Top Width Research Articles

Excellent Canopy Structure in Soybeans Can Improve Their Photosynthetic Performance and Increase Yield

In the maize-soybean intercropping system, varying degrees of maize leaf shading are an important factor that reduces the uniformity of light penetration within the soybean canopy, altering the soybean canopy structure. Quantitative analysis of the relationship between the soybean canopy structure and canopy photosynthesis helps with breeding shade-tolerant soybean varieties for intercropping systems. This study examined the canopy structure and photosynthesis of intercropped soybeans during the shading stress period (28 days before the corn harvest), the high light adaptation period (15 days after the corn harvest), and the recovery period (35 and 55 days after the corn harvest), using a field high-throughput phenotyping platform and a plant gas exchange testing system (CAPTS). Additionally, indoor shading experiments were conducted for validation. The results indicate that shade-tolerant soybean varieties (STV varieties) have significantly higher yields than shade-sensitive soybean varieties (SSV varieties). This is attributable to the STV varieties having a larger top area, lateral width, and lateral external rectangular area. Compared to the SSV varieties, the four top areas of the STV varieties are, on average, 52.09%, 72.05%, and 61.37% higher during the shading stress, high light adaptation, and recovery periods, respectively. Furthermore, the average maximum growth rates (GRs) for the side mean width (SMW) and side rectangle area (SRA) of the STV varieties are 62.92% and 22.13% in the field, and 83.36% and 55.53% in the indoor environment, respectively. This results in a lower canopy overlap in STV varieties, leading to a more uniform light distribution within the canopy, which is reflected in higher photosynthetic rates (Pn), apparent quantum efficiency, and whole-leaf photosynthetic potential (WLPP) for the STV varieties, thereby enhancing their adaptability to shading stress. Above-ground dry matter accumulation was higher in STV varieties, with more assimilates stored in the source and sink, promoting assimilate accumulation in the grains. These results provide new insights into how the superior canopy structure and photosynthesis of shade-tolerant soybean varieties contribute to increased yield.

The influence of elastic pads deterioration in the fastening system on the dynamic characteristics of the vehicle-turnout system

The deterioration of the elastic pads in the fastening system in high-speed turnout areas increases longitudinal stiffness irregularities along the track, posing potential hazards to wheel-rail impact and train running safety. This paper takes the frog area of No. 18 turnout as an example and constructs a vehicle-turnout rigid-flexible coupling model considering the detailed structure of the fastener elastic pads. By increasing the stiffness of the rubber pad under the tie plate to simulate the deterioration of the elastic pads in the turnout area, the study investigates the effects of deterioration location, degree, and number on the dynamic characteristics of the vehicle-turnout system, providing theoretical guidance for stiffness optimization and maintenance of the turnout area. The results indicate that: 1) the deterioration of the elastic pads significantly affects wheel-rail interaction and safety indicators, while having a minor effect on vehicle running stability; 2) the 95th sleeper (point rail with a top width of 60 mm) is identified as the most critical location for the deterioration of elastic pads; 3) comprehensively considering, the stiffness replacement limit for elastic pads in ballastless turnout areas can be set to twice the design stiffness, which is 50 kN/mm.

A Study on the Manufacture of CNT Composites Bipolar Plate for the Fuel Cell Using a Nanosecond Pulsed Laser

The channels of the graphite-based bipolar plate for hydrogen fuel cells were mainly manufactured through milling due to low forming elongation and processability. However, during the milling process, the machining precision is low due to tool wear and vibration, and there is a risk of breakage. Non-traditional laser processing can solve the problems of tool wear and vibration through non-contact processing. In this study, the interaction characteristics of the nanosecond pulsed laser and CNT composites were observed, and channels and bipolar plates were manufactured. The effect of scanning speed and pulse duration was observed for interaction characteristics. Defects were observed due to high thermal effects at low scanning speed and high pulse duration. Channels were created depending on parallel pitch distance [] and Number of scans (NOS). The channel was evaluated for depth, top width, bottom width, channel angle, material removal rate, and surface roughness, and significant changes were observed depending on . The chemical composition, surface resistance, and contact angle of the laser-processed channel were measured. The laser processed channel was oxidized, and the surface resistance and contact angle increased. Finally, the manufacturability of the CNT composites bipolar plate using laser was examined.

