Coal combustion in thermal power plants releases ash. Ash is reported to cause different adverse health hazards in humans and other organisms. Owing to the presence of radionuclides, it is also considered as a potential radiation hazard. In this study, based on the surface radiation measurements and relevant ancillary data, expected radiation risk zones were identified with regard to the human population residing near the Thermal Power Plant. With population density as the risk determining criteria, about 20% of the study area was at ‘High’ risk and another 20% of the study area was at ‘Low’ risk zone. The remaining 60% was under medium risk zone. Based on the findings remedial measures which may be adopted have been suggested.

Almost 50 papers on surface plasmon resonance biosensors, published between 2016 and mid-2018, are reviewed. Papers concerning the determination of large particles such as vesicles, exosomes, cancer cells, living cells, stem cells and microRNA are excluded, as these are covered by a very recent review. The reviewed papers are categorized into five groups, depending on the degree of maturity of the reported solution: ranging from simple marker detection to clinical application of a previously developed biosensor. Instrumental solutions and details of biosensor construction are analyzed, including the chips, receptors and linkers used, as well as calibration strategies. Biosensors with a sandwich structure containing different nanoparticles are considered separately, as are SPR applications for investigating the interactions of biomolecules. An analysis is also made of the markers determined using the biosensors. Concluding, there is shown to be a growing number of SPR applications in the solution of real clinical problems.

Studying the interaction between the upper ocean and the typhoons is crucial to improve our understanding of heat and momentum exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere. In recent years, the upper ocean responses to typhoons have received considerable attention. The sea surface cooling (SSC) process has been repeatedly discussed. In the present work, case studies were examined on five strong and super typhoons that occurred in 2016—LionRock, 1610; Meranti, 1614; Malakas, 1616; Megi, 1617; and Chaba 1618—to search for more evidence and new features of typhoon’s impact on the sea surface environment. The typhoon monitoring data from the Central Meteorological Observatory, the sea surface temperature (SST) data from satellite microwave and infrared remote sensing, and the sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) data from satellite altimeters were used to analyze in detail: the SSC features caused by typhoons, the relationship between the SSC and the typhoon travelling speed, and the variations in cold and warm eddies during typhoon passage. Results showed that: (1) SSC generally occurred during typhoon passage and the degree of SSC was always determined by the strength and the travelling speed of the typhoon, as well as the initial SST. (2) One day before or on the day of typhoon passage, the SSHA slightly increased due to low surface pressure. After the typhoon passed, the SSHA obviously decreased along with the SSC. The pre-existing positive SSHAs, which always represent warm eddies, decreased or disappeared during typhoon passage, whereas negative SSHAs or cold eddies were enhanced. (3) New cold eddies were generated, especially at the turning points of the typhoon path. The presence of warm eddies is suggested to have a strengthening effect on the typhoons.

Land Surface Temperature (LST) estimation has been studied for several purposes, while the optimal method of estimating the LST has not been criticized yet. This research explores the optimum method in Land Surface Temperature (LST) estimation using LANDSAT-8 imagery data. Four different LST retrieval approaches, the Radiative Transfer Equation-based method (RTE), the Improved Mono-Window method (IMW), the Generalized Single-Channel method (GSC), and the Split-Window algorithm (SW), were calculated to present the LSTs over Buriram Town Municipality, Thailand. The calculated LSTs from these four methods were compared with the ground-based temperature data, taken on the same date and time of the employed LANDSAT-8 images. For this reason, the optimum method of the LST calculation was justified by considering the lowest normalized root means square error (NRMSE) values. As a result, the SW algorithm presents an optimum method in LST estimation. Regarding the SW, this algorithm requires not only the atmospheric profiles during satellite acquisition but also the retrieval of several coefficients. Besides, the LST retrieval method based on the SW algorithm is sensitive to water vapor content and coefficients. Although the SW algorithm is an optimum method explored in this study, it is emphasized that the adjustable values of coefficient response to the atmospheric state may be recommended. With these conditions, the SW algorithm can generate the land-surface temperature over the mixed land-use and land cover on the LANDSAT-8 images.

Recently Kawashima has reported that, when wetted with alkanes, several forms of graphite and single-layer graphene exhibit superconductor-like properties above room temperature under ambient pressure [AIP Adv. 2013, 3, 052132; arXiv:1612.05294; arXiv:1801.09376]. Under the assumption that these seemingly unlikely properties arise from the presence of paired electrons brought about by the alkane-wetting, we explored their implications to arrive at a probable mechanism for strong electron-pairing driven by Fermi surface nesting and acoustic phonon. This mechanism explains why alkane-wetting is essential for the graphene systems to become “superconductor-like” above room temperature and why the “T_c” of alkane-wetted pitch-based graphite fibers increases almost linearly from ~363 to ~504 K with increasing the molecular weight of alkane from heptane to hexadecane. It also provides a number of experimentally-verifiable predictions, the confirmation of which will provide a strong support for the superconductivity driven by Fermi surface nesting and acoustic phonon.

The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between the external friction angle of cereal kernels and the roughness of a steel friction plate. The experiment was performed on the kernels of five principal cereals: wheat, rye, barley, oats and triticale. Flat seed units composed of three spaced kernels joined by adhesive tape were analyzed in each experimental variant. The external friction angle of flat seed units was determined on 9 steel friction plates with different roughness. Measurements were performed in 3 replications with a photosensor device which registered the external friction angle of cereal kernels. On friction plates with surface roughness Ra=0.36 to Ra=6.72, the average values of the angle of external friction ranged from 17.56° in rye kernels to 34.01° in oat kernels. The greatest similarities in the angle of external friction were observed between wheat and triticale kernels, whereas the greatest differences were noted between barley and oat kernels and between barley and triticale kernels. Friction plates made of ST3S steel should be characterized by the lowest surface roughness to minimize energy consumption during grain processing. The optimal surface roughness of steel friction plates was determined at Ra=0.9.

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of the 3D point cloud density derived from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry and structure from motion (SfM) and multi-view stereopsis (MVS) techniques, the interpolation method for generating a digital terrain model (DTM), and the resolution (grid size) of the derived DTM on the accuracy of estimated heights in small areas, where a very accurate high spatial resolution is required. A UAV-photogrammetry project was carried out on a bare soil of 13 × 13 m with a rotatory wing UAV at 10 m flight altitude (equivalent ground sample distance = 0.4 cm). The 3D point cloud was derived, and five sample replications representing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90% of the original cloud were extracted to analyze the effect of cloud density on DTM accuracy. For each of these samples, DTMs were derived using four different interpolation methods (Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), Multiquadric Radial Basis Function (MRBF), Kriging (KR), and Triangulation with Linear Interpolation (TLI)) and 15 DTM grid size (GS) values (20, 15, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.67, 0.5, and 0.4 cm). Then, 675 DTMs were analyzed. The results showed, for each interpolation method and each density, an optimal GS value (most of the cases equal to 1 cm) for which the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is minimum. IDW was the interpolator which yielded best accuracies for all combination of densities and GS. Its RMSE, considering the raw cloud, was 1.054 cm. The RMSE increased 3% when a point cloud with 80% extracted from the raw cloud was used to generate the DTM. When the point cloud included the 40% of the raw cloud, RMSE increased 5%. For densities lower than 15%, RMSE increased exponentially (45% for 1% of raw cloud). The grid size minimizing RMSE for densities of 20% or higher was 1 cm, which represents 2.5 times the ground sample distance of the pictures used for developing the photogrammetry project.

The present work aims at the comprehensive application of stochastic and optimization tools with the support of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) through a case study in a logistics process for electronic goods; simulation and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) are applied for this purpose. The problem to be evaluated is to define an optimal distribution cost for products shipped to wholesale customers located in different cities in Mexico from a manufacturing plant in Tijuana, Mexico. The factors under study are the product allocation for each distribution center, finished good inventory level and on time deliveries, which are supposed to be significant to get the objective. The methodology applied for this problem considers the design of a discrete event simulation model to represent virtually the real life of logistics process, which is considered a complex system due to different activities are interrelated to carry it out. This model is used to execute the different experiments proposed by the RSM. The results obtained from simulation model were analyzed with the RSM to define the mathematical model that allows identifying the parameters of the factors in order to optimize the process. The findings prove how the ICT facilitate the application of stochastic tools with the purpose of process optimization.

The purpose of the review is to provide new insight into the potential of surface modification of carbon fibers for enhancing the application of the carbon fibers many a fold. To this end a total of 429 papers on the subject of surface modication of carbon fibers by a variety of chemical and electrochemical methods published during the period from 2010-2022 have been reviewed. Astounding results of surface funcationalization of carbon fibers by a variety of state of the art methods resulting in the unconventional applications of the resulting modified carbon fibers are summarized in a nut-shell in schemes from 1-6 towards the end of the review. Surface modifica-tion induces functionality to carbon fibers (CFs). The vitality of CF surface modification reac-tions could only be compared to the life process of respiration that sustains the multi functional-ity of living cells. Applicability of CFs can be drastically enhanced in incomprehensible ways by surface modification. Upon surface modification, inert and non-reactive CF surface becomes chemically active and functional with utility in diverse fields, namely, health, energy, environ-ment, defense, catalysis, smart materials and many others. Surface modification methods can be broadly classified into chemical, electrochemical and physical methods. By these surface modi-fication methods, the inert FC surface becomes polar. Surface properties like roughness, wetta-bility and energy are enhanced. Modification processes like sizing, oxidation, amination, si-lanization, polymerization, nanoarchitecture induces multifunctionality on CF surface. Modi-fied CFs when used as reinforcing material in carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRPs), im-proved bonding at the interface with resin matrices is observed with enhanced and outstanding mechanical properties (flexural strength, flexural modulus, IFSS, ILSS, hardness, elastic modulus, bending strength and compression strength).

Given the rise in the number of cases and their recurrences, Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) are one of the major burdens on public healthcare worldwide. Rapid, inexpensive and selective detection of Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), a major contributor to UTIs, is the need of the hour for effective treatment, given the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria due to improper diagnosis. Here we present a rapid, real-time, selective and label-free detection of UPEC using an integrated sensing platform based on Crossed Surface Relief Gratings (CSRGs) as nanoplasmonic sensors. Detection is achieved due to the unique Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR)-based light energy exchange attributed to the CSRGs, allowing real-time sensing in a very narrow bandwidth of the incident light to pass where the SPR energy conversion occurs. The sensing ability of the platform is experimentally demonstrated by the detection of bulk Refractive Index (RI) changes, with a bulk sensitivity of 382.2 nm/RIU and a resolution in the order of 10-6 RIU. We demonstrate selective capture and detection of clinical concentration of UPEC, as opposed to other gram-negative bacteria, in real-time, a first for CSRGs. This work is particularly important for effective treatment of UTIs, allowing point-of-care diagnosis for economically disadvantaged regions around the world.

In this study, the degradable superhydrophobic Mg/P/Z/F/H (magnesi-um/poly(-caprolactone)/zinc oxide/1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyltriethoxysilane (PFDTES)/ heating process) composite materials were prepared through one-step method for enhancing the corrosion resistance of AZ91D magnesium alloys. Electrochemical measurements showed that Mg/P/Z/F/H materials significantly improved the corrosion resistance of magnesium alloys in 3.5 wt.% NaCl. The self-cleaning, adhesion and stability tests suggested that Mg/P/Z/F/H composite materials had well self-cleaning properties, good adhesion strength and stability in wet atmosphere.

Wetting of deformable substrates has gained significant interest over the past decade due to its extensive applications and uses. This interest has developed due to technological advances which are able to capture interfacial behavior taking place when a liquid droplet is placed on a deformable substrate. Researchers have developed different theories to explain processes taking place in the process of wetting of deformable/soft substrates. For the scope of this review, we will consider the fluid to be Newtonian, partially wetting, and surface forces are incorporated with the help of disjoining/conjoining pressure acting in the vicinity of the apparent, three-phase contact line. The following subjects are briefly reviewed: (i) Equilibrium of droplets on soft substrates. It is shown that properties of the disjoining/conjoining pressure isotherm and properties of the deformable substrate determine both the shape of the liquid droplet and deformation of the substrate; (ii) Equilibrium conditions of droplets on deformable substrates. It is shown that for a droplet to be at equilibrium on a deformable substrate under consideration, Jacobi’s sufficient condition is satisfied; (iii) Hysteresis of contact angle of sessile droplets on deformable substrates. It is shown that as the elasticity of the deformable substrate is increased, both advancing and receding contact angles are reduced.

