Long-term, high-accuracy mapping of built-up land dynamics is essential for understanding urbanization and its consequences for the environment. Despite advances in remote sensing and classification algorithms, built-up land mapping using early satellite imagery (e.g., from the 2000s and earlier) remains prone to uncertainty. We mapped the extent of built-up land in the North China Plain, one of China’s most important agricultural regions, from 1990 to 2019 at three-year intervals. Using dense time-stack Landsat data, we applied discrete Fourier transformation to create temporal predictors and reduce mapping uncertainties for early years. We improved overall accuracy by 8% compared to using spectral and indices predictors alone. We implemented a temporal correction algorithm to remove inconsistent pixel classifications, further improving accuracy to a consistently high level (>94%) across years. A cross-product comparison showed that our study achieved the highest levels of accuracy across years. Total built-up land in the North China Plain increased from 37,941 km² in 1990–1992 to 131,578 km² in 2017–2019. Consistent, high-accuracy built-up land mapping provides a reliable basis for policy planning in one of the most rapidly urbanizing regions of the planet.

Sentinel-1 satellite system continuously observes European countries in a relatively high revisit frequency of 6 days per orbital track. Given the Sentinel-1 configuration, most areas in Czechia are observed every 1–2 days by different tracks in a moderate resolution. This is attractive for various types of analyses by various research groups. The starting point for processing is an original data provided by ESA, for interferometry (InSAR) this level is a Single Look Complex (SLC) data. This work represents advantages of storing data augmented to a specifically corrected level of data, SLC-C. The presented database contains Czech nation-wide Sentinel-1 data stored in burst units that have been preprocessed to the state of a consistent well-coregistered dataset of SLC-C. These are resampled SLC data with their phase values reduced by a topographic phase signature, ready for fast interferometric analyses (an interferogram is generated by a complex conjugate between two stored SLC-C files). The data can be used directly into multitemporal interferometry techniques, e.g. Persistent Scatterers (PS) or Small Baseline (SB) techniques applied here. A further development of the nation-wide system utilising SLC-C data would lead into a dynamic state where every new pre-processed burst triggers a processing update to detect unexpected changes from InSAR time series and therefore provide a signal for early warning against a potential dangerous displacement, e.g. a landslide, instability of an engineering structure or a formation of a sinkhole. An update of the processing chain would also allow use of cross-polarised Sentinel-1 data, needed for polarimetric analyses. The current system is running at a national supercomputing centre IT4Innovations in interconnection to the Czech Copernicus Collaborative Ground Segment (CESNET), providing fast on-demand InSAR results over Czech territories. A full nation-wide PS processing using data over Czechia has been performed in 2017, discovering several areas of land deformation. Its downsampled version and basic findings are demonstrated within the article.

(1) Background: Applied health services research (AHSR) relies upon coordination across multiple organizational boundaries. Our aim was to understand how competing organizational and professional goals enhance or impede the conduct of high quality AHSR. (2) Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in two local health care systems in the UK, linked to a feasibility trial of a clinic-based intervention in secondary care. Data collection involved 24 semi-structured interviews with research managers, clinical research staff, health professionals, and patients. (3) Results: This study required a dynamic network of interactions between heterogeneous health and social care stakeholders, each characterized by differing ways of organizing activities which constitute their core functions; cultures of collaboration and interaction and understanding of what research involves and how it contributes to patient care. These interrelated factors compounded the occupational and organizational boundaries that hindered communication and coordination. (4) Conclusions: Despite the strategic development of multiple organizations to foster inter-professional collaboration, the competing goals of research and clinical practice can impede the conduct of high quality AHSR. To remedy this requires the alignment and streamlining of organizational goals, so that all agencies involved in AHSR develop a shared understanding and mutual respect for the progress of evidence-based medicine and the complex and often nuanced environments in which it is created and practiced.

There exist numerous high-dimensional problems in the real world which cannot be solved through the common traditional methods. The metaheuristic algorithms have been developed as successful techniques for solving a variety of complex and difficult optimization problems. Notwithstanding their advantages, these algorithms may turn out to have weak points such as lower population diversity and lower convergence rate when facing complex high-dimensional problems. An appropriate approach to solve such problems is to apply multi-agent systems along with the metaheuristic algorithms. The present paper proposes a new approach based on the multi-agent systems and the concept of agent, which is named Multi-Agent Metaheuristic (MAMH) method. In the proposed approach, several basic and powerful metaheuristic algorithms, including Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Firefly Algorithm (FA), Bat Algorithm (BA), Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA), Gray Wolf Optimizer (GWO), Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA), Crow Search Algorithm (CSA), Farmland Fertility Algorithm (FFA), are considered as separate agents each of which sought to achieve its own goals while competing and cooperating with others to achieve the common goals. In overall, the proposed method was tested on 32 complex benchmark functions, the results of which indicated effectiveness and powerfulness of the proposed method for solving the high-dimensional optimization problems. In addition, in this paper, the binary version of the proposed approach, called Binary MAMH (BMAMH), was executed on the spam email dataset. According to the results, the proposed method exhibited a higher precision in detection of the spam emails compared to other metaheuristic algorithms and methods.

TiC–high Mn steel-bonded carbide with a cellular structure was designed and fabricated by powder metallurgy techniques using coarse and fine TiC particles as the hard phase. This preparation process was carefully investigated and optimized. The microstructure of the TiC steel-bonded carbide was observed using a scanning electron microscope. Results showed that there are two types of microstructures in the TiC steel-bonded carbide: the coarse-grained TiC and fine-grained TiC. The transverse rupture strength and impact toughness of the alloy reach maximum values 2231 MPa and 12.87 J/cm2, respectively when the starting weight ratio of MP-A (containing coarse TiC particles) to MP-B (containing fine TiC particles) is 60:40. Hence, this study serves as a feasible example of how to prepare a high-strength and high-toughness TiC–high Mn steel-bonded carbide.

Bioactive peptides are related to the prevention and treatment of many diseases. GPETAFLR is an octapeptide which was isolated from lupine (Lupinus angustifolius L.) and showed anti-inflammatory properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential activity of GPETAFLR to prevent non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice. C57BL/6J mice were fed a standard diet or an HFD. Two of the groups fed the HFD diet were treated with GPETAFLR in their drinking water at 0,5 mg/kg/d or 1 mg/kg/d. To determine the ability of GPETAFLR to improve the onset and progression of NAFLD, histological studies, hepatic enzyme profile, inflammatory cytokine and lipid metabolism-related genes and proteins were analyzed. Our results suggest that HFD-induced inflammatory metabolic disorders were alleviated by treatment with GPETAFLR. In conclusion, dietary lupine consumption could repair HFD-induced hepatic damage, possibly via modifications in the liver’s lipid signalling pathways.

The use of new developed high-strength steel in concrete members can reduce steel bars congestion and construction costs. This research aims to study the behavior of concrete columns reinforced with new developed high-strength steel under eccentric loading. Ten reinforced concrete columns were fabricated and tested. The test variables are transverse reinforcement amount and yield strength, eccentricity, and longitudinal reinforcement yield strength. The failure patterns are compression and tensile failure for columns subjected to small eccentricity and large eccentricity, respectively. The same level of post-peak deformability and ductility only can be obtained with lower amount of transverse reinforcement when high-strength transverse reinforcements are used in columns subjected to small eccentricity. The high-strength longitudinal reinforcement can improve bearing capacity and post-peak deformability of concrete columns. Besides, three different equivalent rectangular stress block (ERSB) parameters in predicting bearing capacity of columns with high-strength steel were discussed based on test and simulated results. It is concluded that the Code of GB 50010-2010 overestimates the bearing capacity of columns with high-strength steel, whereas bearing capacities computed using Codes of ACI 318-14 and CSA A23.3-04 agree well with test results.

The biogeography of inflammation in ulcerative colitis (UC) suggests a proximal to distal concentration gradient of a toxin. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has long been considered one such toxin candidate, and dietary sulfur along with the abundance of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) were considered the primary determinants of H2S production and clinical course of UC. The metabolic milieu in the lumen of the colon, however, is the result of a multitude of factors beyond dietary sulfur intake and SRB abundance. Here we present an updated formulation of the H2S toxin hypothesis for UC pathogenesis, which strives to incorporate the interdependency of diet composition and the metabolic activity of the entire colon microbial community. Specifically, we suggest that the increasing severity of inflammation along the proximal-to-distal axis in UC is due to dilution of beneficial factors, concentration of toxic factors, and changing detoxification capacity of the host, all of which are intimately linked to the nutrient flow from the diet.

A novel high-voltage powerline inspection system is investigated, which consists of the cooperated ground vehicle and drone. The ground vehicle acts as a mobile platform that can launch and recycle the drone, while the drone can fly over the powerline for inspection within limited endurance. This inspection system enables the drone to inspect powerline networks in a very large area. Both vehicle’ route in the road network and drone’s routes along the powerline network have to be optimized for improving the inspection efficiency, which generates a new two-layer point-arc routing problem. Two constructive heuristics are designed based on “Cluster First, Rank Second” and “Rank First, Split Second”. Then local search strategies are developed to further improve the quality of the solution. To test the performance of the proposed algorithms, practical cases with different-scale are designed based on the road network and powerline network of Ji’an, China. Sensitivity analysis on the parameters related with the drone’s inspection speed and battery capacity is conducted. Computational results indicate that technical improvement on the inspection sensor is more important for the cooperated ground vehicle and drone system.

Based on a modified dice-and-fill technique, a PIN-PMN-PT single crystal 1-3 composite with the kerf of 12 μm and pitch of 50 μm was prepared. The as-made piezoelectric composite material behaved with high piezoelectric constant (d33 = 1500 pC/N), high electromechanical coefficient (kt = 0.81), and low acoustic impedance (16.2 Mrayls). Using lithography and flexible circuit method, a 48-element phased array was successfully fabricated from such a piezoelectric composite. The array element was measured to have a central frequency of 20 MHz and a fractional bandwidth of approximately 77% at −6 dB. Of particular significance was that this PIN-PMN-PT single crystal 1-3 composite-based phased array exhibits a superior insertion loss compared with PMN-PT single crystal and PZT-5H-based 20 MHz phased arrays. The focusing and steering capabilities of the obtained phased array were demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. These promising results indicate that the PIN-PMN-PT single crystal 1-3 composite-based high frequency phased array is a good candidate for ultrasound imaging applications.