Enhancing bending strength in continuous drive friction welding of PEEK polymer cylinders through the innovative progressively increased welding area method

The continuous drive friction welding (CDFW) stands out for its low energy consumption within the welding realm. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) represents a high-performance engineering thermoplastic, falling under the polyaryletherketone family. Renowned for its outstanding mechanical, thermal, and chemical attributes, PEEK finds utility across a diverse array of industries. However, the discovery of numerous voids at the weld interface has revealed limitations in the mechanical properties of PEEK welded samples. This study introduces an innovative approach named progressively increased welding area (PIWA) method, to mitigate voids within the weld interface. In general, the Taguchi method was used to optimize the process parameters of CDFW of dissimilar PEEK round rods to reduce random efforts by the trial-and-error method. It was found that the proposed PIWA method can definitely enhance the bending strength of rotational friction welded samples due to reduction of voids inside the weld interface. The optimal process parameters for the CDFW with the PIWA method involve a rotational speed of 2500 rpm, a cone angle of 120°, a cone top width of 8 mm, and a feed rate of 0.1 mm/s. The most influential factor affecting the bending strength of the PEEK welded samples is the feed rate, followed by cone angle, rotational speed, and cone top width. Specifically, the contribution ratios for feed rate, cone angle, rotational speed, and cone top width are about 71 %, 20 %, 7 %, and 2 %, respectively. The confirmation tests showed that the bending strength of the PEEK welded samples using optimal process parameters can be increased by approximately 68 % compared with the maximum bending strength of 180 MPa using the conventional method with a cone angle of 180° The proposed PIWA method has industrial applicability and practical value because this technique can enhance the mechanical properties of PEEK welded samples under low environmental pollution and energy consumption.

Is It Reliable to Extract Gully Morphology Parameters Based on High-Resolution Stereo Images? A Case of Gully in a “Soil-Rock Dual Structure Area”

The gully morphology parameter is an important quantitative index for monitoring gully erosion development. Its extraction method and accuracy evaluation in the “soil-rock dual structure area” are of great significance to the evaluation of gully erosion in this type of area. In this study, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) tilt photography data were used to evaluate the accuracy of extracting gully morphology parameters from high-resolution remote sensing stereoscopic images. The images data (0.03 m) were taken as the reference in Zhangmazhuang and Jinzhongyu small river valleys in Yishui County, Shandong Province, China. The accuracy of gully morphology parameters were extracted from simultaneous high-resolution remote sensing stereo images data (0.5 m) was evaluated, and the parameter correction model was constructed. The results showed that (1) the average relative errors of circumference (P), area (A), linear length of bottom (L1), and curve length of bottom (L2) are mainly concentrated within 10%, and the average relative errors of top width (TW) are mainly within 20%. (2) The average relative error of three-dimensional (3D) parameters such as gully volume (V) and gully depth (D) is mainly less than 50%. (3) The larger the size of the gully, the smaller the 3D parameters extracted by visual interpreters, especially the absolute value of the mean relative error (Rmean) of V and D. (4) A relationship model was built between the V and D values obtained by the two methods. When V and D were extracted from high-resolution remote sensing stereo images, the relationship model was used to correct the measured parameter values. These findings showed that high-resolution remote sensing stereo images represents an efficient and convenient data source for monitoring gully erosion in a small watershed in a “soil-rock dual structure area”.

