Evolution of Local Structural Ordering and Chemical Distribution upon Delithiation of a Rock Salt–Structured Li1.3Ta0.3Mn0.4O2 Cathode

Lithium‐rich disordered rock‐salt oxides have attracted great interest owing to their promising performance as Li‐ion battery cathodes. While experimental and theoretical efforts are critical in advancing this class of materials, a fundamental understanding of key property changes upon Li extraction is largely missing. In the present study, single‐crystal synthesis of a new disordered rock‐salt cathode material, Li_1.3Ta_0.3Mn_0.4O₂ (LTMO), and its use as a model compound to investigate Li concentration–driven evolution of local cationic ordering, charge compensation, and chemical distribution are reported. Through the combined use of 2D and 3D X‐ray nanotomography, it is shown that Li removal accompanied by oxygen oxidation is correlated with the development of morphological defects such as particle cracking. Chemical heterogeneity, quantified by subparticle level distribution of Mn valence state, is minimal during Mn redox, which drastically increases upon the formation of cracks during oxygen redox. Density functional theory and bond valence sum mismatch calculations reveal the presence of local short‐range ordering in the pristine oxide, which gradually disappears along with the extraction of Li. The study suggests that with cycling the transformation into true cation–disordered state can be expected, which likely impacts the voltage profile and obtainable energy density of the oxide cathodes.     

Change detection in synthetic aperture radar images based on unsupervised artificial immune systems

In this paper, we propose a novel change detection method for synthetic aperture radar images based on unsupervised artificial immune systems. After generating the difference image from the multitemporal images, we take each pixel as an antigen and build an immune model to deal with the antigens. By continuously stimulating the immune model, the antigens are classified into two groups, changed and unchanged. Firstly, the proposed method incorporates the local information in order to restrain the impact of speckle noise. Secondly, the proposed method simulates the immune response process in a fuzzy way to get an accurate result by retaining more image details. We introduce a fuzzy membership of the antigen and then update the antibodies and memory cells according to the membership. Compared with the clustering algorithms we have proposed in our previous works, the new method inherits immunological properties from immune systems and is robust to speckle noise due to the use of local information as well as fuzzy strategy. Experiments on real synthetic aperture radar images show that the proposed method performs well on several kinds of difference images and engenders more robust result than the other compared methods.     

Effect of an abrupt change in pulling rate on microstructures of directionally solidified Al2O3-Er3Al5O12 eutectic and off-eutectic composite ceramics

Directionally solidified microstructures of Al₂O₃-Er₃Al₅O₁₂ eutectic and off-eutectic in situ composite ceramics were explored under abrupt-change pulling rate conditions. Corresponding temperature distributions and interface locations were studied. In eutectic composition, fluctuation of eutectic spacing occurred when the pulling rate increased abruptly. A gradually increase or abrupt increase in eutectic spacing was observed when the pulling rate decreased abruptly. In hypoeutectic and hypereutectic compositions, formation of the primary phases were suppressed when the pulling rate increased abruptly from 10?µm/s to 100?µm/s, while primary phases precipitated when the pulling rate decreased abruptly from 100?µm/s to 10?µm/s. The interface altitude decreased after the pulling rate increased abruptly, but increased after the pulling rate decreased abruptly. The liquid composition restriction (around the eutectic composition) at the eutectic interface plays an important role in the suppression of the primary dendrite and coupled eutectic oxides can be obtained in off-eutectic compositions even under higher solidification rate conditions.     

An interpretative structural modeling based network reconfiguration strategy for power systems

The network reconfiguration is an important stage of restoring a power system after a complete blackout or a local outage. Reasonable planning of the network reconfiguration procedure is essential for rapidly restoring the power system concerned. An approach for evaluating the importance of a line is first proposed based on the line contraction concept. Then, the interpretative structural modeling (ISM) is employed to analyze the relationship among the factors having impacts on the network reconfiguration. The security and speediness of restoring generating units are considered with priority, and a method is next proposed to select the generating unit to be restored by maximizing the restoration benefit with both the generation capacity of the restored generating unit and the importance of the line in the restoration path considered. Both the start-up sequence of generating units and the related restoration paths are optimized together in the proposed method, and in this way the shortcomings of separately solving these two issues in the existing methods are avoided. Finally, the New England 10-unit 39-bus power system and the Guangdong power system in South China are employed to demonstrate the basic features of the proposed method.     

How to accelerate green technology diffusion? Directed technological change in the presence of coevolving absorptive capacity

The time window for effective climate change mitigation is closing. Technological change needs to be accelerated to limit global warming to a manageable level. Path dependence of technological change is one explanation for sluggish diffusion of green technologies. Firms acquire capital that differs by technology type and build up type-specific technological know-how needed to use capital efficiently. Path dependence emerges from cumulative knowledge stocks manifested in the productivity of supplied capital and firms’ capabilities. Increasing returns arise from induced innovation feedbacks and learning by doing. Relatively lower endowments with technological knowledge are a barrier to diffusion for new technologies. This paper shows how the evolution of relative stocks of technological knowledge explains different shapes of diffusion curves. Using an eco-technology extension of the macroeconomic agent-based model Eurace@unibi, it is shown how the effectiveness of different climate policies depends on the type and strength of diffusion barriers. Environmental taxes can outweigh lower productivity and subsidies perform better if lacking capabilities hinder firms to adopt a sufficiently mature technology.     

