Global warming caused by climate change is a challenge for dairy farming, especially in sub-Saharan countries. Under high temperature and relative humidity dairy cows suffer from heat stress. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects and relationship of heat stress (HS) measured by temperature-humidity index (THI) on physiological parameters and milk yield and composition of lactating Holstein Friesian crosses reared in the humid coastal region of Tanzania. A total of 29 lactating Holstein Friesian x Zebu crossbred dairy cattle with 50% (HF50) and 75% (HF75) Holstein Friesian blood levels in their second and third month of lactation were used. Breed composition of Holstein Friesian was determined based on animal recording system used at the Tanzania Livestock Research Institute (TALIRI), Tanga. Data collected included daily temperature, relative humidity, daily milk yield, and physiological parameters (core-body temperature, rectal temperature, respiration rate, and panting score). The THI was calculated using the equation of National Research Council [39]. The THI values were categorized into three classes i.e. low THI (76-78), moderate THI (79-81) and high THI (82-84). The effects of THI on physiological parameters and milk yield and composition were assessed. Also, the effects of genotype, parity, lactation month, and interaction of these parameters with THI i on milk yield, milk composition, and physiological parameters were investigated. The results indicate that THI and its interaction with genotypes, parity, and lactation month had highly significant effect on all the parameters. THI affected (P ˂ 0.05) average daily milk yield and milk fat %, protein %, lactose %, and solids – not – fat %. When THI increased from moderate to high values, average daily milk yield declined from 3.49 ± 0.04 to 3.43 ± 0.05 liters/day while fat % increased from 2.66 ± 0.05% to 3.04 ± 0.06% and protein decreased from 3.15 ± 0.02% to 3.13 ± 0.03%. No decline was observed on lactose % whilst solids – not – fat % declined from 8.56 ± 0.08% to 8.55 ± 0.10%, when the THI values increased from moderate to high. Also, THI affected (P˂0.05) physiological parameters. Core-body temperature (CBT), rectal temperature (RT), respiration rate (RR) and panting score (PS) increased from 35.60 ± 0.01 to 36.00 ± 0.01oC, 38.03 ± 0.02 to 38.3.30 ± 0.02oC, 62.53 ± 0.29 to 72.35 ± 0.28 breaths/min and 1.35 ± 0.01 to 1.47 ± 0.09, respectively, when THI increased from low to high. THI showed a low positive correlation with average daily milk yield and fat percentage whilst protein, lactose, and solids – not - fat percentages showed negative relationships with THI (P ≤ 0.05). The CBT, RT, RR, and PS showed positive relationships (P ≤ 0.05) with THI. These negative relationships indicate that there is an antagonistic correlation between sensitivity to HS and degree of production. It is concluded that the THI, genotype, parity, and lactation month, and their interactions with THI significantly affected milk yield, milk composition, and physiological parameters of lactating Holstein Friesian dairy crosses at THI thresholds ranging from 77 to 84.

In the present study we examine the relationship among sovereign yields, temperature and precipitation using a large monthly panel data set which consists of 20 eurozone members, over the period 1980M1 – 2023M4. To account for possible asymmetries along the distribution of the climate variables we assume a quadratic modelling specification and apply various mean panel estimation techniques of heterogeneous coefficients. At a next step, to consider possible nonlinearities in the distribution of the dependent variable (sovereign yields), we apply the quantile via moments methodology of Machado and Santos Silva (2019), which accounts for possible cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity. We contribute to the existing literature in two main ways. First, by applying a quantile methodology that provides a more in-depth analysis of the climate effects along the distribution of the sovereign yields, especially in the presence of non-normally distributed data. Second, we find that climate change, as proxied by higher temperatures or lower precipitation (drought), will increase the sovereign risk of all countries, but the magnitude of the impact will be higher for countries that are already characterized by higher sovereign risk levels and/or face extreme weather conditions (hotter countries and/or countries with low levels of precipitation).

The surface velocity of the Amery Ice Shelf (AIS) is vital to assessing its stability and mass balance. Previous studies have shown that the AIS basin has a stable multi-year average surface velocity. However, spatiotemporal variations in the surface velocity of the AIS and the underlying physical mechanism remain poorly understood. This study combined offset tracking and DInSAR methods to extract the monthly average surface velocity of the AIS and obtained the inter-annual surface velocity from the ITS_LIVE product. An uneven spatial distribution in inter-annual variation of the surface velocity was observed between 2000–2022, although the magnitude of variation was small at less than 20.5 m/yr. The increase and decrease in surface velocity on the eastern and western-central sides of the AIS, respectively, could be attributed to the change in the thickness of the AIS. There was clear seasonal variation in monthly average surface velocity at the eastern side of the AIS between 2017–2021, which could be attributed to variations in the area and thickness of fast-ice and also to variations in ocean temperature. This study suggested that changes in fast-ice and ocean temperature are the main factors driving spatiotemporal variation in the surface velocity of the AIS.

Nonlocal theories are gaining prominence because they can solve problems which lead to unphysical conclusions in standard models. This study presents a novel fractional boundary element method (BEM) solution for nonlinear nonlocal thermoelastic problems of anisotropic fibrous polymer nanomaterials. This broad BEM solution combines two solutions: anisotropic fibrous polymer nanomaterials problem solution and nonlinear nonlocal thermoelasticity problem solution. The nonlinear nonlocal thermoelasticity problem solution divides the displacement field into complementary component and particular component. The overall displacement is generated using the boundary element technique, which is the solution to a Navier type problem, while the particular displacement is derived using local radial point. The New Modified Shift-Splitting (NMSS) approach, which reduces memory and processing time requirements, was used to solve linear systems created by BEM. Figures demonstrate the numerical findings, which show the effects of fractional and graded parameters on the thermal stresses of nonlinear nonlocal thermoelastic problems of anisotropic fibrous polymer nanomaterials. The numerical results indicate the consistency and efficiency of the proposed methodology.

Chemical flooding methods are used to recover the remaining oil after water flooding, and surfactant-polymer (SP) flooding is an important chemical flooding technology. It is of great significance to design and screen high-performance oil displacement agents in order to overcome the increasingly challenging high temperature (>70 ℃) and high salinity (>10,000 mg/L) reservoirs. Based on the characteristics of high temperature (70 ℃) and high salinity (151,000 mg/L) in the Qinghai Gasi reservoir, the performance of the SP flooding system was studied. This study considered interfacial tension, emulsification, viscosity, compatibility, and oil displacement efficiency. The selected formula demonstrated high resistance to both salinity (151,000 mg/L) and temperature (70 ℃), characterized by a low oil-water interfacial tension (10-2 mN/m) and high viscosity (18.13 mPa.s). After water flooding achieved an oil recovery rate of 64.64%, the subsequent replacement rate of crude oil increased by 26.95%, confirming that SP flooding can be used as a technology for enhancing oil recovery in high-temperature, high-salinity reservoirs represented by Qinghai Gasi reservoirs.

Abstract: The YF3: (Eu3+, Nd3+) nanoparticles (orthorhombic phase, D ~ 130 nm)) were synthesized via the co-precipitation method with subsequent hydrothermal treatment and annealing. The Eu3+ τdecay linearly descends with the increase of temperature in the 80 - 320 K range. The τdecay (T) slope values of the annealed YF3: Eu3+ (2.5 and 5.0 mol. %) nanoparticles were the highest (110·10-4 and 67·10-4, μs/K in the whole 80 – 320 K range, respectively. Thus, these samples were chosen for further doping with Nd3+. The maximum Sa and Sr values based on the LIR (IEu/INd) function were 0.67 K-1 (at 80 K) and 0.86 %·K-1 (at 154 K), respectively. As it was mentioned above, the sin-gle-doped YF3: Eu3+ (2.5. %) nanoparticles showed the linearly decreasing τdecay (T) function (5D0 – 7F1 emission). The main idea of Nd3+ co-doping was to increase this slope value (as well as the sensitivity) by increasing the rate of τdecay (T) descent via the addition of one more tempera-ture-dependent channel of 5D0 excited state depopulation. Indeed, we managed to increase the slope (Sa) up to 180·10-4 K-1 at 80 K. This result is one of the highest compared to the world analogs.

Color centers in diamond and nanodiamonds can be utilized as quantum sensors for measuring various physical parameters, particularly magnetic and electric fields, as well as temperature. Due to its small size and possible surface functionalization, fluorescent nanodiamonds are attractive systems for biological and medical applications since they can be used for intracellular experiments. This review focuses on fluorescent nanodiamonds for thermometry with nanoscale spatial resolution for living systems. The current state of the art, possible further development, and potential limitations will be discussed here.

Heavy rains have created significant threats to human health and life. Floods and other natural disasters, which have a global impact annually, can be attributed to extended durations of intense precipitation. Accurate rainfall predictions are crucial in nations such as Bangladesh, where agriculture is the predominant occupation. The efficiency of machine learning (ML) methods is enhanced by the non-linearity of rainfall, surpassing the effectiveness of other alternative ways. Machine learning techniques show that individual classifiers exhibit worse accuracy than ensemble learning (EL) methodologies. Ensemble Learning techniques are utilized for rainfall prediction and estimating rainfall quantity and daily average temperature to enhance comprehension of the diverse Machine Learning algorithms. This research implements the machine learning techniques and ensemble-based classifier to predict the rainfall occurrence, along with the machine learning regressor models and ensemble-based regressor for the rainfall amount prediction and daily average temperature prediction, using Bangladesh Weather Dataset. The results of the machine learning and ensemble-based models are compared using the Accuracy and F1 score for rainfall occurrence prediction. In contrast, MAE and RMSE evaluation metrics are used for ensemble regressor and regression algorithms for the rainfall amount and daily average temperature prediction. With an accuracy of 83.41% and a recall of 78.17%, the Ensemble Classifier is the best at predicting when it will rain, but its precision of 51.16% stands in for the lowest. The Ensemble Regression model outperforms Linear Regression, Random Forest, and SVR in rainfall amount prediction, with the lowest MAE of 0.36 and RMSE of 0.90. The Ensemble Regression provides the most precise results for daily average temperature prediction with the lowest MAE 0.42 and RMSE 0.54 highlighting its superiority over the other regression models in forecasting temperature with less error. Ensemble approaches consistently lead task performance metrics.

Ralstonia solanacearum is the pathogen responsible for Ralstonia solanacearum, which is soil-borne, infests plant conduits to cause disease.They are not easy to control and are harmful.Therefore the development of a controlled-release agent responsive to the pathogen's soil temperature and moisture conditions could aid in its control. Corn kernel powder is used as a carrier for Tetramycin biopesticide, with various compounds tested for bonding.They were then made by extrusion moulding.Temperature and wetness responsive components, including Pentaerythritol Tetrastearate, Pentaerythritol Tetraoleate, Polyethylene Glycol Stearate, and Polyethylene Glycol Monooleate,are compounded and coated onto Tetramycin cores to form an intermediate shell layer. Finally, Ethyl cellulose(EC)and Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose(HPMC) are dissolved and sprayed onto the outermost layer to complete the pellet's shell layer.After the evaluation of texture performance test,DSC analysis,TG test,temperature and humidity response performance test, as well as pellet cross-section SEM observation, field effectiveness test, etc., the preferred formulations were screened.The results showed that the preferred Core formulation:Corn kernel powder:Tetramycin aqueous:Xanthan gum mass ratio=13.5:23:2; Intermediate Shell layer:PETS: PETO: PEG400MO mass ratio=10:30:10; and Outer Shell layer: Ethyl cellulose (EC):Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) mass ratio=5:1.Under soil conditions of high incidence of Ralstonia solanacearum, i.e., sustained warmth (30-35℃) and high humidity (30% moisture content), the formulated pills showed a release rate of 95.18% to 96.24% over a period of 35 days. Moreover, they showed a stepwise cyclic release process under alternating warm and humid-dry and cold conditions.In field tests on tobacco, a relative preventive efficacy of 54.74% was achieved 106 days post-transplanting. Soil bacterial community structure analysis revealed a significant decrease (2.28-2.84 times) in the abundance of Solanaceae Raelia under Tetramycin pellet treatment compared to the control. Additionally, fungal community structure showed highter consistency initially across various soil depths, with diversity differences between soil layers reestablished later (106 days), while the predominant categories of bacteria and fungi remained unchanged.In this study, we successfully developed a nucleoshell-type slow-controlled release pill embedded with Tetramycin. This pill effectively responded to temperature and humidity changes, resulting in high efficacy in disease prevention.This development holds significant promise for effectively improving drug utilization and easing application challenges, offering broad prospects for Ralstonia solanacearum prevention and control in agriculture.

UV-digital printing belongs to the commonly used method for custom large-area substrate decoration. Despite low surface energy and adhesion, transparent polymer materials, such as polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC), represent an ideal substrate for such purposes. The diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge (DCSBD) in a novel compact configuration was used for substrate activation to improve ink adhesion to the polymer surface. This industrially applicable version of DCSBD was prepared, tested, and successfully implemented for the UV-digital printing process. Furthermore, wettability and surface free energy measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force and scanning electron microscopy evaluated the surface chemistry and morphology changes. The changes in adhesion of the surface and of ink were analyzed by a peel-force and a crosscut test, respectively. A short plasma treatment (1-5 s) enhanced the substrate's properties of PMMA and PC while providing the pre-treatment suitable for further in-line UV-digital printing. Furthermore, we did not observe damage or significant change of roughness affecting the substrate's initial transparency.

Coral reefs are one of the most productive yet vulnerable ecosystems on Earth. An important step in understanding the functioning of coral communities is studying the environmental impact on the state of reefs. The present study aimed to assess the impacts of the water temperature, precipitation, wave action and population density on the seasonal bleaching, partial and complete mortality of shallow-water branching corals of Pocillopora verrucosa species complex. The present study was conducted at the Dam Bay research station (Nha Trang Bay) from 26 April 2020 to 2 April 2021. Throughout the study the percentage of bleached coral colonies varied from 1 to 41.5% with two peaks, in autumn (October) and spring (April). Rates of the development of partial mortality varied from 0 to 10%, with a pronounced peak in December. At the end of the experiment, the percentage of coral colonies suffering from partial mortality reached 47%. Only 4,5% of experimental colonies died by the end of the study. Analysis revealed that water temperature and partial mortality are the drivers of bleaching, while wave action, temperature and bleaching are the factors with a significant impact on partial mortality. In the present study, the main cause of coral death was the development of algal fouling at the sites of colony lesions, which gradually spread over the entire surface of the colony. We showed also that the impact of individual stress on mortality prevailed over the impact of seasonal bleaching and partial mortality events.

