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• A multidimensional construct of safety climate is proposed, considering the most salient factors from the literature, and including psychological capital as a new factor. • This research contributes to the literature by being the first empirical research, that incorporates the psychological capital factor as an element affecting safety climate, especially in the construction sector studies. • Accurate methodological description. Descriptive analyses and Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) were used to assess the quality of the measurement instrument and the hypotheses of the proposed model. • This study proposes and validates a structural model to explain workers' mental and physical health as a function of safety climate, mediated by job satisfaction. • The sample of Spanish construction workers was composed by all random observations contained in the EWCS of all workers in the Spanish sector, totaling 232 workers. • Workers' mental and physical health are influenced by several factors, including, but not limited to, safety climate, work-life balance, and job rewards and compensations. • This study provides some recommendations for construction company managers providing a ranking of all the factors affecting the safety climate and the workers' health. Introduction: The number of physical and mental problems caused by occupational accidents and diseases increases every year. To control them, the safety climate at work is a recognized critical factor. However, a widely applicable model to capture the safety climate for various industries and organizations is lacking. Method: This study proposes a theoretical model to measure the direct and indirect effects of safety climate on workers' physical and mental health, mediated by job satisfaction, in the construction sector. We propose a multidimensional construct of safety climate, considering the most salient factors from the literature, and including psychological capital as a new factor. Using data from the last wave of the European Working Conditions Survey (2015) in Spain, the proposed model was validated using structural equation modeling. Results: Our findings suggest that to further improve the mental health of construction workers, work-life balance and job rewards and compensation must be prioritized along with safety climate. As for physical health, safety climate and work-life balance are crucial. Finally, we provide some recommendations for construction company managers based on a ranking of all the factors affecting the safety climate and the workers' health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-sectional studies on diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis have focused on its incidence and related factors. However, the long-term changes caused by the disease remain unclear. This longitudinal cohort study aimed to elucidate the progression of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis and its effects on physical function, health-related quality of life, and spinal alignment. We recruited 255 older adults (87 men and 168 women; average age, 71.3 years in 2014) who attended local health checkups in 2014 and 2020. Height, body weight, body mass index, blood pressure, grip strength, functional reach, and bone mineral density were measured. The prevalence, location, number of ossified contiguous vertebrae, and spinopelvic parameters were estimated using whole-spine standing radiographs. For health-related quality of life assessment, the Oswestry disability index and EuroQuol-5D were obtained. We performed a 1:1 case-control study with age and sex-matched patients with and without diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis and analyzed progression over a 6-year period. In 2014, 39 (15.3%) of 255 patients were diagnosed with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (24 males and 15 females), which occurred more frequently in the elderly and males. In 2020, 12 (4.3%) patients were newly diagnosed with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, and 28 (71.7%) of 39 patients diagnosed in 2014 showed varying degrees of progression. Compared with age- and sex-matched patients without diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, patients with the condition had higher body mass index and lumbar bone mineral density, larger sagittal vertical axis, and greater T1-pelvic angle. Changes in physical function and spinal-pelvic parameters during the 6-year period did not differ between the groups. Over a 6-year period, the prevalence of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis increased by 4.3%, and it progressed in 71.7% of patients. However, it had little effect on longitudinal physical function, health-related quality of life, and spinopelvic parameters in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We investigated intramuscular fat (IMF) in quadriceps femoris (QF) and hamstring muscles in the middle-aged women with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). We also examined the relationship between muscular infiltration of QF and hamstring muscles and muscle architecture and physical performance of the women with KOA.