This paper aims to study and analyze a new Peltier cell layout using a PCM in biphasic mode, with the liquid phase encapsulating the p-n junctions and the solid one playing the role of heat sink. The selected PCM is an organic compound that operates within a temperature range corresponding to the melting process. The phase change zone encompasses the working temperature of the Peltier cell, avoiding thermal gradient variation across the cell section and maintaining the operating conditions and the cell efficiency. PCM encapsulates the Peltier cell thermocouples, creating a layer that increases the power generation as the thickness reduces. We simulated the performance of the new configuration for different temperature gaps between both sides of the cell, obtaining an improvement in power generation from 1.65 to 7.93. This power increase ratio depends on the temperature gap and transient time to reach the steady working temperature. The control of the layer thickness, transient time, and working temperatures resides in the external heating power source, which varies the operating conditions regulating the heat power and the airflow. Maximum output power from the cell prototype is 36.5 W, while conventional Peltier cells operating in similar conditions produce 7.3 W, which represents a power gain of 500%.

Together with display and input, storage and processing are requisite to computing. While storage technologies have improved tremendously in capacity and speed over the years, the basic principles enabling information storage into digital 1 and 0 remains the same: induction of phase change in the storage substrate. But recently, there has been much research into structural phase change material (SPCM) and exploration of its possible use in various types of memory storage applications. Despite unconventional use of structural change between amorphous and crystalline state as well as that between crystal structures for encoding information, key barriers for its widespread use remains access speed, capacity to cost ratio, and fidelity of storage. Hence, given the performance requirement of SPCM for memory applications, what are the material and design considerations that feed into translating a promising application into a practical reality? Given the important role of kinetic and thermal energy in structural organization of a phase change material, precise characterization of structural change in the material with external physical factors such as heat, voltage and current, is critical for storage material design. Next comes the precision at which individual memory cells for storing single bits of information could be defined reproducibly and at high fidelity using SPCM. In congruent with memory cell definition lies the equally important aspect of constraining the field characteristics used in modulating the phase state of the memory medium. Specifically, while heat is useful for mediating the “melting” of a crystalline material into its amorphous state, heat conduction is less useful for transferring the “switch command” from the effector to the memory material. More importantly, choice of structural phase change material for memory applications likely revolves around those where individual memory cells could be defined in a cross array format, which is amenable to high density information storage. Durability and fidelity of information storage are additional factors of design that favours selection of SPCM with phase change occurring at narrow operating windows without hysteresis over extended cycling. But, the most important requirement is speed of access. To this end, energetic cost of phase transitions might affect operation of the phase change memory at the system level: for example, usage of large current for high energy transition step may impact on device durability. Ultimately, there is a fundamental limit on the number of reproducible phase transitions in a SPCM before fidelity of information storage is no longer guaranteed. Hence, what are the drivers for uptake of phase change memories in consumer devices? Performance gains must be realized in access speed, storage capacity, form factor, and fidelity of information storage for practical application of structural phase change memories.

Nowadays, the growing concern about improving thermal comfort in textiles, asphalt pavements and buildings has stimulated research into phase change materials (PCMs). However, the incorporation of PCMs directly causes mechanical impacts. Therefore, this study herein reported focuses on designing coaxial phase change fibres using commercial cellulose acetate (CA) or recycled CA obtained from cotton fabrics (CAt) as a coating and polyethylene glycol (PEG) 2000 as a core. The phase change fibres (PCF) were produced by wet spinning, varying the parameters: (i) CA concentration, molecular weight and source (virgin versus recycled); and (ii) PEG concentration and ejection. For phase change recycled fibres (PCFt), PEG concentration and ejection were varied. The fibres were assessed for their optical, chemical, thermal and mechanical properties. Bright-field microscopy images and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) micrographs proved the coaxial structure. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the presence of PEG in the core. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) proved the ability of PCFs to tolerate high temperatures. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) attested to the presence of PEG2000 peaks, since their melting points were close to those of virgin PEG2000, with a slight change in the PCFs and PCFts caused by the protective sheath of CA and CAt.

Batch combustion in wood log stoves is a promising application for latent heat storage (LHS), due to the transient heat production with high peak effects. The current study aimed at designing a compact, passive and durable LHS system storing a substantial part of the heat release during batch combustion and effectively releasing the stored heat to the room for 6 to 10 hours after the last batch. The LHS system consists of a coaxial cylinder located at the top of the wood stove, replacing part of the regular stovepipe. Internal metallic fins were applied as heat transfer enhancement to homogenize the temperature distribution inside the PCM. The effect of radial fin lengths was numerically investigated through a parametric study using five different fin lengths within the PCM. Using 35-mm fins in the 70-mm PCM layer yielded the best trade-off for the application. This configuration enabled achieving a slow but close to complete melting of the PCM within a realistic combustion duration, while avoiding overheating the PCM above its degradation temperature. Thereafter, the discharge allowed releasing the stored latent heat for 6 hours. The exhaust gas inlet temperature proved to have a strong influence on the PCM thermal performance.

In Geo Polymer bricks (GPB), fly ash content which is a waste from power plants is converted into bricks by chemical treatment. GPB can be dried by using appropriate curing methods. Conven-tionally electric oven curing is one of the prominent methods. Using solar dryer instead of elec-trical oven gives added advantage of saving high grade electrical energy. So in this work solar dryer with PCM (Phase Change materials) Paraffin Wax and without PCM is used for curing ap-plication. GPB are gaining added advantage when compared to conventional bricks like cement and sand bricks in terms of strength. GPB has been taken as specimen for comparing the com-pressive, tensile split strength and flexural strength by electrical energy based curing and solar energy based curing. It is experimentally observed that solar energy based curing with PCM and without PCM exhibits higher compressive strength, higher tensile split strength and flexural strength when compared to electrical energy based curing. Solar curing with PCM shows higher compressive strength, higher tensile split strength and flexural strength when compared to Solar curing without PCM. Open solar curing is a traditional technique but nowadays aggressive cli-matic conditions can lead to severe damage of Geo polymers. The novelty of this work is to suggest to study the effect of PCM like paraffin wax in solar drying on curing time, mechanical properties of GPB.

Yttria stabilized zirconia materials are frequently used in mechanical engineering and biomedical applications. Demanding loading conditions require materials combining a high level of strength and fracture toughness. A ready to press alumina doped 2 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia powder was shaped by axial pressing and sintering in air at 1250 - 1500 °C for 2 h. The best combination of strength and toughness value of 7.8 MPa√m. Materials sintered in the middle of the chosen temperature range combine fully density, high transformability and small grain size. Toughness measurements by direct crack length measurements delivered unrealistically high fracture toughness values.

In contrast to animals, adult organs in plants are not determined during embryogenesis but gen-erated from meristematic cells as plants advance through development. Plant development in-volves a succession of different phenotypic stages and the transition between these stages is termed phase transition. Phase transitions need to be tightly regulated and coordinated to ensure they occur under optimal seasonal, environmental conditions. Polycarpic perennials transition through vegetative stages and the mature, reproductive stage many times during their lifecycles and, in both perennial and annual species, environmental factors and culturing methods can re-verse the otherwise unidirectional vector of plant development. Epigenetic factors regulating gene expression in response to internal cues and external (environmental) stimuli influencing the plant’s phenotype and development have been shown to control phase transitions. How develop-mental and environmental cues interact to epigenetically alter gene expression and influence these transitions are not well understood and understanding this interaction is important considering the current climate change scenarios, since epigenetic maladaptation could have catastrophic con-sequences for perennial plants in natural and agricultural ecosystems. Here we review studies focussing on the epigenetic regulators of the vegetative phase change and highlight how these mechanisms might act in exogenously induced plant rejuvenation and regrowth following stress.

As novel materials for carbon capture, phase change solvents can separate into two immiscible phases during the CO2 capturing procedure under a certain temperature. The solvent systems can significantly decrease the energy consumption since the solvents can be regenerated by only heating the rich-CO2 phase. In this work, amino acid ionic liquids (AAILs) were synthesized using quaternary ammonium salts and amino acids as raw materials, and the aqueous solutions were prepared as novel liquid-solid phase change solvents. The results showed that the solvents had excellent CO2 absorption capacity, and the AAILs functionalized by glycine and tryptophan exhibited significant phase change properties. The mechanism of phase-change of the solvent were mainly due to the lower solubility of the product after reaction between AAILs and CO2. The solvent with tryptophan as anion could be regenerated by only heating the CO2-riched solid phase, which might significantly decrease energy consumption of regeneration. And the absorbent could be reused with the regenerated absorption ratio up to 79%. The solvent system has great potential in industrial application due to the easy operation process and efficient recycling ability.

Lamb waves occur in thin-walled structures in two wave modes, the symmetric and antisymmetric mode. Their oscillation on the structures‘ surfaces is either in phase (symmetric) or shifted by a phase angle of π (antisymmetric). In this work, a method is developed to compare the surfaces‘ oscillation phase relation. It is based on the evaluation of time signals regarding the instantaneous phase angle using the continuous wavelet transformation and as a comparative method the short-time Fourier transformation. For this purpose, numerical simulations utilizing the finite element method provide time signals from the top and bottom surface of different thin-walled structures. They differ with respect to their material settings and laminate configurations. The numerically obtained time signals are evaluated by the developed methods. The occurring oscillation phase differences on the top and bottom surface are studied and both methods are compared. Subsequently, the oscillation phase is evaluated experimentally for the wave propagation in a fiber metal laminate. It is shown that the method based on the continuous wavelet transformation is suitable for the evaluation of oscillation phase relations in time signals. Additionally, it is proven that fiber metal laminates show only two phase relations which indicates the occurrence of Lamb waves.

Corresponding to the principles of biological synapses, an essential prerequisite for hardware neural networks using electronics devices is continuous regulation of conductance. We implemented artificial synaptic characteristics in a (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM with a superlattice structure under optimized identical pulse trains. Based on atomically controlling the Ge switch in the phase transition that appears in the GeTe/Sb2Te3 superlattice structure, multiple conductance states were implemented by applying the appropriate electrical pulses. Furthermore, we found that the bidirectional switching behavior of a (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM can achieve a desired resistance level using the pulse width. Therefore, we also fabricated a Ge2Sb2Te5 PCM and designed a pulse scheme based on the phase transition mechanism to compare to the (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM. We designed an identical pulse scheme that implements linear and symmetrical LTP and LTD based on the iPCM mechanism. As a result, the (GeTe/Sb2Te3)16 iPCM showed relatively excellent synaptic characteristics by implementing gradual conductance modulation, a nonlinearity value of 0.32, and LTP/LTD 40 conductance states using identical pulses trains. Our results demonstrate the general applicability of the artificial synaptic device for potential use in neuro-inspired computing and next generation non-volatile memory.

The TanDEM-X mission is acquiring a new dataset to provide a temporally independent DEM, called "TanDEM-X Change DEM". This set of acquisitions taken between 2017 and 2020 has a clear temporal separation to the TanDEM-X global DEM data which were acquired between 2010 and 2015. Therefore, this new DEM aims to enable the characterization of terrain changes. Improvements in the acquisition planning and the data processing were necessary to generate this Change DEM with fewer acquisitions but still very high accuracy. For this, the use of an edited TanDEM-X DEM as a "starting point" for the interferometric processing is mandatory.

