We discuss the topic of the transparency of the Universe in gamma-rays due to the Extragalactic Background Light, and its cosmological and physical implications. Rather than a review, this is a personal account on the development of 30 years of this branch of physical science. Extensive analysis of the currently available information appears to us as revealing a global coherence among the astrophysical, cosmological, and fundamental physics data, or, at least, no evident need so far of substantial modification of our present understanding. Deeper data from future experiments will verify to what extent and in which directions this conclusion should be modified.

The MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov) Florian Goebel telescopes are a system of two Cherenkov telescopes located on the Canary island of La Palma (Spain), at the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory, and operating in stereo mode since 2009. Their low energy threshold (reaching 15 GeV) allows the study of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) in the very-high-energy gamma ray range with an impressive sensitivity up to the redshift limit of the existing IACT systems. MAGIC has collected many discoveries and comprehensive studies of different kinds of galaxies and their AGNs, also in a multi-wavelength context, expanding the knowledge of our Universe. Here we report the highlights which have been achieved by the MAGIC collaboration since the beginning of the operations.

Conclusions: HRCT is a valuable tool in preoperative assessment of cholesteatoma, helping in making surgical decisions. It can accurately predict the extent of disease and is helpful for detecting unapparent dangerous situations. However it is not very accurate in detecting Fallopian canal and stapes erosion.

The aim of this study is to investigate, by means of experimental measurements and full-wave simulations, the dominant factors for the very high-resolution (VHR) radar image speckles from exponential correlated rough surfaces. A Ka-band radar system was used to collect the return signal from such a surface sample fabricated by 3D printing, and that signal was further processed into images at different resolution scales, where the image samples were obtained by horizontally turning around the surface sample. To cross-validate the results and to further discuss the VHR speckle properties, full wave simulations by full 3D Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method were conducted with 1600 realizations for the speckle analysis. At the considered very high resolution, speckle statistics show divergence from the fully developed Rayleigh distribution. The factors that impact on the high-resolution speckle properties from exponential correlated rough surface, are analyzed in views of the equivalent number of scatterers theory and scattering scales, respectively. From the data results and extended discussions, it is evident that both of the above factors matter for VHR speckle of backscattering, from the exponential correlated rough surface as a good representative for the ground surface.

The effect of low cycle fatigue (LCF) pre-damage on the subsequent very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) behavior is investigated in TC21 titanium alloy. LCF pre-damage is applied under 1.8% strain amplitude up to various fractions of the expected life and subsequent VHCF properties are determined using ultrasonic fatigue tests. Results show that 5% of LCF pre-damage insignificantly affects the VHCF limit due to the absent of pre-crack, but decreases the subsequent fatigue crack initiation life estimated by Pairs’ law. Pre-cracks introduced by 10% and 20% of LCF pre-damage significantly reduce the subsequent VHCF limits. The crack initiation site shifts from subsurface-induced fracture for undamaged and 5% of LCF pre-damage specimens to surface pre-crack for 10% and 20% of LCF pre-damage specimens in very high cycle region. The fracture mechanism analysis indicate that LCF pre-crack will re-start to propagate under subsequently low stress amplitude when stress intensity factor of pre-crack is larger than its threshold. Furthermore, the predicted fatigue limits based on EI Haddad model for the LCF pre-damage specimens well agree with the experimental results.

The salt marshes, lying at the land-sea temperate interface, furnish a plethora of ecosystems services such as biodiversity niche support, ocean-climate change regulation, ornithology recreo-tourism or plant gathering by hand. They undergo significant worldwide losses due to their conversion into crop fields and to their spatial compression between the rising sea-level and the armoring shoreline. Their monitoring however requires to use a suite of remote sensing sensors to embrace the regional scale while capturing the plant details. This research innovatively adopts a multiscale approach using a cascading spaceborne and airborne process, from the 10-m Sentinel-2, through the 3-m Dove, to the 0.03-m unmanned airborne vehicle (UAV) imageries. The high to very high temporal resolution of the Sentinel-2 and Dove enabled to cover twenties and tens of km2 over five and four years, respectively, in the form of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) classes, associated with microphytobenthos, low, medium and high salt marsh vegetation, including the opportunistic Elyma genus. The NDVI was then modelled at the UAV scale (a few km2) using a three-layered NN prediction, providing the final near-infrared (NIR), and the intermediate red, green and blue reflectance imageries, calibrated/validated/tested with the Dove reflectance imageries (R2NIR=0.98, R2red=0.88, R2green=0.84, and R2blue=0.90). The 100fold increase in pixel size allowed to detect the decimeter-scale objects of the tidal flats and salt marshes, to enlarge the NDVI class ranges, and hold great promise to model other spectral bands at the UAV scale for further deeply enhancing the salt marsh mapping.

In this study, we investigate the influence of control type and strain rate on the lifetime of specimens manufactured from 50CrMo4. This influence is described by a strain rate dependent method that uses cyclic stress strain curves to correct displacement controlled cyclic test results. The objective of this correction is to eliminate the stress related differences between displacement controlled cyclic test results and force controlled cyclic test results. The method is applied to the results of ultrasonic fatigue tests of six different combinations of heat treatment, specimen geometry (notch factor) and atmosphere. The corrected results show an improved agreement with test results obtained on conventional fatigue testing equipment with similar specimens: the standard deviation in combined data sets is significantly reduced (p=4.1%). We discuss the literature on intrinsic and extrinsic strain rate effects in carbon steels.

Aerial image classification has become popular and has attracted extensive research efforts in recent decades. The main challenge lies in its very high spatial resolution but relatively insufficient spectral information. To this end, spatial-spectral feature extraction is a popular strategy for classification. However, parameter determination for that feature extraction is usually time-consuming and depends excessively on experience. In this paper, an automatic spatial feature extraction approach based on image raster and segmental vector data cross-analysis is proposed for the classification of very high spatial resolution (VHSR) aerial imagery. First, multi-resolution segmentation is used to generate strongly homogeneous image objects and extract corresponding vectors. Then, to automatically explore the region of a ground target, two rules, which are derived from Tobler’s First Law of Geography (TFL) and a topological relationship of vector data, are integrated to constrain the extension of a region around a central object. Third, the shape and size of the extended region are described. A final classification map is achieved through a supervised classifier using shape, size, and spectral features. Experiments on three real aerial images of VHSR (0.1 to 0.32 m) are done to evaluate effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach. Comparisons to state-of-the-art methods demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method in VHSR image classification.

Land-cover classification that uses very-high-resolution (VHR) remote sensing images is a topic of considerable interest. Although many classification methods have been developed, there is still room for improvements in the accuracy and usability of classification systems. In this paper, a novel post-processing approach based on a dual-adaptive majority voting strategy (D-AMVS) is proposed for improving the performance of initial classification maps. D-AMVS defines a strategy for refining each label of a classified map that is obtained by different classification methods from the same original image and fusing the different refined classification maps to generate a final classification result. The proposed D-AMVS contains three main blocks. 1) An adaptive region is generated by extending gradually the region around a central pixel based on two predefined parameters (T1 and T2) in order to utilize the spatial feature of ground targets in a VHR image. 2) For each classified map, the label of the central pixel is refined according to the majority voting rule within the adaptive region. This is defined as adaptive majority voting (AMV). Each initial classified map is refined in this manner pixel by pixel. 3) Finally, the refined classified maps are used to generate a final classification map, and the label of the central pixel in the final classification map is determined by applying AMV again. Each entire classified map is scanned and refined pixel by pixel based on the proposed D-AMVS. The accuracies of the proposed D-AMVS approach are investigated through two remote sensing images with high spatial resolutions of 1.0 and 1.3 m, respectively. Compared with the classical majority voting method and a relatively new post-processing method called general post-classification framework, the proposed D-AMVS can achieve a land-cover classification map with less noise and higher classification accuracies.

Chest X-ray (CXR) is the first tool globally employed to detect cardiopulmonary pathologies. These acquisitions are highly affected by scattered photons due to the large field-of-view required. Scatter in CXRs introduces background in the images, which reduces their contrast. We developed three deep learning-based models to estimate and correct the scatter contribution to CXRs. We used a Monte Carlo (MC) ray-tracing model to simulate CXRs from human models obtained from CT scans using different configurations (depending on the availability of dual-energy acquisitions). The simulated CXRs contained the separated contribution of direct and scattered X-rays in the detector. These simulated datasets were then used as the reference for the supervised training of several NN. Three NN models (single and dual energy) were trained with the MultiResUNet architecture. The performance of the NN models was evaluated on CXRs obtained with the MC code from chest CTs of patients affected by COVID-19. The results showed that the NN models were able to estimate and correct the scatter contribution to CXRs with an error <5%, being robust to variations in the simulation setup and improving the contrast in soft tissue. The single-energy model was tested with real CXRs, providing robust estimations of the scatter-corrected CXRs.

Conventional radiation therapy uses white X-rays that consist of a mixture of X-ray waves with various energy levels. In contrast, a monochromatic X-ray (monoenergetic X-ray) has a single energy level. Irradiation of high Z elements with a synchrotron generated monochromatic X-ray with the energy at or higher than the K-edge energy of the element results in the production of the Auger electrons that cause DNA damage leading to cell killing. Delivery of high Z elements into cancer cells and tumor mass can be facilitated by the use of nanoparticles. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been shown to be effective in delivering high Z elements to cancer cells. A proof of principle experiment was reported that demonstrated the feasibility of this approach. This opens up a possibility to pursue the Auger cancer therapy by the combined use of MSNs loaded with high Z elements and monochromatic X-rays. Similar cancer therapies using other types of quantum beams such as neutron, proton and carbon ion beams can be envisioned.

(1) Background: The imaging energy range of a typical Compton camera is limited due to the fact that scattered gamma photons are seldom fully absorbed when the incident energies are above 3 MeV. Further improving the upper energy limit of gamma-ray imaging has important application significance in active interrogation of special nuclear materials and chemical warfare agents, as well as range verification of proton therapy; (2) Methods: To realize gamma-ray imag-ing in a wide energy range of 0.3~7 MeV, a principle prototype, named a portable three-layer Compton camera, was developed using the scintillation detector that consist of an silicon photo-multiplier array coupled with a Gd3Al2Ga3O12:Ce pixelated scintillator array. Implemented in a list-mode maximum likelihood expectation maximization algorithm, a far-field energy-domain imaging method based on two-interaction and three-interaction events was applied to estimate the initial energy and spatial distribution of gamma-ray sources. The simulation model of detec-tors was established based on Monte Carlo simulation toolkit Geant4. The reconstructed images of a 133Ba, a 137Cs and a 60Co point-like sources were successfully obtained with our prototype in laboratory tests and compared with simulation studies; (3) Results: The proportion of effective imaging events accounted for about 2%, which made our prototype realize reconstructing the distribution of a 0.05 μSv/h 137Cs source in 10 seconds. The angular resolution for resolving two 137Cs point-like sources was 15°. Additional simulated imaging of the 6.13 MeV gamma-rays from 14.1 MeV neutron scattering with water preliminarily demonstrated the imaging capability for high incident energy; (4) Conclusions: We concluded that the prototype had good imaging per-formance in a wide energy range (0.3~7 MeV), which showed potential in several MeV gam-ma-ray imaging applications.

The production and secretion of very-low density lipoproteins (VLDL) by hepatocytes has a direct impact on liver fat content as well as the concentration of cholesterol and triglycerides in the circulation and thus affects liver and cardiovascular health, respectively. Importantly, excess caloric intake and lack of physical activity are associated with overproduction of VLDL, hepatic steatosis, and increased levels of atherogenic lipoproteins. Cholesterol as well as triglycerides in remnant particles after VLDL lipolysis are risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and have garnered increasing attention over the last few decades. To date, however, increased risk of ASCVD is not the only concern when considering today’s cardiometabolic patients, as they often also suffer from hepatic steatosis. This notion highlights the importance of understanding the molecular regulation of VLDL biogenesis. Fortunately, there has been a resurgence of interest in the intracellular assembly, trafficking, degradation, and secretion of VLDL by hepatocytes, that has led to many exciting new molecular insights, the topic of this review. We think that increasing our understanding of the biology of this pathway will help improve the health of the cardiometabolic patient in the long term.