The influence of the film thickness and the substrate’s refractive index on the surface mode at the superstrate is an important study step that may help clearing some of the misunderstandings surrounding their propagation mechanism. A single sub-wavelength slit perforating a thin metallic film is among the simplest nanostructure capable of launching Surface Plasmon Polaritons on its surrounding surface when excited by an incident field. Here, the impact of the substrate and the film thickness on surface waves is investigated. When the thickness of the film is comparable to its skin depth, SPP waves from the substrate penetrate the film and emerge from the superstrate, creating a superposition of two SPP waves, that leads to a beat interference envelope with well-defined loci which are the function of both the drive frequency and the dielectric constant of the substrate/superstrate. As the film thickness is reduced to the SPP’s penetration depth, surface waves from optically denser dielectric/metal interface would dominate, leading to volume plasmons that propagate inside the film at optical frequencies. Interference of periodic volume charge density with the incident field over the film creates charge bundles that are periodic in space and time.

Protective coatings, in recent years also from nanocomposite formulations, are commonly applied onto architectural stone and stone artefacts, mainly to prevent absorption into the porous stone structure of condensed water and dissolved atmospheric pollutants. While standard protocols are available to assess a coating’s performance, understanding the response of the coating-stone system is a complex task, due to the interplay of various factors determining the overall behaviour. Characterization techniques allowing to correlate the extent and nature of surface modification upon treatment with the most relevant physical properties (i.e water absorption and surface wettability) are thus of great interest. Electrokinetic analysis based on streaming current measurements, thanks to its sensitivity towards even minor changes in the surface chemical composition, may fulfil such requirement. Indeed, by involving the interaction with a testing aqueous electrolyte solution, this technique allows to probe not only the outer surface but also the outermost layer of the pore network, which plays a crucial role in the interaction of the stone with condensed atmospheric water. In this work a correlation was found between the extent of surface modification, as determined by streaming current measurements, surface wettability and capillary water absorption of 6 coating-lithotype combinations (3 lithotypes and 2 nanocomposites).

The overall cost of a hydropower plant is mainly due to the expenses for civil works, mechanical equipment (turbine and control units) and electrical components. The goal of a new draft tube design is to obtain a geometry that reduces investment costs, especially the excavation ones, but the primary driver is to increase the overall machine efficiency allowing for reduced payback time. In the present study, an optimization study of the elbow-draft tube assembly of a Kaplan turbine was conducted. A CFD model for the complete turbine has been developed and validated; next, an optimization of the draft tube alone was performed using a Design of Experiments technique; finally, several optimum solutions for the draft tube were obtained using a Response Surface technique aiming at maximizing pressure recovery and minimizing flow losses. A selection of optimized geometries was subsequently post-checked using the validated model of the entire turbine and a detailed flow analysis on the obtained results could make it possible to provide insight into the improved designs. It was observed that efficiency could be improved by 1% (in relative terms), and the mechanical power increased by 1,8% (in relative terms) with respect to the baseline turbine.

Using the above results from RMS analysis the optimum values were predicted for the independent significant variables (Figure 3) the optimized levels of these variables in combination with other media variables the maximum production was predicted to be 199.90 U/mL. The predicted data were validated through confirmatory experiments performed in triplicates. A 1.29-fold increase in amylase activity against un-optimized (OVAT) medium was achieved in the present study authenticating the efficacy of RSM in process optimization (Figure 4). 2.6 Model validation and scale-up at laboratory scale (5L) bioreactor Once the parameters were standardized in the shake-flasks culture, the experiment was scaled-up to a laboratory-scale bioreactor (5 L). The yield of amylase increased by 1.01 fold (205.69 U/mL), it could be possible because the enzyme production in a bioreactor is higher than in shake-flasks culture as the various critical variable factors such as the dissolved oxygen (DO) and the pH can be optimally controlled at the desired levels [22].

Polymer-derived SiC-polycrystalline fiber (Tyranno SA) shows excellent heat-resistance up to 2000^oC, and relatively high strength. Up to now, through our research, the relationship between the strength and residual defects of the fiber, which were formed during the production processes (degradation and sintering), has been clarified. In this paper, we addressed the relationship between the production condition and the surface roughness of the obtained SiC-polycrystalline fiber, using three different raw fibers (Elementary ratio: Si₁Al_0.01C_1.5O_0.4~0.5) and three different types of reactor (Open system, Partially-open system, and Closed system). With increase in the oxygen content in the raw fiber, the degradation during the production process easily proceeded. In this case, the degradation reactions (SiO+2C=SiC+CO and SiO₂+3C=SiC+2CO) in the inside of each filament become faster, and then the CO partial pressure on the surface of each filament is considered to be increased. In consequence, according to Le Chatelier’s principle, the surface degradation reaction and grain growth of formed SiC crystals would be considered to become slower. That is to say, using the raw fiber with higher oxygen content and closed system (highest CO content in the reactor), much smoother surface of the SiC-polycrystalline fiber could be achieved.

The study presents a comparative approach between response surface methodology (RSM) and hybridized, genetic algorithm artificial neural network (GA-ANN) in predicting the water absorption, compressive strength, flexural strength split tensile strength and slump for steel fiber reinforced concrete. The effect of process variables such as aspect ratio, water cement ratio and cement content were investigated using the central composite design of response surface methodology. This same experimental design was used in training the hybrid-training approach of artificial neural network. The predicting ability of both methodologies were compared using the root mean sqaured error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), model predictive error (MPE) and absolute average deviation (AAD). The RSM model was found more accurate in prediction compared to hybrid GA-ANN.

The current study investigated the use of two-dimensional spatial distribution mapping representing the chlorophyll-a level in a river generated via an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned surface vehicle (USV). A domestically developed UAV (Remo-M, Uconsystem Inc., Korea) and a USV developed by our research team were used to collect data from the Nae Seong stream in Korea. An adaptation of the “Data Cleaner” tool was developed and used for USV data processing and analysis. The operation of the autonomous USV was successful. Four previously described indices for quantifying algal blooms in rivers were utilized to create chlorophyll-a images, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the normalized green red difference index, the green normalized difference vegetation index (GNDVI), and the normalized difference red edge index. The suitability of the linear regression analysis of the correlation between the spectral indices obtained using the UAV and the in situ chlorophyll-a data obtained using the USV was evaluated with the coefficient of determination (R2) at a significance level of p &lt; 0.001. In field application and correlational analysis the NDVI was strongly correlated with chlorophyll-a (R2 = 0.88, p < 0.001), and the GNDVI was moderately correlated with chlorophyll-a (R2 = 0.74, p < 0.001). The map of chlorophyll-a was successfully quantified using the UAV and USV hybrid platforms.

The reserves of water, which is one of the most important requirements for human life, gradually decreases under current conditions and rapidly depletes despite being one of the renewable resources. Considering the global water reserves, it became imperative to implement measures to protect the anticipated water reserves. The fact that the amount of quality water per capita decreases every day in the world and the increasing competition in water management could be considered among the indicators of the above-mentioned case. In recent years, as the effects of this adversity became increasingly more evident, several sustainable methods were adopted all over the world such as rain gardens and rainwater storage facilities. These sustainable techniques could be observed in many areas, especially in urban centers. In the present study, the area with the highest water collection was determined at Karadeniz Technical University Kanuni Campus and identified as the study area. Precipitation per square meter and surface runoff volume were identified based on the GIS (Geographic Information System) data, annual water collection volume was calculated, and information on economic and ecological recycling of the water was provided. In conclusion, the precipitation data for 11 years were compared, and it was calculated that the average annual precipitation was 64.06 kg/m² and annual surface runoff water was 552.77 m³. Based on the surface runoff water volume in the months when no irrigation is conducted, a reservoir was designed under the vehicle road and water recycling recommendations were developed.

In this study, we seek to analyze and numerically evaluate a plasmonic sensor. To form the sensor structure, we use several amplifiers, such as two rings attached to each other and a cavity, as well as two metal insulating metal waveguides (MIM). At the beginning of this simulation, we must examine the resonant wavelengths and the refractive index of the resonators using the finite difference time domain method. By changing the refractive index and changing the dimensions of the cavity and the rims, we seek to investigate the sensor performance and the conduction characteristics of the plasmonics and to obtain the effect of these parameters. To evaluate the sensor performance, we calculate the three factors of sensitivity coefficient S, quality factor Q and figure of merit (FOM), here we reach the sensitivity of 987.6 nm / RIU. Such a plasmonic sensor with a simple framework and high optical resolution can be very useful for sensor systems on optical circuits.

A novel effective vibrational mode was discovered in the conventional transducer with an array of orthogonal (square) regular piezoelectric rods in 1-3 piezocomposite, containing the damping backing and front matching layers. The operational resonance in the structure was determined as the Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) on the backing boundary excited by the adjacent piezo-rods, with its frequency typically near 3 times lower the fundamental half-lambda conventional piezocomposite resonance. Pulse-echo sensitivity and transmitting sound-pressure-level (SPL) in air showed that the signal strength is roughly comparable to the industrial similar air transducers at the frequency range 100…700 kHz, where at these frequencies the lateral and longitudinal piezoelement dimensions in the conventional transducer design are typically close to each other causing interference with unwanted coupling modes. As was determined theoretically and proved in experiments, the backing SAW resonance effect in the transducer performance is inherent just to the regular periodic 1-3 piezocomposite structure, and does occur neither with randomly located/oriented piezo-rods, nor in the homogeneous piezo-plate at least with the same lateral cross-section as the connected to it backing. The purpose of the article is to investigate a newly discovered operational vibrational mode of a SAW type in 1-3 regular piezocomposite, other than piezoelectric resonance. The investigated phenomena can improve the transceiver sensitivity, bandwidth, providing lower drive voltage, and smaller and lighter weight ultrasonic transducers. Based on the piezocomposites with thickness’ 1…1.5 mm (rod resonance near 2…3 MHz), pillar width 0.2…0.8 mm, kerf width 0.1…0.4 mm, the transceivers with an operating frequency from 140 kHz to 650 kHz were designed and fabricated with a conventional backing of a mixture of high-density tungsten powder and epoxy, and a matching layer of a mixture of low-density glass bubbles and epoxy. Experimental evaluation of their acoustical performance showed expected characteristics suitable for practical applications.

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

Imperatorin is a chemical compound belong to Linear furan coumarins. Imperatorin is attracting considerable attention because of its anti-tumor, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant and inhibition of myocardial hypetrophy and other pharmacological efficacy. However, imperatorin has limited water solubility and preferable lipid solubility, we decided to design and synthesize imperatorin lipid microsphere, to optimize preparation conditions. The aim was to develop and formulate imperatorin lipid microsphere through nano emulsion technology and apply the response surface-central composite design to optimize the imperatorin lipid microsphere formulation. Influence of content of amount of egg lecithin(A), amount of poloxamer188(B), soybean oil for injection accounted for the total percentage of oil phase(C) were investigated. Integrated effect of dependent variables including particle size(Y₁), polydispersity index(Y₂), Zeta potentials(Y₃), drug loading(Y₄), encapsulation efficiency(Y₅). Data of overall desirabiities were fitted to a second-order polynomial equation, through which three dimensional response surface graphs were described. Optimum experimental conditions were calculated by Design-Expert 8.06. Results indicated that the optimum preparation conditions were as follows: egg lecithin amount 1.39 g, poloxamer188 amount 0.21 g, soybean oil for injection amount 10.57%. Preparation of imperatorin lipid microsphere according to the optimum experimental conditions resulted in an overall desirability of 0.7286, while the particele size (168±0.54) nm, polydispersity index (PDI) (0.138±0.02), Zeta potentials (−43.5±0.5) mV, drug loading (0.833±0.27) mg·mL⁻¹, encapsulation efficiency (90±1.27)%. The difference between observed and predicted values of the overall desirability of the optimum formulation was in range from 2.4% to 4.3%. Subsequently, using the Scanning electron microscopy to observe the micromorphology of imperatorin lipid microsphere, the result shows that round globular of relatively uniform and sizes within 200nm.The proliferation study of imperatorin lipid microsphere on MDA-MB-231 was investigated by MTT method. Furthermore, pharmacokinetics in Sprague Dawley rats were evaluated using orbital bleeding. A sensitive and reliable liquid chromatography with High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method was established and validated for the quantification of imperatorin in rat plasma samples. The data were calculated by DAS (Drug and statistics) pharmacokinetic software version3.2.6 (China). Results demonstrated that imperatorin lipid microsphere can significantly enhance the bioavailability of imperatorin and can significantly inhibit MDA-MB-231 cell proliferating. In conclusion, our results suggersted that the response surface-central composite design is suitable for the optimized lipid microspere formulation. Imperatorin Lipid microsphere can improve the bioavailability of imperatorin and inhibit the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 than that of imperatorin.

