Search Results (985)

The global transition towards sustainable food systems has intensified the search for alternative protein sources that can meet human nutritional demands with reduced environmental impacts. Although microalgae are rich in protein, their applications in food remain limited due to thick cell walls and intense green color. The aim of this study is to modify Chlorella vulgaris by high-pressure homogenization (HPH) and decolorization to improve its processability for extrusion-based 3D printing. Microalgal biomass was pretreated by HPH at different pressures (10,000, 15,000, 20,000 psi) for one to three passes, followed by pigment removal using ethanol of different concentrations (70, 85, 100%). Microscopic imaging shows that HPH effectively disrupted microalgal cell walls and caused cell disintegration, resulting in increased foaming stability (22–28%) but lower solubility (up to 24%), with other functional properties largely preserved. Ethanol treatments markedly decolored microalgae and increased their water-holding capacity (10–45%) and solubility (6–11%). The formulation of HPH-treated decolorized microalgae with soy protein isolate and xanthan gum increased the viscosity (66–179%) and elasticity (78–235%) of printing inks. The resulting 3D prints show higher hardness (47–128%), springiness (up to 155%) and chewiness (47–408%). The information obtained from this study provides guidance for modifying the functional and rheological properties of microalgae and contributes to advancing the formulation and manufacturing of microalgae-based foods. Full article

Biomass-derived sulfur-containing hard carbons are promising anode candidates for sodium-ion batteries, but cross-study optimization remains difficult because reported electrochemical performance reflects both synthesis history and incomplete or non-uniform structural characterization. Here, we assembled a focused literature-derived dataset of 101 records from 16 journal articles and compared the predictive value of three information sources: precursor descriptors, process variables, and measured structural descriptors. We further introduced domain-knowledge-guided precursor descriptors to encode interpretable aspects of precursor chemistry and architecture, including lignin-related richness, polysaccharide contribution, volatile tendency, precursor-component coupling, and post-treatment category. In controlled feature-set comparisons, the model combining precursor and process descriptors achieved an R² of 0.59, outperforming the conventional combination of process and structural descriptors (R² = 0.57) and remaining close to the full-information setting (R² ≈ 0.61). Model interpretation further showed that, when structural descriptors were removed, predictive reliance shifted toward precursor and process variables, indicating that accessible upstream descriptors retain a meaningful fraction of the formation-pathway information relevant to sodium storage. These results should be interpreted within this curated sulfur-containing literature space rather than as a universal predictor, but they demonstrate that domain-knowledge-guided precursor encoding can support low-characterization, screening-oriented prediction and experimental prioritization. Full article

Understanding how geometry governs interfacial contact and material removal is central to designing efficient bioinspired surface systems. Gastropod radular teeth form natural arrays of microscale cutting elements optimized for repeated interaction with compliant and semi-rigid substrates, yet experimentally validated shape–performance relationships remain limited. Here, we isolate geometric effects on interfacial mechanics using stereolithography-printed biomimetic tooth arrays inspired by the taenioglossan radula of the hard-substrate grazer Spekia zonata. Two morphologically distinct tooth types (central and marginal) were systematically varied in cusp and stylus geometry (four variants each), while array configuration, material, and boundary conditions were kept constant. Tooth stiffness was quantified in bending tests as load-induced height reduction. Interfacial performance was assessed using a controlled pull-through assay in agarose substrates of two stiffness levels (0.4% and 0.8%), with continuous force recording and measurement of removed mass. Marginal-tooth geometries were stiffer and consistently removed more substrate than central variants. Although work increased substantially in stiffer gels, removal did not scale proportionally and declined for central teeth, revealing a decoupling between mechanical input and yield. Performance correlated with active engagement rather than work alone, indicating geometry-limited contact regimes. These findings establish geometry-controlled stiffness and engagement as key parameters for efficient abrasive interfaces. Full article

