The present work sets out the evaluation of composite laminates through optimization objective functions. Genetic Algorithms (GA), as well as Simulated Annealing (SA), were performed in order to determine the optimal ply orientations of a fiber-reinforced polymer laminate for three given load cases: 1) in-plane loads, 2) combined moments, and 3) in-plane loads and combined moments. It searches the optimal orientation layup, which fulfills at the same time both the maximum strain criterion and the Tsai-Wu failure criterion. Construction of an objective function based on the strains and the stresses involves a minimization process to deformations and a maximization of the safety factor. For the first load case, the initial solution is [±45/0/90/±45]s, and the best solution is [(45/135)2/452]s. For the second load case, [-45/45/45/-45/0/90]s is the initial layup sequence, then the best solution obtained is [(45/-45)2/452]s, where plies at 0° and 90º are not necessary even when axial loads are applied. For the third study case, the original layup sequence is [0/45/-45/45/0/90]s; meanwhile, the best solution calculated is [21/24/145/140/45/49]s. An interesting observation is that each pair of layers has a 5º gap. The simulations show that the qualitative results from the GA are better than the SA, but with a significantly higher computational cost. These kinds of computational tools are expected to be used as a reference guide for an optimal fiber configuration with respect to the common orientations used when composite laminates are designed for a structural application.

The fermentation of syngas is an attractive technology that can be integrated with gasification of lignocellulosic biomass. The coupling of these two technologies allows for treating a great variety of raw materials. Lignin usually hinders microbial fermentations; thus, the thermal decomposition of the whole material into small molecules allows for the production of fuels and other types of molecules using syngas as substrate, a process performed at mild conditions. Syngas contains mainly hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in varying proportions. These gases have a low volumetric energy density, resulting more interesting its conversion into higher energy density molecules. Syngas can be transformed by microorganisms, thus avoiding the use of expensive catalysts, which may be subject to poisoning. However, the fermentation is not free of suffering from inhibitory problems. The presence of trace components in syngas may cause a decrease in fermentation yields or cause a complete cessation of bacteria growth. The presence of tar and hydrogen cyanide are just examples of this fermentation's challenges. Syngas cleaning impairs significant restrictions in technology deployment. The technology may seem promising, but it is still far from large-scale application due to several aspects that still need to find a practical solution.

Concrete is a heterogeneous material, one of the most widely used materials on the Planet and a major consumer of natural resources. Carbon emissions are largely due to the extensive use of cement in its composition, which contributes to 7% of global CO2 emissions. Extraction and processing of aggregates is another sources of CO2 emissions. Many countries have succeeded in moving from a linear economy to a circular economy by partially or fully replacing non-renewable natural materials with alternatives from waste recycling. One such alternative consists in partially replacing cement by supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in concrete mixes. Thus, the work is based on the experimental investigation of the fresh and hardened properties of civil engineering concrete, hereafter referred to as road concrete, in which, crushed river aggregate have been replaced with recycled waste aggregates of uncemented concrete and partial replacement of cement with a SCM material in the form of glass powder that improves the durability characteristics of this sustainable concrete. The microstructure and compositional features of the selected optimum composite has been also investigated by polarized light optical microscopy (OM) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction by the Powder method (PXRD) for the qualitative analysis of crystalline constitutive materials.

Paraffin wax stores energy in the form of latent heat at a nearly constant temperature during melting and releases this energy during solidification. This effect is used in industrial energy storage. An unusual change in the shape of a melted droplet of paraffin wax placed on a relatively cold glass plate is studied. As the droplet solidifies, its upper surface becomes nearly flat and a dimple is formed in the center of this surface, making the droplet look like a fruit (pumpkins are more commonly shaped like this, but the authors prefer apples). A series of experiments, as well as physical and numerical modeling of the droplet's thermal state, taking into account the formation of a mushy zone between liquidus and solidus, made it possible to understand the role of gravity and gradual increase in viscosity and density of paraffin wax on changing the droplet shape and, in particular, to clarify the mechanism of formation of the dimple on its upper.

Iapetus, a Saturn moon, shows the most differentiated albedo dichotomy of the Solar System. The dark leading side has a lower albedo than the bright trailing side. Spectral data on the visible light reveal the existence of two types of materials on the surface. The darkening in the leading side is thought to be originated by the presence of organic material and carbonaceous compounds on surface, while the trailing side is covered by water ice due to migration processes from the dark side. On airless bodies like Iapetus, the surface escape speed is greater than the speed of water molecules, resulting in the retention of a H2O atmosphere that allows some species to get diffused through it. Here, there were performed simulations of the evolution of the surface temperature for each of the two hemispheres of Iapetus. The results showed a slow yet steady increment of temperatures for both sides, with a steeper slope for the dark hemisphere. It was also simulated how much energy budget can be accumulated in both sides and its consequences. Finally, we calculated the diffusion coefficients for ammonia, methane, and water ice. The results let us infer how these compounds could evolve over time.

In order to study the performance of a new type of cement-based grouting material under the coupling effect of freezing-thawing cycle and sulfate attack, experiments were designed and carried out. The damage mechanism of the material under the coupling effect of freezing-thawing and Na2SO4 solution was analyzed by measuring the mass change, relative dynamic elastic modulus, compressive strength loss and microstructure of the new grouting material. With increasing freeze-thaw cycles, mass loss and compres-sive strength loss of the sample in 15% Na2SO4 solution gradually increase, and the relative dynamic elastic modulus gradually decreases. During a 30-cycle freeze-thaw cycle, the mass loss rate, compressive strength loss rate, and relative dynamic elastic modulus of the sample are 4.17%, 24.59%, and 84.3%, respectively, showing good corrosion resistance and frost resistance durability. Microscopic analysis showed that SO42- caused the decomposition of C-S-H gel in the sample and the formation of Gypsum, and the widening of crack width aggravated the internal deterioration, indicating that the material deterioration rate increased under the dual-factor coupling effect.

The paper analyzes the phenomenon that condition the durability and reliability of a type of dental bur based on the wear of the active part and with effect on its quality. For the experimental study, a conical-cylindrical dental bur and a sample dental material in cobalt-chromium alloy, cylindrical shape, tested on a specially made experimental installation were used. The paper was limited to the consideration of a single parameter (loss of mass, mw by wear of the active part of the dental bur tested) for the establishment the durability and reliability, useful for the extension of the lifetime or even optimization of its operation. The wear phenomenon of the active part of dental bur is studied based on the results and experimental data obtained in the work process that was validated by interpolation and led to polynomial functions which approximate very well the dependent parameter, mw, considered in the experimental program. The results of the interpolation showed that in the first 11 h of work, the dental bur works with high efficiency, after which it can be easily decommissioned (optimizing operation, possibly constructive solutions); i.e., it should be replaced with a new one (criterion for replacing of worn dental bur).

One of the most popular techniques for determining electrical properties of material is the free-space measurement technique. With the potential for new applications requiring efficient, accurate and broadband material measurement systems using higher millimeter-wave and terahertz frequencies, the free-space measurement method has received renewed interest. This is mainly due to its simplicity, favorable properties as a non-destructive method, and it allows transmission and reflection measurements without any physical contact with the sample. This paper reviews and discusses state- of-the-art free space material measurement systems, starting with the different measurement techniques available for material characterization, their important concepts, post-processing in determining their properties, and progress towards expanding their use at higher frequencies. Also, this paper reviews dielectric material characterization using the free space method focusing on their application extension towards the higher frequencies. Besides, the algorithms for conversion methods and usage of lens in free space material measurement system was discussed in this paper. Finally, a future perspective on the outlook of this free space method is presented prior to the conclusion.

Several methods of processing wood into strong, durable products for the construction industry provide transformative opportunities to substitute for less sustainable building materials. Carbon storage is a further advantage, with the added possibility of combustion for bioenergy at end of life. Intense research activity in this area is expected to open up new markets for wood fiber during the lifetime of trees now being planted. Here, wood-derived materials are classified according to the particle size, from metres to nanometres, into which the wood is fragmented before reconstitution. Materials made by densifying or chemically modifying solid wood with no fragmentation are already in production for exterior doors, window frames and cladding, with improved uniformity and stability compared with unmodified wood. Pre-commercial developments promise further gains in durability and strength. Emerging developments extend these process technologies to wood that has been chipped or stranded or pulped, retaining the above advantages over raw timber for weather-facing applications and adding processability by moulding or extrusion. Crucially, the raw material does not then need to be sawn timber but can be bioenergy-grade wood biomass. This will facilitate afforestation strategies that combine the aims of carbon sequestration and biodiversity.

High-performance anodes are contributed to nanostructure of transition metal oxides for rechargeable Li-ion batteries (LIBs). In this work, we report the fabrication of high-performance anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, MnO2 nanotube directly grown into fabrics of carbon nanofibers, the MnO2/Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopies. When tested as the anode material in LIBs, the MnO2/CNFs exhibit superior performance and excellent long cycling performance with a reversible capacity of 835 mA h g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 after the 133 th cycle, a high initial specific capacity of 1094 mA h g-1 at a current density of 0.1 A g-1. The MnO2/CNFs demonstrates notable specific capacities, specifically, with a coulombic efficiency of 99.5 %, both stability and capacity are conspicuously above literature data. These impressive results indicate that MnO2/CNFs has great potential for high-energy and high-power energy storage applications.

Manual material handling tasks in industry cause work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Exoskeletons are being introduced to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries. This study investigated the effect of using a passive lumbar exoskeleton in terms of moderate ergonomic risk. Eight participants were monitored by electromyogram (EMG) and motion capture (MoCap) while performing tasks with and without the lumbar exoskeleton. The results showed a significant reduction in the root mean square (VRMS) for all muscles tracked: erector spinae (8%), semitendinosus (14%), gluteus (5%), and quadriceps (10.2%). The classic fatigue parameters showed a significant reduction in the case of the semitendinosus: 1.7% zero-crossing rate, 0.9% mean frequency, and 1.12% median frequency. In addition, the logarithm of the normalized Dimitrov’s index showed reductions of 11.5, 8, and 14% in erector spinae, semitendinosus, and gluteus, respectively. The calculation of range of motion in the relevant joints demonstrated significant differences, but in almost all cases, the differences were smaller than 10. The findings of the study indicate that the passive exoskeleton reduces muscle activity and introduces a minor change of strategies for motion. Thus, EMG and MoCap appear to be appropriate measurements for designing an exoskeleton assessment procedure.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been widely used in nanomedicine during the last few years. However, their potential is limited by their intrinsic properties resulting, for instance, in lack of control in drug release processes or complex detection for in vivo imaging. Recent attempts in creating hybrid nanomaterials combining MIPs with inorganic nanomaterials succeeded in providing a wide range of new interesting properties suitable for nanomedicine. Through this review, we aim to illustrate how hybrids molecularly imprinted polymers may improve patient care with enhanced imaging, treatments and combination of both.

In this work, fluorinated graphene nanoscrolls (FGN) were synthesized via facile chemical methods under simple and mild conditions. Interestingly, the formation of the featured FGN was significantly solvent sensitive. Experimental results indicated that in the presence of aprotic solvent, for example, N,N dimethylformamide (DMF), the reaction system inclined to form the interesting FGN nanostructures. The structure and morphology of the prepared FGN were detailed characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) etc. The obtained FGN was used as a cathode material for primary lithium ion batteries with superior discharge specific capacity (eg. 979.3 mAhg-1), stable discharge platform and high energy density (eg. 2287.9 Wh kg-1), which fosters it a high density, low cost and durable candidate for cathode material for lithium ion batteries..

An equilibrium problem of the Kirchhoff-Love plate containing a nonhomogeneous inclusion is considered. It is assumed that elastic properties of the inclusion depend on a small parameter characterizing width of the inclusion $\varepsilon$ as $\varepsilon^N$ with $N<1$. The passage to the limit as the parameter $\varepsilon$ tends to zero is justified, and an asymptotic model of a plate containing a thin inhomogeneous hard inclusion is constructed. It is shown that there exists two types of thin inclusions: rigid inclusion ($N<-1$) and elastic inclusion ($N=-1$). The inhomogeneity disappears in the case of $N\in (-1,1)$.

