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Wet-strength additives are vital in maintaining the structural integrity of paper and paper-based products in wet conditions. Most wet-strength additives are synthetically produced and pose environmental and human health risks. Therefore, there is a growing interest in developing natural and environment-friendly wet-strength additives for paper. However, the unavoidable replacement of these harmful wet-strength additives with greener materials to achieve similar wet-strength without compromising product performance, with the added option of sustainability, is challenging. This review discusses up-to-date conventional synthetic, natural, and other wet-strength additives used in developing wet-strength in paper-based products. A detailed description of the additive's reaction mechanisms and working principles for achieving the required wet-strength is also analyzed. Moreover, a detailed comparative literature review of the physio-chemical properties of these wet-strength additives is also discussed. Finally, the paper also discusses the challenges associated with bio-based additives in improving the wet-strength of paper-based products, comparing the well-established synthetic wet-strength additives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the effects of different organic acid additives and their concentrations on the fermentation quality and bacterial community of paper mulberry silage, paper mulberry was left untreated (control) or was treated with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), propionic acid (PA) or citric acid (CA), the amount of each additive was 2 g.kg−1 FM, 5 g.kg−1 FM and g.kg−1 FM. All groups were ensiled for 3, 7, 15, 30 and 60 days. Compared to the control, adding EDTA reduced protein breakdown, preserved more water-soluble carbohydrates of the silages (WSCs, 24.74 g.kg−1 DM), and high concentrations of EDTA inhibited the activity of undesirable microorganisms. Adding PA increased the abundance of Lactiplantibacillus and decreased the abundance of Enterococcus, and it caused a rapid decrease in the pH of the silage at an early stage (from 6.50 to 5.31) while altering the microbiota, and low concentrations of PA resulted in high LA (66.22 g.kg−1 DM) concentration and low PA (9.92 g.kg−1 DM) concentration at 60 days of ensiling. Different concentrations of additives altered the microbial community of paper mulberry to different degrees. High concentrations of PA and CA can increase the abundance of Lactiplantibacillus. High concentrations of CA resulted in a rapid decrease in silage pH at an early stage and higher WSC concentration. These results suggest that EDTA, PA and CA can be used as additives to improve the quality of paper mulberry silage.

Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera L., PM) is being used as a new type of animal protein feed to address the feed crisis. To investigate the effect of additives on the chemical composition, fermentation quality, and bacterial community of PM silage (at room temperature, 25°), paper mulberry was fermented with formic acid (FA), Amomum villosum essential oil (AVEO) and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculant treatments. The results showed that fresh PM had a low water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) content and large amounts of unclassified bacteria. Compared with the CK and LAB treatments, the FA and AVEO treatments significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the pH and increased the lactic acid content of PM silage after 60 days of ensiling. In the AVEO-treated silages the abundance of Lactococcus in the early stage of ensiling increased by 14.09%, the abundances of Levilactobacillus and Lentilactobacillus in the late stage of ensiling increased by 58.34 and 91.12%, respectively, and the abundance of Stenotrophomonas decreased by 94.71%, resulting in improved PM silage quality. These results confirmed that AVEO could potentially be developed as a new additive for improving the fermentation quality of silage.

The demand for eco-friendly packaging materials has urged researchers to look for alternatives to petroleum-based polymers. In this regard, paper-based products have turned out to be a promising choice; however, their weak resistance to water has limited their application. The use of various additives to enhance paper's moisture resistance is a common practice. However, considering the growing global agenda for sustainable development, the search for new bio-based paper additives has become increasingly important. This study investigated the potential synergistic impact of the addition of nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) and chitosan additives (CHIT) to different fiber combinations to improve paper's properties, in particular, their wet strength. The efficacy of the additive application order was examined and was found to be crucial in achieving the desired outcomes. The results showed that incorporating CHIT after NFC enhanced the paper's tensile and burst indicators, as well as the paper stretch in the dry state, by 35–70%, 35–55%, and 20–35%, respectively. In addition, the tensile index and stretch in the wet state improved 9–13 times and 2.5–5.5 times over, respectively. The air permeability decreased 2.5–12 times over. These findings demonstrate that the sequential addition of the NFC and CHIT additives yield a greater enhancement of paper's properties than using each additive separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • PCB was co-pyrolyzed in fixed and fluidized bed (FB) pyrolyzers with Ca-based additives. • Catalytic and dehalogenation capacities of CaO, Ca(OH)2, and CaO + Ca(OH)2 were compared. • CaO reduced the halogen