Despite significant advances in metallurgy and the potential to create high and very high-strength steel, all international specifications for steel design provided little information about the limits of slenderness for high-strength steel sections (HSSs) and didn’t give anything about the design of very high-strength steel sections (VHSSs). The American structural steel design specification covers circular hollow sections (CHS) of steel grades up to S690, while it isn't in ANSI/AISC 360-16 and ASTM A514/A514M. Euro code EN 1993-1-1 can be applicable only to steel grades up to S460. EN 1993-1-3 and EN 1993-1-12 contain supplementary rules for cold-formed members and HSS (S460- S700), respectively. Though ductility requirements for (HSS) are specifically established in EN 1993-1-12, it is largely a continuation of the normal-strength-steel design procedures standardized in EN 1993-1-1, where (HSSs) are largely treated as normal-strength steels in these rules, and the same design approaches are used. The behavior of high and very high-strength steel circular hollow sections under axial compression load is studied in this research. A total of 16 nonlinear finite-element (FE) models were generated to replicate stub column tests that were experimentally tested by others in previous research. Hence, a parametric study is conducted using forty FE models developed to investigate the local buckling behavior under various slenderness ratios comprehensively. The developed models cover slenderness ratios ranging from 20 to 1226 and steel grades S460 and S1100 with yield stress equal 460 MPa and 1152 MPa, respectively. The FE results were combined with 105 previously collected experimental results to assess the applicability of existing codified design methodologies in the Euro code and the North American codes of cold-formed CHS. Based on the results of this study, new cross-sectional slenderness limits and new design equations for more efficient simple designs were presented for high and very-high strength steel circular hollow sections and Compared with the results of experimental tests and FE models.

Background: Little is known about risk and prognostic factors in very old patients developing sepsis secondary to community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study of data prospectively collected at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona over a 13-year period. Consecutive patients hospitalized with CAP were included if they were very old (≥80 years) and divided into those with and without sepsis for comparison. Sepsis was diagnosed based on the Sepsis-3 criteria. The main clinical outcome was 30-day mortality. Results: Among the 4,219 patients hospitalized with CAP during the study period, 1,238 (29%) were very old. The prevalence of sepsis in this aged group was 71%. Male sex, chronic renal disease, and diabetes mellitus were independent risk factors for sepsis, while antibiotic therapy before admission was independently associated with a lower risk of sepsis. Thirty-day and intensive care unit (ICU) mortality did not differ between patients with and without sepsis. In CAP-sepsis group, chronic renal disease and neurological disease were independent risk factors for 30-day mortality. Conclusion: In very old patients hospitalized with CAP, in-hospital and 1-year mortality rates were increased if they developed sepsis. Antibiotic therapy before hospital admission was associated with a lower risk of sepsis.

A 4×2 factorial experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential of feeding dietary gamma-oryzanol and vitamin E tocotrienols in hens reared in 840 (low cage density; LCD) or 420 cm2/hen (high cage density; HCD). A total of 120 hens were allocated into eight groups with five replicates. Diets were a control (CON) or the control diet supplemented with 200 ppm gamma-oryzanol (GO-200), 200 ppm vitamin E tocotrienols (VE-200) or 200 ppm gamma-oryzanol + 200 ppm vitamin E tocotrienols (GE-400). Results showed that HCD-housed hens decreased (P < 0.01) egg performance and quality. Average egg weight (AEW), egg mass and FCR improved in all supplemented treatments. Results on the AEW, FCR, and eggshell qualities of birds kept at the HCD revealed the best responses in the GE-400 group (P < 0.01). Among hens kept on an HCD, there was a noticeable decrease in HMGCR mRNA abundance in the VE-200 group, while the highest IFN-γ mRNA abundance was found in hens fed the GO-200 diet (P < 0.05). Thus, this study suggested that dietary GO or VE at 200 ppm either individually or in combination could improve performance and egg quality as well as regulate the abundance of immune- and stress-related genes.

The domestic pig (Sus scrofa) is a species representative of the Suina, one of the four suborders within Cetartiodactyla. In this paper, we reported our analysis of the pig TRG locus in comparison with the loci of species representative of the Ruminantia, Tylopoda and Cetacea suborders. The pig TRG genomic structure reiterates the peculiarity of the organization of Cetartiodactyla loci in TRGC “cassettes”, each containing the basic V-J-J-C unit. Eighteen genes arranged in four TRGC cassettes, form the pig TRG locus. All the functional TRG genes were expressed, and the TRGV genes preferentially rearrange with the TRGJ genes within their own cassette, which correlates the diversity of the gamma-chain repertoire with the number of cassettes. Among them, the TRGC5, located at the 5’ end of the locus, is the only cassette that retains a marked homology with the corresponding TRGC cassettes of all the analyzed species. The preservation of the TRGC5 cassette for such a long evolutionary time presumes a highly specialized function of its genes, which could be essential for the survival of species. Therefore, the maintenance of this cassette in pigs confirms that it is the most evolutionarily ancient within Cetartiodactyla, and it has undergone a process of duplication to give rise to the other TRGC cassettes in the different artiodactyl species in a lineage-specific manner.

Intended for the high voltage gain and wide-range operation of DC/DC converters for photovoltaic energy storage systems, a topology for four-phase interleaved DC/DC converters for photovoltaic power generation is proposed. This topology increases output voltage for output in series, and reduces the input current ripple by paralleling the input. Compared with traditional boost converter topology, the proposed topology reduces the output current and output voltage ripple, reduces the stress of the switching device, and reduces the withstanding voltage of the output capacitor under the premise of ensuring the boost ratio. Experimental results show that the maximum efficiency of the converter reaches 95.37%. Compared with traditional boost converters, the proposed converter offers obvious advantages in efficiency under the conditions that the output voltage and load are variable.

A supernova close enough to the Earth is a spectacular event: it can appear as a \new star" as luminous as Venus, or even more, visible for several days. The rate of Galactic supernovae is expected to be of about one in 30 years, with a fraction visible at naked eye; however in all the history of human civilization only seven supernovae in the Milky Way have been reported, the last two (1572 and 1604) during Galilei's life. The supernova of 1604, today called Kepler's Supernova, was observed by Galilei, Kepler and other astronomers in Europe, Korea, and China. Like the supernova SN1572, today called Tycho's supernova, it has been the subject of extensive studies, and inspired observational measurements and philosophical considerations on the nature of the heavens. The remnant of SN1604 has been indicated by recent X- and gamma-ray data to be a likely site of cosmic ray acceleration. The first recorded data of optical observations, together with new data, can still tell us a lot about the early evolution of this supernova.

A high-performance Lead-free Piezoelectric Energy Harvester (LPEH) based on a Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.90Zr0.10O3 + CuO 0.3 wt% (BCTZC0.3) composite was fabricated by sintering at 1450℃. The BCTZC0.3 composite, which has an enhanced high-energy-conversion constant (〖d_33×g〗_33), shows improved piezoelectric power-generation performance when compared with conventional piezoelectric energy harvesters. The BCTZC0.3-based LPEH produces instantaneous maximum power of 8.2 mW and an energy density of 107.9 mW/cm3 in a weak magnetic field of 250 μT. This energy harvester can be used to charge a capacitor and operate a wireless sensor network (WSN) system to provide temperature sensing and radio-frequency (RF) transmission in a 250 μT magnetic field. The proposed LPEH is a promising green-energy device for potentially self-powering WSN systems when applied.

Energy distance is used to eigenvalue distributions in this new Wishart distribution study, providing a new perspective on high-dimensional data. Multivariate statistics relies on Wishart distribution to explain covariance matrices. This analysis shows how degrees of freedom and covariance matrix configurations affect eigenvalue dispersion. We use energy distance based on eigenvalue distributions to assess Wishart distribution differences without the "curse of dimensionality" via extensive simulation simulations. This approach improves measurement accuracy and processing efficiency in distribution comparisons and enables new analytical pathways in scientific fields that need data covariance comprehension. Our results show that degrees of freedom and matrix structure considerably affect energy distances, expanding the theoretical framework and practical applications of statistical models.

The identification of informal settlements in urban areas is an important step in developing and implementing pro-poor urban policies. Understanding when, where and who lives inside informal settlements is critical to efforts to improve their resilience. This study aims to analyse the capability of machine-learning (ML) methods to map informal areas in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, using very-high-resolution (VHR) imagery and terrain data. Fourteen indicators of settlement characteristics were derived and mapped using an object-based ML approach and VHR imagery. These indicators were categorised according to three different spatial levels: environ, settlement and object. The most useful indicators for prediction were found to be density and texture measures, (with random forest (RF) relative importance measures of over 25% and 23% respectively). The success of this approach was evaluated using a small, fully independent validation dataset. Informal areas were mapped with an overall accuracy of 91%. Object-based ML as a hybrid approach performed better (8%) than object-based image analysis alone due to its ability to encompass all available geospatial levels.

Background: Very low-calorie ketogenic diet (VLCKD) is associated with improvement of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders. We aimed to evaluate the effects of VLCKD in patients with Cushing’s disease (CD) as adjunctive therapy to treatment for primary disease. Methods: We evaluated clinical, hormonal and metabolic parameters in 15 patients with CD and 15 controls at baseline and after 1 week and 3 weeks of VLCKD and further 2 weeks of low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet (LCKD). Results: After 5 weeks of diet a significant decrease in BMI (p=0.002), waist circumference (WC) (p=0.024), systolic (p=0.015) and diastolic blood pressure (p=0.005), ACTH (p=0.026), cortisone (p=0.025), total (p=0.006) and LDL cholesterol (p=0.017), triglycerides (p=0.016), alkaline phosphatase (p=0.008) and a significant increase in HDL cholesterol (p=0.017), vitamin D (p=0.015) and oral disposition index (Dio)(p=0.004) was observed in CD. A significant decrease in BMI (p=0.003), WC (p=0.002), systolic (p=0.025) and diastolic (p=0.007) blood pressure and total cholesterol (p=0.026) and increase in HDL cholesterol (p=0.001) and DIo (p<0.001) was observed in controls. Conclusions: The current study confirms that ketogenic diet is effective in improving metabolic disorders and shows that a nutritional approach may be combined with conventional CD therapy in order to improve metabolic and cardiovascular comorbidities.

The layered oxyselenide BiCuSeO has garnered significant interest because of its ability to exhibit low thermal conductivity and a high Seebeck coefficient. This study involved the preparation of Bi1−xNaxCuSeO1−xFx(x=0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20) ceramics through the processes of high energy ball milling and cold isostatic pressing. A systematic study was conducted to investigate the impact of co−doping Na/F on the thermoelectric performance of BiCuSeO ceramics. Replacing Bi3+ with Na+ results in the introduction of a considerable amount of holes, leading to a notable enhancement in the electrical conductivity and power factor. The conductivity was significantly increased from 9.10 S cm−1 in the pure BiCuSeO to 94.5 S cm−1 in Bi0.85Na0.15CuSeO0.85F0.15 at 323 K. At 823 K, the power factor of the Bi0.85Na0.15CuSeO0.85F0.15 sample achieved 44.8×10−5 W/ m K2. Moreover, the Bi1−xNaxCuSeO1−xFx ceramics exhibit a minimum thermal conductivity of 0.43 W m−1 K−1. As a result, the Bi0.85Na0.15CuSeO0.85F0.15 sample achieves a maximum ZT value of 0.78, which is 7.09 times greater than that of the pure BiCuSeO sample (0.11) .

Novel high energy density materials N14 (1,6-dihydro-1,2,3,3a,4,5,5a,6,7,8,8a,9,10,10a-tetradecazapyrene) and N18 (1,2,2a,3,4,4a,5,6,6a,7,8,8a,9,10,10a,11,12a-octadecazacoronene) were designed, and their structures, detonation performance and stabilities were calculated employing density functional theory (DFT). Calculations reveals that they have a good balance between high energy and stability. Their energy gaps between LUMO and HOMO are all lower than that of TATB, while their impact sensitivity h_50% is estimated close to that of RDX. Concerning energy, detonation performance of the N14 (P = 43.6 GPa, D = 10040 m/s, Q = 2214 cal/g) and the N18 (P = 37.4 GPa, D = 9400 m/s, Q = 2114 cal/g) are comparable to CL-20.

