Lijing Huang, Penghui Li, Kangjie Jiang, Wenjuan Wu^*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.11, No.4, pp. 1613-1626, 2023, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2022.023605

Abstract The effect of lignin structural units on enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass was investigated, especially the inhibitory role of lignin in non-productive adsorption with enzymes. Milled wood lignin (MWL) was isolated from different hardwoods of poplar, eucalyptus and acacia. The isolated lignin samples were characterized by elemental analysis, gel permeation chromatography, nitrobenzene oxidation and fourier infrared spectroscopy. The mechanism of lignin structural units on enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose was studied by quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The results showed that different structural units of lignin had different adsorption capacity for enzymes. The results of nitrobenzene oxidation indicated that the S/G ratio… More > Graphic Abstract

Ling Yuan¹, Zhenggang Liu^2,*, Li Li³, Ming Lin¹

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.19, No.5, pp. 1129-1141, 2023, DOI:10.32604/fdmp.2023.023538

Abstract The blades of large-scale wind turbines can obviously deform during operation, and such a deformation can affect the wind turbine’s output power to a certain extent. In order to shed some light on this phenomenon, for which limited information is available in the literature, a bidirectional fluid-structure interaction (FSI) numerical model is employed in this work. In particular, a 5 MW large-scale wind turbine designed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the United States is considered as a testbed. The research results show that blades’ deformation can increase the wind turbine’s output power by 135 kW at rated working conditions.… More > Graphic Abstract

Maosheng Wang, Yanyang Wang, Yihua Cao^*, Qiang Zhang

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.19, No.5, pp. 1301-1315, 2023, DOI:10.32604/fdmp.2023.023435

Abstract The so-called coaxial compound helicopter features two rigid coaxial rotors, and possesses high-speed capabilities. Nevertheless, the small separation of the coaxial rotors causes severe aerodynamic interactions, which require careful analysis. In the present work, the aerodynamic interaction between the various helicopter components is investigated by means of a numerical method considering both hover and forward flight conditions. While a sliding mesh method is used to deal with the rotating coaxial rotors, the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are solved for the flow field. The Caradonna & Tung (CT) rotor and Harrington-2 coaxial rotor are considered to validate the numerical method. The… More >

Khakoo Mal^1,2,*, Tayab Din Memon^1,3, Imtiaz Hussain Kalwar⁴, Bhawani Shankar Chowdhry⁵

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.74, No.2, pp. 3351-3370, 2023, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2023.032940

Abstract It is necessary to know the status of adhesion conditions between wheel and rail for efficient accelerating and decelerating of railroad vehicle. The proper estimation of adhesion conditions and their real-time implementation is considered a challenge for scholars. In this paper, the development of simulation model of extended Kalman filter (EKF) in MATLAB/Simulink is presented to estimate various railway wheelset parameters in different contact conditions of track. Due to concurrent in nature, the Xilinx^® System-on-Chip Zynq Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device is chosen to check the onboard estimation of wheel-rail interaction parameters by using the National Instruments (NI) myRIO^®… More >

Saiyed Umer^1,*, Ranjeet Kumar Rout², Shailendra Tiwari³, Ahmad Ali AlZubi⁴, Jazem Mutared Alanazi⁴, Kulakov Yurii⁵

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.135, No.2, pp. 1165-1185, 2023, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2022.023312

Abstract A deep fusion model is proposed for facial expression-based human-computer Interaction system. Initially, image preprocessing, i.e., the extraction of the facial region from the input image is utilized. Thereafter, the extraction of more discriminative and distinctive deep learning features is achieved using extracted facial regions. To prevent overfitting, in-depth features of facial images are extracted and assigned to the proposed convolutional neural network (CNN) models. Various CNN models are then trained. Finally, the performance of each CNN model is fused to obtain the final decision for the seven basic classes of facial expressions, i.e., fear, disgust, anger, surprise, sadness, happiness,… More >

