Mehran Karimi¹, Hesamodin Heidarigoujani¹, Mehdi Jahangiri^1,*, Milad Torabi Anaraki², Daryosh Mohamadi Janaki³

Energy Engineering, Vol.123, No.2, 2026, DOI:10.32604/ee.2025.070190 - 27 January 2026

Abstract The technical, economic, and environmental performance of solar hot-water (SWH) systems for Swedish residential apartments—where approximately 80% of household energy is devoted to space heating and sanitary hot-water production—was assessed. Two collector types, flat plate (FP) and evacuated tube (ET), were simulated in TSOL Pro 5.5 for five major cities (Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, Uppsala, Linköping). Climatic data and cold-water temperatures were sourced from Meteonorm 7.1, and economic parameters were derived from recent national statistics and literature. All calculations explicitly accounted for heat losses from collectors, storage tanks, and internal and external piping systems, and established… More >

Changcheng Li^1,2, Weimeng Chang^1,2, Dahai Zhang^1,*, Jinghan He¹

Energy Engineering, Vol.123, No.1, 2026, DOI:10.32604/ee.2025.069389 - 27 December 2025

Abstract Effective partitioning is crucial for enabling parallel restoration of power systems after blackouts. This paper proposes a novel partitioning method based on deep reinforcement learning. First, the partitioning decision process is formulated as a Markov decision process (MDP) model to maximize the modularity. Corresponding key partitioning constraints on parallel restoration are considered. Second, based on the partitioning objective and constraints, the reward function of the partitioning MDP model is set by adopting a relative deviation normalization scheme to reduce mutual interference between the reward and penalty in the reward function. The soft bonus scaling mechanism… More >

A. Ledesma-Juárez¹, J. F. Quintero-Guerrero², A. M. Fernández^1,*

Chalcogenide Letters, Vol.22, No.12, pp. 1009-1018, 2025, DOI:10.15251/CL.2025.2212.1009 - 06 December 2025

Abstract Indium sulphide (In₂S₃) has positioned itself as an environmentally friendly and efficient option compared to traditional CdS, used as a buffer layer in thin-film solar cells that use Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) as an absorbent material. This study provides a comparative analysis of two techniques for depositing thin films of In₂S₃: chemical bath deposition (CBD) and ultrasonic pyrolytic spraying. Their structural, morphological, compositional, and optical properties were evaluated. The films obtained by pyrolytic spraying, showed adequate crystallinity and uniformity. On the other hand, the films deposited by CBD had better stoichiometry (In2:S3 ≈ 40:60% at.) and higher bandgap values More >

Akramjon Y. Boboev^1,*, Ulugbek R. Karimberdiev¹, Sardor R. Kadirov², Nuritdin Y. Yunusaliyev¹

Chalcogenide Letters, Vol.22, No.11, pp. 951-957, 2025, DOI:10.15251/CL.2025.2211.951

Abstract This paper investigates the possibility of growing solid solutions of the composition (Ge₂)_1−x−y(GaAs_1−δBi_δ)_x(ZnSe)_y on silicon substrates using a germanium (Ge) buffer layer. The optimal conditions for obtaining a structurally high-quality epitaxial layer have been determined. In the study, the solid solution was obtained by liquid-phase epitaxy from a bismuth-containing melt solution. Epitaxial growth was carried out in a palladiumpurified hydrogen atmosphere at a cooling rate of 1 ÷ 1.5°C/min in the temperature range 750 ÷ 650°C. Experimental data showed that the growth of the epitaxial film significantly depends on the size of the gap between the… More >

Huaiqin Liu¹, Meng Li¹, Jianwen Shao², Weishen Zhang¹, Qifan Yang¹, Yutong Li¹, Tian Su^1,3,*, Xuefeng Mei⁴

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.19, No.6, pp. 1563-1588, 2025, DOI:10.32604/sdhm.2025.073009 - 17 November 2025