Carbonaceous material (CM) is common in meta-sediments and is generally interpreted to be intimately associated with gold mineralization. For the Bumo deposit in Hainan Province, South China, CM is mainly hosted by greenschist facies- to amphibolite-facies metamophic rocks of the Paleo- to Mesoproterozoic Baoban Group and by auriferous veins and is used as an important gold prospecting indicator. However, the genesis of CM and the relationship with gold mineralization are still not clear. Field work and thin section observation indicates that two types of CM occur, i.e., layered and veinlet. Layered CM, up to meters thick, prevails in the deposit. More importantly, Au-bearing sulfides are commonly distributed along the boundary between the quartz veins and layered CM. In contrast, veinlet CM, co-precipitated with gold and sulfides, has the thickness of micro- to centi- meters, and these thin veins occur in quartz veins and hydrothermally altered rocks. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis indicates that layered CM has a stringy shape and laminate structure, while veinlet CM occurs as isometric particles. Raman carbonaceous material geothermometer indicates that layered CM with high maturity is formed at elevated temperatures of 400 – 550°C, consistent with X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. In contrast, veinlet CM with low maturity is formed at 200 – 350°C, generally consistent with gold mineralization. In addition, layered CM has δ13C values ranging from -30 to -20%, demonstrating a biogenic origin. Consequently, it is interpreted that layered CM is formed by a pre-ore metamorphic event during Caledonian, and its reducing nature promotes gold precipitation via destabilization of aqueous Au bisulfide complexes or facilitating sulfidation. Veinlet CM is hydrothermal origin, and its precipitation modified the chemical conditions of ore fluids, leading to the destabilization of Au complexes and thus favorable for mineralization.

In the last decade, the drone market has grown rapidly for both civil and military purposes. Due to their versatility, drones demand is constantly increasing, with several industrial players joining the venture to transfer urban mobility to the air. This has exacerbated the problem of noise pollution, mainly due to the relatively lower altitude of these vehicles and to the proximity of their routes to extremely densely populated areas. In particular, both the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic optimization of the propulsive system and of its interaction with the airframe are key aspects of the design of aerial vehicles for the success or the failure of their mission. The industrial challenge involves finding the best performance in terms of loading, efficiency and weight, and, at the same time, the most silent configuration. For this reason, research has focused on an initial localization of the noise sources and, on further analysis, of the noise generation mechanism, focusing particularly on directivity and scattering. The aim of the present study is to review the noise source mechanisms and the state-of-the-art technologies available in literature for its suppression, focusing especially on the fluid-dynamic aspects of low Reynolds numbers of the propulsive system and on the interaction of the propulsive-system flow with the airframe.

Thermophysical characterization of three paraffin waxes (RT27, RT21 and RT35HC) is carried out in this study using DSC, TGA and transient plane source technics. Then, a numerical study of their melting in a rectangular enclosure is examined. The enthalpy-porosity approach is used to formulate this problem in order to understand the heat transfer mechanism during the melting process. The analysis of the solid-liquid interface shape, the temperature field shows that the conduction is the dominant heat transfer mode in the beginning of the melting process. It is followed by a transition regime and the natural convection becomes the dominant heat transfer mode. The effects of the Rayleigh number and the aspect ratio of the enclosure on the melting phenomenon are studied and it is found that the intensity of the natural convection increases as the Rayleigh number is higher and the aspect ratio is smaller. In the second part of the numerical study, a comparison of the performance of paraffins waxes during the melting process is conducted. Results reveals that from a kinetically RT21 is the most performant but in term of heat storage capacity, it was inferred that RT35HC is the most efficient PCM.

Sodium substitution Li1-xNaxMn2O4 cathodes were synthesized by a solid-state reaction method. The morphologies and crystal structures of Li1-xNaxMn2O4 were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. All Li1-xNaxMn2O4 samples exhibited a single phase LiMn2O4 spinel structure with good crystallinity. The effect of Na+ ions on the electrochemical performance of Li1-xNaxMn2O4 was investigated by galvanostatic charge-discharge test. The results showed that lithium substituted by sodium deteriorated its capacity retention but enhance its discharge capacity when it worked at large current densities. The initial discharge capacity was 114.2 mAh/g for Li0.94Na0.06Mn2O4, and 93.1 mAh/g remained after 300 cycles at a current density of 2220 mA/g in the voltage range 3.0–4.3 V at room temperature.

In this work a research on pulsed electrochemical micromachining of Stainless Steel is presented. A suitable equipment to study the process is described as well as a fitting procedure to machine and measure the variables involved. A tool of Tungsten with a tip of about 5 mm diameter sunk in an electrolyte of NaNO₃ is used for the process. The pulse on-time must be maintained in the order of ns to achieve a good current confinement, since the tool is active. Some experiments were made to assess the most important variables of the process, as current confinement, surface roughness, material removal rate and efficiency. It is observed that the current confinement get worse when the pulse on-time increases, as well as surface roughness. The material removal rate and the efficiency increase with the voltage amplitude and the pulse on-time. The voltage amplitude must be higher than 12 V so that the phenomenon of passivation disappears. There is a compromise in the choice of the variables, so a suitable combination of parameters is determined so that a good material removal rate with an acceptable result is achieved.

Material efficiency is a key element of new thinking to address the challenges of reducing impacts on the environment and of resource scarcity, whilst at the same time meeting service and functionality demands on materials. Directly related to material efficiency is the concept of the Circular Economy, which is based on the principle of optimising the utility embodied in materials and products through the life cycle. Whilst steel, as a result of high recycling rates, is one of the most ‘circular’ of all manufactured materials, significant opportunities for greater material efficiency exist, which are yet to be widely implemented. In the field of Life Cycle Management, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is commonly used to assess the environmental benefits of recovering and recycling materials through the manufacturing supply chain and at end-of-life. As well as containing information to calculate environmental impacts, LCA models also provide the flows of materials through the product life cycle and can also be used to quantify material efficiency and the circularity of a product system. Using an example taken from renewable energy generation, this paper explores the correlation between product circularity and the environmental case for strategies designed to improve material efficiency. An LCA-based methodology for accounting for the recovery and re-use of materials from the supply chain, and at end-of-life, is used as the basis for calculating the carbon footprint benefits of five material efficiency scenarios. Resulting carbon footprints were then compared with a number of proposed material circularity indicators. Two conclusions from this exercise were that i) LCA methodologies based around end-of-life approaches are well placed for quantifying the environmental benefits of material efficiency and circular economy strategies and ii) when applying indicators relating to the circularity of materials these should also be supported by LCA studies.

Carbonous nanomaterials are promising additives for composite coatings for heat-dissipation materials because of their excellent thermal conductivity. Here, copper/carbonous nanomaterial composite coatings were prepared using nanodiamond (ND) as the carbonous nanomaterial. The copper/ND composite coatings were electrically deposited onto copper substrates from a continuously stirred copper sulfate coating bath containing NDs. NDs were dispersed by ultrasonic treatment, and the initial bath pH was adjusted by adding sodium hydroxide solution or sulfuric acid solution before electrodeposition. The effects of various coating conditions—the initial ND concentration, initial bath pH, stirring speed, electrical current density, and the amount of electricity—on the ND content of the coatings were investigated. Furthermore, the surface of the NDs was modified by hydrothermal treatment to improve ND incorporation. A higher initial ND concentration and a higher stirring speed increased the ND content of the coatings, whereas a higher initial bath pH and a greater amount of electricity decreased it. The electrical current density showed a minimum ND content at approximately 5 A/dm². Hydrothermal treatment, which introduced carboxyl groups onto the ND surface, improved the ND content of the coatings. A copper/ND composite coating with a maximum of 3.85 mass% ND was obtained.

Smart Internet of Vehicles (IoVs) combined with Artificial Intelligence (AI) will contribute to vehicle decision-making in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). Multi-Vehicle Pursuit games (MVP), a multi-vehicle cooperative ability to capture mobile targets, is becoming a hot research topic gradually. Although there are some achievements in the field of MVP in the open space environment, the urban area brings complicated road structures and restricted moving spaces as challenges to the resolution of MVP games. We define an Observation-constrained MVP (OMVP) problem in this paper and propose a Transformer-based Time and Team Reinforcement Learning scheme (T3OMVP) to address the problem. First, a new multi-vehicle pursuit model is constructed based on decentralized partially observed Markov decision processes (Dec-POMDP) to instantiate this problem. Second, by introducing and modifying the transformer-based observation sequence, QMIX is redefined to adapt to the complicated road structure, restricted moving spaces and constrained observations, so as to control vehicles to pursue the target combining the vehicle’s observations. Third, a multi-intersection urban environment is built to verify the proposed scheme. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed T3OMVP scheme achieves significant improvements relative to state-of-the-art QMIX approaches by 9.66%~106.25%. Code is available at https://github.com/pipihaiziguai/T3OMVP.

Abstract: Thermal desalination is yet a reliable technology in the treatment of brackish water and seawater; however, its demanding high energy requirements have lagged it compared to other non-thermal technologies such as reverse osmosis. This review provides an outline of the development and trends of the three most commercially used thermal or phase change technologies worldwide: Multi Effect Distillation (MED), Multi Stage Flash (MSF), and Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD). First, state of water stress suffered by regions with little fresh water availability and existing desalination technologies that could become an alternative solution are shown. The most recent studies published for each commercial thermal technology are presented, focusing on optimizing the desalination process, improving efficiencies, and reducing energy demands. Then, an overview of the use of renewable energy and its potential for integration into both commercial and non-commercial desalination systems is shown. Finally, research trends and their orientation towards hybridization of technologies and use of renewable energies as a relevant alternative to the current problems of brackish water desalination are discussed. This reflective and updated review will help researchers to have a detailed state of the art of the subject and to have a starting point for their research, since current advances and trends on thermal desalination are shown.

Pepper leaf segmentation plays a crucial role in monitoring pepper leaf diseases in various backgrounds and ensuring the healthy growth of peppers. However, existing transformer-based segmentation methods suffer from computational inefficiency, excessive parameterization, and limited utilization of edge information. To tackle these challenges, we propose an adaptive multi-scale MLP framework, named AMS-MLP, which combines the multi-path aggregation module (MPAM) and the multi-scale context relation mask module (MCRD) to refine the object boundaries in pepper leaf segmentation. AMS-MLP consists of an encoder-based network, an adaptive multi-scale MLP (AM-MLP) module, and a decoder network. In the encoder network, the MPAM module effectively fuses five-scale features to generate a single-channel mask, improving the accuracy of pepper leaf boundary extraction. The AM-MLP module divides the input features into two branches: the global multi-scale MLP branch captures long-range dependencies between image information, while the local multi-scale MLP branch focuses on extracting local feature maps. Adaptive attention mechanism is designed to dynamically adjust the weights of global and local features. The decoder network incorporates the MCRD module into the convolutional layer, enhancing the extraction of boundary features. To verify the performance of the proposed method, we conducted extensive experiments on three pepper leaf datasets with different backgrounds. The results demonstrate mIoU scores of 97.39%, 96.91%, and 97.91%, as well as F1 scores of 98.29%, 97.86%, and 98.51%, respectively. Comparative analysis with U-Net and state-of-the-art models reveals that the proposed method dramatically improves the accuracy and efficiency of pepper leaf image segmentation.

Water area segmentation in remote sensing is of great importance for flood monitoring. To overcome some challenges in this task, we construct the Water Index and Polarization Information (WIPI) multi-modality dataset and propose a multi-Modality Fusion and Gated multi-Filter U-Net (MFGF-UNet) convolutional neural network. The WIPI dataset enhances the water information and reduces the data dimension. In particular, the Cloud-Free label provided in the database effectively mitigates the issue of scarcity of labeled samples Since a single form or uniform kernel size cannot handle the variety in size and shape of water bodies, we proposed the gated multi-filter inception (GMF-Inception) module in our MFGF-UNet. Moreover, we utilize the attention mechanism by introducing the Gated Channel Transform (GCT) skip connection and integrating GCT into GMF- Inception to further improve model performance. Extensive experiments on three benchmarks, including WIPI, Chengdu and GF2020 datasets demonstrate that our method achieves favorable performance with lower complexity and better robustness against six competing approaches. For example, on WIPI, Chengdu and GF2020 datasets, the proposed MFGF-UNet model achieves F1 of 0.9191, 0.7410, and 0.8421, respectively, which average F1 on three datasets is 0.0045 higher than the U-Net model and reduces 62% average GFLOPs. New WIPI dataset, code and trained models have been released on GitHub

Real-world optimization problems are often governed by one or more constraints. Over the last few decades, extensive research has been performed in Constrained Optimization Problems (COPs) fueled by advances in computational intelligence. In particular, Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) are a preferred tool for practitioners for solving these COPs within practicable time limits. We propose an ensemble of multi- method hybrid EA framework with four mutation operators, two crossover operators, multi-search [Differential Evolution (DE) & Gaining Sharing Knowledge (GSK)] optimization algorithm, and ensemble of constraint handling techniques to solve global real- world constrained optimization problem. The proposed frame- work FEPEA has an ascendancy of multiple adaptation strategies concerning the control parameters, search mechanisms, two sub-populations as well as uses knowledge sharing mechanism between junior and senior phases. The algorithm also combines the power of four popular constraint handling techniques (CHT) and uses a voting mechanism to select any particular CHT. On top of that, this algorithm also uses both linear and non- linear population size reduction in every step of the evolutionary process. We test our method on 57 real-world problems provided as part of the CEC 2020 special session & competition on real- world constrained optimization benchmark suite. Experimental results indicate that FEPEA is able to achieve state-of-the- art performance on real-world constrained global optimization when compared against other well-known real-world constrained optimizers.

