Search Results (3,627)

This study aimed to obtain the lipid fraction from cocoa bean husks by applying ethyl acetate as an extraction solvent in an ultrasound-assisted extraction process. The effects of temperature (T), time (t), and solvent:husk ratio (R) on the lipid fraction (LF) yield were evaluated. The removal of minor compounds (phytosterols and tocopherols) and total phenolics was evaluated under selected conditions, as well as the value of conjugated dienes (CDs). Extraction with n-hexane was performed for comparative purposes. The prediction of the solubility of the main compounds identified in the solvents used was conducted. The influence of the variables on LF removal was T > t > R, which provided the highest result (13.54 ± 0.47 wt%) at the highest levels adopted (70 °C, 60 min, 12 g/mL), a value 23% higher than that obtained using n-hexane. Under these conditions, there is also greater recovery of minor compounds from the peels, especially β-sitosterol, which was quantified at 43 to 50% of the concentration of these compounds. The use of ethyl acetate provided greater removal of minor compounds and total phenolics, resulting in lower primary lipid oxidation products (CD value). The relationship between these properties was evidenced by the Pearson correlation matrix, especially for stigmasterol, campesterol, total phenolics, and total minor compounds. The thermodynamic modeling reveals regimes ranging from full miscibility of liquid solutes to limited solubility of phytosterols and gallic acid; however, the contrast with experimental data indicates that real extraction is limited by kinetic barriers and plant matrix effects. The solvent extractor did not influence the fatty acid profile of the LF obtained, consisting mainly of saturated fatty acids (palmitic and stearic). Full article

Degraded grey desert soils are characterized by severe nutrient deficiencies and structural compaction. This study elucidated how biogas slurry drip irrigation regulates the micro-pore architecture, fertility, and macroscopic hydraulic properties. A one-year field experiment was conducted using a completely randomized design with three replications. The experimentation included three irrigation levels (W1: 70% W, W2: 85% W, and W3: 100% W, where W is full irrigation) and three slurry ratios (S1: 60% S, S2: 80% S, and S3: 100% S, where S is the annual nitrogen application rate of 93 kg ha⁻¹), with undisturbed (CK) and chemical fertilizer (CF) controls. Surface soil samples (0–20 cm) were analyzed based on treatment averages using scanning electron microscopy and the van Genuchten (vG) model. The results indicated that W3S2 increased the total porosity to a peak of 42.39% compared with the CK baseline of 25.25%, while expanding the mean pore diameter to 9.24 μm. Concurrently, the application minimized the morphological pore fragmentation, reducing the fractal dimension from 1.82 under CK to 1.61 under W3S3. Although the macroscopic porosity expanded, the effective saturated water content decreased. We hypothesize that this reduction is driven by partial micropore clogging by organic coatings. This mitigated the excessive near-saturation water retention and accelerated drainage, while significantly increasing the specific water capacity at 100–1000 kPa suctions to delay moisture depletion. W2S3 (85% W, 100% S) performed favorably with regard to soil fertility and water retention stability. The W2S3 treatment optimized soil fertility and water retention stability by achieving peak concentrations of 17.69 g kg⁻¹ for SOM and 1.31 g kg⁻¹ for TN. Path analysis suggested that physical microstructural traits dominate macroscopic hydraulic regulation. In conclusion, biogas slurry drip irrigation provides a sustainable framework to optimize structural and hydraulic resilience in dryland agriculture. Full article

The aim of the current study is to determine the nutritional value and the content of the biologically active components in kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria L.). It is established that the dry biomass contains substantial amounts of proteins and carbohydrates, primarily dietary fiber, while the total oil content is relatively low (below 3.0%). The isolated glyceride oil represents the complete lipid fraction derived from all plant parts (leaves, stems, and flowers). The glyceride oil of A. vulneraria is notable for its high levels of biologically active constituents, particularly sterols, tocopherols, and phospholipids. Palmitic (30.3%) and oleic (11.5%) acids dominate the fatty acid profile; β-sitosterol, α-tocotrienol, and α-tocopherol are the major sterol and tocopherol components, respectively. On the other hand, phosphatidylinositol, together with phosphatidic acids, prevails within the phospholipid fraction. Based on the obtained fatty acid composition, several important ratios were calculated—unsaturated fatty acids (UFA)/saturated fatty acids (SFA), saturated fatty acids/monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA)/saturated fatty acids, and n-6/n-3, providing an integrated assessment of the lipid quality. The PUFA/SFA value (0.24) suggests relatively high oxidative stability. In contrast, the n-6/n-3 ratio (0.86) shows a balanced distribution of essential fatty acids, which is associated with favorable nutritional properties. Full article