Analyzing the effect of different shielding atmospheres on fiber laser welding parameters for modified 9Cr-1Mo steel

The present research aims to investigate the influence of and the relationship between welding speed ( v), focal position ( FP), and laser power ( LP) as input parameters for fiber laser to weld P91 under pure argon and CO2 shielding atmospheres using response surface methodology and using the desirability approach; optimization of input parameters has been performed to maximize the depth of penetration ( DP) while minimizing the top bead width ( TW) and heat-affected zone width ( HW). The results indicate that laser power ( LP) has the most significant impact on depth of penetration ( DP), whereas welding speed ( v) affects top bead width ( TW) and heat-affected zone width ( HW). The optimal combination of parameters under argon shielding results in a significantly low heat input of 48 J/mm (0.048 kJ/mm) and 50 J/mm (0.050 kJ/mm) pure argon and CO2 shielding atmospheres, respectively. Despite the difference in heat input being only 4.08%, an 11.618% increase in DP is observed under the CO2 shielding atmosphere. Due to the high-speed nature of the welding process (argon: 82.65 mm/s and CO2: 79.283 mm/s) combined with the significant reduction in heat input, the heat-affected zone is limited to a mere width of 0.203 mm under an argon shielding atmosphere and 0.263 mm under the CO2 shielding atmosphere compared with that reported in the other welding processes without the dissolution of precipitates in the fusion boundary of heat-affected zone. Microstructural characterization of the fusion zone has revealed the presence of an untempered lath martensite structure with precipitate dissolution. The precipitate dissolution has resulted in grain coarsening of 47.76% in argon weld and 39.65% in CO2 weld compared with the base metal grain size of 6.07 µm.

Optimization of Hot Embossing Condition Using Taguchi Method and Evaluation of Microchannels for Flexible On-Chip Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell.

Hot embossing is a manufacturing technique used to create microchannels on polymer substrates. In recent years, microchannel fabrication technology based on hot embossing has attracted considerable attention due to its convenience and low cost. A new evaluation method of microchannels, as well as an approach to obtaining optimal hot embossing conditions based on the Taguchi method, is proposed in this paper to fabricate precise microchannels for a flexible proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Our self-made hot embossing system can be used to fabricate assorted types of micro-channel structures on polymer substrates according to various applications, whose bottom width, top width, height and cross-sectional area vary in the aims of different situations. In order to obtain a high effective filling ratio, a new evaluation method is presented based on the four parameters of channel structures, and the Taguchi method is utilized to arrange three main factors (temperature, force and time) affecting the hot embossing in orthogonal arrays, quickly finding the optimal condition for the embossing process. The evaluation method for microchannels proposed in this paper, compared to traditional evaluation methods, incorporates the area factor, providing a more comprehensive assessment of the fabrication completeness of the microchannels. Additionally, it allows for the quick and simple identification of optimal conditions. The experimental results indicate that after determining the optimal embossing temperature, pressure and time using the Taguchi method, the effective filling rate remains above 95%, thereby enhancing the power density. Through variance analysis, it was found that temperature is the most significant factor affecting the hot embossing of microchannels. The high filling rate makes the process suitable for PEMFCs. The results demonstrate that under optimized process conditions, a self-made hot embossing system can effectively fabricate columnar structure microchannels for PEMFCs.

Performance evaluation of bendway weirs with sloped and flat crest in mild and sharp bends

ABSTRACT The main aim of the present experimental study was to investigate the performance of bendway weirs (BWs) in large-scale channel bends with three different relative curvatures (i.e. the ratio of central-bend radius to top channel width). The geometry of BWs (such as inclination angle, length, and spacing) was chosen based on the state-of-the-art of design criteria. However, the significance of important hydraulic geometry (crest slope) was also examined in these different bends. The results indicate that the performance of sloped crest weirs in protecting the concave bend erosion was better and worse in moderate and sharp bends, respectively, compared to flat crest. Bendway weirs with horizontal crest and submergence ratio of 0.7 are found to be the most efficient in developing sediment deposition near the outer bank, even in sharp bends.

