Search Results (2,235)

Nanoemulsions are widely recognized as versatile delivery platforms capable of stably loading lipophilic active ingredients. Although low-energy phase inversion methods enable nanoemulsion formation under ambient and low-shear conditions, their scalability and applicability in practical formulation environments remain insufficiently validated. Here, we develop oil-in-water (O/W) nanoemulsions via a low-energy phase inversion process and systematically investigate their composition-dependent formation, scalability, and formulation stability. By precisely tuning the composition of a mixed nonionic surfactant system, monodisperse nanoemulsions with an average droplet size of ~110 nm and a polydispersity index (PDI ≤ 0.20) are reproducibly obtained under ambient, low-shear conditions. The optimized nanoemulsions maintain their nanoscale dispersion characteristics over 30 days of storage and exhibit consistent droplet size and distribution upon scale-up to 1 L. Furthermore, the nanoemulsions retain structural stability when incorporated into polymer-based formulations under various temperature conditions and repeated thermal cycling. These results demonstrate that low-energy phase inversion enables a scalable and formulation-compatible nanoemulsion platform, providing practical guidelines for industrial formulation and manufacturing of delivery systems for lipophilic active ingredients. Full article

Molten Metal Jetting (MMJ) is an emerging metal additive manufacturing process that produces components via on-demand jetting of discrete droplets. This paper reports properties of T6 heat-treated AlSi7Mg alloy produced in different build orientations via MMJ. A Xerox ElemX machine was used to print AlSi7Mg coupons in horizontal, tilted, and vertical orientations. The aluminum feedstock was melted at 825 °C and was printed onto a 475 °C heated print bed using a jetting frequency of 400 Hz and a drop spacing of 500 μm. Coupons were heat treated to a T6 temper. The average yield strengths of heat-treated coupons in vertical and horizontal orientations were 240.4 ± 7.3 MPa and 244.6 ± 7.1 MPa respectively. This indicates that the vertical build orientation had minimal adverse effect on strength. However, average strain (11.5% ± 1.2% versus 14.6% ± 3.5%) values for the vertical and horizontal orientations, respectively, showed more pronounced effects. X-ray CT analysis of vertically oriented coupons revealed increases in porosity in material deposited above heights of ~90 mm. Above this build height, the measured surface temperature dropped below ~455 °C. External heating methods are therefore advised in order to maintain a surface temperature ≥ 455 ° and avoid excess porosity. Full article

Efficient plant protection requires precise monitoring of spray droplets, yet current in situ methods for measuring in-flight droplet flow are limited. This study proposed a laser imaging-based method to quantify spray intensity without physical contact or tracers. An optimal imaging angle was determined via simulation by maximizing the linearity between the received optical feature and droplet volume density while satisfying geometric constraints. A compact acquisition device was then developed and tested with eight nozzle specifications under fixed pressure. Image processing algorithms—including cropping, RGB channel separation, and binarization—were employed to extract pixel area and cumulative intensity, with gravimetric measurements serving as the reference. Results showed that under optimized exposure and gain settings, features from the green and blue channels exhibited a strong linear correlation with flow rate (R² = 0.93–0.97). Based on these findings, this study demonstrates that in-flight droplet flow rate can be directly quantified from image features—a departure from conventional deposition-based approaches. The proposed method enables rapid, non-contact spray assessment using only a camera and laser module, offering a low-cost, simple-structured solution for spray system optimization and field monitoring. Full article

