Preparation of biological aerated filter media with coal fly ash and coal gangues

A novel kind of filter media has been studied using in biological aerated filter process which is produced by waste coal fly ash and coal gangues.The specific surface area and sum of braking and ware rate are viewed as the main factor for determining preparation conditions,including calcination temperature (in the range of 900 ℃ to 1250 ℃),proportion of coal gangue (in the range of 0 to 25%) and soaking time (in the range of 0 to 40 min).The effects of sintering conditions on the main property parameters are researched and the reasons have been analyzed.Considered with all factors,the optimum technological conditions are chosen as follows:the calcination temperature is 1050 ℃ ;the soaking time is 10 min and the proportion of coal gangue is 5%.When at these condition,the main property parameters of the filter media in the technological conditions are 1.6 m 2 /g for the specific surface area and 2.96 % for sum of braking and are rate respectively.Finally,a scanning electron microscope is used for analyzing the microstructure of the filter media.

Preparation and Physical Properties of Ceramsite Filter Media for Water Treatment Obtained from Municipal Solid Wastes

Sludge,solid waste of sewage treatment plants,poses a threat as a secondary pollution if it is not handled properly.In this study,artifical ceramsite filter material(ACFM)for water treatment,was obtained from sludge by high-temperature sintering process,and then it’s physical properties,leaching toxicity and sintering mechanisms were investigated.The results showed that the preferred conditions for the preparation of ACFM were that the mass ratio of sludge,river sediment and fly ash was 5∶4∶1,preheated at 400℃for 20 min and sintered at 1 150℃for 5 min.After the optimal sintering conditions treatment,the physical properties of the rate of breaking and wear,solubility in hydrochloric acid,silt carrying capacity,void fraction and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller(BET)specific surface area of ACFM were 0.2%,0.01%,0.2%,71.1%and 0.75×104cm2/g,respectively.The results confirmed that the ACFM’s physical properties were totally aligned to the requirements of China’s industry standard(CJ/T 299—2008).The leaching toxicity results indicated that the leaching contents of heavy metals,such as Cr,Zn and Cu,were much lower than the thresholds of China’s national standards(GB 5085.3—2007 and GB 8978—1996).

Preparation and Application of New Porous Environmental Ceramics Filter Medium

A new kind of environmental ceramics medium which was made of industrial solid wastes discharged hy Shandong Alum Corporation has been used in the process of drinking water treatment. New techniques were introduced to ensure its remarkable advantages such us high porosity and strength. The results of proctical application shotc that this sort of filter medium has shorter,filtration run, shorter mature period and higher filter deposit cupability compared with traditional sand filter medium. Moreaver, up to 25%-30% of the daily running costs are expected to be reduced by using this ceramics medium.

Preparation of High-precision Electrospun Nanoair Filter Paper for Air Purification

Electrospinning technology has become a research hotspot becauseof its advantages, such as simple operation, low cost, large specific surfacearea, high porosity, and good fiber continuity. Here, a new type of compositenanoair filter paper was prepared using electrospinning technology. Toimprove the practicability of air filter base paper, phenolic resin was used as acuring agent to improve the strength. The results show that the electrospunnanoair filter paper with air filter paper as the receiving substrate andpolyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution as the spinning solution excellentlyperformed in all aspects. The influence of the thickness (spinning time) of thePVA nanofiber membrane on the micromorphology, physical properties, andfiltration performance of the electrospun nanoair filter paper was analyzed.According to the ISO 5011-2014 standard, the initial resistance, filtrationefficiency, mean pore size, and dust capacity of the electrospun nanoair filterpaper were 77.3 Pa, 99.9941%, 3.50 μm, and 146 g/m^(2), respectively, when thespinning time was 15 min.

The design and preparation of a Fabry–Pérot polarizing filter

A novel single-cavity narrowband Fabry-Perot （FP） polarizing filter at normal incidence, constructed from a sandwich structure with sculptured anisotropic space layer and symmetric isotropic HR mirrors, is designed and prepared. The optical performances of transmittance, phase shift, central wavelength, and bandwidth for two polarized states are analyzed with the characteristic matrix. The numerical studies accord reasonably well with the experimental results. It is demonstrated that the polarization state of the electromagnetic wave and phase shift can be modulated by employing an anisotropic space layer in the polarizing beam splitter system. The birefringence of the anisotropic space layer provides a sophisticated phase modulation by varying the incidence angles over a broad range to have a wide-angle phase shift.