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

Karst rocky desertification (KRD) is a process where strong anthropogenic disturbances and exposure of carbonate bedrock occurs in fragile karst ecosystems. The fractional cover of rocky outcrops is a key indicator and mechanistic driver of KRD and can be accurately assessed using remote sensing technology. Nevertheless, rugged karst terrain relief can cause shadow effects on satellite imagery and combine with high heterogeneity of karst landscapes to prevent fractional cover retrievals. In this study, we explored the feasibility of applying multispectral high spatial resolution ALOS imagery for fractional cover extraction of rocky outcrops. We selected the dimidiate pixel model (DPM), which has been applied in previous studies, and spectral mixture analysis (SMA; including simple endmember spectral mixture analysis (SESMA) and multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis (MESMA)) to explore the feasibility of using remote images for KRD monitoring and improve accuracy for estimating fractions. Results from MESMA achieved high overall accuracy (76.4%) in monitoring percentage of rocky outcrop fraction in the study area. SESMA appears to underestimate percentage of rocky outcrop likely because the development of KRD was driven by complex factors (soil erosion, dissolution and anthropogenic disturbances). This results in spectral reflectance of rocky outcrop being variable in different settings. Predicted exposed bedrock coverage using SESMA and MESMA was similar in sun-lit and shaded areas although predictions from SESMA were smaller than reference data. DPM underestimated the fractional cover of rocky outcrops on south-facing slopes and overestimated it in shaded areas. Furthermore, SESMA and MESMA effectively reduced topographic effects. We conclude that it is better to extract percentage of rocky outcrop using MESMA in the karst region of southwestern China. Remote sensing is emerging as a feasible method to extract surface condition information in heterogeneous and rugged landscapes.

In this article we review the advances that have been made on the understanding of the high-pressure structural, vibrational, and electronic properties of wolframite-type oxides since the first works in the early 1990s. Mainly tungstates, which are the best known wolframites, but also tantalates and niobates, with an isomorphic ambient-pressure wolframite structure, have been included in this review. Apart from estimating the bulk moduli of all known wolframites; the cation-oxygen bond distances and their change with pressure have been correlated with their compressibility. The composition variations of all wolframites have been employed to understand their different structural phase transitions to post-wolframite structures as a response to high pressure. The number of Raman modes and band gap energy changes have been also analyzed in the basis of these compositional differences. The reviewed results are relevant for both fundamental science and for the development of wolframites as scintillating detectors. The possible next research venues of wolframites have also been evaluated.

A plasmonic refractive index (RI) sensor based on metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide coupled with concentric double rings resonator (CDRR) is proposed and investigated numerically. Utilizing the novel supermodes of the CDRR, the FWHM of the resonant wavelength can be modulated, and a sensitivity of 1060 nm/RIU with high figure of merit (FOM) 203.8 is realized in the near-infrared region. The unordinary modes as well as the influence of structure parameters on the sensing performance are also discussed. Such plasmonic sensor with simple framework and high optical resolution could be applied to on-chip sensing systems and integrated optical circuits. Besides, the special cases of bio- sensing and triple rings are also discussed.

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

Mineral dust is one of the most important aerosol in mass over the world, affecting health and dynamics. This aerosol is mainly emitted over arid areas but may be long-range transported, impacting the local budget of air quality in many cities. While models were extensively used to study a single specific event, or making a global analysis at coarse resolution, the goal of our study is to simultaneously focus on several areas - Europe, North America, Central Asia, East China and the Caribbean area - for a one month period, March 2014, avoiding any parameter fitting to better simulate a given dust outbreak. The simulation is performed for the first time with the hemispheric version of the CHIMERE model, with a horizontal resolution of 10km. In this study, an overview of several simultaneous dust outbreaks over the north hemisphere is proposed to assess the capability of such modelling tools to predict dust pollution events. A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the most striking episodes is presented with comparisons to satellite data, ground based Particulate Matter and calcium measurements. Despite some overestimation of dust concentrations far from emission areas, the model is able to simulate the timing of the arrival of dust outbreaks on observational sites. For instance, several spectacular dust storms in the US and China are perfectly captured by the models. The high resolution allows to better describe and understand the orographic effects and the long-range transport of dust plumes.

The improvement of mechanical properties of cantala fiber and its composites. Treatments including alkali, silane, and the combination of both were carried out to modify the fiber surface. The influence of chemical treatments on fiber properties such as the degree of crystallinity and tensile strength was investigated. A variety of short cantala fiber reinforced rHDPE composites were produced by hot press, and the effect of fiber treatment on the flexural strength of composites was observed. SEM observations also carried out to highlight these changes. The result shows that alkali treatment improves tensile strength and tensile modulus of alkali treated fiber (NF12) which was predicted as a result of the enhancement of the cellulose crystallinity. In contrast, the tensile strength and tensile modulus of silane (SF05) and alkali-silane treated fiber (NSF05) decreased compared to untreated fiber (UF) which is caused by the addition of amorphous material. The tensile strength of alkali-silane treated fiber (NSF05) was lower than alkali treated fiber (NF12), but the composites prepared with NSF05 showed the highest increment of flexural strength of 25.9%. This may be due the combination of alkali and silane treatment helped in the better formation of fiber-matrix interface adhesion.

A novel method based on a hybrid incremental modeling approach has been designed and applied to imbalance detection in ultra-high precision rotating machines. The model is obtained by a two-step iterative process that combines an overall model (least-squares fitting) with a local model (fuzzy k-nearest-neighbour) to take advantage of their complementary capacities. Three normalization strategies of evaluating the effect on accuracy are analyzed. A comparative study demonstrates that the hybrid incremental model provides better error-based performance indices for detecting imbalance than a nonlinear regression model and an adaptive neural-fuzzy inference system model. The suitability of Mahanolobis normalization for hybrid incremental modeling is also demonstrated in this case study. The proposed strategy for imbalance detection is simple, fast, and non-intrusive, reducing the deterioration in the performance of ultra-high precision rotating machines due to vibrations.

Glycosyl inositol phospho ceramides (GIPCs) are the major sphingolipids on earth as they account for a considerable fraction of the total lipids in plants and fungi which in turn represent a large portion of the biomass on earth. Despite their obvious importance, GIPC analysis remains challenging due to the lack of commercial standards and automated annotation software. In this work, we introduce a novel GIPC glycolipidomics workflow based on reversed-phase ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry. For the first time, automated GIPC assignment was performed using the open-source software Lipid Data Analyzer based on platform-independent decision rules. Four different plant samples (salad, spinach, raspberry, strawberry) were analyzed and revealed 64 GIPCs based on accurate mass, characteristic MS2 fragments and matching retention times. Relative quantification using lactosyl ceramide for internal standardization revealed GIPC t18:1/h24:0 as the most abundant species in all plants. Depending on the plant sample, GIPCs contained mainly amine, N-acetylamine or hydroxyl residues. Most GIPCs revealed a Hex-HexA-IPC core and contained a ceramide part with a trihydroxylated t18:0 or t18:1 long chain base and hydroxylated fatty acid chains ranging from 16 to 26 carbon atoms in length (h16:0 – h26:0). Interestingly, six GIPCs containing t18:2 were observed in raspberry, which was not reported so far. The presented workflow supports the characterization of different plant samples by automatic GIPC assignment potentially leading to the identification of new GIPCs. For the first time, automated high‑throughput profiling of these complex glycolipids is possible by liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry and subsequent automated glycolipid annotation based on decision rules.

To enhance the peak-shaving capability of the boiler, a mathematical model of hydrodynamic and wall temperature characteristics for the water-cooled wall of a 1000 MW boiler was established. The attributes pertaining to the mass flow distribution, the temperature of the effluent working fluid, pressure drop, and the thermal distribution across the wall surfaces at 30% of the boiler's maximum continuous rating (BMCR) were meticulously computed and subjected to a thorough analytical review. The findings suggest that, under the operation at 30% BMCR load, there is a substantial equilibrium in the flow distribution across the quartet of walls that constitute the water-cooled wall assembly. The maximum mass flow rate deviations in the helical and vertical sections are 1.95% and 3.47%, respectively, showing small flow deviations and reasonable distribution. The temperature deviation in the helical section is 0.3 °C, reflecting the characteristic low thermal deviation in helical tubes. While the temperature deviation at the outlet of the vertical section is higher, it remains within safe limits. The pressure loss across the water-cooled wall system amounts to 0.4 MPa. The peak wall temperature reaches 337.5°C, remaining within the material's permissible safety limits. In-depth performance analysis ensures the safe operating conditions of the water-cooled wall during low load conditions.

Haug and Tatum have recently solved the Hubble tension within a type of R_h = ct cosmology using an intuitive, smart trial-and-error search algorithm. The trial-and-error algorithm demonstrates that one can start with the measured CMB temperature and a rough estimate of H0. Based on the algorithm, one ends up matching the entire distance ladder of the observed supernovas by finding a value for H_0. However, this is a numerical search procedure, even though it can be completed in a fraction of a second on a standard computer. Here, we will demonstrate that the trial-and-error numerical method is not needed and that the Hubble tension can be resolved using the same Haug and Tatum model through a closed- form solution. This means one simply solves an equation to find the correct H0 value. This is possible because an exact mathematical relation between H_0 and the CMB temperature has recently been established, in combination with the linearity in an R_h = ct model.

Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) is one of the main pests of rice crops and its early detection, that is, before the plants show damage, is essential to avoid yield losses and define effective and rational control. This work aimed to model the infrared-thermal responses of rice cultivars to D. saccharalis infestation levels. Between 2019 and 2020, two experiments were conducted in a protected environment with the cultivars IR 40 and BR IRGA 409, which presented, in a previous study, different resistance reactions. Rice plants grown in pots were manually infested with first-instar larvae of D. saccharalis, from 0 to 10 caterpillars/plant, with the plants kept in cages covered with voile fabric throughout the test. With the adjustment of regression models, it was noticed that the leaf surface temperature is related to the level of infestation and could be used to detect which IR 40 is susceptible.