In the present work a novel, portable and innovative eNose composed of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor array based ZIF-8, and ZIF-67 nanocrystals (pure and combined with gold nanoparticles) as sensitive layers has been tested as a non-invasive system to detect and differentiate disease markers, such as acetone, ethanol and ammonia, related with early diagnosis of diabetes mellitus through exhaled breath. The sensors have been prepared by spin coating, achieving continuous and homogenous sensitive layers. Low concentrations (5 ppm, 10 ppm and 25ppm) of the marker analytes were measured, obtaining high sensitivities, good reproducibility, short time response and fast signal recovery.

Optofluidics, a research discipline combining optics with microfluidics, currently aspires to revolutionize the analysis of biological and chemical samples e.g. for medicine, pharmacology, or molecular biology. In order to detect low concentrations of analytes in water, we developed an optofluidic device containing a nanostructured substrate for surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The geometry of the gold surface allows localized plasmon oscillations to give rise to the SERS effect, in which the Raman spectral lines are intensified by the interaction of the plasmonic field with the electrons in the molecular bonds. The SERS substrate was enclosed in a microfluidic system, which allowed transport and precise mixing of the analyzed fluids, while preventing contamination or abrasion of the highly sensitive substrate. To illustrate its practical use, we employed the device for quantitative detection of persistent environmental pollutant 1,2,3-trichloropropane in water in submillimolar concentrations. The developed sensor allows fast and simple quantification of halogenated compounds and it will contribute towards the environmental monitoring and enzymology experiments with engineered haloalkane dehalogenase enzymes.

Traditional ways of validating satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS) products, using comparisons with buoy measurements, do not allow for evaluating the impact of mesoscale to submesoscale variability. Here we present the validation of remotely-sensed SST and SSS data against the unmanned surface vehicle (USV) – Saildrone – measurements from the Spring 2018 Baja deployment. More specifically, biases and root mean square differences (RMSD) were calculated between USV-derived SST and SSS values, and six satellite-derived SST (MUR, OSTIA, CMC, K10, REMSS, and DMI) and three SSS (JPLSMAP, RSS40, RSS70) products. Biases between the USV SST and OSTIA/CMC/DMI were approximately zero while MUR showed a bias of 0.2C. OSTIA showed the smallest RMSD of 0.36C while DMI had the largest RMSD of 0.5C. An RMSD of 0.4C between Saildrone SST and the satellite-derived products could be explained by the daily variability in USV SST which currently cannot be resolved by remote sensing measurements. For SSS, values from the JPLSMAP product showed saltier biases of 0.2 PSU, while RSS40 and RSS70 showed fresh biases of 0.3 PSU. An RMSD of 0.4 PSU could not be explained solely by the daily variability of the USV-derived SSS. Coherences were significant at the longer wavelengths, with a local maximum at 100 km that is most likely associated with the mesoscale turbulence in the California Current System.

Analysis of the correlation between indices (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Barren Index and Modified Normalized Difference Water Index) and land surface temperature is used to natural resources and environmental studies. This research aimed to analysis of Land Surface Temperature due to dynamics of Different Indices (NDVI, NDBaI and MNDWI) Using Remote Sensing Data in three selected districts (Gida Kiremu, Limu and Amuru), western Ethiopia. From thermal and multispectral bands of landsat imageries (Landsat TM of 1990, landsat ETM+ of 2003 and landsat OLI/TIRS of 2020) Land surface temperature and NDVI, NDBaI and MNDWI were calculated. Correlation analysis was used to indicate relationships between LST with NDVI, NDBaI and MNDWI. The study found that Land Surface Temperature was increased by 5⁰C from 1990 to 2020. Vegetation areas (NDVI) and Water bodies (MNDWI) have strong negative relationship with Land Surface Temperature (R²= 0.99, 0.95) whereas Barren land (NDBaI) has positive relationship with Land Surface Temperature (R²= 0.96). Finally, we recommend the decision makers and environmental analyst to emphasis the importance of vegetation cover and water body to minimize the potential impacts of land surface temperature.

In the recent years, biochar has emerged as a remarkable biosourced material for addressing global environmental, agricultural, biomedical, and energy challenges. However, the performances of biochar rest in part on finely tuning its surface chemical properties, intended to obtain specific functionalities. In this review, we tackle surface treatment of biochar with silane and other coupling agents such as diazonium salts, titatantes, ionic/non-ionic surfactants, as well as nitrogen-containing (macro)molecules. We summarize the recent progress achieved mostly in the last five years, and correlate the nature and extent of functionalization to eye catchy end applications of the surface engineered biochar.

It is well-known that surface plasmon wave propagates along a straight line, but this common sense was broken by the artificial curved light – plasmon Airy beam. In this paper, we introduce a new class of curved surface plasmon wave - the photonic hook plasmon. It propagates along wavelength scaled curved trajectory with radius less than surface plasmon polariton wavelength, and can exist despite the strong energy dissipation at the metal surface.

A potassium bromide KBr material, which has been widely used as the key element in the Fourier spectrometers and as the output window of the IR-lasers, has been studied with good advantage via applying the carbon nanotubes in order to modify the potassium bromide surface. The laser oriented deposition method has been used to place the carbon nanotubes at the matrix material surface in the vertical position at the different electric field varied from 100 to 600 V×cm-1. The main idea of the improvement of the spectral properties of the potassium bromide structure is connected with the fact that the refractive index of the carbon nanotubes is substantially less than the refractive index of the studied material, and the small diameter of the carbon nanotubes allows one to embed these nano-objects in the voids of the lattice of the model matrix systems. Moreover, the mechanical characteristics and wetting features of the potassium bromide structures have been investigated under the condition mentioned above. Analytical and quantum-chemical simulations have supported the experimental results.

Giant plasmonic surface enhancement has been observed in gold coated micron sized inverse pyramids entrapping a gold nanoparticle. The amplification of both surface enhanced Raman and photoluminescence signals was found to be dependent on the diameter of trapped gold nanoparticle and around 50-fold enhancement was detected for 250nm diameter sample relatively to the 50nm one. Finite differential time domain simulations, performed to determine the near-field distribution in the structure, showed that when the nanoparticle protrudes into the hotspot zone of the void, coupling of electromagnetic field occurs and the plasmon-related near-field enhancement is concentrated into the close vicinity of the nanoparticle, mainly into the close gaps around the tangential points of the curved sphere and the flat pyramid surface. This results in a more than 15 times increase of the near-field intensity, compared to the empty void.

The development of a stationary phase material for high performance liquid chromatography based on a surface of silica hydride as opposed to silanols on ordinary silica is discussed including synthetic approaches, characterization and applications. There are several synthetic approaches available to create a silica hydride surface. Modification of the Si-H moiety on the silica surface can be accomplished through use of a hydrosilation reaction. Both the intermediate silica hydride and the material modified with an organic moiety can be characterized by a number of spectroscopic as well as a variety of other methods. Further insights into the retention mechanism are provide through chromatographic measurements. The ultimate utility of any chromatographic stationary phase material is determined by its success for solving challenging analytical problems. A broad range of applications are reviewed to illustrate the versatility and usefulness of silica hydride-based stationary phases.

Although the concept of additive manufacturing has been proposed for several decades, momentum of selective laser melting (SLM) is finally starting to build. In SLM, density and surface roughness, as the important quality indexes of SLMed parts, are dependent on the processing parameters. However, there are few studies on their collaborative optimization in SLM to obtain high relative density and low surface roughness simultaneously in the previous literature. In this work, the response surface method was adopted to study the influences of different processing parameters (laser power, scanning speed and hatch space) on density and surface roughness of 316L stainless steel parts fabricated by SLM. The statistical relationship model between processing parameters and manufacturing quality is established. A multi-objective collaborative optimization strategy considering both density and surface roughness is proposed. The experimental results show that the main effects of processing parameters on the density and surface roughness are similar. It is noted that the effects of the laser power and scanning speed on the above objective quality show highly significant, while hatch space behaves an insignificant impact. Based on the above optimization, 316L stainless steel parts with excellent surface roughness and relative density can be obtained by SLM with optimized processing parameters.

Within the task of replacing bronze journal bearings with aluminum the processes taking part on friction surface of high-alloyed aluminum alloys working with steel are investigated. The surface and subsurface layer of experimental aluminum bearings were studied before and after tribological tests by scanning electron microscopy including energy-dispersive analysis. Both structural and composition changes in surface layer are shown. It has been revealed that secondary structures are formed on the surface during friction process and include all the chemical elements of the tribosystem which is a consequence of its self-organization. The interaction behavior of some chemical elements of tribological system is discussed.

Acrylamide (AA) present in food is considered a harmful compound for humans, but it exerts impact on microorganisms too. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of AA (at conc. 0-10 µg/mL) on the growth of bacteria (Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus acidophilus LA-5) and yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Kluyveromyces lactis var. lactis), which naturally occur in food products. Moreover, we decided to verify whether these microorganisms could decompose acrylamide. Our results proved that AA can stimulated the growth of L. acidophilus and K. lactis. We have also reported, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, that probiotic strain of bacteria L. acidophilus LA-5 is able to degrade AA by amidase production and hence can utilize AA as a source of carbon and nitrogen if they lack in the environment. The conducted Response Surface Methodology indicated that pH as well as incubation time and temperature significantly influenced the amount of ammonia released from acrylamide by the bacteria. Concluding, our studies suggest that some strains of bacteria present in milk fermented products can exert additional beneficial impact by acrylamide degradation and preventing against its harmful impact on human body and other members of intestinal microbiota.

Recent studies investigated the detectability of ship wake signatures on SAR imagery using a large number of SAR images collocated with Automatic Identification System data for training machine learning models. These detectability models are in agreement with oceanographic expectations from preceding studies and can therefore be used for comparing the performance of different SAR sensors in terms of wake detectability. Previous model comparisons showed better wake detection performance of TerraSAR-X (TS-X) than of RADARSAT-2 (RS2) and Sentinel-1 (S1). A comparison between CosmoSkymed (CSK) and RS2 is performed here, to examine the hypothesis that X-Band is generally better for wake detection than C-Band. Finally, this hypothesis is not confirmed, as the detectability models for TS-X, CSK and RS2 reveal similar performances. A comparison of wake detection performance should take the individual wake components into account separately.

The catenary shells of revolution are widely used in constructions due to their unique mechanics' feature. However, no publications on this type of shells can be found in the literature. To have a better understanding of the deformation and stress of the catenary shells of revolution, we formulate the principal radii for two kinds of catenary shells of revolution and their displacement type governing equations. Numerical simulations are carried out based on both Reissner-Meissner mixed formulations and displacement formulations. Our investigations show that both deformation and stress response of elastic catenary shells of revolution are sensitive to its geometric parameter $c$, and reveal that the mechanics of the catenary shells of revolution does much better than the spherical shells. Two complete codes in Maple are provided.

The article aims to present the possible use of the simple modified optical training kit as a low-cost, simple setup for high precision surface speed measurements. A measurement capability evaluation of the optical Doppler kit used for velocimetry of a fast-rotating reflecting surface is presented. To get high repeatability measurements, we modified a fibre optic interferometry training kit. By using signal processing and statistics a precision under repeatability conditions of measurements was evaluated. Expressed by the standard deviations (3σ’s) the surface velocity measurements precision below 0.2 m/s is shown. The Cg’s capability indices were also evaluated. We postulate, the electric circuit stability of the measurement system power supply is essential for a signal noise reducing process for a wide range of metrology systems. It is crucial for precision measurements.

The research carried out concerned the laboratory assessment of the applicability of the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) as a practical tool for assessing the risk of desiccation for selected wetland habitats: transition mires and quaking bogs as well as alkaline fens. The analysis was carried out on 3 soil samples with a vegetation cover (with the dimensions of 40×40×30 cm) collected during the full vegetation season for each mentioned habitat, with a characteristic species composition. Experimental research was carried out between 17^th May 2018 and 19^th June 2018. Thermal, RGB and multispectral images, chlorophyll content, volumetric soil moisture, air temperature and relative humidity measurements were taken for each sample every two days. The obtained results clearly indicate the dependence between CWSI and plant condition parameters in the first phase of desiccation. At the same time, as a result of the observations taken, thresholds have been set, indicating different desiccation phases.