The hybrid bond graph has been studied in depth for scalar bond graphs, but how does this translate to the multi-bond graph? Here, the controlled junction – used to model structural switching such as contact – is extended to the multi-bond case. This is a simple process, assuming that all bonds switch simultaneously (which makes physical sense). A controlled 0-junction is applied to multi-bond graph of a car, which can lose contact with the ground in cornering. Dynamic causality features, but this can be accommodated using an equational submodel in 20-Sim (in a manner similar to that used with scalar bond graphs). The junction is proposed for subsequent work to develop a validated multi-body dynamics car model in cornering.

The quality of digital elevation models (DEMs) is inevitably affected by the limitations of the imaging modes and the generation methods. One effective way to solve this problem is to merge the available datasets through data fusion. In this paper, a fusion-based global DEM dataset (82°S-82°N) is introduced, which we refer to as GSDEM-30. This is a 30-m DEM mainly reconstructed from the unfilled SRTM1, AW3D30, and ASTER GDEM v2 datasets combining the multi-source and multi-scale fusion techniques. A comprehensive evaluation of the GSDEM-30 data, as well as the 30-m ASTER GDEM v2 and AW3D30 DEM, was presented. Global ICESat GLAS data and the local National Elevation Dataset (NED) were used as the reference for the vertical accuracy validation, while GlobeLand30 was introduced for the landscape analysis. Furthermore, we employed the maximum slope approach to detect the potential artefacts in the DEMs. The results show that the GDEM data are seriously affected by noise and artefacts. With the advantage of the multiple datasets and the refined post-processing, the GSDEM-30 are contaminated with fewer anomalies than both ASTER GDEM and AW3D30. The fusion techniques used can also be applied to the reconstruction of other fused DEM datasets.

The framework of product life cycle (PLC) cost analysis is one of the most important evaluation tools for a contemporary high-tech company in an increasingly competitive market environment. The PLC-purchasing strategy provides the framework for a procurement plan and examines the sourcing strategy of a firm. The marketing literature emphasizes that ongoing technological change and shortened life cycles are important elements in commercial organizations. From a strategic viewpoint, the vendor has an important position between supplier, buyer and manufacturer. The buyer seeks to procure the products from a set of vendors to take advantage of economies of scale and to exploit opportunities for strategic relationships. However, previous studies have seldom considered vendor selection (VS) based on PLC cost (VSPLCC) analysis. The purpose of this paper is to solve the VSPLCC problems considering the situation of a single-buyer-multiple-supplier. For this issue, a new VSPLCC procurement model and solution procedure are derived by this paper to minimize net cost, rejection rate, late delivery and PLC cost subject to vendor capacities and budget constraints. Moreover, a real case in Taiwan is provided to show how to solve the VSPLCC procurement problem.

In this paper, a new approach to the sliding-mode control of single-phase inverters under linear and non-linear loads is introduced. The main idea behind this approach is to utilize a non-linear, flexible and multi-slope function in controller structure. This non-linear function makes the controller possible to control the inverter by a non-linear multi-slope sliding surface. In general, this sliding surface has two parts with different slopes in each part and the flexibility of the sliding surface makes the multi-slope sliding-mode controller (MSSMC) possible to reduce the total harmonic distortion, to improve the tracking accuracy, and to prevent overshoots leading to undesirable transient-states in output voltage which are occurred when the load current sharply rises. In order to improve the tracking accuracy and to reduce the steady-state error, an integral term of the multi-slope function is also added to the sliding surface. The improved performance of the proposed controller is confirmed by simulations and finally, the results of the proposed approach are compared with a conventional SMC and a SRFPI controller.

The electric vehicle (EV) industry challenges battery joining technologies by requiring higher energy density both by mass and volume. Improving the energy density via new battery chemistry would be the holy grail but is seriously hindered and progresses slowly. In the meantime, alternative ways, such as implementing more efficient cell packaging by minimizing the electrical resistance of joints are of primary focus. In this paper we discuss the challenges associated with the electrical characterisation of laser soldered joints in general, and the minimization of their resistive losses, in particular. In order to assess the impact of the joint resistance on the overall resistance of the sample, the alteration in resistance was monitored as a function of voltage probe distance and modelled by finite element simulation. The experimental measurements showed two different regimes: one far from of the joint area and another in its vicinity and within the joints cross section. The presented results confirm the importance of the thickness of the filler material, the effective and the total soldered area, and the area and the position of the voids within the total soldered area in determining the electrical resistance of joints.

The article presents the results of research on the production of effective inorganic fillers and chemically resistant composite polymer-mineral materials based on industrial waste. The aim of the work is to develop the technological foundations for the production of inorganic fillers and highly filled filling compositions for use in chlorine-containing media. Materials with high resistance to hydrochloric acid are graphite and quartz sand. Thermal power plant (TPP) ash was used as an acid-resistant filler in the compositions. The simplex lattice planning method was used to determine the areas of compositions with the best properties. Two components were selected: formaldehyde rubber resin and mineral filler (TPP ash) as a binder. As the third component, hydrolytically active fillers were used - anhydrite, phosphogypsum and phosphorus production slag. A preliminary operation was performed to remove hygroscopic moisture from the filler.The influence of the nature of mineral fillers on the chemical stability and durability of the obtained composites is investigated. The nature of the interaction of mineral fillers with a polymer binder was determined, and chemical interaction of the hydroxyl groups of the filler and the methyl groups of the polymer took place. The mathematical planning method was used to optimize the chemical resistance and durability of the compositions of the studied substances. Based on the results of this study, optimal compositions of compositions, anhydrite, phosphogypsum and phosphoric slag were selected. These composites, with the highest possible degree of filling, have high target characteristics.

Refractive index measurements have been an important task for a long time because that index plays an essential role in describing the optical properties of a material. Many methods have been developed to perform that task. Some of them use interferometry to achieve high precision, however these configurations are complicated. Some measure the critical angle using simple structures, but the accuracy is not satisfactory because it is difficult to judge the exact critical angle with intensity variations. Here we propose several new schemes based on measuring the polarization change in the total internal reflection. The proposed method has the merits of simple structure and easy incident angle determination that gives the maximum phase change. Additionally, it is possible to find the material dispersion by measuring the wavelength dependence of the polarization ellipticity. Some useful formulas relating the refractive index with the maximum phase change are obtained. This work can provide valuable alternatives for index measurement.

Synthetic materials such as Carbon, Kevlar, and Glass fibers are extensively utilized in various industries due to their superior characteristics including high stiffness, great strength, low den-sity, and high wear resistance, these advantages contributed to making them widespread in ap-plications like; aerospace, automobile, civil and electronics. This research is carried out to enhance the creep compliance of epoxy composite material by considering two types of fibers as reinforcement. A composite material is produced by combining two fibers, Kevlar fiber mixed with sika epoxy resin, along with Carbon fiber also mixed with sika epoxy resin using a Hand-Layup process. Experiments and numerical modeling are examined to offer a comprehensive understanding creep behavior of epoxy composite material in different weight ratios. Burger and Prony models are used to represent stress relaxation and creep strain of Visco-elastic material. According to the results, sika epoxy resin reinforced with Kevlar and Carbon fibers exhibits enhancement in the mechanical properties compared with pure epoxy. The use of Kev-lar/Sika epoxy composite results in higher creep compliance and modulus of elasticity compared with Carbon/Sika epoxy composite.

Microencapsulation using polymer materials is a potent process to protect and prolong the survival of probiotics. Cissampelos pareira leaf contains natural gelling agents that possess solidifying properties. This study aimed to investigate the development of microencapsulation containing Lacticaseibacillus paracasei using C. pareira extract as a natural encapsulating material. The absorption bands near 1603 cm−1 and 1725 cm−1 detected by Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were identified as pectin in C. pareira structure. The L. paracasei-C. pareira microcapsules (LP-CP) showed high encapsulation efficiency by 90.5% which was confirmed by the evaluation of their survival rate. Under thermal conditions (85oC), bacterial viability detected in the microcapsules was 69% as opposed to non-encapsulated bacteria where viability was as low as 5%. Furthermore, the microcapsule presented 75% bacterial viability whereas the free cells showed 30% under acidic conditions (pH 2). During storage conditions, LP-CP viability remained at 50% when the storage time was extended to 90 days whereas, the survival rate of free cells significantly decreased by 100% after 90 days. This information suggests that C. pareira is a potent polymer which can be used as an eco-friendly material for the microencapsulation of probiotics relevant as dietary supplementation for humans or animals.

Hybrid reinforcement in a composite material (CM), in many situations, allows better govern material mechanical properties. Polymer matrix CM plate is reinforced with small particles and macro-fibers. Particles are oil shale ash (OSA) powder, macro-fibers – basalt fiber threads im-pregnated by matrix material. With the goal to find out elastic properties of the matrix- polymer with OSA, samples with its different concentrations were experimentally fabricated and their elastic properties were experimentally measured. Obtained data were used in numerical model-ling. Was observed polymer matrix composite slab, reinforced with OSA and three-dimensional (3D) basalt fiber fabric. Fabric are forming threads impregnated by matrix (polymer resin mixed with OSA particles). Damage accumulation in the stretched slab was modelled. Impregnated thread, in the modelling, is observed as a macro-fiber (MF) with averaged elastic properties. With the load increase MF in the material began to break. At first, appeared isolated single breaks. A probabilistic sequential MF rupture accumulation model was accepted and numerical-ly realized. The geometry of the reinforcing knitted fabric was modeled using the Leaf and Glaskin approach. In the knitted fabric highly, stressed MF cross-sections are observed as po-tential location where thread breakage can occur. If one thread breaks, the cross-sections of the adjacent threads experience the overload caused by this rupture. More overloaded crossection in the adjacent overloaded thread breaks and we obtain two adjacent broken MF designated as a defect with the size j=2. The probabilities of obtaining defect consisting of at least 2, 3, … j adjacent broken MF in the plate were calculated. The calculations continued until the rupture process becomes unstable (j→∞). The overstresses on adjacent threads in the CM were calculat-ed using the FEM three-dimensional numerical approach. Analytical and stochastic methods were used for the load-carrying capacity determination and different size defects accumulation in the hybrid composite material (HCM) plate. Also, was calculated the probability of the plate rupture.

The purpose of the research was to obtain information about the necessity and efficiency of the application of localized irrigation to some qualitative indices of plum trees in the nursery, against the background of different fertilization treatments. The expected results to be obtained by applying differentiated rules of irrigation and fertilization will consist in obtaining a healthy, vigorous fruit tree planting material, increasing production in the nursery. With fruit trees in the nursery, as with all cultivated plants, the growth process depends to the greatest extent on the climate and soil conditions available to them. The use of fertilizers in tree culture becomes necessary to renew the reserve of nutrients consumed by plants or leached in depth, then to improve the physical condition, the chemical composition, and the overall state of fertilization of the soil. It is necessary to intervene every year, in several rounds, with fertilizations that ensure, on the one hand, the achievement of a certain level of production, and on the other hand, a certain level and ratio of nutritional elements by returning the amounts of elements easily accessible nutrients extracted with the harvest to be able to maintain, in this way, the fertility of the soil in accordance with the age of the plantation and the level of production. The two varieties of plum studied were Stanley and Cacanska Lepotica, two valuable varieties for the quality of the fruit. During the research, the fertilization treatments had the highest contribution (34.50 %) on the stem diameter, compared to irrigation (20.67 %) and respectively the variety (5.63 %), considering that the variety did not significantly influence the increase in diameter of the grafted trees.

In order to study the strength changes of concrete specimens under different loading conditions, based on the principle of minimum energy dissipation and from the Angle of concrete failure energy per unit area, the finite element numerical simulation software was applied to concrete specimens with different failure modes of tension, compression, bending and torsion, and the double-broken line damage constitutive model was adopted to simulate and analyze the failure forms of concrete specimens under different loading conditions. The failure area and failure energy of each specimen during loading were quantitatively calculated under each failure mode, and the relationship between the failure area and failure energy consumed under different failure modes was analyzed. The results show that under different failure modes, the failure area of concrete specimens is different, the energy consumed during failure is different, and the strength is different. However, in the process of failure, no matter how the failure mode changes, the failure energy W per unit area remains unchanged and is a constant, which is related to the physical properties of concrete itself.

With the rapid development of China's economy, construction industrialization has become the main development trend of China's construction industry, and the convenient, efficient, environmental protection has become the new fashion, therefore the application of prefabricated building is more and more common. Stair serves as the weak link in prefab type building, the connecting node has an important influence on its failure. In this paper, pseudo-static tests are carried out on the joints in different forms of ladder holes to study the mechanical properties of flexible hinge points filled with flexible materials, and the hysteresis curve, skeleton curve and bearing capacity of each specimen are analyzed. The test results show that the flexible hinge can give full play to its flexible characteristics to ease the stress of ladder beam, pin bolt reinforcement and ladder hole, and the bearing capacity of flexible hinge points is moderate, which can not only mitigate the inclined bracing effect under the action of small and medium earthquakes, but also ensure the stair does not fall off under the action of large earthquakes. Through the experiment comparison, the ladder hole adopts node form 2, which can give full play to the advantage of flexible material.