content of bio-oil up to 80 and 92% in fixed bed and FB. • Halide fixation in the solid phase by additives was more effective in FB than fixed bed. • Up to 40.6% liquid recovery was achieved in a FB containing CaO + Ca(OH) 2. This study compares the impact of the calcium-based additives and the pyrolyzer on the recovery and the halide content of the oil produced from the pyrolysis of paper-laminated phenolic resin printed circuit boards (FR2-PCB). The preliminary experiments showed that the maximum liquid recovery (40.6%) was achieved in a fluidized bed pyrolyzer containing a 50:50 mixture of CaO and Ca(OH) 2 operating at T = 620 °C and PCB-to-additive ratio (FR2/A) = 5.4 g/g for 22 min. Extra tests were then carried out under these conditions in fixed and fluidized bed pyrolyzers to separately explore the impact of CaO, Ca(OH) 2 , and CaO + Ca(OH) 2 on the liquid recovery (L R) and the halogen content of the non-solid products. In the fluidized bed, L R in the presence of CaO, Ca(OH) 2 , and CaO + Ca(OH) 2 was 34.5%, 41.2%, and 38.9 wt%, respectively. The fraction of phenolic compounds in the pyrolysis oil ranged from 86% to 93%, about 1–3% higher than the corresponding values in the fixed bed. Using additives led to lower halide content in the pyrolysis oil of the fluidized bed than that of the fixed bed. However, the opposite trend was observed in the absence of additives. Regardless of the type of pyrolyzer, Ca(OH) 2 was more successful than CaO in increasing L R , whereas CaO was more effective than Ca(OH) 2 in pyrolysis oil dechlorination. Co-pyrolysis of FR2-PCB and CaO + Ca(OH) 2 in a fluidized bed reactor was identified as a practical approach to enhance the recovery of pyrolysis oil comprising only 5% of the original halogen content of the feedstock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of paper dry strength additives is one of the methods for producing packaging boards with a lower grammage while maintaining mechanical properties. In the present work, papers were formed using dissolving grade kraft fibres, kraft fibres and carboxymethylated cellulose (CMC) modified kraft fibres (C-kraft fibres), with either cationic starch (CS), anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) or anionic polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs). Fibres and sheets were characterized to evaluate how the saturation adsorption of the different strength additives influences the properties of the treated fibres and the final handsheets. The tensile index of papers made from C-kraft fibres was the highest due to the highest adsorption capacity of strength additives. Moreover, the strength additives increased the tensile index by 33–84 %, while z-directional tensile strength was increased dramatically by 46–139 %. Bending stiffness was improved by 2.6–25 %, and the combination of CS and APAM or PECs resulted in a significant improvement in bending stiffness compared to the addition of CS alone. Importantly, the strength improvement did not sacrifice the density significantly. In summary, the knowledge gained from the current study expands the understanding of strength additives and their relationship with fibres of different surface charge and the overall paper properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellulosic paper has combined characteristics of renewability, biodegradability, flexibility, and recyclability. Based on disassembly-initiated fiber processing, the conversion of regular paper into a multifunctional wet-strength product was explored. In this concept, disassembly generates cellulosic additives for surface engineering. Encouragingly, the use of the aqueous solvent system containing mixed metal salts allows controllable fiber disassembly and formation of room-temperature-stable cellulosic solutions, leading to wet and dry strengthening of paper following cellulose regeneration. In-situ generation of cellulosic film-forming additives led to the increase of dry and wet strengths by more than 8 and 35 times respectively, in the case of a typical grade of quantitative filter paper. The engineered paper shows flame-retardant, antibacterial, and liquid-barrier features. The combination of functional properties of cellulosic paper can shed light on diversified applications, e.g., replacement of difficult-to-degrade synthetic plastics. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is an innovative technology in civil engineering. However, the high cost of components and the fragility of the treated soil limit its wide use. One of the possible solutions is organic waste incorporation at different stages of the technology. In the present study, we consider the use of spent brewer's yeast (BSY) to produce bacterial inoculates and wastepaper, flax shives and sawdust as reinforcing additives into the soil. We showed that the replacement of expensive components of LB medium by BSY extract increased biomass growth characteristics of Bacillus subtilis K51, B. cereus 4b and Micrococcus luteus 6 strains by 1.4, 1.5 and 1.8 times, respectively, while for B. subtilis 168, they were comparable to LB medium. The urease activities of all strains were not reduced compared to the control. Among the three kinds of cellulose-containing waste, wastepaper incorporation into MICP-treated soil samples led to an increase in compressive strength by 2.1 times and precipitated calcite percentage by almost 1.5 times compared to a sample without additives. Thus, we showed the potential for soil stabilization through MICP using organic waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to evaluate of the effect of incorporating nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) and chitosan (CH) in a dual system as dry additives during papermaking for unbleached