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In the foreseeable future, the development of petroleum-based polymeric materials may be limited, owing to the gradual consumption of disposable resources and the increasing emphasis on environmental protection policies. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on introducing environmentally friendly renewable biobased materials as a substitute for petroleum-based feed stocks in the preparation of different types of industrially important polymers. Plant polyphenols, a kind of natural aromatic biomolecule, exist widely in some plant species. Benefiting from their special macromolecular structure, high reactivity, and broad abundance, plant polyphenols are potent candidates to replace the dwindling aromatic monomers derived from petroleum-based resources in synthesizing high-quality polymeric materials. In this review, the most related and innovative methods for elaborating novel polymeric materials from plant polyphenols are addressed. After a brief historical overview, the classification, structural characteristics, and reactivity of plant polyphenols are summarized in detail. In addition, some interesting and innovative works concerning the chemical modifications and polymerization techniques of plant polyphenols are also discussed. Importantly, the main chemical pathways to create plant polyphenol-based organic/organic–inorganic polymeric materials as well as their properties and possible applications are systematically described. We believe that this review could offer helpful references for designing multifunctional polyphenolic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stress distribution in prestressed filament wound components plays a crucial role in determining the quality of these components during their operational lifespan. This article proposes a physical model to analyze the stress and deformation of prestressed wound composite components with arch-shaped sections. Drawing upon the principles of beam theory, we delve into the analysis of prestressed wound components with metal liners featuring arch-shaped sections. Our investigation revealed a noteworthy phenomenon termed the "additional bending moment effect" within prestressed wound components with arch-shaped sections. Furthermore, this study establishes a relationship between this additional bending moment and the external pressure. In addition, a 3D finite element (FE) model for prestressed wound components with arch-shaped sections incorporating metal liners was developed. The model's accuracy was validated through a comparison with prestressed wound experiments, showcasing an error margin of less than 2%. In comparison with prestressed wound components with circular cross-sections under identical load and dimensional parameters, it was observed that prestressed wound components with arch-shaped sections exhibit stress distributions in the arc segments akin to their circular counterparts, with differences not exceeding 5%. Notably, when the ratio of the straight segment length to the inner diameter of the arc segment inner is less than 4, the deformation on the symmetric plane of the arc segment in an arch-shaped component can be effectively considered as the summation of deformations in equivalent-sized arc and straight segments under identical loading conditions. This yields an equivalent physical model and a streamlined analysis and design methodology for describing the deformation characteristics of prestressed wound components with arch-shaped sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L12-Al3X (X = Li, Sc, and Zr) precipitates are the main strengthened phases of high-strength aluminum alloys and are critical for aerospace structural materials. Point defects and substitutional ternary elements change the mechanical properties of Al3X. In this paper, the effect of point defects, including vacancy, antisite, and substitutional element addition defects on the elastic modulus of the off-stoichiometric Al3X (X = Li, Sc, and Zr) phase were investigated by using first-principle calculations. The formation enthalpies of the defective Al3X alloy and isolated point defects in Al3X were calculated, and the results showed that the defects have an effect on the structure and elasticity of the off-stoichiometric Al3X phases. The lattice distortion, elastic constants, and elastic moduli were further investigated. It was found that the point defects increased the Young's modulus for Al3Zr, and the doping of Er improved the Young's modulus for off-stoichiometric Al3Li and Al3Sc. Adjusting the position of vacancies can improve the elastic modulus. In addition, the doping of substitutional elements (especially Sc, Ti, Zr, Hf, Ta, Mn, Ir, and Cf) can greatly increase the Young's modulus of off-stoichiometric Al3Li. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All-inorganic lead halide perovskite has emerged as an attractive semiconducting material due to its unique optoelectronic properties. However, its poor environmental stability restricts its broad application. Here, a simple method for the fabrication of CsPb2Br5/TiO2 is investigated. The introduction of p-aminobenzoic acid, which has two functional groups, is critical for the capping of amorphous TiO2 on CsPb2Br5. After calcination at 300 °C, amorphous TiO2 crystallizes into the anatase phase. The CsPb2Br5/TiO2 NCs show high long-term stability in water and enhanced stability against ultraviolet radiation and heat treatment, owing to the chemical stability of TiO2. More importantly, photo-electrochemical characterizations indicate that the formation of TiO2 shells can increase the charge separation efficiency. Hence, CsPb2Br5/TiO2 exhibits