Search Results (501)

Robust condition monitoring of wind turbine blades is essential for reducing downtime and maintenance costs, particularly under variable operating conditions. While recent studies suggest that combining trend monitoring (TM) with change point detection (CPD) can improve diagnostic performance, it remains unclear whether such integration is beneficial for all fault types. This study experimentally evaluates the integration of TM and CPD using vibration data from a laboratory-scale wind turbine for two representative blade faults: leading-edge erosion and twist misalignment. For the erosion case, discrete wavelet transform (DWT) energy features exhibit a clear and persistent increase in mid-frequency content, with energy deviations of approximately 34–45% relative to the healthy state. However, Bayesian Online Change Point Detection (BOCPD) does not reveal distinct change points, indicating that CPD provides limited additional value for gradual, steady-state degradation. In contrast, for twist misalignment, the short-time Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) features reveal dynamic spectral redistribution, and CPD applied to spectral centroid trends produces a sharp, localized detection signature. These results demonstrate that integrating TM with CPD significantly enhances fault detectability for dynamic, instability-driven faults, while TM alone is sufficient for smooth, steady-state degradation. This study provides an evidence-based guideline for selectively integrating CPD into wind turbine blade condition monitoring systems based on fault physics. Full article

Single photon LiDAR has demonstrated remarkable proficiency in long-range sensing under conditions of weak returns. However, in the few-photon regime (SPPP ≈ 1) and at low signal-to-background ratios (SBR ≤ 0.1), depth estimation is subject to significant degradation due to Poisson fluctuations and background contamination. To address these challenges, we propose GLARE-Depth, a patch-wise Poisson-GLRT framework with reflectance-guided spatial fusion. In the temporal domain, our method employs a continuous-time Poisson-GLRT peak search with a physically consistent exponentially modified Gaussian (EMG) kernel, complemented by closed-form amplitude updates and mode-bias correction. In the spatial domain, we implement a methodology that incorporates reflectance-guided, edge-preserving aggregation and confidence-gated lightweight hole filling to enhance effective coverage for few-photon pixels. In controlled simulations derived from the Middlebury dataset, under high-background conditions (SPPP ≈ 1, SBR ≈ 0.06–0.10), GLARE-Depth demonstrates substantial gains over representative baselines in RMSE, MAE, and valid-pixel ratio (insert concrete numbers when finalized) while maintaining smoothness in planar regions and sharpness at geometric boundaries. These results highlight the robustness of GLARE-Depth and its practical potential for low-SBR scenarios. Full article

In ad hoc networks employing Autonomous Aerial Vehicles (AAVs), the importance of real-time applications and edge computing is steadily increasing. However, existing routing protocols still fail to meet the strict performance requirements under the unique conditions of AAV networks, where the network topology changes continuously, and nodes move at high speed. This paper presents SHARP-AODV (Stability Heuristic Adaptive Routing Protocol—AODV), an enhanced routing protocol specifically developed for AAV networks. SHARP-AODV introduces two key innovations: (1) an intelligent RREQ (Route Request) dissemination mechanism that combines neighbor density control with a multi-parameter probabilistic model, and (2) a multi-criteria path selection mechanism that jointly considers hop count, link quality, and resource state. Simulation results in NS-3 across four distinct mobility models and various numbers of AAV nodes show that SHARP-AODV significantly outperforms standard AODV, improving packet delivery ratio (PDR) by up to 23.9%, increasing throughput by up to 61%, while reducing end-to-end delay by up to 87.8% and jitter by up to 90.6%. The proposed protocol is especially suitable for AAV-enabled applications in Edge Computing and Metaverse ecosystems that require low-latency, highly reliable connectivity with adaptation to dynamic network conditions. Furthermore, SHARP-AODV satisfies 6G network requirements for connection reliability, ultra-low latency, and high device density, unlocking new opportunities for employing AAVs in smart cities, environmental monitoring, and distributed VR/AR systems. Full article

Thin-walled cellular structures of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites (CFRTPCs) have received much attention from both academics and industry due to their superior properties. Additive manufacturing provides an efficient solution for fabricating these thin-walled cellular structures of CFRTPCs. However, the process often requires cutting fiber filaments at jumping points during printing. Furthermore, the filament may twist, fold, and break due to sharp turns in the printing path. These issues adversely affect the mechanical properties of the additive manufactured part. In this paper, a Euler graph-based path planning method for additive manufacturing of CFRTPCs is proposed to avoid jumping and sharp turns. Euler graphs are constructed from non-Eulerian graphs using the method of doubled edges. An optimized Hierholzer’s algorithm with pseudo-intersections is proposed to generate printing paths that satisfy the continuity, non-crossing, and avoid most of the sharp turns. The average turning angle was reduced by up to $20.88\%$ and the number of turning angles less than or equal to $120°$ increased by up to $26.67\%$ using optimized Hierholzer’s algorithm. In addition, the generated paths were verified by house-made robot-assisted additive manufacturing equipment. Full article

