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Sexual violence in conflict settings is a major public health and social justice issue with long-lasting psychological consequences. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Panzi One-Stop Centre model provides integrated medical, psychosocial, legal, and socio-economic support to rape survivors. However, evidence on how different combinations of services are associated with psychosocial well-being and equity in health outcomes remains limited. We conducted a cross-sectional study in July 2025 among 314 rape survivors who had received care between 2022 and 2024 in Eastern DRC. Self-esteem and life satisfaction were assessed using validated scales. Sociodemographic data and care pathways were collected through structured interviews. Standardised scores were analyzed using correlation and regression analyses, while analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare mean standardised scores between pillars. General linear models (GLMs) were used to examine associations between sociodemographic factors, care configuration, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. Standardized regression coefficients (β) are reported throughout. Average life satisfaction was low, whereas self-esteem was moderately low, with substantial variability across participants. Survivors who were classified in care configurations including a combination of three care pillars (medical, psychosocial and socio-economic support), trend to show the slightly higher observed psychosocial well-being scores, although confidence intervals (CI) overlapped across several subgroups. Medical-only care was associated with comparatively lower observed scores. Employment was positively associated with self-esteem, whereas perceived social support appeared to be more consistently associated with life satisfaction than with self-esteem. A positive association was observed between the number of care pillars utilised and both self-esteem and life satisfaction. Care configurations including the socio-economic pillar tended to display a more pronounced positive relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction. However, subgroup comparisons should be interpreted cautiously because several groups had small sample sizes and overlapping confidence intervals. Integrated multidisciplinary care was positively associated with psychosocial well-being among survivors. Variations observed across different combinations of care pillars suggest that equitable access to holistic services may be related to differences in recovery indicators. These findings highlight the potential relevance of ensuring the continuity and availability of multidisciplinary services for survivors of sexual violence in conflict-affected settings. However, given the cross-sectional nature of the study, these findings should be interpreted as descriptive associations rather than evidence of causal effects and warrant confirmation in longitudinal studies.

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) of liquids poses significant analytical challenges, especially for biological samples such as blood and saliva, where only limited volumes are available. Maximising spectral information from these scarce samples is therefore essential. Among various liquid sampling approaches, the drop-coating method has shown particular promise for efficient sample utilisation. This study focuses on advancing the drop-coating approach by integrating enhanced sampling and laser excitation strategies to improve spectral performance while preserving LIBS's intrinsic advantages. Specifically, pulsed laser-based Surface-Enhanced LIBS (SELIBS) and Nanoparticle-Enhanced LIBS (NELIBS) techniques were employed to amplify signal intensity and detection sensitivity. Systematic optimisation of key experimental parameters revealed effective conditions for achieving reproducible and high-intensity spectra. The proposed methodology provides a practical approach to enhance LIBS performance for the trace-level analysis of limited-volume biological samples, laying the groundwork for sensitive, non-destructive diagnostics and forensic applications. Furthermore, this work implements a hybrid spectroscopic platform designed for comprehensive elemental and molecular diagnosis of biological samples. This integrated architecture utilises a dual-laser, single-spectrograph configuration that enables coordinated excitation and collection of LIBS and Raman signals. This configuration simplifies the experimental workflow, reduces alignment and calibration, eases the analysis process and enhances the depth of information that can be extracted from biological samples, yielding a more holistic, comprehensive chemical composition of limited-volume bio samples.

Pig slurry represents a major environmental challenge due to its increasing production and its potential to cause severe water and soil pollution if not properly managed. In this context, high-rate anaerobic digestion (AD) has emerged as a promising strategy to treat such high-strength waste streams while enabling energy recovery. However, its performance under real-world conditions and associated microbial dynamics remain insufficiently explored. In this study, a two-stage AD system based on expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors was operated under long-term real conditions to evaluate process performance and microbial adaptation during pig slurry treatment. The system was progressively intensified by reducing the total hydraulic retention time (HRT) from 12 to 1.6 days across different operational stages, while maintaining stable performance at high organic loading rates (OLR). Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies of up to 75% were achieved, together with high volumetric biogas production rates of up to 1.7 m3 m-3 d-1, demonstrating the potential of this configuration for efficient waste valorization within a circular economy framework. Additionally, microbial analyses revealed clear differentiation between reactors, with the first stage favoring hydrolytic and fermentative bacteria, including Clostridium sensu stricto 1, while the second stage supported a more stable methanogenic community dominated by Methanosaeta. Overall, the results demonstrate that the two-stage EGSB configuration enables stable and efficient treatment of pig slurry under intensified conditions, providing mechanistic insights into microbial adaptation and a strong basis for the large-scale implementation of high-rate anaerobic technologies for livestock waste management.

