Utilization of surface differences to improve dyeing properties of poly（m-phenylene isophthalamide） membranes

Bulk poly-m-phenylene isophthalamide （PMIA） can achieve flexibility upon dissolution by a LiCI/dimethylacetamide co-solvent, but remains hydrophobic despite the occasional emergence of cis amide groups providing a weak negative charge. In this study, based on the significant surface differences between PMIA membranes processed by nanofiber electrospinning and casting, a series of chemical analyses, in-situ Au nanoparticle depositions, and dye-adsorption experiments revealed that more cisconfiguration amide groups appeared on the surface of the electrospun PMIA membrane than on that of the cast membrane. Based on this surface difference, a strategy was proposed to improve the dyeing properties of PMIA by reversibly changing the cisltrans configurations of electrospun and cast membranes. The reversible chain-segment switch mechanism is a novel method for tuning the macroscale properties of polymer materials based on inherent molecular characteristics.

Evolution of Surface Sensible Heat over the Tibetan Plateau Under the Recent Global Warming Hiatus

Based on regular surface meteorological observations and NCEP/DOE reanalysis data, this study investigates the evolution of surface sensible heat（SH） over the central and eastern Tibetan Plateau（CE-TP） under the recent global warming hiatus. The results reveal that the SH over the CE-TP presents a recovery since the slowdown of the global warming. The restored surface wind speed together with increased difference in ground-air temperature contribute to the recovery in SH.During the global warming hiatus, the persistent weakening wind speed is alleviated due to the variation of the meridional temperature gradient. Meanwhile, the ground surface temperature and the difference in ground-air temperature show a significant increasing trend in that period caused by the increased total cloud amount, especially at night. At nighttime, the increased total cloud cover reduces the surface effective radiation via a strengthening of atmospheric counter radiation and subsequently brings about a clear upward trend in ground surface temperature and the difference in ground-air temperature.Cloud–radiation feedback plays a significant role in the evolution of the surface temperature and even SH during the global warming hiatus. Consequently, besides the surface wind speed, the difference in ground-air temperature becomes another significant factor for the variation in SH since the slowdown of global warming, particularly at night.

Spatio-temporal Variations in Drought with Remote Sensing from the Mongolian Plateau During 1982–2018

The Mongolian Plateau is one of the regions most sensitive to climate change,the more obvious increase of temperature in 21 st century here has been considered as one of the important causes of drought and desertification.It is very important to understand the multi-year variation and occurrence characteristics of drought in the Mongolian Plateau to explore the ecological environment and the response mechanism of surface materials to climate change.This study examines the spatio-temporal variations in drought and its frequency of occurrence in the Mongolian Plateau based on the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVHRR)Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)(1982–1999)and the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)(2000–2018)datasets;the Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index(TVDI)was used as a drought evaluation index.The results indicate that drought was widespread across the Mongolian Plateau between1982 and 2018,and aridification incremented in the 21 st century.Between 1982 and 2018,an area of 164.38×10^4 km^2/yr suffered from drought,accounting for approximately 55.28%of the total study area.An area of approximately 150.06×10^4 km^2(51.43%)was subject to more than 160 droughts during 259 months of the growing seasons between 1982 and 2018.We observed variable frequencies of drought occurrence depending on land cover/land use types.Drought predominantly occurred in bare land and grassland,both of which accounting for approximately 79.47%of the total study area.These terrains were characterized by low vegetation and scarce precipitation,which led to frequent and extreme drought events.We also noted significant differences between the areal distribution of drought,drought frequency,and degree of drought depending on the seasons.In spring,droughts were widespread,occurred with a high frequency,and were severe;in autumn,they were localized,frequent,and severe;whereas,in summer,droughts were the most widespread and frequent,but less severe.The increase in temperature,decrease in precipitation,continuous depletion of snow cover,and intensification of human activities have resulted in a water deficit.More severe droughts and aridification have affected the distribution and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems,causing changes in the composition and distribution of plants,animals,microorganisms,conversion between carbon sinks and carbon sources,and biodiversity.We conclude that regional drought events have to be accurately monitored,whereas their occurrence mechanisms need further exploration,taking into account nature,climate,society and other influencing factors.

