An analytical solution of equivalent elastic modulus considering confining stress and its variables sensitivity analysis for fractured rock masses

The equivalent elastic modulus is a parameter for controlling the deformation behavior of fractured rock masses in the equivalent continuum approach.The confining stress,whose effect on the equivalent elastic modulus is of great importance,is the fundamental stress environment of natural rock masses.This paper employs an analytical approach to obtain the equivalent elastic modulus of fractured rock masses containing random discrete fractures(RDFs)or regular fracture sets(RFSs)while considering the confining stress.The proposed analytical solution considers not only the elastic properties of the intact rocks and fractures,but also the geometrical structure of the fractures and the confining stress.The performance of the analytical solution is verified by comparing it with the results of numerical tests obtained using the three-dimensional distinct element code(3DEC),leading to a reasonably good agreement.The analytical solution quantitatively demonstrates that the equivalent elastic modulus increases substantially with an increase in confining stress,i.e.it is characterized by stress-dependency.Further,a sensitivity analysis of the variables in the analytical solution is conducted using a global sensitivity analysis approach,i.e.the extended Fourier amplitude sensitivity test(EFAST).The variations in the sensitivity indices for different ranges and distribution types of the variables are investigated.The results provide an in-depth understanding of the influence of the variables on the equivalent elastic modulus from different perspectives.

Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology(CSCO):Clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality in both developed and developing coun-tries.The incidence of pancreatic cancer in China accounts for about a quater of the global incidence,and the epidemiological characteristics and therapeutic strategies differ due to social,economic,cultural,environmental,and public health factors.Non-domestic guidelines do not reflect the clinicopathologic characteristics and treat-ment patterns of Chinese patients.Thus,in 2018,the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology(CSCO)organized a panel of senior experts from all sub-specialties within the field of pancreatic oncology to compile the Chinese guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer.The guidelines were made based on both the Western and Eastern clinical evidence and updated every one or two years.The experts made consensus judg-ments and classified evidence-based recommendations into various grades according to the regional differences,the accessibility of diagnostic and treatment resources,and health economic indexes in China.Here we present the latest version of the guidelines,which covers the diagnosis,treatment,and follow-up of pancreatic cancer.The guidelines might standardize the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer in China and will encourage oncologists to design and conduct more clinical trials about pancreatic cancer.

Multi-dimensional size effects and representative elements for nonpersistent fractured rock masses: A perspective of geometric parameter distribution

This study takes a fractured rock mass in the Datengxia Hydropower Station,China as an example to analyze the size effects and determine the representative elementary sizes.A novel method considering geometric parameter distributions is proposed in this work.The proposed method can quickly and simply determine the size effects and representative elementary sizes.Specifically,geometric parameter distributions,including fracture frequency,size and orientation,are generated on the basis of the Bernoulli trial and Monte Carlo simulation.The distributions are assessed using the coefficient of variation(CV),and the acceptable variations for CV(5%,10%and 20%)are used to determine representative elementary sizes.Generally,the representative element of rock masses is the representative elementary volume(REV).The present study extends the representative element to other dimensions,i.e.representative elementary length(REL)and representative elementary area(REA)for one and two dimensions,respectively.REL and REA are useful in studying the size effects of one-(1D)and twodimensional(2D)characteristics of rock masses.The relationships among multi-dimensional representative elementary sizes are established.The representative elementary sizes reduce with the increase in the dimensions,and REA and REV can be deduced by REL.Therefore,the proposed method can quickly and simply determine REL and further estimate REA and REV,which considerably improves the efficiency of rock mass analysis.