This article discuss the effects of heat treatment and lubrication modes on the machinability of an A356 alloy (Al-Si-Mg); the alloy is studied as-received, with solution heat-treated alloy (SHT) as well as with an alloy that is solution heat-treated and then aged at 155, 180 and 220 °C. In the course of machinability evaluation, several criteria including cutting force, surface roughness, tool wears and burr analysis (chip) were studied. The results and analysis in this work indicated that the selected machinability criteria are important and necessary to effectively evaluate the machinability of A356 alloys. The machinability of both materials and tools were estimated in terms of cutting force, chip thickness ratio and burr formation, flank wear and roughness. The effects of different cutting parameters (cutting speed and feed rate) and lubrication modes (dry, mist and wet) on the machinability of the A356 cast alloy were also examined. The influence of heat treatments on the burr formation and surface quality was clearly revealed by the experimental results. Experimental work revealed that cutting forces were influenced significantly by aging and cutting speed. However, the different aging at 155, 180, and 220 °C and the cutting speed significantly affected the machinability of the A356 cast alloy. The results obtained show that a better drilling performance in terms of surface quality occurs at a high feed rate, with dry drilling and artificial aging at T6.

Spaceborne altimeters are an important data source for obtaining global sea surface wind speeds (U10). Although many altimeter U10 algorithms have been proposed and they perform well, there is still room for improvement. In this study, the data from ten altimeters were collocated with buoys to investigate the error of the altimeter U10 retrievals. The U10 residuals were found to be significantly dependent on many oceanic and atmospheric parameters. Because these oceanic and atmospheric parameters are inter-correlated, an asymptotic strategy was used to isolate the impact of different parameters and establish a neural-network-based correction model of altimeter U10. The results indicated that significant wave heights and mean wave periods are effective in correcting U10 retrievals, probably due to the tilting modulation of long-waves on the sea surface. After the wave correction, the root-mean-square error of the retrieved U10 was reduced from 1.42 m/s to 1.24 m/s and the impacts of thermodynamic parameters, such as sea surface (air) temperate, became negligible. The U10 residuals after correction showed that the atmospheric instability can lead to errors on extrapolated buoy U10. The buoy measurements with large air-sea temperature differences need to be excluded in the Cal/Val of remotely sensed U10.

The incorporation of plastic matrix composite materials into structural elements of the aeronautical industry requires contour machining and drilling processes along with metallic materials prior to final assembly operations. These operations are usually performed using conventional techniques, but they present problems derived from the nature of each material that avoid implementing One Shot Drilling strategies that work separately. In this work, the study focuses on the evaluation of the feasibility of Abrasive Waterjet Machining (AWJM) as a substitute for conventional drilling for stacks formed of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) and aluminum alloy UNS A97050 through the study of the influence of abrasive mass flow rate, traverse feed rate and water pressure in straight cuts and drills. For the evaluation of the straight cuts, Stereoscopic Optical Microscopy (SOM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques are used inspection techniques have been used. In addition, the kerf taper through the proposal of a new method and the surface quality in different cutting regions have been evaluated. For the study of holes, the macrogeometric deviations of roundness, cylindricity and straightness have been evaluated. Thus, this experimental procedure reveals the conditions that minimize deviations, defects, and damage in straight cuts and holes obtained by AWJM.

There is increasing use of wood-based composites in industry not only because of the shortage of solid wood, but above all for their better properties such as: strength, aesthetic appearance, etc. compared to wood. Medium density fibreboard (MDF) is a wood-based composite that is widely used in the furniture industry. The goal of the research conducted was to determine the effect of the type of coating on the drill cutting blades on the value of thrust force (F_t), cutting torque (M_c), cutting tool temperature (T) and surface roughness of the hole in drilling MDF panels. In the tests three types of carbide drills (HW) were used: not coated, TiAlN coated and ZrN coated. The measurement of both the thrust force and the cutting torque was carried out using an industrial piezoelectric sensor. The temperature of the cutting tool in the drilling process was measured using an industrial temperature measurement system using a K-type thermocouple. It was found that the value of the maximum temperature of the tool in the drilling process depends not only on the cutting speed and feed rate, but also on the type of coating of the cutting tool. The value of both the cutting torque and the thrust force is significantly influenced by the value of the feed rate and the type of drill coating. The effect of varying plate density on the surface roughness of the hole and the variation of the value of the thrust force is also discussed. The results of the investigations were statistically analysed using a multi-factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA).

With the dramatic increase in the number of mobile users and wireless devices accessing the network, the performance of the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication systems has been severely challenged. Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), one of the potential technologies for the sixth generation (6G), has received a lot of attention. Since it is easier to deploy, consumes less power, and is inexpensive. RIS is an electromagnetic metamaterial that serves to reconfigure the wireless environment by adjusting the phase, amplitude and frequency of the wireless signal. To maximize channel transmission efficiency and improve the reliability of communication systems, the acquisition of channel state information (CSI) is essential. Therefore, an effective channel estimation method guarantees the achievement of excellent RIS performance. This paper conducts a comprehensive investigation of the existing channel estimation methods of RIS, analysis and comparison of channel model building and CSI acquisition schemes in different frequency bands, in addition to a comprehensive description of generic channel estimation methods, with a focus on the application of deep learning. Finally, we conclude the paper and provide an outlook in the future development of RIS channel estimation.

The Covid-19 pandemic caused very serious problems almost to the whole world, so every opportunity must be considered to improve the situation. Decontamination carried out from the air can also be considered for surface clearance of larger areas, so the possibility of this application should also be investigated regarding pandemic. There are many examples of the use of drones for disinfection to improve the epidemic situation, but good practices, as well as factors influencing the effectiveness, have not yet been identified. In the case of using drone for disinfections during a pandemic, based on the reports, we can clearly discover the adapted use of agricultural drones. In this paper, the authors perform calculations with different values of flight speed (10 to 50 km/h), flight altitude (1 to 5 m), and flow rate (1 to 5 l / min) to determine the possible amount of disinfectant fluid per unit area. The results show that by changing the parameters, the amount of disinfectant per unit area can be given within quite wide limits (30 - 0.24 g/m2). Although the results raise many new questions it can help to identify adequate flight parameters depending on different disinfectant liquids.

Mediterranean coastal lagoons and their peripheral areas often provide a collection of habitats for many species, and they often face significant threats from anthropogenic activities. Diverse human activities in such areas directly affect the spatio-temporal dynamic of surface water and its ecological characteristics. Monitoring the surface water dynamic, and understanding the impact of human activities are of great significance for coastal lagoon conservation. The Regional Natural Park of Narbonne includes a typical Mediterranean lagoon complex where surface water dynamic and its potential link with local diverse human activities has not yet been studied. In this context, based on all the available Landsat images covering the study area during 2002-2016, this study identified the water and non-water classes for each satellite observation by comparing three widely used water indices (i.e., NDVI, NDWI and MNDWI) and using the Otsu method. The yearly water frequency index was then computed to present the spatio-temporal dynamic of surface water for each year, and three water dynamic scenarios were also identified for each year: permanent water (PW), non-permanent water (NPW) and non-water (NW). The spatial and inter-annual variation in the patterns of the three water scenarios were characterized by computing the landscape metrics at scenario-level quantifying area/edge, shape, aggregation and fragmentation. Finally, the quantitative link between different land use and land cover (LULC) types derived from the LULC maps of 2003, 2012 and 2015 and the surface water dynamic scenarios was established in each of the 300 m x 300 m grid cells covering the study area to determine the potential impact of human activities on the surface water dynamic. In terms of the inter-annual variation during 2002-2016, PW presented an overall stability, and NPW occupied only a small part of the water surface in each year and presented an inter-annual fluctuation. NPW had a smaller patch size, with lower connectivity degree and higher fragmentation degree. In terms of spatial variation during 2002-2016, NPW often occurred around PW, and its configurational features varied from place to place. Moreover, PW mostly corresponded to natural lagoon, and salt marsh (as a part of lagoons), and NPW had a strong link with arable land (agricultural irrigation) and salt marsh (salt production), sand beach/dune, coastal wetlands and lagoon for the LULC maps of 2003, 2012 and 2015. However, more in-depth analysis is required for understanding the impact of sand beach/dune, coastal wetlands and lagoon on surface water dynamics. This study covers the long-term variations of surface water patterns in a Mediterranean lagoon complex having intense and diverse human activities, and the potential link between LULC types and the water dynamic scenarios was investigated on different dates. The results of the study should be useful for environmental management and protection of coastal lagoons.

In this paper, an all-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) sensor for refractive index (RI) measuring is presented, which is based on Multimode–Single-mode–Multimode (MSM) fiber. The effects of both reducing the radius of the sensing part and the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) on its efficiency are investigated. Increasing the interaction of high-order modes with external media, caused by etching the cladding layer of the single-mode fiber part, significantly improves the sensitivity. Both wavelength and intensity interrogation approaches are employed to study the Multimode–etched Single-mode–Multimode (MESM) fiber sensor. The intensity and the wavelength sensitivities for the RI measurement in the range of 1.428-1.458 are obtained as -2308.92 %/RIU and 1313.14 nm/RIU, respectively. Finally, the MESM-SPR sensor is proposed and characterized. Results exhibit high performance in the RI range of 1.333 to 1.357, in which the sensitivity of 1433 nm/RIU is achieved. The advantages like low cost, high sensitivity, and simple fabrication methods make these sensors promising devices for chemical, food industry, and biosensing applications.

One of the most destructive natural disasters is the earthquake which brings enormous risks to humankind. The objective of the current study was to determine the Earthquake’s remote sensing multiparameter (i.e. land surface temperature (LST), air temperature, specific humidity, precipitation and wind speed) spatiotemporal anomaly of many earthquake samples occurred during 2018 around the world. In this research 11 earthquake (M > 6:0) studied (4 samples selected in a land with transparent sky situations, 3 samples in land within cloudy situations and 4 samples in marine earthquakes). The interquartile range (IQR) and mean ± 2σ methods utilized to improve the efficiency of anomalous differences. As a result, based on the IQR method, negative anomaly before the event detected during the daytime in Mexico and during the nighttime in Afghanistan. In addition, a negative outlier of brightness temperature (BT) detected in Alaska before, after and during the event. In contrast, based on IQR and mean ± 2σ positive anomaly detected in precipitation before and after the event in all investigated examples. According to mean ± 2σ, negative anomaly LST, specific humidity, sea surface temperature (SST_100) and wind detected in most examined earthquake samples. In contrast, positive SST_0 anomaly observed in Fiji and Honduras after the earthquake. Our results suggested in marine earthquakes, for earthquake forecasting we can merge a prior negative anomaly in the wind speed and SST_100. Regarding the in land cloudy sky earthquakes, merging anomaly parameters could be the negative prior anomaly in BT, skin temperature, in contrast, a positive anomaly in precipitation. In land transparent sky earthquake, usually negative prior anomalies in air temperature, specific humidity and LST.

A great improvement in food safety and quality controls worldwide has been achieved through the development of biosensing platforms. Foodborne pathogens continue to cause serious outbreaks due to the ingestion of contaminated food. The development of new, sensitive, portable, high-throughput, and automated platforms is a primary objective to allow detection of pathogens and their toxins in foods. Listeria monocytogenes is one common foodborne pathogen. Major outbreaks of listeriosis have been caused by a variety of foods, including milk, soft cheeses, meat, fermented sausages, poultry, seafood and vegetable products. Due to its high sensitivity and easy setup, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been extensively applied for biosensor fabrication and in particular in the field of microbiology as a mean to detect and quantify foodborne bacteria. Here we describe a miniaturized, portable EIS platform consisting of a microfluidic device with EIS sensors for the detection of L. monocytogenes in milk samples, connected to a portable impedance analyzer for on-field application in clinical and food diagnostics but also for biosecurity purposes. To achieve this goal microelectrodes were functionalized with antibodies specific for L. monocytogenes. The binding and detection of L. monocytogenes was achieved in the range 2.2 x 103 cfu/ml to 1 x 102 with a Limit of Detection (LoD) of 5.5 cfu/ml.