Green roofs are used as nature-based solutions for urban stormwater management and for improving the thermal performance of buildings. Their hydrological performance depends on structural properties and rainfall characteristics, but the relative importance of these factors has not been fully quantified. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the key variables controlling the hydrological effectiveness of a green roof. A conceptual model of a flat roof representing a typical single-family building in south-eastern Poland was developed in the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM), with a modeled roof area of 232 m² and 100% of the roof surface covered by the green roof LID system. A total of 24,576 simulation cases were analyzed, considering different values of soil thickness, berm height, initial saturation, vegetation-related storage, rainfall duration, rainfall probability, and rainfall temporal distribution. The hydrological response was evaluated using peak runoff reduction and cumulative runoff volume ratio determined at selected times after rainfall. Predictive models based on the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm were developed, and their interpretation was performed using the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. The main novelty of the study is its application-oriented framework combining SWMM simulations, XGBoost modeling, and SHAP explainability to distinguish the factors controlling peak runoff reduction and delayed runoff release from a green roof. The results showed that peak runoff reduction ranged from 10.97% to 100.00%, with a median of 99.91%, indicating a generally high capacity of the analyzed system to attenuate peak flow. In contrast, the cumulative runoff volume ratio increased over time, with median values rising from 0.05% immediately after rainfall to 7.91% after 24 h, confirming the significant retention and detention potential of the green roof. SHAP analysis revealed that peak runoff reduction was governed primarily by berm height, whereas cumulative runoff volume was controlled mainly by initial substrate saturation. The results confirm that different mechanisms control short-term and long-term green roof performance. Full article

Horizontally buried rectangular hollow pipe barriers are investigated as a potential solution for mitigating ground-borne vibrations in densely built environments. This study combines high-fidelity three-dimensional finite-element analyses, a computationally efficient two-dimensional plane-strain modeling strategy, and a Python-based automated optimization framework to evaluate the effects of barrier geometry and material properties on vibration isolation performance. The results show that vertical vibration attenuation is consistently better than horizontal attenuation. Among the geometric variables, burial depth and barrier width are the dominant factors, with isolation benefits becoming marginal when the burial depth exceeds approximately 3 m and with barrier widths smaller than about 0.5 m leading to poor performance. The material parametric study indicates a threshold behavior for stiffness contrast: the improvement in isolation gradually saturates when the Young’s modulus ratio of barrier to soil exceeds about 5.12, suggesting that reinforced concrete provides a practical balance between structural reliability and engineering applicability. A comparison between the three-dimensional and two-dimensional models shows that the plane-strain approximation can reproduce the three-dimensional results with acceptable accuracy while substantially reducing the computational demand. The automated optimization further identifies high-performing design configurations for practical application. Overall, the study offers numerical insight and computational guidance for the preliminary design and evaluation of rectangular hollow pipe barriers for ground vibration mitigation. Full article

Background: Kidney disorders are strongly related to metabolic disturbances, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. Excessive intake of sugar and saturated fats promotes lipid accumulation, cellular energy issues and inflammatory responses. Cannabigerol (CBG), a non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid, has recently gained attention for its metabolic, anti-inflammatory and potential protective properties. Methods: The present study investigated the effect of two weeks of CBG administration (last 14 days of the experiment) on fatty acid (FA) composition, FA metabolic pathways and FA transporters in rats subjected to a high-fat high-sucrose diet (HFHS) for 6 weeks. Male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: Control, CBG, HFHS, and HFHS+CBG. Kidney tissue and urine samples were analyzed by gas–liquid chromatography (GLC) for lipid fractions and FA profiles, while protein expression of FA transporters and metabolic enzymes was assessed by immunoblotting. Polysaccharides and collagen fibers were visualized using Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS) and AZAN staining, respectively. ELISA and colorimetric kits were used to measure urinary albumin and creatinine contents. Results: HFHS feeding altered renal lipid homeostasis, increasing saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (SFA and MUFA, respectively) levels and affecting desaturation and elongation ratios. CBG supplementation affected renal lipid metabolism by lowering triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation, restoring polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in phospholipid (PL) and altering FA ratios, suggesting an improvement in lipid balance. CBG also increased the expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT1) and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and decreased the expression of stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) and fatty acid synthase (FAS), suggesting a shift toward enhanced FA oxidation and reduced lipogenesis. Conclusions: Overall, CBG exerted good effects on renal lipid metabolism and may mitigate early lipid-mediated injury associated with metabolic kidney disorders. Full article