Rockburst is a hazardous phenomenon in deep tunnels influenced by geological structural planes like faults, joints, and shear planes. Small-scale shear-plane-like structures have damaging impact on the boundaries of the tunnel, which accumulate high stresses. Such a shear plane was exposed in the side wall of the right headrace tunnel in the Neelum-Jehlum Hydropower Project. This project is constructed in the tectonically active Himalayas with high stress conditions. A shear plane combined with high stress conditions is very dangerous in deep excavations. The influence of a shear zone on rockburst occurrence near a tunnel is studied. The FLAC3D explicit code simulated the shear zone in the right tunnel, revealing that the stresses are concentrated near the shear zone, with no stress concentration in the left tunnel, which has neither shear zone nor rockburst. Rock mass was displaced near this shear zone even before excavation. Modeling results confirm that the side wall shear zone of the tunnel has a major influence on rockburst occurrence. A shear slip along this plane released huge amounts of energy, causing human fatalities and property damage. A numerical simulation validates the actual conditions and helps us understand the phenomenon of stress concentration near the shear zone and its impact during deep tunneling.

Introduction: In general, everyone believes that the smallest preterm infants should achieve normal intrauterine growth rates, but many thinks that this is not possible with current nutrition guidelines. There is resistance to giving enough nutrition for fear of "toxicity". The difference in weight Z-score between birth and a corrected gestational age (CGA) at discharge is assess in postnatal growth in our unit. Material and methods: An observational study was done between January 2018 and December 2020 where all cases that had ≤ 29 weeks of GA at birth and survived to 36 weeks corrected GA or that were discharged home. An aggressive nutrition protocol including parenteral as well as enteral nutrition was followed. Patients and their weight trajectory was plotted on the Fenton 2013 growth curve. The patients who had had a smaller WZP difference were also plotted. Results: A total of 32 cases were found. The median change in Z-score between birth and discharge of the whole group was -0.52 (IQR 0.53). Six of 32 (19%) had a more than one WZP, all of whom had severe pathologies. The median decline in Z score for this group with poor growth was 1.24 (IQR 0.22). There were 26 cases with a < 1 WZP (81%) and a median Z score fall of 0.39 (IQR 0.55). No important complications secondary to the ingested volumes or parenteral nutrition were reported. Conclusion: The group of cases with a > 1 WZP drop had severe pathologies. All the other cases had adequate growth parallel to normal weight growth charts and a few cases had some catch-up growth. The study showed that it is possible for many preterm infants to achieve normal intrauterine growth rates if they are given enough nutrition, but bigger multicenter studies are needed to confirm these findings.

In this paper, we examine the performance of several classifiers in the process of searching for very negative opinions. More precisely, we do an empirical study that analyzes the influence of three types of linguistic features (n-grams, word embeddings, and polarity lexicons) and their combinations when they are used to feed different supervised machine learning classifiers: Support Vector Machine (SVM), Naive Bayes (NB), and Decision Tree (DT).

New ways of generating energy are currently being discussed, with a transition from traditional primary sources to more environmentally friendly options, particularly renewables. Energy storage is also closely related to this transition. Battery storage currently dominates this area. However, flywheel energy storage system (FESS) technology offers an alternative that uses stored kinetic energy to be transformed into mechanical energy and, using a motor-generator, electrical energy. FESS technology is thus flexible and can be applied in different industrial applications. The management of the technology of recycling W-MMC waste material from other products and the subsequent trial production of high-strength W-MMC material with a density of more than 17 500 kg/m3 from recycled powders allowed to test the limits of the so-called "heavy" flywheels used in rotor production. Materials with densities ≥ 7 800 kg/m3, and operating at lower to medium speeds up to 20 000 rpm. The results achieved lead to the conclusion that the developed recycled materials of the W-MMC type with a density ≥ 17 500 kg/m3, with a yield strength of 1 200 - 1 700 MPa depending on the production method, can be used as a substitute for the structural steels used today, without an enforced reduction of the maximum allowed rotor speed due to exceeding the maximum allowed stress.

Implementing High-Performance Computing to solve In-Memory Data Grid (IMDG)-based energy infrastructure resilience research problems in a heterogeneous environment presents a challenge to workflow management systems. Large-scale energy infrastructure needs multi-variant planning and tools to allocate and dispatch resources in IMDG taking into account the subject domain specificity, resource characteristics, and constraints and quotas for resource use. To that end, we propose a workflow management system using our Orlando Tools framework. To scale computing resources, we provide their integration and use corresponding software to determine key application parameters that can significantly impact the processed data size and the required number of allocated resources. We automated the IMDG cluster launch for the workflow executions. To demonstrate the advantage of our solution, we apply it to evaluate the resilience of the existing energy infrastructure model. Compared to similar approaches, our approach explores large infrastructures by modeling many simultaneously failed elements of different types up to the number of network elements. In terms of problem-solving efficiency and resource use, we achieve near-linear speedup with increasing the number of nodes of each resource.

Directed energy deposition (DED) is an efficient method to fabricate functionally graded materials (FGMs) with gradient composition and complex structures, allowing for local tailoring of properties instead of the costly need for extraneous welds and joints. In this study, a FGM from stainless steel to Inconel alloy was successfully fabricated using the powder-based laser DED. A very refined grain structure has been observed in at the composition with 75 wt.% Inconel alloy content, which also exhibits the highest (entropy). For the first time, the post heat treatments, microstructure and aging precipitation behaviors of FGMs were systematically studied via experimental characterization and computation, to elucidate their effects on the gradient smoothing and mechanical properties. The diffusion and segregation of Ni, Nb and Ti elements underly the transformation mechanism between Laves, δ, γ’ and γ’’ phases during precipitation. Homogenization on FGMs not only eliminates the heterogeneity inherited from the AM process, but also provides a practical way to smoothen the gradient on composition and microstructure for the eventual good gradient properties. It has a direct influence on the following precipitation behaviors in the FGM, which highly relies on the diffusion degree of the elements in the matrix and grain boundaries. The high-throughput thermodynamic modeling and kinetic modeling were exploited to evaluate the experimental microstructure and address computational uncertainty using different thermodynamic conditions and databases, which enables an accelerated design through local tailoring of process-structure-property relationships to develop new functional materials.

The negative energy solutions of the Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations have been used to define the antiparticle with the positive energy from the Feynman - Stueckelberg interpretation in the standard model based on the 4-D Minkowski space with the relative time. The negative energy solutions of the Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations are used to define the antiparticles with the negative energy in the present 3-D quantized space model. Note that all the present results are based on the 4-D Euclidean space with the absolute time (t) and relative time (t_l). Then the particle with the positive energy and antiparticle with the negative energy have the 4-D P₄ = TCP = T_cP symmetry. The continuity equations are derived from the Klein-Gordon, Dirac and Schrodinger equations. The Klein-Gordon and Schrodinger equations with the potential barriers are solved. The Klein paradox is explained by using the pair production of the electron with the positive energy and positron with the negative energy under the P₄ = _TcP symmetry, The effective velocity ( c_eff=√2 " c " ) and effective energy ("Etl =" √2 E ) along the relative time axis (ctl) give the relative time momentum of "p_tl"=E_tl/c_eff =(√2 E)/(√2 c)=E/c=p_t=p_x. This indicates that the photons with the energy of E have the constant photon velocity of c and the constant photon momentum of "ptl"=E_tl/c_eff =(√2 E)/(√2 c)=E/c=p_t=p_x. For the negative energy particles, the space momentum directions are opposite to the particle velocity directions because the energy is negative. And the matter collapse to the photons at the very high particle velocity is discussed from the length expansion. It is, for the first time, proposed that the gamma ray burst is originated from the matter collapse to the photons near the black hole. Also, the wave function collapse is explained from the length expansion. The wave function collapse takes place when the measurement makes the particle velocity to be zero. It is concluded that the negative energy solutions of the Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations support the existence of the partner antimatter universe with the negative energy and negative time direction. Our matter universe has the positive energy and the positive time direction.

The vulnerability of alpine environments to climate change presses an urgent need to accurately model and understand these ecosystems. Popularity in use of digital elevation models (DEMs) to derive proxy environmental variables has increased over the past decade, particularly as DEMs are relatively cheaply acquired at very high resolutions (VHR; <1m spatial resolution). Here, we implement a multiscale framework and compare DEM-derived variables produced by Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and stereo-photogrammetry (PHOTO) methods, with the aims of assessing their relevance and utility in species distribution modelling (SDM). Using a case study on the arctic-alpine plant Arabis alpina in two valleys in the western Swiss Alps, we show that both LiDAR and PHOTO technologies can be relevant for producing DEM-derived variables for use in SDMs. We demonstrate that PHOTO DEMs rivalled the accuracy of LiDAR, putting the current paradigm of LiDAR being the more accurate of the two methods into question. We obtained DEMs at spatial resolutions of 6.25cm-8m for PHOTO and 50cm-32m for LiDAR, where we determined that the optimal spatial resolutions of DEM-derived variables in SDM were between 1 and 32m, depending on the variable and site characteristics. We found that the reduced extent of PHOTO DEMs altered the calculations of all derived variables, which had particular consequences on their relevance at the site with heterogenous terrain. However, for the homogenous site, we found that SDMs based on PHOTO-derived variables generally had higher predictive powers than those derived from LiDAR at matching resolutions. From our results, we recommend carefully considering the required DEM extent to produce relevant derived variables. We also advocate implementing a multiscale framework to appropriately assess the ecological relevance of derived variables, where we caution against the use of VHR-DEMs finer than 50cm in such studies.

Hubble diagrams are examined for SN1a supernovae in the redshift range z = 0.01–1.3 and for gamma ray bursts in the range z = 0.034–8.1. It is shown that in the low redshift range, the Hubble diagram shows an innate equivocality between the ΛCDM and the tired light model. This means that the strong agreement between the z/µ data, calculated with the parameters of the ΛCDM model, and the experimentally measured z/µ values cannot be considered as definite evidence for the expansion hypothesis. The exponential function , which is characteristic of the tired light redshift mechanism, fits the data with similarly high accuracy. Hence, on the premise of low redshift data, a decision for or against either model is completely arbitrary. The Hubble diagram for high redshift gamma ray bursts shows poor agreement with the ΛCDM model, but concurs with the exponential energy decay following from the tired light redshift hypothesis.

The intense motion of a ship can greatly impacts the comfort of crew members and the safety of the vessel. Therefore, accurately estimating and predicting ship attitudes has become an important issue. This paper introduces the latest development in functional deep learning model called DeepOnet. It takes wave height as input and ship motion as output, using a cause-to-result prediction approach. The modeling data used in this study is sourced from publicly available experimental data from the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research. Firstly, parameters system tuning was conducted for the neural network's hyperparameters to determine the appropriate combination of parameters. Secondly, the DeepOnet model for wave height and multi-degree-of-freedom motion was established, and the influence of increasing time steps on prediction accuracy was examined. Finally, a comparison was made between the DeepOnet model and the classical time series model LSTM. It was found that the DeepOnet model had a 10-fold improvement in accuracy for roll and heave attitudes. Moreover, as the forecast duration increased, the advantage of DeepOnet showed a trend of strengthening. As a functional prediction model, DeepOnet provides a new promising tool for very short-term prediction of ship motion.

Perinatal stress experienced by mothers of very premature newborns may influence the mother’s milk and the infant’s intestinal microbiota. This prospective study of mothers of very preterm infants fed with mother´s own milk (MOM) was carried out in a tertiary hospital over a 2-year period. Assessment of maternal stress in 45 mothers of 52 very preterm newborns using the parental stress scale (PSS:NICU) that revealed an inverse relationship between stress and MOM production in the first days of life (p=0.012). The greatest contributor to stress was the one related to the establishment of mother-child bond. Maternal stress was lower in mothers in whom the kangaroo method was established early (p=0.011) and in those with a higher educational level (p=0.032). Levels of fecal calprotectin (FC) decrease with the passage of days and were directly correlated with birthweight (p=0.044). FC levels 7 days post-delivery were lower in newborns that received postnatal antibiotics (p=0.027). High levels of maternal stress resulted in progressive decreases and increases in the proportions of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria species, respectively, over 15 days post-delivery, both in MOM and in fecal samples from premature newborns. These findings underscore the importance of recognizing and appropriately managing maternal stress in neonatal units, given its marked influence on both the microbiota of maternal milk and the intestinal microbiota of premature newborns.

This study aims to suggest a basis for the selection of technologies for developing high-performance buildings to reduce energy consumptions and greenhouse gas emissions. Energy-saving technologies comprising of 15 cases were categorized into passive, active, and renewable energy systems. EnergyPlus v8.8 was used to analyze the contribution of each technology in reducing the primary energy consumptions and CO₂ emissions in the Korean climate. The primary energy consumptions of the base model were 464.1 and 485.1 kWh/m²a in the Incheon and Jeju, respectively, and the CO₂ emissions were 83.4 and 87.4 kgCO₂/m²a, respectively. Each technology (cases 1–15) provided different energy-saving contributions in the Korean climate depending on their characteristics. The heating, cooling, and other energy-saving contributions of each technology indicate that their saving rates can be used when selecting suitable technologies during the cooling and heating seasons. Case 15 (active chilled beam with dedicated outdoor air system + ground source heat pump) showed the highest energy saving rate. In case 15, the Incheon and Jeju models were reduced by 189.4 (59.2%) and 206.2 kWh/m²a (57.4%) compared to the base case, respectively, and the CO₂ emissions were reduced by up to 32.7 (60.8%) and 35.6 kgCO₂/m²a (59.3%), respectively.

Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3 (BNT-BT) thin films were prepared by both chemical solution (CSD) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The microstructure, dielectric, and ferroelectric properties were investigated. High stability of the dielectric permittivity (∆ɛ/ɛ(150 °C) ≤ ± 15%) over a wide temperature range from room temperature to 300 °C was obtained. Distinctly, the CSD film showed high TCC stability with variation of ± 5% up to 250°C. Furthermore, the CSD film showed an unsaturated ferroelectric hysteresis loop characteristic of the ergodic relaxor phase, however the PLD one exhibited almost saturated loop signature of the coexistence of both ergodic and non-ergodic states. The energy storage properties of the prepared films were determined using the P–E loops obtained at different temperatures. The results showed that these films exhibit stable and improved energy storage density comparable to the ceramic capacitors. Moreover, the CSD film exhibited more rigidity and better energy storage density that exceeds 1.3 J/cm3 under low applied field of 317 KV/cm as well as interesting efficiency in a large temperature range. The obtained results are very promising for energy storage capacitors operating at high temperatures.

The present work was aimed at the investigation of effect of High Energy Ball Milling (HEBM) time on the sintering kinetics, structure, and properties of heavy tungsten alloy (HTA) W-7%Ni-3%Fe. The HTA samples were obtained from the nanopowders (20-80 nm) by conventional liquid phase sintering (LPS) in hydrogen and by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) in vacuum. The HTA density was shown to depend on the HEBM time non-monotonously that originates from the formation of non-equilibrium solid solutions in the W-Ni-Fe systems during HEBM. The SPS kinetics of the HTA nanopowders was shown to have a two-stage character, the intensity of which depends on the Coble diffusion creep rate and on the intensity of diffusion of the tungsten atoms in the crystal lattice of the -phase. The kinetics of sintering of the initial submicron powders have a single-stage character originating from the intensity of the grain boundary diffusion in the -phase. The dependencies of the hardness and of the yield strength on the grain sizes were found to obey the Hall-Petch relation. The hardness, strength, and dynamic strength in the compression tests of the fine-grained tungsten alloys obtained by SPS and LPS were studied.

This paper presents a comprehensive review that highlights the characteristics of non-isolated step-up converters based on high boost voltage lifting techniques. The paper categorises the high boost techniques: multistage/multilevel, switched capacitor, voltage multiplier, voltage lift, switched inductor, and magnetic coupling. The paper also discusses in detail the advantages and disadvantages for each category such as cost, complexity, power density, reliability and efficiency. The number of passive and active components, voltage gain, voltage stress, switching frequency, efficiency and power rating are also compared. Although the paper considers coupling inductors in the context of the non-isolated converter, the focus of the entire article is on the non-isolated high voltage step-up techniques. The key contribution in this paper is the review of high boosting techniques rather than the DC /DC converters. This allows divergence of new ideas and new power converters that will help provide highly efficient and flexible power converters for several applications where the sending end voltage is very low as photovoltaic systems. In addition, many applications and control techniques of DC/DC converters are summarised in this paper.

This letter aims to show the connection between the sinc approximation for high-energy absorption cross section and the shadow radius of the spherically symmetric black hole. This connection can give a physical interpretation of the absorption cross section in the eikonal limit parameters. Moreover, the use of this alternative way, one can extract its shadow radius from the absorption cross section in high energy limits to gain more information about the black hole spacetime. Our results indicate that the increasing the value of the shadow radius of the black hole, exponentially increase the the absorption cross section of the black hole in high-energy limits which can be captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration.

A new frontier in solar thermal panel technology can be a high vacuum collector, thick enough to be equipped with solar concentrators based on non-imaging optics, such as the Compound Parabolic Concentrators (CPC). The high vacuum technology guarantees higher operating temperatures thanks to the enhanced thermal insulation, which leads to pay particular attention to the absorber radiative emission. In this paper by means of numerical simulations we compare the efficiency of a flat selective solar absorber under high vacuum to the efficiency of a CPC under high-vacuum collector.

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest operating detection system for the observation of ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The detector allows detailed measurements of their energy spectrum, mass composition and arrival directions of primary cosmic rays in the energy range above $10^{17}$ eV. The data collected at the Observatory over the last decade show the suppression of the cosmic ray flux at energies above $4\times10^{19}$ eV. However, it is still unclear if this suppression is caused by the propagation of cosmic rays or rather by energy limitation of their sources. The other puzzle is the origin of UHECRs. Some clues can be drawn from studying the distribution of their arrival directions. The recently observed dipole anisotropy has an orientation which indicates an extragalactic origin of UHECRs. The Auger surface detector array is also sensitive to showers due to ultra high energy neutrinos of all flavours and photons, and recent neutrino and photon limits provided by the Observatory can constrain models of the cosmogenic neutrino production and exotic scenarios of the UHECRs origin, such as the decays of super heavy particles. In this paper the recent results on measurements of the energy spectrum, mass composition and arrival directions of cosmic rays, and future prospects are presented.

A high step-up DC-to-DC converter that integrates an isolated transformer and a switched-clamp capacitor is presented in this study. The voltage stress of the main power switch should be clamped to 1/4 V by using the turn ratio and switched-clamp capacitor of an isolated transformer to achieve a high voltage gain. In addition, a passive clamp circuit is employed reduce voltage stress on the main power switch. The energy of the leakage inductor can be recycled by the clamp capacitor because of the passive clamp circuit, thereby improving the power converter efficiency. The converter consists of one isolated transformer, one main switch, three capacitors, and four diodes. Operating principle and steady-state analyses are also discussed. Finally, a 24-V-input voltage to 200-V-output voltage and a 150 W output power prototype converter are fabricated in the laboratory. The maximum efficiency of the converter is 95.1 at 60 W.

Analyses of the Hubble diagrams are presented for SN1a supernovae and gamma ray bursts in the redshift ranges z = 0.01–1.3 and 0.034–8.1, respectively. Data are presented on the typical z/μ scale and also on the less common yet increasingly sensitive photon flight time t/(z+1) scale. The primary conclusion is that on the basis of the presently accessible data in the redshift range z = 0.01–8.1, the slope of the Hubble diagram is, or is extremely close to, exponential.

Abstract: : 2,3-dihydro-5,6,7,8-tetranitro-1,4-benzodioxine (TNBD), molecular formula =C8H4N4O10 is a completely nitrated in aromatic ring 1,4-benzodioxane derivative. The con-venient method of TNBD synthesis was developed (yield=81 %). The detailed structure of this compound has been investigated by X-ray crystallography. The results of differential thermal analysis (DTA) obtained with twice re-crystallized material showed onset at 247 and isoterm at 288 0C, with further total degradation at 300 0C. The experimental density 1,85 g/cm3 of TNBD was determined by X-ray crystallography. The spectral properties of TNBD (NMR, FT-IR, Ra-man) were explored. The detonation properties of TNBD calculated by EXPLO 5 code was slightly superior in comparison to standard high energy material - tetryl (detonation velocity of TNBD - 7727 m/s; detonation pressure - 278 kbar; tetryl – 7570 m/s and 226.4 kbar at 1.614 g/cm3, or 260 kbar at higher density - 1.71 g/cm3. The obtained preliminary results might suggest TNBD can be a potential thermostable high energy and density material (HEDM).

Introduction: Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH) is a devastating condition mostly in preterm infants at < 30 weeks GA with large morbidities and mortality usually in the first 72 hours after birth. Prevention seems to be the only way to completely deal with this problem. The IVH prevention in this age group has been studied and includes some strategies such as prenatal corticosteroids, cesarean delivery, careful extraction among others, but still, it has an unacceptably high incidence in this population. A protocol with the name Drive to Zero IVH Prevention Project that was presented in one of EpicLatino conferences some years ago. As with any quality improvement in practices, we adapted this project to our unit. Objective: To compare the IVH incidence in our unit after the protocol implementation with and historic cohort from the same unit and with all other units un the epilactino network. Material and method: In October 2017 we begun to implement a neuro protection protocol. For this analysis we include every patient born <30 weeks of GA, inborn or outborn but less than 2 days old, that survived at least three days and had a neuroimaging preformed. We include cases until July 2022, and we use the EpicLatino, a Latin-American database, from 2018 to 2020 excluding our own unit for comparison as well as an historical cohort from our unit from 2010-2017. The protocol consists of: Minimal manipulation, low volume ventilation, one routine fiscal exam a day, neutral head position, one blood pressure measured per shift, no keel stick measurements, continuous dim light and low noise level, minimal touch, no vasoactive therapy except in extreme cases, temperature and humidity at 80%, catheters, when possible, fluid restriction followed with diuresis, no PDA therapy or Echo if possible and routine therapy with hydrocortisone, erythropoietin, caffeine, parenteral nutrition, and trophic feeding. e performed a univariate analysis for IVH and groups and a logistic regression model with variables that had statistical significance in the univariate analysis. Results: The study group included 64 cases, the historic cohort 123 and the EpicLatino 1029. Demographic characteristics were similar with few statistically significant differences. We found four grade 1-2 and six grade 3-4 IVH in the study group (some caused by very traumatic delivery with multiples hematomas in head, body, and extremities), all significantly lower that the other two groups. The logistic regression model confirmed the independent statistically significant result in the study group. Conclusion: The hemorrhage during delivery must be prevented by the obstetric team. Afterwards, a set of interventions like very gentle handling with minimal manipulation and unnecessary strict lab managing seams to decrease the incidence of IVH.

Purposes: Engaging in regular physical activity has been consistently linked to improved physical health and academic performance. Despite its known benefits, there is a concerning trend of decreased physical activity among children globally. The study primarily aims to investigate the level of physical activity among junior high school students in Taiyuan and analyze the main affecting factors from a socio-ecological perspective. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, involving 650 junior high school students from 7 schools in Taiyuan, and 648 valid questionnaires were collected. Physical activity levels were assessed using the Children’s Leisure Activities Study Survey Questionnaire. Factors influencing physical activity were evaluated through the Student Perceived Factors Affecting Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results: In this study, students from the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades participated in physical activities, averaging 214.5 minutes per week in moderate-intensity and 25 minutes in high-intensity activities, cumulatively averaging 280 minutes weekly. Notably, a significant disparity (p<0.05) was observed in the combined duration of moderate and high-intensity activities, with male students engaging more time compared to their female counterparts (307.500 vs 255.000 minutes). This variance extended across different grades, particularly evident in 8th graders who recorded the highest weekly high-intensity activity duration (31.000 minutes) and overall physical activity time (320.500 minutes), surpassing the 7th graders. Furthermore, an exploratory factor analysis of a 32-item questionnaire, designed to identify determinants of physical activity, revealed six principal components. These components were found to positively correlate with both moderate and high-intensity physical activities. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the necessity for educational institutions and community programmes to provide engaging physical activities, especially during weekends. It highlights the importance of tailoring physical education curricula to address gender and grade differences and investing in quality sports equipment and facilities by schools and local governments.

Engineering application of additively manufactured (AM) metallic materials is quite limited by their fatigue behaviors which are very inconsistent with that of conventionally wrought or cast ones. Here, based on advanced material characterization techniques, such as focused ion beam (FIB), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the mi-crostructures underneath fracture surfaces were thoroughly investigated in an AM aluminium (AlSi10Mg) alloy with horizontal and vertical building orientation endured very-high-cycle fa-tigue (VHCF) loading under stress ratios R = –1, 0 and 0.5. Two VHCF failure specimens A and B were representatively selected to further SEM examine and TEM samples preparation via FIB milling. Specimen A was horizontally printed and failed at R = –1; specimen B was vertically printed and failed at R = 0. TEM samples A1 and B1 were lifted from locations near the crack ini-tiation sites on the fracture surfaces of specimens A and B; The locations of TEM samples A2 and B2 kept away from the crack origin sites but still within the “fish-eye” region of crack steady growth. TEM observations show that there was no characteristic microstructure induced by VHCF in different oriented specimens and under various R values.

