A Q-learning based multi-strategy integrated artificial bee colony algorithm with application in unmanned vehicle path planning

Artificial bee colony (ABC) is a prominent algorithm that offers great exploration capabilities among various meta-heuristic algorithms. However, its monotonous and one-dimensional search strategy limits its searching performance in the solving process. Thus, to address this issue, a Q-learning based multi-strategy integrated ABC algorithm ...

4D Neutron Imaging of Solute Transport and Fluid Flow in Sandstone Before and After Mineral Precipitation

In many geological systems, the porosity of rock or soil may evolve during mineral precipitation, a process that controls fluid transport properties. Here, we investigate the use of 4D neutron imaging to image flow and transport in Bentheim sandstone core samples before and after in-situ calcium carbonate precipitation. First, we demonstrate...

Insights into sulfur and hydrogen sulfide induced corrosion of sintered nanocopper paste: A combined experimental and ab initio study

The power semiconductor joining technology through sintering of copper nanoparticles is well-suited for die attachment in wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, offering high electrical, thermal, and mechanical performances. However, sintered nanocopper will be prone to degradation resulting from corrosion in sulfur-containing corrosive...

Photochromic Thermoelectric Smart Window for Season-Adaptive Solar Heat and Daylight Management

Photochromic smart windows have drawn increasing attention as an approach to improve building energy efficiency and enhance indoor daylight comfort. However, existing photochromic smart windows still block sunlight from entering the room on sunny winter days, causing additional energy consumption for heating. Herein, a dual-mode smart window...

Potential of BREEAM-C to support building circularity assessment: Insights from case study and expert interview

Lack of knowledge and tools hampers circular transition in the construction industry. This study analyzes the potential of a framework of circular indicators put forward by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM-C) as an answer to the prevailing need of a metric for building circularity assessment to...

Bio-safe drinking water with or without chlorine: a review

Drinking water biosafety has become an increasing concern for public health. Chlorination is widely used as the main disinfection strategy worldwide but has clear and well-known byproduct issues. The Netherlands has successfully demonstrated unchlorinated approach for almost 20 years but has not been widely adopted by other countries. To...

Investigating the Sintering Process and Mechanical Properties of Nano-copper Particles Coupling Particle Packing Modeling with Molecular Dynamics Simulation

The nano-copper particles are widely used in the sintering processes of packaging wide bandgap semiconductors. Despite the significant success in the industry, the mechanism bridging the sintering process to the mechanical properties of sintered nano-copper is not yet well-modeled. In this paper, the impacts of different sintering temperatures...

Loose bolt localization and torque prediction in a bolted joint using lamb waves and explainable artificial intelligence

With the increasing application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in the field of structural health monitoring (SHM), there is a growing interest in explaining the decision-making of the black-box models in deep learning-based SHM methods. In this work, we take explainability a step further by using it to improve the performance of...

Warpage deformation analysis of AMB ceramic substrates in power modules

Driven by the increasing demand for high-power systems, ceramic substrates have received more attention for handling higher power density. Warpage in active metal brazed (AMB) ceramic substrate becomes a critical issue as it can deteriorate the reliability performance. This study comprises three phases, including investigation of the cause of...

Sintering Process Simulation of Ag Nanoparticles by Phase Field Method

Low-temperature sintering technology of Ag nanoparticles is widely used in high-power electronic device packaging. Utilizing simulation methods to comprehend and control the microstructure and properties of Ag sintering materials has emerged as a prominent research area. This work uses the General Form PDE module in COMSOL to simplify the...

Experimental study on drag coefficient of flexible vegetation under non-breaking waves

Laboratory experiments of wave propagation over rigid and flexible vegetation fields, with the same configurations, were conducted to understand the effect of vegetation flexibility on the drag coefficient (C_D). The direct method and the least squares method (LSM), based on force and flow measurements, are applied to calculate the...

Critical turbidity thresholds for maintenance of estuarine tidal flats worldwide

Tidal flats are shrinking in extent globally. The dynamics of the response of estuarine tidal flats to global environmental changes remain unclear. Tidal-flat morphology is shaped by the interplay among wave and tidal forces, river discharge and sediment supply, and preservation of tidal flats requires a balance between erosional and...