Gyrotactic microorganisms bioconvection in combined convective magnetohydrodynamic Casson nanofluid flow over a vertically surfaced saturated porous media with variable viscosity

The current article focuses on mass and thermal transfer analysis of a two-dimensional immovable combined convective nanofluid flow including motile microorganisms with temperature-dependent viscosity on top of a vertical plate through a porous medium, and a model has been developed to visualize the velocity slip impacts on a nonlinear partial symbiotic flow. The governed equations include all of the above physical conditions, and suitable nondimensional transfigurations are utilized to transfer the governed conservative equations to a nonlinear system of differential equations and obtain numerical solutions by using the Shooting method. Numerical studies have been focusing on the effects of intricate dimensionless parameters, namely, the Casson fluid parameter, Brownian motion parameter, thermophoresis parameter, Peclet number, bioconvection parameter, and Rayleigh number, which have all been studied on various profiles such as momentum, thermal, concentration, and density of microorganisms. The concentration boundary layer thickness and density of microorganisms increased as the Casson fluid parameter, Brownian and thermophoresis parameters increased, whereas the bioconvection parameter, Peclet number, and Rayleigh number increased. The thermal boundary layer thickness, concentration boundary layer thickness, and density of microorganisms all decreased. The velocity distribution decreases as the Peclet number, bioconvection, and thermophoresis parameters rise but rises as the Rayleigh number, Brownian motion parameter, and Casson fluid parameter rise. These are graphed via plots along with divergent fluid parameters.     

NNI-1型C_5/C_6烷烃异构化催化剂长周期运行分析及建议

中国石化海南炼油化工有限公司0.2 Mt/a C5/C6烷烃异构化装置以连续重整装置的拔头油为原料,使用NNI-1催化剂,采用一次通过流程,不设脱异戊烷塔和稳定塔,经设在连续重整装置内的脱丁烷塔稳定处理后作为汽油调合组分。该装置于2006年9月开工投产,截至2015年3月已连续运行3个周期。长周期运行分析结果表明:前两个周期中NNI-1催化剂具有较高的异构化活性及选择性,C5异构化率为60%左右,C6异构化率为80%左右,C6选择性为15%左右,产品辛烷值基本达到技术指标要求(RON≥78);而在第三周期运行中,催化剂积炭增加等原因导致其异构化活性及选择性降低,异构化产品辛烷值提升能力呈现逐步衰减的趋势,提高反应苛刻度已不能弥补催化剂活性下降造成的产品辛烷值降低。为保证装置长周期运行,建议择机停工对催化剂进行再生,或是直接换用与装置原料性质匹配的异构化催化剂。     

Numerical study of entropy generation in Darcy-Forchheimer (D-F) Bödewadt flow of CNTs

Three-dimensional Bödewadt flow (fluid rotates at a large enough distance from the stationary plate) of carbon nanomaterial is examined. Single walled and multi walled CNTs are dissolved in water and gasoline oil baseliquids. Darcy-Forchheimer porous medium is considered. Stationary disk is further stretched linearly in radial direction. Heat transfer effect is examined in presence of radiation and convection. Effect of viscous dissipation is accounted. Entropy generation rate is studied. By using adequate transformation (von Kármán relations), the flow field equations (PDEs) are transmitted into ODEs. Solutions to these ODEs are constructed via implementation of shooting method (bvp4c). In addition to Entropy generation rate, Bejan number, heat transfer rate (Nusselt number), skin friction and temperature of fluid are examined through involved physical parameters. Axial component of velocity intensifies with increment in nanoparticles volume fraction and ratio of stretching rate to angular velocity parameter while it decays with higher porosity parameter. Higher nanoparticles volume fraction and porosity parameter lead to decay in radial as well as tangential component of velocity. However it enhances with higher ratio of stretching rate to angular velocity parameter. Temperature of fluid directly varies with higher ratio of stretching rate to angular velocity parameter, radiation parameter, Eckert number, Biot number and nanoparticles volume fraction. Rate of Entropy generation is reduced with higher estimations of porosity parameter, nanoparticles volume fraction and radiation parameter. Skin friction coefficient decays with higher porosity parameter and ratio of stretching rate to angular velocity parameter. Intensification in porosity parameter, nanoparticles volume fraction and Biot number leads to higher Nusselt number. Prominent impact is shown by multiple-walled CNTs with gasoline oil basefluid than single-walled CNTs with water basefluid.     

