Artiles
Open Access
Article
30 July 2026Parent-Offspring Conflict and Age at Weaning in British Cohort
Evolutionary theory has been applied to help understand and predict parenting decisions. Parent-offspring conflict theory posits that conflicts between mothers and infants are inevitable because they share only half of their genes. A prediction drawn from this body of theory is that infants will typically benefit from later weaning than the timing that most benefits the mother, who has other arenas in which she must allocate her energy to ensure her family has enough resources, that her other children are cared for, and that she has energy to allocate to future pregnancies. This research tested whether the timing of weaning from breastmilk, measured as the maternally reported age at which their infant last breastfed, is consistent with expectations from parent-offspring conflict theory in the UK Millennium Cohort. Cox proportional hazards models predicting age last breastfed for the entire sample, including those never breastfed (adjusted model N = 15,825), and models for the subsample who ever breastfed were carried out (adjusted model N = 9678). Many of the results were consistent with predictions, including for variables that would not logically link to early weaning without thinking from an evolutionary perspective, such as preeclampsia (HR for weaning ever-breastfed infants = 1.08; 95% CI 1.00–1.17), and birthweight (HR for each 1 kg increment = 0.90; 95% CI 0.88–0.93). Older mothers weaned their infants later (HR for each year of maternal age = 0.94; 95% CI 0.92–0.97). The findings are discussed from evolutionary and public health perspectives as an example of the utility of evolutionary thinking for understanding health-related behaviours.
Open Access
Article
30 July 2026Water–Energy–Food Nexus and Circular Economy Analysis of Melon (Cucumis melo L.) and Grape (Vitis vinifera L.) Value Chains: A Life Cycle, Water Footprint, and Exergy Assessment with Turkish Case Studies
This study applies an integrated water–energy–food (WEF) nexus approach to melon and grape value chains, combining life cycle assessment, water footprinting (blue/green/grey), carbon footprint, and exergy analysis within a circular economy framework. Türkiye, the fourth-largest melon producer (~1.7 Mt/yr) with over 80 indigenous grape cultivars, serves as the primary case study, supplemented by global data. In the wine chain, cultivation (37%) and glass packaging (28%) dominate global warming potential (GWP), with a baseline of 1.38 kg CO2eq per 0.75 L bottle (ReCiPe 2016-H). Recovering pomace bioethanol, polyphenolic extracts, grape seed oil, and tartaric acid in a circular economy scenario lowers the footprint to 1.12 kg CO2eq (−19%). Turkish wine grapes exhibit blue-water shares of 38–41%, well above the global 25%, reflecting irrigation reliance in semi-arid Anatolia (Elazığ, Diyarbakır, Cappadocia). Exergy analysis identifies refrigeration as the top energy sink (280 MJ/t grapes, 32%) and primary exergy destruction site (193 MJ/t; second-law efficiency: 31%). Fermentation records the lowest exergy efficiency (28%) due to the irreversibility of sugar-to-ethanol conversion. These findings demonstrate that combining WEF nexus management with circular bioeconomy strategies can substantially reduce the overall environmental burden, particularly in water-stressed agricultural regions.
Open Access
Article
30 July 2026Utilization of Post-Consumer Cotton Waste for Industrial Applications
The accumulation of post-consumer cotton textile waste brings environmental challenges and opportunities for resource recovery. In this work, cotton waste was valorized into nitrocellulose via a pure nitration method, and its potential as a multifunctional material was systematically assessed. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the process parameters with a Box-Behnken design, and the results indicated that nitric acid concentration was the most important parameter affecting nitrogen incorporation. The optimized process produced nitrocellulose with a Nitrogen content of 11.17%, as confirmed by CHNS analysis. However, the FTIR results confirmed that the nitrocellulose was successfully nitrated, as evidenced by the nitro group absorption bands. The produced nitrocellulose was evaluated in various applications, including pyrotechnic green mixtures, adhesive systems, and film production. Gas emission analysis indicated a nitrogen-rich and comparatively cleaner combustion profile. The adhesive test showed moderate bonding to cellulosic materials, whereas the tensile test of films showed a high tensile strength of 60.8–65.8 MPa. The findings indicate that multifunctional nitrocellulose can be successfully produced from post-consumer cotton waste, providing a viable alternative to textile waste recycling methods and adding to efforts to build a sustainable circular economy.