Preparation and Optical Patterning of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Color-Filter Films Using Latent Pigments by Utilizing Photo-Acid-Generator and Microwave Irradiation

Preparation and photo-patterning characteristics of organic-inorganic hybrid thin film containing latent pigment by using photo-acid-generator (PAG) and microwave irradiation have been investigated. The acrylic thin film modified with methoxysilane containing PAG was formed on a glass substrate and irradiated with ultraviolet rays to promote sol-gel reaction by catalytic action of acid which was generated from PAG. And then the film was hardened with microwave irradiation, yielding organic-inorganic hybrid polymer film having hardness, highly transparency and strong adhesion with a glass substrate. Since this reaction only occurred in the optically (UV) irradiated regions, by exploiting the difference between the adhesivenesses of these regions photo-irradiated through photomask with a glass substrate, it was possible to form a patterned film with pitch of 100 to 50 μm by a simple lift-off method. A pigment-containing film using latent pigments (with subtractive three primary colors of coloring materials) and a patterned film were prepared, and it was possible to make these films multi-colored by varying the mixing ratio of the pigments. This multi-colored film-preparation method is effective for simply and efficiently forming a color-filter film by applying optical and microwave irradiation.

Research Progress of Bowel Preparation for Colonoscopy

Colorectal cancer ranks third in the global cancer data in 2020. Colorectal scope is the most effective method to diagnose colorectal diseases such as benign and malignant colorectal tumors. The poor quality of intestinal preparation causes an increased rate of missed diagnosis of colorectal tumors, reduces the rate of cecal intubation for colorectal examination, increases the discomfort, and reduces the compliance of re-examination. Therefore, we should try our best to improve the quality of intestinal preparation. This study reviewed the latest advances related to the preoperative preparation for colonoscopy. Recent research shows that smartphone apps can provide more detailed education and guidance on bowel preparation;Pre-packaged foods are more suitable as a way to eat before colonoscopy. The use of smaller doses, better taste of cathartic agents, and some auxiliary measures, combined with the patient’s situation to provide personalized intestinal preparation measures to improve the quality of intestinal preparation. Starting from the quality of colonoscopy bowel preparation, continuous improvement of patients’ tolerance to bowel preparation, continuous improvement of bowel preparation plan based on individual factors’ needs, and better communication with examined subjects by using existing scientific information technology, may be the hot spot of colonoscopy bowel preparation research in the next few years.

A multi-scale second-order autoregressive recursive filter approach for the sea ice concentration analysis

To effectively extract multi-scale information from observation data and improve computational efficiency,a multi-scale second-order autoregressive recursive filter(MSRF)method is designed.The second-order autoregressive filter used in this study has been attempted to replace the traditional first-order recursive filter used in spatial multi-scale recursive filter(SMRF)method.The experimental results indicate that the MSRF scheme successfully extracts various scale information resolved by observations.Moreover,compared with the SMRF scheme,the MSRF scheme improves computational accuracy and efficiency to some extent.The MSRF scheme can not only propagate to a longer distance without the attenuation of innovation,but also reduce the mean absolute deviation between the reconstructed sea ice concentration results and observations reduced by about 3.2%compared to the SMRF scheme.On the other hand,compared with traditional first-order recursive filters using in the SMRF scheme that multiple filters are executed,the MSRF scheme only needs to perform two filter processes in one iteration,greatly improving filtering efficiency.In the two-dimensional experiment of sea ice concentration,the calculation time of the MSRF scheme is only 1/7 of that of SMRF scheme.This means that the MSRF scheme can achieve better performance with less computational cost,which is of great significance for further application in real-time ocean or sea ice data assimilation systems in the future.

一种基于Filter Faster R-CNN的数字PCR液滴检测技术

目的研究液滴数字聚合酶链式反应(ddPCR)液滴检测技术,去除图像中灰尘、气泡、芯片表面的划痕以及微小凹陷等因素产生的异常点对结果的影响,实现高通量、稳定和准确的ddPCR液滴的自动检测。方法提出Filter Faster R-CNN ddPCR液滴检测模型。使用Faster R-CNN生成液滴预测框,之后使用异常点过滤模块(Filter)去除阳性液滴预测框中的异常点。以诺如病毒片段的质粒为模板进行ddPCR实验,建立一个ddPCR数据集,用于模型的训练(2462例,约占78.56%)和测试(672例,约占21.44%)。对异常点过滤模块的3个过滤支路在验证集上进行消融实验,通过与其他ddPCR液滴检测模型进行比较的对比实验以及进行ddPCR的绝对定量实验。结果在少尘和多尘的环境中,Filter Faster R-CNN阳性液滴准确率为98.23%和88.35%,综合指标F1分数分别达到了99.15%和99.14%,高于其他相比较的模型。独立样本T检验的结果证明,相比未添加过滤模块的网络,添加过滤模块后能够显著提示模型在多尘环境中的阳性准确率。在ddPCR绝对定量实验中,将商业化流式检测设备的结果作为标准浓度,绘制了回归线。结果显示,回归线斜率为1.0005,截距为-0.025,决定系数达到了0.9997,二者结果高度一致。结论本文提出了一种基于Filter Faster R-CNN的ddPCR液滴检测技术,为在多种环境条件下的ddPCR实验提供了鲁棒的液滴检测方法。

