Search

The German engineer H.A. Janssen gave one of the first accounts of the often peculiar behavior of granular material in a paper published in German in 1895. From simple experiments with corn he inferred the saturation of pressure with height in a granular system. Subsequently, Janssen derived the equivalent of the barometric formula for granular material from the main assumption that the walls carry part of the weight. The following is a translation of this article. The wording is chosen as close as possible to the original. While drawings are copied from the original, figures displaying data are redone for better readability. The translation is complemented by some bibliographical notes and an assessment of earlier work, wherein Hagen predicted the saturation of pressure with depth in 1852, and Huber-Burnand demonstrated that saturation qualitatively as early as in 1829. We conclude with a brief discussion of more recent developments resting on Janssen's work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research refers to the assigning of a hands-on group project to freshman engineering students, evaluating their performance, and deriving conclusions on student benefits and educational advances. The research procedure included action plans for the instructor and the students, instructions to the students on performing the work, organizational instructions to the teams and reporting guidelines, and evaluation of the success of the project. The main outcomes refer to the team co-operation, the performance of tasks, the quality of results and the reporting effectiveness. The ‘paper beam’ project benefited the student’s learning and proved the need of complementary learning styles in teams, of the appreciation of quality performance and results, as well as of the accuracy in project details. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation – the pervasive incorporation of digital technology into virtually every process and system – is arguably the greatest force of change within the naval engineering community. Digital innovation is disrupting traditional ship design paradigms and giving rise to new ways of modernising and sustaining a future integrated force structure. This paper highlights digital transformation as a core strategic initiative that is aligned with the U.S. Department of Defense Digital Engineering Strategy. Recognising the need to expand the U.S. Navy's advantage over its competitors, this paper identifies foundational elements required to transform current engineering design and development processes. Next, a multi-factor framework is introduced to align traditional processes employed for physical system design and development with a new digital paradigm in recognition of the highly integrated nature of Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). Finally, discussion will focus on efforts underway to leverage advanced computational models and highlight the digital engineering use case for Naval Power and Energy Systems (NPES). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engineering investment is the basic investment of the whole national economic development. When the project investor obtains its expected return, it may have other beneficial benefits for social organizations or people outside the subject, but the investor cannot obtain such benefits. Spillover usually occurs from three aspects: economy, technology and knowledge. The spillover effect of project investment usually brings obvious spillover effect, which has positive benefits to society, but may also produce unfavorable factors. Therefore, it is necessary to predict the project investment spillover. When it is predicted that the investment spillover will have more favorable benefits, the preparation of relevant investment funds can be started, and when it is predicted that there will be unfavorable spillover benefits, the investment in related engineering projects will be terminated. Project investment spillover effects usually have specific rules. On the basis of summarizing and analyzing historical project investment spillover effects, the specific situation of its spillover effects can be obtained, and then the rules can be learned in combination with specific algorithms to complete the project investment spillover effects. predict. The purpose of this paper is to provide investors and institutions with a valuable investment forecasting reference method, combined with the relevant theories of the investment value of engineering market-oriented enterprises, using quantitative analysis methods and quantitative analysis methods, so as to provide an investment based on data and algorithms. The spillover value forecast method supports and promotes the development and construction of national key projects. Based on the completion of the entire prediction model, this paper uses the particle swarm optimization method of the deep neural network model process studied in this paper, and based on the relevant data of 284 historical engineering investment overflow cases, the algorithm is trained and output, and then the investment overflow of each project is obtained. The relative score of the predictions, and analyzing this overflow prediction. Through the obtained comprehensive prediction score and according to the result analysis. Corresponding conclusions and future development directions are put forward to provide theoretical guidance for investors and institutions to invest in investment direction and estimate investment spillover effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital platform technologies have brought about a new labour form in the occupation of domestic work, in which domestic cleaning work is now being managed and organised virtually through an online platform, or ‘app’, operated by private technology companies and provided to householders on a convenient and on-demand basis. This paper analyses the emerging impact of this new form of ‘platform domestic work’ in South Africa’s domestic sector using an interpretivist case study done in Cape Town on ten platform domestic workers and their platform companies. Using evidence obtained through in-depth interviews and analysis of published company discourse material, this paper argues that far from formalising and modernising domestic work through the twin forces of commercialisation and digital platform technology, the phenomenon of platform domestic work is deepening informalisation in paid domestic work as a form of insecure ‘gig work’, and also through the widespread practice of