Low-cost Strategy Research Articles

Experimental investigation on slope runoff, sediment, and hydraulic parameters under different underlying surface

This study utilizes a rainfall simulator to conduct an experimental investigation of slope and rainfall on various underlying surfaces. This study aimed to determine the relationship between various hydraulic factors and sediment concentration by estimating runoff, sediment concentration generation, and hydraulic parameters on various underlying surfaces. The flow velocity, flow depth, shear stress, and unit stream power are the hydraulic parameters in this experiment. The soil sample will be set up appropriately in the rainfall simulator with a slope of 20º and subjected to a rainfall event for two hours on four trays with various underlying surface types. The rainfall intensity of 10 Lmin⁻¹ was designated for the rainfall simulator. Throughout a two-hour period, the runoff flow was collected at intervals of 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. The measured sediment concentration using Total Suspended Solid (TSS). Then measurements were conducted of the sediment concentration, runoff discharge, and hydraulic parameters. According to the results, the stream power of the four covers is higher for the dried leaves (0.004606 ms-3), grass cover (0.003274 ms-3), gravel (0.00232 ms-³), and bare soil cover (0.00081 ms-³). But bare soil produces the maximum concentration of sediment and surface runoff, which is then followed by grass, gravel, and leaves. In general, the generation of sediment began with the bare surface, gravel, dry leaves, and grass in descending sequence. Research has shown that rain-induced plant cover can be used as a low-cost strategy to reduce soil erosion on construction slope sites.

On-farm evaluation of aflatoxin binder inclusion in dairy feed as a strategy to reduce milk aflatoxin M1 contamination in the Rwandan context.

Aflatoxins (AF), fungal metabolites, can contaminate feed in favorable environments, posing health risks to humans and animals. Dairy cows exposed to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) excrete its metabolite, aflatoxin M1 (AFM1), in milk, compromising its safety. The current study examined the use of an AF binder in dairy feed concentrates on farms in Rwanda to mitigate AFM1 in milk. It was conducted in Nyagatare district, peri-urban areas of Kigali (Center), and Huye district (South) with 42 farmers randomly selected from a previous study evenly divided into control and intervention groups. The intervention group received an AF binder (Novasil™ Plus) and training on both the usage of the binder and AF prevention in dairy feed. Sociodemographic and dairy management data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires. Farmers in both the treatment and control groups were visited at regular intervals over a 3-month time period (five total visits per farmer) to collect samples of milk and feed for the quantification of AFM1 and AFB1, respectively, and to interview participants. The use of the AF binder evidenced a significant reduction in milk AFM1 contamination between the intervention (mean, 0.15µg/l; median, 0.13µg/l) and control groups (mean, 0.30µg/l; median, 0.24µg/l) (p < 0.05). AFB1 was detected in the feed concentrate at a mean concentration of 32.2µg/kg (median, 36.2µg/kg); however, mean AFM1 levels in both groups (i.e., control and intervention) did not exceed the Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) regulatory limit of 0.5µg/kg AFM1. AF binders show potential as a low-cost strategy to reduce AFM1 contamination in the Rwandan context. However, there is a need for clear standards on the registration and use of binders before they are deployed in-country and to claim their mitigating effects on AFM1 in milk.

Tannin-based non-isocyanate polyurethane wood adhesive rich in complicated cross-linked networks with ultra-strong bonding property and excellent water resistance by introducing poly-urea structure