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 72 women were included. Body muscle and fat mass were measured by BIA, isometric muscle strength was evaluated by hand-held dynamometer. IMF and muscle architecture were calculated from rectus femoris (RF), vastus intermedius (VIM), vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), biceps femoris (BF), semitendinosus (ST) and semimembranosus (SM) using B-mode ultrasonography. KOA-related symptoms and functions were assessed with KOOS. The functional performance assessments were evaluated with Stair Climbing Test, 20-Meter Walking Test.Results: Women with KOA had more IMF in RF, VIM, VL, VM and BF, ST, SM muscles compared to the healthy women. Pennation angles decreased as the IMF in the RF, VM, BF and ST decreased. As the IMF of the RF and VM increased isometric knee extensor strength decreased and KOOS symptom score, pain score and ADL score increased in women with KOA. Walking and stair climbing speed deteriorated as the IMF in RF, VIM, VM, BF increased in the middle-aged women. As the IMF in BF increased isometric knee flexor strength decreased and KOOS scores increased. Physical performance scores deteriorated as the IMF in BF increased in middle-aged women with KOA.Conclusion: IMF in QF and hamstring muscles were higher in the middle-aged women with KOA group compared with that in the healthy group. Weakness of the QF and hamstring muscles may due to the changes in architectural properties of muscle depending on muscular infiltration. IMF in knee muscles is an important determining factor in performance and physical function of middle-aged women with KOA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River recovery is defined as the trajectory of change that a reach takes towards an improved condition. In geomorphic terms, this includes improvement in both the physical structure and function of a river. While there are numerous case studies that track river recovery at the reach scale, there is a lack of work that characterises the patterns of recovery across diverse river types. Here we use ergodic reasoning to quantitatively analyse changes in the assemblage of geomorphic units (GUs) that occur for rivers that are known to be at different stages of geomorphic recovery. We aim to understand how the physical structure of different river types change as recovery occurs. In this study, we adopted a semi-automated method to map GUs using Open Access LiDAR and Sentinel remote sensing imagery. We analyse the assemblage of GUs for 78 river sections that span eight river styles, three valley settings and two bed material textures – sand and gravel. We find that the patterns of river recovery vary for different river styles. Confined and laterally unconfined rivers exhibit linear and non-linear increases in richness, abundance, evenness, and diversity of GUs during recovery. Partly confined rivers show more variable trends for these measures, and channelised fill rivers show decreased diversity. During recovery, sand bed rivers are more susceptible to adjustment than gravel bed rivers. The presence of benches and islands indicates that recovery is underway across most river types. A statistically significant increase in abundance and area of benches and pools, and a decrease in abundance and area of floodplain steps can also be used to indicate that recovery is underway. Additionally, in early stages of recovery, adjustments take place at the unit level. Then as recovery progresses, adjustments tend to occur at the sub-unit level as evidenced by bank-attached bars becoming more compound in structure. Determining the indicator GUs and changes in assemblages to 'look out for' while in the field or on remote sensing images can aid the detection and analysis of river recovery, providing invaluable insight for process-based and recovery-enhancement approaches to river management. [Display omitted] • Patterns of geomorphic recovery vary across different river styles. • Different mixes of metrics can be used to track geomorphic river recovery. • Recovery is not always linear and morphology does not always become more complex. • Changes in assemblages of units and some individual units can detect recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • An ultra-fast humidity sensor based on C 60 -OH/PDDA/SiO 2 composite is proposed. • A human-machine interface based on an ultra-fast humidity sensor is presented for assisting aphasia patients with semantic expressions. • This interface is particularly suitable for aphasic patients with limited physical mobility. Communication between aphasic patients and health care professionals (HCPs) is often difficult, which is even more complex for aphasic patients with limited physical mobility. In this study, we have proposed a C 60 -OH/PDDA/SiO 2 -based humidity sensor with an extremely short response/recovery time (13 ms/30 ms). This is closely related to the electrostatic adsorption of PDDA which effectively alleviates the aggregation of C 60 -OH and the introduction of SiO 2 microspheres which increases the diffusion space of water molecules. The fast response and recovery rates gave the sensor good respiratory monitoring capability, which can be used to develop a human–machine interface (HMI) to assist aphasic patients for semantic expression. In this HMI, aphasia patients can generate different respiratory signals through the ultrafast humidity sensors to express specific semantics (such as thirst, hunger, etc.). In contrast to traditional semantic expression devices, this interface does not require the user to have vocal