Weight Blend Research Articles

An adaptive weight ensemble approach to forecast influenza activity in an irregular seasonality context

Forecasting influenza activity in tropical and subtropical regions, such as Hong Kong, is challenging due to irregular seasonality and high variability. We develop a diverse set of statistical, machine learning, and deep learning approaches to forecast influenza activity in Hong Kong 0 to 8 weeks ahead, leveraging a unique multi-year surveillance record spanning 32 epidemics from 1998 to 2019. We consider a simple average ensemble (SAE) of the top two individual models, and develop an adaptive weight blending ensemble (AWBE) that dynamically updates model contribution. All models outperform the baseline constant incidence model, reducing the root mean square error (RMSE) by 23%–29% and weighted interval score (WIS) by 25%–31% for 8-week ahead forecasts. The SAE model performed similarly to individual models, while the AWBE model reduces RMSE by 52% and WIS by 53%, outperforming individual models for forecasts in different epidemic trends (growth, plateau, decline) and during both winter and summer seasons. Using the post-COVID data (2023–2024) as another test period, the AWBE model still reduces RMSE by 39% and WIS by 45%. Our framework contributes to comparing and benchmarking models in ensemble forecasts, enhancing evidence for synthesizing multiple models in disease forecasting for geographies with irregular influenza seasonality.

Co-pyrolysis of biomass/polyurethane foam waste: Thermodynamic study using Aspen Plus

Due to the varieties and identical feature of solid waste, this research aims to consider the use of various feedstocks in pyrolysis process for liquid fuel production. The feedstock considered covers woody and non-woody biomass and plastic waste which are represented by sawdust (SD), palm leaf (PL) and polyurethane foam (PU) waste. In this research, both pure solid waste and the co-pyrolysis of biomass and plastic wastes were determined based on thermodynamics study. The model of pyrolysis process developed through Aspen Plus simulator was implemented to study the product yield, higher heating value (HHV) and energy consumption with a wider range of pyrolysis temperature and blending weight ratio. The simulation results clearly showed that the use of pure PU waste can provide the highest oil yield (∼44 wt%) which is corresponded to highest HHV (∼28 MJ/kg). The pyrolysis, operating at 400 °C, can provide the most significant quantity of oil. For the co-pyrolysis, the results revealed that more PU waste blended in both biomasses can improve both oil yield and HHV while the energy consumption is lower. From the simulation results, the optimal blending weight ratio of biomass and PU waste at 25:75 can provide suitable oil yield (∼43 wt%), HHV (∼26 MJ/kg) and energy consumption (243 kW).

Upcycling of recycled polyethylene for rotomolding applications via dicumyl peroxide crosslinking

AbstractPolyethylene (PE), including high‐density polyethylene (HDPE) and low‐density polyethylene (LDPE), makes up a significant part of post‐consumer plastics in municipal solid waste, presenting challenges for traditional recycling methods due to a wide range of melt flow properties and poor interfacial adhesion between the different resin, which often leads to low quality products (downcycling). In this study, a method is proposed to modify the molecular structure of post‐consumer PE (rHDPE and rLDPE) and their blends by using a straightforward organic peroxide crosslinking technique with 1 phr of dicumyl peroxide (DCP). Different rHDPE/rLDPE blend weight ratios (0/100, 20/80, 40/60, 50/50, 60/40, 80/20, and 100/0) were prepared using a combination of co‐rotating twin‐screw extrusion and pulverization. The final parts were produced via rotomolding where both the forming and crosslinking processes occurred concurrently. Subsequently, the materials were characterized in terms of chemical, thermal, and mechanical properties. It was found that the tensile strength (228%), tensile modulus (345%), flexural strength (145%), and flexural modulus (251%) increased by crosslinking the 80% wt. rHDPE (x‐rHDPE). Conversely, the gel content increased by 17%, thermal resistance by 37.2%, and the impact strength by 93% with 80% wt. rLDPE (x‐rLDPE). It can be concluded that a balance between the properties occurs as the addition of DCP improved both the interfacial adhesion and melt properties of rHDPE/rLDPE blends. This innovative approach represents a simple and straightforward method to upcycle mixed plastics (PE) streams, especially for rotomolding applications. It also offers promising avenues for sustainable waste management and material reuse.

