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Harmonizing hydrogen nanobubbles with ammonia: molecular perspectives on a novel fuel
No full textData Availability: The data of this paper can be accessed from the Brunel University London data archive, figshare at https://brunel.figshare.com.Supplementary data are available online at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319925042016?via%3Dihub#appsec1 .Highlights:
• A novel hydrogen nanobubbles enriched ammonia fuel is proposed.
• The stability of hydrogen nanobubbles are demonstrated within liquid ammonia through molecular dynamics simulations.
• The balance between gravimetric and volumetric energy densities are studied.
• The study provides insights of bubble dynamics and fluid properties of the nanobubble-ammonia system.This work was supported by a EPSRC (EP/X001113/1). Dr Xinyan Wang is also supported by UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (MR/T042915/1). MD simulations were run on ARCHER2, the UK's National Supercomputing Service and MMM Hub Young
Statistically-aligned feature augmentation for robust unsupervised domain adaptation in industrial fault diagnosis
No full textEffective Unsupervised Domain Adaptation (UDA) remains challenging due to significant distributional discrepancies between labeled source and unlabeled target domains. In industrial fault diagnosis tasks specifically, these discrepancies severely impair model generalization when applied across heterogeneous operating conditions. To mitigate this problem, we propose a novel framework termed Statistically-Aligned Feature Augmentation for Domain Adaptation (SAFA-DA), which addresses domain disparities through statistically-driven feature augmentation strategies. SAFA-DA progressively constructs an intermediate representation by dynamically selecting samples with high prediction confidence from both source and target domains. Utilizing statistical insights derived from this intermediate domain, the framework employs mean-based feature alignment and covariance-based feature augmentation to iteratively align the source domain distribution toward the target domain. Furthermore, SAFA-DA incorporates an adaptive control mechanism based on the Maximum Mean Discrepancy metric, effectively moderating augmentation intensity to ensure stable convergence and prevent overfitting. Extensive experiments on the Case Western Reserve University and the Paderborn University datasets demonstrate that SAFA-DA significantly outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods, achieving an average accuracy improvement of 18.11%. Importantly, SAFA-DA exhibits notable robustness under realistic industrial conditions, consistently maintaining high accuracy despite severe noise interference and class imbalance, underscoring its practical utility in industrial informatics applications.This work was supported by Intelligent Manufacturing Longcheng Laboratory under Grant CJ20254004, CNPC Innovation Fund (No.2024DQ02-0501), Royal Society (IEC_NSFC_233444), Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Project of Jiangsu Province (No. KYCX25_3385), Youth Science and Technology Talent Promotion Project of Jiangsu Province (JSTJ-2025-137
Recursive Remote State Estimation for Stochastic Complex Networks with Degraded Measurements and Amplify-and-Forward Relays
No full textThis paper is concerned with the remote state estimation problem for stochastic complex networks under the effects of degraded measurements and amplify-and-forward (AF) relays. Three sets of random variables are employed to describe the measurement degradation, the sensor transmission energy, and the relay transmission energy, respectively. The measurement from each node is transmitted to an AF relay and then forwarded to the remote estimator to facilitate the state estimation. A novel recursive estimator is constructed in the form of the extended Kalman filter. An upper bound of estimation error covariance is determined by solving Riccati-like difference equations based on the statistical information of the random variables, and such an upper bound is then minimized by choosing an appropriate estimator gain. Furthermore, sufficient conditions are established under which the estimation error is exponentially bounded in the sense of mean square. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed estimation scheme is demonstrated by some numerical simulations.10.13039/501100001809-National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Number: 62476039);
National Science and Technology Major Project of China (Grant Number: 2019-I-0019-0018);
Royal Society of the U.K.;
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany
Resilient Cubature Kalman Filtering Under Round-Robin Protocol: Addressing Sensor Saturations and Channel Noises
No full textData Availability Statement:
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.This article addresses the problem of resilient cubature Kalman filtering (RCKF) for nonlinear systems with sensor saturations under a round-robin protocol (RRP) affected by channel noises. To enhance transmission efficiency, the RRP is employed in the communication channel to regulate data signal transmission, with particular consideration given to channel noises to more accurately reflect practical conditions. The focus is on the development of an RCKF algorithm that ensures an upper bound of the filtering error covariance (UBFEC) in the presence of sensor saturations and RRP influenced by channel noises. Subsequently, the minimization of the trace of this upper bound is achieved through the design of an appropriate filter gain. Furthermore, the uniform boundedness of the UBFEC is examined by using the matrix theory. Finally, the superiority and efficiency of the proposed RCKF scheme are demonstrated through a simulation experiment that includes comparisons.National Natural Science Foundation of China (12471416); Royal Society of the UK; and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany
An exploration of shifting constructions of human trafficking: A study of newspaper discourses between 2000 and 2020
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonNewspaper focus on forced migration has increased over the last two decades, highlighting the significance of human trafficking for policymakers. Prior research on American newspapers and human trafficking concluded data collection in 2006, overlooking power dynamics and promoting a liberal democratic view, obscuring the understanding of how dominant discourses are shaped by power within socioeconomic and presidential agendas.