Two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors like Transitional Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have attracted strong research interest in the last decade. Unlike the more celebrated 2D material graphene, TMDCs like molybdenum disulfide(MoS₂) possess bandgap. The number of layers critically depends on the band structure of MoS₂. For example, it is indirect for bulk MoS₂. However, it becomes direct bandgap material for a monolayer MoS₂. Monolayer MoS₂, therefore, becomes an important material for photoelectronic devices. An essential aspect of such devices is the metal-semiconductor junction. Metal-TMDC junction is, therefore, a well-studied interface due to its importance for 2D materials-based photoelectronic devices. Most importantly, it can be flexible, stretchable to it’s length, and bent to a large angle. We used metals like Au and Al to interface with TMDs like MoS₂. We used silicon and PDMS as substrates. So, we have to focus on investigating the relative properties of various TMDCs. We see change in band energy and vibrational modes via Photoluminiscence and Raman spectroscopy as shown in the article. However, certain aspects are yet to be explored, for example, how this interface behaves in the presence of strain.

. Manufacturers are increasingly adopting mixed-flow manufacturing models to meet the growing customized, diverse, and dynamic customer demand. In such an environment, material distribution scheduling optimization is vital for smooth operations and is integral to production management. However, manufacturers frequently encounter problems like disordered and delayed material distribution. Traditional scheduling methods suffer from problems like inadequate transparency, delayed decision directives, and suboptimal results, impacting performance. To this end, this study proposes a dynamic material distribution scheduling optimization model and strategy based on digital twin (DT) to address these problems. Firstly, we introduce workstation satisfaction and establish a material distribution path optimization model minimizing total distribution cost while maximizing workstation satisfaction. Subsequently, we present a cloud-edge computing-based decision framework and explain the DT-based material distribution system's components and operation. Furthermore, a dynamic material distribution scheduling optimization mechanism based on DT is designed. By incorporating a savings method and incentive, penalty strategies, improvements are made to the path node selection probabilities and the information pheromone update rules of the traditional ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm. Finally, a numerical case study, using real data from collaborating enterprises, validates the proposed algorithm and strategy. This research offers valuable insights into logistics management and algorithm design in smart manufacturing environments.

Material Extrusion is a popular additive manufacturing technology due to its low cost, wide market availability, ability to construct complex parts, safety, and cleanliness. However, optimizing the process parameters to obtain the best possible mechanical properties has not been extensively studied. This paper aims to develop ensemble learning-based models to predict the ultimate tensile strength, Young's modulus, and strain at break of PLA and PLA-CF 3D-printed parts, using printing temperature, printing speed, and layer thickness as process parameters. Additionally, the study investigates the impact of process parameters and material selection on the mechanical properties of the printed parts and uses Genetic Algorithms for multi-objective optimization according to user specifications. The results indicate that process parameters and material selection significantly influence the mechanical properties of the printed parts. The Genetic Algorithm successfully identifies optimal parameter values for the desired mechanical properties. Moreover, this work is the first to model Process-Structure-Properties relationships for an additive manufacturing process and to use a multi-objective optimization approach for multiple mechanical properties, utilizing ensemble learning-based algorithms and Genetic Algorithms.

3D printing technology has brought about a paradigm shift in the delivery of clinical care in medicine and dentistry. There are several different 3D printing technologies, which, along with different printable materials with unique biomechanical properties, allows for a wide range of applications for 3D printing in dentistry. The clinical use of 3D printing has created versatile applications which streamline our digital workflow. Technological advancements have also paved the way for the integration of new dental materials in dentistry. This paper provides an overview of the mechanisms of 3D printing, the dental materials relevant to each mechanism and the possible applications of these materials within different areas of dentistry. Understanding the existing spectrum of 3D printing applications in dentistry will serve to further expand its use in the dental field.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities have climbed significantly above pre-pandemic levels and reached record highs that unequivocally accelerate global warming. Industry has a significant impact on climate change, emitting at least 21 % of global GHGs and making little overall progress toward its reduction until now. Reducing industry’s emissions requires coordinated action along the value chains in order to promote mitigation options, such as energy and material efficiency, circular material flows, and transformative changes within production processes. The authors analyzed the GHG emissions generated during the manufacturing of three different products of automotive suppliers located in Austria. Despite previous efforts toward an environmentally compatible fabrication, additional and significant reduction potentials were identified. These measures for product carbon footprint (PCF) reduction included the sourcing of low-carbon materials (which are already available on the market), more extensive use of renewable energy, and changes towards more resource efficient manufacturing processes and machinery. Depending on the materials used, the PCF can be reduced by up to 80 %. The findings serve to prepare for future PCF reporting regulations and illustrate reduction potentials to achieve future market advantages, especially when PCFs become an awarding criterion.

Lignocellulosic biomass is a powerful approach for the production of sustainable biofuels and the further achievement of the goal of biomass conversion into a second-generation clean energy that can cope with the depletion of fossil reserves and rising energy requirements. In the conversion process, a pretreatment is essential to overcome the recalcitrance of the lignocellulosic biomass, accelerate its disintegration into cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin and, in turn, get an optimal yield of fermentable sugars in the enzymatic hydrolysis. In addition to this, it should be industrially scalable and capable of enhancing fuel properties and feedstock processability. Here, steam explosion technology has stood out due to its results and advantages such as wide applicability, high efficiency in the short term, or lack of contamination in spite of its conventionality. This gentle and fast pretreatment incorporates high temperature autohydrolysis and structural alteration by explosive decompression. Steam explosion method has been one of the most effective especially for the hydrolysis of cellulose from agricultural wastes due to the lower quantity of acetyl groups in the composition of hemicellulose. In this aspect, sugarcane bagasse is a promising feedstock for bioethanol production due to its high cellulosic content and elevated availability. The objective of this review has been to compile the latest information on steam explosion pretreatment, stages, equipment, variables involved, by-products generated, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the technique. At the same time, its feasibility and viability using sugarcane bagasse as feedstock has been discussed. Finally, the effectiveness of the technique with different feedstocks has been evaluated.

Taking advantage of fact that the surface electrons of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) can be effectively released even at a low voltage bias, we demonstrate an improvement in the electrochemical performance of nano-sized Prussian Blue (PB) based secondary batteries by the incorporation of bare Ag or Ni NPs onto the vicinity of the working PB NPs. It is found that the capacity for electrochemical energy storage of the 17-nm-PB-based battery is significantly higher than the capacity of 10-nm-PB-based, 35-nm-PB-based or 46-nm-PB-based batteries. There is a critical PB size for the highest electrochemical energy storage efficiency. The full specific capacity CF of the 17-nm-PB-based battery stabilized to 62 mAh/g after 130 charge-discharge cycles at a working current of IW = 0.03 mA. The addition of 14 mass-percent of Ag NPs in the vicinity of the PB NPs gives rise to a 32% increase in the stabilized CF. A 42% increase in the stabilized CF can be obtained with the addition of 14 mass-percent of Ag NPs on the working electrode of the 35-nm-PB-based battery. An enhancement of CF is also found for electrodes incorporating bare Ni NPs but the effect is smaller.

The effect of cooling rate on the magnetorheological response was investigated for magnetic hydrogels consisting of carrageenan and carbonyl iron particles with a concentration of 50 wt.%. For magnetic gels prepared by natural cooling, the storage moduli at 0 and 50 mT were 3.7×104 Pa and 5.6×104 Pa, respectively, and the change in the modulus was 1.9×104 Pa. For magnetic gels prepared by rapid cooling, the storage moduli at 0 and 50 mT were 1.2×104 Pa and 1.8×104 Pa, respectively, and the change in the modulus was 6.2×103 Pa, which was 3.1 times higher than that for the magnetic gel of rapid cooling. The critical strains, where G‘=G“ on the strain dependence of the storage modulus, for magnetic gels of natural cooling and rapid cooling were 0.023 and 0.034, respectively, indicating that the magnetic gel of rapid cooling has a hard structure compared to that of natural cooling. Oppositely to this, the change in the storage modulus at 500 mT for the magnetic gel of rapid cooling was 1.6×105 Pa, which was 2.5 times higher than that of natural cooling. SEM images revealed that many small aggregations of carrageenan network were found in the magnetic gel of natural cooling and continuous phases of carrageenan network with large sizes were found in the magnetic gel of rapid cooling. It was revealed that, magnetic particles in the magnetic gel of rapid cooling can move and form a chain structure at high magnetic fields by breaking the restriction from the continuous phases of carrageenan.

Amidst the strong demand for wood-based products, and the clamor of environmental consciousness, more functional and green solutions arise to meet both of these goals. Pursuant to this, the study looked into the potential of a bio-waste taken from Cocos nucifera tree known as phellem—the tree’s outermost skin made of dead tissues, to be a main component of a new construction material. This study builds on existing research showing phellem is impermeable, buoyant, elastic, has a slow burn rate, and repels water during precipitation, which supports the hypothesis that phellem may be a potential substitute material for dry wall boards. To test this, three (3) formulations were developed as experimental setups to test the physico-mechanical properties of coconut palm phellem (COPAP): Formulation A (40% COPAP and 60% cement); Formulation B ( 25% COPAP and 75% cement); and lastly, Formulation C that was (10% COPAP and 90% cement). The study tested (1) which among these formulations exhibited the best physico-mechanical properties, then it (2) compared the formulations with common dry wall products available in the market, and subsequently, (3) identified the possible architectural applications of COPAP board as a new building material. Of the three setups, Formulation C exhibited the best physico-mechanical properties in terms of compressive and flexural strength, fire resistivity, and water absorption. It fared better than the particle board in terms of compressive strength, better than wafer and particle board in fire resistivity, performed best in the water absorption test, and was almost equivalent in flexural strength to fiber cement board. With these findings, the study concluded that COPAP board can be used for projects that entail a high number of interior partitions, such as offices, BPO firms and commercial stalls in shopping malls, etc. The findings were conclusive only for interior applications, as the results clearly suggest that the COPAP boards are not load-bearing. Future investigations may explore and assess other properties of COPAP boards like thermal and sound insulation, resistance to rot and other properties that may prove its competitive advantage as a construction material.

Background: Producing, distributing or discussing child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) is often committed through the dark web in order to remain hidden from search engines and regular users. Additionally, on the dark web, the CSAM creators employ various techniques to avoid detection and conceal their activities. The large volume of CSAM on the dark web presents a global social problem and poses a significant challenge for helplines, hotlines and law enforcement agencies. Objective: Identifying CSAM discussions on the dark web and uncovering associated metadata insights into characteristics, behaviours and motivation of CSAM creators. Participants and Setting: We have conducted an analysis of more than 353,000 posts generated by 35,400 distinct users and written in 118 different languages across eight dark web forums in 2022. Out of these, approximately 221,000 posts were written in English and contributed by around 29,500 unique users. Method: We propose a CSAM detection intelligence system. The system uses a manually labelled dataset to train, evaluate and select an efficient CSAM classification model. Once we identify CSAM creators and victims through CSAM posts on the dark web, we proceed to analyze, visualize and uncover information concerning the behaviors of CSAM creators and victims. Result: The CSAM classifier, based on Support Vector Machine model, exhibited good performance, achieving the highest precision of 92.3\%, accuracy of 87.6\% and recall of 84.2\%. Its prediction time is fast, taking only 0.3 milliseconds to process a single post on our laptop. While, the Naive Bayes combination is the best in term of recall, achieving 89\%, and its prediction time is just 0.1 microseconds per post. Across the eight forums in 2022, our Support Vector Machine model detected around 63,000 English CSAM posts and identified near 10,500 English CSAM creators. The analysis of metadata of CSAM posts revealed meaningful information about CSAM creators and their victims, such as: (1) the ages and nationalities of the victims typically mentioned by CSAM creators, (2) forum topics where the CSAM creators assign their posts, and (3) online platforms preferred by CSAM creators for sharing or uploading CSAM. Conclusion: Our CSAM detection system exhibits high performance in precision, recall, and accuracy in real-time when classifying CSAM and non-CSAM posts. Additionally, it can extract and visualize valuable and unique insights about CSAM creators and victims by employing advanced statistical methods. These insights prove beneficial to our partners, i.e. national hotlines and child agencies.