Unravelling the Effect of Chain and Branch Content on Viscosity of Polyisobutylene-Mineral Oil Blends by Modelling and its Tribological Properties

The viscosity index is a fundamental property of lubricating oils and greases that significantly affects their lubrication performance under diverse temperature conditions. This study aims to investigate the influence of chain length and branch content on the viscosity of polyisobutylene (PIB)-blend mineral oil. To achieve this objective, mathematical models are employed to predict the specific volume, Vander Waals volume, structural factor, friction factor, molecular weight, and specific viscosity of lubricant blends and their correlation with macromolecular structure. Furthermore, analytical techniques such as Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and CHNS elemental analyzer are utilized to forecast the appropriate molecular structure of mineral-based oil. The purpose of this research is to comprehend the impact of the macromolecular structure of lubricants on their viscosity, particularly in the case of polyisobutylene (PIB)-blend mineral oil. Overall, the concentration of PIB was found to directly influence the friction (15.3%) and wear (5.6%) performance of the mineral oil explored following ASTM 4172 standard. The mathematical models and analytical techniques employed used in this study can accurately forecast the specific volume, Vander Waals volume, structural factor, friction factor, molecular weight, and specific viscosity of lubricant blends and their relationship with macromolecular structure.

Investigating the impact of the sulfonation degree in sulfonated polyphenylsulfone (sPPSU) on PES/sPPSU polymer blend membranes

Polyethersulfone (PES) has widespread applications due to its excellent processability, mechanical strength, and chemical resistance. Nevertheless, its hydrophobic nature often leads to severe fouling and permeance decline. To improve the hydrophilicity of PES membranes, polymer blending is one of the most common methods. In this work, a series of sulfonated polyphenylene sulfones (sPPSU) with 1.9, 4.5, 8.2, 12.7, 19 degrees of sulfonation (DS) were synthesized and used to blend with PES. The PES/sPPSU blends were found to be compatible by calculating their theoretical enthalpy of mixing and measuring their glass transition temperatures (Tg's) at a blend weight ratio of 1:1. Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were cast using the nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) method. It was found that 50/50 PES/sPPSU blend membranes with a DS equaling to or exceeding 8.2 eliminated finger-like macrovoids, resulting in a thinner and tight cross-sectional structure. A higher DS of sPPSU rendered the blend membranes with more hydrophilicity and oleophobicity as well as a more negatively charged surface. The unmodified PES membrane had rejections of 87.47 % and 91.5 % in ultrafiltration tests using feed solutions containing BSA and oil/water emulsion, respectively. The rejections could be further increased to 99.37 % and 97.17 % respectively by the blend membranes. The blend membranes consisting of a higher DS of sPPSU also exhibited a higher permeance, lower BSA absorption and better anti-fouling properties than the PES membrane.

Animatable Implicit Neural Representations for Creating Realistic Avatars From Videos.

This paper addresses the challenge of reconstructing an animatable human model from a multi-view video. Some recent works have proposed to decompose a non-rigidly deforming scene into a canonical neural radiance field and a set of deformation fields that map observation-space points to the canonical space, thereby enabling them to learn the dynamic scene from images. However, they represent the deformation field as translational vector field or SE(3) field, which makes the optimization highly under-constrained. Moreover, these representations cannot be explicitly controlled by input motions. Instead, we introduce blend weight fields to produce the deformation fields. Based on the skeleton-driven deformation, blend weight fields are used with 3D human skeletons to generate observation-to-canonical and canonical-to-observation correspondences. Since 3D human skeletons are more observable, they can regularize the learning of deformation fields. Moreover, the blend weight fields can be combined with input skeletal motions to generate new deformation fields to animate the human model. To improve the quality of human modeling, we further represent the human geometry as a signed distance field in the canonical space. Additionally, a neural point displacement field is introduced to enhance the capability of the blend weight field on modeling detailed human motions. Experiments show that our approach significantly outperforms recent human modeling methods.

