Cotton Prices Likely to Trade Inversely to Dollar

After briefly breaching 65 cents/lb, the December contract fell sharply over a few of days in mid-August before finding support near 58 cents/lb. In the weeks since, December futures have gradually drifted upwards,

Inversely engineered metasurfaces for independent manipulation of transmitted and reflected light fields

Independent manipulation of transmitted and reflected light fields is a key technology for the realization of multifunctional optical applications,which can be implemented based on multilayered plasmonic or supercell subwavelength structures.However,the former is not suitable for the optical bands,while the latter is insufficient in generating large phase gradients.Here,an adjoint-optimization-based inverse design methodology is proposed,which utilizes the polarization-selective local interference between individual meta-atoms and enables monolayer dielectric metasurfaces to decouple the wavefront of transmitted and reflected optical fields.Moreover,this methodology serves to mitigate the aperiodic electromagnetic crosstalk inherent between adjacent meta-atoms,consequently leading to a significant enhancement in the performance of meta-devices.We analyzed the physical mechanism of adjoint optimization and proposed the concept of phase factors,highlighting their importance in the rapid inverse design of meta-devices—an aspect often overlooked in previous research.To demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of our method,we optimize monolayer metasurfaces with different initial structures.These devices efficiently focus and deflect x-linearly and y-linearly polarized incident light in transmission and reflection spaces,respectively.Overall,this methodology holds immense potential for designing multifunctional,high-performing metasurfaces that meet multiple constraints,opening up broad prospects for applications.

The MW5.5 earthquake on August 6,2023,in Pingyuan,Shandong,China:A rupture on a buried fault

On August 6,2023,a magnitude MW5.5 earthquake struck Pingyuan County,Dezhou City,Shandong Province,China.This event was significant as no large earthquakes had been recorded in the region for over a century,and no active fault had been previously identified.This study collects 1309 P-wave arrival times and 866 S-wave arrival times from 74 seismic stations less than 200 km to the epicenter to constrain the spatial distribution of the mainshock and its 125 early aftershocks by the double difference earthquake relocation method,and selects 864 P-waveforms from 288 stations located within 800 km of the epicenter to constrain the focal mechanism solution of the mainshock through centroid moment tensor inversion.The relocation and the inversion indicate,the Pingyuan MW5.5 earthquake was caused by a rupture on a buried fault,likely an extensive segment of the Gaotang fault.This buried fault exhibited a dip of approximately 75°to the northwest,with a strike of 222°,similar to the Gaotang fault.The rupture initiated at the depth of 18.6 km and propagated upward and northeastward.However,the ground surface was not broken.The total duration of the rupture was~6.0 s,releasing the scalar moment of 2.5895×1017 N·m,equivalent to MW5.54.The moment rate reached the maximum only 1.4 seconds after the rupture initiation,and the 90%scalar moment was released in the first 4.6 s.In the first 1.4 seconds of the rupture process,the rupture velocity was estimated to be 2.6 km/s,slower than the local S-wave velocity.As the rupture neared its end,the rupture velocity decreased significantly.This study provides valuable insights into the seismic characteristics of the Pingyuan MW5.5 earthquake,shedding light on the previously unidentified buried fault responsible for the seismic activity in the region.Understanding the behavior of such faults is crucial for assessing seismic hazards and enhancing earthquake preparedness in the future.

Geostatistical seismic inversion and 3D modelling of metric flow units,porosity and permeability in Brazilian presalt reservoir

Flow units(FU)rock typing is a common technique for characterizing reservoir flow behavior,producing reliable porosity and permeability estimation even in complex geological settings.However,the lateral extrapolation of FU away from the well into the whole reservoir grid is commonly a difficult task and using the seismic data as constraints is rarely a subject of study.This paper proposes a workflow to generate numerous possible 3D volumes of flow units,porosity and permeability below the seismic resolution limit,respecting the available seismic data at larger scales.The methodology is used in the Mero Field,a Brazilian presalt carbonate reservoir located in the Santos Basin,who presents a complex and heterogenic geological setting with different sedimentological processes and diagenetic history.We generated metric flow units using the conventional core analysis and transposed to the well log data.Then,given a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm,the seismic data and the well log statistics,we simulated acoustic impedance,decametric flow units(DFU),metric flow units(MFU),porosity and permeability volumes in the metric scale.The aim is to estimate a minimum amount of MFU able to calculate realistic scenarios porosity and permeability scenarios,without losing the seismic lateral control.In other words,every porosity and permeability volume simulated produces a synthetic seismic that match the real seismic of the area,even in the metric scale.The achieved 3D results represent a high-resolution fluid flow reservoir modelling considering the lateral control of the seismic during the process and can be directly incorporated in the dynamic characterization workflow.

