Lithium metal batteries are one of the more promising replacements for lithium-ion batteries owing to their ability to reach high energy densities. The main problem limiting their commercial application is the formation of dendrites, which significantly reduces their durability and renders the batteries unsafe. In the present work, we used a single-ion conducting gel polymer electrolyte based on a poly(ethylene-ran-butylene)-block-polystyrene (SEBS) block copolymer, which was functionalized with benzenesulfonylimide anions and plasticized by a mixture of ethylene carbonate and dimethylacetamide (SSEBS-Ph-EC-DMA), with a solvent uptake of 160% (~12 solvent molecules per one functional group of the membrane). The SSEBS-Ph-EC-DMA electrolyte exhibits an ionic conductivity of 0.6 mSm∙cm−1 at 25 °C and appears to be a cationic conductor (TLi+ = 0.72). SSEBS-Ph-EC-DMA is electrochemically stable up to 4.1 V. Symmetrical Li|Li cells; further, with regard to SSEBS-Ph-EC-DMA membrane electrolyt... [more]

The multifracture competitive growth from a horizontal well is an essential issue in multi-cluster fracturing design. In recent years, extremely limited entry (ELE) fracturing has been implemented to promote uniform multifracture growth. However, the mechanism of multifracture growth and ELE design remain unclear. Based on the planar three-dimensional multifracture propagation model, a multi-cluster horizontal well fracturing model that considers ELE design has been developed. The model considers flow in the wellbore and fluid filtration loss in the fracture. The simulator enables the simulation and analysis of non-uniform in situ stress, filtration loss, and fracture properties. Using this program, we simulated the propagation process of multiple clusters of fractures in ELE fracturing of horizontal wells. The results show the following: The perforation friction in the ELE fracturing can counteract the difference in fluid allocation caused by stress interference, allowing all clusters... [more]

Iron making processes and automation systems are mostly controlled by logical rules and PID controllers. The dynamic behavior of these processes varies due to factors such as raw materials, outdoor conditions, and equipment aging. Changes in system dynamics necessitate re-determination of PID controller parameters. Model reference adaptive controllers (MRACs) are used in many industrial application areas with their adaptability to variable conditions. In this study, an MRAC is applied in the gas cleaning tank system level control problem in the blast furnace facility, which is at the center of the iron making processes. In addition, fuzzy based gain regulation is proposed to improve MRAC performance. MRAC and PID controller system control results are observed and compared. The fast response and adaptation performance of the proposed fuzzy MRAC approach along with external disturbance effects are analyzed. Fuzzy based gain regulation MRAC performances show better performance especially... [more]

The cell wall, serving as the exoskeleton of plants, is naturally a barrier to resist external stresses. Protoplasts can be obtained by dissolving the cell walls of plant cells without damaging the cell membrane, and are widely used in the rapid propagation, transgenic breeding, and somatic hybridization of plants. However, to regenerate the cell wall is a precondition for cell division. Therefore, to study the culture condition and influencing factors during the cell wall regeneration of protoplasts is vital. Traditionally, culture medium is used to cultivate protoplasts, but it has some disadvantages. Herein, a microfluidic system with crossed channels was constructed to isolate and cultivate the protoplasts of tobacco. Then, the cell wall regeneration of the tobacco protoplasts was also studied based on this microfluidic system. It was found that, compared with the control, benzo-(1, 2, 3)-thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester (BTH) could accelerate the regeneration of the c... [more]

Because of its anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antibiotic properties, berberine has been used extensively in medication. The extensive production of berberine results in the generation of wastewater containing concentrated residual berberine. However, to date, limited related studies on the biological treatment of berberine wastewaters have been carried out. A lab-scale anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR)−aerobic granular sludge (AGS) process was developed for berberine removal from synthetic wastewater. The system showed effective removal of the berberine. In order to better understand the roles of the bacterial community, the ABR−aerobic granular sludge system was operated in the state with the highest BBR removal rate in this study. The bacterial community dynamics were studied using the 16S rDNA clone library. The results showed that the hybrid ABR-AGS process achieved 92.2% and 94.8% overall removals of berberine and COD, respectively. Bacterium was dominant species in ABR, while t... [more]

In this study, we propose a hypocenter localization algorithm that uses the time difference of arrival (TDOA) and angle of arrival (AOA) as a hybrid model. The hypocenter measurements are detected by the accelerator sensors of the four separate observatories that are closest to the origin of an earthquake. The measurements are calibrated by the proposed deep learning P-onset picking system with short-time Fourier transform (STFT) signal analysis because the accurate detection of Primary waves (P-waves) is limited by seismic environmental noise. The revised measurements are used to calculate the precise distances between the observatories and hypocenters. The proposed hybrid TDOA/AOA is represented by a linear matrix equation that includes the unknowns of the precise distances, coordinates, and arrival angles to the observatories. We estimate a hypocenter using the constrained least squares method (CLS) under the constraints of the TDOA/AOA. The objective function with the constraints i... [more]

