Compressive strength and frost heave resistance of different types of semi-rigid base materials after freeze-thaw cycles

Freeze-thaw damage is the most common disease of semi-rigid bases in cold regions, which may greatly affect the dura- bility of roadways. In this study, the compressive strength and frost resistance of four different types of semi-rigid bases （lime-fly ash-stabilized sand, cement-stabilized sand, lime-fly ash-stabilized gravel, and cement-stabilized gravel） are assessed by varying the materials content. Based on freeze-thaw and compressive strength tests, this paper presents the performance of the different materials, each having different physical properties, and the optimal amounts of materials contents are proposed.

Study on Test Methods for Mechanical Properties of Semi-rigid Base Cores of In-service Pavements

Compressive strength and compressive resilience modulus are two important parameters to measure the mechanical properties of semi-rigid base.The test methods of semi-rigid base cores are different from those of the laboratory samples in terms of sample acquisition,sample selection and humidity requirements.Core-drilling location,size of core sample,smoothness and humidity conditions were analyzed.The test methods of compressive strength and compressive resilience modulus were proposed.The research results show that compressive strength of lime fly-ash stabilized gravels base has a tendency of increasing during a long period.The compressive resilience modulus increases significantly with compressive strength of semi-rigid base.The compressive resilience modulus generally is 3-4 times than the recommended range of asphalt pavement design specifications.The fluctuation range of compressive resilience modulus is obviously higher than the compressive strength.The compressive resilience modulus is more sensitive to the construction variability.The overall trend between the compressive resilience modulus and the back-calculation modulus is consistent.FWD(falling weight deflectometer)back-calculation modulus can reflect the stiffness and bearing capacity of asphalt pavement.

Imaging characteristics and treatment strategies for carotid artery occlusion caused by skull base fracture:Three case reports

BACKGROUND Traumatic internal carotid artery(ICA)occlusion is a rare complication of skull base fractures,characterized by high mortality and disability rates,and poor prognosis.Therefore,timely discovery and correct management are crucial for saving the lives of such patients and improving their prognosis.This article retrospectively analyzed the imaging and clinical data of three patients,to explore the imaging characteristics and treatment strategies for carotid artery occlusion,combined with severe skull base fractures.CASE SUMMARY This case included three patients,all male,aged 21,63,and 16 years.They underwent plain film skull computed tomography(CT)examination at the onset of their illnesses,which revealed fractures at the bases of their skulls.Ultimately,these cases were definitively diagnosed through CT angiography(CTA)examinations.The first patient did not receive surgical treatment,only anticoagulation therapy,and recovered smoothly with no residual limb dysfunction(Case 1).The other two patients both developed intracranial hypertension and underwent decompressive craniectomy.One of these patients had high intracranial pressure and significant brain swelling postoperatively,leading the family to choose to take him home(Case 2).The other patient also underwent decompressive craniectomy and recovered well postoperatively with only mild limb motor dysfunction(Case 3).We retrieved literature from PubMed on skull base fractures causing ICA occlusion to determine the imaging characteristics and treatment strategies for this type of disease.CONCLUSION For patients with cranial trauma combined with skull base fractures,it is essential to complete a CTA examination as soon as possible,to screen for blunt cerebrovascular injury.

Prospective randomized study to evaluate and compare the post-procedural sexual function in patients undergoing semi-rigid ureterorenoscopy for distal ureteric stones in three different operating room settings

Objective:To evaluate and compare the effect of semi-rigid ureterorenoscopy on post-procedural sexual function with three different operating room settings.Methods:In this prospective randomized study,consecutive sexually active patients with normal pre-operative sexual function undergoing uncomplicated semi-rigid ureterorenoscopy for distal ureteric stones were randomized into three groups,with three different operating room settings.Procedure-related anxiety and sexual function were assessed pre-operatively using Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale and Brief Sexual Function Inventory(in males)and Female Sexual Function Index-6(in females),respectively.All the participants were stented following the procedure,and the stent was removed after 3 weeks.Post-procedural sexual function and general discomfort were assessed and compared between three groups at 1 week,3 weeks,and 12 weeks.The effect of surgery-related anxiety,preoperative sexual function,age,and general discomfort(including stent-related discomfort)on post-procedural sexual function were analyzed using multiple regression analysis.A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:Totally,327 eligible patients were randomized into three groups.The group of patients who underwent the procedural with a screen separating the operating area from the patient vision,while the patient could watch the endoscopy through a separate monitor,had better post-procedural sexual function compared to those who had total vision of the operating area as well as to those whose eyes were blocked.This difference was statistically significant.This post-procedural reduction in sexual function could not be attributed to in situ stent alone.Conclusions:Our study showed that semi-rigid ureterorenoscopy can have significant negative effect on sexual function,which can be reduced with proper preoperative counseling and an ideal operating room settings.

