bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modelling of sequencing batch reactor operating at various aeration modes
Authors: Łagód Grzegorz , Piotrowicz Adam , Gleń Piotr , Drewnowski Jakub , Sabba Fabrizio
Published: January 2019

The presented study involved designing a computer model of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) at laboratory scale. The data pertaining to the technical aspects of the bioreactor and quality indicators of wastewater constituted the input for the employed simulation tool, i.e. GPS-X software package. The results of a simulation involving a 12-hour operation cycle are presented in this work; each cycle included 6 phases: filling, mixing, aeration, settling, decantation and idling (wasting of excess sludge). The simulations were carried out using two different modes of aeration. Concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) was maintained at constant level of 2 mgO2/L using the PID controller in the first case. On the other hand, variation of DO concentration was employed in the aeration stage of the second variant, which was achieved using appropriately elaborated set point of oxygen concentration, considering the specific intervals in oxygen supply. The changes observed in DO concentration varied from 0.5 to 2.5 mgO2/L. This research proved that the second variant, involving variation of DO concentration, was characterised by reduced levels of pollution indicators in treated sewage, as well as lower consumption of electricity, both of which contributed towards improving the effluent quality and resulted in significant degree of dephosphatation.
Two-dimensional heat transfer analysis of timber structure walls filled with hemp-lime composite
Authors: Brzyski Przemysław , Duda Sylwia , Raczkowski Andrzej
Published: January 2019

Hemp-lime composite is a thermal insulating material used as a filling in timber frame construction walls. It is a material based on the wooden part of industrial hemp stalk (hemp shives) and lime binder. In practice, different wall thicknesses, composites with different thermal properties and various configurations of timber structure are used. These factors affect the temperature distribution in the wall. In the thermally weaker areas of walls, there is a greater risk of condensation and mould growth. This issue is important while designing walls based on organic materials. The paper presents the two-dimensional (2D) heat-transfer analysis based on the finite-element method, using THERM software. Several variants of external walls were adopted for the analysis. Thermal parameters of hemp-lime composites used in the analysis were obtained from our own research. The results of the analysis were presented as the values of the thermal transmittance coefficient and linear thermal transmittance equivalent to timber construction. The temperature distribution for an exemplary wall was also shown graphically in the form of isotherms and colour-flooded isotherms.
Edge-area form removal of two-process surfaces with valley excluding method approach
Authors: Podulka Przemysław
Published: January 2019

This paper analyses the influence of edge-area form removal on surface texture parameters (from ISO 25178 standard). The study focused on assessing the effect of near-edge dimples on surface texture analysis. Areal form removal was performed by means of digital filtering methods (regular Gaussian filter, robust Gaussian regression filter, median filter and/or other algorithms). For minimisation of dimples distortion the valley digital excluding method (VDEM) with standard deviation determination procedure was applied to measure plateau-honed cylinder liner surfaces (more than 20 measured and/or 20 with digitally added dimples surfaces were studied). The measurements were performed with a stylus instrument, Talyscan 150, or a white light interferometer, Talysurf CCI Lite. It was assumed that application of VDEMwith further application of proposed digital filtering algorithms caused the decrease in dimples distortion with accordance to regular Gaussian regression and/or robust Gaussian regression filtering methods. It was also found that the near-edge dimples were more vulnerable to distortion than the centre-located oil pockets.
Control System for Aircraft Take-off and Landing Based on Modified PID controllers
Authors: Rogalski Tomasz , Nowak Dariusz , Wałek Łukasz , Rzońca Dariusz , Samolej Sławomir
Published: January 2019

This article describes some of tasks carried out as a part of an international project ERA (Enhanced RPAS Automation, RPAS – Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems). The works were focused on a control system for an optionally piloted aircraft MP-02 Czajka, especially on adapting the control system for piloting the aircraft in take-off and landing phases. The entry point was the control system built on using PID controllers in the aircraft. The quality of the control system was insufficient; especially for steering in critical flight states such as take-off and landing. The aim was to improve and fine-tune it to the object, which would allow to shorten time constants of the system, reduce overshoots and errors. It was decided to leave a general structure of a control algorithm based on PID controllers, however, it was extended with additional elements, among others blocks of additional damping, “fit forward” blocks and others. The article describes control laws and their modification as well as effects on steering in longitudinal motion, primarily an angle of pitch of the aircraft, as well as lateral movement, by controlling an angle of roll and a course of the aircraft.
Vehicle fuel consumption prediction based on the data record obtained from an engine control unit
Authors: Sarkan Branislav , Semanova Stefania , Harantova Veronika , Stopka Ondrej , Chovancova Maria , Szala Mirosław
Published: January 2019