Biomimeitc Design of a Stubble-Cutting Disc Using Finite Element Analysis

Mole rat （Scaptochirus moschatus）, a soil-burrowing mammal, can efficiently dig soil using its fore claws. The profile curves of its claw toe provide excellent structure for digging. In this paper, a biomimetic stubble-cutting disc was designed by learning from the geometrical characteristics of the mole rat claw toes. To compare the structural strength and working eff^- ciency of the biomimetic disc and the conventional stubble-cutting disc, three-dimensional （3D） models of the discs were built and numerical analyzed in ABAQUS. In the dynamic soil cutting model, soil was modeled as an elastic-plastic material with elastic parameters, including Young＇s modulus, Poisson＇s ratio and Drucker-Prager criterion, which were obtained from triaxial tests. A general contact algorithm was used to simulate the interaction between rotary disc and soil. In FEA models, for the combined action of normal and friction stresses, the stress on the biomimetic disc is 34.33% lower than that of the conventional disc. For only the normal stress, the stress on the biomimetic disc is 22.64% lower than that on the conventional one. The magnitude of soil stress in biomimetie disc cutting model is 6.87% higher than that in conventional disc. The FEA results indicate that the biomimetic disc performs better in structural strength and cutting efficiency.

Removal of sulfamethazine antibiotics by aerobic sludge and an isolated Achromobacter sp.S-3

Removal characteristics of sulfamethazine （SMZ） by sludge and a bacterial strain using an aerobic sequence batch reactor （ASBR） were studied. Operating conditions were optimized by varying the reaction time and sludge retention time （SRT）. AnAchromobacter sp. （S-3） with the ability to remove SMZ was isolated from the ASBR. The effects of different operating parameters （pH and temperature） on the biodegradation of SMZ by S-3 were determined. The results indicate that, between 0.5 and 4 hr, reaction time of the ASBR had a significant effect on the SMZ removal efficiency in the system. The SMZ removal efficiency also increased from 45% to 80% when SRT was prolonged from 5 to 25 days, although longer SRT had no impact on SMZ removal. The SMZ adsorption rate decreased with increasing temperature, which fitted Freundiich isotherm well. The removal of SMZ in the ASBR was due to the combined effects of adsorption and degradation, and degradation played a leading role.

The Tibetan Plateau Surface–Atmosphere Coupling System and Its Weather and Climate Effects: The Third Tibetan Plateau Atmospheric Science Experiment

The Tibetan Plateau(TP) is a key area affecting forecasts of weather and climate in China and occurrences of extreme weather and climate events over the world. The China Meteorological Administration, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly initiated the Third Tibetan Plateau Atmospheric Science Experiment(TIPEX-Ⅲ) in 2013, with an 8–10-yr implementation plan. Since its preliminary field measurements conducted in 2013, routine automatic sounding systems have been deployed at Shiquanhe, Gaize, and Shenzha stations in western TP, where no routine sounding observations were available previously. The observational networks for soil temperature and soil moisture in the central and western TP have also been established. Meanwhile, the plateau-scale and regional-scale boundary layer observations, cloud–precipitation microphysical observations with multiple radars and aircraft campaigns, and tropospheric–stratospheric air composition observations at multiple sites, were performed. The results so far show that the turbulent heat exchange coefficient and sensible heat flux are remarkably lower than the earlier estimations at grassland, meadow, and bare soil surfaces of the central and western TP. Climatologically, cumulus clouds over the main body of the TP might develop locally instead of originating from the cumulus clouds that propagate northward from South Asia. The TIPEX-Ⅲ observations up to now also reveal diurnal variations, macro-and microphysical characteristics, and water-phase transition mechanisms, of cumulus clouds at Naqu station. Moreover, TIPEX-Ⅲ related studies have proposed a maintenance mechanism responsible for the Asian "atmospheric water tower" and demonstrated the effects of the TP heating anomalies on African, Asian, and North American climates. Additionally, numerical modeling studies show that the Γ distribution of raindrop size is more suitable for depicting the TP raindrop characteristics compared to the M–P distribution, the overestimation of sensible heat flux can be reduced via modifying the heat transfer parameterization over the TP, and considering climatic signals in some key areas of the TP can improve the skill for rainfall forecast in the central and eastern parts of China. Furthermore, the TIPEX-Ⅲ has been promoting the technology in processing surface observations, soundings, and radar observations, improving the quality of satellite retrieved soil moisture and atmospheric water vapor content products as well as high-resolution gauge–radar–satellite merged rainfall products, and facilitating the meteorological monitoring, forecasting, and data sharing operations.

