This study estimates minimal entropy production, the corresponding distribution of heat exchange surfaces and contact temperatures for heat exchange systems with given total heat load and heat transfer coefficient. The analysis proves that an optimal heat exchange system requires constancy of the temperature ratio for the contact flows and equal heat flows’ output temperatures. The requirement that the entropy production in the system be greater than the minimum entropy generation marks the boundary of the reachable set of heat exchange systems.

Background: Formal sector contributory health insurance schemes are central to advancing universal health coverage in low- and middle-income countries. Their successful implementation depends on beneficiaries’ knowledge, perception, and behavioural readiness, particularly among civil servants who often constitute the foundational population for such schemes in post-conflict settings. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 321 civil servants in Borno State, Nigeria, using a structured questionnaire. Knowledge of the Formal Sector Contributory Health Scheme (FSCHS) was assessed using 16 items covering scheme components, benefits, and operational mechanisms. Perception was measured using 15 Likert-scale statements addressing affordability, accessibility, quality of care, and trust in scheme management. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise patterns in knowledge and perception. Results: The mean knowledge score was 6.24 ± 2.40 out of 16, indicating that respondents answered fewer than half of the knowledge items correctly on average. Although 68.0% of respondents crossed the predefined threshold for moderate knowledge, no respondent attained an excellent knowledge level. The mean perception score was 3.46 ± 0.52, with 58.8% expressing positive perceptions, 34.9% neutral perceptions, and 6.2% negative perceptions. Knowledge levels showed limited variation across socio-demographic and employment characteristics. Conclusion: Civil servants in Borno State demonstrate foundational awareness and generally positive perceptions of the FSCHS; however, important gaps remain in depth of understanding and confidence. The substantial proportion of respondents with neutral perceptions represents a critical implementation threshold that may influence uptake. Strengthening targeted beneficiary education, trust-building measures, and gender-responsive engagement strategies will be essential for improving uptake and ensuring the sustainability of the scheme.

Land use, as a key form of human-environment interaction, has sharply and continuously transformed the global land surface. Farmland abandonment (FA) is an extreme manifestation of land use marginalization, exerting both positive and negative impacts on the ecological environment and human well-being. To map the extent of FA in Zhejiang Province and clarify its spatial pattern, driving mechanisms, and ecological-socioeconomic implications, this study employed the Google Earth Engine (GEE) and Geographic Information System (GIS) platforms, integrating multi-source land use/land cover data and Landsat time-series images. We used the random forest (RF) algorithm for land use classification, the land use trajectory method for FA identification, landscape pattern analysis (Fragstats 4) to quantify landscape characteristics, and spatial autocorrelation analysis (Moran’s I and LISA indices) to explore spatial aggregation patterns. The results showed that farmland accounted for 16.32% of the total land use area in Zhejiang Province, equivalent to 1.89 × 10⁴ km². The total area of FA was 1.72 × 10⁸ m², with a farmland abandonment rate of 1.65%. The area of active farmland (AF) was approximately 1.95 × 10⁹ m², with a continuous cultivation rate of 18.69%. The landscape fragmentation, aggregation, and diversity of FA, AF, and fallow land (FL) differed significantly: FA exhibited the most severe fragmentation, while AF had the highest aggregation degree. Spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed that FA and AF both showed dominant high aggregation and low dispersion characteristics; the global Moran’s I index of FA was 0.93 (Z-score = 439.45, p < 0.01), indicating a strong positive spatial autocorrelation. Local spatial autocorrelation (LISA) analysis showed that high-high (HH) and low-low (LL) clusters were the main types, accounting for 38.97% and 37.95% of FA patches (passing p < 0.01 significance test), respectively. Comparative analysis with existing studies confirmed the scientific validity of our results (overall classification accuracy > 95%). Finally, we discussed the ecological and socio-economic driving mechanisms of FA, analyzed its potential threats to food security, proposed targeted policy implications, and identified research limitations and future research directions. Our findings provide a scientific basis for rational land use management, farmland protection, and food security assurance in Zhejiang Province.

Chaotic conditions prevailed after the 1886 Tarawera eruption, when the loss of the Pink and White Terraces, New Zealand’s Eighth Wonder of the World, was rapidly declared. Four days after the eruption, surveyor Percy Smith approached about four kilometres from his supposed site of the White Terrace and mistakenly identified what he described as a “west-opening horseshoe bay” adjacent to a hill, concluding that the Terrace possibly lay within the newly formed crater. Pareidolia arises where ambiguous visual information intersects with cultural attachment and confirmation bias. This paper traces the subsequent life of Smith’s claims through six parliamentary, government, and academic reports; two official audits; five survey maps; six contemporary artworks; Smith’s later reminiscences; and a final interview. Forensic analysis of his survey maps shows that Smith altered the reported position of the White Terrace on two occasions and introduced topographic features during the period in which his work was being audited by sceptical government ministers. These early representations established an intellectual primacy that shaped official and academic understandings of the Terrace’s fate into the twenty-first century. Indigenous Māori observers disputed Smith’s conclusions at the time, but their testimony was disregarded under prevailing interracial conditions. This study extends the topography of the Rotomahana Basin through new altimetry, LiDAR mapping of the Kaiwaka Channel (also misidentified by Smith), reconstruction of his lost audit bearings, and derivation of an error ellipse for the White Terrace. The delineation of Smith’s maps by Harding introduced cartographic pareidolia and confirmation bias. Taken together, the evidence indicates that Smith’s successive claims for the White Terrace’s location in the crater lake were unsupported by direct observation or by reliable survey control. This paper argues that the principal source of long-standing misinterpretation at Tarawera lies not only in the field surveys themselves, but in the later delineation process. Here, cartographic pattern completion transformed uncertain observations into apparently objective geometries that then guided subsequent perception and belief into the current century.

Leaf litter decomposition and carbon release patterns in five homegarden tree species of Kumaun Himalaya viz. Ficus palmata Forssk., Ficus auriculata Lour., Ficus hispida L.f., Grewia optiva L. and Celtis australis L. were investigated. The study was carried out for 210 days by using the litter bag technique. In the current investigation, the duration needed for desertion of the original biomass of diverse leaf litter varied from 150 to 210 days and specifies a varying pattern of decomposition and carbon release among the species. Grewia optiva took the longest time to decompose (210 days), while Ficus hispida decomposed more quickly than the rest of the species (150 days). The relative decomposition rate (RDR) was reported to be highest in Ficus hispida (0.009–0.02 g⁻¹d⁻¹) and lowest in Grewia optiva (0.008–0.004 g⁻¹d⁻¹). Carbon (%) in remaining litter was in the order: Ficus auriculata (24.4%) > Ficus hispida (24.3%) > Celtis australis (19.8%) > Ficus palmata (19.7%) > Grewia optiva (19%). The relationship between percentage weight loss and time elapsed showed a significant negative correlation with carbon release pattern in all the species. Releasing nutrients into the soil through the decomposition of homegarden tree residual is a crucial ecological function that also regulates the nutrient recycling in homegarden agroforestry practices.

In this study, we examined the effect of methyl trans-cinnamate against the growth of the indigenous microbes in the mycorrhizosphere of Tricholoma matsutake that forms an ectomycorrhizal association with pines. Methyl trans-cinnamate inhibited the growth of most indigenous bacterial strains isolated from the mycorrhizosphere, but with no negative effect on the proliferation of Tricholoma matsutake. We might make use of this material in a successful cultivation of matsutake in the future.