Vehicle fuel consumption is one of the most important operational characteristics of road vehicles. The fuel consumption can be determined by different methods under laboratory conditions or by carrying out drive tests. One of the possibilities to quantify a way of vehicle driving is to analyse the selected parameters of the fuel mixture electronic control system. The objective of the paper is to predict fuel consumption via parameters of throttle position and engine speed. The measurement was carried out in the laboratory of the Department of Road and Urban Transport by using a MAHA roller dynamometer. The result is an estimation of accuracy of such fuel consumption determination and its possible utilisation for a system of assessing the vehicle driving style of drivers.
Numerical analysis of energy absorption behaviour of circular profiles with plates under lateral loads
Authors: Estrada Quirino , Szwedowicz Dariusz , Rodriguez-Mendez Alejandro , Silva-Aceves Jesús , Wiebe Lara C. , Castro Javier S. , López Elifalet , Tinoco Luis F. , Castillo Sebastián A.
Published: January 2019

The study of bending behaviour of thin-walled structures has gained importance since lateral impact is the second most common scenario in automobile crashes. The current paper analyses an effect of partition plates on energy absorption (Ea) of circular profiles under lateral loads. For this purpose, several numerical analyses using Abaqus/Explicit finite element software were carried out. The evaluated specimens have circular cross-sections reinforced by different arrangement of partition plates. In order to get reliable outcome, special emphasis was placed on damage modelling by Johnson-Cook failure model for aluminium. From the results considering a single profile, better Ea was registered for structures with plates in a range from 6% to 34%. Reduction in peak load (Pmax) up to 13% and an increase in crush force efficiency (CFE) in 14.86% was also computed. Regarding profiles with plates, it was determined that crashworthiness performance depends on an arrangement of plates on the cross-section more than their thickness and number. Better performance was obtained when the circular cross-section was reinforced in the longitudinal and transversal direction by 4 plates.
Numerical analysis of behaviour of compressed thin-walled Z-profiles weakened by holes
Authors: Falkowicz Katarzyna
Published: January 2019

This paper presents the results of numerical analysis conducted to investigate compressed thin-walled Z-profile weakened by holes with variable geometrical parameters. The specimens made of constructional steel were articulately supported on the edges of the cross-section in the upper and lower parts. The FEM analysis examined the nonlinear stability of these structures in the post-buckling state, where the mode of buckling was forced to ensure their stable behaviour. The numerical computations were performed within the geometrically nonlinear range until the yield point was reached. The investigation involved determining the effect of holes sizes on allowable operational loads. Numerical analysis was conducted with the Abaqus commercial FEM software package.
The influence of the applied type of cooling after eight-stage hot compression test on the structure and mechanical properties of TRIPLEX type steels
Authors: Sozańska-Jędrasik Liwia , Mazurkiewicz Janusz , Borek Wojciech
Published: January 2019

The aim of the work was to analyse the impact of an eight-stage hot compression process carried out on the Gleeble3800 simulator, with three cooling variants after thermo-mechanical treatment of Fe-Mn-Al-C steels for their structure and mechanical properties. Performed research allowed to evaluate the impact on the structure and properties of simulation conditions for multi-stage rolling of difficult-to-treat thermomechanical steels for which this treatment is the final process of obtaining ready-to-use high-strength construction steels. Applied thermo-mechanical treatment causes that the main process of removing the effects of strain hardening is dynamic recovery, and static and metadynamic recrystallisation taking place after the last deformation but also between successive deformations, which was also confirmed on the basis of structural analysis of the tested steel after different cooling variants. As a result of the eight-stage hot compression test, the ferrite changed its distribution from fine grains occurring at the boundaries of austenite grains after forging, to elongated grains in a perpendicular direction to the compression direction. Isothermal heating at 850°C for 30s resulted in obtaining a fine-grained structure, statically or metadynamically recrystallised. The maximum tensile strength of the tested steels is about 1250 MPa, and the total elongation value is about 27%.
Numerical analysis of spinal stabiliser in spondylolisthesis treatment with pedicle screws
Authors: Zubrzycki Jarosław
Published: January 2019

The aim of the research on experimental parts was to analyse the influence of the lumbar stabilisation on the strength aspects of the lumbar part of human spine and stabiliser in case of spondylolisthesis treatment. The models were built with the use of pre-surgical CT diagnostics, routinely used in medical practice. MIMICS software was used to process the results of the neuroimaging research and to create a 3D model. Two models were built: one with and the other without a stabilizer. Afterwards, a static load analysis for the load coming from the upper part of the body was done. Analysis was performed using the finite element method (FEA). The performed simulations enabled to determine the stress in particular discs for both models, with and without transpedicular stabiliser.
Key role and potential of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in modern production monitoring applications
Authors: Pizoń Jakub , Kłosowski Grzegorz , Lipski Jerzy
Published: January 2019