Base Pressure Control with Semi-Circular Ribs at Critical Mach Number

When better fuel-air mixing in the combustion chamber or a reduction in base drag are required in vehicles,rockets,and aeroplanes,the base pressure control is activated.Controlling the base pressure and drag is necessary in both scenarios.In this work,semi-circular ribs with varying diameters(2,4,and 6 mm)positioned at six distinct positions(0.5D,1D,1.5D,2D,3D,and 4D)inside a square duct with a side of 15 mm are proposed as an efficient way to apply the passive control technique.In-depth research is done on optimising rib size for various rib sites.According to this study,the base pressure rises as rib height increases.Furthermore,the optimal location for the semi-circular ribs with a diameter of 2 mm is at 0.5D.The 1D location appears to be optimal for the 4 mm size as well.For the 6 mm size,however,the 4D position fills this function.

Influence of external nitrogen-containing donors on polymerization behavior of neodymium-based cis-1,4-polybutadiene rubber

Neodymium(Nd)-based catalyst in butadiene(Bd)polymerization has drawn interests due to its availability in affording higher cis-1,4-unit selectivity than transition metal(Ti,Co,Ni,etc.)-based catalysts[1-2].Such outstanding high cis-1,4-unit selecti-vity is hypothetically originated from the presence of 4 f orbitals,that can participate in monomer coordination and thereby govern subsequent enchainment manners.This unique characteristic also renders the active species highly susceptible to Lewis bases,and may impact the overall selectivity as well as polyme-rization behavior after coordination.Nevertheless,it is still a virgin area in such a field,and the influence of Lewis bases on Nd-based diene polymerizations is still a black box.Based on this consideration,how nitrogen-containing donors(D)impacts the overall behaviors of Nd-mediated Bd polymerizations is disclosed.

The Evaluation of the Dietary Habits Influence on the Microhardness of Gingiva-Coloured Composite and Acrylic Denture Base Materials

Purpose: The study investigated the impact of dietary habits, specifically soda, milk kefir, water kefir, almond milk, and distilled water (control) consumption, on the microhardness of gingiva-coloured composite and acrylic denture bases. Methods: Materials included gingiva-coloured composite (Fusion Universal G1), acrylic (Imicryl), and subdivided Procryla group. Subgroups comprised 15 and 30-minute heat polymerized (Pro15, Pro30), and 1 wt% (Pro1Z) and 3 wt% (Pro3Z) zirconium added groups. Immersed in beverages for 1, 7, and 14 days, pH and microhardness were assessed. SEM examined random samples. Statistical analysis used repeated measures ANOVA, and post hoc tests (p Results: The gingiva-coloured composites displayed noteworthy time-associated microhardness changes (p 0.05). Despite variable pH levels in beverages, no substantial group interaction effects were observed (p > 0.05). Initial microhardness rankings shifted after a 14-day immersion. Conclusions: Gingiva-coloured composite exhibited the highest microhardness pre- and post-immersion, followed by Procryla30 and Imicryl groups. .

Source localization based on field signatures:Laboratory ultrasonic validation

Location awareness in wireless networks is essential for emergency services,navigation,gaming,and many other applications.This article presents a method for source localization based on measuring the amplitude-phase distribution of the field at the base station.The existing scatterers in the target area create unique scattered field interference at each source location.The unique field interference at each source location results in a unique field signature at the base station which is used for source localization.In the proposed method,the target area is divided into a grid with a step of less than half the wavelength.Each grid node is characterized by its field signature at the base station.Field signatures corresponding to all nodes are normalized and stored in the base station as fingerprints for source localization.The normalization of the field signatures avoids the need for time synchronization between the base station and the source.When a source transmits signals,the generated field signature at the base station is normalized and then correlated with the stored fingerprints.The maximum correlation value is given by the node to which the source is the closest.Numerical simulations and results of experiments on ultrasonic waves in the air show that the ultrasonic source is correctly localized using broadband field signatures with one base station and without time synchronization.The proposed method is potentially applicable for indoor localization and navigation of mobile robots.

