Abstraction Beats Realism: Physiological Visualizations Enhance Arousal Synchrony in VR Concert Recreations
Xiaru Meng, Yulan Ju, Yan He
et al.
Live cultural experiences like concerts generate shared physiological arousal among audience members, a collective resonance that contributes to their emotional power. Recreating such experiences in virtual reality therefore requires not just audiovisual fidelity, but reproduction of this physiological dimension. Yet current VR evaluation methods rely on post-hoc self-reports that interrupt immersion and cannot capture moment-to-moment arousal dynamics. We propose cross-temporal physiological synchrony as an unobtrusive methodology for evaluating VR cultural recreations: measuring how closely a VR participant's arousal patterns align with those of the original live audience. In a two-phase study, we recorded electrodermal activity from 40 live concert attendees, then created three VR recreations with varying abstraction levels (realistic 360-degree video, mixed video-plus-visualization, and fully abstract physiological representations) and measured synchrony with 22 laboratory participants using Dynamic Time Warping. Contrary to assumptions favoring realism, abstract visualizations achieved the strongest synchrony with live audiences. During musical climaxes, the abstract condition maintained correlation while realistic video showed none. These findings suggest that abstract physiological representations may be more effective than realistic footage for evoking authentic collective engagement in VR cultural recreations.
Long-term farmland abandonments remarkably increased the phytolith carbon sequestration in soil
Linjiao Wang, Xiang Gao, Maoyin Sheng
Abstract Background Phytolith-occluded organic carbon (PhytOC) is an important mechanism of long-term stable carbon sinks in terrestrial ecosystems. Farmland abandonment is a widespread land use change in the process of urbanization and industrialization and is still ongoing. Farmland abandonment can significantly affect soil carbon cycling. To elucidate the effects of farmland abandonment on soil PhytOC accumulation, in the present study, corn fields abandoned for 0 to 30 years ago in the mountainous areas of southern China were selected as the research objects. The change trends, influencing factors, and driving mechanisms of soil PhytOC accumulation during the abandonment process were studied. Results The following results were obtained: (1) The range of PhytOC content and storage of the 0–15 cm soil profile for both active and abandoned corn fields was 0.39–1.49 g·kg− 1 and 0.27–0.83 t·hm− 2, respectively. (2) There was a notable enhancement in soil PhytOC accumulation as the duration of abandonment lengthened. In particular, after 30 years of abandonment, soil PhytOC accumulation rose significantly. (3) Abandonment noticeably altered the contents and ratios of soil nutrients of C, N, P and Si, along with key soil enzyme activities such as urease, sucrase, alkaline phosphatase, and catalase. (4) In the context of corn field abandonment, increase in soil PhytOC was primarily attributed to modifications in PhytOC inputs due to variations in surface vegetation cover. The impact of soil environment alterations resulting from abandonment on PhytOC decomposition was less pronounced. Conclusions These findings are instrumental for accurately assessing the carbon sequestration potential of farmland abandonment and for developing regional carbon management strategies based on such practices.
Assessing economic impacts of future GLOFs in Nepal's Everest region under different SSP scenarios using three-dimensional simulations
W. Furian, T. Sauter
<p>This study investigates simulated glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) at five glacial lakes in the Everest region of Nepal using the three-dimensional model OpenFOAM. It presents the evolution of GLOF characteristics in the 21st century considering different moraine breach scenarios and two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios. The results demonstrate that in low-magnitude scenarios, the five lakes generate GLOFs that inundate between 0.35 and 2.23 km<span class="inline-formula"><sup>2</sup></span> of agricultural land with an average water depth of 0.9 to 3.58 m. These GLOFs reach distances of 59 to 84 km, affect 30 to 88 km of roads or trails, and inundate 183 to 1699 buildings with 1.2 to 4.9 m of water. In higher scenarios, GLOFs can extend over 100 km and also affect larger settlements in the foothills. Between 80 and 100 km of roads, 735 to 1989 houses and 0.85 to 3.52 km<span class="inline-formula"><sup>2</sup></span> of agricultural land could be inundated, with average water depths of up to 10 m. The high precision of the 3D flood modeling, with detailed simulations of turbulence and viscosity, provides valuable insights into 21st-century GLOF evolution, supporting more accurate risk assessments and effective adaptation strategies.</p>
Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering, Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
Mechanistic Interpretability with SAEs: Probing Religion, Violence, and Geography in Large Language Models
Katharina Simbeck, Mariam Mahran
Despite growing research on bias in large language models (LLMs), most work has focused on gender and race, with little attention to religious identity. This paper explores how religion is internally represented in LLMs and how it intersects with concepts of violence and geography. Using mechanistic interpretability and Sparse Autoencoders (SAEs) via the Neuronpedia API, we analyze latent feature activations across five models. We measure overlap between religion- and violence-related prompts and probe semantic patterns in activation contexts. While all five religions show comparable internal cohesion, Islam is more frequently linked to features associated with violent language. In contrast, geographic associations largely reflect real-world religious demographics, revealing how models embed both factual distributions and cultural stereotypes. These findings highlight the value of structural analysis in auditing not just outputs but also internal representations that shape model behavior.
