Institution Of Engineers Research Articles

Development of the High‐Temperature Knudsen Effusion Mass Spectrometry in the Nordic Countries

In this article, a brief review of the development of the Knudsen effusion mass spectrometric (KEMS) approach in the Theoretical Metallurgy Department of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and in the in the Laboratory of Metallurgy of the Helsinki University of Technology and modifications of quadrupole model QMG420 mass spectrometers, is presented. The thermodynamic data obtained from vaporization of standards, such as NaCl, CsCl, B2O3, and Ag, and of the B2O3–Al2O3 and ZnO–P2O5 systems is compared with the data obtained using a magnetic MS1301 mass spectrometer. For the first time, composition of the vapor phase over the Dy2O3–DyF3, CaO–CaCl2, and Cu–Mg systems and the partial pressures of components at high temperatures are investigated. The experimental data obtained for the investigated systems are used for prediction of the vaporization processes and modeling of thermodynamic properties and high‐temperature phase equilibria in the multicomponent systems used in metallurgy. An account is given of the detailed studies of the vaporization processes and thermodynamic properties of some multicomponent systems composed of oxides, fluorides, and carbonates forming mold powders for continuous casting of steel. Some new directions of the ongoing studies by the KEMS method are summarized.

Problematika Pengembangan Kompetensi Digital Guru dalam Pendidikan Islam di Era Globalisasi

In the era of globalization, developing teachers' digital competence has become a significant challenge, particularly in the context of Islamic education, which must remain relevant to current advancements. This study aims to identify the problems and challenges in developing digital competence among teachers in Islamic educational settings in the globalization era. The research methodology used is library research, where primary and secondary data were collected from various books, journals, and literature related to digital competence and its relevance to Islamic education. The results show that while technology plays an essential role in enhancing the effectiveness of learning, many teachers in Islamic education still face challenges such as lack of training, limited access to technology, and resistance to change. This study recommends strengthening online-based training, improving technology infrastructure, and fostering collaboration with technology institutions to bridge the digital divide. This approach will help enhance teachers' professionalism and maintain the relevance of Islamic education in the digital era.

The American Society for Clinical Pathology's 2023 wage survey of medical laboratories in the United States.

To inform the pathology and laboratory field of the most recent national wage data. Historically, the results of this biennial survey have served as a basis for additional research on laboratory professional recruitment, retention, education, marketing, certification, and advocacy. The 2023 Wage Survey was conducted in collaboration between the American Society for Clinical Pathology's (ASCP's) Institute of Science, Technology, and Policy in Washington, DC, and ASCP Board of Certification in Chicago, Illinois. Compared to 2021, results show that more occupations at the staff level had an increased average hourly wage (pathologists' assistant, molecular biology technologist, phlebotomist, cytogenetic technologist, and medical laboratory technician [MLT]), after adjusting for inflation. Wages by time in current occupational title are significantly higher in 2023 than in 2021. Histotechnicians, histotechnologists, and MLTs show consistent increases in pay rates for a longer length of time in the laboratory. Over half (52.4%) of the respondents feel the pandemic continues to influence their salary and/or well-being. Survey results call for continued efforts in promoting visibility of the profession and greater representation through advocacy. While burnout rates are lower compared to 2021, staffing challenges remain a relevant concern. Efforts to support the workforce have multiplied since the pandemic and have been the forefront focus of the laboratory community. However, continued support and advocacy are needed to increase the promotion and value of laboratory careers for laboratory professionals and patients alike.