Background/Objectives: Milk somatic cells reflect the cellular composition and functional state of the lactating mammary gland and represent a valuable, non-invasive source for transcriptomic studies. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) enables cell-type-resolved analysis of bovine milk; however, sequencing depth strongly influences the detection of lowly expressed genes and the resolution of transcriptional cell states. The aim of this study was to further characterise the single-cell transcriptome of bovine milk somatic cells, with particular emphasis on high-resolution gene expression profiling and cellular heterogeneity. Methods: Milk somatic cells were isolated from two healthy Holstein Friesian cows in mid-lactation and profiled using a droplet-based scRNA-seq platform. Newly generated high-depth datasets were integrated with two previously published bovine milk scRNA-seq datasets using an identical bioinformatics pipeline. Data integration, clustering and cell-type annotation were performed using the Seurat framework, and transcription factor expression was evaluated across datasets with different sequencing depths. Results: Single-cell transcriptomic analysis revealed a diverse cellular landscape in bovine milk, comprising epithelial, progenitor, and immune cell populations. Unsupervised clustering identified 21 transcriptionally distinct clusters, including multiple CD8⁺ T-cell subpopulations, monocytes, neutrophils, mast cells, and B cells, as well as luminal epithelial and luminal progenitor cells. While overall cell-type composition was comparable across datasets, deeply sequenced samples exhibited higher transcriptomic complexity and enabled refined resolution of immune and epithelial subpopulations. Deeper sequencing facilitated the detection of low-abundance transcription factors that were not observed in lower-depth datasets. Among these, NANOG was detected exclusively in deeply sequenced samples, suggesting the presence of rare transcriptional states associated with cellular plasticity. Conclusions: This study expands the single-cell transcriptomic landscape of bovine milk somatic cells and demonstrates the importance of sequencing depth for resolving functional cellular heterogeneity. The results highlight milk as a powerful, non-invasive source for investigating mammary gland biology and cellular plasticity during lactation. Full article

Background: Metabolic disorder-associated fatty liver disease (MASLD) is closely related to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Its pathogenesis involves many factors, including mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress and intestinal flora disorders. Notoginsenoside R1 (NGR1) is a key bioactive component of Panax notoginseng. The purpose of this study was to investigate the therapeutic effect of notoginsenoside R1 (NGR1) on metabolic disorder-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and its potential mechanism. Methods: Mice were fed a choline-deficient, L-amino acid-defined high-fat diet (CDAHFD) for 6 weeks and received NGR1 (50/100 mg/kg/day) in the last 3 weeks. The role of NGR1 was evaluated by developing metabolomics, proteomics and functional analysis. In addition, the effects of NGR1 on lipid droplet content, mitochondrial function and fatty acid oxidation in hepatocytes were also verified. Results: NGR1 improved MASH progression in CDAHFD-fed mice, significantly reduced liver triglyceride content from 31.2 ± 5.1 mmol/g to 20.5 ± 4.8 mg/g (p < 0.001), free fatty acid from 0.12 ± 0.03 mmol/g prot to 0.06 ± 0.028 mg/g (p < 0.001), TNF-α (p < 0.01), IL-1β (p < 0.001), α-SMA (p < 0.05) and Collagen1A1 levels (p < 0.01), as well as serum ALT and AST concentrations (p < 0.001), and alleviated hepatomegaly and lipid droplet accumulation. Metabolomics and proteomics analysis showed that NGR1 normalized liver metabolism in MASH mice and upregulated mitochondrial OXPHOS components, including NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase core subunit S2 (NDUFS2), and effectively reversed CDAHFD-induced mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP production were restored. Conclusions: This study confirmed that NGR1 has significant therapeutic potential for MASH and improves mitochondrial function by upregulating NDUFS2. This study provides new insights for the future clinical treatment of MASH. Full article