Preparation and tuning the optical and electrical properties of polyethylene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol/poly(3,4-thylenedioxythiophene): polystyrene sulfonate/CuO-based quaternary nanocomposites for futuristic energy storage devices

Polymeric nanocomposites have important industrial and scientific applications because they are flexible, multifunctional, and highly intelligent. Using the solution-casting technique, copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) of different concentrations (0.4, 0.8, 1.2, and 1.6 wt% to the host blend weight) were added to polymer nanocomposite films made of polyethylene oxide, polyvinyl alcohol, and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEO/PVA/PEDOT: PSS) blend. According to TEM and XRD studies, the CuO NPs of a size range of 20 to 60 nm were extremely pure and had a monoclinic structure. The PEO/PVA/PEDOT: PSS blend's semicrystalline character was reduced by the additional CuO NPs through interactions between the functional groups of blend and nanofiller, according to XRD and FTIR measurements. By adding more CuO NPs, the samples' optical bandgap energies, and UV/visible absorption spectra showed considerable changes. The electrical conductivity, impedance, and dielectric features of the samples were assessed at various frequencies, from 10−1 to 107 Hz. AC conductivity, dielectric permittivity, and dielectric loss all steadily improved as CuO NPs content rose and low permittivity at the high frequencies depicted the favourable nanodielectric features of these hybrid films. The equivalent electrical circuit using the impedance components Z′ and Z″ was introduced. The controllable optical energy gaps, frequency-dependent AC conductivity, and a large extent of composition tuneable permittivity implied the utility of PEO/PVA/PEDOT: PSS/CuO nanocomposites in developing flexible optoelectronic and energy storage devices.

Experimental Investigation of Mechanical and Electromagnetic Performance of Asphalt Concrete Containing Different Ratios of Graphite Powder as a Filler to be Potentially Used as Part of Wireless Electric Roads

This study experimentally investigates the usability of asphalt concrete pavement containing five different ratios of graphite powder (0%, 1.25%, 2.5%, 3.75% and 5% by weight of the aggregate blend or 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the filler content) as a filler to be potentially used as part of wireless electric roads (ER). As part of the study, first, optimum asphalt binder content for the asphalt mixes without graphite powder was determined as 5%. Then, using the determined optimum asphalt binder content, asphalt mixes containing five different ratios of graphite powder as a filler were prepared and their mechanical and volumetric properties based on Marshall mix design methodology were evaluated. As graphite powder ratios in the asphalt mixes increased, their Marshall stability, flow, voids filled with asphalt and unit weight test results mostly decreased but their air content and voids in mineral aggregate test results increased. Possible reasons for this could be: (1) lower bulk specific gravity of graphite powder, (2) higher asphalt absorbance, (3) having greater surface area compared to that of limestone filler, and (4) weak bonds between sheet-like graphite layers. Furthermore, another batch of asphalt mixes containing five different ratios of graphite powder were prepared and tested in the frequency range of 3–18 GHz for their electromagnetic permittivity properties. It was observed in this study that, except for the specimens with 100% graphite powder ratios, transmission magnitudes of all specimens were above 50% up to 8 GHz, indicating that they had comparably high transmission magnitudes so as comparably low tangent loss values. In the frequency range of 3–13 GHz, transmission magnitudes of the specimens with 25% and 50% graphite powder ratios were consistently higher than that having no graphite powder, the ones with 25% powder ratios had the highest transmission magnitudes in most of the cases in this frequency range. Considering the mechanical, volumetric and electromagnetic property test results of the asphalt mixes with five different ratios of graphite powder, it can be concluded that the use of 25% graphite powder ratio (corresponding to 1.25% of the aggregate blend used in the mixes), has a comparably lower negative effect on mechanical and volumetric properties of asphalt mixes and has a positive effect on electromagnetic permittivity properties of asphalt mixes. Asphalt mixes produced with this graphite powder ratio can be considered to be used as part of wireless ER.