Systematic Layout Planning and Analytical Hierarchy Process for Laboratory Layout Optimization: A Case Study of DESPRIN

The Product Design and Innovation Laboratory (DESPRIN) at Del Institute of Technology plays a crucial role in supporting innovation. Yet, its current layout struggles to meet its users' diverse and evolving needs. This study addresses the problem of inadequate spatial configuration, which hampers workflow efficiency, ergonomics, and the lab's overall capacity to accommodate various activities. To resolve this issue, a flexible layout is designed using the Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) method, emphasizing optimizing space utilization, workflow, and spatial adaptability. Data collected from literature reviews, interviews, statistical analyses, and anthropometric measurements inform the design process to enhance the lab’s quality and spatial efficiency. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to prioritize key layout design factors, identifying capacity as the most critical element (0.4930), followed by facilities (0.1688), accessibility (0.1414), security (0.1270), and environment (0.0708). The study results in 13 new layout configurations that can accommodate various activities within DESPRIN, providing a more dynamic and responsive user environment.

The oleaginous voice: Auto-Tune, linear predictive coding, and the security-petroleum complex

ABSTRACT In the twentieth century, exploration geophysics and digital vocal processing each underwent key technical transformations based on formally similar signal processing techniques derived from prior work in statistics and information theory. Engineers at Texas Instruments (TI) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed deconvolution filtering as a way to model geological strata from seismograph recordings in order to facilitate oil exploration. Meanwhile, engineers at Bell Laboratories and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) used similar techniques to digitally encode and transmit speech signals more efficiently – a method known as linear predictive coding (LPC). These cognate approaches to modeling geophysical and vocal signals provided a practical basis for subsequent forays by oil industry figures into the world of digital audio. Tracing the histories of four technologies – LPC secure voice transmission terminals, the TI Speak & Spell educational toy, automatic speech recognition, and the vocal pitch correction software Auto-Tune – I analyze the role of security interests in facilitating spillovers between technologies of oil and the voice. I argue that, by approaching both geophysical and vocal signals as matters of national security, the United States’ defense and intelligence services furnished the bulk of socio-economic connective tissue between petroleum geophysics and vocal processing research.

Concordant inter-laboratory derived concentrations of ceramides in human plasma reference materials via authentic standards

In this community effort, we compare measurements between 34 laboratories from 19 countries, utilizing mixtures of labelled authentic synthetic standards, to quantify by mass spectrometry four clinically used ceramide species in the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) human blood plasma Standard Reference Material (SRM) 1950, as well as a set of candidate plasma reference materials (RM 8231). Participants either utilized a provided validated method and/or their method of choice. Mean concentration values, and intra- and inter-laboratory coefficients of variation (CV) were calculated using single-point and multi-point calibrations, respectively. These results are the most precise (intra-laboratory CVs ≤ 4.2%) and concordant (inter-laboratory CVs < 14%) community-derived absolute concentration values reported to date for four clinically used ceramides in the commonly analyzed SRM 1950. We demonstrate that calibration using authentic labelled standards dramatically reduces data variability. Furthermore, we show how the use of shared RM can correct systematic quantitative biases and help in harmonizing lipidomics. Collectively, the results from the present study provide a significant knowledge base for translation of lipidomic technologies to future clinical applications that might require the determination of reference intervals (RIs) in various human populations or might need to estimate reference change values (RCV), when analytical variability is a key factor for recall during multiple testing of individuals.

A-349 Evaluation of i-STAT® Point of Care Blood Gas Cartridges and Competitor Blood Gas Devices Against Reference Standard for PCO2 and PO2