Economy and Geography Shape the Collective Attention of Cities
Ke-ke Shang, Jiangli Zhu, Junfan Yi
et al.
Complex networks are commonly used to explore human behavior. However, previous studies largely overlooked the geographical and economic factors embedded in collective attention. To address this, we construct attention networks from time-series data for the United States and China, each a key economic power in the West and the East, respectively. We reveal a strong macroscale correlation between urban attention and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). At the mesoscale, community detection of attention networks shows that high-GDP cities consistently act as core nodes within their communities and occupy strategic geographic positions. At the microscale, structural hole theory identifies these cities as key connectors between communities, with influence proportional to economic output. Overlapping community detection further reveals tightly connected urban clusters, prompting us to introduce geographic and topic-based metrics, which show that closely linked cities are spatially proximate and topically coherent. Of course, not all patterns were consistent across regions. A notable distinction emerged in the relationship between population size and urban attention, which was evident in the United States but absent in China. Building on these insights, we integrate key variables reflecting GDP, geography, and scenic resources into regression model to cross-verify the influence of economic and geographic factors on collective user attention, and unexpectedly discover that a composite index of population, access, and scenery fails to account for cross-city variations in attention. Our study bridges the gap between economic prosperity and geographic centrality in shaping urban attention landscapes.
en
physics.soc-ph, physics.geo-ph
A Geography-Inspired and Self-Adaptive Clustering Algorithm: A Study in Channel Measurement
Yiqin Wang, Chong Han
The phenomenon that multi-path components (MPCs) arrive in clusters has been verified by channel measurements, and is widely adopted by cluster-based channel models. As a crucial intermediate processing step, MPC clustering bridges raw data in channel measurement and cluster characteristics for channel modeling. In this paper, a physical-interpretable and self-adaptive MPC clustering algorithm is proposed, which can locate both single-point and wide-spread scatterers without prior knowledge. Inspired by the concept in geography, a novel metaphor that interprets features of MPC attributes in the power-delay-angle profile (PDAP) as topographic concepts is developed. In light of the interpretation, the proposed algorithm disassembles the PDAP by constructing contour lines and identifying characteristic points that indicate the skeleton of MPC clusters, which are fitted by analytical models that associate MPCs with physical scatterer locations. Besides, a new clustering performance index, the power gradient consistency index, is proposed. Calculated as the weighted Spearman correlation coefficient between the power and the distance to the center, the index captures the intrinsic property of MPC clusters that the dominant high-power path is surrounded by lower-power paths. The performance of the proposed algorithm is analyzed and compared with the counterparts of conventional clustering algorithms based on the channel measurement conducted in an outdoor scenario. The proposed algorithm performs better in average Silhouette index and weighted Spearman correlation coefficient, and the average root mean square error (RMSE) of the estimated scatterer location is 0.1 m.
