Abstract: Weed infestation significantly threatens crop productivity and quality, highlighting the need for accurate and scalable monitoring approaches. Recent advances in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing and deep learning provide promising tools for field-scale weed detection. This study evaluates and compares two state-of-the-art instance segmentation models, Mask R-CNN and YOLOv8, for species-level weed detection in wheat fields under Mongolian agro-ecological conditions. The experiment was conducted in a 4 ha wheat field in Tuv Province, Mongolia, using high-resolution RGB imagery acquired from UAV flights in July 2025. Three dominant weed species were annotated and analyzed. Model performance was evaluated using mAP@0.5:0.95, Precision, Recall, F1-score, and mask IoU. At IoU thresholds of 0.25 and 0.5, both models demonstrated moderate detection performance (IoU = 0.25: Precision 0.49–0.76, Recall 0.20–0.77, F1-score 0.32–0.75; IoU = 0.5: Precision 0.42–0.67, Recall 0.18–0.75, F1-score 0.28–0.69), with variation among weed species. Mask R-CNN achieved higher Recall and more precise boundary delineation, improving weed coverage estimation, whereas YOLOv8 provided faster inference (≈11 ms per image, ~90 FPS) and higher precision, making it more suitable for large-area and near-real-time monitoring. These findings demonstrate the potential of UAV-based instance segmentation for weed detection in Mongolia and provide practical guidance for model selection in precision agriculture applications.

Abstract: As IoT systems complexity grows, transparent and trustworthy machine-learning Intrusion Detection Systems are crucial. Post hoc explainable AI methods, such as SHAP and LIME, are the most widely used ways to explain how models work, but the degree to which these methods are robust to adversarial conditioning is understudied. In this paper, we propose to create a unified system of evaluating explanation fidelity by using three metrics : sparsity, completeness and robustness based on minimally distorting DeepFool input perturbations. Our study benchmarks SHAP and LIME across three datasets (BoT-IoT, Edge-IIoT, N-BaIoT) using four classifiers: CNN, DNN, LSTM, and RF. Our results demonstrate a consistent trade-off: SHAP achieves stronger causal alignment and higher completeness under attack, whereas LIME exhibits greater rank-stability in terms of top-k feature overlap. However, LIME also produces more spurious attributions and offers less explanatory power than SHAP, especially in the presence of synthetic or non-causal features. Our findings reveal that high model accuracy does not guarantee that the provided explanation is also high-fidelity. This investigation highlights the necessity for robustness-aware XAI in cybersecurity and provides reproducible parameters to guide the adoption of XAI in adversarial environments.

Abstract: Background: The domain of microencapsulation technology is considered to be at the level of an advanced scientific discipline that includes the fields of materials science, pharmaceutical engineering, and food technology in the formulation of very specific matrices of polymeric or lipid nature. Method: In this review, a comprehensive analysis of sixteen different techniques of microparticles preparation has been presented: Solvent Evaporation, Solvent Extraction, Coacervation, Spray Drying, Spray Congealing, Ionic Gelation, Interfacial Polymerization, Air Suspension, Pan Coating, In-situ Polymerization, Supercritical Fluid Technology, Electrospraying, Microfluidics, Sol-Gel Process, Hot Melt Encapsulation, and Salting Out. Each technique has been explained by describing the basic physical and chemical phenomena that govern the process of microparticles formation. Results: The review has been presented with a critical analysis of the operating parameters, along with the core and shell material, as well as the applications of the technique, which are of interest in the field of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, and medicine. Conclusion: The types of drugs that are best suited for the particular technique, as per their physical and chemical properties, i.e., solubility in water, lipid solubility, acid–base properties, as well as their thermoreactive properties, have been discussed in the review. The possibility of scaling up the technique from the laboratory scale to the industrial scale has been evaluated by searching the patent database, as well as the grant status of the patents, presented in the review. The prospective industrial applications of the technique, as well as the current limitations that restrict the scaling up of the laboratory-scale protocol, have been discussed in the review.