or physical movement, and therefore is extremely friendly to aphasic patients with limited mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge of ensuring compliant behavior in aerial manipulators during physical interactions is addressed in this study. This work presents a coordinated interactive framework for aerial manipulators, specifically designed to ensure compliant physical interactions during contact with the surroundings. Without the reliance on force sensors, an external force estimator is employed to recognize interaction intentions. The coordinated framework leverages a Model Predictive Control (MPC) planner equipped with adaptive weights, facilitating the coordination of movements for both the quadrotor and manipulator. The adaptive adjustment of weights in the cost function allows for the attainment of diverse interaction behaviors in response to unexpected external forces. Notably, the methodology stands out from current control strategies by incorporating autonomous stiffness adjustment in response to interaction forces, thereby optimizing the delicate balance between safety and precision. The passivity of the system is guaranteed by using a Lyapunov-like function during the physical interaction. The effectiveness of the proposed framework is validated by experiments for the scenario of human operator and aerial manipulator collaborative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) are regarded as emerging hardware security primitives that can be used for generating secret keys for cryptographic algorithms. Unfortunately, the reliability issues greatly limit the applications of most PUFs since ambient noises and aging issues may alter the output responses of the PUFs. In this paper, a novel error calibration technique (ECT) based on average sampling circuit (ASC) and self-checking circuit (SCC) is proposed for significantly boosting the reliability of PUFs. The primary role of ASC is filtering the ambient noises that may affect the output responses of the PUFs. In contrast, SCC rehabilitates the PUFs once aging issues damage the process mismatches within the PUFs. As shown in the result, a PUF with the proposed ECT is able to achieve a 99% reliability with a 50 Mbps throughput. • Regular PUFs have poor reliability issues due to the effects of ambient noises and aging issues. • Error calibration technique (ECT) is able to the improve the corresponding reliability significantly by filtering critical noises. • An ECT-based PUF offers a high throughput without causing much area overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-healing mechanism of SBS modified bitumen based on dynamic acylhydrazone bonds. [Display omitted] • A self-healing agent with acylhydrazone bond was synthesized. • The introduction of acylhydrazone bonds significantly improved the crack self-healing performance of SBS modified bitumen. • The effect of acylhydrazone self-healing agent on the properties of SBS modified bitumen was investigated. Styrene-butadiene-styrene triblock copolymer (SBS) modified bitumen (SMB) with excellent self-healing performance not only saves resources, but is also important for the sustainable development of pavement and construction industry. In this paper, a self-healing agent (SHA) with acylhydrazone bond was synthesized, and the dynamic acylhydrazone bond was introduced into the SBS molecular chains to prepare the self-healing SMB (SHMB). The structure of SHA was characterized, and the physical properties, chemical structure, microstructure and self-healing performance of the SHMB were investigated. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra demonstrated that SHA was successfully synthesized. The physical performances of SMB were significantly improved by SHA and its optimal dosage was 0.6 %. FTIR indicated that the dynamic acylhydrazone bond was introduced into the SBS molecular chains, and formed hydrogen bonds in SHMB. The fluorescence microscope showed that SHMB had a denser network structure than SMB. The crack healing observation indicated that the crack healing speed of SHMB was much higher than that of SMB. The break tensile performance recovery showed that the recovery rate of elongation at break (R ε) of SMB and SHMB were 14.38 % and 58.27 % after self-healing at 25℃ for 32 h, and the R ε of SMB and SHMB was elevated to 50.12 % and 92.58 % after self-healing at 40℃ for 4 h, which indicated that the introduction of dynamic acylhydrazone bonds greatly enhanced the self-healing ability of SHMB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impacts of weather shocks on athlete performance, focusing on soccer players in the Chinese Soccer Super League over three consecutive seasons from 2014 to 2016. Utilizing daily meteorological data, we construct the temperature and precipitation bin variables to explore the marginal effects on the physical and cognitive performance of soccer players. The empirical findings document a sizeable impact of high temperatures and heavy precipitation on players' performance indicators, including physical performance and cognitive performance. Specifically, relative to conditions with temperatures below 15 °C, the total running distances, the number of passes, and the number of fouls for soccer players significantly decrease by 7.6%, 6.0%, and 23.1%, respectively, when temperatures exceed 30 °C. The results for precipitation bins show that relative to