An inverse analysis of fluid flow through granular media using differentiable lattice Boltzmann method

This study presents a method for the inverse analysis of fluid flow problems.The focus is put on accurately determining boundary conditions and characterizing the physical properties of granular media,such as permeability,and fluid components,like viscosity.The primary aim is to deduce either constant pressure head or pressure profiles,given the known velocity field at a steady-state flow through a conduit containing obstacles,including walls,spheres,and grains.The lattice Boltzmann method(LBM)combined with automatic differentiation(AD)(AD-LBM)is employed,with the help of the GPU-capable Taichi programming language.A lightweight tape is used to generate gradients for the entire LBM simulation,enabling end-to-end backpropagation.Our AD-LBM approach accurately estimates the boundary conditions for complex flow paths in porous media,leading to observed steady-state velocity fields and deriving macro-scale permeability and fluid viscosity.The method demonstrates significant advantages in terms of prediction accuracy and computational efficiency,making it a powerful tool for solving inverse fluid flow problems in various applications.

Effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis for acute esophageal variceal bleeding in patients with band ligation: A large observational study

BACKGROUND Esophageal variceal bleeding is a severe complication associated with liver cirrhosis and typically necessitates endoscopic hemostasis.The current standard treatment is endoscopic variceal ligation(EVL),and Western guidelines recom-mend antibiotic prophylaxis following hemostasis.However,given the impro-vements in prognosis for variceal bleeding due to advancements in the management of bleeding and treatments of liver cirrhosis and the global concerns regarding the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria,there is a need to reassess the use of routine antibiotic prophylaxis after hemostasis.AIM To evaluate the effectiveness of antibiotic prophylaxis in patients treated for EVL.METHODS We conducted a 13-year observational study using the Tokushukai medical database across 46 hospitals.Patients were divided into the prophylaxis group(received antibiotics on admission or the next day)and the non-prophylaxis group(did not receive antibiotics within one day of admission).The primary outcome was composed of 6-wk mortality,4-wk rebleeding,and 4-wk spontaneous bacterial peritonitis(SBP).The secondary outcomes were each individual result and in-hospital mortality.A logistic regression with inverse probability of treatment weighting was used.A subgroup analysis was conducted based on the Child-Pugh classification to determine its influence on the primary outcome measures,while sensitivity analyses for antibiotic type and duration were also performed.RESULTS Among 980 patients,790 were included(prophylaxis:232,non-prophylaxis:558).Most patients were males under the age of 65 years with a median Child-Pugh score of 8.The composite primary outcomes occurred in 11.2%of patients in the prophylaxis group and 9.5%in the non-prophylaxis group.No significant differences in outcomes were observed between the groups(adjusted odds ratio,1.11;95%confidence interval,0.61-1.99;P=0.74).Individual outcomes such as 6-wk mortality,4-wk rebleeding,4-wk onset of SBP,and in-hospital mortality were not significantly different between the groups.The primary outcome did not differ between the Child-Pugh subgroups.Similar results were observed in the sensitivity analyses.CONCLUSION No significant benefit to antibiotic prophylaxis for esophageal variceal bleeding treated with EVL was detected in this study.Global reassessment of routine antibiotic prophylaxis is imperative.

