Space Materials Science in China:Ⅱ.Ground-based Researches and Academic Activities

Activities of space materials science research in China have been continuously supported by two main national programs.One is the China Space Station(CSS)program since 1992,and the other is the Strategic Priority Program(SPP)on Space Science since 2011.In CSS plan in 2019,eleven space materials science experimental projects were officially approved for execution during the construction of the space station.In the SPP Phase Ⅱ launched in 2018,seven pre-research projects are deployed as the first batch in 2018,and one concept study project in 2019.These pre-research projects will be cultivated as candidates for future selection as space experiment projects on the recovery of scientific experimental satellites in the future.A new apparatus of electrostatic levitation system for ground-based research of space materials science and rapid solidification research has been developed under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.In order to promote domestic academic activities and to enhance the advancement of space materials science in China,the Space Materials Science and Technology Division belong to the Chinese Materials Research Society was established in 2019.We also organized scientists to write five review papers on space materials science as a special topic published in the journal Scientia Sinica to provide valuable scientific and technical references for Chinese researchers.

Research on GPS Construction and Technology Development

The United States was the first country in the world to develop a satellite navigation system,with rich experience in system management,R&D,operation,and satellite applications industry.It started the construction of the Global Positioning System(GPS)in 1973 and deployed the first satellite in 1978.It has successfully developed and deployed three series of GPS satellites with a total of seven models.The United States is now focusing on the research and development of cutting edge navigation technologies and constellation modernization,replacing old ones with new GPS III series of satellites and actively exploring and verifying the frontier navigation technologies represented through the Navigation Technology Satellite 3(NTS-3).It is now upgrading the original ground-based operation and control system,actively developing and deploying the GPS Next Generation Operational Control System(GPS OCX),and upgrading the military user equipment supporting Military Code(M-Code).The U.S.attaches importance to multiple measures to improve the service performance of the GPS system and enhance the resilience of the system to provide positioning,navigation,and timing capabilities.In this context,the progress of the construction of GPS and the related technological innovations are separated out and analyzed,which will help the Global Navigation Satellite System(GNSS)solutions summarizing their experience and learning from each other’s development to better serve social progress and economic development.

Sensitivity study of the SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor single event effect based on pulsed laser and technology computer-aided design simulation

The single event effect of a silicon–germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor(SiGe HBT) was thoroughly investigated. By considering the worst bias condition, the sensitive area of the proposed device was scanned with a pulsed laser.With variation of the collector bias and pulsed laser incident energy, the single event transient of the SiGe HBT was studied.Moreover, the single event transient produced by laser irradiation at a wavelength of 532 nm was more pronounced than at a wavelength of 1064 nm. Finally, the impact of the equivalent linear energy transfer of the 1064 nm pulsed laser on the single event transient was qualitatively examined by performing technology computer-aided design simulations, and a good consistency between the experimental data and the simulated outcomes was attained.

Multi-field Split Curvature Wavefront Sensing and its Application in the Large Field Survey Telescope

The image quality of a large field survey telescope with a fast focal ratio of the primary mirror is high sensitivity to the optical elements’misalignments and the primary mirror’s deformations.To maintain good optical performance,the perturbations need to be aligned,and the tomographic reconstruction of these perturbations can be derived from wavefront sensing with multi-field points for alignment.This work undertakes a comprehensive examination related to the implementation and optimization of a multi-field split curvature wavefront sensing system,including defocus distance,signal pre-processing,deblending of overlapped doughnuts,field-dependent correction,and distorted coordinate correction.We also conduct experiments to demonstrate the application and performance of a multi-field split curvature wavefront sensing system in Mephisto.In the context of the decentering of the secondary mirror,the coefficient of determination(R)attains a high value of 0.993,indicating a robust linearity between the coma coefficients and the decentering of the secondary mirror.A comparative analysis of the simulated and experimental results shows that the difference between them is less than 0.1λ.