Abstract: Background/Objectives: Disease-related malnutrition affects millions of patients worldwide. Nutrition support therapy (NST), namely oral nutritional supplements (ONS), serve as a cornerstone therapeutic intervention. However, treatment effective-ness depends not only on appropriate prescription but also on patient acceptance and adherence. This study evaluates the provision pathway of ONS within a co-payment healthcare system, focusing on patient acceptance patterns, barriers to adherence, and the critical yet underexplored role of pharmacist-patient interactions in determining treatment outcomes. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted across 100 Croatian community pharmacies during September-October 2025. Pharma-cists prospectively documented 973 patient encounters involving ONS prescriptions requiring co-payment using real-time patient record forms. Data captured patient demographics, diagnoses, prescription patterns, prior knowledge of co-payment re-quirements, acceptance responses, and pharmacist-assessed reasons for refusal. Re-sults: While 65% of all patients knew about co-payment requirements in advance, 51% of first-time users arrived uninformed, leading to dramatically different acceptance patterns (93% immediate acceptance when informed versus 33% when uninformed, p< 0.05). Overall, 8-12% of patients refused or reduced prescribed ONS. Among refus-als, 59% cited financial burden, but critically, 23% appeared not to understand why ONS was prescribed or what benefits to expect, revealing significant communication gaps in the care pathway. Fifteen percent of patients overall required pharmacist ex-planation before accepting their prescription, demonstrating pharmacists' decisive role as gatekeepers of nutritional therapy. Conclusions: Successful ONS provision requires enhanced collaborative practice across prescribers, pharmacists, and patients or their families. Key interventions include comprehensive prescriber-patient communication about co-payment and clinical rationale, specialized pharmacist education in dis-ease-specific nutrition and ONS counseling, and systematic communication protocols between prescribers and pharmacists. The pharmacy dispensing encounter represents an important decision point, where insufficient preparation and coordination may lead to avoidable treatment failures among vulnerable patient populations.

Abstract:

The viscosity stability of the polymer solution is one of the challenges in enhancing oil recovery and zwitterionic copolymer presents excellent viscosity stability and emulsification performance, enabling effective control the oil/water interface mobility and enhancing oil recovery. Herein, a zwitterionic copolymer (P(AM/AMBS/MAPTAC)) containing sulfonic acid group and quaternary amine group was synthesized by segmentation initiation with AM, AMBS and MAPTAC as monomers. The chemical structure of P(AM/AMBS/MAPTAC) was confirmed by FTIR and ¹H NMR. The M_w value of (P(AM/AMBS/MAPTAC)) was 9.91×10⁶, and the apparent viscosity of the solution of 2000 mg/L solution was 24.92 mP·s at 60 ℃ in the 5000 mg/L salt solution. P(AM/AMBS/MAPTAC) with the sulfonic acid group and the quaternary amine group exhibits outstanding salt tolerance and shear resistance. When the salinity was 10000 mg/L and the shear rate was 300 s^-1, the apparent viscosity and the viscosity reduction rates for the P(AM/AMBS/MAPTAC) solution were 23.45 mP·s and 69.23 %, respectively. Moreover, P(AM/AMBS/MAPTAC) exhibited higher emulsion property and higher oil-water interface thickness than HPAM and SPAM because of the synergistic effect of sulfonic acid and quaternary amine groups in the P(AM/AMBS/MAPTAC) molecule. The polymer flooding and the alkali-surfactant-polymer flooding formed by P(AM/AMBS/MAPTAC) had high chemical oil recovery and the oil displacement efficiency was higher than HPAM and SPAM in the polymer flooding and the alkali-surfactant-polymer flooding systems.

Abstract: Relative simultaneity remains a highly debated issue. It is presented as a necessary physical consequence of the Lorentz transformation (LT). However, we demonstrate that the phenomenon is an artefact of 'mixed-coordinate' algebraic representation, which does not guarantee that the stationary system S 4-vector transformed to the moving system S’ are both covariant. A covariant representation of a transformed 4-vector which components are explicit functions of time, requires them to be expressed as functions of the local time in S and in the moving frame S'. While the one step multiplication of LT matrix by the 4-vector in S, yields correct algebraic expressions, the ‘raw’ resulting 4-vector retains the variable t throughout all components. This ‘mixed-coordinate’ representation is incomplete; it is not in a form covariant with the vector in S because its components are not functions of t'. The variable t must be replaced by equating the first component of the transformed vector to ct’ and substituting the resulting expression into all instances of t in the ‘raw’ 4-vector. After this procedure applied to two simultaneous events in S, the apparent time difference between the events in S’ becomes ∆t’=0. The effect of relative simultaneity, which appears in the ‘mixed-coordinate’ representation, is absent. This highlights the role of emergent ‘absolute-like time’ hidden within the structure of LT equations affecting temporal relations, suggests that the "Relative Now" discussed by Eddington in 1927 resulting from widely known conclusion ∆t’≠0 is a mathematical artefact of coordinates convention rather than the physical reality.

