Community attachment has been studied predominantly in terms of the social dimensions of community life, which explains what makes residents feel connected to a locality. Following a more recent trend within the community attachment literature, this study examined the role of communities’ physical dimensions in fostering sentiments of rootedness and connections to communities. More specifically, the study sought to better understand the role that urban parks play in predicting community attachment using a discriminant analysis technique to profile attached residents. We selected Discovery Green Park in Houston, Texas, as the study site, where we administered 606 total surveys to park visitors inquiring about their interactions with the park itself, emotional connections to it, and social interactions within the park. We found that strongly attached residents tend to be older, have a greater reliance on the park service and programs, and have meaningful interactions with new people in the park and frequently visit the park in groups to socialize and relax. Additionally, those who are strongly attached to the community attribute greater symbolic meanings to Discovery Green and more strongly identify with the park. The profile of residents attached to the community, given their interactions with the park and its visitors, provides important knowledge to both park managers and community leaders; they can use this information to create conditions, fostering more strongly attached residents who tend to be active agents of positive change in the community.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT03934034, Registration date May 1, 2019.

Ensuring the integrity of critical data is essential for maintaining security and trust across diverse computing environments. Conventional cryptographic hash functions provide reliable integrity guarantees. However, they incur significant computational overhead when protecting large volumes of data and are also vulnerable if reference hash values are tampered with. To address these limitations, this paper proposes PACIV (Pointer Authentication Code based Integrity Verification), a high-performance and secure system for critical data integrity verification that leverages ARM Pointer Authentication Code (PAC). By chunking data into 64-bit units and utilizing actual hardware PAC instructions, the system is designed to provide fine-grained integrity verification while maintaining cryptographic strength. In particular, our system targets integrity verification of critical data, such as kernel configuration data, which must remain trustworthy during system operation. Through this approach of using hardware-based cryptographic computation and secure key storage, the system provides stronger protection than software-based hash functions. Experimental evaluations demonstrate that the proposed system achieves average performance improvements of 23.81× in generation and 26.14x in verification compared to traditional non-accelerated SHA-256-based verification.

Fermentation is widely recognized for enhancing the sensory attributes and nutritional value in foods, with recent research focusing on non-alcoholic and root-based functional beverages. In this study, the genomic and fermentation characteristics of Kluyveromyces marxianus LRCC8279 (KM8279) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae LRCC8293 (SC8293) were analyzed, specifically for their application in root extract-based low-alcohol fermentations. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that both strains harbored key genes involved in glucose, fructose, and sucrose metabolism and genes implicated in ethanol production. Although SC8293 harbored maltose-metabolizing genes, including MAL13 and MAL31, these genes were absent in KM8279. This genetic difference was evident in the fermentation performance, manifesting as distinct variations in alcohol production depending on the carbohydrate source. A further investigation of fermentation conditions demonstrated that both strains maintained low alcohol levels and exhibited a consistent growth at 15–20 °C within 72 h. Fermentation using extracts from Pueraria lobata, Arctium lappa (AL), Zingiber officinale (ZO), and Platycodon grandifloras revealed that KM8279 markedly increased the production of volatile compounds, contributing to floral and fruity sensory attributes in ZO and AL, whereas SC8293 contributed to a more complex flavor profile in AL. Notably, KM8279-ZO and KM8279-AL fermentations maintained alcohol contents below 1%, indicating their potential application in non-alcoholic beverages. Future studies are needed to investigate the relationship between the key volatile compound production and associated genetic characteristics, along with sensory evaluations, to develop optimized flavor modulation strategies.

Pesticide delivery carriers provide protection against pathogens but face significant challenges, including limited loading capacity, rapid release rates, and inconsistent performance. To address these issues, this study develops a dual-stimuli-responsive pesticide delivery carrier, featuring an iron-copper bimetal-organic framework (Fe-Cu MOF) supported on diatomaceous earth (DE) and coated with lauric acid (LA). Here, DE serves as a biocompatible scaffold, enhancing the adhesion and retention of MOF particles at target sites, thereby improving the pesticide localization and delivery efficiency. The carrier exhibits a high thiabendazole (Tbz) loading capacity of 38.14% owing to its nanoporous structure. The LA coating functions as a pH- and temperature-responsive barrier, regulating pesticide release to prolong the treatment duration and minimizing the need for repeated applications. The carrier demonstrates controlled release rates of 80.73% at pH 5 and 96.55% at 40 °C, confirming its dual-stimuli responsiveness. In vitro assays reveal 92.26% inhibition of <i>Botrytis cinerea</i> at 1 μg mL^-1, while in vivo experiments on tomato plants and fruits show complete inhibition at 200 μg mL^-1. Additionally, the developed composites adhere strongly to leaves through electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding interactions, reducing the loss of pesticide due to rain erosion. Overall, DE-MOF-Tbz-LA presents a promising and efficient alternative to conventional pesticide applications.