Elevated levels of oxidative stress in the corneal epithelium contribute to the progression of dry eye disease pathology. Previous studies have shown that antioxidant therapeutic intervention is a promising avenue to reduce disease burden and slow disease progression. In this study, we evaluated the pharmacological efficacy of Xanthohumol in preclinical models for dry eye disease. Xanthohumol is a naturally occurring prenylated chalconoid that promotes the transcription of phase II antioxidant enzymes. Xanthohumol exerted a dose-response in preventing tert-butylhydroxide-induced loss of cell viability in human corneal epithelial (HCE-T) cells and resulted in a significant increase in expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), the master regulator of the endogenous antioxidant system. Xanthohumol-encapsulating poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles (PLGA NP) were cytoprotective against oxidative stress in vitro, and significantly reduced corneal fluorescein staining in the mouse desiccating stress/ scopolamine model for dry eye disease in vivo by reducing oxidative stress-associated DNA damage in corneal epithelial cells. PLGA NP represent a safe and efficacious drug delivery vehicle for hydrophobic small molecules to the ocular surface. Optimization of NP-based antioxidant formulations with the goal to minimize instillation frequency may represent future therapeutic options for dry eye disease and related ocular surface disease.

We reveal the significance of plasmonic nanoparticle’s (NP) shape and its surface morphology en route to an efficient self-assembled plasmonic nanoparticle cluster. A simplified model is simulated in the form of free-space dimer and trimer nanostructures (NPs in shape of sphere, cube, and disk). A ~ 200 % to ~ 125% raise in near field strength (gap mode enhancement) is observed for spherical NPs in comparison with cubical NPs (from 2 nm to 8 nm gap sizes). Full-width three-quarter maximum reveals better broad-spectral optical performance in a range of ~ 100 nm (dimer) and ~ 170 nm (trimer) from spherical NPs as compared to a cube (~ 60 nm for dimer and trimer). These excellent properties for sphere-based nanostructures are merited from its dipole mode characteristics.

The study of long-term average weather patterns is known as climatology. It is a distinct field of study from meteorology and can be broken down into several subdivision. In order to predict the future, the knowledge of climatology is essential. In other words, with the help of climatology, we can figure out how likely it is that snow and hail will fall to the ground, and how much solar thermal radiation can reach a certain location etc. Climatology often focuses on how the climate has changed over time and how it has affected people and events. Both meteorology and climatology fall under the general term "meteorology", in particular, they are subdivision of research in the same field. In case of predicting the weather, meteorologists use variables such as humidity, air pressure, and temperature. This article's primary objective is to familiarize engineers with the fundamentals of climate and its processes so that they can effectively apply this knowledge to comprehend the climatic impact on water resources systems.

Pollution of sub-surface water reservoirs mainly rivers and streams through contaminated water point sources (CWPS) was studied. The objective was to formulate a discrete time delay mathematical model which describes the dynamics of reservoir pollution using mixing-problem processes that involve single species contaminants such as nitrates, phosphorous and detergents. The concentration of pollutants was expressed as a function of the inflow and outflow rates using the principle for the conservation of mass. Systems of ODEs generated from principles of mixing problems were refined into a system of DDEs so that the concentration of pollutant leaving the reservoir at time would be determined at some earlier instant, for the delay. The formulated model is a mathematical discrete time delay model which would be used to describe the dynamics of sub-surface water reservoir pollution. The results from the validation of the model were analyzed to determine how time delays in the mixing processes affect the rate of particle movement in water reservoirs.

Most of the commonly used Ionic Liquids (ILs) contain bulky organic cations with suitable anions. With our COMPLET (Concept of Melting Point Lowering due to Ethoxylation), we follow a different approach. We use simple, low-toxic, cheap and commercially available anions of the type Cx(EO)yCH2COO– to liquefy presumably any simple metal ion, independently of its charge. In the simplest case, the cation can be sodium or lithium, but synthesis of Ionic Liquids is also possible with cations of higher valences such as transition or rare earth metals. Anions with longer alkyl chains are surface active and form surface active ionic liquids (SAILs), which combine properties of ionic and nonionic surfactants at room temperature. They show significant structuring even in their pure state, i.e. in the absence of water or any other added solvent.

We investigate molecular beam epitaxy growth conditions of micrometers-thick In0.52Al0.48As designed for waveguide of InGaAs/InAlAs/InP quantum cascade lasers. Effect of growth temperature and V/III ratio on the surface morphology and defect structure were studied. The growth conditions which were developed for the growth of cascaded In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.52Al0.48As active region, e.g. growth temperature of TG=520°C and V/III ratio of 12, turned out to be not optimum for the growth of thick In0.52Al0.48As waveguide layers. It has been observed that after exceeding ~1µm thickness the quality of In0.52Al0.48As layers deteriorates. The in-situ optical reflectometry showed increasing surface roughness caused by defect forming, which was further confirmed by High Resolution X-Ray reciprocal space mapping, optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The presented optimization of growth conditions of In0.52Al0.48As waveguide layer led to the growth of defect free material, with good optical quality. This has been achieved by decreasing the growth temperature to TG=480 °C with appropriate increasing V/III ratio. At the same time the growth conditions of the cascade active region of the laser were left unchanged. The lasers grown using new recipe have shown lower threshold currents and improved slope efficiency. We relate this performance improvement to reduction of the electron scattering on the interface roughness and decreased waveguide absorption losses.

Background: Nowadays investigations in the field of dental implants engineering are focused on bioactivity and osseointegration properties.Objective: In this study, the oxide-covered titanium was functionalized by vitamin D3 molecules via a simple self-assembly method with the aim to design more corrosion resistant and at the same time more bioactive surface.Methods: Surface properties of the D3-coated titanium were examined by scanning electron microscopy, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements, while a long-term corrosion stability during immersion in an artificial saliva solution was investigated in situ by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.Results: Results of all techniques confirmed a successful formation of the D3 vitamin layer on the oxide-covered titanium. Besides very good corrosion resistivity (~5 MΩcm² ) the D3-modified titanium surface induced spontaneous formation of biocompatible bone-like calcium phosphates (CaP).Conclusion: Observed in vitro CaP-forming ability as a result of D3-modified titanium/artificial saliva interactions could serve as a promising predictor of in vivo bioactivity of implant materials.

Coating of suitable materials having thickness of few atoms to several microns on a substrate is of great interest to the scientific community. Hard coatings develop under the significant composition of suitable-natured atoms where their force-energy behaviors when in certain transition state favour binding. In the binding mechanism of suitable atoms, electron belonging to outer ring filled state of gas-atom undertakes another clamp of energy knot belonging to outer ring unfilled state of solid-atom. Set process conditions develop the binding of different-natured atoms when processing their suitable composition in a system. Atoms of different nature develop structure in the form of hard coating by locating their ground points between the original ones. Here, gas-natured atoms increase the potential energy under decreasing levitational force of electrons, whereas, solid-natured atoms decrease the potential energy under decreasing gravitational force of electrons. In TiN coating, Ti–Ti atoms bind under the difference of expansion of their lattices, called nets of energy knots, where one atom just lands on the already landed atom. An adhered N-atom to a Ti-atom forms its position among four Ti-atoms where N-atom occupies the interstitial site of Ti-atoms. Two oppositely working force-energy behavior atoms deposit in the form of coating at substrate surface as per set conditions of the process. The rate of ejecting (or dissociating) solid-natured atoms depend on the nature of their source (target), process parameters and processing technique. In random arc-based vapor deposition system, depositing differently natured atoms at substrate surface depends on the input power. In addition to intrinsic nature of atoms, different properties and characteristics of coatings emerge as per engaged forces under their involved energy. The present study sets new trends in the field of coatings involving the diversified class of materials and their counterparts.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a large group of developing contaminants, have recently become the subject of increased concern due to their potentially hazardous effects. They are classified as poisonous substances that can be found in a variety of aquatic situations. The widespread usage of PFAS across numerous industries has resulted in a high environmental and biological accumulation of the substance. Identification and elimination of PFAS from the environment is crucial since they are tenacious and have the potential to cause cancer. Traditional methods of PFAS content assessment, while useful in some cases, are often inadequate for continuing environmental control and monitoring. Within academia, there is a noticeable desire for rapid, cost-effective, durable, and readily transportable techniques targeted at detecting PFAS compounds in field settings. As a result, environmental labs and other governmental and non-governmental bodies may start testing more often as mandated by legislation. PFAS-detecting sensors, which offer an innovative solution that can be applied in situ and is affordable and simple to use, have emerged as a promising method for assessment based on the existing research. In addition, it may give administrators and users of water worldwide useful information they can use. This article provides a thorough summary of recent developments, limitations, and performance considerations in PFAS detection sensors. The Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) method has also been covered because of its excellent sensitivity and specificity for detecting pollutants, making it a potential solution for sensing PFAS. Intelligent sensing systems for PFAS detection should benefit from this research.

Influence of the volute design parameters on the stable operating range and the performance of a centrifugal compressor was investigated experimentally for the following design conditions. The volute casing surface roughness was changed from 0 to 200 µm in five steps and tested. The axial distance between the casing and the diffuser cascades (clearance) was varied in five steps as C/b₂ = 1.2, 2.4%, 3.6%, 4.8%, and 6% relative to the impeller exit width. The radial distance from the impeller blade exit to the diffuser vane inlet in (vaneless space radius) in six steps as C/r₂ = 1.03, 1.05, 1.07, 1.09, 1.11, and 1. 13 relatives to the rotor outlet radius. The volute outlet geometry of a symmetric and tangent with different area ratios from 0.4 to 0.9. Finally, the compressor has been tested experimentally with different pinched vaned diffuser distances relative to the impeller exit width of bp/b2 =1, 0.98, 0.96, 0.94, 0.92, and 0.9. These testes were carried at different compressor operating conditions, and the time variations of the static pressure were recorded using five high-frequency response pressure transducers. A hot-wire anemometer is used to measure the compressor flow rate. The rotating stall and surge at the vaneless zone after the impeller exit can be detected by analyzing the fluctuations of pressure signals and the power spectrum density by using the Fast Fourier Transformation analysis. The experimental results indicated that the compressor with volute casing surface roughness of 100mm gives about 10.9% enhancements in the stable operating and 1% in pressure rise coefficient. The best axial distance between the diffuser vanes and the casing is 2.4% of the impeller blade height and the compressor in this design gives about 12.4% improvements in the stable working range. The compressor with radial vaneless distance of 1.056 gives improvements of about 16.6% in the surge margin, 2% in the pressure recovery and 4% in pressure rise coefficients. The compressor with a pinched diffuser of b/bp of 0.98 gives an improvement of 20.8% in surge point.

According the JKR theory of adhesive contact, changes of the contact configuration after formation of the adhesive neck and before detaching are completely reversible. This means, that after formation of the initial contact, the force-distance dependencies should coincide, independently on the direction of the process (indentation or pull-off). In the majority of real systems, this invariance is not observed. The reasons for this may be either plastic deformation in the contacting bodies or surface roughness. One further mechanism of irreversibility (and corresponding energy dissipation) may be chemical heterogeneity of the contact interface leading to the spatial dependence of the specific work of adhesion. In the present paper, this "chemical" mechanism is analyzed on a simple example of an axisymmetric contact (with axisymmetric heterogeneity). It is shown that in the asymptotic case of a "microscopic heterogeneity", the system follows, during both indentation and pull-off, JKR curves, however, corresponding to different specific surface energies. After the turning point of the movement, the contact area first does not change and the transition from one JKR curve to the other occurs via a linear dependency of the force on indentation depth. The macroscopic behavior is not sensitive to the absolute and relative widths of the regions with different surface energy but depends mainly on the values of the specific surface energy.

Every protein consists of a linear sequence over an alphabet of $20$ letters/amino acids. The sequence unfolds in the $3$-dimensional space through secondary (local foldings), tertiary (bonds) and quaternary (disjoint multiple) structures. The mere existence of the genetic code for the $20$ letters of the linear chain could be predicted with the (informationally complete) irreducible characters of the finite group $G_n:=\mathbb{Z}_n \rtimes 2O$ (with $n=5$ or $7$ and $2O$ the binary octahedral group) in our previous two papers. It turns out that some quaternary structures of protein complexes display $n$-fold symmetries. We propose an approach of secondary structures based on free group theory. Our results are compared to other approaches of predicting secondary structures of proteins in terms of $\alpha$ helices, $\beta$ sheets and coils, or more refined techniques. It is shown that the secondary structure of proteins shows similarities to the structure of some hyperbolic $3$-manifolds. The hyperbolic $3$-manifold of smallest volume --Gieseking manifold--, some other $3$ manifolds and the oriented hypercartographic group are singled out as tentative models of such secondary structures. For the quaternary structure, there are links to the Kummer surface.