To overcome the two-phase flow instability of traditional boiling heat dissipation technologies, a porous wick was used for liquid-vapor isolation, thus realizing efficient and stable boiling heat dissipation. A pump-assisted capillary phase-change loop with methanol as working medium was established to study the effect of liquid-vapor pressure difference and heating power on its start-up and steady-state characteristics. The results indicated that the evaporator undergoes four heat transfer modes including flooded, partial flooded, thin film evaporation and overheating. The thin film evaporation mode was the most efficient one with the shortest start-up period. Besides, the heat transfer modes were determined by liquid-vapor pressure difference and power. The heat transfer coefficient could be significantly improved and the thermal resistance could be reduced by increasing liquid-vapor pressure difference as long as it did not exceed 8 kPa. However, when the liquid-vapor pressure difference exceeded 8kPa, its influence on the heat transfer coefficient weakened. In addition, a two-dimensional heat transfer mode distribution diagram considering both liquid-vapor pressure difference and power was drawn through a great number of experiments. During engineering application, the liquid-vapor pressure difference can be controlled to maintain efficient thin film evaporation in order to achieve the optimum heat dissipation effect.

A Berry geometrical phase is identified in a strongly metastable system containing dynamically responsive clathrate hydrate structures within a crystal-fluid material. High energy degeneracy in the associated chemistry produces local stability and false vacuum conditions that lead to non-extensive and non-additive contributions in the fundamental thermodynamic relation. Application of Ginzburg-Landau theory and the scaling laws reveals a coherence length and a penetration depth for a macro-scale dual superconductor. The coherence length determines non-extensive volume changes whilst its inverse gives the Higgs mass. The penetration depth determines the extent of QCD vacuum suppression whilst its inverse gives the vector boson mass together with indirect manifestation as non-additive hyperbolic curvature. Simultaneous emergence of the Ginzburg-Landau superconducting phase transition is consistent with gauge-invariant coupling of the scalar field to the Yang-Mills action in QCD. The discovery of an energy gap in the gradient energy term of the system Lagrangian is associated with a critical correlation length revealed in the transition from a gapped to a gapless superconducting state. Together with the emergence and absorption of the Higgs-like scalar field, a mechanism for describing a renormalized QCD mass gap arises.

In order to the effect of hydrated phase change materials on suppressing coal spontaneous combustion, the thermogravimetric experiment and reaction activation energy analysis experiment were used to explore the changes of combustion characteristic, parameters characteristic temperature and activating energy of gas coal, long flame coal, meagre coal, and lean coal before and after adding hydrated phase change materials. The research results showed that hydrated phase change materials increased the coal samples’characteristic temperature point and have effective inhibitory effects on different stages of oxidation process.However, the effect was best at low temperatures, as hydrated phase change materials undergo phase change and absorb heat when heated at low temperatures, isolating coal from contact with oxygen. The activating energy increased by 1.138 KJmol-1～23.048 KJmol-1 and the mass loss reduced by 1.6%～9.3% after the inhibition of the coal sample,indicating that the oxidation rate of various coal samples can be slowed down and the spontaneous combustion can be suppressed by using hydrated phase change materials.At the same time, this material can also reduce the combustibility index of meagre coal and lean coal, as well as the comprehensive combustion index and maximum loss rate of long flame coal and gas coal.

This study investigates the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of steel subjected to high-temperature heat treatment, with a focus on the formation and effects of dark phase precipitates. High Temperature Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (HTCLSM) was employed to observe the in-situ changes in microstructure as the steel was heated from room temperature to 900°C. The observations revealed that dark phase precipitates, identified as chromium carbides (Cr7C3), began forming at approximately 820°C and increased in quantity and size up to 900°C. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) confirmed that these precipitates significantly enhance the material's hardness, with microhardness values of 320 HV for the precipitates compared to 270 HV for the matrix. Tensile tests showed that the tensile strength of the steel increases with soaking time at 900°C, reaching a maximum after 3 minutes due to the strengthening effect of the precipitates. Beyond this point, strength decreases due to grain coarsening.

The contact materials in high-voltage vacuum interrupter require properties such as high conductivity, high density, and high hardness to minimize arc heat damage. In this study, copper–molybdenum-chromium alloys contact materials are examined for a high voltage contact material. Ball milling process was carried out after analyzing the raw materials of copper, chromium, and molybdenum powders. A green compact was produced using a high press with the mixed powder. Afterwards, composite was produced by sintering method according to temperature and infiltration method according to Cu content in green compact. The composite of sintering method showed a density of 8.55 g/cm3 (relative density 93%) a hardness of 217 HV, and an electrical conductivity of 40.7 IACS% at 1200 °C. The composite of 10 wt.% Cu produced by the Cu infiltration method showed a density of 8.7 g/cm3 (relative density 94%), Hardness of 274HV and electrical conductivity of 39 IACS% at 1300 °C. The measurements of physical properties showed the new possibility of using the Cu–Cr–Mo alloy as a contact material for high-voltage vacuum interrupters.

The energy crisis is currently a major topic in scientific and managerial discussions in the building and construction industry. While employing low-cost strategies for reducing energy usage is beneficial for principals and decision-makers, the primary purpose of this study is to recommend the use of phase change materials (PCM) to improve cooling and heating load management in buildings. In order to accomplish this, the study applies design-builder simulations to a developing country case study. The results indicate that integrating PCM in buildings can reduce energy usage by around 6 percent. Although this value may be lower than other techniques, it is nevertheless important for reaching green building goals in both developed and developing nations. The case study, which takes place in a four-season region, demonstrates the significant potential of the PCM system for both cooling and heating energy management. In addition, the reciprocal performance improvement of PCMs is a remarkable characteristic, especially when contrasted to some conventional systems that focus on a single energy management objective in buildings. Lastly, it should be underlined that the suggested platform is consistent with Sustainable Development Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy Targets).

Traditional phase change composites usually suffer poor mechanical property and easy collapsing in the phase changing process. Herein, a highly flexible phase change composite is fabricated using thermoplastic elastomer as the basic gel and the expanded graphite/paraffin as the filler. This new phase change composite shows a tensile strength of 2.1 MPa and a breaking elongation of 220%. It has a melting enthalpy of 145.4 J•g^-1 and a thermal conductivity of 2.2 W•m^-1•K^-1 with 70% of expanded graphite/paraffin. The thermoplastic elastomer based phase change composite exhibits great reversible property after 200 heating/cooling cycles. This flexible phase change composite demonstrates good photo-thermal energy charging/discharging property and shows great potential to be applied in the solar thermal energy systems.

This work exclusively focuses on the assessment of the thermal performance of a multifunctional facade panel incorporating PCM in foam layers, recurring to a hot box heat flux meter method to determine the thermal transmittance (U-value). The experimental setup is based on the steady-state approach using climatic chambers, assuring a stable thermal environment. Even small fractions of PCM achieved a small reduction in thermal amplitude. Numerical simulations using Ansys Fluent were developed to evaluate the performance of PCM use over a wide range of temperature boundary conditions and operating modes. These numerical models were calibrated and validated using the results of experimental tests, achieving a correlation factor of 0.9674, thus accurately representing a real-world scenario. The decrement factor (f) was used to analyse the data. It was identified that the efficiency of the panel and size of the optimum region increased with the PCM fraction growth. The simulated behaviour was optimum when the input mean temperature is of 20 °C for a room temperature of between 18-20 °C. The results show the significant potential of the multi-layered panel and the thermal regulator effect of the PCM incorporated on indoor space temperature to reach good thermal comfort levels.

When focusing on materials science in civil engineering, the current trend is to investigate the use of innovative solutions in order to enhance thermal and energy performances. This trend is amplified with the need for a sustainable development strategy for the construction sector. This paper assesses the integration of a Phase Change Material (PCM) in cement intended for building construction. The key characteristic of PCMs is their capacity to absorb energy and restore it. In building construction, this feature could be harnessed to save energy by incorporating PCMs in the materials used. In this study, passive integration of PCM in cement was tested and thermal properties of such an integration was assessed. The results provide insights into how PCMs affect cement as part of the concrete mixture, thus identifying the contribution of PCM-based cements in concrete mixtures.

This paper presents results of the magnetic dynamics study (the microwave power absorptions at the fixed frequencies, during magnetic field sweeping) in samples of Y3Fe5O12 single crystals in the form of plates and spheres of various sizes, at frequencies exceeding 30 GHz, in magnetic fields up to 18 kOe, at room temperature and T=77 K. It was found, that in this case, the inhomogeneity’s of the magnetic state manifested itself in the Y3Fe5O12 samples in as 2D local phase separation regions. These 2D phase separation regions formed inside domain walls representing superlattices with size’s 700 – 900 Å. Landau diamagnetism or de Haas van Alphen oscillations observed in the 2D phase separation regions at room temperature and T=77 K, depending on the shape and size of the studied plates and spheres.

Promoting the use of solar energy resources has always faced the challenges of instability and supply-demand mismatch. The key to solving these issues is to efficiently store and utilize solar energy resources using high-performance heat storage devices. This study designed a high-performance shell-and-tube phase change thermal storage device and established a numerical model using ANSYS software to summarize the device's dynamic melting law. To verify the accuracy of the numerical simulation, a performance testing platform for the phase change thermal storage device was built to investigate the impact of factors such as inlet water temperature, inlet water flow rate, type of heat storage, and initial temperature of the device, and to reveal the change law of the device's performance. The results show that the inlet water temperature has the most significant impact on the device's heat storage and release performance. When the device's heat storage or release is used for heating, changing the inlet water flow rate has a weak and limited effect on the device's performance. However, when the device's heat release is used to provide domestic hot water, increasing the makeup water temperature and reducing the inlet water flow rate can significantly improve the device's effective heat release. Furthermore, based on the experimental validation of the model's correctness, this study further simulated and studied the impact of different factors on the device's heat storage process to optimize its structural design and provide technical references for the device's actual operation and installation. The results show that the placement of fins has a negligible effect on the performance of the heat storage device while reducing the fin spacing and increasing the fin thickness can significantly improve the melting efficiency of the phase change material (PCM). Additionally, the heat storage characteristics of the device are significantly better in the vertical installation mode than in the horizontal installation mode. This study provides theoretical guidance and technical references for the design and use of phase change thermal storage devices.

The poor solvent crystallization of carbapenem CS-023 has been performed at 25 °C. The following results have been obtained: 1) A solvate crystal Form A (5/2 Ethanol·1/2 H2O) is recovered from 80 v/v% ethanol solution, 2) Form A transforms to Form H (4H2O) by the solid-phase transition through the solvate-free polymorph, Form A-2, and Form A also transformed to Form C (1Ethanol·3H2O) by the solvent-mediated transformation. In the present study, we found that Form C also transforms to Form H by the solid-phase transition through the solvate-free polymorph, Form C-2. The three polymorphs, Form A, H, and C, were composed of the helical-chain structures, respectively. However, there was an incomprehensible affair in the solid phase transition among the three polymorphs. Namely, Form A comprised a left-handed helix.On the other hand, Form C and Form H’s helix chains were in a left- and right-handed helix complex. The solid-phase transition of Form A into Form H suggested the switch of helicity in the solid. We attempted to explain the helicity change in the solid phase transition. As a result, it was suggested that the over-absorption of water of Form A-2 at high humidity plays a vital role in the helicity change.

