Impact of oil-water emulsions on lubrication performance of ship stern bearings.

During maritime operations, extreme events such as explosions, grounding, and seal failures can cause water ingress into lubricant compartments, forming oil-water emulsions that significantly affect the lubrication performance of ship stern bearings. Existing studies mainly focus on low water content, with limited exploration of the impact of high water content on lubrication performance. To address this gap, viscosity measurements of oil-water mixtures were conducted, and an emulsification viscosity equation applicable to varying water contents was derived.

Numerical study on the back slope effect of trapezoidal canyon slope under oblique incidence of P-SV waves.

The incident angle of seismic waves influences the dynamic response of rock slopes. However, the relationship between the back-slope effect in strong earthquake areas and the incident angle has not been well-explained. Based on the equivalent nodal force method and the viscoelastic artificial boundary theory, the oblique incidence of seismic P-wave and SV-wave are carried out in FLAC3D software.

Assessment of meteorological factors and air pollution impact on cardiovascular mortality using random forest analysis 2017 to 2020.

Air pollution, a global health hazard, significantly impacts mortality, cardiovascular health, mental well-being, and overall human health. This study aimed to investigate the impact of air pollution and meteorological factors on cardiovascular mortality rates in Mashhad City, northeastern Iran in 2017-2020. We utilized a Random Forest (RF) model in this study.

A high-gain gap waveguide-based 16 × 16 slot antenna array with low sidelobe level for mmwave applications.

This study presents the design of a high-gain 16 × 16-slot antenna array with a low sidelobe level (SLL) using a tapered ridge gap waveguide feeding network for Ka-band applications. The proposed antenna element includes four cavity-backed slot antennas. A tapered feeding network is designed and utilized for unequal feeding of the radiating elements.

Fatigue reliability assessment of rib-to-deck double-sided welded joints in orthotropic steel decks considering welding residual stress.

Fatigue cracking of rib-to-deck conventional single-sided welded joints is a prevalent issue in orthotropic steel decks (OSDs), significantly impacting their structural integrity and durability. Rib-to-deck innovative double-sided welded joints have the potential to enhance the fatigue resistance of OSD. However, Welding Residual Stresses (WRS) significantly influence the fatigue life of these joints, mandating its consideration in fatigue assessments.

Evolutionary game analysis on the regulation of medical devices used in health services delivery.

Medical devices (MDs) play a critical role in healthcare delivery while also bringing potential medical risks and unintended harms to patients. Although government regulation is well recognized as a critical and essential function for ensuring the safety of MDs in many countries, the supplementary role that hospitals play is often neglected. This paper constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model involving the government, hospitals, and MDs enterprises to explore their strategic behaviors of MDs regulation in healthcare delivery.

Impact of environmental factors on atmospheric radon variations at China Jinping Underground Laboratory.

In this study, long-term and continuous monitoring of atmospheric radon concentration, temperature, air pressure, and humidity was conducted at China Jinping Underground Laboratory. The impacts of temperature, humidity, and air pressure on radon concentration in the experimental environment were specifically examined, along with the potential interactions among these factors. Moreover, Radon data were denoised using Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) to reveal factors that might influence changes in radon concentration.

Application of multilayered porous media for heat transfer optimization in double pipe heat exchangers using neural network and NSGA II.

This study investigates the use of multi-layered porous media (MLPM) to enhance thermal energy transfer within a counterflow double-pipe heat exchanger (DPHE). We conducted computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations on DPHEs featuring five distinct MLPM configurations, analyzed under both fully filled and partially filled conditions, alongside a conventional DPHE. The impact of various parameters such as porous layer arrangements, thickness, and flow Reynolds numbers on pressure drop, logarithmic mean temperature difference (LMTD), and performance evaluation criterion (PEC) was assessed.

Focused ion beam (FIB) prepared microtextured microneedle array capable of delivering drugs through punctured skin.

