Gaskets play a significant role in the thermal insulation of refrigerators. Previous studies mainly focused on how to obtain the heat and moisture transfer load of a given gasket, but lacked ...appropriate structural improvement measures and their effect on the heat leakage load and energy consumption of refrigerators. In this paper, the heat transfer analysis of an original gasket was conducted via numerical simulation. It was found that the main thermal insulation weaknesses of the original gasket are gasket-cold air, gasket-outer shell of the cabinet, gasket-inner lining of door and gasket-hot air. Thus, adding an auxiliary-airbag to the original gasket and a comprehensive new-design gasket were proposed to improve the thermal insulation. Compared with the original gasket, the numerical simulation results showed the heat leakage loads of the auxiliary-airbag and new-design gasket were reduced by 18.44 % and 27.49 %. The total heat leakage loads of refrigerators equipped with improved gaskets were reduced by 4.46 % and 6.64 %. The effect of two structurally improved gaskets on the refrigerator energy consumption was experimentally studied. The repetitively measured results showed the energy consumption of refrigerators with the auxiliary-airbag and the new-designed gasket were reduced by 0.93 % and 3.19 %. The reason why the reduction in refrigerator energy consumption is lower than the reduction in heat leakage load is due to the difficulty in achieving the designed assembly state of the gasket during actual installation. Based on the holdings of refrigerators around the world, it is estimated that the refrigerators energy consumption can be reduced by 106.776 billion kWh per year and carbon emissions can be reduced by 12.74 million tons per year when using the new-design gasket proposed in this study.
•A method to determine the thermal insulation weaknesses of the gasket is proposed.•Comprehensive structural improvements to reduce gasket heat load are proposed.•Thermal insulation improvement of gaskets will decrease refrigerator temperature.•Energy consumption of refrigerators with new-design gaskets is reduced by 3.19 %.
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The challenges of drug development in pediatric, pregnant and geriatric populations are a worldwide concern shared by regulatory authorities, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare ...professionals. Model-informed drug development (MIDD) can integrate and quantify real-world data of physiology, pharmacology, and disease processes by using modeling and simulation techniques to facilitate decision-making in drug development. In this article, we reviewed current MIDD policy updates, reflected on the integrity of physiological data used for MIDD and the effects of physiological changes on the drug PK, as well as summarized current MIDD strategies and applications, so as to present the state of the art of MIDD in pediatric, pregnant and geriatric populations. Some considerations are put forth for the future improvements of MIDD including refining regulatory considerations, improving the integrity of physiological data, applying the emerging technologies, and exploring the application of MIDD in new therapies like gene therapies for special populations.
Triarylamine (TAA) and related materials have dramatically promoted the development of organic and hybrid photovoltaics during the past decade. The power conversion efficiencies of TAA-based organic ...solar cells (OSCs), dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have exceeded 11%, 14%, and 20%, which are among the best results for these three kinds of devices, respectively. In this review, we summarize the recent advances of the high-performance TAA-based materials in OSCs, DSSCs, and PSCs. We focus our discussion on the structure–property relationship of the TAA-based materials in order to shed light on the solutions to the challenges in the field of organic and hybrid photovoltaics. Some design strategies for improving the materials and device performance and possible research directions in the near future are also proposed.
The present research was attempted to examine the human health risks due to nitrate contamination in the groundwater of Texvalley (Tiruppur region) of southern India. Groundwater samples (n = 40) ...were picked up from open wells (shallow aquifer) and tube wells (deep aquifer) during January 2020, and laboratory examination was conducted for various major physicochemical constituents. Nitrate concentration varied from 10 to 290 mg/l with a mean of 83.45 mg/l. About 58% (n = 23) of the wells exceeded the recommended limit (>45 mg/l) of World Health Organisation, which spread over an area of 335.16 km2. Among this, 45% of the samples (n = 18) represented shallow aquifers (depth < 15 m), and 13% of them (n = 5) represented deep aquifers (depth > 15 m). Synthetic fertilizers, cow dung and sheep manure, industrial discharge, septic tank leakage and municipal solid waste disposal are the major sources of nitrate pollution in this region. The USEPA health risk assessment model was applied in this study to assess hazard quotients (HQ) according to the NO3− exposure in various age groups of inhabitants through two different pathways such as drinking (HQoral) and skin contact (HQdermal). Eventually, total hazard index (THI) was obtained for all the groundwater samples for different age groups. According to THI, 87%, 78%, 66%, 60%, 56% and 48% of the samples contain health risks (THI >1) for infants, kids, children, teens, adults and aged people, respectively. The study finally recommended seven environmental friendly actions for the groundwater quality improvements and for the sustainable health management.
