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The corrosion resistance of FRP-reinforced ordinary concrete members under the combined action of harsh environments (i.e., alkaline or acidic solutions, salt solutions) and freeze-thaw cycles is still unclear. To study the mechanical and apparent deterioration of carbon/basalt/glass/aramid fiber cloth reinforced concrete under chemical and freeze-thaw coupling. Plain concrete blocks and FRP-bonded concrete blocks were fabricated. The tensile properties of the FRP sheet and epoxy resin sheet before and after chemical freezing, the compressive strength of the FRP reinforced test block, and the bending capacity of the prismatic test block pasted with FRP on the prefabricated crack side were tested. The deterioration mechanism of the test block was analyzed through the change of surface photos. Based on the experimental data, the Lam-Teng constitutive model of concrete reinforced by alkali-freeze coupling FRP is modified. The results indicate that, in terms of apparent properties, with the increase in the duration of chemical freeze-thaw erosion, the surface of epoxy resin sheets exhibits an increase in pores, along with the emergence of small cracks and wrinkles. The texture of FRP sheets becomes blurred, and cracks and wrinkles appear on the surface. In terms of failure modes, as the number of chemical coupling erosion cycles increases, the location of failure in epoxy resin sheets becomes uncertain, and the failure plane tilts towards the direction of the applied load. The failure mode of FRP sheets remains unchanged. However, the bonding strength between FRP sheets and concrete decreases, resulting in a weakened reinforcement effect. In terms of mechanical properties, FRP sheets undergo the most severe degradation in the coupled environment of acid freeze-thaw cycles. Among them, GFRP experiences the largest degradation in tensile strength, reaching up to 30.17%. In terms of tensile performance, the sheets rank from highest to lowest as follows: CFRP, BFRP, AFRP, and GFRP.As the duration of chemical freeze-coupled erosion increases, the loss rate of compressive strength for specimens bonded with CFRP is the smallest (9.62% in salt freeze-thaw environment), while the loss rate of bearing capacity is higher for specimens reinforced with GFRP (33.8% in acid freeze-thaw environment). In contrast, the loss rate of bearing capacity is lower for specimens reinforced with CFRP (13.6% in salt freeze-thaw environment), but still higher for specimens reinforced with GFRP (25.8% in acid freeze-thaw environment). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The land surface model (LSM) is extensively utilized to simulate terrestrial processes between land surface and atmosphere in the Earth system. Hydrology simulation is the key component of the model, which can directly reflect the capability of LSM. In this study, three offline LSM simulations were conducted over China using the Community Land Model version 5.0 (CLM5) driven by different meteorological forcing datasets, namely China Meteorological Forcing Dataset (CMFD), Global Soil Wetness Project Phase 3 (GSWP3), and bias-adjusted ERA5 reanalysis (WFDE5), respectively. Both gridded and in situ reference data, including evapotranspiration (ET), soil moisture (SM), and runoff, were employed to evaluate the performance levels of three CLM5-based simulations across China and its ten basins. In general, all simulations realistically replicate the magnitudes, spatial patterns, and seasonal cycles of ET over China when compared with remote-sensing-based ET observations. Among ten basins, Yellow River Basin (YRB) is the basin where simulations are the best, supported by the higher KGE value of 0.79. However, substantial biases occur in Northwest Rivers Basin (NWRB) with significant overestimation for CMFD and WFDE5 and underestimation for GSWP3. In addition, both grid-based or site-based evaluations of SM indicate that systematic wet biases exist in all three CLM5 simulations for shallower soil layer over nine basins of China. Comparatively, the performance levels in simulating SM for deeper soil layer are slightly better. Moreover, all three types of CLM5 simulate reasonable runoff spatial patterns, among which CMFD can capture more detailed information, but GSWP3 presents more comparable change trends of runoff when compared to the reference data. In summary, this study explored the capacity of CLM5 driven by different meteorological forcing data, and the assessment results may provide important insights for the future developments and applications of LSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Integration of ultralow surface energy and surface functionality on one surface coatings is highly desirable in chemical and biomedical applications. However, it is a fundamental challenge to reduce surface energy without cost of surface functionality and vice versa. To address this challenge, the present work made use of the rapid and reversible change of surface orientation conformations of weak polyelectrolyte multilayers to create ionic, perfluorinated surfaces. Poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) chains and the micelles of sodium perfluorooctanoate (SPFO) were layer-by-layer (LbL) assembled into (SPFO/PAH) n multilayer films, which readily exfoliated to freestanding membranes. The static and dynamic surface wetting behaviors of the resulting membranes were studied by sessile drop technique and their surface charge behaviors in water by electrokinetic analysis. As-prepared (SPFO/PAH) n membranes exhibited ultralow surface energy in air; the lowest surface energy is 2.6 ± 0.5 mJ/m2 for PAH-capped surfaces and 7.0 ± 0.9 mJ/m2 for SPFO-capped surfaces. They readily became positively charged in water, which allowed not only effective adsorption of ionic species for further functionalization with subtle change in surface energy, but effective adhesion onto various solid substrates such as glass, stainless steel, and polytetrafluoroethylene to endorse the wide applicability of (SPFO/PAH) n membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• It is optimizing the mass condensation without a floor as a goal, and establishing the improved I-LMS model. • The frequencies of the I-LMS model is close to the value of the FEM model. • The seismic analysis of I-LMS model is in a reasonable range of error, and has good calculation accuracy and efficiency. This paper focuses on an improved lump mass stick model of the AP1000 nuclear power plant (NPP). The conventional method is used to calculate the parameters of the lump mass stick (LMS) model of the AP1000 NPP, which has great differences between the LMS model and the finite element (FEM) model in terms of frequency and vibration mode. Therefore, with optimizing the mass condensation size of a shear wall without a floor as a goal, the improved lump mass stick (I-LMS) model based on the Kriging surrogate model is established. The results illustrate that: (i) compared with the LMS model, the relative error of the I-LMS model and the FEM model, the maximum error of the frequency is reduced from 23.04% to 6.57% with nine order frequencies; (ii) the frequencies of the Kriging surrogate model and the I-LMS model are very close, with the largest error being only 1.45%, indicating that the Kriging surrogate model has obtained better correction accuracy; (iii) the modal assurance criterion (MAC) value of the I-LMS model for the same vibration mode is increased from 0.75 to 0.95 to 0.88–0.96, and the MAC values of different vibration modes are closer to 0; and (iv) comparison of the structural dynamic response under basic design earthquake to the FEM model shows that the I-LMS model has good calculation accuracy and obvious advantages in calculation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of Yugengtongyu granules on reducing the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events and improving quality of life (QOL) in patients with stable coronary artery disease (SCAD). Methods: A double-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted among SCAD population. One hundred fourteen patients were randomly assigned to experimental group (n = 57) and control group (n = 57) following randomized block design. Combined with the basis of standard treatment of SCAD, the experimental group and control group received Yugengtongyu granules or placebo, respectively, twice daily for 6 months and were followed for another 1 year (18 months in total from enrollment). Major outcomes (any occurrence of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or coronary revascularization), minor outcomes (any occurrence of all-cause death, ischemic stroke, readmission due to unstable angina, heart failure, or malignant arrhythmia), and composite outcomes (union of major and minor outcomes) were used to evaluate prognosis; Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) was applied to evaluate QOL, and levels of low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and high sensitive C reacting protein (HS-CRP) in serum were tested. Results: The incidence of composite outcomes in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group (3 [5.2%] vs. 11 [19.2%], hazard ratio: 0.273, 95% confidence interval: 0.080–0.926, p = 0.022); major outcomes, minor outcomes, and independent events such as nonfatal myocardial infarction showed lowering trend in experimental group. Experimental group scored significantly higher than control group in four dimensions of SAQ: physical limitation, angina frequency, treatment satisfaction, and disease perception at the third- and sixth-month follow-up; there was no significant difference in serum level of LDL or HS-CRP at all scheduled timepoints. Conclusion: The addition of Yugengtongyu granules based on current standard treatment reduced the incidence of composite outcomes and improved QOL in patients with SCAD. The trial was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR-TRC-13004370). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, dimethylol propionic acid (DMPA) and ethoxylated polymer diol (N120) are incorporated as composite hydrophilic groups to synthesize a series of castor oil‐based waterborne polyurethane (CWPU) nano‐emulsions. The properties of the nano‐emulsions with different ratio of polybutylene adipate (PBA) and castor oil (CO) soft segments as well as their film are investigated systematically. Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirms that CO was successfully introduced into the waterborne polyurethane (WPU) structure. The result indicates that the maximum contact angle of the film is 75.51° with a 7/3 molar ratio of PBA/CO. Thermal Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA) and Dynamic thermomechanical analysis (DMA) tests show that the thermal stability of the films has gradually improved with the increase of castor oil content. The content of castor oil in CWPU also affects the mechanical properties of the film. The tensile strength of the film reaches 23.2 MPa, and the elongation at break is 1460.7 %, when the molar ratio of PBA/CO is 9/1. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used to express the surface morphology of CWPU films. The films surface become rougher due to the introduction of CO. This work combines castor oil and water‐based systems to provide a relatively simple preparation method to synthesize CWPU nano‐emulsions, which can be used in environmental protection coatings and adhesives, and has broader application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a novel coaxial three-electrode distributed conductance sensor (CTDCS) is proposed to achieve the salinity and oil content independent measurement of the liquid film thickness in multiphase slug flow. The conductance sensor obtains the liquid film thickness by measuring the conductance between the electrodes. However, the conductance depends on the liquid film thickness and liquid conductivity. For gas–water and oil–gas–water flows in an industrial process, the variations of the salinity and oil content of liquid phase change the liquid conductivity. This will seriously affect the measurement of the liquid film thickness using a conventional two-electrode sensor. Owing to its novel three-electrode configuration, the proposed CTDCS can overcome the problem mentioned above. The optimal geometry of the CTDCS is determined by exhaustive search using a finite-element method, and the electronic circuit suitable for the condition of conductivity variation is investigated. The ratio of two-channel outputs, which is independent of conductivity is acquired and its relationship with the liquid film thickness is established. The advantages of the CTDCS are that it can online compensate conductivity variations and acquire the circumferential distribution of liquid film thicknesses. Hence, the salinity and oil content independent measurement of liquid film thickness is realized for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precast buildings have attarcted worldwide attention because of their significant role in the realization of sustainable urbanization. In this study, a precast buckling-restrained composite shear wall (PBRSW) system is developed, which is assemblied by multiple composite shear wall modules on site. The PBRSW system with three assembly arrangements of the composite shear wall modules, vertical, horizontal and cross arrangements, are designed and explored comparatively to mitigate buckling phenomena and obtain beneficial mechanical behaviours with experiment and simulation methods. To bring insight the seismic performance of the developed system, traditional buckling-restrained shear wall (BRSW) system and steel plate shear wall (SPSW) system are further investigated. The results show that the PBRSW system achieves plumper hysteresis behaviors, higher force-bearing and energy-dissipation capacities, and better ductility performance than that of the other two systems. Buckling phenomena of the PBRSW system are restrined effectively, and its maximum out-of-plane displacement is only 1/18 and 1/15 of the SPSW and BRSW systems on average respectively. The PBRSW system with vertical arrangement of the composite shear wall modules shows the best mechanical behavior with the highest bearing capacity and energy dissipation among the three assembly arrangements. Experimental data coincides well with those from finite element model (FEM) analysis and therefore validates FEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the complex flow structure and non-uniform phase distribution in the vertical upward gas-liquid two-phase flow, an eight-electrode rotating electric field conductance sensor is used to obtain multi-channel conductance signals. The flow patterns of the vertical upward gas-liquid two-phase flow are classified according to the images obtained from a high-speed camera. Then, we employ the multivariate weighted multi-scale permutation entropy (MWMPE) to detect the instability of flow pattern transition in the gas-liquid two-phase flow. Afterwards, we compare the results of the MWMPE with those of the single-channel weighted multi-scale permutation entropy (SCWMPE) and multivariate multi-scale sample entropy (MMSE). The comparison results indicate that, compared with the SCWMPE and MMSE, the MWMPE has superior performance in terms of the high-resolution presentation of flow instability in the gas-liquid two-phase flow. Finally, we extract the mean value of the MWMPE in whole scales and the entropy rate of the MWMPE in the small scales. The results indicate that the normalized mean value and normalized entropy rate of MWMPE are very sensitive to the transitions of flow patterns, thus allowing the detection of the instability of flow pattern transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we demonstrated noticeable change in the surface wettability in response to environmental changes for self-assembled monolayers (SAM) of functional alkanethiols as a result of the orientation of surface polar groups as well as the permeation of the environmental phase into the SAM surface region with the aid of sum frequency generation spectroscopy and quartz microcrystal balance. Yet the revealed surface reconstruction caused unexpectedly subtle change in SAM surface energy (within ± 8 %) due to checks and balances of the dispersive and polar components of surface energy. By introducing the work of wetting as the difference between the work of adhesion of a fluid on a solid and its surface tension, here we managed to consistently express surface reconstruction impact in SAM surface wettability as an exponential function of the relative change in work of wetting for the wetting fluid. Furthermore, we also succeeded in harnessing the relative change ratio of the work of wetting of water to that of oil to demarcate surface polar groups, which are > 1 for weakly polar groups (e.g., Br and pyrrole), <1 for small, highly polar groups (e.g., OH, NH 2 and COOH), and environmentally sensitive for large, highly polar groups (e.g., H 2 PO 3). [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • FSI effect on structural dynamic responses of AP1000 shield building with filled and empty water tanks are studied in multi three-direction earthquakes. • The most reasonable height of water level for reducing seismic response under inputs of multi earthquake excitations are explored and suggested. • AP1000 Shield building with water partially-filled in the water tank appears to have obvious FSI effect, which generates great influence on structural dynamic characteristics and responses. Abstract Fluid-structure interaction (FSI) between water and water tank of AP1000 nuclear power plant has always been a hot topic because the gravity water tank plays a key role in protecting structural safety in an emergency such as an earthquake. The main target of this study is to investigate the FSI effect on structural dynamic responses of AP1000 shield building with filled and empty water tanks and to explore the most reasonable height of water level for reducing seismic response under inputs of multi three-direction earthquake excitations. For this purpose, method of nonlinear FSI algorithm of finite element is employed based on ANSYS platform. The numerical procedure is validated by comparison with theoretical calculation and existing experimental results of fluid free vibration and structural seismic responses in the situation of El Centro wave. Based on the validated numerical model, a series of numerical simulations on seven partially-filled models in six natural and one artificial earthquake are carried out and corresponding results, such as peak acceleration & displacement, floor response spectrum and structural base shear, are studied comparatively in details. Discussions of this study show that the partially-filled shield building appears significant FSI effect, which generates great influence on structural dynamic characteristics and responses. Reasonable design of the water level can contribute to reducing structural responses and improving seismic safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper aims to study crowd-induced vibration control of long-span steel footbridges with different dynamic characteristics by combining methods of site measurement and numerical simulation. Four kinds of footbridge models with sensitive vertical natural frequencies of easily generating human-bridge resonance under pedestrian loading are designed based on an actual steel footbridge. The numerical models are firstly validated by comparative investigation between the site measurement and the simulation. Detailed study on dynamic responses of the four footbridges with and without controlling systems of tuned mass damper (TMD) and multiple tuned mass damper (MTMD) is then conducted under 13 cases of crowd random excitations, rhythmic running and jumping excitations. Results show that the numerical simulation agrees well with the site measurement data. TMD system is found to be highly efficient