platform leakage by domestic workers on the platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional differential evolution（DE） algorithm balanced global exploration and local exploitation inadequately, and had problems with easily falling into local optimal solutions, low solution accuracy and slow convergence speed. Therefore, this paper proposed a differential evolution algorithm based on random neighborhood mutation and optimal opposition-based learning（RNODE） and analyzed for its complexity. Firstly, the algorithm generated a random neighborhood for each individual in the current population, and used the global best individual to guide the neighborhood best individual to generate a composite basis vector, combined with an adaptive update mechanism of the control parameters to constitute a random neighborhood mutation strategy, which enabled the algorithm maintained its exploration ability and guided the population towards the optimal direction. Secondly, to further help the algorithm jump out of the local optimum, the algorithm performed the optimal opposition-based learning strategy on the poorer individuals to expand the search area. Finally, this paper compared RNODE with 9 algorithms to verify the effectiveness and advancement of RNODE. The experimental results on 23 benchmark functions and 2 real-world engineering optimization problems show that the RNODE algorithm has a higher convergence accuracy, faster speed and a greater stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigated the applicability of ChatGPT AI in electronics research and development via a case study of applied sensors in embedded electronic systems, a topic that is rarely mentioned in the recent literature, thus providing new insight for professionals and academics. The initial electronics-development tasks of a smart home project were prompted to the ChatGPT system to find out its capabilities and limitations. We wanted to obtain detailed information on the central processing controller units and the actual sensors usable for the specific project, their specifications and recommendations on the hardware and software design flow additionally. Furthermore, an extensive literature survey was requested to see if the bot could offer scientific papers covering the given topic. It was found that the ChatGPT responded with proper recommendations on controllers. However, the suggested sensor units, the hardware and software design were only partially acceptable, with occasional errors in specifications and generated code. The results of the literature survey showed that non-acceptable, fabricated citations (fake authors list, title, journal details and DOI—Digital Object identifier) were presented by the bot. The paper provides a detailed qualitative analysis, a performance analysis and critical discussion of the aforementioned aspects while providing the query set, the generated answers and codes as supplied data with the goal to give added value to electronics researchers and developers if trying to reach out for the tools in their profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A light-weight UAV formation control algorithm based on inner and outer loop control is proposed. • An improving ADRC based on prescribed-time extended state observer and broad learning is proposed. • The broad learning is used to dynamically optimize the weights according to the different wind disturbances. Considering that the formation composed of light-weight UAVs is highly susceptible to the interference, which may from the changes in the external environment and the uncertainty of system, a formation control method based on the inner and outer loops is proposed. In the inner loop, the single UAV stable flight can be achieved via controlling the state variables of UAV angles. In the outer loop, we can achieve multi-UAVs cooperative flight through the leader-follower strategy. In this paper, we mainly focus on the stability control of each member UAV, which is the basic composition of formation control. For this purpose, an optimized active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) is proposed which combined an improved prescribed-time extended state observer (PTESO) and weight optimization module based on broad learning. In this way, the single UAV can dynamically adjust the control weights according to different wind degrees, so that the influence of environmental changes on the control system is reduced. Then, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed formation control methods are verified by simulations. The stability enhancement control method proposed in this paper provides a new and effective theoretical support for the actual control of the light-weight UAV formation, which has a well engineering application prospect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple global trends and drivers have resulted in a steep escalation of tech-socio-economic inequities in basic human needs across industrialized as well as industrializing nations. This escalation is paralleled by the growing trend of novel and simple frugal innovations for meeting basic human needs, which are applied across various communities in the world towards bridging gaps of inequity. Frugality in this context is defined as minimizing the use of capital resources while delivering effective manufacturing product outcomes. It is noteworthy that frugal innovations are abundantly observed in the biological designs in nature. This paper is aimed at understanding the methodology of frugal engineering behind the resulting frugal manufacturing innovations through discovering the cross-section of frameworks of biological designs in nature and equitable social innovations. Authors have applied the framework of biological designs as these designs are observed to deliver multifunctionality, resilience, and sustainability, which are key to a frugal and equitable innovation platform and achieved by the frugal engineering process. As water is one of the most basic human needs, this paper uses water as an illustrative example to understand the frugal engineering process. The authors discuss designs in nature from cactus, tree roots, and human skin, and design parallels in related frugal innovations namely in fog-capturing nets, ice stupa, and Zeer (pot-in-a-pot), respectively, for equitable water access. The authors propose and discuss a resulting methodology for frugal engineering. This methodology can be utilized as a starting point for developing case-specific socially conscious manufacturing solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the effect of unwanted vibrations is an important topic in many engineering applications. In this paper we describe some recent developments in the area of passive vibration mitigation. This is based on a new device called the inerter which can be exploited in a range of different contexts. In this paper we consider two recent examples; (i) where a flywheel inerter is combined with a hysteretic damper, and (ii) in which a pivoted bar inerter is developed for a machining application. In both cases, experimental test results show that the devices can outperform existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper based lateral flow assays (LFAs) have achieved grand success in point-of-care diagnostics; nevertheless, they are still facing challenges. This review outlines current major challenges in LFAs addressing particularly sensitivity, specificity, selectivity, reproducibility and multiplex capability. Potential solutions to meet these challenges are proposed in the areas of chemistry, nanobiotechnology, and engineering. Specifically, approaches for enhancement of sensitivity through introducing alternative nanomaterials and new signal amplification strategies, improvement of specificity through seeking for more efficient recognition molecules, optimization of selectivity by treatment of the paper surface to achieve anti-fouling sensing interface, and development of improved controls on environment, raw materials and device engineering for better reproducibility, are reviewed and discussed. The success in these perspectives will help to pave the way for the development of more efficient LFAs for future research and applications in clinical settings, food safety and quality, environment monitoring, biosecurity, etc. • Paper lateral flow assays (LFAs) with different formats and signal readout. • Address challenges in sensitivity, specificity, selectivity, reproducibility, multiplexing. • Sensitivity enhancement by nanotechnology and biotechnology. • Chemical and engineering strategies to improve the analytical performance of LFAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new evaluation of the half-life of 241Pu has been made by combining previous results from earlier methods and techniques with further measurements of the isotopic ratio of an initially enriched 241Pu material. A correction to the previous published value has had to be made. The half-life of 241Pu is an important parameter for the measurement and control of amounts of plutonium as the decay of this isotope is usually the largest contributor to the uncertainty of estimations of the amount of total plutonium after storage. The value of the half-life together with its associated uncertainty needs to be known with a high degree of confidence. However, the half-life value of ca.14.3 a (years) means the decay of the isotope is difficult to measure over one or more half-lives using a single method or instrument. The method employed in this evaluation is designed to conform to the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurements (GUM) (International Organisation for Standardisation, Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement, ©ISO, ISBN 92-67-10188-9, Geneva, Switzerland, 1993)1and care was taken to ensure that all measured values over the 30 year measurement time-span have been included. The value recommended from this set of measurements is 14.325 a ± 0.024 a (k= 2). This agrees with the value from the first measurements of the same material in 1983 of 14.33 a ± 0.02 a (P. De Bièvre, P. Gallet and M. Wertz, Int. J. Mass Spectrom., Ion Phys., 51, 1983, 111).2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IEEE Transactions on Reliability is the premiere technical journal for reliability and related disciplines. We strive to continue this reputation, so we continue to discover what makes journals great. We have discovered that IEEE journals work to have the qualities readers and authors would like to expect. Correctness and technical merit are important features of accepted manuscripts, with correctness rating as most important to the responding editors. Writing and solving real problems seem to be the least important features. The relative unimportance of these last two categories may be a concern, except that relative importance is not an indicator of absolute importance. However, a recent IEEE survey suggests that members place most value on more practical articles, which suggests that the relative importance of solving real problems should be high if we are to meet the needs of our members through our journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a calendar of forthcoming congresses and conventions. The 13th International Congress on Sound and Vibration will be held on July 2-6, 2006 at Vienna University of Technology in Vienna, Austria. The 16th European Conference of Fracture will be held on July 3-7, 2006 in Alexandroupolis, Greece. The 8th Biennial ASME Conference on Engineering Systems Design and Analysis is scheduled on July 4-7, 2006 in Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy.

Abstract: The international FORUM of Fire research directors periodically takes positions on issues dealing with the direction and implementation of fire research with the potential for significant impact on safety and/or global practices, standards and test methods. This short communication represents the FORUM''s position on the validation of numerical fire models. These models are increasingly being used on the fire protection engineering community, and have the potential for a significant impact with the increasing acceptance of performance based fire codes. The FORUM position is to require verification and validation of these models. Activities should include; code verification to identify and reduce coding errors, calculation verification to establish appropriate model usage, and model validation to provide a quantitative assessment of the predictive capabilities of a model. Peer-reviewed documentation of these activities should be published in the open literature. The importance of verification of models for fire phenomenon, and an overview of these activities, are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Presents a bibliography of process capability books, manuals and articles, in relation to the engineering sector. "Process Capability Indices in Theory and Practice," by C. Lovelace and S. Kotz; "Measuring Process Capability," by D. R. Bothe; "Process Capability Indices," by N. L. Johnson and S. Kotz.

