Water Absorption and Chloride Ion Penetrability of Concrete Damaged by Freeze-thawing and Loading

In order to investigate water and chloride ion transport in damaged concrete, three types of concrete were prepared, freeze-thawing（F-T） cycling and compressive loading were adopted to induce damage to concrete. Ultrasonic pulse velocity technique was used for evaluating the damage degree of concrete, and the defects of damaged concrete were also detected by X-CT. Water absorption and chloride ion penetrability were used for describing the transport properties of damaged concrete. Effects of damage degree on the water absorption rate and chloride ion penetrability were investigated in detail and the relationships were also established. The results show that the water absorption of concrete makes various responses to damage degree due to the difference of concrete type and damage method. For same concrete with similar damage degree, the water absorption rate of F-T damaged concrete is usually larger than that of concrete damaged by loading. The chloride ion penetrability of damaged concrete increases linearly with increasing damage degree, which is more sensitive to damage degree if the original penetrability of sound concrete is higher.

Study on the subgrade deformation under high-speed train loading and water–soil interaction

It is important to study the subgrade characteristics of high-speed railways in consideration of the water–soil coupling dynamic problem,especially when high-speed trains operate in rainy regions.This study develops a nonlinear water–soil interaction dynamic model of slab track coupling with subgrade under high-speed train loading based on vehicle–track coupling dynamics.By using this model,the basic dynamic characteristics,including water–soil interaction and without water induced by the high-speed train loading,are studied.The main factors-the permeability coefficien and the porosity-influencin the subgrade deformation are investigated.The developed model can characterize the soil dynamic behaviour more realistically,especially when considering the influenc of water-rich soil.

Design of a New Water Load for S-band 750 kW Continuous Wave High Power Klystron Used in EAST Tokamak

In order to test the klystrons operated at a frequency of 3.7 GHz in a continuous wave （CW） mode, a type of water load to absorb its power up to 750 kW is presented. The distilled water sealed with an RF ceramic window is used as the absorbent. At a frequency range of 70 MHz, the VSWR （Voltage Standing Wave Ratio） is below 1.2, and the rise in temperature of water is about 30 ℃ at the highest power level.

Dynamic Characteristics and Simplified Numerical Methods of An All-Vertical-Piled Wharf in Offshore Deep Water

There has been a growing trend in the development of offshore deep-water ports in China. For such deep sea projects, all-vertical-piled wharves are suitable structures and generally located in open waters, greatly affected by wave action. Currently, no systematic studies or simplified numerical methods are available for deriving the dynamic characteristics and dynamic responses of all-vertical-piled wharves under wave cyclic loads. In this article, we compare the dynamic characteristics of an all-vertical-piled wharf with those of a traditional inshore high-piled wharf through numerical analysis; our research reveals that the vibration period of an all-vertical-piled wharf under cyclic loading is longer than that of an inshore high-piled wharf and is much closer to the period of the loading wave. Therefore, dynamic calculation and analysis should be conducted when designing and calculating the characteristics of an all-vertical-piled wharf. We establish a dynamic finite element model to examine the dynamic response of an all-vertical-piled wharf under wave cyclic loads and compare the results with those under wave equivalent static load; the comparison indicates that dynamic amplification of the structure is evident when the wave dynamic load effect is taken into account. Furthermore, a simplified dynamic numerical method for calculating the dynamic response of an all-vertical-piled wharf is established based on the P-Y curve. Compared with finite element analysis, the simplified method is more convenient to use and applicable to large structural deformation while considering the soil non-linearity. We confirmed that the simplified method has acceptable accuracy and can be used in engineering applications.

Effect of antidepressant treatment on water load test and cortisol changes in patients with functional dyspepsia