Estimating the subsolar magnetopause position from soft X-ray images using a low-pass image filter

The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager(LEXI)and Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)missions will image the Earth’s dayside magneto pause and cusps in soft X-rays after their respective launches in the near future,to specify glo bal magnetic reconnection modes for varying solar wind conditions.To suppo rt the success of these scientific missions,it is critical to develop techniques that extract the magnetopause locations from the observed soft X-ray images.In this research,we introduce a new geometric equation that calculates the subsolar magnetopause position(RS)from a satellite position,the look direction of the instrument,and the angle at which the X-ray emission is maximized.Two assumptions are used in this method:(1)The look direction where soft X-ray emissions are maximized lies tangent to the magnetopause,and(2)the magnetopause surface near the subsolar point is almost spherical and thus RSis nea rly equal to the radius of the magneto pause curvature.We create synthetic soft X-ray images by using the Open Geospace General Circulation Model(OpenGGCM)global magnetohydrodynamic model,the galactic background,the instrument point spread function,and Poisson noise.We then apply the fast Fourier transform and Gaussian low-pass filte rs to the synthetic images to re move noise and obtain accurate look angles for the soft X-ray pea ks.From the filte red images,we calculate RS and its accuracy for different LEXI locations,look directions,and solar wind densities by using the OpenGGCM subsolar magnetopause location as ground truth.Our method estimates RS with an accuracy of<0.3 RE when the solar wind density exceeds>10 cm-3.The accuracy improves for greater solar wind densities and during southward interplanetary magnetic fields.The method ca ptures the magnetopause motion during southwa rd interplaneta ry magnetic field turnings.Consequently,the technique will enable quantitative analysis of the magnetopause motion and help reveal the dayside reconnection modes for dynamic solar wind conditions.This technique will suppo rt the LEXI and SMILE missions in achieving their scientific o bjectives.

New Insights in the Biodegradability and the Ecotoxicological Effects of Solar Products Containing Mineral and Chemical UV-Filters on Marine Zoo- and Phytoplanktons: An in silico and in vitro Study

Background: Cosmetic formulations, and particularly solar products which contain mineral and chemical UV-filters, are often suspected of causing harmful effects on marine fauna and flora. After the publication of our work in 2019 concerning the ecotoxicological effects of such formulations on corals (Seriatopora hystrix), we here provide some new information about the biodegradability and the ecotoxicological effects of these products on marine zoo- and phytoplankton. Therefore, we choose to realize in silico and in vitro studies of the biodegradability of several solar products but also to evaluate the ecotoxicological effects of these products on one phytoplankton, i.e. Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and one zooplankton, i.e. Acartia tonsa, of a great importance for sea species survival (notably as sources of food). Materials and methods: Two different approaches were used to study the biodegradability of the tested products: One in silico method and an in vitro one. 2 solar products were involved in the in silico study which consisted in the determination of the degradation factor (DF) of each ingredient of the tested formulas in order to finally obtain their estimated biodegradability percentage. Already available data concerning each ingredient coupled to a computer model developed with one of our partners were used to achieve this study. The in vitro study involved 8 formulas containing UV-filters and was led by following the OECD 301 F guidelines. Ecotoxicological studies of 7 of the formulas containing UV-filters were for their part realized by following the ISO 10253 guidelines for the experiments led with Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and the ISO 14669 guidelines for the experiments led with Acartia tonsa. In these studies, the effect of each tested product on crustaceans’ mortality and algal growth inhibition was assessed. Results: The in silico study predicted that formulas containing chemical UV-filters display a high biodegradability (superior to the threshold value of 60% given by the OECD 301 F guidelines). In the in vitro part of our work, the 8 tested formulas showed a biodegradability slightly inferior to the one predicted in the in silico experiments. Therefore, in order to evaluate if these calculated biodegradability value could have significant harmful effects on zoo- or phytoplankton, we studied the effect of our products regarding the growth inhibition on Phaeodactylum tricornutum and the mortality on Acartia tonsa. In this last part of the study, all the tested products were classified as “non ecotoxic” following an internal classification based on Part 4 entitled “Environmental Hazards” of Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), 9th edition (2021). Conclusions: These results are notably in line with those published by our teams in 2019 on the effects of solar cosmetic products on corals and seem to confirm that formulas containing mineral and chemical UV-filters can be daily used without displaying significant noxious effects on marine fauna and flora. .