Tensile strength and failure behavior of rock-mortar interfaces: Direct and indirect measurements

The tensile strength at the rock-concrete interface is one of the crucial factors controlling the failure mechanisms of structures,such as concrete gravity dams.Despite the critical importance of the failure mechanism and tensile strength of rock-concrete interfaces,understanding of these factors remains very limited.This study investigated the tensile strength and fracturing processes at rock-mortar interfaces subjected to direct and indirect tensile loadings.Digital image correlation(DIC)and acoustic emission(AE)techniques were used to monitor the failure mechanisms of specimens subjected to direct tension and indirect loading(Brazilian tests).The results indicated that the direct tensile strength of the rock-mortar specimens was lower than their indirect tensile strength,with a direct/indirect tensile strength ratio of 65%.DIC strain field data and moment tensor inversions(MTI)of AE events indicated that a significant number of shear microcracks occurred in the specimens subjected to the Brazilian test.The presence of these shear microcracks,which require more energy to break,resulted in a higher tensile strength during the Brazilian tests.In contrast,microcracks were predominantly tensile in specimens subjected to direct tension,leading to a lower tensile strength.Spatiotemporal monitoring of the cracking processes in the rock-mortar interfaces revealed that they show AE precursors before failure under the Brazilian test,whereas they show a minimal number of AE events before failure under direct tension.Due to different microcracking mechanisms,specimens tested under Brazilian tests showed lower roughness with flatter fracture surfaces than those tested under direct tension with jagged and rough fracture surfaces.The results of this study shed light on better understanding the micromechanics of damage in the rock-concrete interfaces for a safer design of engineering structures.

Rapid rupture characterization for the 2023 M_(S)6.2 Jishishan earthquake

On December 18, 2023, the M_(S)6.2 Jishishan earthquake occurred in the northeastern region of the QinghaiXizang Plateau, causing heavy casualties and property damage in Gansu and Qinghai Provinces. In this study,we integrate space imaging geodesy, finite fault inversion, and back-projection methods to decipher its rupture property, including fault geometry, coseismic slip distribution, rupture direction, and propagation speed. The results reveal that the seismogenic fault dips to the southwest at an angle of 29°. The major slip asperity is dominated by reverse slip and is concentrated within a depth range of 7–16 km, which explains the significant uplift near the epicenter observed by both the Sentinel-1 ascending and descending In SAR data. Moreover, the teleseismic array waveforms indicate a northwest propagating rupture with an overall slow rupture velocity of~1.91 km/s(AK array) or 1.01 km/s(AU array).

Piecewise Acoustic Source Imaging with Unknown Speed of Sound Using a Level-Set Method

We investigate the following inverse problem:starting from the acoustic wave equation,reconstruct a piecewise constant passive acoustic source from a single boundary temporal measurement without knowing the speed of sound.When the amplitudes of the source are known a priori,we prove a unique determination result of the shape and propose a level set algorithm to reconstruct the singularities.When the singularities of the source are known a priori,we show unique determination of the source amplitudes and propose a least-squares fitting algorithm to recover the source amplitudes.The analysis bridges the low-frequency source inversion problem and the inverse problem of gravimetry.The proposed algorithms are validated and quantitatively evaluated with numerical experiments in 2D and 3D.

Linearized waveform inversion for vertical transversely isotropic elastic media:Methodology and multi-parameter crosstalk analysis

Seismic migration and inversion are closely related techniques to portray subsurface images and identify hydrocarbon reservoirs.Seismic migration aims at obtaining structural images of subsurface geologic discontinuities.More specifically,seismic migration estimates the reflectivity function(stacked average reflectivity or pre-stack angle-dependent reflectivity)from seismic reflection data.On the other hand,seismic inversion quantitatively estimates the intrinsic rock properties of subsurface formulations.Such seismic inversion methods are applicable to detect hydrocarbon reservoirs that may exhibit lateral variations in the inverted parameters.Although there exist many differences,pre-stack seismic migration is similar with the first iteration of the general linearized seismic inversion.Usually,seismic migration and inversion techniques assume an acoustic or isotropic elastic medium.Unconventional reservoirs such as shale and tight sand formation have notable anisotropic property.We present a linearized waveform inversion(LWI)scheme for weakly anisotropic elastic media with vertical transversely isotropic(VTI)symmetry.It is based on two-way anisotropic elastic wave equation and simultaneously inverts for the localized perturbations(ΔVp_(0)/Vp_(0)/Vs_(0)/Vs_(0)/,Δ∈,Δδ)from the long-wavelength reference model.Our proposed VTI-elastic LWI is an iterative method that requires a forward and an adjoint operator acting on vectors in each iteration.We derive the forward Born approximation operator by perturbation theory and adjoint operator via adjoint-state method.The inversion has improved the quality of the images and reduces the multi-parameter crosstalk comparing with the adjoint-based images.We have observed that the multi-parameter crosstalk problem is more prominent in the inversion images for Thomsen anisotropy parameters.Especially,the Thomsen parameter is the most difficult to resolve.We also analyze the multi-parameter crosstalk using scattering radiation patterns.The linearized waveform inversion for VTI-elastic media presented in this article provides quantitative information of the rock properties that has the potential to help identify hydrocarbon reservoirs.