Miniaturization of electronics devices is often limited by the concomitant high heat fluxes (cooling load) and maldistribution of temperature profiles (hot spots). Thermal energy storage (TES) platforms providing supplemental cooling can be a cost-effective solution, that often leverages phase change materials (PCM). Although salt hydrates provide higher storage capacities and power ratings (as compared to that of the organic PCMs), they suffer from reliability issues (e.g., supercooling). ‘Cold Finger Technique (CFT)’ can obviate supercooling by maintaining a small mass fraction of the PCM in solid state for enabling spontaneous nucleation. Optimization of CFT necessitates real-time forecasting of the transient values of the melt-fraction. In this study artificial neural network (ANN) is explored for real-time prediction of the time remaining to reach a target value of melt-fraction based on the prior history of the spatial distribution of the surface temperature transients. Two different approaches were explored for training the ANN model, using: (1) transient PCM-temperature data; or (2) transient surface-temperature data. When deployed in a heat sink that leverages PCM based passive thermal management systems for cooling of electronic chips and packages, this maverick approach (using the second method) affords cheaper costs, better sustainability, higher reliability and resilience.

Energy is a fundamental ingredient in economic development and energy consumption is an index of prosperity and the standard of living. The consumption of energy has increased significantly in the last number of decades, as the standard of living has improved. Renewable energy is a sustainable and clean source of energy derived from nature. Renewable energy technology is one of the solutions, which produces energy by transforming natural resources into useful energy forms. When you do something for the first time in the world, you never attain a perfect product or solution from the start. In Central Greece Lamia city, we are the first to design and implement an off-grid energy system using hydrogen energy storage technology and phase change materials for a house residence. The action plan for energy efficiency, a series of directives and incentive mechanisms, mandatory energy certification of buildings, indicate the urgent need to reduce energy consumption in buildings, which results in a more comfortable living, long service life of buildings, which in turn preserves the environment.

As a high-frequency carrier, the Terahertz (THz) wave is essential for achieving high-data-rate wireless transmission due to its ultra-wide bandwidth. Phase stabilization becomes crucial to enable phase-shift-based multilevel modulation for high-speed data transmission. We developed a Mach-Zehnder interferometric phase stabilization technique for photomixing, which has proved a promising method for phase-stable continuous THz-wave generation. However, this method faces inefficiencies in generating phase-modulated THz waves due to the impact of the phase modulator on the phase stabilization system. By photomixing, which is one of the promising methods for generating THz waves, the phase of the generated THz waves can be controlled in the optical domain so that the stability of the generated THz wave can be controlled by photonics technologies. Thus, we have devised a new phase stabilization approach using backward-directional lightwave, which is overlapped with the THz wave generation system. This study presents a conceptual and experimental framework for stabilizing the phase differences of optical carrier signals. We compare the optical domain and transmission performances between forward-directional and backward-directional phase stabilization methods. Remarkably, our results demonstrate error-free transmission at a modulation frequency of 3 Gbit/s and higher.

The endometrium, the inner mucosal lining of the uterus, undergoes complex molecular and cellular changes across the menstrual cycle in preparation for embryo implantation. Transcrip-tome-wide analyses have mainly been utilized to study the endometrial receptivity, the prerequisite for successful implantation, with most of the studies, so far, comparing the endometrial transcriptomes between (i) secretory versus proliferative endometrium or (ii) mid-secretory versus early-secretory endometrium. In the current study, we provide the complete transcriptome description of the endometrium across the entire menstrual cycle and, for the first time, comprehensively characterize the proliferative phase of the endometrium. Our temporal transcriptome analysis includes five time points: mid-proliferative, late-proliferative (peri-ovulatory phase), early-secretory, mid-secretory, and late-secretory phases. Thus, we exhaustively unveil the transitions between the consecutive proliferative and secretory phases, highlighting their unique gene expression profiles and possible distinct biological functions. Transcriptome analysis reveals many differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across the menstrual cycle, most of which are phase-specific. As an example of the coordinated gene activity, the expression profile of his-tone-encoding genes within the HIST cluster on chromosome 6 showed an increase in cluster activity during the late-proliferative and a decline during the mid-secretory phase. Moreover, numerous DEGs are shared among all phases. In conclusion, in the current study, we delineate the endometrial proliferative phase-centered view of transcriptome dynamics across the menstrual cycle. Data analysis highlights significant transcriptomic and functional changes occurring during the late-proliferative phase – an essential transition point from the proliferative to the secretory phase. Future studies should explore how the biology of the late-proliferative phase endometrium impacts the achievement of mid-secretory endometrial receptivity or contributes to molecular aberrations leading to embryo implantation failure.

In this research, atomistic molecular dynamics simulations are combined with mesoscopic phase-field computational methods in order to investigate phase-transformation in polycrystalline Aluminum microstructure. In fact, microstructural computational modeling of engineering materials could help to optimize their mechanical properties for industrial applications (e.g. directional solidification for turbine blades). As a result, a multiscale modeling approach is developed to find a relation between manufacturing variables (e.g. temperature) and microstructural properties of crystalline materials (e.g. grain size), which could be used to develop an advanced manufacturing process for sensitive applications. The results show that atomistic modeling of grain growth could be used as a first-principle approach in order to study phase transformation's kinetics, which could capture morphology of polycrystalline materials more accurately. On the other hand, phase-field mesoscopic approach needs less computational efforts, but still it relies on semi-empirical data to capture accurate phase transformation regimes, which makes this approach suitable for rapid examining of new manufacturing conditions as well as its effects on microstructural properties of polycrystalline materials.

Many natural signals exhibit a quasi-periodic behavior and are conveniently modeled as a combination of several harmonic sinusoids whose relative frequencies, magnitudes and phases vary with time. The waveform shape of those signals reflects important physical phenomena underlying their generation, which requires that those parameters be accurately estimated and modeled. In the literature, accurate phase estimation and modeling has received much less research effort than frequency estimation, or magnitude estimation. First, this paper addresses accurate DFT-based phase estimation of individual sinusoids in six scenarios involving two DFT-based filter banks and three different windows. It is shown that bias in phase estimation is less than 1E-3 radians when the SNR is equal to or larger than 2.5 dB. Taking as a reference the Cramér-Rao Lower Bound, it is shown that one particular window offers a performance of practical interest by approximating better the CRLB when signal conditions are favorable, and by minimizing the performance deviation when signal conditions are adverse. Second, this paper explains how a shift-invariant phase-related feature can be devised that characterizes harmonic phase structure, which motivates a signal processing paradigm that greatly simplifies parametric modeling, transformation and synthesis of harmonics signals, in addition to facilitating the understanding and reverse engineering of the phasegram. Theory and results are discussed in a reproducible perspective using dedicated experiments that are supported with code allowing not only to replicate figures and results in this paper, but also to expand research.

The frequency synthesizer is a critical component in Cs beam clock technology. In this paper, we present a demonstration of a direct microwave frequency-synthesis chain for a cesium-beam atomic clock, which utilizes frequency multiplication and a dual-phase-locked loop mode. A detailed analysis of the frequency-synthesis chain is conducted, and a mathematical model is established. The phase settling time and system stability are simulated, measured, and verified. The experimental results for the phase settling time align with the simulation outcomes. The phase settling time can be adjusted within the range of 644.5 µs to 1.5 ms, and the absolute phase noise values are -63.7 dBc/Hz, -75.7 dBc/Hz, -107.1 dBc/Hz, and -122.5 dBc/Hz at 1 Hz, 10 Hz, 1 kHz, and 10 kHz offset frequencies, respectively. Additionally, the Ramsey fringes are detected, and the Allan deviations of the 10 MHz output from the cesium-beam atomic clock are measured to be 2.99×10−12 at 1s and 8.02×10−14 at 10,000 s.

In Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) patients, CD34+/CD38-/CD26+ cell population represents a “CML specific” Leukemia Stem Cell (LSC) compartment. Indeed, preliminary studies showed that the expression of CD26 discriminates bone marrow CML Leukemic Stem Cells (LSCs) from nor-mal Hematopoietic Stem Cells (HSCs) or from LSCs of other myeloid neoplasms. We were first to demonstrate that at diagnosis CD34+/CD38-/CD26+ cells are easily measurable also in Peripheral Blood (PB) and that residual circulating CD26+LSCs persist, with a fluctuating trend, in most pa-tients in optimal response during treatment with Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs) and even after successful TKI discontinuation. These data corroborate and confirm the possibility of using flow-cytometry CD26+ evaluation as an important diagnostic tool that, combined with molecular biology and cytogenetic, could provide a rapid diagnosis of Chronic Phase (CP) CML starting from a simple PB sample. Yet, few data are available regarding the behavior of CD26+LSCs during Accelerated Phase (AP) or Blast Phase (BP) CML and the role, if any, this peculiar staminal cell compartment may play in disease progression. In the present study we compared the presence and phenotypic characteristics of circulating CD26+LSCs in CP CML patients at diagnosis, during AP and in cases of progression to lymphoid BP, inquiring a possible role of these cells during dis-ease evolution.

Electrospun ultrathin fibers based on binary compositions of polylactide (PLA) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) with different ratios of polymer components from 0/100 to 100/0 wt. % were studied. Using a combination of thermal (DSC) and relaxation (EPR) measurements, the effect of biopolymers content on the characteristics of the crystal structure of PLA and PCL and the diffusive rotational mobility of the stable TEMPO radical in the amorphous regions of PLA/PCL compositions was shown. It was revealed that after PLA and PCL blending, significant changes in the degree of crystallinity of PLA, PCL segmental mobility, sorption capacity of the radical as well as activation energy of rotational diffusion in the amorphous regions of PLA/PCL composition are observed. The characteristic region of biopolymers’ composition from 50/50 to 30/70 % PLA/PCL blends ratio was found, where the inversion transition of PLA from dispersive medium to dispersive phase where an inversion transition is assumed when the continuous medium of the PLA transforms into a discrete phase. The performed studies made it possible for the first time to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the effect of the system component ratio on the structural and dynamic characteristics of the PLA/PCL film material at the molecular level.

The research paper provides a mathematical framework for understanding phase shift in wave phenomena, bridging theoretical foundations with real-world applications. It emphasizes the importance of phase shift in physics and engineering, particularly in fields like telecommunications and acoustics. Key equations are introduced to explain phase angle, time delay, frequency, and wavelength relationships. The study also introduces the concept of time distortion due to a 1° phase shift, crucial for precise time measurements in precision instruments. The research also addresses infinitesimal wave energy loss related to phase shift, enriching our understanding of wave behavior, and impacting scientific and engineering disciplines.

We investigate numerically the interactions of in-phase Airy beams modulated by a fundamental Gaussian beam and fourth-order diffraction in Kerr nonlinear media. Directly numerical simulations show that normal (anomalous) fourth-order diffractions and in-phase (out-of-phase) Gaussian beam affect the interactions of solitons generated from Airy beams in unique manners. Different from previous results that interactions between in-phase (out-of-phase) conventional beams are always attractive (repulsive), many anomalous interactions of Airy beams are obtained. Stable bound states of breathing Airy soliton pairs can be formed with the help of fourth-order diffraction and fundamental Gaussian beam.