Experimental Investigation of Mechanical and Electromagnetic Performance of Asphalt Concrete Containing Different Ratios of Graphite Powder as a Filler to be Potentially Used as Part of Wireless Electric Roads

This study experimentally investigates the usability of asphalt concrete pavement containing five different ratios of graphite powder (0%, 1.25%, 2.5%, 3.75% and 5% by weight of the aggregate blend or 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the filler content) as a filler to be potentially used as part of wireless electric roads (ER). As part of the study, first, optimum asphalt binder content for the asphalt mixes without graphite powder was determined as 5%. Then, using the determined optimum asphalt binder content, asphalt mixes containing five different ratios of graphite powder as a filler were prepared and their mechanical and volumetric properties based on Marshall mix design methodology were evaluated. As graphite powder ratios in the asphalt mixes increased, their Marshall stability, flow, voids filled with asphalt and unit weight test results mostly decreased but their air content and voids in mineral aggregate test results increased. Possible reasons for this could be: (1) lower bulk specific gravity of graphite powder, (2) higher asphalt absorbance, (3) having greater surface area compared to that of limestone filler, and (4) weak bonds between sheet-like graphite layers. Furthermore, another batch of asphalt mixes containing five different ratios of graphite powder were prepared and tested in the frequency range of 3–18 GHz for their electromagnetic permittivity properties. It was observed in this study that, except for the specimens with 100% graphite powder ratios, transmission magnitudes of all specimens were above 50% up to 8 GHz, indicating that they had comparably high transmission magnitudes so as comparably low tangent loss values. In the frequency range of 3–13 GHz, transmission magnitudes of the specimens with 25% and 50% graphite powder ratios were consistently higher than that having no graphite powder, the ones with 25% powder ratios had the highest transmission magnitudes in most of the cases in this frequency range. Considering the mechanical, volumetric and electromagnetic property test results of the asphalt mixes with five different ratios of graphite powder, it can be concluded that the use of 25% graphite powder ratio (corresponding to 1.25% of the aggregate blend used in the mixes), has a comparably lower negative effect on mechanical and volumetric properties of asphalt mixes and has a positive effect on electromagnetic permittivity properties of asphalt mixes. Asphalt mixes produced with this graphite powder ratio can be considered to be used as part of wireless ER.

Investigating the efficiency of bisphenol-A diglycidyl ether/resole phenol formaldehyde/polyamine blends as Cerium adsorbent from aqueous solution

The blending process of epoxy resin types of bisphenol-A diglycidyl ether (DGEBPA) with resole phenol-formaldehyde (RPF) and polyamine (PA) materials is investigated for Cerium (Ce+3) desorption. Two different blend weight ratios of EPR2 (DGEBPA/PA/RPF; 2:1:1) and EPR3 (DGEBPA/PA/RPF; 2:1:3) are used for the evaluation and compared with the epoxy blank sample EPR1 (DGEBPA/PA; 2:1), under the same preparation conditions of the thermal curing reaction for 1 h at 80 °C. SEM/EDX, XRF, and FTIR are used to illustrate the obtained sorbents. Since cerium is utilized in many industries, this research examines the prospect of extracting it from aqueous solutions that include it using sorbent materials that are affordable, simple to use, and easy to apply. Balance equilibrium is determined by; 40 ppm, solid-to-liquid ratio: 0.1:10 g/mL, room temperature, time: 4 h, and pH 4. Cerium is extracted almost completely without significant solution changes in the chemical composition. Sorption isotherm models are used to analyze the investigative findings. Kinetic, isotherms, and thermodynamics analysis for the obtained data have been performed followed by Langmuir models and pseudo-second-order. The adsorption capacity of Cerium is obtained near; 1.8, 3.9, and 11.7 mg/g for EPR1, EPR2, and EPR3, respectively. The detected results of Ce+3 adsorption; EPR3 is the most effective Cerium adsorbent from solutions and for application on real samples from Nuclear Materials Authority.

