Title: Spatial Clustering of Uncontrolled Hypertension in Mid-Sized Cities Using Pharmacy Refill Records and Deprivation Indices

Abstract:Clinical registries underrepresent patients who obtain antihypertensives primarily through retail pharmacies. Anonymized refill geocodes from 41 outlets are linked to census deprivation layers and analyzed with Kulldorff spatial scan statistics. Persistent hotspots align with transit deserts and evening-shift employment zones, suggesting targeted community blood-pressure kiosks and extended pharmacy counseling hours rather than blanket media campaigns.




Title: Fermentation of Underutilized Legume Flour for Protein Enrichment of Complementary Foods Without Bitter Off-Flavors

Abstract:Cowpea and bambara groundnut flours improve amino acid profiles of gruels but often taste bitter to infants. Controlled lactic fermentation with selected starter cultures reduces tannin activity and beany notes while increasing protein digestibility corrected amino acid score. Sensory trials with caregivers and acceptability tests in 120 children aged 6–23 months show parity with commercial fortified cereals at half the ingredient cost.




Title: Lightweight Post-Quantum Key Exchange for Resource-Constrained Industrial IoT Gateways on Legacy Field Buses

Abstract:Manufacturing plants increasingly bridge Modbus RTU devices to cloud analytics through edge gateways with limited RAM and no hardware crypto accelerators. We implement a lattice-based key encapsulation profile tuned for 32-bit microcontrollers and measure handshake latency on three commercial gateways. The protocol completes within existing scan-cycle gaps on production lines while resisting harvest-now-decrypt-later threats posed by long-lived sensor credentials.




Title: Acoustic Monitoring of River Otter Activity as an Indicator of Riparian Habitat Recovery After Mine Tailings Remediation

Abstract:Traditional otter surveys are labor-intensive in steep catchments recovering from legacy mining. Passive acoustic loggers deployed at 24 remediated and reference sites capture spraint-associated vocalizations and foraging splashes. Random forest classifiers trained on annotated clips discriminate activity levels that correlate with macroinvertebrate recovery indices, offering a scalable complement to electrofishing and sign surveys for post-remediation monitoring.




Title: Recycled Glass Powder as Partial Cement Replacement in Seawater-Mixed Concrete for Coastal Walkway Slabs

Abstract:Coastal municipalities face chloride ingress while landfills accumulate cullet with limited reuse pathways. Mortar and slab specimens using 20% ground glass by binder mass in seawater-mixed formulations are tested for strength, shrinkage, and chloride penetration over 180 days. Optimal fineness yields comparable 28-day compressive strength to control mixes while lowering embodied carbon, suggesting viability for non-structural promenade applications.




Title: Cash Transfer Timing and Household Coping Strategies During Food Price Shocks: Evidence from Panel Survey Data

Abstract:Anticipatory social protection is debated without clear evidence on whether advance transfers outperform reactive payments when staple prices spike. Using four waves of urban household panels linked to market price indices, we estimate dynamic treatment effects of a municipal top-up program. Households receiving transfers two weeks before peak inflation reduce asset sales and school absenteeism relative to those paid after prices normalize, supporting indexed pre-positioning.




Title: Hybrid Solar-Thermal Storage for Off-Grid Irrigation Pumps: Field Performance Across Semi-Arid Growing Seasons

Abstract:Photovoltaic pumps stall during cloudy harvest weeks when crops need water most. We integrate a compact phase-change thermal store that drives a scroll pump after sunset using daytime collector surplus. Two-year measurements on three cooperative farms show 28% higher seasonal water delivery compared with battery-only systems of equal capital cost, with lower maintenance from reduced deep-cycling of lithium packs.




Title: Transformer-Based Early Detection of Diabetic Retinopathy from Smartphone-Captured Fundus Images in Primary Care Clinics

Abstract:Screening backlogs leave many diabetic patients without timely ophthalmology referral. We fine-tune a vision transformer on 18,000 fundus photographs collected through a low-cost smartphone adapter deployed in six district clinics. The model achieves sensitivity above 0.91 for referable macular edema while maintaining specificity suitable for triage, reducing unnecessary specialist visits by roughly one third in a six-month operational pilot.




Title: A Zebrafish Model of Carfilzomib-Induced Neurobehavioral Impairment for Neuroprotective Drug Screening

Abstract:Carfilzomib is a second-generation proteasome inhibitor widely used in the treatment of multiple myeloma, while its neurological adverse effects remain clinically relevant and may affect treatment tolerance and patient quality of life. However, there is still a lack of efficient in vivo platforms for integrated evaluation of carfilzomib-associated functional neural impairment and preliminary screening of potential protective compounds. In this study, we established a zebrafish larval model to characterize carfilzomib-induced neurobehavioral impairment and to assess its applicability for compound screening. Zebrafish larvae were exposed to graded concentrations of carfilzomib until 144 hpf. Locomotor behavior was quantified using an automated tracking system, and molecular alterations were evaluated by assessing neuronal function-related gene expression (syn2α, gap43, dat, bdnf, and gdnf) together with ROS levels. Carfilzomib exposure induced a concentration-dependent reduction in locomotor activity, accompanied by coordinated downregulation of neuronal function-related genes and increased ROS accumulation, indicating coupled behavioral and molecular dysregulation. To evaluate the screening potential of this model, acetyl-L-carnitine and α-lipoic acid were tested as representative candidate neuroprotective compounds. Both compounds significantly alleviated locomotor impairment, partially restored neuronal gene expression, and reduced oxidative stress. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that carfilzomib induces a reproducible neurobehavioral impairment phenotype in zebrafish larvae characterized by synchronized locomotor deficits, neuronal function-related gene dysregulation, and oxidative stress. This integrated model provides a validated and efficient in vivo platform for functional assessment of chemotherapy-associated neural impairment and for preliminary screening of candidate neuroprotective compounds.




Title: Citizen Science Observations of Nocturnal Pollinators Visiting Urban Orchard Canopies Under LED Street Lighting

Abstract:Moth and beetle communities sustain fruit set in some temperate cultivars yet are rarely monitored compared with diurnal bees. Volunteers using standardized UV-light traps and smartphone guides document visitation along a gradient of warm-white LED retrofits. Richness declines near high-intensity corridors, but amber-filtered fixtures on side streets retain assemblages similar to pre-retrofit reference blocks.