The following paper presents a key role and potential of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in industrial applications as a solution for monitoring and maintaining manufacturing assets. IIoT is particularly important due to progressing computerisation of hardware resources leading to development of a virtualised model of autonomous real-time production management. Adequately article presents case study of IIoT use in production environment – both methodical and analytic approach is presented.
Computer measurement of ampacity of thin layers made on textile composite substrate
Authors: Korzeniewska Ewa , Szczęsny Artur , Józwik Jerzy , Tofil and Arkadiusz
Published: January 2019

Technology of creating electrical and electronic systems on flexible substrates, with special emphasis on textile substrates, is one of the most important areas in the field of developing textronics, which is applicable in protective clothes. Resistance and ampacity are the key parameters of electrically conductive thin layers formed on such substrates. Authors of this paper present the results of research related to creation of thin-layered, electrically conductive structures on substrates using a vacuum technology of layer application and assess the scope of their usefulness. Measurement of averaged surface temperature and thermal energy emitted at the surface of the structure will be the subject to metrological evaluation. The authors present developed method with Peltier cells used for measuring the average temperature and emitted heat to evaluate these parameters. The described method allows measurement of average values by matching the dimensions of the cell to the surface. The proposed method avoids possible temperature gradient around the point of measure which occurs in contact methods. The test results also pertain to the determination of the resistance of the test surfaces using a balance of generated thermal power which allows evaluation of the process of creating layers.
Innovation of the Polish Economy in comparison to European Union countries
Authors: Miłek Dorota , Mistachowicz Marta
Published: January 2019

Knowledge and innovation are fundamental drivers of development processes. This is affirmed by a reorientation of the European Union policies for 2014–2020, which consider a more dynamic construction of economy based on knowledge and innovation, a more effective use of pro-innovative resources, and the strengthening of innovation systems are as basic dimensions of economic activity. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and assess the level of Poland’s innovation as compared to the European Union countries in 2011 and 2015. To assess innovation, expenditure on research and development (R&D) activity was employed, along with the employment levels in R&D and indices referring to the effects of innovation activities in the form of protection of intellectual and industrial property. As a result of the study, clusters of countries with the highest and lowest innovation level were identified. The study is supplemented by Ward’s clustering method, which forms the basis for separation of similar countries with respect to an analysed phenomenon. The calculations were carried out with the use of Statistica 13 programme.
Multicriteria evaluation of the trajectory of a wheeled mobile robot – a case study
Authors: Montusiewicz Jerzy , Skulimowski Stanisław
Published: January 2019

The problem of maintaining accuracy of autonomous movement of vehicles and robots is an important element of keeping the right level of traffic safety. This applies not only to autonomous cars, but also to construction or other industry mobile robots that will soon appear in the human environment. With that in mind, the authors present a multi-criteria assessment process, which can be used to assess the qualitative and quantitative movement of such robots, in order to better identify passage errors, as well as improve their way of moving. The authors wanted to check the effect of the set power level on engines, repeatability of subsequent runs, and the impact of the level of contamination of the surface on the stability of the robot movement. The article describes the results of the robots movement assessment based on (1) the surface areas of the routes envelope, (2) the augmented average route length and (3) the number of trajectory intersections. The results obtained were compared to the research scenarios – differences in set power for motors and the state of contamination of the surface
Tuning parameters of the isochronous endpoint of a USB peripheral device in a multimedia system
Authors: Sawicki Michał , Maćkowski Michał , Kwiecień Andrzej
Published: January 2019

Data exchange in the multimedia system between the camera and the computer can be realized via the USB communication interface. Applying the USB port requires tuning the port parameters in such systems to ensure the quality of the services (multimedia) provided. The tuning of the communication system depends on such selection of port parameters to optimize the imposed criteria. The authors proposed a quality criterion based on the USB isochronous interval. The paper briefly presents the quality measure and the transmission model of the data package. Next, the problem of tuning the USB port was presented based on the selected parameters (MaxPacketSize and MaxBurst) of the endpoint of the peripheral device. To assess the impact of the selected parameter on the quality of services in the system, a statistical test for homoscedasticity of empirical distributions of isochronous intervals, was used. Besides the results of the conducted experiments for the selected parameters presented in the paper, the authors also tried to explain the obtained results in relation to the specification of the USB port.
Characterisation of Cellulose Nanofibres Derived from Chemical and Mechanical Treatments
Authors: Muhamad Martini , Hornsby Peter , Carmichael Eugene , Zakaria Muhammad , Seok Yew Been , Mohamed Saiful , Sharma Shekhar
Published: January 2019

Optimised routes have been established to obtain high aspect ratio cellulose microfibrils derived from plant feedstocks, involving a combination of a chemical and mechanical treatment using a high pressure microfluidizer. By this means, nano-cellulose was produced using different pretreatment protocols. The nanofibres produced were characterised for its particle size distribution measurement (laser diffraction and zeta potential analysis) and fourier transform infrared for its structural analysis. Results obtained and subsequent trends observed in chemical, mechanical and chemo-mechanical treated nanofibres were compared and contrasted. The chemomechanical treatment (TEMPO-oxidation and high pressure microfluidisation) yielded higher aspect ratio nanofibrils than nanofibrils made by solely chemical or mechanical treatment.
Recycling of Mixed Poly(Ethylene-terephthalate) and Poly(Lactic Acid)
Authors: Gere Daniel , Czigany Tibor
Published: January 2019