Effects of Feed Moisture Content on the Physical and Nutritional Quality Attributes of Sunflower Meal-based High-Moisture Meat Analogues

Adding value to food industry by-products, like sunflower meal (SFM), through their utilization as ingredients in new food products can improve sustainability of food systems. This research investigated extrusion cooking to produce high-moisture meat analogues (HMMAs) made from blends of soy protein isolate and expeller-pressed SFM. The effects of feed moisture content [FMC] (60, 65, and 70%, wet basis) and SFM concentration (37.5, 50, and 62.5%, total blend weight basis) on physical and protein nutritional quality attributes of HMMAs were investigated. The processing temperatures (including cooling die), screw speed and feed rate were kept constant at 60-80-115-125-50-25 °C (from feeder to the die end), 200 rpm and 0.5 kg/h (dry basis), respectively. An increase in SFM concentration and FMC significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the mechanical energy requirements for extrusion. Cutting strength and texture profile analysis of HMMAs indicated softer texture with increases in SFM and FMC. X-ray microcomputed tomography analysis revealed that the microstructure of the HMMAs at the centre and towards the surface was different and affected by SFM concentration and FMC. The in vitro–protein digestibility corrected amino acid score of the HMMAs ranged between 85 and 91% and did not show significant (p < 0.05) changes as a function of FMC or SFM concentration. HMMAs produced from 37.5% SFM at 70% FMC showed no deficiency in essential amino acids for all age categories except for infants, suggesting the high potential of SFM and soy protein blends for creating nutritious meat alternative products. Overall, this work provided valuable insights regarding the effects of soy protein replacement by SFM on the textural, microstructural and nutritional quality of HMMA applications, paving the way for value-addition to this underutilized food industry by-product.

Robust power spectral density estimation via a performance-weighted blend of order statistics

Loud transients introduce bias to background spectrum estimates based on the sample mean, like the Welch Overlapped Segment Averaging (WOSA) [1967]. The Schwock and Abadi [2021] Welch Percentile (SAWP) estimator avoids the loud transient bias by replacing the averaging of the WOSA with a scaled order statistic (OS) of the sample power spectrum. While the scaling ensures the SAWP is unbiased regardless of which OS is chosen, the 80th percentile minimizes the variance of the SAWP estimator in a scenario without loud transients. However, the 80th percentile SAWP is still vulnerable to bias and increased variance from more frequent loud transients. Also, the rate of occurrence of loud transients may change with time, requiring the SAWP to adapt which percentile is used. To approach this challenge, this talk proposes a Universal SAWP estimator which is a weighted sum across different fixed percentile SAWP estimators. At each iteration, the Universal SAWP updates the blend weights to promote the percentile with the lowest sample variance over recent observations. In computer simulations, the Universal SAWP quickly assigns higher weights to the lowest variance estimators as the occurrence of loud transients increases. Overall, the Universal SAWP achieves equal or lower variance as the best fixed percentile SAWP estimator. [Work supported by ONR Code 321US.]

Effects of hexa (ethyl lactate)-cyclotriphosphazene on flame retardancy and mechanical properties of polylactic acid

Using biobased additives to improve the performance of polylactide (PLA) is important for maintaining its sustainability. In this work, an eco-benign flame retardant HELCP was synthesized by reacting ethyl lactate with cyclotriphosphazene. The HELCP was used to modify the flame retardancy of PLA. A small amount of 5.0 wt% HELCP endows PLA with a UL-94 V0 rating and a limiting oxygen index of 25.3 vol%. The mechanical properties and transparency of PLA/HELCP blends is almost the same as neat PLA. Moreover, the molecular weight of PLA blends does not decrease but increase instead. The phosphazene group of HELCP plays an important role in gas phase and the plasticization of HELCP shows a certain melting-away effect which is the flame-retardant mode of action in this system. The ethyl lactate part of HELCP undergoes ester exchange reactions with PLA and improves the compatibility between PLA and HELCP. This work provides a novel method for preparing PLA blends with good flame retardancy and mechanical properties.