Significant efforts are being made to produce biofuels to replace fossil fuels and address the issues caused by global climate change. Due to its potential better conversion efficiency to useable power, decreased emission of pollutants, and high energy density, H 2 is one of the prospective options that are seen as a desirable future clean energy carrier. Although there are numerous technologies available for producing H 2 , this review concentrates on fermentative H 2 production techniques, their drawbacks, and current developments. While being a promising method, fermentative strategies still have several drawbacks, including low H 2 production yields. Many approaches have been used to address these issues; among them, the field of metabolic pathway engineering has made enormous strides. To improve H 2 generation, this paper reviewed and discussed several metabolic pathways and modified strains. As well as the challenges involved in H 2 scale-up from a laboratory setting to a commercial scale. • Biohydrogen production via fermentative methods is reviewed and elaborated. • Metabolic engineering methods are proposed for scaling up fermentative biohydrogen. • Challenges of fermentative biohydrogen production and potential solutions. • Bionanotechnology and modified strains enhanced biohydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In organic solar cells (OSCs), the intricate synthesis and lower yield of ladder-type fused ring small molecule receptors (FR-SMAs) have prompted the quest for simpler, higher yielding non-fused ring (NFR)-SMAs. In this paper, a type of NFR asymmetrical SMA with an A–D–π–A structure, namely DPCT8-4F and DPCT10-4F, was primarily designed and synthesized, in which an alkyl chain dipyran (DP) ring, cycllopentadithiophene (CT) and fluorinated 1,1-dicyanomethylene-3-indanone (4F) are employed as the donor (D) unit, π-bridge and acceptor (A) terminals, respectively. The influence of the alkyl chain originating from the DP unit on their optical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties was systematically investigated. The DPCT8-4F with n-octane chains exhibited enhanced crystallinity and molecular packing compared to the DPCT10-4F with n-decane chains. After being blended with the polymer donor PBDB-T, the OSCs based on PBDB-T:DPCT8-4F demonstrate an impressive power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 12.52%, surpassing that of 11.68% for the DPCT10-4F-based ones. This work demonstrates that these asymmetric NFR-SMAs can improve the efficiency of OSCs by pairing alkyl chains on the dipyran ring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I discuss the emerging field of conceptual engineering from the perspective of the philosophy of mind and cognitive science. I explore the role the latter disciplines can and do play by specifically focusing on how different notions of what a concept is affects the general conceptual engineering framework, both positively and negatively, before considering a particular account that eschews talk of concepts altogether. I call this project 'Cappelen's challenge' as it draws from suggestive remarks in his work (Cappelen, H. 2018. Fixing Language: Conceptual Engineering and the Limits of Revision. Oxford: Oxford University Press). I argue that by appreciating the range of options that each theory of concepts brings with it, the field as a whole can come to better grips with its foundations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual engineering is the method for assessing and improving our concepts. Some have recently claimed that the implementation of such method in the form of ameliorative projects is truth-driven and should thus be epistemically constrained, ultimately at least (Simion, Mona. 2018b. "The 'Should' in Conceptual Engineering." Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 61 (8): 914–928; cf. Podosky, Paul-Mikhail Catapang. 2018. "Ideology and Normativity: Constraints on Conceptual Engineering." Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy, Online first, 1–15. doi:10.1080/0020174X.2018.1562374). This paper challenges that claim on the assumption of a social constructionist analysis of ideologies, and provides an alternative, pragmatic and cognitive framework for determining the legitimacy of ameliorative conceptual projects overall. The upshot is that one should not ameliorate for the sake of truth or knowledge, in the case of ideologies – at least, not primarily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a unified gas kinetic particle (UGKP) method is developed for radiative transfer in both absorbing and anisotropic scattering media. This numerical method is constructed based on our theoretical work on the model reduction for an anisotropic scattering system. The macroscopic solver of this method directly solves the macroscopic anisotropic diffusion equations, eliminating the need to solve higher-order moment equations. The reconstruction of macroscopic scattering source in the microscopic solver, based on the multiscale equivalent phase function we proposed in this work, has also been simplified as one single scattering process, significantly reducing the computational costs. The proposed method has also the property of asymptotic preserving. In the optically thick regime, the proposed method solves the diffusion limit equations for an anisotropic system. In the optically thin regime, the kinetic processes of photon transport are simulated. The consistency and efficiency of the proposed method have been validated by numerical tests in a wide range of flow regimes. The novel equivalent scattering source reconstruction can be used for various transport processes, and the proposed numerical scheme is widely applicable in high-energy density engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offset boosting is a crucial passage for chaotic signal modification in chaos-based engineering. Searching an offset controller for a 3D chaotic system is usually complex, let alone two independent nonbifurcating offset constants. This paper constructs a class of chaotic systems, providing a single constant posing direct offset boosting for two dimensions. This offset boostable chaotic system regime has multiple typical control modes, including a system variable single control, synchronous common control, reverse control, and differential control. This new type of chaotic systems also finds two-dimensional offset boosting combined with amplitude control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper presents the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique, and its practical application to machine learning. The objective is to address the problem of dimensional reduction or data compression. Based on an intuitive analysis, this document will help bring economists and other professionals in the social sciences closer to these ideas, which are generally alien to their discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the authors review extant natural language processing models in the context of undergraduate mechanical engineering education. These models have advanced to a stage where it has become increasingly