Search Results (98)

In an age of heightened environmental awareness and the pressing need for net-zero emissions, concerns over rising energy consumption in cement production, responsible for 5–8% of global CO₂ emissions, have intensified. This paper proposes a novel pioneering framework that integrates Shannon’s entropy and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods to steer the cement industry towards sustainability and net-zero emissions. Utilizing Shannon’s entropy, the research impartially determines the significance of multiple criteria, reducing biases in decision-making for energy efficiency in cement production. Four MCDM methods (TOPSIS, VIKOR, ELECTRE, WSM) are applied to rank energy efficiency alternatives, providing a nuanced analysis of options for the cement industry. The study integrates sensitivity analysis to evaluate the robustness of MCDM methods under varying conditions, assessing the impact of changes in criteria weights on the ranking of energy efficiency alternatives and showcasing the adaptability of the proposed framework. Examining six diverse scenarios reveals the framework’s adaptability and the versatility of the Horizontal Roller Mill (HRM), with the Vertical Roller Mill (VRM) emerging as a cost-effective emission reduction alternative. This interdisciplinary approach, integrating information theory, decision science, and environmental engineering, extends beyond industry relevance, providing valuable insights aligned with global sustainability goals. Harmonizing economic viability with ecological responsibility, this report offers an instructive guide, propelling the cement industry toward a more sustainable future. Full article

The influence of mobility modes within Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) has gained limited attention, despite their crucial role in reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings in the European Union (EU) account for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. In comparison, transport contributes 28% of energy use and 25% of emissions, with road transport responsible for 72% of these emissions. This study aims to design and optimize a synthetic PED in Istanbul that integrates renewable energy sources and public mobility systems to address these challenges. The renewable energy sources integrated into the synthetic PED model include solar energy, hydrogen energy, and regenerative braking energy from a tram system. Solar panels provided a substantial portion of the energy, while hydrogen energy contributed to additional electricity generation. Regenerative braking energy from the tram system was also utilized to further optimize energy production within the district. This system powers a middle school, 10 houses, a supermarket, and the tram itself. Optimization techniques, including Linear Programming (LP) for economic purposes and the Weighted Sum Method (WSM) for environmental goals, were applied to balance cost and CO₂ emissions. The LP method identified that the PED model can achieve cost competitiveness with conventional energy grids when hydrogen costs are below $93.16/MWh. Meanwhile, the WSM approach demonstrated that achieving a minimal CO₂ emission level of 5.74 tons requires hydrogen costs to be $32.55/MWh or lower. Compared to a conventional grid producing 97 tons of CO₂ annually, the PED model achieved reductions of up to 91.26 tons. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on sustainable urban energy systems by addressing key research gaps related to the integration of mobility modes within PEDs and offering insights into the optimization of renewable energy sources for reducing emissions and energy consumption. Full article

The rapid increase in scientific publications has made it challenging to keep up with the latest advancements. Conducting systematic reviews using traditional methods is both time-consuming and difficult. To address this, new review formats like rapid and scoping reviews have been introduced, reflecting an urgent need for efficient information retrieval. This challenge extends beyond academia to many organizations where numerous documents must be reviewed in relation to specific user queries. This paper focuses on improving document ranking to enhance the retrieval of relevant articles, thereby reducing the time and effort required by researchers. By applying a range of natural language processing (NLP) techniques, including rule-based matching, statistical text analysis, word embeddings, and transformer- and LLM-based approaches like Mistral LLM, we assess the article’s similarities to user-specific inputs and prioritize them according to relevance. We propose a novel methodology, Weighted Semantic Matching (WSM) + MiniLM, combining the strengths of the different methodologies. For validation, we employ global metrics such as precision at K, recall at K, average rank, median rank, and pairwise comparison metrics, including higher rank count, average rank difference, and median rank difference. Our proposed algorithm achieves optimal performance, with an average recall at 1000 of 95% and an average median rank of 185 for selected articles across the five datasets evaluated. These findings give promising results in pinpointing the relevant articles and reducing the manual work. Full article