Open Access
Article
29 July 2026Energy Effectiveness and Economic Competitiveness of Two Emerging Solar Space Heating Technologies
This study provides a comprehensive long-term energy performance evaluation comparing traditional solar space heating systems (water and air collectors) with emerging alternatives, namely photovoltaic (PV)-driven heat pumps and photothermal solar heat extractors. The comparison is performed per unit collection area under idealized heat use and storage assumptions, rather than as a full building-level heating system analysis. Utilizing hourly meteorological and radiometric data from Rock Springs, US (2001–2022), the results reveal that while solar water heat extractors are more efficient than traditional heaters, their heating gain factor remains below 1.2, whereas emerging solar air heat extractors demonstrate low future potential. Over annual cycles, crystalline silicon PV-driven heat pumps outperform traditional solar water heating due to their superior efficiency under the low-to-moderate solar irradiance levels that dominate the heating season, despite traditional systems performing better at peak heat fluxes. Ultimately, this underscores that long-term technology dominance is strictly non-linear and governed by local radiative climates. Complementing the technical study, a preliminary economic screening is performed based strictly on component capital costs, without factoring in long-term operational dynamics such as maintenance, degradation, or discounting. Within this simplified financial framework, the analysis indicates that crystalline silicon or CdTe PV-driven heat pumps can viably replace solar water collectors (unless domestic hot water is a primary requirement) or expensive closed-circuit air collectors. Conversely, solar heat extractors remain viable only in niche applications with exceptionally high thermal energy costs exceeding 0.25 USD/kWh. By establishing these boundary thresholds, this work provides a streamlined decision-making framework that identifies the economic domains in which emerging PV-heat pump configurations achieve market viability relative to traditional thermal systems.
Open Access
Article
29 July 2026Hybrid Mooring Design for a Pendulum-Based Wave Energy Converter
This research presents a comprehensive mooring design flow for a pendulum-based wave energy converter, including the design of extreme and operational sea states, a step-by-step mooring optimization, and a code check for Ultimate Limit State (ULS), Accidental Limit State (ALS), and Fatigue Limit State (FLS) based on the DNV standard. The numerical model built in OrcaFlex was validated through an experimental campaign and used for mooring design. Finally, a 3-leg hybrid mooring system consisting of elastic ropes and catenaries was obtained. Its comparison with the original design demonstrates a production increase of at least 20.7%, and the durability of the mooring system was also improved, mainly due to pretension and fairlead position adjustments. Besides, the safety code check results illustrate that fatigue damage functions as the primary threat for such a pitch-dominated device, indicating the importance of considering fatigue damage in preliminary design to avoid undesired mooring with high service life in ULS while significantly low design life in FLS. This work provides a comprehensive reference for future mooring design of the WECs that operate mainly on pitch motion, and the findings contribute to the research toward practical application of such wave energy technologies in rotating mass.
Open Access
Article
28 July 2026Digital Economy and Regional Carbon Equity: Evidence from Chinese Cities
Regional carbon equity reflects the spatial alignment between carbon-emission responsibility and ecological carrying capacity, and represents an important dimension for understanding the distributive consequences of low-carbon transitions. As the digital economy becomes increasingly embedded in resource allocation, technological innovation, and environmental governance, whether and how it reshapes regional carbon equity remains insufficiently examined. Using panel data for 281 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2023, this study constructs a city-level carbon equity index and employs two-way fixed-effects models, mechanism tests, and a spatial Durbin model to investigate the effect of the digital economy on carbon equity, its transmission channels, and its spatial spillover effects. The results show that carbon equity in Chinese cities has improved slowly over time, although regional disparities remain pronounced and significant “high–high” and “low–low” spatial clustering patterns persist. The digital economy significantly improves urban carbon equity, with the strongest effect observed in central China. Mechanism tests indicate that the digital economy enhances carbon equity mainly by promoting industrial structure upgrading, stimulating green technological innovation, and strengthening market integration. Further spatial analysis shows that the digital economy improves carbon equity within local cities but exerts a negative spillover effect on neighboring cities, revealing a spatial pattern of “local promotion and neighboring suppression”. This study extends the literature on the environmental consequences of the digital economy by introducing a regional carbon equity perspective. It provides policy implications for optimizing the spatial allocation of digital resources, improving interregional coordination in low-carbon governance, and advancing a more equitable low-carbon transition.
Open Access
Article
28 July 2026Selective Interfacial Separation of Lithium-Ion Battery Cathodes by a Chelator-Engineered Deep Eutectic Solvent: Foil Liberation, Black-Mass Purity, and Process Windows
Direct recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries requires selective dissociation of the cathode coating on the aluminum current collectors while minimizing cross-contamination of the recovered fractions. In this study, a chelator-based deep eutectic solvent (ChelaDES) made of levulinyl hydroxamic acid, glyceric acid, and trimethyl (2-methoxyethyl) ammonium chloride was designed as a low-temperature solvent for the selective interfacial separation of LCO, LFP, and NCA cathodes. The method uses four complementary key performance indicators (KPIs) as interfacial separation performance measures: active material removal, mass removed per unit area, bare-Al exposure, and delamination severity score. LCO showed the fastest response, reaching 93.7% active-material removal and >99% bare-Al exposure at 90 °C for 60 min. NCA showed intermediate behavior, reaching approximately 92.5% removal and 82% bare-Al exposure, while LFP exhibited threshold-controlled delamination, reaching 90.8% removal but only 66% bare-Al exposure under the same conditions. Among the kinetic models tested, the PSO-Arrhenius model provided the best overall fit for process comparison, giving apparent activation energies of 25.5, 26.5, and 28.5 kJ·mol−1 for LCO, NCA, and LFP, respectively. A strong correlation was observed for all chemistries between the removed mass per area and bare-Al exposure, which proves to be a useful, rapid quantitative proxy of foil liberation. Further purification studies with SEM-EDXS, XPS, and TGA/DTG suggested that the recovered black mass contained minimal impurities with minimal Al/Cu carryover (<0.1 wt%) and that the aluminum foil remained largely intact. Process heatmaps define the chemistry-specific operating windows, demonstrating that selective interfacial weakening, not bulk dissolution, controls separation. The process, therefore, acts as an upstream selective delamination and purification step, producing cleaner recovered black mass while preserving the current collector.