The air attenuation of pure tones as a function of temperature and humidity is well known and described in ISO and ANSI standards. However, room acoustic measurements are performed in octave bands, which is the reason for a complicated, nonlinear behavior of the air attenuation. It is known that room acoustic measurement results depend on air temperature and humidity, and these atmospheric data should always be reported in connection with room acoustic measurements. A calculation model for the air attenuation can make it possible to normalize the room acoustic results. For accurate results it is possible to apply a summation method on each time sample in the impulse response. An approximation to the air attenuation at and above 1 kHz is possible by linearization using the pure-tone attenuation of two different frequencies, one frequency valid for the early part of the impulse response, and another frequency valid for the later part of the impulse response. The purpose of the suggested methods is to make it possible to normalize room acoustic measurements to a standard atmosphere.

This study explores the impact on the stability of drying and encapsulation of a camu camu extract (CCX) using the non-thermal, high-throughput electrospraying assisted by pressurized gas (EAPG) technique. The dried and encapsulated products by the EAPG processing techniques were compared in terms of total soluble phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, and storage stability. Whey protein concentrate (WPC) and zein (ZN) were selected as the protective excipients for encapsulation. Dried and encapsulated products were obtained in the form of microparticles, which were smaller and more spherical in the case of the encapsulates. No significant differences were observed in the total polyphenolic content (TSP), and only relatively small differences in the antioxidant capacity were measured among samples. The generated products were subjected to various storage conditions to assess their stability and the preservation of the TSP and the antioxidant properties, i.e. 0% relative humidity (RH) and 4°C; 0% RH and 21°C; 23% RH and 21°C; 56% RH and 21°C; and UV light exposure. The results indicated that ZN encapsulation notably enhanced the retention of total soluble polyphenols and antioxidant activity compared to WPC and dried CCX, especially in the ratio 2:1 (encapsulating polymer: dried CCX). This study demonstrates the potential of protein-based encapsulation, particularly using ZN, for stabilizing bioactive compounds against degradation mechanisms induced by humidity, temperature, or ultraviolet radiation exposure.

The high spatial complexities of soil temperature modelling over semiarid land have challenged the calibration—predication framework, whose composited objective lacks comprehensive evaluation. Therefore, this study, based on the Noah land surface model and its full parameter table, utilizes two global searching algorithms and eight kinds of objective with dimensional—varied metrics, combined with dense site soil moisture and temperature observations of central Tibet, to explore different metrics’ performances on the spatial heterogeneity and uncertainty of regional land surface parameters, calibration efficiency and effectiveness, as well as spatiotemporal complexities in surface forecasting. Results have shown that metrics’ diversity has shown greater influence on the calibration—predication framework than the global searching algorithms themselves. Besides being significantly better than other metrics, the enhanced multi objective metric (EMO) and the enhanced Kling-Gupta efficiency (EKGE) have their own advantages and disadvantages in simulations and parameters respectively. Especially, EMO that composited with four metrics as correlated coefficient, root mean square error, mean absolute error, and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, has shown relatively balanced performance in surface forecasting when compared to EKGE. In general, the calibration—predication framework that benefited from EMO could greatly reduce the spatial complexities in soil temperature modelling of the semiarid land.

The efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs) is influenced by various factors, among which environmental temperature plays a significant role. Previous studies have shown that the thermal stability of these cells can be enhanced by incorporating a third component into their structure. Ternary organic solar cells, in particular, have shown promising results in improving thermal stability. A well-designed electron transport layer (ETL) can significantly bolster thermal stability by facilitating efficient charge transport and reducing charge recombination. In this study, we investigated the effect of temperature on the efficiency of inverted ternary structures, ranging from 300 K to 400 K. The structures examined include FTO/SnO2/PM6:D18:L8-BO/PEDOT: PSS/Ag, FTO/Spiro-OMeTAD/PM6:D18:L8-BO/PEDOT: PSS/Ag, and FTO/PC60BM/PM6:D18:L8-BO/PEDOT: PSS/Ag. Through simulations employing three different electron transport layers—SnO2, Spiro-OMeTAD, and PC60BM—we observed that at 340 K (65°C) these structures maintained 92% of their original high efficiency of ~20% at 300 K, which represents a high level of thermal stability under the high PCE condition.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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) < eight secondary (NPAP-POSS) < 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.

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.)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

In this work, we analytically describe a superconducting transition in a non-equilibrium state taking into account many-body interactions; the obtained transition temperatures indicate the presence of superconductivity at room temperatures.First, we consider many-body interactions and discuss the case of locally thermal equilibrium with many-body interactions; in this section, we derive statistical equations that describe many-body interactions at locally thermal equilibrium state. Then, the same theory is used to derive a many-body statistical equation that is expanded to include the case of non-equilibrium states; in this case a transition temperature is derived. Moreover, a wave function of an Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen pair (EPR pair) is calculated according to the Lorentz conservation, and a specific condensation is observed and the Meissner effect is found to be present.Furthermore, considering the Lorentz conservations, relativistic energy, and Boltzmann statistics, algorithms are presented to calculate charge density, current density, and internal local energy. We note that these calculations do not require a specific code but instead utilize the software Microsoft Excel.We present plots showing the charge density and current density vs. the applied electric potential, which demonstrate the practical applicability of the theory. Moreover, internal local energy was found to be close to zero for sufficiently large electric potentials at room temperature.In the discussion section, the universally induced superconducting current is derived, which can be employed as the renewable energy.This paper describes non-equilibrium and EPR-pair type superconductivity, with the complete consideration of many-body interactions.

Temperature dependent entropic force acting between the straight direct current I and the linear system (string with length of L) of N elementary non-interacting magnets/spins μ is reported. The system of elementary magnets is supposed to be in the thermal equilibrium with the infinite thermal bath T. The entropic force at large distance from the current is given by Fmagnen=Nμ02μ2I24π2kBTr3 , where r is the distance between the edge of the string and the current I, and kB is the Boltzmann constant; (r≫L is adopted). The entropic magnetic force is the repulsion force. The entropic magnetic force scales as Fmagnen~1T , which is unusual for entropic forces. The effect of “entropic pressure” is predicted for the situation when the source of the magnetic field is embedded into the continuous media, comprising elementary magnets/spins.

In Ref. [1] Snider et al reported room temperature superconductivity in carbonaceous sulfur hydride (CSH) under high pressure. Recently the data for the temperature dependent ac magnetic susceptibility shown in figures of Ref [1] have appeared in the form of tables corresponding to different pressures [2]. Here we provide an analysis of the data for a pressure of 160 GPa. This work was performed in collaboration with D. van der Marel.

Regional Climatic Comfort Index (CCI) deteriorated significantly due to the climate change and anthropogenic interference. Knowledge regarding the long-term temporal dynamics of CCI in typical regions should be strengthened. In this study, we analyze the temporal and spatial evolution of CCI from 1969 to 2018 in Guangdong Province, based on meteorological indicators, including heat, humidity, wind and cloth loading etc.. Additionally, the population exposure to climate unconformity was examined since 1990 with the help of population data. Our study found that: (1) the warming and humidifying of the summer climate served as the main driving force for the continuous deterioration of CCI, with the comfortable days decreased by 1.06d/10a and the extremely muggy days increased by 2.83d/10a; (2) spatially, the lowest climate comfortability concentrated in southwestern Guangdong with more than 50 uncomfortable days each year, while the climate comfortability in northeastern Guangdong tends to deteriorated whit higher rate, which can reach as high as 6d/10a; (3) in summer, the population exposure to uncomfortable climate highly centralized in the Pearl River Delta, Shantou, Jieyang, and the surrounding areas, and both area and population exposure showed increasing trends. Particularly, Shenzhen held the highest growth rate of population exposure with an increase rate of 2.94 million/10a; (4) although the discomfort distribution and deterioration rate vary across the province, the spatial heterogeneity of comfortability is diminishing in Guangdong Province. This study will provide scientific reference for regional urban planning, thermal environment improvement, local resident health risk analysis, and key strategy implementation, etc.

Thermodynamic cycles are not only the core concepts of thermal science, but also key approaches to energy conversion and utilization. So far, power cycles and refrigeration cycles have been the only two general classes of thermodynamic cycles. While diverse types of systems have been developed to perform thermodynamic cycles, no new general classes of thermodynamic cycles have been proposed. Based on the basic principles of thermodynamics, here we propose and analyze a new general class of thermodynamic cycles named class 1 heating cycles (HC-1s). Two basic forms of HC-1s are obtained by connecting six essential thermodynamic processes in the proper order and forming a thermodynamic cycle. HC-1s present the simplest and most general approach to utilizing the temperature difference between a high-temperature heat source and a medium-temperature heat sink to achieve efficient medium-temperature heating and/or low-temperature cooling. HC-1s fill the gaps that have existed since the origin of thermal science, and they will play significant roles in energy conservation and emission reduction.

A severe flash flood hit Luwu, Sulawesi, Indonesia, on 13 July 2020. This flood was preceded by persistent heavy rainfall from 11 to 13 July 2020. In this study, we explore both the physical and dynamical processes that caused the heavy rainfall using a convection-permitting model with 1-km resolution. The heavy rainfall was modulated by the development of a pair of Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCCs) during the night. The pair of MCCs was triggered by an anti-cyclonic vorticity anomaly over the Makassar Strait and was maintained by the warm front passing between the sea and land over central Sulawesi. This front was characterized by moist-warm and cold-dry low-level air, which may have helped to extend the lifetime of the MCCs. The northwestward propagation of the MCCs was due to the interaction between predominantly southeasterly monsoon and sea surface temperature anomalies.