Abstract: In the past years, lithium-ion solid-state batteries demonstrated significant advancements regarding such properties as safety, long-term endurance, and energy density. The properties of these depend on solid-state electrolytes and especially ionic transport interfacial transport with cathode or anode materials. Solid-state electrolytes based on lithium halides offer new opportunities due to their unique features such as broad electrochemical stability window, high lithium-ion conductivity, and elasticity at close to melting point temperatures that help to improve lithium-ion transport at interfaces. A comparative study of lithium indium halide (Li3InCl6) electrolytes syn-thesized by a mechano-thermal method using different optimization parameters revealed a signif-icant effect of ball-milling time, temperature, and pressure on lithium-ion transport. Based on the Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) data in the temperature range of 25-100 °C, the optimized Li3InCl6 electrolyte phase demonstrates high ionic conductivity reaching 0.98 mS cm−1 at room temperature. However, at 70 °C, phase transformation was observed leading to significant changes in the activation energy for lithium-ion transport. In-situ X-ray diffraction and in-situ/operando X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques confirmed the tempera-ture-dependent behavior of Li3InCl6 synthesized. These observations provide critical information for practical applications of solid-state electrolytes and nanocomposites based on Li3InCl6 within the broad temperature range for lithium-ion solid-state batteries with improved morphology, chemical interactions, and structural integrity.

The effects of rare earth Y content on the microstructure and high-temperature oxidation properties of 47Fe-36Ni-15Cr-1.5Mn alloy at 1000°C were investigated. The results show that 47Fe-36Ni-15Cr-1.5Mn alloy oxidizes at 1000°C under laboratory atmospheric pressure to form an oxide film layer dominated by Cr2O3 and (Fe, Ni, Mn) Cr2O4 spinel, and the oxidation curve of the alloy follows the parabolic law. After the addition of rare earth Y, rare earth phases precipitated along the grain boundaries in the alloy, and the more Y content, the more precipitated phases in the grain boundaries. The alloy with added rare earths was oxidized at a high temperature of 1000 °C for 2160 min, the oxidation law still followed the parabolic law, while the rare earth phase at the grain boundary reacted with the oxygen atoms infiltrated from the outside to generate a rare earth Y-rich oxide residing at the boundary between the grain boundary and the precipitated phase of the alloy. Add 0.5 wt.% rare earth Y 47Fe-36Ni-15Cr-1.5Mn-0.5Y alloy 1000 ° C high temperature oxidation of the formation of spinel oxide crystalline particles, dense and complete oxide film layer, the surface of the addition of a small amount of (0.5 wt.%) rare earth Y after the refinement of the oxide particles, and in the alloy grain boundaries in the form of oxides reside in the alloy to inhibit the cations in the matrix and the oxygen negative ions. and oxygen-negative ions in the alloy matrix, improving the antioxidant performance of the alloy. With the further increase of rare earth Y, during the oxidation of the alloy at high temperature, the precipitation phase at the grain boundary promotes the inward diffusion of oxygen, resulting in the deterioration of the antioxidant property of the alloy.

Carbonization of a biopolymer (lignin) in self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) led to the production of 2D graphene structures. With the help of modern analytical methods (Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction) and electron microscopy, the resulting product was confirmed to have a few-layer 2D graphene structure. The predicted photovoltaic properties of the resulting few-layer graphene were implemented for laser ignition of a model pyrotechnic composition based on porous silicon. A phenomenological model of the formation mechanism of 2D graphene structures under the conditions of the SHS process is proposed.

Hafnium is a metal with rare properties, such as a low superconducting transition temperature slightly above 100 mK, which makes it attractive for a lot of applications, especially for design and fabrication of microcalorimeters with high energy resolution. In this paper we describe the results of fabrication and experimental investigation of superconducting properties of hafnium thin films in a dilution refrigerator. The considered Hf films, whose thickness is in the range from 60 to 115 nm, are deposited on substrates by electron beam evaporation. The combinations with thin layers of normal metals to decrease the critical temperature of superconducting hafnium films by proximity effect, are also considered. The critical temperature of the studied films varies from 56 to 302 mK. Also, significant increase of the critical temperature of some films over time was observed and investigated.

Abstract: An Al-Co-Y diffusion coating was prepared on a TiAl alloy by pack cementation process at a low temperature range of 650-720 ℃. The influence of different activators and co-deposition temperatures on the coating’s microstructure and formation process, and high temperature oxida-tion performance was studied. The results showed that NaF was a more suitable activator for preparing the Al-Co-Y diffusion coating on TiAl alloy compared to NH4Cl and AlCl3. A more compact coating structure can be obtained when deposition was performed at 680 ℃ using NaF as the activator. The coating was mainly composed of a TiAl3 outer layer, a TiAl2 inner layer, and a thin Al-rich TiAl inter-diffusion layer. The growth of the coating exhibited a positive linear correlation between coating thickness increase and the square root of deposition time. The high-temperature oxidation tests showed that a dense scale mainly composed of Al2O3 and a small amount of TiO2 formed on the coating after oxidation at 950 ℃ for 100 h. The scale possessed excellent high-temperature oxidation resistance, with a parabolic rate constant of the oxidation weight gain approximately 4.9×10-3 mg2/cm4 h, which is lower than that of the TiAl substrate by about three orders of magnitude, and lower than that of the pure Al diffusion coating more than one order of magnitude.

Microemulsions with excellent properties have shown significant potential for enhancing oil recovery from tight formations through spontaneous imbibition. This work present a high-temperature-tolerant lower-phase microemulsion (HTLP-ME) using a microemulsion dilution method. The properties and morphological characteristics of HTLP-ME were evaluated and proposed a enhanced spontaneous imbibition oil recovery mechanism using imbibition tests and CT scanning technology. The results show that the optimum concentration of HTLP-ME is 0.2wt% has a superior thermal stability, small particle size, lower IFT, good wettability alteration ability, and minimum adsorption loss. Imbibition and CT experiments showed that the longer the imbibition distance, the better is the effect on spontaneous imbibition oil recovery. Furthermore, the solubilization coefficient and self-driving force were defined and calculated to quantitatively analyze the imbibition mechanisms. The imbibition mechanisms demonstrate that the reduction of oil/solid adhesion is due to the synergistic effect of IFT reduction and wettability alteration, and the ability to increase the imbibition distance through a larger self-driving force.

In order to study the acoustic emission characteristics of sandstone under the action of the high temperature-water cooling cycle, the RMT-150B electro-hydraulic servo rock test system and the DS-5 acoustic emission detection and analysis system were used to conduct a single analysis of the sandstone after the high temperature-water cooling cycle. Experimental study on acoustic emission characteristics under axial compression, analyzing the deformation, strength and acoustic emission characteristics of sandstone under different temperatures and cycles. The results of the study show that the high temperature-water cooling action causes changes in the physical properties of the sandstone. The expansion rate of the rock sample decreases first and then increases when the temperature rises, and the strength first increases and then decreases. The number of cycles has little effect on the physical properties of the rock sample; sandstone acoustic emission ringing count increases with the increase of temperature and cycle times, acoustic emission activities become more frequent with the loading process; with the increase of cycle times and temperature, acoustic emission ringing counts and accumulative acoustic emission energy appear earlier The rock sample enters the elastic deformation stage ahead of schedule, the yielding period increases, and the rock sample presents a trend of transition from brittle failure to ductile failure; the ringing count and cumulative energy increase with the increase in temperature and cycle times, and the high-energy ringing count and cumulative energy increase. The simultaneous sharp increase of the rock sample is the harbinger of the failure and instability of the rock sample.

This study investigates the frequency dependence of the correlation or anticorrelation of ozone and temperature in the middle atmosphere. The anticorrelation of ozone and temperature plays a role for the expected recovery or superrecovery of upper stratospheric ozone in presence of manmade cooling of the middle atmosphere due to increasing carbon dioxide emissions. The correlation between lower stratospheric ozone and temperature indicates the dependence of lower stratospheric temperature trends on the ozone evolution in addition to greenhouse gas emissions. Ozone and temperature measurements of the microwave limb sounder (MLS) on the satellite Aura from 2004 to 2021 are utilized for Bern (46.95∘N, 7.44∘E) at middle latitudes and for the equator region. The time series are bandpass filtered for periods from 2 days to 5 years. The correlation coefficient depends on the period of the oscillation in temperature and ozone. The strongest correlation and anticorrelation are found for the annual oscillation. The anticorrelation between ozone and temperature in the upper stratosphere is about −0.7 at a period of 2 days and −0.99 at a period of one year. Thus, the temperature dependence of the ozone reaction rates also leads to an anticorrelation of ozone and temperature at short periods so that ozone can be considered as a tracer of planetary waves. At the equator, a dominant semiannual oscillation and an 11 year solar cycle are found for nighttime ozone in the upper mesosphere. The SAO in ozone and temperature show a strong correlation indicating a dynamical control of the ozone SAO in the upper mesosphere. The SAO in the equatorial nighttime values of ozone and temperature is due to a semiannual modulation of vertical advection by the diurnal tide.

At present, in the field of aviation industry, titanium alloy is mainly used to manufacture parts such as compressor disc, blade and casing of aircraft engine. When working, titanium alloy parts produce high temperature due to high-speed running friction, which makes the high temperature oxidation resistance and friction resistance of titanium alloy greatly reduced. When their working environment contains salt, titanium alloys are subjected to thermal corrosion, which limits their wider practical applications. This paper introduce the aluminide coating and its preparation methods. The characteristics and functional mechanism of three functional coatings for service environment, such as high temperature resistant alumina-based coating, thermal corrosion resistant alumina-based coating and wear-resistant alumina-based coating are summarized. Finally, the development direction of composite coatings of titanium and titanium alloys for complex service environment is prospected.

Chronic heat stress (CHS) has been exerting great pressure on the poultry industry due to the global warming. CHS-induced negative impacts deeply change the physiology, metabolism, egg production and meat quality of ducks. To reduce the increasing economic loss, different environmental strategies have been adopted. Here, we comprehensively compared three rearing modes for Cherry-Valley ducks (CVds) mainly by changing the environmental temperature. Plus, the transcriptome analysis and physiological anatomy were implied to investigate the underlying molecular biology and pneumonocyte dynamics. It turns out that the CVds affected by CHS have poor growth performance and bad carcass traits. In addition, the irreversible damage caused by CHS in the lung tissue of CVds was observed. Furthermore, several potential genes related to CHS have been found, such as HSPA8, IGF1, FGFR1, ACSL3, ACSL6, NR1H3 and GAPDH. This study strongly indicates the severe injury of CHS from the high-temperature environment and points out one of the adopting directions for duck rearing.

In this paper, the quality change of scallop (Patinopecten yessoensis) in the process of anhydrous storage and transportation after cold-acclimation and induced dormancy was studied, and the regulation mechanism of quality degradation in the storage and transportation in the process of gradient chilling stress and drying exposure was further explored. The results show that while being transferred from anhydrous storage and transportation from hydrous storage and transportation, the breathing pattern of scallops were changed from aerobic to anaerobic. Their gill filaments were altered, and the apparent vitality was constantly declining, which was reflected by the edge shrinkage of pallium and the direct proportion between the edge reduction rate and the stimulus response period. After being in the anhydrous state for 4d, the AEC value dropped to 67.59%. At this time, if they were under hydration again, they would resume a nice growth state. By virtue of proteomics, it was revealed from the analysis that cold acclimation and dry exposure mainly led to changes in biological functions and pathways such as mitochondrial inner membrane and ATP hydrolysis activity. In addition, it can be seen from the functional annotation and enrichment analysis of the metabolite KEGG that cold acclimation promoted the purine metabolism of scallops, while dry exposure inhibited the metabolism of saturated fatty acids. Besides, in this study, the infrared sensing mode was used for the first time to record the heart rate changes of the scallops during circulation, which provides feasibility for the nondestructive vitality monitoring of Lamellibranchia.

As shown previously, a relation between the superconducting transition temperature and some characteristic distance in the crystal lattice holds, which enables the calculation of the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, based only on the knowledge of the electronic configuration and of some details of the crystallographic structure. This relation was found to apply for a large number of superconductors, including the high-temperature superconductors, the iron-based materials, alkali fullerides, metallic alloys, and element superconductors. When applying this scheme called Roeser-Huber formula to Moiré-type superconductivity, i.e., magic-angle twisted bi-layer graphene (tBLG) and bi-layer WSe2, we find that the calculated transition temperatures for tBLG are always higher than the available experimental data, e.g., for the magic angle 1.1∘, we find Tc≈ 4.2–6.7 K. Now, the question arises why the calculation produces larger Tc’s. Two possible scenarios may answer this question: (1) The given problem for experimentalists is the fact that for electric measurements always substrates/caps are required to arrange the electric contacts. When now discussing superconductivity in atomically thin objects, also these layers may play a role forming the Moiré patterns. The consequence of such substrate-induced super-Moiré patterns is that the resulting Moiré pattern always will show a larger cell size, and thus, a lower Tc of the final structure will result. (2) A correction factor to the Roeser-Huber formalism may be required to account for the low charge carrier density of the tBLG. Here, we test both scenarios and find that the introduction of a correction factor η enables a proper calculation of Tc, reproducing the experimental data. We find that η depends exponentially on the value of Tc.