Using coherent optical detection and digital signal processing, laser phase noise and equalization enhanced phase noise can be effectively mitigated using the feed-forward and feed-back carrier phase recovery approaches. In this paper, theoretical analyses of feed-back and feed-forward carrier phase recovery methods have been carried out in the long-haul high-speed n-level phase shift keying (n-PSK) optical fiber communication systems, involving a one-tap normalized least-mean-square (LMS) algorithm, a block-wise average algorithm, and a Viterbi-Viterbi algorithm. The analytical expressions for evaluating the estimated carrier phase and for predicting the bit-error-rate (BER) performance (such as the BER floors) have been presented and discussed in the n-PSK coherent optical transmission systems by considering both the laser phase noise and the equalization enhanced phase noise. The results indicate that the Viterbi-Viterbi carrier phase recovery algorithm outperforms the one-tap normalized LMS and the block-wise average algorithms for small phase noise variance (or effective phase noise variance), while the one-tap normalized LMS algorithm shows a better performance than the other two algorithms for large phase noise variance (or effective phase noise variance). In addition, the one-tap normalized LMS algorithm is more sensitive to the level of modulation formats.

We investigate perovskite oxides from different aspects, namely their pseudoharmonic dynamical properties, their dynamical properties when strong anharmonicity exists and the intriguing functionalities arising from domain walls. Taking these viewpoints together yields a rather complex picture of this material class which was not anticipated in previous approaches. It opens pathways to novel applications and reveals the rich ground states beyond the fictitious belief in ‘simplicity of perovskites and such structures’.

The generation of high-quality wideband frequency sweeps presents a significant challenge, particularly in modern telecommunication, radar, and measurement systems where miniaturization is paramount. While phase-locked loops (PLLs) have become the dominant technique for signal generation, their application in broadband sweeps necessitates fractional-N operation. This, in turn, degrades phase noise and introduces unwanted spurs. This paper proposes a novel approach for broadband signal generation. By cascading two PLLs and utilizing a coaxial resonator, we achieve a high-performance oscillator that operates without the excessive fractional spurs, maintaining their level below -80 dBc across the entire frequency band. The prototype demonstrates non-degraded phase noise performance, reaching -102 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset and -121 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset for signal at 10 GHz. Despite significant frequency jumps, our design achieves lock times below 41 µs. These results, supported by theoretical analysis, validate the proposed method's effectiveness in generating low-noise broadband frequency sweeps, ideal for local oscillator applications.

In this paper, the Phase-Scheduled-Command FXLMS algorithm with the phase error between the disturbance and command signal is analyzed in detail. The influence of the phase error on the convergence time constant, convergence rate, and performance of convergence is explained for both stationary and nonstationary disturbance signals case. For stationary disturbance, the phase error slightly increases the convergence rate but heavily increases the distance of the optimum vector from the initial value, leading to poor convergence time constant performance. For nonstationary disturbance, the existence of phase error leads to poor convergence performance in every step, resulting in poor sound profiling performance. And the estimation of the phase error influence is developed in the closed form. Simulations are performed to demonstrate the validity of the analysis results.

Linear state estimation (SE) formulation under a rectangular coordinate system has been proved to be applicable for real-time distribution network management. Micro phasor measurements’ model can be accommodated into this kind of SE easily. However, voltage magnitude, active power and reactive power measurements are transformed to linear measurements with large node voltage error. To cope with this issue, a linear state estimation under a polar coordinate system is adopted at the first stage to obtain accurate enough complex node voltage, and then nonlinear measurements are transformed to be linear with complex node voltage. At the second stage, linear SE under a rectangular coordinate system can be adopted to satisfy more strict network constraints. The proposed two-stage linear SE is validated on balanced 14, 33, 70,84, 119, 135 nodes network and IEEE 13, 34, 37,123 unbalanced test feeders.

This paper introduces the complex Rayleigh-van der Pol-Duffing oscillators (RVDOs), which are hyperchaotic and can be either autonomous or non-autonomous. The fundamental dynamics of the autonomous and nonautonomous complex RVDOs including dissipation, symmetry, fixed points and their stability are studied. These oscillators are found in various important fields of physics and engineering. The paper proposes a scheme to achieve phase synchronization (PS) and antiphase synchronization (APS) for different dimensional models. These kinds of synchronization are considered as generalization of several other types of synchronization. For this scheme we use the active control method based on Lyapunov stability theory. By analytically determining the control functions, the scheme achieved PS and APS. Our scheme is applied to study PS of hyperchaotic behaviours for two distinct hyperchaotic non-autonomous and autonomous complex RVDOs. Additionally, the scheme is employed to achieve APS of chaotic real non-autonomous RVDO and hyperchaotic complex autonomous RVDO, including those with different dimensions. Our work presents numerical results that plot the amplitudes and phases of these hyperchaotic behaviours, demonstrating the successful achievement of PS and APS.

In this paper, the deformation and phase transformation of disorder α phase at (α + γ) two phase region in as-forged Ti-44Al-8Nb-(W, B, Y) alloy are investigated by hot compression and hot packed rolling. Detailed microstructural evolution demonstrates that the as-deformed microstructure is significantly affected by deformation conditions. The mircrostructure differences are mainly due to temperature drop and strain rate. The evolution of α lamelae into α grains is detailed descripted. Moreover, the disorder α lamellae can also be decomposed into some new α grains by the assisted decomposition mechanism of γ grains. Microstructure evolution model of current TiAl alloy at 1250 °C during hot rolling is built.

A review of influence of drag-reducing agents on curved pipe flows is presented in this work. In addition, this review outlined proposed mechanism, friction factor and fluid flux models for drag-reducing agents in curved pipe flows. Our finding reveals that drag reduction by additives in curved pipes is quite significant but generally lower than the corresponding drag reduction in straight pipes. It decreases with increase in curvature ratio and more pronounced in the transition and turbulent flow regimes. Drag reduction strongly depends on the polymers and surfactants’ concentrations as well as the bubble fraction of micro-bubbles. It is also reported that drag reduction in curved pipes depends on temperature and existence of dissolved salts in the fluids. Maximum drag reduction asymptote differed between straight and curved pipes and between polymer and surfactant. No definite conclusion could be drawn as regards drag reduction for two-phase flow in curved pipes due to the limited studies in this area. Many questions such as the mechanism of drag reduction in curved pipes and how drag-reducing agents interact with secondary flows still remained unanswered. Hence, some research gaps have been identified with recommendations for areas of future researches.

The evolving multiphase induction generators (MPIG) with more than three phases are receiving prominence in high power generation systems. This paper aims at the development of a comprehensive model of the wind turbine driven seven-phase induction generator (7PIG) along with necessary the power electronic converters and controller for grid interface. The dynamic model of the system is developed in Maltlab/Simulink. Synchronous reference frame phase-locked loop (SRFPLL) system is incorporated for grid synchronization. The modeling aspects are detailed and the system response is observed for various wind velocities. The effectiveness of seven phase induction generator is demonstrated with the fault tolerant capability and high output power with reduced phase current when compared to conventional 3-phase wind generation scheme. The response of the PLL is analyzed and the results are presented.

In this paper, a semi-empirical model of air waves induced by falling rock is described. The model is composed of a uniform motion phase (velocity close to 0 m·s^-1) and an acceleration movement phase. The uniform motion phase was determined based on experimentally and the acceleration movement phase was derived by theoretical analysis. A series of experiments were performed to verify the semi-empirical model and elucidated the law of the uniform motion phase. The acceleration movement phase accounted for a larger portion with a greater height of the falling rock. Experimental results of different falling heights of the goaf showed close agreement with theoretical analysis values. The semi-empirical model could accurately and conveniently estimate the velocity of air wave induced by falling rock. Thus, the semi-empirical model can provide a reference and basis for estimating the speed of air waves and designing protective measures in mines.

The calculation of the standard enthalpies of vaporization, sublimation and solvation of organic molecules is presented using a common computer algorithm on the basis of a group-additivity method. The same algorithm is also shown to enable the calculation of their entropy of fusion as well as the total phase-change entropy of liquid crystals. The present method is based on the complete break-down of the molecules into their constituting atoms and their immediate neighbourhood; the respective calculations of the contribution of the atomic groups by means of the Gauss-Seidel fitting method is based on experimental data collected from literature. The feasibility of the calculations for each of the mentioned descriptors was verified by means of a 10-fold cross-validation procedure proving the good to high quality of the predicted values for the three mentioned enthalpies and for the entropy of fusion, whereas the predictive quality for the total phase-change entropy of liquid crystals was poor. The goodness of fit (Q²) and the standard deviation (σ) of the cross-validation calculations for the five descriptors was as follows: 0.9641 and 4.56 kJ/mol (N=3386 test molecules) for the enthalpy of vaporization, 0.8657 and 11.39 kJ/mol (N=1791) for the enthalpy of sublimation, 0.9546 and 4.34 kJ/mol (N=373) for the enthalpy of solvation, 0.8727 and 17.93 J/mol/K (N=2637) for the entropy of fusion and 0.5804 and 32.79 J/mol/K (N=2643) for the total phase-change entropy of liquid crystals. The large discrepancy between the results of the two closely related entropies is discussed in detail. Molecules, for which both the standard enthalpies of vaporization and sublimation were calculable, enabled the estimation of their standard enthalpy of fusion by simple subtraction of the former from the latter enthalpy. For 990 of them the experimental enthalpy-of-fusion values are also known, allowing their comparison with predictions, yielding a correlation coefficient R² of 0.6066.

For decades SrTiO3 is in the focus of research with seemingly never-ending new insights regarding its ground state properties, its application potentials, its surface and interface properties, the superconducting state, the twin boundaries and domain functionalities, etc. Here, we focus on the already well-investigated lattice dynamics of STO and show that four different temperature regimes can be identified which dominate the elastic properties, the thermal conductivity and the birefringence. These regimes are the low-temperature quantum fluctuation dominated one, followed by an intermediate regime, the region of the structural phase transition at ~105 K and its vicinity, and at high temperatures a regime characterized by precursor and saturation effects. They can all be elucidated by lattice dynamical aspects. The relevant temperature dependences of the soft modes are discussed and their relationship to lattice polarizability is emphasized.

We study an air-fluidized granular monolayer, composed in this case of plastic spheres, which roll on a metallic grid. The air current is adjusted so that the spheres never loose contact with the grid, so that the dynamics may be regarded as pseudo two-dimensional (or two-dimensional, if the effects of sphere rolling are not taken into account). We find two surprising continuous transitions, both of them displaying two coexisting phases. Moreover, in all cases, we found the coexisting phases display strong energy non-equipartition. In the first transition, at weak fludization, a glassy phase coexists with a disordered fluid-like phase. In the second transition, a hexagonal crystal coexists with the fluid phase. We analyze, for these two-phase systems, the specific diffusive properties of each phase, as well as the velocity correlations. Surprisingly, we find a glass phase at very low packing fraction and for a wide range of granular temperatures. Both phases are characterized also by a strong anti-correlated velocities upon collision. Thus, the dynamics observed for this quasi two-dimensional system unveils phase transitions with peculiar properties, very different from the predicted behavior in well know theories for their equilibrium counterparts.