Abstract Background The i-STAT System provides laboratory quality results in minutes at the patient’s bedside. Accurate and rapid test results are critical for clinical decision making in the presence of blood gas disorders, including oxygenation and acid-base status, where the partial pressure oxygen (PO2) and partial pressure carbon dioxide (PCO2) are needed. The purpose of this study was to compare the analytical performance of the PO2 and PCO2 tests in the i-STAT G3+ and i-STAT CG8+ cartridges to the theoretical PO2 and PCO2 in prepared reference standards. Two other blood gas instruments, a benchtop device and a laboratory device were also compared to the reference PO2 and PCO2. Methods Venous whole blood samples were contrived using saturation tonometry with U.S. NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) traceable gas tanks to prepare the reference standards, which were value assigned to theoretical PO2 or PCO2 levels based on the molar composition of the gas mixture used. Eleven levels spanning the reportable range of each PO2 (5 mmHg - 800 mmHg) and PCO2 (5 mmHg - 130 mmHg) were prepared and tested in duplicate on the i-STAT G3+ and i-STAT CG8+ cartridges, benchtop device, and the laboratory device. Passing-Bablok linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the slope and correlation coefficient, comparing each blood gas device against the reference PO2 and PCO2 values. Study designs followed CLSI (Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute) EP09C-ED3:2018, Measurement Procedure Comparison and Bias Estimation using Patient Samples, 3rd Edition. Passing-Bablok regression analysis was also performed for the i-STAT cartridges and benchtop device against the laboratory device. Results The regression analysis was performed against the reference standards. For PO2, slopes for the i-STAT cartridges ranged from 0.93 - 0.97, the slope for the benchtop device was 0.99, and the slope for the laboratory device was 0.97. Correlation coefficients for all devices were 1.00. For PCO2, slopes for the i-STAT cartridges ranged from 0.98 - 1.02, the slope for the benchtop device was 0.85, and the slope for the laboratory device was 1.01. Correlation coefficients were 1.00 for the i-STAT cartridges and laboratory device, and 0.99 for the benchtop device. The regression analysis was also performed against the laboratory device. For PO2, slopes for the i-STAT cartridges ranged from 0.96 - 1.00, and the slope for the benchtop device was 1.02. Correlation coefficients for all devices were 1.00. For PCO2, slopes for the i-STAT cartridges ranged from 0.97 - 1.01, and the slope for the benchtop device was 0.85. Correlation coefficients were 1.00 for the i-STAT cartridges and 0.99 for the benchtop device. Conclusions The study demonstrated that the i-STAT G3+ and i-STAT CG8+ cartridges used with the i-STAT System were shown to provide laboratory quality results within 2 minutes, showing good agreement to both reference standards and laboratory quality devices. For PCO2, the i-STAT System was shown to have better agreement to both theoretical reference standards and the laboratory device than the benchtop device. These studies were funded by Abbott Laboratories.

A-092 Siemens Healthineers Commitment to Quality - A Focus on Continuous Improvement and Customer Experience

Abstract Background It is necessary that each step of in vitro diagnostic assay development and manufacturing processes be documented and executed in alignment with established quality management systems. Here, we describe how Siemens Healthineers (SHS) maintains assay traceability and focus on continuous improvement using the Atellica® CH A-LYTE® Integrated Multisensor Technology (IMT) assays measuring electrolytes sodium (Na), potassium (K), and chloride (Cl) as a prime example. Methods Establishing an unbroken chain of comparison from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) higher standard references to the product calibrators ensures accurate value assignment within stated measurement uncertainties. Traceability and standardization are achieved by creating a panel of 10 serum anchor pools spanning the analytical measuring interval for each electrolyte: Na, K, and Cl. The concentrations of the anchor pools are determined at a reference laboratory using methods calibrated with standard solutions derived from NIST reference material. These serum anchor pools are used by SHS, assigning values to product calibrator material which maintains the chain of traceability to the primary reference methods. In addition to traceability, onboard stability for the A-LYTE® IMT multisensor is continuously monitored and evaluated against allowable drift limits for each electrolyte. Although observed drift was within allowable limits, a design change was implemented to improve recovery drift over the use life of the sensor. Results To ensure consistent, robust, and accurate performance of the A-LYTE IMT, a strict set of testing procedures are used to verify the accuracy of value assignments for each manufactured lot of master standards. The recovery of the NIST standard reference material must fall within manufacturer established acceptable bias limits. Consistency over nine master lots is shown with bias ranging from -0.9% to +1.9%, -2.4% to +1.8% and -1.8 to +0.5%, for Na, K and Cl, respectively. By further optimizing the amount of Na ionophore and the polymer matrix of the Na sensor, drift over the use life was minimized and onboard stability improved. Prior to making the sensor change, customer Na QC data at 116 mmol/L showed an SD of 1.1 mmol/L (n=585), whereas the precision improved to an SD of 0.6 mmol/L (n=470) post-optimization. As Manufacturers optimize assay performance, it may become necessary for laboratories to re-evaluate reference intervals for their patient populations. For example, one large integrated delivery network established a new reference interval for patient anion gap (AG). A re-evaluation of the historical AG reference interval which was 5-15 mmol/L identified the need for an update. AG values were calculated from 16,948 healthy patients and used to establish a new reference interval of 2-10 mmol/L. Conclusions Accurate clinical laboratory measurements are critical for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating diseases. A-LYTE assays have an unbroken chain of traceability to NIST reference material and minimal drift over the life of the multisensor. Continuous monitoring to identify improvement projects and rigorous control systems ensure sensor performance over time. This provides confidence that the patient results produced by the laboratory are accurate and consistent over time and across different laboratory locations.