An investigation is undertaken to explore a sudden quasi-linear precipitation and gale event that transpired in the afternoon of 30 May 2024 over Beijing. It was situated at the southwestern periphery of a double-center low-vortex system, where a moisture-rich belt efficiently channeled abundant warm, humid air northward from the south. The interplay between dynamical lifting, convergent airflow-induced uplift, and the amplifying effects of the northern mountainous terrain’s topography creates favorable conditions that support the development and persistence of quasi-linear convective precipitation, accompanied by gale-force winds at the surface. The study also analyzes the impacts of five microphysics schemes (Lin, WSM6, Goddard, Morrison, and WDM6) employed in a weather research and forecasting (WRF) numerical model, with which the simulated rainfall and radar reflectivity are compared against ground-based rain gauge network and weather radar observations, respectively. Simulations with the five microphysics schemes demonstrate commendable skills in replicating the macroscopic quasi-linear pattern of the event. Among the schemes assessed, the WSM6 scheme exhibits its superior agreement with radar observations. The Morrison scheme demonstrates superior performance in predicting cumulative rainfall. Nevertheless, five microphysics schemes exhibit limitations in predicting the rainfall amount, the rainfall duration, and the rainfall area, with a discernible lag of approximately 30 min in predicting precipitation onset, indicating a tendency to forecast peak rainfall events slightly posterior to their true occurrence. Furthermore, substantial disparities emerge in the simulation of the vertical distribution of hydrometeors, underscoring the intricacies of microphysical processes. Full article

The development of materials and the products made from them should respond to new challenges posed by market changes and also by climate change. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to develop a method that supports the sustainable development of materials and the products made from them based on an aggregated indicator of quality and environmental load in the life cycle (QLCA). The testing and illustration of the QLCA method included a passenger car tyre and nine prototypes. These prototypes were described using eight quality criteria: season, class, size of the load index, speed index, rolling, adhesion, and external noise. Then, customer expectations regarding the importance of the criteria and satisfaction with the indicators in the current and modified states were obtained. Based on the customer assessment, the quality indicators of the prototypes were assessed. This assessment was supported by the weighted sum model (WSM) and the entropy method. Then, life cycle assessment for the reference tyre was performed using the Ecoinvent database in the OpenLCA program. LCA indicators were modelled for other prototypes, taking into account quality changes. As a result of the verification of the method, an aggregated QLCA indicator was estimated, based on which it was possible to select the most favourable (qualitatively and environmentally) prototype out of nine. This was the P4 prototype (QLCA = 0.57). The next position in the ranking was taken by P7 (QLCA = 0.43). The QLCA method can be used to determine the direction of development of materials and products in terms of their sustainable development. Full article

In recent years, the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) represent rapidly developing technologies. The majority of car manufacturing companies invest large amounts of money in the field of connected autonomous vehicles. Applications of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) relate to smart transport services and offer benefits to both society and the environment. However, the development of autonomous vehicles may create vulnerabilities in security systems, through which attacks could harm both vehicles and their drivers. To this end, CAV development in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) requires secure wireless communication. However, this kind of communication is vulnerable to a variety of cyber-attacks, such as spoofing. In essence, this paper presents an in-depth analysis of spoofing attack impacts under realistic road conditions, which may cause some traffic congestion. The novelty of this work has to do with simulation scenarios that take into consideration a set of cross-layer parameters, such as packet delivery ratio (PDR), acceleration, and speed. These parameters can determine the integrity of the exchanged wave short messages (WSMs) and are aggregated in a central trusted authority (CTA) for further analysis. Finally, a statistical metric, coefficient of variation (CoV), which measures the consequences of a cyber-attack in a future crash, is estimated, showing a significant increase (12.1%) in a spoofing attack scenario. Full article