Microtextured microneedles are tiny needle-like structures with micron-scale microtextures, and the drugs stored in the microtextures can be released after entering the skin to achieve the effect of precise drug delivery. In this study, the skin substitution model of Ogden's hyperelastic model and the microneedle array and microtexture models with different geometrical parameters were selected to simulate and analyse the flow of the microtexture microneedle arrays penetrating the skin by the finite-element method, and the length of the microneedles was determined to be 200 μm, the width 160 μm, and the value of the gaps was determined to be 420 μm. A four-pronged cone was chosen as the shape of microneedles, and a rectangle was chosen as the shape of the drug-carrying microneedle.

Comparison of the aquatic toxicity of diquat and its metabolites to zebrafish Danio rerio.

Diquat (DQ) is a non-selective, fast-acting herbicide that is extensively used in aquatic systems. DQ has been registered as the substitute for paraquat due to its lower toxicity. However, the widespread presence of DQ in aquatic systems can pose an ecological burden on aquatic organisms.

Evaluating the feasibility of estimating particulate mass emissions of older-model diesel vehicle using smoke opacity measurements.

Real-world emissions of particulate matter (PM) and smoke opacity were studied for an older-model diesel pickup truck during four types of driving tests, namely fixed-point test, snap-acceleration test, road test, and hill road test (uphill/downhill). A portable emissions measurement system (PEMS) and an opacimeter were used to measure real-time concentrations of PM and smoke opacity, respectively, and simultaneously. Correlation analysis showed a significant positive association between PM and opacity, suggesting the feasibility of using an opacimeter to estimate PM mass emissions from diesel vehicles.

Application of artificial intelligence based on state grid ESG platform in clean energy scheduling optimization.

The randomness and volatility of existing clean energy sources have increased the complexity of grid scheduling. To address this issue, this work proposes an artificial intelligence (AI) empowered method based on the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) big data platform, focusing on multi-objective scheduling optimization for clean energy. This work employs a combination of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Deep Q-Network (DQN) to enhance grid scheduling efficiency and clean energy utilization.

Application of rhodamine B as thermochromic sensor for evaluation of performance of cold paint.

A thermochromic pigment, derived from reaction of ethylenediamine and rhodamine B known as MA-RB, has been successfully developed. This pigment showcases temperature-controlled visible color-transformation properties in both solid and solution states. The thermochromic pigment MA-RB exhibits a notable color change from light pink to rose red, triggered by thermal excitation.

Cross-domain lung opacity detection via adversarial learning and box fusion.

Many conditions, such as pulmonary edema, bleeding, atelectasis or collapse, lung cancer, and shadow formation after radiotherapy or surgical changes, cause Lung Opacity. An unsupervised cross-domain Lung Opacity detection method is proposed to help surgeons quickly locate Lung Opacity without additional manual annotations. This study proposes a novel method based on adversarial learning to detect Lung Opacity on chest X-rays.

Optimization of microwave components using machine learning and rapid sensitivity analysis.

Recent years have witnessed a tremendous popularity growth of optimization methods in high-frequency electronics, including microwave design. With the increasing complexity of passive microwave components, meticulous tuning of their geometry parameters has become imperative to fulfill demands imposed by the diverse application areas. More and more often, achieving the best possible performance requires global optimization.

Impact of magnetorheological fluid composition on their behaviour in gradient pinch mode.

Magnetorheological (MR) fluids can be utilized in one of the fundamental operating modes of which the gradient pinch mode has been the least explored. In this unique mode non-uniform magnetic field distributions are taken advantage of to develop a so-called Venturi-like contraction in MR fluids. By adequately directing magnetic flux the material can be made solidified in the regions near the flow channel wall, thus creating a passage in the middle of the channel for the fluid to pass through.

Nucleation and growth of zinc-templated mesoporous selenium nanoparticles and potential non-thermal effects during their microwave-assisted synthesis.

