Eco-friendly approach for preparation of hybrid silica aerogel via freeze drying method

Journal of Materials Science - In this paper, an eco-friendly method of producing hybrid silica aerogels by freeze-drying method (FD) is proposed. In the freeze-drying system, deionized water was...     

A non-invasive learning branch to capture leaf-image attention for tree species classification

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Tree species classification is a necessary and challenging task for both multimedia technique and forestry engineering. Continuous developments in multimedia and...     

Self-healing,elastic and deformable novel composite phase change polymer based on thermoplastic elastomer SEBS for wearable devices

Journal of Materials Science - Form-stable composite phase change materials (C-PCMs) prepared by microencapsulation method and porous matrix adsorption method need for compression molding after...     

Enhanced thermal conductivity of PP hybrid films induced by filler orientation and laminated structure

Journal of Materials Science - Currently, polymeric composites with good thermal conductivity and simple preparation method are in the rapid increment of demand. In this work,...     

Effects of non-thermal plasma treating wheat kernel on the physicochemical properties of wheat flour and the quality of fresh wet noodles

The effects of non-thermal plasma (NTP) on the physicochemical properties of wheat flour and the quality of fresh wet noodles ( FWN) were investigated. The results showed that NTP effectively decreased the total plate count (TPC), yeast and mould count (YMC) and Bacillus spp. in wheat flour. Wet gluten contents and the stability time reached the maximum when treated for 20 s. The viscosity of starch increased significantly after treatment due to the increased of damaged starch. The contents of secondary structure were altered to some extent, which was because that the ordered network structure of gluten protein broken. Furthermore, compared with the control, texture properties of FWN were enhanced significantly at 20 s, and the darkening rate of FWN was greatly inhibited due to the low polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity. Consequently, the most suitable treatment was 500 W for 20 s, providing a basis for the application of NTP in flour products.     

Experimental and Numerical Studies of Multi-compartment Spreading Fire in a Full-Scale Steel Framed Building

Fire Technology - Fire dynamic characteristics in multi-compartments are still not very clear. This paper presents a spreading fire test in a full-scale two-storey steel framed building to...     

Efficiency evaluation of healthcare services in China based on stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis and directional distance function

Evaluating the efficiency of healthcare services accurately can help in analyzing the rationality of inputs and outputs in such services. Considering the consistency and equity of assessment criteria, this study conducts the stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA-2) with a directional distance function to evaluate the efficiency of healthcare services in 31 provincial administrative regions of mainland China, as observed in 2018. We use SMAA-DDF to explore all the projection directions to the efficient frontier instead of a certain projection direction. We measure the maximum and average efficiencies for each of the 31 provincial healthcare services. Our empirical findings show that only seven provinces achieve optimal healthcare service efficiency; the eastern area performed the best, followed by the central, western, and northeast areas. Furthermore, the path along the projection directions is provided to help inefficient provinces improve their efficiency and obtain the best possible positions.     

Cold sintered,temperature-stable CaSnSiO5-K2MoO4 composite microwave ceramics and its prototype microstrip patch antenna

Dense (1-x)wt%CaSnSiO₅-xwt%K₂MoO₄ (CSSO-KMO) composite ceramics were fabricated by the cold sintering process at 180 °C under 400 MPa for 60 min. X-ray diffraction, Energy dispersive X-ray and Raman spectroscopy confirmed that CSSO and KMO coexisted without intermediate phases. As KMO weight fraction increased, relative permittivity (ε_r) and temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (τ_f) decreased and the microwave quality factor (Q×f, where f is resonant frequency) increased. Near-zero τ_f (-0.5 ppm/°C) was obtained for 65 wt%CSSO-35 wt%KMO with ε_r ～ 9.2 and Q×f ～ 6240 GHz. No chemical reaction between ceramic composites and silver was observed, demonstrating potential for cofiring with Ag-paste. A prototype antenna was fabricated from 65 wt%CSSO-35 wt%KMO composite ceramic with a bandwidth of 144 MHz @ -10 dB, a gain of 5.7 dBi and a total efficiency of 88.4 % at 5.2 GHz, suitable for 5 G mobile communication systems.