulsion. The resulting dynamical model reproduces the measured velocity–time profiles and explains lawful non-zero start velocities without prescribing them as initial conditions. Optimization analyses show that start performance is governed primarily by the timing of initiation relative to the release window and by the explosiveness of the CoM motion, whereas gearing and mass have only minor effects over this early interval. The model therefore provides practical guidance for improving the first instants of the track-cycling standing start within the rules.
AbstractMicrocystin-LR (MC-LR) contamination from cyanobacterial blooms poses a persistent threat to aquatic ecosystems and human health, necessitating effective removal technologies. This study used visualization analyses to examine global research on MC-LR removal in aquatic environments over the past three decades. A total of 978 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection, published from 1993 to August 2025, were analysed. Annual output increased slowly from 1993 to 2003, accelerated thereafter, and remained high after 2020, indicating that research activity entered a relatively stable phase following a period of rapid growth. Water Research, Chemosphere, Chemical Engineering Journal, Journal of Hazardous Materials, and Environmental Science & Technology were identified as leading journals, while China and the United States dominated research output and formed the central axis of international collaboration. Keyword and co-citation analyses showed that physical adsorption, photocatalysis, advanced oxidation processes and biodegradation are the main removal pathways. The field has diversified from early adsorption-assisted removal and conventional oxidation toward mechanism-driven and material-enabled strategies, while microbial degradation has remained an important parallel research direction. Findings suggest future progress should prioritize standardized evaluation of removal and detoxification efficiency, transformation-product toxicity, material regeneration, cost and scalability, thereby supporting reliable and practical cyanotoxin control.
AbstractCities are held together by a small subset of recurrent origin–destination ties, but extracting this backbone from noisy mobility data remains difficult, and most models still prioritize distance over connectivity. We build directed mobility networks from 48 months of mobile-phone data across eight US cities (2018–2021) and apply a rank-based percolation filter that retains, for each origin, its top-K destinations. Defining K∗ as the smallest cutoff that yields a strongly connected network, we find that city-specific thresholds cluster tightly across space and time, with a representative value near K≈130. Degree-preserving and gravity-style baselines do not recover this scale, underscoring the importance of selectively preserved long-range functional ties. We then define PPD(K), an origin-level mobility concentration measure, and show that socioeconomic associations peak around the percolation-derived integration regime. Together, these findings offer a principled method to extract a minimal mobility backbone and connect its structure to persistent socioeconomic variation.
AbstractThe amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is widely distributed across tropical ecosystems, yet the microhabitats that facilitate its environmental persistence remain poorly understood. We evaluated Bd detection in bromeliad tank contents and infection in amphibian communities across an elevational gradient in Ecuadorian forests. We sampled amphibians at eight sites using skin swabs, and canopy and subcanopy bromeliads at five sites using eDNA. Overall, Bd prevalence was 23.0% in amphibians and 11.3% in bromeliads. Subcanopy bromeliads showed a significantly lower probability of Bd detection than amphibians, whereas canopy bromeliads did not differ significantly from amphibians or subcanopy bromeliads. Mid-elevation sites showed a higher probability of being Bd-positive compared with high-elevation sites, while low-elevation sites did not differ significantly. Amphibian Bd prevalence also increased with precipitation and followed a nonlinear relationship with temperature, suggesting higher prevalence under intermediate thermal conditions. By contrast, Bd detection in bromeliads was not significantly associated with abiotic factors. Bd infection intensity among amphibians did not differ significantly across host taxonomy or sampling sites. Together, these results suggest that bromeliad tanks may provide aquatic microhabitats for Bd detection and short-term persistence, but host infection patterns appear more associated with amphibian taxonomic identity, site-level variation and local climatic conditions.
