Dongmei Lian^#, Zhou Li^#, Bizhen Lin, Shaoping Zhang, Susu Yuan, Yunfa Yao, Yudong Ju, Zhengfeng Lai^*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.95, No.4, 2026, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2026.078378 - 28 April 2026

Abstract Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is highly susceptible to chilling stress, which severely constrains its growth and productivity. Although the eco-friendly biostimulant γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA) has shown promise in enhancing plant tolerance to abiotic stresses, its specific role and underlying mechanisms in alleviating chilling injury in pepper remain poorly understood. This study systematically investigated the physiological and molecular mechanisms by which foliar application of 100 mg·L⁻¹ γ-PGA enhances chilling tolerance in pepper seedlings. Our results demonstrated that γ-PGA pretreatment significantly mitigated chilling-induced growth inhibition and promoted root development, evidenced by a 110.8% increase in the number of root… More >

Pablo Luna^1,*, Lidia Losada², Débora Rodrigo-Ruiz³, Alba Rodríguez-Donaire¹, Javier Cejudo¹

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, Vol.28, No.4, 2026, DOI:10.32604/ijmhp.2026.078092 - 28 April 2026

Abstract Objectives: There is a growing global concern regarding mental health and well-being in educational settings, especially in contexts of socio-educational exclusion. Active educational interventions offer an effective approach to enhance students’ mental health and personal and social well-being. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a psychosocial intervention program based on the Sports Education model (SEM) on subjective well-being (positive and negative affect) and externalizing problems (aggressiveness, hyperactivity, and behavioral problems) in youth students from a highly vulnerable socio-cultural community belonging to an ethnic minority with significant socio-educational support needs associated with socio-educational exclusion. Methods:… More >

Shuhua Wei^1,#, Hongkun Ji^1,#, Fang Kong², Bijuan Huang^1,*

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, Vol.28, No.4, 2026, DOI:10.32604/ijmhp.2026.076393 - 28 April 2026

Abstract Background: Early adolescents (ages 11–15), mainly Chinese middle-school students, face academic tracking pressure for the high-school entrance exam and multiple stressors, with depressive symptoms detected in up to 21.9% of this group. Because this stage is a “critical window” for depression intervention and the Ministry of Education requires “stratified and classified interventions”, systematically identifying the patterns and dynamic transition patterns of adolescent depressive symptoms is of considerable practical and theoretical importance. This study aimed to identify the latent profiles and transitions of depressive symptoms among middle-school students and to examine how different types of stress, life… More >

Mohammad Farhan Al. Qudah¹, Ismael Salamah Albursan¹, Salaheldin Farah Attallah Bakhiet^2,*, Mohammed Awad Al-Tartouri³, Mohammed M. Ateik Al-Khadher¹, Abdo Hasan Al-Qadri⁴

Journal of Psychology in Africa, Vol.36, No.2, pp. 257-266, 2026, DOI:10.32604/jpa.2025.070220 - 29 April 2026

Abstract This study explored the level of nomophobia among university students in relation to psychological loneliness, sleep disorders, smartphone usage, age, and the duration of smartphone ownership. A sample of 2162 students from Middle Eastern countries: Jordan (n = 470), Saudi Arabia (n = 279), United Arab Emirates (n = 315), Egypt (n = 625), Oman (n = 237), and Sudan (n = 189) (female = 1706; 78.9%; mean age = 33.36, SD = 10.69). Data were collected using the Nomophobia Questionnaire (Yildirim et al., 2016), the UCLA Psychological Loneliness Scale (Russell, 1996), the Sleep Disorders… More >

Safaa Zaman¹, Marwa M. Eid^2,*, Ebrahim A. Mattar³, Doaa Sami Khafaga⁴, El-Sayed M. El-Kenawy^5,6

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.147, No.1, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2026.079827 - 27 April 2026

Abstract The rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies has transformed modern urban environments into complex smart cities, generating vast amounts of high-dimensional, heterogeneous data. Effectively analyzing this data is crucial for optimizing urban infrastructure, enhancing quality of life, and supporting sustainable development. However, smart city data presents significant challenges, including non-linear dependencies, noisy signals, and high dimensionality. To address these challenges, this study proposes the Dynamic Leader Sibha Algorithm (DLSA), a novel metaheuristic optimization technique inspired by the structured counting dynamics of the Sibha. The DLSA was applied to the Smart Cities Index dataset,… More >