Grade-control structures (GCSs) are widely used in river engineering to stabilize bed elevation, regulate sediment movement, and control channel degradation. However, conventional impermeable GCSs often generate plunging jets that intensify local scour downstream, threatening structural stability and altering channel morphology. This study aims to evaluate the morphodynamic performance of gabion grade-control structures and to quantify the effects of gabion porosity and tailwater depth on downstream scour mitigation. A series of clear-water laboratory experiments was conducted in a recirculating tilting flume, comparing a solid GCS with gabion models of three porosities (n = 0.38, 0.45, and 0.50) under unit discharges ranging from 0.023 to 0.043 m2/s and different tailwater depths. Temporal scour evolution and equilibrium bed morphology were measured using high-resolution bed profiling. The results showed that gabion configurations consistently reduced maximum scour depth and scour length relative to the solid structure, with reductions of up to about 38% and 44%, respectively, under the tested free-overfall conditions. Increasing porosity improved scour mitigation, although the incremental benefit became small beyond n ≈ 0.45. Greater tailwater depth further reduced scour for both structure types, and the mitigation effect was stronger when combined with gabion porosity, indicating that downstream submergence and structural permeability act together to control scour development. Gabion cases also reached equilibrium more rapidly than the solid configuration and promoted more localized deposition near the structure toe. Statistical analysis identified the densimetric Froude number as the dominant driver of scour growth, whereas tailwater depth and porosity acted as significant mitigating variables. Empirical relationships developed for relative scour depth and length showed high goodness-of-fit within the tested laboratory domain (R2 > 0.95). Overall, the findings indicate that gabionized GCSs can improve downstream scour performance compared with impermeable structures, while the proposed equations provide laboratory-based screening tools for assessing the combined influence of porosity and tailwater depth within the calibrated range.

Interest in the semantics of word formation has grown significantly in recent years, addressing research questions that require detailed semantic information and extensive data analysis. In this paper, we present the SONDE database, which was developed to investigate the semantics of nouns derived from verbs in French. The database relies on the manual analysis of 5272 deverbal nouns, annotated for their semantic type (taking into account the lexical ambiguity of both bases and derivatives), the lexical aspect of verbs and nouns, and the semantic roles assigned to their arguments. We first describe the construction of the database, including sample selection, the annotation scheme, and an evaluation of annotation reliability. We then analyze the collected data, focusing on (i) the similarity and polyfunctionality of deverbal processes, (ii) the preservation of argument structure and lexical aspect through nominalization, and (iii) the semantic organization of morphological families formed by verbs and their derived nouns. Results show that a network of semantic functions underlies the diversity of deverbal processes, partly shaped by semantically motivated relationships. It appears that the mechanisms of semantic extension that drive polyfunctionality also contribute to the emergence of similarities between processes. Another finding is that the aspectual and argumental properties of base verbs are not necessarily preserved in nominalizations, and that this non-preservation is conditioned by derivational patterns. Finally, the analysis of morphological families reveals distinct structural configurations depending on the semantic alignment of nouns across families. These configurations exhibit varying degrees of defectiveness and are largely determined by the semantic properties of the base verbs.

Using He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe atoms as a model system, it is demonstrated that graphene nanobubbles on flat substrates are multistable systems. A nanobubble can adopt multiple stable stationary states, each characterized by the number of layers l within the cluster of encapsulated atoms. The layers are circular, concentrically stacked, and form an l-stepped pyramid with a flat top. Encapsulation of this pyramid by the graphene sheet is achieved through local stretching of the membrane: the valence bonds elongate only directly above the confined atoms. Outside this coverage zone, the sheet remains undeformed and lies flush against the substrate. The maximum number of possible layers, lm, increases monotonically with the number of encapsulated atoms N, reaching lm = 6 for N = 4000. The graphene membrane, through van der Waals interaction with the substrate, compresses the internal atomic cluster, generating internal pressures on the order of Pin ∼ 1 GPa. Numerical simulations of thermal vibrations reveal that among all l-layer configurations, one ground state always exists. Upon heating, this state smoothly transitions into a layerless liquid configuration. All other stationary states transform into this ground state once a characteristic temperature Tl is reached. For N = 4000, the ground state corresponds to the four-layer packing (l = 4). The coexistence of multiple stable states with distinct layer numbers at low temperatures leads to the absence of a universal shape for the nanobubbles. In this scenario, the height-to-radius ratio, H/R, is not constant and can vary from 0 to 0.28, depending on the number of layers. The commonly reported universal aspect ratio H/R ∼ 0.2 holds only for the ground states of the system. External hydrostatic pressure P does not lead to a change in the multistability of the nanobubbles. An increase in pressure can lead to crystallization of the system of encapsulated atoms, which results in a change in the shape of the nanobubble (a decrease in the H/R ratio). In the absence of crystallization under pressure, uniform compression of the nanobubble occurs, in which the H/R ratio does not change.

Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) is a technique in which a single high radiation dose (10-20 Gy) is delivered directly to the tumor site during surgery. As this procedure is performed in the operating room, effective protection of the surrounding healthy tissues is of paramount importance. This protection is commonly achieved using shielding disks placed immediately adjacent to the tumor bed, where the material composition of these disks plays a crucial role in determining their shielding effectiveness. The present study aimed to identify the optimal material combination and thickness for double-layer protective disks in order to maximize healthy tissue protection. Initially, the LIAC accelerator head, along with its applicator and a water phantom, was modeled using the MCNPX Monte Carlo code. The accuracy of the simulation was validated by comparing the percentage depth dose (PDD) obtained from Monte Carlo simulations with experimental dosimetry data. Optimization was performed by evaluating the transmission factor (TF), backscatter factor (BSF), and absorbed dose. Several new disk configurations-comprising PMMA + lead, PTFE + bismuth, steel + titanium, steel + copper, aluminum + copper, and aluminum + titanium-each with thicknesses of 6 mm and 8 mm, were simulated and compared with a reference disk. Among all evaluated configurations, the PMMA + lead disk demonstrated the highest attenuation (65.8% at 8 mm thickness), along with the lowest BSF (7.1%) and TF (62.8%), making it the most effective option for protecting healthy tissues.

Repair options for maxillary and mandibular fractures in horses are dictated by the proximity of dentition, fracture configuration, and implant design. Jaw fractures can be repaired by minimising tension forces via intraoral splint constructs when dentition is present on either side of the fracture line. This repair option reduces iatrogenic damage to dentition while achieving reduction and stability until appliance removal. To first report a modified technique for jaw fracture repair in horses with cadaveric example images. Second, to report the clinical outcome of maxillary and mandibular fracture repair in clinical cases of horses that were treated with a modified wire-reinforced bis-acryl composite interdental splint with tubing (MWIST). Multi-institutional retrospective clinical case series. Medical records from three university hospitals and three private practices were searched for cases of equine mandibular or maxillary fractures treated with the MWIST technique from 2018 to 2025. Animals included in the study underwent oral examination, skull radiography or computed tomography, fracture repair with MWIST, and follow-up imaging at time of appliance removal. Eleven horses met the inclusion criteria. Nine cases involved fracture of the mandible and two involved fracture of the maxilla/premaxilla. Eight cases had fracture configurations that involved adjacent dentition. Appliances remained in place for an average of 8.9 weeks (median 8 weeks, range 6-20 weeks). Complications were generally minor and readily resolved, including wire loosening or breakage and bone sequestration. The main limitation to this study is the multi-institutional retrospective nature, which limits standardisation across diagnostic and surgical procedures, patient follow-up, and inclusion of a control group. The use of this modified repair technique in horses is feasible, cost effective, and biomechanically advantageous. The favourable outcome of all cases followed to appliance removal supports the application of this surgical technique on future equine jaw fracture cases.