improved photoelectric activity owing to the electrical conductivity of the TiO2 in water. This study provides a new route for the fabrication of optoelectronic devices and photocatalysts based on perovskite NCs in the aqueous phase. Furthermore, the present results demonstrate that CsPb2Br5/TiO2 NCs has considerable potential to be used as a photoelectric material in optical sensing and monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a cutting-edge technique for highly sensitive analysis of chemicals and molecules. Traditional SERS-active nanostructures are constructed on rigid substrates where the nanogaps providing hot-spots of Raman signals are fixed, and sample loading is unsatisfactory due to the unconformable attachment of substrates on irregular sample surfaces. A flexible SERS substrate enables conformable sample loading and, thus, highly sensitive Raman detection but still with limited detection capabilities. Stretchable SERS substrates with flexible sample loading structures and controllable hot-spot size provide a new strategy for improving the sample loading efficiency and SERS detection sensitivity. This review summarizes and discusses recent development and applications of the newly conceptual stretchable SERS substrates. A roadmap of the development of SERS substrates is reviewed, and fabrication techniques of stretchable SERS substrates are summarized, followed by an exhibition of the applications of these stretchable SERS substrates. Finally, challenges and perspectives of the stretchable SERS substrates are presented. This review provides an overview of the development of SERS substrates and sheds light on the design, fabrication, and application of stretchable SERS systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tin oxide (SnO2) is a traditional gas-sensitive semiconductor with excellent response to various gases. However, its sensor performances are attenuated by the utility factor during gas diffusion in the sensing body. Therefore, the rational design of microstructure of devices is attractive and necessary because it may provide a sensible and controllable microstructure, which facilitates gas diffusion and inhibits the utility factor. Herein, the mesoporous tin oxide (MPTD) quantum dot thin film for H2S gas sensors is prepared by a facile route, which creates a mesoporous microstructure for thin films by the thermal decomposition of NH4Cl. The pore size of the thin films is controlled to be 19.36–40.13 nm. The mesoporous microstructure exhibits enhanced gas-sensing properties amounting to a 30-fold increase in response and 1/3 reduction in recovery time in H2S detection at room temperature (25 °C), with a limit of detection of 0.4 ppm. To determine the importance of sensor parameters such as pore size, film thickness, and grain size, an eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithm model was developed to examine the feature importance of each parameter on the gas-sensing performance of the MPTD sensors. The visual illustration of parameter importance is revealed to facilitate the optimization of technical preparation parameters as well as the rational design of semiconductor gas sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rail expansion significantly impacts the launch precision of a railgun system. Higher precision can be achieved when the extent of expansion is low. This paper investigates three main factors that influence the extent of rail expansion using the finite element method, including pre-stress, electromagnetic load, and stiffness of the insulators. The mean squared error between experiment results and simulating results is less than 0.06, validating the finite element model. The simulated results reveal that the extent of rail expansion increases with a decrease in pre-stress and an increase in electromagnetic pressure and the stiffness of the insulator is the most significant influencing factor, as the use of a stiff insulator not only results in a small extent of rail expansion but also delays the separation between the rails and insulators. The mechanism of how pre-stress influences the railgun system has been proposed. It has been expressed that the pre-stress maintains the integrity of the railgun system by hindering the process of a decrease in the contact surface area between rails and insulators during launch. The study provides a platform to improve the design of the railgun system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of obtaining a refining flux that is stable and provides effective refining of aluminum melt, a new strategy of designing the flux composition has been proposed. Ten fluxes were designed, by selecting ten molten salt compounds according to their thermophysical parameters, physical properties, and thermodynamic analysis. The melting points of the ten fluxes, and the phases transformation of the fluxes after melting, were studied by DSC and XRD, respectively. The contact angles between four groups of fluxes and alumina at refinement temperatures were studied, and the effect of refinement was characterized by a metallographic microscope. The process of the fluxes removing inclusions and degassing was analyzed thermodynamically. The research findings indicate that flux #10 (11.0 wt.%NaF, 29.5 wt.%NaCl, 46.5 wt.%Na2CO3, 3.0 wt.%CaF2, 10.0 wt.