On-spot preparation of EDTA solution for the treatment of band keratopathy:a case report

Dear Editor,We report a case of band keratopathy who experienced several ocular surgeries,secondary uveitis and glaucoma which eventually led to severe band keratopathy.We use commonly-used vacuum blood collection tubes with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid dipotassium salt(EDTA-K2)to prepare chelation solution on-spot to remove the calcium deposits on the corneal surface.It is proved to be relatively safety,efficacy,cost-effective.

Common Artifacts and Remedies in Histological Preparations

The importance of the accuracy of preparing biological specimen as histological sections that can be examined under a microscope lies in reflecting a true image of the tissue that includes all its components, which are used in scientific research or for the purpose of diagnosing various diseases of the body. Despite this, some cellular structures within the tissue may suffer from some alterations that result from the appearance of defects during any stage of preparing these microscopic sections, which alter or interfere with the precise cellular structures and morphology that constitute the tissue and thus give a different image for tissue features and cause confusion in the work histopathologist in the diagnosis. There are several reasons that can cause a misdiagnosis of the sample that occurs during the surgical separation process or after separation during the stages of microscopic preparation techniques from fixation stage, tissue processing, embedding or microtomy, staining until mounting procedures. The constant need to identify these defects and their causes in addition to try to reduce them is one of the biggest challenges evident in pathology laboratories. Therefore, this study aims to review the most common defects that occur in any stage of tissue processing, with an explanation of their causes and appropriate ways to avoid them.

Recursive Filtering for Stochastic Systems With Filter-and-Forward Successive Relays

In this paper,the recursive filtering problem is considered for stochastic systems over filter-and-forward successive relay(FFSR)networks.An FFSR is located between the sensor and the remote filter to forward the measurement.In the successive relay,two cooperative relay nodes are adopted to forward the signals alternatively,thereby existing switching characteristics and inter-relay interferences(IRI).Since the filter-and-forward scheme is employed,the signal received by the relay is retransmitted after it passes through a linear filter.The objective of the paper is to concurrently design optimal recursive filters for FFSR and stochastic systems against switching characteristics and IRI of relays.First,a uniform measurement model is proposed by analyzing the transmission mechanism of FFSR.Then,novel filter structures with switching parameters are constructed for both FFSR and stochastic systems.With the help of the inductive method,filtering error covariances are presented in the form of coupled difference equations.Next,the desired filter gain matrices are further obtained by minimizing the trace of filtering error covariances.Moreover,the stability performance of the filtering algorithm is analyzed where the uniform bound is guaranteed on the filtering error covariance.Finally,the effectiveness of the proposed filtering method over FFSR is verified by a three-order resistance-inductance-capacitance circuit system.

Bayesian Filtering for High-Dimensional State-Space Models With State Partition and Error Compensation

In the era of exponential growth of data availability,the architecture of systems has a trend toward high dimensionality,and directly exploiting holistic information for state inference is not always computationally affordable.This paper proposes a novel Bayesian filtering algorithm that considers algorithmic computational cost and estimation accuracy for high-dimensional linear systems.The high-dimensional state vector is divided into several blocks to save computation resources by avoiding the calculation of error covariance with immense dimensions.After that,two sequential states are estimated simultaneously by introducing an auxiliary variable in the new probability space,mitigating the performance degradation caused by state segmentation.Moreover,the computational cost and error covariance of the proposed algorithm are analyzed analytically to show its distinct features compared with several existing methods.Simulation results illustrate that the proposed Bayesian filtering can maintain a higher estimation accuracy with reasonable computational cost when applied to high-dimensional linear systems.

Progress in preparation of AlN-reinforced magnesium matrix composites:A review

As a ceramic material,AlN has very good thermophysical and mechanical properties.In addition,AlN is an effective refining agent for Mg alloys because it has a lattice constant similar to that of Mg.Therefore,AlN is an ideal reinforcement for magnesium matrix composites(MMCs),and is attracting increasing attention.This review addresses the development of preparation technologies for AlN-reinforced Mg matrix composites.The mainstream preparation techniques include stir casting,melt infiltration,powder metallurgy,and in-situ methods.In addition,the advantages and disadvantages of these techniques are analyzed in depth,and it is pointed out that the next direction for the preparation of high-performance AlN-reinforced MMCs is less aluminization and multiple technologies integration.