more difficult to discern computer vs. human-produced material, and as a result, have understandably raised questions about their impact on academic integrity. As part of our review, we perform two sets of tests with OpenAI's natural language processing model (1) using GPT-3 to generate text for a mechanical engineering laboratory report and (2) using Codex to generate code for an automation and control systems laboratory. Our results show that natural language processing is a potentially powerful assistive technology for engineering students. However, it is a technology that must be used with care, given its potential to enable cheating and plagiarism behaviours given how the technology challenges traditional assessment practices and traditional notions of authorship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequency (ICRF) heating system of the China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) is intended to provide plasma heating with a minimum power output of 20 MW, which demands the Radio Frequency (RF) window to possess a higher performance requirement. This paper presents the design of an RF window for the CFETR ICRF heating system and focuses primarily on the design and confirmation of its electromagnetic performance. The RF window can be effectively matched in the operating frequency range and has an S11 of under −59 dB. The geometry of the cone type ceramics was optimized to reduce the surface tangential electric field distribution. An analysis of the electric field distribution of the RF window at 50 kV indicates that the pressure side was below 2.3 kV/mm and the vacuum side was below 1.3 kV/mm. Furthermore, a transmission line test bench with an open-terminated setup was constructed to conduct withstand voltage tests on the mockup, and the results showed that the mockup could withstand 62 kV for 2 s and 47 kV for 120 s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral and maxillofacial diseases are one of the most prevalent diseases in the world, which not only seriously affect the health of patients' oral and maxillofacial tissues, but also bring serious economic and psychological burdens to patients. Therefore, oral and maxillofacial diseases require effective treatment. Traditional treatments have limited effects. In recent years, nature exosomes have attracted increasing attention due to their ability to diagnose and treat diseases. However, the application of nature exosomes is limited due to low yield, high impurities, lack of targeting, and high cost. Engineered exosomes can be endowed with better comprehensive therapeutic properties by modifying exosomes of parent cells or directly modifying exosomes, and biomaterial loading exosomes. Compared with natural exosomes, these engineered exosomes can achieve more effective diagnosis and treatment of oral and maxillary system diseases, and provide reference and guidance for clinical application. This paper reviews the engineering modification methods of exosomes and the application of engineered exosomes in oral and maxillofacial diseases and looks forward to future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)—the simplest and most common silicone compound—exemplifies the central characteristics of its class and has attracted tremendous research attention. The development of PDMS‐based materials is a vivid reflection of the modern industry. In recent years, PDMS has stood out as the material of choice for various emerging technologies. The rapid improvement in bulk modification strategies and multifunctional surfaces has enabled a whole new generation of PDMS‐based materials and devices, facilitating, and even transforming enormous applications, including flexible electronics, superwetting surfaces, soft actuators, wearable and implantable sensors, biomedicals, and autonomous robotics. This paper reviews the latest advances in the field of PDMS‐based functional materials, with a focus on the added functionality and their use as programmable materials for smart devices. Recent breakthroughs regarding instant crosslinking and additive manufacturing are featured, and exciting opportunities for future research are highlighted. This review provides a quick entrance to this rapidly evolving field and will help guide the rational design of next‐generation soft materials and devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum dots (QDs) have attracted wide attention from academia and industry because of their advantages such as high emitting efficiency, narrow half-peak width, and continuously adjustable emitting wavelength. QDs light emitting diodes (QLEDs) are expected to become the next generation commercial display technology. This paper reviews the progress of QLED from physical mechanism, materials, to device engineering. The strategies to improve QLED performance from the perspectives of quantum dot materials and device structures are summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An adaptive system is able to adapt at runtime to dynamically changing environments and to new requirements. Adaptive systems can be single adaptive entities or collective ones that consist of several collaborating entities. Rigorous engineering requires appropriate methods and tools that help guaranteeing that an adaptive system lives up to its intended purpose. This paper introduces the special section on "Rigorous Engineering of Collective Adaptive Systems." It presents the 11 contributions of the section categorizing them into five distinct research lines: correctness by design and synthesis, computing with bio-inspired communication, new system models, machine learning, and programming and analyzing ensembles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding all the roots of a nonlinear equation is an important and difficult task that arises naturally in numerous scientific and engineering applications. Sequential iterative algorithms frequently use a deflating strategy to compute all the roots of the nonlinear equation, as rounding errors have the potential to produce inaccurate results. On the other hand, simultaneous iterative parallel techniques require an accurate initial estimation of the roots to converge effectively. In this paper, we propose a new class of global neural network-based root-finding algorithms for locating real and complex polynomial roots, which exploits the ability of machine learning techniques to learn from data and make accurate predictions. The approximations computed by the neural network are used to initialize two efficient fractional Caputo-inverse simultaneous algorithms of convergence orders ς + 2 and 2 ς + 4 , respectively. The results of our numerical experiments on selected engineering applications show that the new inverse parallel fractional schemes have the potential to outperform other state-of-the-art nonlinear root-finding methods in terms of both accuracy and elapsed solution time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For layered metamaterial devices, the reflection and transmission coefficients at an interface typically depend on the properties of the coupling between different layers. In this paper, we set