Malawi Opens Tourism Doors No visa’s needed for Chinese tourists and others,as Malawi makes visits more convenient

When Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera delivered a State of the Nation Address at the 50th Parliamentary Session and Budget Meeting in February,tourism was top of mind.

Corneal collagen cross-linking in patients with keratoconus from the Dresden protocol to customized solutions:theoretical basis

Keratoconus is an ectatic condition characterized by gradual corneal thinning,corneal protrusion,progressive irregular astigmatism,corneal fibrosis,and visual impairment.The therapeutic options regarding improvement of visual function include glasses or soft contact lenses correction for initial stages,gas-permeable rigid contact lenses,scleral lenses,implantation of intrastromal corneal ring or corneal transplants for most advanced stages.In keratoconus cases showing disease progression corneal collagen crosslinking(CXL)has been proven to be an effective,minimally invasive and safe procedure.CXL consists of a photochemical reaction of corneal collagen by riboflavin stimulation with ultraviolet A radiation,resulting in stromal crosslinks formation.The aim of this review is to carry out an examination of CXL methods based on theoretical basis and mathematical models,from the original Dresden protocol to the most recent developments in the technique,reporting the changes proposed in the last 15y and examining the advantages and disadvantages of the various treatment protocols.Finally,the limits of non-standardized methods and the perspectives offered by a customization of the treatment are highlighted.

Literature overview of basic characteristics and flotation laws of flocs

Flocculation flotation is the most efficient method for recovering fine-grained minerals,and its essence lies in flotation and recovery of flocs.Fundamental physical characteristics of flocs are mainly determined by their apparent particle size and structure(density and morphology).Substantial researches have been conducted regarding the effect of floc characteristics on particle settling and water treatment.However,the influence of floc characteristics on flotation has not been widely studied.Based on the floc formation and flocculation flotation,this study reviews the fundamental physical characteristics of flocs from the perspectives of floc particle size and structure,summarizing the interaction between floc particle size and structure.Moreover,it thoroughly discusses the effect of floc particle size and structure on floc floatability,further revealing the influence of floc characteristics on bubble collision and adhesion and elucidating the mechanisms of interaction between flocs and bubbles.Thus,it is observed that floc particle size is not the only factor influencing flocculation flotation.Within the appropriate apparent particle size range,flocs with a compact structure exhibit higher efficiency in bubble collision and adhesion during flotation,thereby resulting in enhanced flotation performance.This study aims to provide a reference for flocculation flotation,targeting the development of more efficient and refined flocculation flotation processes in the future.

Weber Law Based Approach for Multi-Class Image Forgery Detection

Today’s forensic science introduces a new research area for digital image analysis formultimedia security.So,Image authentication issues have been raised due to the wide use of image manipulation software to obtain an illegitimate benefit or createmisleading publicity by using tempered images.Exiting forgery detectionmethods can classify only one of the most widely used Copy-Move and splicing forgeries.However,an image can contain one or more types of forgeries.This study has proposed a hybridmethod for classifying Copy-Move and splicing images using texture information of images in the spatial domain.Firstly,images are divided into equal blocks to get scale-invariant features.Weber law has been used for getting texture features,and finally,XGBOOST is used to classify both Copy-Move and splicing forgery.The proposed method classified three types of forgeries,i.e.,splicing,Copy-Move,and healthy.Benchmarked(CASIA 2.0,MICCF200)and RCMFD datasets are used for training and testing.On average,the proposed method achieved 97.3% accuracy on benchmarked datasets and 98.3% on RCMFD datasets by applying 10-fold cross-validation,which is far better than existing methods.

CONVERGENCE FROM THE TWO-SPECIES VLASOV-POISSON-BOLTZMANN SYSTEM TO THE TWO-FLUID INCOMPRESSIBLE NAVIER-STOKES-FOURIER-POISSON SYSTEM WITH OHM'S LAW

In this paper,we justify the convergence from the two-species Vlasov-PoissonBoltzmann(VPB,for short)system to the two-fluid incompressible Navier-Stokes-FourierPoisson(NSFP,for short)system with Ohm’s law in the context of classical solutions.We prove the uniform estimates with respect to the Knudsen numberεfor the solutions to the two-species VPB system near equilibrium by treating the strong interspecies interactions.Consequently,we prove the convergence to the two-fluid incompressible NSFP asεgoes to 0.