Yan Wang^1,#, Jialei Zhu^2,#, Shiyang Wei^3,4,#, Lijie Jin¹, Zhanqiu Liu¹, Jie Xu¹, Nana Yang¹, Xuefeng Jiang⁴, Caizhi Wang^1,*, Lingling Wang^1,*

Oncology Research, Vol.34, No.5, 2026, DOI:10.32604/or.2026.068833 - 22 April 2026

Abstract Background: The role of 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase-like protein (HPDL) in endometrial cancer (EC) progression remains poorly understood, particularly its involvement in metabolic-epigenetic crosstalk via lactate-driven histone lactylation. This study aimed to investigate HPDL’s mechanistic contribution to EC pathogenesis. Methods: Stable HPDL-overexpressing and knockdown EC cell lines (HEC-1-B and AN3CA) were generated using lentiviral vectors. Functional assays (proliferation, migration, invasion), subcutaneous xenograft models in BALB/c nude mice, and molecular analyses were conducted. Lactate levels, Pan-lysine lactylation (pan-kla), histone H3K18 lactylation (H3K18la), and effects of sodium oxamate (lactate modulator) were assessed. Lactate Dehydrogenase A/Lactate Dehydrogenase B (LDHA/LDHB) knockdown,… More >

Benedict Djouboussi^1,*, Elie Fute Tagne^1,2

Journal of Cyber Security, Vol.8, pp. 171-187, 2026, DOI:10.32604/jcs.2026.079617 - 15 April 2026

Abstract The Distributed Network Protocol 3 (DNP3) is widely deployed in SCADA-based microgrids; however, it was not originally designed to meet the cybersecurity requirements of modern decentralized energy infrastructures. Although DNP3 Secure Authentication (DNP3-SA) introduces HMAC-based session-level protection, it does not ensure fragment-level integrity, leaving the protocol vulnerable to fragmentation disruption, replay attacks, and sequence manipulation. Such vulnerabilities can cause desynchronization between master and outstation devices, compromising the operational reliability of distributed energy resources. This paper proposes DNP3Chain, a blockchain-enabled framework that provides real-time fragment-level validation and enforces end-to-end message integrity in DNP3 communications. An OpenDNP3-based… More >

Zahra Farhadpour^1,*, Tan Fong Ang^1,*, Chee Sun Liew²

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.87, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2026.076163 - 09 April 2026

Abstract The heterogeneity and dynamic behavior of fog computing environments introduce major challenges to achieving optimal application placement. Limited fog resources and varying workloads often necessitate offloading applications beyond their local clusters, making it difficult to maintain the required level of service quality under varying conditions. In this context, placement methods must ensure a balanced trade-off between multiple objectives, such as time and cost, while maintaining reliable adherence to constraints like application deadlines and limited fog-node memory. Existing solutions, including heuristic, metaheuristic, learning-based, and hybrid optimization approaches, have been proposed to address these challenges. However, many… More >

Jaeho Hwang¹, Moohong Min^2,*

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.146, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2026.078940 - 30 March 2026

Abstract Illicit web ecosystems, encompassing phishing, illegal online gambling, scam platforms, and malicious advertising, have rapidly expanded in scale and complexity, creating severe social, financial, and cybersecurity risks. Traditional rule-based and blacklist-driven detection approaches struggle to cope with polymorphic, multilingual, and adversarially manipulated threats, resulting in increasing demand for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solutions. This review provides a comprehensive synthesis of research on AI-driven threat detection for illicit web environments. It surveys detection models across multiple modalities, including text-based analysis of Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and HyperText Markup Language (HTML), vision-based recognition of webpage layouts and logos,… More >

Muhammad Adnan Tariq¹, Sunawar Khan², Tehseen Mazhar^2,3, Tariq Shahzad⁴, Sahar Arooj⁵, Khmaies Ouahada⁶, Muhammad Adnan Khan^7,*, Habib Hamam^8,9,10,11

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.146, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2026.078672 - 30 March 2026

Abstract The contemporary smart cities, smart homes, smart buildings, and smart health care systems are the results of the explosive growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and deep learning. Yet the centralized training paradigms have fundamental issues in data privacy, regulatory compliance, and ownership silo alongside the scaled limitations of the real-life application. The concept of Federated Deep Learning (FDL) is a privacy-by-design method that will enable the distributed training of machine learning models among distributed clients without sharing raw data and is suitable in heterogeneous urban settings. It is an overview of the privacy-preserving… More >