Design and Tests of Biomimetic Blades for Soil-rototilling and Stubble-breaking

Biomimetic blades for soil-rototilling and stubble-breaking were designed learning from the geometrical structure of the tips of toes of mole rat （Scaptochirus moschatus）. The orientation, the number and the central angle of the biomimetic structure were taken as the testing factors. The optimal structure of the biomimetic blade was determined through the tests of soil-rototilling and stubble-breaking operation in an indoor soil bin. The optimal combination of the biomimetic structure pa- rameters is that three arc concave teeth are equally arranged on the front cutting edge with a central angle of 60°. The results of comparative tests between the optimal biomimetic blade and a conventional universal blade show the torque acting on the biomimetic blade is lower during soil-rototilling and stubble-breaking operations. The results of field tests show that the working quality of the biomimetic blades meets the requirements of the national standard of China. Tests of soil-rototilling show that, when the orientation of the biomimetic structure was at low and middle levels, the torque ofbiomimetic blades decreased from 34.17 N·m to 31.03 N·m. The torque also decreased with the increase of the number of biomimetic structure. The average torques were 34.57 N·m, 33.44 N·m and 31.37 N·m, respectively. The maximum different value between two levels of central angle was 0.41 N·m. Tests in field indicate that for soil-rototilling operation, the tillage depth is deeper than 80 mm, the soil-crushing rate （length of soil block less than 40 mm） is over 50 %, and the vegetation coverage rate is over 55 %. For stubble-breaking operation, the stubble-breaking depth is deeper than 70 ram, the stubble-breaking rate （length of stubble less than 40 mm） is over 60%, and the stubble coverage rate is over 80%, which can meet the stubble-breaking requirement of corn.

Preparation of Ce3+doped Bi2O3 hollow needle-shape with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

Ce3+ doped Bi2O3 hollow needle-shape with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity was successfully prepared via the method of chemical precipitation using Bi(NO3)·5H2O and Ce(NO3)3·6H2O as the source of bismuth and cerium, HNO3 as solvent and NaOH as precipitants, respectively and after calcination at 500 ℃ for 2 h. The morphology and elemental composition,crystal form,purity and specific surface area of the hollow needle Bi2O3 were characterized by SEM-EDS, XRD, BET and FT-IR. The photocatalytic properties of the as-obtained samples were measured by UV-vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy and photochemical reactor. As a result, the obtained Bi2O3 hollow needle-shape doped with 5 wt% Ce shows good morphology, α-phase, stronger absorbent for visible light and good photocatalytic property. Under the simulated visible light of 300 W, the photodegradation rate of tetracycline over HNBCe can reach to 89.1%,which is higher than that of commercial Bi2O3 nanoparticles and Bi2O3 hollow needle-shape.

Design of a Bionic Blade for Vegetable Chopper

Bamboo weevil larva has excellent performance on cutting plant fiber. From quantitative analysis of the mandible incisor profile of bamboo weevil larva, it was found that the primary cutting edge of incisor is close to a standard circular arc, which is helpful for improving the cutting efficiency of mandible incisor. Inspired from the geometrical characteristics of the bamboo weevil larva＇s incisor, a new bionic mincing blade was designed and manufactured. The experimental results of chopping equal Chinese cabbages showed that, when the rotational speed was 1400 rpm, the mincing energy consumption of bionic blade was 12.8% lower than conventional blade and the chopping efficiency of bionic blade was 12.5% higher. Meanwhile, the mincing capacity of bionic blade was 36 kg.h-1, which was 1.5 times of that of the conventional blade, 24 kg.h^-1. The material weight loss rate was 11.2 % lower than that of conventional blade. The qualification rate of the minced cabbage chopped by bionic blade was 93,3%, which was higher than the 85.7% of conventional blade. Therefore, the bionic blade could obviously promote the quality of product and the working efficiency of mincing machine. These results would provide guidance for designing cutting component of vegetable choppers, succulence cutter and other food processing machines.