%Na3AlF6) has a melting point (562.2 °C) below the refining temperature. At the refining temperature (760 °C), flux #10 has the lowest contact angle, of 12.78°. In addition, compared to that of flux STJ–A3, currently used in practice, flux #10 has a better refining effectiveness, with the pores and inclusions content of the sample being reduced to 1.11% from 2.96%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For aluminum alloys, grain refinement is one of the effective methods for improving both strength and ductility. However, the refining effect of Al-Ti-B master alloy refiners deteriorates due to the agglomeration and sinking of the second phase particles. In this paper, the effects of rare earth type, rare earth content, and holding time on the microstructure and properties of Al-5Ti-B + RE/6111 were investigated by orthogonal experiment. It was shown that the addition of rare earth promoted the transformation of the β-Al5FeSi phase to anα-Al15(Mn,Fe)3Si2 phase, while the segregation of rare earth made it difficult for TiB2 to aggregate and inhibited the growth of TiAl3, resulting in more particles becoming effective nucleation substrates. The Al-5Ti-B + Ce master alloy developed based on orthogonal experiment improved the refinement recession problem well and improved the comprehensive mechanical properties of 6111 aluminum alloy. It was found that the addition of Al-5Ti-B + 0.1Ce, which had an ultimate tensile strength of 240.4 ± 2.2 MPa, successfully reduced the grain size by 73.8% and improved elongation by 37.8% compared to the base alloy. There search is of great significance for the preparation and application of high-performance rare earth 6111 aluminum alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waveguide–plasmon polaritons sustained in metallic photonic crystal slabs show fascinating properties, such as narrow bandwidth and ultrafast dynamics crucial for biosensing, light emitting, and ultrafast switching. However, the patterning of metallic photonic crystals using electron beam lithography is challenging in terms of high efficiency, large area coverage, and cost control. This paper describes a controllable patterning technique for the fabrication of an Ag grating structure on an indium–tin oxide (ITO) slab that enables strong photon–plasmon interaction to obtain waveguide–plasmon polaritons. The Ag grating consisting of self-assembled silver nanoparticles (NPs) exhibits polarization-independent properties for the excitation of the hybrid waveguide–plasmon mode. The Ag NP grating can also be annealed at high temperature to form a continuous nanoline grating that supports the hybrid waveguide–plasmon mode only under transverse magnetic (TM) polarization. We tuned the morphology and the periodicity of the Ag grating through the concentration of silver salt and the photoresist template, respectively, to manipulate the strong coupling between the plasmon and the waveguide modes of different orders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kinetic mechanism of hydrogen absorption of the AA6111 alloy melt in different melting environments, and the in-situ real-time observation of the oxide film structure during the hydrogen absorption process were studied. The results show that the hydrogen absorption process of the aluminum alloy melt is related to the melting environment and the oxide film on the melt surface. The hydrogen content in the melt increases with the extension of time when the melting environment humidity and temperature are constant. The initial hydrogen content is also higher and the hydrogen absorption capacity of the melt is larger when the melting temperature is constant with an increasing melting environment humidity. The oxide film will fold over on itself and become porous, due to the change in the structure of the melt surface during heating. The surface of the melt is similar to the double-oxide-film defect hydrogen absorption carrier, which leads to the aggravation of hydrogen absorption. Hydrogen absorption kinetic equations for the aluminum alloy melt under different melting environments are obtained based on the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al–Si–Cu–Mg cast aluminum alloys have important applications in automobile lightweight due to their advantages such as high strength-to-weight ratio, good heat resistance and excellent casting performance. With the increasing demand for strength and toughness of automotive parts, the development of high strength and toughness Al–Si–Cu–Mg cast aluminum alloys is one of the effective measures to promote the application of cast aluminum alloys in the automotive industry. In this paper, the research progress of improving the strength and toughness of Al–Si–Cu–Mg cast aluminum alloys was described from the aspects of multi-component alloying and heat treatment based on the strengthening mechanism of Al–Si–Cu–Mg cast aluminum alloys. Finally, the development prospects of automotive lightweight Al–Si–Cu–Mg cast aluminum alloys is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise trap and manipulation of individual cells is a prerequisite for single-cell analysis, which has a wide range of applications in biology, chemistry, medicine, and materials. Herein, a microfluidic trapping system with a 3D electrode based on AC dielectrophoresis (DEP) technology is proposed, which can achieve the precise trapping and release of specific microparticles. The 3D electrode consists of four rectangular stereoscopic electrodes with an acute angle near the trapping chamber. It is made of Ag–PDMS material, and is the same height as the channel, which ensures the uniform DEP force will be received in the whole channel space, ensuring a better trapping effect can be achieved. The numerical simulation was conducted in terms of electrode height, angle, and channel width. Based on the simulation results, an optimal chip structure was obtained. Then, the polystyrene particles with different diameters were used as the samples to verify the effectiveness of the designed trapping system. The findings of this research will contribute to the application