Assessment of the performance of the TOPGNSS and ANN-MB antennas for ionospheric measurements using low-cost u-blox GNSS receivers

Low-cost GNSS receivers have recently been gaining reliability as good candidates for ionospheric studies. In line with these gains are genuine concerns about improving the performance of these receivers. In this work, we present a comprehensive investigation of the performances of two antennas(the u-blox ANN-MB and the TOPGNSS TOP-106) used on a low-cost GNSS receiver known as the u-blox ZED-F9P. The two antennas were installed on two identical and co-located u-blox receivers. Data used from both receivers cover the period from January to June 2022. Results from the study indicate that the signal strengths are dominantly greater for the receiver with the TOPGNSS antenna than for the receiver with the ANN-MB antenna, implying that the TOPGNSS antenna is better than the ANN-MB antenna in terms of providing greater signal strengths. Summarily, the TOPGNSS antenna also performed better in minimizing the occurrence of cycle slips on phase TEC measurements. There are no conspicuous differences between the variances(computed as 5-min standard deviations) of phase TEC measurements for the two antennas, except for a period around May-June when the TOPGNSS gave a better performance in terms of minimizing the variances in phase TEC. Remarkably, the ANN-MB antenna gave a better performance than the TOPGNSS antenna in terms of minimizing the variances in pseudorange TEC for some satellite observations. For precise horizontal(North and East) positioning, the receiver with the TOPGNSS antenna gave better results, while the receiver with the ANN-MB antenna gave better vertical(Up) positioning. The errors for the receivers of both antennas are typically within about 5 m(the monthly mean was usually smaller than 1 m) in the horizontal direction and within about 10 m(the monthly mean was usually smaller than 4 m) in the vertical direction.

Robust Machine Learning Technique to Classify COVID-19 Using Fusion of Texture and Vesselness of X-Ray Images

Manual investigation of chest radiography(CXR)images by physicians is crucial for effective decision-making in COVID-19 diagnosis.However,the high demand during the pandemic necessitates auxiliary help through image analysis and machine learning techniques.This study presents a multi-threshold-based segmentation technique to probe high pixel intensity regions in CXR images of various pathologies,including normal cases.Texture information is extracted using gray co-occurrence matrix(GLCM)-based features,while vessel-like features are obtained using Frangi,Sato,and Meijering filters.Machine learning models employing Decision Tree(DT)and RandomForest(RF)approaches are designed to categorize CXR images into common lung infections,lung opacity(LO),COVID-19,and viral pneumonia(VP).The results demonstrate that the fusion of texture and vesselbased features provides an effective ML model for aiding diagnosis.The ML model validation using performance measures,including an accuracy of approximately 91.8%with an RF-based classifier,supports the usefulness of the feature set and classifier model in categorizing the four different pathologies.Furthermore,the study investigates the importance of the devised features in identifying the underlying pathology and incorporates histogrambased analysis.This analysis reveals varying natural pixel distributions in CXR images belonging to the normal,COVID-19,LO,and VP groups,motivating the incorporation of additional features such as mean,standard deviation,skewness,and percentile based on the filtered images.Notably,the study achieves a considerable improvement in categorizing COVID-19 from LO,with a true positive rate of 97%,further substantiating the effectiveness of the methodology implemented.

The ALMA-QUARKS Survey.Ⅰ.Survey Description and Data Reduction

This paper presents an overview of the QUARKS survey,which stands for Querying Underlying mechanisms of massive star formation with ALMA-Resolved gas Kinematics and Structures."The QUARKS survey is observing139 massive clumps covered by 156 pointings at Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array(ALMA)Band 6(λ~1.3 mm).In conjunction with data obtained from the ALMA-ATOMS survey at Band 3(λ~3 mm),QUARKS aims to carry out an unbiased statistical investigation of massive star formation process within protoclusters down to a scale of 1000 au.This overview paper describes the observations and data reduction of the QUARKS survey,and gives a first look at an exemplar source,the mini-starburst Sgr B2(M).The wide-b and width(7.5 GHz)and high-angular-resolution(~0."3)observations of the QUARKS survey allow for the resolution of much more compact cores than those could be done by the ATOMS survey,and to detect previously unrevealed fainter filamentary structures.The spectral windows cover transitions of species including CO,SO,N_(2)D^(+),SiO,H_(30)α,H_(2)CO,CH_(3)CN,and many other complex organic molecules,tracing gas components with different temperatures and spatial extents.QUARKS aims to deepen our understanding of several scientific topics of massive star formation,such as the mass transport within protoclusters by(hub-)filamentary structures,the existence of massive starless cores,the physical and chemical properties of dense cores within protoclusters,and the feedback from already formed high-mass young protostars.