A temperature-modulated pyroelectricity measurement system for a small single crystal is developed and applied to standard sample measurements performed on a thin single crystal of lithium niobate. The modulation measurement is based on the AC technique, in which the temperature of the sample is periodically oscillated, and the synchronized pyroelectric signal is extracted using a lock-in amplifier. Temperature modulation is applied by irradiating periodic light on the sample placed in the heat exchange gas. To apply this technique to the transparent reference sample, a commercially available black resin is coated on the sample’s surface to absorb the light energy and transmits it to the specimen. The experimental results are analyzed using a two-layer heat transfer model to verify the effect of the light-absorbing layer as well as the non-contact temperature modulation system.

The main result of this work is the estimation of the entropy mode accompanying a wave disturbance, observed at the atmosphere heights range of 90-120km. The study is the direct continuation and development of recent results on diagnosis of the acoustic wave with the separation on direction of propagation. The estimation of the entropy mode contribution relies upon the measurements of the three dynamic variables (the temperature, density and vertical velocity perturbations) of the neutral atmosphere measured by the method of the resonant scattering of radio waves on the artificial periodic irregularities of the ionospheric plasma. The measurement of the atmosphere dynamic parameters has been carried out on the SURA heating facility. The mathematical foundation of the mode separation algorithm is based on the dynamic projecting operator technique. The operators are constructed via the eigenvectors of the coordinate evolution operator of the transformed system of balance equations of the hydro-thermodynamics.

Tomato is exposure to diverse abiotic stresses. Cold stress is one of harsh environmental stresses and abnormal low temperature affects tomato growth and development including physio- logical disorders, flower drops, and abnormal fruit morphology, causing the decrease of tomato yield and a fruit quality. It is important to identify low temperature-(LT) tolerant tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) cultivars relying on different fruit types. This study focused on analyzing physiological traits of 35 tomato accessions with three different fruit types (cherry, medium, and large sizes) under night temperature set-points of 15°C for normal temperature (NT) and 10°C for LT, respectively. Plant heights (PH) of most tomato accessions in LT were remarkably decreased compared to those in NT. The growth of leaf length (LL) and leaf width (LW) was reduced depending on the genotypes under LT. In addition, the number of fruits (NFR), fruit set (FS), fruit yield (FY), and marketable yield (MY) were negatively affected in LT. The variation was further investigated by the correlation analysis, the principal component (PCA), and the cluster analysis. Interestingly, positive correlations between different vegetative and reproductive traits were uncovered. Multivariate analysis including the PCA and hierarchical clustering classified LT-treated 35 tomato accessions into four major groups. The identified accessions were associated with vegetative and reproductive parameters on positive directions and might be utilized for breeding programs on selecting LT-tolerant cultivars.

An exact spherically symmetric and magnetically charged black hole solution in 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics (NED) is obtained. The NED Lagrangian is given by ${\cal L}_{NED} = -{\cal F}/(1+\sqrt[4]{2\beta{\cal F}})$, where ${\cal F}$ is the field invariant. We study the thermodynamics calculating the Hawking temperature and the heat capacity of the black hole. The phase transitions take place when the Hawking temperature has an extremum and the heat capacity is singular. We demonstrate that black holes are thermodynamically stable in some range of event horizon radii where the heat capacity is positive. The BH shadow radii are calculated. It is shown that when increasing the nonlinearity parameter $\beta$ the BH shadow radius is decreased.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is the defining global health and socioeconomic crisis of our time and represents the greatest challenge faced by the world since the end of the Second World War. The academic literature indicates that climatic features, specifically the temperature and absolute humidity, are very important factors affecting infectious pulmonary disease epidemics (e.g., SARS, MERS); however, the influence of climatic parameters on COVID-19 remains extremely controversial. The goal of this study is to quantify the existing relationship between several daily climate parameters (temperature, relative humidity, accumulated precipitation, solar radiation, wind direction and intensity, and evaporation), local morphological parameters, and new daily positive swabs for COVID-19, which represents the only parameter that can be statistically used to quantify the pandemic. The daily deaths parameter was not considered because it is not reliable due to frequent administrative errors. Daily data on meteorological conditions and new cases of COVID-19 were collected for the Lombardy area from March 1, 2020, to April 20, 2020. This region in Italy exhibited the largest number of official deaths in the world per million inhabitants, with a value of approximately 1700 per million on june 30, 2020. Moreover, the apparent lethality was approximately 17% in this area, mainly due to the considerable housing density and the extensive presence of industrial and craft areas. The Mann-Kendall test and multivariate statistical analysis showed that none of the considered climatic variables exhibited statistically significant relationships with the epidemiological evolution of COVID-19, at least in the spring months in temperate subcontinental climate areas, with the exception of solar radiation, which was directly related and showed an otherwise low explained variability of approximately 20%. Furthermore, the average temperatures of two highly representative meteorological stations of Molise and Lucania, the most weakly affected by the pandemic. The temperatures at these stations were approximately 1.5°C lower than that in the cities in Lombardy of Bergamo and Brescia, again confirming that a significant relationship between the increase in temperature and decrease in virology from COVID-19 was not evident, at least in the Italian peninsula.

Room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials have been attracted tremendous interest owing to their unique material characteristics and potential applications for state-of-the-art optoelectronic devices. Recently, we have reported a synthesis and fundamental photophysical properties of new RTP materials based on benzil, i.e., fluorinated monobenzil derivative and fluorinated and non-fluorinated bisbenzil derivative analogues [Yamada, S. et al, Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2020, 16, 1154–1162.]. To further understand their RTP properties, here we investigated the excited-state dynamics and photostability of the derivatives by means of time-resolved and steady-state photoluminescence spectroscopies. For these derivatives, clear RTP emissions with lifetimes on the microsecond timescale were identified. Among them, the monobenzil derivative was found to be the most efficient RTP material, showing both the longest lifetime and highest amplitude RTP emission. Time-resolved photoluminescence spectra measured at 77 K and density functional theory calculations revealed the existence of a second excited triplet state in the vicinity of the first excited singlet state for the monobenzil derivative, indicative of the presence of a fast intersystem crossing pathway. A discussion of the correlation between the excited state dynamics, emission properties, and conformational flexibility of the three derivatives is presented.

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

Gas-liquid reactors pose transfer difficulties due to diffusion effects. It is necessary to master the aeration and hydrodynamics of the medium to conduct the reaction well and get a good performance. For this purpose, a study in a submerged membrane bioreactor with a useful volume of 30L, consisting of a microfiltration membrane with an average pore size of 0.14 mm having an effective surface area of 0.2 m2 and a PVC cylindrical air diffuser of radius 4 cm has been studied. The saline tracing method associated with a conductimetric follow-up made it possible to determine the residence times and the mixing time in the reactor at 4 different points both in recirculation and in the absence of recirculation. Gas retention was measured by the manometric method. The experiments were carried out at different temperatures of 25 ° C, at 45 ° C, with a variable air flow rate of 0.5 to 16 mL / s and different solutions (osmosis water, ammonium formate solution, solution ammonium formate + salt, synthetic rubber effluent). The results show that the mixing time varies from one point to another and the recirculation of the mixture reduces the mixing time. One of the positions is limiting, the transfer is done most by diffusion with a mixing time of 115 min without circulation and 65 min with circulation. Gas retention increases with aeration rate and temperature. On the other hand, the more the medium becomes rich in organic substances, the more the gaseous retention decreases. The homogeneous fine-bubble regime is obtained for an air flow rate of between 3 and 10 mL / s of aeration. Beyond this flow rate, the regime becomes heterogeneous without a transition phase for ammonium formate and formate ammonium + salt solutions.

In this study, four kinds of animal bone marrow powders were extracted with n-hexane using the Soxhlet extraction method. Polyunsaturated fatty acids were enriched by urea inclusion and low temperature crystallization method, then were further evaluated antioxidant and antibacterial activities. These results showed that the oil composition of the n-hexane extracts of four kinds of animal bone marrow primarily consisted of palmitic acid (18.57–31.01%), stearic acid (3.6–20.95%), and oleic acid (40.22–58.69%). The ratios of saturated fatty acids (SFA)/unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) were 1/1.417, 1/1.327, 1/2.140, and 1.285/1 for sheep, bovine, horse, and camel bone marrow oil, respectively. The SFA/UFA ratios determined by the urea inclusion method were 1/1.518, 1/1.390, 1/2.037, and 1.216/1, respectively. The SFA/UFA ratios according to the low temperature crystallization method with acetone were 1/1.920, 1/2.141, 1/2.360, and 1/1.157 for sheep, bovine, horse, and camel bone marrow oil, respectively. These enrichment methods effected the concentrations of UFAs from the camel bone marrow oil. Among the methods, the low temperature crystallization method effectively enriched the UFAs. All four bone marrow oils exhibited strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The horse bone marrow oil showed the strongest antioxidant activity. Both antioxidant and antimicrobial activity improved after enrichment of the UFAs. These results lay a theoretical basis for application bone marrow oil resources in food and medicine.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is significantly dependent on desalinated water and groundwater resource, which is expensive and highly energy intensive. Despite the scarce water resource, only 54% of the recycled water was reused in 2015. In this study, an “Oasis” complex comprised of Sustainable Farming Compartments (SFCs) was proposed for reusing treated wastewater to decrease the ambient temperature of the SFC via an evaporative cooling system. A prototype SFC with half the original scale (width = 1.8 m, depth = 1.5 m, front height = 1.2 m back height = 0.9 m) was designed, built, and tested in an environmentally controlled laboratory and field site to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the SFC under the climatic conditions in Abu Dhabi. Based on the experimental results, the temperature drops obtained from the SFC in the laboratory and field site were 5 ̊C at initial relative humidity of 60% and 7- 15 ̊C at initial relative humidity of 50%, respectively. An energy simulation using dynamic numerical simulations was performed in comparison to the results of the experiment. The energy-based dynamic simulation shows good agreement with the experimental results. The total power consumption of the SFC system was approximately three and a half times lower than that of an electrical air conditioner.