ProtectingSmall and Medium Enterprises: A Specialized Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Framework and Tool

As the number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) rises in the world, the amount of sensitive data used also increases, making them targets for cyberattacks. SMEs face a host of issues such as a lack of resources and poor cybersecurity talent, resulting in multiple vulnerabilities that increase overall risk. Cybersecurity risk assessment frameworks have been developed by multiple organizations such as the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), but they are complicated to understand and challenging to implement. This research aimed to create an effective cybersecurity risk assessment framework specifically for SMEs while considering their limitations. This was achieved by first identifying common threats and vulnerabilities and categorizing them according to their importance and risk. Secondly, popular frameworks like the NIST CSF and ISO 27001/2 were analyzed for their proficiencies and deficiencies while identifying relevant areas for SMEs. Finally, novel techniques catered to SMEs were explored and incorporated to create an effective framework for SMEs. This framework was also developed in the form of a tool, providing an interactive and dynamic environment. The tool was effective, and the framework is a promising start but requires more quantitative analysis.

Сравнительная оценка кормовой продуктивности чины посевной в различных эколого-географических условиях

Abstract. The article presents the results of studying the yield and quality of green mass of four varieties of domestic sowing varieties: Racheyka, Zhemchuzhina, Mramornaya and Elena. The purpose of the study is to assess the phenotypic variability of chinese varieties in terms of the duration of the growing season, yield and quality of green mass, to select genotypes that are resistant to limiting environmental factors and capable of forming consistently high feed productivity in different agroclimatic conditions. Methods. Laboratory and field research was carried out in 2022–2023 on the educational and experimental field of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Omsk State Agrarian University” (Omsk) and on the basis of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Russian Research and Design Technological Institute of Sorghum and Corn (Saratov). The conditions of the growing season are close to arid ones, HTC = 0.64…1.02. In the Omsk experimental plot, the soil is meadow-chernozem medium-thick (45 cm), low-humus (3.95 % humus), semi-loam (35 % physical clay), in Saratov – southern chernozem low-humus (3.80 % humus), medium-thick (42 cm), clayed loam (43 % physical clay). The predecessor is grain crops. When conducting research, we followed the same methodology – sowing in the first ten days of May, seeding rate – 700 thousand pieces grains per hectare, plot area – 5 m2, seed placement depth – 5 cm. Results. Growing conditions have a significant impact on the variability of the duration of the growing season – 65.8 % and the level of green mass yield – 54.2 %. The variation in the parameters of the biochemical composition is largely due to the genotype of the variety – 62.1 %. Evaluation of varieties according to adaptability indicators made it possible to distribute them into groups: 1 – extensive form with very low phenotypic stability (Mramornaya); 2 – form with high phenotypic stability (Zhemchuzhina); 3 – intensive form with reduced phenotypic stability (Elena); 4 – intensive phenotypically highly stable form (Racheyka). Scientific novelty. Varieties with high phenotypic stability of feed productivity, weakly responsive to fluctuations in climatic conditions and showing low rates of yield decline under unfavorable weather factors in various regions of the country were selected.