The aim of this systematic review is to describe and to identify prospect of β-Tricalcium Phosphate (β-TCP) as Alveolar Bone Grafting (ABG) in Cleft Lip/Palate (CL/P) or alveolar bone cleft defect. A systematic review protocol based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analyses 2020 (PRISMA 2020) was drafted. The literature search was conducted with MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science/ ISI-Web of Knowledge, Scopus and Cochrane Library with English language and no publication year limits. The keywords yielded a total of 5824 publications. There are 3196 suitable articles to evaluate after removing duplicates and languages. Afterward, 1315 studies left after doing title and abstract reading. In addition, 85 full-articles were assessed for eligibility. The read the complete texts of those papers and eventually chose 20 that matched the inclusion requirements. Thirteen of the twenty studies included in this systematic review had a low risk of bias, one had a high risk of bias, and six had moderate bias which not report the randomization. β-TCP as ABG is biocompatible, visible and practical, offers a less invasive procedure, and does not interfere with orthodontic treatment. β-TCP as synthetic ABG can be the alternative to autologous bone grafts with several terms and conditions. Improvement of β-TCP efficacy for ABG in CL/P or alveolar bone cleft defects can be done by a tissue engineering approach combining β-TCP with growth factor, mesenchymal stem cells, or other graft materials and modification of β-TCP physical properties.

The study of mechanical properties of rock mass can be effectively carried out through rock-like material model test. The similarity of mechanical properties between rock-like material and protolith is dependent on the appropriate selection of composition and content of rock-like materials. In this research, X-Ray diffraction test was conducted to analyze the composition of deep rock, which confirmed silica, quartz, and dolomite as the primary components of deep sandstone. An orthogonal design test was used to execute the ratio test of rock-like material. River sand was used as an aggregate, cement as a binder, gypsum powder as a regulator, and polystyrene foam (EPS) as rock damage simulation material. The influencing factors considered in the orthogonal mechanical tests were the proportion of aggregate and binder, ratio of binder and regulator, quantity of damage simulation material, and size of damage simulation material. Three levels were set for each factor, and mechanical parameters such as compressive strength, tensile strength, elastic modulus, axial strain, and Poisson's ratio were tested for each group of samples. The changes of those parameters with the levels of the above four factors were studied. The study revealed that adjusting the size of polystyrene foam (EPS) can adjust the values of elastic modulus, tensile strength, and Poisson's ratio of rock-like material. Similarly, changing the ratio of binder and regulator can adjust the values of axial strain and compressive strength of rock-like material. The rock-like material developed in the study can simulate the mechanical properties of different rock masses such as granite, sandstone, shale, and limestone.

The versatility of metal complexes of corroles raised the interest in the use of these molecules as element of chemical sensors. The tuning of the macrocycle properties by synthetic modification of the different components of the corrole ring, such as functional groups, molecular skeleton, and coordinated metal, allows the creation of a vast library of corrole-based sensors. However, the scarce conductivity of most of aggregates of corroles limits the development of simple conductometric sensors and requires the use of optical or mass transducers that are rather more cumbersome and less prone to be integrated in microelectronics systems. To compensate the scarce conductivity, corroles are often used to functionalize the surface of conductive materials such as graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes, or conductive polymers. Alternatively, they can be incorporated in heterojunction devices where they are interfaced with a conductive material such as a phthalocyanine. Herewith, we introduce two heterojunction sensors made of junctions of lutetium bisphthalocyanine (LuPc2) with either 5,10,15-tris(pentafluorophenyl) corrolato Cu (1) or 5,10,15-tris(4-methoxyphenyl)corrolato Cu (2). Optical spectra show that after forming the heterojunction, corroles maintain their original structure. The conductivity of the devices reveals an energy barrier for interfacial charge transport, which is larger in the 1/LuPc2 device. The different interfacial barriers is also manifested by the opposite response respect to ammonia: with a 1/LuPc2 behaving as a n-type conductor and 2/LuPC2 as a p-type conductor. Furthermore, the sensors show a high sensitivity respect to relative humidity with a reversible and fast response in the range 30-60%.

Hemorrhage is a detrimental event present in traumatic injury, surgery, and disorders of bleeding, that can become life-threatening if not properly managed. Moreover, uncontrolled bleeding can complicate surgical interventions, altering the outcome of surgical procedures. Therefore, to reduce the risk of complications and decrease the risk of morbidity and mortality associated with hemorrhage, it is necessary to use an effective hemostatic agent that ensures immediate control of bleeding. In recent years, there have been increasingly rapid advances in developing novel generation of biomaterials with hemostatic properties. Nowadays, a wide array of topical hemostatic agents is available, including chitosan-based biomaterials that have shown outstanding properties such as: antibacterial, antifungal, hemostatic, analgesic activity, in addition to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and wound-healing effects. This review provides an analysis of chitosan-based hemostatic and discusses the progress made in their performance, mechanism of action, efficacy, cost, and safety in recent years.

Large amounts of pumice stone generated by the submarine volcanic eruption at Fukutoku Okanoba on August 13, 2021, drifted ashore, affecting ship navigation and fishery operations. Through laboratory experiments, we investigated the possibility of using pumice as a sand-capping material for eutrophic sediments. Crushed pumice as a sand cover material effectively reduced the sedimentary oxygen consumption rate. Nutrient release from sediment showed a similar trend, with ~25% and 82% reduction in NH4-N and PO4-P release rates, respectively. Furthermore, the bivalve exposure experiments using crushed pumice suspended in seawater showed no adverse effects specific to pumice and lower bivalve mortality than that using kaolin at the same concentration. This could be owing to differences in gill accumulation and blockage owing to the particle size variation of the suspended particles. These results suggest that crushed pumice is effective for sand covering and suppresses oxygen consumption and nutrient release from the sediments.

Mechanical properties of tumor cytoskeleton are extremely vital for any phases of cancer, especially in tumor invasion and metastasis. However, in current category of anticancer drugs, the cytoskeleton-targeting drugs are limited and its role in tumor progression is unclear. Here, we present the mechanical characteristics of tumor stiffness are tightly regulated by cancer cytoskeleton including actin filaments and microtubule during tumor initiation, growth and metastasis, and review the natural drugs that target cancer cytoskeleton. We define cytoskeleton dynamics as target mechanisms for anticancer drug, and summary the plant, microbial and marine sources of natural products. Furthermore, the material approaches to active cancer mechanics are supplied in this review. We aim to promote the development of anticancer drugs that target tumor mechanics by using those material approaches in future and find its pharmacological application.

Background: The saga of repatriating cultural artefacts continues as western museums face increasing pressure from claimants. Western museums that have been involved in the display of historical artefacts, most of which were acquired during the colonial period, have come under huge criticism. A heated discussion of late has been the legitimacy of retaining artefacts in western museums. This study aimed at investigating the ongoing debate regarding the restitution of artefacts. Objective: To investigate the arguments for and against the repatriation of artefacts in relation to diplomatic exchange, preservation, legitimacy and usefulness. Methods: Records will be searched in electronic databases including the University of Manchester Library for Social Anthropology, Scorpus and Project MUSE. Search terms will include "return of artefacts", “return of historical objects”, “return of cultural objects”, “western museums”, “restitution of artefacts”, “repatriation of artefacts”, “restitution of historical objects”, repatriation of historical objects”, “restitution of cultural objects”, “repatriation of cultural objects”, "material culture", "return of antiquities”, restitution of antiquities” and “repatriation of antiquities”. Coding and analysis will be done in SWIFT-Review. The deductive and inductive approaches will be used in synthesising results. Both tabular and graphical methods will be used to present results. Ethics and Results: This study did not need any ethical approval. Results on study characteristics, quality and risk of bias assessments as well as the synthesis of arguments for and against the restitution of artefacts will be presented. The review results will be reported according to appropriate guidelines and disseminated through publication in a relevant journal and presented to stakeholders where necessary. Conclusions: This review will be based on current protocols for systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis. The study will be the first review that seeks to pull together claims for and against the return of cultural artefacts. The conclusions that will be drawn and recommendations will provide the basis for further research into the debate and the way forward. This study will also help identify the existing gaps regarding the subject matter.

Background: Selection and application of suture materials, has gained more importance especially with the increasing number of patients seeking oral surgeries. Since lying in a bacterial-filled environment, sutures make the tissue prone to infection. Suture material plays an important role in the reduction of the risk of infection. This study aimed to assess the success rate of an antibacterial suture named Vicryl Plus in preventing bacterial growth in the surgical site of the mandibular third molar. Methods: 27 patients were included in this double-blinded randomized clinical trial study. Surgical Extraction of the mandibular wisdom tooth was done and the incision was managed by randomly using Vicryl Plus and Vicryl sutures. After 7 days, sutures were removed and assessed microbiologically. Predominant species of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus were assessed as well as the total number of colonies on each suture. Results: There was a significant difference between two suture materials in colony number-length ratio of lactobacillus (p-value= 0.031) and total bacterial colonies (p-value=0.016); but not for S. mutans species (p-value=0.201). Conclusion: Antibacterial Vicryl suture can be a useful tool for the reduction in the rate of surgical site infection in high-risk cases and situations.

Multi-wire saw machining (MWSM) used for slicing hard-brittle materials in semiconductor, is an important material removal process that uses free abrasives. Cutting model of single-wire saw machining (SWSM) is the basis of MWSM, and the material removal mechanism of SWSM can better understand than MWSM. Mathematical model (includes brittle fracture and plastic deformation) is presented in this paper for SWSM ceramic with abrasives. This paper determines the effect of various machining parameters on the removal of hard-brittle materials. For brittle fracture of SWSM ceramics, the minimum of the strain energy density is used as a fracture criterion. The material removed of SWSM ceramics due to plastic deformation is calculated using the equations of motion. Actual wire-sawing experiments are conducted to verify the results from the developed mathematical model. Theoretical results agree with experimental data and practical experience. The developed mathematical model shows that brittle fracture plays a major concern role in material removed of SWSM ceramics. Wire speed and working load have positively correlated with material removed of SWSM ceramics. The coefficient of friction is low, a lateral crack, which propagates almost parallel to the working surface, leads to more brittle fracture and material removed is increased on SWSM ceramics.

In this work, the recently proposed cracking elements method (CEM) is used for simulating the damaging processes of structures with initial imperfections. CEM is built in the framework of conventional FEM which is formally like a special type of finite element. The disconnected piecewise cracks are used for representing crack paths. Taking the advantages of CEM that both the initiations and propagations of cracks can be naturally captured, we numerically study the uni-axial compression tests of specimens with multiple joints and fissures, where the cracks may propagate from the tips, or from some other unexpected positions. Though uni-axial compression tests are considered, mainly tensile damage criteria are used in the numerical model. On one hand, the results demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the CEM while on the other hand, some drawbacks of the present model are demonstrated, showing the future work.

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) has gained much attentions in recent years due to its advantages including geometric freedom and design complexity, appropriate to a wide range of potential industrial applications. However, conventional metal AM methods have high-cost barriers due to the initial cost of the capital equipment, support and maintenance, etc. This study presents a unique low-cost metal material extrusion (MME) technology. The filaments used have polylactic acid (PLA) as the matrix and metal powders (copper, bronze, stainless steel, high carbon iron, and aluminum) as reinforcements. Using the proposed fabrication technology, test specimens were built by extruding polymer/metal composite filaments, which were then sintered in an open-air furnace to produce solid metallic parts. In this research, the mechanical and thermal properties of the built parts are examined using tensile tests, thermogravimetric-, thermomechanical- and microstructural analysis.

In this study, to reduce the use of cement and sand, porous feldspar with excellent economic efficiency was used as a substitute in heat storage concrete layer. When cement was replaced with porous feldspar, the compressive strength was approximately 16%–63% higher compared with when cement was replaced with silicate minerals. To compensate for the reduction in strength owing to the decreased cement content, mechanical and chemical activation methods were employed. When the specific surface area of porous feldspar was increased, the unit weight was reduced by approximately 30% and the compressive strength was increased by up to 90%. When chemical activation was applied using a solidifying agent, the strength was increased by approximately 30% even though 70% of the cement content was replaced with porous feldspar. When cement and sand were replaced with porous feldspar, the compressive strength was approximately two times that of ordinary cement mortar. When the heat storage concrete layer material was replaced with porous feldspar in a pilot scale experiment, the thermal conductivity and heat storage characteristics were better than those of ordinary cement mortar, and an energy-saving effect of approximately 57% was observed, confirming the excellent applicability of porous feldspar as a building material.

We present organic, diamagnetic materials based on structurally simple (hetero-) tolane derivatives. They form crystalline thin-film aggregates that are suitable for Faraday rotation (FR) spectroscopy. The resulting new materials are characterized appropriately by common spectroscopic (NMR, UV-Vis), microscopy (POM), and XRD techniques. The spectroscopic studies give extremely high FR activities thus makes these materials promising candidates for future practical applications. Other than a proper explanation, we insist in the complexity of designing efficient FR materials starting off from single molecules.