In photon external beam radiotherapy, out-of-field doses resulting from photon scattering and leakage are unavoidable and may contribute to radiation-induced side effects.However, modern treatment planning systems are not commissioned to accurately estimate doses outside the treatment field. This underscores the need for dedicated experimental protocols for accurate measurements. Radiophotoluminescent glass dosimeters (RPLGDs) are well suited for this task due to their low detection threshold. Yet, because they are energy dependent, beam quality calibration is required. To experimentally measure effective energies of photons outside the treatment field and to define beam quality correction factors for the GD-302M and GD-352M RPLGDs to be used in out-of-field dosimetry. A solid phantom was assembled using water-equivalent plates. GD-302M and GD-352M RPLGDs were positioned at various distances from the beam central axis (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 cm), at different depths (1, 10, and 15 cm), and for multiple field sizes (5, 10, and 15 cm). The experiment was repeated using a PTW30010 ionization chamber. Different beam qualities were tested, including 6 and 18 MV photon beams from an Elekta VERSA HD and 6 and 20 MV photon beams from a Varian Clinac 2300 CD. The GD-302M and GD-352M signal ratio was used to deduce the out-of-field photon effective energies. Across all beam qualities and configurations tested, effective energies ranged from 180 keV to 1302 keV. Beam quality correction factors for GD-302M RPLGDs varied between 0.804 and 1.197, while for GD-352M they ranged from 0.508 to 1.509. In this work, we determined experimentally effective photon energies outside the treatment field. We developed a methodology to establish out-of-field distance-dependent beam quality correction factors for RPLGDs. The results demonstrate the need to take into account those correction factors to ensure accurate out-of-field dose measurements.

Hydraulic transients in drag-based in-pipe turbines during sudden operational changes can induce pressure pulsations, water hammer, cavitation, and column separation in pipeline components located both upstream and downstream of the turbine. Additionally, the torque imposed on turbine blades is a critical concern, as frequent operational changes can accelerate blade fatigue and potentially lead to structural failure. This study integrates the Method of Characteristics (MOC) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to model transient phenomena resulting from the abrupt stoppage of a hydrodynamic in-pipe turbine. The analysis evaluates how varying deceleration rates influence pressure surges, pressure pulsations, and torque amplification on blades across different blade counts. The results demonstrate that stoppage time significantly affects torque escalation and confirm that turbine blade count strongly influences the magnitude of pressure surges during transient events. Detailed scenario analyses further reveal that specific configurations exhibit greater susceptibility to extreme pressure fluctuations, thereby creating substantial operational and reliability challenges.

Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is widely used in medical physics for radiation transport modeling, beam commissioning, and dose calculation. However, the optimization of primary electron source parameters for clinical linear accelerators using MC simulations can require many repeated simulations, making the process time-consuming. This study aimed to develop a data-driven surrogate framework to guide the optimization of primary electron beam parameters in Geant4 for an Elekta Synergy linear accelerator operated in 10 MeV electron mode. The objective was to predict the gamma pass rate for the 2%/2 mm criterion and to identify the most influential beam parameters. A Geant4-based Monte Carlo model was used to simulate the 10 MeV electron beam. Simulated dose distributions were compared with experimental measurements in water under reference conditions. A feedforward neural network was trained to predict the gamma pass rate from four primary source parameters: mean energy, energy spread, spatial spread, and angular spread. A Gradient Boosting Regressor was also used to evaluate the relative importance of these parameters. The feedforward neural network showed high predictive performance, with an R² value of 0.9924 for the training dataset and 0.9857 for the testing dataset. The model enabled rapid screening of beam parameter configurations. The Gradient Boosting Regressor indicated that the mean energy was the dominant parameter influencing agreement between simulated and measured dose distributions. The proposed deep learning-guided framework can reduce trial-and-error in Monte Carlo-based electron beam model tuning while maintaining clinically relevant accuracy. This approach may support more efficient optimization of primary electron source parameters for clinical linac modeling.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) with wet tissue valves have several limitations that compromise their durability and lifespan, and it is technically challenging in patients with a tortuous descending aorta. We report an 81-year-old woman with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis, characterized by a functionally bicuspid aortic valve with extensive calcification, horizontal heart configuration. and tortuous descending aorta. The patient underwent successful transfemoral TAVR using a premounted dry valve system with cerebral embolic protection and a minimalist approach. This case confirms the feasibility of long sheath-assisted TAVR using a premounted dry valve system. Given the availability of premounted dry valves in China, the use of a premounted dry valve with potentially enhanced durability was chosen to avoid the risk of reintervention in this elderly patient. Successful TAVR using a premounted dry valve system in patients with complex anatomy requires meticulous preprocedural planning, advanced imaging analysis, and appropriate device selection.