The ALMA-QUARKS Survey.Ⅱ.The ACA 1.3 mm Continuum Source Catalog and the Assembly of Dense Gas in Massive Star-Forming Clumps

Leveraging the high resolution,sensitivity,and wide frequency coverage of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array(ALMA),the QUARKS survey,standing for“Querying Underlying mechanisms of massive star formation with ALMA-Resolved gas Kinematics and Structures”,is observing 139 massive starforming clumps at ALMA Band 6(λ~1.3 mm).This paper introduces the Atacama Compact Array(ACA)7 m data of the QUARKS survey,describing the ACA observations and data reduction.Combining multiwavelength data,we provide the first edition of QUARKS atlas,offering insights into the multiscale and multiphase interstellar medium in high-mass star formation.The ACA 1.3 mm catalog includes 207 continuum sources that are called ACA sources.Their gas kinetic temperatures are estimated using three formaldehyde transitions with a non-LTE radiation transfer model,and the mass and density are derived from a dust emission model.The ACA sources are massive(16–84 percentile values of 6–160 M_(⊙)),gravity-dominated(M∝R^(1.1))fragments within massive clumps,with supersonic turbulence(M>1)and embedded star-forming protoclusters.We find a linear correlation between the masses of the fragments and the massive clumps,with a ratio of 6%between the two.When considering fragments as representative of dense gas,the ratio indicates a dense gas fraction(DGF)of 6%,although with a wide scatter ranging from 1%to 10%.If we consider the QUARKS massive clumps to be what is observed at various scales,then the size-independent DGF indicates a self-similar fragmentation or collapsing mode in protocluster formation.With the ACA data over four orders of magnitude of luminosity-to-mass ratio(L/M),we find that the DGF increases significantly with L/M,which indicates clump evolutionary stage.We observed a limited fragmentation at the subclump scale,which can be explained by a dynamic global collapse process.

Crustal block rotations in Chinese mainland revealed by GPS measurements

We simulate GPS horizontal velocity field in terms of rotations of crustal blocks to describe deformation behavior of the Chinese mainland and its neighboring areas. 31 crustal blocks are bounded primarily by -30 Quaternary faults with distinct geometries and variable long-term rates of 〈20 mm/a, and 1 683 GPS velocities were determined from decade-long observations mostly with an averaged uncertainty of 1-2 mm/a. We define GPS velocity at a site by the combination of motion of rigid block and elastic strain induced by the fault that is locking during a seismic cycle. Model velocities predicted from the preferable block model match well with the GPS velocities to an uncertainty of-l.7mm/a. The slip rates inferred from this model is in a range of 6-18 mm/a for the major faults in Tibet and its margins and 1-4 mm/a in eastern China, consistent with geological observations. Our numerical simulation suggests that the crustal blocks deform internally at a level of-10× 10^-9/a, quite small in comparison with significant deformation localized along fault zones of 50-100 km wide. We conclude that the pattern of continental deformation is not continuous-like but block-like, and the tenet of plate tectonics may be applicable to characterize the active deformation in Asia.

Dynamics and rebound behavior analysis of flexible tethered satellite system in deployment and station-keeping phases

The tether deployment of a tethered satellite system involves the consideration of complex dynamic properties of the tether,such as large deformation,slack,and even rebound,and therefore,the dynamic modelling of the tether is necessary for performing a dynamic analysis of the system.For a variablelength tether element,the absolute nodal coordinate formulation(ANCF)in the framework of the arbitrary Lagrange-Euler(ALE)description was used to develop a precise dynamic model of a tethered satellite.The model considered the gravitational gradient force and Coriolis force in the orbital coordinate frame,and it was validated through numerical simulation.In the presence of dynamic constraints,a deployment velocity of the tether was obtained by an optimal procedure.In the simulation,rebound behavior of the tethered satellite system was observed when the ANCF-ALE model was employed.Notably,the rebound behavior cannot be predicted by the traditional dumbbell model.Furthermore,an improved optimal deployment velocity was developed.Simulation results indicated that the rebound phenomenon was eliminated,and smooth deployment as well as a stable state of the station-keeping process were achieved.Additionally,the swing amplitude in the station-keeping phase decreased when a deployment strategy based on the improved optimal deployment velocity was used.

Anomalous Resistivity Associated with Secondary Islands in the Reconnection Region

We calculate the anomalous resistivity(AR)due to electrostatic waves,including possibly the lower hybrid wave and electron beam mode,around the secondary islands in the reconnection region observed by the Cluster spacecraft.Our main findings are:AR is important on the reconnection separatrix layer but heavily suppressed at the central current sheet where B_(x)~0.Moreover,there is a highly asymmetric pattern of AR across the island along the outflow direction,with much larger AR on one side of island than on the other side.Our results may be helpful in understanding the role of AR in reconnection.