Ce-promoted NiMgAl mixed-oxide (NiCex-C, x = 0, 1,5,10) catalysts were prepared from the quaternary hydrotalcite precursors for CO2 hydrogenation to methane. By engineering the Ce contents, NiCe5-C showed its prior catalytic performance in low-temperature CO2 hydrogenation, being about 3 times higher than that of Ce-free NiCe0-C catalyst (TOF of NiCe5-C and NiCe0-C: 1.19 h-1 vs 0.39 h-1 @ 250 oC). With extensive characterization, it was found that Ce dopants promoted the reduction of NiO by adjusting the interaction between Ni and Mg(Ce)AlOx support. The higest ratio of surface Ni0/(Ni2+Ni0) was obtained over NiCe5-C. Meanwhile, the surface basicity was tailored with Ce dopants. The strongest medium-strength basicity and highest capacity of CO2 adsorption was achieved on NiCe5-C with 5wt% Ce content. The TOF tests indicated a good correlation with medium-strength basicity over the NiCex-C samples. The results showed that the high medium-strength and Ce-promoted surface Ni0 species endows the enhanced low-temperature catalytic performance in CO2 hydrogenation to methane.

To study the anti-cracking performance of cast-in-place concrete inner shaft lining structure under the combined effects of temperature and constraint, this paper first developed a novel temperature stress test machine suitable for the shape of the inner shaft lining structure and with adjustable endpoint constraint, providing specialized experimental equipment for subsequent cast-in-place concrete inner shaft lining temperature stress simulation experiments. Then, this paper preliminarily studied the temperature, strain, and stress changes of the cast-in-place inner shaft lining under the condition of 100% endpoint constraint by simulating the internal hydration heating and cooling process of the cast-in-place inner shaft lining and using the temperature stress test machine to accurately control the endpoint constraint conditions of the inner shaft lining scaled model.

The main goal of this work is to develop a novel boundary element method (BEM) model for analyzing ultrasonic wave propaga-tion in three-temperature anisotropic viscoelastic porous media. Because of strong nonlinearity of ultrasonic wave propagation in three-temperature porous media problems, the analytical or numerical solutions to the problems under consideration are always challenging, necessitating the development of new computational techniques. As a result, we use a new BEM model to solve such problems. A time stepping procedure based on the linear multistep method is obtained after solving the discretized boundary in-tegral equation with the quadrature rule. The calculation of a double integral is required to obtain fundamental solutions, but this increases the total BEM computation time. Our proposed BEM technique is used to solve the current problem and improve the formulation efficiency. The numerical results are graphed to demonstrate the effects of viscosity and anisotropy on the nonlinear ultrasonic stress waves in three-temperature porous media. The validity, accuracy, and efficiency in the proposed methodology were demonstrated by comparing obtained results to the corresponding solution obtained from finite difference method (FDM).

Selective Paste Intrusion (SPI) is an additive manufacturing (AM) process in which thin layers of aggregates are selectively bonded by cement paste only where the structure is to be produced. In this way, concrete elements with complex geometries and structures can be created. Reinforcement is required to increase the flexural strength of the concrete elements and, thus, enable their applicability in practice. Integrating the reinforcement is a difficult task, particularly in the case of SPI due to the layer-wise printing method. Especially with respect to possible complex structures, the production of the reinforcement needs to be adapted to SPI, thereby offering a high degree of freedom. One concept for a reinforcement integration is combining the two additive manufacturing processes SPI and Wire and Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM). However, since the two processes serve different fields of application, their compatibility is not necessarily given. Ongoing investigations show that the temperatures caused by WAAM adversely affect both, the cement paste rheology required for sufficient paste penetration into the particle bed and the overall concrete strength. This paper provides an overview of ongoing research focusing on different cooling strategies and their effects on the compressive strength of SPI-printed concrete parts.

As shown previously, a relation between the superconducting transition temperature and some characteristic distance in the crystal lattice holds, which enables the calculation of the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, based only on the knowledge of the electronic configuration and of some details of the crystallographic structure. This relation was found to apply for a large number of superconductors, including the high-temperature superconductors, the iron-based materials, alkali fullerides, metallic alloys, and element superconductors. When applying this scheme called Roeser-Huber formula to Moiré-type superconductivity, i.e., magic-angle twisted bi-layer graphene (tBLG) and bi-layer WSe2, we find that the calculated transition temperatures for tBLG are always higher than the available experimental data, e.g., for the magic angle 1.1∘, we find Tc≈ 4.2–6.7 K. Now, the question arises why the calculation produces larger Tc’s. Two possible scenarios may answer this question: (1) The given problem for experimentalists is the fact that for electric measurements always substrates/caps are required to arrange the electric contacts. When now discussing superconductivity in atomically thin objects, also these layers may play a role forming the Moiré patterns. The consequence of such substrate-induced super-Moiré patterns is that the resulting Moiré pattern always will show a larger cell size, and thus, a lower Tc of the final structure will result. (2) A correction factor to the Roeser-Huber formalism may be required to account for the low charge carrier density of the tBLG. Here, we test both scenarios and find that the introduction of a correction factor η enables a proper calculation of Tc, reproducing the experimental data. We find that η depends exponentially on the value of Tc.

This paper presents a calibration and thermal compensation method that aims to minimize cost and processing time while maintaining high accuracy. First, the number of positions to perform the calibration procedure is optimized, and then, based on this optimized calibration number, thermal compensation is performed, which is necessary for environments with large temperature variations, since calibration parameters change at different temperatures. The calibration procedures and algorithms were experimentally validated on marketed accelerometers. Based on the optimized calibration method, the calibrated results have been obtained nearly 100 times improvement. Thermal drift calibration experiments on the triaxial accelerometer show that the thermal compensation scheme in this paper can effectively reduce drift in the temperature range of -40°C to 60°C. The temperature drifts of x- and y-axes are reduced from -13.2 and 11.8 mg to -0.9 and -1.1 mg, respectively. The z-axis temperature drift is reduced from -17.9 to 1.8 mg. We have conducted various experiments on the proposed calibration method and demonstrated its capacity to calibrate the sensor frame error model (SFEM) parameters. Therefore, the MEMS sensors calibrated in this paper have certain engineering application values for tilt measurement.

Canola is the major oilseed crop of Canada. The de-oiled material is an important by-product due to its rich phenolic profile and high protein content. This co-processing stream from canola is primarily utilized as animal feed but represents an invaluable source of nutraceuticals. Microwave-assisted solvent extraction (MAE), as a green extraction method, has received considerable attention in recent times. The ease of use and application of many solvents at the same time makes the MAE one of the best methods for studying multiple solvents at the same time. The formation of canolol, from sinapine and sinapic acid, is primarily dependant on temperature which favors the decarboxylation reaction. Hence, MAE using green extractants can be used to enhance the yield of canolol. This study examined the effects of different pre-treatment temperature-time combinations of 140, 150, 160, and 170℃ for 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 minutes on the extraction of canolol and other canola endogenous phenolic compounds. Three antioxidant assays assessed the antioxidant activity of the different extracts obtained by MAE confirming the microwave as a novel and versatile instrument for enhancing the yield of canolol. Improvements in the antioxidant activity of the different extracts further established the efficacy of the current method for isolating important natural phenolic derivatives for utilization by the nutraceutical industry.

Drought and high temperature often occur simultaneously will eventually affect rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield and seed quality. The objective of the study was to compare the effects of high temperature (HT) and water limitation (WL) during seed development and maturation on yield component, seed quality, and amylose content in aerobic rice cv. MRIA. Two experiments were conducted concurrently in greenhouse with ⁓35/26℃ subjected to elevated HT and/or WL; 5 days 38/28°C at 10, 15, 29 DAA and/or HT; 7 days at 40/28℃ at 8 and 21 DAA with 12h photoperiod in control environment growth chamber. Both experiments were respectively harvested at physiological maturity of 31 and 35 DAA. Grain yielded from the irrigated plant declined from over 27% to below 18% between 15 and 29 DAA. Combination stresses resulted in greater reduction of grain yield than single stress. Late seed development (29 DAA) had no effect either on yield component or seed quality as well as produce a high concentration in amylase content (16.7%) with greater germination capacity (91%). The non-stress plant harvested at 21 DAA resulted the highest percentage of germinated seeds (97%) whereas the vigour index (VI) was reduced to 70.3% and 58.9% at 8 and 21 DAA respectively. Extended plant stress to 7 consecutive days incurred the highest VI with low concentration of amylose content. There was a linear relationship incurred between seed amylase content with germination capacity and VI, however, there was an inverse relationship (R2 = 0.19) between amylase content with VI from plant treated with (HT and/or WL) for 7 days. The present results confirmed that the avoidance HT and WL during early (10 DAA) and mid (15 DAA) seed development with short duration of stress (5 days) obtained better in yield component, enhanced the seed quality and amylose concentration. The combined HT and WL damaged seeds’ quality were more than each stress alone. Therefore, avoiding HT and WL can be practically applied by farmers by irrigating throughout the rice plant during histodifferentiation to save water usage during seed maturation.

Glass fibers slowly dissolve and age when exposed to water molecules. Such a phenomenon also occurs when glass fibers are inside fiber-reinforced composites protected by the matrix. This en-vironmental aging results in the deterioration of the mechanical properties of the composite. In structural applications, GFRPs are continuously exposed to water environments for decades (typically design lifetime is around 25 years or even more). During their lifetime, these materials are affected by various temperatures, pH acidity levels, mechanical loads, and the synergy of these factors. The rate of the degradation process depends on the nature of glass, sizing, fiber orientation, and environmental factors such as acidity, temperature, and mechanical stress. In this work, degradation of typical industrial grade R-glass fibers, when inside an epoxy fiber-reinforced composite, is studied experimentally and computationally. A Dissolving Cylinder Zero-Order Kinetic (DCZOK) model was applied and could describe the long-term dissolution of glass composites, considering the influence of fiber orientation (hoop vs transverse), pH (1.7, 4.0, 5.7, 7.0, and 10.0), and temperature (20, 40, 60, and 80 °C). The limitations of the DCZOK model and effects of sizing protection, accumulation of degradation products inside the composite, and water availability were discussed. Experimentally dissolution was measured using ICP-MS. Like for the fibers, for GFRPs also, the temperature showed an Arrhenius-type influence on the ki-netics, increasing the rate of dissolution exponentially with increasing temperature. Similar to fibers, GFRPs showed a hyperbolic dependence on pH. The model was able to capture all of these effects, and the limitations were addressed.

Oxide semiconductors are conventionally being used as sensing materials in gas sensors, limiting the detection of gases at room temperature (RT). In this work, a hybrid of copper oxide (CuO) with functionalized graphene (rGO) is proposed to achieve gas sensing at RT. The combination of high surface area and presence of many functional groups in CuO/rGO hybrid material makes it highly sensitive for gas absorption and desorption. To prepare the hybrid material, a copper oxide suspension synthesized using copper acetate precursor is added to the graphene oxide solution during its reduction using ascorbic acid. Material properties of CuO/rGO hybrid and its drop-casted thin films are investigated using Raman, FTIR, SEM, TEM, and four-point probe measurement systems. We find that the hybrid material is enriched with oxygen functional groups (OFGs) and defective sites along with electrical conductivity (~1.5 kΩ/□). The fabricated QCM (quartz crystal microbalance) sensor with a thin layer of CuO/rGO hybrid, demonstrates a high sensing response which is twice the response of the rGO-based sensor for CO₂ gas at RT. We believe that the CuO/rGO hybrid can be highly suitable for existing and future gas sensors used for domestic and industrial safety.

The construction field uses up over one-third of the global energy consumption and contribute to 40% of CO2 emissions according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the 2020 annual reporter of United Nation, Goal 11 (Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) which discusses sustainable, safe and efficient buildings. Therefore, Morocco has a commitment to this program by publishing the law 47-09 of energy efficiency. This work aims to study the energy efficiency of two types of building, a conventional and a natural building. Conventional building is constructed using concrete, while the natural one uses sand clay and straws. As for the technique of making the natural building, it perpetually follows the same approach accustomed in rural zones of Atlas Mountains in Morocco. In this research we also simulate, temperature and humidity variation inside these buildings using TRNSYS software. Sketch Up software was employed to design these houses. The weather database is used for a typical meteorological year (TMY). In the case of natural building, many building configurations were simulated: roof insulation, floor insulation, different types of glazing and sun protection. What's more, the thermal comfort is revealed to be more conspicuous in the case of natural building.

Low night temperature (LNT) can be a practical and economical target in tomato breeding programs in terms of energy saving in greenhouses. This study was conducted to investigate the physiological responses to LNT using four tomato accessions of cherry and large fruit types with LNT tolerance and sensitivity grown in two greenhouses with night temperature set-points of 10 and 15°C for heating. LNT significantly reduced plant height regardless of fruit types and LNT tolerance. The number of flowers were significantly reduced in 10°C in cherry but not in large fruit types. Fruit set in 10°C was significantly lower in LNT sensitive accessions than tolerant ones regardless of fruit types, which was due to abnormal flower morphology in 10°C. Proline accumulation patterns between 10 and 15°C significantly differed between fruit types as well as between LNT tolerant and sensitive accessions. Chlorophyll content in 10 °C was significantly higher at later growth stages in LNT tolerant accessions than sensitive ones in both fruit types. No clear difference in photosynthetic parameters was observed between fruit types or tolerance and sensitive accessions except for photosynthetic rate, which was significantly lower in tolerant than sensitive accessions during early growing period. These results suggest that different tomato fruit types may have different mechanisms for LNT tolerance.

The rearing temperature of the immature stages can have a significant impact on the life-history traits and the ability of adult mosquitoes to transmit diseases. This review assessed published evidence of the effects of temperature on the immature stages, life-history traits, insecticide susceptibility, and expression of enzymes in the adult Anopheles mosquito. Original articles published through 31 March 2021 were systematically retrieved from Scopus, Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, ProQuest and Web of Science databases. After applying eligibility criteria, 29 studies were included. The review revealed that immature stages of Anopheles arabiensis were more tolerant (in terms of survival) to a higher temperature than An. funestus and An. quadriannulatus. Higher temperatures resulted in smaller larval size and decreased hatching and pupation time. The development rate and survival of Anopheles stephensi were significantly reduced at a higher temperature than a lower temperature. Increasing temperatures decreased the longevity, body size, length of the gonotrophic cycle and fecundity of Anopheles mosquitoes. Anopheles mosquitoes exposed at 18° or 30 °C had a higher risk of dying compared to those exposed at 25 °C. Increasing temperature also significantly increased NOS expression and decreased insecticide toxicity. Both extreme low and high temperatures affect Anopheles mosquito development and survival. Climate change could have diverse effects on Anopheles mosquitoes. There seems to be inconclusive evidence of the effects of temperature on the development and survival of Anopheles species, and more studies are needed to clarify this relationship.

