Preparation and Characterization of Sodium Sulfate/Silica Composite as a Shape-stabilized Phase Change Material by Sol-gel Method

A sodium sulfate （NaeSO4）/silica （SiO2） composite was prepared as a shape-stabilized solid-liquid phase change material by a sol-gel procedure using Na2SiO3 as the silica source. Na2SO4 in the composite acts as a latent heat storage substance for solid-liquid phase change, while SiO2 acts as a support material to provide structural strength and prevent leakage of melted NazSO4. The microstructure and composition of the prepared composite were characterized by the N2 adsorption, transmission electron microscope （TEM）, scanning electron microscope （SEM）, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） and X-ray diffraction. The results show that the prepared Na2SOJSiO2 composite is a nanostructured hybrid of NazSO4 and SiO2 without new substances produced during the phase change. The macroscopic shape of the NazSO4/SiO2 composite after the melting and freezing cycles does not change and there is no leakage of Na2SO4. Determined by differential scanning calorimeter （DSC） analysis, the values of phase change latent heat of melting and freezing of the prepared NazSO4/SiO2 （50%, by mass） composite are 82.3 kJ.kg i and 83.7 kJ.kg-1, and temperatures of melting and freezing are 886.0 ℃ and 880.6 ℃, respectively. Furthermore, the Na2SOJSiO2 composite maintains good thermal energy storage and release ability even after 100 cycles of melting and freezing. The satisfactory thermal storage performance renders this composite a versatile tool for high-temperature thermal energy storage.

A Model-Free Method for Structual Change Detection Multivariate Nonlinear Time Series

In this paper, we apply the recursive genetic programming (RGP) approach to the cognition of a system, and then proceed to the detecting procedure for structural changes in the system whose components are of long memory. This approach is adaptive and model-free, which can simulate the individual activities of the system's participants, therefore, it has strong ability to recognize the operating mechanism of the system. Based on the previous cognition about the system, a testing statistic is developed for the detection of structural changes in the system. Furthermore, an example is presented to illustrate the validity and practical value of the proposed.

Effect of Size Change on Mechanical Properties of Monolayer Arsenene

The Young's modulus, shear modulus and Poisson's ratio of monolayer arsenene with different sizes were calculated by finite element method, so as to explore the influence of dimension and orientation on the mechanical properties of monolayer arsenene. The calculation results show that the small size has a significant effect on the mechanical properties of the monolayer arsenene. The smaller the size, the larger the Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of the monolayer arsenene. The size change has a great influence on the Young's modulus of the arsenene handrail direction, and the Young's modulus of the zigzag direction is not sensitive to the size change. Similarly, the size change has a significant effect on the shear modulus of arsenene in the handrail direction, while the shear modulus in the zigzag direction has no significant effect on its size change. For the Poisson's ratio, the situation is just the opposite, and the effect of the size change on the Poisson's ratio of the arsenene zigzag direction is greater than that of the handrail direction.

CHANGE OF CeVALENCE STATE DURING THE PREPARATION OF CeO_2 ULTRAFINE POWDER BY SOL－GEL METHOD

CeO2 ultrafine powder was prepared by sol-gel method.XRD showed that samples were amorphous when calcination temperature was below 230℃,and single phase CeO2 ultrafine powders could be obtained above 250℃.It was found that Ce(3+) and Ce(4+)coexisted in the dried gel,the content of Ce(3+)lowered gradually and that of Ce(4+)increased in samples when calcining temperature increased.Ce(3+)was converted to Ce(4+)completel at 250℃.

Dual-phase coexistence enables to alleviate resistance drift in phase-change films

The amorphous phase-change materials with spontaneous structural relaxation leads to the resistance drift with the time for phase-change neuron synaptic devices. Here, we modify the phase change properties of the conventional Ge_2Sb_2Te_5(GST) material by introducing an SnS phase. It is found that the resistance drift coefficient of SnS-doped GST was decreased from 0.06 to 0.01. It can be proposed that the origin originates from the precipitation of GST nanocrystals accompanied by the precipitation of SnS crystals compared to single-phase GST compound systems. We also found that the decrease in resistance drift can be attributed to the narrowed bandgap from 0.65 to 0.43 eV after SnS-doping. Thus, this study reveals the quantitative relationship between the resistance drift and the band gap and proposes a new idea for alleviating the resistance drift by composition optimization, which is of great significance for finding a promising phase change material.

