Recent decades have seen a dramatic shift away from social forms of gambling played around roulette wheels and card tables to solitary gambling at electronic terminals. Slot machines, revamped by ever more compelling digital and video technology, have unseated traditional casino games as the gambling industry's revenue mainstay. Addiction by Design takes readers into the intriguing world of machine gambling, an increasingly popular and absorbing form of play that blurs the line between human and machine, compulsion and control, risk and reward. Drawing on fifteen years of field research in Las Vegas, anthropologist Natasha Dow Schll shows how the mechanical rhythm of electronic gambling pulls players into a trancelike state they call the "machine zone," in which daily worries, social demands, and even bodily awareness fade away. Once in the zone, gambling addicts play not to win but simply to keep playing, for as long as possible--even at the cost of physical and economic exhaustion. In continuous machine play, gamblers seek to lose themselves while the gambling industry seeks profit. Schll describes the strategic calculations behind game algorithms and machine ergonomics, casino architecture and "ambience management," player tracking and cash access systems--all designed to meet the market's desire for maximum "time on device." Her account moves from casino floors into gamblers' everyday lives, from gambling industry conventions and Gamblers Anonymous meetings to regulatory debates over whether addiction to gambling machines stems from the consumer, the product, or the interplay between the two. Addiction by Design is a compelling inquiry into the intensifying traffic between people and machines of chance, offering clues to some of the broader anxieties and predicaments of contemporary life. At stake in Schll's account of the intensifying traffic between people and machines of chance is a blurring of the line between design and experience, profit and loss, control and compulsion.
Chitosan is obtained from chitin, which could be considered to be the most abundant polymer after cellulose. Owing to these properties, chitosan alone or chitosan-based composite film production is attaining huge attention in terms of applications from researchers and industrialists coming from divergent fields. To enhance the biological (mainly antimicrobial and antioxidant) and physiological (mainly mechanical, thermal and barrier) attributes of the chitosan-based films, a vast medley of plant extracts and supporting polymers has been blended into chitosan films. Considering the up to date literature reports based on chitosan film production and applications, it can be stated that still, the research ratio is low in this field. Chitosan blend/composite films with specific properties (superhydrophobicity, excellent mechanical strength, acceptable barrier properties) can be produced only for specific applications in food technology. In the current review, we tried to summarize the advancements made in the last 5-7 years in the field of chitosan film technology for its application in the food industry.
Carbon dioxide electroreduction provides a useful source of carbon monoxide, but comparatively few catalysts could be sustained at current densities of industry level. Herein, we construct a high-yield, flexible and self-supported single-atom nickel-decorated porous carbon membrane catalyst. This membrane possesses interconnected nanofibers and hierarchical pores, affording abundant effective nickel single atoms that participate in carbon dioxide reduction. Moreover, the excellent mechanical strength and well-distributed nickel atoms of this membrane combines gas-diffusion and catalyst layers into one architecture. This integrated membrane could be directly used as a gas diffusion electrode to establish an extremely stable three-phase interface for high-performance carbon dioxide electroreduction, producing carbon monoxide with a 308.4 mA cm−2 partial current density and 88% Faradaic efficiency for up to 120 h. We hope this work will provide guidance for the design and application of carbon dioxide electro-catalysts at the potential industrial scale. Here the authors deploy Ni single atom-decorated carbon membranes as integrated gas diffusion electrodes to construct an extremely stable three-phase interface for CO2 electroreduction, producing CO with a partial current density of 308.4 mA cm–2 and a Faradaic efficiency of 88% for up to 120 h.
Abstract The recent sharp increase of sensitivity towards environmental issues arising from plastic packaging has boosted interest towards alternative sustainable packaging materials. This new trend promotes the industrial exploitation of knowledge on chitosan-based films. Chitosan has been extensively investigated and used due to its unique biological and functional properties. However, inherent drawbacks including low mechanical properties and high sensitivity to humidity represent major limitations to its industrial applications, including food packaging. In the present study, the scientific literature of the last five years has been extensively reviewed (source: Web of Science) addressing chitosan-based films for their potential application in the food packaging industry. The contribution summarizes the various strategies adopted to overcome inherent drawbacks and improve the properties of chitosan-based films, with special regards for blending with natural and synthetic biopolymers.