This research focused on the synthesis of triangular silver nanoplates (TSNPs) with sharp corners using a photomediated seed growth method. The TSNPs produced had an average edge length of 27.2 ± 9.2 nm and a (110) crystalline plane structure. In terms of optical properties, the TSNPs displayed three key absorbance peaks at approximately 400 nm, 500 nm, and 660 nm, which correspond to out-of-plane dipolar resonance, in-plane quadrupolar resonance, and in-plane dipolar resonance, respectively. The prepared TSNP colloidal solutions served as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-active materials for detecting paraquat residue in aqueous samples. We optimized the mixing time of the liquid SERS with the sample, maintaining a 1:1 volume ratio. The findings showed a remarkable enhancement of the Raman signal with 10 min mixing time using laser excitation at a wavelength of 785 nm. This study achieved the development of novel SERS-active substrates capable of detecting pesticides with excellent accuracy, sensitivity, and reproducibility for both qualitative and quantitative analysis in tap water, river water, drinking water, and cannabis water. Additionally, it paved the way for using the SERS technique as a promising approach in the areas of food safety and environmental monitoring, especially in the organic farming field. Full article

Granite wet edge finishing is widely adopted to improve surface durability and aesthetics while reducing dust dispersion compared to dry processes. However, even under flooded lubrication, fine particles (FP, 0.5–20 µm) and ultrafine particles (UFP, <100 nm) containing crystalline silica are emitted, posing health risks such as silicosis and pulmonary or cardiovascular diseases. This study investigates particle emissions during CNC edge finishing of black (containing 0% quartz) and white granites (containing 41% quartz) using two industrially relevant profile tools: Half-Beveled (HB) and Ogee (OG). A full factorial design evaluated the effects of granite type, tool geometry, abrasive grit size, spindle speed, and feed rate. Particle concentrations were measured with Aerodynamic and Scanning Mobility Particle Sizers. Results show that spindle speed (N) is the dominant factor, explaining up to 92% of variance in emissions, whereas feed rate (V_f) played a minor role. Tool geometry had a pronounced effect on UFP release: sharp-edged geometries (HB) promoted localized micro-fracturing and higher emissions, while curved geometries (OG) distributed stresses and reduced particle detachment. White granite generated higher mass emissions due to its high quartz content, while black granite exhibited more stable emission behavior. These findings highlight the dual necessity of optimizing cutting kinematics and selecting appropriate tool profiles to balance surface quality and occupational health in granite processing. Full article

This study investigates the convective–diffusive Cahn–Hilliard equation, a nonlinear model which is used in real-world applications to phase separation and material pattern formation. Using the modified Sardar sub-problem technique, which is an extension of the Sardar sub-equation approach, we derive multiple classes of exact soliton solutions, including bright, dark, kink, and periodic forms. The parametric behaviors of these solutions are examined and visualized through analytical plots generated in Mathematica and Maple. Furthermore, UV–Vis spectrophotometry is employed to examine the optical response of copper oxide (CuO) thin films. The films exhibited a sharp absorption edge around 380–410 nm and an optical band gap of approximately 2.3 eV, confirming their semiconducting nature. The experimentally observed periodic transmission characteristics are linked with the theoretical soliton profiles predicted by the model. Overall, the proposed analytical and experimental framework establishes a clear connection between nonlinear wave theory and thin-film optical characterization, providing new insights into soliton transformation phenomena in complex material systems. Full article

Maritime remote sensing ship detection has long been plagued by two major issues: the failure of geometric priors due to the extreme length-to-width ratio of ships; and the sharp drop in edge signal-to-noise ratio caused by the overlapping chromaticity domain between ships and seawater, which leads to unsatisfactory accuracy of existing detectors in such scenarios. Therefore, this paper proposes an optical remote sensing ship detection model combining channel shuffling and bilinear interpolation, named CSBI-YOLO. The core innovations include three aspects: First, a group shuffling feature enhancement module is designed, embedding parallel group bottlenecks and channel shuffling mechanisms into the interface between the YOLOv8 backbone and neck to achieve multi-scale semantic information coupling with a small number of parameters. Second, an edge-gated upsampling unit is constructed, using separable Sobel magnitude as structural prior and a learnable gating mechanism to suppress low-contrast noise on the sea surface. Third, an R-IoU-Focal loss function is proposed, introducing logarithmic curvature penalty and adaptive weights to achieve joint optimization in three dimensions: location, shape, and scale. Dual validation was conducted on the self-built SlewSea-RS dataset and the public DOTA-ship dataset. The results show that on the SlewSea-RS dataset, the mAP₅₀ and mAP_50–95 values of the CSBI-YOLO model increased by 6% and 5.4%, respectively. On the DOTA-ship dataset, comparisons with various models demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms others, proving the excellent performance of the CSBI-YOLO model in detecting maritime ship targets. Full article