bamboo alkaline sulfite anthraquinone methanol (ASAM) under different beating revolutions. Pulp beating at 4000 and 6000 revolutions has comparable properties with varying dosages of NFC (5% and 10%) and different chitosan concentrations (0.5%, 1, 1.5%, and 2%). Hand sheets of a basis weight (60 g/cm2) were produced and measured for thickness, tear, tensile, burst index, and resistance to folding under TAPPI standard methods. Results revealed that with an increase in the number of beating revolutions, there was a decrease in the value of freeness. All analyzed pulp had freeness values within the permissible amount of 300–500 mL in papermaking, except 10% NFC, which was 244–190 mL at 6000 revolutions. Furthermore, the addition of chitosan to 1.5% with 5% NFC at 6000 beating revolutions enhanced the tensile index (85.16 Nm/g) and burst index (7.69 kPa. m2/g) in comparison to the sample control. The incorporation of nanofibrillated cellulose and chitosan significantly altered the physical and mechanical strength. Optimal alkaline sulfite anthraquinone methanol ASAM-enhanced paper properties are displayed with 5% NFC and 1.5% chitosan at 6000 beating revolutions. [Display omitted] • Nanofibrillated cellulose/chitosan potential as a dry strength additive in pulp. • Nanofibrillated cellulose acted as an adhesion promoter by bridging adjacent fibers • Larger fibers contribute to boost the load-bearing capacity of the paper. • Chitosan is structurally like cellulose and contain active hydroxyl and amino group. • The incorporation of Nanofibrillated cellulose/Chitosan enhanced paper properties [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the chemical and phase composition of the product from heat-resistant nickel-based superalloy formed by wire-feed electron beam additive manufacturing (EBAM). Microsegregation on macro-(dendrites/interdendritic space) and microscale (γ/γˈ) was evaluated. It is shown that in additively formed material, there is a significant (by an order of magnitude) refinement of structural and phase elements. The degree of microsegregation remains unchanged after the additive process, despite the increase in the volume fraction of dendrites, and the complex thermal history does not lead to the formation of undesirable phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tissue paper production frequently combines two main types of raw materials: cellulose fibers from renewable sources and polymer-based additives. The development of premium products with improved properties and functionalities depends on the optimization of both. This work focused on the combination of innovative experimental and computational strategies to optimize furnish. The main goal was to improve the functional properties of the most suitable raw materials for tissue materials and develop new differentiating products with innovative features. The experimental plan included as inputs different fiber mixtures, micro/nano fibrillated cellulose, and biopolymer additives, and enzymatic and mechanical process operations. We present an innovative tissue paper simulator, the SimTissue, that we have developed, to establish the correlations between the tissue paper process inputs and the end-use paper properties. Case studies with industrial interest are presented in which the tissue simulator was used to design tissue paper materials with different fiber mixtures, fiber modification treatments, micro/nano fibrillated cellulose, and biopolymer formulations, and to estimate tissue softness, strength, and absorption properties. The SimTissue was able to predict and optimize a broader range of formulations containing micro/nanocellulose fibers, biopolymer additives, and treated-fiber mixtures, saving laboratory and industrial resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broussonetia papyrifera L. (paper mulberry) is an alternative woody plant, which can used to replace part of the protein feed for ruminants. Ensiling is an effective way to preserve fresh pasture and to solve the problem of stable storage and feed conversion of paper mulberry in the rapid growth period. However, low dry matter (DM), water-soluble carbohydrate, and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) reduce the quality of paper mulberry silage. This study assesses the influence of wilting time (0 h and 3.5 h; lighting: 3.43 × 104 Lux) and three additives (Enterococcus durans, CL; cellulase, CE; and formic acid, FA) on the fermentation quality, aerobic stability, and bacterial community of whole plant B. papyrifera silage. The whole plant B. papyrifera sample was mowed and wilted for 0 h and 3.5 h, and then had CL, CE, or FA added, followed by 60 days of ensiling. The results show all silage samples had high fermentation quality with pH below 4.2, ammonia-nitrogen below 100 g/kg DM, and no detectable butyric acid. The additives protected the DM and the crude protein from protease activity (p < 0.05), and CL was the most effective among them. Furthermore, wilting time influenced the silage’s bacterial communities, but overall, CL treatment had the greatest impact on bacterial communities. Wilting time and formic acid treatment significantly improved aerobic stability (p < 0.05). Enterococcus was positively correlated with lactic acid (LA), while negatively correlated with LA and Weissella (p < 0.001). Enterococcus was identified as the main driver of the whole plant paper mulberry ensiling process in the present study. In conclusion, compared to other additives, LAB is the most effective and economical to improve the fermentation quality and reduce the protein degradation of whole plant paper mulberry silage. Our findings provide a theoretical basis to improve the quality and production of paper mulberry silage.