Developing of bio-based wood adhesives is an inevitable common topic in the development at top speed of wood industry. Herein, a bio-based tannin wood adhesive, named as tannin-based non-isocyanate polyurethane-urea (TNIPU-U), was designed which showing a ultra-strong adhesion and water resistance performance by two-step approach. A plausible mechanism was proposed, which implied that urea acted as the crosslinker to connect with derived intermediates containing free amino groups rooted from the reaction of tannin, dimethyl carbonate (DMC), and HMDA, to introduce urea linkages in traditional TNIPU. Furthermore, addition of urea to act as a trapping agent to capture excessive free HMDA in TNIPU adhesive, promoting additional polyurea formation, leading to avoidance of its emission during the hot-pressing process. This will convert the imperfection of TNIPU to a superiority by a eco-friendly strategy. The complicated cross-linked networks will be obtained that are rich in physical entanglement, covalent bonds, and hydrogen bonds. Compared with the TNIPU, the shear strength of TNIPU-U adhesive, after soaked in hot water and boiling water for 3 h, exhibited increase by 17.88 % and 34 %, respectively, indicating the potential for use under harsher conditions. Moreover, the TNIPU-U adhesive exhibits an excellent bonding performance (1.93 MPa) that greatly exceeds the China National Standard (GB/T 9846–2015, ≥ 0.7 MPa) requirement for exterior-grade plywood type I. It is comparable to commercial phenol-formaldehyde resin on the aspect of water tolerance. It can be applied to particleboard preparation and bamboo bonding as well, showing a well-adopted feature. This study provides an efficient, low-cost, and sustainable strategy for high performance bio-based wood adhesives.

Ultra-soft, foldable, wearable piezoelectric sensor based on the aligned BaTiO3 nanoparticles

Developing the inorganic piezoelectric particles/polymer matrix composites is a simple, effective, and low-cost strategy to manufacture the flexible, wearable sensors. But their application has been hindered by an obvious trade-off between electronic performances and mechanical deformability, because of the issue of dispersion difficulty and isolated distribution of inorganic nanofillers in matrix. Here, an ultra-soft, substrate-free, wearable piezoelectric sensor with aligned barium titanate (BTO) nanoparticles was designed and fabricated. To resolve the issue of degradation of flexibility of composites, a chemical etching treatment was introduced into the process of hydrothermal, which increased the content of tetragonal BTO nanoparticles and optimized the interaction between inorganic layer and polymer matrix. Thus, a higher sensitivity of 73.5 V/MPa was obtained by the as-prepared composites with the orientation of BTO than those of the reported BTO-based composites. Notably, the sensor with the thin functional layer demonstrated excellent stability even after 200 double-folded fatigue cycles. For this reason, the designed sensor could completely wrap or attach onto the different complex surface to simultaneously detect various dynamic signals involving the fluidic flowing, pulse rate and moved direction of body. Moreover, the foldable piezoelectric sensing array was easily fabricated by the proposed method, which offers the huge opportunity for the widespread applications in health monitoring, personal safety, and activity monitoring on the complex surface.

An amended low-cost indirect MPPT strategy with a PID controller for boosting PV system efficiency

Operating a photovoltaic (PV) array at its optimum power point (MPP) despite fluctuating weather conditions is challenging. However, tracking this point enhances system efficiency and energy yields. Various maximum power point tracker (MPPT) techniques have been developed, differing in convergence speed, tracking efficiency, and implementation complexity. The Incremental Conductance (IC) strategy is popular due to its simplicity and reliability, but its fixed perturbation step size results in low tracking efficiency, MPP fluctuation, high power loss, and poor performance. This study proposes an improved IC (IMP-IC) method using indirect control based on a PID controller with an adjustable step size. The IMP-IC approach is simple, cost-effective, and implementable using a low-cost ATmega328 microcontroller on the Arduino Uno board.Simulations in the Proteus environment compared its performance to other MPPT techniques like conventional IC, zone voltage (ZV), fuzzy logic (FL), and novel adjustable step InC (NAS-INC). Results under various weather conditions, including rapid changes and EN50530 testing standards, indicate the IMP-IC approach outperforms existing methods. Specifically, it achieved an average tracking time of 0.12 seconds and tracking efficiencies of 99.40 % (static) and 99.88 % (dynamic). The IMP-IC method showed negligible power losses and fluctuations, a quick convergence speed and significantly lower implementation complexity. These attributes position the IMP-IC method as an effective solution for enhancing the reliability and performance of PV systems.

