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Numerical investigations have been conducted for the effects of initial ambient pressure, hydrogen concentration, and obstacle distribution on the chemical kinetic characteristics of stable detonation propagation, as well as the changes in the shape and size of detonation cells. The configuration studied is a rectangular channel with regularly spaced obstacles containing the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. The results indicate that under the same blockage ratio conditions, the position where detonation is generated in the channel with obstacles distributed on one side is farther than in the channel with obstacles distributed on both sides. However, there is no significant change in flame speed or detonation cell size after reaching stable detonation in both cases. The study reveals that under fuel-rich conditions, an increase in hydrogen concentration leads to an increasing duration for the flame to propagate to the end of the channel, accompanied by the distance from the ignition point to the occurrence of detonation also increases. Additionally, under fuel-lean conditions, as the hydrogen concentration decreases, the distance from the ignition point to the occurrence of detonation also increases. The study identifies the limiting concentration for hydrogen detonation is in the range of 18.3 %–60 %. As the initial pressure within the channel decreases, the location of detonation occurrence is farther away from the ignition point. And higher initial ambient pressures make detonation more likely to occur within the channel and the size of stable detonation cells decreases as the initial ambient pressure increases. • The higher the blockage ratio, the slower the flame propagation. • Detonation flame cannot develop forward for the hydrogen concentration at 60 %. • Ambient pressure affects detonation cell size. • Hydrogen concentration affects detonation cell size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas' performance in water, energy, infrastructure, and socio-economic sectors is intertwined and measurable through Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6–13. Effective synergy among these is critical for sustainability. This study constructs an indicator framework that reflects progress towards these urban SDGs in China. Findings indicate underperformance in SDGs 8–11, suggesting the need for transformative actions. Through network analysis, the research reveals complementarities among these SDGs. Notably, the SDG space divides into socio-economic and ecological clusters, with SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) central to both. Additionally, SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) act as bridges, while greater synergies exist between SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). An in-depth view at the indicator-level shows a core-periphery structure, emphasizing indicators like SDG 6.2 (Wastewater Treatment Rate) and SDG 6.6 (Recycled Water Production Capacity per capita) as pivotal. This study confirms the urban SDG space's stability and predictiveness, underscoring its value in steering well-aligned policy decisions for sustainable growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater image restoration has been a challenging problem for decades since the advent of underwater photography. Most solutions focus on shallow water scenarios, where the scene is uniformly illuminated by the sunlight. However, the vast majority of uncharted underwater terrain is located beyond 200 meters depth where natural light is scarce and artificial illumination is needed. In such cases, light sources co-moving with the camera, dynamically change the scene appearance, which make shallow water restoration methods inadequate. In particular for multi-light source systems (composed of dozens of LEDs nowadays), calibrating each light is time-consuming, error-prone and tedious, and we observe that only the integrated illumination within the viewing volume of the camera is critical, rather than the individual light sources. The key idea of this paper is therefore to exploit the appearance changes of objects or the seafloor, when traversing the viewing frustum of the camera. Through new constraints assuming Lambertian surfaces, corresponding image pixels constrain the light field in front of the camera, and for each voxel a signal factor and a backscatter value are stored in a volumetric grid that can be used for very efficient image restoration of camera-light platforms, which facilitates consistently texturing large 3D models and maps that would otherwise be dominated by lighting and medium artifacts. To validate the effectiveness of our approach, we conducted extensive experiments on simulated and real-world datasets. The results of these experiments demonstrate the robustness of our approach in restoring the true albedo of objects, while mitigating the influence of lighting and medium effects. Furthermore, we demonstrate our approach can be readily extended to other scenarios, including in-air imaging with artificial illumination or other similar cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Small-molecule organic solvents are applied for Pickering emulsions. • The influence of oil solvents on emulsion stability is discussed. • Strong solvent-starch interactions lead to poor emulsification performance. • Depletion force could be employed for enhanced starch adsorption. The successful preparation of starch-based Pickering emulsions typically relies on the use of high-viscosity or high-boiling-point oil solvents. However, these solvents present challenges in removal and limit the applicability of the emulsions. This study aims to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of employing small-molecule solvents as alternatives for the oil phase. Specifically, quinoa starch granules are used as the emulsifying agent, with a systematic exploration of various small molecules from different solvent categories. This research contributes by identifying the impact of solvent-particle interactions on the feasibility of emulsion formation—an aspect critical but often overlooked in previous discussions on solvent influence on emulsion quality, essential for guiding solvent selection. Furthermore, to address potential challenges associated with maintaining emulsion stability when using low-viscosity oils, a strategy based on exploiting depletion attraction is proposed and demonstrated, leveraging bovine serum albumin as depletants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Torsional fretting wear is a commonly wear form in assemblies, while its inherent concealment and debris evolution make it difficult to study. Titanium alloy, widely used in aviation and aerospace, suffer from fretting wear under complex alternating load. In this paper, the effects of laser shock peening (LSP), fretting amplitude, and frequency on cylinder-on-flat torsional fretting wear of TC21 alloy was investigated. The friction torque and fretting loop were illustrated to identify the fretting regime. Results shown that LSP reconstructed surface morphology, increased surface roughness and hardness, meanwhile reduced the wear volume of titanium by more than 30 %. The fretting wear mechanisms varied with amplitude: lower amplitudes led to oxidation and adhesive wear, while higher amplitudes caused oxidation and abrasive wear. The results of wear volume shown that the influence of fretting frequency on wear was related to the difficulty of wear debris discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing recognition that the post-rifting phase of basin evolution is far from being tectonically quiescent, as it can involve episodic uplift. However, the dynamic mechanisms responsible for this phenomenon remain a subject of controversy, particularly for intra-plate basins situated distant from active plate boundaries. Accurately determining the timing and magnitude of uplift is essential for elucidating the driving model behind these processes. In this study, we document the thermal history of the Doseo basin within the West and Central Africa Rift System (WCARS) using a combination of apatite fission track analysis and vitrinite reflectance data. Our findings reveal a period of accelerated exhumation during the late Eocene to Miocene epoch (∼45-20 Ma), characterized by kilometer-scale uplift, which corresponds to the formation of angular unconformities, folds, and fault-related anticlines. This specific time interval appears to be critical for the Cenozoic petroleum system, coinciding with the peak maturation of source rocks and the simultaneous formation of compressional traps. When integrated with the seismic data and previously published thermochronological data, our research reveals two significant cooling and uplift events in WCARS: a Santonian extrusion event and a late Eocene exhumation event. Both of these events have the potential to impact the entire tectonic plate, and Tethys realm. Furthermore, this two-stage exhumation event aligns closely with the timing of the Africa-Europe convergence collision. Consequently, we come to conclude that far-field lateral compression emerges as the dominant driving mechanism for intra-plate uplift, outweighing the influence of the mantle model. [Display omitted] • There was a kilometer-scale exhumation in the Dosco Basin during the late Eocene to Miocene epochs. • Africa and Tethys experienced a Santonian extrusion and a late Eocene exhumation. • Far-field effects of lateral compression triggered intra-plate uplift in central Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Changes in non-growing season precipitation promoted the dominant species dominance. • Non-growing season precipitation changed plant biomass allocation. • Non-growing season precipitation regulated plant water and carbon activity intensity. • Non-growing season precipitation affected plant water and carbon utilization strategy. Under the influence of global change, precipitation amounts and extreme precipitation frequency during non-growing seasons in mid-high latitude grasslands have been increasing. However, the ecological effects of non-growing season precipitation in the desert steppe have long been overlooked due to an insufficient understanding of the correlative mechanisms linking non-growing season precipitation to plant growth. Therefore, a 3-year non-growing season precipitation manipulation experiment was conducted to reveal the response of desert steppe plants to non-growing season precipitation changes. Our study indicates