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is characterised by clonal expansion of plasma cells (PCs) in the bone marrow (BM). Disease assessment and monitoring typically rely on invasive, single-site procedures, such as BM biopsies (BMBs), which may inadequately capture intra- and extra-medullary spatial heterogeneity. Circulating plasma cells (CPCs), enriched from peripheral blood (PB), may represent a minimally invasive alternative or adjunct for molecular profiling. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using CPCs, enriched from PB, for mRNA analysis in plasma cell dyscrasia, including MM. A secondary objective was to assess whether mRNA expression levels of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress sensors X-box-binding protein 1 (uXBP1) and activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6), and the chaperone-mediated autophagy marker Lysosomal-Associated Membrane Protein 2 (LAMP2A) by droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), were associated with resistance to the second-generation proteasome inhibitor (PI) carfilzomib (Cfz). Methods: Multiple myeloma (MM) cell lines (H929 and U266) and their carfilzomib-adapted derivatives were used to establish and validate droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) assays targeting ER stress (uXBP1, ATF6) and autophagy-related (LAMP2A) transcripts. Solid tumour cell lines, including serum-starved HeLa cells, served as biological controls to support assay specificity and sensitivity. Total RNA was extracted and reverse-transcribed to complementary DNA prior to analysis. Transcript levels were normalised to those of β-actin or GAPDH, as appropriate. ddPCR was performed using the BioRad QX200 system, with results reported as the normalised transcript copy number per microlitre of reaction. Matched bone marrow aspirate (BMA) and peripheral blood (PB) samples were collected at a single clinical time point from adults undergoing investigation for plasma cell dyscrasia between January 2021 and December 2023. Samples were obtained as part of standard clinical care and/or during treatment with Bortezomib (Btz) or Cfz. Mononuclear cells were isolated by density gradient centrifugation, and CD138⁺ plasma cells were enriched by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Enrichment purity was assessed qualitatively by immunofluorescence microscopy using CD138 and CD117 markers. Samples yielding fewer than 1000 CD138⁺ plasma cells were excluded, resulting in 10 evaluable matched patient pairs. Results: Carfilzomib-adapted MM cell lines demonstrated reduced levels of uXBP1, ATF6, and LAMP2A mRNA compared to treatment-naïve cells. In matched BM and PB samples, uXBP1 mRNA levels were consistently lower in circulating PCs than in BM-derived PCs, whereas ATF6 mRNA levels were concordant between compartments. LAMP2A mRNA levels exhibited marked inter-patient heterogeneity. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the feasibility of using CPCs as a minimally invasive source for mRNA-based biomarker assessment and highlights ddPCR as a sensitive platform for quantifying ER stress and chaperone-mediated autophagy related transcripts in CPCs. Cfz adaptation was associated with reduced levels of uXBP1 and LAMP2A mRNA in MM cell lines. Future prospective studies evaluating the clinical utility of ER stress and chaperone-mediated autophagy associated transcripts in CPCs as predictors of resistance to PI are warranted. Full article

This study employs high-speed photography to investigate the collapse dynamics of laser-induced bubbles inside a pendant droplet, focusing on the effects of bubble-to-droplet radius ratio (λ) and eccentricity (ε). Additionally, a theoretical model describing the Kelvin impulse of the bubble is derived using the image method. Both the flow field and Kelvin impulse distributions are examined. The conclusions are given as follows: (1) Four jet patterns are identified with varying radius ratios: no jet, weak jet, strong jet, and complex jet. (2) The dominant role of radius ratio and eccentricity in the inhomogeneity and anisotropies of the velocity field is clarified. It manifests as a significant increase in the velocity difference between the bubble wall and the droplet surface along the bubble-droplet centerline. (3) Both the bubble migration velocity and Kelvin impulse intensity increase significantly with rising radius ratio and eccentricity. Larger bubbles closer to the droplet surface exhibit more intense interactions. Furthermore, the Kelvin impulse remains oriented toward the droplet center. As λ increases, the migration velocity of the bubble center can exceed 40 m/s, and the Kelvin impulse intensity can exceed 10⁻³ kg·m/s. Full article

To achieve precise control over droplet size and generation frequency in the granulation process of HNS-IV, this study introduces a novel droplet granulation strategy that utilizes pulsed air-jet shearing technology. This approach enables independent and precise regulation of droplet injection frequency (fg) and volume (V) through systematic adjustments of air pressure (P), frequency (fp), duty cycle (η), and liquid flow rate (Q). By controlling the suspension flow rate (Q), we successfully achieved primary particle size control, obtaining median particle sizes (D50) of 375.84 μm, 444.45 μm, and 504.22 μm in ascending order. Furthermore, we systematically investigated the influence of calcium alginate (CA) concentration on both the sphericity of the resultant particles and the thermal decomposition characteristics of HNS microspheres. Our findings demonstrate that while increased CA content enhances particle sphericity, it simultaneously affects the thermal decomposition behavior of the microspheres. The proposed pulsed air-jet shearing method offers significant advantages by significantly reducing the accumulation of volatile organic solvents typical of liquid–liquid biphasic systems. Furthermore, the residual non-toxic aqueous solutions can be easily managed, establishing a greener, safer, and highly controllable approach for HNS-IV granulation. This methodology presents a valuable reference for achieving precise and controllable granulation of various energetic materials. Full article