CYLINDRICAL AND CONICAL FOLD GEOMETRIES IN THE CANTARELL STRUCTURE, SOUTHERN GULF OF MEXICO: IMPLICATIONS FOR HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION

The NW‐SE trending Cantarell structure in the Gulf of Campeche hosts the largest oilfield in Mexico. The oil occurs predominantly in latest Cretaceous – earliest Tertiary breccias with subsidiary reserves in Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian and Kimmeridgian) and Lower Cretaceous oolitic and partially dolomitized limestones, dolomites and shaly limestones. Cantarell has been interpreted both as a fold‐and‐thrust zone and as a dextral transpressional structure. Analysis of structure contours at 100m intervals, on the tops of the Tertiary breccia and the Kimmeridgian (Upper Jurassic) dolomite, indicates that the structure is an upright cylindrical fold with gently plunging conical terminations; there is also a conical portion in the central part of the structure. The axes of the central, NW and SE cones are subvertical. This geometry indicates that the two fold terminations and the central cone are aprons rather than points, with the NW and central cone axes intersecting the cylindrical fold axis at the point where the geometry switches from conical to cylindrical. The apical angle (i.e. the angle between the fold and cone axes) varies as follows: (i) in the NW cone, it is ～70° in the breccia and ～76° in the Kimmeridgian dolomite; (ii) in the central cone, it is ～77° in the breccia and ～73° in the Kimmeridgian dolomite; and (iii) in the SE cone, it is ～64° in the breccia and ～57° in the Kimmeridgian dolomite. This indicates that whereas the fold opens with depth in the NW cone, it tightens with depth in the central and SE cones. Assuming a parallel fold geometry, these apical angles indicate an increase in volume in the NW cone (i.e. larger hydrocarbon reservoirs), compared to the central and SE cones. Theoretical considerations indicate that the curvature increases dramatically towards the point of the cone. In the case of the Cantarell structure, the apices of the cones are located at the conical‐cylindrical fold junctions, where the highest curvature may have resulted in a higher degree of fracturing. The coincidence of maximum curvature and the intersection of the conical and cylindrical fold axes in the fold culminations with porous and permeable reservoir rocks may have made these locations favourable for the accumulation of hydrocarbons.     

Lake Chivero: A management case study

Lake Chivero in Zimbabwe was shown to be hypereutrophic. Historical data showed that the eutrophication process had been arrested in the late 1970s. However, a combination of poor planning, multiplicity of jurisdiction, mismatch between rate of urbanization and waste management investment, recent changes in the local climate and a permissive, immature political system that called for no public accountability resulted in environmental management breakdown leading to hypereutrophication of the lake. The case of Lake Chivero is presented as an example of a wider global issue regarding the status of environmental management in competition with other priorities in emerging democracies.     

综合高速效应的凝析气藏流入动态

当井底压力低于露点压力时,凝析液在近井地带开始析出并不断聚集产生凝析油堵塞现象。因此,在制定凝析气井工作制度时,通常以控制生产压差为指导思想,往往忽略高速流动下凝析气液相变的非平衡特征。对于凝析气体系,当外界温压变化速度超过凝析气液的相平衡速度时,凝析气体系相变滞后,开始呈现非平衡特征,即凝析液的析出量随着压降速度的增加而减小。凝析气在向井筒流动的过程中,近井区高速流动使凝析气产生非平衡相变,凝析气在比较高的压降速度下流入井筒,使得凝析液来不及析出。在分析非平衡相变规律与近井地带凝析气渗流参数分布的基础上,评价凝析气液流动过程中的非平衡特征,给出了考虑非平衡相变的凝析液饱和度分布计算公式,并进行了产能预测结果对比。实例分析表明,可以通过适当放大生产压差,增加凝析气液相变非平衡特征,减小井筒附近的凝析液饱和度,提高气井产能与气藏开发效果。     

王庄油田粘土矿物转化对储层的影响

王庄油田是水敏性稠油油藏的典型代表，其水敏性在热采过程中的变化直接关系到油田开发方式的选择。针对这一问题，从直接影响水敏性变化的储层粘土矿物入手，在模拟地层环境的基础上通过室内高温高压静态和动态物模实验，并结合X衍射、扫描电镜、元素分析、粒度检测等多种分析测试手段，研究了粘土矿物在100-300℃之间的变化过程，从而找到水敏性的变化规律，进而从机理上解释了渗透率的变化原因，为数值模拟和开发方案制定提供室内研究依据。