Land use and cover change and influencing factor analysis in the Shiyang River Basin,China

Land use and cover change(LUCC)is the most direct manifestation of the interaction between anthropological activities and the natural environment on Earth's surface,with significant impacts on the environment and social economy.Rapid economic development and climate change have resulted in significant changes in land use and cover.The Shiyang River Basin,located in the eastern part of the Hexi Corridor in China,has undergone significant climate change and LUCC over the past few decades.In this study,we used the random forest classification to obtain the land use and cover datasets of the Shiyang River Basin in 1991,1995,2000,2005,2010,2015,and 2020 based on Landsat images.We validated the land use and cover data in 2015 from the random forest classification results(this study),the high-resolution dataset of annual global land cover from 2000 to 2015(AGLC-2000-2015),the global 30 m land cover classification with a fine classification system(GLC_FCS30),and the first Landsat-derived annual China Land Cover Dataset(CLCD)against ground-truth classification results to evaluate the accuracy of the classification results in this study.Furthermore,we explored and compared the spatiotemporal patterns of LUCC in the upper,middle,and lower reaches of the Shiyang River Basin over the past 30 years,and employed the random forest importance ranking method to analyze the influencing factors of LUCC based on natural(evapotranspiration,precipitation,temperature,and surface soil moisture)and anthropogenic(nighttime light,gross domestic product(GDP),and population)factors.The results indicated that the random forest classification results for land use and cover in the Shiyang River Basin in 2015 outperformed the AGLC-2000-2015,GLC_FCS30,and CLCD datasets in both overall and partial validations.Moreover,the classification results in this study exhibited a high level of agreement with the ground truth features.From 1991 to 2020,the area of bare land exhibited a decreasing trend,with changes primarily occurring in the middle and lower reaches of the basin.The area of grassland initially decreased and then increased,with changes occurring mainly in the upper and middle reaches of the basin.In contrast,the area of cropland initially increased and then decreased,with changes occurring in the middle and lower reaches.The LUCC was influenced by both natural and anthropogenic factors.Climatic factors and population contributed significantly to LUCC,and the importance values of evapotranspiration,precipitation,temperature,and population were 22.12%,32.41%,21.89%,and 19.65%,respectively.Moreover,policy interventions also played an important role.Land use and cover in the Shiyang River Basin exhibited fluctuating changes over the past 30 years,with the ecological environment improving in the last 10 years.This suggests that governance efforts in the study area have had some effects,and the government can continue to move in this direction in the future.The findings can provide crucial insights for related research and regional sustainable development in the Shiyang River Basin and other similar arid and semi-arid areas.

Impact of climate change and human activities on the spatiotemporal dynamics of surface water area in Gansu Province, China

Understanding the dynamics of surface water area and their drivers is crucial for human survival and ecosystem stability in inland arid and semi-arid areas.This study took Gansu Province,China,a typical area with complex terrain and variable climate,as the research subject.Based on Google Earth Engine,we used Landsat data and the Open-surface Water Detection Method with Enhanced Impurity Control method to monitor the spatiotemporal dynamics of surface water area in Gansu Province from 1985 to 2022,and quantitatively analyzed the main causes of regional differences in surface water area.The findings revealed that surface water area in Gansu Province expanded by 406.88 km2 from 1985 to 2022.Seasonal surface water area exhibited significant fluctuations,while permanent surface water area showed a steady increase.Notably,terrestrial water storage exhibited a trend of first decreasing and then increasing,correlated with the dynamics of surface water area.Climate change and human activities jointly affected surface hydrological processes,with the impact of climate change being slightly higher than that of human activities.Spatially,climate change affected the'source'of surface water to a greater extent,while human activities tended to affect the'destination'of surface water.Challenges of surface water resources faced by inland arid and semi-arid areas like Gansu Province are multifaceted.Therefore,we summarized the surface hydrology patterns typical in inland arid and semi-arid areas and tailored surface water'supply-demand'balance strategies.The study not only sheds light on the dynamics of surface water area in Gansu Province,but also offers valuable insights for ecological protection and surface water resource management in inland arid and semi-arid areas facing water scarcity.

Changes of coastline and tidal flat and its implication for ecological protection under human activities: Take China’s Bohai Bay as an example

The change processes and trends of shoreline and tidal flat forced by human activities are essential issues for the sustainability of coastal area,which is also of great significance for understanding coastal ecological environment changes and even global changes.Based on field measurements,combined with Linear Regression(LR)model and Inverse Distance Weighing(IDW)method,this paper presents detailed analysis on the change history and trend of the shoreline and tidal flat in Bohai Bay.The shoreline faces a high erosion chance under the action of natural factors,while the tidal flat faces a different erosion and deposition patterns in Bohai Bay due to the impact of human activities.The implication of change rule for ecological protection and recovery is also discussed.Measures should be taken to protect the coastal ecological environment.The models used in this paper show a high correlation coefficient between observed and modeling data,which means that this method can be used to predict the changing trend of shoreline and tidal flat.The research results of present study can provide scientific supports for future coastal protection and management.