Nanotechnology and agriculture in the tropical region: The perspective of the National Institute of Science and Technology in Brazil

Agriculture in the tropics plays a fundamental role in producing food, feed and fiber for the world due to the diversity of production possibilities. However, despite its productive potential, there are many demands for technologies, whether for improving plant growth and development, monitoring field conditions, protecting plants from adverse climatic conditions, or pest control. Nanotechnology can assist in integrated crop management through different applications (e.g., nanosensors for pest monitoring and controlled-release nanoformulations of agrochemicals and biostimulants), thus bringing benefits to tropical agriculture. In this context, the creation of institutes with an interdisciplinary focus, such as the recently created National Institute of Science and Technology in Nanotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture in Brazil, can bring advantages through carrying out research and development, as well as transfer of technology for society, thus contributing to sustainable agriculture.

Edge Computing Method for False Data Injection Attack Detection in Electromechanical Transient Simulation Grid

Because edge computing is close to the terminal, it has significant advantages of low latency and high-security realtime control and has huge application prospects in the current popular smart grid. Because its edge side is close to the terminal, it can also effectively avoid the risk of information leakage when control instructions or communication data are transmitted to remote cloud center servers over a long distance. However, edge devices have a greater probability of encountering false data injection attacks (FDIAs) from illegal terminals because of their proximity to terminals. The transient electromechanical situation of the smart grid due to FDIAs is analyzed under edge computing. Due to the characteristics that the status values of grid nodes have temporal correlation before and after and spatial correlation between nodes, the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) for training time series data is selected to predict the status values of grid nodes in advance. The FDIA detection method is also proposed based on the LSTM network. By calculating the predicted value at each historical moment and the root means square error (RMSE) of the system state estimation at that moment, the detection threshold of the scheme is calculated through the cumulative distribution function of RMSE. Simulation experiments are conducted on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)-14 node standard system. The detection rate is as high as 99.71%, which verifies the effectiveness of the proposed FDIA detection scheme. This paper studies the security threat of FDIA to the stable power system operation and provides theoretical analysis and practical reference for other power grid security protection strategies.

Preliminary Observations of the 5 April 2024 Mw 4.8 New Jersey Earthquake

Abstract On 5 April 2024, 10:23 a.m. local time, a moment magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck Tewksbury Township, New Jersey, about 65 km west of New York City. Millions of people from Virginia to Maine and beyond felt the ground shaking, resulting in the largest number (&amp;gt;180,000) of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) “Did You Feel It?” reports of any earthquake. A team deployed by the Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance Association and the National Institute of Standards and Technology documented structural and nonstructural damage, including substantial damage to a historic masonry building in Lebanon, New Jersey. The USGS National Earthquake Information Center reported a focal depth of about 5 km, consistent with a lack of signal in Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar data. The focal mechanism solution is strike slip with a substantial thrust component. Neither mechanism’s nodal plane is parallel to the primary northeast trend of geologic discontinuities and mapped faults in the region, including the Ramapo fault. However, many of the relocated aftershocks, for which locations were augmented by temporary seismic deployments, form a cluster that parallels the general northeast trend of the faults. The aftershocks lie near the Tewksbury fault, north of the Ramapo fault.

Identification of organic contaminants in water and related matrices using untargeted liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry screening with MS/MS libraries