BACKGROUND： It has been demonstrated that patients with functional dyspepsia have experiences social life stress events, and accompanied by psychological disorders, mainly manifested as depression and anxiety.Mental factors can lead to excessive gastrointestinal consensual reaction, and result in different brain-gut axis disturbance, and then cause the gastrointestinal sensorimotor abnormality and endocrine changes.OBJECTIVE： To observe the effect of antidepressant treatment on the changes of water load and serum cortisol in patients with functional dyspepsia, and analyze the therapeutic mechanism.DESIGN： A comparative observation.SETTING： The First Affiliated Hospital o Zhengzhou University.PARTICIPANTS： Forty-five patients with functional dyspepsia accompanied by depression were selected from the Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from July 2004 to July 2006, and they were 25 - 65 years of age, and their disease courses ranged 1 - 10 years. They were all accorded with the diagnostic standards for Rome Ⅱ functional dyspepsia functional dyspepsia. As the patients＇ will, they were divided into treatment group （n =30, 12 males and 18 females） and control group （n =15, 6 males and 9 females）, and there were no significant differences in the data between the two groups （P 〉 0.05）. The programs were discussed and agreed by the committee of medical ethics of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Informed contents were obtained from all the patients.METHODS： In the treatment group, the patients were treated with venlafaxine sustained release capsule （75 mg per day）, and those with sleep disorder were added by benzodiazepines （alprazolam）. In the control group, the patients were given routine treatments of antacid, prokinetics, etc. Before and after 8-week treatment, the following examinations were performed： ① The gastrointestinal symptoms were assessed according to the symptoms; ② The severity of depression was evaluated with Hamilton depression scale （HAMD）; ③The relaxation of proximal stomach was observed using water load test; ④ The serum level of cortisol was detected.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： ① Symptom score; ② HAMD score; ③ Water load amount; ④Serum level of cortisol.RESULTS： All the 45 patients were involved in the analysis of results. ① Symptom score： The scores of gastrointestinal symptoms were decreased as compared with those before treatment in both the treatment group and control group （P 〈 0.05）. ② HAMD scores： The scores of HAMD were decreased as compared with those before treatment in both the treatment group and control group （P 〈 0.05）. ③ Water load amount：The total effective rate was significantly higher in the treatment group than the control group （P 〈 0.05）. ④The serum levels of cortisol after treatment were significantly lower than those before treatment in the patients with severe gastrointestinal symptoms in the treatment group and control group （P 〈 0.05）.CONCLUSION： Antidepressants can normalize the cortisol level of patients with functional dyspepsia, and then decrease gastric sensitivity and ameliorates the receptive relaxation of proximal stomach, also increase the water load amount correspondingly, and finally control the gastrointestinal symptoms of functional dyspepsia.

Feasibility study on buoyancy-weight ratios of a submerged floating tunnel prototype subjected to hydrodynamic loads

The research progress of a novel traffic solution,a submerged floating tunnel（SFT）,is reviewed in terms of a study approach and loading scenario.Among existing publications,the buoyancy-weight ratio（BWR） is usually predefined.However,BWR is a critical structural parameter that tremendously affects the dynamic behaviour of not only the tunnel tube itself but also the cable system.In the context of a SFT prototype（SFTP） project in Qiandao Lake（Zhejiang Province,China）,the importance of BWR is illustrated by finite element analysis and subsequently,an optimized BWR is proposed within a reasonable range in the present study.In the numerical model,structural damping is identified to be of importance.Rayleigh damping and the corresponding Rayleigh coefficients are attained through a sensitivity study,which shows that the adopted damping ratios are fairly suitable for SFTP.Lastly,the human sense of security is considered by quantifying the comfort index,which helps further optimize BWR in the SFTP structural parameter design.

Temporal variability of water discharge and sediment load of the Yellow River into the sea during 1950-2008

Based on hydrological data observed at Lijin gauging station from 1950 to 2008, the temporal changes of water discharge and sediment load of the Yellow River into the sea were analyzed by the wavelet analysis, and their impacts on the estuary were investigated in different periods based on the measured coastline and bathymetry data. The results show that： （1） there were three significant periodicities, i.e. annual （0.5-1.0-year）, inter-annual （3.0-6.5-year） and decadal （10.1-14.2-year）, in the variations of water discharge and sediment load into the sea, which might be related to the periodic variations of El Nino and Southern Oscillation at long-term timescales. Variations of water discharge and sediment load were varying in various timescales, and their periodic variations were not significant during the 1970s-2000s due to strong human disturbances. （2） The long-term variation of water discharge and sediment load into the sea has shown a stepwise decrease since the 1950s due to the combined influences of human activities and precipitation decrease in the Yellow River Basin, and the human activities were the main cause for the decrease of water discharge and sediment load. （3） The water discharge and sediment load into the sea greatly influenced the evolution of the Yellow River Estuary, especially the stretch rate of coastline and the deposition rate of the sub-aqueous topography off the estuary which deposited since 1976.

Sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification from the micro-polluted water

Eutrophication caused by high concentrations of nutrients is a huge problem for many natural lakes and reservoirs. Removing the nitrogen contamination from the low C/N water body has become an urgent need. Autotrophic denitrification with the sulfur compound as electron donor was investigated in the biofilter reactors. Through the lab-scale experiment,it was found that different sulfur compounds and different carriers caused very different treatment performances. Thiosulfate was selected to be the best electron donor and ceramsite was chosen as the suitable carrier due to the good denitrification efficiency, low cost and the good resistibility against the high hydraulic loads. Later the optimum running parameters of the process were determined. Then the pilot-scale experiment was carried out with the real micro-polluted water from the West Lake, China. The results indicated that the autotrophic denitrification with thiosulfate as electron donor was feasible and applicable for the micro-polluted lake water.