of cell trapping and manipulation, as well as single-cell analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to quantitatively study the penetration capability of depleted uranium alloy, a simulation model of bullet impact on target plate with FEM-SPH coupling algorithm was established by using LS-DYNA software, which was combined with Johnson-Cook intrinsic model, Johnson-Cook fracture criterion, and equation of state to conduct a simulation study of alloy bullets made of depleted uranium alloy, tungsten alloy, and high-strength steel to penetrate target plate at 1400 m/s initial velocity. The results show that under the same conditions of initial kinetic energy, initial velocity, and initial volume, the residual kinetic energy of the depleted uranium alloy bullet is 1.14 times that of tungsten alloy and 1.20 times that of high-strength steel, and the residual velocity is 1.14 times that of tungsten alloy and 1.18 times that of steel, and the residual volume is 1.13 times that of tungsten alloy and 1.23 times that of steel after the penetration is completed. The shape of the bullet after penetrating the target plate is relatively sharp, and the diameter of the target hole formed is about 1.70 times the diameter of the projectile, which is significantly larger than 1.54 times that of tungsten alloy and 1.39 times that of high-strength steel, indicating the excellent penetration performance of depleted uranium alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emission of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) caused by marine transportation has attracted worldwide environmental concerns. Two-dimensional (2D) black phosphorus (BP) is an emerging semiconductive material with the advantages of high electron mobility, a layer-dependent direct band gap and a large specific surface area. These properties ensure excellent potential in gas-sensing applications. In this work, BP quantum dots (QDs) are synthesized from commercial red phosphorus (RP) fine powder via the aqueous route. The BP QDs show uniform size distribution with an average size of 2.2 nm. They are employed to fabricate thin film gas sensors by aerial-assisted chemical vapor deposition. The microstructure, morphology and chemical composition are determined by various characterizations. The sensor performances are evaluated with the optimized response set to 100 ppm NO2 of 10.19 and a sensitivity of 0.48 is obtained. The gas sensor also demonstrates excellent repeatability, selectivity and stability. The fabricated thin film gas sensor assembled by BP QDs exhibits prospective applications in selective NO2 detection for marine gaseous pollutant monitoring and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium alloy is a key supporting material in the field of engineering technology and high-tech, and also an extremely important national defense strategic metal material. However, the high cost limits its wider application. Direct rolling of titanium alloy melted by electron beam cold hearth melting (EBCHM) technology is considered to be an important low-cost plate production process. The rolling process has a considerable influence on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the alloy. Therefore, Ti-6Al-4V alloy melted by EBCHM technology was investigated in this study. The effects of different rolling processes on the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of titanium alloy plates were evaluated. The results show that with the increase of deformation amount and rolling temperature, the more obvious the disintegration of lamella α and the higher the degree of equiaxation when the deformation is below the β transus. However, only dynamic recovery occurs when rolling temperature above the β transus, and lamella α does not undergo disintegration and equiaxation. With ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 1076 MPa and elongation (EI) of 11%, the plate with 90% deformation at 950 °C has good strength and plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine activities occupy an important position in human society. The accurate classification of ships is an effective monitoring method. However, traditional image classification has the problem of low classification accuracy, and the corresponding ship dataset also has the problem of long-tail distribution. Aimed at solving these problems, this paper proposes a fine-grained classification method of optical remote sensing ship images based on deep convolution neural network. We use three-level images to extract three-level features for classification. The first-level image is the original image as an auxiliary. The specific position of the ship in the original image is located by the gradient-weighted class activation mapping. The target-level image as the second-level image is obtained by threshold processing the class activation map. The third-level image is the midship position image extracted from the target image. Then we add self-calibrated convolutions to the feature extraction network to enrich the output features. Finally, the class imbalance is solved by reweighting the class-balanced loss function. Experimental results show that we can achieve accuracies of 92.81%, 93.54% and 93.97%, respectively, after applying the proposed method on different datasets. Compared with other classification methods, this method has a higher accuracy in optical aerospace remote sensing ship classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from a majority of various cell pools has been an appealing topic for diagnostic purposes. This study numerically demonstrates the isolation of CTCs from blood cells by the combination of dielectrophoresis and magnetophoresis in a