Season plays a key role in the development of outdoor spaces for pedestrians in hot humid cities. This research studies the influence of seasonal variations on pedestrian thermal comfort on the pedestrian level by means of meteorology and field observations of selected footpaths in the major tourist area of Malacca. This experiment was carried out on selected clear calm days indicative of each season during the development of a research project, and hourly meteorological transects from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and questioned 200 respondents on their thermal awareness, comfort, and preferences were conducted. Adaptation, thermal comfort vote, thermal preference, age, season and hour of the day were significant non-meteorological factors, apart from meteorological information. The findings of analyzes showed that the thermal experience and expectation existed and in different seasons people changed perceptions for the outside thermal environment. Almost 80% local tourist and 55 % international tourist was accepted Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) range affected by the local climate and thermal adaptation. The subjective thermal sensation on physiological equivalent temperature generated an acceptable physiological equivalent temperature of 32.6°C to 36.8°C based on the seasonal variations for Malacca tourist zone in Malaysia. These findings shed light on the optimal design of outdoor spaces for increasing the utilization rate. The seasonal variation must be taken into account so that the outdoor landscape design provides more opportunities for different seasons to communicate with the atmosphere and so enhance thermal comfort and utilization.

The primary purpose of the study was the determination of the spatial day-to-day variability of extreme temperatures in Poland and the dependency of large temperature changes on atmospheric circulation in accordance with the Grosswetterlagen (GWL) classification. The goal was implemented based on data from 1966 to 2015, made available by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management – National Research Institute. Day-to-day changes in maximum and minimum temperatures were designated with a rate of ≥ 6 °C (large) and with a rate of ≥ 12 °C (very large) and their spatial distribution was presented. Finally, the analysis of the dependency of considerable temperature changes on atmospheric circulation in accordance with the Grosswetterlagen (GWL) classification was conducted. The obtained results showed that in Poland in the period 1966-2015 the number of large changes in both Tmax and Tmin slightly increased, although the fluctuations show spatial variability. Large changes in Tmax occur more frequently in spring, and in Tmin in winter. Large changes in Tmax and Tmin are mainly recorded during cyclonic circulation, however, the anticyclonic circulation types favour especially large decreases in Tmin.

We describe a novel machine that uses the greater-than-100% efficiency of air/ground-source heat pumps to recursively generate electricity via steam-powered generators, taking thermal energy from the ambient environment to convert into electrical power. The invention of a machines that generate clean power at low costs will be fundamental to the future of electricity. We estimate efficiency and calculate minimum efficiencies for unknown parts to consider the applicability of this machine to the real world.

A galvalume corrugated sheet was utilized as formwork for a reinforced concrete beam in flexure. A numerical model was validated to the experimentally obtained data, and further adopted to simulate the behavior of this composite structure under elevated temperatures. The properties and constitutive stress-strain data of the basic materials were obtained from experiments, and superimposed into the finite element model. The study concluded that the load carrying capacity of the member decreased as a direct function on temperature increase, and the cracking moment was very sensitive to the temperature fluctuation. The elevated temperatures also altered the failure mode.

This empirical study investigates large urban park cooling effects on the thermal comfort of occupants in the vicinity of the main central park, located in Madrid, Spain. Data were gathered during hot summer days, using mobile observations and a questionnaire. The results showed that the cooling effect of this urban park of 140 ha area at a distance of 150 m is able to reduce temperature by an average of 0.63°C and 1.28°C for distances of 380 m and of 665 meters from the park. Moreover, the degree of the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) index at a distance of 150 meters from the park is on average 2°C PET and 2.3°C PET less compared to distances of 380 m and 665 m, respectively. Considering distance from the park, the correlation between occupant Perceived Thermal Comfort (PTC) and PET is inverse. That is, augmenting the distance from park increases PET, while the extent of PTC reduces accordingly. The correlation between these two factors at the nearest and furthest distances from the park is meaningful (P-value <0/05). The results also showed that large-scale urban parks generally play a significant part in creating a cognitive state of high-perceived thermal comfort spaces for residents.

Temperature field is an essential attribute of metal additive manufacturing in view of its bearings on the prediction, control, and optimization of residual stress, part distortion, fatigue, balling effect, etc. This work provides an analytical physics-based approach to investigate the effect of scan strategy parameters including time delay between two irradiations and hatching space on thermal material properties and melt pool geometry. This approach is performed through the analysis of the distribution of material properties and temperature profile in three-dimensional space. The moving point heat source approach is used to predict the temperature field. To predict the temperature field during the additive manufacturing process some important phenomena are considered. 1) Due to the high magnitude of temperature in the presence of the laser, the temperature gradient is usually high which has a crucial influence on thermal material properties. Consequently, the thermal material properties of stainless steel grade 316L are considered to be temperature-dependent. 2) Due to the repeated heating and cooling, part usually undergoes several melting and solidification cycles. This physical phenomenon is considered by modifying the heat capacity using the latent heat of melting. 3) The multi-layer aspect of metal AM process is considered by incorporating the temperature history from the previous layer since the interaction of the successive layers has an impact on heat transfer mechanisms. 4) Effect of heat affected zone on thermal material properties is considered by the superposition of material properties in regions where the temperature fields of two consecutive irradiations have an overlap since the consecutive irradiations change the behavior of the material properties. The goals are to 1) investigate the effects of temperature-sensitive material properties and constant material properties on the temperature field. 2) Study the behavior of thermal material properties under different scan strategies. 3) Study the importance of considering the effect of heat affected zone on thermal material through the prediction of melt pool geometry. 4) Investigate the effect of hatching space on melt pool geometry. This work is purely employed physics-based analytical models to predict the behavior of material properties and temperature field under different process conditions, and no finite element modeling is used.

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is an invasive species that has modified ecosystem functioning in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta), California, USA. Studies in lakes and rivers have shown that water hyacinth alters water quality. In tidal systems, such as the Delta, water moves back and forth through the water hyacinth patch so water quality directly outside the patch in either direction is likely to be impacted. In this study, we asked whether the presence or treatment of water hyacinth with herbicides resulted in changes in water quality in this tidal system. We combined existing datasets that were originally collected for permit compliance and long-term regional monitoring into a dataset that we analyzed with a before-after control-impact (BACI) framework. This approach allowed us to describe effects of presence and treatment of water hyacinth, while accounting for seasonal patterns in water quality. We found that although effects of treatment were not detectable when compared with water immediately upstream, dissolved oxygen and turbidity became more similar to regional water quality averages after treatment. Temperature became less similar to the regional average after treatment, but the magnitude of the change was small. Taken together, these results suggest that tidal hydrology exports the effects of water hyacinth upstream, just as river flow is known to transport the effects downstream, creating a buffer of altered water chemistry around patches. It also suggests that although water hyacinth has an effect on dissolved oxygen and turbidity, these parameters recover to regional averages after treatment.

Surface urban heat island (SUHI) depicts the deteriorating thermal environment in high-density cities and local climate zone (LCZ) classification provides a universal protocol for SUHI identification. In this study, taking the central urbanized area of Guangzhou in the humid subtropical region of China as the study area, the maps or images of LCZ, land surface temperature (LST), SUHI and urban design factors were achieved by using Landsat satellite data, GIS database and a series of retrieval and classification algorithms, and the urban design factors influencing SUHI were investigated based on 625 samples of LCZs. The results show that in the summer daytime under the clear sky condition, the LST varied greatly from 26 °C to 40 °C and the SUHI changed in a wide range of -6 °C to 8 °C in the LCZs of the study area. Seven and five urban design factors influencing the summer daytime SUHI were identified for the two dominant LCZ of LCZs 1-5 (LCZ 1 to LCZ 5) and the mixed LCZ (containing at least three types of LCZs), respectively. The summer daytime SUHI prediction models were obtained by using the step-wise multiple linear regression, with the performance of R2 of 0.697, RMSE of 1.21 °C, and the d value of 0.81 for the model of LCZs 1-5, and the values of 0.666, 1.66 °C, and 0.76 for the model of the mixed LCZ, indicating that the models can predict the changes of SUHI with LCZs to a large and satisfactory extent. This study presents a methodology to efficiently achieve a large sample of SUHI and urban design factors of LCZs in the largely urbanized cities, and provides information beneficial to the urban designs and regenerations in the humid subtropical region.

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.

Ultra Low Temperature Process (ULTP) involve the material cooling in temperatures close to the liquid nitrogen (-196 °C), which is different from the cold-treatment (CT) made in temperatures close to -80 °C. ULTP treatments could raise the tool steel wear resistance through microstructural change that occurs on the material, enhancing, that way, the tools and dies lifetime. To investigate the impact on the wear resistance of tool steel AISI D2, micro abrasive wear tests were carried out and an analysis based on the Archard’s law was considered, evaluating specimen mass loss by laser interferometry. Micro hardness tests, X-ray diffractometry, scanning and optical microscopy and quantitative evaluation of carbides with image analysis were carried out aiming material characterization. Micro-scale abrasion tests shown a wear coefficient k about 1.73E-7 e 2.61E-7 mm3/N.mm to the specimens that received the ULTP phase and 3.12E-7 mm3/N.mm to the conventional thermal treatment, representing a wear resistance increase of 16.3 – 44.5% to cryogenically treated specimens. The results demonstrated a micro hardness improvement, ranging from 0.9 - 4.7% for the cryogenically treated specimens, when compared to the bulk material. This effect is related, mainly, to the retained austenite transformation in martensite and to the increase in the amount of fine secondary carbides dispersed in the martensitic matrixes of cryogenically treated specimens with ULTP. The best wear resistance improvements, on micro-scale, were achieved when the ULTP step is performed immediately after tempering.

In this paper a novel type of a highly sensitive gas sensor device based on the surface photovoltage effect is described. The developed surface photovoltage gas sensor is based on a reverse Kelvin probe approach. As the active gas sensing electrode the porous ZnO nanostructured thin films are used deposited by the direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering method exhibiting the nanocoral surface morphology combined with an evident surface nonstoichiometry related to the unintentional surface carbon and water vapor contaminations. Among others, the demonstrated SPV gas sensor device exhibits a high sensitivity of 1 ppm to NO₂ with a signal to noise ratio of about 50 and a fast response time of several seconds under the room temperature conditions.

Rice production, owing to its high-water requirement for cultivation, is very vulnerable to the threat of changing climate, particularly prolonged drought and high temperature. Such threats heighten the need for abiotic stress-resilient rice varieties with better yield potential. This review examines the physiological and molecular mechanisms of rice varieties to cope with stress conditions of drought (DS), high temperature (HTS) and their combination (DS-HTS). It appraises research studies in rice about its various phenotypic traits, genetic loci and response mechanisms to stress conditions to help craft new breeding strategies for rice varieties with improved resilience to abiotic stresses. This review consolidates available information on promising rice cultivars with desirable traits as well as advocates synergistic and complementary approaches in molecular and systems biology to develop new rice breeds that favorably respond to climate-induced abiotic stresses. The development of new breeding and cultivation strategies for climate-resilient rice varieties is a challenging task. It requires a comprehensive understanding of the various morphological, biochemical, physiological, and molecular components governing yield under drought and high temperature, but possible by implementing cohesive approaches involving molecular and systems biology approaches in genomics and molecular breeding, including genetic engineering.

Present work has systematically investigated the evolution of dispersoid and elevated-temperature properties including the strength and creep resistance during the various multi-step heat treatments in Al-Mn-Mg 3004 alloys. Results show that only α-Al(MnFe)Si dispersoid is observed in the studied temperature range (up to 625°C) and it coarsens with increasing temperature to 500°C but dissolves at 625°C. The evolution of elevated-temperature strength and creep resistance is greatly related to the temperature of each step during the multi-step heat treatments. Generally, lower temperature at the first-step heat treatment leads to higher properties while the properties decrease with increasing temperature of last-step heat treatment. Suitable models have been introduced to explain the evolution of strength and the creep threshold stress at elevated-temperature during the various heat treatments.

We present a distributed optical-fiber temperature sensor with enhanced sensitivity based on an Al-coated fiber using the Rayleigh backscattering spectra (RBS) shift in optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR). The Al-coated sensing fiber with a higher thermal expansion coefficient compared to silica produces a strain-coupled shift in the RBS under an increase in temperature. This effect leads to an enhanced temperature sensitivity of the distributed measurement scheme. Our results revealed that the temperature sensitivity obtained using the Al-coated fiber in OFDR was ~56% higher relative to that of a single-mode fiber. Moreover, the minimum measurable temperature recorded was 1 °C with a spatial resolution of 5 cm.

The feasibility of using full ion kinetics, instead of gyrokinetics, in simulating low-frequency Ion-Temperature-Gradient (ITG) instabilities in tokamaks has recently been demonstrated by Sturdevant et al. [Physics of Plasmas 24, 081207 (2017)]. In that work, a variational integrator was developed to integrate the full orbits of ions in toroidal geometry, which proved to be accurate in capturing both the short-time scale cyclotron motion and long time scale drift motion. The present work extends that work in three aspects. First, we implement a relatively simple full orbit integrator, the Boris integrator, and demonstrate that the accuracy of this integrator is also sufficient for simulation of ITG instabilities. Second, the equilibrium magnetic configuration is extended to general toroidal configuration specified numerically, enabling simulation of realistic equilibria reconstructed from tokamak experiments. Third, we extend that work to the nonlinear regime and investigate the nonlinear saturation of ITG instabilities. To verify the new numerical implementation of the orbit integrator and magnetic configuration, the linear electrostatic ITG frequency and growth rate are compared with those given in Sturdevant's work and good agreement is found.