Moiré superlattices in twisted bilayers enable strong reconstruction of electronic band structures, giving rise to correlated phases with high tunability. Extending this concept to van der Waals magnets, we show that twisting induces spatially varying interlayer exchange interactions that can stabilize complex magnetic responses. Here, we demonstrate robust magnetic hysteresis in bilayer CrSBr upon a twist of  ~ 3°, observed as a hysteretic evolution of exciton energies that directly track the underlying magnetic configuration in field-dependent photoluminescence measurements. An analytic two-sublattice model captures this behaviour, attributing it to a twist-induced reduction of interlayer exchange that stabilizes both parallel and antiparallel spin states over a broad field range. Spatially resolved measurements reveal local variations in hysteresis loops, consistent with position-dependent modulation of magnetic parameters. In certain regions, coherent averaging over the moiré unit cell yields an effective monodomain-like response. Our results establish twist engineering as a route to programmable magnetism in two-dimensional antiferromagnets.

Protein folding stability is a key determinant for understanding protein dynamics, including molecular function, pathogenicity, and protein engineering. Yet, accurate prediction of protein stability remains challenging due to high variability in available data, particularly when only sequence information is available and structural knowledge is limited or unavailable. In this work, we introduce LoMuS, a multi-representation-based deep learning model that predicts dataset-provided protein stability scores directly from the primary sequence. In the core of the model architecture, a fusion network integrates explicit physicochemical descriptors with low-rank adapted protein language model derived embeddings from the sequence that consistently gains across standard experimental stability benchmarks. We rigorously evaluate LoMuS across multiple settings, such as absolute folding stability scoring, mutation landscape stability scoring, held-out protein domains, out-of-distribution label regimes, and per-protein evaluation. LoMuS consistently outperforms sequence-only baselines, achieving an absolute performance gain of at least 10% in Spearman's rank correlation across several benchmarks. Per-protein evaluations further demonstrate robust performance gains. Ablation analyses confirm that complementary signals from physicochemical descriptors and sequence embeddings are critical to the effectiveness of the proposed multi-representation approach. We believe LoMuS advances protein engineering research by improving the prediction and ranking of protein stability scores. All codes including data preparation scripts, training and validation recipes, and experimental configurations for LoMuS are available at: https://github.com/kabir-ai2bio-lab/LoMuS. Supplementary data are available at Journal Name online.

Deep bite, defined as excessive vertical overlap of the lower incisors, remains a challenging malocclusion in adults. The existing literature largely focuses on growing patients, with limited high-quality evidence on treatment outcomes in skeletally mature individuals. To systematically evaluate randomised controlled trials (RCTs) assessing anterior intrusion mechanics for deep-bite correction in adults (≥ 18 years), focusing on measurable dentoalveolar outcomes, specifically the magnitude of overbite reduction, the extent of incisor intrusion, and treatment duration. This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Comprehensive searches of six electronic databases and grey literature sources were conducted up to 10 March 2025, with no language restrictions. Only RCTs involving adults were included. Two reviewers independently conducted study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment using the Cochrane RoB 2.0 tool. Certainty of evidence for each outcome was assessed using the GRADE framework. Due to substantial clinical and methodological heterogeneity, a quantitative synthesis was not undertaken, and findings were narratively synthesised. Six randomised controlled trials (RCTs) met the inclusion criteria. The included studies were few in number, generally small in sample size, and clinically heterogeneous with respect to treatment indication, imaging modality, reference planes, and follow-up duration. Across individual studies, miniscrew-assisted intrusion mechanics were associated with slightly greater overbite reduction and greater incisor intrusion than conventional approaches; however, the observed differences were modest and inconsistent across studies. Dual miniscrew configurations generally resulted in greater incisor intrusion (up to 3.81 ± 0.55 mm) than single miniscrew systems (up to 2.62 ± 0.40 mm). Treatment duration ranged from approximately 4.8 to 5.9 months, with minimal differences between intervention groups. None of the included trials evaluated post-treatment stability, patient-reported outcomes, anchorage loss, or temporomandibular joint outcomes. The overall certainty of the evidence varied from low to very low across the assessed outcomes, primarily due to high risk of bias and imprecision. Current adult RCT evidence suggests that miniscrew-supported approaches may provide slight benefits in anterior intrusion for deep bite correction. However, the magnitude and consistency of these benefits are limited. Changes in overbite reduction are typically small, and any decrease in treatment time is minimal and probably not clinically significant. Secondary outcomes, such as root resorption and periodontal health, are reported inconsistently but tend to be mild. No trials have assessed long-term stability or patient-reported outcomes. The reliability of these findings is further reduced by the limited number of studies, brief follow-up periods, varied outcome measures, and significant clinical differences. Consequently, the current evidence does not allow for definitive clinical recommendations. Registration: Registration number: PROSPERO CRD420250654373.