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The advancement of topology optimization (TO) and additive manufacturing (AM) has significantly enhanced structural design flexibility and the potential for lightweight structures. However, challenges such as intermediate density, mesh dependency, checkerboard patterns, and local extrema in TO can lead to suboptimal performance. Moreover, existing AM technologies confront geometric constraints that limit their application. This study investigates minimum compliance as the objective function and volume as the constraint, employing the solid isotropic material with penalization method, density filtering, and the method of moving asymptotes. It examines how factors like mesh type, mesh size, volume fraction, material properties, initial density, filter radius, and penalty factor influence the TO results for a metallic gooseneck chain. The findings suggest that material properties primarily affect numerical variations along the TO path, with minimal impact on structural configuration. For both hexahedral and tetrahedral mesh types, a recommended mesh size is identified where the results show less than a 1% difference across varying mesh sizes. An initial density of 0.5 is advised, with a filter radius of approximately 2.3 to 2.5 times the average unit edge length for hexahedral meshes and 1.3 to 1.5 times for tetrahedral meshes. The suggested penalty factor ranges of 3–4 for hexahedral meshes and 2.5–3.5 for tetrahedral meshes. The optimal geometric reconstruction model achieves weight reductions of 23.46% and 22.22% compared to the original model while satisfying static loading requirements. This work contributes significantly to the integration of TO and AM in engineering, laying a robust foundation for future design endeavors.

In engineering design, introducing lattice structures offers a cost-effective method for reducing weight while enhancing load-bearing efficiency, compared to merely enhancing the material strength of a solid component. Among the various lattice structure configurations developed thus far, the strength and stiffness of these structures remain significantly below their theoretical limits. This study demonstrates that the theoretical limits of strength and stiffness in lattice structures can be achieved by mimicking the solid solution strengthening mechanism in materials science. This innovative structure achieves the highest load-bearing efficiency to date and is applicable to lattice structures of any geometric configuration. The introduction of the sosoloid structure, a lattice structure with struts reinforced along the loading direction, increases the theoretical limits of lattice strength and stiffness by 20% and 27.5%, respectively, compared to traditional uniform lattice structures. The most effective enhancement is observed when sosoloid structures exhibit the highest material utilization rate and optimal spatial layout. These findings offer a general approach to achieving high load-bearing structures and have broad application prospects in lightweight and high-strength structures, such as human bone design and energy absorption.

This research explores the pivotal role of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology in revolutionizing the design and construction of prefabricated buildings. It highlights the benefits of BIM-enabled design processes, including improved coordination and efficiency, while addressing challenges in integrating BIM with prefabricated elements. The study proposes artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to enhance architectural detailing, optimize workflows, and facilitate human–robot collaboration. Using autoethnographic methods, the research refines BIM-forward design through thematic analysis and technology gap (TG) assessments. It advocates for a comprehensive technology roadmap that emphasizes BIM libraries, external data sources, and the transition to a multi-dimensional BIM environment. This research contributes valuable insights to advance BIM practices in prefabricated building construction and offers a strategic framework to bridge existing TGs, enabling seamless integration of BIM and AI in future practices.

Exoskeleton robots offer considerable potential for improving human performance, like walking, running, and ascending or descending stairs. However, misalignment between the human and exoskeleton robots can result in discomfort caused by undesired torque and relative motion. This study aims to enhance human-exoskeleton interaction (HEI) by optimizing mechanism design to facilitate alignment. The study commences with the mechanism structure synthesis of the hip exoskeleton robot (HER), followed by kinematic and dynamic analysis and simulation of HEI. The experimental findings reveal that the designed HER can achieve misalignment compensation (MC) displacements in the 0 to 18.3 mm range. Compared to HER assistance without MC, the proposed design improves the assistance efficiency by 47.22%, significantly improving wearing comfort. This study is a foundation for integrating advanced sensing and intelligent control systems into exoskeleton robot mechanisms, facilitating broad applications in rehabilitation and motion enhancement.

Using expectation states theory of status, this study proposed a theoretical framework exploring the relationship between a target's humility and their status attainment. The model incorporated the perception of the target's competence and the evaluator's self-construal as critical boundary conditions. Results of an experiment (N = 198) revealed that the target's humility positively influenced their status attainment. Additionally, this impact was stronger when the evaluator perceived the target to be of higher competence. Furthermore, when the evaluator had an interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal and greater perceived competence of the target, they allocated the target a higher status. These findings emphasize the roles of the target's humility and competence as well as the evaluator's self-construal in the complex process of status attainment, offering theoretical and practical implications for managing employees' work behavior in organizations.