Beyond Algorethics: Addressing the Ethical and Anthropological Challenges of AI Recommender Systems
Octavian M. Machidon
This paper examines the ethical and anthropological challenges posed by AI-driven recommender systems (RSs), which increasingly shape digital environments and social interactions. By curating personalized content, RSs do not merely reflect user preferences but actively construct experiences across social media, entertainment platforms, and e-commerce. Their influence raises concerns over privacy, autonomy, and mental well-being, while existing approaches such as "algorethics" - the effort to embed ethical principles into algorithmic design - remain insufficient. RSs inherently reduce human complexity to quantifiable profiles, exploit user vulnerabilities, and prioritize engagement over well-being. The paper advances a three-dimensional framework for human-centered RSs, integrating policies and regulation, interdisciplinary research, and education. These strategies are mutually reinforcing: research provides evidence for policy, policy enables safeguards and standards, and education equips users to engage critically. By connecting ethical reflection with governance and digital literacy, the paper argues that RSs can be reoriented to enhance autonomy and dignity rather than undermine them.
Experimental study on the factors influencing performance and emissions of hydrogen internal combustion engines
Wu Taoyang, Liu Jixu, Wu Chunling
et al.
Hydrogen internal combustion engines (H2-ICEs) have advantages such as clean combustion and zero carbon emissions, and have become one of the important technical routes for decarbonization in the internal combustion engine industry. In this paper, several key factors affecting the performance and emissions of hydrogen internal combustion engines, such as ignition timing, excess air coefficient, and hydrogen injection timing, were systematically studied on a spark ignition multi-point injection (MPI) hydrogen internal combustion engine bench. The experimental results indicate that the ignition timing controls the combustion phase of hydrogen. Moderate early ignition can improve the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) while having little impact on the NOX emissions. Excess air coefficient(λ) can significantly affect the performance and emissions of H2-ICE. Along with the increase of the λ, the NOX emissions first increases and then continues to decline. When the λ reaching 2.1 or above, near zero emissions of NOX can be achieved. The advance of hydrogen injection timing will slightly increase the peak of cylinder pressure and instantaneous heat release rate. However, overall, the impact of hydrogen injection timing on BTE and NOX emissions is not significant on MPI H2-ICE.
The Geography of Information Diffusion in Online Discourse on Europe and Migration
Elisa Leonardelli, Sara Tonelli
The online diffusion of information related to Europe and migration has been little investigated from an external point of view. However, this is a very relevant topic, especially if users have had no direct contact with Europe and its perception depends solely on information retrieved online. In this work we analyse the information circulating online about Europe and migration after retrieving a large amount of data from social media (Twitter), to gain new insights into topics, magnitude, and dynamics of their diffusion. We combine retweets and hashtags network analysis with geolocation of users, linking thus data to geography and allowing analysis from an "outside Europe" perspective, with a special focus on Africa. We also introduce a novel approach based on cross-lingual quotes, i.e. when content in a language is commented and retweeted in another language, assuming these interactions are a proxy for connections between very distant communities. Results show how the majority of online discussions occurs at a national level, especially when discussing migration. Language (English) is pivotal for information to become transnational and reach far. Transnational information flow is strongly unbalanced, with content mainly produced in Europe and amplified outside. Conversely Europe-based accounts tend to be self-referential when they discuss migration-related topics. Football is the most exported topic from Europe worldwide. Moreover, important nodes in the communities discussing migration-related topics include accounts of official institutions and international agencies, together with journalists, news, commentators and activists.
"We are at the mercy of others' opinion": Supporting Blind People in Recreational Window Shopping with AI-infused Technology
Rie Kamikubo, Hernisa Kacorri, Chieko Asakawa
Engaging in recreational activities in public spaces poses challenges for blind people, often involving dependency on sighted help. Window shopping is a key recreational activity that remains inaccessible. In this paper, we investigate the information needs, challenges, and current approaches blind people have to recreational window shopping to inform the design of existing wayfinding and navigation technology for supporting blind shoppers in exploration and serendipitous discovery. We conduct a formative study with a total of 18 blind participants that include both focus groups (N=8) and interviews for requirements analysis (N=10). We find that there is a desire for push notifications of promotional information and pull notifications about shops of interest such as the targeted audience of a brand. Information about obstacles and points-of-interest required customization depending on one's mobility aid as well as presence of a crowd, children, and wheelchair users. We translate these findings into specific information modalities and rendering in the context of two existing AI-infused assistive applications: NavCog (a turn-by-turn navigation app) and Cabot (a navigation robot).
Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in South Asians: An Epidemiological and Anthropological Study in an Urban Populace of Eastern India
Karishma Yasmin
Background: This study examines cardiometabolic (CM) risk factors in an urban South Asian population, integrating medical and Anthropological perspectives to explore the effects of socio-economic, lifestyle, gender-specific factors, and cultural norms on health outcomes. Results: Analysis indicates a high prevalence of MetS and Pre-MetS, particularly among females, with significant predictors including BMI, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and waist circumference, alongside socio-genetic and lifestyle factors. Employing Elastic Net logistic regression, the researcher rigorously validated models to evaluate their predictive performance while also describing the associations and prevalence of known risk factors. The use of this method underlines the importance of combining traditional risk factors with socio-genetic, biological, economic and lifestyle variables, while Anthropological insights reveal the impact of urbanization and socio-cultural norms on health behaviors. Conclusion: The study advocates for a multidisciplinary approach in public health strategies, emphasizing the complex interplay between genetic, environmental, biological and socio-cultural influences on cardiometabolic health. This dual approach aligns with descriptive and predictive model goals. The future research should further integrate biomedical sciences with socio-cultural studies to develop culturally sensitive interventions, aiming to address the growing challenge of CM diseases in urban South Asian contexts.
Trail Trap: a variant of Partizan Edge Geography
Calum Buchanan, MacKenzie Carr, Alexander Clifton
et al.
We study a two-player game played on undirected graphs called {\sc Trail Trap}, which is a variant of a game known as {\sc Partizan Edge Geography}. One player starts by choosing any edge and moving a token from one endpoint to the other; the other player then chooses a different edge and does the same. Alternating turns, each player moves their token along an unused edge from its current vertex to an adjacent vertex, until one player cannot move and loses. We present an algorithm to determine which player has a winning strategy when the graph is a tree and partially characterize the trees on which a given player wins. Additionally, we show that it is NP-hard to determine if Player~2 has a winning strategy on {\sc Trail Trap} from the starting position, even for connected bipartite planar graphs with maximum degree $4$. We determine which player has a winning strategy for certain subclasses of complete bipartite graphs and grid graphs, and we propose several open problems for further study.
From Languages to Geographies: Towards Evaluating Cultural Bias in Hate Speech Datasets
Manuel Tonneau, Diyi Liu, Samuel Fraiberger
et al.
Perceptions of hate can vary greatly across cultural contexts. Hate speech (HS) datasets, however, have traditionally been developed by language. This hides potential cultural biases, as one language may be spoken in different countries home to different cultures. In this work, we evaluate cultural bias in HS datasets by leveraging two interrelated cultural proxies: language and geography. We conduct a systematic survey of HS datasets in eight languages and confirm past findings on their English-language bias, but also show that this bias has been steadily decreasing in the past few years. For three geographically-widespread languages -- English, Arabic and Spanish -- we then leverage geographical metadata from tweets to approximate geo-cultural contexts by pairing language and country information. We find that HS datasets for these languages exhibit a strong geo-cultural bias, largely overrepresenting a handful of countries (e.g., US and UK for English) relative to their prominence in both the broader social media population and the general population speaking these languages. Based on these findings, we formulate recommendations for the creation of future HS datasets.