Background: While outcomes of chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CP-CML) patients aged over 65 years have been extensively evaluated in real-life experiences, limited data exist for the very elderly population (i.e., aged ≥ 75 years), especially for next-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). In this retrospective study, we sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of TKIs in this particular setting of patients. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of a multicenter cohort of 123 newly diagnosed CP-CML very elderly patients. Results: The median age at diagnosis was 80 years (range: 75-96). In the first-line, 86.1% of patients received imatinib, 7.1% dasatinib, 5.6% nilotinib, and 0.81% received bosutinib. A total of 31 patients (25.2%) switched to second-line therapy, nine patients to a third-line and one patient to a fourth line of therapy. Resistance to treatment was the primary reason for switching therapy in both the first (64.5%) and second lines (77.7%). At diagnosis, reduced doses were administered in 36.5% of patients, in 61.2% in the second line, and in all patients in subsequent lines of therapy. In first-line setting, 71.9% of patients achieved an early molecular response (EMR, i.e. 3-month BCR::ABL1 IS <10%); at 6, 12, and 24 months, MR3 was reached by 35.7%, 55.7%, and 75.0% of patients, with 16.6%, 35.7%, and 51.7% achieving DMR at the same timepoints. Treatment-free remission (TFR) was successfully attempted in 11 patients. During the follow-up period, adverse events (AEs) were observed in 78.8% of patients, including 22 cases of cardiovascular AEs. Toxicity grade ≥ 3 was more commonly observed in patients treated with standard doses of TKIs compared to reduced doses (p=0.033). Overall, median follow-up was 46.62 months (range: 1.8-206.2), and 43 patients died due to non CML related causes. Three patients died due to disease progression to advanced (n=1) and blastic (n=2) phases. The 5-year overall survival (OS) for the entire cohort was 71.9% (95% CI: 0.63-0.81), with no significant difference between patients treated with standard doses of TKI compared to those treated with reduced doses (p=0.35). Conclusions: TKIs appear to be safe and effective even in very elderly CML patients, and dose optimization strategies yield satisfactory molecular responses for adequate disease control with an improved safety profile.

Change detection with heterogeneous remote sensing images (Hete-CD) plays an important role in practical applications, especially when homogenous remote sensing images are unavailable. However, bitemporal heterogeneous remote sensing images (HRSIs) cannot compare directly to measure change magnitude, and many deep learning methods require large amounts of samples to train the module. Moreover, labeling many samples for land cover change detection with HRSIs is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, acquiring satisfactory performance of Hete-CD remains a challenge for deep learning networks with very small training samples. In this study, we promote a novel deep-learning framework for Hete-CD to obtain satisfactory performance while the initial samples are very small. We initially design a multiscale network with select kernel-attention module to focus on capturing different change targets with various sizes and shapes. Then, a simple yet effective non-parametric sample-enhanced algorithm based on the Pearson correlation coeffi-cient is promoted to explore potential samples around each initial sample. Finally, the proposed network and sample-enhanced algorithm are fused into one iterative framework to improve the change detection performance with very small samples. Experimental results conducted on four pairs of actual HRSIs indicated that the proposed framework can achieve competitive accuracies with very small samples for initialization when compared with some state-of-the-art methods. For example, the improvement is approximately 3.38% and 1.99% when compared with the selected traditional methods and deep learning methods, respectively.

Solidification cracking is a major obstacle when joining dissimilar alloys using additive manufacturing. In this work, location-specific solidification cracking susceptibility has been investigated using an integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) approach for a graded alloy formed by mixing P91 steel and Inconel 740H superalloy. An alloy derived from a mixture of 26 wt.% P91 steel and 74 wt.% Inconel 740H, with high configurational and total entropy, was fabricated using wire-arc additive manufacturing. Microstructure characterization revealed intergranular solidification cracks, which increased in length along with the build height. With inputs from experiments, such as secondary dendrite arm spacing, the DICTRA (diffusion-controlled transformations) module within the Thermo-Calc software was used to model location-specific solidification cracking susceptibility. The top region, with the highest cooling rate, has the highest solidification cracking susceptibility and is in good agreement with the experimentally observed crack length. From Scheil simulations, it was deduced that pronounced segregation of Nb and Cu within the cracks increased the solidification range by suppressing the solidus temperature. The overall solidification cracking susceptibility and freezing range was highest for the 26 wt.% P91 alloy amongst the mixed compositions between P91 steel and 740H superalloy, proving that solidification characteristics play a major role in alloy design for additive manufacturing.

Preterm infants have increased body adiposity at term equivalent age and risk for adverse metabolic outcomes. The aim of the study was to define how nutrient intake may impact body composition (BC) of very low birth weight infants fed with early progressive enteral feeding and standard fortification. Eighty-six infants with

This paper investigates the hydroelastic responses of offshore floating solar photovoltaic farms (OFPVs) to minimize structural motion. The OFPV usually occupies a large sea space in the order of hectares and due to its huge structural length-to-thickness ratio, the structural deformation under wave action has to be taken into consideration. The flexible deformation of the structure under hydrodynamic loading is termed the hydroelastic response. Due to the relatively long structural length with respect to the encountering wavelength, the diffraction and radiation of waves have to be taken into account to accurately represent the hydrodynamic loadings on the floating platform. The numerical model is first validated by comparing the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the OFPV obtained from the proposed numerical scheme with their counterparts obtained from an established finite element software. This is followed by the investigation of the hydroelastic response of various OFPVs designed in varying layout configurations. The various layout configurations are obtained by altering the floating modular units’ dimensions as well as the spacing of the OFPVs when deployed adjacent to each other. The optimal configuration that gives the best performance in terms of the overall smallest response, known as compliance, is then suggested. The results suggest that a longish OFPV layout has a lower hydroelastic response and the motion could be further reduced by increasing the global flexural stiffness via layout arrangement.

Under high-frequency operating conditions, the high-speed solenoid valve (HSV) experiences energy loss and heat generation, which significantly impact its operational lifetime. Reducing the energy loss of HSV without compromising its opening response characteristics poses a significant challenge. To address this issue, a finite element simulation model of HSV coupled with a current feedback model is constructed to investigate the synergistic effects of dynamic response and energy loss. Predictive models for the opening response time, HSV driving energy, and Joule energy using Back Propagation neural network (BPNN) are established. Furthermore, a multi-objective optimization study on the current driving strategy using Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) is conducted. After optimization, although there was a 6.24% increase in the opening response time, both HSV drive energy and Joule energy were significantly reduced by 15.67% and 22.49%, respectively. The proposed multi-objective optimization method for HSV driving strategy holds great significance in improving its working durability.

Wind power generation is one of the mainstream renewable energy resources. Voltage stability is as important as the frequency stability of a power system with a high penetration of wind power generation. The advantages of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission systems become more significant with the increase of both installed capacity and transmission distance in offshore wind farms. Therefore, this study discusses about various voltage control methods for wind turbines and HVDC transmission systems. First, various voltage control methods of a wind farm were introduced, and they include QV control and voltage droop control. The reactive power of a wind turbine varies with active power, while the active power from each wind turbine may be different owing to wake effects. Thus, QV and voltage droop control with varying gain values were also discussed in this paper. Next, the voltage control methods for a HVDC transmission system, such as power factor control, voltage control, and Vac-Q control, are also summarized and tested in this study. When a three-phase short circuit fault occurs or a suddan reactive power load increases, the system voltage would drop immediately. Thus, various voltage control methods for wind turbines or HVDC can make the system's transient response more stable. Therefore, this study implemented the simulation scenarios, including a three-phase short circuit fault at the point of common coupling (PCC) or a sudden increase of reactive power load, and adopted various voltage control methods, which aims to verify whether additional voltage control methods are effective to improve the performance of transient voltage.

A space charge density wireless measurement system based on the idea of distributed measurement is proposed for collecting and monitoring the space charge density in an ultra-high-voltage direct-current (UHVDC) environment. The proposed system architecture is composed of a number of wireless nodes connected with space charge density sensors and a base station. The space charge density sensor based on atmospheric ion counter method is elaborated and developed, and the ARM microprocessor and Zigbee radio frequency module are applied. The wireless network communication quality and the relationship between energy consumption and transmission distance in the complicated electromagnetic environment is tested. Based on the experimental results, the proposed measurement system demonstrates that it can adapt to the complex electromagnetic environment under the UHVDC transmission lines and can accurately measure the space charge density.

Low 25 OH vitamin D (25(OH)D) in preterm infants is a risk factor of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), but increased supplementation failed to demonstrate beneficial effect on BPD. In neonatal animal models, deficiency and excessive vitamin D exposure have been associated with increased mortality and lung histological alterations evocative of BPD. Our hypothesis is that 25(OH)D levels ≥ 120nmol/L is also a risk factor for BPD or death. This retrospective single-center cohort study included all infants born <31 weeks gestational age without major malformation with at least a determination of 25(OH)D <36 weeks corrected age and no determination <50 nmol/L. Routine 25(OH)D determination was performed at 1 month and monthly thereafter. A total of 175 infants were included. Infants with BPD or who died had a significantly lower term and weight, but a similar frequency of 25(OH)D ≥120nmol/L (50.5% vs 43.9%, p=0.53). The logistic regression identified weight (OR 0.997, 95%CI [0.995-0.998]) and term (OR 0.737, 95%CI [0.551-0.975]) as significantly associated with BPD or death; the occurrence of excessive 25(OH)D was not significantly associated (OR 1.029, 95%CI [0.503-2.093]). The present study did not demonstrate any significant association between excessive 25(OH)D after one month of age and BPD or death.

Swarf of aluminum alloy with high corrosion resistance and ductility was successfully converted into fine hydroreactive powders via its ball milling with silver powder and either lithium chloride or gallium. The later substances significantly intensified particle size reduction, while silver formed ‘cathodic’ sites (Ag, Ag2Al) promoting Al corrosion in aqueous saline solutions with hydrogen generation. The diffraction patterns, microphotographs, and elemental analysis results demonstrated partial aluminum oxidation in the samples and their contamination with tungsten carbide from milling balls. Those effects were responsible for obtaining hydrogen yields lower than expected. For AlCl3 solution at 60 °C, Al–LiCl–Ag, Al–LiCl, Al–Ga–Ag, and Al–Ga composites delivered (84.6±0.2), (86.8±1.4), (80.2±0.5), and (76.7±0.7)% of the expected hydrogen respectively. Modification with Ag promoted Al oxidation thus providing higher hydrogen evolution rates. The samples with Ag were tested in CaCl2 solution as well, for which the reaction proceeded much slower. At a higher temperature (80 °C) after 3 h of experiment, the hydrogen yields for Al–LiCl–Ag and Al–Ga–Ag powders were (46.7±2.1) and (31.8±1.9)%. The tested Ag-modified composite powders were considered promising for hydrogen generation and had a potential for further improvement to provide higher performance.

High Vacuum Flat Plate Collectors (HVFPCs) are the only type of Flat Plate Thermal Collectors capable of producing thermal energy for middle-temperature applications (until 180 °C). As the trend of research plans to develop new Selective Solar Absorbers to extend the range of HVFPC application until 250 °C, it is necessary to correctly evaluate the collector efficiency up to such temperature to predict the energy production accurately. We propose an efficiency model for these collectors based on the selective absorber optical properties. The proposed efficiency model explicitly includes the radiative heat exchange with the ambient, which is the main source of thermal losses for evacuated collectors at high temperatures. It also decouples the radiative losses that depend on the optical properties of the absorber adopted from the other thermal losses due to HVFPC architecture. The model has been validated by applying it to MT-Power HVFPC manufactured by TVP-Solar, and it has been used to predict the efficiency and energy production of HVFPC equipped with new, optimized selective solar absorbers developed in recent years.

This work deals with the performance evaluation of novel flat photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) modules under vacuum. Through a 1D (dimensional) steady-state-energy-balance numerical model developed in MATLAB, two different layouts are studied: the first consisting of a photovoltaic (PV) cell installed just below the glass encapsulating the flat panel, and the second where the PV cell is placed on the selective solar absorber (SSA). In both cases the thermal and electrical efficiencies have been evaluated at different SSA operating temperatures, in the range of 323 K to 423 K. The analysis has been conducted at different energy bandgap (E_bg) of the PV cell and assuming a variable transmittance or emittance of the PV cell, depending on the design. The two systems efficiency comparison has been carried out at the same operating temperature. Overall, this work highlights the importance of high vacuum insulation, which guarantees the reduction of convective thermal losses, and shows that the maximum energy is produced for PV cells with E_bg ≈1.5-1.7 eV, depending on layout and operating temperature, by including the thermal output in the PV-T optimization. The energy and exergy efficiencies obtainable using the proposed PV-T systems are considerably improved compared to the results previously reported in the literature.