Using expectation states theory of status, this study proposed a theoretical framework exploring the relationship between a target's humility and their status attainment. The model incorporated the perception of the target's competence and the evaluator's self-construal as critical boundary conditions. Results of an experiment (N = 198) revealed that the target's humility positively influenced their status attainment. Additionally, this impact was stronger when the evaluator perceived the target to be of higher competence. Furthermore, when the evaluator had an interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal and greater perceived competence of the target, they allocated the target a higher status. These findings emphasize the roles of the target's humility and competence as well as the evaluator's self-construal in the complex process of status attainment, offering theoretical and practical implications for managing employees' work behavior in organizations.

Using expectation states theory of status, this study proposed a theoretical framework exploring the relationship between a target's humility and their status attainment. The model incorporated the perception of the target's competence and the evaluator's self-construal as critical boundary conditions. Results of an experiment (N = 198) revealed that the target's humility positively influenced their status attainment. Additionally, this impact was stronger when the evaluator perceived the target to be of higher competence. Furthermore, when the evaluator had an interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal and greater perceived competence of the target, they allocated the target a higher status. These findings emphasize the roles of the target's humility and competence as well as the evaluator's self-construal in the complex process of status attainment, offering theoretical and practical implications for managing employees' work behavior in organizations.

This paper employed squeeze-casting (SC) technology to develop a novel Al-7Si-1.5Cu-1.2Ni-0.4Mg-0.3Mn-0.15Ti heat-resistant alloy, addressing the issue of low room/high temperature elongation in traditional gravity casting (GC). Initially, the effects of SC and GC processes on the microstructure and properties of the alloy were investigated, followed by an examination of the evolution of the microstructure and properties of the SC samples over thermal exposure time. The results indicate that the SC process significantly improves the alloy’s microstructure. Compared to the GC alloy, the secondary dendrite arm spacing of the as-cast SC alloy is refined from 50.5 μm to 18.5 μm. Meanwhile, the size and roundness of the eutectic Si phase in the T6-treated SC alloy are optimized from 11.7 μm and 0.75 μm to 9.5 μm and 0.85 μm, respectively, and casting defects such as porosity are reduced. Consequently, the ultimate tensile strengths (UTSs) at room temperature and at 250 °C of the SC alloy are 5% and 4.9% higher than that of GC alloy, respectively, and its elongation at both temperatures shows significant improvement. After thermal exposure at 250 °C for 120 h, the morphology of the residual second phase at the grain boundaries in the SC alloy becomes more rounded, but the eutectic Si and nano-precipitates undergo significant coarsening, resulting in a 49% decrease in UTS.

We have proposed and demonstrated a Michelson interferometer-based fiber sensor for detecting acoustic emission generated from the partial discharge (PD) of the accessories of a high-voltage cable system. The developed sensor head is integrated with a compact and relatively high sensitivity cylindrical elastomer. Such a sensor has a broadband frequency response and a relatively high sensitivity in a harsh environment under a high-voltage electric field. The design and fabrication of the sensor head integrated with the cylindrical elastomer is described, and a series of experiments was conducted to evaluate the sensing performance. The experimental results demonstrate that the sensitivity of our developed sensor for acoustic detection of partial discharges is 1.7 rad / ( m ⋅ Pa ) . A high frequency response up to 150 kHz is achieved. Moreover, the relatively high sensitivity for the detection of PD is verified in both the laboratory environment and gas insulated switchgear. The obtained results show the great potential application of a Michelson interferometer-based fiber sensor integrated with a cylindrical elastomer for in-situ monitoring high-voltage cable accessories for safety work.

Female reproductive aging precedes physical aging and is closely associated with the development of many aging-related diseases. With the delay in the human reproductive age, delaying reproductive aging and improving fertility have become important challenges for biomedical research. Arachidonic acid (AA) was found to significantly prolong the reproductive lifespan and enhance the quality of senescent oocytes in a cryptic nematode model. In a mouse model of senescence, AA supplementation improved the ovarian reserve, increased the oocyte number and quality, and restored fertility. Further analysis showed that AA delayed ovarian senescence by restoring lysosomal activity in the germ lines of senescent nematodes and mice and enhancing lysosomal functions in oocytes and ovarian granulosa cells. This study provides preliminary evidence that AA could serve as a potential intervention strategy for reproductive senescence and offers new ideas for improving reproductive health in older women.