THE LAW OF THE ITERATED LOGARITHM FOR SPATIAL AVERAGES OF THE STOCHASTIC HEAT EQUATION

Let u(t,x)be the solution to the one-dimensional nonlinear stochastic heat equation driven by space-time white noise with u(0,x)=1 for all x∈R.In this paper,we prove the law of the iterated logarithm(LIL for short)and the functional LIL for a linear additive functional of the form∫[0,R]u(t,x)dx and the nonlinear additive functionals of the form∫[0,R]g(u(t,x))dx,where g:R→R is nonrandom and Lipschitz continuous,as R→∞for fixed t>0,using the localization argument.

THE LOW MACH NUMBER LIMIT FOR ISENTROPIC COMPRESSIBLE NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS WITH A REVISED MAXWELL'S LAW

We investigate the low Mach number limit for the isentropic compressible NavierStokes equations with a revised Maxwell's law(with Galilean invariance) in R^(3). By applying the uniform estimates of the error system, it is proven that the solutions of the isentropic Navier-Stokes equations with a revised Maxwell's law converge to that of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations as the Mach number tends to zero. Moreover, the convergence rates are also obtained.

PRECISE ASYMPTOTICS IN THE BAUM-KATZ AND DAVIS LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS FOR POSITIVELY ASSOCIATED SEQUENCES

Let {X_i;i≥1} be a strictly stationary sequence of associated random variables with mean zero and let σ2=EX2_1+2∞_~j=2 EX_1X_j with 0<σ2<∞.Set S_n=n_~i=1 X_i,the precise asymptotics for _~n≥1 n^rp-2 P(|S_n|≥εn^1p ),_~n≥1 1nP(|S_n|≥εn^1p ) and _~n≥1 (log n)δnP(|S_n|≥εnlogn) as ε0 are established.

Applicability of mass action law to sulphur distribution between slag melts and liquid iron

According to the mass action law and the coexistence theory of slagstructure, the calculating models of mass action concentration for CaO-MgO-FeO-Fe_2O_3-SiO_2,CaO-MgO-MnO-FeO-Fe_2O_3-P_2O_5-SiO_2 and CaO-MgO-MnO-FeO-Fe_2O_3-Al_2O_3-P_2O_5-SiO_2 slag melts areformulated and sulphur distribution between the slag melts and liquid iron is treated. It is foundthat CaO, MnO and FeO promote desulphurization, while MgO is detrimental to desulphurization. Inaddition, the sulphur distribution coefficients between the slag melts and liquid iron andpresented.

STRONG LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS AND ASYMPTOTIC EQUIPARTITION PROPERTY FOR NONSYMMETRIC MARKOV CHAIN FIELDS ON CAYLEY TREES

Some strong laws of large numbers for the frequencies of occurrence of states and ordered couples of states for nonsymmetric Markov chain fields （NSMC） on Cayley trees are studied. In the proof, a new technique for the study of strong limit theorems of Markov chains is extended to the case of Markov chain fields, The asymptotic equipartition properties with almost everywhere （a,e.） convergence for NSMC on Cayley trees are obtained,

Applicability of law of mass action to distribution of manganese between slag melts and liquid iron

According to the law of mass action and the coexistence theory of slag structure, the distribution of manganese between MnO FeO SiO 2 and MgO MnO FeO SiO 2 slag melts as well as liquid iron was analyzed. It is shown that K ′ Mn and K MnO are only dependent on temperature and don’t change with basicities and compositions of slag melts. So the distribution of manganese between the above mentioned slag melts and molten iron obeys the law of mass action. But analysis of experimental results from other sources shows that K ′ Mn and K MnO really change with basicities of slag, which is probably arisen from not approaching equilibrium under low basicity slag melts.