With the widespread use of electric machines there is a growing need to extract information from the machines to optimize their control systems and maintenance management. The present work shows the development of an embedded system to perform the monitoring of an squirrel cage induction motor rotor physical variables. The system comprises: circuit to acquire desirable rotor variable(s) value(s) and send it to the computer; a rectifier and power storage circuit that besides converting an alternating current in continuous also store energy for a certain amount of time to wait the motor engine shutdown; and magnetic generator that harvest energy from rotating field to power the circuits mentioned above. The embedded system is set on the rotor, making it difficult to power the system because it is rotating, problem solved with the construction of the magnetic generator eliminating the need of using batteries or collector rings and send data to the computer using a wireless NRF24L01 module. For the proposed system validation a temperature sensor (DS18b20) was used, variable known as the most important when identifying the need for maintenance and control systems. Tests were made getting satisfactory results proving the viability of using sensors on the rotor.

In urban area, one of the great problem is the rise of temperature, which leads to form the urban heat island effect. This paper refers to the trend of the urban surface temperature extracted from the Landsat images from which to consider changes in the formation of surface urban heat island for the north of Ho Chi Minh city in period 1995-2015. Research has identified land surface temperature from thermal infrared band, according to the ability of the surface emission based on characteristics of normalized difference vegetation index NDVI. The results showed that temperature fluctuated over the city with a growing trend and the gradual expansion of the area of the high-temperature zone towards the suburbs. Within 20 years, the trend of the formation of surface urban heat island with two typical locations showed a clear difference between the surface temperature of urban areas and rural areas with space expansion of heat island in 4 times in 2015 compared to 1995. An extreme heat island located in the inner city has an area of approximately 18% compared to the total area of the region. Since then, the solution to reduce the impact of urban heat island has been proposed, in order to protect the urban environment and the lives of residents in Ho Chi Minh City becoming better

The accurate wellbore pressure control not only prevents from lost circulation/blowout and fracturing formation by managing density of drilling fluid, but also improves productivity by mitigating reservoir damage. The geothermal pressure calculated by constant parameters for geothermal well would bring big error easily, as the changes of physical, rheological and thermal properties of drilling fluids with temperature were neglected. This paper researches the wellbore pressure coupling by calculating the temperature distribution with existed model, fitting the rule of density of drilling fluid with temperature and establishing mathematical models to stimulate the wellbore pressures, which is expressed as the variation of Equivalent Circulating Density (ECD) under different conditions. With this method, temperature and ECDs in the wellbore of the first medium-deep geothermal well ZK212 Yangyi Geothermal Field in Tibet were determined, and the sensitivity analysis was simulated by assumed parameters, i.e. circulating time, flow rate, geothermal gradient, diameters of wellbore, rheological models and regimes, the results indicated the geothermal gradient and flow rate were the most influence parameters on the temperature and ECD distribution, and additives added in drilling fluid should be careful which would change the properties of drilling fluid and induce the temperature redistribution. To make sure the safe drilling, velocity of pipes tripping into the hole, depth and diameter of wellbore are considered to control the surge pressure.

We examine data assimilation coupling between meteorology and chemistry in the stratosphere from both weak and strong coupling strategies. The study was performed with the Canadian operational weather prediction Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) model coupled online with the photochemical stratospheric chemistry developed at the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, described in Part I. Here, the Canadian Meteorological Centre’s operational variational assimilation system was extended to include errors of chemical variables and cross-covariances between meteorological and chemical variables in a 3D-Var configuration, and we added the adjoint of tracer advection in the 4D-Var configuration. Our results show that the assimilation of limb sounding observations from the MIPAS instrument on board Envisat can be used to anchor the AMSU-A radiance bias correction scheme. Also, the added value of limb sounding temperature observations on meteorology and transport is shown to be significant. Weak coupling data assimilation with ozone-radiation interaction is shown to give comparable on meteorology whether a simplified linearized or comprehensive ozone chemistry scheme is used. Strong coupling data assimilation, using static error cross-covariances between ozone and temperature in a 3D-Var context, produced inconclusive results with the approximations we used. We have also conducted the assimilation of long-lived species observations using 4D-Var to infer winds. Our results showed the added value of assimilating several long-lived species, and an improvement in the zonal wind in the Tropics within the troposphere and lower stratosphere. 4D-Var assimilation also induced a correction of zonal wind in the surf zone and a temperature bias in the lower tropical stratosphere

Abstract：Objective: To compare the effects of fermentation on the chemical composition of Gastrodia Tuder Halimasch Powder, and to provide a basis for the processing, processing and clinical application of this medicinal material. Methods: UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS was used to identify compound structure by comparing excimer ions, characteristic fragment ions and reference substances, and referring to relevant literature and database search. The main differential components were screened by orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), and the differential components were quantitatively studied by high performance liquid chromatography, and the differences in the types and contents of chemical components before and after fermentation were compared. Results: A total of 77 compounds were identified or preliminarily derived after fermentation, including 21 terpenes, 18 organic acids, 9 flavonoids, 7 nucleosides, 6 amides, 4 amino acids, 2 pyrrolidone derivatives, 2 sterols, 2 alkaloids and 6 others.Through high performance liquid chromatography, it was found that the content of daidzein genistein and ergosterol was significantly increased after fermentation, and a new component ergosterol was produced. Compared with Gastrodia Tuder Halimasch Powder before fermentation, the content of genistin and other components was significantly reduced, and there may be a process of genistin conversion to genistein.Conclusion: The fermentation process will have a certain influence on the types and contents of the chemical components of Gastrodia Tuder Halimasch Powder, and ergosterol, genistein and .daidzein may be the main pharmacodynamic components, which can provide a useful reference for the clinical rational application, quality control and mechanism of action of Gastrodia Tuder Halimasch Powder.

Big data has revolutionised science and technology leading to the transformation of our societies. High Performance Computing (HPC) provides the necessary computational power for big data analysis using artificial intelligence and methods. Traditionally HPC and big data had focused on different problem domains and had grown into two different ecosystems. Efforts have been underway for the last few years on bringing the best of both paradigms into HPC and big converged architectures. Designing HPC and big data converged systems is a hard task requiring careful placement of data, analytics, and other computational tasks such that the desired performance is achieved with the least amount of resources. Energy efficiency has become the biggest hurdle in the realisation of HPC, big data, and converged systems capable of delivering exascale and beyond performance. Data locality is a key parameter of HPDA system design as moving even a byte costs heavily both in time and energy with an increase in the size of the system. Performance in terms of time and energy are the most important factors for users, particularly energy, due to it being the major hurdle in high performance system design and the increasing focus on green energy systems due to environmental sustainability. Data locality is a broad term that encapsulates different aspects including bringing computations to data, minimizing data movement by efficient exploitation of cache hierarchies, reducing intra- and inter-node communications, locality-aware process and thread mapping, and in-situ and in-transit data analysis. This paper provides an extensive review of the cutting-edge on data locality in HPC, big data, and converged systems. We review the literature on data locality in HPC, big data, and converged environments and discuss challenges, opportunities, and future directions. Subsequently, using the knowledge gained from this extensive review, we propose a system architecture for future HPC and big data converged systems. To the best of our knowledge, there is no such review on data locality in converged HPC and big data systems.

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

Olivine-like NaFePO4 glasses and nanocomposites are promising materials for cathodes in sodium batteries. Our previous study concerned the influence of high pressure on DC electric conductivity of NaFePO4 glasses. This work presents the results of AC measurements of glasses and nanocomposites from pressure treatment. Depending on the temperature range, the electronic conduction mechanism changed from variable range hopping (between Fe2+/Fe3+centers) to phonon-assisted hopping. For DC electric conductivity the portrayal via the classic Mott’s Variable Range Hopping is limited to low temperatures. Spectra of AC conductivity for glasses and pressure-formed nanocomposites fulfill Jonscher’s scaling law with power exponents ranging from 0.3 to 0.9 depending on temperature and the electron hopping mechanism. Due to the decrease in distance between hopping centers, an increase of AC conductivity around 2-3 orders of magnitude was observed after high pressure-high temperature treatment. Up to 200 K temperature dependencies of AC conductivity follow the pattern suggested by Mott's theory. Above that temperature corresponds to phonon-assisted hopping with activation energies EAC≈0.40 eV (for glass: amorphous solid) and EAC≈0.18 eV (for glass + nanocrystallites nanocomposite). Notable that they are considerably lower than values of EDC for DC conductivity. Results obtained show that high-temperature compressing, just below the glass temperature, significantly leads to a stable decrease in distance between hopping centers related to nanocrystallites in a glassy matrix. Consequently, it leads to an essential rise in electric conductivity and volumetric capacity. AC spectra of electronic conductivity are disturbed by the conduction of Na+ mobile ions, which impacts polaron conductivity and can be a limiting factor for conductivity.

The comprehensive analysis of cross-country skiing races is a pivotal step in establishing effective training objectives and tactical strategies. This study aimed to establish a method for the classifi-cation of sub-techniques and analyzing skiing characteristics during cross-country skiing skating style timed races on snow using high-precision kinematic GNSS devices. The study involved at-taching GNSS devices to the heads of two athletes during skating style timed races on cross-country ski courses. These devices provided precise positional data and recorded vertical and hor-izontal head movements and ground over velocity (VOG). Sub-techniques were classified by de-fining waveform patterns for G2, G3, G4, and G6 based on these data. The validity of classifica-tion was verified by comparing GNSS data with video analysis, a process that yielded classifica-tion accuracies ranging from 94.0% to 99.3% for G2, G3, G4, and G6. Notably, G4 emerged as the fastest technique, with sub-technique selection varying among skiers and being influenced by skiing velocity and course inclination. The study's findings have practical implications for ath-letes and coaches, as they demonstrate that high-precision kinematic GNSS devices can accurate-ly classify sub-techniques and detect skiing characteristics during skate-style cross-country skiing races, thereby providing valuable insights for training and strategy development.

As high strength and ultra-high strength steels are widely used in all kinds of modern welded constructions, a lot of research is carried out to investigate the mechanical properties of weldments of these steels but there is a scarce information on such important characteristic as their corrosion behaviour. This research focuses on the corrosion behaviour of weld metal of weldments of S906QL and S700MC steels. Weld metal was tested electrochemically in a 3,5% NaCl aqueous solution via potentiodynamic scan to determine corrosion rate and its dependence on welding gap. No influence of welding gap on corrosion rate was found but the experimental results suggested that corrosion rate depended on the chemical composition of filler material and the microstructure of weld metal.