Single-crystal 4H-SiC, as a wide-bandgap semiconductor material, has become a key substrate for high-power electronics and radio frequency devices due to its outstanding characteristics such as high-voltage tolerance, high-temperature stability, high-frequency efficiency and low loss. However, its inherent properties of high hardness and low fracture toughness also pose severe challenges to the ultra-precision processing of wafer substrates. In this study, through molecular dynamics methods, the influence of diamond abrasive grains with different sharpness on the processing of 4H-SiC at different grinding speeds was simulated, with a focus on analyzing its surface morphology, material removal behavior and subsurface damage characteristics. The structural evolution of 4H-SiC workpieces and diamond abrasive grains was identified through the radial distribution function, and the dynamic changes in temperature and stress during processing were further investigated to clarify the mechanism of abrasive wear and graphitization phenomena. The results show that regular octahedral abrasive grains with higher sharpness have better material removal efficiency, but they also cause more significant subsurface damage. Increasing the grinding speed helps to reduce the depth of subsurface damage. In addition, high temperature and high stress are the key factors leading to the transformation of diamond into graphite. Even under low-speed grinding conditions, the edges of the abrasive grains may still undergo graphitization due to stress concentration. The above findings have theoretical significance for an in-depth understanding of the material removal mechanism of 4H-SiC nano-grinding, and can also provide an important reference for the development of high-performance grinding wheels for SiC grinding. Full article

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) enables the fabrication of complex titanium alloy components with high geometric freedom; however, surface integrity and tribological performance remain critical limitations for sliding-contact applications in biomedical and aerospace systems. In this study, the influence of in-layer laser remelting on the microstructure, surface topography, and dry sliding tribological behavior of LPBF-fabricated Ti-6Al-4V ELI (Grade 23) is systematically investigated. Disc-shaped specimens were produced using single-scan (SS) and double-scan (DS, in-layer remelting) strategies and tested in ball-on-disc configuration against AISI 52100 steel at a constant normal load of 10 N and three sliding speeds of 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20 m·s⁻¹. Microstructural and phase-related characteristics were analyzed by X-ray diffraction combined with Rietveld refinement and Warren–Averbach analysis, revealing that the DS strategy increases retained β-phase fraction (up to 5.2%) and promotes crystallite coarsening relative to the SS condition, without significantly altering bulk hardness. Surface morphology examined by SEM/EDS and AFM revealed a more homogeneous near-surface topography in the DS condition. Tribological results indicate that sliding speed governs steady-state friction and wear, with specific wear rates increasing progressively from 5.13 to 5.44 × 10⁻⁴ mm³·N⁻¹·m⁻¹ for SS and from 6.47 to 7.52 × 10⁻⁴ mm³·N⁻¹·m⁻¹ for DS across the investigated speed range. The DS specimens exhibited higher wear rates than the SS condition across all tested speeds, while steady-state COF values remained comparable between strategies, indicating that remelting-induced microstructural modifications affect material removal mechanisms without proportionally destabilizing the frictional regime. These findings suggest that in-layer laser remelting represents a process-integrated parameter with measurable consequences for surface integrity and tribological performance, though the generalizability of these results warrants validation across broader experimental conditions. Full article

Channel pruning enables model acceleration by removing channels from convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, many existing methods adopt a “hard removal” strategy that directly removing low-importance channels, leading to severe feature loss and accuracy degradation. To address this issue, we propose Reconstruction and Consolidation Pruning (RCP), a pruning framework that decouples the pruning process into a pruning-training phase and an inference phase. During pruning training, RCP generates a pruning strategy based on channel importance under a global pruning rate constraint, and constructs a feature reloading mechanism. This mechanism utilizes a learnable $1\times 1$ compensation convolution to adaptively transfer and fuse discriminative features hidden in the pruned channels into the retained channels. In the inference phase, RCP adopts a linear reparameterization strategy to seamlessly consolidate the compensation branches into the main network branch without loss of performance, ensuring zero additional operator overhead during inference. This reversible structural transformation ensures that the training-time augmented architecture and the inference-time compact architecture are functionally identical under linear consolidation. Experimental results show that at 50% FLOPs reduction, RCP incurs only a 0.84% accuracy drop on ResNet-50 (ImageNet-1K), while at 53% FLOPs reduction it achieves a 0.07% accuracy improvement for ResNet-56 (CIFAR-10), validating the proposed method’s effectiveness and superiority under high compression rates. Full article

