Search Results (425)

With the global energy system undergoing a transition toward green and low-carbon systems, the scale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) maritime transportation has expanded rapidly. Influenced by a combination of factors including the global economy, geopolitics, energy policies, and environmental conditions, the Liquefied Natural Gas Maritime Transportation Network (LMTN) exhibits a high degree of structural complexity and has gradually emerged as a prominent research focus in the field. This study provides a comprehensive review of the current research progress on LMTN. First, the concept of LMTN is introduced and the major stages of its research development are highlighted. Second, LMTN construction methods are systematically summarized with data sources, theoretical foundations, and application scenarios, thereby establishing a technical framework for global LMTN research. Subsequently, bibliometric analysis is also employed to extract representative publications and reveal the knowledge structure, historical evolution, and emerging research frontiers of the field. Finally, from three technical perspectives—methodology, data, and computational power—this study discusses existing limitations and challenges, and identifies future development trends of LMTN research driven by big data and artificial intelligence. Overall, this study aims to provide scientific guidance for future LMTN research and theoretical support for enhancing the security and resilience of global energy transportation systems. Full article

As the concept of barrier-free design has expanded to encompass the principles of “universal design” and “inclusive design”, the development of accessible environments on Chinese university campuses has increasingly become an urgent and significant issue. In this study, we adopt a combination of questionnaires and experiential research methods, selecting Shandong University’s Xinglongshan Campus as the research site. Through three aspects—the transportation, building, and landscape systems—a systematic post-occupancy evaluation framework for campus accessibility design was established, based on which the accessibility of the research site was assessed. The findings indicate that the accessibility of current campus design suffers from the presence of facilities that do not comply with relevant standards, a lack of systematic continuity, and insufficient management and maintenance. Based on these findings, we propose strategies for enhancing the accessibility and comfort of transportation systems, supplementing and optimizing building accessibility facilities, optimizing landscape tour routes, and improving service facilities and guidance signage. These strategies provide guidance for evaluating and improving the accessibility of future university campus design. Full article

Background: Hemodynamic failure remains a major determinant of mortality in critical illness, yet its detection is often delayed because conventional monitoring relies predominantly on Eulerian measurements that quantify pressure and flow magnitude without resolving the spatial and temporal organization of circulation. Consequently, clinically significant states of dysfunction may persist despite apparently stable hemodynamic indices. The Geometry of Shock is a conceptual and hypothesis-generating multi-scale framework intended to integrate established cardiovascular physiology with emerging computational approaches for the analysis of circulatory dysfunction. Framework: The proposed framework combines Guytonian venous return physiology and cardiopulmonary interactions with Lagrangian flow topology, geometric representations of circulatory equilibrium, topological data analysis, and physics-constrained inverse modeling. Rather than focusing exclusively on static thresholds of pressure and flow, the framework proposes a structural interpretation of circulation centered on the dynamic organization and coherence of blood transport across cardiovascular domains. Within this paradigm, under-recognized hemodynamic phenotypes—including stressed volume failure, oscillatory shock during spontaneous breathing, macro–microcirculatory decoupling, and pulmonary vascular pressure–flow dissociation—may emerge from disrupted coupling between vascular, cardiac, pulmonary, and microcirculatory systems. These states may represent reversible structural transitions in venous return geometry and cardiopulmonary interaction preceding overt circulatory collapse. Conclusions: By reframing shock as a disorder of circulatory structure and coherence rather than solely a deficit in flow, this framework proposes a mechanistic foundation that may support future approaches aimed at earlier recognition of instability, improved physiological characterization of hemodynamic phenotypes, and future development and prospective validation of physiology-informed computational decision-support strategies in critical care. These concepts remain exploratory and hypothesis-generating rather than clinically validated. Full article

This study presents a multivocal literature review (MLR) on the implementation of Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAVs), a relatively new concept in urban mobility that merges autonomous driving with shared transportation. The purpose of this review is to analyse the feasibility, challenges and potential impacts of SAV deployment by aggregating and synthesising insights from the academic literature and grey sources. The review addresses factors influencing deployment, including social acceptance, environmental impact, business models, policy frameworks, needs and barriers, and lessons from existing pilot programmes. The findings reveal that successful SAV implementation depends on combining technology, regulation and infrastructure. Public trust and perception of safety, cost and convenience can also significantly influence the adoption of this technology, as well as potential sustainability benefits (like reduced emissions and fewer private vehicles). Case studies from cities like Phoenix, San Francisco and Singapore show promising results but also context-specific challenges. This study concludes that future research should apply these insights to specific cities, where urban layouts and public transport reliance demand customised approaches to successfully deploy SAVs. Full article