Abstract: In the trajectory tracking of an autonomous vehicle, a lane-keeping control loop is fundamental. This involves a correct orientation of the yaw angle, which is achieved by actuating the steering. When addressing this type of control, one possible approach is to consider the design of a robust controller with various performance requirements defined by weighting functions. This procedure usually leads to a high-order controller, which entails a computational cost that burdens the processor dedicated to other high-demand control loops, such as computer vision algorithms. In this work, an interlacing procedure for the implementation of the robust controller will be introduced, which will allow a substantial reduction in computational load. The technique is applied to the state-space controller, allowing its extrapolation to MIMO controllers. Several options will be discussed, and the effectiveness and validity of the method will be evaluated through results based on real path tracking.

Abstract: The post-World War II international order is undergoing simultaneous collapse on two fronts: a geopolitical fragmentation driven by twenty consecutive years of democratic decline, and an accelerating concentration of economic power driven by advances in artificial intelligence. This paper argues that the convergence of these two forces is producing a structural transformation unprecedented in human history, one that could stabilize into a neo-feudal equilibrium in which a vanishingly small class of infrastructure owners wields power comparable to pre-Enlightenment monarchs, while the vast majority of humanity loses both its labor value and its political leverage. Unlike previous feudal orders, this one may prove uniquely resistant to revolution, because the mechanisms of enforcement (autonomous weapons, AI surveillance, algorithmic propaganda) do not require human cooperation and therefore cannot be undermined by human dissent. The paper examines the historical parallels (and crucial disanalogies) between contemporary populist-authoritarian movements and their twentieth-century predecessors, models the emerging class structure under conditions of artificial general intelligence, evaluates Universal Basic Income through the lens of incentive structure, arguing that without the revolutionary threat that historically forced redistribution, UBI will default to a pacification mechanism rather than a genuine solution, and examines the future of the nation-state under conditions where AI infrastructure owners command more wealth and capability than most governments.

Abstract: Background: Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) accounts for up to 15% of all pe-diatric and adolescent non-Hodgkin lymphomas and is characterized by significant clinical, morphological, and immunohistochemical heterogeneity. Expression of T-cell markers on tumor cells is considered as one of the factors of an unfavorable prognosis in ALCL. However, no treatment protocols based on the ALCL immunological heterogeneity have been used, yet. Objective: To compare the effectiveness of immunophenotype–oriented chemotherapy in children with ALCL treated according to the ALCL NII DOiG 2003 protocol versus the standard NHL-BFM 95 protocol. Methods: A retrospective-prospective analysis of 100 newly diagnosed ALCL patients, who were treated between 2000 and 2023, was performed across five pediatric oncology and hematology centers in Russia. Patients were divided into two groups: those treated with the NHL-BFM 95 protocol (n=52) and those treated with the ALCL NII DOiG 2003 protocol (n=48). Comparative analysis used Kaplan-Meier survival curves constructed for each group, and statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0. Results: The 10-year overall survival was significantly higher in the ALCL NII DOiG 2003 group (95.3% ±3.3%) compared to that of the NHL-BFM 95 group (82.0% ±5.4%, p=0.037). Event-free survival was also improved (95.3% ±3.3% vs. 68.6% ±6.5%, p=0.001), as well as the relapse-free survival (97.3% ±2.7% vs. 74.4% ±6.4%, p=0.003). Conclusions: The immunophenotype-oriented approach of the ALCL NII DOiG 2003 protocol provides significantly improved long-term outcomes than the common NHL-BFM 95. These findings support the benefit of the personalized immunologically targeted therapy in pediatric ALCL treatment.