that, by influencing water budget and availability, non-growing season precipitation directly or indirectly impacted community structure, plant biomass allocation, and water-carbon utilization intensity. Adaptive strategies of communities and plants included: ① Dominant species enhanced their dominance in the community to adapt to non-growing season precipitation changes. ② Stipa krylovii exhibited different biomass allocation strategies in response to non-growing season precipitation variations. Plants in the precipitation shading plots tended to allocate biomass to the roots, while those in the precipitation increase plots favored aboveground development. ③ Persistent drought during the growing season intensified early insufficient development of plants in the precipitation shading plots. Upon entering the wet period, plants in the precipitation shading plots shifted into a compensatory growth mode with high water-carbon activity intensity, while those in the precipitation increase plots entered a moderate growth mode with relatively low water-carbon activity intensity. Additionally, our study found that the regulatory effects of non-growing season precipitation were more pronounced in the growing seasons with less precipitation in the early to middle stage. Moreover, increased non-growing season precipitation enhanced plant water use efficiency (WUE) and strengthened their resilience to drought conditions. Our study suggests that the ecological role of non-growing season precipitation may be further highlighted in the future climate change pattern. Given the worldwide increase in frequency of extreme precipitation events, particular vigilance should be paid to the underlying long-term adverse effects of severe droughts during the non-growing season. Our findings provide new insights and valuable experimental observational evidence for the climate change impact assessment and response in xerophytic grassland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Vapor-liquid two-phase n-heptane explosion outside the premixed region is modeled. • Influence of initial temperature on vapor-liquid two-phase explosion characteristics. • Influence of equivalent ratio on vapor-liquid two-phase explosion characteristics. • Rich fuel explosion has obvious "secondary explosion" outside premixed zone. The explosion characteristics of vapor-liquid two-phase n-heptane inside and outside (the boundary is the junction of premixed fuel and air) the original premixed zone studied, and the effects of concentration and initial temperature on the explosion development have been analyzed using a numerical method. The explosion overpressure increases with distance in a certain range outside the premixed zone with the change of premixed vapor-liquid two-phase n-heptane concentrations. The peak overpressure of rich fuel is larger than that of lean and stoichiometric fuel. The fuel rich explosion outside the premixed zone results in a so-called "secondary explosion", and the explosion overpressure has two peaks with similar values. The initial temperature has a significant effect on the flame length (characterization by combustion rate) of two-phase n-heptane explosion. The flame length of a lean fuel explosion decreases with the increase of initial temperature. At an initial temperature of 253 K, the flame length is 4.15 times that of the premixed zone. With stoichiometric and rich fuel, the flame length increases with the initial temperature in the range of 273−333 K, and at 333 K the flame length is 5.26 and 5.99 times that of the premixed zone, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • - Ediacaran sediments in the northern Tarim display abrupt provenance changes from bidirectional to single resource. • - Northern margin of the Tarim block was involved in protracted subduction process during the Neoproterozoic. • - Back-arc rift basin in the northern Tarim eventually evolved into a passive margin with the opening of the Southern Tianshan Ocean. In the Neoproterozoic era, the breakup of the Rodinia supercontinent had a profound impact on different aspects of Earth; yet, the precise driving mechanism behind this event has been a source of ongoing controversy. The Tarim block, as a crucial component, presents an opportunity to gain valuable insights into the breakup process through its tectonic-sedimentary evolution history and dynamic background. However, the comprehension of basin evolution is limited due to the presence of an ambiguous prototype basin during the late Neoproterozoic and its intricate interconnections with surrounding blocks. In this contribution, we integrate detailed field observations, U-Pb dating of detrital zircon and rutile, and trace element analysis of detrital rutile to elucidate the source-to-sink relationships and the tectonic setting of Ediacaran sedimentary strata in the Aksu area (northern Tarim block, China). Detrital zircon age spectra exhibit consistent distributions with ages between ∼ 850 and ∼ 600 Ma and between ∼ 2100 and ∼ 1800 Ma. Rutile age groups however exhibit an abrupt transition between the lower member of the Sugatbrak Formation and the succeeding upper member to the Qigebrak Formation in the basin, with ages between ∼ 1800 and ∼ 900 Ma and nearly identical to those between ∼ 2100 and ∼ 1800 Ma. Calculated Zr-in-rutile temperatures and Cr-Nb compositions imply that the majority of the detrital rutiles were sourced from amphibolite facies metapelites, with an abrupt transition from amphibolitic schist to amphibolite-granulite facies for the ∼ 1800 Ma group grains. Provenance tracing shows that the detrital sediments of the lower Sugatbrak Formation are sourced from both the Central Tianshan and the Tarim blocks, and that the overlying strata have a single source in the Tarim block. A corresponding change from syn -rift detrital facies to a shallow-marine environment in on a passive continental margin is suggested in terms of depositional setting. In light of prior published evidence from petrology, geochronology and paleomagnetism, we propose that the Neoproterozoic northern Tarim margin was affected by a protracted subduction zone retreat. Associated back-arc spreading eventually was responsible for the opening of the southern Tianshan Ocean and rifting of the Central Tianshan block from the Tarim block in the late Ediacaran. This development ultimately prevented detrital material from the Central Tianshan block from reaching the northern Tarim depocenters as the latter evolved into a passive continental margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The effect of varying pipeline length-ration ratios has been investigated. • The effect of varying deposited dust amounts has been investigated. • A reverse explosion is observed under special conditions. • The flow field of reverse explosion has been revealed. This paper presents a numerical model for simulating the progress of deposited dust explosion in the enclosed pipelines and the corresponding results. The model reveals the influence of the pipeline length-diameter ratio and the total amount of the deposited dust on the multiple explosions. In the enclosed pipelines with three different length-diameter (L/D) ratios: 50:1, 100:1 and 200:1, the gas explosion cannot spread to the end when igniting the local (7 vol. %) methane-air mixture. The two-phase explosion can be induced by the local gas explosion after adding the deposited coal dust. In the pipelines with 50:1 and 100:1 L/D ratios, an explosion is observed from the closed end to the ignition end defined as reverse explosion. The deposited dust amount has an important influence on the occurrence of reverse explosion. When the amounts of deposited dust are too large or too small, the reverse explosion cannot be observed in the closed pipeline. When the concentration of the suspended coal dust kicked up by the leading pressure wave is in the range of 0.2- 0.8 kg/m3, the reverse explosion is more likely to occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Effect of droplet size on gas explosion inhibition was studied. • Characteristics of the explosion field under different initial spraying concentrations were investigated. • Explosion flame can be inhibited absolutely with the initial spraying concentration increased. • Breakup and transient flow process of droplets was induced by leading shock wave of gas explosion. Abstract Water mist as an effective explosion inhibitor has wide application prospect to prevent and reduce gas explosion hazard. The quantitative study of gas explosion inhibition with water mist provides the groundwork for the design of gas explosion suppression system. In this paper, the influence of the initial droplet sizes and spraying concentrations on explosion inhibition were numerically studied in a 2D numerical model. Under the initial spraying concentrations in the range of ∼1.5 kg/m3, the inhibition effect of water mist on the explosion overpressure was not significant. The inhibition effect of water mist was mainly reflected in the suppression of the explosion flame temperature. When the initial droplet sizes were in the range of 50–150 μm, the flame length was obviously reduced. But when the initial droplet sizes were less than 50 μm or more than 150 μm, the inhibition to reduce flame length begin to weaken. The results of this study provide the theoretical basis of the suppression technology for gas explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the processes of lifting, dispersing and igniting of a dust layer behind the local gas explosion as well as their suppression, premixed methane local explosion igniting deposited coal/inert rock dust at the bottom of a tube are simulated. The two-phase combustion mechanism is obtained that the deposited dust is kicked up by the leading pressure wave, developing an uneven dust cloud filling in the tube, and then the gas flame ignites the dust cloud to form the composite flame. The rock dust lain on the tunnel ground has a significant suppression effect on the explosion overpressure, flame temperature and velocity of methane with coal dust. When the rock dust proportion in coal dust is 90%, the peak values of overpressure, flame temperature and flame velocity of the hybrid coal dust/rock dust/methane explosion are 0.6, 0.78 and 0.55 times of those of coal dust/methane explosion, respectively. The rock dust with the particles of smaller size has a remarkable suppression effect on explosion flame. When the rock dust proportion in the coal dust is 70%, the peak explosion overpressure and the flame velocity under suppression of the 12 µm rock dust are 10% and 11% lower than those of the 31 µm rock dust, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional defence against propagating gas explosions is the application of dry rock dust, but not much quantitative study on explosion suppression of rock dust has been made. Based on the theories of fluid dynamics and combustion, a simulated study on the propagation of premixed gas explosion suppressed by deposited inert rock dust layer is carried out. The characteristics of the explosion field (overpressure, temperature, flame speed and combustion rate) at different deposited rock dust amounts are investigated. The flame in the pipeline cannot be extinguished when the deposited rock dust amount is less than 12 kg/m 3 . The effects of suppressing gas explosion become weak when the deposited rock dust amount is greater than 45 kg/m 3 . The overpressure decreases with the increase of the deposited rock dust amounts in the range of 18–36 kg/m 3 and the flame speed and the flame length show the same trends. When the deposited rock dust amount is 36 kg/m 3 , the overpressure can be reduced by 40%, the peak flame speed by 50%, and the flame length by 42% respectively, compared with those of the gas explosion of stoichiometric mixture. In this model, the effective raised dust concentrations to suppress explosion are 2.5–3.5 kg/m 3 . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the issue that the sample space of wedge winding eddy current losses of large generator does not obey Gaussian distribution, a hybrid ensemble Gaussian process regression (HEGPR) model is proposed in this paper. The HEGPR contains three layers. First, four tree regression models (XGBoost, CatBoost, LGBM and NGBoost) are built. Then, the output of the first layer is taken as the input of multiple Gaussian regression models, so that the input samples of the second layer obey Gaussian distribution, which can effectively improve the generalization ability of Gaussian process regression. The results show that the root mean squared error (RMSE) is 0.0282 and the goodness of fit (R 2) is 0.9973. The model has good prediction performance for the eddy current loss of large turbo generator. Compared with kinds of Gaussian process models and traditional ensemble learning models, the prediction accuracy of this model is higher, and it is more suitable for forecasting eddy current loss of the large generator. HEGPR model can effectively solve the problem of insufficient regression accuracy of Gaussian process when sample space does not obey Gaussian distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel turn-off fluorescent sensor for detection of Fe3+ and Fe2+ was prepared. • The probe was prepared by the host–guest complexation of TPE-Fc and β-CD-(PNIPAM) 7. • The detection limit was 1.04 μM for Fe3+ and 0.78 μM for Fe2+ in the range of 10–90 μM. • It was applied to detecting Fe3+and Fe2+ in spiked samples with a good recoveries. Temperature-responsive nanomicelles with aggregation induced emission (AIE) property were prepared by the host–guest complexation of ferrocene functionalized tetraphenyl (TPE-Fc) and β-cyclodextrin-poly (N -isopropylacrylamide) (β-CD-(PNIPAM) 7). The AIE chromophore TPE-Fc bound to the hydrophobic cavity of cyclodextrin serves as the core of micelles, and temperature sensitive PNIPAM serves as the shell to give the micelles good solubility. The size of the nanomicelles is about 100 nm. At the excitation wavelength of 340 nm, the strongest fluorescent emission peak was 421 nm. The introduction of cyclodextrin star polymer increased the fluorescence intensity of nanomicelles, thus improving the recognition of probe to Fe3+ and Fe2+. The fluorescent probe can quickly detect Fe3+ and Fe2+ in water within 5 min even in the presence of various interfering ions. The detection limits of Fe3+ and Fe2+ were 1.04 μM and 0.78 μM, respectively in the range of 10–90 μM. The formation of complex between the probe and Fe3+/Fe2+ was supported by Job's plot. The probe was successfully applied to the detection of Fe3+and Fe2+ in actual water sample with a good recovery. In addition, a possible sensing mechanism for the interaction of iron ions with amide bond groups of nanomicelles was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Treatment with Vesatolimod significantly alleviated clinical symptoms of EAE. • Treatment with Vesatolimod decreased the expression levels of inflammatory cytokines, particularly Eotaxin and IL-12 (P40), in peripheral blood. • Treatment with Vesatolimod inhibited demyelination in spinal cords. • Treatment with Vesatolimod reduced activation of microglia. • Treatment with Vesatolimod inhibit significantly infiltration of CD3 + T cells and CD107b + cells. • Treatment with Vesatolimod inhibited the autophagy-related proteins expression in the spinal cords of EAE mice. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic demyelinating autoimmune disease accompanied by inflammation and loss of axons and neurons. Toll-like receptors play crucial roles in the innate immune system and inflammation. However, few studies have explored the specific effects of toll-like receptor 7 signaling pathway in multiple sclerosis. To explore underlying effects to develop a new therapeutic target, we use Vesatolimod, a safe and well-tolerated agonist of toll-like receptor 7, to assess the possible effects in Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) animal model. EAE animal model was induced by injection of MOG35–55 and monitored daily for clinical symptoms, and the treatment group was given Vesatolimod at the onset of illness. The therapeutic effects of Vesatolimod on EAE inflammation, demyelination, CD107b cells and T cells infiltration, and microglia activation was evaluated. Autophagy within the spinal cords of EAE mice was also preliminarily assessed. Treatment with Vesatolimod significantly alleviated clinical symptoms of EAE from day 18 post-immunization and decreased the expression levels of inflammatory cytokines, particularly Eotaxin and IL-12 (P40), in peripheral blood. It also inhibited demyelination in spinal cords. Moreover, VES treatment reduced activation of microglia, infiltration of CD3 + T cells and CD107b + cells, as well as inhibited the autophagy-related proteins expression in the spinal cords of EAE mice. Our results indicate that Vesatolimod exhibits protective effects on EAE mice and is promising for treatment of MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural gas formed by cracking of crude oil occurs in many basins globally. One of the key questions about such gas is whether it was produced in-situ—by cracking of crude oil in the reservoir itself—or whether it was generated elsewhere and accumulated in the reservoir subsequently. Fluid inclusions trapped in minerals can provide direct evidence regarding the genesis of natural gas, because these inclusions represent samples of the fluid present at the time of trapping, and/or resulting from subsequent modification of the trapped fluid. Here, we outline some theoretical aspects of the processes of cracking, trapping of fluid inclusions, and potential post-entrapment modifications, that lead to a model for identifying evidence for in-situ cracking of crude oil in reservoirs based on fluid inclusion assemblages (FIAs). This model divides the crude oil cracking process into three main stages, and considers the predicted evolution of fluids and possibility of forming FIAs. In the initial step, before cracking, only liquid oil and aqueous fluid are present in a reservoir, and two endmember types of inclusions may be formed. If cracking of crude oil occurs in the reservoir after these inclusions were trapped, then in-situ cracking of oil within the inclusions gives rise to systematic changes that can be interpreted through the lens of progressive thermal maturation, and hence provide direct evidence for cracking in the reservoir. In the second step, during cracking, the reservoir may host up to four fluid phases (residual oil, aqueous fluid, natural gas, and solid bitumen), and in theory as many as fourteen types fluid inclusions can be trapped; hence, complex FIAs comprising multiple fluid inclusion types can be considered evidence for trapping during in-situ cracking of crude oil in the reservoir. In the third and final step, after complete cracking, liquid oil has been exhausted and only natural gas, solid bitumen and aqueous fluid remain in the reservoir; at this stage, up to six fluid inclusion types can be trapped, which can be indicative of cracking. We applied this model to study the genesis of natural gas in the Sinian Dengying Formation reservoir of the Anyue Gas Field in the Sichuan Basin, southwest China. Six types of hydrocarbon-bearing primary fluid inclusions were observed in fluorite crystals formed during hydrocarbon accumulation. Notably, one type of inclusion showed consistent volumetric phase ratios of solid bitumen plus gas, suggesting that these inclusions originally captured crude oil, which subsequently underwent in-situ cracking in a closed system (within the inclusions) to generate fixed proportions of gas and solid bitumen. These FIAs are consistent with our model and suggest that the fluid inclusions trapped in fluorite can record the in-situ cracking of crude oil in the reservoir, and can therefore be used as direct evidence for the genesis of natural gas. [Display omitted] • A theoretical model is established for identifying in-situ cracking of oil by fluid inclusion analysis. • Multiphase fluids formed by oil cracking can be recorded by fluid inclusions. • Gas in Dengying formation of Anyue Gas Field was generated by in-situ cracking of oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, based on three typical characteristics of specific videos, i.e., the theme, scene and temporal structure, a novel data-driven identification architecture for the specific video is proposed. To be concrete, at the frame-level, semantic features and scene features from two independent Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are extracted. At the video-level, Vector of Locally Aggregated Descriptors (VLAD) is firstly adopted to encode spatial representation, and then multiple-layer Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks are introduced to represent temporal information. Additionally, a large-scale specific video dataset (SVD) is built for evaluation. The experimental results show that our method obtain impressive 98% mAP. Moreover, in order to validate generalization capability of proposed architecture, extensive experiments on two public datasets, Columbia