The Changhsingian Foraminiferal Fauna of the Meishan D Section, Zhejiang, China, and their Ecostratigraphic Implications

Samples were collected continuously and systematically from Beds 2 to 30 of the Meishan D section, and nearly 4,000 foraminiferal specimens were recognized. In total, 72 species （partially including undetermined species and conformis species） in 34 genera of foraminifers were identified. Twelve foraminiferal community zones were established from Beds 2 to 27 based on the abundance, dominance, diversity, and equitability of the foraminiferal fauna and a functional morphological analysis of the dominant and characteristic species. The habitat type indicated by each community zone and the sedimentary features were used to determine the paleo-water depths and the relative changes in sea level. We generated curves of both the habitat type and the hydrodynamic conditions, which together indicate the relative changes in the paleo-water depth and the substrate features in the studied area during the Changhsingian. This study discusses the possible relationship between the foraminiferal community zones and the sea-level changes based on a statistical analysis of the foraminiferal community zones.

Regularity and mechanism of coal resistivity response with different conductive characteristics in complete stress-strain process

The stress,strain as well as resistivity of coal during uniaxial compression process were tested based on self-built real-time testing system of loaded coal resistivity.Furthermore,the coal resistivity regularity and mechanism were analyzed at different stages of complete stress-strain process,which includes the two kinds of coal body with typical conductive characteristics.The results indicate that coal resistivity with different conductive characteristics has different change rules in complete stress-strain process.It is mainly represented at the densification and flexibility phases before dilatation occurs.The variation of resistivity can be divided into two kinds,named down and up.Dilatation of coal samples occurred between 66%σ_(max) and 87%σ_(max).Because of dilatation,coal resistivity involves sudden change.The overall representation is shifting from reducing into improving or from slow improving into accelerated improving.Thus,coal resistivity always shows an increasing tendency at the plastic stage.After peak stress,coal body enters into failure stage.The expanding and communicating of macro fracture causes further improvement of coal resistivity.The maximum value of resistivity rangeability named λ reached 3.49.Through making real-time monitoring on coal resistivity,variation rules of resistivity can be deemed as precursory information so as to reflect the dilatation and sudden change before coal body reaches buckling failure,which can provide a new technological means for forecasting the dynamic disaster of coal petrography.

Water resistant features of high-risk outburst coal seams and standard discriminant model of mining under water-pressure

It is important to emphasize the value of research in safe mining technology of high-risk water outburst coal seams. We describe briefly current conditions abroad and in China. Based on an Ordovician limestone aquifer with high-risk water outburst seams in the Feicheng coal field, we analyzed the water-resistant characteristics of a coal floor aquifuge and the behavior of water head intrusion of a confined aquifer and propose a safe criterion model and relevant technology of mining above aquifers. This has brought satisfactory results in engineering practice.

Hormetic Effects of Yttrium on Male Sprague-Dawley Rats

To evaluate hormesis induced by Yttrium（Y） nitrate in male rats, Y was offered to F0 mother rats and F1 offspring at concentrations of 0, 20, 80, and320 ppm daily from gestational day （GD） 0 through postnatal day 70（PND70）.The F1 offspring were evaluated with respect to motor function,learning and memory, and histopathology.

Effect of Post Spinning Modification on the PAN Precursors and Resulting Carbon Fibres

The impregnation of a special grade polyacrylonitrile(PAN)precursor fibres was carried out in a 8 wt.% KMnO4 aqueous solution to obtain modified PAN precursor fibres.The focus is primarily on the effects of modification on the chemical structure and the physical mechanical properties of precursor fibres,thermal stabilised and their resulting carbon fibres,which were characterized by the combination use of densities,wide-angle X-ray diffraction(WAXD),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),Elemental analysis(EA),Fourier transform infrared(FT-IR)and scanning electron microscope(SEM),etc.KMnO4 as a strong oxidizer can swell,oxidize and corrode the skin of a precursor fibre,transform partly C≡N groups to CN ones,decrease the crystal size,increase the orientation index,increase the crystallinity index,furthermore increase the densities of modified PAN precursors and resulting thermal stabilised fibres.As a result,the carbon fibres developed from modified PAN fibres show an improvement in tensile strength of 31.25% and an improvement in elongation of 77.78%,but a decrease of 16.52% in Young's modulus.

Development of an Enhanced Self-Tuning RBF-PID Controller for Achieving Higher Energy-Efficient Process Control

Proportional, integral and derivative (PID) control strategy has been widely applied in heating systems in decades. To improve the accuracy and the robustness of PID control, self-tuning radial-basis-function neural network PID (RBF-PID) is developed and used. Even though being popular, during the control process both of PID and RBF-PID control strategy are inadequate in achieving simultaneous high energy-efficiency and good control accuracy. To address this problem, in this paper we develop and report an enhanced self-tuning radial-basis-function neural network PID (e-RBF-PID) controller. To identify the superiority of e-RBF-PID, following works are conducted and reported in this paper. Firstly, four controllers, i.e., on-off, PID, RBF-PID and e-RBF-PID are designed. Secondly, in order to test the performance of the e-RBF-PID controller, an experimental water heating system is constructed for being controlled. Finally, the energy consumption for the four controllers under the three control scenarios is investigated through experiments. The experimental results indicate that in the three scenarios, the developed e-RBF-PID controller outperforms on-off controller as having higher accuracy. Compared to the PID controller, the e-RBF-PID controller has higher speed in control, and the experimental results show that settling time savings is between 12.6% - 49.0%. Most importantly, less control energy consumption is obtained if using the e-RBF-PID controller. It is found that up to 28.5% energy consumption can be saved. Therefore, it is concluded that the proposed e-RBF-PID is capable of enhancing energy efficiency during control process.