Abstract: National risks constitute an important but still underexplored dimension of sustainable development, particularly in countries exposed to institutional fragility, demographic decline, and geopolitical uncertainty. This study identifies and prioritizes the ten most significant risks facing Bulgaria’s development over the next decade, with particular attention to their fiscal and macro-financial transmission channels. The analysis is based on a structured expert survey conducted among 82 specialists from academia, business, research institutions, civil society, and public practice. Respondents assessed 32 poten-tial risks according to likelihood and impact using a five-point scale. The empirical framework combines descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha, the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin test, exploratory factor analysis, Spearman’s rank correlation, and the Kruskal–Wallis test. A combined priority index was constructed as the product of mean likelihood and mean impact scores. The results show that the most significant risks are concentrated around institutional and systemic vulnerabilities, especially distrust in the rule of law, ineffective healthcare, disinformation, corruption, crisis of statehood, demographic de-cline, and deterioration in education and infrastructure. The findings indicate that these risks affect Bulgaria’s long-term development through five main fiscal and mac-ro-financial channels: higher sovereign risk premia, expenditure pressure, weaker revenue capacity and investment efficiency, labor market deterioration, and broader financial fragility. The study contributes to the literature on sustainability governance, sovereign resilience, and fiscal sustainability by showing that national resilience de-pends not only on the management of external shocks, but also on the institutional ca-pacity of the state to absorb long-term structural pressures.

Abstract: Background/Objectives: Longer lifetime exposure to endogenous estradiol (LEE2) has been associated with lower risk of age-related cognitive decline and dementia. Complementary to cognitive decline, behavioural and functional decline are also predictive of dementia risk; however, the association between LEE2 and these domains is underexplored. We investigated whether LEE2 is linked to later-life changes in behaviour and function. Methods: Baseline data from 1166 females enrolled in the CAN-PROTECT study were analyzed. LEE2 was estimated based on length of the reproductive period (menopause age - menarche age) plus years pregnant and scaled in 5-year increments. Objective cognition was measured using the CAN-PROTECT neuropsychological battery, while subjective cognition, behaviour, and function were measured using the Revised Everyday Cognition (ECog-II) scale, Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (MBI-C), and Standard Assessment of Global Everyday Activities (SAGEA) scale, respectively. Linear regressions modeled the association between LEE2 and neuropsychological performance. Three separate negative binomial regression models examined the association between LEE2 and ECog-II, MBI-C, and SAGEA total scores. All models adjusted for menopause hormone therapy ever use, menopause type, age, education, and ethnocultural background. Results: Each five-year increase in LEE2 was associated with lower MBI-C score (count ratio [CR]= 0.91, 95% CI [0.84, 0.98]) and lower SAGEA score (CR=0.91, 95% CI [0.86, 0.98]). LEE2 was not significantly associated with any objective or subjective cognitive measures. Conclusions: Longer LEE2 may confer protection against later-life behavioural and functional changes in older women.

Abstract: Consumer sleep-tracking wearables are increasingly used by older adults, yet their impact on behavior is underexamined. This study examined how U.S. adults 50 years of age and older use and interpret sleep-tracking data from Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Oura Ring and whether it influences bedtime and morning routines. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used, combining Likert-scale items and open-ended responses from a survey of older adults with one month or more of weara-ble use. Quantitative findings (n = 103) indicated high perceived usability (M = 4.14) and usefulness (M = 4.27). The behavior-change composite score (M = 3.78, SD = 0.87) was significantly greater than the neutral midpoint (p < .001), suggesting perceived improvements in sleep-related routines. Qualitative analysis (n = 86) identified four themes: sleep tracking as a reflective feedback system, incremental routine adjust-ments, selective interpretation of metrics, and desire for more actionable guidance. Overall, sleep-tracking devices were associated with increased awareness and modest behavioral adjustments rather than substantial change. These findings suggest that wearables function primarily as reflective tools supporting gradual habit refinement. Future research should evaluate whether these incremental changes translate into sustained improvements in sleep and daytime functioning.

Abstract: We propose a fundamental paradigm in which the vacuum is not empty but a discrete quantum state of a dynamical scalar field, the meta-field Φ. Drawing an analogy with the quantized energy levels of the hydrogen atom, this framework posits the existence of multiple vacuum tiers—discrete, stable configurations of Φ labeled by a quantum number n—each characterized by tier-specific values of fundamental dimensional constants. The speed of light in vacuum c and the Planck constant h become emergent properties of the vacuum state, varying reciprocally across tiers as cₙ = c₀ e^{{-α(n−30)}} and hₙ = h₀ e^{{+α(n−30)}} with α ≈ 0.01, while the fine-structure constant α_EM and the vacuum permittivity ε₀ remain strictly constant. The theory is grounded in a covariant action principle where c(Φ) couples directly to gravity: c⁴(Φ) / 16πG R. This hydrogen-like structure naturally resolves major cosmological puzzles: the large vacuum energy in high-energy tiers drives a period of inflation and solves the horizon problem; tier transitions provide a mechanism for instantaneous reheating at the GUT scale; and the slow evolution toward higher tiers in the current epoch explains dark energy while naturally resolving the Hubble tension. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the extreme geometry near rapidly spinning Kerr black holes acts as a catalytic gateway between tiers, enhancing transition probabilities within a defined resonance zone (r_H < r ≲ 1.5M) by a factor ~10⁴, yielding a transition probability P_Fe ~ 10⁻⁵ per iron nucleus. This leads to specific, falsifiable predictions across multiple independent channels: an anomalous energy-dependent composition of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) exclusively from spinning black holes; a quasi-monochromatic GUT-line in gamma-ray spectra (including radiation emitted during the tunneling process itself); point-source anti-nuclei fluxes; a high-frequency stochastic gravitational wave background; and measurable deviations in cosmological distance measures. The framework renders the multiverse concept testable, transforming black holes from endpoints of collapse into fundamental connectors in a tiered cosmic architecture.