Consumer Videos (CCV) and Unstructured Social Activity Attribute (USAA), are conducted. Comparison results indicate that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art methods on USAA, and achieves comparable results on CCV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel turn-on fluorescent sensor MSN/TPE-CS@Ag for H 2 O 2 was prepared. • The probe showed good selectivity for H 2 O 2 even with various interfering substances. • The detection limit for H 2 O 2 was as low as 0.64 μM in the rage from 1 to 300 μM. • It was applied to detecting H 2 O 2 in spiked samples and showed a good recoveries. A novel turn-on fluorescent sensor for hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2) was prepared from chitosan (CS) coating mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) loaded with 1-(4-Aminophenyl)-1,2,2-triphenylethene (TPE-NH 2) and silver nanoparticles (AgNCs). The surface of MSNs was coated by CS as the gatekeeper and the template for loading of AgNCs. Because of the surface plasmon-enhanced energy transfer (SPEET), AgNCs effectively quenched the fluorescence emission of nanoparticles. In the presence of H 2 O 2 , AgNCs can be oxidized to Ag+, resulting in the recovery of fluorescence. This fluorescent sensor was characterized with respect to its chemical composition, morphological features and optical properties by means of FTIR, XRD, TGA, SEM, TEM, XPS, UV–Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. The MSN/TPE-CS@Ag nanoparticles showed good sensitivity and selectivity for H 2 O 2 even with various interfering ions and agents. Under optimized conditions, the detection limit for H 2 O 2 was 0.64 μM in the rage of 1–300 μM. The feasibility of the practical application of this probe was confirmed by accurate quantitative of H 2 O 2 in practical samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The interfacial bond performance of the ERC-NSC is sufficient for rehabilitation of concrete components. • The saturated surface dry surface treatment is unfavorable for the bond properties of ERC-NSC interface. • The 25° inclined angle is recommended for the slant shear test of ERC-NSC specimens. • The recommended cohesion and friction coefficient can be used to predict the bond strength of the ERC-NSC interface. The short-term behavior and long-term durability of materials for structural strengthening are significantly affected by their bond properties and compatibility with the existing substrate. In this study, the bonding performance between a normal strength concrete (NSC) substrate and an epoxy resin concrete (ERC) layer was investigated by applying direct tensile, splitting tensile, bi-shear, and slant shear tests, and the interfacial bond strength and corresponding failure modes were explored. Several factors that may affect the interfacial bond strength, including the ERC age, substrate moisture degree, and interface inclination angle, were examined to explore their influences. The results reveal that the increase in ERC age resulted in various degrees of increment for the bond strength among the four tests. The saturated surface dry (SSD) preparation method slightly increased the bond strength by 3 % in the splitting tensile tests. However, moisture at the substrate interface reduced the bond values by 25.5 %, 29.67 %, and 16.9 % in the direct tensile, bi-shear, and slant shear tests, respectively. As the inclination angle increased, the bonding strength of the slant shear test increased, while a larger inclination angle reduced the likelihood of interfacial failure. Furthermore, the minimum cohesion and shear friction coefficients were determined to be 2.26 MPa and 1.68 for air surface dry preparation and 1.62 MPa and 1.48 for SSD preparation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The flow ignition mechanism of gas-liquid two-phase fuel is revealed. • The influence of flow ignition velocity on explosion propagation is revealed. • The fuel concentration on the premixed zone on explosion propagation is revealed. • The physical process of fuel cloud transient flow is revealed. It is a typical domino phenomenon in explosion accidents that high temperature fragments from disasters fly to form a flow ignition source and penetrate into the fuel cloud to form an explosion. It is a new challenge to the field of explosion safety to reveal the ignition mechanism of gas-liquid two-phase fuel. In this study of the explosion propagation law of gas-liquid two-phase fuel in the open space, the ignition mode of flow ignition is considered. The physical process of fuel cloud transient flow and its coupling effect of explosion waves of space and time are analyzed. The influence of flow ignition velocity and fuel concentration on the premixed zone on explosion propagation is revealed. The explosion overpressure of the fuel cloud decays rapidly when it propagates outside the premixed region. The higher the ignition velocity is, the closer the overpressure peak value is to the premixed boundary. When the flow ignition velocity is 1500 m/s, the peak value of explosion overpressure can reach up to 0.88 MPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, the metal precursors (Copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)), nitrogen precursors and carbon nanotubes were homogeneously mixed and heat-treated by grinding method to prepare nitrogen-rich carbon-loaded Cu catalysts. The prepared Cu-N-C catalysts featured with ultrasmall Cu nanoclusters presented a superior ORR electrocatalytic properties than commercial Pt/C in alkaline media, together with an excellent methanol resistance and long-term stability. It is inferred that the enhanced electrocatalytic behavior could be attributed to the formation of Cu-N X active sites, which are coupled into the nitrogen-rich carbon nanotubes. This low-cost, extremely durable and stable electrocatalyst showed a great potential as an efficient cathode material for a variety of renewable energy conversion technologies, such as fuel cells, biofuel cells and metal-air cells. [Display omitted] • Successful synthesis of N-doped carbon nanotube-loaded ultra-small Cu nanoclusters by a simple grinding and heat treatment method. • Cu nanoclusters dispersed on nitrogen-rich carbon nanotubes exhibited a superior ORR electrocatalytic properties in alkaline media, a better methanol resistance and stability than commercial Pt/C. • The excellent ORR activity of catalyst is mainly dependent on the abundant Cu-N X active sites uniformly distributed on the surface of CNTs. Earth-rich transition metal-based catalysts are considered to be the most promising candidates to alternate noble metal-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Nevertheless, the practical applications have been hampered due to their poor electrocatalytic behaviors and stability. Here, we report the facial thesis of Cu nanoclusters supported on N-doped carbon nanotubes by a simple grinding and heat treatment method, which presented a superior electrocatalytic performance than commercial Pt/C. In alkaline media, an onset potential (E 0) and half-wave potential (E 1/2) of 0.98 V and 0.88 V (RHE) have been achieved, respectively. In addition, the synthesized catalysts present a good tolerance and long-term stability to methanol, and exhibit less than 7% H 2 O 2 formation. It is inferred that the enhanced electrocatalytic behavior could be attributed to the formation of Cu-N X active sites, which are coupled into the nitrogen-rich carbon nanotubes. This low-cost, extremely durable and stable electrocatalyst showed a great potential as an efficient cathode material for a variety of renewable energy conversion technologies, such as fuel cells and metal-air cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the largest oil-bearing basin in northwest China, the Tarim basin records multiple major tectonic-sedimentary transitions during the Early Paleozoic, which play an important role in understanding assembly processes of Gondwana. An important transition from the Middle to Late Ordovician was development of important unconformity T 7 4, the end of a unified carbonate platform, and development of turbidites in eastern basin. However, due to unobvious terrigenous clastic record, there is still a lack of understanding of driving mechanism of the tectonic transition. Marine carbonate red beds (MCRBs) with detritus components are developed in the Tumuxiuke/Kanling Formation at the bottom of the Upper Ordovician. By detailed field observation, zircon U-Pb dating and Hf-isotope analyses, provenance and the tectonic implication of the MCRBs are studied. New zircon U-Pb dating results constrain the depositional age of the MCRBs at ca. 454Ma. Provenance tracing shows the Precambrian detrital zircons were mainly sourced from the basement of the Tarim block, and the early Late Ordovician detrital zircons were probably derived from ash from the Altyun Tagh orogenic belt. Based on syn-depositional magmatic zircon records and the magmatic-metamorphic records in the Altyn Tagh orogenic belt, the closure age of North Altyn Ocean, one branch of Proto-Tethys Ocean, can be constrained to the latest Middle Ordovician (~ca. 460 Ma). The collison of the Tarim block with the Central Altyn terrane occurred (ca. 460 Ma - 454 Ma), leading to the major tectonic-sedimentary transition in the Tarim block. The U-Pb age spectrum of detrital zircons also indicates that the Tarim block is closely related to the North Indian block in Gondwana. This study shows that carbonate rocks with low clastic flux can be applied as provenance research objects. • The closure of the North Altyn Ocean can be constrained at ca. 460 - 450 Ma. • The collision with central Altyn terrane provided compression for Tarim block. • The Tarim block is adjacent to north India during Gondwana assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We describe an improved method for comparative modeling, RosettaCM, which optimizes a physically realistic all-atom energy function over the conformational space defined by homologous structures. Given a set of sequence alignments, RosettaCM assembles topologies by recombining aligned segments in Cartesian space and building unaligned regions de novo in torsion space. The junctions between segments are regularized using a loop closure method combining fragment superposition with gradient-based minimization. The energies of the resulting models are optimized by all-atom refinement, and the most representative low-energy model is selected. The CASP10 experiment suggests that RosettaCM yields models with more accurate side-chain and