3D-printing with foam concrete, which is known for its distinct physical and mechanical properties, has not yet been purposefully investigated. The article at hand presents a methodological approach for the mixture design of 3D-printable foam concretes and a systematic investigation of the potential application of this type of material in digital construction. Three different foam concrete compositions with water-to-binder ratios between 0.33 and 0.36 and having densities of 1100 to 1580 kg/m³ in the fresh state were produced with a pre-foaming technique using a protein-based foaming agent. Based on the fresh-state tests, including 3D-printing as such, an optimum composition was identified and its compressive and flexural strengths were characterised. The printable foam concrete showed compressive strength above 10 MPa and low thermal conductivity, which make it suitable for 3D-printing applications, while fulfilling both load-carrying and insulating functions.

Water splitting plays an important role in electrochemical and photoelectrochemical conversion of energy devices. Electrochemical water splitting by the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a straightforward route to produce hydrogen (H2), which requires an efficient electrocatalysts to minimize energy consumption. Recent advances have created a rapid rise in new electrocatalysts, particularly those based on non-precious metals. In this review, we present a comprehensive overview of the recent developments of ternary and quaternary 6d-group transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) based electrocatalysts for water splitting, especially for HER. Detailed discussion is organized from binary to quaternary TMCs including, surface engineering, heterostructures, chalcogen substitutions, and hierarchically structural design in TMCs. Moreover, emphasis is placed on future research scope and important challenges facing these electrocatalysts for further development in their performance towards water splitting.

The spectral properties of a one-dimensional photonic crystal bounded by a resonant absorbing nanocomposite layer with the near-zero permittivity have been studied. The problem of calculating the transmittance, reflectance, and absorptance spectra of such structures at the normal and oblique incidence of light has been solved. It is shown that, depending on the permittivity sign near zero, the nanocomposite is characterized by either metallic or dielectric properties. For the first time, the possibility of simultaneous formation of the Tamm plasmon polariton at the photonic crystal/metallic nanocomposite interface and the localized state similar to the defect mode with the field intensity maximum inside the dielectric nanocomposite layer is demonstrated. Specific features of field localization at the Tamm plasmon polariton and defect mode frequencies are analyzed.

Fragmentation processes of multiply charged ions of C10H8 isomers produced in fast proton collision (velocity between 1.41 and 2.4 a.u.) is discussed in view of their fundamental molecular dynamics. Especially so in the mechanisms to produce a variety of carbon clusters from such ions. This aspect is assessed with the help of a multihit analysis of daughter ions in coincidence with elimination of H+ and CHn+ (n = 0 to 3). The elimination of H+/C+ was found to be very different from CH3+ loss. The loss of CH3+ was found to be accompanied with the formation of heavy ions like C9H5+, C9H5++ and C7H3+ by a cascade of momentum correlated dissociations. The most probable structures of large fragment ions in the CH3+ loss cascade are predicted with the help of computed electronic energy and the multihit ToF correlations of second and third hit. In addition, we report observation of super-dehydrogenation of naphthalene and azulene targets, with evidence of complete dehydrogenation in a single collision.

This paper proposes a multi-terminal adaptive collaborative operation method to solve the problem of unstable internal force tracking in clamping and handling unknown objects by multi-terminal robots. In the proposed method, the internal command force changes the complex internal force control problem into an internal force tracking problem from multi-slave to master. Moreover, we develop an algorithm for multi-slave setups to estimate object stiffness and motion uncertainty in the direction of the internal command force according to Lyapunov theory. Finally, the impedance control generates a reference trajectory for the multi-slave to maintain the desired internal force and track the master’s motion. Several experiments are conducted on a self-made robot equipped. The experimental results show that the oscillation amplitude of each slave end is less than 1 mm, the directional oscillation amplitude is less than 1 degree during the tracking of the desired commanded internal force. For objects with low stiffness, the error of the commanded internal force is less than 1 N (6%) per slave. The error in tracking the commanded internal force for objects with high stiffness is less than 2 N (8%). The results prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

In gravitational theory and astrophysical dynamics, singular initial value problems (IVPs) are frequently encountered. Finding the solutions to this class of IVPs can be challenging due to their complex nature. This study strives to circumvent the complexity by proposing a numerical method for solving such problems. The approach proposed in the current research seeks solutions to the IVP by partitioning the domain [0,L] of the problem into two intervals and solving the problem on each domain. The study seeks a closed-form solution to the IVP in the interval containing the singular point. A linearization technique and piecewise partitioning of the domain not containing the singularity are applied to the nonlinear IVP. The resulting linearized differential equation is solved using the Chebyshev spectral collocation method. Some examples are presented to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method. Numerical analysis of the solution and residual errors are shown to ascertain convergence and accuracy. The results suggest that the technique gives accurate convergent solutions using a few collocation points.

Dracunculiasis (also known as Guinea worm disease) is caused by Dracunculus medinensis parasite and it spreads by drinking water containing Larvae of Guinea worm. The lack of safe water facilities, preventions and treatments resulted in highly dangerous consequences in its endemic regions. The economy of the affected regions totally falls down due to less production which is the result of agricultural field worker’s bad health. In this study, a multi epitope vaccine was designed against Dracunculus medinensis by using immune-informatics. The vaccine was designed by using T-Cell and B-Cell epitopes derived from Dracunculus medinensis proteins (Lactamase-B domain-containing protein, G-Domain containing protein and Ferrochelatase) in addition to Adjuvants and Linkers. The tertiary structure, physiochemical properties and immunogenic elements of vaccine were achieved. The validation of tertiary structure was accessed, and quality was achieved. In addition, the world coverage of parasite’s CTL and HTL epitopes is 95.61%. The stability of the chimeric vaccine was achieved through disulfide engineering. The molecular docking with Toll Like Receptor 4 (TLR-4) of vaccine showed its binding efficiency followed by Molecular Dynamic Simulation. The immune simulation suggested the mediated cell immunity and repeated antigen clearance. At the end, the optimized codon was used in in silico cloning to ensure vaccine’s higher exposure in bacterium E. coli strain K12. With further assessments, it is believed that the proposed multi epitope vaccine has strong immunogen to control Dracunculus medinensis which may result in better social and economic conditions of endemic regions.

Introduction Tuberculosis is common in Pakistan. Due to various factors including socioeconomic factors, compliance is poor to anti-tuberculosis drugs, leading to resistance. We aim to determine the prevalence of Multidrug resistance (MDR) tuberculosis in Pakistani population.Methods A prospective observational study was conducted from April 1, 2019, to December 31, 2019, in the Pulmonology department of a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan. Culture and sensitivity were assessed using a sputum sample or, in cases of an absent sputum sample, from Broncho alveolar lavage.ResultsApproximately 71.3% percent patients who had tuberculosis were found to be resistant to Isoniazid and around 48.6% did not respond to Rifampin. Multi-drug resistant was found in 29.4% participants.ConclusionMulti-drug resistance tuberculosis is very prevalent in Pakistan, which may increase burden on health care system and may lead to various complications of tuberculosis.

Phenotypic studies require large datasets for accurate inference and prediction. Collecting plant data in a farm can be very labor intensive and costly. This paper presents the design, architecture (hardware and software) and deployment of a distributed modular agricultural multi-robot system for row crop field data collection. The proposed system has been deployed in a soybean research farm at Iowa State University.

In the framework of maritime surveillance, vessel detection techniques based on spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images have promoted extensive applications for the effective understanding of unlawful activities at sea. The paper deal with this topic presenting a novel approach exploiting a cascade application of a pre-screening, and discrimination phase. The latter leverage the SAR spectrum by means of sub-looks analysis. For the first time, the method has been validated with experiments on multi-frequency (C-, X-, and L-band) SAR images. For a future syngergic exploitation of more SAR missions, the developed dataset, composed of Sentinel-1, SAOCOM and COSMO-SkyMed images, is comprehensive of multiple images gathered over the same area with short time lag (below 15 minutes). Finally, the diversified processing chains and the results for each mission product and scenarios are discussed. Being the first dataset of SLC (Single Look Complex) SAR multi-frequency data, the present work intends to encourage additional research in this promising field of research.

This paper presents a new method to model the nonlinear behaviour of masonry double curvature structures, possibly reinforced by composite materials, by means of conventional elasto-plastic analyses. It is meant to be used in professional design, especially for assessment and retrofitting purposes, therefore based on the exploitation of the simplest nonlinear Finite Elements available in a commercial software, namely trusses with elasto-fragile and elasto-ductile behaviour (Cutoff Bars). The numerical static nonlinear analyses are carried out by considering elastic hexahedral elements for bricks and lumping nonlinearities on joints. These have been assumed in turn elastic-brittle and elastic-plastic by using 1D elements, respectively Point Contacts, under No-Tension Material hypothesis, and Cutoff Bars, assigning small tensile resistance to the material. The reinforcement, realised with FRP hooping strips, has been successfully modelled in a similar fashion, i.e. by applying perfectly bonded elastic-plastic Cutoff Bars at the extrados of the dome, where the debonding is accounted for in a conventional way limiting the tensile strength according to Italian Standards indications. The procedure is validated against benchmark models with the same geometry, using experimental data and more refined structural model results for comparison.

Deep convolutional neural network (CNN) has shown their great advantages in the single image deraining task. However, most existing CNN-based single image deraining methods still suffer from residual rain streaks and details lost. In this paper, we propose a deep neural network including the Multi-scale feature extraction module and the channel attention module, which are embed in the feature extraction sub-network and the rain removal sub-network respectively. In the feature extraction sub-network, the Multi-scale feature extraction module is constructed by a Multi-layer Laplacian pyramid, and is then integrated multi-scale feature maps by a feature fusion module. In the rain removal sub-network, the channel attention module, which assigns different weights to the different channels, is introduced for preserving image details. Experimental results on visually and quantitatively comparison demonstrate that the proposed method performs favorably against other state-of-the-art approaches

Defect detection in ferromagnetic substrates is often hampered by non-magnetic coating thickness variation when using conventional eddy current testing technique. The lift-off distance between the sample and the sensor is one of the main obstacles for the thickness measurement of non-magnetic coatings on ferromagnetic substrates when using the eddy current testing technique. Based on the eddy current thin-skin effect and the lift-off insensitive inductance (LII), a simplified iterative algorithm is proposed for reducing the lift-off variation effect using a multi-frequency sensor. Compared to the previous techniques on compensating the lift-off error (e.g., the lift-off point of intersection) while retrieving the thickness, the simplified inductance algorithms avoid the computation burden of integration, which are used as embedded algorithms for the online retrieval of lift-offs via each frequency channel. The LII is determined by the dimension and geometry of the sensor, thus eliminating the need for empirical calibration. The method is validated by means of experimental measurements of the inductance of coatings with different materials and thicknesses on ferrous substrates (dual-phase alloy). The error of the calculated coating thickness has been controlled to within 3 % for an extended lift-off range of up to 10 mm.

Luminescent carbon dots (CDs) were locally synthesized in the core of CYTOP fibers using IR femtosecond laser direct writing (FLDW), a one-step simple method serving as a post-treatment of the genuine fiber. This approach enables the creation of several types of modifications such as ellipsoid voids. The CDs and photoluminescence (PL) distribute at the periphery of the voids. The PL spectral properties were studied through Excitation Emission Matrix in the visible range and excitation/emission spectrum in UV/visible range. Our finding reveals the presence of at least 3 distinct luminescent species, facilitating a broad excitation range extending from UV to green, and light emission spanning from blue to red. The average laser power and dose influence the quantity and ratio of these luminescent CD species. Additionally, we measured the spatially resolved lifetime of the luminescence during and after the irradiation. We found longer lifetimes at the periphery of the laser-induced modified regions and shorter ones closer to the center, with a dominant lifetime ~ 2ns. Notably, unlike many other luminophores, these laser-induced CDs are insensitive to oxygen, enhancing their potential for display or data storage applications.

The construction sector is considered as a major consumer of virgin materials and contributor to waste generation. Therefore, it is essential to rethink current waste management practices, for example, by applying circular economy principles to building demolition, such as deconstruction. Deconstruction involves dismantling a building with the aim of maintaining the highest possible value for its materials and maximize their recovery potential. This study aims to guide the construction sector towards deconstruction to support its efforts to transform itself toward a more sustainable industry. It focuses on a regional case study in the province of Québec (Canada) presenting five buildings to be deconstructed. First, the study presents the outcomes of our analysis of the current situation. Second, it identifies the issues and obstacles encountered and proposes avenues to improve the current process based on solutions identified in the literature and the recommendations of the manager, the contractor involved in the deconstruction process, as well as experts in the construction industry. Finally, it proposes an improved deconstruction process. Our research approach is inspired from Lean thinking and follows Action Research methodology.