Data-driven optimization study of the multi-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann method for solid-liquid phase change

Sharp phase interfaces and accurate temperature distributions are important criteria in the simulation of solid-liquid phase changes.The multi-relaxation-time lattice Boltzmann method(MRT-LBM)shows great numerical performance during simulation;however,the value method of the relaxation parameters needs to be specified.Therefore,in this study,a random forest(RF)model is used to discriminate the importance of different relaxation parameters to the convergence,and a support vector machine(SVM)is used to explore the decision boundary of the convergent samples in each dimensional model.The results show that the convergence of the samples is consistent with the sign of the decision number,and two types of the numerical deviations appear,i.e.,the phase mushy zone and the non-physical heat transfer.The relaxation parameters chosen on the decision boundary can further suppress the numerical bias and improve numerical accuracy.

Predicting coastal morphological changes with empirical orthogonal function method

In order to improve the accuracy of prediction when using the empirical orthogonal function （EOF） method, this paper describes a novel approach for two-dimensional （2D） EOF analysis based on extrapolating both the spatial and temporal EOF components for long-term prediction of coastal morphological changes. The approach was investigated with data obtained from a process-based numerical model, COAST2D, which was applied to an idealized study site with a group of shore-parallel breakwaters. The progressive behavior of the spatial and temporal EOF components, related to bathymetric changes over a training period, was demonstrated, and EOF components were extrapolated with combined linear and exponential functions for long-term prediction. The extrapolated EOF components were then used to reconstruct bathymetric changes. The comparison of the reconstructed bathymetric changes with the modeled results from the COAST2D model illustrates that the presented approach can be effective for long-term prediction of coastal morphological changes, and extrapolating both the spatial and temporal EOF components yields better results than extrapolating only the temporal EOF component.

Application of the Bottom-up Method on Risk Evaluation of Climate Change in Water Resources System

Traditional approach to evaluate the impacts of climate change on the water resources systems always begins with downscaling general circulation models( GCMs) and proceeding back to the hydrological model. This approach has some distinct disadvantages: 1) GCM must be downscaled; 2) different GCMs are difficult to be reconciled for a given climate change scenario;3) the uncertainty of GCMs is far from the requirement of the evaluation of climate change impacts. To overcome these limits of the traditional method,a new method termed as "bottom-up"was used for climate risk assessment that linked vulnerability assessment with climate information to assess the risk of climate change impacts on the Quabbin Reservoir,and United States under A2 scenario.The result shows that the risks are around 20% in 2006-2035 and 2036-2055,50% in 2066-2095.

Radial integral boundary element method for simulating phase change problem with mushy zone

A radial integral boundary element method(BEM)is used to simulate the phase change problem with a mushy zone in this paper.Three phases,including the solid phase,the liquid phase,and the mushy zone,are considered in the phase change problem.First,according to the continuity conditions of temperature and its gradient on the liquid-mushy interface,the mushy zone and the liquid phase in the simulation can be considered as a whole part,namely,the non-solid phase,and the change of latent heat is approximated by heat source which is dependent on temperature.Then,the precise integration BEM is used to obtain the differential equations in the solid phase zone and the non-solid phase zone,respectively.Moreover,an iterative predictor-corrector precise integration method(PIM)is needed to solve the differential equations and obtain the temperature field and the heat flux on the boundary.According to an energy balance equation and the velocity of the interface between the solid phase and the mushy zone,the front-tracking method is used to track the move of the interface.The interface between the liquid phase and the mushy zone is obtained by interpolation of the temperature field.Finally,four numerical examples are provided to assess the performance of the proposed numerical method.

Effect of Climate Change on Water Resources and Water Management Practices： A Review of Research Methods and Findings with Special Reference to Australia

In this secondary research, published works on effect of climate change on water resources in other countries and in Australia were reviewed critically. Research question, objectives and assumptions were made to facilitate this study. First, methods used for such studies and their results at global level were reviewed. Then Australian specific methods of study and findings were reviewed. More commonly, both globally and in Australia, simulations using long-term real data on selected climatic scenarios of global climatic models are projected for long-term future trends. The validity and certainty of predicted occurrences depend upon the closeness of real time data with scenarios to which they are projected. Even with these limitations, projections of already rising temperatures and declining rainfall on surface water and ground water availabilities show gradual decline in water availability leading to water stress both for human communities and ecosystems The role of human-induced emissions in hastening the degradation process has also been investigated. Conserving all available water, practising efficient water consumption and prudent water policies only can provide some relief from what is inevitable.

Dense Shaped Refractory Products——Test Method of Linear Changes on Reheating

This Standard specifies methods for the determination of the linear changes on reheating of a dense shaped refractory product.