Analysis of 49 strains of F. langsethiae originating from northern Europe (Russia, Finland, Sweden, UK, Norway, and Latvia) revealed the presence of spontaneous auxotrophic mutants that reflect natural intraspecific diversity. Our investigations detected that 49.0% of F. langsethiae strains were auxotrophic mutants for biotin, and 8.2% of the strains required thiamine as a growth factor. They failed to grow on vitamin-free media. For both prototrophic and auxotrophic strains, no growth defect was observed in rich organic media. Without essential vitamins, a significant reduction in the growth of the auxotrophic strains results in a decrease of the formation of T-2 toxin and diacetoxyscirpenol. In addition, all analysed F. langsethiae strains were distinguished into two subgroups based on PCR product sizes. According to our results, 26 and 23 strains of F. langsethiae belong to subgroups I and II respectively. We determined that the deletion in the IGS region of the rDNA of F. langsethiae belonging to subgroup II is linked with temperature sensitivity and causes a decrease in strain growth at 30 °C. Four thiamine auxotrophic strains were found in subgroup I, while 21 biotin auxotrophic strains were detected in subgroups II. To the best of our knowledge, the spontaneous mutations in F. langsethiae observed in the present work have not been previously reported.

In this paper, we proposed a novel saddle type FinFET (S-FinFET) to effectively solve problems occurring under the capacitor node of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) cell and showed how its structure was superior to conventional S-FinFETs in terms of short channel effect (SCE), subthreshold slope (SS), and gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL). The proposed FinFET exhibited 4 times lower Ioff than modified S-FinFET called RFinFET with more improved DIBL characteristics while minimizing Ion reduction compared to RFinFET. Our results also confirmed that the proposed device showed improved DIBL and Ioff characteristics as gate channel length decreased.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, is characterized by disruptions in memory, cognition, and personality, significantly impacting morbidity and mortality rates among older adults. However, the exact pathophysiological mechanism of AD remains unknown, and effective treatment options for AD are still lacking. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) are emerging as promising platforms for disease research, offering the ability to model genetic mutations associated with various conditions. Patient-derived iPSCs are useful for modeling neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. In this study, we generated AD iPSCs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from a 65-year-old patient with AD carrying the E682K mutation in the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene. Cerebral organoids derived from AD iPSCs recapitulated the AD phenotype, exhibiting significantly increased levels of tau protein. Our analysis revealed that an iPSC disease model of AD is a valuable assessment tool for pathophysiological research and drug screening.

Excess consumption of a high-fat diet has been identified as one of the contributing factors for obesity. Women are at higher risk for adult obesity than men, predisposing them to a different set of detrimental disease conditions. Furthermore, aging studies show that physiological decline also has a serious impact on changes in the endocrine properties of white adipose tissue. Howev-er, there is still relatively little known about the factors associated with obesity and aging and their compounding impact on women’s health. To investigate adipocytokine secretion profile changes, female C3H/HeJ mice were induced to obesity through long-term consumption of a high-fat diet. Weight gain measurements and Echo MRI analysis of fat composition showed in-creases were a due solely to the high fat content in the diet. Adipocytokine secretions were ana-lyzed in media conditioned from harvested visceral fat tissue that was organ cultured ex-vivo. Adipocytokine analysis across diets and age showed significant increases in Adiponectin and Leptin secretion in high-fat diets, accelerated increases in Resistin secretion with high-fat diets. Aging induced increased secretion of Lipcalin-2, Pentraxin-3 and Serpin E1, MCP-1 and ICAM-1, regardless of diet. Furthermore, comparisons of organoid cultured protein secretions and flash-frozen tissue samples differed greatly, suggesting the WAT organoid cultures may yield information more reflective of in situ conditions. Taken together, our results show that diet and aging significantly impact secretions from adipose tissue, that may contribute to women’s health issues.

Space exploration is an arduous journey, with future explorations extending in duration, increasing the risk for common space-related health issues such as bone density loss due to microgravity, impaired gut microbiota, cardiovascular ailments, and exposure to cosmic radiation. These ailments can be addressed using medicinal plants. Enhancing their efficacy entails employing gene editing to target specific secondary metabolite pathways associated with therapeutic properties. Moreover, gene editing can combine multiple medicinal properties from various plants, culminating in a singular 'superplant' with enhanced therapeutic benefits. This review discusses the current usage of medicinal plants in promoting human health during space travel, the application of gene editing technology in modifying medicinal plants and presents a vision for the utilization of gene-edited medicinal plants in space to mitigate the risk of various space-related health issues.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are used primarily in the treatment of hypertension, heart failure, and in the acute phase of myocardial infarction. Lisinopril [N2-[(1S)-1-car-boxy-3-phenylpropyl]-L-lysyl-L-proline], enalapril [(S)-1-[N-[1-(ethoxycarbonyl)-3-phenylpropyl]-L-alanyl]-L-proline] and ramipril [2-aza-bicyclo-[3.3.0]-octane-3-carboxylic acid] are all five-membered heterocycles and three of the most prevalent ACE inhibitors in clinical use worldwide. ACEi-induced angioedema (ACEi-AE) is clinically characterized by self-limited edema of the dermis and subcutaneous lipid tissue, localized on face skin, oral mucosa and tongue in most cases. However, severe episodes of intestinal AE misdiagnosed as acute appendicitis and laryngeal AE requiring incubation have been reported. The pathophysiology of ACEi induced-AE is attributed to the accumulation of bradykinin, which is a potent vasodilator with proinflammatory activity that is normally degraded by angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and aminopeptidase P; however, a small proportion of treated patients is affected. Given that patients do not respond to anti-H1 antihistamines and steroids, the early clinical recognition and the ACEi discontinuation are the treatment of choice for the long term management of ACEi-AE.

Graphene materials synthesized using direct laser writing (laser-induced graphene; LIG) are fa-vorable sensor materials because of their large surface area, ease of fabrication, and cost effec-tiveness. In particular, LIG decorated with metal nanoparticles (NPs) has been used in various sensors, including chemical sensors and electronic and electrochemical biosensors. However, the effect of metal decoration on LIG sensors remains controversial; hypotheses based on computa-tional simulations do not always match experimental results, and even experimental results re-ported by different researchers have not been consistent. In the present study, we explored the effects of metal decorations on LIG gas sensors, with NO2 and NH3 gases as representative oxi-dizing and reducing agents, respectively. To eliminate unwanted side effects arising from metal salt residues, metal NPs were directly deposited by vacuum evaporation. Although the gas sen-sitivities of the sensors deteriorate upon metal decoration irrespective of the metal work function in the case of NO2 gas, they improve upon metal decoration in the case of NH3 exposure. A careful investigation of the chemical structure and morphology of the metal NPs in the LIG sensors shows that the spontaneous oxidation of metal NPs with a low work function changes the be-havior of the LIG gas sensors and that the sensor behaviors under NO2 and NH3 gases follow different principles.

In a recent paper, we extended previous studies on solar-terrestrial relationships by investigating the origin of the March 2012 heatwave in northeast USA. In the present study we check the possible relationship of solar activity with the early March 2012 bad weather in northeast Thrace, Greece. To this end, we examined data from various remote sensing instrumentation monitoring the Sun (SDO satellite), the Interplanetary Space (ACE satellite), the Earth’s magnetosphere (Earth based measurements, NOAA-19 satellite), the top of the clouds (TERRA and AQUA satellites) and the near ground atmosphere. Our comparative data analysis suggests that: (i) the winter-like weather (rainfall, fast winds, decreased temperature) in Thrace started on 6 March 2012, on the same day as the heatwave starting in USA, (ii) during the March 2012 winter-like event in Thrace (6-15 March), the ACE satellite recorded enhanced fluxes of solar energetic particles (SEPs), while SOHO and PAMELA recorded solar protons at very high energies (> 500 MeV), (iii) Thrace experienced particularly intense cyclonic circulation, during periods of magnetic storms on 8 - 10 and 12-13 March, which occurred after the arrival at ACE of two interplanetary shock waves, on March 8 and March 11, respectively, (iv) at the beginning of the two above mentioned periods large atmospheric electric fields were recorded, with values ranging between ~-2000V/m - ~1800V/m on 8 March, (v) the winter-like 8-10 March 2012 weather occurred after the detection of the main SEP event related with a coronal mass ejection released in the interplanetary space as a result of intense solar flare activity observed by SDO on 7 March 2012, (vi) the 8-10 March weather was related with a deep drop of ~630C in the cloud top temperature measured by MODIS/TERRA, which favors strong precipitation. Finally, we analyzed data from the electric power network in Thrace (~410N) and we found, for the first time sudden voltage changes of ~3.5kV in the electric grid in Greece, during the decay phase of the March 2012 superstorm. We discuss the winter-like March 2012 event in Thrace in terms of solar cosmic ray influence on the low troposphere mediated by positive NAO. Finally, we infer that the novel finding of the geomagnetic effects on the electric power grid in Thrace may open a new window into space weather applications research.

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have recently evolved rapidly, which requires development of highly trustworthy and effective communication technologies for uses, including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication; where Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is regarded as a strong candidate and highly popular option technique among these methods. However, the movement of vehicles introduces Doppler frequencies which produce inter-carrier interference (ICI), that is frequently occurs in V2X channels. This interference has the potential to compromise the integrity of subcarrier orthogonality within OFDM, leading to lower-quality communication and an increased likelihood of data transmission errors. When employing channels with doubly dispersive fading, OFDM necessitates the usage of a complex equalization based on the minimum mean-square error (MMSE) equalizer, which requires channel matrix inversion. Several low-complexity equalizers for OFDM have been developed and are based on band factorization, time domain LSQR (Least-Square QR) iterative computing, and banded minimum mean squared error (BMMSE). This paper proposes Conjugate Gradient Least Squares (CGLS), which is a novel iterative computation algorithm integrated with nonlinear equalizers. The suggested nonlinear equalization technique determines the trade-off between computations and performance. According to simulation data, the suggested nonlinear equalizer performs better than the current BMMSE and linear CGLS algorithms across doubly dispersive fading channels.

This work investigates a new nanostructured gas-diffusion-layer (nano-GDL) to improve performance of air-cathode Single-Chamber-Microbial-Fuel-Cells (a-SCMFCs). The new nano-GDLs improves the direct oxygen-reduction-reaction by exploiting the best of nanofibers from electrospinning in terms of high surface ratio to volume and high porosity, and laser-based processing to promote adhesion. Nano-GDLs by electrospinning were fabricated directly collecting two nanofibers mats on the same carbon-based electrode, acting as the substrate. Each layer was designed with a specific function: water resistant, oxygen permeable polyvinylidene-difluoride (PVDF) nanofibers served as a barrier to prevent water-based electrolyte leakage, while an inner layer of cellulose nanofibers was added to promote oxygen diffusion towards the catalytic sites. The maximum current density obtained for a-SCMFCs with the new nano-GDLs is (132.2 ± 10.8) mA m^-2, and it doubles the current density obtained with standard PTFE-based GDL (58.5 ± 2.4 mA m^-2), used as reference material. The energy recovery (EF) factor, i.e. the ratio of the power output to the inner volume of the device, was then used to evaluate the overall performance of a-SCMFCs. a-SCMFCs with nano-GDL provided an EF value of 60.83 mJ m^-3: one order of magnitude higher than the value of 3.92 mJ m^-3 obtained with standard GDL

Fluorophores with a tetraphenylethylene (TPE) core are attracting increasing interest because of their aggregation-induced emission (AIE) behaviour, which makes them particularly suitable when dispersed in thin-layer films. We propose the synthesis and use of a novel TPE fluorophore (hereafter called TPE-BPAN) decorated with two dimethylamino push groups and a 4-biphenylacetonitrile pull moiety. In tetrahydrofuran solutions, TPE-BPAN showed a broad absorption spectrum, and an intense emission is observed when a non-solvent as water is added in amounts of 70% and above. We selected and synthetized five different polymer matrices for TPE-BPAN with decreasing polarity: a) poly(methylmetacrylate) homopolymer (PMMA); b), c), and d) three copolymers of methyl methacrylate and cyclohexyl methacrylate at different compositions (P(MMA-co-CHMA) 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 mol%); e) poly(cyclohexyl methacrylate) homopolymer (PCHMA). The presence of a less polar comonomer as cyclohexyl methacrylate appeared to enhance the emission behaviour of TPE-BPAN, which displayed the highest quantum yield (QY) in P(MMA-co-CHMA) 75:25 in all the range of concentration studied from 0.4 wt.% to 2.0 wt.%. Further reduction in polarity lowered QY to the values of PMMA films; also, lower adhesion to the glass and a marked fragility of the films were observed. Referring to the P(MMA-co-CHMA) 75:25 films, QY values decreased from over 40% at 0.4 wt.% to about 30% at 2.0 wt.%, which is still helpful for energy harvesting applications such as luminescent solar concentrators (LSC). LSC performances were not significantly affected by the matrix's lower polarity and resulted in around one-third of the state-of-the-art due to the lower QY of TPE-BPAN. The theoretical investigation on density functional theory (DFT) clarified the origin of the observed AIE and the role played by the environment in modulating the photophysical behaviour.

Neuronal cell fate is predominantly controlled by the effects of growth factors, such as neurotrophins, and the activation of a variety of signaling pathways acting through neurotrophin receptors, namely Trk and p75 (p75NTR). Despite their beneficial effects on brain function, their therapeutic use is compromised, due to their polypeptidic nature and blood–brain-barrier impermeability. To overcome these limitations, our previous studies have proven that DHEA-derived synthetic analogs can act like neurotrophins, lacking endocrine side effects. The present study focuses on the biological characterization of a newly synthesized analog, ENT-A044, and its role on inducing cell specific functions of p75NTR. We show that ENT-A044 can induce cell death and phosphorylation of JNK protein by activating p75NTR. Additionally, ENT-A044 can induce the phosphorylation of TrkB receptor, indicating that our molecule can activate both neurotrophin receptors, leading towards the protection of neuronal populations that express both receptors. Furthermore, the present study demonstrates for the first time the expression of p75NTR in human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells - derived Neural Progenitor Cells (hiPSCs - derived NPCs) and receptor-dependent cell death induced by ENT-A044 treatment. In conclusion, ENT-A044 could be proven a lead molecule for the development of novel pharmacological agents, aiming on new therapeutic approaches and research tools, by controlling p75NTR actions.