in reducing vibration responses only when the excitation frequency is basically consistent with the structural natural frequency, which obviously limits the application of TMD system in footbridges as wider excitation frequency bandwidth is caused by human activities. MTMD system are demonstrated to be with higher vibration absorption robustness appearing predominant and stable capacity of reducing structural vibrations under all the crowd random and rhythmic excitations for the four footbridges. Highlights • Vertical vibration control of long-span footbridges with different dynamic characteristics is investigated by site measurement and numerical simulation. • Crowd excitations, such as random crowd, rhythmic running and jumping crowd, are discussed to show dynamic responses and controlling effectiveness of TMDs. • TMD system is found to be highly efficient in reducing vibration responses only when the excitation frequency is basically consistent with the structural natural frequency. • MTMD system are demonstrated to be with higher vibration absorption robustness appearing predominant and stable capacity of reducing structural vibrations under the crowd random and rhythmic excitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The elastic-plastic dynamic responses of nuclear structure in excitation of strong earthquake sequences are focused. • Parametric analyses of upping to 112 computational cases is in detail investigated to show the dynamic behaviours of the nuclear structure under earthquake sequences. • Structural dynamic responses are greatly changed in strong aftershocks. • Damage aggravating effect induced by strong aftershocks can cause severe damage of structural members and it is found the greater the magnitude of aftershocks, the severer the aggravation effect. Abstract This paper studies dynamic responses of AP1000 nuclear island structure in strong earthquake sequences. A numerical model to simulate nuclear structural behaviors in earthquake is validated by comparison with data from a previous study on a nonlinear dynamic analysis of a reinforced concrete shield building. The validated numerical model is then used to carry out a series of parametric analyses with 112 computational cases so as to determine influence of strong aftershocks on structural elastic-plastic behavior considering input of three-dimensional ground motions. The results indicate that the influence of aftershocks on structural horizontal/vertical dynamic responses is very small in design basis earthquake sequences. However, the influence must be considered seriously in beyond-design basis earthquake sequences as values of RMVs (Ratio of Mean Value) deviating IPRs (Input Peak Ratio) obviously, which means structural dynamic responses are greatly changed in strong aftershocks. Damage aggravating effect induced by strong aftershocks can cause severe damage of structural members and it is found the greater the magnitude of aftershocks, the severer the aggravation effect. Although earthquake input energy is mostly dissipated by damping energy, plastic damage energy plays considerable role in strong aftershocks as it shares beyond 8 percent of the total input energy, which is 10 times more compared to design basis earthquake sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Uniaxial tension test and stress relaxation test on 39 fresh tissue samples from four five-month-old boars (65 ± 15 kg) are conducted. • The stress-strain mechanical characteristics of the tongue and soft palate samples are demonstrated to be non-linear and can be divided into two stages: the IRS stage and the LRS stage. • Significant stress relaxation generates is obtained for all the tongue and soft palate samples and almost half of the stress attenuation is completed in the first 3 s. • A constitutive model is proposed to represent the mechanical behaviors of the muscle tissues and the fitting results are very good. Abstract This study is to characterize mechanical properties of uniaxial tension and stress relaxation responses of muscle tissues of tongue and soft palate. Uniaxial tension test and stress relaxation test on 39 fresh tissue samples from four five-month-old boars (65 ± 15 kg) are conducted. Firstly, the rationality of the samples' dimension design and experimenal data measurement is validated by one-way ANOVA F-type test. Mechanical properties, including stress-strain relationship and stress relaxation characteristic, are then investigated in details to show the nonlinear behaviors of the tissue samples clearly. Finally, a constitutive model of representing the mechanical properties is formulated within the nonlinear integral representation framework proposed by Pinkin and Rogers, and corresponding material parameters are fitted to the experimental data based on the Levenberg-Marquardt minimization algorithm. The results of the fitting comparison prove that the formulated constitutive model can capture the observed nonlinear behaviors of the muscle tissue samples in both the axial tension and stress relaxation experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coating solid surfaces with cellulose nanofibril (CNF) monolayers via physical deposition was found to keep the surfaces free of a variety of oils, ranging from viscous engine oil to polar n-butanol, upon water action. The self-cleaning function was well correlated with the unique molecular structure of the CNF, in which abundant surface carboxyl and hydroxy groups are uniformly, densely, and symmetrically arranged to form a polar corona on a crystalline nanocellulose strand. This isotropic core-corona configuration offers new and easily adoptable guidance to design self-cleaning surfaces at the molecular level. Thanks to its excellent self-cleaning behavior, the CNF coating converted conventional meshes into highly effective membranes for oil-water separation with no prior surface treatment required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coating solid surfaces with cellulose nanofibril (CNF) monolayers via physical deposition was found to keep the surfaces free of a variety of oils, ranging from viscous engine oil to polar n-butanol, upon water action. The self-cleaning function was well correlated with the unique molecular structure of the CNF, in which abundant surface carboxyl and hydroxy groups are uniformly, densely, and symmetrically arranged to form a polar corona on a crystalline nanocellulose strand. This isotropic core-corona configuration offers new and easily adoptable guidance to design self-cleaning surfaces at the molecular level. Thanks to its excellent self-cleaning behavior, the CNF coating converted conventional meshes into highly effective membranes for oil-water separation with no prior surface treatment required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thermal effects on large-span metal roof systems are significant due to solar radiation. In this paper, the temperature field and variations of monomer stainless steel (MSS) roof panels and continuous welded stainless steel (CWSS) roof panels are investigated. The MSS roof panels are considered different surface roughness, horizontal inclination angle and spatial location, and the CWSS roof panels are studied the influence of horizontal inclination angle and spatial location. Based on the test result, the temperature field and variations of the roof panels in a typical day, different light intensities, and wind speeds are analyzed in detail. Numerical simulation is further used to compare with the experimental results. The overall and local stress and deformation characteristics of the CWSS roof are analyzed, and relevant design improvement is proposed. The feasibility of a simplified temperature calculation approach for CWSS roof panels is verified by experimental and numerical results. The experimental and numerical study demonstrates that the temperature field and thermal effects on roof panels are significant. The maximum temperature of the roof panels reached 56.8 °C, and the maximum temperature difference is 28.3 °C compared with ambient air temperature. The temperature stress can reach 65.8% of the yield strength, and the temperature deformation can reach 1/1600 of the roof span, which will be more obvious in the practical roof system. • Solar temperature field and variations test of MSS and CWSS roof panels are conducted. • The time-varying distribution regularities under different thermal conditions are analyzed contrastively. • Numerical simulation is further used to compare with the experimental results. • The thermal effects of the continuous welded stainless steel roof are analyzed, and relevant design improvement is investigated. • A simplified formula for calculating the temperature of the roof panels is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, graphene oxide (GO)-loaded agarose hydrogel was transferred into oil such as hexadecane via stepwise solvent exchange with no chemical modification of the GO hydrophilic surface and the agarose network. After transfer, the GOs, loaded in the agarose network, could effectively and efficiently adsorb lipophilic dyes in oil via hydrogen bonding between the polar groups of the GOs and the dyes. The maximum adsorption capacity was 355.9 mg g−1 for Nile red for instance, which is substantially larger than that of pristine agarose hydrogel and hydrophilic GO powder. The dye concentration for effective adsorption can be as low as 0.5 ppm. Thus, the present work demonstrates the promising potential of using hydrophilic adsorbents for efficient removal of polar impurities from oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, graphene oxide (GO)-loaded agarose hydrogel was transferred into oil such as hexadecane via stepwise solvent exchange with no chemical modification of the GO hydrophilic surface and the agarose network. After transfer, the GOs, loaded in the agarose network, could effectively and efficiently adsorb lipophilic dyes in oil via hydrogen bonding between the polar groups of the GOs and the dyes. The