Traditionally, repairing coated substrates requires completely removing damaged, wear-resistant layers before recoating. This process leads to high costs, extended downtime, and material waste. Flexible brazing tapes, which are composed of alloy powder and an organic binder, offer an alternative to full coating removal for targeted repairs. Despite this, the process of vacuum brazing these tapes may lead to the formation of defects, including pores caused by trapped gases or residual binder, which compromise coating durability and corrosion resistance. This study focuses on the utilization of laser remelting as a method for post-processing nickel- and iron-based mixed alloy brazing tapes, with the aim of improving the integrity of the coating. Surface quality was assessed via microscopy and microhardness testing by systematically varying laser power, scanning speed, and hatch distance. Among the parameters studied, the most suitable laser parameter combination was found to be 350 W laser power, 250 mm/s scanning speed, and a hatch distance of 0.02 mm. These parameters yielded crack- and pore-free coatings with a remelting depth of 160.3 ± 17.2 µm and a microhardness of 701 ± 23 HV1, which is an 85% increase over as-brazed samples. Wear testing revealed a reduced coefficient of friction, and electrochemical corrosion tests showed lower corrosion current density and enhanced repassivation behavior in remelted coatings. These improvements demonstrate that laser remelting significantly enhances the microstructure, hardness, wear resistance, and corrosion performance of brazed coatings, providing an effective method for localized repair while minimizing material consumption and processing duration. Full article

To address the challenges of winter pavement icing and the disposal of organic waste, this study developed a sustained-release deicing filler utilizing biochar derived from spent coffee grounds (SCGs). The material was synthesized through high-temperature carbonization, followed by physical adsorption of chloride salts and surface hydrophobic modification to control release rates. The study made asphalt mixtures and replaced normal mineral filler with the SCG material by volume at ratios of 0%, 50%, 75%, and 100% to test road and deicing performance. Wheel-tracking tests showed that the additive improved high-temperature stability and dynamic stability went up by 27.04% at the 75% replacement level. Salt dissolving created voids and slightly lowered water stability at high dosages, but all performance numbers still met the current engineering rules. Rutting slab tests at −5 °C showed the 100% replacement mix cut snow coverage to 11.43% in 60 min and proved it works for deicing. Pull-out tests measure the bond strength between ice and pavement at −5 °C, −7 °C, and −9 °C. The SCG deicing material weakens ice sticking and the bond strength for the 100% group at −5 °C was 0.35 kN, which is about 57.8% lower than the control asphalt. The bond strength of the deicing mix at −9 °C was still lower than the normal mix at −5 °C. This big drop in stickiness means the pavement stops ice from packing hard and makes mechanical removal easier. This study shows that the prepared deicing materials exhibit excellent sustained-release performance and snow-melting efficiency while ensuring satisfactory road performance. SCG deicing materials can effectively reduce snow accumulation on road surfaces in winter, lower the difficulty of ice-layer removal, and realize the sustainable utilization of SCGs. Full article

Nanofiltration (NF) is increasingly applied for advanced drinking water treatment, but achieving stable operation at high recovery rates remains challenging for surface waters with high scaling potential. This pilot study investigated the performance and optimization of a three-stage NF270 system (4:2:1 tapered array) for treating coagulated surface water in northern Jiangsu, China, aiming to identify sustainable operating conditions for high-recovery applications. The NF system was operated at recoveries of 80–90% with a feed flux of 20–23 LMH, and the effects of forward flushing frequency, acid dosing location, and concentrate recirculation on fouling behavior were evaluated. The NF270 membrane achieved consistent removal of organic matter (effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD_Mn) < 0.5 mg/L), hardness (40–60% rejection), and alkalinity (~20% rejection), meeting Jiangsu Province drinking water standards. However, operation at 90% recovery resulted in rapid third-stage fouling, with permeate flow declining by >60% within 2.5 h. Osmotic pressure analysis (local concentrate osmotic pressure: 3.8–4.2 bar; net driving pressure: 0.8–2.2 bar) confirmed physical scaling rather than hydraulic limitation as the dominant mechanism. Stage-wise concentration factor calculations (CF₁ = 1.6, CF₂ = 2.9, CF₃ = 4.4) revealed local Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) values of 1.8–2.2 in the third stage, identifying CaCO₃ supersaturation as the primary scaling cause. Reducing recovery to 85% and flux to 20 LMH with 2 h forward flushing extended stable operation. Acid addition effectively mitigated scaling, but dosing location was critical: first-stage addition (pH 8.1 → 7.6) reduced third-stage LSI to 0.7–0.9 and stabilized performance, whereas third-stage addition (pH 8.0 → 7.3) inadvertently promoted Al(OH)₃ precipitation from residual coagulant (feed Al: 0.07–0.11 mg/L). Concentrate recirculation (90% ratio) did not alleviate fouling. These findings demonstrate that for aluminum-rich coagulated surface waters, optimizing recovery, flushing frequency, and acid dosing location is essential for sustainable NF operation, and provide engineering guidance for full-scale applications. Full article