conditions with precipitation below 0.1 mm, the total running distances, the number of passes, and the number of fouls for soccer players significantly decrease by 1.2%, 8.2%, and 4.7%, respectively, when precipitation exceeds 50 mm. Moreover, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that the negative effects of high temperatures and heavy precipitation are more pronounced and significant for older players, for matches performed away from home, and for matches performed in areas with higher temperatures or more precipitation. Evidence of player adaptations suggests that players from regions with higher temperatures or more precipitation perform better in terms of physical and cognitive abilities when playing in areas with lower temperatures or less precipitation compared to players from regions with lower temperatures or less precipitation when they compete in areas with higher temperatures or more precipitation. Finally, policy suggestions are proposed to mitigate the impact of weather shocks on soccer players and to promote the sustainability of the soccer industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concrete industry has been responsible for significant depletion of natural resources and at end-of-life significantly contributes to global waste production. To date experimental studies have typically explored the use of single generation recycled aggregates (RA) in concrete production, however, to move towards a circular economy the concrete industry needs to embrace the use of multi-generation recycled aggregate concrete (MGRAC). In this paper the physical and mechanical performance of 45 concrete mix designs over 4 generations of concrete production is explored. At each generation a series of mixes are conducted at various water to cement ratios (w/c) and with a range of blends of virgin and recycled aggregates from differing generations to capture the impact on material properties. The physical and mechanical properties are quantified for both the aggregates and the concretes at each generation. The results show that the physical properties and some mechanical properties of the concrete and RA decrease with respect to virgin aggregate concrete and virgin aggregate but, implementing a 50% replacement of VA can slow down intergenerational degradation. Furthermore, the blending RA from a range of generations can also slow intergenerational degradation but to a lesser extent. Effective aggregate properties are determined, and direct relationships confirmed indicating potential for informed mix design based on an understanding of a few simple aggregate properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) has significantly enhanced the systemic analysis of the relationship between microstructure and material properties, paving the way for developing high-performance materials. However, analyzing microstructure-sensitive material behavior remains challenging due to the scarcity of three-dimensional (3D) microstructure datasets. Moreover, this challenge is intensified if the microstructure is anisotropic, as this also results in anisotropic material properties. This paper presents a framework for reconstructing anisotropic microstructures solely based on two-dimensional (2D) micrographs using conditional diffusion-based generative models (DGMs). The proposed framework involves the spatial connection of multiple 2D conditional DGMs, each trained to generate 2D microstructure samples for three orthogonal planes. The connected multiple reverse diffusion processes then enable effective modeling of a Markov chain for transforming noise into a 3D microstructure sample. Furthermore, a modified harmonized sampling enhances the sample quality while preserving the spatial connection between the slices of anisotropic microstructure samples in 3D space. The 2D-to-3D reconstructed anisotropic microstructure samples are evaluated regarding the spatial correlation function and the physical material behavior to validate the proposed framework. The results demonstrate that the framework can reproduce the statistical distribution of material phases and properties in 3D space. It highlights the potential application of the proposed 2D-to-3D reconstruction framework in establishing microstructure-property linkages, which could aid high-throughput material design for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assistive product (AP) aims to provide supplementary treatment for patients' physical function and daily activities to improve their functional status. One challenge in the AP design is prioritizing design requirements (DRs) based on patient requirements (PRs) involving diverse and variable interaction behaviors. This work developed and applied a quality function deployment method based on the spherical fuzzy bipartite graph (SFBG-QFD) to comprehensively consider the dependency relationship between PRs and DRs during AP design. Specifically, a spherical fuzzy bipartite graph is constructed in the PR-DR relationship matrix. The projection algorithm generates the one-mode spherical fuzzy graphs of PRs and DRs, reflecting the internal relationship of PR-PR and DR-DR pairs. Subsequently, the interaction influence of PRs and DRs is defined as an additional criterion for the QFD method. Through the SFBG-QFD method, designers can better consider the uncertainty of interaction between different types of requirements and make more reliable decisions. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through the AP design for pneumoconiosis patients, and the stability and potential of the proposed method are emphasized through comparative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious games have emerged as promising tools for physiotherapy, offering an engaging way to motivate patients and improve physical functions. Stress, a common physiological response, can impede patient performance and hinder recovery in physiotherapy. However, there is limited research on stress recognition for children during physiotherapeutic serious games. This study proposes a deep and machine learning based method for stress detection from facial images of children. The contributions include the utilization of a novel dataset comprising videos of 25 children, including children with specific conditions, and the exploration of using adults' facial images for data augmentation. The proposed method employs a modified deep network architecture, VGG-Face, for facial emotion recognition and utilizes three machine learning models for stress recognition. This study represents the first attempt to recognize stress in children's facial images during physiotherapy with serious games. The findings hold the potential to optimize patient outcomes and contribute to monitoring patients during home therapy. • Emotion/Stress recognition in children during physiotherapeutic games. • First attempt to recognize stress from children's facial images. • Usage of a novel dataset of 25 children including children with specific conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We develop a novel chemical method for the surface encapsulation of hydrogel with elastic coating that can prevent hydrogel from de/hydration in air and water. • Our mothed shows multiple applicability, which is applicable not only for flat surface of hydrogels, but also various irregular shapes including tubes, spheres, and wrinkles of hydrogels. • Our mothed can improve the functionality of hydrogel sensors, making them capable of long-term sensitivity in both air and water systems. De/hydration is unavoidable for unencapsulated hydrogels, which would weaken their physical performance during applications. Herein, we report a surface-encapsulating method that can chemically make an elastic coating at the surface of hydrogel to prevent it from de/hydration in air and water. The water loss is less than 6 wt% in weight by keeping the surface-encapsulated hydrogel in air at 28 °C for 20 days, and its weight doesn't increase by immersing it in water for 60 days. The adhesion energy between hydrogel and the coating reaches 2000 J/m2, so that it can keep the structural integrity in response to repeated stretching, compression, bending, twisting, and knotting. This method doesn't require any templates and special devices, which can make surface encapsulation for hydrogels that have irregular shapes such as tubes, spheres, and wrinkles. The encapsulated elastic coating is of long-term (180 days) stability without interfacial failure in air, and in acidic, alkaline, and salt solutions, which enables the hydrogel capable of long-term sensitivity as a strain sensor in air and water systems, showing great potential for signal transmission under water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most products today have several functions, but these are achieved by integrating different monofunctional devices and/or materials in a system. Having several functions simultaneously in one single material has many potential advantages, such as a structural material that can also store energy, have self-sensing or self-healing capability or any other physical function. This would lead mass and resource savings, being more energy efficient and thus more sustainable. This paper presents a mini review on how carbon fibres can be used for integrating several functions simultaneously in a high-performance load carrying structural material using the electrical and electrochemical properties of carbon fibres. Through this carbon fibre composites can also store energy like a lithium-ion battery, be used as a strain sensor, have electrically controlled actuation and shape-morphing, and be used as an energy harvester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an enhanced numerical manifold method (NMM) simulator is developed to determine the combined impacts of reinforcement range and grouting timing on the effectiveness of grouting reinforcement for preventing the large deformation geo-hazard during the tunnel excavation through a fault rupture zone. To accomplish this objective, the limitations of the current two-dimensional simulation method, which lacks connection to the actual tunnel excavation process, are overcome by proposing a novel softening path function. Using this novel softening path function, each simulation step is given a specific physical meaning, establishing a connection to the actual tunnel excavation process. This improvement enables more accurate and analyzable simulation outcomes. To verify the accuracy of the proposed softening path function, a series of simulations of tunnel excavation are conducted using this softening path function. These results align closely with the results obtained by other reliable numerical methods and previous studies. After validation, several sets of numerical cases are