Cryptosporidiosis is a major human health concern globally. Despite well-established methods, misdiagnosis remains common. Our understanding of the cryptosporidiosis biochemical mechanism remains limited, compounding the difficulty of clinical diagnosis. Here, we used a systems biology approach to investigate the underlying biochemical interactions in C57BL/6J mice infected with Cryptosporidium parvum. Faecal samples were collected daily following infection. Blood, liver tissues and luminal contents were collected 10 days post infection (dpi). High-resolution liquid chromatography and low-resolution gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry were used to analyse the proteomes and metabolomes of these samples. Faeces and luminal contents were additionally subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis of the acquired data illustrated altered host and microbial energy pathways during infection. Glycolysis/citrate cycle metabolites were depleted, while short-chain fatty acids and D-amino acids accumulated. An increased abundance of bacteria associated with a stressed gut environment was seen. Host proteins involved in energy pathways and Lactobacillus glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase were upregulated during cryptosporidiosis. Liver oxalate also increased during infection. Microbiome-parasite relationships were observed to be more influential than the host-parasite association in mediating major biochemical changes in the mouse gut during cryptosporidiosis. Defining this parasite-microbiome interaction is the first step towards building a comprehensive cryptosporidiosis model towards biomarker discovery, and rapid and accurate diagnostics.

Rhes is one of the most interesting proteins regulated by thyroid hormones that, through the inhibition of the striatal cAMP/PKA pathway, acts as a modulator of dopamine neurotransmission. It is expressed at high levels in the dorsal striatum, with a medial-to-lateral expression gradient reflecting that of both dopamine D2 and adenosine A2A receptors. Rhes is also present in the hippocampus, cerebral cortex, olfactory tubercle and bulb, substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and ventral tegmental area of the rodent brain. In line with Rhes-dependent regulation of dopaminergic transmission, several data showed that lack of Rhes enhanced cocaine and amphetamine-induced motor stimulation in mice. Previous studies showed that pharmacological depletion of dopamine significantly reduces Rhes mRNA levels in rodents, non-human primates and Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, suggesting a link between dopaminergic innervation and physiological Rhes mRNA expression. Rhes protein binds to and activates striatal mTORC1, and modulates L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia in PD rodent models. Finally, Rhes is involved in the survival of mouse midbrain dopaminergic neurons of SNc, thus pointing towards a Rhes-dependent modulation of autophagy and mitophagy processes, and encouraging further investigations about mechanisms underlying dysfunctions of the nigrostriatal system.

Transfer RNA (tRNA) molecules contain various post-transcriptional modifications that are crucial for tRNA stability, translation efficiency, and fidelity. Besides their canonical roles in translation, tRNAs also originate tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs), a class of small non-coding RNAs with regulatory functions ranging from translation regulation to gene expression control and cellular stress response. Recent evidence indicates that tsRNAs are also modified, however, the impact of tRNA epitranscriptome deregulation on tsRNAs generation is only now beginning to be uncovered. The 5-methyluridine (m5U) modification at position 54 of cytosolic tRNAs is one of the most common and conserved tRNA modifications among species. The tRNA methyltransferase TRMT2A catalyzes this modification, but its biological role remains mostly unexplored. Here, we show that TRMT2A knockdown in human cells induces m5U54 tRNA hypomodification, resulting in angiogenin (ANG) dependent tsRNA formation. More specifically, m5U54 hypomodification is followed by ANG overexpression and tRNA cleavage near the anticodon, resulting in accumulation of 5’tRNA-derived stress-induced RNAs (5’tiRNAs), in particular 5’tiRNA-GlyGCC and 5’tiRNA-GluCTC. Additionally, transcriptomic analysis confirms that down-regulation of TRMT2A and consequently m5U54 hypomodification impacts the cellular stress response and RNA stability, which is often correlated with tsRNA generation. Accordingly, exposure to oxidative stress conditions induces TRMT2A down-regulation and tsRNA formation in mammalian cells. These results establish a link between tRNA demethylation and ANG-dependent tsRNAs formation and unravel m5U54 as a tRNA cleavage protective mark.

Fabrics comprised of porous fibers could provide effective passive protection against chemical and biological (CB) threats whilst maintaining high air permeability (breathability). Here, we fabricate hierarchically porous fibers consisting of regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) and activated-carbon (AC) prepared through two fiber spinning techniques in combination with ice-templating – namely cryogenic solution blow spinning (Cryo-SBS) and cryogenic wet-spinning (Cryo-WS). The Cryo-WS RSF fibers had exceptionally small macropores (as low as 0.1 µm) and high specific surface areas (SSAs) of up to 79 m2 g-1. The incorporation of AC could further increase the SSA to 210 m2 g-1 (25 wt. % loading) whilst also increasing adsorption capacity for volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

There are numerous hazards found on the farms. Most of them are ignored, which might cause the farmer to pay later in terms of his ill health, potential injuries or death. The current article discusses some of the common issues such as dust and air quality concerns; environmental (weather) stressors and psychological stressors; noise and hearing protection; and tractor safety and seatbelt use. And finally, the recommendations to overcome the hazards are discussed.

Induction of jasmonate-mediated plant defense against insect herbivory is initiated by a combination of both, mechanical wounding and chemical factors. In order to study both effects independently on plant defense induction, SpitWorm, a computer-controlled device which mimics the damage pattern of feeding insect larvae on leaves and, in addition, can apply oral secretions (OS) or other solutions to the ‘biting site’ during ‘feeding’, was developed and evaluated. The amount of OS left by a Spodoptera littoralis larva during feeding on Phaseolus lunatus (lima bean) leaves was estimated by combining larval foregut volume, biting rate, and quantification of a fluorescent dye injected into the larvae’s foregut prior to feeding. For providing OS amounts by SpitWorm equivalent to larval feeding, dilution and delivery rate were optimized. The effectiveness of SpitWorm was tested by comparing volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions of P. lunatus leaves treated with either SpitWorm, MecWorm or S. littoralis larvae. Identification and quantification of emitted VOCs revealed that SpitWorm induced a volatile bouquet that is qualitatively and quantitatively similar to herbivory. Additionally, RT-qPCR of four jasmonic acid responsive genes showed that SpitWorm, in contrast to MecWorm, induces the same regulation pattern as insect feeding. Thus, SpitWorm mimics insect herbivory almost identical to real larvae feeding.

Rice grassy stunt virus (RGSV) a member of Tenuivirus family, is very potent and destructive which effects rice crop in many countries, particularly China. Non coding RNAs have important functions in development and epigenetic regulation of gene expression in numerous organsisms. There is three type of small non coding RNAs have been found in eukaryotes, which are small interferring RNAs (siRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs) and piwi interacting RNAs (piRNAs). Small RNAs (sRNAs) origination is from the infecting virus which is known as virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs), has responsibility for RNA silencing in plants. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is mainly dependent on RNA silencing (RNAi). Interestingly, RNA silencing happens in plants during viral infections. RNAi technique showed significant results in Nephotettix cincticeps. RNAi technique demonstrated the gene silencing of planthopper Nilaparvata lugens. The proteins P5, pcf4, Dnj, psn5, and pn6 act as potential movement proteins and serve as silencing suppressors for RGSV. VsiRNAs originate from dsRNA molecules which require Dicer-like (DCL) proteins, RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) proteins, and Argonaute (AGO) proteins. RdRP uses ssRNA for perfect RNA amplification process and can also be used for DCL dependent secondary vsiRNA formation. VSRs interfere with the movement of signals during silencing mechanism. Moreover, intercellular movement of viruses is facilitated by virus-encoded movement protein. RNAi is found in many eukaryotes which are related to transcriptional or post-transcriptional regulation by gene suppression. Transcription is bidirectional in ssDNA viruses which are originated from dsRNA molecules. In this review, we highlighted the biology of Rice grassy stunt virus and its insect vector and its silencing suppressors. This work will be helpful for plant virologists to understand the whole biogenesis mechanism for rice viruses especially RGSV.

Currently, there is a high interest in smart sensors and integrated composite materials in various industries such as construction, aviation, automobile, medical, information technology, communication, and manufacturing. Here, a new conceptual design for a force and temperature sensor system is developed by integrating fiber optic Bragg grating sensors embedded within composite materials, and a mathematical model is proposed that allows one to estimate strain and temperature based on signals obtained from optical Bragg gratings. This is important for understanding the behaviors of sensors under different conditions and for creating effective monitoring systems. Describing the strain gradient distribution, especially considering different materials with different values of Young's modulus, provides insight into how different materials respond to applied forces and temperature changes. The shape of the strain gradient distribution was obtained, which is a quadratic function with a maximum value of 1500 µ, with a maximum value at the center of the lattice and a symmetrically decreasing strain value with distance from the central part of the fiber Bragg grating. With axial strain at the installation site of the Bragg grating sensor under applied force values ranging from 10 to 11 N, the change in strain was linear. As a result of theoretical research, it was found that the developed system with fiber-optic sensors based on Bragg gratings embedded in composite materials is resistant to external influences and temperature changes.

Long-range HNCO NMR spectra for proteins show crosspeaks due to 1JNC, 2JNC, 3JNCg and h3JNC couplings. The h3JNC couplings are transmitted through hydrogen bonds and are correlated to hydrogen bond lengths. We collected long-range HNCO data at a series of temperatures for four protein states. P22i and CUS-3i are six-stranded beta-barrel I-domains from phages P22 and CUS-3 that share less than 40% sequence identity. The cis and trans states of the C-terminal domain from pore-forming toxin hemolysin ΙΙ (HlyIIC) arise from isomerization of a single G404-P405 peptide bond. For P22i and CUS-3i the hydrogen bonds detected by NMR agree with those observed in the corresponding domains from cryoEM structures of the two phages. Hydrogen bond lengths derived from the h3JNC couplings, however, are poorly conserved between the distantly related CUS-3i and P22i domains and show differences even between the cis and trans states of HlyIIC. This is consistent with hydrogen bond lengths being determined by local differences in structure rather than the overall folding topology. With increasing temperature hydrogen bonds typically show an apparent increase in length, which has been attributed to protein thermal expansion. Some hydrogen bonds are invariant with temperature, however, while others show apparent decreases in length suggesting they become stabilized with increasing temperature. Considering the data for the three proteins in this study and previously published data for ubiquitin and GB3, lowered protein folding stability and cooperativity correlates with a larger range of temperature responses for hydrogen bonds. This suggests a partial uncoupling of hydrogen bond energetics from global unfolding cooperativity as protein stability decreases.

An innovative superconducting mechanism was developed based on a patented discovery of room temperature superconductivity in several thorium (Th) salts or compounds. The rationale behind this discovery is through the experimental results about the unique electrical and magnetic properties of these Th salts. Accordingly, this new superconducting mechanism for these Th salts was obtained through the analyses of the compounds’ molecular configurations and the packings of their relevant crystal structures. Owing to the distinctive properties of the Th compounds in this discovery, we further established a different electron pairing scheme as opposed to the pairing of the Cooper pairs. Compared to the long distance electron pairing of the Cooper pairs, the new electron pairing in our mechanism is constructed by two closely correlated electrons that reside on the same atomic orbital of the Th cation as an electron lone pair. In this new superconducting mechanism, the Th cation is sitting on a relevant crystallographic lattice arrangement or a network of the relevant Th compounds. This network is constructed by many Th cations along certain crystallographic lattice arrangement where each Th cation contains one electron lone pair. This network allows the electron lone pairs on the Th cations to be delocalized over the network, “in pair”, and thus, reveals the electron lone pair in presence in a long distance fashion. The closely correlated electron lone pairs hop on this network and thus, construct the supercurrent over the network. This explanation about the superconductivity laid the basis for our superconducting mechanism. All these conclusions came from the previous studies about these compounds that illustrated their unusual features of a coexistence of high electrical conductivity and diamagnetism. These electrical and magnetic properties fall in line with that of superconductors but, surprisingly, these Th compounds have such properties at the ambient condition, meaning under room temperature and atmosphere pressure. We expect that this mechanism may be appropriate to be utilized to other superconducting cases, either conventional or unconventional, and therefore, can be adapted to describe the superconducting phenomenon for other superconductors.

Addressing the issue of low bonding strength in Ti/Mg laminated composites due to interfacial oxidation, this study employs a differential temperature rolling method using longitudinal induction heating to fabricate Ti/Mg composite plates. The entire process is conducted under an argon gas protective atmosphere, which prevents interfacial oxidation while achieving uniform deformation. The effects of reduction on the mechanical properties and microstructure of the composite plates are thoroughly investigated. Results indicate that as the reduction increases, the bonding strength gradually increases, mainly attributed to the increased mechanical interlocking area and a broader element diffusion layer. This corresponds to a transition from brittle to ductile fracture at the microscopic tensile-shear fracture surface. When the reduction reaches 47.5%, the Ti/Mg interfacial strength reaches 63 MPa, which is approximately a 20% improvement compared to the bonded strength with previous oxidation at the interface. Notably, at a low reduction of 17.5%, the bonding strength is significantly enhanced by about 1 time. Additionally, it is found that a strong bonded interface at high reduction is beneficial in hindering the propagation of interfacial cracks during tensile testing, enhancing the ability of the Ti/Mg composite plates to resist interfacial delamination.

