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Silicon extraction from rice straw (RS) has gained attention due to its increasing demand for various applications. This study investigated the potential for producing bio-silica from RS digestates, and RS leached with agro-industrial waste, such as corn-steep liquor (CSTL) and cassava-steep wastewater (CSWW). The results indicated that pretreated (PT) and digested methanogenic RS ash (RSA) samples contain amorphous silica, as confirmed by SEM, EDX and XRD analysis. The EDX results showed high levels of silica with minimal inorganic elements, while the XRD showed that the RSA from methanogenic reactors contained amorphous silica, indicated by a broad peak at 2Ɵ ranging from 160 to 280. The leaching potential of CSTL and CSWW was confirmed through SEM and EDX, with the XRD results indicating that CSWW was a more effective leaching agent than CSTL. The CSWW-leached RSA samples showed slight amorphousness with a broad peak at 2Ɵ between 160 and 250.

Pale, soft, and exudative (PSE) meat can cause consumer dissatisfaction and economic losses. This study determined meat quality, glycolytic enzyme activity, and differential gene expression in the longissimus lumborum (LL) and semimembranosus (SM) of normal and PSE pork carcasses. The SM did not result in PSE meat. Hexokinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and pyruvate kinase activities were lower in the SM of PSE carcasses than in the normal carcasses. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that immune, inflammatory, and muscle fibre genes were significantly enriched in PSE pork. More specifically, PPP1R3G and MSS51 may be key genes regulating pork quality in the SM. Meanwhile, the differential expression of PLVAB, ADIPOQ, LEP, MYH4, MYH7, MYL3, MYL6B, FOS, ATF3, and HSPA6 may induce PSE formation in the LL. These results may provide insights into PSE pork formation mechanisms and reveal candidate genes for improving meat quality after validation.

This paper proposes a path planning algorithm based on the whale algorithm, which when used with A* algorithm can effectively control path-finding progress. The algorithm introduces the Bezier curve, the algorithm can better describe the curve path between two points, to replace the logarithmic spiral in the spiral update part of the original whale algorithm. In addition, temporarily changing target point put the path planned by the algorithm far away from the shortest path, and appropriately surrounds the target point. This paper’s research object is the monster path-finding problem in horror games, and realizes the controllable non-shortest path planning under the special path environment. The algorithm planning result has better performance than the path planned by the A* algorithm.

The initial iterative control signal is often adopted a zero or a certain value in the conventional iterative learning control (ILC) system, and an ILC process needs to renew again as long as the desired trajectory is changed. In this paper, the NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) model is used for describing all trajectory primitives and the desired trajectory. It is studied that the problem of the initial iterative control signal is extracted in ILC, which presents a method of extracting the initial iterative control signal based on the trajectory primitive optimal matching and combining algorithm. Firstly, the definition of the similarity index between the two different spacial trajectories is introduced. Secondly, an optimal matching and combining algorithm is designed under a certain similarity index, which is used to find two or more combined primitive sequences with space patterns similar to the desired trajectory. Thirdly, the initial iterative control signals of the desired trajectory are extracted by using the control information of the combined primitive sequences. Finally, the simulation is carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the present method.

Over 90% of global yam production is from West Africa where it provides food and income for above 300 million smallholders’ farmers. However, the major challenge of yam is 10–40% post-harvest losses due to the lack of appropriate storage facilities. This paper assesses a biogas-driven cogeneration system, which could supply electricity and cold storage for ‘yam bank’ within a rural community. Considering 200 households’ Nigerian village as a case study, crop residues are used as anaerobic digestion feedstock to produce biogas, which is subsequently used to power an internal combustion engine. Result shows that the system could store 3.6 tonnes of yam tubers each year and provide enough electricity for domestic and commercial activities. At the current electricity tariff of USD0.013·kWh−1 for rural areas, the system is unable to payback during its life span. The proposed USD0.42·kWh−1 by Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency seems good with less than 3 years discounted payback period but brings about extra burden on poor rural households. Based on the income from cold storage, electricity tariff of USD0.105·kWh−1 with an interest rate of 4% is suggested to be reasonable which results in 6.84 years discounted payback period especially considering non-monetary benefits of renewable energy system.

Document-based collaborative design is a common method in the process of telecommunication satellite development. The technical parameters are distributed in a large number of documents, so the parameters are relatively isolated and there is no unified design platform. Therefore, this method has several deficiencies in the efficiency and traceability of collaborative design, and it is hard to realize the homology, reusability and version control of data. This paper presents a collaborative design method which is driven by structured parameters and can support a fast and efficient design iteration. Transform the parameters from unstructured to structured ones based on the XML technology. XML is used as the parameters carrier, and then establish the mapping relation of the parameters. A collaborative design platform is constructed, and based on the mapping relation of the parameters, the satellite development process is decomposed into tasks, and the design process is driven and iterated by the automatic mapping of parameters. Finally, we developed the collaborative design platform based on the 3D EXPERIENCE of Dassault Systems and ran an example of satellite project design, the result shows that the structured data-based method can effectively solve the problems of documents-based method, therefore it can enhance the efficiency and quality of satellite design.

A novel integration of chemisorption refrigeration cycle and a scroll expander was investigated for the cogeneration of cooling and electric power. The first lab prototype machine has been built, and the two main components were tested both independently and cooperatively for comparison before and after the integration therefore leading to better knowledge of the interaction between them. Two sets of adsorption cycles utilizing the adsorbent compound of calcium chloride and activated carbon worked out-of-phase for the output continuity, and mass recovery was applied to further elevate the performance. In the cogeneration test, the cooling temperature reached 5.4 °C as minimum, while the generated electric power achieved the maximum value of 490 W. The valuable experience and the inspiration on system optimization has been reaped and discussed through this exploration.

With the development of information technology and the coming of the internet of things, traffic signal control has brought new opportunities and challenges. This paper presents a method of traffic network signal control, which used to optimize traffic signal timing, reduce the delay of vehicles within the network. The method is divided into two levels: intersection control level and network control level. Intersection control level uses a dynamic programming based adaptive algorithm. Network control level uses an optimization algorithm based on conflict decision tree, using the A∗ algorithm, rolling optimization and feedback control strategies to enhance the real-time, reliability and robustness of the algorithm. The effectiveness of the system has evaluated through an actual traffics network simulation conducted with VISSIM. Results show that the proposed method is significantly better than the time-of-day method in travel time, average delay and other parameters.