A portable urea sensor for use in the fast flow condition was fabricated using porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes coated with amine-functionalized parylene, parylene-A, by vapor deposition. To generate a specific electrochemical sensor signal from urea, the urea-hydrolyzing enzyme urease was immobilized on the parylene-A-coated PTFE membranes via chemical crosslinking using glutaraldehyde. The urease-immobilized membranes were assembled in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fluidic chamber, and a screen-printed carbon three-electrode system was used for electrochemical measurements. The success of urease immobilization was confirmed using fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The optimum concentration of urease for immobilization on the parylene-A-coated PTFE membranes was determined to be 48 mg/mL, and the optimum number of membranes in the PDMS chamber was found to be 8. Using these optimized conditions, we fabricated the urea biosensor and monitored urea samples under various flow rates ranging from 0.5 to 10 mL/min in the flow condition using chronoamperometry. To test the applicability of the sensor for physiological samples, we used it for monitoring urea concentration in the waste peritoneal dialysate of a patient with chronic renal failure, at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min.

By generalizing the notion of pointwise 1-type Gauss map, the generalized 1-type Gauss map has been recently introduced. Without any assumption, we classified all possible ruled surfaces with generalized 1-type Gauss map in a 3-dimensional Minkowski space. In particular, null scrolls do not have the proper generalized 1-type Gauss map. In fact, it is harmonic.

Water-soluble nonionic surfactant, pentaethylene glycol monododecyl ether, C12E5, spontaneously blooms to the surface of spin-cast hydrophobic polyiso-prenes, generating hydrophilic surfaces. This system represents a simple model for hydrophilic chemical modification of rubbery polymers yet demonstrates surprisingly rich, complex and unexpected behaviour. The ver-tical depth profiles were quantified using neutron reflectometry (NR) and deuterated surfactant, and the surface properties were characterized using con-tact angle analysis and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Despite the low surface tension of the toluene solvent used in film preparation and the low surface en-ergy of the PI matrix, NR depth profiles revealed clear evidence of surfactant segregation. This surface layer was typically thicker than a monolayer, but incomplete, yet was remarkably stable with respect to dissolution, even when exposed to hundreds of thousands of times the volume of water required to dissolve all the surfactant on the surface. Despite the apparent resistance to removal from the surface, water exposure does alter the subsequent wettabil-ity of the surface, with a hydrophilic-to-hydrophobic transition occurring after rinsing. Complementary AFM images of these C12E5 / cis-PI films showed unexpected strand-like features on the surface of the film, which we attribute to a non-uniform lateral distribution of some of the surfactant. This surface structure becomes more evident after rinsing, and it appears that there are two distinct populations of surfactant on the PI film surface. We conclude that some of the bloomed surfactant exists as layers, which are relatively inert with respect to rinsing or surface modification, and some is laterally inhomogene-ous. This latter population is primarily responsible for surface wetting be-havior, but is not detected by specular NR.

Diarrhoea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is one of the leading causes of mortality in children under five years of age and is a great burden on developing countries. The major virulence factor of the bacterium is the heat-labile enterotoxin (LT), a close homologue of the cholera toxin. The toxins bind to carbohydrate receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, leading to toxin uptake and, ultimately, to severe diarrhoea. Previously, LT from human- and porcine-infecting ETEC (hLT and pLT, respectively) were shown to have different carbohydrate-binding specificities, in particular with respect to N-acetyllactosamine-terminating glycosphingolipids. Here, we probed eleven single-residue variants of the heat-labile enterotoxin with surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy and compared the data to the parent toxins. In addition we present a 1.45 Å crystal structure of pLTB in complex with branched Lacto-N-neohexaose (Galbeta4GlcNAcbeta6[Galbeta4GlcNAcbeta3]Galbeta4Glc). The largest difference in binding specificity is caused by mutation of residue 94, which links the primary and secondary binding sites of the toxins. Residue 95 (and to a smaller extent also residues 7 and 18) also contribute, whereas residue 4 shows no effect on monovalent binding of the ligand and may rather be important for multivalent binding and avidity.

The study of the distribution and health risk assessment is meaningful to provide basic data for environmental management．To investigate the pollution of potential toxic organics and their health risk to human beings, water samples were collected at 7 sites of main surface water of Beijing during wet and dry seasons respectively. The targeted 92 organics were detected, including phthalates (PAEs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phenols. The results showed that: there were 56 organics detected out, and the number ratios of detected compounds to the total compounds of the same kind increased as the following: VOCs, phthalates, phenols, PAHs. 8 VOCs were detected in wet season, and 3 in dry season. The concentration of 2,2-Dichloropropane was highest as 10.62ug/L, while the concentrations of other VOCs were below 5ug/L; There were 11 phthalates detected during dry season. The content of Bis(2-methoxyethyl) phthalate was highest as 188.47ng/L; 17 phenols were found in samples during wet season, and the highest concentration was 1244.73ng/L for 4-nitrophenol; PAHs could be detected in all samples, and the detected compounds and the corresponding average concentrations were higher in wet seasons than those in dry seasons, which indicated that non-point pollution was possibly the main pollution source. The health risk assessment of the detected 56 pollutants by using a model from US EPA showed that, the risk caused by the four kinds of toxic organics in this study was in the acceptable ranges.

Study of gross alpha (GA) and gross beta (GB) activity in road and surface deposited sediments were performed in various geographical areas in three Russian cities. To perform radiation measurements, new methods were applied which allow dealing with low mass and low volume dust size (2-100μm) samples obtained after the size fractionation procedure. The 2-10 μm fraction size has the highest gross beta activity concentration (GB)– 1.32Bq/g in Nizhny Novgorod (NN) and Rostov-On-Don (RND) while the 50-100 μm fraction size in Ekaterinburg. This is maybe associated with the subsistence of radionuclides that conveyed through natural processes and anthropogenic applications. The highest gross alpha activity concentration (GA) in fraction sizes was found in Rostov-on-Don city within the 50-100 μm– 0.22Bq/g. The fraction size 50-100 μmhas a higher gross alpha activity concentration than 2-10 and 10-50 μmfraction sizes due to natural partitioning of the main minerals constituting the urban surface deposited sediment (USDS). The geochemical processes that occur during the formation and transportation of USDS are reflected in the observed dependencies.Developed experimental methods of radiation measurements allowed to the extent the methodological base of urban geochemical studies.

Abstract: The calibrator is one of the most important factors in the calibration of various laser 3D scanning instruments. The requirements for diffuse reflection surface are specially emphasized in many national standards. In this study, the spherical calibrator and plane calibrator compara-tive measurement experiments were carried out. The black ceramic standard sphere, white ce-ramic standard sphere, metal standard sphere, metal standard plane and white ceramic standard plane were used to test the laser 3D scanner. In the spherical calibrators comparative measure-ment experiments, the results indicated that the RMS of the white ceramic spherical calibrator with reflectance about 60% is 10 times that of the metal spherical calibrator with the reflectance of about 15%, and the RMS of the black ceramic spherical calibrator with reflectance of about 11% is of the same order as the metal spherical calibrator. In the plane calibrators comparative measurement experiments, the RMS of flatness measurement is 0.077 mm for metal plane cali-brator with reflectance of 15%, and 2.915 mm for ceramic plane calibrator with reflectance of 60%. The results show that when the optimal measurement distance and incident angle are selected, the reflectance of the calibrator has a great effect on the measurement results, regardless of the outlines or profiles. Based on the experiments, it is recommended to use the spherical calibrator or the standard plane with reflectance of around 18% as the standard, which can obtain the rea-sonable results. In addition, it is necessary to clearly provide the material category and surface reflectance information of the standard when calibrating the scanner according to the measure-ment standard.

The aim of this study is to emphasize on the clinical uses of amniotic membrane (AM) in multiple ocular disorders. AM possesses many properties including promotion of epithelialization, anti-fibrotic, anti-apoptotic, anti-angiogenic properties. Epithelial wound healing on the eye surface is promoted due to several epidermal and keratocyte growth factors as well as by its anti-inflammatory and anti-scarring effects due to interleukin-10, interleukin-1 receptor antagonists and inhibition of transforming growth factor- beta (TGF-β) signal transduction by AM in the corneal and conjunctival fibroblasts respectively. It plays a crucial role by functioning as a substitute of basement membrane (BM) and as a temporary graft material. It is not only being used as an eye graft but also its extract can be used as an eye drop for corneal and external eye diseases. So its proper preparation, preservation and clinical application can bring a revolutionary change in the treatment of different ocular disorders.

We fabricated the nano-aperture plasmonic platforms for single molecule detection and other various applications such as infrared thermal emission device. The nano-apertures including the nanopores on the pyramid, and the nano-slits on the Au flat membrane were fabricated using a Ga ion focused ion beam drilling technique, followed by high energy electron beam irradiations dependent upon the electron beam current density. The nanopores with a few nanometer size and the nanoslit array with order of ~ 100 nm width were fabricated. Optical characteristics for the various nanoslits were examined dependent upon the slit opening width and sample thickness. The broad emission spectra from the (7x 7) slit array are obtained from spp-mediated emission in the visible and infrared region. A sharp strong infrared emission peak is also obtained due to Au nanoparticle. The fabricated Au platform can be utilized as single molecule sensor and infrared thermal emission device.

We report interfacial crystallization in droplets of saline solutions placed on superhydrophobic surfaces and liquid marbles filled with the saline. Evaporation of saline droplets deposited on superhydrophobic surface resulted in the formation of cup-shaped millimeter-scaled residues. The formation of the cup-like deposit is reasonably explained within the framework of the theory of the coffee-stain effect, namely, the rate of heterogeneous crystallization along the contact line of the droplet is many times higher than in the droplet bulk. Crystallization within evaporated saline marbles, coated with lycopodium particles, depends strongly on the evaporation rate. Rapidly evaporated saline marbles yielded dented shells built of a mixture of colloidal particles and NaCl crystals. We relate the formation of these shells to the interfacial crystallization promoted by hydrophobic particles coating the marbles, accompanied with the upward convection flows supplying the saline to the particles, serving as the centers of interfacial crystallization. Convective flows prevail over the diffusion mass transport for the saline marbles heated from below.

Slot-die coatings are advantageous when used for coating large-area flexible devices; in particular, the coating width can be controlled, and simultaneous multi-layer coatings can be processed. Till date, the effects of ink widening and coating gap on the coating thickness have only been considered in a few studies. To this end, we developed two mathematical models to accurately estimate the coating width and thickness considering these two effects. We used root mean square deviation (RMSD) to experimentally verify the developed method. The coating width was seen to increase and the coating thickness was seen to decrease when the coating gap was increased. Experimental results showed that the estimation performances of the coating width and thickness models were as high as 98.46 % and 95.8 %, respectively. We believe that the developed models can be useful for determining the coating conditions according to the ink properties to coat a functional layer with user-defined widths and thicknesses in both lab- and industrial-scale roll-to-roll slot-die coating processes.

Recent advances and demands in clinical applications drive a large amount of research to hydroxyapatite (HA) composite coatings fabricated by plasma spray. However, lower degree of HA crystallinity related to high temperature exposure in plasma spray usually leads to rapid weakening and disintegration of HA coatings and often promotes inflammatory responses in the surrounding tissue. In this research, graphene nanosheet (GNS) reinforced HA coatings were fabricated using plasma spray and followed by heat and hydrothermal treatment (hereafter referred to as thermal treatment). The addition of GNSs resulted in competing phenomenon to influence HA crystallinity viz. increased portion of the partially melted/unmelted zones and higher cooling rate during splat formation, leading to slight increase in HA crystallinity (~46.0-51.3%) in the as-sprayed coating. XRD and FTIR results showed that thermal treatment was capable of inducing significant transformation of amorphous HA to the crystalline form and removing other foreign non-HA compounds through regaining OH- ion, and therefore HA coatings displayed ~45.5-47.1% improvements in HA crystallinity regardless of addition or not of the GNS nanofillers. Microstructure observations revealed that thermal treatment enabled microcrack propagation due to stresses caused by crystallisation and phase transformations, and the residual partially melted/unmelted zone of the thermally treated GNS/HA coating was significantly decreased in size. More importantly, the added GNSs contributed greatly to the significant increase in surface nanoroughness of the thermally treated HA coatings owing to the fact that much more structural defects along with the GNSs mainly induced by thermal treatment might act as nucleation sites to accelerate HA nanoparticle precipitation, which would be beneficial for the improved adhesion strength of the osteoblast cells on the coating surface.