The gas-water relative permeability curve plays a crucial role in reservoir simulation and development for condensate gas reservoirs. In this study, we conducted a series of high temperature and high pressure analysis experiments on real gas cores from Wells A and B in Block L of the Yinggehai Basin to investigate the effects of temperature, pressure, and different types of gas media on gas-water seepage. The experimental results demonstrate that: Temperature has a significant impact on both gas and water relative permeability, particularly on the former. As temperature increases, gas relative permeability shows a substantial increase while water relative permeability remains relatively unchanged. Under the same effective stress, increasing pressure causes downward shifts in both the gas and water relative permeability curves; however, there is a more pronounced decrease in gas relative permeability. Gas type has minimal influence on phase permeability except at higher water saturation where differences become apparent. When water saturation ranges from 80% to 50%, there is no significant variation observed in the measured relative permeability of different displacement gases; however, as water saturation exceeds 80%, distinctions gradually emerge. At bound water saturation conditions, nitrogen exhibits lower relative permeability compared to simulated gases with approximately 92% similarity between them. This investigation into the characteristics of gas-water relative permeability in high temperature and high pressure condensate reservoirs within Yinggehai Basin provides valuable insights for efficient development strategies for similar reservoirs.

This paper offers a theoretical and experimental examination of the concurrent production of electricity and heat using photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) technology. The efficiency performance of the PV/T system is meticulously analyzed using MATLAB/Simulink software environments. Notably, the proposed PV/T system shows reliable performance, and its validity is confirmed through experimental validation on a test stand with a single PV/T panel positioned at a 45-degree angle to the horizontal and a 0-degree azimuth angle.

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has become paramount for developing cheaper and more reliable maintenance policies. The advantages coming from adopting such process have turned out to be particularly evident when dealing with plated structures. In this context, state-of-the-art methods are based on exciting and acquiring ultrasonic guided waves through a permanently installed sensor network. A baseline is registered when the structure is healthy, and newly acquired signals are compared to it to detect, localize and quantify damage. To this purpose, the performance of traditional methods based on tomographic algorithms has been overcome by machine learning approaches, which allow processing a larger amount of data without losing diagnostic information. However, to date, no diagnostic method can deal with varying environmental and operational conditions. This works aims to develop a framework for mitigating the impact of temperature variations on ultrasonic guided wave-based SHM through generative artificial intelligence. A variational autoencoder and singular value decomposition were combined to learn the influence of temperature on guided waves. After training, the generative part of the algorithm was used to reconstruct signals at new unseen temperatures. Moreover, a refined version of the algorithm called forced variational autoencoder was introduced to further improve the reconstruction capabilities. The accuracy of the proposed framework was demonstrated against real measurements on a composite plate.

This research investigates the fatigue crack propagation on the lower surface of rocket deflector troughs of offshore rocket launch platforms. Initially, a numerical model of the offshore rocket launch platform is established using ABAQUS based on the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM). Subsequently, two variable parameters—namely, the initial crack length and initial tilt angle—are introduced. This research systematically analyzes the impact of these parameters on fatigue crack propagation patterns in both the maximum stress and maximum deformation regions of the deflector channels under the combined conditions of high temperature and impact. Finally, the research indicates that the propagation length of surface cracks in the deflector trough exhibits a trend of initial increase followed by a subsequent decrease with the increase in the preset inclination angle. Notably, the stable propagation rate of the crack in the region of maximum deformation surpasses that observed in the region of maximum stress. Through meticulous comparative analysis, it is evident that temperature loading significantly fosters the initiation and propagation of cracks, particularly in the upper region of the deflector channel's lower surface.

A typical solid-state quantum sensor can be developed based on negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) centers in diamond. The electron spin state of NV- can be controlled and read at room temperature. Through optical detection magnetic resonance (ODMR) technology, temperature measurement inside living cells can be achieved at the nanoscale. The key to ODMR technology is to apply microwave resonance to manipulate the electron spin state of NV-. Therefore, the microwave field characteristics formed near the NV- have a crucial impact on the sensitivity of ODMR measurement. This article mainly focuses on the temperature situation in cellular applications, and simulates the influence of structural parameters of double open loop resonant (DOLR) microwave antennas and broadband large-area (BLA) microwave antennas on the microwave field’s resonance frequency, quality factor Q, magnetic field strength, uniformity, etc. The parameters are optimized to have sufficient bandwidth, high signal-to-noise ratio, low power loss, and high magnetic field strength in the temperature range of 36 ℃ to 42.5 ℃. Finally, the ODMR spectra are used for effect comparison, and the signal-to-noise ratio and Q values of the ODMR spectra are compared when using different antennas. We have provided an optimization method for the design of microwave antennas and it is concluded that the DOLR microwave antenna is more suitable for living cell temperature measurement in our study.

This study investigates the effect of Re addition on the microstructure evolution and oxidation resistance of Co-Cr-Ta-Ti-C alloys. The alloys tested in this study consist of a Co-rich matrix with mixed HCP and FCC phases, together with TaTiC2 and Ti-based carbides. The addition of Re promotes the precipitation and growth of a CoCr-rich σ phase. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) showed that the melting temperatures did not change drastically up to 10 at% Re addition, whereas 15 at% Re addition significantly increased the melting temperature of the alloys. Oxidation tests in air at 1200°C showed that excessive Re content could lead to deterioration in oxidation resistance, mainly due to the accelerated formation of volatile Re oxides.

Nanocomposites of cyanate ester resin (CER) filled with three different reactive amino-functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) were synthesized and characterized. The addition of a small quantity (0.1 wt.%) of amino-POSS chemically grafted to the CER network led to increasing thermal stability of CER matrix. A significant increase of the glass transition temperature, Tg (DSC data), and the temperature of α relaxation, Tα (DMTA data), by 45-55 оС of CER matrix with loading of nanofillers was evidenced. CER/POSS films exhibited a higher storage modulus than that of neat CER in the temperature range investigated. It was evidenced that CER/aminopropylisobutyl (APIB)-POSS, CER/N-phenylaminopropyl (NPAP)-POSS, and CER/aminoethyl aminopropylisobutyl (AEAPIB)-POSS nanocomposites induced a more homogenous α relaxation phenomenon with higher Tα values and an enhanced nanocomposite elastic behavior. Furthermore, CER/amino-POSS nanocomposites possessed higher specific surface area, gas permeability (CO2, He), and diffusion coefficients (CO2) values than those for neat CER, due to increasing free volume of the nanocomposites studied that is very important for their gas transport properties. Permeability grew respectively by about 2 (He) and 3.5-4 times (СО2), and diffusion coefficient of CO2 increased approximately twice for CER/amino-POSS nanocomposites in comparison with the neat CER network. The efficiency of amino-functionalized POSS in improving the thermal and transport properties of the CER/amino-POSS nanocomposites increased in a raw of reactive POSS containing one primary (APIB-POSS) &lt; eight secondary (NPAP-POSS) &lt; one secondary and one primary (AEAPIB-POSS) amino groups. APIB-POSS had the least strongly pronounced effect, since it could form covalent bonds with the CER network only by reaction of one –NH2 group, while AEAPIB-POSS displayed the most highly marked effect, since it could easily be incorporated into the CER network via reaction of –NH2 and –NH– groups with –O–C≡N groups from CER.

Oscillations in global modes of variability (MoV) form global teleconnections that affect regional climate variability and modify the potential for severe and damaging weather conditions. Understanding the link between certain MoVs and regional climate can improve the ability to more accurately predict environmental conditions that impact human life and health. In this study, we explore the connection between different MoVs, including the Arctic Oscillation (AO), Eurasian teleconnection, Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and El Niño Southern Oscillation (Nino34), with winter and summer climate in the High Mountain Asia (HMA) region, including geopotential height at 250 hPa (z250), 2-m air temperature (T2M), total precipitation (PRECTOT), and fractional snow cover area (fSCA). Relationships are explored for the same monthly period between the MoVs and the climate variables, but also using a lagged correlation analysis to investigate whether any relationship exists at different time lags. We find that T2M has a negative correlation with the Eurasian teleconnection in the Inner Tibetan Plateau and Central China in both winter and summer and a positive correlation in Western China in summer. PRECTOT has a positive correlation with all MoV in most regions in winter, especially with the IOD, and a negative correlation in summer, especially with the Eurasian teleconnection. Snow cover in winter is positively correlated with most indices throughout many regions in HMA, likely due to wintertime precipitation also being positively correlated with most indices. Generally, the AO and NAO show similar correlation patterns with all climate variables, especially in the winter, possibly due to their oscillations being so similar. Furthermore, the AO and NAO are shown to be less significant in explaining the variation in HMA climate compared to other MoVs such as the Eurasian teleconnection. Overall, our results pinpoint different time-windows and specific regions within HMA that exhibit high correlation between climate and MoVs, which might offer additional predictability of the MoVs as well as of climate and weather patterns in HMA and throughout the globe.

The Internet of Things (IoT) aims to connect all objects and facilitate data interchange, with data accuracy being paramount. While IoT has seen extensive adoption in conventional sectors, its application in the petroleum industry, especially with downhole equipment, poses challenges due to the extreme high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, making accurate measurements elusive. This Paper we aim to enhance the accuracy of downhole pressure measurements in slim-hole drilling parameter monitoring, mitigate the temperature influences on strain gauges, and surmount the intrinsic limitations of the traditional BP neural network, such as sluggish convergence speeds, high sensitivity to initial weights and biases, unstable learning rates, and a tendency to fall into local minima. This study introduces a temperature compensation model using a chaotic-initiated adaptive whale optimization algorithm (C-I-WOA) to optimize a BP neural network, which is henceforth referred to as the C-I-WOA-BP model. Initially, we harnessed chaotic mapping techniques to refine the initialization process of the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) population, thereby bolstering the heterogeneity of the algorithm. Subsequently, we integrated an adaptive weight recalibration mechanism, refined the encompassing methodology of the WOA, and bolstered its capabilities for expansive global scouting and meticulous local refinement in the solution arena. Subsequently, the WOA was used to optimize the weight coefficients of the BP neural network. Finally, we conducted a detailed comparative analysis by juxtaposing the performance metrics of the BP, C-WOA-BP, I-WOA-BP, and C-I-WOA-BP networks. The experimental results indicate that the C-I-WOA-BP model demonstrates faster convergence speed, superior global search capabilities, and enhanced local exploitation potential compared to the other models. Additionally, it provides a more stable and accurate reduction in temperature-induced errors in drilling pressure parameter measurements.

Keywords: keyword 1; keyword 2; keyword 3 (List three to ten pertinent keywords specific to the article yet reasonably common within the subject discipline.)

The mechanical behavior, microstructures as well as the crystallographic textures of the Ti57-Nb43 alloy were investigated on cylindrical specimens compressed at high temperatures, in the range of 700-1000 °C, and strain rates between 0.001 and 1.0 s-1. Hardening, followed by softening behaviours were observed as a function of strain, due to the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization/recovery in hot deformation. The modified five-parameter Voce type equation described well the stress-strain curves, but for the present alloy, it was also possible with only four parameters. A new two-variables polynomial function was employed on the four parameters that described well the flow curves as a direct function of temperature and strain rate. It permitted to reduce the number of parameters and had the predictive capacity for the flow stress at any temperature, strain, and strain rate in the investigated range. The crystallographic textures were similar at all temperatures with an increase of intensity from 900 °C. The textures could be characterized by a double &lt;100&gt; and &lt;111&gt; fiber and a unique component of (001)&lt;110&gt;, the latter inherited from the initial hot rolling texture. Viscoplastic polycrystal self-consistent deformation modeling reproduced the measured textures showing that dynamic recrystallization did not alter the development of the deformation texture, only increased it intensity.

In recent years, frequent occurrences of low temperature disasters due to global climate change have significantly impacted the normal growth of crops. Research has indicated that inorganic selenium (which is more toxic) can not only enhance the effects of low temperature stress but also increase selenium content on plants; however, there is a scarcity of studies investigating the impacts of organic selenium and nano-selenium on crops. In order to investigate whether organic selenium and nano-selenium can enhance low-temperature tolerance and increase selenium content in pak choi (Brassica chinensis var. pekinensis. cv. ‘Suzhouqing’), different concentrations (0, 5, 10, 20 mg L-1) of exogenous selenium were applied in this experiment to assess their effects on plant growth, nutritional quality and antioxidant properties. RNA-Seq technology was used to sequence the transcriptome of the leaves. Based on the transcriptome data, a Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) was employed to construct a network that associates with physiological traits related to stress resistance. Two highly correlated gene co-expression modules were identified, and within them, nine hub genes associated with endocytosis, antioxidant stress, absorption, transport, and metabolism of selenium were discovered. The results indicated that the beneficial effects on yield and total selenium content under low temperature were attributed to (1) protection of photosynthetic pigments for enhancing photosynthetic capacity by the up-regulation of LHca2, LHcb1, LHca1, LHcb4 in KEGG pathway: photosynthesis-antenna proteins; (2) activation of antioxidant system for efficient ROS homeostasis such as SOD, POD and CAT by the genes such as Superoxide dismutase, Monodehydroascorbate and (3) selenium absorption by endocytosis, seleninum transportation by ABC transporter gene family and selenium metabolism related genes such as Cysteine synthase, Glutaredoxin. These findings provide a foundation for further investigation into the molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of organic selenium and nano-selenium on cyanochloride production at low temperatures.

Minirhizotron tubes were installed to monitor root growth dynamics of mature Shiraz grapevines in a rootstock trial established in the hot climate Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The vertical root distribution and seasonal root growth dynamics of Shiraz on own-roots and Shiraz grafted on the rootstocks Ramsey, 140 Ruggeri and Schwarzmann was studied for five seasons across a seven-year period to a depth of 60 cm. New root production was significantly influenced by genotype, soil depth, season, growth stage and year. Soil moisture and soil tem-perature were monitored at 10, 30 and 60 cm in the last two seasons. Soil moisture at 30 cm and soil temperature at all three depths were significant predictors of root growth. New root numbers were significantly higher in 140 Ruggeri than the other rootstocks. To the depth studied, 140 Ruggeri roots were evenly distributed from the topsoil down, whereas the majority of roots of Schwarzmann and Shiraz were located at intermediate depths in the 10-40 cm ad 20-40 cm zones respectively, while Ramsey roots were found at 20 cm or below. Depending on genotype, root growth occurred across several phenological stages but tended to peak at flowering. In some years we observed root growth in early and late winter at rates exceeding that of autumn, and this was associated with warmer temperatures during this period. Overall, seasonal rooting dynamics were responsive to abiotic factors but dominated by genotype.