Abstract Rock collapse is a significant geological disaster that poses a serious threat to life and property in mountainous regions worldwide. Investigating the response of protective structures to rockfall impacts can provide valuable references for the design and placement of such structures. In this study, RocPro3D and ABAQUS were employed to comprehensively analyze rockfall movement trajectories and the structural response upon impact. The results indicate that when the impact velocity of rockfall at the protective structure reaches 20–30 m/sec, the corresponding bounce height ranges from 5 to 8 m, and most rockfall accumulates at the slope More > Graphic Abstract

Bo Li, Xiaoying Yang^*, Zhijie Pei, Xin Yang, Yaqi Wu

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.84, No.2, pp. 3649-3672, 2025, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.066267 - 03 July 2025

Abstract It is well known that the kit completeness of parts processed in the previous stage is crucial for the subsequent manufacturing stage. This paper studies the flexible job shop scheduling problem (FJSP) with the objective of material kitting, where a material kit is a collection of components that ensures that a batch of components can be ready at the same time during the product assembly process. In this study, we consider completion time variance and maximum completion time as scheduling objectives, continue the weighted summation process for multiple objectives, and design adaptive weighted summation parameters… More >

Yuan Zou¹, Chao Lu^1,*, Lvjiang Yin², Xiaoyu Wen³

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.84, No.2, pp. 2305-2330, 2025, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2025.065972 - 03 July 2025

Abstract The shop scheduling problem with limited buffers has broad applications in real-world production scenarios, so this research direction is of great practical significance. However, there is currently little research on the hybrid flow shop scheduling problem with limited buffers (LBHFSP). This paper deeply investigates the LBHFSP to optimize the goal of the total completion time. To better solve the LBHFSP, a multi-level subpopulation-based particle swarm optimization algorithm (MLPSO) is proposed, which is founded on the attributes of the LBHFSP and the shortcomings of the basic PSO (particle swarm optimization) algorithm. In MLPSO, firstly, considering the… More >

T. A. Chowdhury^*, R. B. Arif, H. Israq, N. Sharmili, R. S. Shuvo

Chalcogenide Letters, Vol.21, No.2, pp. 175-187, 2024, DOI:10.15251/CL.2024.212.175

Abstract The solar cell capacitance simulator (SCAPS-1D) has been used to simulate, design and analyze of MoSe₂, an attractive transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) material, based heterojunction solar cells to use it as a potential alternative to conventional absorber layers used in solar cells. The work also focuses on finding optimal absorber, buffer layer thickness and impact of operating temperature on solar cell performance with a possible replacement to toxic CdS buffer layer. It has been obtained that the optimum thickness of MoSe₂ absorber layer is 1 µm and buffer layer is about 0.04 µm. The efficiency obtained More >

C. E. H. Merzouk^a, S. Bensmaine^a, L. Ghalmi^a, A. Aissat^b,c,*

Chalcogenide Letters, Vol.21, No.2, pp. 113-124, 2024, DOI:10.15251/CL.2024.212.113

Abstract This comparative numerical simulation study investigates the electrical characteristics of two heterojunction thin-film solar cells based on Kësterites Copper Zinc Tin Sulfide. The study compared two solar cells with different structures, Zinc Oxide ZnO/Cadmium Sulfide CdS/Kësterites CZTS/Molybdenum Mo and Zinc Oxide ZnO/Zinc Sulfide ZnS/Kësterites CZTS/Molybdenum Mo, to determine which is more efficient in achieving maximum photovoltaic efficiency. The results showed that the ZnO/ZnS/CZTS/Mo solar cell is the better option, outperforming the CdS/CZTS/Mo solar cell in terms of short-circuit current density J_sc, open-circuit voltage V_oc, form factor FF, and photovoltaic efficiency η. The study also investigated the More >

Hongyan Xia, Jin Zhu^*

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.138, No.2, pp. 1637-1661, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2023.029576 - 17 November 2023

Abstract Improving the cooperative scheduling efficiency of equipment is the key for automated container terminals to cope with the development trend of large-scale ships. In order to improve the solution efficiency of the existing space-time network (STN) model for the cooperative scheduling problem of yard cranes (YCs) and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and extend its application scenarios, two improved STN models are proposed. The flow balance constraints in the original model are decomposed, and the trajectory constraints of YCs and AGVs are added to acquire the model STN_A. The coupling constraint in STN_A is updated, and… More >