The effects of 5.8-GHz microwave (MW) irradiation on the synthesis of mesoporous selenium nanoparticles (mSeNPs) in aqueous medium by reduction of selenite ions with ascorbic acid, using zinc nanoparticles as a hard template and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a micellar template, are examined for the first time with a particular emphasis on MW-particle interactions and the NPs morphology. This MW-assisted synthesis is compared to 2.

Dual-fluorescent starch biopolymer films containing 5-(4-nitrophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine powder as a functional nanofiller.

Physical and photophysical properties of starch-based biopolymer films containing 5-(4-nitrophenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine (NTA) powder as a nanofiller were examined using atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), stationary UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy as well as resonance light scattering (RLS) and time-resolved measurements, and where possible, analyzed with reference to pristine NTA solutions. AFM studies revealed that the addition of NTA into the starch biopolymer did not significantly affect surface roughness, with all examined films displaying similar Sq values ranging from 70.7 nm to 79.

Experimental and computational analysis of SnS encapsulated into carbonized chitosan as electrode material for potassium ion batteries.

Tin sulphide compounds (SnS, x = 1, 2) are potential anode materials for potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) due to their characteristic layered structure, high theoretical capacity, non-toxicity and low production cost. However, they suffer from significant volume changes resulting in poor performance of such anodes. In this work incorporation of SnS into the carbon structure was expected to overcome these disadvantages.

Feeding biotreated rumen digesta affects nutrient digestion, ruminal fermentation, and blood parameters in calves.

The objective of this research was to examine the impact of feeding biologically treated rumen digesta (BTRD) to Holstein steer calves at levels of 0, 10, 20, and 30% (DM-based) on feed consumption, nutrient digestion, growth performance, rumen fermentation, and plasma metabolites. Sixteen Holstein steer calves with an initial BW of 113 ± 8 kg were randomly allocated in a randomized complete design. Dietary inclusion of BTRD in calves diet did not altered (P < 0.

Tissue growth as a mechanism for collagen fiber alignment in articular cartilage.

Articular cartilage is distinguished by the unique alignment of type II collagen, a feature crucial for its mechanical properties and function. This characteristic organization is established during postnatal development of the tissue, yet the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this study, a potential mechanism for type II collagen alignment by cartilage-specific growth from within the tissue was investigated.

Hand gestures classification of sEMG signals based on BiLSTM-metaheuristic optimization and hybrid U-Net-MobileNetV2 encoder architecture.

Surface electromyography (sEMG) data has been extensively utilized in deep learning algorithms for hand movement classification. This paper aims to introduce a novel method for hand gesture classification using sEMG data, addressing accuracy challenges seen in previous studies. We propose a U-Net architecture incorporating a MobileNetV2 encoder, enhanced by a novel Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) and metaheuristic optimization for spatial feature extraction in hand gesture and motion recognition.

Optimization of a monochromatic clapper-yule spectral prediction model based on the single ink drop spreading behavior in inkjet printing.

In recent years, inkjet digital printing technology has become a popular research area. This paper focuses on the spreading behavior of single ink drops on coated paper in digital inkjet printing. It explores the impact of ink drop spreading on monochromatic spectral reflectance, providing new insights for the theoretical development of spectral prediction models.

Non-catalytic glycerol dehydrogenation to dihydroxyacetone using needle-in-tube dielectric barrier discharge plasma.

Glycerol, a by-product of biodiesel production, could be converted into various value-added products. This work focuses on its dehydrogenation to dihydroxyacetone (DHA), which is mainly used in the cosmetics industry. While several methods have been employed for DHA production, some necessitate catalysts and involve harsh reaction conditions as well as long reaction times.

Assessment of coupling coordinated degree and driving mechanism of population-resource-environment-economy (PREE) system in Yellow River Basin, China.

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in China have brought economic growth and improved living standards, while environmental degradation and resource overexploitation occurred simultaneously. Yellow River Basin (YRB) also faces priorities of ecological protection and high-quality development. Therefore, it is essential for YRB to coordinate the relationship between socioeconomic and eco-environment.