Prediction of Damping Capacity Demand in Seismic Base Isolators via Machine Learning

Base isolators used in buildings provide both a good acceleration reduction and structural vibration control structures.The base isolators may lose their damping capacity over time due to environmental or dynamic effects.This deterioration of them requires the determination of the maintenance and repair needs and is important for the long-termisolator life.In this study,an artificial intelligence prediction model has been developed to determine the damage and maintenance-repair requirements of isolators as a result of environmental effects and dynamic factors over time.With the developed model,the required damping capacity of the isolator structure was estimated and compared with the previously placed isolator capacity,and the decrease in the damping property was tried to be determined.For this purpose,a data set was created by collecting the behavior of structures with single degrees of freedom(SDOF),different stiffness,damping ratio and natural period isolated from the foundation under far fault earthquakes.The data is divided into 5 different damping classes varying between 10%and 50%.Machine learning model was trained in damping classes with the data on the structure’s response to random seismic vibrations.As a result of the isolator behavior under randomly selected earthquakes,the recorded motion and structural acceleration of the structure against any seismic vibration were examined,and the decrease in the damping capacity was estimated on a class basis.The performance loss of the isolators,which are separated according to their damping properties,has been tried to be determined,and the reductions in the amounts to be taken into account have been determined by class.In the developed prediction model,using various supervised machine learning classification algorithms,the classification algorithm providing the highest precision for the model has been decided.When the results are examined,it has been determined that the damping of the isolator structure with the machine learning method is predicted successfully at a level exceeding 96%,and it is an effective method in deciding whether there is a decrease in the damping capacity.

Flexible,thermal processable,self-healing,and fully bio-based starch plastics by constructing dynamic imine network

The serious environmental threat caused by petroleum-based plastics has spurred more researches in developing substitutes from renewable sources.Starch is desirable for fabricating bioplastic due to its abundance and renewable nature.However,limitations such as brittleness,hydrophilicity,and thermal properties restrict its widespread application.To overcome these issues,covalent adaptable network was constructed to fabricate a fully bio-based starch plastic with multiple advantages via Schiff base reactions.This strategy endowed starch plastic with excellent thermal processability,as evidenced by a low glass transition temperature(T_(g)=20.15℃).Through introducing Priamine with long carbon chains,the starch plastic demonstrated superior flexibility(elongation at break=45.2%)and waterproof capability(water contact angle=109.2°).Besides,it possessed a good thermal stability and self-adaptability,as well as solvent resistance and chemical degradability.This work provides a promising method to fabricate fully bio-based plastics as alternative to petroleum-based plastics.

New construction of mutually unbiased bases for odd-dimensional state space

We study the construction of mutually unbiased bases in Hilbert space for composite dimensions d which are not prime powers.We explore the results for composite dimensions which are true for prime power dimensions.We then provide a method for selecting mutually unbiased vectors from the eigenvectors of generalized Pauli matrices to construct mutually unbiased bases.In particular,we present four mutually unbiased bases in C^(15).

Atomically dispersed calcium as solid strong base catalyst with high activity and stability

Solid strong base catalysts are highly attractive for diverse reactions owing to their advantages of neglectable corrosion,facile separation,and environmental friendliness.However,their widespread applications are impeded by basic components aggregation and low stability.In this work,we fabricate single calcium atoms on graphene(denoted as Ca1/G)by use of a redox strategy for the first time,producing solid strong base catalyst with high activity and stability.The precursor Ca(NO_(3))_(2)is first reduced to CaO at 400℃ by the support graphene,forming CaO/G with conventional basic sites,and the subsequent reduction at 850℃results in the generation of Ca1/G with atomically dispersed Ca.Various characterizations reveal that Ca single atoms are anchored on graphene in tetra-coordination(Ca-C_(2)-N_(2))where N is in situ doped from Ca(NO_(3))_(2).The atomically dispersed Ca,along with their anchoring on the support,endow Ca1/G with high activity and stability toward the transesterification reaction of ethylene carbonate with methanol.The turnover frequency value reaches 128.0 h^(-1)on Ca1/G,which is much higher than the traditional counterpart CaO/G and various reported solid strong bases(2.9-46.2 h^(-1)).Moreover,the activity of Ca1/G is well maintained during 5 cycles,while 60%of activity is lost for the conventional analogue CaO/G due to the leaching of Ca.