Bionic Optimization Design of Electronic Nose Chamber for Oil and Gas Detection

In this paper, a miniaturized bionic electronic nose system is developed in order to solve the problems arising in oil and gas detection for large size and inflexible operation in downhole. The bionic electronic nose chamber is designed by mimicking human nasal turbinate structure, V-groove structure on shark skin surface and flow field distribution around skin surface. The sensitivity of the bionic electronic nose system is investigated through experimentation. Radial Basis Function （RBF） and Support Vector Machines （SVM） of 10-fold cross validation are used to compare the recognition performance of the bionic electronic nose system and common one. The results show that the sensitivity of the bionic electronic nose system with bionic composite chamber （chamber B） is significantly improved compared with that with common chamber （chamber A）. The recognition rate of chamber B is 4.27% higher than that of chamber A for the RBF algorithm, while for the SVM algorithm, the recognition rate of chamber B is 5.69% higher than that of chamber A. The three-dimensional simulation model of the chamber is built and verified by Computational Fluid Dynamics （CFD） simulation analysis. The number of vortices in chamber B is fewer than that in chamber A. The airflow velocity near the sensors inside chamber B is slower than that inside chamber A. The vortex intensity near the sensors in chamber B is 2.27 times as much as that in chamber A, which facilitates gas molecules to fully contact with the sensor surface and increases the intensity of sensor signal, and the contact strength and time between odorant molecules and sensor surface. Based on the theoretical investigation and test validation, it is believed that the proposed bionic electronic nose system with bionic composite chamber has potential for oil and gas detection in downhole.

Design and Experiments of Biomimetic Stubble Cutter

The fore claws of the nymph of Cryptotympana atrata have excellent ability to cut and dig soil. Inspired by this, we designed a biomimetic stubble cutter to reduce the cutting resistance. Reverse engineering and 3D print technology were applied to design the biomimetic stubble cutter. Two types of biomimetic corn stubble cutters with different tooth heights （5 mm and 2.5 mm） were designed. The cutting ability of biomimetic corn stubble cutters was compared to the conventional design by the quadratic regression orthogonal test. Tooth height, dip angle of cutting edge, and cutting velocity were chosen as orthogonal test factors. The biomimetic stubble cutters show lower cutting resistance than the conventional one. Cutting velocity exerts the least effect on cutting resistance, followed by tooth height and dip angle of cutting edge. Optimal combination with the least cutting resistance is tooth height of 2.5 mm and dip angle of cutting edge of 40° while the cutting resistance does not vary remarkably with cutting velocity. Test results indicate the serrated structure design as a principal factor for cutting resistance reduction. The biomimetic stubble cutter design, inspired by the soil-cutting mechanism of Cryptotympana atrata nymph, remarkably improves the performance of stubble cutter.

An Optimal Wet Friction Plate Inspired by Biological Surface Patterns

It is found that many biological organisms exhibit superior adhesion characteristics in wet environments. It has been observed that the foot pads of tree frogs and katydids are consist of a number of closely arranged polygons, most of them are hexagonal. In this paper, the common structure of two kinds of biological foot pad was extracted to model the bionic surface structure of friction plates. The friction plate prototypes were also prepared. Through the multivariate orthogonal regression design, the optimum parameter combination of the friction performances of the prototypes of the bionic plates has been obtained. The hexagonal circumcircle size is 10 mm, the groove width is 1 mm, and the hexagonal diagonal angle is 90~. Then the maximum static friction coefficient, dynamic friction coefficient and wear amount of the optimal friction plate were tested and compared with the control group friction plates. The comparative analysis of the experiment findings demonstrated that the bionic structure with hexagonal ring grooves can significantly improve the friction performance of the friction plates.

