Volume 21 Issue 2

Fuel characteristics were evaluated for bark from four coniferous tree species native to Türkiye (Calabrian pine, Black pine, Scotch pine, and Taurus cedar). Bark samples from varying elevations and age groups were analyzed through calorific value (kcal/kg), ash content (%), volatile organic compounds (VOC, %), sulfur emissions (SO_2, %), elemental ash composition, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and principal component analysis (PCA). All calorific values were determined on oven-dried samples. Calabrian pine had the highest higher heating value on a dry basis at 5044 kcal/kg, along with the lowest value for ash (1.55%), while Scotch pine exhibited the lowest energy value (4518 kcal/kg). Black pine, which had the highest ash content (3.84%), appeared less suitable as a fuel source. Sulphur emissions across all species were marginal (0.005% to 0.04%). Ash content increased with altitude in Calabrian pine, while the opposite trend was observed in larch. PCA results showed interspecific variations in mineral composition and combustion traits. In conclusion, Calabrian pine and Taurus cedar bark show strong potential as renewable and cost-effective biomass energy sources due to their favorable calorific and ash properties. However, environmental factors such as altitude remain determining factors in biomass fuel performance.

As the cradle of civilization, Egypt has historically been at the center of the development of writing supports, which were first developed from the local papyrus, but later gradually replaced by true paper. This paper delves into Egypt’s historic change in writing materials. Used for over 4,000 years since around 3000 BCE, papyrus was a central element in the administrative and religious activities of the ancient Egyptian civilization, and the method of its production was an industry secret. The advent of true paper in the 8^th century CE, which involved breaking down plant tissue to release fibers, marked the beginning of a cultural change that led to the phasing out of papyrus under Islamic rule. By the time the 12^th century CE came around, the making of papyrus had essentially stopped, as paper had taken over, being both more durable and versatile. This study investigates the following: the reign of papyrus; the history and material science of papyrus; the technological shift from lamination to maceration, and comparative analysis of writing supports.

Prepared orange peel biochar (OPB) was evaluated as a low-cost adsorbent for removing Pb(II) ions from aqueous solutions. The OPB was examined using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis to identify surface morphology, functional groups, thermal stability, and surface porosity responsible for adsorption, respectively. The biochar showed typical lignocellulosic decomposition behavior and exhibited a microporous surface whose hydroxyl, carbonyl, carboxylate, and phenolic groups allowed effective Pb²⁺ uptake. Batch studies revealed maximum Pb²⁺ at a pH 5, adsorbent dosage of 0.7 g, contact time of 80 min, adsorbate concentration of 150 mg/L, and temperature of 50 °C. The Langmuir isotherm revealed adsorption maximum capacity of the adsorbent to be 73.5 mg/g, while thermodynamics analysis showed that Pb(II) uptake was endothermic. These results demonstrate that orange-peel biochar can be an effective, environmentally friendly, and renewable adsorbent for lead ions in wastewater treatment.

Automated defect detection is crucial for particleboard manufacturing, enabling precise quality control and improved production efficiency. However, existing approaches face three key challenges: small-scale defects, low visual contrast between defects and surrounding regions, and severe texture interference from complex backgrounds, which collectively undermine feature extraction and multi-scale representation. To address these issues, this study developed DWBA-YOLO, a multi-scale surface defect detection network tailored for complex texture scenarios. First, an Adaptive Dual-layer Weighting Mechanism (ADWM) was introduced, where Intra-Feature Weighting suppresses texture-dominated channel responses while Cross-Feature Weighting adaptively calibrates contributions from different pyramid levels. Second, an Adaptive Spatial Feature Fusion head was designed to learn spatially varying fusion weights and to mitigate cross-scale inconsistencies while maintaining lightweight overhead. Third, Normalized Wasserstein Distance was incorporated to enhance small-scale defect localization. Extensive experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of the method. On a proprietary particleboard defect dataset, DWBA-YOLO improved recall by 4.7%, precision by 4.2%, mAP@50 by 3%, and mAP@50:95 by 2.5% compared with YOLOv8n, while reducing computational complexity by 43%. These results indicate that DWBA-YOLO is effective and practical for real-time particleboard defect detection.

Seaweed has gained significant attention due to its extensive use in nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. Therefore, this study was conducted to perform proximate analysis, screen and quantify phytochemicals, and analyze the pharmacological potential of Sargassum ilicifolium (S. ilicifolium) extract via antimicrobial, hypoglycemic, and antioxidant activities. The results of the proximate composition revealed 38.2±1.1% ash, 9.3±0.9% moisture, 23.4±1.1% protein, and 3.1±0.2% fat. The methanol extract increased the levels of alkaloids (26.3±0.9 g PE/g), phenols (145±3.1 mg GAE/g), and flavonoids (97.5±3.1 mg QE/g). The methanol extract exhibited strong activity, with a zone of inhibition of 27±2 mm against E. faecalis and a 22±0 mm zone of inhibition against S. aureus. The phytochemicals in the methanolic extract had a greater total antioxidant capacity (58.2±0.8%) than did the ethyl acetate extract (49.4±0.4%) and the water extract (44.6±0.3%) at 2.5 mg/mL The S. ilicifolium extract also exhibited α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory activities. The seaweed inhibited tyrosinase activity in the ethyl acetate extract but not in the methanol or water extracts. The seaweed S. ilicifolium exhibited bioactivity and biotechnological potential, as evidenced by its antimicrobial, antioxidant, and hypoglycemic properties.