We develop an 1/n expansion method for the systematic approxi- mation of the solutions of classical spin systems (tri-dimensional vec- tors) which can describe general spin-spin interactions and phases with complex magnetization pattern. This method is applied to study the phase transitions observed in pyrochlore crystals (e.g. Gd₂ Ti₂ O₇ ) and the results have qualitative agreement with the experimental ones.

Dynamic phase modulation is vital for tunable focusing, beaming, polarization conversion and holography. However, it remains challenging to achieve full 360∘ dynamic phase modulation while maintaining high reflectance or transmittance based on metamaterials or metasurfaces in the terahertz regime. Here we propose a doubly resonant graphene-metal hybrid metasurface to address this challenge. Simulation results show that by varying the graphene Fermi energy, the proposed metasurface with two shifting resonances is capable to provide dynamic phase modulation covering a range of 361∘ while maintaining relatively high reflectance above 20% at 1.05 THz. Based on the phase profile design, dynamically tunable beam steering and focusing are numerically demonstrated. We expect this work will advance the engineering of graphene metasurfaces for the dynamic manipulation of terahertz waves.

The properties of the annual, semiannual and triennial oscillations (AO, SAO and TO) in the middle atmosphere have been investigated using the TIMED/SABER temperature data. The Lomb-Scargle and wavelet spectra were used to determine the dominant oscillations in the background temperature field. The AO is prominent at the mid-latitudes. The AO amplitudes present an asymmetry between the two Hemispheres, being larger in the mesosphere than in the stratosphere. The SAO dominates the tropical regions, with three amplitude maxima at altitudes of 45, 75, and 85 km. The SAOs in the upper mesosphere (75 km) are out of phase with those in the mesopause (85 km) in the tropical regions, which can generate an enhancement of 11 K at each equinox, contributing to the lower mesospheric inversion layer. The TO is significant in the tropical region, with amplitude being maximum at 35, 45 and 85 km. Result shows that there may be potential interaction by the TO with SAO at 85km at the equator. The relation between ENSO and TO has also been discussed. The ENSO signal may modulate the amplitude of the TO, mainly in the lower stratosphere. The real origin of the TO may lie in the wave-mean-flow interaction.

This Article demonstrates how an eigendecomposition problem is inputted into a quantum circuit, how gates are applied in the quantum circuit, and how the output measurements are the correct eigenvalues. This process is known as quantum phase estimation (QPE). A quantum harmonic oscillator example, a foundational quantum physical chemistry problem, is demonstrated within the context of QPE. A particle in a box example, another quantum physical chemistry problem, may be solved by QPE with a caveat. These examples are of the limiting cases of diagonal matrices. Future advances in taking matrix inverses for solving linear sets of equations or finding ground state energies in the Schrödinger equation will use the principles implemented in this Article.

Three-dimensional nanocomposite networks consisting of percolated Si nanowires in a SiO₂ matrix, Si:SiO₂, were studied. The structures were obtained by reactive ion beam sputter deposition of SiO_x (x ≈ 0.6) thin films at 450 °C and subsequent crystallization using conventional oven as well as millisecond line focus laser annealing. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, cross-sectional and energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy were applied for sample characterization. While oven annealing resulted in a mean Si wire diameter of 10 nm and a crystallinity of 72 % within the Si volume, almost single-domain Si structures with 30 nm in diameter and almost free of amorphous Si were obtained by millisecond laser application. The structural differences are attributed to the different crystallization processes: Conventional oven tempering proceeds via solid state, millisecond laser application via liquid phase crystallization of Si. The 5 orders of magnitude larger diffusion constant in the liquid phase is responsible for the three times larger Si nanostructure diameter. In conclusion, laser annealing offers not only significantly shorter process times but moreover a superior structural order of nano-Si compared to conventional heating.

The study examined eating timing, diet, and the ratio of sleep phases in people with social jetlag (SJL). The study involved 83 participants who filled out a questionnaire, and 21 of them took part in the study of sleep phases by electroencephalography during the week. SJL was associated with a higher incidence rate of eating jetlag, eating phase delays, an increase in calorie intake after 9 p.m., a decrease in dietary fiber intake for breakfast, and melatonin-containing product consumption for dinner. Young people with SJL had a reduction in total sleep and light sleep phase duration by 60 and 36 min on work/school days and an increase in total sleep and REM sleep phase duration by 66 and 60 min on weekends, respectively. Young people consuming foods with more than 4234.5 ng of melatonin for dinner, compared with their peers consuming less than 313.2 ng of melatonin, showed a decrease in SJL and sleep debt by 54 and 90 min and an increase in the total sleep and the deep sleep phase duration by 66 and 30 min, respectively. Thus, the consumption of melatonin-containing foods for dinner is associated with a decrease in circadian misalignment and a sleep quality improvement.

Ni-Al alloys have good corrosion-resistant properties making them preferable as a material of choice compared to ordinary metals. A good understanding of the phase diagram and thermodynamic properties of the Ni-Al alloy binary system is essential in determining relevant industrial applications of the system. The Ni-Al phase diagram is being reassessed since those found in the literatures are based on very old experimental studies. The phase diagram and thermodynamic properties of the Ni-Al alloy is determined using the Thermo-Calc 2022b software over a temperature range of 200 K to 2000 K and 1 atm of pressure. A total of nineteen fields (including elemental Al and Ni) comprising of five single solid phases, one liquid phase, and twelve double regions was obtained from the equilibrium calculation. The thermodynamic calculation has six invariant reactions comprising of two eutectic reactions (914.83 ± 0.025 K and 1641.80 ± 0.025 K), three peritectic reactions (1123.55 ± 0.025 K, 1400.72 ± 0.025 K and 1642.65 ± 0.025 K), and one peritectoid reaction (913.96 ± 0.025 K). The solubility of Al in Ni is also determined. The Thermo-Calc temperature – composition of the Ni-Al alloy is compared with the existing experimental studies to identify the physical properties of the different thermodynamic properties of the Ni-Al alloy binary system.

Aim: Aging is companied by deteriorations of insulin resistance (IR) and insulin secretion. However, little is known about the roles of aging on different phases of insulin secretion (ISEC); i.e., the first- and second-phase of insulin secretion (FPIS, SPIS) and glucose effectiveness (GE). Methods: Totally 169 individuals (43 men and 126 women) with the similar fasting plasma glucose (FPG: 90 mg/dL) and BMI (men: 23 kg/m2, women 22 kg/m2) were enrolled. IR, FPIS, SPIS, and GE were estimated using our previously developed equations shown below. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to assess the correlations between age and four diabetes factors (DFs: IR, FPIS, SPIS and GE). The equations that are used to calculate the DF in the present study were built and published by our group. Results: The age of the participants ranged from 18- to 78-year-old. Men had higher FPIS but lower HDL-C levels than women (2.067±0.159, 1.950±0.186 μU/min and 1.130±0.306, 1.348±0.357 mmol/dl, accordingly). The results of Pearson correlation revealed that age was negatively related to IR and GE in both genders (IR: r = -0.39, p < 0.001 for men, r = -0.24, p < 0.003 for women; GE: r = 0.66, p < 0.001 for men, r = 0.78, p < 0.001 for women). In the meanwhile, FPIS was also only found to be negatively correlated with age in female (r = -0.238, p = 0.003). But there was no different with SPIS and age in both of genders. Conclusions: We have found that in Chinese with normal FPG level (90 mg/dl) and body mass index (men: 23 kg/m2, women: 22: kg/m2), age is negatively related to IR and GE in both genders. At the same time, only FPIS was found to be negatively related to age in women. The tightness of their relationships, from the highest to the lowest are, GE, FPIS and IR accordingly. The importance of GE should be re-evaluated. These results should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size.

Quantitative differential phase contrast (qDPC) imaging has become an important method of optical measurement and life science research in microscopy because of its high reconstruction resolution and non-invasive, high-contrast and quantitative imaging of biological samples. Despite the continuous development of the principle and algorithm, the frame rate of the existing qDPC algorithm is still much lower than that of camera acquisition, so it is hardly applied to real-time image the fast-moving biological samples. In this paper, based on color-coded multiplexing strategy, a compact real-time quantitative phase imaging system is designed to realize multi-mode imaging. The system employs a programmable LED array to illuminate directly, and the phase reconstruction algorithm is deployed in the graphics processing unit (GPU) of the laptop to accelerate the calculation. The system can achieve high-speed quantitative phase imaging of non-stained biological samples, and the frame rate can reach 60fps. The device has the advantages of compact structure, low cost and portability. Thus, it is suitable for mobile medical applications.

In the author's opinion, many global problems that face humanity - in the fields of education, medicine, management etc can be tackled more effectively if the cyclic nature of self-reproducing systems – including living beings – is taken into account. Summarizing the main physiological findings of the last decades on "adaptation reactions", one can very roughly say that the way of action which is effective in the sense of productive activity of people happens at the same time to be healthy, and it gives the participants of the process the feeling of happiness. The present paper represents a very short overview of the contemporary concepts of the adaptation reactions based on the fundamental understanding of their cyclic nature due to general properties of self-reproducing systems. One interesting feature of self-reproduction cycles is its first "phase of orientation" which was not discussed in detail in the past but plays a key role in the whole cycle.

The release profiles of methotrexate, an anticancer drug, from the monoolein liquid crystalline cubic phases were studied. The cubic phases were used either in the form of a lipidic film deposited onto a glassy carbon electrode surface or in the dispersed form of magnetocubosomes, which are considered a prospective hybrid drug delivery system. Commonly, cubosomes or liposomes are employed, but not in the case of toxic methotrexate, known to block receptors responsible for folate transport into the cells. The release profiles of the drug from the lipidic films were monitored electrochemically and described using the Higuchi model. They were also modified via changes in temperature; the release was faster, although deviating from the model when the temperature was increased. Magnetocubosomes - cubic phase nanoparticles containing hydrophobic magnetic nanoparticles placed in an alternating magnetic field of low frequency and amplitude, stimulated drug release from the suspension, which was monitored spectroscopically. These new biocompatible hybrid materials are very promising, allowing to control the release of the drug at the appropriate sites, but do require further investigations into their in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo biodistribution.

Abstract: Currently, antibodies are major therapeutic modalities in biopharmaceutical research and development. Because of required high dose for certain clinical applications, antibodies are formulated at high protein concentration for convenience of administration, shipping and storage. We will describe the inter-molecular interactions that can occur in such a crowded environment of high protein concentration. Two types of repulsive interactions, i.e., electrostatic and excluded volume effects, and three types of attractive interactions, i.e., hydrophobic, electrostatic and cross-linking, need to be considered in such a crowded environments. We then show consequences of such inter-molecular interactions, leading to high viscosity, opalescence and phase separation of antibody solutions. Co-solvents are used to control the stability, structure and molecular interactions and thereby to alleviate these solution problems. Among various co-solvents, arginine has been extensively used to suppress protein-protein interactions at high protein concentration. Arginine weakly but extensively interacts with aromatic/hydrophobic groups as well as charged groups on proteins, leading to effective suppression of viscosity, opalescence and phase separation of antibody solution.