Stochastic optimization approaches benefit from random variance to produce a solution in a reasonable time frame that is good enough for solving the problem. Compared with them, deterministic optimization methods feature faster convergence rates and better reproducibility but may get stuck at a local optimum that is insufficient to solve the problem. In this paper, we propose a group-based deterministic optimization method, which can efficiently achieve comparable performance to heuristic optimization algorithms, such as particle swarm optimization. Moreover, the weighted sum method (WSM) is employed to further improve our deterministic optimization method to be multi-objective optimization, making it able to seek a balance among multiple conflicting circuit performance metrics. With a case study of three common analog circuits tested for our optimization methodology, the experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method can more efficiently reach a better estimation of the Pareto front compared to NSGA-II, a well-known multi-objective optimization approach. Full article

With the advancement of information technology, the Internet is pivotal in today’s society, serving as a global connectivity platform. Leveraging Internet technology within an enterprise can improve operational efficiency and curtail costs. However, traditional Internet platform selection methods cannot simultaneously handle quantitative and qualitative information, fuzzy semantics, and incomplete expert-provided information. To address these limitations, this study integrated the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and the weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) approaches to tackle Internet platform selection problems within an incomplete information environment. To demonstrate the validity of this research approach, this study utilized a construction industry Internet platform selection case to confirm the efficacy of the proposed novel fuzzy analytic hierarchy process-based method. Comparative analysis against the weighted sum model (WSM), weighted product model (WPM), FAHP, and typical WASPAS approaches was conducted with numerical verification, revealing that the proposed method in this study effectively manages comprehensive information and yields more rational outcomes for construction industry Internet platforms. Full article

The Igla Ahmr region in the Central Eastern Desert (CED) of Egypt comprises mainly syenogranites and alkali feldspar granites, with a few tonalite xenoliths. The mineral potential maps were presented in order to convert the concentrations of total rare earth elements (REEs) and associated elements such as Zr, Nb, Ga, Y, Sc, Ta, Mo, U, and Th into mappable exploration criteria based on the line density, five alteration indices, random forest (RF) machine learning, and the weighted sum model (WSM). According to petrography and geochemical analysis, random forest (RF) gives the best result and represents new locations for rare metal mineralization compared with the WSM. The studied tonalites resemble I-type granites and were crystallized from mantle-derived magmas that were contaminated by crustal materials via assimilation, while the alkali feldspar granites and syenogranites are peraluminous A-type granites. The tonalites are the old phase and are considered a transitional stage from I-type to A-type, whereas the A-type granites have evolved from the I-type ones. Their calculated zircon saturation temperature T_Zr ranges from 717 °C to 820 °C at pressure < 4 kbar and depth < 14 km in relatively oxidized conditions. The A-type granites have high SiO₂ (71.46–77.22 wt.%), high total alkali (up to 9 wt.%), Zr (up to 482 ppm), FeOt/(FeOt + MgO) ratios > 0.86, A/CNK ratios > 1, Al₂O₃ + CaO < 15 wt.%, and high ΣREEs (230 ppm), but low CaO and MgO and negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.24–0.43). These chemical features resemble those of post-collisional rare metal A-type granites in the Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS). The parent magma of these A-type granites was possibly derived from the partial melting of the I-type tonalitic protolith during lithospheric delamination, followed by severe fractional crystallization in the upper crust in the post-collisional setting. Their rare metal-bearing minerals, including zircon, apatite, titanite, and rutile, are of magmatic origin, while allanite, xenotime, parisite, and betafite are hydrothermal in origin. The rare metal mineralization in the Igla Ahmr granites is possibly attributed to: (1) essential components of both parental peraluminous melts and magmatic-emanated fluids that have caused metasomatism, leading to rare metal enrichment in the Igla Ahmr granites during the interaction between rocks and fluids, and (2) structural control of rare metals by the major NW–SE structures (Najd trend) and conjugate N–S and NE–SW faults, which all are channels for hydrothermal fluids that in turn have led to hydrothermal alteration. This explains why rare metal mineralization in granites is affected by hydrothermal alteration, including silicification, phyllic alteration, sericitization, kaolinitization, and chloritization. Full article