Let M be a von Neumann algebra without direct commutative summands, and let A be an arbitrary subalgebra of LS (M) containing M, where LS (M) is the ∗-algebra of all locally measurable operators with respect to M. Suppose δ is an additive mapping from A to LS (M) that satisfies the condition δ(A)B ∗ + Aδ(B) + δ(B)A ∗ + Bδ(A) = 0 whenever AB = BA = 0. In this paper, we prove that there exists an element Y in LS (M) such that δ(X) = XY - YX∗, for every X in A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Step selection functions (SSFs) are used to jointly describe animal movement patterns and habitat preferences. Recent work has extended this framework to model inter‐individual differences, account for unexplained structure in animals' space use and capture temporally varying patterns of movement and habitat selection.In this paper, we formulate SSFs with penalised smooths (similar to generalised additive models) to unify new and existing extensions, and conveniently implement the models in the popular, open‐source mgcv R package.We explore non‐linear patterns of movement and habitat selection, and use the equivalence between penalised smoothing splines and random effects to implement individual‐level and spatial random effects. This framework can also be used to fit varying‐coefficient models to account for temporally or spatially heterogeneous patterns of selection (e.g. resulting from behavioural variation), or any other non‐linear interactions between drivers of the animal's movement decisions.We provide the necessary technical details to understand several key special cases of smooths and their implementation in mgcv, showcase the ecological relevance using two illustrative examples and provide R code to facilitate the adoption of these methods. This paper offers a broad overview of how smooth effects can be applied to increase the flexibility and biological realism of SSFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive technology (AT) has emerged as a key enabling technology, with its ability to shorten product design and development time. The paper presents the programming and program verification using machine simulation of additive manufacturing tool path in CAD/CAM and Vericut environment. A procedure for configuring and preparing of a virtual machine for several additive process simulations has been proposed. The paper analyses the available programming software for generating G code from the STL file as well as the possibility of simulating the virtual machine when working according to the generated program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Adhesion has published a special issue on the topic of "Additive Manufacturing Applied to Adhesive Bonding." This technology has already had a significant impact on various industries by allowing for the agile production of prototypes and equipment. The issue includes six papers that explore the combination of adhesion research with additive manufacturing processes. Topics covered include the use of complex lattice structures, the influence of process parameters on bonded joints, build plate adhesion, and the effect of moisture absorption on layer adhesion. The guest editors express their gratitude to the authors and reviewers for their contributions to the issue. [Extracted from the article]

Polyethylene is a versatile polymer suitable for a large variety of flexible and rigid packaging applications. Its mechanical and rheological properties can be tuned across a wide range by controlling its molecular architecture, such as the amount and distribution of olefinic comonomers (short chain branching), long chain branching, and molecular weight distribution. Linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE) is known for its high toughness which enables downgauged film structures and low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) is known for its excellent shear thinning and melt strength which enables enhanced processability and high throughput, such as on blown film lines. In order to obtain a balance of toughness and processability on films produced on blown film lines, blends of LLDPE and LDPE are commonly used. In this paper, we describe additive‐based approaches, including a new product, DOWLEX™ (TM = trademark of the Dow Chemical Company ("Dow") or an affiliated company of Dow) GM AX01, which enhances melt strength and other rheological properties of polyethylene, enabling fabrication of films with lower LDPE content while still maintaining excellent rheological properties and higher toughness versus conventional LLDPE/LDPE blends. The higher toughness enables downgauging without loss of mechanical properties, which in turn reduces consumption of polymer resulting in a more sustainable solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The digital transition process is an important strategic initiative for manufacturing companies to ensure continued competitiveness. The purpose is to investigate the relationship between firms' additive manufacturing (AM) readiness and product and process innovation and how this process is mediated by firms' make-or-buy decisions regarding performing AM processes internally or buying AM services from external partners. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a questionnaire survey including full answers from 157 small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies. Findings: Results show a positive relationship between AM readiness and both product and process innovation. Results also reveal that firms with higher readiness invest more in in-house AM, which in turn promotes innovation. There was no significant association between AM readiness and the use of external AM services. Nonetheless, buying external AM services is still associated positively with innovation. Research limitations/implications: Data in the questionnaire survey are provided by single respondents from each company and are only based on Danish respondents. Practical implications: The results indicate that firms' product and process innovation benefits from higher AM readiness derive from increased investment in in-house AM rather than from increased use of external AM services. This also signifies that firms with lower levels of AM readiness buy external AM services and derive the innovation benefits hereof. Originality/value: The paper delivers new, empirically found knowledge about how small- and medium-sized manufacturing can improve innovation by both making and buying AM services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of nanotechnology has shown promise in addressing major problems and improving drilling effectiveness. An overview of the difficulties encountered during oil and gas well drilling operations and the demand for creative solutions opens the debate. This review explores how nanotechnology is transforming the oil