A System Status Definition to Improve Behavior Description in Specifications Based on Constructal Law

System behavior description using states faces problems like state explosion, lack of clear definition of state, state identification and coordination between multiple agents. The goals of this work are to ease design activity, to reduce engineering efforts, and to mitigate project risks. The proposed way is to improve information flow during design by adding definitions and some protocols or rules for communicating a specification or design description. This work presented an objective definition of system status (way of interaction with the rest of the world) along other concepts. This work focused in definitions as mind entities and their importance to rationalize work and mitigate project risks during design. This article presented some simple examples to illustrate the advantages of each aspect of proposed definition of system status and discussed limits and exceptions for such definition. The key finding was the proposed definition which was the simplest while keeping completeness at a given product breakdown level. Such definition of status enforced formal segregation of needs and solutions, and eased the inclusion of behavior definition in specifications.

Predictive Elastoplastic Damage Constitutive Law: Establishment of Equivalence Relation between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Material Parameters

The purpose of the current work is the development and application of a new identification method of material parameters of elastoplastic damage constitutive model under large strains. A relationship relating the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of a reference material is built and transformed in equivalence relation. Extrinsic parameters concern the shape of their experimental tensile force/elongation curve, however, intrinsic parameters deal with Swift hardening law coupled with an isotropic damage variable. The relationship is carried out from a statistical characterization of a material reference (standard-steel E24). It based on multiple linear regression of a data set obtained according to a full factor design of numerical simulations of mechanical tensile tests. All materials satisfying this equivalence relation belong to the same equivalence class. This is motivated by observing that gathered materials must behave somewhat like the reference material. The material parameters can be immediately identified by only one task by running the found relationship. The current method facilitates the identification procedure and offers a substantial savings in CPU time. However it just needs only one simulation for the identification of similar behavior instead of the few hundred required when using other methods.

A Brief Assessment on Whether the CISG Should be Part of English Law with Reference to Parts Ⅰ and Ⅲ of the CISG

This article briefly assesses whether the CISG should be part of English law with reference to Parts Ⅰ and Ⅲ of the CISG,hopefully providing some slight values for the development of the International Sale of Goods.

Data-driven modeling on anisotropic mechanical behavior of brain tissue with internal pressure

Brain tissue is one of the softest parts of the human body,composed of white matter and grey matter.The mechanical behavior of the brain tissue plays an essential role in regulating brain morphology and brain function.Besides,traumatic brain injury(TBI)and various brain diseases are also greatly influenced by the brain's mechanical properties.Whether white matter or grey matter,brain tissue contains multiscale structures composed of neurons,glial cells,fibers,blood vessels,etc.,each with different mechanical properties.As such,brain tissue exhibits complex mechanical behavior,usually with strong nonlinearity,heterogeneity,and directional dependence.Building a constitutive law for multiscale brain tissue using traditional function-based approaches can be very challenging.Instead,this paper proposes a data-driven approach to establish the desired mechanical model of brain tissue.We focus on blood vessels with internal pressure embedded in a white or grey matter matrix material to demonstrate our approach.The matrix is described by an isotropic or anisotropic nonlinear elastic model.A representative unit cell(RUC)with blood vessels is built,which is used to generate the stress-strain data under different internal blood pressure and various proportional displacement loading paths.The generated stress-strain data is then used to train a mechanical law using artificial neural networks to predict the macroscopic mechanical response of brain tissue under different internal pressures.Finally,the trained material model is implemented into finite element software to predict the mechanical behavior of a whole brain under intracranial pressure and distributed body forces.Compared with a direct numerical simulation that employs a reference material model,our proposed approach greatly reduces the computational cost and improves modeling efficiency.The predictions made by our trained model demonstrate sufficient accuracy.Specifically,we find that the level of internal blood pressure can greatly influence stress distribution and determine the possible related damage behaviors.