3-D geometric design of microwaveable food products for optimal heating uniformity based on machine learning-supervised multiphysics models

Multiphysics models can assist in geometric design of frozen microwaveable foods, but the conventional 'parametric-sweeping' strategy is computationally intensive. This study develops an online machine learning (ML)-supervised multiphysics modeling strategy to simultaneously optimize multiple geometrical parameters (e.g., top surface width, top surface length, and the ratio of top-to-bottom dimensions) for optimal microwave heating uniformity. First, one or more paired geometric dimensional parameters and heating uniformity results obtained from multiphysics modeling are used as initial training data for the ML optimization process that integrates Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) and Bayesian optimization. Then, the multiphysics modeling procedure is supervised by an ML process to generate new paired geometry-heating uniformity results to expand the training dataset. The loop of multiphysics modeling and ML optimization is conducted to effectively identify geometry designs with good heating uniformity. Results indicate that the ML-supervised optimization strategy can efficiently identify good geometric designs with low heating uniformity by using much fewer multiphysics models than the parametric sweep approach. The ML-supervised approach also exhibits great robustness, delivering good performance even with small (as little as one model) and randomly selected initial training data. This ML-supervised approach is flexible and can be modified to meet specific needs for broad industrial implementation in the development of microwaveable food.

Joining of Copper and Aluminum Alloy A6061 Plates at Edges by High-Speed Sliding with Compression

By using the joined or welded materials of dissimilar metals, the characteristics and performance of products and parts can be improved. The combination of copper and aluminum is difficult to weld. In this study, the impact joining of copper C1100 and aluminum alloy A6061-T6 plates at the edges was investigated to explore the appropriate joining conditions. The plates are joined with newly created surfaces generated by the high-speed compressive deformation with sliding motion. The shape near the interface was a tapered trapezoid with a flat top. The joining length in the plate thickness direction was shorter than the plate thickness, and notches were observed near both plate surfaces. The length became slightly longer by setting a larger top width of the C1100 plate than that of A6061-T6. The joint efficiency increased by approximately 10%. Applying the emery paper finish to the surface of the plate eliminated the non-joining result in multiple experiments. The finishing direction is effective only in the longitudinal direction of the plate. In the tensile test on the dumbbell-type specimen with reduced thickness to eliminate notches, most results showed a fracture at the C1100 portion. The estimated temperature rise of the C1100 is more than about 250 K during the impact deformation. Hence, the strength of the A6061-T6 becomes lower than that of C1100 during the process, and the softened layer of aluminum comes out under pressure, resulting in good joining performance.

Influence of Process Parameters on Kerf Width in Abrasive Waterjet Machining of GFRP Composites

This study investigates the influence of process parameters on kerf width in abrasive waterjet (AWJ) machining of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites. The experimental analysis was conducted using a Taguchi L27 orthogonal array to optimize the machining parameters: pressure, feed rate, abrasive flow rate, and standoff distance. The top kerf width (TKW) and bottom kerf width (BKW) were measured to evaluate the impact of these parameters. Results indicate that higher pressures and abrasive flow rates generally increase both TKW and BKW due to enhanced material removal rates. Conversely, increased feed rates tend to reduce kerf widths, highlighting the importance of optimizing cutting speeds. Standoff distance exhibited a less pronounced effect but still influenced the kerf widths. The optimal parameters for minimizing TKW and BKW were identified, providing valuable insights for improving precision and efficiency in AWJ machining of GFRP composites. These findings contribute to the development of more effective manufacturing practices for high-performance composite materials.