Role of micro-Ca/In alloying in tailoring the microstructural characteristics and discharge performance of dilute Mg-Bi-Sn-based alloys as anodes for Mg-air batteries

The influence of micro-Ca/In alloying on the microstructural charac teristics,electrochemical behaviors and discharge properties of extruded dilute Mg-0.5Bi-0.5Sn-based(wt.%)alloys as anodes for Mg-air batteries are evaluated.The grain size and texture intensity of the Mg-Bi-Sn-based alloys are significantly decreased after the Ca/In alloying,particularly for the In-containing alloy.Note that,in addition to nanoscale Mg_(3)Bi_(2)phase,a new microscale Mg_(2)Bi_(2)Ca phase forms in the Ca-containing alloy.The electrochemical test results demonstrate that Ca/In micro-alloying can enhance the electrochemical activity.Using In to alloy the Mg-Bi-Sn-based alloy is effective in restricting the cathodic hydrogen evolution(CHE)kinetics,leading to a low self-corrosion rate,while severe CHE occurred after Ca alloying.The micro-alloying of Ca/In to Mg-Bi-Sn-based alloy strongly deteriorates the compactness of discharge products film and mitigates the"chunk effect"(CE),hence the cell voltage,anodic efficiency as well as discharge capacity are greatly improved.The In-containing alloy exhibits outstanding discharge performance under the combined effect of the modified microstructure and discharge products,thus making it a potential anode material for primary Mg-air battery.

Laboratory Evaluation of Performance Recovery of Aged SBS-modified Asphalt Using Regenerants with Different Base Oil Components

In this study,the regenerative effects of different regenerants on aged SBS-modified asphalt from different perspectives were investigated,including their conventional properties,viscoelastic behavior,creep-related properties,and micromorphology.Base oils composed of different proportions of aromatic and saturated hydrocarbons as well as the styrene-butadiene-styrene(SBS)restorer were used to prepare the regenerants.The results showed that the components of the base oil of the regenerant played a crucial role in determining the characteristics and performance of the recycled SBSmodified asphalt.Regenerants containing a high proportion of aromatics dissolved the hard segment in the SBS restorer,thereby delaying the effect of a reduction in the regenerants on the performance of the aged asphalts at a high temperature.Regenerants containing a high proportion of saturates dissolved the soft segment in the SBS restorer to enhance the lowtemperature performance of the recycled asphalts.In addition,the stress sensitivity of the recycled asphalts increased with the fraction of aromatics in the regenerant.As the aromatic content of the base oil components of the regenerants increased and their saturate content decreased,the state of dispersion of the SBS phase in the recycled SBS-modified asphalts improved.The optimal content of aromatics in the base oil of the regenerants should be set in the range of 33%to 47%to ensure the adequate performance of the recycled asphalts and a high efficiency of the SBS restorer.

Prediction of Lubricant Physicochemical Properties Based on Gaussian Copula Data Expansion

The composition of base oils affects the performance of lubricants made from them.This paper proposes a hybrid model based on gradient-boosted decision tree(GBDT)to analyze the effect of different ratios of KN4010,PAO40,and PriEco3000 component in a composite base oil system on the performance of lubricants.The study was conducted under small laboratory sample conditions,and a data expansion method using the Gaussian Copula function was proposed to improve the prediction ability of the hybrid model.The study also compared four optimization algorithms,sticky mushroom algorithm(SMA),genetic algorithm(GA),whale optimization algorithm(WOA),and seagull optimization algorithm(SOA),to predict the kinematic viscosity at 40℃,kinematic viscosity at 100℃,viscosity index,and oxidation induction time performance of the lubricant.The results showed that the Gaussian Copula function data expansion method improved the prediction ability of the hybrid model in the case of small samples.The SOA-GBDT hybrid model had the fastest convergence speed for the samples and the best prediction effect,with determination coefficients(R^(2))for the four indicators of lubricants reaching 0.98,0.99,0.96 and 0.96,respectively.Thus,this model can significantly reduce the model’s prediction error and has good prediction ability.

Improving Satellite-Retrieved Cloud Base Height with Ground-Based Cloud Radar Measurements

Cloud base height(CBH) is a crucial parameter for cloud radiative effect estimates, climate change simulations, and aviation guidance. However, due to the limited information on cloud vertical structures included in passive satellite radiometer observations, few operational satellite CBH products are currently available. This study presents a new method for retrieving CBH from satellite radiometers. The method first uses the combined measurements of satellite radiometers and ground-based cloud radars to develop a lookup table(LUT) of effective cloud water content(ECWC), representing the vertically varying cloud water content. This LUT allows for the conversion of cloud water path to cloud geometric thickness(CGT), enabling the estimation of CBH as the difference between cloud top height and CGT. Detailed comparative analysis of CBH estimates from the state-of-the-art ECWC LUT are conducted against four ground-based millimeter-wave cloud radar(MMCR) measurements, and results show that the mean bias(correlation coefficient) is0.18±1.79 km(0.73), which is lower(higher) than 0.23±2.11 km(0.67) as derived from the combined measurements of satellite radiometers and satellite radar-lidar(i.e., Cloud Sat and CALIPSO). Furthermore, the percentages of the CBH biases within 250 m increase by 5% to 10%, which varies by location. This indicates that the CBH estimates from our algorithm are more consistent with ground-based MMCR measurements. Therefore, this algorithm shows great potential for further improvement of the CBH retrievals as ground-based MMCR are being increasingly included in global surface meteorological observing networks, and the improved CBH retrievals will contribute to better cloud radiative effect estimates.