Hegemonía hotelera. El rol del Estado en la reactivación de la tasa de beneficio hotelera tras la crisis de 2008
Macià Blázquez Salom, Ivan Murray Mas, Antonio Alberto Artigues
Se analiza el ejercicio de la hegemonía empresarial hotelera para reactivar su tasa de beneficios tras la crisis de 2008. El Estado –la administración autonómica- apoyó normativamente obras y reformas hoteleras antes prohibidas, abandonando el “contencionismo” y dispensándolas del cumplimiento de ciertos parámetros normativos. Este respaldo de la regulación pública burla la preservación de los principios de igualdad o de prohibición de la arbitrariedad mediante el alegato a la superación de la crisis, desestacionalizar y a la mejora de la sostenibilidad, la accesibilidad y la seguridad. La metodología de trabajo ha consistido en el análisis de la flexibilización normativa en las Islas Baleares y estadístico y cartográfico de los datos disponibles sobre las obras de reforma y ampliación de los hoteles de Mallorca (2009-2021). Los resultados demuestran que el capital fijo inmobiliario de la industria turística de Mallorca se ha renovado y ampliado, con un aumento de 19.434 plazas entre 2010 y 2021 (superior al registrado entre 1999 y 2010, de 16.117 plazas), y el incremento de categorías e inversión en obras de nueva planta y reformas. Dichos proyectos de reforma y ampliación se concentraron en los resorts de sol y playa y la ciudad histórica de Palma. El relanzamiento del ciclo turístico fue acompañado de la rentabilidad en términos de RevPar y de revalorización del capital hotelero. Es decir, se refleja un claro vínculo entre el circuito primario y el secundario.
Environmental toxicology of marine microplastic pollution
Wen-Xiong Wang
Over the past decade, there have been increasing recognition and concern of the toxicological impacts of microplastics (MPs) in the environment, which have been widely found in various marine environments from estuary to deep oceans. Numerous toxicological studies have been conducted on the impacts of MPs on various marine organisms, especially phytoplankton, zooplankton, bivalves, and fish of different trophic levels. These studies mainly focused on the measurements of MPs bioaccumulation and their resulting biological impacts at molecular, metabolic, biochemical, physiological, and organismic levels. This review examines the various studies conducted over the recent years on the toxicology of MPs in different marine organisms, particularly on the bioaccumulation and toxicity of MPs. The impacts of MPs on marine organisms are diverse, and the complexity of organism physiology as well as MPs physical and chemical properties need to be considered. Future studies should consider the environmental relevance of toxicological research and the development of quantitative tools to model the transport, bioaccumulation, and toxicity of MPs. These are important for the real environmental risk assessments of MPs in the marine environments.
Environmental sciences, Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering
Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Mixed Reality Methodologies for Digital Survey, 3D Modelling and Historical Recreation of Religious Heritage Monuments
Aristeidis Zachos, Christos-Nikolaos Anagnostopoulos
Preserving and safeguarding the Cultural Heritage (CH) of our world from unforeseen hazards should be viewed as a collective responsibility for humanity. Consequently, there is a growing imperative for targeted measures aimed at conserving, rejuvenating, and safeguarding historical assets that carry cultural significance. In recent times, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Photogrammetry, and applications in Mixed Reality (MR) have assumed a pivotal role in the mapping, recording, preservation, and promotion of Cultural Heritage. This ar-ticle endeavors to present a comprehensive approach spanning from 3D surveying to the 3D representation and promotion of Religious Cultural Heritage, offering an overview of the applied methodologies. Through the integration of TLS and UAV photogrammetry techniques, a comprehensive digital record of Panagia Ekatontapyliani, the adjoining Church of Agios Nikolaos, and the Baptistery, along with their wall paintings (hagiographies) and natural surroundings, has been obtained. This record serves as the foundation for historical documentation and recreation using the HBIM concept, paving the way for the development of diverse Mixed Reality applications. These applications aim to enhance the visibility, accessibility, and visitability of the Monument.
Physics-informed neural networks in the recreation of hydrodynamic simulations from dark matter
Zhenyu Dai, Ben Moews, Ricardo Vilalta
et al.
Physics-informed neural networks have emerged as a coherent framework for building predictive models that combine statistical patterns with domain knowledge. The underlying notion is to enrich the optimization loss function with known relationships to constrain the space of possible solutions. Hydrodynamic simulations are a core constituent of modern cosmology, while the required computations are both expensive and time-consuming. At the same time, the comparatively fast simulation of dark matter requires fewer resources, which has led to the emergence of machine learning algorithms for baryon inpainting as an active area of research; here, recreating the scatter found in hydrodynamic simulations is an ongoing challenge. This paper presents the first application of physics-informed neural networks to baryon inpainting by combining advances in neural network architectures with physical constraints, injecting theory on baryon conversion efficiency into the model loss function. We also introduce a punitive prediction comparison based on the Kullback-Leibler divergence, which enforces scatter reproduction. By simultaneously extracting the complete set of baryonic properties for the Simba suite of cosmological simulations, our results demonstrate improved accuracy of baryonic predictions based on dark matter halo properties, successful recovery of the fundamental metallicity relation, and retrieve scatter that traces the target simulation's distribution.