industry and enhancing performance as a whole. The evaluation of the uses of nanotechnology for better oil recovery, real-time monitoring, innovative materials, drilling fluids, and reservoir characterization are extensively discussed in this review. The primary function of additives is to improve the fundamental characteristics of drilling fluids. The variety of fluid additives available is a reflection of the complex drilling–fluid systems that are currently being used to enable drilling in increasingly difficult subsurface conditions. Common additives used in water- and oil-based drilling fluids include lubrication, shale stability, filtration control, rheology control, viscosification, and pH regulation. Drilling fluids frequently contain filtration control additives such as starch, polyanionic cellulose (PAC), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and nanoparticles (NP). Commonly used rheology-modifier additives are xanthan gum, carboxymethyl cellulose, guar gum powder, and, more recently, salt-responsive zwitterionic polymers that were used as viscosifiers to water-based drilling fluids. The three main additives that regulate pH are citric acid monohydrate, potassium hydroxide, and sodium hydroxide. Additives that stabilize shale, such as potassium and sodium salts and asphaltenes, are often used. A wide range of materials are included in the category of lubricating additives, including polymers, asphaltenes, glass beads, oils of various grades, and oil-surfactants. Various fibrous materials, including wood, cotton, fibrous minerals, shredded tires from vehicles, and paper pulp, are used as additives to control circulation. Furthermore, shredded cellophane, bits of plastic laminate, plate-like minerals like mica flakes, granulated inert materials such as nut shells, and nano-polymers are used in wellbores to reduce fluid loss. The incorporation of nanoparticles into drilling fluids has produced upgraded fluids with better features, including improved lubricity, thermal stability, and filtering capacities. These developments aid in lowering friction, enhancing wellbore stability, and enhancing drilling efficiency. This paper also emphasizes how nanotechnology has made enhanced drilling equipment and materials possible. Drilling equipment's longevity and performance are increased by nanocomposite materials that have been reinforced with nanoparticles due to their improved mechanical strength, wear resistance, and thermal stability. Advanced reservoir characterisation tools, including nanoparticle tracers and nanoscale imaging methods, can help locate the best drilling sites and increase production effectiveness. On the other hand, nanofluids and nanoemulsions can potentially increase oil recovery because they enhance fluid mobility, lower interfacial tension, and alter rock wettability. Although nanotechnology has many advantages, there are also issues that need to be resolved. For an implementation to be effective, factors including nanoparticle stability, dispersion, and potential environmental effects must be carefully taken into account. This review highlights the need for future research to create scalable manufacturing procedures, improve nanoparticle behaviour, and determine nanomaterials' long-term environmental effects. In conclusion, this in-depth analysis illustrates the use of nanotechnology in transforming the process of drilling oil and gas wells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal remains an important fuel for use in thermal power plants. However, coal-burning power plants produce large amounts of CFA, which contains TEs such as B, F, and Se, which are leached upon contact with water and act as potential polluters of aquifer systems and soil. To study the transformation of TEs, a thermodynamic calculation (FactSage 7.2) was used. Paper sludge ash was used as a calcium compound additive. The influence of blending a high-calcium additive on the environmental safety of TEs was investigated based on the effect of the mass addition ratio of PS ash. This study's results confirmed that the leaching processes of TEs, namely (CaO)2(Al2O3), CaF2, Ca10(PO4)F2, and CaSeO4(H2O)2, were caused by the formation of B, F, and Se compounds during the leaching process. Thus, it is clear that calcium has the greatest influence on the transformation of TEs due to their reaction, which, in turn, minimizes the effects of the TEs' release into the environment. The concentrations of TEs from the sample and addition of PS ash decreased slightly, indicating that the inhibition of TEs was enabled through the addition of PS ash. Although the PS ash YB had the highest calcium content, the PS ash YC gave the best results during the B and Se inhibition processes. The experimental observation was also evaluated for comparison. For the analysis of TEs' leaching ratios using the thermodynamic calculation and experiment, the experimental results were lower than those initially predicted. These results will help us to choose the best available control technology to minimize the effects of TEs released into the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let R be a ring and let n ≥ 1 be a fixed integer. An additive mapping h of a ring R into itself is called an n-Jordan homoderivation if h ⁢ (x n) = (h ⁢ (x) + x) n - x n holds for all x ∈ R . In this paper, we initiate the study of n-Jordan homoderivations on rings. Precisely, we characterize n-Jordan homoderivations in terms of homoderivations and anti-homomorphisms under certain conditions. Finally, we conclude our paper with a direction for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the algebraic structure of 2 r 8 s -additive codes, where r and s are nonnegative integers, 2 (respectively, 8 ) denotes the finite field of order 2 (respectively, 8). We first give the generator polynomials of additive cyclic codes over 8 and then the generator polynomials of additive cyclic codes over 2 8 is also given. In addition, we introduce a linear map W : 2 8 → 2 , and study its properties. What's more, the dual of additive cyclic codes over 2 8 are investigated as well. And we get that the duals of any additive cyclic codes over 2 8 are also additive cyclic codes. Finally, separable 2 8 -additive cyclic codes are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passive recognition of ship-radiated noise plays a crucial role in military and economic domains. However, underwater environments pose significant challenges due to inherent noise, reverberation, and time-varying acoustic channels. This paper introduces a novel approach for ship target recognition and classification by leveraging the power of three-dimensional (3D) Melspectrograms and an additive attention based Transformer (ADDTr). The proposed method utilizes 3D Mel-spectrograms to capture the temporal variations in both target signal