Set Programming Method and Performance Improvement of Phase Change Random Access Memory Arrays

A novel slow-down set waveform is proposed to improve the set performance and a 1 kb phase change random access memory chip fabricated with a 13nm CMOS technology is implemented to investigate the set performance by different set programming strategies based on this new set pulse. The amplitude difference （I1 - I2） of the set pulse is proved to be a crucial parameter for set programming. We observe and analyze the cell characteristics with different I1 - I2 by means of thermal simulations and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, which reveal that an incomplete set programming will occur when the proposed slow-down pulse is set with an improperly high I1 - I2. This will lead to an amorphous residue in the active region. We also discuss the programming method to avoid the set performance degradations.

A Study of Educational Change as Culture Change--a Comparison of the Grammar-Translation Method and Communicative Language Teaching Method

The world is complex and increasingly changing.The old education theory and the education model are greatly impacted,and it is difficult to meet the challenge of social change.To adapt to the changing society,education must conform to the social changes,grasp the direction of change,to seek a new position.This paper uses the theory of"educational culture"to explain the change from the Grammar Translation Method(GTM)to the Communicative Language Teaching(CLT)method.Two different teaching methods are two different concepts,representing two different cultural connotations.

Study of Urban and Rural Construction Land Change Based on Small Scale in Dafang

This paper is to examine the urban and rural construction land data of Dafang between basic year and final year based on country scale and spatial econometrics,and analyze its spatial pattern and change feature. According to the results,the construction lands in all the villages of Dafang County showed strong spatial autocorrelation and significant spatial cluster. After the analysis of local Moran's I,the construction lands in 381 villages of 36 counties presented strong activity. The original small-scale villages were gradually enlarging,which will not only gradually benefit local development,but also be in accordance with the strategy of " one city,one district,eight parks".

A Rapid Method for the Isolation of Small Amount DNA from Citrus Early Embryo

[Objective] The present study aimed to establish a rapid method for the isolation of small amount DNA from citrus.[Method] By using the improved CTBA method,the genomic DNA was extracted respectively from 20,10,5 and 2.5 mg hybrid embryos of citrus,and then the DNA quality was detected and followed by SSR verification.[Result] The method was very simple and rapid,which needed less materials.In addition,the isolated DNA showed good purity with the OD260/OD280 of 1.8-2.1,and could meet the requirement for PCR-based technology,such as SSR,etc..[Conclusion] The method could be used for rapid extraction of small amount of genomic DNA from citrus.

Probabilistic small signal stability analysis of power system with wind power and photovoltaic power based on probability collocation method

Recently, with increasing improvements in the penetration of wind power and photovoltaic power in the world, probabilistic small signal stability analysis(PSSSA) of a power system consisting of multiple types of renewable energy has become a key problem. To address this problem, this study proposes a probabilistic collocation method(PCM)-based PSSSA for a power system consisting of wind farms and photovoltaic farms. Compared with the conventional Monte Carlo method, the proposed method meets the accuracy and precision requirements and greatly reduces the computation; therefore, it is suitable for the PSSSA of this power system. Case studies are conducted based on a 4-machine 2-area and New England systems, respectively. The simulation results show that, by reducing synchronous generator output to improve the penetration of renewable energy, the probabilistic small signal stability(PSSS) of the system is enhanced. Conversely, by removing part of the synchronous generators to improve the penetration of renewable energy, the PSSS of the system may be either enhanced or deteriorated.

Climate change characteristics of Amur River

Unusually severe weather is occurring more frequently due to global climate change. Heat waves, rainstorms, snowstorms, and droughts are becoming increasingly common all over the world, threatening human lives and property. Both temperature and precipitation are representative variables usually used to directly reflect and forecast the influences of climate change. In this study, daily data （from 1953 to 1995） and monthly data （from 1950 to 2010） of temperature and precipitation in five regions of the Amur River were examined. The significance of changes in temperature and precipitation was tested using the Mann-Kendall test method. The amplitudes were computed using the linear least-squares regression model, and the extreme temperature and precipitation were analyzed using hydrological statistical methods. The results show the following： the mean annual temperature increased significantly from 1950 to 2010 in the five regions, mainly due to the warming in spring and winter; the annual precipitation changed significantly from 1950 to 2010 only in the lower mainstream of the Amur River; the frequency of extremely low temperature events decreased from 1953 to 1995 in the mainstream of the Amur River; the frequency of high temperature events increased from 1953 to 1995 in the mainstream of the Amur River; and the frequency of extreme precipitation events did not change significantly from 1953 to 1995 in the mainstream of the Amur River. This study provides a valuable theoretical basis for settling disputes between China and Russia on sustainable development and utilization of water resources of the Amur River.