Marine symbiotic and epiphyte microorganisms are sources of bioactive or structurally novel natural products. Metabolic blockade-based genome mining has been proven to be an effective strategy to accelerate the discovery of natural products from both terrestrial and marine microorganisms. Here, the metabolic blockade-based genome mining strategy was applied to the discovery of other metabolites in a sea anemone-associated Streptomyces sp. S1502. We constructed a mutant Streptomyces sp. S1502/Δstp1 that switched to producing the atypical angucyclines WS-5995 A–E, among which WS-5995 E is a new compound. A biosynthetic gene cluster (wsm) of the angucyclines was identified through gene knock-out and heterologous expression studies. The biosynthetic pathways of WS-5995 A–E were proposed, the roles of some tailoring and regulatory genes were investigated, and the biological activities of WS-5995 A–E were evaluated. WS-5995 A has significant anti-Eimeria tenell activity with an IC₅₀ value of 2.21 μM. The production of antibacterial streptopyrroles and anticoccidial WS-5995 A–E may play a protective role in the mutual relationship between Streptomyces sp. S1502 and its host. Full article

The charge properties and regularities of mutual influence of the electro-physical parameters in a metal (M)/insulator (I)/two-dimensional crystal heterostructure were studied. In one case, the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) MoS₂ was considered as a two-dimensional crystal, and in another the Weyl semi-metal (WSM) ZrTe₅, representative of a quasi-two-dimensional crystal was chosen for this purpose. By self-consistently solving the electrostatic equations of the heterostructures under consideration and the Fermi–Dirac distribution, the relationship between such parameters as the concentration of charge carriers, chemical potential, and quantum capacitance of the TMD (WSM), as well as the capacitance of the I layer and the interface capacitance I–TMD (WSM), and their dependence on the field electrode potential, have been derived. The conditions for the emergence of charge instability and the critical phenomena caused by it are also determined. Full article

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to simulate Typhoon Rumbia in this paper. The sensitivity experiments were conducted with 16 different parameterization combination schemes, including four microphysics (WSM6, WSM5, Lin, and Thompson), two boundary layers (YSU and MYJ), and two cumulus convection (Kain–Fritsch and Grell–Freitas) schemes. The impacts of 16 parameterization combination schemes and the data assimilation (DA) of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) water vapor were evaluated by the simulation accuracy of typhoon track and intensity. The results show that the typhoon track and intensity are significantly influenced by parameterization schemes of cumulus and boundary layers rather than microphysics. The averaged track error of Lin_KF_Y is 104.73 km in the entire 72-h simulation period. The track errors of all the other combination schemes are higher than Lin_KF_Y. During the entire 72-h, the averaged intensity error of Thompson_GF_M is 1.36 hPa. It is the lowest among all the combination schemes. As for data assimilation, the simulation accuracy of typhoon tracks can be significantly improved by adding the GNSS water vapor. Thompson_GF_M-DA combination scheme has the lowest average track error of 45.05 km in the initial 24 h. The Lin_KF_Y-DA combination scheme exhibits an average track error of 32.17 km on the second day, 28.03 km on the third day, and 35.33 km during 72-h. The study shows that the combination of parameterization schemes and the GNSS water vapor data assimilation significantly improve the initial conditions and the accuracy of typhoon predictions. The study results contribute to the selection of appropriate combinations of physical parameterization schemes for the WRF-ARW model in the mid-latitude region of the western Pacific coast. Full article