Recently several papers have been published on the Liénard equation x'' +L x+m x^3+n x^5=0, where the authors studied their explicit solutions and their applications. Here we describe the complete dynamics of these differential equations in the Poincar\'e disc. The Poincar\'e disc is the closed disc centered at the origin of coordinates of radius one, the whole plane R^2 is identified with the interior of this disc, and its boundary, the circle $\sss^1$ is identified with the infinity of R^2.

We study different aspects of an exactly solvable master equation (ME). Its simplicity allows one direct access to the details of its workings, highlighting significant features and peculiarities. The existence of phase transitions is unveiled.

The temperature-dependent energy storage properties of four tungsten bronze phase compounds are studied together with an investigation of their structure and temperature-dependent permittivity response, i.e., Ba6Ti2Nb8O30 (BTN), Ba6Zr2Nb8O30 (BZN), Sr3TiNb4O15 (STN) and Sr3ZrNb4O15 (SZN) ceramics. It was found that BZN has smaller grains and a more porous structure than BTN. SZN shows no clear grain boundaries with the most porous structure among all samples, exhibiting a much lower permittivity response than other samples with no signs of phase transitions from room temperature to 400 °C. Though the energy storage response of those samples is generally quite low, it exhibits rather good temperature stability. It was suggested that by obtaining a denser structure through chemical modification or other methods, those tungsten bronze ceramics with good temperature stability could be promising as energy storage devices when improved energy storage properties are achieved.

The three-phase separator was perforated after four years’ service. The perforation position is at the bottom of the vessel under the baffle plate in an oil transfer station. The cause of perforation was investigated by chemical analysis using a direct-reading spectrometer, microstructure examined by optical microscope(OM), and lab simulated corrosion experiments by electrochemical workstation, and the corrosion products examined with scanning electron microscopy(SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS) in this paper. The analyses indicated that the coating at the base of the pressure vessel failed and this led to the direct exposure of the carbon steel plate to the corrosive medium. The electrical contact between the carbon steel and the stainless steel, sets up a galvanic cell that accelerated the corrosion of the pressure vessel which eventually led leads to the perforation.

This article presents a decentralized phase-shedding technique for multiphase converters. The usual central digital controller is replaced by identical local controllers forming a daisy-chain structure. Phase-shedding decisions are taken locally based on a local inductor current monitoring and threshold crossing management. This control strategy allows to implement as many phases as desired in a modular manner. In order to handle specific events such as load current inrush or a start-up sequence and to guarantee optimal transient responses, additional functions are included into each local controllers. The inter-cell communication protocol is described, along with necessary design considerations of threshold and timing values. Finally, functional simulations are carried out on a 5-leg 12V/1.2V 60W multiphase converter, which validate the proposed decentralized phase-shedding strategy for a microcontroller power supply implementation.

Based on the principle of Pancharatnam-Berry phase, we propose an approach to construct dual-functional dielectric metasurface doublets. This type of doublet, which is composed of a substrate and two metasurface layers, performs two different functionalities at two different operating wavelengths. The simulated results of the examples show that the designed dual-functional doublet works well as expected. The proposed approach can be used to design dielectric meta-structures with more layers of meta-surface and thereby with more functionalities, and would be of interest for miniaturization and integration.

Analytical solutions for radiation dominated phase of Quasi Steady State Cosmology in Friedmann-Robertson-Walkar models are obtained. We find that matter density is positive in all the cases (k = 0,-1,1). The nature of Hubble parameter (H) in [0,2] is discussed. The deceleration parameter (q) is marginally less than zero indicating accelerating universe. The scale factor (S) is graphically shown with time. The model represents oscillating universe between the above mentioned limits. Because of bounce in QSSC, the maximum density phase is still matter dominated. The models represent singularity free model. We also find that the models have event horizon i.e. no observer beyond the proper distance rH can communicate each other in FRW mdels for radiation dominated phase in the frame work of QSSC. The FRW models are special classes of Bianchi type I, V, IX space-times with zero, negative and positive curvatures respectively. Initially i.e. at  = 0, the model represents steady model. We have tried to show how a good fit can be obtained to the observations in the framework of QSSC during radiation dominated phase.

Hierarchical tungsten oxide assemblies such as spindle-like, flowers with sharp petals, nanowires and regular hexagonal structures are successfully synthesized via a solvothermal reduction method by simply adjusting the reaction conditions. On the basis of the experimental results, it is determined that the reaction time significantly influences the phase transition, microstructure and photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples. The possible mechanisms for the phase transition and morphology evolution process have been systematically proposed. Moreover, the as-prepared products exhibit significant morphology-depended photocatalytic activity. The flower-like W18O49 prepared at 6 h possesses large specific surface area (150.1 m²g^-1), improved separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs and decreased electron-transfer resistance by the photoelectrochemical measurements. As a result, the flower-like W₁₈O₄₉ prepared at 6 h exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Methyl orange aqueous solution. The radical trap experiments showed that the degradation of MO was driven mainly by the participation of h⁺ and •O²⁻ radicals.

Elastic properties of materials and their changes with temperature are important for their applications in engineering. A study on the influence of phase composition of AISI 4130 alloy on Young's modulus (Ed), shear modulus (Gd), and damping (Q-1) was carried out by Impulse Excitation Technique (IET). The material characterization was carried out using confocal microscopy, XRD, MET, HV, and dilatometry. A stable structure, composed of ferrite (BCC) and pearlite (α-Fe+Fe3C), was obtained by annealing. Metastable structure of martensite (BCT) was obtained by quenching. The Ed, Gd, and Q-1 were measured, varying the temperature from RT to 900 °C. The values of Ed and Gd, at RT, were determined as 201.5 and 79.2 GPa (annealed), and 190.13 and 76.5 GPa (quenched), respectively. In the annealed steel, the values Ed and Gd decrease linearly on heating up to 650 °C, with the thermal expansion. In the quenched steel, weak changes in the dilatometric curve, Ed, Gd, and Q-1, in the range of 350-450 °C, indicated decompositions of the martensitic phase. Sharp decrease in the moduli and high peak of Q-1, was observed for both samples around 650-900 °C, revealing low lattice elastic stability of the phases during transformations α(BCC)+Fe3C↔γ(FCC).

Super duplex stainless steel (SDSS) is used for manufacturing large valves and pipes in offshore plants because of its excellent strength and corrosion resistance. Large valves and pipes are manufactured by forging after casting, and the outside and inside microstructures are different owing to the difference in the cooling rate caused by the thermal conductivity. This microstructural variation causes cracks during solution annealing, which breaks the materials. To study toe corrosion resistance of the SDSS forged material, the microstructure was conducted based on the difference in the cooling rate between the inside and outside of the cast SDSS. To analyze the effects of the secondary phase fraction before solution annealing on the solution and corrosion resistance, the corrosion resistance with and without solution annealing was measured using the potentiodynamic polarization test and critical temperature test after the precipitation of the secondary phase. In the potentiodynamic polarization test, the secondary phase decreased the activation polarization and increased the corrosion rate. The critical pitting temperature exhibited the effect of the secondary phase.

The availability of sufficient amounts of form I of benzocaine has led to the investigation of its phase relationships with the other two existing forms II and III using adiabatic calorimetry, powder X-ray diffraction, and high-pressure differential thermal analysis. The latter two forms were known to have an enantiotropic phase relationship with form III stable at low-temperature and high-pressure, while form II is stable at room temperature. Using adiabatic calorimetry data, it can be concluded, that form I is the stable low-temperature, high-pressure form, which also happens to be stable at room temperature; however, form II, due to its persistence at room temperature, is still the most convenient polymorph to use in formulations. Form III presents a case of overall monotropy and does not possess any stability domain in the pressure-temperature phase diagram. Heat capacity data for benzocaine have been obtained by adiabatic calorimetry from 11 K up to 369 K above its melting point, which can be used to compare to results from in-silico crystal structure prediction.

Phase imaging of biochemical samples has been demonstrated for the first time at the Infrared Microspectroscopy (IRM) beamline of the Australian Synchrotron using the usually discarded Near-IR (NIR) region of the synchrotron-IR beam. The synchrotron-IR beam at the Australian Synchrotron IRM beamline has a unique fork shaped intensity distribution as a result of the gold coated extraction mirror shape, which includes a central slit for rejection of the intense X-ray beam. The resulting beam configuration makes any imaging task challenging. For intensity imaging, the fork shaped beam is usually tightly focused to a point on the sample plane followed by a pixel-by-pixel scanning approach to record the image. In this study, a pinhole was aligned with one of the lobes of the fork shaped beam and the Airy diffraction pattern was used to illuminate biochemical samples. The diffracted light from the samples was captured using a NIR sensitive lensless camera. A rapid phase-retrieval algorithm was applied to the recorded intensity distributions to reconstruct the phase information corresponding to different planes. The preliminary results are promising to develop multimodal imaging capabilities at the IRM beamline of the Australian Synchrotron.

To enhance the mechanical properties (i.e. strength and elongation) of the face-centered cubic (fcc) α-phase in the Au-Cu-Al system, this study focused on the introduction of the martensite phase (doubled B19 (DB19) crystal structure of Au2CuAl) via the manipulation of alloy compositions. Fundamental evaluations, such as microstructure observations, phase identifications, thermal analysis, tensile behavior examinations, and reflectance analysis have been conducted. The presence of fcc annealing twins was both observed in the optical microscope (OM) and the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. Both the strength and elongation of the alloys were greatly promoted while the DB19 martensite phase was introduced into the alloys. Amongst all the prepared specimens, the 47Au41Cu12Al and the 44Au44Cu12Al alloys performed the optimized mechanical properties. The enhancement of strength and ductility in these 2 alloys was achieved while the stress plateau was observed during the tensile deformation. A plot of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) against fracture strain was constructed to illustrate the effects of the introduction of the DB19 martensite phase on the mechanical properties of the alloys. Regardless of the manipulation of the alloy compositions and the introduction of the DB19 martensite phase, the reflectance stayed almost identical to pure Au.

Managing sidelobe levels (SLLs) in metasurface-driven beam-steering antennas poses a significant challenge due to intrinsic factors leading to grating lobes. Our proposed method employs an equivalent model to optimize large periodic metasurfaces efficiently. This model predicts complete metasurface performance, accounting for mutual coupling between patches. We introduce an evolutionary optimization algorithm based on the Cross Entropy (CE) method to enhance PGM-based beam-steering antennas and suppress sidelobes. Two strategies were employed: first is to optimize the patch dimensions for a sidelobe-free pattern and the second is to maintain the PGM dimensions while optimizing feed array amplitudes. Both strategies effectively suppressed sidelobes, offering insights into the CE method's applicability and effectiveness for CPU-intensive electromagnetic optimization challenges. The proposed CE method variant retains its simplicity while improving monitoring capabilities, addressing this limitation. Smaller generations yield better improvements per evaluation

Spatial and temporal variation of the free electron concentration in the ionosphere affects SAR interferograms, in particular at low radar frequencies. In this work the identification, estimation and compensation of ionospheric path delay phases in PALSAR-3 and NISAR-L interferograms is discussed. Both these L-band sensors acquire simultaneously SAR data in a main spectral band and in an additional, spectrally separated, narrower second band to support the mitigation of ionospheric path delays. The methods presented permit separating the dispersive and the non-dispersive phase terms based on the double-difference interferogram between the two available spectral bands and the differential interferogram of the main band. The applicability of the proposed methods is demonstrated using PALSAR-3-like data that was simulated based on PALSAR-2 SM1 mode data.