This study expands previous research by examining how five major U.S. newspapers discursively constructed human trafficking across four presidential administrations from 2000 to 2020, exploring the power dynamics behind discourses used in the meaning-making process. Using a political economy approach and a Foucauldian understanding of power, the study bridges the fields of criminology and media theory. The findings are contextualised within a historical discursive archive, tracing the emergence of trafficking discourse from the early 1900s and its resurgence through the 2000 Palermo Protocol.
The study begins with a thematic content analysis that maps newspaper engagement patterns and key themes, followed by three chapters of critical discourse analysis that explore the meaning-making surrounding human trafficking. The content analysis revealed that human trafficking remains a relevant topic for newspapers despite fluctuations. Outlets varied in approach but presented consistent views. The thematic analysis noted shifts in presidential agendas shaped by socio-political imperatives, which met with varying support depending on the newspaper's ideologies, suggesting a liberal democratic theory. This thesis argues that this view is reductionist due to minimal divergences from the dominant discourses identified in the CDA chapters, which identified ongoing discourses around the criminalisation of human trafficking, victimhood, and national security, with few counter-discourses on decriminalisation. The study identified an archive of trafficking discourse dating back to the early twentieth century. These discourses gained legitimacy through legal codification and presidential agendas. The thesis examines how the discourses employed in the human trafficking debate evolved to justify geopolitical and socioeconomic agendas
Flight from reality: Sustainable aviation, Jet Zero, and the technofix
No full textThis paper argues that rising aviation emissions, which are disproportionally driven by the wealthy, pose a serious threat to climate goals. Using the UK’s Jet Zero strategy as a case study, it explores how policymakers and industry promote speculative technologies—efficiency gains, electric and hydrogen aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels, carbon capture, and offsetting—to justify continued aviation growth. We critically assess these claims: electric aircraft are limited to short routes; hydrogen faces major storage and infrastructure barriers, and green hydrogen remains scarce. SAFs, often derived from land-intensive crops, risk deforestation, biodiversity loss, and higher net emissions. Second generation SAFs, such as used cooking oil, are scarce, and power-to-liquid is speculative and prohibitively expensive. Carbon capture is unproven at scale, and offsetting enables airlines to claim reductions without cutting actual emissions. These “solutions” align with a political agenda that prioritises economic growth and airport expansion. We argue that this techno-optimism delays real action. Rather than gambling on future breakthroughs that may never materialise, policymakers should pursue immediate demand-reduction strategies and support a just transition—ending frequent-flyer incentives, shifting short-haul flights to rail, removing aviation fuel subsidies, and retraining workers for low-carbon sectors
Growing the role of qualitative methods in the behavioural public policy toolkit
No full textQualitative data and analysis can enrich our understanding of key questions in behavioural public policy. In this perspective, I make the case for incorporating qualitative approaches better and more often into our research. I offer practical ideas on how to do this, and a call for action from researchers, reviewers, editors, policy makers and our Higher Education and funding institutions
Chinese remainder theorem-based frequency estimation for undersampled signals without multi-rate sampling
Get PDFData availability:
Data will be made available on request.Frequency estimation of undersampled waveforms has received considerable attention in communications, instrumentation, and measurement fields. Chinese remainder theorem (CRT)-based reconstruction is a prevalent frequency estimation method. However, the existing CRT-based methods heavily rely on multi-rate sampling and face challenges in handling real-valued undersampled waveforms and multi-frequency scenarios due to inherent ambiguities. To overcome these limitations, we propose a novel CRT-based frequency estimation method that generates aliasing information through the phase change caused by delay and estimates frequencies by solving the congruence equations constructed using the aliasing findings. The proposed method requires only a specially designed periodic nonuniform sampling of order 2, which avoids multi-rate sampling and has a simpler hardware implementation. Owing to the clear correspondence between the multiple frequencies and their aliasing frequencies, the proposed method can be applied to multi-frequency estimations. Furthermore, the proposed method is extended to real-valued waveforms by incorporating grouping operations and frequency estimation sifting. In summary, this study overcomes the main limitations of CRT in frequency estimation of undersampled waveforms and shows superior applicability to real-valued signals and multi-frequency cases, which may lead to a renaissance of CRT in undersampling signal processing.This work was sup-ported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 523B2044, 52222504, and 92360306). The work of Asoke K. Nandi was supported in part by the Royal Society Award (No. IEC\NSFC\223294)