Droplet microfluidics enables precise manipulation of picoliter-to-nanoliter-scale droplets and supports key operations such as merging, splitting, sorting, and trapping, facilitating controlled handling of minute fluid volumes. These capabilities have significantly advanced high-throughput drug discovery, single-cell analysis, molecular diagnostics, and synthetic biology. Among these operations, droplet splitting is particularly important for multi-step biochemical assays and parallel processing. Splitting strategies can be broadly categorized as passive, relying on channel geometry or microstructures, or active, employing external stimuli such as thermal, magnetic, acoustic, or electric fields. Electric-field-based methods are especially attractive due to their rapid response and tunability; however, many reported systems require relatively high operating voltages. Here, we present a low-voltage microfluidic platform that integrates tilted interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) with an asymmetric Y-junction to enable electrically tunable droplet splitting and sorting within a single device architecture. Two independently addressable tilted IDE arrays generate localized electric-field gradients that induce dielectrophoretic droplet deflection at moderate voltages. By adjusting the applied voltage amplitude and selectively activating the electrode arrays, droplets can be dynamically routed into designated outlets or deterministically split in real time, providing adaptable electrohydrodynamic control with minimal structural complexity. Full article

Ice accretion on aircraft, wind-turbine blades, power networks, civil infrastructure, and exposed sensors poses severe safety risks and economic costs. Passive icephobic surfaces mitigate icing by delaying heterogeneous nucleation, altering droplet impact/solidification and wetting transitions, and/or weakening the ice–substrate bond so that accreted ice sheds under modest aerodynamic, gravitational, or vibrational loads. This review synthesizes recent progress using a unified mechanism framework linking (i) nucleation and early freezing, (ii) droplet dynamics during impact or condensation/frosting, and (iii) ice accretion and removal governed by interfacial fracture. Smooth low-surface-energy coatings, textured (superhydrophobic) surfaces, slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS), and low-interfacial-toughness strategies are critically compared in terms of achievable performance ranges, failure modes, durability limits, fabrication scalability, and test-method dependence. Ice-adhesion measurement approaches (push-off, pull-off/tensile, centrifugal) are assessed and a minimum reporting checklist is provided to improve comparability. Case studies across aviation, wind energy, power infrastructure, sensors, and emerging civil-engineering coatings highlight that durability and scale-dependent failure modes remain the dominant barriers to durable, energy-free icing mitigation. The review concludes with priorities for eco-friendly chemistries, self-healing or renewable layers, standardized testing/reporting, and data-driven (machine learning-assisted) optimization to accelerate translation into durable passive ice-mitigation technologies. Full article

Background/Objectives: Curcumin (CUR) has shown promising potential as a wound-healing agent for diabetic wounds; however, its efficacy is hindered by poor aqueous solubility and limited skin permeability. To overcome these limitations, CUR was loaded into myrrh oil-based nanoemulsions (NEs). Methods: The NEs were optimized using a three-factor two-level D-optimal mixture design, and characterized for droplet size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential. The optimized NE was subjected to various stability testing and incorporated into a gel base containing insulin (INS) to form CUR-INS nanoemulgel (CUR-INS-NEG). The antibacterial efficacy of CUR-INS-NEG was tested against various bacterial strains, while its wound-healing effects were evaluated in a diabetic rat wound model. Results: The surfactant/co-surfactant concentration had a greater influence on the NE properties than the oil and aqueous phase concentrations. The optimal NE had a droplet size of 155.2 ± 0.8 nm, a polydispersity index of 0.28, and a zeta potential of −31.4 ± 0.8 mV. It demonstrated sustained drug release, with further release control upon incorporation into the gel base. CUR-INS-NEG demonstrated higher in vitro antibacterial efficacy compared with blank NEG, CUR gel, and INS gel. It also showed 2- and 4-fold reduction in the MIC against S. aureus and E. coli, respectively, compared with CUR gel. In a diabetic wound model, CUR-INS-NEG outperformed both CUR gel and INS gel by enhancing anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, as well as collagen deposition and endothelial cell proliferation. Conclusions: The CUR-INS-NEG emerges as an effective system for diabetic wound management, delivering complementary anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and tissue-regenerative effects of myrrh oil, CUR, and INS. Full article