Dispersion of ZnO Nanocrytals in Co-solvent and Its Application in Photovoltaic Material

To overcome the aggregation of nanocrystals in a blend of inorganic material with conjugated polymers to prepare photovoltaic material, we used a co-solvent blend of CHCl3 with MeOH at a certain volume fraction to disperse inorganic nanocrystals. The results show that when the volume fraction of MeOH is 50%, ZnO nanocrystals with an average diameter of 30 nm disperse well in the co-solvent solution. Its application in photovoltaic material was investigated in this work, and the photoluminescence（PL） spectra show that when ZnO was 50%（volume fraction） in solution and 25%（volume fraction） in film, the fluorescence quenching reached the maximum values 83.34% and 64.4%, respectively, indicating that electron could transfer from conjugated polymer to electron-acceptor ZnO effectively.

Modified Masses and Parallaxes of Close Binary Systems: HD 39438

We present the detailed fundamental stellar parameters of the close visual binary system HD 39438 for the first time. We used Al-Wardat's method for analyzing binary and multiple stellar systems. The method implements Kurucz's plane parallel model atmospheres to construct synthetic spectral energy distributions(SEDs) for both components of the system. It then combines the results of the spectroscopic analysis with the photometric analysis and compares them with the observed ones to construct the best synthetic SED for the combined system. The analysis gives the precise fundamental parameters of the individual components of the system. Based on the positions of the components of HD 39438 on the H-R diagram, and evolutionary and isochrone tracks, we found that the system belongs to the main sequence stars with masses of 1.24 and 0.98 solar masses for the components A and B, respectively, and age of 1.995 Gyr for both components. The main result of HD 39438 is new dynamical parallax, which is estimated to be 16.689 ± 0.03 mas.

Assessing the Impact of Land-Use Land-Cover Change on Stream Water and Sediment Yields at a Watershed Level Using SWAT

Flint River watershed is located in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee, USA and is home to several species of rare, threatened, or endangered plants and animals in a rapidly urbanizing area. Dominant land uses are forest and agricultural, with row crops and livestock production as major farm enterprises. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), a deterministic hydrologic model that can predict hydrologic conditions over various temporal and spatial scales, was used to simulate the hydrologic response of the watershed to land-use/land cover (LULC) change. Analysis between observed and predicted stream flow demonstrated that the initial SWAT model run requires calibration of stream parameters in order to give a more accurate output from the model. The calibration was performed with sequential uncertainty fitting, ver. 2 (SUFI-2) in the SWAT Calibration Uncertainty Program. After calibration, stream sediment yield values were compared by sub-basin between a current (2001) and three future (2030) land use scenarios, in order to identify areas in the watershed that were the most susceptible to increased sediment yield in the future. The future growth scenarios (smart, plan and sprawl) were created using the ArcGIS extension, Prescott Spatial Growth Model. Sub-basins with the greatest sensitivity for larger sediment yields were identified and prioritized for conservation efforts.

How Does the Guide Field Affect the Asymmetry of Hall Magnetic and Electric Fields in Fast Magnetic Reconnection?

Recent studies show that the out-of-plane quadrupolar magnetic field in fast magnetic reconnection is distorted in the presence of a guide field. It is asymmetric with respect to the current sheet. In this work, we analyze the spatial and amplitude asymmetries of the Hall magnetic field By and the Hall electric field Ez in reconnection with different guide fields by a series of 2.5-D particle-in-cell simulations. We derive the relation between the asymmetry of By and Ez and the guide field strength. In addition, by analyzing the different terms in the generalized ohm＇s law, we find that the electric field Ez is mainly balanced by the Hall term, and the amplitude asymmetry is mainly caused by the Hall effect.

Comparison of Rainy Season Onset, Cessation and Duration for Ghana from RegCM4 and GMet Datasets

The socio-economic sector of West African countries is rain-fed agriculture driven. Information regarding the onset, cessation and duration of the rainy season is thus, very essential. In this paper, a comparison of the onset, cessation and duration of the rainy season has been carried out using simulated rainfall data from the fourth generation Regional Climate Model (RegCM4) and rain gauge measurements from Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet), covering a period of 1998 to 2012. Similar onset and cessation dates were seen in both the simulated and guage rainfall measurements for the various agro-ecological zones, resulting in similar duration of the rainy season. The average duration of the rainy season were less than 200 days for the savannah and coastal zones whereas the duration of the rainy season were beyond 200 days for the forest and transition zones. The bias of these comparisons was less than 30 days and the root mean square error (RMSE) values were less than 15 days for all stations, except Saltpond. The Pearson’s correlation (r) typically ranged between 0.4 and 0.8. However, negative correlations were observed for Tamale in the savannah zone, and the entire coastal zone. These findings are indications that RegCM4 has the potential to clearly simulate the movement of the rain belt, and thus, could fairly determine the onset, cessation and duration of the rainy season. The findings have significant contributions to effective water resource management and food security in Ghana, as the thriving of these sectors depend on the dynamics of the rainfall seasons.