and ambient noise, thereby enhancing both categories’ distinguishable characteristics. By incorporating an additional spatial dimension, the modeling of reverberation effects becomes possible. Through analysis of spatial patterns and changes within the spectrograms, distortions caused by reverberation can be estimated and compensated, so that the clarity of the target signals can be improved. The proposed ADDTr leverages an additive attention mechanism to focus on informative acoustic features while suppressing the influence of noisy or distorted components. This attention-based approach not only enhances the discriminative power of the model but also accelerates the recognition process. It efficiently captures both temporal and spatial dependencies, enabling accurate analysis of complex acoustic signals and precise predictions. Comprehensive comparisons with state-of-the-art acoustic target recognition models on the ShipsEar dataset demonstrate the superiority of the proposed ADDTr approach. Achieving an accuracy of 96.82% with the lowest computation costs, ADDTr outperforms other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additives, such as antioxidants (AOs), carbon black (CB) and compatibilizers (COs), are used in recycled polymer blends for different reasons. AOs slow thermal degradation, CB gives blends a black color and protect them against ultraviolet (UV) light, and compatibilizers improve compatibility between the different phases of the mixture and consequently enhance the mechanical properties of the final blend. In this paper, the three additives were added to recycled polyethylene (PE) blends to study their effect on the final properties and to determine the best formulations that help improve the mechanical properties of recycled PE blends. Stress Crack Resistance (SCR) was accessed by performing Notched Crack Ligament Stress (NCLS) and Un-notched Crack Ligament Stress (UCLS). On the other hand, Oxidative Induction Time (OIT) was used to determine the oxidation time of the blends and the effect of each additive on this property. Based on the results of this study, it was proven that adding carbon black and antioxidants delay the thermal degradation of recycled PE blends and consequently improve the OIT. Otherwise, resistance to stress cracking is improved only by adding a compatibilizer to the reference blend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide improvements in the additive constant of the current best asymptotic upper bound for the maximum number of halving lines for planar sets of n points, where n is an even number. We also improve this current best upper bound for small values of n, namely, 106 ≤ n ≤ 336 . To obtain this enhancements, we provide lower bounds for the sum of the squares of the degrees of the vertices of a graph related to the halving lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an optimization study of spent coffee grounds (SCG) as cement mortar additives to enhance mortar strength. In recent years, sustainable materials have begun finding their way into cement mortar, with SCG being one. There is limited optimization study on the SCG addition in mortars, hence this study was performed to optimize the curing time and SCG addition in cement mortar to achieve the highest compressive strength through response surface methodology. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) characterization was carried out on the SCG particles to identify their physical properties. An Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis was carried out to identify its chemical properties. Simultaneously, a workability test, the flow table test, is conducted to study the effect of SCG on the flowability of the cement mortar mixes. The synergistic effect between SCG content in cement mortar mixes and the curing period was statistically studied and analyzed. Both parameters were then optimized to obtain the best performance mix of SCG in cement mortar. It was found that 1.1% SCG and a curing day of 68 days produced the highest compressive strength (33.4MPa) of cement mortar. The Response Surface Methodology (RSM)-optimized cement mortar mix presented at least a 12.62% improvement in compressive strength from control cement mortar without SCG additives (28.77MPa). Experimental validation of the optimum condition showed a good agreement with a deviation of 3.12% in three replicates, thus indicating that the optimum model in this work can be used to model the compressive strength of the SCG-cement mortar mixture.Article Highlights: The addition of spent coffee grounds (SCG) in cement mortar enhanced its strength by 12.6%. The optimum SCG addition that corresponds to the highest mortar strength is 1.1%. The flowability of cement mortar mix decreases as the percentage of SCG addition increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(n , m , t) -Homomorphic Secret Sharing (HSS) allows n clients to share data secretly to m servers, which compute a function f homomorphically on the received secretly shared data while restricting the input data acquired by a collection of t servers to private ones. In Verifiable Homomorphic Secret Sharing (VHSS), if there are partially colluding malicious servers submitting erroneous computation results to the client, such erroneous computation results will be rejected by the client. In traditional static homomorphic secret sharing schemes, once a secret share of raw data is assigned to a group of servers, then all servers in the group must participate in the computation, which means that the computation has to be restarted once some servers fail to perform the task. In order to solve the above problem, we propose the first dynamic homomorphic secret sharing scheme for additive computation in this paper. In our scheme, once some servers fail, there is no need to recalculate the secret sharing but only the need to reissue the index set of servers that perform the computation, Our structure assigns more computation to the servers, which is very useful in real scenarios. In addition, we propose dynamic verifiable homomorphic secret sharing schemes based on the above schemes, which have less computational overhead compared to the existing schemes, although we sacrifice the public verifiability property. Finally, we give a detailed correctness, security, and verifiability analysis of the two proposed schemes and provide the theoretical and experimental evaluation results of the computational overhead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alkaline–surfactant–polymer (ASP) flooding by means of which alkali additives, surfactant and polymer are inserted as the same slug is one of the most favourable worldwide focuses of Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (cEOR) research and field trials, due to the individual synergy of the three chemical components. To