microfluidic chip. Taking advantage of the label-free property, the separation of red blood cells, platelets, T cells, HT-29, and MDA-231 was conducted in the microchannel. By using the ferromagnet structure with double segments and a relatively shorter distance in between, a strong gradient of the magnetic field, i.e., sufficiently large MAP forces acting on the cells, can be generated, leading to a high separation resolution. In order to generate strong DEP forces, the non-uniform electric field gradient is induced by applying the electric voltage through the microchannel across a pair of asymmetric orifices, i.e., a small orifice and a large orifice on the opposite wall of the channel sides. The distribution of the gradient of the magnetic field near the edge of ferromagnet segments, the gradient of the non-uniform electric field in the vicinity of the asymmetric orifices, and the flow field were investigated. In this numerical simulation, the effects of the ferromagnet structure on the magnetic field, the flow rate, as well as the strength of the electric field on their combined magnetophoretic and dielectrophoretic behaviors and trajectories are systemically studied. The simulation results demonstrate the potential of both property- and size-based cell isolation in the microfluidic device by implementing magnetophoresis and dielectrophoresis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that the microstructure distribution in recycled Al-Si alloys has a large impact on the final mechanical properties. In this study, the microstructure, including Fe-rich intermetallics and microporosity, was quantitatively adjusted using multi-scale characterization with microalloying rare earth elements and traditional grain refiners as the objects of study. It was found that the addition of Al-Ti-B to W319 recycled aluminum alloy reduces the microstructure size and Fe-rich intermetallics, while the addition of La facilitates the transformation of harmful β-Fe into less harmful particles and the densification of coarse eutectic Si, promoting the refining effects on the microstructure additionally. Therefore, the RE and Al-Ti-B master alloy could be a potential new grain refining agent, especially for Al-cast alloys when the ductility is critical for designing. The improvement in elongation far exceeds the original level, up to 69.6%, while maintaining the same level of strength or even better. At the same time, the excessive addition of La may lead to the depletion of Cu and Ti elements during heat treatment, degrading ductility and strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, different contents of rare earth elements with high solid solubility (Gd and Dy) were added into Mg and fabricated through homogenization and hot extrusion processes that enable few second phase formation to efficaciously inhibit the galvanic corrosion. The microstructure and phase characterization of the as-extruded Mg–Gd–Dy–Zr alloys were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction, and X-ray diffraction. The in vitro biodegradation behavior of the as-extruded Mg–Gd–Dy–Zr alloys was investigated via the electrochemical measurement and immersion test. The results revealed that all the as-extruded alloys with different RE additions exerted fully recrystallized microstructures. The average grain size was appropriately 20 μm to 30 μm for all alloys and gradually increased by adding more RE. Only a few tiny second-phase particles less than 5 μm dispersed for all the samples and the volume fraction of particles increased slightly with the increase in RE content. The as-extruded Mg–Gd–Dy–Zr alloys with low RE content (GD0.6) allowed for a satisfactory corrosion resistance in Hank's solution with a controlled corrosion rate less than 0.5 mm/year, which is considered as the tolerance limit for the corrosion rate of orthopedic implants. This study provides a cost-effective choice for promoting biodegradable magnesium alloys for potential orthopedic applications with low rare earth content in Mg alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ferroelectric (FE) to antiferroelectric (AFE) phase transition tuning the temperature range of electrocaloric (EC) effects was investigated using phenomenological Landau–Devonshire theory. Contrary to ferroelectric to paraelectric (PE) phase transitions for electrocaloric effects, the ferroelectric to antiferroelectric phase transition was adopted to obtain large entropy changes under an applied electric field in a Sm-doping BiFeO3 system. In addition, the doping composition and hydrostatic pressure was observed to tune the ferroelectricantiferroelectric–paraelectric phase transition temperatures and broaden the operating temperature range of electrocaloric effects. The optimal wide temperature range of ~78 K was observed at 3 GPa compressive hydrostatic pressures and 0.05 Sm-doping BiFeO3. The present study paves the way to designing high efficiency cooling devices with larger operating temperature spans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread and invasion of many nonindigenous species in the ship's ballast water around the world has been a hazard and threat to ecology, economy, and human health. The rapid and accurate detection of marine invasive species in ship's ballast water is essential. This article is aimed at analysing ballast water quality by means of a changeable microfluidic chip detector thus comply with the D-2 standard of ship's ballast water management and sediment convention. The detection system was designed through the integration of microfluidic chip technology, the impedance pulse sensing and LED light induced chlorophyll fluorescence (LED-LICF) detection. This system can measure the