Plastic production has outgrown most other man-made materials, with more than 90% being petroleum-based and non-biodegradable. Packaging, primarily food packaging, consumes the most plastic and is the largest contributor to municipal solid waste. In addition, its dependence on crude oil feedstock makes the plastic industry unsustainable and renders plastic markets vulnerable to oil price volatility. Therefore, the development of bio-alternatives to conventional plastics is now a priority of the food packaging industry. Bioplastics are polymers that are either bio-based (fully or partially), or biodegradable, or both. This review aims to provide an insightful overview of the most recent research and development successes in bioplastic materials, focusing on food packaging applications. Bioplastics are compared to their conventional counterparts with respect to their mechanical, thermal, barrier, migration, and processability properties. The gaps between bio- and conventional plastics in food packaging are elucidated. Potential avenues for improving bioplastic properties to broaden their food packaging applications are critically examined. Furthermore, two of the most controversial topics in bioplastic alternatives, sustainability assessment and their impact on the plastic waste management system, are discussed.
Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a natural biomaterial synthesized by bacteria. It possesses a unique structure of cellulose nanofiber-weaved three-dimensional reticulated network that endows it excellent mechanical properties, high water holding capability and outstanding suspension stability. It is also characterized with high purity, high degree of crystallinity, great biocompatibility and biodegradability. Due to these advantages, BC has gained great attentions in both academic and industrial areas. This critical review summarizes the up-to-date development of BC production and application from an industrial perspective. Firstly, a fundamental knowledge of BC's biosynthesis, structure and properties is described, and then recent developments in the industrial fermentation of BC are introduced. Subsequently, the latest commercial applications of BC in the areas of food, personal care, household chemicals, biomedicine, textile, composite resin are summarized. Finally, a brief discussion of future development of BC industry is presented at the end.
Abstract Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) is steadily increasing with significant research work are underway. Ability of WAAM to manufacture a large-scale product at lower cost and shorter lead times has increased its development. The efficiency or potential of WAAM to become a new lead in additive manufacturing industry is believed to be realized by few factors. High efficiency and performance require higher metal deposition rate which implies higher heat input that negatively affect the manufacturing process. This paper is a review of works for factors on the effect of heat input on WAAM process. With the aim to identify the optimized WAAM process in terms of heat input, the factor affecting these properties were explained. The focus of this paper is on the impact of heat input on the macrostructure, microstructure and mechanical properties of the parts deposited in the WAAM process. Systematic review performed shows the effect of heat input used by eight different types of arc welding technologies mentioned, with suitable use of wire materials. The study also highlights that heat input affected the microstructure of the WAAM causing in significant changes in grain structure, grain size and pore area percentage. Besides, the grain structure determining the mechanical properties.
Для проведення експериментальних досліджень процесу різання робочого середовища просторово орієнтованими ножами відвального обладнання, доопрацьовано динамометричний стенд реєстрації силового навантаження авторської конструкції КНУБА, що дозволило провести повноцінні експериментальні дослідження з врахуванням всіх чинних факторів взаємодії робочого середовища та робочого органу під час різання. В якості робочого середовища запропоновано використання ґрунтів III, IV, та V категорії. В результаті проведених досліджень для динамометричного стенда реєстрації силового навантаження при дослідженні процесу різання просторово орієнтованим ножем аналітично визначено сили різання при різних кутах α її відхилення, які виконують роботу по руйнуванню і подоланню опору ґрунту різанню. За результатами теоретичних досліджень встановлено, що межі сили різання, визначеної для натуральної установки з просторово орієнтованими ножами та для лабораторного стенду, однакові, а характер їх зміни також подібний і пов’язаний між собою коефіцієнтом подібності. З метою перевірки адекватності теоретичних розрахунків на динамометричному стенді проведено експериментальні дослідження різання робочого середовища. При проведенні експериментальних досліджень одночасно проводилось вимірювання нормальних та ортогональних зусиль, які виконують роботу з руйнування і подолання опору ґрунту різанню. Проведені експериментальні дослідження в повній мірі підтверджують адекватність теоретичних розрахунків, а порівняння теоретичних та експериментальних результатів визначення сили різання показало їх достатню збіжність і, відповідно, правомірність використання аналітичних виразів при розрахунку силових параметрів машин з просторово орієнтованими ножами відвального обладнання. Величини сили різання, що виконують роботу по руйнуванню і подоланню опору ґрунту різанню, що визначались теоретичним шляхом із врахуванням коефіцієнтів подібності, використаних при фізичному моделюванні для наведеного лабораторного стенда реєстрації сил різання просторово орієнтованими ножами відвального обладнання, порівняно з результатами сили різання, визначених експериментальним шляхом на даному стенді. Максимальне значення похибки визначення сили різання теоретичним та експериментальним шляхом на лабораторному стенді реєстрації сил різання просторово орієнтованими ножами відвального обладнання становить Δδ=10,06%.