maximum adsorption capacity was 355.9 mg g−1 for Nile red for instance, which is substantially larger than that of pristine agarose hydrogel and hydrophilic GO powder. The dye concentration for effective adsorption can be as low as 0.5 ppm. Thus, the present work demonstrates the promising potential of using hydrophilic adsorbents for efficient removal of polar impurities from oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate different energy dissipation systems used to control wind-induced vibrations of a 456 m super-tall building in fluctuating wind excitations, the finite element (FE) method was employed to simulate the dynamic responses of the building. A series of wind tunnel pressure tests were conducted on a 1:450 scale model to determine the wind forces acting on the super-tall building. A FE model was also constructed and mass, damping and stiffness matrices were subsequently formulated as an evaluation model for numerical analysis. The evaluation model was further simplified to a state reduced-order system using the state order reduction method. Three different vibration control schemes, namely a tuned mass damper (TMD) system, a system containing only nonlinear viscous dampers and a hybrid control system combining TMD and viscous dampers, were examined through simulations with respect to their effectiveness in reducing the accelerations at the top of the building. Furthermore, a cost evaluation was conducted to determine the most economical structural design and vibration control scheme. The results show that the wind-induced vibrations of the analysed building can be controlled effectively by all the three examined schemes, while the hybrid control scheme and the scheme containing only viscous dampers further reduce the wind-induced vibration to satisfy a more stringent criterion for a six-star hotel. In addition, the hybrid vibration control scheme is also the most cost-effective among the examined schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The addition of fibers to strengthen recycled concrete can strengthen the inherent deficits and deficiencies of concrete containing recycled aggregates to some extent and enlarge the concrete's application range. In order to further promote the development and application of fiber-reinforced brick aggregate recycled concrete, the research results regarding its mechanical properties are reviewed in this paper. The effect of the content of broken brick on the mechanical properties of recycled concrete and the effects of different categories and contents of fiber on the basic mechanical properties of recycled concrete are analyzed. The problems to be solved in research on the mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced recycled brick aggregate concrete are presented, and the related research suggestions and prospects are summarized. This review provides a reference for further research in this field and the popularization and application of fiber-reinforced recycled concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The condition of the PCR QZS isolator outperforming the CCR one is derived. • The optimal design of the parabolic-cam-roller QZS isolators is investigated. • A prototype of the proposed PCR QZS isolator is fabricated and tested. • The present PCR QZS isolator has lower transmissibility than the CCR one. • The proposed isolator can withstand larger amplitude excitations than the CCR one. Circular cam-roller (CCR) quasi-zero stiffness (QZS) vibration isolators have been extensively studied. As the CCR isolator can only achieve low stiffness in a very small range and cannot withstand excitation with large amplitude, study on other cam profiles has become interests. This paper investigates a parabolic cam-roller (PCR) QZS vibration isolator. Theoretical formulations of the PCR QZS isolator are derived in detail and the condition of PCR isolator outperforming CCR one is obtained. Design parameters are analyzed and then the optimal design is presented. A prototype of the PCR QZS vibration isolator is fabricated and tested; the corresponding CCR QZS and linear isolators are also experimentally evaluated. In comparison with CCR QZS isolators, the proposed PCR QZS isolators can withstand force and displacement excitations with larger amplitudes in the QZS region. The experimental results validate the present formulation and show that vibration isolation performance of the proposed PCR QZS isolator is much better than that of the CCR QZS isolator and that of the corresponding linear isolator. In comparison with the CCR QZS isolator, the present PCR QZS isolator can have lower stiffness in a wider region around the equilibrium position and lower transmissibility. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Focus on the seismic fragility analysis of nuclear power plants with zoned structure. • Investigation on the IDA is analyzed for the response of each zone under the action of different seismic intensities. • Analysis of detailed seismic fragility analysis is carried out for each zone based on the IDA results. This paper focuses on the seismic fragility analysis of nuclear shield building. Combined with the characteristics of structural catastrophic damage, it is divided into 9 zones (RS-1, RS-2, RC-1 ∼ RC-7) along the height direction. An incremental dynamic analysis of 200 working conditions (PGA 0.3 g-2.1 g with an interval of 0.2 g) is carried out on the dynamic catastrophic behavior of the nuclear shield building. The seismic fragility analysis of nuclear shield building based on zoned and overall structure idea is compared and studied. The results show that the damage and failure of both the overall structure and the zoned structure are deepened as the PGA increases. In the light damage state and extended damage state (especially the latter), the overall structure has a lower failure probability of the tension and compression damage than the zoned structure (such as RC-1 ∼ RC-4 and RC-7). Based on the zoned structure, the seismic fragility analysis demonstrates that the nuclear shield building with shear failure characteristics has different damage state for each zone, which can effectively show the failure mode and provide a more accurate assessment basis for the damage state and the failure mode of such structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) is a critical component of water and energy cycles, and improving global land evapotranspiration is one of the challenging works in the development of land surface models (LSMs). In this study, we apply a bias correction approach into the Community Land Model version 5.0 (CLM5) globally by utilizing the remote sensing-based ET dataset. Results reveal that the correction approach can alleviate both overestimation and underestimation of ET by CLM5 over the globe. The adjustment to overestimation is generally effective, whereas the effectiveness for underestimation is determined by the ET regime, namely water-limited or energy-limited. In the areas with abundant precipitation, the underestimation is effectively corrected by increasing ET without the water supply limit. In areas with rare precipitation, however, increasing ET is limited by water supply, which leads to an undesirable correction effect. Compared with the ET simulated by CLM5, the bias correction approach can reduce the global-averaged relative bias (RB) and the root mean square error (RMSE) by 51.8% and 65.9% against Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) ET data, respectively. Meanwhile, the correlation coefficient (CC) can also be improved from 0.93 to 0.98. Continentally, the most substantial ET improvement occurs in Asia, with the RB and RMSE decreased by 69.7% (from 7.04% to 2.14%) and 70.2% (from 0.312 mm day−1 to 0.093 mm day−1, equivalent to from 114 mm year−1 to 34 mm year−1), and the CC increased from 0.92 to 0.99, respectively. Consequently, benefiting from the improvement of ET, the simulations of runoff and soil moisture are also improved over the globe and each of the six continents, and the improvement varies with region. This study demonstrates that the use of satellite-based ET products is beneficial to hydrological simulations in land surface models over the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind-induced annoyance of high-rise buildings was studied using fuzzy probability method. Fuzzy annoyance modes with different membership functions (MFs) were proposed to predict structural annoyance ratio in wind-induced vibration. The predictions of the annoyance ratio were compared firstly with the existing results by other researchers to verify the reliability of the method proposed in this paper. Parameters of influencing the annoyance ratio, such as membership functions and population distributions along structural height, were then investigated and assessed separately in detail by a high-rise case mode. The results show that the annoyance ratio of wind-induced vibration can be predicted rationally using the fuzzy annoyance modes. Relationship between the annoyance ratio and structural vibration acceleration can well be presented by the proposed modes, especially for the modes with MF1 and MF4. The annoyance ratio of a tall building is influenced greatly by accelerations of the upper stories, but not the lower stories. The proposed fuzzy modes provide a new and reliable way to investigate the total annoyance ratio of a building and do shine some lights on how to quantify vibration annoyance and guide structural comfort design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We have fabricated macroporous Pt wire electrodes via electroplating by using polycarbonate membranes with the pores filled with polystyrene colloidal crystals. The macroporous structure of the resulting Pt wire electrodes is the inverse replica of the colloidal crystal templates. Scanning electron microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis show the successful formation of macroporous Pt wire electrodes. The catalytic activity of methanol electro-oxidation on the resulting macroporous Pt-wire electrodes due to the three dimensional continuous porous structures is 21.0 mA/cm2 at 0.718 V, which is 3.8 times higher that of the dense Pt wire electrodes, 5.4 mA/cm2, obtained without use of the colloidal crystals as templates. The chronoamperometry results demonstrate that the macroporous Pt wire electrodes exhibit superior catalytic stability as compared with the dense Pt wire electrode and the commercial Pt/C catalyst. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Focus on the seismic fragility analysis of nuclear power plants with substructure model. • Investigation on the IDA is analyzed for the response of each zone under the action of different seismic intensities. • Analysis of detailed seismic fragility analysis is carried out for each zone based on the IDA results. This paper focuses on seismic fragility analysis of the AP1000 Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) with a substructure (SUB) model. To improve the efficiency of the analysis and calculation, this study treats the steel vessel containment (SVC) and equivalent equipment as a substructure and connects them with the residual structure to form an SUB model. The SUB model is verified to determine its rationality. Based on the verified model, 160 working conditions are calculated, and an incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) is performed. The AP1000 NPP is divided into 11 zones and 6 layers to investigate the seismic fragility analysis in detail. The results illustrate that (i) the calculation time of the SUB model is reduced by 1/4 compared to that of the full finite element model of the AP1000 NPP (FULL model) under the premise of ensuring calculation accuracy; (ii) the divided zones provide an accurate judgment basis for the failure mode and damage state directly; (iii) for the reinforced concrete shield building (RCSB), the damage gradually expands upon a sudden change in structural stiffness at the upper junction of the reinforced concrete auxiliary building (RCAB); (iv) seismic fragility analysis of the RCAB presents the form of gradual reduction of damage from the upper layer to the lower layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing π‐conjugated polymer structures through covalent bonds dominates the design of organic framework photocatalysts, which significantly depends on the selection of multiple donor‐acceptor building blocks to narrow the optical gap and increase the lifetimes of charge carriers. In this work, self‐bipolarized organic frameworks of single aromatic units are demonstrated as novel broad‐spectrum‐responsive photocatalysts for H2O2 production. The preparation of such photocatalysts is only to fix the aromatic units (such as 1,3,5‐triphenylbenzene) with alkane linkers in 3D space. Self‐bipolarized aromatic units can drive the H2O2 production from H2O and O2 under natural sunlight, wide pH ranges (3.0‐10.0) and natural water sources. Moreover, it can be extended to catalyze the oxidative coupling of amines. Experimental and theoretical investigation demonstrate that such a strategy obeys the mechanism of through‐space π‐conjugation, where the closely face‐to‐face overlapped aromatic rings permit the electron and energy transfer through the large‐area delocalization of the electron cloud under visible light irradiation. This work introduces a novel design concept for the development of organic photocatalysts, which will break the restriction of conventional through‐band π‐conjugation structure and will open a new way in the synthesis of organic photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the seismic pxerformance of a new sustainable modular prefabrication composite shear panel (MPCSP) system. 1:3 scaled MPCSP specimens with vertial, horizontal and cross assembly ways of the modulars are investigated experimentally under quasi-static loading. Finite element(FE) model is validated with the experimental data and then numerical analyses of 44 computional cases with different parameters of the vertical assembled MPCSP system are conducted for systematic discussion on mechanical characteristics of the investigated models. It shows that the new sustainable prefabrication system is of excellent seismic performance, especially for the vertical assembled MPCSP system(MPCSP-V). Numerical analysis and tests coincide reasonably well with each other. The best seismic performance is achieved at an aspect ratio of 1 for the MPCSP-V system. Design parameters, such as height-thickness ratio of steel plate and bolt distance, have significant influence on the mechanical performance of the system. The effect of the distance of bolts, the spacing between concrete cover plates (RCCPs) and connection steel plates (CSPs), and the thickness of CSP are more significant on the mechanical properties of MPCSP system, while the effect of the bolt layout and the thickness of RCCP are shown to be less significant. The proposed formulas of three-line constitutive law and shearing capacity can well capture key performance index of shear resistance and stiffness at yield, peak and ultimate points. New sustainable modular prefabrication composite shear wall (MPCSP) system is proposed. To fully understand the general mechanical characteristics of MPCSP system, the system with three assembly ways is investigated experimentally under quasi-static loading, and then parametric analysis is carried out. Unlabelled Image • The modular prefabrication composite shear wall system with vertical assembly way (MPCSP-V) has the best seismic performance. • The superior mechanical behavior is achieved at an aspect ratio of 1 for the MPCSP-V system. • The effect of the D b , D s and T s of CSP are significant on the mechanical properties of MPCSP system. • The bolt layout and the thickness of RCCP are shown to be less significant. • The proposed constitutive model can capture the mechanical behaviors of MPCSP system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Gene editing and intramural injection are new methods to accelerate AS model. • D374Y-PCSK9 GOF, LDLR-KO and ApoE-KO are methods applied in gene editing. • Intramural injection includes microinjecting compound LDL and inflammation factors. • There are differences between balloon injury–induced lesions and AS. • High cost, time consumption and heterogeneity are common problems. In order to accelerate development of atherosclerosis(AS) in miniature swine models, varieties of strategies and methods have been explored. In addition to traditional methods such as high cholesterol feeding and balloon injury, new methods such as familial hypercholesterolemia induced by gene editing and intramural injection have been applied in recent years. Although it has been claimed that these methods have successfully aggravated lesion areas and stenosis, lesion features induced by different strategies have shown heterogeneity in morphology. In addition, time consumption, high cost, and unavailability are problems that restrict application of these AS models. Here, we summarize strategies and methods to accelerate AS models and further analyze their values, advantages, and shortcomings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Plastic damage relocation design concept is justified based on the concrete cracks and strains of rebars. • Precast concrete shear wall having H-shaped connectors shows the best seismic performance. • The flexural deformation at the middle of the precast shear wall panel is decreased. • A simplified stiffness degradation model of the proposed precast concrete shear wall is established and verified. Premature damage of the post-cast concrete joints of precast concrete shear walls (PSWs) was observed in the past earthquakes due to the poor connection details and stress concentration of the wall-beam-slab joints. To avoid the potential failure, a new connection method featuring steel connectors, applied in the PSWs, is firstly proposed based on the plastic damage relocation design concept. Five 1/3 scaled specimens, including one monolithic concrete shear wall (MSW) and four PSWs, were constructed and tested under quasi-static cyclic loading. Seismic performances in terms of damage modes, drift ratio versus shear force behaviors, equivalent viscous damping ratio, deformation components, and stiffness degradation characteristics of PSWs were investigated. It shows that concrete cracks are developed at the bottom of the precast shear wall panel initially and its crack widths are decreased. The connection method can provide efficient stiffness and strength for the precast concrete shear wall system as no significant degradation of shear force occurs before a drift ratio of 1/50. Precast concrete shear wall having T-shaped with non-full length type connectors (TPSW-N) has the lowest cracking shear force and one having H-shaped connectors (HPSW) possesses a more stable lateral force-resisting capacity. The equivalent viscous damping ratios of the PSWs are higher than that of the MSW up to a drift ratio of 1/100. Among the PSWs, the HPSW shows the best seismic performance by comprehensively considering the damage mode, shear force characteristics and energy dissipation capacity. The flexural deformation at the middle of the precast shear wall panel is decreased compared with that of the wall panel of the MSW. The proposed connection method moves the critical region outside the week connection zones, which could be an alternative for the conventional post-cast concrete connection scheme. A simplified five-line stiffness degradation model of PSWs, controlled by elastic, cracking, yield, peak and ultimate points, is established and verified. The simplified model can be used to estimate the stiffness degradation properties of the proposed PSWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flow measurement in gas-liquid two-phase flow is always a challenging work, because of the non-uniform phase distribution, severe slippage effect between phases, and different flow structures. Furthermore, the