Void fillers are required for osseous gaps generated after orthopedic procedures as medial open-wedge high-tibial osteotomy (MOWHTO) to provide sufficient structural support and a rapid osteosynthesis. We developed a novel three-dimensional (3D) printing-based platform technology using the customized 3D scaffolds covered with polycaprolactone (PCL)/β-tri-calcium phosphates (β-TCP)/bone decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) for use as bone substitute scaffold, which can be effectively exploited to estimate the calculated correction angle with preoperative simulations. PCL/β-TCP/bone dECM scaffolds demonstrated significantly higher cell contain levels in cell seeding efficiency, excellent proliferation capacity, and promotion of early osteogenic differentiation compared with PCL/β-TCP scaffolds. The scaffolds promoted bone mineralization at the early time points of an in vivo study (8 weeks) and exhibited biodegradable properties (38% for 16 weeks). The correction angle measured after osteotomy using 3D printed scaffolds was estimated with high accuracy with low errors (10.3° ± 0.9°), was and was not significantly different even in the presence of lateral cortical hinge fractures. The customized 3D scaffold enriched with PCL/β-TCP/bone dECM yielded excellent cell seeding efficiency, proliferation capacity, early osteogenic differentiation, and bone mineralization outcomes. It is expected to solve the disadvantages related with bone union in MOWHTO, and to replace autografts in the future.

Microsatellite instability (MSI) is a crucial feature in cancer biology, yet its prevalence and significance in canine cancers remain largely unexplored. This study conducted a comprehensive analysis of MSI across 10 distinct canine cancer histotypes using whole-exome sequencing data from 692 tumor-normal sample pairs. MSI was detected in 64% of tumors, with prevalence varying significantly among cancer types. B-cell lymphomas exhibited the highest MSI burden, contrasting with human studies. A novel "MSI-burden" score was developed, correlating significantly with tumor mutational burden. MSI-high (MSI-H) tumors showed elevated somatic mutation counts compared to MSI-low and microsatellite stable tumors. The study identified 3,632 recurrent MSI-affected genomic regions across cancer types. Notably, seven of the ten cancer types exhibited MSI-H tumors, with prevalence ranging from 1.5% in melanomas to 37% in B-cell lymphomas. These findings highlight the potential importance of MSI in canine cancer biology and suggest opportunities for targeted therapies, particularly immunotherapies. The high prevalence of MSI in canine cancers, especially in B-cell lymphomas, warrants further investigation into its mechanistic role and potential as a biomarker for prognosis and treatment response

The wide metabolic diversity of microalgae, their fast growth rates, and cost-effective production make these organisms highly promising resources for a variety of biotechnological applications, addressing critical needs in industry, agriculture, and medicine. The utilization of microalgae in consortia with bacteria is proving to be valuable in different biotechnological fields, including treating various types of wastewaters, producing biofertilizers, and extracting various products from their biomass. Monoculture of the microalgae Chlamydomonas has been a prominent research model for many years, extensively utilized in studying photosynthesis, sulfur and phosphorus metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, respiration, and flagella synthesis, among others. Recent re-search has increasingly recognized the potential of Chlamydomonas-bacteria consortia as a bio-technological tool for various applications. Bioremediation of wastewater using Chlamydomonas, and its bacterial consortia presents significant potential for the sustainable reduction of contam-inants, while also facilitating resource recovery and valorization of microalgal biomass. Using Chlamydomonas and its bacterial consortia as biofertilizers can offers several benefits, such as en-hancing crop yield, protecting crops, maintaining soil fertility and stability, aiding in CO2 miti-gation, and contributing to sustainable agriculture practices. Chlamydomonas-bacterial consortia play a significant role in the production of high-value products, particularly in biofuel and en-hancing H2 production. This review aims to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the po-tential of Chlamydomonas monoculture and its bacterial consortia, identifying current applications, and proposing new research and development directions to maximize its potential.

This study constructs an evaluation system of high-quality utilization of urban land (HUUL) and comprehensively adopts the entropy method, the kernel density estimation, and the geodetector model to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution and driving factors of the HUUL levels of 284 Chinese cities from 2006 to 2020. The measurement results show that during 2006-2020, the HUUL level showed an obvious upward trend, and the eastern region > the central region > the overall region > the western region > the northeastern region. According to the kernel density map, except for the region of the west, there is a trend of different degrees of enlargement of the difference in the main peak position of the HUUL level among cities in the other three regions, and there are individual cities in the eastern and western regions with much higher HUUL levels than the others; According to the results of factor detection, it can be seen that innovative utilization and open utilization are the endogenous dominant factors that promote the improvement of HUUL level, and the level of economic development is the exogenous dominant factor that supports the im-provement of high-quality utilization of urban land.

This research focuses on the Hopf bifurcation occurring at a singular point with high-order degeneracy in a class of three-dimensional systems. Based on center manifold theorem, by expanding the technique for determining singular point values of degenerate singularities in two-dimensional systems, the formal series method to determine the singular point values at the high-order degenerate critical point is discussed. Furthermore, a class of specific three-dimensional differential systems with high-order degenerate singularities is explored. By computing the singular point values and determining center conditions, we proved that a minimum of 5 small-amplitude limit cycles in the vicinity of the origin. This research provides new perspectives on the center problem and limit cycle bifurcation in high-dimensional systems with high-order degenerate singular points.

The partial discharge (PD) event in high voltage insulation releases energy, exerts mechanical pressure, and generates elastic waves. Detecting and locating these PD events through short-duration acoustic pulses is well-established, particularly in gas-insulated systems and oil-insulated transformers. However, its full potential remains untapped in solid insulation systems, where the propagation capability of acoustic pulse and the acoustic reflections pose fundamental challenges to the Acoustic Emission (AE) detection technique. This study investigates the influence of reflections and multiple paths on the propagating acoustic pulse in polymeric insulating materials using a finite element method (FEM) in COMSOL. It was observed that the reflections from the boundary influence the propagating pulse's shape, peak magnitude, and arrival time. An analytical MATLAB model further quantifies the impact of multiple propagation paths on the shape, magnitude, and arrival time of the pulse travelling in a cylinder. Additionally, a Perfect Matched Layer (PML) was implemented in the COMSOL model to eliminate reflections from the boundary, and it revealed that the acoustic pulse magnitude decreases with distance following the inverse square law. In essence, the models aid in measuring how reflections contribute to the observed signals, facilitating the precise identification of the source of the PD event in the tested system.

We investigate the impact of aging on exchangeable inter-arrival times in mixed renewal processes, exploring its implications for reliability and survival analysis. In this study, first, we revisit the definition of renewal point processes, where inter-event time intervals are considered as exchangeable non-negative random variables. Then, we define the concept of statistical aging as latency in the observational process of event counting. Latency affects event detection but preserves exchangeability. However, it may alter the statistical properties of inter-event time intervals. Our analytical and numerical assessments highlight the significance of aging in exchangeable lifetimes, offering insights into key metrics such as the failure survival function, renewal function, and hazard rate function. Through archetypal examples and empirical findings, we illustrate the implications of aging on renewal processes. In particular, employing a Bayesian perspective, we analyze high-frequency currency exchange rate data to assess the impact of aging on volatility risk evaluation. This study contributes novel insights to the literature of renewal theory and survival analysis, emphasizing the role of latency aging in stochastic point processes under exchangeability assumption.

To reduce the redundant counting of TDC in high-speed applications and thus reduce power consumption, a TDC architecture is proposed to quantify the difference between two adjacent rows of pixel signals. This structure can remove the identical part between two rows of pixel signals by adjusting the start and stop signal of the TDC, which will reduce the number of flipping of D flip-flops in the TDC. In the 110nm CMOS process, simulation results show that this design achieves an effective number of bits (ENOB) of 4.72 bits and a Figure of Merit (FoM) of 104.7 fJ/step - 162.3 fJ/step with a power consumption ranging from 60 µW to 93 µW. Compared with traditional counting methods, the proposed TDC can reduce counting power consumption by 30%.

In the process of oil and gas development and production, when the flow rate in the wellbore is large, the materials underground will be eroded, causing the operation to be unable to proceed smoothly and reducing the efficiency of oil and gas production. Therefore, optimizing the anti-erosion coating under high-speed flow conditions in wellbore is a very interesting thing. It can greatly improve operational efficiency. In this paper, laser cladding was used to prepare the new coating used in the PDC drill bit. Then, the effects of tungsten carbide and multi-layer graphene on the microstructure and properties of the tungsten carbide coating were studied. The research results indicate that, for new coatings, 60% tungsten carbide and 0.3% graphene are the optimal ratios. After adding WC, the hardness has significantly improved. However, when the WC content further increases more than 30%, the increase in hardness is relatively small. In addition, when the content of graphene is more than 0.3%, the branched structure became thicker, and not only the segregation of Cr, Si and W became very obvious again, but also the segregation of Fe occurred at the Ni enrichment site. The research results contribute to improving oil and gas production and operational efficiency under high-speed fluid flow conditions in the wellbore.

This research investigates the fatigue behaviour and fracture mechanics of high-performance concrete (HPC), including various compositions such as HPC with basalt aggregates (HPC-B), HPC with gravel (HPC-G), and high-strength coarse mortar (CM) static and cyclic tensile loading within the special priority program SPP 2020. The study aims to integrate fracture mechanics into structural analysis to enhance design guidelines for slender cross-sections and safety-related high-performance structural components. The experimental investigations reveal HPC-B's re-markable superiority, displaying higher compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, and tensile strength compared to HPC-G and CM. A modified disk-shaped compact tension (MDCT) based on ASTM standards, aided by digital image correlation (DIC) unveils fracture behaviour, empha-sizing fracture energy as a crucial parameter. HPC-B exhibits improved crack resistance and notch sensitivity reduction attributed to crushed basalt aggregates and enhanced interfacial transition zone (ITZ). The research scrutinizes factors like material characterization, aggregate morphology, stress levels, and displacement rate on crack formation. High-cycle fatigue tests show HPC-B's superior performance, and post-fatigue analysis reveals enhanced residual fracture toughness attributed to nano-level structural changes, stress redistribution and aggregate-matrix interac-tion. 3D image analysis via Computed Tomography (CT) scans captures mesostructural crack propagation and provide quantitative insights. This study advances the understanding of HPC fatigue behaviour, emphasizing the interplay of aggregate types, morphologies, and their dy-namic response to cyclic loading, offering valuable insights for optimizing design guidelines and fostering innovation in structural engineering.