To reveal the differences in stratum response among different environmental sections and the influences of key construction parameters on deep soil deformation during river-crossing double-line shield tunneling, the paper takes the East Genshan Road River-Crossing Tunnel as the engineering case, and systematically investigates the stratum responses of the onshore and riverbed sections as well as the effects of construction parameters via field monitoring, measured construction parameter data and three-dimensional finite element simulation based on ABAQUS. The simulation results suggest that, compared with the onshore section, the riverbed section may present larger cumulative displacement, more intense deep soil response and a wider influence range of transverse settlement under the investigated high-water-pressure and saturated soft-soil conditions. These differences are more reasonably interpreted as the combined effects of burial depth, stratum composition, mechanical properties, hydraulic boundary conditions, surface boundary constraints and overburden conditions. Among these factors, the high-water-pressure and saturated soft-soil environment may contribute to the enhanced disturbance diffusion and cumulative deformation response observed in the riverbed section. The longitudinal displacement evolution of the riverbed section presents obvious stratified transmission characteristics, and its transverse settlement trough shows a typical double-peak W-shaped distribution with larger peak values, wider trough profile and slower far-field attenuation. The single-factor parametric analysis suggests that, within the investigated parameter ranges, cutterhead torque produced the largest absolute settlement variation, followed by total shield thrust and tunneling speed. The results of this study can provide a reference basis for settlement control and construction parameter optimization of river-crossing double-line shield tunneling in high-water-pressure and saturated soft soil strata. Full article

Changes in wood moisture content significantly affect its dimensions, mechanical properties, and vibrational characteristics. Thermal treatment is one of the most convenient approaches for improving the moisture resistance of wood; however, the effects of treatment conditions on moisture content and vibrational characteristics after short-term cyclic moisture absorption have not been clearly investigated. In this study, dry thermal treatment at 160–220 °C for three different durations was applied to Japanese cedar specimens. Higher thermal treatment temperatures and longer treatment times decreased the equilibrium moisture content (EMC). The fundamental resonant frequency of the free–free flexural vibration (f₁) increased with increasing treatment temperature, whereas it decreased over a longer duration. All specimens were subjected to three cycles of moisture change tests from 60%RH to 98%RH at 40 °C to track the change in moisture content, f₁ and its loss tangent (tanδ). The specimens treated at higher temperatures maintained a lower moisture content and higher f₁. Under most treatment conditions, the moisture content at 98%RH increased from the first to the second cycle and remained constant in the third cycle. On the other hand, the resonant frequency at 98%RH remained unchanged from the first to the second cycle but increased in the third cycle. This indicates that the moisture surface became saturated in the second cycle, and moisture diffusion from the surface to the inside of the specimen increased with the number of cycles. Near-infrared absorption revealed that high-temperature treatment caused thermal decomposition of hemicellulose and an increase in apparent crystallinity due to a reduction in the amorphous region of cellulose. These changes enhance the hydrophobicity of the cell wall, contributing to moisture resistance and vibrational stability. Full article

For hydrological parameterization in high-Andean catchments, it is necessary to understand whether near-surface hydro-structural soil properties can provide a surrogate signal of particle-size composition when direct texture information is sparse. This study evaluated the extent to which sand, silt, and clay fractions can be approximated from organic matter ($\mathrm{OM}$), bulk density (${\rho }_b$), and saturated hydraulic conductivity ($K_{\mathrm{sat}}$) in the Zamora Huayco (ZH) and Irquis catchments, southern Ecuador. A harmonized dataset ($n=44$) was analyzed through exploratory statistics, compositional assessment, correlation analysis, PCA, fraction-wise regression, $\mathrm{ILR}$-based modeling, AIC/BIC term reduction, sensitivity analysis excluding $\mathrm{OM}$, nested $\mathrm{LOOCV}$, and bootstrap-based uncertainty intervals. Among LULC classes, samples classified as paramo occupied a distinct high-Andean hydro-edaphic domain, characterized by a differentiated relationship between soil physical properties and hydrological behavior. PCA showed that the dominant covariance structure involved $\mathrm{OM}$, ${\rho }_b$, $K_{\mathrm{sat}}$, and the redistribution between sand and silt. The BIC-reduced $\mathrm{ILR}$ model provided the most balanced formulation, with positive nested $\mathrm{LOOCV}$ performance for sand, silt, and clay ($R_{\mathrm{LOOCV}}^2=0.147$, $0.704$, and $0.124$, respectively) and exact $100\%$ compositional closure after inverse transformation. Silt was the most stable predicted fraction, whereas sand and clay retained larger residual uncertainty, stronger tail departures, and partial compression of the observed variability. The proposed equations provide local hydro-pedotransfer support, although their predictive signal remains dependent on further refinement, uncertainty assessment, and external validation before regional application. Full article