In recent years, we have seen an increasing dependency between different urban critical infrastructures, which raises the demands on their analysis and cybersecurity. Current open-source solutions do not provide simulations of interconnected data networks and power grids, which are essential for analysing of both infrastructures weak parts and reducing the risk of emerging threats. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the design of a simulation platform that provides this type of simulation to customers using the virtual user interface. The paper describes the development of a complex model of interconnected power and data infrastructures. Created virtualization platform that consists of several open-source tools is described in detail. Outputs of this paper can be used for analysis of critical infrastructures at the level of urban networks.

In order to find an efficient and economical wetland substrate to treat mine wastewater containing various heavy metals, and effectively realize the resource utilization of water treatment residuals, in this paper, the treatment efficiency of mine wastewater containing various heavy metals was investigated using unburned ceramsite prepared from water treatment residuals (UCWTR) and clay ceramsite. The continuous dynamic test results showed that the removal rate of Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, and Fe can reach more than 98.5% after the UCWTR-based CWs runs for 56 days, and its concentration was 30.05%, 24.85%, 20.82%, 14.63%, and 7.91% lower than that of the clay ceramsite-based CWs, respectively. SEM, XPS, and FT-IR showed that the characteristic peaks of two ceramsites were basically similar. The ceramsite undergoes ion exchange, coordination complexation, and chelation reaction with Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, and Fe under the action of the gel of internal groups -OH, C=O, Al-OH, Si-Fe-O and C-S-H. Compared... [more]

The failure process of a coal body around a borehole has progressive characteristics. Image characteristics can visually characterize the stress and failure characteristics of the coal body around a borehole during progressive failure. To investigate the effect of the moisture content on the progressive failure of the coal body around the borehole, an image test system for the deformation and fracture of coal rock was used, and progressive failure tests of coal body specimens with different moisture content conditions around boreholes were performed. We acquired images of the deformation field during the entire process of specimen failure. Based on the grayscale image theory, the variation in the grayscale characteristic parameters of the progressive failure process was analyzed. The results show that throughout the progressive failure of coal bodies with different moisture contents around a borehole, the main specimen failure can be divided into six stages: compression density, elasti... [more]

Prediction of remaining useful life is crucial for mechanical equipment operation and maintenance. It ensures safe equipment operation, reduces maintenance costs and economic losses, and promotes development. Most of the remaining useful life prediction studies focus on bearings, gearboxes, and engines; however, research on hydraulic pumps remains limited. This study focuses on gear pumps that are commonly used in the hydraulic field and develops a practical method of predicting remaining useful life. The deep sparse autoencoder is used to extract multi−dimensional features. Subsequently, the feature vectors are inputted to the support vector data description to calculate the machine degradation degree at the corresponding time and obtain the health indicator curve of the machine’s life cycle. In building the health state degradation curve, data are processed in an unsupervised manner to avoid the influence of artificial feature selection on the test. The method is validated on the pub... [more]

Trehalose (α-D-glucopyranosyl-1,1-α-D-glucopyranoside) is a stable and nonreducing disaccharide; can be used as sweetener, stabilizer, and humectant; and has many applications in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Trehalose production from maltose catalyzed by trehalose synthase (TreS) is simple and economically feasible for industrial-scale application. Reducing the cost and enhancing the efficiency of TreS synthesis and the conversion of maltose to trehalose is critical for trehalose production. In this study, the homologous TreS was constitutively overexpressed in Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC13032 by removing the repressor gene lacIq fragment in the plasmid, and TreS expression could be exempt from the inducer addition and induction process. For cell permeabilization, Triton X-100 was used as a permeabilization agent, and the treatment time was 3 h. In the conversion system, the permeabilized cells of recombinant C. glutamicum were used as biocatalysts, 300 g/L ma... [more]

In recent years, ultra-efficient liquid chromatography (UPLC) has gained particular popularity due to the possibility of faster separation of small molecules. This technique, used to separate the ingredients present in multi-component mixtures, has found application in many fields, such as chemistry, pharmacy, food, and biochemistry. It is an important tool in both research and production. UPLC created new possibilities for analytical separation without reducing the quality of the obtained results. This technique is therefore a milestone in liquid chromatography. Thanks to the increased resolution, new analytical procedures, in many cases, based on existing methods, are being developed, eliminating the need for re-analysis. Researchers are trying to modify and transfer the analytical conditions from the commonly used HPLC method to UPLC. This topic may be of strategic importance in the analysis of medicinal substances. The information contained in this manuscript indicates the importan... [more]