Understanding of the decisive role of the interaction mechanism and kinetics in the combustion processes is highly relevant for the elaboration of optimal conditions for obtaining Mo-Cu composite powders. From this perspective, the efficient delivery of the reduction mechanism of copper and molybdenum oxides with combined Mg + C reducing agents at high heating rates is crucial to develop a valuable approach for the combustion synthesis of Mo-Cu composite powders. Herein, we shed light on the mechanism of the reactions in all the studied binary, ternary and quaternary systems contemporaneously demonstrating the effect of the heating rate on the conversion degree. The combination of two highly exothermic and speedy reactions (MoO3+3Mg and CuO+Mg vs MoO3+CuO+4Mg) led to a slow interaction with weak self-heating (dysynergistic effect) due to a change in the reaction mechanism. On the other hand, it has been shown that during the simultaneous utilization of the Mg and C reducing agents, the process begins exclusively with carbothermic reduction, and at relatively high temperatures it continues with magnesiothermic one. The effective activation energy values of the magnesiothermic stages of the studied reactions were determined by Kissinger isoconversional method.

We introduce firm solar forecasts as a strategy to operate optimally overbuilt solar power plants in conjunction with optimally sized storage systems so as to make up for any power prediction errors, hence entirely remove load balancing uncertainty emanating from grid-connected solar fleets. A central part of this strategy is plant overbuilding that we term implicit storage. We show that strategy, while economically justifiable on its own account, is an effective entry step to least-cost ultra-high solar penetration where firm power generation will be a prerequisite. We demonstrate that in absence of an implicit storage strategy, ultra-high solar penetration would be vastly more expensive. Using the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) as a case study, we determine current and future cost of firm forecasts for a comprehensive set of scenarios in each ISO electrical region, comparing centralized vs. decentralized production and assessing load flexibility’s impact. We simulate the growth of the strategy from firm forecast to firm power generation. We conclude that ultra-high solar penetration enabled by the present strategy, whereby solar would firmly supply the entire NYISO load, could be achieved locally at electricity production costs comparable to current NYISO wholesale market prices.

This paper presents a new high-efficiency-high-step-up based converter integrating two stype DC-DC Boost and Flyback coupled magnetic converter with recovery stage dedicated to smart HVDC distributed architecture in renewable energy production systems. Appropriate duty cycle ratio assumes that the recovery stage work with parallel charge and discharge to achieve high step-up voltage gain. Besides, the voltage stress on the main switch is reduced with a passive clamp circuit and thus, low on-state resistance Rdson of the main switch can be adopted to reduce conduction losses. The circuit is simple to control. As a final point of this research, the simulation and the prototype investigational results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of this proposed converter.

Commercial buildings are a significant consumer of energy worldwide. Logistics facilities, and specifically warehouses, are a common building type yet under-researched in the demand-side energy forecasting literature. Warehouses have an idiosyncratic profile when compared to other commercial and industrial buildings with a significant reliance on a small number of energy systems. As such, warehouse owners and operators are increasingly entering in to energy performance contracts with energy service companies (ESCOs) to minimise environmental impact, reduce costs, and improve competitiveness. ESCOs and warehouse owners and operators require accurate forecasts of their energy consumption so that precautionary and mitigation measures can be taken. This paper explores the performance of three machine learning models (Support Vector Regression (SVR), Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost)), three deep learning models (Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU)), and a classical time series model, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) for predicting daily energy consumption. The dataset comprises 8,040 records generated over an 11-month period from January to November 2020 from a non-refrigerated logistics facility located in Ireland. The grid search method was used to identify the best configurations for each model. The proposed XGBoost models outperform other models for both very short load forecasting (VSTLF) and short term load forecasting (STLF); the ARIMA model performed the worst.

The regulation of hepatic very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) secretion plays an important role in the pathogenesis of dyslipidemia and fatty liver diseases. VLDL is controlled by hepatic microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTTP). Mttp is regulated by carbohydrate response element binding protein (ChREBP) and small heterodimer partner (SHP). However, it is unclear whether both coordinately regulate Mttp expression and VLDL secretion. Here, adenoviral overexpression of ChREBP and SHP in rat primary hepatocytes induced and suppressed Mttp mRNA, respectively. However, Mttp induction by ChREBP was much more potent than suppression by SHP. Promoter assays of Mttp and the liver type pyruvate kinase gene revealed that SHP and ChREBP did not affect the transactivity of each other. Mttp mRNA and protein levels of Shp^/– mice were similar to those of wild-type; however, those of Chrebp^–/–Shp^–/– and Chrebp^–/– mice were much lower. Consistent with this, the VLDL particle number and VLDL secretion rates in Shp^–/–- mice were similar to wild-type, but were much lower in Chrebp^–/– and Chrebp^–/–Shp^–/–- mice. These findings suggested that ChREBP rather than SHP regulates VLDL secretion and that ChREBP and SHP do not affect the transactivities of each other.

In the current complex and uncertain macroeconomic situation, improving the inherent resilience of the new energy vehicle industry chain is the key to effectively addressing various risks and challenges, and achieving dynamic balance between high-quality industrial development and industrial chain security. Based on the basic concept of resilience and the actual situation of new energy vehicle industry chain development, this study constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system for the resilience of the new energy vehicle industry chain, which includes four dimensional first-level indicators of coping resistance, adaptive resilience, autonomous control and leading competitiveness. In addition, it is measured by combining the data related to the new energy vehicle industry chain in Changzhou City. Our study shows that the situation on the new energy vehicle industry chain is complicated, and the comprehensive evaluation index system is more favorable for evaluating its resilience level.

Ultralight power generation equipment has high requirements for the power density, continuous operation, and transient stability of the whole machine, and there is a direct conflict between high power density design and substantial stability control in the power unit design. In order to meet the power density requirements of ultra-light power stations, three main problems need to be solved, namely engine speed oscillation and flameout in the process of load power mutation, matching of the generator and engine torque, and stabilizing the voltage waveform of the AC output end. In this paper, we proposed an exquisite control strategy for ultralight power generation systems in engines, generators, and inverters. The effectiveness and practicability of the proposed strategy are verified by both simulation and experiment. The results show that the proposed control strategy can effectively solve the instability problem of the ultralights generator set and improve the stability of the system, where the response recovery can be achieved within 0.9 seconds under the condition of total load increase or decrease, and the mismatching degree of the generator following the engine is reduced by 90%. The strategy could also guarantee long-term stable operation with high-quality electrical energy output.

A two-layer Fe-Cr-Al-Zr surface alloy was synthesized on a zirconium substrate by magnetron sputtering and subsequent low-energy high-current electron-beam (LEHCEB) processing. Thicknesses of the top Fe69Cr20Al11 (at.%) relatively large-grained (~1 µm) and transition Fe-Zr Cr-Al amorphous layers were about 0.7 and 0.6 µm, respectively. In turn, the amorphous layer consisted of two Fe64–54Zr8–22Cr21–17Al8–7 and Fe40–16Zr42–78Cr12–4Al6–2 (at.%) sublayers, differing in both zirconium and iron concentrations in wide ranges, which were separated by another nanocrystalline interlayer. The Fe-Cr-Al-Zr surface alloy serve as a diffusion barrier, preventing interaction of the zirconium substrate with oxygen from an environment. It was thermally stable up to ≈1173 K.

This paper presents Mathematical Formulation for Neutrino-Fission of a heavy nuclei in Neutrino-environments. It has been proposed that neutrino fission is a dynamic two-process reaction, where more than one neutrino can be captured by target nucleus. A quantity named Neutrino-Zeta with units of eV^-1 has been defined to represent Neutrino-environments. Neutrino-zeta with assumed excited energy states for heavy nuclei A∼230-270 is estimated to be 0.0212 MeV^-1, with the probability of fission Barrier energy state P(E_x,f)= 0.169064014 with E_x,f =6MeV. P(E_x,f)=0.222664 is highest at zeta=0.1MeV^-1 . It has been shown that probabilities of certain excitation energy states and their corresponding decay reactions at those excitation energies can be equal for two neutrino-zetas. Neutron induced fission for different neutrinos hypothesize that probability of symmetric fission channels is higher at low neutrino-zetas, which can be tested experimentally.

Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber has been attracting increasing attention and has been studied in recent decades because of its good efficiency, high time resolution and relatively low cost. It has become a new standard technology for the Time of Flight system in particle and high energy physics experiments. In this paper, we introduce the operation principle and structure of the MRPC detector and review the applications on the Time of Flight system in several famous experiments, such as STAR, CBM and SoLID. The performances including time resolution and particle identification are discussed in detail. Some recent advances and perspectives with regard to the future development of the next generation MRPC are also outlined.

Post-concussion syndrome, recently recognized as a complication of mild traumatic brain injury, is considered a consequence of the summative effect of multiple concussions received over lifetime. In elderlies, the main mild brain trauma mechanism is fall (low impact force). Many falls are often not reported or noticed but may generate serious medical and medico-legal consequences. Our research question was to find if a single, very mild brain trauma can induce neuro-behavioral consequences in elderlies. One database was queried (PubMed – MeSH terminology) looking for histopathological, neuro-cognitive and behavioral changes that can be generated by sub-concussional trauma in senescent rodents, in comparison with young animals. 41 published research articles were selected. 17 of them used very mild brain trauma in young and senescent animals, in the same experiment (6 rats and 11 mice). 24 articles evaluated the effect of sub-threshold brain trauma in adult animals (no control group). Five trauma models were used (blast models were excluded). Neuro-inflammatory changes were detected immediate after very mild primary impact. In young animals, observed pathology disappeared fast (after 3 to 7 days). Increased apoptosis, mild axonal injury in white matter tracts plus maladaptive astrogliosis and microglial activation was stronger in aged animals, persisted over time (8 months) and significantly altered animals’ cognition and behavior. Associated preexisting pathology (hypertension, tau protein deposits, microbleeds, reactive inflammation) was often responsible for amplification of the primary impact results. As translation of observation is the weak spot of pathology and behavior animal research, further investigation is needed before to conclude that even a single, very mild brain trauma may have medical consequences on human senescent brain.

Multi-board electronic cases with high density and high power modules are widely used in industrial power supply management. With the improvement of case performance and miniaturization requirements, heat dissipation becomes one of the important factors to be considered in the design process. First,The existing small electronic thermal design methods focus on heat dissipation structure or heat source layout optimization,and ignores on-load test for modeling analysis. Second,The selected power module has on-load power consumption, resulting in relatively low calorific value and the effectiveness of thermal design cannot be verified. Third, The thermal lacks Intelligent monitoring and feedback control mechanism. In order to solve these problems, this paper designs a kind of heat dissipation case with intelligent temperature control based on high-power and high-density power supply array. Based on the extremely miniaturization design principle, we adopt the composite heat dissipation mode based on conduction and supplemented by forced air cooling . The case is made of magnesium and aluminum alloy with a perforated design. Finally, we compare and analyze with the existing cooling design. The results show that the case is smaller in volume, and the cooling performance parameters are slightly better than the existing case. Under the condition of high-density and high-power design, The output power of the whole system is not less than 10kw and the lowest packing-level density is not less than 47w/cm2 with high reliability, portability and practicability. It also provides technical support and prototype support for the standardized design of similar power arrays.

Super-high (x400) magnification dermoscopy (D400) is a new non-invasive imaging technique that has been shown to add information for the differential diagnosis of melanocytic lesions in a pilot study. Our study aimed to confirm if D400 can add details for the discrimination of clinically atypical nevus and melanoma. This is a retrospective observational, multicentric study enrolling patients who received an x20 (D20) and x400 (D400) magnification dermoscopic examination of pigmented skin lesions. Dermoscopic images were retrospectively evaluated by three observers for the presence/absence of nine D20 and twenty D400 dermoscopic features defined in the previous pilot study. Univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to find predictors of benign and malignant behaviors. At D20 atypical pigment network, blue-whitish veil, atypical vascular pattern, regression, and homogenous pattern were more frequent in melanoma than in nevi (p&lt;0.001). At D400 melanoma showed more frequently than benign lesions melanocytes with an irregular arrangement and irregular in shape and size (p&lt;0.001). Network with edged papillae was more frequent in benign lesions than melanomas (p&lt;0.001). Our study confirms that D400 can identify melanocytes with an irregular arrangement and irregular in shape and size in melanomas, adding information to the conventional D20 examination.

