Oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios of chert from the Sixtymile Formation in Grand Canyon National Park,USA：a warm palaeoclimate,freshwater deposit

New oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios of chert from middle, intraformational breccias, and upper breccia members of the Sixtymile Formation（SMF） in eastern Grand Canyon National Park（AZ） yield palaeoclimate estimates between 27 and 33℃. The isotopic compositions of cherts define a domain approximately parallel to the meteoric water line when plotted on a δD–δ-（18）O diagram; these data indicate that meteoric water was involved during formation of the chert. In thin section, the absence of interlocking mega quartz（〉35 lm） and silicafilled fractures and veins, along with preserved micromorphological silica fabrics, suggest that the chert has not been permeated by later hydrothermal fluids. Petrographic observations in thin section such as cyclic silica precipitation phases and glaebular micromorphologic fabrics lend support to the interpretation that meteoric waters were involved during chert precipitation. The post 742 Ma SMF has been correlated with diamictite（transition） beds of the Kingston Peak Formation（CA）, which in turn have been interpreted to have been deposited during the Sturtian Ice Age（-750–700 Ma）. Absence of facetted and striated clasts and other diagnostic glaciogenic features in the SMF,an unconformable contact with the stratigraphically older Chuar Group, coupled with warm palaeotemperature data inferred from stable isotope values of chert, tentatively suggest that deposition of sediment in the SMF likely did not take place during the Sturtian Ice Age.

Air flow control based on optimal oxygen excess ratio in fuel cells for vehicles

Air flow control is one of the most important control methods for maintaining the stability and reliability of a fuel cell system, which can avoid oxygen starvation or oxygen saturation. The oxygen excess ratio （OER） is often used to indicate the air flow condition. Based on a fuel cell system model for vehicles, OER performance was analyzed for different stack currents and temperatures in this paper, and the results show that the optimal OER was affected weakly by the stack temperature. In order to ensure the system working in optimal OER, a control scheme that includes an optimal OER regulator and a fuzzy control was proposed. According to the stack current, a reference value of air flow rate was obtained with the optimal OER regulator and then the air compressor motor voltage was controlled with the fuzzy controller to adjust the air flow rate provided by the air compressor. Simulation results show that the control method has good dynamic and static characteristics.

Oxygen Stable Isotopic Ratio in Precipitations in Niigata Prefecture, Japan

Time-course of oxygen stable isotopic ratios （i.e., δ^18O） as well as seasonal variation of δ^18O has been examined to investigate the characteristics, sources and the passing route of precipitations in Niigata Prefecture. The precipitation samples have been mainly collected with a filtrating bulk sampler at the rooftop of Niigata University. Furthermore, backward trajectories analyses have been also conducted for these samples taken sequentially for a short period. Consequently, the following features have been mainly clarified for the precipitations in Niigata Prefecture： （1） the δ^18O values varied between -14.57%o and -3.86%0 in the precipitations of Niigata University; （2） as for the comparison among sampling points, the mean value of δ^18O at seaside spots （i.e., Niigata City： -6.93%0） is larger than that of inland spots （Sanjyo City： -8.68%0）; （3） δ^18O value was generally small in the rainy or typhoon season, and relatively large in summer; （4） decreasing δ^18O content with time is a predominant feature of sequentially sampled rainfalls as predicted by Rayleigh models of atmospheric vapor condensation.

Effects of COD/N ratio and DO concentration on simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in an airlift internal circulation membrane bioreactor

The effects of chemical oxygen demand and nitrogen(COD/N)ratio and dissolved oxygen concentration(DO)on simultaneous nitrification and denitrification(SND)were investigated using an airlift internal circulation membrane bioreactor(AIC-MBR)with synthetic wastewater.The results showed that the COD efficiencies were consistently greater than 90% regardless of changes in the COD/N ratio.At the COD/N ratio of 4.77 and 10.04,the system nitrogen removal efficiency became higher than 70%.However,the nitrogen remova...

Isotopic and Chemical Characteristics of Lagoon Waters in Niigata Prefecture, Japan

In order to investigate the isotopic and chemical characteristics of lagoon waters in Niigata Prefecture in recent years, oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope ratios （i.e., 8180 and 6D）, the concentrations of DOC （dissolved organic carbon）, DO （dissolved oxygen） and pH, etc. in water samples of Sakata and Toyanogata were measured. Samples were generally taken monthly at the fixed sampling points from these lagoons. Consequently, the following matters have been mainly clarified： （1） ~D value of water samples in Sakata was generally larger than that in Toyanogata similarly to the case of ~180, though remarkable large difference among samples was not found; （2） the pH value of lagoon water samples is almost 6.5-8.5 （which is generally larger than that of river water）, and pH at the spot of SI （downstream point of Lower Lagoon （Shitakata）） is remarkably high （9.0-9.5）; （3） Lagoon water has the chemical characteristics contrasting to groundwater with a focus on river water from the viewpoint of pH （acidity or alkalinity） and DO. These matters can be closely related to the biological activity such as photosynthesis due to aquatic plant and phytoplankton and the activity of Crustacea plankton etc. in lagoon.