en
astro-ph.CO, astro-ph.GA
Energy Internet Evaluation Index System under the Zero Carbon Goal
Rui LI
At present, the zero-carbon goal has become the common choice of all the world. Driven by the zero-carbon goal, energy system in China will develop to be cleaner and cleaner. In this situation, Energy Internet has become the future development trend of the energy system. Based on the detailed analysis on the development history, the basic connotation and the key features of Energy Internet, an Energy Internet evaluation index system is introduced. This proposed indicator system evaluates Energy Internet from five dimensions, and all the indexes include the qualitative and the quantitative indicators, the process indicators and the result indicators, the technical indicators and the economic indicators. On this basis, an evaluation method is proposed based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process and the Delphi method. The proposed evaluation index system and the evaluation method can provide a good objective evaluation of the development of Energy Internet.
Inclusiveness, Equity, Consistency, and Flexibility as Guiding Criteria for Enabling Transdisciplinary Collaboration: Lessons From a European Project on Nature-Based Solutions and Urban Innovation
Claudia Basta, Eva Kunseler, Christine Wamsler
et al.
The structural research programmes of the European Union dedicated to advance the sustainability sciences are increasingly permeated by the notion of transdisciplinarity (TD). A growing body of literature residing at the intersection of research methodology and sustainability studies can guide researchers to adopt appropriate research approaches in their projects. However, how to implement the transdisciplinary approach in multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder projects that develop in different countries for several years is still relatively undocumented. This study seeks to fill this gap by sharing the experience of a group of researchers and stakeholders involved in the Horizon 2020 research and innovation project Nature-Based Urban Innovation (NATURVATION). The article discusses the monitoring and evaluation strategy that employed four criteria of transdisciplinary research quality as “reflexive devices” to enable a systematic reporting on the project's most important collaborative activities. By examining how the four criteria captured transdisciplinary quality, new insights were produced for improving this monitoring and evaluation strategy for future transdisciplinary research, allowing a number of concrete recommendations to be formulated.
Infrastruktura sportowa dla potrzeb piłki nożnej w Częstochowie w okresie międzywojennym
Krzysztof Kościański
W pracy przedstawiono infrastrukturę sportową dla potrzeb piłki nożnej w Częstochowie w latach międzywojennych. Artykuł powstał głównie na podstawie źródeł archiwalnych i prasowych. Przeprowadzone badania wykazały, że w Częstochowie w okresie międzywojennym powstało kilka obiektów sportowych przystosowanych do gry w piłkę nożną. Zarówno ich ilość, jak i jakość
w porównaniu do skali ogólnopolskiej były niewystarczające. Głównymi inwestorami w infrastrukturę sportową były samorządy miejskie, władze państwowe oraz wojsko. Prace społeczne również były ważnym wkładem w budowę obiektów sportowych. Bazę sportową starały się tworzyć również kluby i stowarzyszenia sportowe. W Częstochowie pierwsze miejskie boisko do piłki nożnej zostało udostępnione w 1923 r. w dzielnicy Zawodzie. Reprezentacyjny obiekt sportowy o znaczeniu regionalnym został oddany do użytku na początku lat trzydziestych XX w. Stadion „Ogniska Obrony Niepodległości” im. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego uchodził za jeden z czołowych w województwie kieleckim. Nie mógł on jednak równać się pod względem infrastruktury z najlepszymi obiektami w Polsce. Stadionem o charakterze ogólnopolskim, a także międzynarodowym, mógł być obiekt, który miał powstać przy ul. Olsztyńskiej. Mimo rozpoczętych robót inwestycja nie została dokończona z powodu braku pieniędzy, a także wybuchu II wojny światowej. W latach 1918–1939 w Częstochowie powstało kilka boisk do piłki nożnej. W większości ich gospodarzami były miejscowe kluby sportowe.