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•Nearly 58% of the groundwater samples in Tiruppur region are affected by nitrate pollution.•Shallow aquifers are more polluted (45%) than deep aquifers (13%) due to anthropogenic inputs.•The major sources of nitrate are sewages, fertilizers and municipal solid wastes.•About 87% of the samples possess health risks for infants in Tiruppur region.
Compressed Sensing is targeted at reconstructing a signal from a small set of measurements, if the signal is sparse in some domains. In this respect, a low coherent measurement matrix plays an ...important role. In this letter, an efficient approximation of Formula Omitted-norm based on the soft maximum is introduced to design a low coherent measurement matrix with a controllable spectral norm. The proposed approximation, called Logarithm of Sum of Exponential Absolute values (LSEAp), is convex (similar to Formula Omitted-norm) and almost smooth. We design a low coherent measurement matrix with a small spectral norm via minimization of the Formula Omitted-norm of the Gram matrix. The resulting problem is not convex but our simulations show that the LSEAp leads to an improved design of the measurement matrix, as compared to current methods.
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•Main carotenoids from fungi and microalgae in past few years were reviewed.•Carotenoids production could be affected by combined stress and co-cultivation.•Green extraction methods ...can maintain biological activity of carotenoids.•Synthetic biology and bioinformatics were the key tools in the future research.
The demand for carotenoids from natural sources obtained by biological extraction methods is increasing with the development of biotechnology and the continued awareness of food safety. Natural plant-derived carotenoids have a relatively high production cost and are affected by the season, while microbial-derived carotenoids are favored due to their natural, high-efficiency, low production cost, and ease of industrialization. This article reviewed the following aspects of natural carotenoids derived from microorganisms: (1) the structures and properties of main carotenoids; (2) fungal and microalgal sources of the main carotenoids; (3) influencing factors and modes of improvement for carotenoids production; (4) efficient extraction methods for carotenoids; and (5) the commercial value of carotenoids. This review provided a reference and guidance for the development of natural carotenoids derived from microorganisms.
Product improvements (PI) are common in practice. An important research gap in this domain is the absence of a comprehensive examination of the role of different patterns of PI (i.e., infrequent but ...big spurts of major improvements versus gradual occurrence of small improvements). This omission is surprising because such an examination will enhance our conceptualization of customer perceptions of PI and will provide valuable guidance for managers in devising appropriate strategies for introducing PI and the associated allocation of organizational resources. To address this gap, the current research proposes an analytical framework that is grounded in prospect theory to examine the impact of different patterns of PI on customer response. More specifically, the paper examines the moderating role of brand-tier on the link between the pattern of PI and customer response.
•Examines the role of patterns of incremental product improvements on customer response•Proposes an analytical framework built on prospect theory•Customer response is contingent upon reference quality level.•Customer response differs for brands in different quality tiers.
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging class of porous crystalline materials assembled by symmetric and rigid organic building blocks through strong covalent bonds. COFs have attractive ...properties such as highly tunable porosity, ordered channels, optional building blocks, predictable control of structures, easy to functionalize. Until now, COFs have attracted increasing attention from researchers due to their versatile applications in analytical chemistry. This review provides a comprehensive overview covering COFs and their applications as materials in separation (solid-phase extraction, membrane separation and chromatographic separation) and their roles in analysis (chemical sensing, spectral detection and visual detection). Moreover, we discuss the interaction principles between COFs and target compounds. This review also discusses improvements in performance of COFs over conventional materials when they are used in analytical chemistry. Lastly, we discuss current challenges and possible trends for applications of COFs in analytical chemistry.
•The applications of COFs in separation included solid-phase extraction, membrane separation and chromatographic separation.•The applications of COFs in analysis covered chemical sensing, spectral detection and visual detection.•Interaction principles between COFs and target compounds were involved.•Improvements in performance for application of COFs over conventional materials in analytical chemistry were also discussed.