3D Marine Controlled-Source Electromagnetic Numerical Simulation Considering Terrain and Static Effect

The marine controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) method is an important geophysical method for the exploration of marine hydrocarbon resources. In marine CSEM forward modeling the uplift terrain, such as submarine hills and seamounts, the static effects caused by polymetallic nodules and hydrothermal sulfide are ignored which can lead to the deviation of marine CSEM data. To improve the accuracy of data processing and interpretation, this study realizes efficient 3D numerical simulation considering submarine uplift terrain and static effect based on the finite difference (FD) algorithm in a fictitious wave domain. First, based on the correspondence principle between the fictitious wave domain and a real diffusive domain, we derive the FD electromagnetic field iteration equations of the fictitious wave domain, and apply the fictitious emission source and the boundary condition of complex frequency shifted-perfectly matched layer (CFS-PML). We use the inverse transformation method to convert the electromagnetic response to the diffusive domain. Then, we carry out simulations on typical 1D and 3D reservoir models to verify the correctness and effectiveness of the algorithm. Furthermore, we design an uplift terrain model and a static effect model and study the influence of parameters such as top width, bottom width, height and volume of uplift terrain on the CSEM field response characteristics through the forward modeling of multiple models and discuss the influence of parameters such as electrical conductivity, length, width, thickness, depth and volume of a shallow anomaly on the marine CSEM response. Finally, we analyze the characteristics and rules of electromagnetic field propagation of uplift terrain and static effect, which provides theoretical guidance for the design of marine CSEM exploration systems.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE EFFICIENCY OF PARABOLIC AND TRAPEZOIDAL SECTIONS IN IRRIGATIONCANALS

One of the current scientific directions in hydraulic engineering is to give irrigation canals a hydraulically and statically stable cross-sectional shape in the form of the most advantageous parabolic profile. This approach allows maximizing the sediment transport capacity of the flow and significantly reducing the time and costs of construction and maintenance works, using optimization criteria for next-generation machinery and mechanisms. The significance of this research lies in developing a new concept for designing, constructing, and operating irrigation canals in hydraulic engineering systems with cross-sectional shapes that are both hydraulically and statically stable. These shapes aim to maximize sediment transport capacity, ensure ecological sustainability of natural-technical basin systems, and contribute to national food security. The objects of study are hydraulic engineering structures, specifically the inter-farm canals of irrigation systems within the Syr Darya river basin in the southern region of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For the study, methods were used including stability analysis of earth slopes using circular-cylindrical sliding surfaces, methods based on analogy between shear curves and slopes, and methods based on the theory of limit equilibrium. Calculations have demonstrated the advantages, including increased resistance to cross-section deformation, reduced earthwork volumes during irrigation canal construction and cleaning by 20-25%, decreased materials and work volume for possible lining by 13-18%, narrower canal top width and land acquisition zones by 11-17%, lower labor costs by 13-16%, reduced construction costs by 14-18%, and decreased specific adjusted costs by 15-18%.

Implications of digital elevation models on habitat analysis of Golden Mahseer in the Upper Ganga Basin, India

Aquatic habitat analysis is crucial in determining the relationship between river flow and habitat availability for aquatic species. This helps in identifying the environmental flow requirements of rivers. However, conducting habitat analysis in Indian rivers is challenging because of the unavailability of reliable and high-resolution terrain data. To address this challenge, a study was conducted to explore the possibilities of using Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) to extract required hydraulic data and to evaluate their accuracies. The extracted data were coupled with ecological data of a keystone fish species, namely Golden Mahseer (Tor putitora), to develop habitat analysis models for the Upper Ganga Basin (UGB) in India. The study adopted a hierarchical three-step approach for evaluating the accuracy and performance of DEMs as surrogate data sources. Firstly, cross sections at selected sites in the UGB were extracted from three different DEMs (SRTM, ASTER, and CARTOSAT) and evaluated against surveyed cross-section data with turning point tests and correlation coefficients. These data were then used to establish hydraulic and habitat analysis models. Four parameters (top width, flow cross-sectional area, hydraulic mean depth, and wetted perimeter) were evaluated using five error estimators to determine the accuracy and performance of hydraulic modelling. Finally, the hydraulic parameters were coupled with ecological requirements to develop a habitat model for different life stages of Golden Mahseer, namely fingerling, juvenile, and adult stages.We found that the SRTM predictions were better than those of the other DEMs, indicating its suitability to replicate channel geometry with higher accuracy, thus better predicting hydraulic parameters at all flow ranges. In habitat area estimation for adult Golden Mahseer, all the DEMs performed reasonably well (within ±20%) within the flow range of 100 ​m3/s, which covers the low to average flow season. Beyond this flow range, ASTER and CARTOSAT resulted in considerable underestimations, averaging 22% and 54%, respectively. It is important to note that DEM-based cross sections lack high-resolution channel information, resulting in unstable habitat predictions for younger life stages like fingerling. However, overall, the study established that DEM-based data can be relied upon for habitat modelling-based assessment of environmental flows with some precautions for sensitive cases. Remote sensing presents a promising avenue for habitat analysis studies of Indian species, offering the potential to unlock significant progress in environmental flows (E-Flows) assessments and thus providing ecological benefits.