This article presents an intelligent differential capacitive bioelectronic sensing system that provides an experimental foundation for future AI-assisted reliable microfluidic reagent delivery in automated pathology. The proposed platform integrates a slot-type microfluidic chamber, a differential slot-line capacitive sensor, embedded readout and signal-conditioning electronics, and a supervisory state assessment concept within a unified architecture. Its purpose is to support stable microliter-scale reagent exchange together with non-invasive process observability in automated staining workflows. The experimental study included flow calibration, analysis of feed direction and chamber tilt angle, preliminary vibration-assisted bubble mobilization, and evaluation of the sensing subsystem. The results showed that reliable operation is achieved only within a practically admissible regime in which fluidic stability and sensing informativeness overlap. In the investigated setup, upper-feed delivery and low chamber tilt angles provided the most favorable filling conditions, while the differential capacitive subsystem enabled stable detection of liquid-state changes in narrow microtubes. The reported results establish a foundation for future AI-assisted transport-state recognition and adaptive monitoring in automated pathology platforms. Full article

Future aircraft propulsion concepts (e.g., water-enhanced engines and fuel cells) will depend on efficient water recovery to enhance cycle efficiency and environmental performance. Operating conditions commonly involve droplet (mist) transport in turbulent air and wall-bounded films formed by droplet–wall interactions. This work develops an Eulerian–Lagrangian model within the RANS/URANS framework that accounts for air–droplet–wall phenomena—interfacial shear, impingement, and film advection. A dynamic contact-angle model, implemented and calibrated from static contact angle measurements performed in this study, represents wall wetting at the liquid–solid interface. The model is validated against experiments using two design metrics: pressure loss across the unit and recovered water mass fraction. At a low Mach number ($Ma=0.1$), saturated and dry air produce nearly identical pressure losses in the circular test section, whereas the separation lip geometry exerts a strong influence via local acceleration and separation. The simulations reproduce measured pressure drops and water mass recovery with close agreement. Full article

The demand for materials that can operate reliably in extreme environments, including rocket nozzles, re-entry heat shields, sharp leading edges, high-velocity impact, and high-temperature energy systems, continue to drive advances in thermal–structural materials. Carbon/Carbon composites remain a leading baseline because of their low density, high-temperature mechanical retention in inert atmospheres, and excellent thermal-shock tolerance. However, long-term durability is constrained by rapid oxidation in air at elevated temperatures, limited fracture toughness and elastic modulus in many architectures, and high manufacturing cost driven by multi-cycle densification and stringent quality assurance. Consequently, contemporary strategies increasingly rely on modifying Carbon/Carbon composites with ultra-high-temperature ceramics and adopting accelerated or simplified manufacturing routes. This review synthesizes recent progress in the design, manufacture, and application of high-performance modified Carbon/Carbon composite systems for extreme aerospace environments, emphasizing composition/architecture selection, oxidation, and ablation protection, toughening concepts, and cost-aware densification. Because extreme environments performance is governed by coupled aerothermal loading, gas–surface chemistry, internal transport, recession, and thermomechanical response, the review also consolidates the multiscale modeling and software toolchains increasingly used to size thermal-protection systems, interpret experiments, and guide down-selection. Key challenges and future directions are further discussed for reusable materials and validated performances beyond ~2000 °C. Full article