number, size, shape, and volume of targeted microorganisms, and it can also determine the chlorophyll fluorescence intensity, which is an important factor in analysing the activity of phytoplankton. The targeted samples were Chlorella volutis, Dunaliella salina, Platymonas subcordiformis, Chrysophytes, Escherichia coli, and Enterococci. The whole detection or operation can be accomplished through online detection in a few minutes with using micron volume of the sample solution. The valid data outputs are simultaneously displayed in terms of both impedance pulse amplitudes and fluorescent intensity signals. The detection system is designed for multi-sizes real time detection through changing the microchannel sizes on the microfluidic chip. Because it can successfully detect the label-free microorganisms, the system can be applicable to in-situ detections with some modifications to the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aluminum and its alloy castings are used more and more widely, and it is particularly important to remove impurities in the alloy. According to the principle of bubble floatation for degassing aluminum melt, a new porous nozzle with controllable pores was developed, and a hydraulic simulation experimental device was studied with the nozzle. The effects of the particle size ratio of the coarse sand to fine sand and volume fraction of fine sand on the porosity of the porous nozzle were studied by orthogonal experiment, and permeability and compressive strength of the porous nozzle were used as test indicators to determine the optimal parameters of preparation for the porous nozzle. The optimal parameters are fine sand of 100 mesh, and fine sand of 50 wt.%, binder of 17.5 wt.%, pore-forming agent of 6 wt.%, and pressure of making sample of 5 MPa. The nozzle with optimal parameters was prepared and tested, and the permeability is 112.2 × 10−12 m2 and the compressive strength is 2.3 MPa. In addition, a physical model of gas transmission in the porous nozzle was proposed. With the increase in the proportion of fine sand, the permeability of the porous nozzle decreases, the compressive strength increases, and the calculated porosity increases. The hydraulic simulation of melt injection was carried out, and the mathematical model for calculating the bubble diameter of bubble floatation was formulated. The model shows that the bubble diameter increases with the increase in gas flow rate. The experiment shows that the prepared porous nozzle has the merits of a simple preparation process and low-cost, which is expected to degas aluminum melts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al-Ti-B intermediate alloys are widely used as grain refiners in aluminum alloys owing to the presence of Al3Ti and TiB2 phases. However, the existence of Zr in aluminum alloy melts often results in coarse grain size, leading to Al-Ti-B failure called Zr poisoning. There are three kinds of poisoning mechanisms related to TiB2, Al3Ti, and a combination of TiB2 and Al3Ti for Zr. First, Zr forms ZrB2 or Ti2Zr with TiB2 in Al-Ti-B to reduce the nucleation ability. Second, Zr existing in the aluminum melt with a high melting point Al3Zr then attracts Ti to reduce the dispersion of Ti as a growth inhibitor. Third, Zr reacts with Al3Ti on TiB2 surface to form Al3Zr, thereby increasing the degree of mismatch with Al and diminishing the refiner's ability as a nucleation substrate. To gain a better understanding of the mechanism of Zr poisoning, the first principle was used in this study to calculate the adhesion works (ZrB2//Al3Ti), (Ti2Zr//Al3Ti), (Al3Zr//Al3Ti), (Al3Ti//Al), (TiB2//Al3Zr), and (Al3Zr//Al), as well as the surface energy of Al3Zr and adsorption energies of Al to Al3Ti or Al3Zr. The results demonstrated that Zr poisoning originated from the second guess. Zr element exiting in aluminum melt led to the formation of an Al3Zr (001) surface. The interfacial adhesion work of Al3Zr (001)//Al3Ti (001) was not weaker than that of TiB2//Al3Ti. As a result, Al3Zr first combined with Al3Ti to significantly decline the adsorption of Al3Ti (001) on Al, losing its role as a nucleating agent and grain coarsening. Overall, to prevent failure of the grain refiner in Zr containing aluminum melt, the adhesion work interface between the generated phase of the grain refiner and Al3Zr must remain lower to avoid the combination of the generated phase of grain refiner with Al3Zr. In sum, these findings look promising for evaluating future effects of grain refinement in Zr containing aluminum melt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ship ballast water contains high concentration of plankton, bacteria, and other microorganisms. If the huge amount of ballast water is discharged without being inactivated, it will definitely spell disaster to the marine environment. Microalgae is the most common species exiting in ballast water, so the detection of the concentration and viability of microalgae is a very important issue. The traditional methods of detecting microalgae in ballast water were costly and need the help of bulky equipment. Herein, a novel method based on microalgae cell intracellular chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) imaging combines with cell bright field (BF) microscopy was proposed. The geometric features of microalgae cells were obtained by BF image, and the cell viability was obtained by CF image. The two images were fused through the classic image registration algorithm to achieve simultaneous detection of the viability and concentration of microalgae cells. Furthermore, a low-cost, miniaturized CF/BF microscopy imaging prototype system based on the above principles was designed. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, four typical microalgae in ballast water (Platymonas, Pyramimonas sp., Chrysophyta, and Prorocentrum lima) were selected as the samples. The experimental results show that the self-developed prototype can quickly and accurately determine the concentration and the viability of microalgae cells in ship ballast water based on the dual images of BF and CF, and the detection accuracy is equivalent to that of commercial microscope. It was the first time to simultaneously detect the viability and concentration of microalgae cells in ship ballast water using the method that combining the fluorescence and bright field images; moreover, a miniaturized microscopic imaging prototype was developed. Those findings expected to contribute to the microalgae detection and ship ballast water management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under complex sea conditions, ship detection from remote sensing images is easily affected by sea clutter, thin clouds, and islands, resulting in unreliable detection results. In this paper, an end-to-end convolution neural network method is introduced that combines a deep convolution neural network with a fully connected conditional random field. Based on the Resnet architecture, the remote sensing image is roughly segmented using a deep convolution neural network as the input. Using the Gaussian pairwise potential method and mean field approximation theorem, a conditional random field is established as the output of the recurrent neural network, thus achieving end-to-end connection. We compared the proposed method with other state-of-the-art methods on the dataset established by Google Earth and NWPU-RESISC45. Experiments show that the target detection accuracy of the proposed method and the ability of capturing fine details of images are improved. The mean intersection over union is 83.2% compared with other models, which indicates obvious advantages. The proposed method is fast enough to meet the needs for ship detection in remote sensing images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In remote-sensing images, a detected oil-spill area is usually affected by spot noise and uneven intensity, which leads to poor segmentation of the oil-spill area. This paper introduced a deep semantic segmentation method that combined a deep-convolution neural network with the fully connected conditional random field to form an end-to-end connection. On the basis of Resnet, it first roughly segmented a multisource remote-sensing image as input by the deep convolutional neural network. Then, we used the Gaussian pairwise method and mean-field approximation. The conditional random field was established as the output of the recurrent neural network. The oil-spill area on the sea surface was monitored by the multisource remote-sensing image and was estimated by optical image. We experimentally compared the proposed method with other models on the dataset established by the multisensory satellite image. Results showed that the method improved classification accuracy and captured fine details of the oil-spill area. The mean intersection over the union was 82.1%, and the monitoring effect was obviously improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intumescent flame retardant ethylene–propylene–diene rubber (EPDM) was prepared using intumescent flame retardant (IFR), including ammonium polyphosphate (APP) /pentaerythrotol (PER) and expandable graphite (EG), as the flame retardant agent. The effects of IFR and EG on the flame retardancy, fire behavior, and thermal stability of the EPDM were investigated. The results show that IFR and EG have excellent synergistic flame retardant effects. When the mass ratio of IFR to EG is 3:1 and the total addition content is 40 phr, the limiting oxygen index (LOI) value of the EPDM material (EPDM/IFR/EG) can reach 30.4%, and it can pass a V-0 rating in the vertical combustion (UL-94) test. Meanwhile, during the cone calorimetry test, the heat release rate and total heat release of EPDM/IFR/EG are 69.0% and 33.3% lower than that of the pure EPDM, respectively, and the smoke release of the material also decreases significantly, suggesting that the sample shows good fire safety. In addition, the flame retardant mechanism of IFR and EG is systematically investigated by thermogravimetric analysis/infrared spectrometry (TG-IR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the results indicate that IFR and EG have only physical interaction. Moreover, the reason why IFR exhibits a poor flame retardant effect in EPDM materials is explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are a huge number, and abundant types, of microalgae in the ocean; and most of them have various values in many fields, such as food, medicine, energy, feed, etc. Therefore, how to identify and separation of microalgae cells quickly and effectively is a prerequisite for the microalgae research and utilization. Herein, we propose a microfluidic system that comprised microalgae cell separation, treatment and viability characterization. Specifically, the microfluidic separation function is based on the principle of deterministic lateral displacement (DLD), which can separate various microalgae species rapidly by their different sizes. Moreover, a concentration gradient generator is designed in this system to automatically produce gradient concentrations of chemical reagents to optimize the chemical treatment of samples. Finally, a single photon counter was used to evaluate the viability of treated microalgae based on laser-induced fluorescence from the intracellular chlorophyll of microalgae. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first laboratory prototype system combining DLD separation, concentration gradient generator and chlorophyll fluorescence detection technology for fast analysis and treatment of microalgae using marine samples. This study may inspire other novel applications of micro-analytical devices for utilization of microalgae resources, marine ecological environment protection and ship ballast water management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fast on-site monitoring of foreign microalgae species carried by ship ballast water has drawn more and more attention. In this paper, we presented a new method and a compact device of classification of microalgae cells by simultaneous detection of three kinds of signals of single microalgae cells in a disposable microfluidic chip. The microfluidic classification device has advantages of fast detection, low cost, and portability. The species of a single microalgae cell can be identified by simultaneous detection of three signals of chlorophyll fluorescence (CF), side light scattering (SLS), and resistance pulse sensing (RPS) of the microalgae cell. These three signals represent the different characteristics of a microalgae cell. A compact device was designed to detect these three signals of a microalgae cell simultaneously. In order to demonstrate the performance of the developed system, the comparison experiments of the mixed samples of three different species of microalgae cells between the developed system and a commercial flow cytometer were conducted. The results show that three kinds of microalgae cells can be distinguished clearly by our developed system and the commercial flow cytometer and both results have good agreement.

Ship ballast water treatment methods face many technical challenges. The effectiveness of every treatment method usually is evaluated by using large scale equipment and a large volume of samples, which involves time-consuming, laborious, and complex operations. This paper reports the development of a novel, simple and fast platform of methodology in evaluating the efficiency and the best parameters for ballast water treatment systems, particularly in chemical disinfection. In this study, a microfluidic chip with six sample wells and a waste well was designed, where sample transportation was controlled by electrokinetic flow. The performance of this microfluidic platform was evaluated by detecting the disinfection of Dunaliella salina (D. salina) algae in ballast water treated by sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) solution. Light-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (LICF) intensity was used to determine the viability of microalgae cells in the system, which can be operated automatically with the dimension of the detector as small as 50 mm × 24 mm × 5 mm. The 40 µL volume of sample solution was used for each treatment condition test and the validity of detection can be accomplished within about five min. The results show that the viability of microalgae cells under different treatment conditions can be determined accurately and further optimal treatment conditions including concentrations of NaClO and treatment time can also be obtained. These results can provide accurate evaluation and optimal parameters for ballast water treatment methods.

Ships' ballast water can carry aquatic organisms into foreign ecosystems. In our previous studies, a concept using ion exchange membrane electrolysis to treat ballast water has been proven. In addition to other substantial approaches, a new strategy for inactivating algae is proposed based on the developed ballast water treatment system. In the new strategy, the means of multi-trial injection with small doses of electrolytic products is applied for inactivating algae. To demonstrate the performance of the new strategy, contrast experiments between new strategies and routine processes were conducted. Four algae species including Chlorella vulgaris, Platymonas subcordiformis, Prorocentrum micans and Karenia mikimotoi were chosen as samples. The different experimental parameters are studied including the injection times and doses of electrolytic products. Compared with the conventional one trial injection method, mortality rate time (MRT) and available chlorine concentration can be saved up to about 84% and 40%, respectively, under the application of the new strategy. The proposed new approach has great potential in practical ballast water treatment. Furthermore, the strategy is also helpful for deep insight of mechanism of algal tolerance.

Detection of living microalgae cells is very important for ballast water treatment and analysis. Chlorophyll fluorescence is an indicator of photosynthetic activity and hence the living status of plant cells. In this paper, we developed a novel microfluidic biosensor system that can quickly and accurately detect the viability of single microalgae cells based on chlorophyll fluorescence. The system is composed of a laser diode as an excitation light source, a photodiode detector, a signal analysis circuit, and a microfluidic chip as a microalgae cell transportation platform. To demonstrate the utility of this system, six different living and dead algae samples (Karenia mikimotoi Hansen, Chlorella vulgaris, Nitzschia closterium, Platymonas subcordiformis, Pyramidomonas delicatula and Dunaliella salina) were tested. The developed biosensor can distinguish clearly between the living microalgae cells and the dead microalgae cells. The smallest microalgae cells that can be detected by using this biosensor are 3 μm ones. Even smaller microalgae cells could be detected by increasing the excitation light power. The developed microfluidic biosensor has great potential for in situ ballast water analysis.