Wastewater invariably accumulates soluble and insoluble waste and requires treatment at a wastewater treatment plant (WTP) to become reusable. The preliminary screening of insoluble waste occurs through a wastewater screening mechanism (WSM) before entering the WTP. The present study computationally investigates the impact of a WSM, comprising a main screen, sliding sub-screen, and rake, on channel flow distribution, deformation, and stresses. Various sub-screen configurations, fully and partially lowered, are examined. The fluid–structure interaction between sewage water and the WSM was solved using the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian approach. Unlike similar studies in the past which have been conducted in 2D, the present study considers the 3D design and thus captures a greater complexity of the WSM assembly. The velocity distribution inside the channel, structural deformation, and von Mises stresses of WSM components were analyzed for a range of inlet velocities at different stages of the screening process. The results reveal that a fully lowered sub-screen with an inactive rake ensures a uniform flow through the WSM, while a partially lowered sub-screen induces persistent flow separation. Structural analysis reveals significant deformation in the upper mid-region of the sub-screen and fluctuating deformations in the rake, accompanied by elevated von Mises stresses. The study serves as a design guideline for manufacturing and operating a WSM, ensuring the prevention of unfavorable stress and deformation in the WSM and the WTP. Full article

The discrete element method (DEM) has become the numerical method of choice for analysing and predicting the behaviour of granular materials in bulk handling systems. Wet-and-sticky materials (WSM) are especially problematic, resulting in build-up and blockages. Furthermore, due to the large number of particles in industrial-scale applications, it is essential to decrease the number of particles in the model by increasing their size (upscaling or coarse graining). In this study, the accuracy with which upscaled DEM particles can model the discharge of a cohesive material from a belt conveyor onto an inclined impact plate was investigated. Experimentally, three sand grades (particle size distributions, PSDs) were used, each in a dry (non-cohesive) state and with three levels of moisture-induced cohesion. The effects of the modelled PSDs on the material flow, build-up on the plate, the peak impact force and the residual weight were investigated. Although a linear cohesion contact model was mostly used, the results were also compared to that of the Johnson–Kendall–Roberts (JKR) and simplified JKR (SJKR) models. It was found that the general profile of the pile (build-up) could be accurately modelled, but using a more accurate (but still upscaled) PSD improved the results. The impact force and the residual weight on the plate could be accurately modelled (error $<15\%$) if the particle size was not excessively scaled. The maximum acceptable scaling factor was found to be a geometric factor of the bulk measure of interest, and not a factor of the physical particle size. Furthermore, with an increase in cohesion, the bulk measures such as the thickness of the discharge stream and the height of the material build-up increased, which meant that the maximum acceptable scale factor also increased. The results are valuable for future accurate and efficient modelling of large industrial scale applications of WSMs. Full article

To investigate the impact of advanced microphysics schemes using single and double moment (WSM6/WDM6) schemes, numerical simulations are conducted using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for a severe mesoscale convective system (MCS) formed over the Korean Peninsula. Spatial rainfall distribution and pattern correlation linked with the convective system are improved in the WDM6 simulation. During the developing stage of the system, the distribution of total hydrometeors is larger in WDM6 compared to WSM6. Along with the mixing ratio of hydrometeors (cloud, rain, graupel, snow, and ice), the number concentration of cloud and rainwater are also predictable in WDM6. To understand the differences in the vertical representation of cloud hydrometeors between the schemes, rain number concentration (Nr) from WSM6 is also computed using particle density to compare with the Nr readily available in WDM6. Varied vertical distribution and large differences in rain number concentration and rain particle mass is evident between the schemes. Inclusion of the number concentration of rain and cloud, CCN, along with the mixing ratio of different hydrometers has improved the storm morphology in WDM6. Furthermore, the latent heating (LH) profiles of six major phase transformation processes (condensation, evaporation, freezing, melting, deposition, and sublimation) are also computed from microphysical production terms to deeply study the storm vertical structure. The main differences in condensation and evaporation terms are evident between the simulations due to the varied treatment of warm rain processes and the inclusion of CCN activation in WDM6. To investigate cloud–aerosol interactions, numerical simulation is conducted by increasing the CCN (aerosol) concentration in WDM6, which simulated comparatively improved pattern correlation for rainfall simulation along with intense hydrometer distribution. It can be inferred that the change in aerosol increased the LH of evaporation and freezing and affected the warming and cooling processes, cloud vertical distribution, and subsequent rainfall. Relatively, the WDM6 simulated latent heating profile distribution is more consistent with the ERA5 computed moisture source and sink terms due to the improved formulation of warm rain processes. Full article