Abstract: Identifying abnormal behaviors plays a vital role in ensuring cloud infrastructure remains secure and operationally stable. Conventional methods that aggregate data at a single location create substantial privacy concerns, especially within shared cloud platforms hosting multiple organizations with confidential operational information. This paper proposes HierFedDP, a hierarchical federated learning framework integrated with a two-stage differential privacy mechanism for privacy-preserving anomaly detection in cloud services. Our approach employs a three-tier architecture consisting of local clients, edge servers, and a central cloud server, where clients apply local differential privacy to their updates before transmission. We introduce an edge aggregation frequency parameter that enables edge servers to perform multiple local aggregation rounds before communicating with the central cloud. Experiments on the CICIDS2017 dataset demonstrate that HierFedDP achieves detection performance comparable to standard local differential privacy approaches while reducing wide-area network (WAN) communication overhead by 49%. This significant communication reduction, achieved without sacrificing privacy guarantees or detection accuracy, makes HierFedDP particularly suitable for bandwidth-constrained, geo-distributed cloud deployments.

Abstract: This study proposes a mechanobiological model explaining how multilaminated retroperitoneal fasciae arise through the interplay of localized and systemic tension fields. Classical peritoneal fusion theories account for neither the organized laminar architecture nor the 10-week developmental delay between early visceral fixation and definitive fascial formation. The present framework proposes that localized tension at 10–12 gestational weeks generates the inner renal fascial layer, whereas a systemic tension field emerging around 20 weeks—driven by axial skeletal ossification, pelvic expansion, and exponential volumetric growth—establishes a fetal-scale tensegrity network. This systemic tension induces orthogonal Poisson-effect compression, poroelastic fluid exudation, and LOX-mediated cross-linking, collectively generating the laminated outer layer. To provide empirical illustration of this framework, a pure cohort of adult renal vacancy (n=3) was identified from 5,509 consecutive CT scans. Despite the lifelong absence of the kidney, a continuous outer fascial layer persisted in all cases, indicating that its formation is tension-driven rather than organ-dependent. This natural subtraction experiment resolves the longstanding discrepancy between classical dissection and modern imaging, and supports a systemic mechanobiological origin for retroperitoneal fascial lamination.

Abstract: In this work, the activity of vanadium-doped and undoped phosphomolybdic acids, H3+n PMo12-nVnO40 (n = 0, 1, 2 and 3), was evaluated in the acetalization reaction of furfural with alkyl alcohols. The main focus was to verify how vanadium charge impact catalytic activity of phosphomolybdic acid, and to try to link these effects to changes in their structural properties. The main reaction parameters such as catalyst charge, catalyst concentration, temperature, time, type of alcohol, type of aldehyde, vanadium charge, and H+ ion charge were studied. Various Brønsted acids (sulfuric, p-toluenesulfonic, undoped and doped phosphomolybdic acids) were evaluated in condensation reactions of furfural with methyl alcohol. Notably, H4PMo11V1O40 was the most active and selective catalyst toward the formation of methyl acetal furfural. The water has a leveling effect over the strength of these acids. Nonetheless, under reaction conditions, the presence vanadium impacted the strength of phosphomolybdic acids, allowing distinguish what is the strongest; vanadium monosubstituted phosphomolybdic acid. The superior performance of H4PMo11V1O40 was attributed to its additional acidity, resulting from the presence of very strong (H+) and Lewis and Brønsted acid sites, due to the substitution of Mo6+ by V5+ in its structure.