AbstractForaging requires organisms to balance energetic gains against multiple costs, including predation risk, while updating decisions as conditions change. Although these processes are well studied in animals, ecologically grounded paradigms for testing behavioural updating and cross-task generalization in humans remain limited. We developed two computer-game assays inspired by animal foraging research to examine how humans adjust behaviour under simulated predation risk, whether prior risk exposure affects later decisions and whether spatial performance generalizes across tasks. Participants completed a central-place open-field foraging task under safe and risky conditions and a maze-navigation task assessing spatial learning. Predation risk reduced foraging effort and increased hiding behaviour. Behavioural responses also depended on task order: individuals exposed to risk first showed attenuated shifts across contexts, indicating carryover effects and incomplete updating of environmental state. Spatial performance generalized across tasks under both safe and risky contexts. In the maze task, performance improved across trials with a negatively accelerated learning curve, consistent with spatial learning dynamics. These findings show that ecologically grounded computer games can reveal imperfect updating under changing risk while providing a controlled framework for studying human decision-making under ecological constraints.
AbstractSecure colour image transmission requires encryption schemes in which randomness generation, nonlinear substitution and diffusion are designed as a coherent whole. Conventional coupled map lattice-based methods are often constrained by fixed neighbourhood evolution and limited coupling diversity, while many chaos-based substitution-box (S-box) schemes use chaotic sequences mainly as external shuffling sources. This article develops a colour image encryption method that couples adaptive spatio-temporal chaos with dynamic finite-field substitution and coordinated permutation–diffusion. In the proposed chaotic model, lattice interactions and local evolution are regulated by the system state, allowing the generated sequences to exhibit stronger complexity, sensitivity and distribution uniformity. The resulting chaotic flow is further embedded into a dual-affine construction over GF(28), producing key-dependent bijective S-boxes with enhanced nonlinear substitution capability. For image encryption, time-varying bit-switching transform (TV-BST) permutation, Hopfield-driven time-varying coupled map lattice (HDTCML) block key mixing and dynamic S-box-based bidirectional diffusion are integrated to jointly strengthen global scrambling, local confusion and plaintext sensitivity. Experimental analyses show that the proposed scheme produces random-like ciphertexts, suppresses adjacent-pixel correlation and improves resistance to statistical analysis, differential attacks and chosen-plaintext attacks.
AbstractA novel porous composite material, Fe-BTC/PpPDA, was synthesized via a green solvothermal route by integrating polyparaphenylenediamine (PpPDA) into the Fe-BTC metal–organic framework. The material was characterized by X-ray diffraction, FTIR, ultraviolet-visible and scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyses, confirming successful incorporation of nitrogen-rich PpPDA into the metal organic frameworks structure. The composite exhibited a well-developed porous morphology and abundant functional groups favourable for metal binding. Batch adsorption experiments demonstrated a high gold uptake capacity (qmax = 1045.8 mg g–1) with rapid kinetics, reaching equilibrium within 30 minutes. The adsorption behaviour followed the Langmuir model (R2 = 0.9847), indicating monolayer adsorption and high selectivity. These findings position Fe-BTC/PpPDA as an efficient, sustainable and selective adsorbent for gold recovery from polymetallic aqueous solutions.
AbstractDinosaur egg remains are rarely found in areas of high palaeolatitudes, with Canada (approx. 57–60° N) and Siberia (approx. 70–75° N) yielding the most polarward occurrences. Here, we describe dinosaur eggshells from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Chorrillo Formation of southernmost Patagonia (Argentina), an area located at approximately 55–60° S palaeolatitude during that time interval. The more than 250 eggshell fragments collected are assignable to Fusioolithus oosp., an ootaxon known from Late Cretaceous Gondwana regions that probably belongs to titanosaur dinosaurs. The eggshells are shown to have a high porosity like those of titanosaur eggs studied previously, indicating the eggs were fully covered by nest substrate during incubation. The high latitude of the area in the Maastrichtian suggests the eggs were buried in a mound-style nest where microbial decay, rather than solar radiation, was the primary source of incubation heat. The Chorrillo Formation represents, to our knowledge, the highest palaeolatitude area to produce definitive dinosaur egg remains from the Southern Hemisphere and reveals that titanosaurs were nesting at higher latitudes than previously known.