Quantitative structure–activity relationship and quantitative structure–property relationship (QSAR/QSPR)-based molecular toxicity prediction provides an in silico strategy for prioritizing environmental contaminants when longer-duration bioassay data are sparse. However, many Simplified Molecular-Input Line-Entry System (SMILES)-based machine learning models treat exposure duration as an unconstrained numerical covariate and provide limited information on whether predictions are supported by the observed temporal domain. Here, we evaluated an applicability-domain-aware chemoinformatics framework that combines transformer-derived molecular representations with toxicokinetic-informed temporal encoding and evidential uncertainty estimation. The approach replaces conventional ${log}_{10}$-transformed time encoding with a bounded first-order toxicokinetic saturation feature and combines this representation with Deep Evidential Regression to support a joint chemical–temporal view of the QSAR/QSPR applicability domain. Using experimentally derived U.S. EPA Ecotoxicology Knowledgebase (ECOTOX) fish EC50 mortality records, models were trained on 48,728 acute-duration observations and evaluated retrospectively on 2090 temporally separated longer-duration observations. The combined toxicokinetic and evidential model reduced temporal extrapolation error relative to conventional time encoding while maintaining comparable within-domain validation performance. The learned population-level timescale converged to 221 ± 3 h, consistent with accumulation timescales extending beyond standard acute fish test durations. Epistemic uncertainty was positively associated with absolute prediction error across all 10 folds, suggesting that the uncertainty estimates retained sample-level information relevant to applicability-domain-aware molecular toxicity screening. Cross-species analyses further showed that model behavior depended on training time coverage, with greater convergence when available assays covered a larger fraction of the learned timescale. These results suggest that toxicokinetic-informed temporal encoding can improve uncertainty-aware QSAR/QSPR modeling of environmental contaminant toxicity and support prioritization of compounds for further testing, while complementing rather than replacing chronic bioassays. Full article

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent environmental contaminants whose mobility in soil and groundwater is strongly controlled by adsorption and desorption processes. In saturated clay-rich soils, these processes are complex because PFASs interact with hydrated mineral surfaces, organic matter, metal oxides, exchangeable cations, and pore-water constituents. This review synthesizes the current literature on PFAS adsorption and desorption in saturated soils, with an emphasis on clay mineralogy, mineral–water interfaces, pore-water chemistry, and electrochemical double layer (EDL) effects. PFAS retention is influenced by molecular properties such as chain length, functional head group, and charge state, as well as soil properties such as organic carbon content, clay mineral type, surface charge, cation exchange capacity, and Fe/Al oxide content. Longer-chain PFASs and sulfonate-based compounds generally show stronger retention, while shorter-chain PFASs tend to remain more mobile. This review focuses particularly on how an EDL affects PFAS behavior in saturated clay systems. Unlike dry clay surfaces, saturated clay surfaces are covered by structured water, exchangeable ions, and diffuse counterion layers. These hydrated interfacial conditions influence how closely anionic PFASs can approach negatively charged clay surfaces, how dissolved cations reduce electrostatic repulsion or promote cation-mediated binding, and how effectively short-range interactions such as hydrophobic association, van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding, and surface association contribute to adsorption. Desorption is also emphasized because adsorption does not necessarily represent permanent immobilization. Changes in pH, ionic strength, cation composition, dissolved organic matter, or competing solutes can weaken retention and promote PFAS release. Overall, PFAS mobility in saturated clay-rich soils should be interpreted as a coupled interfacial process rather than simple partitioning to soil solids. Future work should better connect molecular-scale mechanisms, EDL behavior, adsorption–desorption experiments, and saturated transport studies to improve predictions of PFAS retention and long-term groundwater release. Full article

We demonstrate an efficient machine learning (ML) model for the prediction of magnetic property changes in ${\mathrm{Nd}}_2$${\mathrm{Fe}}_{14}$B-based permanent magnets given a large range of different impurity elements. We show that relatively simple models can be sufficient to capture complex changes in the saturation magnetization ${\mathrm{M}}_s$ and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant ${\mathrm{K}}_1$. As the necessity for recycling the raw material of permanent magnets increases, the variety of impure chemicals and their concentrations increase as well. Some chemical elements with antiferromagnetic or complex magnetic ground states like Cr, Mn and Sm pose difficulties in the training of an ML model that can be effectively mitigated by feature engineering. This enables us to create a single model capable of describing more than twenty substitutional elements in a wide range of concentrations. Full article