Inkjet Assisted Electroforming and Swarm Actuation of Magnetic Micromotors

In the last few decades, untethered microrobots have been widely investigated for a wealth of potential applications, including high precision manipulation at the microscale, drug delivery, in-situ microsurgery or bacteria cleaning [1]. Most of the works available in literature, however, address these applications by actuating a relatively small number of devices. In order to fully exploit their potential, realistic applications inevitably require the use of a great number of single devices. In this way, the capabilities of the single device are multiplied and enhanced by the cooperation with hundreds or thousands of similar entities. As a natural consequence of this simple consideration, the control of large swarms of independent microdevices is acquiring a great practical relevance [2].Not only the coordinated actuation of a great number of devices but also their manufacturing is challenging. Current state of the art approaches make large use of techniques derived from the electronic industry like traditional lithography or sputtering. These are often costly or characterized by a limited flexibility, whereas microrobotic swarms manufacturing requires the development of highly tailored, adaptable and low-cost strategies. A possible answer to this need of innovative fabrication routes is the use of additive manufacturing techniques [3]. These include not only the family of technologies that goes under the colloquial name “3D printing” but also direct writing or inkjet printing. The latter, in particular, is relatively unexplored for the fabrication of microdevices [4]. Nevertheless, it is characterized by many advantages (low cost, flexibility, high resolution) that can be attractive for the efficient manufacturing of untethered microdevices.Starting from these considerations, we manufactured magnetically controlled swarms of discoidal micromotors and we tried to tackle the challenges for their production by exploiting a novel technique that we called “inkjet assisted lithography” (IAL). With respect to a standard lithographic process, IAL offers a considerably higher customizability of the transferred pattern at a lower cost. IAL resembles standard lithography, but in this case the photomask is directly applied on the SU-8 resist by inkjet printing an ink containing UV opaque nanoparticles. The development step removes not only the uncured resist but also the mask itself, leaving patterned templates. These templates are subsequently filled with metal via electrodeposition. The resulting magnetic disks are then released by dissolving the substrate and collectively actuated under controlled magnetic fields, investigating their swarming behavior. The influence of the actuation parameters, the viscosity of the environment and the magnetic properties of the material constituting the disks are determined and discussed. Finally, in order to provide a potential applicative perspective, some disks are also coated with polypyrrole and transformed into drug delivery vehicles.[1] R. Wu, Y. Zhu, X. Cai, S. Wu, L. Xu and T. Yu, MDPI Micromachines 13(9), 1473 (2022)[2] L. Yang and L. Zhang, Annu. Rev. Control Robot. Auton. Syst. 4, 509-534 (2021)[3] J. Li and M. Pumera, Chem. Soc. Rev. 50, 2794-2838 (2021)[4] R. Bernasconi, D. Carniani, M.-S. Kim, S. Pané and L. Magagnin, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 15(1), 2396-2408 (2023)

A ten-year experience with the diagnosis of von Willebrand disease in Mexico based on a cost-effective strategy

BackgroundVon Willebrand disease (VWD), is the most common inherited bleeding disorder worldwide, but its diagnosis is complicated, expensive, and poorly evaluated in several countries. ObjectiveTo report our long-term experience with the diagnosis of VWD based on a cost-effective strategy. MethodsWe studied 802 Mexican patients, men and women, children, and adults, with clinical suspicion of VWD. The following tests were performed: blood count, bleeding time, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, fibrinogen concentration, VWF antigen, ristocetin cofactor activity, collagen binding assay, ristocetin-induced platelet aggregation, FVIII activity, and VWF multimers analysis. ResultsVWD was diagnosed in 639 patients; 582 had type 1 VWD (91.1%). Type 2 VWD was found in 52 patients (8.1%). Type 2A was present in 25 cases (48.1%), while types 2B and 2M accounted for 21 (40.4) and six (11.5%) cases, respectively. Type 3 VWD was present in five patients (0.8%). The mean age of patients with VWD was 25.3 years (range: 2–71) for males and 22.1 (range: 1–54) for females. The diagnosis was inconclusive in 40 cases (5.0%) and was discarded in 123 (15.3%). Blood group O was the most common among patients with VWD. ConclusionUsing a low-cost diagnostic strategy, we confirmed that VWD is as common in Mexico as in other countries. Review of the patient's history is mandatory when VWD is suspected, although laboratory confirmation may be difficult and expensive. The consequences of a lack of accurate and timely diagnosis affect the promptness and quality of treatment.