An all-weather land surface temperature (LST) product derived at the Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF) is presented. The product is based on clear-sky LST retrieved from MSG/SEVIRI infrared (IR) measurements, complemented by LST estimated with a land surface energy balance (EB) model to fill gaps caused by clouds. The EB model solves the surface energy balance mostly using products derived at LSA-SAF. The new product is compared with in situ observations made at 3 dedicated validation stations, and with a Microwave (MW) based LST product derived from AMSR-E measurements. The validation against in-situ LST indicates an accuracy of the new product between -0.8 K and 1.1 K and a precision between 1.0 K and 1.4 K, generally showing a better performance than the MW product. The EB model shows some limitations concerning the representation of the LST diurnal cycle. Comparisons with MW LST generally show higher LST of the new product over desert areas, and lower LST over tropical regions. Several other imagers provide suitable measurements for implementing the proposed methodology, which offers the potential to obtain a global, nearly gap-free LST product.

The shear failure of surface methane capture borehole (SMCB) is the main cause of shortening life cycle of SMCB but lack of lithological analysis. In order to improve the stability of SMCB and improve efficient drainage period, it is of great significance to investigate the lithology performances for shear failure of SMCB. Based on the direct shear tests and geological method, the results shows that the shear displacement increases as the grain size decreases. Mechanical jump occurs at the lithological boundaries, which is mainly determined by the composition of rock specimens. The cohesion is the mainly possible reason for the step change of shear strength. Lithology with high quartz and low clay may effectively improve shear strength and failure resistance. Boreholes drilled into the weaker siltstone and mudstone sections may potentially experience preferential damage due to the larger shear displacement and shear strength. Protective measures at these sections may improve the stability of the borehole casing. The probing data where it was found that boreholes closure validated the prediction.

Extraction of high-resolution surface waves is essential in surface-wave survey. Because reflections usually interfere with surface waves on X component in a multicomponent seismic exploration, it is difficult to extract dispersion curves of surface waves. The situation goes more serious when the frequencies and velocities of higher-mode surface waves are close to those of PS-waves. A method for surface-wave extraction is proposed based on the morphological differences between reflections and surface waves. Frequency-domain high-resolution linear Radon transform (LRT) and time-domain high-resolution hyperbolic Radon transform (HRT) are used to represent surface waves and reflections respectively. Then, the sparse representation problem based on the morphological component analysis (MCA) is built and optimally solved to obtain high-fidelity surface waves. An advantage of our method is its ability to extract surface waves when their frequencies and velocities are close to those of reflections. Furthermore, results of synthetic and field examples confirm that the proposed method can attenuate the distortion of surface-wave dispersive energy caused by reflections, which contributes to extracting accurate dispersion curves.

Surface soil moisture (SSM) is a significant factor affecting crop growth. This paper presents a method for retrieving SSM over wheat-covered areas using synergy dual-polarization C-band Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar and Sentinel-2 optical data. Firstly, a modified water cloud model (WCM) was proposed to remove the influence of vegetation from the backscattering coefficient of the radar data. The vegetation fraction was then introduced in this WCM, and the vegetation water content (VWC) was calculated using multiple linear regression model. Subsequently, the support vector regression technique was used to retrieve the SSM. This approach was validated using in-situ measurements of the wheat field in Hebi, in the north of Henan Province. The key findings of this study are as follows: (1) Based on vegetation indices obtained from Sentinel-2; the proposed VWC estimation model can effectively eliminate the influence of vegetation; (2) compared with vertical transmit and horizontal receive polarization, vertical transmit and vertical receive polarization is better for detecting changes in SSM at different growth stages of wheat; and, (3) the validation results indicated that the proposed approach, based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data, successfully retrieved SSM in the study area.

The aerospace industry demands high-performance materials that can withstand extreme conditions and maintain efficiency in a variety of applications. Bio-inspired polymer coatings have emerged as a promising approach to meet these demands, by drawing inspiration from natural systems to develop new coatings that exhibit enhanced properties, such as self-cleaning, anti-icing, thermal management, and corrosion resistance. In this review, recent developments in the field of bio-inspired polymer coatings for aerospace applications are presented, covering a range of coatings and their respective properties. We discuss the recent developments and applications of bio-inspired coatings, with a focus on their advantages and challenges in aerospace applications. We also highlight the potential for future research and development in this field, including the integration of advanced technologies such as nanotechnology and additive manufacturing. The review aims to provide insights into the current state-of-the-art of bio-inspired polymer coatings for aerospace applications and to inspire further research in this rapidly growing field.

Sea surface partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) is a critical parameter in the quantification of air-sea CO2 flux, which plays an important role in calculating the global carbon budget and ocean acidification. In this study, we use chlorophyll-a concentration (Chla), sea surface temperature (SST), absorption due to dissolved and particulate detrital matter (Adg), diffuse attenuation coefficient of downwelling irradiance at 490nm (Kd) and mixed layer depth (MLD) as input data for retrieving the sea surface pCO2 in the North Atlantic based on a remote sensing empirical approach with the Categorical Boosting (CatBoost) algorithm. The results show that the root mean square error (RMSE) is 8.25μatm, the mean bias error (MAE) is 4.92μatm and the coefficient of determination (R2) can reach 0.946 in the validation set, which mean that the CatBoost model makes an improvement compared to other models in the published studies. In the further analysis of the spatial and temporal distribution of the sea surface pCO2 in the North Atlantic, it can be found that the North Atlantic sea surface pCO2 has a clear trend with latitude variations and have strong seasonal changes. Furthermore, the sea surface pCO2 in this area is mainly affected by sea temperature and salinity, and influenced by biological activities in some sub-regions.

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) detection relies on endoscopy-biopsy diagnosis, with routine endoscopic surveillance recommended for Barrett’s esophagus (BE) patients. Here, we examine the utility of blood biomarkers in patient risk stratification by translating the EAC blood biomarker Jacalin lectin binding complement C9 (JAC-C9) into a novel microfluidic immunoassay, the EndoScreen Chip. Cohort evaluation (n=46) showed elevated serum total C9 and JAC-C9 in EAC. Logistic regression modeling demonstrated that addition of C9 and JAC-C9 to patient risk factors (age, body mass index and heartburn/reflux history) improved EAC prediction from AUROC of 0.838 to 0.931. Serum JAC-C9 strongly predicted EAC (vs BE OR= 4.6, 95% CI: 1.6-15.6, p = 0.014; vs Healthy OR=4.1, 95% CI:1.2-13.7, p = 0.024) while total C9 was moderately predictive for BE (vs EAC OR=1.4; 95% CI: 1.0-1.8, p = 0.032; vs Healthy OR=0.8; 95% CI: 0.6-1.0, p = 0.039). This translational study demonstrates the potential utility of blood biomarkers in improving triaging for diagnostic endoscopy.

Among the thermophysical properties, the surface / interfacial tension, viscosity and density / molar volume of liquid alloys are the key properties for the modelling of microstructural evolution during solidification. Therefore, only reliable input data can yield accurate predictions preventing the error propagation in numerical simulations of solidification related processes. Due to experimental difficulties related to reactivity of metallic melts at high temperatures, the measured data are often unreliable or even lacking. The application of containerless processing techniques either leads to a significant improvement of the accuracy or makes the measurement possible at all. On the other side, accurate model predicted property values could be used to compensate the missing data; otherwise, the experimental data are useful for the validation of theoretical models. The choice of models is particularly important for the surface, transport and structural properties of liquid alloys representing the two limiting cases of mixing, i.e. ordered and phase separating alloy systems. To this aim, the thermophysical properties of the Fe-Si and Cu-Pb systems were analysed and the connections with the peculiarities of their mixing behaviours are highlighted.

Sea ice surface roughness affects ice-atmosphere interactions, serves as an indicator of ice age, shows patterns of ice convergence and divergence, affects the spatial extent of summer melt ponds, and ice albedo. We have developed a method for mapping sea ice surface roughness using angular reflectance data from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and lidar-derived roughness measurements from the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM). Using an empirical data modeling approach, we derived estimates of Arctic sea ice roughness ranging from centimeters to decimeters meters within the MISR 275-m pixel size. Using independent ATM data for validation, we find that histograms of lidar and multi-angular roughness values are nearly identical for areas with roughness <20 cm but that for rougher regions, the MISR-derived roughness has a narrower range of values than the ATM data. The algorithm is able to accurately identify areas that transition between smooth and rough ice. Because of its coarser spatial scale, MISR-derived roughness data have a variance of about half that ATM roughness data.

Dispersed silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on the surface of titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) and titanium alloy modified by titania nanotube layer (Ti6Al4V/TNT) substrates were produced by chemical vapor deposition method (CVD) using novel precursor of the formula [Ag₅(O₂CC₂F₅)₅(H₂O)₃]. The structure and volatile properties of this compound were determined using single crystal X-ray diffractometry, variable temperature IR spectrophotometry (VT IR), and electron inducted mass spectrometry (EI MS). The morphology and the structure of the produced Ti6Al4V/AgNPs, and Ti6Al4V/TNT/AgNPs composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Moreover, measurements of hardness, Young’s modulus, adhesion, and surface free energy have been carried out. The ability to release silver ions from the surface of produced nanocomposite materials immersed in PBS solution has been estimated using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP MS). The wettability and the surface free energy of samples were estimated on the base of contact angle studies with the use of water and diiodomethane. Among the studied surface-modified titanium alloy implants, the best nano-mechanical properties were noticed for the Ti6Al4V/TNT15/AgNPs composite. The location of silver nanoparticles inside of titania nanotubes caused their lowest release rate, which may indicate on suitable properties above mentioned type of the composite for the construction of implants with a long term of antimicrobial activity.

The interlaminar strength of mechanically interlocked polymer-metal-interfaces is strongly dependent on the surface structure of the metal component. Therefore, this contribution assesses the suitability of the fractal dimension for quantification of the surface structure as well as interlaminar strength prediction of aluminum/polyamide 6 polymer-metal-hybrids. Seven different surface structures, manufactured by blasting, combined blasting and etching, thermal spraying and laser ablation, are investigated. The experiments are carried out on a novel butt-bonded hollow cylinder testing method that allows shear and tensile strength determination with one specific specimen geometry. The fractal dimension of the metal surfaces is derived from cross-sectional images. For comparison, the surface roughness slope is determined and related to the interlaminar strength. Finally, a fracture analysis is conducted. For the investigated material combination, the experimental results indicate that the fractal dimension is an appropriate measure for predicting the interlaminar strength

On January 8, 2005, a surface melt event began on the interior portion of Ross Ice Shelf. While many surface melt events on Ross Ice Shelf are caused by the advection of warm air onto the shelf from the Ross Sea, surface winds during this event were directed offshore and the spatial pattern of surface melt was inconsistent with the Southern Ocean serving as a heat source. Rather, due to the interior location of the surface melt coupled with prevailing wind direction and surface temperature data it is thought that adiabatic warming of Föhn winds is the driving cause of this melt event. Passive Microwave (SSM/I) imagery was used to determine surface melt occurrence and the event’s extent. Spatial patterns of surface melt were then compared to NCEP/NCAR reanalysis output for several synoptic weather variables including surface temperatures, sea level pressure and surface vector winds. Synoptic-scale weather conditions were consistent with those that would produce downsloping wind (föhn) conditions in the interior of the Ross Ice Shelf where the anomalous surface melt was located.

Wave overtopping, i.e., excess of water over the crest of a coastal protection infrastructure due to wave run-up, of a smooth slope can be reduced by introducing slope roughness. A stepped revetment ideally constitutes a slope with uniform roughness. Apart from reducing overtopping, a stepped revetment provides safer access to a beach compared to conventional rubble. In recent years, research studies on stepped revetments have provided valuable findings regarding the performance and design optimization of stepped revetments as a typical mean of coastal protection. A stepped revetment can reduce overtopping volumes of breaking waves up to compared to a smooth slope. The effectiveness of the overtopping reduction decreases with increasing Iribarren number. However, up to date a unique approach applicable for a wide range of boundary conditions is still missing. The present paper critically reviews previous findings, gathers and analyzes data from previous studies and proposes a new formula for robust prediction of overtopping of stepped revetments. By means of this approach a critical assessment based on beforehand disclosed parameter ranges between a smooth slope on the one hand and a plain vertical wall on the other are contrasted. By analysis of a new data set compounded from different original studies a novel empirical formulation is derived to predict the roughness reduction coefficient of a stepped revetment for breaking and non-breaking waves. This coefficient is developed and adjusted for a direct incorporation into the present design guidelines. Underlying uncertainties are clearly addressed and quantified. Scale effects are highlighted.