In immersive digital devices, high environmental complexity can lead to rendering delays and loss of interactive details, resulting in a fragmented experience. This paper proposes a lightweight NeRF (Neural Radiance Fields) modeling and multimodal perception fusion method. First, a sparse hash code is constructed based on Instant-NGP (Instant Neural Graphics Primitives) to accelerate scene radiance field generation. Second, parameter distillation and channel pruning are used to reduce the model’s size and reduce computational overheads. Next, multimodal data from a depth camera and an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) is fused, and Kalman filtering is used to improve pose tracking accuracy. Finally, the optimized NeRF model is integrated into the Unity engine, utilizing custom shaders and asynchronous rendering to achieve low-latency viewpoint responsiveness. Experiments show that the file size of this method in high-complexity scenes is only 79.5 MB ± 5.3 MB, and the first loading time is only 2.9 s ± 0.4 s, effectively reducing rendering latency. The SSIM is 0.951 ± 0.016 at 1.5 m/s, and the GME is 7.68 ± 0.15 at 1.5 m/s. It can stably restore texture details and edge sharpness under dynamic viewing angles. In scenarios that support 3–5 people interacting simultaneously, the average interaction response delay is only 16.3 ms, and the average jitter error is controlled at 0.12°, significantly improving spatial interaction performance. In conclusion, this study provides effective technical solutions for high-quality immersive interaction in complex public scenarios. Future work will explore the framework’s adaptability in larger-scale dynamic environments and further optimize the network synchronization mechanism for multi-user concurrency. Full article

This paper presents a three-dimensional, acoustic streaming-driven circular micromixer with sharp-edge structures and the coupling mechanism between acoustic streaming and background flow in biological systems. A piezoelectric transducer induces vibrations in the sharp-edge structures, generating a localized, intense acoustic field that produces a nonlinear acoustic streaming vortex at the tip. The disk-shaped mixing chamber design enhances acoustic field perturbation. This study incorporates the actual background flow field into the model to elucidate the strong interaction between acoustic streaming and steady-state flow. In the sharp-edge structural region, structural curvature induces local variations in acoustic amplitude, generating a non-zero mean Reynolds stress that significantly perturbs the background laminar flow, reduces flow stability, and substantially enhances mixing. The effects of displacement amplitude, Reynolds number, sharp-edge angle, and excitation frequency on the mixing efficiency are systematically investigated. Furthermore, the mixing performances of two different fluids, water and blood, are compared to elucidate the influence of fluid properties on mixing behavior. This mechanism provides theoretical support for microscale active mixing and offers novel insights for microfluidic device design. Full article

Remote sensing image super-resolution (SR) plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality and resolution of satellite and aerial imagery, which is essential for various applications, including environmental monitoring and urban planning. While recent image super-resolution networks have achieved strong results, remote-sensing images present domain-specific challenges—complex spatial distribution, large cross-scale variations, and dynamic topographic effects—that can destabilize multi-scale fusion and limit the direct applicability of generic SR models. These features make it difficult for single-scale feature extraction methods to fully capture the complex structure, leading to the presence of artifacts and structural distortion in the reconstructed remote sensing images. Therefore, new methods are needed to overcome these challenges and improve the accuracy and detail fidelity of remote sensing image super-resolution reconstruction. This paper proposes a novel Multi-scale Windowed Spatial and Channel Attention Network (MSWSCAN) for high-fidelity remote sensing image super-resolution. The proposed method combines multi-scale feature extraction, window-based spatial attention, and channel attention mechanisms to effectively capture both global and local image features while addressing the challenges of fine details and structural distortion. The network is evaluated on several benchmark datasets, including WHU-RS19, UCMerced and RSSCN7, where it demonstrates superior performance in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity index (SSIM) compared to state-of-the-art methods. The results show that the MSWSCAN not only enhances texture details and edge sharpness but also reduces reconstruction artifacts. To address cross-scale variations and dynamic topographic effects that cause texture drift in multi-scale SR, we combine windowed spatial attention to preserve local geometry with a channel-aware fusion layer (FFL) that reweights multi-scale channels. This stabilizes cross-scale aggregation at a runtime comparable to DAT and yields sharper details on heterogeneous land covers. Averaged over WHU–RS19, RSSCN7, and UCMerced_LandUse at ×2/×3/×4, MSWSCAN improves PSNR (peak signal-to-noise ratio, dB)/SSIM (structural similarity index measure, 0–1) by +0.10 dB/+0.0038 over SwinIR and by +0.05 dB/+0.0017 over DAT. In conclusion, the proposed MSWSCAN achieves state-of-the-art performance in remote sensing image SR, offering a promising solution for high-quality image enhancement in remote sensing applications. Full article