For 80 years high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has been a significant area for medical research. It is a non-invasive procedure which causes cell death in a highly localised area at a defined distance from the transducer. Since 2000, the clinical indications have broadened considerable as the technology has improved. This review looks back at the history of HIFU and the current clinical indications.

Infrastructure and urban network operators, city users and industrialists are faced with complex issues to ensure the sustainability of the service, maintain, operate and develop their urban sys-tems, while integrating environmental, economic and societal impacts and being resilient to un-expected geopolitical and climatic upheavals. Urban Digital Twins (UDTs), i.e., digital twins for smart cities and territories are considered as promising tools that can enable all stakeholders to collaborate across disciplinary silos and foster digital transformation in urban and territorial pro-jects to ensure sustainability, resilience and increased inventiveness. However, a widely acknowledged challenge to address in the application of UDTs is the lack of interoperability. One significant barrier is the difficulty that stakeholders have in understanding the level of complexity hidden behind this challenge, and thus the adoption of an adequate interoperability technique. This paper proposes a conceptual framework, which is unique for understanding the various lev-els of interoperability required in deploying and using the full potentials of UDTs. We show how such a high-level modeling approach supports the symbolic manipulation of UDTs interoperabil-ity notions and requirements, and thus eases the design of appropriate solutions for large-scale in-teroperable UDTs.

UNESCO highlights socio-emotional, cognitive, and behavioral learning as critical for advancing sustainability. As major events, sports generate significant social, economic, and environmental impacts. This study analyzed how academic background, gender, age, sport type, and modality influenced elite Colombian Olympic and Paralympic athletes' socio-emotional competencies. Methods: Colombian elite athletes who were members of the “Support to the Excellence Coldeportes Athlete” participated in the study. The total population studied included 334 Colombian elite athletes: mean age 27.10 ± 6.57 years old with 13.66 ± 6.37 years practicing his/her sports modality. The socio-emotional competencies of the participants were assessed using the Socio-emotional Competencies Scale (SECS). Results: Men scored higher in interpersonal regulation, self-awareness, conflict resolution, and emotional regulation. Younger athletes (≤25 years) had higher self-consciousness. Individual versus team sports did not differ. Paralympians showed higher motivation, self-awareness, teamwork, and emotional regulation. University educated athletes scored higher in motivation, self-awareness, teamwork, and empathy. All competencies positively correlated. Conclusion: Individualized interventions targeting improved socio-emotional performance are vital for sustainability and should account for differences across gender, age, education, and disability status.

Photovoltaic systems and wind energy systems are generally used in distributed system. However, zero-sequence and harmonic currents occur due to photovoltaic systems, and positive-sequence harmonic currents occur due to wind turbines. Thus, the sheath current in high voltage cables increases due to these currents and poor power quality in distributed generation plants. Metal parts of the cable are grounded to prevent the negative effects of sheath currents. When long high voltage cable lines are grounded with the method in the literature, high sheath current and voltage occur on the cable sheath. Therefore, the SSBLR method is designed as a new method for the distributed generation system. The SSBLR method has been optimized with prediction methods and multi-objective optimization methods to prevent negative effects of the sheath current. Pareto optimal method is used as multi-objective optimization method, and artificial neural network, hybrid artificial neural network and regression methods are used as prediction method. The most dominant result is searched using different estimation and optimization methods in pareto optimal method. When the artificial neural network-genetic algorithm hybrid method is used as a prediction method, and genetic algorithm used as optimization method, significant decreases are observed in sheath current and voltage.

The effects of different pulse frequencies on the microstructure grain size and solid solubility of Al-9Si alloy were systematically investigated using OM, SEM, and EDS. The effects on the mechanical properties of the alloy were analyzed using micro-Vickers hardness tester and multifunctional friction tester. During the solidification process, the Al-9Si alloy is exposed to high-frequency electric current pulses with a current density of 300A/cm2 and frequencies of 0Hz, 500Hz, 1 000Hz, and 2 000Hz. The experimental results show that as the high-frequency pulse frequency increases, the Lorentz force also increases. The intense electromagnetic stirring leads to grain refinement. However, as the pulse frequency continues to increase, the combined effect of Joule heating and Lorentz force results in an enlargement of the melt zone and an increase in grain size. At a pulse frequency of 1 000Hz, the eutectic structure size of the Al-9Si alloy is optimal, with the average size reduced to 13.87μm and a dense distribution, effectively eliminating primary Si. The EDS results revealed that the high-frequency pulse led to a more uniform distribution of Si elements within the matrix, and the solid solubility of Si in the α-Al matrix increased to a maximum value of 1.99%, representing a 39.2% increase. At a pulse frequency of 1 000Hz, the sample demonstrates the most favorable mechanical properties, with the friction coefficient reaching a minimum value of 0.302, representing a 37.7% decrease in the average friction coefficient. The results demonstrate that high-frequency pulsing is an effective method for enhancing the mechanical properties of Al-9Si alloy.

Cathode materials play a key role in the development and application of lithium-ion batteries, but the unfavorable factors such as structural phase transformation and low conductivity in the cycling process restrict the further improvement of battery performance, so the development and modification of high-performance cathode materials is a current research hotspot. LiNixCoyMn1-x-yO2(x≥0.6), a high-nickel cathode material, has the advantages of high platform potential, high energy density and low cost, and is an ideal material to achieve the goal of 300 Wh kg-1 and above for batteries. However, its poor thermal stability, poor interface stability, safety and life cannot meet the requirements of current power batteries. In this paper, the research status of high-nickel cathode materials is introduced, including bulk doping and surface coating, and the modification method of doping and coating integration is also introduced. Finally, we put forward the prospect of the future development trend of high-nickel cathode materials.

Background: This study, conducted in October 2017 at two Canadian universities, aimed to explore the relationships between gender expression, protective coping strategies, alcohol saliency, and high-risk alcohol use. Methods: Validated scales were employed to assess these variables using survey data. Multivariate analyses were conducted to investigate the associations between these factors and high-risk drinking. Results: The study revealed significant associations between high-risk drinking and androgynous gender roles (OR=1.58, 95% CI: 1.19-2.10) as well as among self-reported males (OR=2.21; 95% CI: 1.77-2.75). Additionally, protective behavioral strategies were inversely related to high-risk drinking (OR=0.95; 95% CI: 0.94-0.96), while higher alcohol saliency exhibited a positive correlation with high-risk drinking (OR=1.12; 95% CI: 1.11-1.14). Conclusions: These findings underscore the importance of considering gender, alcohol saliency beliefs, and protective behavioral strategies in the development and refinement of interventions aimed at reducing high-risk alcohol use on Canadian campuses.

Bronchiolitis is an acute viral infection of the lower respiratory tract that affects infants and young children. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common causative agent, however other viruses can be the reason of the disease. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical features of infants aged less than 12 months referred to our Pediatric Units of Chivasso, Cirié and Ivrea for acute bronchiolitis requiring hospitalization over two consecutive bronchiolitis seasons. Patient-, disease- and treatment related variables were analyzed in this retrospective study. We were able to show how with the high flow oxygen support (HFNC) only a very low number of children (8 out of 192) need to be trasferred to our HUB referral centers. The probability of success were 96% for all patients and 93% for RSV vs. 98% for non-RSV patients (P=NS). Factor associated to failure of treatment were age below 1 months and the failure of HFNC. The wide and increasing use of HFNC in pediatric inpatients improved management of bronchiolitis in Spoke hospitals, reducing transfer to a Hub hospital provided with Intensive Care Units.

Large epidemiological studies show U-shaped relationships between high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels and all-cause mortality in individuals without atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD). Association in those with ASCVD by sex is unclear. We examined the association between HDL-C levels and 10-year all-cause mortality in subjects (≥40 years of age) with ASCVD using the 2010 National Health Insurance Service and the National Death Registry of Korea. We categorized HDL-C levels into three groups (low: <40 mg/dL for males, <50 mg/dL for females; high: 40-90 mg/dL for males, 50-90 mg/dL for females; extremely high: >90 mg/dL) and 10 mg/dL intervals. We conducted a sex-stratified and adjusted Cox proportional hazards analysis. Out of 1,711,548 individuals (54% female, mean age 61.4 years), 10-year mortality was observed in 218,252 (12.8%). Males had a higher mortality rate than females (16.2% vs 9.8%; P<0.001). When adjusting for age, body mass index, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and alcohol consumption, the low and extremely high HDL-C groups had significantly higher hazard ratios for 10-year mortality compared to the high HDL-C group in males [1.183 (1.166-1.199), 1.359 (1.288-1.434)] and in females [1.153 (1.138-1.169), 1.095 (1.029-1.167)]. The frequency distribution bars for the 10-year mortality rate showed sex-specific nadirs of 50-59 mg/dL in males and 70-79 mg/dL in females. In this ASCVD cohort, the extremely high HDL-C (>90 mg/dL) group had 35.9% and 9.5% higher 10-year mortality risk than the high HDL-C group for males and females, respectively. There was a slightly U-shaped relationship between baseline HDL-C levels and 10-year mortality rate, with earlier inflection in males than in females.