Open Access
Article
28 July 2026A Framework for Quantifying Autonomy in Robotic Systems
Although autonomous functioning facilitates the deployment of robotic systems in operating domains that support limited to no human oversight, establishing correspondence between task requirements and a system’s autonomous performance is still an open challenge. Several techniques for characterizing operating domains and/or quantifying autonomy have been proposed over the last three decades, however, to our knowledge, these have no discernment of sub-mode features of variation of autonomy, and some are based on metrics that are susceptible to the Goodhart’s law. This paper introduces a capability-based quantitative autonomy assessment framework for fully autonomous systems. The formulation of the framework started by establishing robot task characteristics from which three autonomy metrics, namely an essential capability set, reliability, and responsiveness, were derived. The characteristics were founded on the realization that robots ultimately replace human skilled workers, from which a relationship between human job and robot task characteristics was established. Additionally, mathematical formulations relating metrics to autonomy are also presented. To emphasize the fact that autonomy is not just a question of existence, but also one of performance of a capability, the framework represents it as a two-part measure, of level and degree of autonomy. Usage of the framework has been demonstrated on two case studies, namely an autonomous vehicle at an on-road dynamic driving task and the DARPA Subterranean Challenge analysis. The framework provides not only a tool for quantifying autonomy and monitoring the integrity of systems, but also a regulatory interface and common language for autonomous systems’ developers and users.
Open Access
Article
24 July 2026Lanthanum-Modified Activated Alumina for Selective Removal of Fluoride from Phosphogypsum Leachate
Fluoride-rich phosphogypsum leachate is a challenging industrial wastewater because of its low pH, high ionic strength, and the presence of competing anions. In this study, lanthanum-modified activated alumina (La-AA) was prepared and evaluated as a selective adsorbent for the removal of fluoride from complex phosphate-industry wastewater. The results showed that La modification improved the adsorption performance of activated alumina, and the 10% La-AA sample exhibited the best fluoride removal behavior among the tested materials. Kinetic and thermodynamic analyses indicated that fluoride adsorption on La-AA was more favorable than on pristine activated alumina and proceeded spontaneously and endothermically under the tested conditions. In competitive adsorption tests, La-AA maintained better fluoride uptake than unmodified activated alumina in the presence of chloride, sulfate, and phosphate, demonstrating improved matrix tolerance. When applied to authentic phosphogypsum leachate, the optimized La-AA reduced fluoride concentration from 9.67 mg·L−1 to 0.58 mg·L−1, below the WHO guideline value. These results suggest that La modification is a practical strategy to improve the selectivity and applicability of activated alumina for fluoride removal in complex industrial process water.
Open Access
Article
24 July 2026Statistical Theatre: Misinterpretation of Quantitative Evidence in the Courtroom
The increasing use of quantitative evidence in legal proceedings reflects a broader shift towards data-informed forms of proof. Statistical analyses, probability estimates, and forensic calculations are frequently presented as objective indicators of truth; however, their evidential value depends not on the mathematics itself, but on how the relationships they describe are interpreted. This paper examines the misinterpretation of quantitative evidence in courtroom settings, arguing that numerical outputs are often treated as conclusions rather than as components of structured inference. Focusing on conditional probability, the prosecutor’s fallacy, base rate neglect, witness testimony, and DNA evidence, the paper demonstrates how common errors arise from a failure to engage with the conditional and relational nature of probabilistic reasoning. Consistent with earlier work highlighting the interpretive limits of quantitative evidence, the analysis of key cases, including the Sally Clark case and People v Collins, together with contemporary examples drawn from forensic science and algorithmic decision-making, demonstrates how numerical evidence can assume persuasive authority that exceeds its probative value when underlying assumptions are not made explicit.Building on established scholarship concerning the persuasive authority of numerical evidence, expert testimony, and probabilistic reasoning in legal decision-making, this paper proposes the Statistical Theatre Model to describe situations in which quantitative evidence acquires persuasive force independent of its inferential value.The paper further considers cognitive and institutional factors that contribute to these errors and argues that improvement lies not in increased mathematical complexity, but in greater conceptual clarity. In addition to identifying common interpretive failures, the paper proposes practical reforms to improve the communication and evaluation of quantitative evidence by experts, lawyers, judges, and jurors. In doing so, it highlights the importance of aligning the presentation of quantitative evidence with the interpretive demands of legal decision-making. Statistical evidence must remain a tool of inference rather than an unwarranted source of certainty.