Nowadays, PLA is increasingly used as a packaging material, therefore it may appear in the petrol-based polymer waste stream. However, with the today’s mechanical recycling technologies PLA and PET bottles cannot be easily or cheaply separated. Therefore, our goal was to investigate the mechanical, morphological and thermal properties of different PET and PLA compounds in a wide range of compositions. We made different compounds from poly(ethylene-terephthalate) (PET) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) by extrusion, and injection molded specimens from the compounds. We investigated the mechanical properties and the phase morphology of the samples and the thermal stability of the regranulates. PET and PLA are thermodynamically immiscible, therefore we observed a typical island-sea type morphology in SEM micrographs. When PLA was added, the mechanical properties (tensile strength, modulus, elongation at break and impact strength) changed significantly. The Young’s modulus increased, while elongation at break and impact strength decreased with the increase of the weight fraction of PLA. The TGA results indicated that the incorporation of PLA decreased the thermal stability of the PET/PLA blends.
The relationship between adult attachment and love concept of college students: a moderated mediator model
Authors: Hu Wenpeng
Published: January 2019

In order to explore the influencing factors of college students' love view, this study used love questionnaire, adult attachment scale and interpersonal trust scale to investigate 790 college students. It was found that the adult attachment is dependent love view and interpersonal trust. There is a linear correlation between them; for girls, interpersonal trust and love are also linearly related, but not for boys; for girls, interpersonal trust depends on the closeness dimension, anxiety dimension and love concept of adult attachment .There is an intermediary role between them; for boys, interpersonal trust does not have an intermediary role. In summary, there is a gender difference in the mediating effect of interpersonal trust, that is, gender has a moderating effect. The results of this study provide a certain theoretical support for better exploring the influencing factors and mechanisms of the concept of love from the perspective of growth factors.
Interpreting Yuan Shao’s Failure in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms from the Perspective of Heroic Psychology
Authors: Zheng Xianru
Published: January 2019

A psychological interpretation of Yuan Shao in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms reveals that Yuan Shao does not possess the main psychological characteristics of a hero. This paper carries out an in-depth study of Yuan Shao’s journey to his defeat and analyzes Yuan Shao from four aspects, namely, temperament, character, personality and moral character. Based on this, this paper puts forward a preliminary view of the five primary psychological traits of the hero, which echoes with the mental health education in the campus influenced by traditional culture.
A Case Study on the Content Infiltration of Positive Mental Health Education in Chinese Teaching
Authors: Zhi Li
Published: January 2019

Conducting the content infiltration of positive mental health education in Chinese teaching is not only the requirement of positive mental health education, but also the requirement of Chinese subject teaching itself. On the basis of summarizing the practical teaching experience, this paper summarizes four methods to conduct the content infiltration of positive mental health education in Chinese teaching, that is: constructing mainstream stories to promote positive identification; bringing students into situation to inspire introspection; reshaping students’ positive mind to promote application; arranging writing exercise to promote students’ comprehension.
Quantifying the concentration and penetration depth of long-lived RONS in plasma-activated water by UV absorption spectroscopy
Authors: Liu Zhijie , Zhou Chunxi , Liu Dingxin , He Tongtong , Guo Li , Xu Dehui , Kong Michael G.
Published: January 2019

Reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species (RONS) are believed to play a key role in biomedical applications, which means that RONS must reach the target tissue to produce a therapeutic effect. Existing methods (electron spin spectrometry and microplate reading) to determine the RONS concentration are not suitable for experimental real-time measurements because they require adding an indicating reagent to the plasma-treated medium, which may alter the chemical composition of the medium. In this paper, we propose a method to measure the long-lived RONS concentration in plasma-activated water (PAW) by using UV absorption spectroscopy. Based on an analysis and fit of the absorption spectra of standard solutions (H2O2, NaNO2, and NaNO3), we propose a detailed fitting procedure that allows us to calculate the concentrations of simplex H2O2, NO2−, and NO3−. The results show that the pH and the cross reactivity between RONS in PAW correlate strongly with the absorption spectra. To confirm the accuracy of the calculations, we also use a microplate reader and add chemical reagents to measure the concentrations of H2O2, NO2−, and NO3−. The results show that the concentrations calculated by the proposed fitting method are relatively accurate and that the error range is acceptable. Additionally, the time-dependent diffusion of RONS in PAW is measured and analyzed at different depths in the PAW. This fitting approach constitutes a nonintrusive approach to measure RONS at different depths in PAW.
Recombination processes in Mg doped wurtzite InN films with p- and n-type conductivity
Authors: Eriksson M. O. , Khromov S. , Paskov P. P. , Wang X. , Yoshikawa A. , Holtz P. O. , Monemar B. , Darakchieva V.
Published: January 2019