Miscibility and related rheological, physical, and optical properties of polycarbonate/poly(methyl methacrylate-co-phenyl methacrylate) blends: Effect of varying phenyl methacrylate composition

This study presents a systematic investigation of miscibility, rheological, and physical/optical properties of polycarbonate (PC)/poly (methyl methacrylate-co-phenyl methacrylate) (PMMA-co-PPhMA) blends with varying copolymer composition and blend weight percentage (wt%). Herein, single glass transition behavior from miscible blends was confirmed through differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA), while further analysis revealed differences in blend homogeneity. X-ray scattering and rheometer measurements complemented this different phase homogeneity in the blends. PMMA-co-PPhMA with 14 mol% of PhMA (denoted as PMPA-2) demonstrated the most favorable miscibility and phase homogeneity among the prepared blends. Enhanced scratch resistance was achieved by increasing the wt% of PMMA-co-PPhMA, but phase inhomogeneity resulted in decreased optical transparency. The blend between PC and PMPA-2 exhibited optimal rheological, mechanical, and optical properties. This study provides insights into the PC-based blend materials for applications in various industrial fields.

Flame Retarding and Strengthening Poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate-co-ethylene terephthalate) Using Phosphonate Containing Genistein

A bio-based phosphonate 4-(7-((diphenylphosphoryl)oxy)-5-hydroxy-4-oxo-4H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl diphenylphosphinate (DPGE) was synthesized using diphenylphosphinic chloride and genistein. DPGE was used to modify the flame retardancy of poly(ethylene 2,5-furandicarboxylate-co-ethylene terephthalate) (PEFT20) containing 20 mol % 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid. PEFT20 containing 8 wt % DPGE displays a UL-94 V0 rating and a limiting oxygen index of 29.8 vol %. The flame retardant mode is the comprehensive effects of melting-away, gas phase, and condensed phase induced by DPGE. In addition, triglycidyl isocyanurate (TGIC) was incorporated to regulate the mechanical performance of PEFT20/DPGE. The flexural and impact strengths of PEFT20/DPGE are modified greatly. The coupling reactions between PEFT20 and TGIC increase the molecular weight and mechanical properties of PEFT20 blends. But, TGIC counteracts the melting-away effect caused by DPGE. Therefore, too much TGIC causes the decrease in flame retardancy.

Fading analyses of commercial lithium-ion batteries with blended cathodes using synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurement and discharge curve analysis

We investigated the fading behavior of commercial lithium-ion batteries with blended cathodes. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements revealed the constituent materials of the blended cathode and the degradation state of the cathode due to particle cracking. A particle model was newly introduced to the discharge curve analysis in order to explain the voltage change due to particle cracking, which is not considered in the conventional discharge curve analyses. Herein, blended cathode and particle models to advance the conventional discharge curve analyses have been presented. We have implemented these models besides basic model within our discharge curve analysis code called VOLCALO (VOLtage CALculation and Optimization). The blended cathode model could reproduce the measured values of the discharge curve of cycled batteries better than the conventional method and obtain a change in blend weight ratio due to degradation. The particle model analysis revealed that considering the particle size change due to particle cracking, changes in the discharge curves near the discharge end could be explained by the increase of surface sites.

Expanded Glass for Thermal and Acoustic Insulation from Recycled Post-Consumer Glass and Textile Industry Process Waste

The production of glass foams obtained by recycling post-consumer glass and textile industry processing waste is presented. The mechanical, thermal and acoustic properties were characterized as a function of process temperature and time. The results showed that it is possible to produce glass foams with thermal and acoustic insulation properties from a mixture consisting of 96.5% of glass waste, 1% of textile waste and 2.5% of manganese dioxide, processed at temperatures between 800 and 900 °C for a time between 30 and 90 min. The samples had density in the range of 200-300 kg m-3, porosity of 87-92%, thermal conductivity of 85-105 mW m-1 K-1, noise-reducing factors of 0.15-0.40 and compressive strength of 1.2-3.0 MPa. Although their insulation performance was not as outstanding as that of polymer foams, these materials can emerge as competitive candidates for applications requiring non-flammability and high-temperature load bearing capacity in combination with low weight, mechanical strength, and thermal and acoustic insulation properties. The use of secondary raw materials (which accounted for 97.5% by weight of the synthetic blend) limits the energy required compared to that needed for the extraction, transportation and processing of primary raw materials, making these foams attractive also in terms of environmental footprint.