Ефективність і безпека сучасних колісних транспортних засобів значною мірою визначаються надійною взаємодією пневматичних шин з опорною дорожньою або ґрунтовою поверхнею за різних режимів навантаження. Ця взаємодія формується під впливом складного поєднання пружних, в’язких і пластичних деформаційних процесів, що відбуваються як у конструкції шини, так і в опорному шарі поверхні контакту. Для точного опису цих процесів необхідні розробка та застосування вдосконалених реологічних моделей, здатних відтворювати нелінійну та часозалежну поведінку матеріалів шини.
У роботі запропоновано аналітичні та експериментальні методики визначення реологічних параметрів пневматичних шин, включаючи жорсткість, модуль деформації, коефіцієнт в’язкого опору та характеристики внутрішнього тертя. Методи базуються на аналізі статичної та динамічної поведінки деформацій шини, а також на дослідженні просторового розподілу контактних напружень у зоні взаємодії шини з опорною поверхнею. Підхід дозволяє враховувати вплив різного рівня навантаження та внутрішнього тиску повітря на механічну реакцію шини.
Отримані реологічні параметри створюють основу для побудови числових моделей системи «шина–дорога», що забезпечує точне прогнозування контактних напружень, закономірностей деформування та динамічних навантажень під час експлуатації транспортних засобів. Запропоновані методики зменшують експериментальну складність та підвищують точність визначення параметрів, маючи практичне значення для конструкції шин, оптимізації динаміки руху та інженерії транспорту.
Abstract The commercial coffee processing industries in Ethiopia generate significant quantities of residual coffee material every year. To valorize this coffee waste, this study emphasizes coffee waste-based filler production reinforced with thermoplastic polymers as a viable pathway. Agricultural composite can replace synthetic-based fiber composites due to excellent mechanical properties, low cost, and low density. This study targets enhancing the mechanical properties of coffee husk fiber (CHF) high-density polyethylene polymer (HDPE) composite for industrial applications through chemical treatment. These fibers serve as reinforcement, complemented by HDPE as the matrix, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) as a coupling agent, and kaolin clay as a filler material. The CHFs were treated with 10% sodium hydroxide (NaOH) treatment. The composite was prepared with 7wt% kaolin clay, 3wt% ABS, 15wt% CHF, and 65 wt% virgin (pure) HDPE. Composite samples were formulated with different treated CHF/HDPE ratios with 25/65 (T25), 20/70 (T20), and 15/75 (T15) and compared with the untreated CHF. The mechanical impacts of treated composites were evaluated using standard American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) methods, and structural and morphological changes were determined using FTIR analysis and SEM. The maximum mechanical strength obtained by T25 for tensile strength, T25 for flexural, and T20 for impact test were 45.17 MPa, 2.91 MPa, and 3.45KJ/m2, respectively. The experimental analyses of treated CHF/HDPE composites presented superior mechanical properties compared to untreated CHF. The NaOH treatment of CHF has also presented a significant impact on fiber structure by reducing hydroxyl (-OH) groups and enhancing morphological changes of fiber surface by FTIR and SEM analyses, respectively. Generally, the results of the study find that the value applications of agricultural waste fiber-based composites would provide low-cost materials for industrial applications.
Materials of engineering and construction. Mechanics of materials
Kawalpreet Kaur, Kawalpreet Kaur, Amanpreet Kaur
et al.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a collection of devices such as sensors for collecting data, actuators that perform mechanical actions on the sensor's collected data, and gateways used as an interface for effective communication with the external world. The IoT has been successfully applied to various fields, from small households to large industries. The IoT environment consists of heterogeneous networks and billions of devices increasing daily, making the system more complex and this need for privacy and security of IoT devices become a major concern. The critical components of IoT are device identification, a large number of sensors, hardware operating systems, and IoT semantics and services. The layers of a core IoT application are presented in this paper with the protocols used in each layer. The security challenges at various IoT layers are unveiled in this review paper along with the existing mitigation strategies such as machine learning, deep learning, lightweight encryption techniques, and Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) to overcome these security challenges and future scope. It has been concluded after doing an intensive review that Spoofing and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are two of the most common attacks in IoT applications. While spoofing tricks systems by impersonating devices, DDoS attacks flood IoT systems with traffic. IoT security is also compromised by other attacks, such as botnet attacks, man-in-middle attacks etc. which call for strong defenses including IDS framework, deep neural networks, and multifactor authentication system.
Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has become very common in professional applications in many industries. The 3D printing technology is especially suitable for making prototypes, demonstrators and small-batch production. The stiffness and strength of 3D prints depend on many factors, including among others infills, which are specific to this technology, as well as the orientation of the object during 3D printing. Where the stiffness or strength of an element is crucial, the only way is to empirically assess its properties. The advantage of 3D printing, i.e. incomplete infill of the interior of an object with the use of different types of infills (patterns) and different amounts of material, means that its mechanical properties differ from those of a solid element. The application of numerical tests, i.e. the finite element method (FEM), requires the creation of a 3D model while taking this infill into account. The modelling of elements for performing numerical strength calculations is time-consuming and labour-intensive. The article presents a proprietary original analytical method for generating various types of infills with varying infill density. The method was developed for typical infills (Grid, Triangular, Honeycomb). It was next implemented in the CAD environment using the iLogic tool of Autodesk Inventor. As a result, a tool for creating 3D models of objects consistent with those obtained from 3D printing was obtained. The method and tool were verified. Next, the influence of selected parameters of the 3D print on its mechanical properties was presented on three real objects. The results of numerical analyses revealed measurable benefits of such tests. The research conclusions also constitute recommendations for selecting the type and infill density of an object and its orientation in the printer with regard to the strength and stiffness obtained.
Jelena Ignjatović, Sanja Filipović, Mirjana Radovanović
Abstract Background The aim of this paper is to reconsider the necessity for the green transition and the key preconditions for the implementation of a circular economy in Western Balkan countries. With the objective of the research in mind, the method of analysis and synthesis was applied to determine (1) regulatory and institutional prerequisites for the green transition; (2) the need for the Western Balkan countries to redefine the model of sustainable economic growth towards the green transition; (3) the development opportunities for recovery defined in the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans; and (4) the possibility of implementing the circular economy in the Western Balkans. Main text The main findings of the research indicate that: (1) the countries of the Western Balkan region, following the example of the EU, should define a national strategic approach to the green transition with an accompanying action plan and regulatory framework; (2) the biggest challenge of the green transition is the reform of the energy sector and the restructuring of the energy-intensive economy; (3) the countries have untapped potential in renewable energy sources and report the improvement of energy efficiency; (4) the circular economy can boost the green transition, because the countries of the region have a five-time lower value of resource productivity than the average of the EU, while the generation of waste (excluding major mineral wastes) per GDP unit is lower compared to the EU; (5) cross-sectoral governance should be more coordinated. Conclusions The green transition might be a development opportunity for the Western Balkans, which should enable sustainable economic growth as well as energy security and environmental protection. However, the implementation of the Green Agenda is not easy, because the region faces the problem of underdeveloped regulatory and institutional capacities that might provide not only the base for long-term planning but also financial resources for the efficient implementation of projects. In addition, it is essential to understand the principles of the Green Agenda and the interaction of all activities that should enable the achievement of defined goals.
Renewable energy sources, Energy industries. Energy policy. Fuel trade
In the automotive and aerospace industries, carbon fiber is widely used in structures such as chassis and wings due to its lightweight and excellent mechanical properties, and the residual stresses are crucial for product design. In this paper, six kinds of carbon fiber laminates with different layup directions are investigated by using the integral method, and the calibration coefficient matrix is numerically solved by using ABAQUS finite element software, and the effects of laminate direction and incremental step on the three-direction residual stresses are experimentally analyzed. The residual stresses in different oriented layers were predicted by classical lamination theory (CLT), and the longitudinal, transverse and in-plane shear stresses were compared by combining incremental drilling experiments with calibration factors. The results showed that the ply with [45/90/−45/0/45/90/−45/0] laminate had the best performance,the difference between theoretical and experimental values for σx was 0.421MPa. The maximum τxy measurement was 1.7103MPa, with a maximum percentage error of 25.3%. The maximum difference for σy was 0.7306MPa. These findings indicate that the method is more accurate in predicting the residual stresses in the first four layers of composite material. This provides important theoretical and experimental support for the optimal design of composites.