This study investigates the steady-state behavior of a four-way opposed diaphragm pump. Simulations and experimental results confirm that peak stress locations align with observed damage sites. During the return stroke, diaphragm flipping induces tension at the flow-fixed interface edges, creating stress concentrations that contribute to fatigue and failure. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) shows that, under constant flow, increased voltage enhances umbrella valve opening, accelerates movement, broadens flow distribution, and disrupts symmetry. At 90°, valve-edge velocity exhibits sharp, high-amplitude oscillations and a narrow, elongated return region. Vortices near the valve port interfere with fluid motion, causing pressure fluctuations and potential sealing issues or increased opening resistance. Higher flow rates intensify vortex strength and shift their position, generating diaphragm pressure differentials that alter flow direction and velocity, reducing stability and inducing secondary vortices. Compared to a modified diaphragm, the standard type shows more complex vortex structures, greater flow instability, and dynamic response degradation under identical pressure and varying flow. These fragmented vortices further disrupt flow, affecting pump performance. The findings provide design insights for diaphragm pump optimization. Full article

This study proposes a method for designing spatial light modulator (SLM) projection phases in digital lasers using a simulated annealing (SA) approach combined with an initialized pre-designed phase to generate structured laser beams. SLM projection phases are optimized within the SA framework using a cost function based on the correlation between the corresponding laser field patterns and the target field. Numerical simulations demonstrate both the effectiveness of the proposed phase design method and its improvement in generating three geometric beams—quadrangular pyramid, triangular pyramid, and multi-ring fields—particularly with regard to enhanced edge sharpness. The resulting structured beams, especially those with simple geometric shapes, are suitable for microfabrication applications such as photolithography and photopolymerization. The proposed SA iteration framework is not limited to the L-shaped resonator used in this study and can be extended to digital laser cavities with higher numerical apertures, enabling the generation of more complex structured light fields. Full article

Very-high-energy electron (VHEE) beams, ranging from 50 to 300 or 400 MeV, are the subject of intense research investigation, with considerable interest concerning applications in radiation therapy due to their accurate energy deposition into large and deep-seated tissues, sharp beam edges, high sparing properties, and minimal radiation effects on normal tissues. The very-high-energy electron beam, which ranges from 50 to 400 MeV, and Ultra-High-Energy Electron beams up to 1–2 GeV, are considered extremely effective for human tumor therapy while avoiding the spatial requirements and cost of proton and heavy ion facilities. Many research laboratories have developed advanced testing infrastructures with VHEE beams in Europe, the USA, Japan, and other countries. These facilities aim to accelerate the transition to clinical application, following extensive simulations for beam transport that support preclinical trials and imminent clinical deployment. However, the clinical implementation of VHEE for FLASH radiation therapy requires advances in several areas, including the development of compact, stable, and efficient accelerators; the definition of sophisticated treatment plans; and the establishment of clinically validated protocols. In addition, the perspective of VHEE for accessing ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) dosimetry presents a promising procedure for the practical integration of FLASH radiotherapy for deep tumors, enhancing normal tissue sparing while maintaining the inherent dosimetry advantages. However, it has been proven that a strong effort is necessary to improve the main operational accelerator conditions, ensuring a stable beam over time and across space, as well as compact infrastructure to support the clinical implementation of VHEE for FLASH cancer treatment. VHEE-accessing ultra-high dose rate (UHDR) perspective dosimetry is integrated with FLASH radiotherapy and well-prepared cancer treatment tools that provide an advantage in modern oncology regimes. This study explores technological progress and the evolution of electron accelerator beam energy technology, as simulated by the ASTRA code, for developing VHEE and UHEE beams aimed at medical applications. FLUKA code simulations of electron beam provide dose distribution plots and the range for various energies inside the phantom of PMMA. Full article

Kapton-H type is an optical plastic with a UV-Vis-NIR spectrum characterized by abrupt absorbance change at a wavelength of ca. 550 nm. Such sharp optical discontinuity, known as the fundamental absorption edge, has been investigated using the Tauc plot method, and a band gap energy (E_g) of (2.22 ± 0.05) eV for an indirect allowed electron transition model has been found. The Cody plot has also been applied, and a slightly lower band gap energy value (i.e., E_g = 2.33 ± 0.05 eV) has been found. The Urbach rule applied to the spectrum tail has provided an Urbach energy value (E_U) of ca. (185 ± 2) meV, which is quite a high value that is fully compatible with the highly disordered structure of this sterically rigid semi-crystalline polymer. The cut-on wavelength (550 nm), visible transparency (T% of ca. 80), and other relevant optical characteristics of the Kapton-H type have been also evaluated and compared with corresponding values of polyetherimide. Full article