Synthesis of Methyldopa-Tin Complexes and Their Applicability as Photostabilizers for the Protection of Polyvinyl Chloride against Photolysis.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a ubiquitous thermoplastic that is produced on an enormous industrial scale to meet growing global demand. PVC has many favorable properties and is used in various applications. However, photodecomposition occurs when harsh conditions, such as high temperatures in the presence of oxygen and moisture, are encountered. Thus, PVC is blended with additives to increase its resistance to deterioration caused by exposure to ultraviolet light. In the current research, five methyldopa-tin complexes were synthesized and characterized. The methyldopa-tin complexes were mixed with PVC at a concentration of 0.5% by weight, and thin films were produced. The capability of the complexes to protect PVC from irradiation was shown by a reduction in the formation of small residues containing alcohols, ketones, and alkenes, as well as in weight loss and in the molecular weight of irradiated polymeric blends. In addition, the use of the new additives significantly reduced the roughness factor of the irradiated films. The additives containing aromatic substituents (phenyl rings) were more effective compared to those comprising aliphatic substituents (butyl and methyl groups). Methyldopa-tin complexes have the ability to absorb radiation, coordinate with polymeric chains, and act as radical, peroxide, and hydrogen chloride scavengers.

Dispersion, compatibility, and rheological properties of graphene-modified asphalt binders

Graphene is a 2D nanomaterial made of a monolayer, honeycomb lattice structure established by sp2-hybridized carbon atoms. Previous studies have indicated that graphene enhanced the high- temperature performance of neat asphalt binders. However, the intermediate- and low-temperature performance, dispersion, and compatibility of graphene-modified asphalt binders remain unclear. This study presents a comprehensive investigation on the above-mentioned research gaps of graphene-modified asphalt binders. A commercially available graphene was mixed with non-modified binder and SBS modified binder. The graphene dosage was varied as 0%, 0.3%, 0.65%, 1%, 1.5%, 2.5%, 5%, and 7% by the total weight of blends. The graphene dispersion was assessed by direct observation with an optical microscope and quantitative calculation through 2D image processing. The rotational viscosimeter was used to measure viscosity and to analyze the workability. The cigar tube test was conducted to examine the compatibility between graphene and asphalt binders. The Dynamic Shear Rheometer test was carried out on unaged, RTFO-aged, and PAV-aged specimens to obtain the rheological properties as well as to analyze the high- and intermediate-temperature performance. The bending beam rheometer was used to study the thermal cracking resistance at low temperature. The results showed that graphene up to 1.5% dosage was well dispersed in asphalt binders. The addition of graphene up to 1% dosage slightly increased the viscosity of asphalt binders. There was good compatibility between graphene and asphalt binders. Graphene significantly improved the rutting resistance, while had little adverse influence on the fatigue cracking and thermal cracking resistance up to 0.65% dosage addition. Thus, the optimum graphene dosage was 0.65% for both binder types. The findings showed the promising application of graphene in asphalt pavements.

3D Shape Deformation Using Stick Figures

Obtaining new poses of an articulated character is a critical task in computer graphics. We address this issue with a new shape deformation approach consisting of two phases enabling the user to express the new pose as a simple stick figure, also called skeleton consisting of few bones. We interchangeably refer to this problem as shape transfer because the template shape is transferred to the independent stick figure that may be obtained from any source such as motion capture and 3D sketching. In the first phase, the stick figure is embedded into the template shape, resembling the rigging process of character skinning. Then, instead of computing blend weights as in skinning, the shape, discretized as a mesh, is augmented by adding extra edges between a subset of mesh vertices and the embedded stick figure. The second phase deforms the augmented mesh towards the new pose under the guidance of the embedded stick figure by minimizing an As-Rigid-As-Possible (ARAP) energy. The overall deformation is intuitive as skinning, preserves surface details as it is based on ARAP deformation yet has better volume preservation capability owing to the augmented mesh. Our results are validated both in terms of timing and accuracy in a comprehensive test suite that includes state-of-the-art deformation techniques. • Edges between mesh and its skeleton prevent from volume loss in ARAP deformation. • Two skeletons can be matched by minimizing a distance-based penalty function. • Distance-based skeleton matching method can be used as an automatic rigging method. • New poses of a shape can be created by using a stick figure and a template mesh.