Europe’s global liquid hydrogen production share remains limited at 7%, while research institutions face an inadequate supply chain for laboratory-scale procurement. The Department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano addresses this gap through the procurement of Italy’s first laboratory-scale LH₂ liquefaction system, designed with 70 L/day capacity, a 200 L ATEX-classified storage tank, and a 50 L mobile transport tank for investigations into heat transfer, cryogenic valve and sensor testing, superconducting electronics, and material compatibility. The absence of Italian standards and limited European precedents necessitated a comprehensive review of relevant European safety projects and industrial guidelines. Regulatory compliance is ongoing under ATEX directives, with safety consultants defining critical parameters via leakage simulations. The project requires around three years from conception to commissioning; this paper aims to accelerate similar implementations by sharing the experience at Politecnico di Milano for future laboratory-scale facilities. Systematic coordination among engineering design, safety consultation, and regulatory authorities remains essential for viable LH₂ infrastructure implementation. Full article

One of today’s major challenges in air transport is accommodating future growth in traffic demand, which requires addressing capacity limitations. Since separation minima influence airspace capacity, technological progress enables exploring innovative approaches. This paper presents the Ad Hoc Separation concept, which involves applying different separation minima between aircraft pairs based on aircraft type, weight, encounter geometry, flight level, or wind. As a novel approach requiring operational changes to the current ATM system, further research is justified only if tangible benefits are demonstrated. Fast-time simulations in European en-route sectors, both conventional and Free Route Airspace, are performed to assess the benefits. The results show a capacity gain of about one aircraft per hour, along with positive environmental and cost-efficiency benefits. Full article

Low porosity and ultra-low permeability are common characteristics of shale reservoirs. Traditional imbibition theory is unable to adequately describe fluid transport behavior in nanopores or capture microscopic mechanisms. In this study, imbibition efficiency was defined as the proportion of oil molecules displaced outside the initial oil phase region relative to the initial oil quantity. This study investigates shale oil spontaneous imbibition mechanisms by integrating molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with machine learning (ML) approaches. MD simulations were performed under baseline conditions of 353 K and 10 MPa, with additional simulations at temperatures ranging from 323 to 393 K, across quartz, calcite and dolomite, and at surfactant concentrations of 0.1% to 0.4% to analyze the influencing factors. Wettability differences among minerals were assessed indirectly through analysis of water density distributions, hydrogen bonding, and water–surface interaction energies, which consistently indicated that dolomite exhibits the strongest hydrophilic character, followed by calcite, with quartz showing the weakest water affinity. Results show that increased temperature, enhanced mineral hydrophilicity, and an optimal surfactant concentration of 0.3% significantly improve imbibition efficiency. Using four algorithms—Support Vector Regression trained, Gradient Boosting Regression Tree, XGBoost, and Random Forest—on the 36 MD-derived datasets, we built an ML model as a proof of concept. The Random Forest model performed the best after cross-validation and hyperparameter adjustment, with a validation R² of 0.81. The novelty of this study therefore is a proof of concept demonstrating the feasibility of MD with ML integration for imbibition prediction, while clearly identifying limitations and directions for future improvement. This provides theoretical foundations for optimizing shale reservoir development and field-scale recovery enhancement. Full article

Unconventional aircraft configurations are considered as potential solutions to achieve the ambitious emission reduction goals in aviation. However, the identification, selection, and synergetic combination of promising technologies remain a highly vague and uncertain process. This has been addressed in the framework for the advanced morphological approach (FAMA), which represents a structured design process for the generation and evaluation of unconventional aircraft configurations. It implies the decomposition of the task into subproblems, their analysis and the synthesis of concepts in a solution space. This general workflow has been further developed and adapted on three levels in aircraft design: (1) the qualitative idea generation; (2) the semi-quantitative concept selection from the generated ideas; and (3) the probabilistic estimation of design parameters and figures of merit for the most promising concepts from the previous level. The current paper focuses on the overview of the finalized methodology as well as levels one and two, while level three will be presented in more detail in future work. The first level is demonstrated on the concept generation for regional aerial transportation. The second level results in the percentual performance comparisons of promising technologies for the design of an energy-efficient long-range aircraft. Full article