Chitosan (CTS) is widely used in agriculture as a soil amendment, plant growth regulator and promoter of cold resistance. However, the effects of CTS on strawberry seedlings under the combined stress of high-temperature and high-light are unclear. In this study, Xuelixiang strawberry was used as a test material, and 100 mg·kg-1 CTS solution was sprayed onto the leaves. We measured the chlorophyll content, membrane peroxidation, reactive oxygen species content, antioxidant enzyme content, AsA-GSH cycle activity and other related indicators of strawberry seedling leaves under the combined stress of high-temperature and high-light and found that CTS can increase the contents of antioxidants, increase the contents of osmotic adjustment substances, increase the activity of antioxidant enzymes activity,; remove reactive oxygen species over time, reduce the damage of reactive oxygen species to photosynthetic organs and cell membranes, and improve the photosynthesis efficiency of leaves of strawberry plants under high-temperature and high-light stress, thereby reducing damage to strawberry seedlings caused by high-temperature and high-light.

In-situ injection of steam for heating of the subsurface is an efficient method for the recovery of oil and gas from oil shale where permeability typically evolves with temperature. We reported measurements on Jimusar oil shales(Xinjiang, China) at different temperatures to 600℃ and under recreated in situ triaxial stresses to obtain permeability evolution with temperature and stress. Permeability of tight oil shales evolves with temperature to a threshold temperature and peak temperature. The threshold temperature was subjected to triaxial stresses. For Jimusar oil shale, the threshold temperature ranges from 200℃ to 250℃ at ground stress of buried depth of 500m and from 350℃ to 400℃ at buried depth of 1000m. The peak temperature was almost not subjected to triaxial stress and the range is from 450℃ to 500℃ for all Jimusar samples. Pyrolysis plays an important role in permeability evolution and fundamentally changes permeability tendency and magnitude. At high temperature permeability exhibits a little reduction due to stress effect but still remains a high level due to pyrolysis. The above results show that oil shale mass can change from tight porous media into highly permeable media and oil & gas can easily flow through oil shale stratum.

The firmware developed for the readout and trigger processing of the information emerging from BIS78-RPC Muon Spectrometer chambers in the ATLAS experiment at CERN, is presented here, together with data processing techniques, data acquisition software and tests of the readout chain system, on the road to make these chambers operational in the ATLAS experiment. This work is performed in the context of the BIS78-RPC project, which deals with the pilot deployment of a new generation of sMDT+RPC chambers in the experiment. Such chambers are planned to be fully deployed in the whole barrel inner layer of the Muon Spectrometer during the Phase-II upgrade of the ATLAS experiment. On-chamber front-ends include an amplifier, a discriminator ASIC and an LVDS transmitter. The signal is digitized by CERN HPTDC chips and then processed by an FPGA which is the heart of the readout and trigger processing, using various techniques. The work presented here is a continuation of the work presented in [1].

A novel technique suitable for propulsion of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is discussed in this paper. This approach utilizes the rotational energy of airborne gyro rotors and converts it into translational propulsion for the vehicle. The energy conversion is achieved by generating precisely directed centrifugal force pulses through short-duration rotor unbalances. The accurate control of the timing and magnitude of these unbalances is crucial for successful propulsion generation. Our first-order theory of controlled unbalance propulsion (CUP) predicts the potential for achieving high translational accelerations and vehicle velocities up to orbital levels. Power saving levitation of UAVs can be attained. In this paper, we provide traceable evidence that pulsed centrifugal propulsion is based on well-established laws of physics and can be realized using state-of-the-art technologies.

Optical characterization and thermal aging tests are performed on a sputter-deposited coating, consisting of SiO₂/Cr₂O₃/Cr/Cr₂O₃ layers, designed and developed as a selective solar absorber to be used for unconcentrated solar thermal applications. Both measurements are performed by using a home-made apparatus, which mimics a flat plate collector under high vacuum. A Performance Criterion (PC_η(T)), based on absorber efficiency is proposed, and a forecast of service lifetime is obtained. As a result of the thermal aging tests, the selective solar absorber under study appears to be highly efficient at mid temperatures (up to 573 K) and thermally stable at temperatures (up to 690 K).

High-strength wastewaters from a variety of sources, including the food industry, domestic septage and landfill leachate, are often hauled to municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for co-treatment. Due to their high organic loadings, these wastewaters can cause process upsets in both the WWTP’s liquid and solids treatment trains and consume organic treatment capacity, leaving less capacity available to service customers in the catchment area. A novel pre-treatment method, the Waste Activated Sludge-High Rate (WASHR) process, is proposed to optimize the co-treatment of high-strength wastewaters. The WASHR process combines the contact stabilization and sequencing batch reactor processes. It utilizes waste activated sludge from the municipal WWTP as its biomass source, allowing rapid start-up. Bench scale treatment trials of winery wastewater confirm the WASHR process can reduce loadings on the downstream WWTP’s liquid treatment and solids treatment trains. A case study approach is used to confirm the economic viability and environmental sustainability of the WASHR process compared to direct co-treatment using life cycle cost analyses and greenhouse gas emissions estimates.

Issues related to safe and abundant energy production have been prominent in recent years. This is particularly tr ue when society considers how to increase the quality of life by providing low-cost energy to citizens. A significant concern of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) relates to the environmental effects of energy production and energy use associated with climate change. Efforts to reduce fossil fuel use and increase the use of renewable energy, together with the price volatility of fossil fuels, have seriously impacted the economics of many of the oil-producing countries, particularly the Gulf States, which has led to efforts to make their economies more diverse and less dependent on oil production.

Background Although high-density lipoprotein has cardioprotective effects, the association between serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and hypertension is poorly understood. Objective We investigated whether low and high concentrations of HDL-C are associated with hypertension using a large healthcare dataset. Methods In a community-based cross-sectional study of 1,493,152 Japanese people aged 40–74 years who underwent a health checkup, blood pressures and clinical parameters, including nine HDL-C concentrations (20–110 mg/dL or over) were investigated. Results A crude U-shaped relationship was observed between the nine HDL-C concentrations and blood pressure in males (n = 830,669), while a left-to-right inverted J-shaped relationship was observed in females(n = 662,483). An age-adjusted logistic regression analysis showed J-shaped relationships (left-to-right inversion in females) between HDL-C and odds ratios for hypertension (≥140/90 mmHg), with lower limits of 60–79 mg/dL in males and 90–99 mg/dL in females, which were unchanged after adjusting for smoking, habitual exercise, alcohol consumption, and pharmacotherapy for hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. However, further adjustment for body mass index and serum triglyceride concentration revealed latent positive linear associations between HDL-C and hypertension, although the association between extremely high HDL-C (≥100 mg/dL) and hypertension was attenuated in non-alcohol drinkers. Conclusion Both low and extremely high HDL-C concentrations are associated with hypertension. The former association may be dependent on excess fat mass, which is often concomitant with low HDL-C, whereas the latter association may be dependent on frequent alcohol consumption.

The world is facing an energy crisis. Governments are seeking to provide universal energy access and guarantee energy security while trying to mitigate climate change. One possible solution is energy transitions towards low carbon energy systems. Among other things (physical infrastructure, public policy and regulatory enablers and knowledge and capacities) changes in the energy systems require a well informed and participative citizenship. Within this context the concept of energy literacy appears. Energy literacy is the understanding of how energy is generated, transported, stored, distributed and used, awareness about its environmental and social impacts and the knowledge to use it efficiently in the different sectors of the economy. This paper provides a systematic literature review in the Web of Science’s Core Collection. Most of the work done around energy literacy addresses its evaluation among different groups, particularly students at different levels, and the construction, application and evaluation of tools for improving energy literacy. Other frequently studied issues are the influence of energy literacy in decision making, its drivers and conceptual research about the topic. Energy enables citizens to effectively contribute to energy efficiency and sustainable development, nevertheless energy literacy is not strongly correlated to energy consumption habits.

With the ever-increasing rate, obesity has become an epidemiological problem throughout the globe comprising about 39% of the world population as of now. Among several reasons, disruption of the gut microbial ecosystem might contribute to the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders, including obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and other associated comorbidities. Though the mechanisms related to dysbiosis are unclear, diet might play a modulating role where different dietary approaches manipulate microbial richness and abundance as well as stability. For instance, shifting of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes ratio in the gut might have a role in association with the dietary approaches and ingestion duration. Along with altered gut microbial composition, microbial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) after ingestion of non-digestible dietary starches may have an impact on host metabolism by regulating lipogenesis, gluconeogenesis, and inflammation with potential associations to health and obesity. The dietary approaches like carbohydrates, fibre, protein, and/or fat diet at various arrangements can make a shift in the composition of gut microbiota if introduced for a short period. However, the unique pattern of the gut microbes usually remains the same along with the longer period of habitual diet. Though the short-term dietary intervention or circadian rhythm influences a transient change in gut microbes, other than habitual diet, the understanding related to long-term dietary change-induced permanent alterations is minimum. Alternatively, the usage of prebiotics, probiotics as well as postbiotics could be beneficial to overcome dysbiosis. This review highlights the current knowledge and the interaction between the human intestinal microbiota and diet as a modifying factor, in obesity allowing the scientists to uncover novel targets and tools to use as customized therapy.

The cornerstone of molecular magnetism is a detailed understanding of the relationship between structure and magnetic behaviour, i.e. the development of magneto-structural correlations. Traditionally, the synthetic chemist approaches this challenge by making multiple compounds that share a similar magnetic core but differ in peripheral ligation. Changes in the ligand framework induce changes in the bond angles and distances around the metal ions which are manifested in changes to magnetic susceptibility and magnetisation data. This approach requires the synthesis of series of different ligands and assumes that the chemical/electronic nature of the ligands and their coordination to the metal, the nature and number of counter ions and how they are positioned in the crystal lattice, and the molecular and crystallographic symmetry have no effect on the measured magnetic properties. In short, the assumption is that everything outwith the magnetic core is innocent, which is a huge oversimplification. The ideal scenario would be to have the same complex available in multiple structural conformations, and this is something that can be achieved through the application of external hydrostatic pressure, correlating structural changes observed through high pressure single crystal X-ray crystallography with changes observed in high pressure magnetometry, in tandem with high pressure inelastic neutron scattering (INS), high pressure electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and high pressure absorption/emission/Raman spectroscopy. In this review, which summarises our work in this area over the last 15 years, we show that the application of pressure to molecule-based magnets can (reversibly): (1) lead to changes in bond angles, distances and Jahn-Teller orientations; (2) break and form bonds; (3) induce polymerisation/depolymerisation; (4) enforce multiple phase transitions; (5) instigate piezochromism; (6) change the magnitude and sign of pairwise exchange interactions and magnetic anisotropy and (7) lead to significant increases in magnetic ordering temperatures.

A novel hybrid CSP-PV power plant is presented. Instead of the integration used in current hybrid power plants, where part of the PV production is charged into the thermal energy storage system through electrical resistors, the proposed system integrates both PV and thermal solar fields using a high-temperature heat pump. Both the heat pump and the heat engine are based on Brayton supercritical CO2 thermodynamic cycles. Such integration allows for charging the molten salts storage as if a central tower receiver field supplied the thermal energy, whereas parabolic trough collectors are employed. Unlike conventional hybrid plants, where the storage of PV production leads to a decrease in power injected into the grid throughout the day, the power injected by the proposed system remains constant. The heat engine efficiency is 44.4%, and the COP is 2.32. The LCOE for a 50 MWe plant with up to 12 hours of storage capacity is 171 $/MWh, which is lower than that of existing CSP power plants with comparable performance. Although the cost is higher compared to a PV plant with batteries, this hybrid system offers two significant advantages: it eliminates the consumption of critical raw materials in batteries, and all the electricity produced comes from a synchronous machine.