Magnetic composite Fe3O4/CeO2 for adsorption of azo dye

In this paper,magnetic composite Fe3 O4/CeO2（MC Fe/Ce） was synthesized via CeO2 covered onto the surface of Fe3O4 by sol-precipitation method.The as-synthesized samples were characterized by FE-SEM,XRD,SEM-EDS and FT-IR spectrum.The pseudo-second-order（PSO） kinetic can describe well the adsorption of Acid black 210（AB210） onto the as-obtained MC Fe/Ce of which the adsorption isotherm fits the Langmuir adsorption model better than Freundlich adsorption model.Furthermore,the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of MC Fe/Ce is about 93 mg/g,which is 6 times more than that of commercial CeO2 for AB210.Moreover,the removal rate of the adsorbates for AB210 is 82.3% after first adsorption and still about 70% the fourth forth adsorption experiments within 120 min,which demonstrates that the obtained MC Fe/Ce has outstanding adsorption capacity and good stability.Additionally,the composite can be easily separated from aqueous solution in a few seconds with an external magnetic field due to its magnetic property,which is vital and has potential for its practical applications.

Compaction Performance of Biomimetic Press Roller to Soil

The compaction characteristics of biomimetic press roller with ridge structures, inspired from the geometrical features of the ventral surface of dung beetle （Copris ochus Motschulsky）, were investigated in this work. Field tests were carried out at three weights （300 N, 500 N and 700 N） and two forward velocities （0.64 m·s^-1 and 1.04 m·s^-1） for biomimetic press roller and conventional press roller. To determine compaction performance, rolling resistance, soil bulk density, soil moisture content, emergence rate and percent change of plant spacing were measured. Roller weight was proved to be the major contributory factor on soil compaction. Biomimetic press roller decreased rolling resistance by 2.98% -17.69% at the velocity of 0.64 m·s^-1, and by 6.59% -18.57% at the velocity of 1.04 m·s^-1 compared with the conventional press roller. Both biomimetic roller and conventional roller can achieve proper bulk density for corn seeds under the experimental conditions. However, compared with the conventional roller, biomimetic roller helped soil conserve more moisture. The highest emergence rate was found when the biomimetic roller worked with a weight of 700 N and velocity of 0.64 m·s^-1. Percent change of plant spacing was lower using the biomimetic press roller compared with that using the conventional roller, because that adjacent ridge structures of the biomi- metic roller can well constrain the flow of soil during compacting process.

A Simulation of the Flight Characteristics of the Deployable Hindwings of Beetle

An insect is an excellent biological object for the bio-inspirations to design and develop a MAV. This paper presents the simulation study of the flight characteristics of the deployable hindwings of beetle, Dorcustitanus platymelus. A 3D geometric model of the beetle was obtained using a 3D laser scanning technique. By studying its hindwings and flight mechanism, the mathematical model of the flapping motion of its hindwings was analyzed. Then a simulation analysis was carried out to analyze and evaluate the flapping flying aerodynamic characteristics. After that, the flow of blood in the hindwing veins was studied through simulation to determine the maximum pressure on a vein surface and the minimum blood flow in flight. A number of interesting bio-inspirations were obtained. It is believed that these findings can be used for the design and development of a MAV with similar flying capabilities to a natural beetle.

Inspired by Tree Frog:Bionic Design of Tread Pattern and Its Wet Friction Properties

The wet grip of tire has always been the focus because it is related to the personal safety of passengers directly.Many methods were employed to improve the wet grip of tire.Researchers paid more attention on bionics method recent years.In nature,tree frogs have high adhesion ability in wet environment,which is mainly due to their footpads having fine polygon grooves(mainly hexagon grooves).To improve the performance of wet grip of tire,from the perspective of bionics,inspired by the footpad of tree frog,the bionic hexagon tread pattern was designed.The friction test was carried out to compare with the common tread patterns such as serrated,striped and square patterns.The results showed that the bionic hexagon tread pattern generally had high friction coefficient and directional stability of friction.The main reason was that the hexagon tread block was less affected by the friction-induced torque and the groove of bionic hexagon tread pattern had better drainage characteristic.The bionic hexagon tread pattern provides new idea and method for the design of tires with high wet grip.