backbone conformations than other methods when the sequence identity to the templates is greater than ∼15%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • Combinational design is proposed to construct heterogeneous lattices with multiple substructures. • Structures in hybrid regions between substructures can be automatically thickened and thinned. • Effectiveness of hybrid region stiffness tuning method is numerically and experimentally investigated. • Designed heterogeneous lattices can be fabricated by any suitable additive manufacturing technique. Lattices with engineered properties are significant for engineering applications in the energy, aerospace, optics and medical sectors. Current additive manufacturing (AM) combined with computer-aided design (CAD) methods are not flexible enough to create multi-substructure lattices with locally varying geometrical features and mechanical properties. For example, if the struts of one substructure correspond spatially to the void of another substructure in the hybrid region, the resulting structure is disconnected there. When the number of substructures is large, such a problem becomes inevitable and intractable. Here we propose a new AM & CAD method integrating all the processes of designing a complex lattice structure, such as subspace partitioning, substructure rotation, filling in each subspace and connection, and hybrid region stiffness tuning. This method provides a general framework for designing heterogeneous lattice structures with disorder, gradient and hybrid features. Additionally, we numerically and experimentally investigate the effectiveness of our hybrid region stiffness tuning method. Using this new method, the problem of low volume fraction or disconnection in the hybrid region in multi-substructure lattices is overcome, and the resulting structures can be generated for analysis or fabrication by any suitable AM technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify microbial resources for dehalogenation, develop effective remediation strategies, and reveal their significance in "One Health", it is crucial to understand the occurrence, distribution, and drivers of soil dehalogenation functional traits and taxonomy groups at a broad scale, which is currently not well understood. To address the gaps, we characterized the biogeography of both dehalogenation traits and taxa assigned to six dehalogenation pathways, by metagenomic profiling global 4821 soils from eight habitats, based on a manually curated dehalogenase database (DhgaseDB). We found dehalogenation genes and microbes assigned to different pathways are everywhere, but varied consistently across habitats. The similarity of dehalogention traits and taxa composition declines with geographic distance, and that patterns are strongly correlated with geo-environmental factors. We identified anthropogenic organohalide pesticide inputs as the most influential factor on dehalogenation gene abundance, while soil properties, particularly pH, exert a larger impact on dehalogenation taxa diversity. Ultimately, we generated predictive maps of soil dehalogenation gene abundance and taxa diversity for the first time, highlighting the microbial dehalogenation hotpots in East Asia, Australia, Southern Africa, and coastal regions. Collectively, our study highlights the significant role of various microbial dehalogenation processes in organohalide biotransformation and environmental microecology, providing the necessary methodological basis for a deeper comprehension of the underlying mechanisms, thereby contributing to the advancement of tailored strategies for organohalide remediation. • DhgaseDB was established for fast and accurate analysis of dehalogenation genes and taxa. • Dehalogenation genes and microbes are prevalent in global soils, but varied consistently across habitats. • Pesticide inputs are key to gene abundance, while soil pH significantly affects microbial diversity. • The first predictive maps of soil dehalogenation gene abundance and taxa diversity were generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional (2D) membrane has brought promising opportunities to achieve the separation performance for overcoming the Robeson upper bound. Nevertheless, precise control of the in-plane pore size as well as the interlayer structure on a microscopic scale remains a great challenge. In this work, we produced well-intergrown, highly c -oriented ultrathin (ca. 80 nm-thick) 2D Cu-TCPP membranes on the porous alumina substrates through in-situ solvothermal method. Regular vertical stacking of single Cu-TCPP layers along the c -axis through van der Waals interactions resulted in narrowed pore size (equivalent to ~5.4 Å) and interlocked interlayer gallery. Gas permeation results indicated that prepared Cu-TCPP membranes showed precise size-selective molecular sieving behavior, owing to rational interlayer stacking on a microscopic scale as well as deliberate microstructural manipulation on a mesoscopic scale. [Display omitted] • Well-intergrown, highly c -oriented and ultrathin 2D Cu-TCPP membrane was prepared with a facial in-situ solvothermal method. • Synthetic parameters which played crucial roles in the preparation of high performance 2D Cu-TCPP membrane were elucidated. • Prepared 2D Cu-TCPP membrane exhibited superior separation performances towards H 2 /N 2 , H 2 /CH 4 , and H 2 /SF 6 gas pairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important part of China's strategic emerging industries, developing wind energy is key to improving the nation's energy structure, protecting the environment, ensuring energy security, and achieving sustainable economic development. This study uses complex network theory and social network analysis to investigate the collaboration network of China's wind energy industry based on the collaborative application data of patents from the China National Intellectual Property Administration. The results demonstrate that the State Grid Corporation of China plays an important role in the collaboration network. With the wind energy industry's development, the network's dominant force has changed from individuals to enterprises, and its collaboration frequency now differs across various technology fields and organizations. Furthermore, the maximal connected subnetwork was found to be important for knowledge dissemination. These results demonstrate a large difference in the network's spatial distribution. Thus, the government should invest more in technological innovation, strengthen the collaboration platform's construction, and formulate policies supporting the collaboration network's construction. • The State Grid Corporation of China is the core of the collaboration network. • The spatial distribution of the collaboration network differs greatly. • Enterprises have replaced individuals as the dominant force in the network. • The maximal connected subnetwork included most enterprises, while few individuals. • Beijing, Hubei and several coastal provinces have high degree and betweenness centrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable quantification of natural and anthropogenic gas release (e.g. CO 2 , methane) from the seafloor into the water column, and potentially to the atmosphere, is a challenging task. While ship-based echo sounders such as single beam and multibeam systems allow detection of free gas, bubbles, in the water even from a great distance, exact quantification utilizing the hydroacoustic data requires additional parameters such as rise speed and bubble size distribution. Optical methods are complementary in the sense that they can provide high temporal and spatial resolution of single bubbles or bubble streams from close distance. In this contribution we introduce a complete instrument and evaluation method for optical bubble stream characterization targeted at flows of up to 100 ml/min and bubbles with a few millimeters radius. The dedicated instrument employs a high-speed deep sea capable stereo camera system that can record terabytes of bubble imagery when deployed at a seep site for later automated analysis. Bubble characteristics can be obtained for short sequences, then relocating the instrument to other locations, or in autonomous mode of definable intervals up to several days, in order to capture bubble flow variations due to e.g. tide dependent pressure changes or reservoir depletion. Beside reporting the steps to make bubble characterization robust and autonomous, we carefully evaluate the reachable accuracy to be in the range of 1–2% of the bubble radius and propose a novel auto-calibration procedure that, due to the lack of point correspondences, uses only the silhouettes of bubbles. The system has been operated successfully in 1000 m water depth at the Cascadia margin offshore Oregon to assess methane fluxes from various seep locations. Besides sample results we also report failure cases and lessons learnt during deployment and method development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Slow combustion to explosion transition of dust layer is investigated. • The effects of dust layer thickness and particle size are investigated. • The flame processes of dust layer can be divided into four conditions. This paper numerically investigates the flame propagation of dust layer explosion induced by weak ignition, for which a two-dimensional model of deposited coal dust ignited at one end in a closed pipe is simulated. By a change of the thickness and particle size of the deposited dust layer, the development processes of deposited dust after one end spark ignition can be divided into four situations: non-ignition, halfway quenching, slow combustion and explosion. The optimum thickness of deposited dust layer for violent explosion is 3 mm by changing the particle size. Varying the dust layer thickness, the optimum particle size for violent explosion is 50 µm. When the particle size of dust is 50 µm and the dust layer thickness is 3 mm, the maximum explosion overpressure is 0.55 MPa and the maximum flame propagation velocity is 6.5 m/s. The flame quenches during propagating to downstream when the raised dust concentration is above 0.8 kg/m3. Weak ignition at one end cannot induce explosion when dust layer thickness is less than 0.5 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grassland ecosystems play an important role in maintaining biodiversity, global carbon balance. Aiming at the desert steppe with an extremely fragile ecological environment, the spatiotemporal relation between vegetation fractional coverage (VFC) and climate was explored in this study