Abstract: Evidence suggests that physical activity promotes bone health through mechanical loading and biochemical signaling between bone and muscle tissues. A class of signaling molecules known as exerkines is a key mediator of bone–muscle crosstalk. Although exercise regulates osteokines, the acute exerkine responses across different exercise modalities remain unclear. This randomized repeated-measures crossover study compared acute changes in serum sclerostin (SCL), dickkopf-1 (DKK-1), receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL), osteopontin (OPN), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), irisin, and interleukin 6 (IL-6) following circuit training (CT) (cycle ergometer, push-up, step-ups, medicine ball twist, and front squats with kettlebell for three sets) and traditional resistance (TR) exercise (3 sets 10 repetitions 80% 1RM for leg press, seated cable row, barbell bench press, dumbbell deadlifts, and dumbbell seated shoulder press) in healthy young adults (n=12). Participants performed two protocols separated by 2-week wash-out periods. Blood samples were analyzed before exercise training (pre), immediately post-exercise (IP), and 30 minutes post-exercise (30P) for all exerkines using ELISA. There was a significant interaction between protocol, timepoint, and sex (p=0.038) for SCL levels. There was a significant interaction between protocol, timepoint, and sex for SCL levels (p < 0.05). In males, SCL levels increased from Pre to IP under both training protocols (CT: 0.10 ± 0.02 ng/mL to 0.14 ± 0.02 ng/mL; TR: 0.20 ± 0.02 ng/mL to 0.21 ± 0.02 ng/mL). In both protocols, SCL levels decreased from IP to 30 P (CT: 0.14 ± 0.02 to 0.10 ± 0.01 ng/ml; TR: 0.22 ± 0.02 to 0.17 ± 0.02 ng/ml). In females, SCL levels increased from Pre to IP under both training protocols (CT: 0.03 ± 0.02 ng/mL to 0.06 ± 0.02 ng/mL; TR: 0.07 ± 0.02 ng/mL to 0.13 ± 0.02 ng/mL). There was a significant time effect for OPN and RANKL concentrations. Marginal means for the time point showed that OPN was significantly higher at the Pre time point. Post hoc analyses showed that OPN levels significantly decreased from 30P to Pre (18.84 ± 0.92 to 15.69 ± 1.32 pg/mL) (p=0.08). Similarly, RANKL showed a significant increase from Pre (0.38 ± 0.04 pg/mL) to 30P (0.57 ± 0.06 pg/mL) (p=0.02); otherwise, there were no significant differences between protocols or sexes. Irisin significantly decreased from Pre (28761.73 ± 238.52 pg/mL) to IP (2364.85 ± 243.79 pg/mL) in both protocols (p=0.01). DKK-1, BDNF, and IL-6 levels were only different between protocols (p< 0.01). SCL and BDNF levels were expressed higher in the TR protocol, whereas DKK-1, IL-6, and Irisin levels were expressed higher in the CT protocol. Overall, the findings suggest that SCL, RANKL, OPN, and irisin responded to the exercise bout, while the exerkines did not show meaningful changes over time.

Abstract: This study aimed to examine variables associated with emotional manipulation levels in adults and to describe current patterns using a decision tree method as a classification-based analytical approach. The research sample consisted of 543 adults (358 women, 65.93%; 185 men, 34.07%) residing in Turkey, aged 18 to 45 years (M = 25.79, SD = 6.24). Data were collected using a researcher-developed personal information form, the Manipulation Scale in Human Relations, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Relationship Scales Questionnaire. Emotional manipulation scores were dichotomized into low versus high groups using a median split to facilitate CART-based classification. Classification and Regression Tree was used to examine the hierarchical structure of variables related to emotional manipulation levels and to identify classification patterns among study variables. Data were stratified-randomly split into training and test sets (70/30), and tree complexity was tuned via cross-validation using cost-complexity pruning. Model performance indicated good classification accuracy, with a test-set accuracy of 0.81 (sensitivity = 0.74, specificity = 0.88, precision = 0.86, F1 = 0.79) and training accuracy of 0.86. The findings indicated several influential variables in classifying emotional manipulation levels, ranked by importance: preoccupied attachment style, self-esteem, age, dismissive attachment style, gender, secure attachment style, and fearful attachment style. Preoccupied attachment style was identified as the most salient variable in differentiating between high and low emotional manipulation groups. The decision tree structure showed that younger adults with higher preoccupied attachment scores were more frequently classified into the high emotional manipulation group. Self-esteem emerged as the second most influential variable, with lower self-esteem levels being more commonly observed among individuals classified in the high emotional manipulation group. Age also played a notable role in classification, with higher emotional manipulation classifications occurring more frequently among younger individuals. Dismissive attachment style contributed to the differentiation of emotional manipulation levels, particularly within specific attachment and age profiles. Gender-related patterns indicated that men were more frequently classified into higher emotional manipulation groups, especially among individuals with low self-esteem. Overall, the findings highlight the multifactorial and hierarchical nature of emotional manipulation classifications. They contribute to the literature by showing how attachment-related characteristics, developmental factors, and psychological variables jointly differentiate emotional manipulation profiles.