Dynamic Event-Triggered Quadratic Nonfragile Filtering for Non-Gaussian Systems:Tackling Multiplicative Noises and Missing Measurements

This paper focuses on the quadratic nonfragile filtering problem for linear non-Gaussian systems under multiplicative noises,multiple missing measurements as well as the dynamic event-triggered transmission scheme.The multiple missing measurements are characterized through random variables that obey some given probability distributions,and thresholds of the dynamic event-triggered scheme can be adjusted dynamically via an auxiliary variable.Our attention is concentrated on designing a dynamic event-triggered quadratic nonfragile filter in the well-known minimum-variance sense.To this end,the original system is first augmented by stacking its state/measurement vectors together with second-order Kronecker powers,thus the original design issue is reformulated as that of the augmented system.Subsequently,we analyze statistical properties of augmented noises as well as high-order moments of certain random parameters.With the aid of two well-defined matrix difference equations,we not only obtain upper bounds on filtering error covariances,but also minimize those bounds via carefully designing gain parameters.Finally,an example is presented to explain the effectiveness of this newly established quadratic filtering algorithm.

3D robust anisotropic diffusion filtering algorithm for sparse view neutron computed tomography 3D image reconstruction

The most critical part of a neutron computed tomography(NCT) system is the image processing algorithm,which directly affects the quality and speed of the reconstructed images.Various types of noise in the system can degrade the quality of the reconstructed images.Therefore,to improve the quality of the reconstructed images of NCT systems,efficient image processing algorithms must be used.The anisotropic diffusion filtering(ADF) algorithm can not only effectively suppress the noise in the projection data,but also preserve the image edge structure information by reducing the diffusion at the image edges.Therefore,we propose the application of the ADF algorithm for NCT image reconstruction.To compare the performance of different algorithms in NCT systems,we reconstructed images using the ordered subset simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique(OS-SART) algorithm with different regular terms as image processing algorithms.In the iterative reconstruction,we selected two image processing algorithms,the Total Variation and split Bregman solved total variation algorithms,for comparison with the performance of the ADF algorithm.Additionally,the filtered back-projection algorithm was used for comparison with an iterative algorithm.By reconstructing the projection data of the numerical and clock models,we compared and analyzed the effects of each algorithm applied in the NCT system.Based on the reconstruction results,OS-SART-ADF outperformed the other algorithms in terms of denoising,preserving the edge structure,and suppressing artifacts.For example,when the 3D Shepp–Logan was reconstructed at 25 views,the root mean square error of OS-SART-ADF was the smallest among the four iterative algorithms,at only 0.0292.The universal quality index,mean structural similarity,and correlation coefficient of the reconstructed image were the largest among all algorithms,with values of 0.9877,0.9878,and 0.9887,respectively.

Optimize Purcell filter design for reducing influence of fabrication variation

To protect superconducting qubits and enable rapid readout, optimally designed Purcell filters are essential. To suppress the off-resonant driving of untargeted readout resonators, individual Purcell filters are used for each readout resonator.However, achieving consistent frequency between a readout resonator and a Purcell filter is a significant challenge. A systematic computational analysis is conducted to investigate how fabrication variation affects filter performance, through focusing on the coupling capacitor structure and coplanar waveguide(CPW) transmission line specifications. The results indicate that the T-type enclosing capacitor(EC), which exhibits lower structural sensitivity, is more advantageous for achieving target capacitance than the C-type EC and the interdigital capacitor(IDC). By utilizing a large-sized CPW with the T-type EC structure, fluctuations in the effective coupling strength can be reduced to 10%, given typical micro-nanofabrication variances. The numerical simulations presented in this work minimize the influence of fabrication deviations, thereby significantly improving the reliability of Purcell filter designs.

Insight into demand-driven preparation of single-atomic mediators for lithium–sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S) batteries have attracted considerable attention as one of the most appealing energy storage systems.Strenuous efforts have been devoted to tackling the tremendous challenges,mainly pertaining to the severe shuttle effect,sluggish redox kinetics and lithium dendritic growth.Single-atomic mediators as promising candidates exhibit impressive performance in addressing these intractable issues.Related research often utilizes a trial-and-error approach,proposing solutions to fabricate single-atomic materials with diversified features.However,comprehensive review articles especially targeting demand-driven preparation are still in a nascent stage.Inspired by these considerations,this review summarizes the design of single-atomic mediators based on the application case-studies in LiS batteries and other metal-sulfur systems.Emerging preparation routes represented by chemical vapor deposition technology are introduced in a demand-oriented classification.Finally,future research directions are proposed to foster the advancement of single-atomic mediators in Li-S realm.