Numerical models widely used for hydrocarbon phase behavior and compositional flow simulations are based on assumption of thermodynamic equilibrium. However, it is not uncommon for oil and gas-condensate reservoirs to exhibit essentially non-equilibrium phase behavior, e.g., in the processes of secondary recovery after pressure depletion below saturation pressure, or during gas injection, or for condensate evaporation at low pressures. In many cases the ability to match field data with equilibrium model depends on simulation scale. The only method to account for non-equilibrium phase behavior adopted by the majority of flow simulators is the option of limited rate of gas dissolution (condensate evaporation) in black oil models. For compositional simulations no practical yet thermodynamically consistent method has been presented so far except for some upscaling techniques in gas injection problems. Previously reported academic non-equilibrium formulations have a common drawback of doubling the number of flow equations and unknowns compared to the equilibrium formulation. In the paper a unified thermodynamically-consistent formulation for compositional flow simulations with non-equilibrium phase behavior model is presented. Same formulation and a special scale-up technique can be used for upscaling of an equilibrium or non-equilibrium model to a coarse-scale non-equilibrium model. A number of test cases for real oil and gas-condensate mixtures are given. Model implementation specifics in a flow simulator are discussed and illustrated with test simulations. A non-equilibrium constant volume depletion algorithm is presented to simulate condensate recovery at low pressures in gas-condensate reservoirs. Results of satisfactory model matching to field data are reported and discussed.

Hydrogen is a clean-burning fuel with water as its only by-product, yet its widespread adoption is hampered by logistical challenges. Liquid organic hydrogen carriers, such as alcohols from sustainable sources, can be converted to hydrogen through aqueous phase reforming (APR), a promising technology that bypasses the energy-intensive vaporization of feedstocks. However, the hydrothermal conditions of APR pose significant challenges to catalyst stability, which is crucial for its industrial deployment. This review focuses on the stability of catalysts in APR, particularly in sustaining hydrogen production over extended durations or multiple reaction cycles. Additionally, we explore the potential of ultrasound-assisted APR, where sonolysis enables hydrogen production without external heating. Although the technological readiness of ultrasound-assisted APR currently trails behind thermal APR, the development of catalysts optimized for ultrasound use may unlock new possibilities in the efficient hydrogen production from alcohols.

This paper delves into the challenge of controlling the multiple synchronizations in mechatronic vibration machines featuring a duo of unbalanced rotors. Its primary aim is to not only attain specific rotation speeds but also to ensure the desired phase shift between these rotors. To tackle this issue, the paper employs a control law integrating cross-couplings. It conducts an analysis of the dynamics of a simplified linearized system, showcasing the robustness of the control system across varying plant parameters. Additionally, the paper outlines experimental findings from a multi-resonance vibrational laboratory setup. These findings effectively demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach and highlight its potential applications. Crucially, the paper provides experimental evidence illustrating the capability to control vibration fields on the operational platform, a vital aspect pertinent to vibration transportation and bulk material mixing processes.

The mutation in NF2 is the most common alteration associated with meningioma oncogenesis, and it is related to the loss of a suppressing protein called merlin. At the same time, alterations in energy production are visible in cancer cells where increased demand for energy is observed. Fatty acid oxidation could be one of the ways cancer cells obtain energy. This metabolic pathway uses the acylcarnitine shuttle system, which is responsible for the acylation of fatty acids and their transport through mitochondria. Therefore, this study aimed to profile acylcarnitines with short-, medium- and long-acyl chain length in meningiomas to assess their changes in tumors with different NF2 mutation statuses. For the analysis, solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with liquid chromatography high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) was used. The presented sampling method enables low invasive and easy collection of the analytes from the studied lesions, which can be crucial for future analysis of potential biomarkers in the surgery room. It was observed that higher levels of these analytes characterized meningiomas with NF2 mutation. Moreover, increased energy consumption and elevated levels of acylcarnitines show that these analytes can be considered as a marker of increased fatty acid oxidation in NF2 mutated cells.

Cyclotron resonance is found in nanosized local regions single crystal samples of yttrium-iron garnet. This resonance was observed in 8 mm microwave range at room temperature. This resonance manifests itself as in the form of free- electrons subsystem excitations, or in the form of mixed spin-electron modes. The existence of cyclotron resonance convincingly indicates the presence phenomenon of Phase Separation in yttrium-iron garnet single crystals.

Recent inference results of the sound velocity in the cores of neutron stars are summarized. Implications for the equation of state and the phase structure of highly compressed baryonic matter are discussed. In view of the strong constraints imposed by the heaviest known pulsars, the equation of state must be very stiff in order to ensure the stability of these extreme objects. This required stiffness limits the possible appearance of phase transitions in neutron star cores. In view of these empirical findings, much discussed issues such as the quest for a phase transition towards restored chiral symmetry and the active degrees of freedom in cold and dense baryonic matter, are explored.

Outbreaks of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria affect some of the poorest parts of Africa, causing devastating catastrophes. Key to understanding and dealing with this problematic adaptation to environmental changes is comparing locusts that are gregarious (associated with outbreak states) and solitarious (associated with non-outbreak states) either in nature or after experimental treatments in laboratories. Categorising locusts and detecting changes in their phase status is key to such comparisons. Such comparisons are hitherto based on applying mathematical models that use behavioural parameters and that each laboratory has to build a new for each experiment. All such models used thus far for research on locusts are different from each other. That implies differences in the tools used for the different experiments and by the different laboratories and, thus, potential noise in the scientific results and interpretations too. Standardizing the way how we categorise locusts between laboratories and experiments is needed if we want to reduce noise and errors. It is even a must if we are to make the results and interpretations transferable and comparable between experiments and laboratories that work in such an important research area. Here, we use samples from independent S. gregaria population in order to further test the two models that were suggested earlier as standardizing tools for S. gregaria categorization. The outcomes of both models were largely replicated and reproducible. We report on how successful the two models were at categorizing solitarious, intermediate (transient) and gregarious nymph and adult samples. We highlight shortcomings and make more specific recommendations on the use of these models based on the differences they show as to their precision when categorizing the solitarious and gregarious S. gregaria nymph and adult samples.

The quadratic polynomial differential systems in the plane are the easiest nonlinear differential systems. They have been studied intensively due to their nonlinearity and to their big number of applications. These systems can be classified in ten classes. Here we provide all the topologically different phase portraits in the Poincaré disc of two of these classes.

Online speech enhancement is of great interest, because of its diverse areas of application. The Demucs architecture has been recently shown to achieve a high level of performance, even with small audio segments, while requiring a relatively small amount of computational resources. However, an issue that it bears, as well as most of state-of-the-art speech enhancement techniques, is that of target speech selection: it is assumed that only one speech source is present. However, in real-life scenarios, more than one speech source may be present, in it is uncertain which speech source within the fed mixture should be enhanced. Thus, it is of interest to complement speech enhancement techniques (such as Demucs-based) with a target selection scheme, so as to ensure that only the source of interest is enhanced. In this work, two target selection strategies are explored: 1) an embedding-based strategy, using a codified sample of the target speech, and 2) a location-based strategy, using a beamforming-based pre-filter to select the target that is in front of a 2-microphone array. It is shown that while both strategies improve the performance of the Demucs-based technique when one or more speech interferences are present, they both have their pros and cons. Specifically, while the beamforming-based strategy achieves overall a better performance compared to the embedding-based strategy, it is sensitive against the location variation of the target speech source which the embedding-based strategy does not suffer from.

Enhancement in chemisorption is one of the active research areas in carbon materials. To remedy the thermally degraded chemisorption at high temperatures, we report a comprehensive study of kink structures in free-standing monoatomic carbon nanowires upon heating. Our Monte Carlo simulation considers multi-monoatomic carbon chains laterally interacted by the Van der Waals force. Our study reveals that the carbon nanowires maintain their linearity regardless of chain length at low temperatures, but this is not the case at high temperatures. Disordered kink structure is observed in the short carbon chains, especially above the Peierls transition temperature. The severe kink structure might increase the possibility of attaching negatively charged atoms, thereby contributing to the development of next-generation materials for chemisorption at high temperatures. We have also provided an important inspection that any physical property of the finite-length carbon chain predicted by ab-initio calculation should reconsider the atomic rearrangement due to the thermal instability at high temperatures.

Rapid solidification during metal additive manufacturing (AM) leads to non-equilibrium microsegregation, which can result in the formation of detrimental phases and cracking. Most of the microsegregation models, assume a Scheil-type solidification, where the solidification interface is planar and there exists local equilibrium at the interface along with either zero or infinite solute diffusion in the respective participating phases - solid and liquid. This assumption leads to errors in prediction. One has to account for finite solute diffusion and the curvature at the dendritic tip for more accurate predictions. In this work, we compare different microsegregation models that do and do not consider finite diffusion and dendrite tip kinetics against the experiments. We also propose a method to couple dendrite tip kinetics with the diffusion module (DICTRA®) implemented in Thermo-Calc®. The models which accounted for both finite diffusion and dendrite tip kinetics matched well with the experimental data.

Nickel-base superalloys like VDM 780 may possess a high content of Cr and Co. This influences solution energies of phase-forming elements like Al and Ta (γ′-phase), Nb (γ′′- and δ-phase), and Ti (η-phase). We perform density functional theory studies of a nickel matrix at 0 K with high concentrations of either Co and Cr and calculate the influence of these elements on solution energies. In the case of Co, the solution energy can be predicted well by the nearest-neighbor interaction in the Co-rich matrix. For Cr, the effect is more complicated because Cr has a larger ionic radius and changes the magnetic state of the material. The effect of a Cr-rich matrix on the energy of Co is dominated by magnetic effects, interactions with the other elements by elastic deformation of the lattice.

Within the spectrum of a natural image, the amplitude of modulation decreases with spatial frequency. The speed of such an amplitude decrease, or the amplitude spectrum slope, of an image affects the perceived aesthetic value. Additionally, a human observer would consider a symmetric image more appealing than they do an asymmetric one. We investigated how these two factors jointly affect aesthetic preferences by manipulating both the amplitude spectrum slope and the symmetric level of images to assess their effects on aesthetic preference on a 6-point Likert scale. Our results showed that the preference ratings increased with the symmetry level but had an inverted U-shape relation to amplitude spectrum slope. In addition, a strong interaction existed between symmetry level and amplitude spectrum slope on preference rating, in that symmetry can amplify the amplitude spectrum slope’s effects. Such effects can be described by a quadratic function of the spectrum slope. That is, preference is an inverted U-shape function of spectrum slope whose intercept is determined by the number of symmetry axis. In addition, the interaction between the two factors is manifested as the modulation depth of the quadratic function.

Cyclin dependent kinase 1 (CDK1) has been primarily identified as a key cell cycle regulator in both mitosis and meiosis. Recently, an extramitotic function of CDK1 emerged when evidence was found that CDK1 is involved in many cellular events that are essential for cell proliferation and survival. In this review we summarize the involvement of active CDK1 in the initiation and elongation steps of protein synthesis in eukaryotes. During its activation CDK1 influences the initiation of protein synthesis, promotes the activity of specific translational initiation factors and affects the functioning of a subset of elongation factors. Our review provides insights into gene expression regulation during the transcriptionally silent cell cycle/M-phase and describes quantitative and qualitative translational changes based on the extramitotic role of the cell cycle master regulator CDK1, to optimize temporal synthesis of proteins to sustain division-related processes: mitosis and cytokinesis.