variation of salinity changes the water conductivity, which brings more difficulties to multiphase flow measurement. In this study, a methodology for flow measurement using the conductance method in gas-liquid two-phase flow with salinity change is proposed. The methodology includes the suitable conductivity detection method, the strategy of using combined sensors, and the measurement models of flow parameters. A suitable conductivity detection method that can guarantee that the sensor output is linearly proportional to the conductivity is proposed. This conductivity detection method can ensure that the sensors have a high and constant resolution in the conductivity variation caused by water holdup under the conditions of water conductivity change. Afterward, a combined sensor system consisting of a water holdup sensor, velocity sensor, and water conductivity sensor is designed and experimentally evaluated in gas-water two-phase flow in a 20 mm inner diameter pipe. Considering the non-uniform phase distribution, severe slippage effect between phases, different flow structures, and the variation of salinity, a new water holdup measurement model and flow velocity measurement models are established to achieve salinity independent water holdup measurement and flow velocity measurement for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wind uplift performance of the continuously welded stainless steel roof (CWSSR) system adopted in the Zhaoqing New District Sports (ZNDS) Center of China is investigated in this study. To determine the optimal welding program and examine the mechanical properties of the continuously welded stainless steel joints, uniaxial tensile testing is first conducted on 27 specimens with tension-shear and tension-bending types. Two CWSSR specimens, one that is square-shaped with a horizontal layout and one that is rectangular-shaped with an inclination layout of 10.71°, are further tested under dynamic and static ultimate wind uplift loadings to explore the wind uplift capacity. All specimens are full-size, and the corresponding materials, structural details and construction technologies are kept the same as the actual building to ensure the authenticity of the testing investigations. The testing results indicate that the integrated and sealed CWSSR system has a clear force transmission mechanism and a remarkable wind resistance performance. The welded joints achieve the best performance, and the mechanical behaviours are equivalent to those of the base material under the continuously welded conditions including an electric current of 65 A and a moving velocity of 750 mm/s. An excellent dynamic wind suction performance is achieved under 5000 five-level cumulative loading cycles with a maximum pressure of 5400 Pa. The static ultimate pressure reaches 9400 Pa for the square specimen and 10,400 Pa for the rectangular specimen. Damage observations show that no tearing or rupture failures are observed for the CWSSR system. The investigation results contribute the most to the safe design of the ZNDS Center and are expected to provide guidelines for future applications of the CWSSR system. • Wind uplift performances of two full-scale CWSSR specimens are investigated under dynamic and static ultimate loadings. • Uniaxial tensile tests of 27 welded joints are conducted and an optimal welding program is sugested. • A high-efficiency roof of the CWSSR system is highlighted based on comparative discussions with traditional roof systems. • The roof sheets of the CWSSR system appear local plastic deformation without rupture failure under ultimate loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multi-channel sensor is applied to capture detailed flow behavior in three-phase flow. • The MWMPE analysis can effectively characterize the evolution behavior of flow instability. • The multi-scale signals corresponding to multi-scale structures are obtained using MRA. • The evolution mechanism of flow instability are uncovered from multi-scale perspective. In the present study, a multi-channel conductance sensor is utilized to capture detailed flow structure information in 20 mm inner diameter pipe from different positions of pipe cross section, and multivariate weighted multi-scale permutation entropy (MWMPE) is employed to investigate flow instability in oil-gas-water flows. Then, we decompose the multi-channel conductance sensor signals into different frequency components and reconstruct the multi-scale signals corresponding to different scale flow structures using the multi-resolution analysis (MRA) of wavelet transformation. Following that, the nonlinear dynamic behavior of different scale structures in different flow conditions is investigated by calculating the normalized energy and MWMPE of multi-scale signals. The results suggest that MWMPE of multi-channel conductance sensor signals can effectively reveal the evolution behavior of flow instability in the three-phase flow. The MRA of wavelet transformation can resolve the original signals into multi-scale signals corresponding to different scale flow structures, combined with the MWMPE and normalized energy distribution, the nonlinear dynamic behavior of different scale structures and its internal relations with the flow instability are first uncovered. This paper provides a novel way to fully reveal the flow instability of oil-gas-water three-phase flow from the perspectives of multi-position, multi-scale and multi-structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Base-isolated AP1000 shield building with FSI effect is investigated in earthquake. • Optimal water level ratio of the isolated building is suggested. • Method of avoiding the water resonance is proposed for the isolated building. • Dynamic performance of both the isolated and fixed buildings is studied comparatively. Seismically-induced FSI effect on dynamic responses of AP1000 shield building with base isolation is focused in this study using numerical simualtion. The numerical model is firstly validated by comparison with existing experimental results, which is capable of simulating dynamic behaviors of the water partially-filled shield building with seismic isolation using high damping rubber (HDR) bearings. The influences of FSI on seismic performance of the base-isolated and base-fixed AP1000 shield building with various water levels and on the corresponding isolation effectiveness are comparatively explored in details. Results show that base isolation can reduce the fundamental frequency of the shield building and make it close to water sloshing frequency. It is necessary to ensure an reasonable isolation design to keep the fundamental frequency away from the sloshing frequency and then to avoid the water resonance. Seismic isolation can offer a substantial benefit for the earthquake-resistant design of the shield building even filled with different levels of water, because the structural primary resonance is effectively transformed to the sub-resonance by application of base isolation. Dynamic responses of base-isolated models are influenced significantly by FSI and an optimal water level ratio of 0.8 is suggested to achieve excellent seismic performance for such structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Array capacitive sensor configured with two excitation modes is evaluated. • Simulation method coupling two-phase fluid and electrostatic fields is proposed. • CFD-DEM is used to build gas–solid two-phase field for particle micro distribution. An array capacitive sensor adopting two excitation modes is designed for measuring local particle concentration in gas–solid two-phase flow. Considering the difficulty in obtaining instantaneous flow parameters under dynamic experiments, a 3D dynamic simulation model coupling gas–solid two-phase fluid and electrostatic fields is proposed to quantitatively evaluate the sensor performance. In the coupling model, Computational Fluid Dynamics and Discrete Element Method are applied to establish two-phase fluid field for particle micro-distribution. The method of defining particle shape and position is used to set permittivity distribution in electrostatic field for coupling gas–solid fluid field and electrostatic field of array capacitive sensor. Using the method of reconstructed image and data fitting, the performance of two excitation modes are evaluated under a typical dynamic flow with structure of stratified flow. Experimental result validates the simulation conclusions and proves the effectiveness of the coupling simulation model for evaluating capacitive sensors in gas–solid flow systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global food systems can benefit significantly from continuous monitoring of microbial food safety, a task for which tedious operations, destructive sampling, and the inability to monitor multiple pathogens remain challenging. This study reports significant improvements to a paper chromogenic array sensor - machine learning (PCA-ML) methodology sensing concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted on a species-specific basis by pathogens by streamlining dye selection, sensor fabrication, database construction, and machine learning and validation. This approach enables noncontact, time-dependent, simultaneous monitoring of multiple pathogens (Listeria monocytogenes , Salmonella , and E. coli O157:H7) at levels as low as 1 log CFU/g with over 90% accuracy. The report provides theoretical and practical frameworks demonstrating that chromogenic response, including limits of detection, depends on time integrals of VOC concentrations. The paper also discusses the potential for implementing PCA-ML in the food supply chain for different food matrices and pathogens, with species- and strain-specific identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fatigue life of the L-shaped support in a continuous metal roof system was determined under various cyclic loads with different amplitudes using tensile fatigue tests. The performance of the SUS304 stainless steel used in