in a pixel-scale analysis method. There was an overall increasing trend in the VFC of the study area. The coefficient of correlation between average precipitation from 2000 to 2013 and VFC was 0.81, and during the growing season, the coefficient of correlation between average temperature and VFC was −0.76. The two dominant factors of VFC in the study area, precipitation and temperature, were used as indicators to establish an ecological suitability index (ESI) for desert steppe to reflect the hydrothermal conditions for vegetation growth. The ESI of the study area varied from 0.03 to 0.94 with its average being 0.39, and the coefficient of correlation between ESI and VFC was 0.84. On the basis of ESI, an optimized layout adjustment was made for existing farmland in the study area so as to take advantage of natural conditions to the greatest extent and reduce impacts of human activities. The optimized layout of farmlands would adapt better to the natural climatic characteristics of the desert steppe regions, meanwhile, bring about ecological and environment benefits to the original agro–pastoral ecotone of the desert grasslands areas. Results from this study further our understanding of the desert steppe, and provide some reference for ecological restoration and new cycle of returning farmland to grassland policy. • An increasing trend in the vegetation coverage of the study area occurred against the background of global change. • Weighted precipitation proportion can reflect the level at which vegetation needs monthly precipitation. • An ecological suitability index were built for desert steppe to assess the hydrothermal conditions for vegetation growth. • The ESI-based farmland optimized layout plan can take full advantage of the natural resources and climatic condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clean and renewable energy carrier alternative to current fossil fuels, such as hydrogen (H 2) and oxygen (O 2), is crucial and challenging due to economic and environmental concerns. Electrochemical water splitting is a straightforward route to produce H 2 and O 2 , which requires highly active electrocatalysts to get over sluggish reaction kinetics and improve the reaction rates of H 2 and O 2 at low overpotentials. Transition metal borides (TMBs) have been proven as promising alternatives to replace precious metal catalysts. Here, we focus on the various synthetic strategies for the construction and functionalization of TMBs, then introduce the recent research progresses of TMBs for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Finally, the existing problems in current research and future research directions of electrocatalysts are given as perspectives. • The degree of crystallization of TMBs has a significant effect on catalytic activity. • Synergistic effect can greatly improve the catalytic ability of the TMBs for OER. • Different working electrodes have obvious differences in test results for the same catalyst. • The catalytic performance of TMBs is systematically summarized in the form of a table. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underwater cameras are typically placed behind glass windows to protect them from the water. Spherical glass, a dome port, is well suited for high water pressures at great depth, allows for a large field of view, and avoids refraction if a pinhole camera is positioned exactly at the sphere's center. Adjusting a real lens perfectly to the dome center is a challenging task, both in terms of how to actually guide the centering process (e.g. visual servoing) and how to measure the alignment quality, but also, how to mechanically perform the alignment. Consequently, such systems are prone to being decentered by some offset, leading to challenging refraction patterns at the sphere that invalidate the pinhole camera model. We show that the overall camera system becomes an axial camera, even for thick domes as used for deep sea exploration and provide a non-iterative way to compute the center of refraction without requiring knowledge of exact air, glass or water properties. We also analyze the refractive geometry at the sphere, looking at effects such as forward- vs. backward decentering, iso-refraction curves and obtain a 6th-degree polynomial equation for forward projection of 3D points in thin domes. We then propose a pure underwater calibration procedure to estimate the decentering from multiple images. This estimate can either be used during adjustment to guide the mechanical position of the lens, or can be considered in photogrammetric underwater applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explosive pressure relief is often used in process industries to reduce the hazardous effects of dust explosion in the conveyance pipeline. The effectiveness of venting and the conditions associated with the explosive dust cloud and venting area, however, have not been studied. In this research, aluminum dust explosion venting was modeled by a two-dimensional (2D) rotational-axis symmetric computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model. The simulations focused on the effect of vent size on the pressure development and flame behavior inside and outside the pipeline. The internal pressure and temperature decreased sharply with venting. The internal pressure rose after the explosion venting, but this increase was reduced as the venting coefficient K v (K v = S v /S p) increased. The external explosion damage range caused by the venting pressure expanded as K v increased. The applied simulation method and results of this study provide critical information for dust explosion venting design safety and protection in chemical engineering. • The influence of vent size on dust explosion venting in pipeline is verified. • Venting can reduce the coherent deflagration associated with flame and pressure. • The internal pressure and temperature decrease sharply with the vent opining. • The external explosion damage range caused by venting pressure expands as vent size increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cucurbitacin IIa (CuIIa), a tetracyclic triterpenoid harboring anticancer activity, was investigated in A549 cells to reveal its mechanism of targeting on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway. Results showed that CuIIa was capable of inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase. The transcription of EGFR pathway genes and their proteins accumulation was inconsistently influenced by CuIIa. Notably, transcription of Raf1 was significantly upregulated, nevertheless, MEK1 and ERK1 were significantly downregulated. On the other hand, the accumulation of the total and phosphorylated proteins of the most members in EGFR-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, as well as CylclinB1 and survivin were also shifted by CuIIa treatment. Remarkably, total MEK remained constant but survivin completely degraded. Moreover, phosphorylated BRAF continuously increased while Raf1 and MEK decreased continuously. CuIIa was further confirmed to be a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) of EGFR by kinase inhibition assay. The results of molecular simulation showed that the long side chain of CuIIa occupied the binding pocket of EGFR and the ligand was stabilized at the active site of EGFR. In view of the results above, it is suggested that CuIIa inhibits cell proliferation by interfering the EGFR-MAPK signaling pathway. • CuIIa induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in A549 cells. • CuIIa alters the existence status of participants in EGFR-MAPK pathway. • CuIIa acts as a TKI of EGFR with a low IC 50 value. • CuIIa is stabilized at the active site in the binding pocket of EGFR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to evaluate the longitudinal seismic displacement of the Quasi Seismic Isolation Bridge (QSIB) based on the Energy-based Multimodal Pushover Method (EMPM), including the pier-beam relative displacement and the collision effect. As a simplified seismic analysis method, the EMPM invokes the concept of energy balance into the modal pushover analysis to assess the nonlinear seismic behavior of Laminated Rubber Bearing (LRB) on bridges. In this method, the energy-based capability curve is obtained by the modal pushover analysis, while the energy-based demand curve is estimated under the ground motion record. The target performance criterion can be derived by intersecting the capability curve with the demand curve. The effect of several key factors in EMPM, such as the mode classification and selection, collision effect, energy coefficient and ductility factor, are studied by a case study of a prototype QSIB under ChiChi and El Centro earthquakes. The results of EMPM are compared with those from Nonlinear Time History Analysis (NTHA), to illustrate the effectiveness and accuracy of this method for evaluating the maximum seismic displacement, and the pier-beam relative displacement with and without collision. Results show that the EMPM is found to be able to estimate the longitudinal seismic displacement of the QSIB with and without collision, and can be used as an effective alternative for rapid assess the seismic performance of bridges. The results also indicate that LRB stiffness for modal analysis should be taken as the stiffness pre- or post-sliding when without or with the gap element. Collision effect enlarges the peak displacement and the maximum bias of EMPM. • A novel method is found to be able to evaluate the seismic displacement with and without collision. • The mode classification and selection for the novel method are proposed and verified by case study. • The collision effects can be incorporated in the novel method. • The inverse vibration mode is pointed out to be the key mode to assess the pier-beam relative displacement and the collision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, CuFe 2 O 4 nanocomposite loaded on natural sepiolite (CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP) was prepared by the citrate sol-gel method. CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller adsorption analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP composite was stable and showed an excellent catalytic activity for ozonation. The efficiency of quinoline mineralization in the catalytic ozonation with CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP was 90.3%, and this value was 5.4 times higher than that of the uncatalyzed ozonation (16.8%). The quinoline mineralization followed a pseudo first-order kinetics with all the catalysts. The rate constant for the