Abstract: Monitoring the condition of rolling bearings is critical for industrial reliability, yet tradi-tional contact-based accelerometers can be impractical in confined or hazardous envi-ronments. This study investigates the use of microphones as a non-invasive diagnostic alternative, focusing on the impact of sensor distance and spatial placement on fault de-tection sensitivity across various rotational speeds and load conditions. Using an accel-erometer mounted directly on the bearing as a benchmark, acoustic data were acquired on a test bench under different speed and load conditions. The experimental setup evaluated three distinct microphones positions and five distances relative to the source to assess spatial influence. Analysis was conducted comparing scalar indicators, such as Root Mean Square (RMS), Kurtosis and Crest-Factor values, with advanced diagnostic tech-niques, specifically the High-Frequency Resonance Technique (HFRT) for envelope spec-trum extraction. Results indicate that while the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) predictably decreases with distance, diagnostic performance is significantly compromised by acoustic shielding effects caused by bearing housing. Moreover, while simple statistical factors (RMS, Kurtosis, Crest Factor) show limited reliability across varying distances and noise floors, HFRT-based envelope analysis yields robust fault identification even at the max-imum sensor distance. The study concludes that optimal microphone placement is essen-tial for reliable remote monitoring. Particularly, these findings suggest that a preliminary spatial characterization of the acoustic field can significantly enhance the effectiveness of non-contact diagnostic systems in industrial applications.

Abstract: The continued evolution of SARS-CoV-2 has enabled escape from most monoclonal antibodies, yet a subset of broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting three newly identified super-conserved RBD epitopes—SCORE-A, SCORE-B, and SCORE-C—retains remarkable activity against even the most recent JN.1-derived sublineages. Here we employed an integrated computational framework combining conformational dynamics, mutational scanning, MM-GBSA binding energetics, and frustration profiling to dissect the molecular mechanisms by which XGI antibodies achieve broad neutralization and resistance to immune escape. Structural analysis revealed that all three SCORE epitopes share a common architecture: a highly conserved, minimally frustrated core that provides stable anchoring, flanked by peripheral regions that accommodate antibody-specific variations. Conformational dynamics showed that SCORE-A antibodies (XGI-183) rigidify the lateral epitope while leaving the RBM partially mobile; SCORE-B antibodies (XGI-198, XGI-203) clamp the RBM apex, directly blocking ACE2; and SCORE-C antibodies (XGI-171) allosterically loosen the RBM loop, impairing receptor engagement indirectly. Mutational scanning identified a hierarchical hotspot organization where primary hotspots (e.g., K356, T500, Y380, T385) are evolutionarily constrained and minimally frustrated, while secondary hotspots (e.g., V503, Y508, S383) are neutrally frustrated and represent the principal sites of immune-driven mutations. MM-GBSA decomposition revealed that van der Waals-driven hydrophobic packing dominates binding, with electrostatic interactions providing auxiliary stabilization. Critically, frustration analysis demonstrated that immune escape hotspots reside precisely in zones of neutral frustration—"energetic playgrounds" that permit mutational explora-tion without destabilizing the RBD—while minimally frustrated cores are evolutionarily locked. The comparative analysis of conformational versus mutational frustration dis-tributions revealed a unifying principle: aligned neutral frustration yields permissive, escape-prone interfaces; decoupling enables targeting of constrained cores; and convergence of minimal frustration in both distributions creates invulnerable interfaces. These findings establish that broad neutralization arises not from ultra-high-affinity anchors but from strategic energy distribution across rigid, evolutionarily informed interfaces, providing a roadmap for designing next-generation therapeutics that target the invulnerable cores of viral surface proteins.