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Pericoronary adipose tissue (PCAT) CT attenuation of right coronary artery (RCA) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have prognostic value for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with coronary artery disease. However, the superior prognostic value between RCA PCAT CT attenuation and NAFLD remains unclear in patients with acute chest pain. This study is to evaluate the prognostic value of NAFLD for MACE, and further assess the incremental prognostic value of NAFLD over PCAT CT attenuation. Between January 2011 and December 2021, all consecutive emergency patients with acute chest pain referred for coronary CT angiography (CCTA) were retrospectively enrolled. MACE included unstable angina requiring hospitalization, coronary revascularization, non-fatal myocardial infarction, and all-cause death. Patients' baseline and CCTA characteristics, RCA PCAT CT attenuation, and the presence of NAFLD were used to evaluate risk factors of MACE using multivariable Cox regression analysis. The prognostic value of NAFLD compared to RCA PCAT CT attenuation was analyzed. A total of 514 patients were enrolled (mean age, 58.36 ± 13.05 years; 310 men). During a median follow-up of 31 months, 60 patients (11.67%) experienced MACE. NAFLD (HR = 2.599, 95% CI: 1.207, 5.598, P = 0.015) and RCA PCAT CT attenuation (HR = 1.026, 95% CI: 1.001, 1.051, P = 0.038) were independent predictors of MACE. The global Chi-square analysis showed that NAFLD improved the risk of MACE more than that using clinical risk factors and CCTA metrics (59.51 vs 54.44, P = 0.024) or combined with RCA PCAT CT attenuation (63.75 vs 59.51, P = 0.040). NAFLD and RCA PCAT CT attenuation were predictors of MACE. NAFLD had an incremental prognostic value beyond RCA PCAT CT attenuation for MACE in patients with acute chest pain. Adding CT-FFR into the risk prediction of patients with acute chest pain is worth considering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Power and duration were the key parameters of nonisothermal microwave curing. • Non-thermal effects were initiated by threshold energy. • Thermal effects had stronger acceleration impact than nonthermal effects. • Nonthermal effects increased the formation of 3D aluminosilicate chains. Based on the finding of little understanding of acceleration mechanism of microwave curing, this work studies the mechanism in terms of thermal and nonthermal effects of microwaves on mortars. Mortar is cured by regimes designated with varied curing intensity in order to distinguish thermal and nonthermal effects, which are normally difficult to be told apart. They are distinguished by the inconsistency of temperature and compressive strength evolution kinetics. Microstructural characteristics are studied to explore an insight to the effects. It is found that thermal effects constantly exist and nonthermal effects are initiated by threshold energy. Although they are both responsible for accelerating mortar hardening, thermal effects are more effective. Nonthermal effects increase the branching and cross-linking of aluminosilicate chains. The resultant three-dimensional C-S-H morphology is detrimental for packing densely at nanoscale, which may explain the less acceleration effectiveness of nonthermal effects on strength development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The development on PFRC during three decades are studied. • PFRC has various advantageous properties over ordinary concrete. • Plant fibre reinforcement causes the loss of compressive strength and durability. • Premodification on plant fibres improves the inferior properties of PFRC. • Theoretical studies of PFRC are still lacking. As one of the most important supporting technologies to economic development and urbanisation, concrete becomes a crucial link to reduce the global carbon emission and confronts with an unprecedented challenge of decarbonation. The reinforcement by plant fibres in concrete is one of promising approaches to decarbonise concrete. This paper combines scientometric and manual analysis to study the research progress on plant fibre reinforced concrete (PFRC), revealing the development scale, the prevailing research domains and focuses on PFRC and the knowledge progress of PFRC. The main challenges confronted by PFRC are discussed and future research scope are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Isothermal microwave curing was effective for preparing RPC. • Microwaves accelerated strength development significantly. • The optimal curing process was obtained. • The contributed reactions were identified. A combined application of microwaving curing and reactive powder concrete (RPC) may provide an accelerated development of outstanding mechanical and physical properties, which has great potential to improve the quality and efficiency of production. In this work, a custom-made microwave oven was used to isothermally cure RPC with steel fibre reinforcement at 40 °C, 60 °C and 80 °C for 30 min. Compared to phased nonisothermal microwave curing, the isothermal microwave curing is equally effective, yet more energy efficient to operate and easier to control. The microwave-cured specimens at 1 day gained up 72.0% and 127.6% of the 28 days compressive and flexural strength achieved with standard curing, respectively. The acceleration rates varied with material characteristics and initial temperatures. The characterisation data obtained from STA, XRD and SEM-EDS analysis indicated that the beneficial effects of microwave curing temperature on strength development were due to the accelerated cement hydration and pozzolanic reaction of silica fume. The products resulting from this acceleration strengthened the interfacial zone between hydrated regions and aggregates, and the interfacial zone between the cement and silica fume. Besides C-S-H, AFm, AFt, CH, C C - , Al-tobermorite, a CO 3 2−-contained fukalite-like phase was found to be formed, which may be produced by the pozzolanic reaction of silica fume at the expense of calcium carbonate under microwave curing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The tidal stream turbine is the major device we use to obtain the kinetic energy of tides. The blades of the rotor are one of the essential parts which can convert tidal current energy into mechanical energy. Now most horizontal-axis turbine blade design theories are mostly based on the BEM (blade element momentum) theory and Glauert theory (e.g., WTperf, GHbladed). This paper comes up with a new method – Schmitz design. This method is easier, but they have the same physical philosophy. Also we change the chord length distribution to adapt the low stream velocity. This new hydrofoil increases the startup torque, improves the total performance of the turbine and decreases the thrust coefficient. At the same time we consider the incipient cavitations, tip loss and airfoil loss. We compare the design results with the experimental data in the literature. This method can satisfy the requirement of the design. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]