The World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 as a pandemic on 11th March 2020. The main approach to tackle Covid-19 worldwide is to screen and provide supportive care to patients. For screening purpose RT-qPCR based test are used as an initial detections assay. The test is expensive, time consuming and not suitable for mass scale screening/ confirmation requirement. A recent advancement is development of Immunoassay procedures (liquid Phase tests or bed side 10-20minute strip test). In order to help and accelerate bringing life to normal after lock down, Pakistan is in dire need to develop and adopt the immunoassay procedures for mass scale screening and confirmation of COVID-19 infection. It is cheap and easy to perform without a lab requirement.

Future, flexible thermal energy conversion systems require new, demand-optimized high-performance materials. The High performance Ferritic (HiperFer) stainless steels, under development at the Institute of Microstructure and Properties of Materials (IEK-2) at Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH in Germany, provide a balanced combination of fatigue, creep and corrosion resistance at reasonable price. This paper outlines the scientific background of alloy performance development, which resulted in an age-hardening ferritic, stainless steel grade. Furthermore, technological properties are addressed and the potential concerning application is estimated by benchmarking versus conventional state of the art materials.

The phase composition design principle is introduced to obtain balanced properties of ionic conductivity and thermo-tolerant for zirconia solid electrolytes used in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The zirconia ceramic solid electrolytes are fabricated by two-step free sintering. With increasing Y/Mg ionic ratio from 1.78:1 to 1.88:1, the content of monoclinic phase fluctuates little (±3%). The ionic conductivity, including the total electrical resistance; grain electrical resistance and grain boundary electrical resistance at 1223K, are all gradually declining with the increasing of Y/Mg ionic ratio. Furthermore, the enrichment of Mg ion in grain boundary acts as a disincentive to grain boundary ionic conductivity. In addition, the maximum total equivalent conductivity at 1223K in this study reaches to 0.143 Scm-1 which can compare with that of certain YSZ. It will be beneficial to SOFCs application profited from increasing ionic conductivity of ceramic solid electrolytes.

The entropy of Boltzmann-Gibbs, as proved by Shannon and Khinchin, is based on four axioms, where the fourth one concerns additivity. The group theoretic entropies make use of formal group theory to replace this axiom with a more general composability axiom. As has been pointed out before, generalized entropies crucially depend on the number of allowed number degrees of freedom $N$. The functional form of group entropies is restricted (though not uniquely determined) by assuming extensivity on the equal probability ensemble, which leads to classes of functionals corresponding to sub-exponential, exponential or super-exponential dependence of the phase space volume $W$ on $N$. We review the ensuing entropies, discuss the composability axiom, relate to the Gibbs' paradox discussion and explain why group entropies may be particularly relevant from an information theoretic perspective.

The precipitate phases often play an important influence on the corrosion resistance of 2205 Duplex stainless steel (DSS). In the presented paper, the microstructure and corrosion resistance in the hot-rolled and cold-rolled 2205 DSS aging for different time at 850 °C was investigated by XRD, SEM and potentiodynamic polarization. It has been found that the Chi(χ) phase and Sigm(σ) phase were precipitated in turn after aging treatment of hot-rolled and cold-rolled materials, but the precipitate amount in cold-rolled material is much more than that of hot-rolled samples. The corrosion resistance of the solution-annealed cold-rolled material is similar to the hot-rolled material, but the corrosion resistance of cold-rolled material with precipitate is weaker than that of hot-rolled material after aging treatment. Pitting initiates preferentially in the Cr-depleted region from σ phase in aged hot-rolled 2205, and severe selective corrosion occurs on sigma/ferrite interfaces aged for a long aged lime. However, the initiation of pitting corrosion may take place at the phase boundary, defect and martensite in the aged cold-rolled 2205. The σ phase is further selectively dissolved by electrochemical method to investigate the difference of microstructure and corrosion behavior in hot-rolled and cold-rolled 2205 duplex stainless steel.

Despite the fact that strong routine separation methodologies can give reliable specificity and validity at usual working pharmaceuticals concentrations, they may fail at very low concentration levels. This poses considerable challenges for researchers inves-tigating product purity and therapeutic drug monitoring. Sensitivity enhancement pro-cedures are thus required to maximize the performance of separation techniques. Large volume injection, solid phase extraction/solid phase enrichment (SPE/SPEn), pre-, post-, and in-column derivatization, as well as the use of sensitive detection devices are the simplest strategies for improving sensitivity of the separation-based analytical techniques. Large volume injection of samples with online SPE/SPEn coupled with separation techniques increased sensitivity and improved detection as well as quantification limits without affecting peak shape and system performance. Although the primary purpose of derivatization is to improve sensitivity and selectivity, greener derivatization is growing in popularity and should be considered in analytical chemistry. In general, two strategies are essential for accomplishing greener derivatization goals. The first is the search for and use of ecologically acceptable derivatizing reagents, solvents, and reaction conditions. The second is miniaturization and automation of analytical methods. This review discusses significant advances in separation-based analytical techniques, specifically enrichment approaches and detector signal improvement for pharmaceutical quantification in various matrices at very low concentration levels. As a result of improved analytical systems setup in drug assays, the possibility of high-throughput analyses was also highlighted.

Efficient beam steerable high-gain antennas enable high-speed data rates over long-distance networks, including wireless backhaul, satellite communications (SATCOM), and SATCOM On-the-Move. These characteristics are essential for advancing contemporary wireless communication networks, particularly within 5G and beyond. Various beam-steering solutions have been proposed in the literature, with passive beam-steering mechanisms employing planar metasurfaces emerging as cost-effective, power-efficient, and compact options. These attributes make them well-suited for use in confined spaces, large-scale production and widespread distribution to meet the demands of the mass market. Utilizing a dual-band antenna terminal setup is often advantageous for full duplex communication in wireless systems. Therefore, this article presents a comprehensive review of the dual-band beam steering techniques for enabling full-duplex communication in modern wireless systems, highlighting their design methodologies, scanning mechanisms, physical characteristics, and constraints. Despite the advantages of planar metasurface-based beam steering solutions, literature on dual-band beam steering antennas supporting full duplex communication is limited. This review article identifies research gaps and outlines future directions for developing economically feasible passive dual-band beam-steering solutions for mass deployment.

Using different frequency group period phase synchronization, a precise frequency detecting technology is presented. On the basis of the phase comparison for different frequencies, a high-accuracy frequency measuring can be achieved by quantization of phase comparison results and analysis of quantization results. Using the phase coincidence points between comparison signals as the counter’s open and close signals, the time interval between the same phase coincidence points is a group period. Via the detection and analysis of the phase coincidence points, the ±1-word counting error can be eliminated, and measuring speed is also improved. By using FPGA technology, the measuring device can be simplified, and the development cost can be reduced. Testing results indicate that the frequency measuring accuracy with 10−13/s level can be achieved. The technology is greater than the common frequency measuring technology in more ways than one, such as power consumption, device volume, measuring rate, etc., so it plays an important role in Beidou satellite positioning, precise timing, high-precision time frequency transfer and comparison, scientific metrology and other fields.

Magnetic quantum oscillations (MQO) are traditionally applied to investigate the electronic structure of metals. In layered quasi-two-dimensional (Q2D) materials the MQO have several qualitative features giving additional useful information, provided their theoretical description is developed. Within the framework of the Kubo formula and the self-consistent Born approximation, we reconsider the phase of beats in the amplitude of Shubnikov oscillations of interlayer conductivity in Q2D metals. We show that the phase shift of beats of the Shubnikov (conductivity) oscillations relative to the de Haas - van Alphen (magnetization) oscillations is larger than expected previously and, under certain conditions, can reach the value of π/2, as observed experimentally. We explain the phase inversion of MQO during the 3D - 2D crossover and predict the decrease of relative MQO amplitude of interlayer magnetoresistance in a strong magnetic field, larger than the beat frequency.

The conformations of trifluoroacetyl triflate, CF3C(O)OSO2CF3, were investigated through vibrational experimental methods (gas-phase FTIR, liquid-phase Raman, and Ar-matrix FTIR spectroscopy) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. A potential energy surface was computed using the B3P86 /6-31+g(d) approximation as a function of the dihedral angles τ1 = CCOS and τ2 = COSC. The surface reveals three minima, which were further optimized using the B3LYP method with various basis sets (6-31++G(d), 6-311++G(d), tzvp and cc-pvtz). The global minimum corresponds to a syn-anti conformer (the CO double bound syn with respect the O−S single bond and the C−O single bond anti with respect to de S−C single bond). The other two minima represent enantiomeric syn-gauche forms. The Ar-matrix FTIR spectrum exhibited clear evidence of the presence of two conformers. Furthermore, the randomization process observed following broad-band UV-visible irradiation facilitated the identification of the IR absorption of each conformer. Based on the Ar-matrix FTIR experiments, the vapour phase of trifluoroacetyl triflate at room temperatures was composed of approximately 60-70% of the syn-anti conformer and 30-40% of the syn-gauche form.

An analysis of the features of measurements and correction of phase distortions in optical waves propagating in the atmosphere at various levels of turbulence was performed. It is shown that with increasing intensity fluctuations, the limiting capabilities of phase correction decrease, and the phase of an optical wave that has passed through a turbulence layer consists of two components: potential and vortex. It was found that even in the region of weak fluctuations there is an overlap of spectral filtering functions for intensity and phase fluctuations. Areas of turbulence inhomogeneities have been identified that will have mutual influence and negatively affect the operation of the phase meter. It is noted that correlation functions, both phase and intensity, are less susceptible to this compared to structural functions. The results of experimental studies of the reconstruction of the wavefront of laser radiation distorted by atmospheric turbulence using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor during vignetting and central screening of the entrance pupil of the optical system are presented. Studies have been carried out on the propagation of laser radiation along a horizontal atmospheric path for various levels of turbulence. The results are analyzed in terms of Zernike polynomials.

Motivated by the increasing need of optimised micro-devices for droplets production in medical and biological applications, this paper introduces an integrated approach for the study of the liquid-liquid droplet creation in flow-focusing micro cross-junctions. The micro-junction considered is characterised by a restriction of the channels cross-sections in the junction, which has the function of focusing the flow in the region of the droplet formation. The problem is studied numerically in OpenFOAM environment and validated by the comparison with experimental results obtained by high-speed camera images and micro-PIV measurements. The analysis of the forces acting on the dispersed phase during the droplet formation and the diameter of the droplets obtained numerically are considered for the development of a model of the droplet breakup under the squeezing regime. On the basis of energy balancing during the breakup, a relation between interfacial tension, the size of the cross-sections in the junction, and the time interval needed for droplet creation is obtained, which yields a novel correlation between the dimensionless length of the droplet and the dimensionless flow rate. This correlation is general and can be used to predict the droplet diameters produced by similar micro-junctions with different aspect ratios and extended to different geometries of flow-focusing micro-junctions.