Quasi-Static and Dynamic Nanoindentation of Some Selected Biomaterials

This study details an investigation of the viscoelastic behavior of some biomaterials （nacre, cattle horn and beetle cuticle） at lamellar length scales using quasi-static and dynamic nanoindentation techniques in the materials＇ Transverse Direction （TD） and Longitudinal Direction （LD）. Our results show that nacre exhibits high fracture toughness moving towards a larger cam- paniForm as the stress frequency varies from 10 Hz to 200 Hz. Elytra cuticle exhibits the least fracture toughness presenting little energy dissipation in TD. It was initially speculated that the fracture toughness of the subject materials would be directly related to energy-dissipating mechanisms （mechanical hysteresis）, but not the maximum value of the loss tangent tan＆ However, it was found that the materials＇ elastic modulus and hardness are similar in both the TD and LD when assessed using the quasi-static nanoindentation method, but not dynamic nanoindentation. It is believed that the reported results can be useful in the design of new crack arrest and damping materials based on biological counterparts.

Bionic Design to Reduce Jacking Force for Trenchless Installations in Clay Soil

The application of trenchless technology is the trend of underground public facilities'installation,replacement and repairing.As the soil-engaging component during penetrating bore,the working resistance of penetration head has remarkable effect on energy consumption of the whole working process.Some typical soil-digging animals,like pangolin and earthworm,they own special micro structures on their surface.It has been widely proved that some micro geometrical structures can effectively reduce adhesion resistance.Four kinds of bionic penetration heads were designed by imitating micro geometrical structures inspired by the soil animals.In this work,the real time jacking forces of the bionic penetration heads were measured and compared with a smooth penetration head(control group)without micro geometrical structures.The result indicated that the jacking forces of the bionic penetration heads were smaller than that of the smooth penetration head.This proved that the bionic penetration heads have the ability of reducing adhesion resistance.The vertical concave penetration head got the smallest jacking force,of which the average jacking force was 18.7%lower than that of the smooth penetration head.The interaction between soil and bionic surface of penetration head was discussed on the condition of wet friction.The bionic surface reduced the adhesion resistance by disturbing the soil and braking the continuous water film between soil and the surface of the penetration head.

Investigation of the Potential and Mechanism of Clove for Mitigating Airborne Particulate Matter Emission from Stationary Sources

Vegetative Barriers （VB） have the potential to mitigate air pollutants emitted from area sources, including concentrated Animal Feeding Operations （AFOs）. However, the mechanism has not been fully investigated, thereby limiting the application of vegetation systems in practice. An experimental method with repeatable and controllable conditions was developed to measure the change of Particulate Matter （PM） concentrations at upwind and downwind of VB in the wind tunnel and observe accumulated PM on leaves with Scanning Electron Microscope （SEM）, thus evaluating the ability of VB in mitigating PM emitted from AFOs. Branch-scale vegetation, clove （syzygium aromaticum） was selected because its leaves are one of the major factors affecting PM dispersion. The results show that the branch-scale barriers, as porous medium have the ability to interfere with airflow and reduce PM, which could be influenced by wind speed, particle size fraction and surface area density of clove. Moreover, clove elements could adjust to the wind and the micro structure of clove （such as the hierarchical structures of leaves） affected on the PM deposition. These results indicate that the methods developed in this study may be used to evaluate the potential of vegetation in mitigating PM from stationary sources, and some characteristics of vegetation can be further studied as bionic prototype for exploring engineering application of reducing particulates.

Characteristics and aluminum reuse of textile sludge incineration residues after acidification

The chemical composition and aluminum speciation of sludge incineration residue （SIR） were determined. Cementation of aluminum from sulfuric acid solution using SIR was studied. The results showed that acid-soluble inorganic aluminum was the predominant component in the sludge, and the total leached aluminum increased from 62.2% to 92.9% after incineration. Sulfuric acid dosage and reaction time were found to affect aluminum recovery positively. Conversely, the increase in temperature significantly inhibited recovery reactions. The optimized leaching condition was 1.66 g sulfuric acid per gram of SIR with a reaction time of 3 hr at 20°C, resulting in the highest aluminum leaching rate of 96.7%. Compared to commercial aluminum sulfate solution coagulants, the leaching solution demonstrated higher CODCr, turbidity and color removal efficiency for textile wastewater.