The influence of sapwood and heartwood on many mechanical properties has been studied; however, their influence on fracture mechanics remains unclear. This study investigated the influence of sapwood and heartwood on the toughness mechanism of Cryptomeria japonica in mode-I radial-longitudinal (RL) and tangential-longitudinal (TL) systems. A single-end-notched bending test was performed to obtain the fracture toughness of four specimen types: RSW, RHW, TSW, and THW (where R = RL system, T = TL system, SW = sapwood, and HW = heartwood). Thereafter, X-ray computed tomography and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed to evaluate the fracture at the microscale level. For all properties evaluated, the RL system showed the highest values, and within the same system, sapwood had the highest values. However, the statistical analysis concluded that fracture toughness was the only property with a significant difference for all specimen types. Microscale analyses using SEM revealed that the higher toughness mechanism values found in the sapwood specimens were related to higher proportions of cell fracture than those in other specimen types. This implies that the toughness mechanism may depend on the fracture of microstructural tissues.

Cocoyam (Colocasia spp.) tuber, which has high starch yield, was subjected to acid modification. Effects were evaluated relative to the pasting, structural, physicochemical, and morphological properties. Native cocoyam starch (NCS) was treated with hydrochloric acid to produce acid-modified cocoyam starch (AMCS). Pasting properties were examined using a Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA), while water and oil absorption capacities, swelling power, and gelatinization features were evaluated using standard methods. Morphological and structural alterations were analyzed. Acid treatment significantly higher peak, final, trough, and setback viscosities, signifying greater paste stability at high temperature, higher swelling capacity, and greater retrogradation tendency. AMCS also displayed higher gel-forming ability at lower concentrations, higher swelling power, and increased water and oil absorption capacities relative to NCS. Scanning electron microscopic images showed surface erosion and granule disruption after acid modification, while FT-IR spectra affirmed that modification occurred primarily via depolymerization without the introduction of new functional groups. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed retention of crystalline polymorphism with improved relative crystallinity after acid hydrolysis. In all, the acid treatment effectively altered the granular and molecular structure of cocoyam starch, enhancing its functional properties and demonstrating its suitability for food and industrial applications requiring strong gels, stable pastes, and enhanced hydration characteristics.

To overcome empirical and discrete parameter selection and severe energy attenuation in wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.) harvesting using single-source vibration, in this study, a dual-source low-frequency excitation method is proposed. Using ‘Ningqi No.7’ branches and a two-point synchronous excitation device, the effects of the amplitude (28 to 80 mm) and phase (-180° to 180°) of the upper and lower vibration sources (UVS and LVS) on the detachment percentages of the middle section, lower section, and the total detachment (TD) were investigated via response surface methodology. Singular value spectrum analysis of the acceleration signals extracted the maximum singular value (MSV) to quantify the overall branch vibration energy. Two main low-frequency modes near 4 Hz and 8 Hz with high damping were identified. The MSV was strongly correlated with TD (r = 0.751), confirming its reliability for effectiveness evaluation. The optimal parameters found were a UVS of 80 mm, LVS of 68 mm, and phase of 135°, yielding a TD of 85.9% in validation. This demonstrates that the synergistic control of amplitude and phase at a low frequency enhances the harvest efficiency, offering a new approach for intelligent parameter optimization based on vibration monitoring.

The preparation of wheat straw biochar (MWSB) was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) with a Box-Behnken Design (BBD) to maximize Cr(VI) removal. Parameters assessed were wheat straw particle size, KOH modifier concentration, and pyrolysis temperature. Optimal conditions (0.1 mm particle size, 3 mol/L KOH, 494 °C pyrolysis) yielded 86.5% Cr(VI) removal efficiency. Adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model, and isotherm data fitted the Langmuir model, indicating monolayer adsorption limited by site density. The Langmuir model gave a maximum adsorption capacity (Q_max) of 105.28 mg/g at 25 °C. MWSB was characterized using SEM-EDS, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS. The optimized MWSB preparation significantly enhanced the efficacy and feasibility of wheat straw in environmental applications, particularly for Cr(VI) removal.

To address challenges including high subjectivity, non-reproducible reasoning, and poor compatibility with wood-based material processing in translating Dunhuang mural imagery into modern cultural product designs on wood-fiber substrates, this study proposes a digital workflow combining the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Shape Grammar (SG). An evaluation system was established, focusing on cultural authenticity, artistic aesthetics, geometric transformability, material compatibility, and market resonance. AHP was used to select imagery with the highest translation potential, prioritizing aesthetics and material-process compatibility. Using the Nine-Colored Deer from Mogao Cave 257 as a prototype, generative rules were developed for pattern creation under parametric constraints. An HSB compensation mechanism was introduced to improve color consistency in digital printing and processing. Three practical designs—wooden lamps, apparel, and bags—were evaluated by 20 reviewers, with mean scores ranging from 4.54 to 4.60, demonstrating the robustness and applicability of this workflow in wood-fiber material engineering and cultural heritage translation.