mineralization of quinoline by ozonation in the presence of CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP was 0.0885 min−1, which was 16.7 times higher than that in ozone alone (0.0053 min−1). Radical scavenging tests revealed that hydroxyl radical (OH) and superoxide radical (O 2 −) were the reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the quinoline degradation. In the presence of CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP, ozone and hydrogen peroxide were rapidly converted into the ROS. Although neutral and alkaline pH were more beneficial for the quinoline mineralization, CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP exhibited significant catalytic activity even under acidic conditions. Meanwhile, five-cycle successive tests suggested that CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP was recyclable and hence, stable. Furthermore, the feasibility of the catalytic ozonation for the treatment of biologically treated coking wastewater was evaluated. The catalytic ozonation resulted in 57.81% total organic carbon removal efficiency at 60 min, which was 2.9 times higher than that in the uncatalyzed ozonation (19.99%). Image 1 • CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP was successfully synthesized by citrate sol-gel method. • Quinoline mineralization by CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP + O 3 (90.3%) was 5.4 times higher than O 3. • CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP could enhance the decomposition of O 3 to generate. OH and O 2 −. • CuFe 2 O 4 /SEP was effective in catalytic ozonation of bio-treated coking wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural instability under working conditions is critical issue that restricts applications of perovskite O 2 catalysts in the field of solid oxide fuel cells. Inspired by plant leaves, a biomimetic ceramic catalyst with PrBaCo 2 O 5+δ 'mesophyll' and Gd 0.1 Ce 0.9 O 1.95 'epidermis' and 'vein' was successfully engineered in this work. The 'epidermis' reduces the polarization resistance of O 2 reduction reaction on catalyst surface by ∼24%, and the 'vein' reduces resistance of O2− transport through cathode layer by ∼65%. Moreover, this biomimetic catalyst increases output power density of the cell by 79% and reverses rapid decay trend of the cell with a 23% increase in power density during first 20 h followed by stabilization at 0.91 W cm−2 (at 750 °C and 0.7 V). This discovery provides new avenue for the development of high-performance O 2 catalysts with practical applications and enriches the scientific understanding of catalysis. [Display omitted] • Inspired by leaves, a biomimetic ceramic catalyst is proposed for SOFCs. • The 'epidermis' with a thickness of ∼5 nm reduces the resistance for ORR by ∼24%. • The in-situ grown 'vein' reduces the resistance of O2− transport by ∼65%. • The biomimetic catalyst has excellent oxygen catalytic activity and durability. • The biomimetic catalyst offers a new strategy for oxygen catalyst development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • HCO 3 − strongly enhanced the activation of sulfite with trace Co(II). • The generation of SO 4 •− and Co(IV) played the major role in iohexol abatement. • CoHCO 3 + and CoCO 3 complexes were critical Co(II) species for sulfite activation. • Complexation effect promoted redox cycling of Co(II)/Co(III) on sulfite activation. Sulfite activation with Co(II) (simplified as Co(II)/sulfite process) has been widely studied for the abatement of organic contaminants, yet the efficiency in the Co(II)/sulfite process is compromised by the slow redox cycling of Co(II)/Co(III). Regarding that the complexation effect between Co(II) and bicarbonate (HCO 3 −) can enhance the conversion between Co(II) and Co(III) in the advanced oxidation processes, a novel Co(II)/HCO 3 −/sulfite process is constructed in this study. The iohexol abatement efficiency in the Co(II)/HCO 3 −/sulfite process is >92 % within 10 min of reaction at trace Co(II) dosage, which is significantly higher that of Co(II)/sulfite process. Apart from the conventional radical generation in the Co(II)/sulfite process, it is unexpectedly found that high valence cobalt species (Co(IV)) are generated. HCO 3 − can enhance the generation of Co(IV), sulfate radical (SO 4 •−) and hydroxyl radical (HO•), which play the important role in iohexol abatement. The identification of Co(IV) and its contribution to iohexol abatement is elucidated in the Co(II)/HCO 3 −/sulfite process. The enhancement can be attributed to the complexation effect between Co(II) and HCO 3 −, in which the CoHCO 3 + and CoCO 3 species exhibit excellent ability on sulfite activation. According to electrochemical characterization and theoretical calculation, the presence of HCO 3 − can reduce the energy barrier in the reaction process, accelerating the Co(II)/Co(III) redox cycling. The Co(II)/HCO 3 −/sulfite process exhibits excellent practical application potential in the abatement of various pollutants in the water and wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ·This paper proposes a pure bending picking mode for tomatoes and analyzes its superiority from the perspective of mechanics. • ·A finite element method that could evaluate the damage degree of tomato is proposed. • ·The stress of each component of the tomato and the damage level of the tomato are obtained. • ·The effects of the picking mode and maturity on the mechanical damage of the tomato are analyzed. • ·The accuracy of the tomato finite element model and the feasibility of the pure bending picking mode are verified. This paper proposes a pure bending picking mode, and analyzes the superiority of this picking mode from the perspective of mechanics. This is intended for the problems of high pressing force in the common tomato picking modes, viz., the stretching mode, large displacement in bending mode, and low efficiency in twisting mode. To explore the optimal tomato picking mode, the reverse engineering method has been employed to establish a finite element model of the tomato components, henceforth a finite element method that could evaluate the degree of damage of tomato has been proposed. Through the finite element simulation of the three picking modes of pure stretching, pure bending, and bending-tension composite, the time curve of the pressing force of the three fingers on the tomato surface, the stress of each component of the tomato, and the damage level of the tomato have been obtained. Further, the effects of the picking mode and maturity on the mechanical damage of the tomato have been analyzed. The accuracy of the tomato finite element model and the feasibility of the pure bending picking mode have been verified by the manual picking test and robot picking test, respectively. The results show that in the picking simulation of the same maturity, the bending mode caused the lowest damage to tomato, followed by the composite mode. The stretching mode caused the highest damage to the tomato, whereas the bending mode caused less damage to the tomato than the bending mode. Therefore, pure bending is the optimal picking mode for tomato. In the robot picking test, both the picking success rate and the damage coincidence have exceeded 90 percent, which has established that the pure bending picking mode is the optimal picking mode suitable for robotic picking. The results have provided a reference for the design and development of a novel type of tomato picking end effector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We delineate the properties of QCD matter at baryon density n B = 1 − 10 n 0 ( n 0 : nuclear saturation density), through the construction of neutron star equations of state that satisfy the neutron star mass-radius constraints as well as physical conditions on the speed of sound. The QCD matter is described in the 3-window modeling: at n B ≲ 2 n 0 purely nuclear matter; at n B ≳ 5 n 0 percolated quark matter; and at 2 n 0 ≲ n B ≲ 5 n 0 matter intermediate between these two which are constructed by interpolation. Using a schematic quark model with effective interactions inspired from hadron and nuclear physics, we analyze the strength of interactions necessary to describe observed neutron star properties. Our finding is that the interactions should remain as strong as in the QCD vacuum, indicating that gluons at n B = 1 − 10 n 0 remain non-perturbative even after quark matter formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperature and time were generally considered as the two key influences on the thermal evolution of both source organic matters and secondary hydrocarbon products (i.e., oil, gas, bitumen and solid bitumen). And for the hydrocarbons, other factors such as the types of source organic matters, the alteration reactions and fluid pressure evolution can also influence their degree of thermal maturation. As a consolidated product of bitumen, the traditional view is that the solid bitumen originated from the same source would exhibit similar maturity after experiencing identical paleo-temperature. However, things need to be more thoughts, such as the impact of system open or not on the solid bitumen thermal evolution and maturation degree. In this regard, we compared the solid bitumens within both reservoir pores and inclusions in deep carbonate reservoirs of lower Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation (Є 1 l) and the fourth member of the Sinian Dengying Formation (Z 2 dn4) in the Moxi area in the central Sichuan Basin. And by analyses of the Raman spectroscopy and bitumen reflectance, our results show a significant difference of maturities for these homologous solid bitumens after experienced the same highest geological temperature. Specifically, based on petrological observations, three types of solid bitumen occurrences (Bit. A, Bit. B, and Bit. C) were identified. Bit. A fills the early fine-grained dolomite dissolution pores with small and dispersed morphology, which eRo-Raman (equivalent vitrinite reflectance obtained by Raman) values show a narrow range from 2.60% to 2.80%. Bit. B with larger, blocky morphology, distributes within pores between the early recrystallized dolomites or the subsequent euhedral dolomites, including the bitumen filling in the fracture as stylolite. Their eRo-Raman values mainly concentrate in the range of 1.80%–1.90%. Bit. C refers to the bitumen inclusions hosted in various diagenetic minerals, with eRo-Raman values range from 2.70% to 2.87%. Since these solid bitumens originated from the same source rocks and have experienced the same highest geological