Cross-sectional geometry effect on bending strength of gold micro-cantilever with trapezoidal cross-section

Gold is a promising material for movable components in MEMS devices by the high mass density, which allows reduction of the Brownian noise. Mechanical properties of metallic materials are known to be affected by the sample size effect. When bending test is utilized, the sample geometry effect is another factor. In this study, effects of the shape of the cross-section, or the cross-sectional geometry effect, are evaluated using micro-cantilevers with a trapezoidal cross-section. The yield stresses are ranged from 112 MPa to 185 MPa in micro-cantilevers composed of single crystalline gold, and the yield stresses varied from 372 MPa to 489 MPa in polycrystalline gold micro-cantilevers. The yield stress is found to be higher in the micro-cantilever having a smaller ratio of the top width over the bottom width, which demonstrates the cross-sectional geometry effect. Also, the cross-sectional geometry effect is more significant in the polycrystalline micro-cantilevers.

Deep learning-based monitoring system for predicting top and bottom bead widths during the laser welding of aluminum alloy

Weld bead geometry visually represents the result of the welding process. However, ensuring a consistent weld bead is not always guaranteed due to the instability of the welding process. In this study, we present a deep learning-based monitoring system that predicts both the top and bottom bead widths simultaneously during the multi-mode fiber laser welding of aluminum alloy 1050P-H16. From the predicted top and bottom bead widths, rich information about the welding process can be obtained. Our deep learning model was constructed based on the VoVNet27-slim architecture, which was successfully trained using weld pool images obtained coaxially by a small optical camera. We were able to obtain very clean images of the aluminum weld pool, which provided plentiful information about the weld pool and the resulting top and bottom bead widths. We attempted to use one or two weld pool images as input to study how an additional weld pool image can enhance prediction accuracy. It was found that the top bead width was accurately predicted by both the one- and two-image models. However, the two-image model showed a clear improvement in the prediction of the bottom bead width because the bottom bead width fluctuates more widely and cannot be directly seen from the top-side weld pool image. The optimal separation distance between the two input images was found to be −0.1 mm, with which additional weld pool information about the past was supplied to the model and the denoising effect was achieved. Monitoring changes in both top and bottom bead widths provides rich information regarding the welding process, and we believe that the presented deep learning–based approach can serve as an effective monitoring tool.