In gas-condensate reservoirs, the phase behavior of reservoir fluids is inherently dynamic during pressure depletion. When the rate of external pressure decline exceeds the intrinsic relaxation rate governing phase equilibrium, the system deviates from thermodynamic equilibrium and exhibits pronounced non-equilibrium effects. These transient behaviors significantly influence fluid properties; meanwhile, conventional equilibrium models neglect phase transition lag, resulting in inaccurate phase behavior and biased production predictions. In this study, a non-equilibrium dynamic phase transition model is developed to quantitatively couple the pressure depletion rate with the relaxation kinetics of the system. This model, established based on controlled non-equilibrium phase transition experiments performed on the condensate-gas fluid investigated in this work, provides an analytical framework for describing the temporal evolution of phase behavior under dynamic conditions. Model validation through integrated experimental measurements and numerical simulations shows good agreement between calculated and measured results for the studied condensate-gas system, with average relative errors below 5%. Results reveal that accelerated pressure depletion strengthens non-equilibrium effects. At a rate of 15 MPa/h, the relative volume and retrograde condensate saturation decrease by 9.09% and 5.38%, respectively, while condensate recovery improves by 13.85%. Moreover, the characteristic relaxation time toward equilibrium exhibits a strong dependence on the depletion rate, increasing as the depletion rate rises. This work provides an experimentally constrained analytical framework for describing rate-dependent non-equilibrium phase behavior during pressure depletion and for interpreting its impact on condensate recovery in the specific condensate-gas system studied. Although the governing framework may be transferable to other rate-sensitive hydrocarbon systems after fluid-specific recalibration, the parameterized analytical model and validation presented in this study are limited to the investigated condensate-gas fluid, and its applicability to other hydrocarbon fluid types remains to be evaluated in future studies. Full article

Thermal regulation of lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery modules is a critical constraint for electric vehicle (EV) safety and durability, particularly during high-C-rate operation. Phase change materials (PCMs) have emerged as promising passive solutions due to their latent heat storage capability; however, current literature is heavily biased toward organic paraffin-based systems and lacks structured benchmarking across PCM categories and integration architectures. This review provides a systematic comparative assessment of PCM-based battery thermal management systems (BTMSs) comprising organic, inorganic, and eutectic materials under EV-relevant discharge conditions. The review is structured according to the conventional classification of PCMs; however, the available literature is predominantly focused on organic materials, particularly paraffin-based PCMs, leading to greater depth of analysis for this category. Thermophysical properties are analyzed in conjunction with discharge rate, module configuration, and hybrid cooling strategies. The results indicate that peak temperature mitigation is weakly correlated with latent heat magnitude when thermal conductivity remains below critical values. Conductivity-enhanced composites incorporating expanded graphite or metal foams significantly improve heat diffusion, reducing hotspot intensity and inter-cell temperature gradients under medium-to-high C-rates. Pure passive PCM systems exhibit thermodynamic limitations during sustained high-power operation due to saturation effects, underscoring the need for hybrid architectures for continuous heat rejection. This work establishes a structured benchmarking framework and demonstrates that effective thermal conductivity, integration strategy, and discharge-dependent design dominate BTMS performance over latent heat alone. The findings also reveal that inorganic and eutectic PCM-based BTMSs remain comparatively less explored in the literature, particularly at the battery module level and under realistic electric vehicle operating conditions, highlighting opportunities for future research. Full article

The durability of reinforced concrete is closely related to the transport behavior of water and aggressive ions within the complex nanoporous network of calcium silicate hydrate. While molecular dynamics simulations provide critical atomistic insights into these confined transport behaviors, their immense computational cost limits their scalability to complex structural and temporal domains. To overcome this bottleneck, we propose a novel, modular computational framework that synergizes high-throughput molecular dynamics with advanced graph neural networks. By rigorously learning the mapping between the local atomic environment and kinetic behaviors, our model achieves high-fidelity predictions of pore water diffusion coefficients in saturated calcium silicate hydrate while improving computational efficiency by three orders of magnitude compared to conventional force field methods. Furthermore, the model demonstrates strong transferability and can accurately capture localized nonlinear diffusion characteristics in multiparticle pore structures with rough surfaces. Building on the interchangeability of this framework’s core modules, we envision a visionary multiscale computational strategy that dynamically couples nanoscale atomistic predictions with mesoscale simulations. This work not only provides an ultrafast, highly accurate tool for screening transport properties across diverse structural configurations but also lays the groundwork for next-generation multiscale modeling of chloride ingress, ultimately advancing the design of resilient and sustainable reinforced concrete. Full article