develop efficient oil recovery chemicals, it is essential to fully understand the mechanism behind ASP flooding. Nonetheless, there are hardly any studies reporting a systematic characterization of the ASP process. Thus, the present paper focuses on modelling this process in a laboratory by the use of an anionic surfactant—sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) in alkaline–polymer media—which is composed of a commercial water-soluble polymer (Flopaam AN125SH®, SNF Floerger, Andrézieux-Bouthéon, France) and alkali compounds (NaOH and Na2CO3). The samples were characterized using rheometry, dynamic light scattering (DLS), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and measurement of inferfacial tension (IFT) between the samples and rapeseed oil. In accordance with the experimental results, surprisingly lower IFT values were recorded between the alkaline–polymer solutions and rapeseed oil than the samples which contained SDS. Increasing polymer and sodium chloride concentration caused a decrease (from 0.591 mN/m to 0.0486 mN/m) in IFT between the surfactant containing samples and rapeseed oil. The IR measurements confirmed that the surfactant was not detected in the oil phase in the absence of NaOH and Na2CO3. The effects of SDS on the viscosity of the mixtures were also investigated, as viscosity is a considerably important parameter in processes using polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a new class of systemic risk measures, which we refer to as strong comonotonic additive systemic risk measures. First, we introduce the notion of strong comonotonic additive systemic risk measures by proposing new axioms. Second, we establish a structural decomposition for strong comonotonic additive systemic risk measures. Third, when both the single-firm risk measure and the aggregation function in the structural decomposition are convex, we also provide a dual representation for it. Last, examples are given to illustrate the proposed systemic risk measures. Comparisons with existing systemic risk measures are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a strength-based simultaneous optimization method for optimizing thermoelastic structural topology and print direction in the presence of anisotropy induced by additive manufacturing. The approach utilizes the bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization framework and defines design variables including element density and print-off angle. Firstly, an anisotropic thermoelastic constitutive model is established for finite element analysis. By introducing the Tsai–Hill failure criteria, the strength constraint to evaluate the stress level of additively manufactured anisotropic components is formulated. The P-norm aggregation function is employed to approximate the maximum strength failure coefficient. Then, the aggregated strength constraint is augmented to the optimization objective through a Lagrange multiplier. Sensitivity analysis of the new objective function with respect to the elemental design variables is performed, and an analytical approach is proposed to optimize the print-off angle. To improve the stability of the optimization procedure, a series of numerical algorithms and parameter updating strategies are developed. The effectiveness of our proposed method is demonstrated through typical numerical examples, highlighting a desirable match between the structural topology and the print direction can greatly improve the structural performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of bioactive glasses (BGs) precipitated a paradigm shift in the medical industry and opened the path for the development of contemporary regenerative medicine driven by biomaterials. This composition can bond to live bone and can induce osteogenesis by the release of physiologically active ions. 45S5 BG products have been transplanted effectively into millions of patients around the world, primarily to repair bone and dental defects. Over the years, many other BG compositions have been introduced as innovative biomaterials for repairing soft tissue and delivering drugs. When research first started, many of the accomplishments that have been made today were unimaginable. It appears that the true capacity of BGs has not yet been realized. Because of this, research involving BGs is extremely fascinating. However, to be successful, it requires interdisciplinary cooperation between physicians, glass chemists, and bioengineers. The present paper gives a picture of the existing clinical uses of BGs and illustrates key difficulties deserving to be faced in the future. The challenges range from the potential for BGs to be used in a wide variety of applications. We have high hopes that this paper will be of use to both novice researchers, who are just beginning their journey into the world of BGs, as well as seasoned scientists, in that it will promote conversation regarding potential additional investigation and lead to the discovery of innovative medical applications for BGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the preparation of the slurry in the slurry shield (SSS) and subsequent reduction of the waste slurry produced by the slurry shield (WSSS), the additives in SSS improve the quality of filtration cake on the excavation surface, but they may also remain in WSSS, which have a negative impact on the reduction efficiency of WSSS. Therefore, it is valuable to establish the relationship between SSS and WSSS with additives as a link. Given this, this paper prepared WSSS with different dosages of additives and studied the influence of residual additives on the reduction. The residual additives made the reduction efficiency of WSSS worse, and the specific resistance to filtration increased by one to two orders of magnitude. The residual additives change the content of bound water or reduce the available sites of the soil particles that can be adsorbed by flocculants, leading to worse reduction results. To reduce the difficulty of reduction, combining polymer and bentonite as additives are recommended to prepare SSS. Polyaluminium chloride (PAC) acts by reducing bound water content through the interaction with residual bentonite, simultaneously augmenting PAM flocculation, which is recommended for reducing WSSS. This paper provides a reference for selecting materials used to prepare SSS and the subsequent reduction of WSSS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric vehicle technology is vacillating at remarkable rates. Thus, the enhancements of the associated fluids and their associated additives are also changing. Varying conditions, depending on the EV system and usage albeit passenger car or heavy duty, can cause the formation of conductive deposits and corrosion within drivetrains. Corrosion is a wellknown entity and tools to evaluate under these conditions