This study investigates the fuel discrimination capability of the flame volume mixing method (FV mixing method) in predicting the lean blowout (LBO) limits of different fuels. Conventional FV-based models exhibit limited sensitivity to variations in fuel properties, especially under lean conditions and for sustainable aviation fuels. In this work, an improved FV mixing method is proposed by replacing the classical droplet evaporation treatment with the Abramzon–Sirignano droplet evaporation model, which accounts for fuel-dependent liquid properties, Stefan flow, and coupled convective heat and mass transfer between the gas phase and droplets. As a result, the proposed method shows enhanced sensitivity to fuel variability and improves the prediction accuracy of the LBO limit for the sustainable aviation fuel Cat-C1. The model performance is validated through numerical simulations and compared with experimental data. The results indicate that, compared with the baseline FV mixing method, the proposed approach reduces the LBO prediction error by 5.7%. The improved FV mixing method provides a more robust framework for LBO prediction, with potential applications in fuel characterization and combustion optimization. Full article

Pipeline leakage can lead to catastrophic consequences, and traditional sensor-based detection methods often struggle to identify changes caused by slow or minor leaks. This paper proposes a real-time machine vision-based method for detecting liquid leakage in pipelines, suitable for complex industrial scenarios. By extracting droplet foreground regions and constructing a detection model based on the contour and motion features of droplets, the proposed method effectively filters out interference from lighting variations, equipment vibrations, and personnel movement in industrial environments, while accurately identifying the vertical motion characteristics of dripping liquids. An experimental platform was established to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a detection rate of 98.04%, a false alarm rate of 5.26%, and a processing speed of 90.71 fps. Comparative experiments show that this method significantly outperforms traditional approaches, such as the dense optical flow method, which yields a higher false alarm rate and a processing speed of only 2.2 fps under the same test conditions. These findings confirm that our approach offers a more accurate and efficient solution for real-time pipeline liquid leakage detection. Full article

Ammonia (NH₃) has emerged as a promising carbon-free fuel for next-generation green energy systems due to its high hydrogen density, ease of storage and transport, and compatibility with existing infrastructure. These attributes contrast with hydrogen, which presents major challenges related to storage, safety, and high-pressure handling. Thus, ammonia offers a more practical alternative for combustion-based applications. However, its low reactivity and complex vaporization behavior, particularly under flash-boiling conditions, pose challenges for accurate modeling. This study presents a comprehensive numerical investigation of liquid-ammonia spray behavior under a range of ambient pressures, encompassing both flash-boiling and non-flashing conditions. Simulations were conducted using the Lagrangian particle tracking method, coupled with various turbulence models (the renormalization group (RNG) family, k-ω family, $\varsigma -f$, V2F models) to evaluate their predictive performance. Validation against experimental data for liquid and vapor penetration demonstrated that the V2F model achieved the best overall balance between accuracy and computational efficiency. Under strong flash-boiling conditions (2 bar), rapid droplet breakup and notable cooling were observed, with droplet temperatures decreasing to approximately 235 K within a few millimeters of the nozzle. In contrast, the cooling effect was more moderate under non-flashing conditions at higher ambient pressures (10–15 bar). Although the current findings were based on numerical simulations, experimental studies are ongoing to validate and refine the modeling framework further. This work provided valuable insights into the coupled effects of turbulence, phase change, and thermal transport in superheated ammonia sprays. Future research will build upon these results by extending the model to NH₃/H₂ dual-fuel systems, refining turbulence-phase interaction models, and exploring the potential application of ammonia-based flash-boiling cooling systems for electric vehicle (EV) battery thermal management. Full article

Accurate numerical reproduction of contact line dynamics on three-dimensional curved solid surfaces remains a challenging issue in multiphase flow simulations. In this study, a wetting boundary condition applicable to curved surfaces is developed within a three-dimensional phase-field lattice Boltzmann framework. The proposed method extends an existing curved-surface wetting model and focuses on improving the evaluation of interface normals and order-parameter gradients on Cartesian lattices, while preserving the compact computational stencils and efficiency inherent to the lattice Boltzmann method. Three-dimensional simulations of liquid spreading on a concave spherical surface and droplet spreading on a convex solid sphere are performed over a wide range of prescribed contact angles. The results show that the proposed method eliminates nonphysical behaviors observed with conventional staircase-based boundary conditions, such as droplet sliding along the solid surface and droplet detachment into the surrounding gas phase. In the convex spherical surface cases, the droplet height converges stably to equilibrium through damped oscillations, and the equilibrium droplet shapes show good agreement with theoretical predictions derived from geometric considerations under zero-gravity conditions over a broad range of contact angles. These results demonstrate that the proposed wetting boundary condition can accurately reproduce wetting phenomena on three-dimensional curved solid surfaces. Full article