Elastic wave insulation and propagation control based on the programmable curved-beam periodic structure

Curved-beams can be used to design modular multistable metamaterials(MMMs)with reprogrammable material properties,i.e.,programmable curved-beam periodic structure(PCBPS),which is promising for controlling the elastic wave propagation.The PCBPS is theoretically equivalent to a spring-oscillator system to investigate the mechanism of bandgap,analyze the wave propagation mechanisms,and further form its geometrical and physical criteria for tuning the elastic wave propagation.With the equivalent model,we calculate the analytical solutions of the dispersion relations to demonstrate its adjustability,and investigate the wave propagation characteristics through the PCBPS.To validate the equivalent system,the finite element method(FEM)is employed.It is revealed that the bandgaps of the PCBPS can be turned on-and-off and shifted by varying its physical and geometrical characteristics.The findings are highly promising for advancing the practical application of periodic structures in wave insulation and propagation control.

Solid-state NMR of the retinal protonated Schiff base in microbial rhodopsins

Rhodopsin is a seven-helical transmembrane protein with a retinal chromophore covalently bound to a conserved lysine in helix G via a retinal protonated Schiff base(RPSB).Microbial rhodopsins absorb light through chromophore and play a fundamental role in optogenetics.Numerous microbial rhodopsins have been discovered,contributing to diverse functions and colors.Solid-state NMR spectroscopy has been instrumental in elucidating the conformation of chromophores and the three-dimensional structure of microbial rhodopsins.This review focuses on the 15N chemical shift values of RPSB and summarizes recent progress in the field.We displayed the correlation between the 15N isotropic chemical shift values of RPSB and the maximum absorption wavelength of rhodopsin using solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

RoBGP:A Chinese Nested Biomedical Named Entity Recognition Model Based on RoBERTa and Global Pointer

Named Entity Recognition(NER)stands as a fundamental task within the field of biomedical text mining,aiming to extract specific types of entities such as genes,proteins,and diseases from complex biomedical texts and categorize them into predefined entity types.This process can provide basic support for the automatic construction of knowledge bases.In contrast to general texts,biomedical texts frequently contain numerous nested entities and local dependencies among these entities,presenting significant challenges to prevailing NER models.To address these issues,we propose a novel Chinese nested biomedical NER model based on RoBERTa and Global Pointer(RoBGP).Our model initially utilizes the RoBERTa-wwm-ext-large pretrained language model to dynamically generate word-level initial vectors.It then incorporates a Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory network for capturing bidirectional semantic information,effectively addressing the issue of long-distance dependencies.Furthermore,the Global Pointer model is employed to comprehensively recognize all nested entities in the text.We conduct extensive experiments on the Chinese medical dataset CMeEE and the results demonstrate the superior performance of RoBGP over several baseline models.This research confirms the effectiveness of RoBGP in Chinese biomedical NER,providing reliable technical support for biomedical information extraction and knowledge base construction.

The effect of salt anion in ether‐based electrolyte for electrochemical performance of sodium‐ion batteries:A case study of hard carbon

Compared with the extensively used ester‐based electrolyte,the hard carbon(HC)electrode is more compatible with the ether‐based counterpart in sodium‐ion batteries,which can lead to improved cycling stability and robust rate capability.However,the impact of salt anion on the electrochemical performance of HC electrodes has yet to be fully understood.In this study,the anionic chemistry in regulating the stability of electrolytes and the performance of sodium‐ion batteries have been systematically investigated.This work shows discrepancies in the reductive stability of the anionic group,redox kinetics,and component/structure of solid electrolyte interface(SEI)with different salts(NaBF_(4),NaPF_(6),and NaSO_(3)CF_(3))in the typical ether solvent(diglyme).Particularly,the density functional theory calculation manifests the preferred decomposition of PF_(6)−due to the reduced reductive stability of anions in the solvation structure,thus leading to the formation of NaF‐rich SEI.Further investigation on redox kinetics reveals that the NaPF_(6)/diglyme can induce the fast ionic diffusion dynamic and low charge transfer barrier for HC electrode,thus resulting in superior sodium storage performance in terms of rate capability and cycling life,which outperforms those of NaBF_(4)/diglyme and NaSO_(3)CF_(3)/diglyme.Importantly,this work offers valuable insights for optimizing the electrochemical behaviors of electrode materials by regulating the anionic group in the electrolyte.