are imperative. However, the formation of conducting layer deposits, a corrosion product, has also been identified as a failure mechanism for current electric motor designs. Different drivetrain base stocks along with additive formulations may have inherently different corrosion rates producing conducting layer deposits in both solution and vapor phases. To help resolve these issues, a group of industry experts involving both OEM's and lubricant experts from across the globe, have developed bench tests to better predict these conductive and corrosion deposits. The apparatus' developed are the conductive deposit test and the wire corrosion test. This paper covers several different aspects of the EV drivetrains and fluids performing in the CDT and WCT that show both field correlation and repeatability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many methods to explain black-box models, whether local or global, are additive. In this paper, we study global additive explanations for non-additive models, focusing on four explanation methods: partial dependence, Shapley explanations adapted to a global setting, distilled additive explanations, and gradient-based explanations. We show that different explanation methods characterize non-additive components in a black-box model's prediction function in different ways. We use the concepts of main and total effects to anchor additive explanations, and quantitatively evaluate additive and non-additive explanations. Even though distilled explanations are generally the most accurate additive explanations, non-additive explanations such as tree explanations that explicitly model non-additive components tend to be even more accurate. Despite this, our user study showed that machine learning practitioners were better able to leverage additive explanations for various tasks. These considerations should be taken into account when considering which explanation to trust and use to explain black-box models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wellbore instability is an issue that, if left untreated, can cause wells to collapse, resulting in human, environmental, equipment, and revenue losses. Drilling fluids have been used to enhance the drilling process by lubricating and cooling the drill bit, eliminating cuttings, and most importantly, by improving the stability of the well by preventing fluid loss. However, there has been an increase in operational demands and challenges that call for drilling fluids to be more effective, economical, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. With shales that have infinitesimally small pores, nanoparticle additives in drilling fluids can be crucial in providing the properties that are necessary to prevent fluid loss and provide wellbore stability while meeting the operational demands of the present day. Therefore, this paper examines the use of nanoparticle additives including copper (II) oxide (CuO), magnesium oxide (MgO), and aluminum oxide (Al2O3) where they are tested under three conditions using the permeable plugging tester (PPT), high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) fluid loss apparatus, and API low-temperature e low-pressure (LTLP) fluid loss apparatus under concentrations of 0.03% and 0.10%. Finally, based on the results, each nanoparticle sample (particle sizes between one and 100 nm) performed well in contributing to the aim of this project. CuO is the most effective inhibitor across all concentrations and under the three different conditions. It contributed to reducing the fluid loss from 37.6 mL to 18.2 and 13.2 mL, which is between 52% and 65% of fluid reduction. For MgO, it contributed to fluid loss reduction to 23.8 mL and 15 mL, which translated to 37%e60% of fluid loss reduction. The use of Al2O3 nanoparticles resulted in a fluid loss reduction to 33.6 mL and 17.8 mL, reducing the fluid loss up to 11%, at HTHP and up to 53% at LTLP. Unlike CuO and MgO, Al2O3 was less effective under HTHP conditions when compared to LTLP conditions. Al2O3 did not suffer as a significant diminishing benefit with increasing concentration in LTLP conditions however which means that at a higher concentration, it may begin to be more effective. Each material used in this study has its own specific and technical characteristics that will help create a progressive amount of property, such as providing stability and withstanding the high-temperature and highpressure condition downhole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a new class of locally dominated orthogonally additive operators on lattice-normed spaces (LNS). In the first part of the paper, sufficient conditions for the existence of a local exact majorant of a locally dominated operator and formulas for its calculation are given. The second part shows that the -compactness of a dominated orthogonally additive operator acting from a decomposable lattice-normed space to a Banach space with mixed norm implies the -compactness of its exact majorant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive manufacturing (AM) has been attracting a great deal of attention in both academia and industry in recent years as a technology that could bring innovation to manufacturing. AM was originally developed as a method specialized in fabricating three-dimensional structures by the additive manner. However, in reality, a huge number of parameters involved in AM has a significant effect on the microstructure and the resulting physicochemical properties of the metallic material. Therefore, in very recent years, metal AM is being recognized as a technology for controlling the microstructure of metals rather than its shape. In addition, AM can even customize the microstructure of each site by applying locally controlled heat energy. The ability to simultaneously control complex shapes and microstructures will add even higher value to lightweight metal materials. This paper describes the potential of metal AM to control material and shape properties that dictates the essential mechanical properties of the product with introducing latest results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear codes achieving or nearly achieving the Singleton bound are interesting in both theory and practice. The objective of this paper is to construct several infinite families of MDS, near MDS and almost MDS codes from some special cyclic subgroups of ${\mathbb {F}}_{q^{2}}^{*}$. To this end, the augmentation and extension techniques are used. The codes in this paper have flexible parameters and their lengths could be large. The minimum linear locality of the codes constructed in this paper is also studied. Some infinite families of optimal linearly locally recoverable codes are obtained. Besides, some codes in this paper are proved to be proper for error detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]