Obtaining high quality, wurtzite InN films with p-type conductivity is a challenge, and there is limited information about the photoluminescence (PL) characteristics of such films. In this study, we present a comprehensive PL study and discuss in detail the recombination processes in Mg-doped InN films with varying Mg concentrations. We find that at low Mg-doping of 1×1018 cm-3, which yields p-type conductivity, the PL in InN is spatially inhomogeneous. The latter is suggested to be associated with the presence of n-type pockets, displaying photoluminescence at 0.73 eV involving electrons at the Fermi edge above the conduction band edge. Increasing the Mg concentration to 2.9×1019 cm-3 in p-type InN yields strong and spatially uniform photoluminescence at 0.62 eV and 0.68 eV visible all the way to room temperature, indicating homogeneous p-type conductivity. An acceptor binding energy of 64 meV is determined for the Mg acceptor. Further increase of the Mg concentration to 1.8×1020 cm-3 leads to switching conductivity back to n-type. The PL spectra in this highly doped sample reveal only the emission related to the Mg acceptor (at 0.61 eV). In the low-energy tail of the emission, the multiple peaks observed at 0.54 – 0.58 eV are suggested to originate from recombination of carriers localized at stacking faults.
Synthetic optical holography for in-depth imaging of optical vortices in speckle patterns
Authors: Di Donato A. , Tamagnone M. , Criante L. , Cavanini L. , Mencarelli D. , Ippoliti G. , Pierantoni L. , Orlando G. , Morini A. , Farina M.
Published: January 2019

In this paper, we report a novel approach based on a lensless Synthetic Optical Holography (SOH) that is aimed to recover the complex scattered field from buried surfaces at different wavelengths with sub-nanometric spectral resolution, without affecting the phase retrieval in depth. The proposed technique is applied to characterize and image the field scattered from a rough embedded surface of a microfluidic channel. The real and imaginary part of the random complex field revealed the presence of 2D optical vortices at each location in which a phase singularity is located. A statistical study of optical vortices is presented and the high spectral resolution is exploited to study the behavior of topological charges with the frequency shift.
Near-field magneto-caloritronic nanoscopy on ferromagnetic nanostructures
Authors: Pfitzner E. , Hu X. , Schumacher H. W. , Hoehl A. , Venkateshvaran D. , Cubukcu M. , Liao J.-W. , Auffret S. , Heberle J. , Wunderlich J. , Kästner B.
Published: January 2019

Near-field optical microscopy by means of infrared photocurrent mapping has rapidly developed in recent years. In this letter we introduce a near-field induced contrast mechanism arising when a conducting surface, exhibiting a magnetic moment, is exposed to a nanoscale heat source. The magneto-caloritronic response of the sample to near-field excitation of a localized thermal gradient leads to a contrast determined by the local state of magnetization. By comparing the measured electric response of a magnetic reference sample with numerical simulations we derive an estimate of the field enhancement and the corresponding temperature profile induced on the sample surface.
Measuring detonation wave profiles in plastic-bonded explosives using PDV
Authors: Pei Hongbo , Huang Wenbin , Zhang Xu , Zheng Xianxu
Published: January 2019

To obtain reaction zone parameters for several high explosives, experimental measurements of the detonation wave profiles in HMX-, RDX- and PETN-based explosives were performed using photon Doppler velocimetry (PDV). Planar detonations were produced by impacting the explosive with a sapphire flyer in a gas gun. Particle velocity wave profiles were measured at the explosive/window interface. LiF windows with very thin vapor-deposited aluminum mirrors were used for experiments. All measurements show a distinct end to the reaction zone, indicating a Chapman-Jouguet (CJ) point. For HMX-based explosives, the presented measurements show that the fast reaction time is approximately 10±2 ns, whereas for RDX- and PETN-based explosives, the values are 14±3 ns and 7±2 ns, respectively. The reaction times or reaction zone lengths obtained in the present study are smaller than previously reported data but much closer to the estimated values in theory. Additionally, the velocity at the Von Neumann (VN) spike was analyzed using the “beat cycles” method, and the pressure at the VN spike was obtained.
Optoelectronic properties of DNA thin films implanted with titania nanoparticle-coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes
Authors: Dugasani Sreekantha Reddy , Gnapareddy Bramaramba , Kesama Mallikarjuna Reddy , Jeon Sohee , Jeong Jun-Ho , Park Sung Ha
Published: January 2019