The purpose of this research was to analyze the moderating effect of clean energy innovation on the relationship between corporate carbon footprint and corporate profits in those industrial sectors associated with high demand for fossil fuels in which it is "hard to abate" CO₂e emissions. It used a longitudinal research design, in particular a panel study under a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, based on partial least squares. For the longitudinal moderation analysis, this research employed the Bayesian method by defining a multiple-indicator latent growth curve model (B-LGC model). A global sample was used consisting of 7,827 firm-year observations between 2015 and 2021 corresponding to 167 international firms. The results revealed a very significant impact of the corporate carbon footprint on corporate profits. Likewise, the results showed that innovations in clean energy, when measured as the consumption of renewable energy, positively moderates the relationship between the greenhouse gas emissions from the value chain associated with Scope 3 of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol, and the gross profit margin obtained. Besides the academic contribution represented by the moderating effect of clean energy innovation, these findings imply that a more detailed understanding of the emissions of the entire value chain (Scope 3 CO₂e) by executives and managers of high emitting CO₂e companies represents an effective mechanism to obtain higher profits, create competitive advantages and, at the same time, achieve a net zero emissions strategy. More importantly, public policy makers will be able to use these results to revise CO₂e-related policies paying more attention to the Scope 3 CO₂e emissions produced by these companies, to formulate regulatory and control mechanisms that stimulate clean energy innovation.

Lithium titanates are used in various applications, such as anode materials for lithium intercalation (Li4Ti5O12) or breeding materials in fusion reactors (Li2TiO3). Here, we report the formation of nano-crystalline lithium titanates by a mechanochemical approach and present a deeper insight into their structural characteristics by PXRD and solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The compounds were synthesized in a high energy planetary ball mill with varying milling parameters and different grinding tools. NaCl type Li2TiO3 (α-Li2TiO3) was formed by dry milling of lithium hydroxide with titania (rutile or anatase) and by a milling induced structure transformation of monoclinic β Li2TiO3 or spinel type Li4Ti5O12. Heating of mechanochemical prepared α Li2TiO3 induces a phase transformation to the monoclinic phase similar to hydrothermal reaction products, but a higher thermal stability was observed for the mechanochemical formed product. Microstructure and crystallographic structure were characterized by PXRD via Rietveld analysis. Detailed phase analysis shows the formation of the cubic phase from the various educts. A set of two lattice parameters for α Li2TiO3 was refined, depending on the presence of OH- during the milling process. An average crystallite size of less than 15 nm was observed for the mechanochemical generated products. The local Li environment detected by 6Li SPE MAS NMR revealed Li defects in the form of tetrahedral instead of octahedral site occupation. Subsequent adjustment of the structural model for Rietveld refinement leads to better fits, supporting this interpretation.

The term sustainable energy is very familiar to all of us yet its exact definition or meaning has so far been vague. To date the widely adopted definition of sustainable energy has been inspired by the definition of sustainable development formulated more than 30 years ago in the Our Common Future - the UN’s Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development. The current definition conceals the true spirit of the Report and this has some ramifications. It raises the question as to whether we have put too much emphasis on attaining the future dimension of sustainability in the middle of the situation where the energy survivability is in fact the real issue in many parts of the world. In this paper the role of energy in sustaining livelihoods of low income communities is discussed. Existing definition of sustainable energy that the whole world seems to have embraced is looked at critically and its downsides exposed. The identified pillars of sustainable energy and the associated issues is discussed and the need for an additional pillar, i.e. affordability is discussed and called for. This paper will argue that global definition of sustainable energy seems inappropriate and should be jettisoned and a more realistic definition should be formulated, adopted and embraced at local (i.e. national or regional) level taking into account local attributes and factors. The current push for a transition from the reliance on conventional energy sources to ‘cleaner’ energy sources (generally associated with renewable energy) has further exacerbated the issue of energy affordability that has made the conditions even more dire for so many groups of the world population. In the midst of this situation, those who push for a rushed energy transition seem to be those who also produce unsustainably high carbon footprint but who can easily offset their carbon foot-print through the ‘net-zero’ concept.

Earth’s climate cannot be ignored any longer. Policies are vital in order to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. The energy crisis created by the Russo-Ukrainian war and pandemic affected the EU and its member states. The focus is more than ever on its energy policies and independence. The EU revised the energy strategy in response to Russia’s blackmail, and it sped up all the processes for energetic independence from Russia. This benefited the climate change policies the most, as all the measures involved reducing energy consumption and increasing renewables, thus contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As a member state of the EU, Romania is committed to complying with EU regulations. With a high degree of energy independence compared with the other EU members, Romania plans to become a regional energy provider and modernize the energy infrastructure internally as a response to Russia’s unprovoked aggression. The measures that the EU and Romania implemented after the war started in 2022 have come to fruition, and the effects are becoming visible a year later. This study aims to study the energy strategy of Romania in correlation with the EU strategy in the turbulent period of pandemics and war between 2019 and 2023, with the latest available data.

This study advances the field of solar irradiance nowcasting by introducing a discrete-level classification approach, diverging from traditional continuous measurement methods. Grounded in a need for cost-effective and modular solutions, the research employs high-resolution computer vision coupled with a deep learning framework to predict Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI). By harnessing the capabilities of a Logitech C900 1080p HD camera and an NVIDIA Jetson module, the study achieves real-time data processing, pivotal for CSP systems' operational efficiency. The core of the methodology is the ResNet-50 convolutional neural network, refined via transfer learning on a bespoke dataset, culminating in a predictive accuracy of 85.78%. This discrete classification model contrasts with conventional, costly instruments like the MS-57, offering a novel and accessible alternative for DNI estimation. Such innovation not only demonstrates high predictive accuracy but also signifies a shift towards less resource-intensive and more adaptable solar energy forecasting tools, contributing a significant leap towards optimizing renewable energy systems.

The Universe at last scattering is locally treated as an unbound gas. The internal kinetic energy of the gas effectively constitutes a scalar energy field. The gas’s adiabatic expansion is entropic, giving repulsive entropic pressure. Gas kinetic energy is converted into entropic energy gain (63%) and isoentropic work against gravity (37%) at a constant 63:37 ratio. A three-term expression of the gas’s Hubble parameter is derived and found to be exclusively dependent on its mass density. At last scattering, this model gives a Hubble constant that is 125% of the value found from the ΛCDM model. After partition of Universal mass into the cosmic web of galaxies and the intergalactic medium (IGM), expansion came mostly from the IGM, presently comprising about 84% of total Universal mass and 90% of its volume. The onset of star formation within the cosmic web increased the IGM’s kinetic energy through the action of starlight, giving free electrons as an additional repository. Many of these free electrons are suprathermal. Suprathermal energy from both electrons and protons comprises about half of the IGM’s total kinetic energy and is expressed in the ΛCDM model as “dark energy” Λ. Entropic pressure derives from thermodynamic laws not found within general relativity.

This article aims to assess the benefits of floor-slab insulation measures using extruded polystyrene (XPS) and polyisocyanurate (polyiso) insulation materials at various levels of insulation thicknesses for a detached residential building. The EnergyPlus simulation analysis was carried out within the seven energy zones (represented by eight locations) of South Africa in accordance with the South African national code for building energy efficiency (SANS10400-XA). The energy savings and payback periods due to use of the insulation over a lifecycle period of 50 years were assessed. Cape Town (zone 4) behaved differently from other locations and hardly benefitted from the application of floor-slab insulation measures. Generally, polyiso insulation performed better than XPS, for vertical gap insulation. For vertical gap insulation, lower insulation thicknesses required higher insulation depths to maximize energy savings. Similarly, lower insulation thicknesses required higher perimeter insulation widths to maximize energy savings, for the horizontal perimeter insulation method. The locations that benefitted most from vertical gap floor-slab insulation were Pretoria (zone2), Kimberley (zone6), Nelspruit (zone3), Fraserburg (zone7), Welkom (zone1), Mthatha (zone5), Ixopo (zone5H) and Cape Town (zone4) in that order. This order was almost similar with those for the horizontal perimeter floor-slab insulation and horizontal full floor-slab insulation methods.

Rocks are materials with a wide variety of structures and properties. These can be unprocessed conglomerates of conglomerated minerals as well as crystallized outcrop or metamorphic rocks. Their processing, especially shaping, poses many technological difficulties. Therefore, it is very important to answer the question of how these natural materials yield to high-pressure water jet and abrasive water. It is equally important to determine the effect of key process parameters such as pressure, water nozzle diameter and feed rate on cutting efficiency. The first two parameters determine the water output and power of the jet, while the third determines the jet erosion time per unit volume of material. Their interdependence, using appropriate evaluation indicators, allows to determine the energy intensity of processing and directions for its minimization.

In the recent concrete industry, high fluidity concrete is being widely used for the pouring of dense reinforced concrete. Normally, in the case of high fluidity concrete, it includes high binder contents, so it is necessary to replace part of the cement through admixtures such as fly ash to procure economic feasibility and durability. This study shows the mechanical properties and field applicability of high fluidity concrete that using mass of fly ash as alternative materials of cement. The high fluidity concrete mixed with 50% fly ash was measured to manufacture concrete that applies low water/binder ratio to measure the mechanical characteristics as compressive strength and elastic modulus. Also, in order to evaluate the field applicability, high fluidity concrete containing high volume fly ash was evaluated that fluidity, compressive strength, heat of hydration and drying shrinkage of concrete.

Following an updated outlook of global energy production and utilization, we show through selected examples from both developing and developed countries how distributed generation from renewable energy sources, and from solar energy in particular, is the key solution to ending energy poverty across the world. Guidelines aimed at policy makers suggest a systems view of energy that will be instrumental in guiding the transition from fossil fuels to combustion-free renewable energy for all energy end uses.

Machine learning (ML) has found increasing use in research on energy conversion and storage technologies, in particular, so-called sustainable technologies. While often ML is used to directly optimize the parameters or phenomena of interest in the space of features, in this perspective, we focus on using ML to construct objects and methods that help in or enable the modeling of the underlying phenomena. We highlight the need for machine learning from very sparse and unevenly distributed numeric data in multidimensional spaces in these applications. After a brief introduction of some common regression-type machine learning techniques, we will focus on more advanced ML techniques which use these known methods as building blocks of more complex schemes and thereby allow working with extremely sparse data and also allow generating insight. Specifically, we will highlight the utility of using representations with sub-dimensional functions by combining the high-dimensional model representation ansatz with machine learning methods like neural networks or Gaussian process regressions in applications ranging from heterogeneous catalysis to nuclear energy.

In this study, we discuss the properties of absolute void space or the universe at zero seconds, and how these properties play a vital role in creating a mechanism in which the very first particle gets created and we find the limit in which when the absolute void volume reaches will lead to the collapse that leads to the creation of the first particle. Later we discuss the standard model explanation through the elementary dimensions theory, as according to the elementary dimensions theory study that was peer-reviewed at the end of 2020, everything in the universe is made from four elementary dimensions, these dimensions are the three spatial dimensions (X, Y, and Z) and the force equivalent.

The European Union Green Deal aims at curbing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and introducing clean energy production. But to achieve energy efficiency, the opportunity cost of different energies must be assessed. In this article, we analyse two different systems for the treatment of wastewater that, at the same time, produce energy for its own operation. On the one hand, high-rate algal ponds system (HRAP) is considered; on the other hand, we study a conventional activated sludge system which uses photovoltaic power (AS+PV). This paper offers a viability analysis of both systems based on the capacity to satisfy their energetic consumption. In order to assess this viability, the probability of not achieving the energy consumption threshold at least one day is studied. The results point that the AS+PV system self-sufficiency is achieved using much lesser surfaces than those of HRAP system (for the former, less than 6.500 m2, for the latter 40.000 m2). However, the important AS capital cost makes still the HRAP system more economic, although storage provides a great advantage for using the AS+PV in locations where we have a lot of irradiance. This viability analysis, along with the opportunity cost analysis, will be used to assess these two projects devoted to the treatment of wastewater.

It is agreed that before the creation of particles, space was absolutely devoid of matter and radiation. In this study, we assume that the absolute void comprises four dimensions; three spatial dimensions and a force equivalent representing the factor of change among the elementary dimensions. Our hypothesis is based on the expansion of the spatial dimensions, and the subsequent space instability. We demonstrated that when the outward force equivalent strength exceeds a critical limit, it collapses inward to restore equilibrium in the system. Then, the void inside the collapsed force equivalent acts as a void in a confined system, the energy of the system remains conserved at all stages. With the decrease of the spatial dimensions due to the collapse the energy density increases, at the final stage the energy in the confined system is concentrated forming a solid state of energy. In which, this solid state of energy is a particle become the source of the elementary particles. The created high-energy sources are controlled by the internal and external forces of the source and all entities in its external force field until equilibrium is reached. The article gives the summary of Big bang theory and its problems which are further discussed in inflation. This article will help in understanding that how elementary dimensions play a role in the formation of elementary particles. The quark gluon plasma, inflation, gravitational collapse, and gravitational lensing provide evidence supporting the elementary dimensions theory presented in this paper.