This research investigates the socio-economic impact of rattan cane processing on the livelihoods of practitioners in Ibadan Metropolis. It comprehensively assesses raw material availability, examines factors influencing demand and supply, and evaluates sales to determine the profitability of rattan processors. With the snowball and total enumeration sampling methods, the study engages with a diverse group of rattan processors. The study reveals a concerning 36% acknowledgement of a decline in the availability of canes attributed to deforestation and over-exploitation. Notably, it emphasizes that rattan product manufacturing in Ibadan Metropolis operates at a craft level, employing tools like saws, hammers, knives, gas cylinders, pinches, and tape rules, impacting production efficiency and product longevity. Additionally, the research underscores the absence of government support and credit facilities reported by all respondents. The Market Margin analysis highlights varying profitability levels across rattan products, with chairs exhibiting notably higher profitability (32.22%) than others. Individual profit margins for specific products, such as chairs (145.00%), underscore the significance of processing costs, production time, and market demand. The study offers strategic recommendations, advocating for district-level service centres for training, technology transfer, and support to enhance skills and technical efficiency. It calls for government intervention through incentives, facilities, tax breaks, and policies to fortify the rattan trade, improving production standards and unlocking export market potential. Furthermore, financial support, technical assistance, and mechanization should be employed to reduce production costs and time, ultimately elevating income generation in the rattan industry. This research contributes valuable insights to the discourse on sustainable livelihoods and economic viability within the rattan sector.

Chlorophyll a concentration (Chl) is a key variable to estimate primary production (PP) through ocean color remote sensing (OCRS). Accurate Chl estimate is crucial for better understanding of spatio-temporal trends of PP over recent decades as a consequence of climate change. However, a number of studies have reported that currently operational chlorophyll a algorithms perform poorly in the Arctic Ocean (AO), which is mainly caused by the interference of colored and detrital material (CDM) with the phytoplankton signal in the visible part of the spectrum. To determine how and to what extent that CDM would bias the estimation of Chl, we evaluated the performances of 8 currently available ocean color algorithms: OC4v6, OC3Mv6, OC3V, OC4L, OC4P, AO.emp, GSM01 and AO.GSM. Our results suggest that the empirical AO.emp algorithm performs the best overall, but for waters with high CDM (acdm(443) &gt; 0.067 m-1), which is of much interest in the Arctic, it is the two semi-analytical GSM models that show better performance. Besides, sensitivity analyses using an Arctic spectrally- and vertically-resolved primary production model further show that errors in Chl mostly propagate proportionally to PP estimates with 7% amplification at maximum. We aslo demonstrate that the higher level of CDM relative to Chl in the water column, the larger the bias would occur in both Chl and PP estimates. Although the AO.GSM overall best performs among algorithms tested in the present study, it tends to fail for a significant number of pixels (16.2% observed in the present study) particularly for waters with high CDM. Our results suggest that an algorithm that provides reasonable Chl estimates for a wide range of optically-complex Arctic waters is still required.

The global predicament of solid waste generation looms as a mounting crisis, profoundly impacting the world, particularly in developing nations. Each day, the world's population contributes millions of tonnes of municipal solid waste, with projections pointing toward further escalation in the coming years. This surge in waste, predominantly composed of cellulose-rich materials, correlates directly with heightened pollution, a threat that transcends borders and imperils humanity as a whole.To confront this ever-growing issue, cellulase, a potent hydrolytic enzyme capable of digesting cellulose, a chief component of solid waste, is explored as a potential solution. In this study, we harness cellulase enzymes derived from the digestive tracts of both Archachatina marginata and Oryctes rhinoceros larvae, employing them as biodegradation agents for cellulose-based waste materials.The cellulase enzymes are methodically isolated and partially purified via ammonium sulfate precipitation at 65% saturation. Their efficacy in breaking down a variety of waste categories, encompassing kitchen waste, leaves, paper, wood, and industrial waste, is meticulously assessed and benchmarked against carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), a well-established laboratory substrate. The study also ascertains the specific activity of these enzymes.Spectrophotometric analyses of the cellulase enzymes' actions on the diverse waste materials unveil intriguing results. Archachatina marginata and Oryctes rhinoceros larvae exhibit distinct performance metrics, registering percentage ranges of (11.04% - 28.31%) and (33.69% - 189.11%) on wood waste, (76.52% - 196%) and (108.56% - 567.01%) on paper waste, (78.57% - 148.14%) and (163.33% - 436.76%) on leaf waste, (57.16% - 179.95%) and (63.38% - 457.05%) on kitchen waste, and (59.95% - 77.51%) and (117.26% - 155.23%) on industrial waste, respectively. This study underscores the substantial biodegradation potential inherent in cellulase enzymes from both Oryctes rhinoceros larvae and Archachatina marginata when applied to diverse waste materials. While the rates and impacts of waste degradation vary between these sources, their promising contributions to waste management come into focus, offering sustainable and innovative approaches to tackle the pressing global challenge of solid waste proliferation.

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is a high-quality construction solution combining high fluidity, passing and filling ability with improved mechanical properties and durability. In the present study, the effect of incorporating alternative waste materials, such as two by-products of the ce-ment industry, namely cement kiln dust (CKD) and by-pass dust (BPD), into SCC as partial re-placement for traditional filler material was investigated. The produced compositions were compared with reference mixtures containing only marble powder (MP) as a filler. A series of tests including specific test methods for wet SCC, compressive, flexural and tensile splitting strength tests as well as drying shrinkage determination were conducted to evaluate the quality of the produced SCC in terms of fresh and hardened SCC properties. The use of alternative fine filler materials resulted in a high-performance sustainable SCC of low cement content. Specifi-cally, incorporating CKD into the SCC enhanced its rheological behavior and improved slightly its mechanical properties, while the use of BPD led to SCC mixtures of adequate rheological characteristics but with highly upgraded mechanical and physical properties

Recently, Electric Two-Wheelers ETW are changing the face of the global automotive market. This study focused on selecting proper material and mechanical isolation gap to design a protective enclosure for the battery pack of ETW. The integration of the Failure, Modes, Mechanism and Effect Analysis (FMMEA) method is utilized to develop the interface matrix and the severity index of different components of the enclosure. By analyzing different forces from the road conditions, dynamics during turn, acceleration, and deceleration with the enclosure, it becomes a crucial load-bearing element. Employing Finite Element Modeling (FEM), structural strength using materials like AL6061, Q235, C22000, DC 01 and Teflon are assessed under varying static, dynamic and thermal conditions. Modal analysis is conducted to observe the excitation frequencies where the maximum deformation for the metal enclosure is observed beyond 500Hz. AL6061 material that can withstand the stresses and deformations that are under allowable stress limits with negligible deformation is most preferable material based on the results. Minimal of 2.5 mm gap to be provided in case of metal casing and 10mm in case of Teflon is proven.

Hundreds of thousands of kilometers of communication and power (umbilical) cables and flowlines lie undersea worldwide. Most of these offshore cables and flowlines have reached or will soon be nearing the end of their service life, necessitating the need for a viable recycling approach to recover some valuable material, e.g., copper. However, separation into constituent materials has proven very challenging due to the highly robust design of the composite cables (and flowlines) to withstand service conditions and the tough external plastic sheaths that protect against seawater corrosion. Here, we summarize the findings of the cryogenic comminution of subsea cables and flowlines for an effective separation and recovery of component materials. Heat transfer analyses of complex multilayer flowlines and umbilicals were conducted to evaluate the time required for these structures to reach their respective critical brittle-transition temperatures. Subsequently, the time was used as a guide to crush the flowline and umbilical cables under cryogenic conditions. The results show that the flowlines and umbilical cables will reach the brittle-transition temperature after approximately 1000s (i.e., 17 min) of submergence in liquid nitrogen (LN). Comminution of the materials at temperatures near the brittle-transition temperature was proven relatively efficient compared to room-temperature processing. The present evaluation of heat transfer and lab-scale crushing will afford accurate process modelling and design of a pilot cryogenic comminution of decommissioned flowlines in an LN-doped atmosphere.

According to a recent estimate by UN Habitat, approximately 3 billion individuals will require suitable housing by the year 2030. This staggering demand translates to the need for around 96,000 affordable housing units to be constructed each day. However, the conventional construction methods that rely on cement-based concrete and masonry are outdated, lacking innovation, efficiency, and sustainability. In light of these challenges, cold-formed steel emerges as an appealing alternative to traditional construction materials like masonry and concrete. It offers numerous advantages, including easy fabrication, lightweight properties, energy efficiency, the ability to reuse the material at the end of its service life, and a higher level of recyclability. Cold-formed steel buildings are also recognized for their superior insulation and lower energy consumption during operation. Cold-formed steel (CFS) members are created by rolling structurally sound steel sheets into the required shapes using a forming machine, without the need for heat as in the case of hot-rolled steel. While the thickness of these members can range from 0.01 mm to 7 mm, commercial construction of load-bearing walls, roof trusses, and floor joists typically utilizes steel thicknesses of 0.7 mm to 1.2 mm. This paper tries to illustrate the materials and methods employed in the construction of cold-formed steel modular buildings in Sri Lanka[1]. It delves into the material and durability characteristics of cold-formed steel, the design philosophy behind these structures, the development of the building envelope, and the energy efficiency features of the building elements. The findings of this study demonstrate that cold-formed steel buildings can be a highly sought-after alternative for residential construction, offering faster construction timelines, cost-effectiveness, and energy-efficient practices.

Arthroplasty is commonly performed to treat advanced osteoarthritis or other degenerative joint conditions, but it can also be considered for young patients with severe joint damage that significantly limits their functionality and quality of life. Young patients are still at risk of aseptic mobilization and bone resorption due to the phenomenon of stress-shielding that causes an uneven distribution of tensions along the femoral contact surface prosthesis. This phenomenon can be limited by appropriately choosing the material of the prosthesis or by varying its stiffness, making sure that its mechanical behavior simulates that of the femur as much as possible. The aim of this study is to evaluate the mechanical behavior of a prosthesis optimized both in shape and material and in comparing the results with a standard titanium prosthesis. Methods: Through three-dimensional modeling and the use of software finite element method (FEM) such as ANSYS we simulate the mechanical behavior of traditional prosthesis and prosthesis optimized topologically respecting the ASTM F2996-13 standard Results: With topological optimization there is a stress reduction from 987 Mpa to 810 Mpa with a mass reduction of 30%. With the use of carbon fiber, it is possible to further reduce stress to 509 Mpa. Conclusions: The reduction of stress on the femoral stem allows an optimal distribution of the load on the cortical bone thus decreasing the problem of stress-shielding.

Criticism has been directed towards the traditional methods of management accounting employed by organizations thus far, as they fail to adequately address the growing need for competitiveness and sustainable development in a globalized environment. This criticism stems from both economic factors, such as insufficient monitoring of material, energy, and escalating overhead costs, and environmental concerns, where inadequate attention is given to vital information regarding significant environmental aspects, impacts, risks, and damages arising from the organization's activities and processes. Additionally, these methods do not sufficiently support the implementation of a functional environmental management system (EMS). Drawing upon our research in EMS standardization following the international standards ISO 1400X, as well as our knowledge gained during the development of the Slovak Technical Standard (STN) for ISO 14051, this paper presents an innovative model of environmental management accounting. This model is based on the cost accounting of material and energy flows within organizations. It serves as an enhancement framework for organizations with an existing EMS built according to the EN ISO 14001 model, as well as for organizations lacking a formalized EMS based on this standard. Within this paper, we specify, decompose, and apply the new model, focusing on the cost accounting of material-energy flows in a hypothetical organization. We meticulously examine the ten key steps of the model's structure, particularly in terms of costing and the allocation of costs to material, energy, system, and waste management.

In this paper an overview of waste materials in underground coal mines is presented, whereas waste materials can be of anthropogenic or geogenic origin. Complex interactions with mine water and waste materials take place, especially during mine water level rebound. Bearing in mind that under the increasing societal pressure most, if not all underground coal mines are going to be closed rather sooner than later, it is important to understand these interactions and to predict the composition and dynamics of mine water lever rebound in underground coal mines to prevent adverse effects to the environment, especially receiving waters and drinking water resources. The second part of this article focusses on the experiences gained in the Ruhr area, a closed underground coal mining region in Western Germany, where mine water rebound has been ongoing for decades. In this regard, the modelling program DMT-Boxmodel has been developed and applied to predict the hydrodynamics and hydrogeochemical development of the water rebound. As an example, simulation results of water rebound as well as solute and PCB transport in central province of Ruhr mining area are compared to the monitoring data, and predictions over 3 decades are given. The experiences gained in the mine water management in Ruhr area can be applied in mining areas worldwide.