Nontargeted and suspect screening with liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) has become an indispensable tool for quality assessment in the aquatic environment – complementary to targeted analysis of organic (micro)contaminants. An LC-HRMS method is presented, suitable for the analysis of a wide variety of water related matrices: surface water, groundwater, wastewater, sediment and sludge, including extracts from passive samplers and on-site solid phase enrichment, while focusing on the data processing aspect of the method. A field study is included to demonstrate the practical application and versatility of the whole process. HRMS/MS data were recorded following LC separation in both (ESI) positive and negative ionization modes using data dependent as well as data independent acquisition. Two vendor (Agilent's Personal Compound Database and Library and from National Institute of Standards and Technology) and one open (MassBank/EU) tandem mass spectral libraries were utilized for the identification of compounds via mass spectral match. The development of a novel software tool for parsing, grouping and reduction of MS/MS features in data files converted to mascot generic format (MGF) helped to substantially decrease the amount of time and effort needed for MS library search. While applying the method, in the course of the entire field study, 18771 detections (from 870 individual compounds) in total were recorded in 275 samples, resulting in 68.3 identified compounds per sample, on average. Among the top ten most frequently detected contaminants across all samples and sample types were pharmaceutical compounds carbamazepine, 4-acetamidoantipyrine, 4-formylaminoantipyrine, tramadol, lamotrigine and phenazone and industrial contaminants toluene-2-sulfonamide, tolytriazole, tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate and benzotriazole. Exploratory data analysis methods and tools enabled us to discover organic pollutant occurrence patterns within the comprehensive sets of qualitative data collected from various projects between the years 2018–2023. The results may be used as valuable inputs for future water quality monitoring programs.

Preface

2024 4th International Conference on Fluid and Chemical Engineering (ICFCE 2024) has been successfully held on July 26-27, 2024, in Wuhan China as a virtual event. Organized by Hubei Zhongke Institute of Geology and Environment Technology, ICFCE 2024 intends to invite worldwide famous scientists, experts, scholars, and researchers for academic presentations. ICFCE 2024 proceeding is a collection of outstanding submissions in the field of biofluid mechanics, chemically reacting fluids and combustion, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), experimental fluid mechanics, flow through porous media, fluid–solid interactions (FSI), geophysical fluid dynamics, granular/suspension flows, heat and mass transfer, hydrodynamics, physical, theoretical and computational chemistry, chemical engineering fundamentals, chemical reaction engineering, chemical engineering equipment design and process design, thermodynamics, catalysis &amp; reaction engineering, particulate systems, crystallization, etc. Around 65 articles were selected from 146 submissions after peer-review, and authors and guests participated in ICFCE 2024 with keynote speeches, oral presentations and posters, promoting the communication among researchers and experts from institutes and universities, including University of Sharjah, The University of Manchester, Harbin Engineering University, China University of Petroleum (East China), Shanghai Maritime University, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Nagoya University, Marine Design &amp; Research Institute of China, Tianjin Transportation Technical College, Okayama University, etc. Cordial gratitude is delivered to Technical Program Committee of ICFCE 2024 for the professional work on guarantying the high standard of conference as well as the proceedings. We believe the proceedings will enhance the exchange of ideas and state-of-art knowledge on Fluid and Chemical Engineering. Finally, we thank all the staff members at IOP Publishing for their valuable editorial support. Professor Omid Mahian Xian Jiaotong University, China Associate Professor Sébastien Déon University of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France List of Technical Committee is available in the pdf

Efficient sensitivity analysis of the thermal profile in powder bed fusion of metals using hypercomplex automatic differentiation finite element method

Rapid cyclic temperature fluctuation occurring in powder bed fusion of metals using a laser beam (PBF-LB/M) influences the formation of flaws in printed parts. Consequently, there is a pressing need to enhance the quality of printed parts by developing innovative methodologies that can predict thermal histories and help uncover the intricate relationships between process parameters and thermal profiles. Sensitivity Analysis (SA) emerges as an essential tool for this, offering the potential for process optimization and enhanced quality control. Nonetheless, conventional SA methodologies often incur in excessive computational costs and potential numerical approximation errors. To address this technical challenge, we present a novel method for SA that integrates the HYPercomplex-based Automatic Differentiation (HYPAD) technique with transient thermal simulations conducted via the finite element method (FEM). Leveraging this methodology, we efficiently and accurately perform SA for PBF-LB/M processes in a post-processing step. Compared to traditional methods like Finite Differences (FD), HYPAD-FEM required 96 % less computational time for obtaining sensitivities for 22 process parameters, under a comparative study conducted within the context of the 2018–02 AM benchmark of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In summary, HYPAD-FEM offers superior efficiency and accuracy in SA over conventional methods, delivering the best sensitivity of a model without the need for step-size selection and problem or parameter-based implementations.