Modeling Method for Assembly Variation Propagation Taking Account of Form Error

The propagation of variations, such as fixture errors and datum errors resulting from assembly and machining processes, has been extensively studied. However, only a few studies that focus on form error propagation in assembly systems have been implemented. Machining errors, especially form errors, have great impact on assembly accuracy and accuracy stability of precision mechanical systems. With form errors being the research object, a method for calculating mating variation and specifying mating coordinate is proposed to improve the accuracy of the variation propagation model. Taking into account the form error of mating surfaces, the assembly variation propagation of a precision mechanical system is analyzed, and the brief derivation procedure of the variation propagation model is introduced afterwards. The variation propagation model involves a new concept of mating variation specified by the two mating surfaces. An innovative method, the difference surface search based method, is proposed to calculate the mating variation amongst the mating surfaces. The obtained mating variation is then utilized to specify the mating coordinate in the variation propagation model. Moreover, FEM is employed to simulate the contact state of the two mating surfaces to demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed method. Meanwhile, the mating variation and mating coordinate obtained are incorporated into the assembly variation propagation model, which is then verified by a following case study through a comparison between the calculated results and the experimental results. The comparing results indicate that the established model improves the prediction of assembly accuracy. The developed model enables the investigation of various fundamental issues in variation reduction, including variation analysis, process monitoring, accuracy prediction, and accuracy control.

Tunable terahertz wave difference frequency generation in a graphene/AlGaAs surface plasmon waveguide

Graphene-based surface plasmon waveguides(SPWs) show high confinement well beyond the diffraction limit at terahertz frequencies. By combining a graphene SPW and nonlinear material, we propose a novel graphene/AlGaAs SPW structure for terahertz wave difference frequency generation(DFG) under near-infrared pumps.The composite waveguide, which supports single-mode operation at terahertz frequencies and guides two pumps by a high-index-contrast AlGaAs∕Al Oxstructure, can confine terahertz waves tightly and realize good mode field overlap of three waves. The phase-matching condition is satisfied via artificial birefringence in an AlGaAs∕Al Ox waveguide together with the tunability of graphene, and the phase-matching terahertz wave frequency varies from 4 to 7 THz when the Fermi energy level of graphene changes from 0.848 to 2.456 eV. Based on the coupled-mode theory, we investigate the power-normalized conversion efficiency for the tunable terahertz wave DFG process by using the finite difference method under continuous wave pumps, where the tunable bandwidth can reach 2 THz with considerable conversion efficiency. To exploit the high peak powers of pulses, we also discuss optical pulse evolutions for pulse-pumped terahertz wave DFG processes.

Finite difference time domain analysis of two-dimensional surface acoustic wave piezoelectric phononic crystals at radio frequency

The finite-difference time-domain （FDTD） method is proposed for analyzing the surface acoustic wave （SAW） propagation in two-dimensional （2D） piezoelectric phononic crystals （PCs） at radio frequency （RF）, and also experiments are established to demonstrate its analysis result of the PCs＇ band gaps. The FDTD method takes the piezoelectric effect of PCs into account, in which periodic boundary conditions are used to decrease memory/time consumption and the perfectly matched layer boundary conditions are adopted as the SAW absorbers to attenuate artificial reflections. Two SAW delay lines are established with/without piezoelectric PCs located between interdigital transducers. By removing several echoes with window gating function in time domain, delay lines transmission function is achieved. The PCs＇ transmission functions and band gaps are obtained by comparing them in these two delay lines. When Aluminum/128°YX-LiNbO3 is adopted as scatter and substrate material, the PCs＇ band gap is calculated by this FDTD method and COMSOL respectively. Results show that computational results of FDTD agree well with experimental results and are better than that of COMSOL.

Research on global form deviations for spiral bevel gear based on latticed measurement

In order to improve the machining ac cu racy of spiral bevel gear,difference surface was adopted to characterize its gl obal form deviations quantifiably and correct its deviations.The theoretical to oth surface model of spiral bevel gear was built,and the actual tooth surface o f spiral bevel gear had been got by using latticed measurement.The equation of difference surface which can characterize the actual tooth surface deviation s was built by means of mathematical method in combination with measurement prin ciple.The quantitative mathematical relationship between the actual tooth surfa ce deviations of spiral bevel gear and the corrected values of the machine-sett ing parameters had been referred,and the theoretical correction formula of the global form deviations had been got by the least square method.Finally,the pinion of spiral bevel gear in the automobile rear axle has been set for an exam ple to account for the effectiveness of the deviation correction by use of the d ifference surface method.