temperature, their heterogeneous eRo-Raman values, therefore, suggest that whether the system open or not matters the thermal evolution of solid bitumen. Our results suggest that caution should be applied when using maturity to study the thermal evolution history in an open system, and hydrocarbons trapped in a closed system (e.g., fluid inclusion) can serve as a more credible recorder of thermal evolution. [Display omitted] • Solid bitumen maturities exhibit at least two different grades in Moxi area. • The maturities of different bitumen may be affected by sulfur. • Bitumen inclusion is a reliable indicator for maturity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • In the NaOH-K 2 FeO 4 modified system, PC was hydrolyzed and simultaneously oxidized to co-promote etch modification. • Low use of oxidizing agents in alkaline systems, modified bond strength in line with industry standards. • Reduced pollution of heavy metals such as chromium and manganese, and easy recycling of waste liquid. In the present study, the surface adhesion capacity of polycarbonate (PC) has been improved by using a low-pollution surface modification system that includes alkaline potassium ferrate (K 2 FeO 4). The effects of environmentally friendly swelling conditions, NaOH and K 2 FeO 4 contents, and other modification conditions on the PC surface topography, hydrophilicity, and surface roughness were then primarily studied. The modification resulted in an improvement of the hydrophilic property of the PC surface. There was a significant reduction in the surface contact angle from 97.6° to 34.1°. A considerable increase in the PC surface's average surface roughness (R a) was also observed, which increased from 2 nm to 209 nm. Meanwhile, after chemical copper plating, the maximum peel strength between the PC resin and copper layer reached 1.13 kN/m. Furthermore, infrared absorption spectroscopy (FT–IR) and X–ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used in the analyses of the surface chemical structure of the PC substrate, both prior to and after surface treatments. The results indicated that the modification of the surface led to increased hydrophilic groups on the PC surface, which was advantageous for the subsequent PC treatments (involving chemical copper plating). In short, the PC surface modification increased surface roughness and surface hydrophilicity, which improved the bonding between the chemically plated copper layer and the PC substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the detection performance of hydrogen (H 2), we employed a self-sacrificing template method to prepare a three-dimensional (3D) PdCu-modified Ti 3 C 2 T x nanocomposite, denoted as PdCu/Ti 3 C 2 T x. Within 3D PdCu/Ti 3 C 2 T x nanocomposite, PdCu as the active center component, was evenly distributed on Ti 3 C 2 T x nanosheets. The unique architecture increased the exposure of active center sites, while the Ti 3 C 2 T x nanosheets provided additional gas diffusion channels, thereby contributing to improved gas sensing performance. Comparing to PdCu nanoparticles, PdCu/Ti 3 C 2 T x exhibited an enhancing response and a fast response time of 4 s to 0.5 % H 2. PdCu/Ti 3 C 2 T x also showed an ultra-low detection limit of 0.1 % H 2 and excellent repeatability, selectivity and long-term stability. The outstanding gas sensing performance could be attributed to the 3D structure and the heterostructure between PdCu and Ti 3 C 2 T x. The insights gained from this study provide novel perspectives for designing and synthesizing high-performance gas-sensitive materials. • Three-dimensional PdCu-modified Ti 3 C 2 T x nanocomposites were prepared by self-sacrificing template method. • The PdCu/Ti 3 C 2 T x nanocomposite has excellent sensing characteristics for hydrogen, and the response speed is only 4 s. • The outstanding sensing performance were attributed to the 3D structure and the heterostructure between PdCu and Ti 3 C 2 T x. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cenomanian Mishrif Formation is one of the most important carbonate reservoirs in the Mesopotamian Basin. Detailed petrographic analysis, aided by geochemistry and burial history establishment on Mishrif carbonates from the AD oilfield, located at the margins of the Central Mesopotamian Basin of Iraq, presents a distinctive differential diagenetic mechanism that significantly impacts reservoir quality and exhibits a pronounced relationship with tectonic evolution and hydrocarbon accumulation. Analyses of petrographic features, carbon‑oxygen isotopes, and minor and rare-earth elements reveal that echinoderm shells and rim calcites are results of marine waters; sparry calcites, matrix, and vein calcites from host rock primarily precipitate from meteoric fluid; microspars and vein calcites in the concretionary limestone are derived from brine water. The development of concretionary limestone mainly involves a complex process that comprises extensive bioturbation in marine waters, substantial fabric-selective dissolution in the meteoric zone, and significant sparry calcites occluded dissolved spaces in shallow burial environments. Winding and skew seams of argillaceous sediment around concretionary limestones, as well as the excellent preservation of skeletal remains inside the concretionary zone, manifest that the development of the concretionary limestone accomplished during the early diagenesis stage and pre-compaction. These centimeter-to-decimeter scaled concretionary limestones intermixed with host rock holding abundant open porosities shape the Mishrif reservoir and result in an inconspicuous, dual permeability system. The burial history, integrated with the diagenetic sequence and tectonic evolution, elucidates four stages that clarify interactions of diagenesis, porosity preservation, and hydrocarbon accumulation. The Cenomanian to Turonian period was a critical stage for the development of effective reservoir capacity. The end of the Cretaceous, marked by the contraction of the Neo-Tethys and the complete closure of the South Neo-Tethys, witnessed an early hydrocarbon accumulation event that enhanced reservoir porosity preservation. During the Paleocene to the Early Miocene epoch, the Neo-Tethys tended to be closing. As a result, the Mishrif Formation experienced shallow burial and generated typical concretionary limestone, which provided a rigid framework against compaction. From the Early Miocene to the present, the total closure of the Neo-Tethys and the Zagros Orogeny initiated a significant late oil-filling event that acted as the main accumulation moment, coinciding with efficient trap development and other optimal petroleum conditions. This study contributes to (1) comprehending the genesis of the differential diagenesis and its effect on pore structures and reservoir heterogeneity, and (2) linking diagenetic sequence to tectonic evolution and hydrocarbon accumulation of foreland basins evolved from Neo-Tethys tectonics. Clumped isotopes are first introduced to constrain the burial history. Mishirif Formation has experienced four diagenetic stages. Three cemented processes determine the origin of the differential diagenesis. Four stages are divided involving diagenesis, oil-filling, and tectonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several vaccine events causing public concern have occurred in China that were investigated and responded to by the central government. We describe causes, influences, and policy or practice changes associated with vaccine events that occurred between 2005 and 2021. We make recommendations to foster resilience in China's Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) system and vaccination enterprises and to sustain vaccine and program confidence. Our study included all vaccine events since 2005 that were investigated and responded to by the central government of China. We verified mainstream and social media visibility of the events through Internet search. We extracted event times, causes, investigation processes, results, actions, and policy or practice regulation changes from official reports of government meetings and from official websites with media briefings. Seven vaccine events were identified, each of which caused more than 100,000 mainstream or social media reports nationally or nationally and internationally. The events ranged in magnitude from 145 children receiving out-of-date oral poliovirus vaccine to a measles supplementary immunization activity involving 103 million children. Few, if any, children were directly harmed by vaccines in the events. Government responded to each event with program or policy changes, and in one case, with legislation. Responses affected the conduct of campaigns and supplementary immunization activities, use of schools as vaccination venues, financial incentives for vaccinating with non-program vaccines, vaccine procurement and distribution, and program policy making. The most fundamental response was enacting the country's first vaccine law, the 2019 Vaccine Administration Law, which guides virtually all aspects of vaccination work, from vaccine development through regulation, program implementation, and safety and impact monitoring. All seven events generated substantial national and international mainstream and social media criticism and discussion, most commonly expressed through concerns of vaccine safety or vaccine effectiveness. Most had temporally associated temporary declines in vaccine confidence and coverage, jeopardizing decades of vaccination effort. The central government responded to each event by attempting to address root causes. Faithful implementation of the Vaccine Administration Law is fundamental to program strengthening and sustaining confidence of families, stakeholders, and government in vaccines and immunization in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• New graded lattice design method is proposed to construct tissue engineering scaffolds. • Structural gradients of scaffold can be integrated based on a CT-image. • Resulting graded scaffolds can be easily fabricated using 3D printing techniques. Here we propose a simple but effective method to build graded lattices for application in tissue engineering. This method can construct a graded lattice mathematically with the targeted gradients represented by a grey image. The lattice architecture can adapt both internal structure and external shape of a complex tissue for biomimetic purpose. The resulting lattice can be fabricated using various materials and suitable additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]