In this work, we present a numerical proof-of-concept study of a device for nanoparticle sorting, targeting size ranges relevant to exosome-like dimensions (typically 40–200 nm), which remains challenging for passive sorting techniques. The system consists of three silicon waveguides embedded in a CYTOP layer and arranged in a two-step directional-coupler configuration, integrated with a microchannel that carries a water-based buffer as the carrier fluid, transporting the suspended nanoparticles. Three-dimensional Finite Element Method (3D-FEM) simulations were performed, incorporating both optical and hydrodynamic forces to track particle dynamics within the microchannel and demonstrate controlled, size-selective particle deflection. First, numerical simulations show that nanospheres with diameters ranging from 500 nm to 700 nm can be effectively separated by the transverse trapping force at a 4:1 power-splitting ratio. Then, to extend the concept toward smaller size ranges, a bifurcated microchannel is introduced, enabling fluid-assisted transport in low-optical-field regions and allowing reliable separation of particles with smaller diameters (between 200 nm and 400 nm), accompanied by an 8:1 power-splitting ratio. These results demonstrate, within a numerical framework, the feasibility of an integrated photonic–microfluidic approach for size-selective nanoparticle sorting. The proposed strategy may support future pre-processing steps in liquid biopsy workflows, particularly for enriching nanoscale components such as exosome-sized vesicles, rather than constituting a direct diagnostic tool. Full article

Targeted delivery systems offer a promising approach for selectively modulating cellular processes; yet the intracellular consequences of targeted nutrient delivery to trophoblast cells remain poorly defined. Here, we investigated a previously validated placenta-targeting peptide conjugated to liposomes encapsulating stable isotope-labelled L-arginine and L-lysine to examine cellular uptake and downstream molecular responses in a trophoblast-like cell model. Peptide-dependent uptake of fluorescently labelled liposomes was confirmed in BeWo cells, demonstrating selective internalisation compared with non-targeted controls. Encapsulation of isotope-labelled amino acids enabled direct quantification of intracellular delivery and incorporation into the cellular proteome using stable isotope labelling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC). Quantitative proteomic analysis revealed coordinated changes in proteins associated with translation, metabolism, and nitric oxide synthase regulation following targeted liposomal uptake. Notably, V-type proton ATPase subunit G1 (ATP6V1G1) and large neutral amino acid transporter small subunit 1 (SLC7A5) showed increased incorporation of labelled amino acids and were independently validated by Western blotting. Together, these findings establish a proof-of-concept platform for targeted intracellular amino acid delivery to trophoblast-like cells and define the resulting proteomic responses. This work provides mechanistic insight into intracellular amino acid utilisation and a framework for future studies in placental cell biology. Full article

Phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP) is a lipid transfer protein classically studied in the context of plasma lipoprotein metabolism, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) remodeling, and cardiovascular disease risk. PLTP facilitates phospholipid transfer between lipoproteins and regulates HDL particle size and composition through interactions with apolipoprotein A-I and apolipoprotein A-II. While its systemic roles in cholesterol handling, reverse cholesterol transport, and inflammatory signaling are well established, the cell-autonomous functions of PLTP within cardiomyocytes remain poorly defined, particularly in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs). Extensive experimental and clinical studies demonstrate that PLTP enhances ABCA1-dependent cholesterol efflux primarily by stabilizing ABCA1 at the plasma membrane and by promoting the generation of lipid-poor apolipoprotein A-I and pre-β HDL particles, which serve as efficient cholesterol acceptors; the magnitude of these effects depends on cellular context, PLTP expression levels, and the availability of lipid acceptors. PLTP expression is metabolically regulated and widely distributed across tissues, including macrophages and other non-hepatic cells, supporting roles beyond circulating lipoprotein remodeling. Altered PLTP activity has been linked to atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, and inflammatory pathways, underscoring its relevance to cardiac pathophysiology. Emerging evidence further suggests that intracellular cholesterol distribution, rather than total cholesterol content alone, critically influences mitochondrial membrane composition, bioenergetics, and stress signaling in cardiomyocytes. These observations raise the possibility that PLTP-regulated lipid flux may indirectly shape mitochondrial function by modulating cellular cholesterol homeostasis. This review synthesizes current knowledge of PLTP biology, cholesterol metabolism, and lipoprotein remodeling, and integrates these concepts with emerging frameworks in cardiomyocyte lipid metabolism and mitochondrial physiology. We highlight human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes as a strategic and translationally relevant platform to investigate PLTP’s non-canonical, cell-intrinsic roles, identify critical knowledge gaps, and propose future directions for elucidating how PLTP may influence mitochondrial function in human cardiac cells. Full article