Rendering the unique features of individual nanoscale constituents into macroscopic thin films remains technologically challenging; the engineering of these constituents habitually compromises their inherent properties. Efficient, environmentally benign, and biodegradable DNA and cetyltrimethyl-ammonium chloride-modified DNA (DNA-CT) thin films (TFs) implanted with titania nanoparticle-coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MCNT-TiO2) are prepared by a drop-casting technique. The energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy studies of DNA and DNA-CT TFs with MCNT-TiO2 identifies various elements (C, O, N, P, Na, and Ti) via quantitative microanalysis. The X-ray photoelectron, Raman, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and UV-visible absorption spectra show changes in the chemical compositions and functional groups associated with binding energies, enhancement of characteristic MCNT-TiO2 Raman bands, and intensity changes and peak shifts of the FTIR and UV-Vis-NIR absorption bands, respectively. The PL spectra indicate an energy transfer in the measured samples, and the quenching of PL indicates a decrease in the recombination efficiency. Lastly, we measure the conductivity, which increased with an increasing concentration of MCNT-TiO2 in the DNA and DNA-CT TFs due to the better connectivity of MCNT-TiO2. By using these materials, the optoelectronic properties of DNA and DNA-CT TFs implanted with MCNT-TiO2 are easily tunable, enabling several engineering and multidisciplinary science applications, such as photonics, electronics, energy harvesting, and sensors.
A multi-channel real-time detection method for tunnel boring machine cutter wear based on Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings
Authors: Wang Jin , Zhu Wanshan , Jiang Lei , Jiang Junfeng , Liu Tiegen
Published: January 2019

We propose a multi-channel real-time detection method for tunnel cutter wear of boring machine (TBM) based on Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings (CFBG). We designed and fabricated the real-time wear detection sensor and the multi-channel real-time demodulation device for TBM cutter wear. According to the characteristics of grating area and wide reflection spectrum of CFBG, the CFBG is arranged vertically on the wear detection working face. When the end face of the TBM cutter is wear, the CFBG is worn at the same time. The wear action on the grating shortens the grating area, narrows the reflection spectrum bandwidth. The cutter wear detection of TBM is realized. After many field experiments, the wear detection sensors and the multi-channel real-time demodulation device can meet the requirements of complex working conditions and multi-channel real-time cutter wear detection. The experimental data show that the sensors and the device can meet the technical requirements of measuring wear length greater than 12 mm and measuring accuracy less than 1 mm.
Electromechanical analysis of bilayer piezoelectric sensors due to flexoelectricity and strain gradient elasticity
Authors: Su Y. X. , Zhou Z. D. , Yang F. P.
Published: January 2019

The flexoelectric effect of materials, which is the coupling between strain gradient and electric polarization, is most noticeable for the micro/nano electromechanical systems. In the present paper, the size-dependent electromechanical properties of the bilayer piezoelectric sensor are studied and analyzed considering the strain gradient elastic and flexoelectric effects. The governing equation and the corresponding generalized mechanical boundary conditions of the bilayer cantilever sensor are derived utilizing the variational method of flexoelectric materials based on the electric Gibbs free energy. And a new piezo-flexoelectric coupling parameter is proposed and the relationship between the induced electric potential (voltage) and the rotation angles of the ends is obtained. The analytical expressions of deflection and induced electric potential are given when the bilayer piezoelectric sensor is subject to a uniform force. The numerical results show that the normalized deflection, normalized stiffness and induced electric potential are dependent on the structural size, material parameters and internal material length scale parameters. The piezoelectric effect will play a leading role in the induced electric potential when the sensor thickness is larger than a critical value. With decreasing sensor thickness, the flexoelectric and strain gradient elastic effects will dominate the induced electric potential. Moreover, an intrinsic size depending on the material properties is identified for the maximum induced electric potential. The thickness and polarization direction of the piezoelectric layer also have a great influence on the induced electric potential of the sensor systems.
Mechanical analysis of a flexible cable battery using the finite element model
Authors: Jiang Libin , Zhao Junjie , Gao Yuanwen
Published: January 2019

Portable flexible electronic devices are receiving much attention for their flexible, portable, and wearable characteristics. The performance of such devices depends on the performance of the flexible battery to a great extent. The resistance of the battery is an important index of performance and a series of tests show that the resistance increases during deformation of the battery. In investigating how the mechanical behavior affects the resistance of the battery and optimizes the battery structure, a finite element model is developed to analyze the properties of the flexible-cable battery from a mechanical view. The model is used to analyze the mechanical behaviors of a wire-cable-type battery when the battery is solely subject to axial stretching, bending, or torsion. Effects of the cable lay angle and friction coefficient are considered. Effects of different loads on the resistance are presented considering the relationship between the strain and resistance. Simulation results show that the effect of the friction coefficient can be ignored. When the battery bears different loads, different lay angles are suggested for good flexibility and a small increase in resistance.
Pulsed laser ablation of bulk target and particle products in liquid for nanomaterial fabrication
Authors: Huang Hongkun , Lai Jiancheng , Lu Jian , Li Zhenhua
Published: January 2019

Pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) is gradually becoming an attractive approach for nanomaterial fabrication because it is a chemically simple and clean method with high product purity. We studied the laser interaction with bulk target and particle products in detail, including mechanism process, target morphology and nanoparticle products. We captured three oscillations of one bubble after laser ablates the bulk target and calculated the variation of pressure and temperature inside the bubble. The results show that the first bubble oscillation has greatest impact on the nanomaterial synthesis, and the most powerful stages for the material synthesis during all the bubble oscillations are the beginning of each expansions and the end of each shrinks. Nanomaterial releases from the bubble at the end of each oscillations. In addition, based on the analysis of ablation cavity on the target, it is found that the cavity depth increases with the number of laser pulses, and then the depth tends to be under saturation status, which means it is difficult to obtain great improvement of the nanomaterial productivity just by prolonging the laser irradiation time. More importantly, the strong interaction between laser and particle products is presented clearly by time-resolved shadowgraphy, which can contributed to the modification of nanoparticle products.
Polishing trajectory planning of three-dimensional vibration assisted finishing the structured surface
Authors: Wang Guilian , Lv Bingrui , Zheng Qingchun , Zhou Haibo , Liu Zhenzhong
Published: January 2019

There are extremely wide application fields for the structured surface because of excellent properties. Sometimes it must be polished finally in order to meet the practical requirements. It is very meaningful to explore a kind of vibration assisted polishing method suitable for the structured surface because vibration-assisted machining has been widely proved an effective finishing technology. A novel three-dimensional vibration assisted polishing technology is put forward in this work, and the polishing trajectory planning about finishing the structured surface is also further investigated. This polishing system consists of two parts: the machine tool and a three-dimensional vibration device. The machine tool provides the machining path, and the three-dimensional vibration device provides the vibration locus. The three-dimensional polishing trajectory is generated skillfully by combining machining path and vibration locus. When the parameters about workpiece surface and two-dimensional vibration are given, the projection method is proposed in this study to establish the models about the vibration locus and polishing trajectory in three-dimensional space. The effects of phase and frequency on the distribution features of the polishing trajectory are analyzed by using the simulation results in detail. It is concluded that the phase has effects on the local distribution density of the polishing trajectory, and the vibration frequency has effects on the shape of the polishing trajectory. The polishing trajectory suitable for the harmonic mesh surface is presented. Many polishing experiments were carried out, and the experimental results show that this three-dimensional vibration polishing technique is very suitable for polishing the structured surface.
Copper foam sustained silica aerogel for high-efficiency acoustic absorption
Authors: Ruan Ju-Qi , Ge Hao , Huang Dafang , Li Xin , Zhang Shan-Tao , Lu Ming-Hui
Published: January 2019

We synthesized the copper foam sustained silica aerogel (CFSA) by sol-gel transition followed by CO2 supercritical drying. The as-prepared CFSA exhibits excellent sound absorption capability and favorable compressive properties. Incorporation of epoxy resin during sol-gel process can improve the combination between silica aerogel and copper foam framework, which helps to significantly increase the average sound absorption from ∼36% to ∼55% (200-3900 Hz) and the maximum sound absorption coefficient from 0.78 to 0.99. A high Young’s modulus of ∼11.01 MPa and compression strength of ∼0.30 MPa were demonstrated for CFSA as well. The fabricated CFSA also shows some advantages, e.g., lightweight (density of 0.28 g/cm3) and hydrophobic. Such fascinating artificial composite may provide new insights into the development of strong and effective aerogel sound-absorbing materials for various applications.
κ-Carrageenan and Aluminum Oxide as a Potential Replacement for Industry-Standard Materials in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Fabrication
Authors: Manguiam Von Louie R. , Cruz Nellie A. , Adornado Adonis P.
Published: January 2019

Severe depletion of conventional sources of energy forced modern economies to actively participate in a global transition to renewable energy. With today’s modern technology, power, heat or mechanical energy can be produced by simply utilizing resources which can facilitate production of electricity. Energy converting devices such as fuel cells can perform and generate electricity using one-step electrochemical reactions. Fabrication of such technology uses materials which are of the highest quality and purity but are prohibitively expensive. To enable the Philippines to put up a fuel cell technology system to mitigate the dependence of the country on importation of energy sources as the demand continuously increase, the industry-based materials, Nafion® and cerium (IV) oxide, CeO2, were replaced by κ-carrageenan and aluminum oxide, Al2O3 as ion-exchange membrane and radical scavenger, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) was used to verify graphene oxide (GO) formation, digital microscope (Mic-D) for surface morphology, and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) meter for measuring cell potential. The fabricated proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) generated a maximum cell potential of 543.6 mV at an operating temperature of 27°C. Thus, the fabricated PEMFC from a cheap, renewable, and highly available material in the Philippines is a promising alternative to the expensive Nafion®-based fuel cells.
Face Treatment Using Nonsurgical Mini-Invasive Techniques as Postsurgical Procedure for Traumatic Injury
Authors: Bertossi Dario , Dell’Acqua Irene , Albanese Massimo , Marchetti Pierpaolo , Nocini Pierfrancesco
Published: January 2019

Background

Facial trauma can cause major psychological damage and compromise a patient’s quality of life. Unfortunately, surgery cannot always solve this problem or provide an acceptable result.