Self-Concept Priming and Message Framing As Strategies for Improving Individuals’ Compliance: A Case Study of Bicultural Taxpayers’ Tip Reporting

ABSTRACT This study investigates the efficacy of two strategies, active self-concept priming and message framing, designed to encourage standard-compliant behavior. We prime 82 bicultural U.S. taxpayers from a collectivist culture through informational videos to activate either an individualist or collectivist self-concept. The message is framed to match (versus not match) the primed self-concept. Results reveal an ordinal interaction where participants primed with a collectivist self-concept have higher tax compliance than those primed with an individualist self-concept, and the highest compliance occurs when the message has a relational focus (i.e., collectivist prime match) compared to a self-focus (i.e., individualist prime match). Supplemental analysis suggests that raising the salience of the collectivist-self over the individualist-self indirectly affects taxpayers’ intentions to comply through the mediator of taxpayers’ attitudes. The findings highlight the potential of behavioral priming as a low-cost strategy for boosting tax revenues that fund services that benefit the public interest at large. Data Availability: Data are available from the authors upon request.

High-performance single SiC nanocable-based plasmonic photodetectors for ultraviolet communication systems

Silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires are the most promising candidate for developing high-performance single-nanowire-based UV photodetector (PD) with outstanding photoelectronic properties and low power consumption. However, SiC single-nanowire-based UV PDs commonly suffer from very low light current on the order of pA or nA, requiring precision equipment or an extra current amplification circuit, which greatly limit their practical application. To overcome this bottleneck, novel SiC single nanocable-based plasmonic PDs with the light current on the order of mA were successfully developed with the features of improving light absorption and reducing the dark current. The SiC/SiO2@Ag nanocables consisting of SiC nanowire core and uniform SiO2 shell encrusted with scattered and isolated Ag nanoparticles (NPs) were fabricated by a simple, low-cost, and space-confined vacuum-heating strategy using ultralong SiC nanowires and silver nitrate precursor followed by the annealing process. In such architecture, the in situ resulting SiO2 shell can effectively passivate the surface defects of the SiC nanowire core, restrain the photo-excited carrier's losses, and effectively block the hot electron injection, leading to a great reduction in the dark current and enhancement in the light current. The encrusted Ag NPs on the nanocable surface exhibited a strong LSPR effect with significantly increased optical absorption. Benefiting from the synergistic effect of SiO2 passivation and Ag nanoparticle LSPR effect, the device current increased dramatically by several orders of magnitude to reach 0.37 mA at a bias voltage of 3 V. Moreover, the developed SiC/SiO2@Ag PDs had faster response speed (0.27 s), lower dark current at the nA level, and high stability, which can be competent for the development of real-time, accurate, and cost-effective communication systems and flame detection with impressive switching ratio as high as 66012.

Physical fitness related to sports performance of preteenagers resident in Jutaí, Amazonas

Performance-oriented physical fitness is directly linked to the development of motor skills. Regular and intense physical activity should be valued as an effective and low-cost strategy to promote healthy growth and development during adolescence. This qualiqualitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study evaluated the physical fitness related to sports performance of 379 pre teen students (46% boys and 54% girls), aged between 11 and 14 years, through the battery of tests and measurements of the Projeto Esporte Brasil (PROESP-BR) that evaluates localized muscle endurance, explosive strength of upper and lower limbs, agility, speed and cardiorespiratory endurance. This study is part of the EFEJU project - Physical Education in the Schools of Jutaí, Amazonas, approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of the State of Amazonas under number 5.621.338. The results revealed a weak classification for muscle endurance located in 197 (97%) girls and 118 (67%) boys, for Upper Limb Strength in 66 (37.5%) boys and 151 (74.4%) girls, for Lower Limb Strength, in 98 (55.7%) boys and 184 (90.5%) boys, Agility in 170 (96.6%) boys and 198 (97.5%) girls, in Speed 130 (73.9%) boys and 186 (91.6%) girls and for Cardiorespiratory Fitness 89 (50.6%) and 154 (75.9%) girls. The majority, both pre-adolescents evaluated, presented weak classifications in all tests, indicating the need to encourage regular and systematized physical exercise.