the support was examined, the safe range of cyclic loads for the support was determined using on the stress–time curves, and a calculation model was subsequently developed based on the relationship between the cyclic load magnitude and fatigue life. The results indicate that there are two types of fatigue failure modes for the L-shaped supports: failure at the screw hole and failure at the corner. Furthermore, the stresses experienced by the support under cyclic loads smaller than 60% of the tensile bearing capacity remained within the yield strength except near failure, demonstrating structural safety and reliability. Finally, the proposed calculation model effectively reflected the observed relationship between cyclic load magnitude and L-shaped support fatigue life, providing valuable technical guidance for determining the service life of L-shaped supports in practical engineering applications. • The fatigue life of the L-shaped supports under different cyclic loads was determined through tensile fatigue tests on L-shaped supports. • There are two distinct failure characteristics in the tensile fatigue failure of the L-shaped supports. • The safe range of cyclic loads for the L-shaped supports has been determined. • The calculation model for tensile fatigue of L-shaped supports has been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated detection and localization of surface cracks by using deep learning and computer vision (CV) techniques are conducive to efficient structural condition assessment. However, insufficient feature resolution in deep architecture networks leads to misclassification and inaccurate segmentation of cracks. Furthermore, accurately localizing cracks within the overall structure is crucial for understanding the extent of damage to structural safety and durability. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a systematic approach for pixel-level surface crack detection and localization. The approach is based on a novel Feature Pyramid and Attention Feature Fusion Network (FPAFFN) and 3D reconstruction techniques. Two attention mechanisms named Attention Refinement Module (ARM) and Feature Fusion Module (FFM) are embedded in FPAFFN to strengthen the extraction and fusion of semantic and detailed information. With the cracks annotated images produced by FPAFFN, COLMAP and an open Multi-View Stereo are adapted to reconstruct the 3D model of the cracked structural components. Experimental studies on benchmark datasets CRACK500 and Cracktree200 and manually captured images validate the effectiveness of FPAFFN. The ARM and FFM embedded in FPAFFN enhance the feature learning efficiency and lead to a 3 % rise in the mean intersection ratio (mIoU). FPAFFN demonstrates remarkable generalization capability in detecting images with disturbances and outperforming other well-known crack detection methods in delineating crack edges and details. A subsequent experimental study on a damaged concrete slab shows that the proposed approach is capable of systematically detecting and localizing cracks. Therefore, it is promising to apply the proposed approach to practical structural inspection. • A deep learning and 3D reconstruction based approach for surface crack detection and localization. • A novel network using attention mechanisms for detecting concrete crack in inspection images. • User-friendly 3D reconstruction schemes for crack localization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural reliability analysis for small failure probabilities remains a challenging task, despite the significant progress made by the active learning reliability methods (ALRMs) represented by AK-MCS (ALRMs combining adaptive Kriging and Monte Carlo simulations). In order to address this issue, advanced ALRMs with improved computational efficiency than AK-MCS have been proposed, however at the expense of sacrificing the generality and simplicity of AK-MCS. Therefore, a novel ALRM combining adaptive Kriging and spherical decomposition-MCS (AK-SDMCS) was proposed to alleviate the computational cost and preserve the advantages of AK-MCS simultaneously. The key of AK-SDMCS lies in the spherical decomposition-MCS (SDMCS), which not only decomposes the computationally intensive active learning of AK-MCS into a series of easy-to-compute active learning in the divided subsets but also reduces the total number of candidate samples by focusing the sampling region on the most probable failure regions (MPFRs) and adaptively allocating samples in the divided subregions. As a result, AK-SDMCS significantly alleviates the computational cost of active learning of Kriging model. Since AK-SDMCS is built in the framework of AK-MCS, the advantages of AK-MCS can be preserved. Besides, the active learning strategy is modified to further increase the computational efficiency. Thus, AK-SDMCS provides an efficient, easy-to-implement and generalized option for reliability analysis of small failure probabilities. The application and efficiency of AK-SDMCS are demonstrated by three academic examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Layer-by-layer assembly of strong polyelectrolytes was successfully implemented on hydrophobic particles in degassed saline water thanks to de-gassing-reduced hydrophobic interactions and salinity-reduced hydration. The resulting polyelectrolyte multilayer coated particles were readily converted to hydrophobic yolk/hydrophilic shell particles for the removal of organic dyes from water via both electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, poly(vinyl sulfonate) (PVS)–capped surfaces are constructed on the polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) and poly(styrene sulfonate) via electrostatic assembly. The water wetting behavior on the resulting PVS‐capped PEMs is meticulously correlated with the number of surface sulfonate groups with the aid of sum frequency generation spectroscopy and quartz crystal microbalance. It is found that when the molecular packing density of surface sulfonate groups is adjusted to be comparable to the maximal packing density of spheres in two dimensions (≈0.9), the PVS capping is able to effectively adsorb water molecules from the surrounding to form hydrogen‐bonded networks, which not only promote complete surface wetting by water in air but also diminish surface affinity to adhesion of ice, oil and wax deposited atop. As a result, the PVS‐capped PEMs are able to fulfil all the self‐cleaning functions proposed for superhydrophilic surfaces including anti‐fogging, anti‐icing, anti‐grease, anti‐smudge, anti‐graffiti, and anti‐wax. After being coated with the self‐cleaning PVS‐capped PEMs, conventional stainless steel meshes are able to perform oil‐water separation without prior water wetting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new buckling-restrained steel plate shear wall system with assembled multi reinforced concrete (Multi-RC) panels (MBRSPSW). The finite element model of MBRSPSW system with hinged frame, validated by existing experimental results, is developed to investigate the general mechanical behaviors, such as hysteresis property, horizontal shear force, internal force demands of boundary columns and damage of RC panels. Three key parameters, including steel plate slenderness ratio, gap width between RC panels and number of RC panels, are discussed. To investigate the general behavior of MBRSPSW system and conventional buckling-restrained steel plate shear wall (BRSPSW) system, two test specimens with rigid frame corresponding to actual moment-resisting frame are further conducted. The results show that MBRSPSW system provide stable bearing capacity and good energy dissipation capacity by dividing single RC panel into multi-RC panels. The internal force demands of the boundary column of MBRSPSW system, especially for the bending moment, decrease significantly compared to that of BRSPSW system. Damage of RC panels of MBRSPSW system is greatly decreased compared with that of BRSPSW system. Number of RC panels and the gap width of MBRSPSW system have significant effect on the tension damage of RC panels, especially for the number of RC panels. BRSPSW system is found to fail prior to MBRSPSW system with a plastic hinge at the bottom of boundary column in test investigation and damage of RC panels of the latter is much lower than that of the former. The experimental observations agree well with the numerical results. • The bending moment of the boundary column of MBRSPSW system decrease significantly compared to that of BRSPSW system. • Damage of RC panels of MBRSPSW system is greatly decreased compared with that of BRSPSW system. • Number of RC panels and the gap width of MBRSPSW system have significant effect on the tension damage of RC panels. • The experimental observations agree well with the numerical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Because of its high adsorption capacity, biochar has been used to stabilize metals when remediating contaminated soils; to date, however, it has seldom been used to remediate contaminated sediment. A biochar was used as a stabilization agent to remediate Cu- and Pb-contaminated sediments, collected from three locations in or close to Beijing. The sediments were mixed with a palm sawdust gasified biochar at a range of weight ratios (2.5%, 5%, and 10%) and incubated for 10, 30, or 60 days. The performance of the different treatments and the heavy metal fractions in the sediments were assessed using four extraction methods, including diffusive gradients in thin films, the porewater concentration, a sequential extraction, and the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure. The results showed that biochar could enhance the stability of heavy metals in contaminated sediments. The degree of stability increased as both the dose of biochar and the incubation time increased. The sediment pH and the morphology of the metal crystals adsorbed onto the biochar changed as the contact time increased. Our results showed that adsorption, metal crystallization, and the pH were the main controls on the stabilization of metals in contaminated sediment by biochar. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, uniform, quasi-spherical gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with sizes of 31-577 nm are prepared via one-pot seeded growth with the aid of tris-base (TB). Distinct from the seeded growth methods available in literature, the present method can be simply implemented by subsequently adding the aqueous dispersion of the 17 nm Au-NP seeds and the aqueous solution of HAuCl4 into the boiling aqueous TB solution. It is found that at the optimal pH range, the sizes of the final Au NPs and their concentrations are simply controlled by either the particle number of the Au seed dispersion or the concentration of the HAuCl4 solution, while the latter enables us to produce large Au NPs at very high concentration. Moreover, as-prepared Au NPs of various sizes are coated on glass substrates to test their surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activities by using 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) molecules as probes, which exhibit 'volcano type' dependence on the Au NP sizes at fixed excitation wavelength. Furthermore, the Au NPs with sizes of ≈97 and 408 nm exhibit the largest SERS enhancement at the excitation wavelength of 633 and 785 nm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-dimensional organic–inorganic hybrid halides, as an important branch of metal halide materials, have attracted much attention due to their excellent photoelectric properties. Herein, we designed one new hybrid cadmium chloride [C5H14NO]CdCl3 based on combinations of the d10 metal cation (Cd2+) and choline chloride molecules. [C5H14NO]CdCl3 single crystals belong to the orthorhombic Pna21 space group and show a one-dimensional (1D) structure with distorted [CdCl5O]5− octahedra. The second harmonic generation (SHG) response of [C5H14NO]CdCl3 exhibits an intensity of approximately 0.4 × KDP. Moreover, the photoluminescence properties of the [C5H14NO]CdCl3 crystal are activated by doping with Sn2+ ions having stereochemically active lone pair 5s2 electrons. Under UV excitation conditions, bright greenish-yellow light emission can be observed, and the quantum efficiency (PLQY) is as high as 91.27%. The luminescence mechanism is revealed by combining the results of temperature dependent luminescence and density functional theory (DFT) calculation. This work can serve as a guide for the design and synthesis of emerging optical materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The warming climate can considerably alter the Earth's water cycle and change precipitation over land. Climate models are the primary tools for projecting precipitation changes and evaluating climate impacts in various fields. This study compares precipitation from 45 models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) and 49 models in Phase 6 (CMIP6) to observations. The results reveal that the CMIP6 models outperform the CMIP5 models in simulating precipitation patterns over the global land for the historical period. The cumulative distribution function matching method is used to correct the bias in the outputs of the selected CMIP5 and CMIP6 models, and the multi‐model ensemble (MME) of the corrected models is then utilized in projecting the precipitation changes under the future scenarios over the global land. The observation‐constrained projections show that there is a significant increasing trend in the annual global land precipitation during 2021–2100 under all four scenarios, and the rates are 3.0, 4.23, 6.77 and 8.96 mm/decade under the RCP4.5, SSP2‐4.5, RCP8.5 and SSP5‐8.5 scenarios, respectively. Moreover, the average annual global land precipitation is projected to increase by 4.9% (RCP4.5), 8.1% (RCP8.5), 4.6% (SSP2‐4.5) and 10.1% (SSP5‐8.5) by 2081–2100 relative to 1986–2005. Increases in global average precipitation may result in more flood, causing higher flooding risk in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-dimensional organic–inorganic metal halides have shown great application potential and new opportunities for use in solid-state lighting due to their excellent optical and electronic properties. However, the most studied hybrid compounds contain lead, which limits their application environments. The preparation of organic–inorganic metal halides with high luminous efficiency, long-term stability, and a lead-free composition for environmental protection has become an important goal for the design of materials. Here, novel Sb3+-doped indium-based metal halides, (CH3NH3)4InCl6·Cl, have been designed and synthesized via a simple mechanical ball milling method; in the lead-free zero-dimensional (0D) halide (CH3NH3)4InCl6·Cl, isolated [InCl6]3− octahedra are separated by methylamine cations. Under UV excitation, the bulk-phase powder exhibits broadband orange-yellow emission peaking at 607 nm with a full width at half-maximum of ∼160 nm upon incorporating Sb3+ into the (CH3NH3)4InCl6·Cl matrix. The photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of Sb3+-doped (CH3NH3)4InCl6·Cl is as high as 67.72%. The effects of the Sb3+-doping concentration on the crystal structure and optical characteristic have been investigated. The indirect band gap characteristics of (CH3NH3)4InCl6·Cl were demonstrated via density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and the relatively wide band gaps of 3.83 eV and 2.99 eV of (CH3NH3)4InCl6·Cl and (CH3NH3)4ClInCl6:Sb3+ were experimentally determined. These experimental results suggest that the as-prepared Sb3+-doped (CH3NH3)4InCl6·Cl has potential applications in solid-state lighting devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biohazards, which may occur at all supply chain stages, pose significant threats to food safety and public health. Addressing these concerns and enhancing food safety necessitates a nondestructive pathogen surveillance approach capable of continuously and simultaneously detecting multiple pathogens. Detecting and differentiating low concentrations of pathogenic bacteria amid high background microflora levels in foods is challenging, requiring technology with high sensitivity and robust discriminatory capability. This study introduces an artificial neural network-driven paper chromogenic array sensor (ANN-PCA) technique developed for the nondestructive, continuous, and simultaneous detection of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) and Escherichia coli O157:H7 (Ec) from a high background microflora in shredded cheddar cheese. This method enables accurate detection of SE and Ec in monoculture and cocktail culture while distinguishing them from a high level of background microflora (∼7.5 log CFU/g), with accuracies ranging from 72 ± 11% to 92 ± 3%. In addition, SE and Ec were successfully identified at concentrations as low as 1 log CFU/g within one day, with an accuracy of 72 ± 11%. This approach exhibits promising potential for integration into a digitalized, smart, and resilient nondestructive surveillance system for real-time pathogen detection in foods throughout the supply chain without enrichment, incubation, or other sample preparation steps. [Display omitted] • Development of a machine learning-driven paper chromogenic array sensor approach. • Non-destructive, continuous, and simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens. • Detection of pathogenic bacteria from a high level of background microflora. • The approach provided potential detection for pathogens throughout the food supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Wuling capsule has been used in treatment of insomnia disorder in China for decades, but the reported treatment efficacy of different studies was not consistent. This study intended to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Wuling capsule for insomnia disorder, so as to provide evidence for clinical application.Methods: Eight databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Ovid, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, VIP information database, Chinese Biomedical Database and Wanfang) were searched from inception to September 14, 2021. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing Wuling capsule with controls in adults with insomnia disorder were eligible. The primary outcome was sleep quality assessed by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the secondary outcomes were severity of insomnia disorder measured by Sleep Dysfunction Rating Scale (SDRS) and adverse events. This study was conducted according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 5.1.0.Results: Nineteen RCTs with a total of 1850 participants were included. In terms of sleep quality assessed by PSQI, Wuling capsule significantly lowered PSQI score (MD: -1.92, 95% CI: [-2.34, -1.50], P < 0.00001, I2 = 95%) compared to controls, and the effect of Wuling capsule was significantly better than control no matter when Wuling capsule as monotherapy (MD: -1.71, 95% CI: [-2.33, -1.09], P < 0.00001, I2 = 97%) or as adjunctive therapy (MD: -2.10, 95% CI: [-2.66, -1.55], P < 0.00001, I2 = 90%). Wuling capsule was more effective for the treatment duration lasted 8 weeks (MD: -2.57, 95% CI: [-3.52, -1.62], P < 0.00001, I2 = 93%) than 4 weeks (MD: -1.68, 95% CI: [-2.13, -1.22], P < 0.00001, I2 = 95%). In terms of severity of insomnia disorder measured by SDRS, Wuling capsule significantly reduced SDRS score (MD: -4.21, 95% CI: [-4.95, -3.46], P < 0.00001, I2 = 0%) compared to benzodiazepines. Wuling capsule significantly reduced adverse events compared to controls (RR: 0.47, 95% CI: [0.34, 0.65], P < 0.00001, I2 = 43%).Conclusion: Wuling capsule can safely and effectively improve sleep quality in patients with insomnia disorder. However, these findings require careful recommendation due to the high heterogeneity and high risk of bias in the included trials. Clinical trials with higher quality designs are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]