Different optical properties in different periodic slot cavity geometrical morphologies

In this paper,optical properties of two-dimensional periodic annular slot cavity arrays in hexagonal close-packing on a silica substrate are theoretically characterized by finite difference time domain（FDTD） simulation method.By simulating reflectance spectra,electric field distribution,and charge distribution,we confirm that multiple cylindrical surface plasmon resonances can be excited in annular inclined slot cavities by linearly polarized light,in which the four reflectance dips are attributed to Fabry–Perot cavity resonances in the coaxial cavity.A coaxial waveguide mode TE11 will exist in these annular cavities,and the wavelengths of these reflectance dips are effectively tailored by changing the geometrical pattern of slot cavity and the dielectric materials filled in the cavities.These resonant wavelengths are localized in annular cavities with large electric field enhancement and dissipate gradually due to metal loss.The formation of an absorption peak can be explained from the aspect of phase matching conditions.We observed that the proposed structure can be tuned over the broad spectral range of 600–4000 nm by changing the outer and inner radii of the annular gaps,gap surface topography.Meanwhile,different lengths of the cavity may cause the shift of resonance dips.Also,we study the field enhancement at different vertical locations of the slit.In addition,dielectric materials filling in the annular gaps will result in a shift of the resonance wavelengths,which make the annular cavities good candidates for refractive index sensors.The refractive index sensitivity of annular cavities can also be tuned by the geometry size and the media around the cavity.Annular cavities with novel applications can be implied as surface enhanced Raman spectra substrates,refractive index sensors,nano-lasers,and optical trappers.

Experimental investigation of ghost imaging of reflective objects with different surface roughness

We present an experimental demonstration of ghost imaging of reflective objects with different surface roughness.The influence of the surface roughness, the transverse size of the test detector, and the reflective angle on the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) is analyzed by measuring the second-order correlation of the light field based on classical statistical optics. It is shown that the SNR decreases with an increment of the surface roughness and the detector's transverse size or a decrease of the reflective angle. Additionally, the comparative studies between the rough object and the smooth one under the same conditions are also discussed.

Study of Aerodynamic Parameters on Different Underling Surfaces

Aerodynamic parameters including the zero-plane displacement （d）, roughness length （z0）, and friction velocity （u＊） on the different underlying surfaces of heavy-gazing site, medium-grazing site, light-grazing site, no-grazing site, dune, inter-dune, grassland, rice paddy site, wheat site, soybean site, and maize site have been computed based on the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory by utilizing the micrometeorologically observed data of dune and vegetation in the semi-arid area at Naiman, Inner Mongolia of China, conducted jointly by the Institute of Desert Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Agro- Environmental Sciences of Japan in 1990-1994. And their relationships between wind speed and Richardson number are analyzed. The aerodynamic characteristics of different man-made disturbed grassland ecosystems are also compared. Result shows that the vegetation coverage and the above-ground biomass decrease with the increase in man-made stress of the grassland. The roughness length for different underlying surfaces is closely related to vegetation height, above-ground biomass, and ground surface undulation, and Richardson number Ri is also its influencing factor. The friction velocity varies largely on different underlying surfaces, and it is positively proportional to wind speed and roughness length. The aerodynamic parameters of various times on the same underlying surface are different, too. Above results indicate that grassland and vegetation are of significance in preventing desertification, especially in the arid and semi-arid land ecosystems. And the results of this paper are also important for constructing the land surface physical process as well as regional climate model.

Intergranular corrosion of spark plasma sintered 2024 aluminum alloy at different heat treatment states

2024 aluminum alloys were consolidated by using spark plasma sintering(SPS) method,and then heat treated by solid solution treatment(SST) and aging treatment(AT) procedures.The average grain size of bulk samples sintered with 5,20 and 50 μm powders was 3.72,4.73 and 8.11 μm,respectively.The difference between the average grain size and original powder size was attributed to the recrystallization during short sintering process.The number of the inclusion phases in these samples decreased after SST and increased after subsequent AT.Besides,it was observed that intergranular corrosion(IGC) cracks initiated from stable pits due to the electrochemical inhomogeneity between the intermetallic particles(IMPs) and the aluminum matrix(176.02,110.83 and 164.80 mV for as-SPS,as-SST and as-AT samples,respectively).Besides,the cracks would propagate along the grain boundaries(GBs) and bypass the IMPs at GBs during propagation.It was revealed that the sample after SST presented the best IGC resistance,and this was ascribed to the reduce of IMPs,both in size and number.