In this paper, the characterization of 3D printed materials that are considered in the design of multirotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for specialised purposes was carried out. The multirotor UAV system is briefly described, primarily from the aspect of system dynamics, considering that the airframe parts connect the UAV components, including the propulsion configuration, into a functional assembly. Three additive manufacturing (AM) technologies were discussed, and a brief overview was given of selective laser sintering (SLS), fused deposition modeling (FDM), and continuous fiber fabrication (CFF). Using hardware and related software, 12 series of specimens were produced which were experimentally tested utilizing a quasi-static uniaxial tensile test. The results of the experimental tests are given graphically with displacement-force characteristics. In this work, the focus is on CFF technology and the testing of materials that will be used in the production of mechanically loaded airframe parts of multirotor UAVs. Furthermore, an overview was given in such a way that the specimens were grouped, and the mean values of the maximum stress were presented, so that the tested materials could be more easily compared with conventional materials, such as aluminum alloys.

The presented research focused on the evaluation of the novel concept of overmolding technique using self-reinforced composite prepregs and recycled polymer blends. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed manufacturing technique, several series of materials based on polycarbonate/polyethylene terephthalate (PC/PET) and polycarbonate/polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PC/PETG) blends were prepared. The reinforcing component in the form of overmolded prepreg was made from polyester-based self-reinforced composite (srPET). The prepared materials were compared in terms of mechanical properties and heat resistance; the study was supplemented by thermal analysis measurements (DMTA, DSC). Considering the mechanical characteristics, the overmolding technique turns out to be an effective method of improving the properties of composites, and the increase in impact strength turns out to be particularly beneficial. The increase of the impact strength for overmolded PC/PET blend reached 430 % for PC/PETG sample 330% , while for PC-based composite, only 100%. The expected improvement in thermomechanical properties turned out to be difficult to achieve due to the rapid softening of the srPET prepreg at around 70 °C. However, technological tests and analysis of properties clearly indicated that the use of PC-based blends makes it possible to create a permanent connection with reinforcement based on srPET prepregs, which can significantly expand the potential of applications of this type of materials.

This study aims to theoretically address the design and analysis of an efficient pressure sensor designed by using a polymer-based defective 1D annular photonic crystal (APC). The 1D APC comprises an alternate arrangement of Si and SiO2 in a cylindrical fashion, incorporating a central defect layer. The investigation of the reflectance characteristics of the proposed structure is conducted by separately considering the polystyrene (PS) and the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) polymer materials as the defect layer. The pressure-sensitive refractive index of the polymers and the constituent materials of the APC plays a vital role in envisaging the pressure-sensing application. The cornerstone of this study is represented by the shift analysis in the wavelength of the defect mode inside the band gap using different applied pressures by employing the modified transfer matrix method (MTMM). Various geometrical parameters like the defect polymer layer’s thickness and the APC period were carefully optimized to achieve higher sensing performance. The proposed design demonstrated a remarkable pressure sensitivity and FoM of 51.29 nm/GPa and 301.7 GPa-1, respectively, which is considerably high in the current research scenario. It is believed that the proposed structure can be an apt candidate as an innovative high-performance pressure sensor, and it can play a key role in photonic integrated circuits.

In the present study, piecewise integrated composite (PIC) bumper beam for passenger cars was proposed and design optimisation process for composite bumper beam against IIHS test was carried out with the help of machine learning. Several elements in IIHS bumper FE model have been assigned to be references, in order to collect training data which, allow the machine learning model to study the method of predicting loading types of each finite element. 2-D and 3-D implementations were provided by machine learning models, which determined stacking sequences of each finite element in PIC bumper beam. It was found that the PIC bumper beam, which was designed by machine learning model has direct impact on reducing the possibility of failure as well as increasing bending strength effectively than conventional composite bumper beam. Moreover, 3-D implementation produced better results compared with 2-D implementation since it was preferable to choose loading type information which was achieved from surroundings when the target elements were located either at corner or junction of planes instead of using information came from the same plane of target.

A progressive FEA fatigue degradation model for composites was developed and implemented using a UMAT user material subroutine in Abaqus. Numerical results were compared to experimental strain field data from high frequency Digital Image Correlation (DIC) of split disk fatigue testing of pressure vessel cut outs with holes. The model correctly predicted the onset and evolution of damage in the matrix as well as the onset of fiber failure. The model use progressive failure analysis based on the maximum strain failure criterion, the cycle jump method and Miner sum damage accumulation rule. A parameter study on matrix properties was needed to capture the scatter in strain fields observed experimentally by DIC. S-N curve for the matrix material had to be lowered by 0% to 60% to capture the experimental scatter. The onset of local fiber failure had to be described by local S-N curves measured by DIC having 2.5 times greater strain than that of S-N curves found from standard coupon testing.

The analysis of curated genomic, metagenomic, and proteomic data are of paramount importance in the fields of biology, medicine, education, and bioinformatics. Although this type of data is usually hosted in raw form in free international repositories, its access requires plenty of computing, storage, and processing capacities for the domestic user. The purpose of the study is to offer a comprehensive set of genomic and proteomic reference data, in an accessible and easy-to-use form to the scientific community. A representative type material set of genomes, proteomes and metagenomes were directly downloaded from the site: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/assembly/ and from Genome Taxonomy Database, associated with the major groups of Bacteria, Archaea, Virus, and Fungi. Sketched databases were subsequently created and stored on handy raw reduced representations, by using Mash software. Our dataset contains near to 100 GB of space disk reduced to 585.78 MB and represents 87,476 genomics/proteomic records from eight informative contexts, which have been prefiltered to make them accessible, usable, and user-friendly with computational resources. Potential uses of this dataset include but are not limited to, microbial species delimitation, estimation of genomic distances, genomic novelties, paired comparisons between proteomes, genomes, and metagenomes.

Artificial reefs have been deployed in multiple regions of the world for different purposes including habitat restoration and protection, biodiversity and fish stock enhancement, fisheries management and recreation. Artificial reefs can be a valuable tool for ecosystem protection and rehabilitation, helping mitigate the effects of anthropogenic impacts that we face today. However, knowledge on artificial reefs is unevenly distributed worldwide, with some regions having much more quality information available and published (e.g. European Mediterranean Sea area), while others, for instance the North-East Atlantic area, do not. Here, we provide a characterization of purposely built artificial reefs in North-East Atlantic area based on all available literature (i.e. research papers and reports), highlighting the needs and gaps that are vital for establishing future perspectives for artificial reef deployment and research. In the North-East Atlantic area, sixty-one purposely built artificial reefs have been deployed since 1970, mostly between the years 1990-2009, with Spain being the country with the highest number of artificial reefs. The most reported purpose for their deployment is fisheries productivity and habitat/species protection, although, most artificial reefs are multipurpose in order to maximise the benefits of a given financial investment. The majority of artificial reefs were submerged at < 50 m, mainly between 10-20 m of depth. The most used designs were cubic blocks and complex designs made by an array of combined shapes, which mostly consist of concrete (79%). From all the analysed data on artificial reefs, 67% of the cases reported surveys to assess biodiversity after the deployment. However, in 26% of those cases, data was not available. When data was available, only 31% of cases reported long-term biomonitoring surveys (3 years or more). Based upon these findings, we noticed a general lack of scientifically robust data, including records of species and abundance of both fish and invertebrates, as well as macroalgae. Preventing an adequate determination of the best balance between shape, construction material and bio-colonization. Critiques and suggestions are discussed in the light of current available data in order to perform more efficient research, evaluation and functioning of future artificial reefs.

When different strain hardening and strain rate sensitive materials are used for scaled model and prototype, the traditional pure geometrical similarity laws of solid mechanics will fail. Although correcting the basic scaling factors of velocity, density and geometry have been developed to compensate for the material distortion in recent non-geometric scaling works, it is difficult to be widely used because of its inherent indirect (depending on the structural strain and strain rate responses) and inexact (having significant prediction errors for prototype) defects. In this paper, a framework of material similarity, based on the new suggested material dimensionless numbers and the ‘Material number vs. strain/strain-rate’ function curves, are further developed, which represents the objective requirement of similarity theory for the basic mechanical properties of materials. It is demonstrated what is similitude materials of solid mechanics and how to use the best similitude materials to overcome the non-scalabilities of materials for identical or different materials. The direct and exact solution of the basic correction factors is further obtained and therefore overcomes the previous inherent indirect and inexact defects radically. Based on the similarity evaluation of different materials of the classical constitutive models, the impacted structures of circular plate and crooked plate with strain hardening and strain rate sensitive materials are verified numerically. The results show the completely different materials can be exact similitude for various structural behaviors (strain, strain rate, stress and displacement) of time and space fields after using the best similitude materials; and the basic correction factors do not depend on the structural strain and strain rate responses. As a contrast, when the non-similitude materials are used, the similarity results are very sensitive to the selection of strain/strain-rate and often leads to failed predictions. In addition, for the material elastic and temperature effects, the proposed method is also discussed to be valid.

Eddy current sensors can be used to test the characteristics and measure the parameters of the conductive samples. As the main obstacle of the multi-frequency eddy current sensor, the lift-off distance affects the effectiveness and accuracy of the measurement. In this paper, a material-independent algorithm has been proposed for the restoration of the lift-off distance when using the multi-frequency eddy current sensor, which is based on the approximation under the thin-skin effect. Experiment testing on the performance of the proposed method is presented. Results show that from the dual-frequency inductance, the lift-off distance could be restored with a maximum error of 0.24 mm for the distance up to 12 mm. Besides, the derived lift-off distance is used for the inversion of the magnetic permeability. Based on a lift-off insensitive inductance (LII) feature, the magnetic permeability of steels can be inversed in an iterative manner, with an error of less than 0.6 % for the lift-off distance up to 12 mm.

Expansion tube is ideal energy absorber which dissipates kinetic energy through plastic deformation and friction. There is an urgent need to understand the influence of key parameter, e.g. semi angle, tube material, and friction coefficient, on the mechanical response and energy absorption characteristics of expansion tube. In the present work, the material properties of the tubes were tested under quasi-static loading condition, and the numerical simulations were carried out by using commercial software ABAQUS. Based on the validated finite element simulation, all the semi angle, tube material, and friction have significant effects on the energy absorption capacity of expansion tube. The expansion tube with high tensile stress of parent material have high energy absorption capacity, while the specific energy absorption is linear with the tensile stress/density of tube material. This work would give a guidance to the structural design and parent materials selection for expansion tubes.

The energy efficiency of grinding depends on the appropriate selection of cutting conditions, grinding wheel and workpiece material. Additionally, the estimation of specific energy consumption is a good indicator to control the energy consumed during the grinding process. Consequently, this study develops a model of material removal rate to estimate the specific energy consumption based on the measurement of active power consumed in a plane surface grinding of C45K with different thermal treatments and AISI 304. This model identifies and evaluates the power dissipated by sliding, ploughing and chip formation in a industrial-scale grinding process. Furthermore, the instantaneous positions of the abrasive grains during cutting are described to study the material removal rate. The estimation of specific chip formation energy is similar to that described by other authors in laboratory scale, which allows to validate the model and experiments. Finally, the results show that the energy consumed by sliding is the main phenomenon of energy dissipation in industrial-scale grinding process, where it is denoted that sliding energy by volume unity decreases as the depth of cut and speed of workpiece increase.

The plant-microbe-soil nexus is critical in maintaining biogeochemical balance of the biosphere. However, soil loss and land degradation are occurring at alarmingly high rates, with soil loss exceeding soil formation rates. This necessitates evaluating marginal soils for their capacity to support and sustain plant growth. In a greenhouse study, we evaluated the capacity of marginal incipient basaltic parent material to support native plant growth, and the associated variation in soil microbial community dynamics. Three plant species, native to the Southwestern Arizona-Sonora region were tested with three soil treatments including basaltic parent material, parent material amended with 20% compost, and potting soil. The parent material with and without compost supported germination and growth of all the plant species, though germination was lower than the potting soil. A 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing approach showed Proteobacteria to be the most abundant phyla in both parent material and potting soil, followed by Actinobacteria. Microbial community composition had strong correlations with soil characteristics but not plant attributes within a given soil material. Predictive functional potential capacity of the communities revealed chemoheterotrophy as the most abundant metabolism within the parent material, while photoheterotrophy and anoxygenic photoautotrophy were prevalent in the potting soil. These results show that marginal incipient basaltic soil has the ability to support native plant species growth, and non-linear associations may exist between plant-marginal soil-microbial interactions.

The unique porous crystal structure of zeolite offers various important utilizations, it is one of the considerations in selecting zeolite at this study as component of composite for restraining noise. It so happens, previous experiments show that banana stem has porous structure, fibrous, high flexibility and can be applied as material for many various products including as component of acoustic material. The combination of both is alleged that it has capability in absorbing noise. This paper presents an investigation on the composite that it was synthesized of Activated Zeolite and Banana Stem Fibre in various weight for determining its sound absorption coefficient alpha (a). Activating natural zeolite was conducted by using 6M HCl in order for enlarging zeolite pores. The sound absorption coefficient was measured in the frequency range between 125 Hz up to 6000 Hz. The results show that the different weight of banana stem fibre as component of the synthesized composite affects the value of alpha and shifts the frequency area.