We can keep them here: linking value conflicts to teacher retention strategies

ABSTRACT Although studies have long sought to address teacher shortages, research has often proposed interventions that neither address the underlying causes of turnover nor offer actionable solutions. In response, the authors aim to give teachers a voice in defining root-cause value conflicts leading to dissatisfaction, and then align these conflicts with building-level solutions. Using a mixed-methods approach, the authors combine focus groups with a state-representative survey of over 500 Alabama teachers to explore the major value conflicts and what strategies may address them. Results demonstrate that (1) teachers feel conflicted by restricted professional autonomy, organizational practices that overlook students’ needs, and the prioritization of paperwork over meaningful teaching; (2) administrative efforts to realign job duties with student needs would help alleviate these conflicts; and (3) opinions are generally consistent across teacher demographics. This article offers school leaders insights into identifying and addressing root causes of dissatisfaction through high-leverage, low-cost strategies.

Two-stage carbon sequestration by Haematococcus pluvialis: Integrated research from small-scale to pilot-scale cultivation and data quality monitoring

A novel two-stage carbon sequestration strategy (3 % and 10 % CO2) was developed and its feasibility was comprehensively demonstrated by multiple methods (pilot-scale cultivation, kinetics, economics and carbon fixation analysis). It was also a safe, efficient and low-cost harvesting strategy. At the end of the culture, astaxanthin production and content increased 2.3 and 2.2 times, respectively. Sedimentation rate (SR) was introduced for the first time to evaluate microalgae culture methods. The SR reached 82.2 % after 2 h of standing. Pilot-scale cultivation was achieved outdoors, with the optimal photobioreactor being a 40 L tubular photobioreactor (T-PBRs), which individually achieved 3.1 g/L and 2.3 % biomass and astaxanthin content. The maximum rate of carbon sequestration (227.9 mg/L/d) was observed in 40 L T-PBRs. The cost of producing 1 kg of astaxanthin-enriched Haematococcus pluvialis (H. pluvialis) was only 17.5 USD. This study brings new perspectives to carbon sequestration and the development of astaxanthin markets.

Sulfurized Composite Interphase Enables a Highly Reversible Zn Anode.

The stability and reversibility of Zn anode can be greatly improved by in situ construction of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on Zn surface via a low-cost design strategy of ZnSO4 electrolyte. However, the role of hydrogen bond acceptor -SO3 accompanying ZnS formation during SEI reconstruction is overlooked. In this work, we have explored and revealed the new role of -SO3 and ZnS in the in situ formed sulfide composite SEI (SCSEI) on Zn anode electrochemistry in ZnSO4 aqueous electrolytes. Structure characterization and DFT demonstrate that the introduction of -SO3 can not only reduce the dehydration energy of [Zn(H2O)6]2+, but also enhance the stability of the ZnS/Zn interface and homogenize the ZnS/Zn interface electric field, thereby significantly improving the dynamic kinetics and uniform deposition of Zn2+. Owing to the synergistic effect of ZnS and -SO3, a high cycling stability of 1500 h with a cumulative-plated capacity of 7.5 Ah cm-2 at 10 mA cm-2 has been achieved within the symmetrical cell. Furthermore, the full cell with NH4V4O10 cathode exhibits outstanding cyclic stability, exceeding 2000 cycles at 5 A g-1 and maintaining a Coulombic efficiency of 100 %. These new insights into anionic synergistic strategy could significantly enhance the practical application of zinc-ion batteries.

Recovery of all-solid-state sodium-ion batteries cathode and solid electrolyte using deep eutectic solvents as green solvents

All-solid-state sodium-ion batteries (ASIBs) have wide application prospects in the fields of renewable energy and electric vehicles due to their high energy density and long-life cycle. With the rapid development of industrialization, the number of ASIBs will increase, which might result in a significant increase in the price of metal in ASIBs in the near future. Many waste ASIBs would be produced and lead to waste of resources, environmental pollution and health hazards. Therefore, it is of vital important significance to provide a green and efficient method to recover waste ASIBs. Here, we for the first time propose a mild, green and low-cost strategy for recovery of cathode materials and all-solid-state electrolyte from spent ASIBs by using deep eutectic solvents (DESs). Results show that the highest leaching efficiency of Na in ASIBs cathode materials and all-solid-state electrolytes by using DESs is 88.3% and 56.9%, respectively. Moreover, we use a simple anti-solvent approach of recovering the metals in the leachate with low cost at room temperature. This work would provide a mild, green and low-cost strategy from recycling metals in cathode materials and all-solid-state electrolyte from waste ASIBs.