Health related quality of life among the below poverty line population in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study
Get PDFData Availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available in S1 Data available online at: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0005309#sec017 .The below-poverty-line (BPL) population experiences challenges in accessing quality healthcare services due to their limited affordability and vulnerability to illness. This paper assessed their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and its associated determinants. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 803 BPL individuals aged 18 and above in Tangail district from July to September 2018. To measure HRQoL, we employed a Bengali version of the EuroQol-5 dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Tobit regression models were applied to determine the association between HRQoL scores and sociodemographic characteristics, multimorbidity, and healthcare utilization in the last three months. The BPL population had an average EQ-5D score of 0.738 (SD = 0.192) and an EQ-VAS score of 0.750 (SD = 0.149). Among the five EQ-5D domains, 68% of the respondents reported experiencing some or extreme problems in the anxiety/depression dimension, and 55% reported pain/discomfort. The EQ-5D and EQ-VAS scores were significantly lower among individuals aged 35 years and above compared to those aged 18–34 years. Individuals with multimorbidity had significantly lower EQ-5D and EQ-VAS scores, by 0.250 and 0.158 (p < 0.001), respectively, compared to those without any health problems. Respondents in the richest asset quintile had significantly higher EQ-5D scores than those in the poorest quintile. The findings shed light on the keydeterminants of HRQoL among the BPL population in Bangladesh, such as age, multimorbidity, marital status, and wealth status. These determinants may help policymakers in developing interventions for improving the health and well-being of the BPL population. Tailored interventions are needed to address their specific needs for improving HRQoL, such as community-based programs for the older adults, provision of integrated healthcare for addressing multimorbidity, effective implementation of the current health protection scheme for the poor and other vulnerable groups, including widowed/separated individuals.This work was supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) (Sida to SA)
From Goals to Action: A Targeted Framework for Sustainable Development Goals in Higher Education
Get PDFIn recent years, the accelerating trend of digital transformation has compelled Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to redefine their role and contribution to individual learners’ lives. This study builds on our previous work undertaken on Widening Participation (WP) and international students under current education 4.0 paradigms and ongoing digital transformation. We propose a practical framework to make the integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) more targeted and actionable for effective accessibility, inclusivity, and sustainability within the UK Higher Education sector. Critical inquiries have established a clear aim for HEIs to meet these indicators, although obstacles were identified within the subsequent gap analysis of the “2015 UN SDG Agenda” in their execution. Our chapter focuses primarily on the strategic alignment of SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) with institutional practices and graduate employability pathways. Furthermore, the discourse responds to criticisms that SDG implementation has been too broad or perceived as a “box-ticking” exercise, rather than a thoughtfully designed initiative that delivers measurable outcomes. The SDG Prism Framework essentially transforms the broad ambitions of SDGs through the process of “refraction” for realistic implementation. These processes generate targeted outputs through leveraging quantitative tools to provide significant value for educators, policymakers, and senior institutional leaders. Its design imperative adopts a decolonial perspective, exploring what truly constitutes inclusivity while avoiding the reduction of SDG efforts to ambiguous goals
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