Preparation of α-cordierite through mechanochemical activation of MgO–Al2O3–SiO2 ternary system

Samples of the ternary system MgO–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ with stoichiometric composition in relation to α-cordierite (Mg₂A_l4Si₅O₁₈), consisting of 22.2 mol% MgO, 22.2 mol% Al₂O₃, and 55.6 mol% SiO₂, were activated in a low energy mill with a constant speed of 100 rpm, in an aqueous medium. The precursors used were corundum (Al₂O₃), silica gel HF254 type 60 (SiO₂), and periclase (MgO). The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of mechanochemical activation on the solid-state synthesis of α-cordierite, using a low energy ball mill. Another objective was to shed light on the effect of mechanochemical activation on the steps of α-cordierite formation. For this end several grinding conditions were evaluated, varying the time and mass ratio of precursors/grinding elements, as well as calcination at different temperatures between 950 °C and 1350 °C for 2 h. The samples were analyzed for the determination of the formed phases by Infrared (IR) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The phases identified in uncalcined samples were brucite (Mg(OH)₂), forsterite (Mg₂SiO₄), enstatite (MgSiO₃), spinel (MgAl₂O₃), amorphous silica (SiO₂), corundum (α-Al₂O₃), and zirconia (monoclinic and tetragonal ZrO₂). The lowest temperature corresponding to the formation of α-cordierite (α-Mg₂Al₄Si₅O₁₈) was 1150 °C and a considerable amount of this phase (16.2%) was observed at this temperature, for the sample with the higher mechanochemical activation. In a solid-state reaction, α-cordierite is normally obtained at around 1400 °C, therefore, the formation of this phase at 1150 °C confirms that the mechanochemical activation method, using a low-cost ball mill, is efficient in reducing the solid-state reaction temperature.     

Multiple Empirical Kernel Learning with Majority Projection for imbalanced problems

Traditional Multiple Empirical Kernel Learning (MEKL) expands the expressions of the sample and brings better classification ability by using different empirical kernels to map the original data space into multiple kernel spaces. To make MEKL suit for the imbalanced problems, this paper introduces a weight matrix and a regularization term into MEKL. The weight matrix assigns high misclassification cost to the minority samples to balanced misclassification cost between minority and majority class. The regularization term named Majority Projection (MP) is used to make the classification hyperplane fit the distribution shape of majority samples and enlarge the between-class distance of minority and majority class. The contributions of this work are: (i) assigning high cost to minority samples to deal with imbalanced problems, (ii) introducing a new regularization term to concern the property of data distribution, (iii) and modifying the original PAC-Bayes bound to test the error upper bound of MEKL-MP. Through analyzing the experimental results, the proposed MEKL-MP is well suited to the imbalanced problems and has lower generalization risk in accordance with the value of PAC-Bayes bound.     

Functional Dysregulations in CA1 Hippocampal Networks of a 3-Hit Mouse Model of Schizophrenia

For a better translation from treatment designs of schizophrenia to clinical efficiency, there is a crucial need to refine preclinical animal models. In order to consider the multifactorial nature of the disorder, a new mouse model associating three factors (genetic susceptibility—partial deletion of the MAP6 gene, early-life stress—maternal separation, and pharmacological treatment—chronic Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol during adolescence) has recently been described. While this model depicts a schizophrenia-like phenotype, the neurobiological correlates remain unknown. Synaptic transmission and functional plasticity of the CA1 hippocampal region of male and female 3-hit mice were therefore investigated using electrophysiological recordings on the hippocampus slice. While basal excitatory transmission remained unaffected, NMDA receptor (NMDAr)-mediated long-term potentiation (LTP) triggered by theta-burst (TBS) but not by high-frequency (HFS) stimulation was impaired in 3-hit mice. Isolated NMDAr activation was not affected or even increased in female 3-hit mice, revealing a sexual dimorphism. Considering that the regulation of LTP is more prone to inhibitory tone if triggered by TBS than by HFS, the weaker potentiation in 3-hit mice suggests a deficiency of intrinsic GABA regulatory mechanisms. Indeed, NMDAr activation was increased by GABA_A receptor blockade in wild-type but not in 3-hit mice. This electrophysiological study highlights dysregulations of functional properties and plasticity in hippocampal networks of 3-hit mice, one of the mechanisms suspected to contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. It also shows differences between males and females, supporting the sexual dimorphism observed in the disorder. Combined with the previously reported study, the present data reinforce the face validity of the 3-hit model that will help to consider new therapeutic strategies for psychosis.     