This paper investigates the AWJ machinability of Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis/carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber/epoxy-based hybrid composites by analyzing key machinability metrics such as kerf width (KW), material removal rate (MRR), and surface roughness (Ra). Various process parameters including CNT weight percentage, CNT diameter, stand-off distance, and traverse speed have been varied to optimize the machining performance. Experimental analysis suggested that increasing the CNT weight percentage significantly enhanced material hardness, thereby reducing both the MRR and surface roughness. Moreover, adjusting the stand-off distance and traverse speed further improved the machinability of the composite. ANOVA results highlighted that CNT weight percentage was a significant factor, accounting for 94.17% of the variation in MRR and 93.72% of the variation in surface finish, while the stand-off distance influenced 87.03% of the variation in kerf width. Additionally, response surface methodology (RSM) was utilized to develop predictive models that estimated KW, MRR, and Ra with error rates of 2.95%, 2.23%, and 5.65%, respectively. These insights offer a valuable framework for tailoring the AWJ process to achieve optimal machining outcomes in HRS/CNT/epoxy composite materials Full article

This study investigates the multi-scale tribo–thermo–viscoelastic performance of a sustainable bio-based FormuLITE epoxy reinforced with single and hybrid carbon nanofillers (0.1 wt.% total loading) under dry sliding up to 50 N. Pin-on-disk tests at 10, 30, and 50 N showed a consistent reduction in contact pressure and wear volume in the order: neat epoxy > 0.1 CNT > 0.1 GNP > 0.1 ND > 0.1 CNT/GNP > 0.1 CNT/ND > 0.1 GNP/ND. At 50 N and 1500 m sliding distance, neat epoxy exhibited a wear volume of 13.43 mm³ and contact pressure of 13.4 N/cm², while the GNP/ND hybrid reduced wear to 4.86 mm³ and contact pressure to 6.2 N/cm², corresponding to reductions of 64% and 54%, respectively. The accelerating wear coefficient decreased from 2.9 × 10⁻⁶ to 8.5 × 10⁻⁷, confirming slower damage accumulation in hybrid systems. Time-dependent contact pressure analysis revealed reduced asymptotic intensity and suppressed mid-cycle pressure spikes, indicating enhanced tribolayer stability. Effective surface hardness increased from 0.18 GPa (neat epoxy) to 0.30 GPa (GNP/ND), while normalized wear decreased from 1.00 to 0.36. Enhanced damping behavior and improved thermal conductivity in hybrid systems promoted stress redistribution and minimized flash-temperature localization. An interfacial energy-partition framework calibrated to experimental wear data quantitatively linked effective driving pressure, tribofilm stabilization, and surface hardness to material removal. The results demonstrate that wear mitigation in sustainable bio-epoxy systems is governed by coupled mechanical, viscoelastic, and thermal energy redistribution, with GNP/ND hybrids providing the most stable tribological interface under severe sliding. The findings contribute to the development of durable and sustainable bio-epoxy composite systems for engineering applications, supporting broader goals of responsible material utilization and sustainable industrial innovation aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 9 and SDG 12). Full article

Existing general image inpainting works require the user to customize a mask to indicate the region to be inpainted. However, the mask is often hard to calibrate accurately in real-world applications, e.g., graffiti removal. Blind image inpainting aims to automatically restore the degraded image into the visually reasonable one without a priori mask to indicate the area to be repaired. So far, most proposed blind inpainting methods convert the task into general inpainting by predicting the mask before inpainting. However, these methods are highly dependent on mask prediction results, which may produce inferior inpainting results if the prediction is inaccurate. To address this issue, we propose a two-stage blind inpainting framework with two novel designs: (1) cross-space contrastive learning, to remove the noise in the degraded images and realize the automatic inpainting in the latent space by reducing the distance of the degraded images and the corresponding complete images in the latent space; and (2) mask-aware adversarial training, to minimize the mutual information between the inpainted feature and the noise. Extensive experiments prove that our blind inpainting framework performs better on multiple datasets than the state-of-the-art methods. Full article