Nickel is widely used in industrial processes and plays a crucial role in many applications. However, most of the nickel resource mainly exists as nickel oxide in laterite nickel ore with complex composition, resulting in difficulty in upgrading the nickel content using physical separation methods. In this study, high-grade ferronickel concentrates were obtained through a carbothermal reduction and magnetic separation using laterite nickel ore and anthracite as raw materials. The effects of different types of additives (CaF2, Na2SO4 and H3BO3), carbon ratio (nc/no in metal oxides) and grinding time on the recoveries and grades of ferronickel concentrates were experimentally investigated, along with the microstructure and chemical composition of the products. CaF2 was proved to be the primary active additive in the aggregation and growth of the ferronickel particles, and the improvement of the grade of the product. Under the optimal conditions of CaF2 addition of 12 wt.%, carbon ratio of 1.4, and grinding time of 240 s, high-grade magnetically separable ferronickel concentrate with nickel grade 8.93 wt.% and iron grade 63.96 wt.% was successfully prepared. This work presents a practical method for the highly efficient recovery and utilization of iron and nickel from low-grade laterite nickel ore, contributing to the development of strategies for the sustainable extraction and utilization of nickel resources.

With rising rates of human obesity, the study aimed to determine the relationship between maternal diet-induced obesity and offspring morphometrics and behaviour in mice. Pregnant and lactating female mice fed a diet high in fat and sugar (HFHS) commonly consumed by human populations showed decreased food, calorie, and protein intake but increased adiposity at the expense of lean mass. The pre-weaning body weight of HFHS offspring was reduced for the first postnatal week but not thereafter with HFHS female offspring having higher body weights by weaning, due to continuing higher fractional growth rates. Post-weaning, there were minor differences in offspring food and protein intake. Maternal diet, however, affected fractional growth rate and total body fat content of male but not female HFHS offspring. Maternal diet did not affect offspring locomotor activity or social behaviour in either sex. Both male and female HFHS offspring displayed reduced anxiety-related behaviours with sex differences in particular aspects of the elevated plus maze task. In the novel object recognition task, performance was impaired in male but not female HFHS offspring. Collectively, the findings demonstrate that maternal obesity alters the growth, adiposity, and behaviour of male and female offspring, with sex-specific differences.

Trichomonas vaginalis is an extracellular parasite protozoan that causes human trichomoniasis, a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that affects approximately 200 million people worldwide. The presence of T. vaginalis adhesion to inert substrates has been described in several reports. Still, very few studies on cluster formation and more detailed analyses of the contact regions between the membranes of the parasites in these aggregate formations have not been carried out. We analyzed the formation of parasite monolayers and clusters using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, cytochemistry, TEM tomography, and dye injection. Here, we show the formation of a monolayer of tightly adherent cells, epithelium-like, when the parasites are in contact with an inert material. Based on this observation, we analyzed whether this monolayer behaves as an epithelium, analyzing cell junctions, cell communication, and ultrastructural aspects. We also analyzed the cluster formation and the morphological characteristics of parasite aggregation observed in the culture supernatant. We report that monolayer formation differs from cluster formation in many aspects. The monolayers form strong adhesion, whereas the clusters have fragile attachments. There is no fusion or passage of molecules between neighbor-attached cells; there is no need for different strains to form filopodia, cytonemes, and extracellular vesicles during cluster formation.

: In the automotive industry, high-strength plates have been increasingly used to reduce the vehicle body weight due to stringent regulations on fuel economy and safety. Such plates achieve tensile strengths as high as 1.5 GPa owing to the hot-stamping process. However, these plates suffer from scale generation and surface decarburization because of the surface oxidation of the material. Recently, studies on materials subjected to high-frequency induction heating have reported strength improvement owing to the coil shape and cooling method. This study presents the surface temperature changes, mechanical properties, and microstructures of boron steels subjected to longitudinal heating, which uses eddy currents generated from high-frequency induction heating. The surface temperature data were analyzed under different high-frequency induction heating powers (15, 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30 kW) and distances from the specimen (6, 9, and 15 mm). The mechanical properties and microstructures were also analyzed in different high-frequency induction heating coil directions. The correlations between the high-frequency induction heating power and the distance from the specimen with the maximum tensile strength were determined.

Pharmaceutical poisoning is a significant global public health concern, causing approximately 190,000 deaths yearly. This scoping review aims to comprehensively map the available literature on pharmaceutical poisoning and compare patterns between high-income countries (HICs) and low-middle-income countries (LMICs). A systematic search was performed across the following databases: Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and CINAHL. Studies included were from 1st January 2011 to 31st December 2020, in English, with full text available. Seventy-nine articles were included in the study; 21 were from LMICs and 58 were from HICs. The toxic exposure was largely intentional (77%) in LMICs and accidental (68%) in HICs. Drugs acting on the nervous system were responsible for 95% of toxicities worldwide with analgesics accounting for the largest subtherapeutic group in both LMICs (40%) and HICs (58%). Notable statistics were that HICs accounted for 99% of opioid overdoses, and LMICs accounted for 19% of anti-epileptic-induced toxicities. Overall, the medical outcomes of poisonings were generally worse in LMICs. The review provides possible interventions to target specific geographic locations, based on the trends identified, to reduce the burden worldwide. Many gaps within the literature were recognised, calling for more robust analytical research.

The paper presents a simplified laminar model with which the deformation of soil layers (base, subbase and subgrade courses) under flexible pavements due to repeated traffic load can be determined. In the first step, the cyclic strain amplitude is calculated using a nonlinear material model that is based on particle size distribution parameters (d50 and CU) and dependent on the mean normal stress, relative density and actual strain level. In the second step, the HCA (High Cycle Accumulation) model is used to calculate the residual settlement of each sublayer as a function of the number of cycles. It is shown that the developed model is suitable for describing different types of subgrades and pavement cross-sections. It is also demonstrated with finite element calculations that the developed model describes both the elastic and plastic strains sufficiently accurately. The developed model can predict the settlement and rutting of pavement structures with sufficient accuracy based on easily available particle size distribution parameters without the need of complex laboratory and finite element tests.

This study investigates the nonlinearities in three-phase inverters for SiC-based systems and compares their performance to IGBT-based systems. An analytical model of inverter voltage distortion is developed, which accounts not only for dead time (td), switching delay time, switching frequency (fs), and voltage drops of power devices, but also for output parasitic capacitance (Cout). Experimental tests validate the model, which provides a more accurate estimate of the inverter’s output phase voltage distortion. The power device characteristics are obtained from datasheets, while Cout is determined through experimentation. Three-phase inverters with varying switching frequencies, fundamental frequencies, and dead-time values are used in simulations and experiments to determine the influence of nonlinearity on phase voltage deviation and current distortion. The results show that, due to SiC devices’ faster switching time, the phase voltage deviation and phase current distortion are lower in SiC-based inverters than in IGBT-based ones for high-frequency applications, as the dead time can be reduced.

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is associated with hyperglycaemia-induced hypoxia and inflammation. The study assessed the effects of a single high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on glycaemia (BG) and serum level of pro-inflammatory cytokines and an essential mediator of adaptive response to hypoxia in T1D patients. The macronutrients intake was also evaluated. Nine patients suffering from T1D for about 12 years and nine healthy individuals (CG) were enrolled and completed one session of HIIE at the intensity of 120% lactate threshold and duration of 4 x 5 min intermittent with 5 min rest after each bout of exercise. Capillary and venous blood was withdrawn at rest, immediately after and at the 24 h post-HIIE for analysis of BG, hypoxia-inducible factor alpha (HIF-1α), tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and vascular-endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Pre-exercise BG was significantly higher in the T1D compared to the CG (p = 0.043). HIIE led to a significant decline in T1D patients’ BG (p = 0.027) and to a tendency for a lower BG at 24-h post-HIIE vs pre-HIIE. HIF-1α was significantly elevated in the T1D compared to CG and there was a trend for HIF-1α to decline, and VEGF, TNF-α to increase in response to HIIE in the T1D group. Both groups consumed higher and lower than recommended amounts of protein and fat, respectively. In T1D group, a tendency for a higher digestible carbohydrate intake and more frequent hyperglycaemic episodes on the day after HIIE were observed. HIIE was effective in reducing T1D patients’ glycaemia and improving the short-term glycaemic control. HIIE has the potential to improve adaptive response to hypoxia by elevating the serum level of VEGF. Patients’ diet and level of physical activity should be screened on a regular basis, and they should be educated on the glycaemic effects of digestible carbohydrates.

This paper introduces an advanced method that integrates contingent valuation and machine learning (CVML) to estimate residents’ demand for reducing or mitigating environmental pollutions and climate change. To be precise, CVML is an innovative hybrid machine-learning model, and it can leverage a limited amount of survey data for prediction and data enrichment purposes. The model comprises of two interconnected modules: Module I, an unsupervised learning algorithm, and Module II, a supervised learning algorithm. Module I is responsible for grouping the data into groups based on common characteristics, thereby grouping the corresponding dependent variable, whereas Module II is in charge of demonstrating the ability to predict and the capacity to appropriately assign new samples to their respective category based on input attributes. Take a survey on the topic of air pollution in Hanoi in 2019 as an example, we found that CVML can predict households’ willingness– to– pay for polluted air mitigation at a high degree of accuracy (i.e., 98%). We found that CVML can help users reduce costs or save resources because it makes use of secondary data that is available on many open data sources. These findings suggest that CVML is a sound and practical method that could be widely applied in a wide range of fields, particularly environmental economics and sustainability science. In practice, CVML could be used to support decision-makers in improving the financial resources to maintain and/or further support many environmental programs in years to come.

As an important organelle in eukaryotic cells, Golgi apparatus is responsible for processing and transporting proteins and lipids in cells. Precise monitoring the status of Golgi apparatus by targeting fluorescence imaging technology is of enormous importance but remains an attractive yet dramatically challenging task. In this study, we report the construction of the first Golgi apparatus targeted sensor with bright near-infrared fluorescence, termed as Golgi-Pdots. As a start point of our investigation, hydrophobic CDs with bright NIR fluorescence at 674 nm (fluorescence quantum yield : 12.18%), narrow emission band of 23 nm, and excellent stability were facilely prepared from Magnolia Denudata flowers through an ultrasonic method. Incorporating the CDs into a polymer matrix modified with Golgi-targeting molecules can produce the water-soluble Golgi-Pdots, which showed high colloidal stability and similar optical properties as compared to CDs. Further studies revealed that the Golgi-Pdots showed good biocompatibility and Golgi-targeting ability. Based on these fascinating properties, Golgi-Pdots have been successfully used for long term bioimaging of Golgi apparatus inside live cells.

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