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Elastic hydrogel is a promising material category for designing biological muscles, repairable building materials, flexible electronic devices, and vulcanized rubber substitutes, which is required to have a long life, good self‐healing performance and extreme temperature tolerance. Herein, a super‐elastic mineral hydrogel is developed with long‐lasting moisture, based on dynamic physical crosslinking between hydrated calcium ion clusters and amide groups of polyacrylamide (PAM). The complex hydrogel exhibits a super stretchability of 13 600% at room temperature, and can maintain the super flexibility in a wide temperature range of −40–50 °C or for a long period of 28 days. Particularly, the soft material cannot be ignited under an open flame at 400–500 °C, because of coupling dual flame retardant mechanisms containing the endothermic effect of liquid water evaporation and the barrier effect of calcium mineral salt on oxygen. In conclusion, the novel complex hydrogel with excellent tensile property, stability in extreme temperature or long operating time, and flame retardancy may become a promising candidate in the fields of agriculture, food, construction, medicine, and machinery. Dynamic physical crosslinking of calcium (II) with in situ polymerized polyacrylamide provides a new mechanism for stress/energy dispersion of soft materials during stretching. As‐prepared complex hydrogel exhibits stable mechanical performance for a long‐term or under extreme temperature, and has ideal flame‐retardant ability due to the water‐locking effect of calcium (II) and barrier effect on oxygen.

\"Complemented by an estimating tool spreadsheet based on a fixed set of chemicals to assist in all siting studies, [Guidelines for determining the probability of ignition of a released flammable mass] converts a \"best guess\" to a calculated value based on available information and current technology. The text provides a technology-based approach to deriving the probability that a flammable mass will find an ignition source and ignite. It offers valuable information in the development of a facility's Emergency Response Plan\"-- Provided by publisher.

Aim: Reducing the number of fires in buildings with designated explosion hazard zones, which are initiated by lightning discharges despite the application of lightning protection standards. Introduction: Buildings with explosion hazard zones are commonly protected against the effects of lightning discharges to the ground. Analysing statistical data, it can be seen that in the years 1951–2003 there were 480 fires in tanks with flammable substances. In 149 cases, “lightning” was indicated as the source of ignition, which is 31.1%. Lightning discharge is the most important and significant factor causing fires. Methodology: An analysis of the applicable regulations in the field of lightning protection was carried out, taking into account the specificity of explosion hazard zones. An analysis of the case of a fire caused by a lightning discharge in Poland was carried out. The analysis was supplemented with tests of lightning protection connections with a surge current characteristic of a lightning discharge to the ground. Conclusions: During the conducted tests, two test results were observed. In the first, the tested object withstood a series of three impulse currents in accordance with the H classification of the EN 62561-1 standard and was not subject to mechanical damage. In the second, mechanical deformations of the tested samples were observed, which resulted in a negative result in light of the H classification of the above standard. During all the conducted tests , significant sparking was observed on all bolted joints. It is significant that the samples of joints meeting the H classification spark. Based on the observations, it was determined that the sparking was within a radius of up to 2 meters from the bolted joint. Only in the case of elements made of pure copper, sparking of the connection point was observed at a distance of less than 1 meter. The test results clearly indicate that running and connecting lightning current discharge wires through an explosion hazard zone may result in ignition of an explosive atmosphere if it is created there. In real conditions, it is very difficult to make the necessary modifications to the existing infrastructure that could counteract the described phenomena. The only effective method that could reduce the risk of fire is the use of an insulated external LPS (lightning protection system). In practice, such action will be accepted from an economic point of view only in the event of lightning losses that exceed the costs of potential investments to reduce the risk.

Developing fire-retardant building materials is vital in reducing fire loss. The design and preparation of novel fire-retardant coatings merely require the adhesion of flame retardants with high fire-retardant characteristics on the surface, which is significantly more economical than adding excessive amounts of flame retardants into bulk building materials. Meanwhile, fire-retardant coating has excellent performance because it can block the self-sustaining mechanisms of heat and mass transfer over combustion interfaces. In recent years, research of fire-retardant coatings for building materials has been subject to rapid development, and a variety of novel environmentally benign fire-retardant coatings have been reported. Nonetheless, as the surface characteristics of various flammable building materials are contrastively different, selecting chemical ingredients and controlling the physical morphology of fire-retardant coatings for specific building materials is rather complicated. Thus, it is urgent to review the ideas and preparation methods for new fire-retardant coatings. This paper summarizes the latest research progress of fire-retardant building materials, focusing on the compositions and performances of fire-retardant coatings, as well as the principles of their bottom-up design and preparation methods on the surface of building materials.

Complemented by an estimating tool spreadsheet based on a fixed set of chemicals to assist in risk estimations, Probability of Ignition of a Released Flammable Mass converts a \"best guess\" to a calculated value based on available information and current technology.

This book describes how to conduct a Combustible Dust Hazard Analysis (CDHA) for processes handling combustible solids. The book explains how to do a dust hazard analysis by using either an approach based on compliance with existing consensus standards, or by using a risk based approach. Worked examples in the book help the user understand how to do a combustible dust hazards analysis.

Background Implementation of multifaceted interventions typically involves many diverse elements working together in interrelated ways, including intervention components, implementation strategies, and features of local context. Given this real-world complexity, implementation researchers may be interested in a new mathematical, cross-case method called Coincidence Analysis (CNA) that has been designed explicitly to support causal inference, answer research questions about combinations of conditions that are minimally necessary or sufficient for an outcome, and identify the possible presence of multiple causal paths to an outcome. CNA can be applied as a standalone method or in conjunction with other approaches and can reveal new empirical findings related to implementation that might otherwise have gone undetected. Methods We applied CNA to a publicly available dataset from Sweden with county-level data on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaigns and vaccination uptake in 2012 and 2014 and then compared CNA results to the published regression findings. Results The original regression analysis found vaccination uptake was positively associated only with the availability of vaccines in schools. CNA produced different findings and uncovered an additional solution path: high vaccination rates were achieved by either (1) offering the vaccine in all schools or (2) a combination of offering the vaccine in some schools and media coverage. Conclusions CNA offers a new comparative approach for researchers seeking to understand how implementation conditions work together and link to outcomes.

An effective lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycling infrastructure is of great importance to alleviate the concerns over the disposal of waste LIBs and the sustainability of critical elements for producing LIB components. The End-of-life (EOL) LIBs are in various sizes and shapes, which create significant challenges to automate a few unit operations (e.g., disassembly at the cell level) of the recycling process. Meanwhile, hazardous and flammable materials are contained in LIBs, posing great threats to the human exposure. Therefore, it is difficult to dismantle the LIBs safely and efficiently to recover critical materials. Automation has become a competitive solution in manufacturing world, which allows for mass production at outstanding speeds and with great repeatability or quality. It is imperative to develop automatic disassembly solution to effectively disassemble the LIBs while safeguarding human workers against the hazards environment. In this work, we demonstrate an automatic battery disassembly platform enhanced by online sensing and machine learning technologies. The computer vision is used to classify different types of batteries based on their brands and sizes. The real-time temperature data is captured from a thermal camera. A data-driven model is built to predict the cutting temperature pattern and the temperature spike can be mitigated by the close-loop control system. Furthermore, quality control is conducted using a neural network model to detect and mitigate the cutting defects. The integrated disassembly platform can realize the real-time diagnosis and closed-loop control of the cutting process to optimize the cutting quality and improve the safety.