out to engineer the reflection/transmission behaviour at boundaries to obtain desirable properties such as achieving total reflection and transmission. Based on the quantum graph formulation for modelling metamaterials developed in Sci. Rep. 12 (1), 18006 (2022), we tailor the interface reflection and transmission coefficients by patterning the boundary with resonant elements at each interface vertex. By tuning the internal lengths of the resonant elements, we demonstrate both minimization and maximization of the reflection coefficient via a scattering formulation. In addition, we present an interface set-up incorporating beyond-nearest-neighbour connections, which yields narrow-band transmission for certain angles only, creating an angular filtering interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a real application of a popular swarm-intelligence optimisation method. The aim is to analyse the efficiency of various settings of the marine predator algorithm (MPA). Four crucial numerical parameters of the MPA are statistically analysed to propose the most efficient setting for solving engineering problems. Besides population size, particle velocity parameter P, Lévy flight parameter β , and fish aggregating device (FAD) probabilities are studied. Finally, 193 various settings, including fixed values and dynamic changes of the MPA parameters, are experimentally compared when solving 13 engineering problems. Standard statistical approaches are employed to highlight significant differences in various MPA settings. The setting of two MPA parameters (P, FADs) significantly influences MPA performance. Three newly proposed MPA settings outperform the original variant significantly. The best results provide the MPA variant with the dynamic linear change of P from 0.5 to 0. These parameters influence the velocity of prey and predator individuals in all three stages of the MPA search process. Decreasing the value of P showed that decreasing the velocity of individuals during the search provides good performance. Further, lower efficiency of the MPA with higher FAD values was detected. It means that more occasional use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) can increase the solvability of engineering problems. Regarding population size, lower values ( N = 10 ) provided significantly better results compared with the higher values ( N = 500 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital twin (DT) is the latest technology, which helps in generation of exact digital replica of the physical system. In this work, an in-house DT of a thermovacuum chamber and payload is developed. This research paper covers the development and implementation of an in-house cross-platform software application, a mobile AR app, and a Microsoft HoloLens 2 application, which provides real-time sensor data with voice control. The objective of this research is to study the potential of DT technology in real time monitoring of testing of payloads in thermovac system. Results demonstrate that the developed software applications provide a comprehensive 1 : 1 scale 3D visualization of the chamber along with essential sensor parameters for users to monitor the chamber and payload status, leading to a more effective decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the greening and low interference disposal requirements of coal gangue in high-yield and high-efficiency mines in Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi, and by integrating the existing theories and technologies such as underground filling technology of coal gangue, mine yellow mud grouting technology, and the evolution law of mining overburden fractures, a technology of filling goaf with coal gangue slurry for green disposal of coal gangue is proposed. The principle and technical framework of the technology of filling goaf with coal gangue slurry are clarified. This paper expounds on the technological process of technology of filling goaf with coal gangue slurry, establishes three types of slurry filling systems, such as centralized ground layout, ground and underground coordinated layout, and centralized underground layout, and constructs three slurry filling methods, including low-level grouting, adjacent level grouting, and high-level grouting, forming seven kinds of technology models of filling goaf with coal gangue slurry, including ground centralized pulping + high-level grouting, ground centralized pulping + adjacent grouting, ground centralized pulping + low level grouting, ground and underground coordinated pulping + adjacent grouting, ground and underground coordinated pulping + low level grouting, underground centralized pulping + adjacent grouting, and underground centralized pulping + low level grouting, and gives the selection process of technology models of filling goaf with coal gangue slurry. Based on the different conditions and requirements of Haidaze Coal Mine and Huangling No. 2 Coal Mine, engineering tests were carried out on two different technology modes, namely, ground and underground coordinated pulping + low level grouting and ground and underground coordinated pulping + adjacent grouting, based on simulation tests of low level grouting and adjacent grouting. The tests prove the feasibility of filling goaf with coal gangue slurry and explore the way for the theoretical research of the technology of filling goaf with coal gangue slurry and greening and low interference disposal of coal gangue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective dead-time control strategy for the three-phase dual active bridge (3P-DAB) converter of a distribution system is studied to reduce the switching losses of power switches and improve the under-light-load power conversion efficiency. Because of the advantages of a dual-active bridge converter, such as an inherent zero-voltage switching (ZVS) capability without any additional resonant tank and a seamless bi-directional power transition, this is an attractive topology for bi-directional application. The 3P-DAB converter is apt for high-power applications such as aircraft due to an interleaved structure, which can reduce conduction losses. However, the design of the dead time depends on engineering experience and empirical methods. In order to overcome the conventional practicality of the dead-time design method, the effective control of dead time is proposed based on the theoretical analysis. In this paper, the overall explanation of the 3P-DAB converter is shown with operation principles. In addition, the dead-time effect of the 3P-DAB converter is examined and the practical variable dead-time control strategy is studied. Finally, experimental results validate the proposed variable dead-time control strategy using a 25 kW prototype 3P-DAB converter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Steel structures are invariably analyzed and designed excluding the global stiffening effect of the roof cladding. Including this effect historically required complex design methods or deprecated standards. This paper presents a simplified numerical modeling method which allows this stiffening effect to be included. The method is an extension