Objectives

Treatment with injectables may provide a solution that is minimally invasive and better accepted by patients as a means to improve poor outcomes after facial trauma.

Methods

This retrospective study involved 50 patients (29 men, 21 women) who underwent primary surgery to treat facial trauma between January 2015 and January 2017. Based on the facial area affected by poor outcomes (upper face, midface, and lower face), patients underwent ≥1 aesthetic medicine treatments with hyaluronic acid dermal fillers and botulinum toxin injections. To evaluate patient satisfaction and the effect of the treatment on quality of life, patients were asked to complete 2 questionnaires, POSAS and FACE-Q, prior to treatment and 90 days after the last treatment session.

Results

Questionnaire scores indicated improvements in aesthetic and psychological metrics, perceived both by the patient and the observer.

Conclusions

Minimally invasive aesthetic treatments represent a valuable adjunct to surgical procedures for improving facial aesthetics after injury and consequently the quality of life of patients affected by facial trauma.

Level of Evidence: 4
SMARTCyp 3.0: enhanced cytochrome P450 site-of-metabolism prediction server
Authors: Olsen Lars , Montefiori Marco , Tran Khanhvi Phuc , Jørgensen Flemming Steen
Published: January 2019

Motivation

Cytochromes P450 are the most important class of drug metabolizing enzymes. Prediction of drug metabolism is important in development of new drugs, to understand and reduce adverse drug reactions and to reduce animal testing.

Results

SMARTCyp 3.0 is an updated version of our previous web server for prediction of site-of-metabolism for Cytochrome P450-mediated metabolism, now in Python 3 with increased structural coverage and new features. The SMARTCyp program is a first principle-based method using density functional theory determined activation energies for more than 250 molecules to identify the most likely site-of-metabolism. New features include a similarity measure between the query molecule and the model fragment, a new graphical interface and additional parameters expanding the structural coverage of the SMARTCyp program.

Availability and implementation

The SMARTCyp server is freely available for use on the web at smartcyp.sund.ku.dk.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
‘We’re giving you the sack’—Social Workers’ Perspectives of Intervening in Affluent Families When There Are Concerns about Child Neglect
Authors: Bernard Claudia , Greenwood Tom
Published: January 2019

Few studies have examined social workers’ perspectives of child protection interventions in cases of child neglect in affluent families in the UK. Using the findings from a qualitative study, this article explores social workers’ experiences of intervening in affluent families when there are child protection concerns. Focus groups and in-depth interviews were used to gather data from thirty child protection professionals from twelve local authorities across England. Findings from the study are used to explore the complex relational dynamics and power relationships that practitioners have to traverse when intervening with affluent parents that have the material resources to resist social work intervention. The article concludes with a discussion of the skills and knowledge that are necessary for authoritative practice.
Fully discrete finite element approximation of unsteady flows of implicitly constituted incompressible fluids
Authors: Süli Endre , Tscherpel Tabea
Published: January 2019

Implicit constitutive theory provides a very general framework for fluid flow models, including both Newtonian and generalized Newtonian fluids, where the Cauchy stress tensor and the rate of strain tensor are assumed to be related by an implicit relation associated with a maximal monotone graph. For incompressible unsteady flows of such fluids, subject to a homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition on a Lipschitz polytopal domain $\varOmega \subset \mathbb{R}^d$, $d \in \{2,3\}$, we investigate a fully discrete approximation scheme, using a spatial mixed finite element approximation on general shape-regular simplicial meshes combined with backward Euler time-stepping. We consider the case when the velocity field belongs to the space of solenoidal functions contained in $\textrm{L}^\infty (0,T;\textrm{L}^2(\varOmega )^d)\cap \textrm{L}^q(0,T;\textrm{W}^{1,q}_0(\varOmega )^d)$ with $q\in \left (2d/(d+2), \infty \right )$, which is the maximal range of $q$ with respect to existence of weak solutions. In order to facilitate passage to the limit with the discretization parameters for the sub-range $q \in \left (2d/(d+2), (3d+2)/(d+2) \right )$, we introduce a regularization of the momentum equation by means of a penalty term, and first show convergence of a subsequence of approximate solutions to a weak solution of the regularized problem; we then pass to the limit with the regularization parameter. This is achieved by the use of a solenoidal parabolic Lipschitz truncation method, a local Minty-type monotonicity result, and various weak compactness techniques. For $q \geq (3d+2)/(d+2)$ convergence of a subsequence of approximate solutions to a weak solution can be shown directly, without the regularization term.