基于粒子群优化和支持向量机的花粉浓度预测模型

为了提高花粉浓度预报的准确率，解决现有花粉浓度预报准确率不高的问题，提出了一种基于粒子群优化（PSO）算法和支持向量机（SVM）的花粉浓度预报模型。首先，综合考虑气温、气温日较差、相对湿度、降水量、风力、日照时数等多种气象要素，选择与花粉浓度相关性较强的气象要素构成特征向量；其次，利用特征向量与花粉浓度数据建立SVM预测模型，并使用PSO算法找出最优参数；然后利用最优参数优化花粉浓度预测模型；最后，使用优化后的模型对花粉未来24 h浓度进行预测，并与未优化的SVM、多元线性回归法（MLR）、反向神经网络（BPNN）作对比。此外使用优化后的模型对某市南郊观象台和密云两个站点进行逐日花粉浓度预测。实验结果表明，相比其他预报方法，所提方法能有效提高花粉浓度未来24 h预测精度，并具有较高的泛化能力。     

Backtesting portfolio value-at-risk with estimated portfolio weights

This article theoretically and empirically analyzes backtesting portfolio value-at-risk (VaR) with estimation risk in an intrinsically multi-variate framework. It particularly takes into account the estimation of portfolio weights in forecasting portfolio VaR and its impact on backtesting. It shows that the estimation risk from estimating portfolio weights and that from estimating the multi-variate dynamic model make the existing methods in a univariate framework inapplicable. It proposes a general theory to quantify estimation risk applicable to the present problem and suggests practitioners a simple but effective way to implement valid inference to overcome the effect of estimation risk in backtesting portfolio VaR. In particular, we apply our theory to the efficient mean-variance-skewness portfolio for a multi-variate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity model with multi-variate general hyperbolic distributed innovations. Some Monte Carlo simulations and an empirical application demonstrate the merits of our method.     

Covalent triazine framework with efficient photocatalytic activity in aqueous and solid media

Covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) have been recently employed for visible light-driven photocatalysis due to their unique optical and electronic properties. However, the usually highly hydrophobic nature of CTFs, which originates from their overall aromatic backbone, leads to limitations of CTFs for applications in aqueous media. In this study, we aim to extend the range of the application media of CTFs and design hybrid material of a CTF and mesoporous silica (SBA-15) for efficient photocatalysis in aqueous medium. A thiophene-containing CTF was directly synthesized in mesopores of SBA-15. Due to the high surface area and the added hydrophilic properties by silica, the hybrid material demonstrated excellent adsorption of organic molecules in water. This leads not only to high photocatalytic performance of the hybrid material for the degradation of organic dyes in water, but also for efficient photocatalysis in solvent-free and solid state. Furthermore, the reusability, stability and easy recovery of the hybrid material offers promising metal-free heterogeneous photocatalyst for broader applications in different reaction media.     

Learning keyword phrases from query logs of USPTO patent examiners for automatic query scope limitation in patent searching

Professional search in patent repositories poses several unique challenges. One key requirement is to search the entire affected space of concepts, following well-defined procedures to ensure traceability of results obtained. Several techniques have been introduced to enhance query generation, preferably via automated query term expansion, to improve retrieval effectiveness. Currently, these approaches are mostly limited to computing additional query terms from patent documents based on statistical measures. For conceptual search to solve the limitation of traditional keyword search standard dictionaries are used to provide synonyms and keyword phrases for query refinement. Studies show that these are insufficient in such highly specialized domains. In this paper, we present an approach to extract keyword phrases from query logs created during the validation procedure of the patent applications. This creates valuable domain-specific lexical databases for several specific patent classes that can be used to both expand as well as limit the scope of a patent search. This provides a more powerful means to guide a professional searcher through the search process. We evaluate the lexical databases based on real query sessions of patent examiners.