of the already established Component Method but utilizes only elements commonly available in typical design and analysis software. The results of the models were favorably compared to standardized test cases; an average difference of 0.24 mm maximum displacement was found, corresponding to a 3.4% discrepancy. The consistency of these results implies that the proposed model can be considered to be used for scientific and practical purposes when assessing a building’s most realistic behavior is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective communication is especially important in the wearable robots (WRs) community, which encloses a great variety of devices across different application domains, e.g., healthcare, occupational, and consumer. In this paper we present a vocabulary of terms with the aim to create a common understanding of terms and concepts among the different fields of expertise relevant in the WRs community. Our goal is to develop shared documentation that could serve as a reference to facilitate the use of accepted definitions in the field. The presented vocabulary is the result of different focus group discussions among experts in the field. The resulting document was then validated by presenting it to the WR community through an online survey. The results of the survey highlight a strong agreement in terms of acceptance of the vocabulary, its usefulness, and applicability of the proposed definitions as well as an overall appreciation for its purpose and target. This work represents a pilot study providing unique material for the WR community, encouraging the use of shared agreed definitions. The reported version of the vocabulary has been made available as a live document in a github repository, for public commenting and further improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the technical aspects and viability of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and knowledge-based engineering (KBE) tools in practical design. The goal is to digitally embed the hands-on expertise and technical boundaries set by seasoned professionals during intricate engineering and preparatory phases. We showcase how AI/KBE tools might emulate human cognitive processes to make well-informed choices. The article also probes the prospective economic and modernization repercussions of this innovation. Our findings suggest that such an integration is feasible and can amplify the decision-making efficacy and advance the sophistication of CAD/CAM systems in the shipbuilding realm. Furthermore, this investigation underscores the promising future of AI/KBE tools in ship design and advocates for continued exploration and innovation in this sector to fully harness its advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technical challenges associated with the treatment of silt subgrades frequently arise in coastal and river delta areas. Given the importance of environmental sustainability, the selection of efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly techniques for silt subgrade stabilization is paramount. While recycled polyester fibers primarily sourced from discarded polyester bottles have not yet been systematically employed in silt subgrade reinforcement, their potential is considerable. This paper offers a comprehensive review of the existing literature on the microstructural, physicochemical, and mechanical properties of silt, summarizing prior advancements in silt stabilization methodologies. Building upon this foundation, we introduce a novel approach utilizing recycled polyester fibers for silt subgrade improvement, outlining both its application prospects and challenges, which require further investigation. The findings of this study serve as a robust scientific foundation for the broader adoption and engineering implementation of this technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultimate objective of modern engineering applications in mining and material science is to develop good quality novel materials with desirable qualities. Machine Learning (ML) is used in the mining industry to provide solutions to complex problems of the mining industry and improve the efficiency of the overall system. ML methods are increasingly being used by materials scientists to uncover hidden trends in data and generate predictions. Furthermore, data centric techniques can provide useful insights into the basic processes that influence material behaviour while simultaneously reducing human labour in large data processing. The ability of persons to find new materials and infer complex relationships is important for the development of new materials. Large amounts of machine-readable data must be available to use statistical methodologies to speed materials research. In mining engineering, ML can be used for analyzing geographical data, assessing the risk of rock fall, predicting equipment failures and impact of mining activities on the environment etc. Material science data may be used in a variety of ways, including property prediction, the search for new materials and discovering synthesis methods. Selecting proper machine learning techniques to provide solutions is very important and that is discussed here. The purposes of this paper are to provide a comprehensive list of different ML techniques which are applied for the mining and material science domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, spatiotemporal information, positioning and navigation have become important new infrastructures. Driven by general artificial intelligence, the era of intelligence led by large models has arrived. The increasingly powerful large models will play a more and more important role in the intelligent processing and applications of spatiotemporal information. First, this paper uses large models as the research paradigm and summarizes the current status and progress of large models in intelligent processing of spatiotemporal information in surveying and mapping. In addition, it analyzes the challenges faced by large models in intelligent processing of spatiotemporal information in surveying and mapping. We elaborate three key technologies in spatiotemporal information large models for surveying and mapping, including multi-modal fusion and understanding architecture design, prompt engineering optimization by fine-tuning, and human-in-theloop guidance for decision-making. Finally, the depth of industry understanding, data security risks, content credibility, and training deployment cost optimization are addressed to predict the development trend of spatiotemporal information large models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tamarind is widely consumed as fruit and spices in India. Tamarind contains pulp, seeds, shell and fibres. The pulp, which makes up between 30 and 50% of the mature fruit, is rich in reducing sugars, pectin, protein, fiber, and cellulose substances. Study of various physical engineering properties such as moisture content, fruit size, length, width, thickness, and weight (pulp, seed, shell, etc.) is important for designing the post-harvest machineries of tamarind. Major unit operations for processing of tamarind