Carboxylic Acid-Functionalized Cellulose Hydrogel Electrolyte for Dual-Interface Stabilization in Aqueous Zinc-Organic Batteries.

Aqueous zinc batteries (AZBs) are considered one of the most promising candidates for grid-scale energy storage. However, achieving a stable electrode-electrolyte interface remains a challenge for developing high-performance AZBs. Herein, taking the Zn||phenazine (PNZ) system as a prototype, where the proton uptake/removal mechanism dominates in the cathode, a carboxylic acid-functionalized cellulose hydrogel electrolyte is designed to simultaneously solve the issues at both the anode and cathode interfaces. Specifically, the hydrogel electrolyte can not only regulate Zn2+ ions at the Zn anode side but also supply H+ ions at the PNZ cathode side to avoid the unfavored deposition of zinc sulfate hydroxides. Benefiting from the unique one-gel-for-two-electrodes strategy, the dendrite-free and side reaction-suppressed aqueous Zn||PNZ cells are developed with a high specific capacity (311 mAh g-1, 99% utilization of the theoretical capacity) and a long cycle life (over 1500 cycles within 2 months). This study proposes a facile and low-cost electrolyte strategy for stabilizing AZBs.

YOLOv5DA: An Improved YOLOv5 Model for Posture Detection of Grouped Pigs

Accurate posture detection is the foundation for analyzing animal behavior, which can promote animal welfare. With the development of computer vision, such technology has been widely used in analyzing animal behavior without physical contact. However, computer vision technology for pig posture detection often suffers from problems of missed or false detection due to complex scenarios. To solve the problem, this study proposed a novel object detection model YOLOv5DA, which was based on YOLOv5s and designed for pig posture detection from 2D camera video. Firstly, we established the annotated dataset (7220 images) including the training set (5776 images), validation set (722 images), and test set (722 images). Secondly, an object detection model YOLOv5DA based on YOLOv5s was proposed to recognize pig postures (standing, prone lying, and side lying), which incorporated Mosaic9 data augmentation, deformable convolution, and adaptive spatial feature fusion. The comparative and ablation experiments were conducted to verify the model’s effectiveness and reliability. Finally, we used YOLOv5DA to detect the posture distribution of pigs. The results revealed that the standing posture was more frequent in the morning and afternoon and the side-lying posture was most common at noon. This observation demonstrated that the posture of pigs is influenced by temperature variations. The study demonstrated that YOLOv5DA could accurately identify three postures of standing, prone lying, and side lying with an average precision (AP) of 99.4%, 99.1%, and 99.1%, respectively. Compared with YOLOv5s, YOLOv5DA could effectively handle occlusion while increasing the mean precision (mAP) by 1.7%. Overall, our work provided a highly accurate, effective, low-cost, and non-contact strategy of posture detection in grouped pigs, which can be used to monitor pig behavior and assist in the early prevention of disease.

Business Strategy and Sales Performance on Plant-Based Restaurant: An Exploration of Mediating Variable

This research aims to explore variables that mediate the influence of business strategy on sales performance in Plant-Based Restaurants (PBR) and the results of exploration are tested empirically using a quantitative approach. The theory of business strategy underlies the conceptual framework between strategy, organizational agility and performance of plant-based restaurants. This research uses mixed research method. The qualitative study (Phase 1) using thematic analysis were followed by a quantitative study (Phase 2) using multiple linear analysis and path analysis. The results of Phase 1 are a conceptual framework and some hypotheses. The results of Phase 2 are conclusions that confirm the results of Phase 1. The overall results conclude that innovation strategy, marketing strategy and organizational agility significantly have a positive effect on sales performance, while low-cost strategies do not significantly have a positive effect on sales performance. In addition, organizational agility significantly mediates the influence of innovation and marketing strategies on sales performance. However, organizational agility only partially mediates the influence of low-cost strategy on sales performance. This research contributes to filling the gap in studies about plant-based foods and beverages connected to economics and business. This study explores the mediating variables between plant-based restaurants' strategy and sales performance.