Adaptive neural network observer for proton-exchange membrane fuel cell system

This paper develops an adaptive neural network(NN)observer for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs).Indeed,information on the oxygen excess ratio(OER)value is crucial to ensure optimal management of the durability and reliability of the PEMFC.The OER indicator is computed from the mass of oxygen and nitrogen inside the PEMFC cathode.Unfortunately,the measurement process of both these masses is difficult and costly.To solve this problem,the design of a PEMFC state observer is attractive.However,the behaviour of the fuel cell system is highly non-linear and its modelling is complex.Due to this constraint,a multilayer perceptron neural network(MLPNN)-based observer is proposed in this paper to estimate the oxygen and nitrogen masses.One notable advantage of the suggested MLPNN observer is that it does not require a database to train the NN.Indeed,the weights of the NN are updated in real time using the output error.In addition,the observer parameters,namely the learning rate and the damping factor,are online adapted using the optimization tools of extremum seeking.Moreover,the proposed observer stability analysis is performed using the Lyapunov theory.The observer performances are validated by simulation under MATLAB®/Simulink®.The supremacy of the proposed adaptive MLPNN observer is highlighted by comparison with a fixed-parameter MLPNN observer and a classical high-gain observer(HGO).The mean rela-tive error value of the excess oxygen rate is considered the performance index,which is equal to 1.01%for an adaptive MLPNN and 3.95%and 9.95%for a fixed MLPNN and HGO,respectively.Finally,a robustness test of the proposed observer with respect to measurement noise is performed.

Diagenetic fluid evolution and water-rock interaction model of carbonate cements in sandstone: An example from the reservoir sandstone of the Fourth Member of the Xujiahe Formation of the Xiaoquan-Fenggu area, Sichuan Province, China

Carbonate cement is the most abundant cement type in the Fourth Member of the Xujiahe Formation in the Xiaoquan-Fenggu area of the West Sichuan Depression. Here we use a systematic analysis of carbonate cement petrology, mineralogy, carbon and oxygen isotope ratios and enclosure homogenization temperatures to study the precipitation mechanism, pore fluid evolu- tion, and distribution of different types of carbonate cement in reservoir sand in the study area. Crystalline calcite has relatively heavy carbon and oxygen isotope ratios （δ13C = 2.14%o, 8180 = -5.77‰）, and was precipitated early. It was precipitated di- rectly from supersaturated alkaline fluid under normal temperature and pressure conditions. At the time of precipitation, the fluid oxygen isotope ratio was very light, mainly showing the characteristics of a mixed meteoric water-seawater fluid（ δ180 = -3‰）, which shows that the fluid during precipitation was influenced by both meteoric water and seawater. The calcite cement that fills in the secondary pores has relatively lighter carbon and oxygen isotope ratios （δ13C = -2.36%0, 8180 = -15.68‰）. This cement was precipitated late, mainly during the Middle and Late Jurassic. An important material source for this carbonate cement was the feldspar corrosion process that involved organic matter. The Ca2＋, Fe3＋ and Mg2＋ ions released by the clay mineral transformation process were also important source materials. Because of water-rock interactions during the buri- al process, the oxygen isotope ratio of the fluid significantly increased during precipitation, by about 3‰. The dolomite ce- ments in calcarenaceous sandstone that was precipitated during the Middle Jurassic have heavier carbon and oxygen isotope ratios, which are similar to those of carbonate debris in the sandstone （δ13C = 1.93%o, δ180 = -6.11‰）, demonstrating that the two are from the same source that had a heavier oxygen isotope ratio （δ180 of about 2.2‰）. The differences in fluid oxygen isotope ratios during cement precipitation reflect the influences of different water-rock interaction systems or different wa- ter-rock interaction strengths. This is the main reason why the sandstone containing many rigid particles （lithic quartz sand- stone） has a relatively negative carbon isotope ratio and why the precipitation fluid in calcarenaceous sandstone has a relatively heavier oxygen isotope ratio.

Fabrication and characterization of NiO films for energetic nano-multilayers by direct current reactive sputtering

NiO films were fabricated by reactive direct current magnetron sputtering on glass and alumina substrates for the application in energetic nano-multilayers. The structural and thermal properties of the films were investigated with the volume ratio of oxygen to argon ranging from 1：9 to 3：2, and the optimized ratio value is obtained as 1：3, which was confirmed by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, atomic force microscopy and ultrafast measure- ment system. The effect of the film thickness, varying from 150 to 900 nm, on the structural properties was characterized by XRD and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. XRD analysis reveals that the （111） lattice plane is the preferred orientation. The intensities of preferential peaks and the grain sizes increase as the film thicknesses increase.

Enhancing nitrogen removal from low carbon to nitrogen ratio wastewater by using a novel sequencing batch biofilm reactor

Removing nitrogen from wastewater with low chemical oxygen demand/total nitrogen （COD/TN） ratio is a difficult task due to the insufficient carbon source available for denitrification. Therefore, in the present work, a novel sequencing batch biofilm reactor （NSBBR） was developed to enhance the nitrogen removal from wastewater with low COD/ TN ratio. The NSBBR was divided into two units separated by a vertical clapboard. Alternate feeding and aeration was performed in the two units, which created an anoxie unit with rich substrate content and an aeration unit deficient in substrate simultaneously. Therefore, the utilization of the influent carbon source for denitrification was increased, leading to higher TN removal compared to conventional SBBR （CSBBR） operation. The results show that the CSBBR removed up to 76.8%, 44.5% and 10.4% of TN, respectively, at three tested COD/TN ratios （9.0, 4.8 and 2.5）. In contrast, the TN removal of the NSBBR could reach 81.9%, 60.5% and 26.6%, respectively, at the corresponding COD/TN ratios. Therefore, better TN removal performance could be achieved in the NSBBR, especially at low CODfrN ratios （4.8 and 2.5）. Furthermore, it is easy to upgrade a CSBBR into an NSBBR in practice.