Silicon carbide (SiC) detectors continue to emerge as a promising technology for applications requiring radiation hardness, fast response times, and stable operation in harsh environments. In this work, the charge-collection dynamics of ultra-thin membrane SiC detectors are investigated through time-dependent TCAD simulations, consistent with previously reported measurements. The study analyzes the transient response following the localized generation of electron–hole pairs induced by ions, comparing bulk and membrane detector geometries with identical active-layer thicknesses. Two-dimensional simulations provide a time-resolved characterization of the electron and hole current-density distributions within the active region of the device. The results show that both device architectures present a transient current signal featuring two main components. Despite similarities in the prompt drift-driven signal component, the SiC membrane response is characterized by a short secondary component returning to zero within 3.5 × 10^–10 s at zero external bias, making it well-suited for reliable single-ion detection. In contrast, bulk devices exhibit a markedly different response, characterized by a significantly more intense and prolonged secondary component followed by a long tail that does not return to zero within the simulation time window for all investigated reverse biases. This tail is the result of the collection of carriers generated in the substrate that reach the depletion region through diffusion-driven processes. These findings contribute to the optimization of SiC-based solid-state detectors for quantum-technology device fabrication, demonstrating that the removal of the substrate drastically reduces the diffusion-dominated current component, thereby ensuring precise timing and minimal charge loss. Full article

Road safety assessment is essential for reducing traffic fatalities, with road infrastructure contributing to a substantial proportion of crashes worldwide. International frameworks such as the International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) define standardized attributes for infrastructure auditing; however, many of these attributes remain challenging to automate using imagery alone. This study evaluates V-RoAst (visual question answering for road assessment), a public dataset of road images that are annotated with iRAP-style attributes, using state-of-the-art multimodal large language models (MLLMs), specifically Gemini 2.0 and Gemini 2.5. The analysis focuses on how prompt design influences the accuracy and stability of single image iRAP inference. A token-efficient reduced prompt is developed that preserves the iRAP schema while removing single-class constants, hard-coded administrative fields, and derived or non-visual codes, retaining only visually interpretable attributes. Performance is compared with the original full multi-attribute prompt and single attribute prompts using a fixed evaluation protocol incorporating majority voting, bootstrap 95% confidence intervals, and per-code sample-size checks. Results indicate only minor performance differences between Gemini 2.0 and Gemini 2.5, while prompt optimization produces the most consistent gains, improving macro-F1 scores and tightening confidence intervals for visually grounded attributes such as roadside severity, intersection channelization, and service-road presence. Token analysis shows an approximate 30% reduction in prompt length, reducing computational cost and truncation risk. Overall, the findings demonstrate that prompt scope has a greater impact than model version in image-only iRAP coding, offering practical guidance for scalable infrastructure assessment. Full article

Background and Clinical Significance: Foreign body ingestion represents an endoscopic emergency, with a risk of organ perforation of up to 35%, where increased prevalence was noticed among people with mental disorders and institutionalized patients. Case Presentation: The patient—male, 23 years old, and institutionalized for sequelae of infantile encephalopathy—was admitted for epigastric pain and hyperemetic syndrome that began 10 days earlier. Endoscopically, 12 hard plastic foreign bodies with sharp edges and sizes of 6–7 cm were identified, followed by extraction that was successfully performed in two sessions using a polypectomy snare and a Foreign Body Hood Protector. Additionally, multiple sessile exulcerated polypoid lesions were observed, measuring around 1–3 cm each, occupying the entire antrum. Histological examination showed inflammatory/regenerative elements, with features of moderate-to-high-grade dysplasia, while a rapid urease test for Helicobacter pylori infection was positive. As a consequence, the patient was administered triple eradication therapy. In addition, the patient presented marked features of hypereosinophilia and splenomegaly. Upon endoscopic reevaluation after 3 years and 8 months, no polyps were present and the H. pylori test was negative, while a complete and spectacular remission of both the hypereosinophilia and splenomegaly was observed. Conclusions: This case illustrates that the development and progression of gastric polyposis may be caused by the coexistence of chronic mucosal irritation from foreign bodies and H. pylori infection, which is a rare association. H. pylori eradication and endoscopic removal of the foreign bodies resulted in significant mucosal improvement. Full article