Aya Miyazaki^1,2,*, Hideki Uemura², Yasuyo Takeuchi³, Junya Tomida⁴, Yasuo Ono¹, Yoshifumi Fujimoto¹, Norie Mitsushita¹, Akio Ikai¹

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.17, No.6, pp. 647-652, 2022, DOI:10.32604/chd.2022.021837

Abstract Appropriate heart rate in a failing pulmonary ventricle remains unknown, particularly in congenital heart disease with unique hemodynamics. A 71-year-old male with repaired tetralogy of Fallot and a pacemaker for a sinus node dysfunction suffered from heart failure symptoms with preserved left ventricular function. Simply changing the pacemaker’s lower rate from 60 to 75 bpm, New York Heart Association classification improved from III to II, and hemodynamic parameters drastically improved. We regarded this case as informative. Appropriate heart rate could be higher in congenital patients with failing right and non-failing left ventricles than in adults with malfunctioning LV. More > Graphic Abstract

DIEGO MASONE^1,2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.1, pp. 1-14, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.024146

Abstract The inflexible concept of membrane curvature as an independent property of lipid structures is today obsolete. Lipid bilayers behave as many-body entities with emergent properties that depend on their interactions with the environment. In particular, proteins exert crucial actions on lipid molecules that ultimately condition the collective properties of the membranes. In this review, the potential of enhanced molecular dynamics to address cell-biology problems is discussed. The cases of membrane deformation, membrane fusion, and the fusion pore are analyzed from the perspective of the dimensionality reduction by collective variables. Coupled lipid-protein interactions as fundamental determinants of large membrane remodeling events… More >

YINGHUI GAO, DENGTAI WEN^*, SHIJIE WANG, JINGFENG WANG

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.1, pp. 41-49, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.022689

Abstract Presenilin (Psn) protein is associated with organismal aging. Mutations in the Psn gene may lead to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), and many age-dependent degenerative diseases. These diseases seriously affect the quality of life and longevity of the population and place a huge burden on health care and economic systems around the world. Humans have two types of Psn, presenilin-1 (PSEN1) and presenilin-2 (PSEN2). Mutations in the genes encoding PSEN1, PSEN2, and amyloid precursor protein (APP) have been identified as the major genetic causes of AD. Psn is a complex gene strongly influenced by genetic and environmental factors. The… More >

Xiaoqing Zhang^*, Simon Schmidt^φ, Nick Rigopoulos, Januar Gotama, Eustathios Petinakis

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 91-100, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634135

Abstract The behavior of a biodegradable CO₂ -based polymer polypropylene carbonate (PPC) as polymer matrix of wood fi ber (WF) composites was examined and compared with that of using poly(lactic acid) (PLA) as the matrix. The PPC/WF composites displayed poor mechanical properties as compared to PLA/WF composites because PPC is an amorphous polymer with low T_g and poor thermal stability. However, when PPC was used in conjunction with PLA in WF composites, the mechanical strength and modulus of the composites could match or even exceed the level of PLA/WF composites. The strong intermolecular interactions between PPC and WF and those between… More >

Zongfa Zhang¹, Minglu Zhang^1,*, Xinbiao Xiao²

FDMP-Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing, Vol.19, No.2, pp. 345-359, 2023, DOI:10.32604/fdmp.2022.020233

Abstract The tunnel-train-air interaction problem is investigated by using a numerical method able to provide relevant information about pressure fluctuations, aerodynamic drag characteristics and the “piston wind” effect. The method relies on a RNG k-ε two-equation turbulence model. It is shown that although reducing the oblique slope can alleviate the pressure gradient resulting from initial compression waves at the tunnel entrance, the pressure fluctuations in the tunnel are barely affected; however, a large reduction of micro-pressure wave amplitudes is found outside the tunnel. In comparison to the case where no tunnel hood is present, the amplitudes of micro-pressure waves at 40… More > Graphic Abstract