Highly protective and functional strengthening strategies for 3D printed continuous carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites: Manufacturing and properties

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites have gradually emerged as a crucial material in the aerospace industry. However, inadequate impact resistance and thermal stability limit survival in extreme environments. Inspired by the specific functions of multiple layers of tissue, from bird feathers to the musculoskeletal system. We propose low-cost composite strengthening strategies and efficient novel three-dimensional graphene aerogel manufacturing methods. A novel graphene aerogel/carbon fiber reinforced polymer (GAC) composite prepared by in-situ laser-induced graphene (LIG) layers on the surface of 3D-printed CFRP. GAC composites enhance CFRP's impact protection, thermal insulation, and electromagnetic shielding capabilities. For protection, GAC composites reduce low-velocity impact damage by 26.2 %. The graphene layer can increase the thermal buffering capacity of the material four times, and the long-term service temperature can be increased by 40 % compared to traditional CFRP. For functionality, the composites enable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness of up to 50.2 dB. Furthermore, it can achieve surface heating above 400 °C and rapid de-icing through electrothermal effects. The simple and efficient processing method of GAC composites and tunable functionalities holds promise for the development of highly protective and intelligent aircraft skins.

Temperature monitoring strategy for microclimate prediction in low-automation greenhouses: a preliminary analysis

Abstract Climate control strategies in low-automation greenhouses typically rely on the measurements from a single sensor. Indeed, implementing more complex monitoring devices and sensor networks may increase investment costs without necessarily improving profitability. This paper presents a low cost and low complexity temperature monitoring strategy, which is illustrated in a case study of tomato cultivation during the mid-season in a traditional Mediterranean greenhouse located in Pisa, Italy. The objective is to evaluate the temperature distribution within a portion of the greenhouse and to investigate the representativeness of single-point measurements for assessing the local microclimate. During the experimental campaign, the vertical and horizontal temperature differences reached maximum values of 9.9 °C and 7.3 °C, respectively. The performed temperature measurements appear to be correlated (R2 &gt; 0.95), and this information was exploited for the prediction of the greenhouse temperature in multiple points, resulting in an average RMSE of 1.3 °C, with differences depending on the specific position taken as reference. These findings offer insights into the representativeness of single-point measurements and the optimal positioning of the sensor station within the greenhouse. The inclusion of microclimate heterogeneity in climate control strategies can help minimise the local presence of unfavourable growth conditions, the excess of energy use, and installation and maintenance costs.

PbS Quantum Dot Image Sensors Derived from Spent Lead-Acid Batteries Via an Environmentally Friendly Route

PbS quantum dot (QD) image sensors have emerged as promising chips for a wide range of infrared (IR) imaging applications due to their monolithic integration with silicon-based readout integrated circuits. However, avoiding primary toxic Pb usage and reducing the cost of PbS QDs remains crucial for widespread application. We present a novel cost-effective and environmentally friendly hydrometallurgical process for recovering PbCl2 from spent lead-acid battery paste to synthesize high-quality PbS QDs. The method recovers PbCl2 with a production ratio of 97% and a purity of 99.99%. PbS QDs and photodetectors synthesized from recycled PbCl2 (R-PbCl2) have comparable performance and quality to those made using commercial PbCl2. R-PbCl2-derived photodetectors exhibit a high external quantum efficiency of 49.6% and a high specific detectivity of 6.95 × 1012 Jones compared to published studies. Additionally, based on R-PbCl2, a PbS QD image sensor with 640 × 512 resolution successfully discriminated common solvents. Moreover, through life-cycle assessment and economic cost analysis, this novel synthesis route offers great advantages in the environmentally friendly use of chemical reagents and reduces the production cost of PbS QDs by 23.2% compared to commercial PbCl2. Thus, this work not only contributes to the green recycling of spent lead paste but also provides a low-cost strategy for synthesizing PbS QDs and their optoelectronic application.