The process of preparing anti-glare thin films by spray-coating silica sol-gel to soda-lime glass was exclusively and statistically studied in this paper. The effects of sol-gel deliver pressure, air transport pressure, and spray gun displacement speed on the gloss, haze, arithmetic mean surface roughness, and total transmittance light were analyzed. The experimental results indicate that the factors of sol-gel deliver pressure, air transport pressure, and displacement speed exhibit significant effect on the haze, gloss, and Ra. In contrast, the variation of total transmittance light with these three factors are insignificant. Because the anti-glare property is predominantly determined by low gloss and high haze, therefore, we aim to minimize gloss and maximize haze to achieve high anti-glare. Central composite design and response rurface methodology are employed to analyze the main and interaction effects of the three factors through quadratic polynomial equations, which are confirmed by the analysis of variance and R². The response surface methodology predict the lowest gloss and highest haze are 9.2 GU and 57.0%, corresponding to the sol-gel deliver pressure, air-transport pressure, and displacement speed of 250 kPa, 560 kPa, and 140 mm/s, and 340 kPa, 620 kPa, and 20 mm/s, respectively. Comparing the predicted optimal data with the real experimental results validates the applicability of the mathematical model. This study provides an important basis for the subsequent production of anti-glare glass with different specifications to satisfy the market demand.

Ocean surface heat fluxes play a significant role in the genesis and evolution of various marine-based atmospheric phenomena, from the synoptic scale down to the microscale. While in-situ measurements from buoys and flux towers will continue to be the standard in regards to surface heat flux estimates, they commonly have significant gaps in temporal and spatial coverage. Previous and current satellite missions have filled these gaps; though they may not observe the fluxes directly, they can measure the variables needed (wind speed, temperature, and humidity) to estimate latent and sensible heat fluxes. However, current remote sensing instruments have their own limitations, such as infrequent coverage, signals attenuated by precipitation, or both. The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission overcomes these limitations over the tropical and subtropical oceans by providing improved coverage in nearly all weather conditions. While CYGNSS (Level 2) primarily estimates surface winds, when coupled with observations or estimates of temperature and humidity from reanalysis data, it can provide estimates of latent and sensible heat fluxes along its orbit. This paper describes the development of the Surface Heat Flux Product for the CYGNSS mission, its current results, and expected improvements and changes in future releases.

Pencil-beam Doppler scatterometers are a promising remote sensing tool for measuring ocean vector winds and currents from space. While several point designs exist in the literature, these designs have been constrained by the hardware they inherited, and the design is sub-optimal. Here, I present guidelines to optimize the design of these instruments starting from the basic sensitivity equations. Unlike conventional scatterometers or pencil-beam imagers, appropriate sampling of the Doppler spectrum and optimizing the radial velocity error lead naturally to a design that incorporates a pulse-to-pulse separation and pulse length that vary with scan angle. Including this variation can improve radial velocity performance significantly and the optimal selection of system timing and bandwidth is derived. Following this, optimization of the performance based on frequency, incidence angle, antenna length, and spatial sampling strategy are considered. It is shown that antenna length influences the performance most strongly, while the errors depend only on the square root of the transmit transmit power. Finally, a set of example designs and associated performance are presented.

In this work, the wetting and evaporation behaviour of non-polar solvent droplets on thin soluble coatings is investigated experimentally. The wetting process on spin coated polymer layers by the solvent is captured using shadowgraphy. Initial spontaneous dynamic wetting as well as later stages of wetting are recorded and evaluated. Furthermore, structures obtained by wetting and subsequent evaporation of solvents on polymer coatings are studied by confocal microscopy. The solubility of the substrate has been varied by using polymers with different molecular masses. We observe that initial spreading dynamics does not depend on the molar mass in the studied range. However, we find a strong influence of the molar mass on the late stage wetting dynamics and on the surface structure after solvent evaporation.

Boiler efficiency is called to some extent of total thermal energy which can be recovered from the fuel. Boiler efficiency losses are due to four major factors: the dry gas flux, the latent heat of steam in the flue gas, the combustion loss or the loss of unburned fuel, radiation and convection losses. In this research, the thermal behavior of boilers in gas refinery facilities is studied and their efficiency and their losses are calculated. The main part of this research is comprised of analyzing the effect of various parameters on efficiency such as excess air, fuel moisture, air humidity, fuel and air temperature, the temperature of combustion gases, and thermal value of the fuel. Based on the obtained results, it is possible to analyze and make recommendations for optimizing boilers in the gas refinery complex using response-surface method (RSM).

Nobel metal nanohole arrays have been used extensively in chemical and biological systems due to their fascinating optical properties. Gold nanohole arrays (Au NHAs) were prepared as surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) generators for the surface-enhanced sum-frequency generation (SFG) detection of 4-Mercaptobenzonitrile (4-MBN). The angle-resolved reflectance spectra revealed that the Au NHAs have three angle-dependent SPP modes and two non-dispersive localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) modes under different structural orientation angles (sample surface orientation). An enhancement factor of ~30 was achieved when the SPP and LSPR modes of the Au NHAs were tuned to match the incident visible (VIS) and output SFG, respectively. This multi-mode matching strategy provided flexible controls and selective spectral windows for surface-enhanced measurements, and was especially useful in nonlinear spectroscopy where more than one light beam involved. The structural orientation- and power-dependent performance demonstrated the potential of plasmonic NHAs in SFG and other nonlinear sensing applications, and provided a promising surface molecular analysis development platform.

Surface activity of humic acid (HA) and its six sub-fractions isolated from forest soil were characterized by surface tension measurements, dynamic light scattering, and laser doppler electrophoresis. The surface tension of HA sub-fractions decreased from 72.4 mN·m-1 to 36.8 mN·m-1 with the increasing concentration from 0 to 20000 mg·L-1. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of HA and its sub-fractions ranged from 216 to 1024 mg·L-1 with the multiple linear regression equation of CMC = 18896–6.9×C–296×alkyl-C–331×aromatic-C–17019×H/C+4054×HB/HI (p &lt; 0.05). The Z-average particle size ranges from 108.2 nm to 186.9 nm. The maximum particle size was 5000 nm after filtered with a membrane of 0.45 μm, indicating HA and its sub-fractions progressed self-assembly during 2000 mg·L-1, pH = 6.86. The number-base particle size distribution of HA sub-fractions was identified as four peaks by Gaussian model, and the aggregate sizes were mainly in six clusters including 2 ± 1 nm, 5 ± 2 nm, 10 ± 3 nm, 21 ± 8 nm, 40 ± 10 nm, and &gt; 50 nm indicating multiple aggregations of different particle sizes in the HA fractions solution.

The Kummer surface was constructed in 1864. It corresponds to the desingularisation of the quotient of a 4-torus by 16 complex double points. Kummer surface is kwown to play a role in some models of quantum gravity. Following our recent model of the DNA genetic code based on the irreducible characters of the finite group G5:=(240,105)≅Z5⋊2O (with 2O the binary octahedral group), we now find that groups G6:=(288,69)≅Z6⋊2O and G7:=(336,118)≅Z7⋊2O can be used as models of the symmetries in hexamer and heptamer proteins playing a vital role for some biological functions. Groups G6 and G7 are found to involve the Kummer surface in the structure of their character table. An analogy between quantum gravity and DNA/RNA packings is suggested.

Management practices must be developed to improve yam production sustainability. Image-based phenotyping techniques could help developing such practices based on non-destructive analyses of important plant traits. Our objective was to determine the potential of image-based phenotyping methods to assess traits relevant for tuber yield formation in yam grown in glasshouse and field. We took plant and leaf pictures with consumer cameras. We used the numbers of image pixels to derive the shoot biomass and the total leaf surface and calculated the ‘triangular greenness index’ (TGI) which is an indicator of the plant nitrogen (N) nutritional status. Under glasshouse conditions, the number of pixels obtained from nadir view (image taken top down) was positively correlated to the shoot biomass, and the total leaf surface, while the TGI was negatively correlated to the N content of diagnostic leaves. Under field conditions, pictures taken from the nadir view showed an increase in soil surface cover and a decrease in TGI with time. TGI was negatively correlated to SPAD measured on specific leaves but was not correlated to the N content of these leaves. In conclusion, these phenotyping techniques deliver relevant results but need to be further developed and validated for application in yam.

One of the challenges facing the industrial adoption of additively manufactured parts is the surface roughness on the as-built part. The surface roughness of parts is frequently characterized by metrics specified by international standards organizations. However, these standards list many surface metrics that can make it unclear which to use to best describe the surface. In this work, the ability of the various surface metrics to successfully classify the as-built and post-processed surfaces is studied using linear classification models. Laser polishing via remelting and manual grinding are the post-processing techniques used to smooth the as-built surface. The ability of the linear classifier to successfully categorize the various surfaces is demonstrated, and the various surface metrics are ranked according to the strength of their individual ability to classify the surfaces. This work promotes the method as a potential way to autonomously classify as-built and laser polished surfaces.

This study focuses on the ability of the global land data assimilation system LDAS-Monde to improve the representation of land surface variables (LSVs) over Burkina Faso through the joint assimilation of satellite derived Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) from January 2001 to June 2018. The LDAS-Monde offline system is forced by the latest European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) atmospheric reanalysis ERA5, leading to a 0.25° x 0.25° spatial resolution reanalysis of the LSVs. Within LDAS-Monde, SSM and LAI observations from the Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) are assimilated using the CO2-responsive version of the ISBA (Interactions between Soil, Biosphere and Atmosphere) land surface model (LSM). First, it is shown that ERA5 better represents precipitation and incoming solar radiation than ERA-Interim former reanalysis from ECMWF. Results of two experiments are compared: open-loop simulation (i.e. no assimilation) and analysis (i.e. joint assimilation of SSM and LAI). After jointly assimilating SSM and LAI, it is noticed that the assimilation is able to impact soil moisture in the first top soil layers (the first 20 cm), and also in deeper soil layers (from 20 cm to 60 cm and below). The assimilation is able to improve the simulation of both SSM and LAI. For LAI in particular, the southern region of the domain (dominated by a Sudan-Guinean climate) highlights a strong impact of the assimilation compared to the other two sub-regions of Burkina Faso (dominated by Sahelian and Sudan-Sahelian climates). In the southern part of the domain, differences between the model and the observations are the largest, prior to any assimilation. These differences are linked to the model failing to represent the behavior of some specific vegetation species, which are known to put on leaves before the first rains of the season. The LDAS-Monde analysis is very efficient at compensating for this model weakness. Evapotranspiration estimates from the Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) project as well as upscaled carbon uptake from the FLUXCOM project are used in the evaluation process, again demonstrating improvements in the representation of evapotranspiration and gross primary production after assimilation.

High frequency knowledge of the spatio-temporal distribution of the Downwelling Surface Shortwave Flux (DSSF) and its diffuse fraction (fd) at the surface is nowadays essential for understanding climate processes at the surface-atmosphere interface, plant photosynthesis and carbon cycle, and for the solar energy sector. The EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis operationally delivers estimation of the MDSSFTD (Downwelling Surface Short-wave radiation Fluxes – Total and Diffuse fraction) product with an operational status since the year 2019. The method for the retrieval was presented in the companion paper [40]. The part 2 now focuses on the evaluation of the MDSSFTD algorithm and presents the comparison of the corresponding outputs, i.e. total DSSF and diffuse fraction (fd) components, against in-situ measurements acquired at four BSRN stations over a seven-month period. The validation is performed on an instantaneous basis. We show that the satellite estimates of DSSF and fd meet the target requirements defined by the user community for all-sky (clear and cloudy) conditions. For DSSF, the requirements are 20Wm^-2 for DSSF<200Wm^-2, and 10% for DSSF>=200Wm^-2. The MBE and rMBE compared to the ground measurements are 3.618Wm^-2 and 0.252%, respectively. For fd, the requirements are 0.1 for fd<0.5, and 20% for fd>=0.5. The MBE and rMBE compared to the ground measurements are -0.044 and -17.699%, respectively. The study also provides a separate analysis of the product performances for clear sky and cloudy sky conditions. The importance of representing the cloud-aerosol radiative coupling in the MDSSFTD method is discussed. Finally, it is concluded that the quality of the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) forecasts currently available is enough accurate to obtain reliable diffuse solar flux estimates. This quality of AOD forecasts was still a limitation a few years ago.

The paper provides information on significant contamination of real laboratory water with hydrophilic microimpurities. This fact suggests that researchers are practically dealing with microdispersed systems. However, this fact is usually neglected in the discussions of the causes of the anomalous properties of water. We will show that, when exposed to various factors of physical nature, water demonstrates reactions of the same type, namely, increased pH and electrical conductivity, reduced redox potential and viscosity, and enhanced bioavailability. Each exposure is accompanied by the destruction of aggregates of the dispersed phase and its transition to a fine-dispersed state. The relationship between this phenomenon and the change in the physicochemical properties of water is discussed.