conducted, considering 6 different geo-stress conditions, 10 different grouting reinforcement ranges, and 7 different grouting timings. Based on these simulation results, a critical value for reinforcement range, which equals to the diameter of tunnel face, is identified, and it is founded that delaying the grouting timing can increase the slurry migration range up to 94.6%. Furthermore, delaying the grouting timing can also reduce the convergence displacement of reinforced surrounding rocks after excavation up to 18.2% within a geo-stress range of 10 to 20 MPa. • A novel softening path function with clear physical meanings for tunnel excavation simulations is proposed. • A critical value of the grouting reinforcement range is identified. • Influences of grouting timing on the slurry migration range are revealed. • Influences of grouting timing on the convergence displacement of tunnels are revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main challenge in the analysis of unconfined seepage flow is that the position of free surfaces is unknown a priori , which needs to be determined through a series of iterative processes. The numerical manifold method (NMM) is a promising method which uses a dual cover system consisting of both mathematical and physical covers. Compared with those traditional methods, NMM is characterized by meshing convenience, approximation accuracy, and being capable of coping with free boundary value problems. Unlike the traditional NMM where the material interface participates in cutting the mathematical cover while forming the physical cover, the physical patches in this study can contain the material interface. The new weight functions for such physical patches are constructed using the refraction law, followed by the application to the analysis of unconfined seepage flow problems. By comparing with analytical or reference solutions of some classic examples, it is validated that the proposed method can accurately locate the free surface, demonstrating its accuracy and convenience in solving unconfined seepage problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perception of the full state is an essential technology to support the monitoring, analysis, and design of physical systems, one of whose challenges is to recover global field from sparse observations. Well-known for brilliant approximation ability, deep neural networks have been attractive to data-driven heat and flow field reconstruction studies for practical systems. However, limited by network structure, existing researches mostly learn the reconstruction mapping in finite-dimensional space that usually has poor transferability to the variable resolution of outputs. This paper extends the new paradigm of neural operators and proposes an end-to-end physical field reconstruction method with both excellent performance and mesh transferability named RecFNO. The proposed method aims to learn the mapping from sparse observations to flow and heat fields in infinite-dimensional space, contributing to a more powerful nonlinear fitting capacity and resolution-invariant characteristic. According to different usage scenarios, three types of embeddings are first developed to model the sparse observation inputs: MLP, mask, and Voronoi embedding. The MLP embedding is propitious to more sparse input, while the others benefit from spatial information preservation and perform better with the increase of observation data. Then, stacked Fourier layers are adopted to reconstruct physical field in Fourier space that regularizes the overall recovered field by Fourier modes superposition. Benefiting from the operator in infinite-dimensional space, the proposed method obtains remarkable accuracy and better resolution transferability among meshes. The experiments conducted on fluid mechanics and thermology problems show that the proposed method outperforms existing POD-based and CNN-based methods in most cases and has the capacity to achieve zero-shot super-resolution. • A resolution-invariant temperature and flow field reconstruction method named RecFNO is proposed. • Three types of embeddings for sparse observation are developed. • RecFNO can reconstruct the physical field in function space with excellent performance and resolution transferability. • The validity of the method is confirmed in numerical experiments and practical cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To dispose of the construction spoil (CS) sustainably, using alkali-activated slag (AAS) to solidify CS and prepare solidified construction spoil (SCS) as building materials has great potential. The effects of alkali concentration (Na 2 O%), modulus, binder-soil ratio (B/S), liquid-solid ratio, and sand content on the fluidity, compressive strength, water resistance, and carbon emission factor of SCS were studied via orthogonal experimental methods. It was found that the increasing fluidity was mainly affected by the increasing sand content and liquid-solid ratio, and the increasing compressive strength, water resistance, and carbon emission factor were mainly affected by the increasing Na 2 O% and B/S. Compared with cement, using AAS can reach higher fluidity, compressive strength, and water resistance, and lower carbon emissions of SCS. Finally, considering the influence of sand content on the properties of SCS, the sand washing decisions during the disposal process were reevaluated via life cycle