A Coordinate-Free Approach to the Design of Generalized Griffis-Duffy Platforms

Architectural singularity belongs to the Type II singularity,in which a parallel manipulator(PM)gains one or more degrees of freedom and becomes uncontrollable.PMs remaining permanently in a singularity are beneficial for linearto-rotary motion conversion.Griffis-Duffy(GD)platform is a mobile structure admitting a Bricard motion.In this paper,we present a coordinate-free approach to the design of generalized GD platforms,which consists in determining the shape and attachment of both the moving platform and the fixed base.The generalized GD platform is treated as a combination of six coaxial single-loop mechanisms under the same constraints.Owing to the inversion,hidden in the geometric structure of these single-loop mechanisms,the mapping from a line to a circle establishes the geometric transformation between the fixed base and the moving platform based on the center of inversion,and describes the shape and attachment of the generalized GD platform.Moreover,the center of inversion not only identifies the location of rotation axis,but also affects the shape of the platform mechanism.A graphical construction of generalized GD platforms using inversion,proposed in the paper,provides geometrically feasible solutions of the manipulator design for the requirement of the location of rotation axis.

Stochastic seismic inversion and Bayesian facies classification applied to porosity modeling and igneous rock identification

We apply stochastic seismic inversion and Bayesian facies classification for porosity modeling and igneous rock identification in the presalt interval of the Santos Basin. This integration of seismic and well-derived information enhances reservoir characterization. Stochastic inversion and Bayesian classification are powerful tools because they permit addressing the uncertainties in the model. We used the ES-MDA algorithm to achieve the realizations equivalent to the percentiles P10, P50, and P90 of acoustic impedance, a novel method for acoustic inversion in presalt. The facies were divided into five: reservoir 1,reservoir 2, tight carbonates, clayey rocks, and igneous rocks. To deal with the overlaps in acoustic impedance values of facies, we included geological information using a priori probability, indicating that structural highs are reservoir-dominated. To illustrate our approach, we conducted porosity modeling using facies-related rock-physics models for rock-physics inversion in an area with a well drilled in a coquina bank and evaluated the thickness and extension of an igneous intrusion near the carbonate-salt interface. The modeled porosity and the classified seismic facies are in good agreement with the ones observed in the wells. Notably, the coquinas bank presents an improvement in the porosity towards the top. The a priori probability model was crucial for limiting the clayey rocks to the structural lows. In Well B, the hit rate of the igneous rock in the three scenarios is higher than 60%, showing an excellent thickness-prediction capability.

Fuzzy-Inverse-Model-Based Networked Tracking Control Frameworks of Time-Varying Signals

Dear Editor,Tracking control in networked environment is a very challenging problem due to the contradiction of rapid response to the time-varying signal and the inevitable delay introduced by networks. This letter has proposed several fuzzy-inverse-model-based network tracking control frameworks which are helpful in handling the system with nonlinear dynamics and uncertainties.

Layer-Valley Hall Effect under Inversion and Time-Reversal Symmetries

Hall effects have been the central paradigms in modern physics,materials science and practical applications,and have led to many exciting breakthroughs,including the discovery of topological Chern invariants and the revolution of metrological resistance standard.To date,the Hall effects have mainly focused on a single degree of freedom(Do F),and most of them require the breaking of spatial-inversion and/or time-reversal symmetries.Here we demonstrate a new type of Hall effect,i.e.,layer-valley Hall effect,based on a combined layer-valley Do F characterized by the product of layer and valley indices.The layer-valley Hall effect has a quantum origin arising from the layer-valley contrasting Berry curvature,and can occur in nonmagnetic centrosymmetric crystals with both spatial-inversion and time-reversal symmetries,transcending the symmetry constraints of single Do F Hall effect based on the constituent layer or valley index.Moreover,the layer-valley Hall effect is highly tunable and shows a W-shaped pattern in response to the out-of-plane electric fields.Additionally,we discuss the potential detection approaches and material-specific design principles of layer-valley Hall effect.Our results demonstrate novel Hall physics and open up exotic paradigms for new research direction of layer-valleytronics that exploits the quantum nature of the coupled layer-valley DoF.