includes drying, dehulling, deseeding, pressing and storage. Traditional and mechanical approaches are used for these operations. Mechanical approaches of tamarind processing are carried out by dehuller and deseeder machinery. One of the crucial unit procedures in the processing of tamarind is deseeding which can be done by deseeder, mechanically. Processing of raw tamarind into value-added goods may increase its worth in addition to increase in shelf life. Additionally, it boosts the income of producers and processors. Value added products of tamarind are pulp, tamarind juice concentrate, tamarind pulp powder, tamarind pickle, tamarind jam, tamarind syrup, tamarind candy, tamarind kernel powder, dried fruit block, tamarind chutney and beverages. Tamarind is also rich in major amino acids phytochemicals and hence it carries the properties of antidiabetic, antibacterial, antivenomic, antioxidant. This paper provides an overview of the engineering properties, processing technologies, value added products, technologies and machineries developed/available for tamarind and its health benefits which will further help in machinery, protocol, technology and product design and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address the lack of a unified approach to understanding engineering practice by developing and presenting a taxonomy of common engineering activities. The taxonomy consists of 86 common engineering activities linked to 17 engineering competencies and the 11 International Engineering Alliance graduate attributes. The list of activities was developed using a six-step process, including multiple systematic literature searches and surveying engineers. The taxonomy provides a critical foundation for better understanding what engineers do, particularly in the Australian and New Zealand context. The taxonomy has potential utility in both engineering practice research and engineering education curriculum reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within digital forensics, a notable emphasis is placed on the detection of the application of fundamental image-editing operators, including but not limited to median filters, average filters, contrast enhancement, resampling, and various other operations closely associated with these techniques. When conducting a historical analysis of an image that has potentially undergone various modifications in the past, it is a logical initial approach to search for alterations made by fundamental operators. This paper presents the development of a deep-learning-based system designed for the purpose of detecting fundamental manipulation operations. The research involved training a multilayer perceptron using a feature set of 36 dimensions derived from the gray-level co-occurrence matrix, gray-level run-length matrix, and normalized streak area. The system detected median filtering, mean filtering, the introduction of additive white Gaussian noise, and the application of JPEG compression in digital Images. Our system, which utilizes a multilayer perceptron trained with a 36-feature set, achieved an accuracy of 99.46% and outperformed state-of-the-art deep-learning-based solutions, which achieved an accuracy of 97.89%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a new fifth-order family of derivative-free iterative methods for solving nonlinear equations. Numerous iterative schemes found in the existing literature either exhibit divergence or fail to work when the function derivative is zero. However, the proposed family of methods successfully works even in such scenarios. We extended this idea to memory-based iterative methods by utilizing self-accelerating parameters derived from the current and previous approximations. As a result, we increased the convergence order from five to ten without requiring additional function evaluations. Analytical proofs of the proposed family of derivative-free methods, both with and without memory, are provided. Furthermore, numerical experimentation on diverse problems reveals the effectiveness and good performance of the proposed methods when compared with well-known existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliability analysts are often faced with the challenge of characterizing the behaviour of system components based on limited data. The purpose of this study is to provide insight into which availability model input data are most significant and how many data are necessary to achieve desired accuracy requirements. The overall goal is to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the data collection and data characterization processes. A 25-1V factorial designed experiment was conducted to determine which of five input data characterization factors (for a simple series–parallel structure) may significantly affect availability model accuracy. The results from this experiment show that in this instance the factors under study do not have a significant effect on model output accuracy. Additional research is planned to more closely scrutinize the effects of these factors. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper was produced under the auspices of the US Government and is therefore not subject to copyright in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A response from the author of the article "Feather structure, biomechanics and biomimetics: the incredible lightness of being" that was published in the 2014, volume 155 issue, is presented.

Post-industrial cities often find themselves at a crossroads as to whether to find a new identity or embrace their industrial past. In late 2017, after the closure of major manufacturing plants in the region, the Australian city of Geelong was designated a UNESCO City of Design and embraced a "Clever and Creative" strategy which acknowledged Geelong's industrial and design past in responding to contemporary technological, demographic, and economic challenges. However, questions remain as to which versions of the past are valued by the local community and how these stories can be shared. To better understand the social value of design and manufacturing heritage in Geelong as well as to get initial feedback on how to interpret this type of heritage through novel immersive extended reality (XR) experiences, the researchers took a community-led approach. This paper reports on the results of the initial online community surveys (N = 55–137) and in-person stakeholder interviews (N = 5) with carefully selected representatives of the local government, education, heritage, tourism, and engineering sectors. The study's outcome demonstrates the importance of design and manufacturing heritage for the local community's identity. Moreover, this type of heritage provides a source of inspiration, learning opportunities for future creative problem-solvers, and economic opportunities through tourism. By engaging with the social value of design and manufacturing heritage, this paper argues that more effective and targeted storytelling, game-like applications, and other digital immersive experiences such as extended reality (XR) can be used to better engage with audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]