assessment (LCA). Compared to transportation and landfill, preparing SCS with or without washing sand can significantly reduce equivalent carbon emissions, and the latter can result in lower equivalent carbon emissions and better working and physical performance of SCS than the former. From practical engineering considerations, it was suggested that the CS with low sand content doesn't need to wash sand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chrome tanning system has been faced with great challenges from potential environmental and human health risks and environmental pressures in the leather industry. The development of chrome-free tanning system towards eco-friendly leather manufacture is the main strategy to solve them from the source. However, appropriate assessments of the physical and environmental properties of a new tanning process remain challenging. In this work, we compared the physical performances and environmental impacts of two nanosilicates-based chrome-free combination tanning systems with conventional chrome tanning system in practical fur leather processing. The objective of this study was to obtain comprehensive insights into the nanosilicates-based chrome-free combination tanning systems from both technical and environmental perspectives. All fur leathers possessed similar and integrated fleece structures, ensuring high glossy and flexibility of final fur leather articles. Tara tannin-Zeolite (TA-ZE) combination tanning system was chosen as the most promising one for manufacturing garment leather articles. The resultant leathers were endowed with favorable physical properties (e.g., tear strength of 15.9 N, elongation at break of 42.3%, shrinkage temperature of 98.6 °C) and no restricted Cr(VI) and free formaldehyde. Life cycle assessment (LCA) results revealed that the TA-ZE combination tanning system exhibited better environmental impacts than other options. The main novelties included the contribution to avoiding the use of high-risk tanning chemicals by presenting a better technical and environmental alternative in the leather processing and the application of LCA to environmentally evaluate the leather processing. We envision these findings can offer comprehensive insights into emergent chrome-free combination tanning systems for designing and rationalizing feasible fur leather processing towards eco-friendly leather manufacture. [Display omitted] • Physical performances and environmental impacts of fur leather manufacture were compared. • TA-ZE tanning system produced the fur leathers with more favorable technical properties. • TA-ZE combination tanning system exhibited better environmental results. • LCA was needed to assure that chrome free tanning alternatives were environmentally better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We propose a wind tunnel-based method to comprehensively evaluate the performance of bioaerosol samplers at 2, 8, and 20 km/h. • Performance of bioaerosol samplers was evaluated based on several parameters. • SASS 2300 and BSA-350 are appropriate choices for qualitative analysis and isolation of microorganisms from ambient air. • Polycarbonate and gelatin filters are recommended for long-term sampling and quantitative analyses of bioaerosols without microbial viability requirements. • AGI-30 and BioSampler are suitable for short-term sampling and quantitative analyses of bioaerosols in laboratory environments. Choosing a suitable bioaerosol sampler for atmospheric microbial monitoring has been a challenge to researchers interested in environmental microbiology, especially during a pandemic. However, a comprehensive and integrated evaluation method to fully assess bioaerosol sampler performance is still lacking. Herein, we constructed a customized wind tunnel operated at 2–20 km/h wind speed to systematically and efficiently evaluate the performance of six frequently used samplers, where various aerosols, including Arizona test dust, bacterial spores, gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, phages, and viruses, were generated. After 10 or 60 min of sampling, the physical and biological sampling efficiency and short or long-term sampling capabilities were determined by performing aerodynamic particle size analysis, live microbial culturing, and a qPCR assay. The results showed that AGI-30 and BioSampler impingers have good physical and biological sampling efficiencies for short-term sampling. However, their ability to capture aerosols at low concentrations is restricted. SASS 2300 and BSA-350 wet-wall cyclones had excellent enrichment ratios and high microbial cultivability in both short-term and long-term sampling; however, they were not suitable for quantitative studies of aerosols. Polycarbonate filter samplers showed outstanding performance in physical and long-term sampling but lacked the ability to maintain microbial activity, which can be improved by gelatin filter samplers. However, limitations remain for some fragile microorganisms, such as E. coli phage PhiX174 and coronavirus GX_P2V. In addition, the effects of wind speed and direction should be considered when sampling particles larger than 4 µm. This study provides an improved strategy and guidance for the characterization and selection of a bioaerosol sampler for better measurement and interpretation of collected ambient bioaerosols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]