Self‑Healing Dynamic Hydrogel Microparticles with Structural Color for Wound Management

Chronic diabetic wounds confront a significant medical challenge because of increasing prevalence and difficult-healing circumstances.It is vital to develop multifunctional hydrogel dressings,with well-designed morphology and structure to enhance flexibility and effectiveness in wound management.To achieve these,we propose a self-healing hydrogel dressing based on structural color microspheres for wound management.The microsphere comprised a photothermal-responsive inverse opal framework,which was constructed by hyaluronic acid methacryloyl,silk fibroin methacryloyl and black phosphorus quantum dots(BPQDs),and was further re-filled with a dynamic hydrogel.The dynamic hydrogel filler was formed by Knoevenagel condensation reaction between cyanoacetate and benzaldehyde-functionalized dextran(DEX-CA and DEX-BA).Notably,the composite microspheres can be applied arbitrarily,and they can adhere together upon near-infrared irradiation by leveraging the BPQDs-mediated photothermal effect and the thermoreversible stiffness change of dynamic hydrogel.Additionally,eumenitin and vascular endothelial growth factor were co-loaded in the microspheres and their release behavior can be regulated by the same mechanism.Moreover,effective monitoring of the drug release process can be achieved through visual color variations.The microsphere system has demonstrated desired capabilities of controllable drug release and efficient wound management.These characteristics suggest broad prospects for the proposed composite microspheres in clinical applications.

A Composite Ansatz for Calculation of Dynamical Structure Factor

We propose an ansatz without adjustable parameters for the calculation of a dynamical structure factor.The ansatz combines the quasi-particle Green’s function,especially the contribution from the renormalization factor,and the exchange-correlation kernel from time-dependent density functional theory together,verified for typical metals and semiconductors from a plasmon excitation regime to the Compton scattering regime.It has the capability to reconcile both small-angle and large-angle inelastic x-ray scattering(IXS)signals with muchimproved accuracy,which can be used as the theoretical base model,in inversely inferring electronic structures of condensed matter from IXS experimental signals directly.It may also be used to diagnose thermal parameters,such as temperature and density,of dense plasmas in x-ray Thomson scattering experiments.

Uncertainty quantification of inverse analysis for geomaterials using probabilistic programming

Uncertainty is an essentially challenging for safe construction and long-term stability of geotechnical engineering.The inverse analysis is commonly utilized to determine the physico-mechanical parameters.However,conventional inverse analysis cannot deal with uncertainty in geotechnical and geological systems.In this study,a framework was developed to evaluate and quantify uncertainty in inverse analysis based on the reduced-order model(ROM)and probabilistic programming.The ROM was utilized to capture the mechanical and deformation properties of surrounding rock mass in geomechanical problems.Probabilistic programming was employed to evaluate uncertainty during construction in geotechnical engineering.A circular tunnel was then used to illustrate the proposed framework using analytical and numerical solution.The results show that the geomechanical parameters and associated uncertainty can be properly obtained and the proposed framework can capture the mechanical behaviors under uncertainty.Then,a slope case was employed to demonstrate the performance of the developed framework.The results prove that the proposed framework provides a scientific,feasible,and effective tool to characterize the properties and physical mechanism of geomaterials under uncertainty in geotechnical engineering problems.