The Problem With National Institute of Standards and Technology Thermodynamics Tables in Continuum Mechanics.

Thermodynamics is a fundamental topic of continuum mechanics and biomechanics, with a wide range of applications to physiological and biological processes. This study addresses two fundamental limitations of current thermodynamic treatments. First, thermodynamics tables distributed online by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) report properties of fluids as a function of absolute temperature T and absolute pressure P. These properties include mass density ρ, specific internal energy u, enthalpy h=u+P/ρ, and entropy s. However, formulations of jump conditions across phase boundaries derived from Newton's second law of motion and the first law of thermodynamics employ the gauge pressure p=P-Pr, where Pr is an arbitrarily selected referential absolute pressure. Interchanging p with P is not innocuous as it alters tabulated NIST values for u while keeping h and s unchanged. Using p for functions of state and governing equations solves the problem with using NIST entries for the specific internal energy u in standard thermodynamics tables and analyses of phase transformation in continuum mechanics. Second, constitutive models for the free energy of fluids, such as water and air, are not typically provided in standard thermodynamics treatments. This study proposes a set of constitutive models and validates them against suitably modified NIST data.

RETRACTION: Thermoresponsive PEG-Coated Nanotubes as Chiral Selectors of Amino Acids and Peptides.

N. Kameta, J. Dong, H. Yui, "Thermoresponsive PEG-Coated Nanotubes as Chiral Selectors of Amino Acids and Peptides," Small 14, no. 15 (2018): 1800030, https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201800030. The above article, published online on 13 March 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, Naohiro Kameta, Jiuchao Dong and Hiroharu Yui; the journal Editor-in-Chief, Neville Compton; and Wiley-VCH GmbH, Weinheim. The retraction has been agreed upon following an investigation into concerns raised by National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and also requested by authors due to image fabrication and falsification in electron microscopy images. In Figures 2a, 2b, 2c and S1b (Supporting Information), where the first author fabricated incorrect TEM images using data shown in Figures 2d and S1a (Supporting Information); all affecting the interpretation of the data and research results presented.

RETRACTION: Shrinkable Nanotubes for Duplex Formation of Short Nucleotides.

N. Kameta, H. Akiyama, "Shrinkable Nanotubes for Duplex Formation of Short Nucleotides," Small 14, no. 34 (2018): 1801967, https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201801967. The above article, published online on 18 July 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, Naohiro Kameta and Haruhisa Akiyama; the journal Editor-in-Chief, Neville Compton; and Wiley-VCH GmbH, Weinheim. The retraction has been agreed upon following an investigation into concerns raised by National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and also requested by all authors due to image falsification in electron microscopy images. The TEM images of Figures 2a and 2c, and SEM images of Figures S1a and S1b (Supporting Information), where the first author falsificated incorrect scale bars; all affecting the interpretation of the data and research results presented.

Peer Review Statement

All papers published in this volume have been reviewed through processes administered by the Editors. Reviews were conducted by expert referees to the professional and scientific standards expected of a proceedings journal published by IOP Publishing. • Type of peer review: Single Anonymous • Conference submission management system: Morressier • Number of submissions received: 146 • Number of submissions sent for review: 95 • Number of submissions accepted: 65 • Acceptance Rate (Submissions Accepted / Submissions Received × 100): 44.5 • Average number of reviews per paper: 1.77 • Total number of reviewers involved: 32 • Contact person for queries: Name: Terasa Lei Email: academic@icfce-conf.org Affiliation: Hubei Zhongke Institute of Geology and Environment Technology