Airblast evolution initiated by Wangjiayan landslides in the M_(s)8.0 Wenchuan earthquake and its destructive capacity analysis

Airblasts,as one common phenomenon accompanied by rapid movements of landslides or rock/snow avalanches,commonly result in catastrophic damages and are attracting more and more scientific attention.To quantitatively analyze the intensity of airblast initiated by landslides,the Wangjiayan landslide,occurred in the Wenchuan earthquake,is selected here with the landslide propagation and airblast evolution being studied using FLUENT by introducing the Voellmy rheological law.The results reveal that:(1)For the Wangjiayan landslide,its whole travelling duration is only 12 s with its maximum velocity reaching 36 m/s at t=10 s;(2)corresponding to the landslide propagation,the maximum velocity,28 m/s,of the airblast initiated by the landslide also appears at t=10 s with its maximum pressure reaching594.8 Pa,which is equivalent to violent storm;(3)under the attack of airblast,the load suffered by buildings in the airblast zone increases to 1300 Pa at t=9.4 s and sharply decreased to-7000 Pa as the rapid decrease of the velocity of the sliding mass at t=10 s,which is seriously unfavorable for buildings and might be the key reason for the destructive collapse of buildings in the airblast zone of the Wangjiayan landslide.

Development and Application of a Power Law Constitutive Model for Eddy Current Dampers

Eddy current dampers (ECDs) have emerged as highly desirable solutions for vibration control due to theirexceptional damping performance and durability. However, the existing constitutive models present challenges tothe widespread implementation of ECD technology, and there is limited availability of finite element analysis (FEA)software capable of accurately modeling the behavior of ECDs. This study addresses these issues by developing anewconstitutivemodel that is both easily understandable and user-friendly for FEAsoftware. By utilizing numericalresults obtained from electromagnetic FEA, a novel power law constitutive model is proposed to capture thenonlinear behavior of ECDs. The effectiveness of the power law constitutive model is validated throughmechanicalproperty tests and numerical seismic analysis. Furthermore, a detailed description of the application process ofthe power law constitutive model in ANSYS FEA software is provided. To facilitate the preliminary design ofECDs, an analytical derivation of energy dissipation and parameter optimization for ECDs under harmonicmotionis performed. The results demonstrate that the power law constitutive model serves as a viable alternative forconducting dynamic analysis using FEA and optimizing parameters for ECDs.

Dimension by Dimension Finite Volume HWENO Method for Hyperbolic Conservation Laws

In this paper,we propose a finite volume Hermite weighted essentially non-oscillatory(HWENO)method based on the dimension by dimension framework to solve hyperbolic conservation laws.It can maintain the high accuracy in the smooth region and obtain the high resolution solution when the discontinuity appears,and it is compact which will be good for giving the numerical boundary conditions.Furthermore,it avoids complicated least square procedure when we implement the genuine two dimensional(2D)finite volume HWENO reconstruction,and it can be regarded as a generalization of the one dimensional(1D)HWENO method.Extensive numerical tests are performed to verify the high resolution and high accuracy of the scheme.

Miscibility of light oil and flue gas under thermal action

The miscibility of flue gas and different types of light oils is investigated through slender-tube miscible displacement experiment at high temperature and high pressure.Under the conditions of high temperature and high pressure,the miscible displacement of flue gas and light oil is possible.At the same temperature,there is a linear relationship between oil displacement efficiency and pressure.At the same pressure,the oil displacement efficiency increases gently and then rapidly to more than 90% to achieve miscible displacement with the increase of temperature.The rapid increase of oil displacement efficiency is closely related to the process that the light components of oil transit in phase state due to distillation with the rise of temperature.Moreover,at the same pressure,the lighter the oil,the lower the minimum miscibility temperature between flue gas and oil,which allows easier miscibility and ultimately better performance of thermal miscible flooding by air injection.The miscibility between flue gas and light oil at high temperature and high pressure is more typically characterized by phase transition at high temperature in supercritical state,and it is different from the contact extraction miscibility of CO_(2) under conventional high pressure conditions.

Nonuniform Dependence on the Initial Data for Solutions of Conservation Laws

In this paper,we study systems of conservation laws in one space dimension.We prove that for classical solutions in Sobolev spaces H^(s),with s>3/2,the data-to-solution map is not uniformly continuous.Our results apply to all nonlinear scalar conservation laws and to nonlinear hyperbolic systems of two equations.