Sliding and damming properties of granular debris with different geometric configurations and grain size distributions

Granular debris plays a significant role in determining damming deposit characteristics. An indepth understanding of how variations in grain size distribution(GSD) and geometric configurations impact the behavior of granular debris during the occurrence of granular debris is essential for precise assessment and effective mitigation of landslide hazards in mountainous terrains. This research aims to investigate the impact of GSD and geometric configurations on sliding and damming properties through laboratory experiments. The geometric configurations were categorized into three categories based on the spatial distribution of maximum volume: located at the front(Type Ⅰ), middle(Type Ⅱ), and rear(Type Ⅲ) of the granular debris. Our experimental findings highlight that the sliding and damming processes primarily depend on the interaction among the geometric configuration, grain size, and GSD in granular debris. Different sliding and damming mechanisms across various geometric configurations induce variability in motion parameters and deposition patterns. For Type Ⅰ configurations, the front debris functions as the critical and primary driving component, with energy dissipation primarily occurring through inter-grain interactions. In contrast, Type Ⅱ configurations feature the middle debris as the dominant driving component, experiencing hindrance from the front debris and propulsion from the rear, leading to complex alterations in sliding motion. Here, energy dissipation arises from a combination of inter-grain and grain-substrate interactions. Lastly, in Type Ⅲ configurations, both the middle and rear debris serve as the main driving components, with the rear sliding debris impeded by the front. In this case, energy dissipation predominantly results from grainsubstrate interaction. Moreover, we have quantitatively demonstrated that the inverse grading in damming deposits, where coarse grain moves upward and fine grain moves downward, is primarily caused by grain sorting due to collisions among the grains and between the grain and the base. The impact of grain on the horizontal channel further aids grain sorting and contributes to inverse grading. The proposed classification of three geometric configurations in our study enhances the understanding of damming properties from the view of mechanism, which provides valuable insights for related study about damming granular debris.

A VGGNet-based correction for satellite altimetry-derived gravity anomalies to improve the accuracy of bathymetry to depths of 6500 m

Understanding the topographic patterns of the seafloor is a very important part of understanding our planet.Although the science involved in bathymetric surveying has advanced much over the decades,less than 20%of the seafloor has been precisely modeled to date,and there is an urgent need to improve the accuracy and reduce the uncertainty of underwater survey data.In this study,we introduce a pretrained visual geometry group network(VGGNet)method based on deep learning.To apply this method,we input gravity anomaly data derived from ship measurements and satellite altimetry into the model and correct the latter,which has a larger spatial coverage,based on the former,which is considered the true value and is more accurate.After obtaining the corrected high-precision gravity model,it is inverted to the corresponding bathymetric model by applying the gravity-depth correlation.We choose four data pairs collected from different environments,i.e.,the Southern Ocean,Pacific Ocean,Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea,to evaluate the topographic correction results of the model.The experiments show that the coefficient of determination(R~2)reaches 0.834 among the results of the four experimental groups,signifying a high correlation.The standard deviation and normalized root mean square error are also evaluated,and the accuracy of their performance improved by up to 24.2%compared with similar research done in recent years.The evaluation of the R^(2) values at different water depths shows that our model can achieve performance results above 0.90 at certain water depths and can also significantly improve results from mid-water depths when compared to previous research.Finally,the bathymetry corrected by our model is able to show an accuracy improvement level of more than 21%within 1%of the total water depths,which is sufficient to prove that the VGGNet-based method has the ability to perform a gravity-bathymetry correction and achieve outstanding results.

Nonlinear robust adaptive control for bidirectional stabilization system of all-electric tank with unknown actuator backlash compensation and disturbance estimation

Since backlash nonlinearity is inevitably existing in actuators for bidirectional stabilization system of allelectric tank,it behaves more drastically in high maneuvering environments.In this work,the accurate tracking control for bidirectional stabilization system of moving all-electric tank with actuator backlash and unmodeled disturbance is solved.By utilizing the smooth adaptive backlash inverse model,a nonlinear robust adaptive feedback control scheme is presented.The unknown parameters and unmodelled disturbance are addressed separately through the derived parametric adaptive function and the continuous nonlinear robust term.Because the unknown backlash parameters are updated via adaptive function and the backlash effect can be suppressed successfully by inverse operation,which ensures the system stability.Meanwhile,the system disturbance in the high maneuverable environment can be estimated with the constructed adaptive law online improving the engineering practicality.Finally,Lyapunov-based analysis proves that the developed controller can ensure the tracking error asymptotically converges to zero even with unmodeled disturbance and unknown actuator backlash.Contrast co-simulations and experiments illustrate the advantages of the proposed approach.