Employing Thermal Oxidation and Through-Silicon Via Technologies in CuO-Based Sensors for Room-Temperature NO2 Detection

We present the development and characterization of room-temperature CuO gas sensor fabricated through a thermal oxidation process complemented by a through-silicon via (TSV) structure. The TSV structure is a tapered hole with the top width measuring approximately 190 um and narrowing to 103 um at the bottom. The CuO film serves as the sensing material, with its predominant (111) orientation confirmed through X-ray diffraction analysis. Transmission electron microscopy analysis indicated lattice spacing of 0.23 nm within the CuO samples, corresponding to the (111) plane. Sensor performance was evaluated at a room temperature of 25 °C, showing response rates of 19.3%, 34.6%, 39.3%, and 46.3% to NO2 concentrations of 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 ppm, respectively. Stability testing of the sensor at 1 ppm NO2 concentration across five cycles demonstrated a consistent response around 34.6% with a deviation of less than 2%. The CuO material exhibited enhanced selectivity for NO2 over other gases such as NH3, CO2, CO, H2, H2S, and SO2.

Experimental Analysis of Kerf Characteristics of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer with Abrasive Water Jet Machining

<div>This research looks into how abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) can be used on carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) materials, specifically how the kerf characteristics change with respect to change in process parameters. We carefully looked into four important process parameters: stand-off distance (SOD), water pressure (WP), traverse rate (TR), and abrasive mass flow rate (AMFR). The results showed that as SOD goes up, the kerf taper angle goes up because of jet dispersion, but as WP goes up, the angle goes down because jet kinetic energy goes up. The TR was directly related to the kerf taper angle, but it made the process less stable. The kerf drop angle was not greatly changed by AMFR. When it came to kerf top width, SOD made it wider, WP made it narrower, TR made it narrower, and AMFR made it a little wider. When the settings (SOD: 1 mm, WP: 210 MPa, TR: 150 mm/min, AMFR: 200 g/min) were optimized, the kerf taper angle and kerf top width were lowered. This improved the accuracy of the measurements and cut down on material waste in CFRP composite machining. These results make it clear how important parameter selection is in precision cutting.</div>

Rare and exclusive few-body decays of the Higgs, Z, W bosons, and the top quark

Abstract We perform an extensive survey of rare and exclusive few-body decays ---defined as those with branching fractions $\mathcal{B} \lesssim 10^{-5}$ and two or three final particles--- of the Higgs, Z, W bosons, and the top quark. Such rare decays can probe physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM), constitute a background for exotic decays into new BSM particles, and provide precise information on quantum chromodynamics factorization with small nonperturbative corrections. We tabulate the theoretical $\mathcal{B}$ values for almost 200 rare decay channels of the four heaviest elementary particles, indicating the current experimental limits in their observation. Among those, we have computed for the first time ultrarare Higgs boson decays into photons and/or neutrinos, H and Z radiative decays into leptonium states, radiative H and Z quark-flavour-changing decays, and semiexclusive top-quark decays into a quark plus a meson, while updating predictions for a few other rare H, Z, and top quark partial widths. The feasibility of measuring each of these unobserved decays is estimated for p-p collisions at the high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), and for $e^+e^-$ and p-p collisions at the future circular collider (FCC).

All-optical driven soft crawler with complex motion capabilities

ABSTRACT The emergence of millimeter-scale soft actuators has significantly expanded the potential applications in areas such as search and rescue, drug delivery, and human assistance, due to their high flexibility. Despite these advancements, achieving precise control over the intricate movements of soft crawlers poses a significant challenge. In this study, we have developed an all-optical approach that enables manipulation of propulsive forces by simultaneously modifying the magnitude and direction of friction forces, thereby enabling complex motions of soft actuators. Importantly, the approach is not constrained by specific actuator shapes, and theoretically, any elongated photothermal actuator can be employed. The actuator was designed with an isosceles trapezoid shape, featuring a top width of 2 mm, a bottom width of 4 mm, and a length of 8 mm. Through our manipulation approach, we showcase a proof-of-concept for complex soft robotic motions, including crawling (achieving speeds of up to 2.25 body lengths per minute), turning, avoiding obstacles, handling and transferring objects approximately twice its own weight, and navigating narrow spaces along programmed paths. Our results showcase this all-optical manipulation approach as a promising, yet unexplored tool for the precision and wireless control for the development of advanced soft actuators.