The Effect of Particle Shape on the Structure and Rheological Properties of Carbon-based Particle Suspensions

The structure and rheological properties of carbon-based particle suspensions, i.e., carbon black（CB）, multi-wall carbon nanotube（MWNT）, graphene and hollow carbon sphere（HCS） suspended in polydimethylsiloxane（PDMS）, are investigated. In order to study the effect of particle shape on the structure and rheological properties of suspensions, the content of surface oxygen-containing functional groups of carbon-based particles is controlled to be similar. Original spherical-like CB（fractal filler）, rod-like MWNT and sheet-like graphene form large agglomerates in PDMS, while spherical HCS particles disperse relatively well in PDMS. The dispersion state of carbon-based particles affects the critical concentration of forming a rheological percolation network. Under weak shear, negative normal stress differences（ΔN） are observed in CB, MWNT and graphene suspensions, while ΔN is nearly zero for HCS suspensions. It is concluded that the vorticity alignment of CB, MWNT and graphene agglomerates under shear results in the negative ΔN. However, no obvious structural change is observed in HCS suspension under weak shear, and accordingly, the ΔN is almost zero.

Detecting the storage and change on topsoil organic carbon in grasslands of Inner Mongolia from 1980s to 2010s

Soil carbon sequestration and potential has been a focal issue in global carbon research. Under the background of global change, the estimation of the size as well as its change of soil organic carbon（SOC） storage is of great importance. Based on soil data from the second national soil survey and field survey during 2011–2012, by using the regression method between sampling soil data and remote sensing data, this paper aimed to investigate spatial distribution and changes of topsoil（0–20 cm） organic carbon storage in grasslands of Inner Mongolia between the 1980 s and 2010 s. The results showed that：（1） the SOC storage in grasslands of Inner Mongolia between the 1980 s and 2010 s was estimated to be 2.05 and 2.17 Pg C, with an average density of 3.48 and 3.69 kg C·m–2, respectively. The SOC storage was mainly distributed in the typical steppe and meadow steppe, which accounted for over 98% of the total SOC storage. The spatial distribution showed a decreased trend from the meadow steppe, typical steppe to the desert steppe, corresponding to the temperature and precipitation gradient.（2） SOC changes during 1982–2012 were estimated to be 0.12 Pg C, at 7.00 g C·m–2·yr–1, which didn＇t show a significant change, indicating that SOC storage in grasslands of Inner Mongolia remained relatively stable over this period. However, topsoil organic carbon showed different trends of carbon source/sink during the past three decades. Meadow steppe and typical steppe had sequestered 0.15 and 0.03 Pg C, respectively, served as a carbon sink; while desert steppe lost 0.06 Pg C, served as a carbon source. It appears that SOC storage in grassland ecosystem may respond differently to climate change, related to vegetation type, regional climate type and grazing intensity. These results might give advice to decision makers on adopting suitable countermeasures for sustainable grassland utilization and protection.

Infrasonic waves caused by the earthquake on 12 July 1993 in Japan

The remarkable infrasonic wave trains have been recorded at Beijing Infrasound Observatory at 21:21 BT (Beijing Time), July 12, 1993. They are complete local waves (including primary wave, shear wave and Rayleigh waves) and epicentral infrasonic wavs caused by an earthquake in Japan. They have periods of 12 s, 12 s, 30 s, amplitudes of 0.8 Pa, 0.4 Pa, 1.3 Pa,and durations of 3.4 min, 1 min, 12 min respectively. The period of epicentral infrasonic wave is 137 s, with makimum amplitude of 6.9 Pa and duration of 28 min. They are superimposed on a much longer and more usual series of waves of period about 12 min and amplitude of 10 Pa;such waves, which are of natural origin, are characteristically received during meteorological lnvers1ons.