In order to study the application of the Cobb-Douglas production function on the optimization of safety inputs and further reduce accident losses, two safety input structures of a coal mine enterprise were constructed using literature, and the weight order of each safety input indicator was determined by the entropy weight method (EWM) and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The Cobb-Douglas production function was used to calculate the accident loss function of the safety input structure, and the accident loss function was obtained by multiple regression analysis. The optimal configuration of safety inputs was obtained by fitting the accident loss function. Finally, the optimal loss and mean squared error (MSE) of the corresponding functions of the two safety input structures were compared. The results show that the optimal configuration of Safety Input Structure 2 is better than that of Safety Input Structure 1, and the MSE of Safety Input Structure 2 is less than that of Safety... [more]

Air-doors are important facilities for regulating the air flow in a mine ventilation network. It is of value to study the influence of air-doors, which are adjacent to a fire source on smoke back-layering in order to build a rational ventilation system. By regulating air-doors in a mine ventilation network test platform, two typical mine ventilation networks, with parallel branches and a diagonal branch, were constructed. During the study, into the closing degree of the air-doors adjacent to a fire source in a ventilation network with parallel branches, the back-layering length is up to 3.70 m when the ventilation velocity is 1.40 m/s. When the air-door on the return side of the adjacent branch is closed, the back-layering subsides within 1 min and the upstream temperature drops rapidly to normal. When the air-door is half closed, there is still a back-layering flow within 5 min. Smoke control, with the air-door is closed, is better than when the air-door is half closed. Based on this,... [more]

Craft breweries tend to use special raw materials and also special ingredients (spices, herbs, fruits) to typify beers, but the metabolic activities of yeasts play a primary role in defining the sensory characteristics of this beverage. Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Saccharomyces pastorianus are yeast species usually used for ale and lager beer production. The selection and use of new yeast starters with peculiar technological and enzymatic characteristics could represent the key point for the production of beers with good and distinctive organoleptic properties. In this study, the fermentative performance of S. cerevisiae 41CM yeast isolated from the vineyard environment for ale and lager craft beer production on a laboratory scale was evaluated. The commercial yeast S. cerevisiae Fermentis S-04 and S. pastorianus Weihenstephan 34/70 were used as reference strains. S. cerevisiae 41CM showed fermentative kinetics similar to commercial starters, both in lager (12 °C) and ale (20 °C) brew... [more]

Due to fast analysis speed, analyzing composition content of cement raw meal utilizing near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, combined with partial least squares regression (PLS), is a reliable alternative method for the cement industry to obtain qualified cement products. However, it has hardly been studied. The raw materials employed in different cement plants differ, and the spectral absorption intensity in the NIR range of the raw meal component is weaker than organic substances, although there are obvious absorption peaks, which place high demands on the generality of modeling and accuracy of the analytical model. An effective modeling procedure is proposed, which optimizes the quantitative analytical model from several modeling stages, and two groups of samples with different raw material types and origins are collected to validate it. For the samples in the prediction set from Qufu, the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of CaO, SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 were 0.1910, 0.2307, 0... [more]

Approach for the description of chemical equilibrium shifts in the systems with free and connected chemical reactions was elaborated. Driving forces of chemical equilibrium shifts were temperature change (at P = const), pressure change (at T = const), and input or output of reagents or products (at T, P = const). It was demonstrated how the conditions for passing through the extremes of the state parameters (T, P, and components molar numbers) in one of the reactions transmitted to other reactions, connected with the first one by reagents or products.

As the main component of radioactive wastewater, the cesium ion has seriously endangered the environment and human health. Prussian blue nanoparticles (PB NPs) are used as adsorbents for the purification of cesium-containing wastewater because of their ability to selectively adsorb cesium ions. In this work, novel magnetic Prussian blue nanospheres (MPBNs) were developed from polylactic acid nanospheres as a carrier, loaded with Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) inside and PB NPs outside for the removal of cesium ions with the help of magnetic separation. Meanwhile, the effects on the adsorption efficiency of MPBNs, such as pH, time, temperature and initial concentration of cesium ion solution, were studied. The adsorption isotherms, kinetic models and adsorption thermodynamics were investigated to research the absorption mechanism. The results showed that MPBNs were spherical with a rough surface, and their particle size, iron content and saturation magnetization were 268.2 ± 1.4 nm, 40... [more]

Emerging contaminants (ECs) include a diverse group of compounds not commonly monitored in wastewaters, which have become a global concern due to their potential harmful effects on aquatic ecosystems and human health. In the present work, six ECs (ibuprofen, diclofenac, erythromycin, triclosan, imidacloprid and 17α-ethinylestradiol) were monitored for nine months in influents and effluents taken from four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Except for the case of ibuprofen, which was in all cases in lower concentrations than those usually found in previous works, results found in this work were within the ranges normally reported. Global removal efficiencies were calculated, in each case being very variable, even when the same EC and facility were considered. In addition, the SimpleTreat model was tested by comparing simulated and real ibuprofen, diclofenac and erythromycin data. The best agreement was obtained for ibuprofen which was the EC with the highest removal efficiencies.