Magnetospheric Boundary Layer Structure and Dynamics as Seen From Cluster and Double Star Measurements

In this review,we discuss the structure and dynamics of the magnetospheric LowLatitude Boundary Layer(LLBL)based on recent results from multi-satellite missions Cluster and Double Star.This boundary layer,adjacent to the magnetopause on the magnetospheric side,usually consists of a mixture of plasma of magnetospheric and magnetosheath origins,and plays an important role in the transfer of mass and energy from the solar wind into the magnetosphere and subsequent magnetospheric dynamics.During southward Interplanetary Magnetic Field(IMF)conditions,this boundary layer is generally considered to be formed as a result of the reconnection process between the IMF and magnetospheric magnetic field lines at the dayside magnetopause,and the structure and plasma properties inside the LLBL can be understood in terms of the time history since the reconnection process.During northward IMF conditions,the LLBL is usually thicker,and has more complex structure and topology.Recent observations confirm that the LLBL observed at the dayside can be formed by single lobe reconnection,dual lobe reconnection,or by sequential dual lobe reconnection,as well as partially by localized cross-field diffusion.The LLBL magnetic topology and plasma signatures inside the different sub-layers formed by these processes are discussed in this review.The role of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the formation of the LLBL at the flank magnetopause is also discussed.Overall,we conclude that the LLBL observed at the flanks can be formed by the combination of processes,(dual)lobe reconnection and plasma mixing due to non-linear Kelvin-Helmholtz waves.

A striking confluence between theory and observations of high-mass X-ray binary pulsars

We analyze the most powerful X-ray outbursts from neutron stars in eleven Magellanic high-mass X-ray binaries and three pulsating ultraluminous X-ray sources. Most of the outbursts rise to Lmax which is about the level of the Eddington luminosity, while the remaining more powerful outbursts also appear to recognize that limit when their emissions are assumed to be anisotropic and beamed toward our direction. We use the measurements of pulsar spin periods Ps and their derivatives Ps to calculate the X-ray luminosities Lp in their faintest accreting （＂propeller-line＂） states. In five cases with unknown Ps, we use the lowest observed X-ray luminosities, which only adds to the heterogeneity of the sample. Then we calculate the ratios Lp/Lmax and we obtain an outstanding confluence of theory and observations from which we conclude that work done on both fronts is accurate and the results are trustworthy： sources known to reside on the lowest Magellanic propeller line are all located on/near that line, whereas other sources jump higher and reach higher-lying propeller lines. These jumps can be interpreted in only one way, higher-lying pulsars have stronger surface magnetic fields in agreement with previous empirical results in which Ps and Lp values were not used.

THE RELATION BETWEEN ICOSAHEDRAL AND β-W SYMMETRY

Using X-ray precession method,it is found that the distribution of reciprocal lattice ofβ-W structure is lust the distortion of the reciprocal space of A16Li3Cu quasicrystal structure.Except the distortion,the X-ray diffraction patterns along 5-fold,3-fold and 2-fold axes can be observed.Their angular relations satisfy well with those of the perfect icosahedral symmetry;and all the diffraction spots can be indexed approxmately to be six-dimension and strictly in three-dimension.

A physical interpretation of the Titius-Bode rule and its connection to the closed orbits of Bertrand's theorem

We consider the geometric Titius-Bode rule for the semimajor axes of planetary orbits. We derive an equivalent rule for the midpoints of the segments between consecutive orbits along the radial direction and we interpret it physically in terms of the work done in the gravitational field of the Sun by particles whose orbits are perturbed around each planetary orbit. On such energetic grounds, it is not surprising that some exoplanets in multiple-planet extrasolar systems obey the same relation. However,it is surprising that this simple interpretation of the Titius-Bode rule also reveals new properties of the bound closed orbits predicted by Bertrand’s theorem, which has been known since 1873.