Bitumen is produced from non-renewable natural resources, continuously deplete and intrigues researchers to look for alternative binders. Annually, tons of waste engine oil (WEO) and crumb rubber (CR) are discarded unsustainably and pose a significant environmental threat. Adding these industrial waste products to asphalt provides a safe and cost-effective way for their disposal and improves the bitumen's performance in parallel. This study uses various combinations of waste engine oil and crumb rubber with 60/70 penetration grade bitumen to produce a partially synthetic bitumen. Adhesion being one of the critical characteristics of the bituminous binder has been assessed using the bitumen bond strength test along with physical and rheological properties. Results showed that waste engine oil with crumb rubber inclusion increases penetration and decreases the softening point, viscosity, complex modulus, and bonding strength. Additionally, polyphosphoric acid (PPA) in smaller dosages was also incorporated into the optimum percentage of CR + WEO to improve the properties of the binder. The results confirm that binder modification with waste engine oil and crumb rubber can be more effective with PPA. It is concluded that 35% of waste can replace the virgin binder giving a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution.

Superconductivity in highly-pressurized hydrides became primary direction for the exploration of fundamental upper limit for the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, after Drozdov et al (Nature 2015, 525, 73) discovered superconducting state with Tc=203 K in highly-compressed sulphur hydride. To date several dozens of high-temperature superconducting polyhydrides have been discovered. In addition, recently, it was reported that highly-compressed titanium and scandium exhibit record-high (up to 36 K), which is by manifold exceeded of niobium, which is the record high- ambient pressure metallic superconductor. Here we analysed experimental data on for recently discovered high-pressure superconductors (which exhibit high transition temperatures within their classes): elemental titanium (Zhang et al, Nature Communications 2022; Liu et al, Phys. Rev. B 2022), TaH3 (He et al, Chinese Phys. Lett. 2023), LaBeH8 (Song et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 2023), and black (Li et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2018) and violet (Wu et al, arXiv 2023) phosphorous, to reveal the nonadiabaticity strength constant, TθTF (where Tθ is the Debye temperature, and TF the Fermi temperature) in these superconductors. The analysis showed that δ-phase of titanium and black phosphorous exhibit the Tθ/TF which are nearly identical to ones associated in A15 superconductors, while studied hydrides and violet phosphorous exhibit the constants in the same ballpark with H3S and LaH10.

Using analysis methods such as Rutherford backscattering Spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy, the diffusion behavior of iodine in micro/nano-porous graphite under high-temperature conditions was studied. The results indicate that iodine diffusion leads to the contraction of graphite microcrystals, a decrease in interlayer spacing, and an increase in defect density, resulting in a reduction in microcrystal size. Upon diffusion of iodine out of iodine-loaded graphite, the microcrystal size of the graphite increases, the interlayer spacing appears to return to the initial state, and the defect density decreases. By comparing the iodine diffusion performance of nanoporous graphite G400 and G450 with microporous graphite G500, it was determined that nanoporous graphite exhibits better inhibition of iodine diffusion compared to microporous graphite. Studying the diffusion behavior of iodine in micro/nano-porous graphite has significant academic significance and engineering value for the screening, design, and performance optimization of nuclear graphite.

A nanocomposite rod-shaped structure with single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) embedded in polypyrrole (PPy) doped with nonafluorobutanesulfonic acid (C4F), SWCNT/C4F-PPy, was synthesized using emulsion polymerization. The hybrid ink was then directly coated on a polyimide film interdigitated with the Cu/Ni/Au electrodes via a screen-printing technique to create a flexible film sensor. The sensor film showed a response of 1.72% at 25 °C/atmospheric pressure when acetone gas of 5 ppm was injected, which corresponds to almost 95% compared to the Si wafer-based array interdigitated with the Au electrode. Additionally, C4F was used as a hydrophobic dopant of PPy to improve the stability of humidity and to produce a highly sensitive film-type gas sensor that provides stable detection even in humid conditions.

High temperature titanium alloys are widely used in aerospace hot parts, however, the thermal barrier temperature of 600 oC limits its service temperature. In this paper, a two-step hot-dip plating method is proposed to prepare the composite coating containing Ce on the surface of titanium alloy, which can make the oxidation resistance temperature of titanium alloy reach 800 oC The microstructure, phase composition and element distribution of Ce-containing Ti-Al-Si hot-dip coating, Ce-containing Ti-Al-Si pre-oxidation coating and Ce-containing Ti-Al-Si high-temperature oxidation coating were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. The results show that the Ti-Al-Si hot-dip coating containing Ce is mainly composed of (Ti,Ce)(Al,Si)3 alloy phase layer, and the Ti-Al-Si pre-oxidation coating containing Ce is mainly composed of Ti-Al binary system phase layer and dense Al2O3 layer rich in CeO2. Ce in the high temperature oxidation coating of Ti-Al-Si containing Ce is mainly distributed in Ti3Al, TiAl, TiAl3+Ti5Si3 mixed phase layer and Al2O3. The addition of Ce can promote the formation of continuous Al2O3 layer, improve the uniformity of composite coating, prevent the spread of cracks, and improve the high temperature oxidation resistance of Ti-Al-Si coating.

Land Surface Temperature (LST) is significant for climatological and environmental studies. LST products from satellites, however, suffer from the tradeoff between spatial and temporal resolution. Spatial downscaling has emerged as a well explored field aiming to overcome limitations arising from this tradeoff. Previous research on regression based LST downscaling models focused on utilizing predictors derived from optical imagery. Weather-dependency of optical imagery data, however, can influence downscaling models by the weather conditions. To cope this issue, in this study, we involve predictors derived from the weather-independent Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery to downscale Landsat-8 LST data. In this context, we propose to use machine learning techniques, namely Random Forest (RF) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). To demonstrate the applicability and performance of the proposed method, extensive experimental analyses were conducted over Zuid-Holland in the Netherlands. From the experiments, we found that the results obtained with radar predictors were comparable to those achieved using optical predictors. This confirms that the proposed method indeed paves a new way for mapping land surface temperature using SAR images.

The major goal of this work is to present a novel fractional temperature-dependent boundary element model (BEM) for solving thermoelastic wave propagation problems in smart nanomaterials. The computing performance of the suggested methodology was demonstrated by using stable communication avoiding S-step – generalized minimal residual method (SCAS-GMRES) to solve discretized linear BEM systems. The benefits of SCAS-GMRES are investigated and compared to those of other iterative techniques. The numerical results are graphed to demonstrate the influence of fractional, piezoelectric, and length scale characteristics on total force-stresses. These findings also demonstrate that the BEM methodology is practical, feasible, effective, and has superiority over domain methods. The results of the present paper help to develop the industrial uses of smart nanomaterials.

In this paper, through high-temperature tensile tests of 55NiCrMoV7 steel, the high-temperature fracture behavior, microstructure evolution and carbide distribution characteristics of both thermal-mechanical coupling zone (fracture zone) and thermal stress zone (clamping zone) at different temperatures were studied. Intrinsic relationship between high temperature fracture and carbides types, distribution and size were revealed and evolution mechanism of microstructure near cracks in 55NiCrMoV7 hot-working die steel during high temperature deformation was clarified. Samples were stretched at different temperatures from 25 °C to 700 °C, and microscopic examinations were carried out by using SEM and TEM. The results showed that: With the increase of temperature, tensile strength and yield strength decreased, elongation and reduction of area increased, and fracture mode changed from brittle fracture to ductile fracture by transition temperature at about 400℃. During high temperature deformation, the grain dislocation density decreased, the tempered martensite decomposed, recovered, recrystallized, and then grain grew. M7C3 and M23C6 carbides precipitated and grew along the grain boundary, and a small amount of fine granular MC carbides were dispersed in the grain. The work done by the external force on the deformation zone would cause the temperature of it to be higher than tensile temperature, which provides thermodynamic conditions for the re-dissolution of small carbides near the fracture zone and the grain growth of large carbides, resulting in the decrease of small carbides and increase of large carbides in thermal-mechanical coupling zone.

Hyper duplex stainless steels, HDSS, are a new alloy group of duplex stainless steels with the highest corrosion resistance and mechanical properties among the existing modern stainless steel. Due to the addition of extra high content of alloying elements, e.g. Cr, Ni, Mo, etc., the crystallization behavior of the δ-ferrite from the liquid is of vital importance for controlling the steel properties. In this work, the effect of cooling rate (i.e. 4°C/min and 150 °C/min) on the growth process of δ-ferrite in S33207 during the solidification process was investigated using high-temperature confocal scanning laser microscopy (HT-CLSM) in combination with electron microscopes and thermodynamic calculation. The results showed that the solidification mode of S33207 steel was a ferrite-austenite type (FA mode). L→δ transformation occurred at a certain degree of supercooling, and merging occurred during the growth of δ phase dendrites. Similar microstructures were observed after solidification under these two different cooling rates. The variation of area fraction of δ ferrite at the free surface and temperature as well as time during solidification of S33207 steels were calculated at different cooling rates of 4 °C/min and 150 °C/min, respectively. The current HT-CLSM study provides in-situ experimental evidence to confirm that a low cooling rate favored the growth of primary δ-ferrite, whereas a high cooling rate favored the nucleation of primary δ-ferrite during the solidification process. The post-microstructure as well as composition evolution is also briefly investigated. This work shed light on the real time insights for the crystallization behavior of hyper duplex stainless steels during solidification, which aims to contribute to the process control of manufacturing of this steel grade.

With the aim to improve cladding coating quality and prevent cracking, this paper established an extreme high-speed laser cladding thermo-mechanical coupling simulation model to study the evolution of the temperature field and residual stress distribution. Process parameters that impacted the macroscopic morphology of single-pass coatings were investigated. Numerical calculations and temperature field simulations were performed based on the process parameter data to validate the effect of the temperature gradient and cooling rate on the coating structure and the residual stress distribution. The results showed that a good coating quality could be achieved using a laser power of 2400 W, a cladding rate of 20 m/min, and a powder feeding rate of 20.32 g/min. The coatings’ cross-sectional morphology corresponded well with the temperature distribution predicted by numerical modeling of the melt pool. The microstructure of the molten coatings is affected by the temperature gradient and cooling rate, which vary greatly from the bottom to the middle to the top. Maximum residual stress appears between the bonding region of the coatings and the substrate, and the coatings themselves have significant residual stress in the form of tensile strains that are mostly distributed in the direction of the laser cladding speed.

This study aimed to determine the persistence of Salmonella Javiana, Listeria monocytogenes, and Listeria innocua in hydroponic nutrient solution (NS) at 15, 25, 30, and 37°C over a 21-day period to mimic time from seedling to mature lettuce. Bacteria were inoculated in modified Hoagland's NS at 106 CFU/ml and maintained at 15, 25, 30, and 37°C. Samples were collected at various time points and quantified. Data were analyzed using a mixed effect model to compare mean log CFU/ml obtained from each sampling point for all three bacteria at four different temperatures. Least mean squares were calculated to compare mean log CFU/ml. Tukey-Kramer honest significant difference test was used to compare mean values. At all temperatures, S. Javiana persisted in NS throughout the 21-day study period, compared to L. innocua and L. monocytogenes where persistence was limited to d 5 to d 14 and d 1 to d 14, respectively. Similarly, decimal reduction values (D-values) of S. Javiana indicated longer persistence in nutrient solution than L. innocua and L. monocytogenes at most temperatures. For instance, at 15°C and 25°C D-values for S. Javiana were estimated at 82 and 26 d, respectively, compared to D-values of 3.6 and ~3 d for L. monocytogenes. Data indicate that temperature has minimal effect on S. Javiana and thus may pose a greater risk during hydroponic production of leafy greens due to longer survival in NS when compared to Listeria spp. This study furthers the understanding of potential food safety risks associated with hydroponic systems and may aid in developing management strategies to reduce foodborne outbreaks, fresh produce recalls, and economic losses.

Co-free Li-rich oxide is a promising cathode for low cost high energy density Li-ion battery but presents poor cyclic stability. To address this issue, CeO2 is coated on Co-free Li-rich oxide through a low-temperature aged process, resulting in a novel CeO2-coated Li-rich oxide compo-site. Due to the low-temperature aged process, a uniform CeO2 coating layer of 6 nm in thickness is successfully coated on Co-free Li-rich oxide. With this uniform coating, the resulting CeO2-coated Li-rich oxide composite presents improved cyclic stability as well as rate capability as the cathode of Li-ion battery. The capacity retention of the resulting CeO2-coated Li-rich oxide is enhanced from 67% to 85% after 100 cycles and its capacity retention of 5C/0.05C is enhanced from 10% to 23%, compared with the uncoated sample. Such significant improvements enable this low-temperature aged process to be helpful for the practical application of Li-rich oxide materials, not limited to Co-free Li-rich oxide.

Abstract: Increasing population and urbanization are affecting human health and comfort. In order to get rid of these affects, mankind is changing its enviroment and looking for new life areas. This study investigates the influence of Land Cover Change (LCC) and Normalisied Densly Vegetation Index (NDVI) on Land Surface Temperature (LST) of Fethiye-Göcek Specially Protected Area (SEPA) in easterm mediterranean basin. In the study LCC, NDVI and LST were drived from landsat 5, 7 and 8 satellite image of resolation at 30x30 m acquired between 1995-2020. LST were computed based on Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) types. The Corine Index were used for determination of land uses. The results indicated that water, forest and maquia lands decreasing while urban fabric and bare lands are increasing depend upon the urbanization and forest fires in the basin. These changes in LULC widened the temperature differences between the urban and rural areas. The change in LST is associated with changes in constructional materials in urban land and in vegetation abundance both in the urban and rural areas. Vegetation has an important factor in the temperature of different land covers. That produces warming trend in temperetaure in built-up areas it causes to keep other lands warmer in cold weather. Another important result is affective Urban Heat Island (UHI) on climate change based on the impact of urbanization and land cover changes. Significantly possitive correlation were found between the urbanization rate, population and built-up area and warming rate of average air temperature and so the LST.