In order to describe the impact that the appropriation of additive manufacturing (AM) has on the supply chain (SC), a validated system dynamics model representing vectorially multiple products and multiple demands in different periods was used as a basis to apply to a case study of medical implant manufacturing, configuring three chain scenarios: 1. traditional supply chain with subtractive manufacturing, 2. centralized supply chain with additive manufacturing, and 3. decentralized supply chain with additive manufacturing. It was possible to notice that the production time is longer in additive manufacturing compared to traditional manufacturing and the cycle time and total demand closure were lower in traditional manufacturing. In addition, it was observed that the AM performance is significantly better in conditions of lower demand, which can be attributed to the characteristics of customization and small batches that this type of production approach implies.

Multi-stage pump as turbine (PAT) has a wider range of heads and application intervals compared to single-stage PAT. In our research, we have conducted experimental and numerical simulation studies on this issue. In this paper, based on experimental research, numerical simulation is applied to calculate the multi-stage PAT flow field. The flow characteristics of multi-stage PAT under different working conditions are studied using the entropy production theory. Finally, the Pearson correlation coefficient is used to evaluate the relationship between the hydraulic loss and entropy production of the impellers and guide vanes. The entropy production theory is used to determine the location where the multi-stage PAT energy loss occurs compared with the traditional pressure drop assessment method. The results show that the trend of the numerical simulation results is consistent with the experimental results. The energy loss in the multi-stage PAT is calculated combined with the impeller and... [more]

In this work, the principle of metamorphic mechanism is optimized for the product design based on variable topological structures. One metamorphic element consisting of kinematic pair and kinematic size is proposed firstly and a configuration synthesis strategy for feed mechanism is performed in term of the translocation, inversion and duplication variation methods. Metamorphic elements are obtained by decomposing the source metamorphic mechanism. A novelty configuration scheme based on constraint variation features is established by the solution of the constraint relationship of metamorphic elements, and three kinds of configurations are synthesized. Comparisons with kinematic performances between source mechanism and developed mechanism configurations are modelled by the kinematic simulation. Results demonstrate that the multiple types of metamorphic mechanisms can be successfully synthesized, and the demands of functional targets are satisfied completely.

With the rapid adoption of green infrastructure and nature-based solutions for a low-impact development, much consideration is given to ecosystem services and the ecological enhancement in modern planning of urban spaces. Artificial landscape water bodies have, in recent years, been utilized to enhance the ecological quality of urban environments. As an environmentally friendly measure, the water source of these waters has predominantly been adopting reclaimed water (treated wastewater). As a result, landscape water bodies are often eutrophic, exhibiting poor hydrodynamics, with lengthy water change cycles, creating the ideal environment for algal blooms that negatively impact the aesthetic appeal of these landscape waters. Based on the existing literature, this paper summarizes the treatment techniques and strategies employed in enhancing the quality of urban artificial landscape water bodies and providing integrated design solutions in the urban environment.

A 2020 investigation into air quality in urban areas found that nitrogen oxide and PM10 concentrations were above average. With the exception of summer, three seasons were found to have the highest nitrogen oxide concentrations, with a significant decrease during COVID-19. The significant PM10 relationship showed how communication affects the worsening of air quality, especially in the winter. The highest concentration of nitrogen oxide of 53.99 µg m−3 indicated the possibility of advection of pollutants from outside the agglomeration. The highest level of nitrogen oxide content, 95.95 µg m−3 in the atmospheric air, confirmed the significant presence of pollutants of communication origin. The advancement of electro-mobility and the application of cutting-edge technologies alongside renewable energy sources may contribute to a decrease in the amount of harmful substances released into the atmosphere.

Patient-centered communication (PCC) quality is critical to increasing the quality of patient-centered care. Based on the nationally representative data of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 2019−2020 (N = 4593), this study combined four machine learning methods, namely, Generalized Linear Models (GLM), Random Forests (Random Forests), Deep Neural Networks (Deep Learning), and Gradient Boosting Machines (GBM), to identify important PCC predictors through variable importance metrics. Fifteen variables were identified as important predictors, involving multiple dimensions, such as individual sociodemographic characteristics, health-related factors, and individual living habits. Among them, four novel potential associated variables are included, an individual’s level of verbal expression, exercise habits, etc., which significantly impacted respondents’ perceived PCC quality. This study revealed the value of combining feature selection with machine learning approaches to... [more]