Waste-to-wealth approach in water economy: The case of beneficiation of mercury-contaminated water in hydrogen production

Heavy metals (Hg, Cd, Pb, etc.) are micro-pollutants and result in water contamination. Significant bio-concentration of heavy metal like Hg can lead to fatal disease such as Minamata. Given this context, heavy metal removal from wastewater is essential before discharge. The wastewater treatment process requires considerable amount of energy which is being met by the conventional carbon-based fuels. This contributes to the global carbon dioxide emission, and hence global warming. Therefore, if clean energy sourcing is enabled during the treatment of the wastewater; it would offer obvious advantages. If the energy production is ‘clean’ and achieved via the process itself, it would serve two outcomes: (a) meeting the energy demand for wastewater treatment, and (b) getting rid of the need for external ‘carbon-based’ energy. Recently a few research articles have reported simultaneous clean energy production from wastewater during its treatment. Thus, the energy demand of the wastewater treatment process can be potentially met with the clean energy produced during the process. In this review, we will discuss mercury-contaminated wastewater treatment with simultaneous hydrogen production. We will provide a brief overview of waste-to-wealth approaches currently prevailing in water economy, recent mercury removal processes, and discuss future possibilities of self-sustained Hg-contaminated wastewater treatment.     

激光脉冲编码抗有源干扰效果研究

激光脉冲编码是激光制导武器的抗干扰措施之一。角度欺骗式干扰和高重频干扰是目前半主动激光制导武器的主要有源干扰来源。为研究不同激光脉冲编码方式对激光半主动制导武器抗这两种干扰性能的影响,本文针对敌方激光告警机的识别算法与我方导引头的解码过程,提出自相关函数与归一化互相关函数评价方法,并对目前主要编码方式进行仿真,仿真结果表明:激光脉冲编码的抗角度欺骗式干扰能力受编码序列周期性与脉冲间隔随机性的影响；抗高重频激光干扰能力受编码序列脉冲间隔随机性的影响；LFSR状态码的抗角度欺骗式干扰与抗高重频干扰效果均优于其他编码方式。     

Vibration suppression for monopile and spar‐buoy offshore wind turbines using the structure‐immittance approach

Offshore wind turbines have the potential to capture the high‐quality wind resource. However, the significant wind and wave excitations may result in excessive vibrations and decreased reliability. To reduce vibrations, passive structural control devices, such as the tuned mass damper (TMD), have been used. To further enhance the vibration suppression capability, inerter‐based absorbers (IBAs) have been studied using the structure‐based approach, that is, proposing specific stiffness‐damping‐inertance elements layouts for investigation. Such an approach has a critical limitation of being only able to cover specific IBA layouts, leaving numerous beneficial configurations not identified. This paper adopts the newly introduced structure‐immittance approach, which is able to cover all network layout possibilities with a predetermined number of elements. Linear monopile and spar‐buoy turbine models are first established for optimisation. Results show that the performance improvements can be up to 6.5% and 7.3% with four and six elements, respectively, compared with the TMD. Moreover, a complete set of beneficial IBA layouts with explicit element types and numbers have been obtained, which is essential for next‐step real‐life applications. In order to verify the effectiveness of the identified absorbers with OpenFAST, an approach has been established to integrate any IBA transfer functions. It has been shown that the performance benefits preserve under both the fatigue limit state (FLS) and the ultimate limit state (ULS). Furthermore, results show that the mass component of the optimum IBAs can be reduced by up to 25.1% (7,486 kg) to achieve the same performance as the TMD.     

Analysis and optimisation of particle mixing performance in fluid phase resonance mixers based on Euler/Lagrange calculations

A novel mixing principle utilising oscillating liquid columns was analysed numerically with regard to particle dispersion characteristics. For producing fluid oscillations a pipe (diameter 100 mm) was immersed centrally into a vessel (diameter 450 mm) filled with liquid (filling height 700 mm) and periodically pressurised (frequency 1.2 Hz). The outlet geometry of the central pipe, just ending near the vessel bottom, has a strong effect on mixing and was optimised in this study. The principle of a FPR-mixer does not require rotating stirrers and in the turbulent regime it has power numbers comparable to propellers. The numerical calculations were conducted by a Euler/Lagrange approach neglecting two-way coupling as well as inter-particle collisions for clarity in order to only focus on the effect of interfacial forces on particle dispersion. The continuous phase was calculated in an unsteady way based on the Reynolds-averaged equations combined with the k-ω-SST (shear stress transport) turbulence model. Lagrangian tracking was conducted considering all relevant forces; drag, gravity/buoyancy, fluid inertia, added mass, Basset force and transverse lift forces due to shear and particle rotation. The importance of these forces was analysed with respect to the turbulent particle Stokes number (considered range 0.004 < St < 10.0) and particle/liquid density ratio (i.e. 1.05, 1.5 and 2.5). Finally, the significance of Basset force and shear-rotation lift force (i.e. Magnus effect) on the dispersion process was quantified by mixing parameters.     

A signal adaptive diffusion filter for video coding: Mathematical framework and complexity reductions

In this paper we combine video compression and modern image processing methods. We construct novel iterative filter methods for prediction signals based on Partial Differential Equation (PDE) based methods. The mathematical framework of the employed diffusion filter class is given and some desirable properties are stated. In particular, two types of diffusion filters are constructed: a uniform diffusion filter using a fixed filter mask and a signal adaptive diffusion filter that incorporates the structures of the underlying prediction signal. The latter has the advantage of not attenuating existing edges while the uniform filter is less complex. The filters are embedded into a software based on HEVC with additional QTBT (Quadtree plus Binary Tree) and MTT (Multi-Type-Tree) block structure. In this setting, several measures to reduce the coding complexity of the tool are introduced, discussed and tested thoroughly. The coding complexity is reduced by up to 70% while maintaining over 80% of the gain. Overall, the diffusion filter method achieves average bitrate savings of 2.27% for Random Access having an average encoder runtime complexity of 119% and 117% decoder runtime complexity. For individual test sequences, results of 7.36% for Random Access are accomplished.     

Self-learning residual model for fast intra CU size decision in 3D-HEVC

As an extension of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard, 3D-HEVC requires to encode multiple texture views and depth maps, which inherits the same quad-tree coding structure as HEVC. Due to the distinct properties of texture views and depth maps, existing fast intra prediction approaches were presented for the coding of texture views and depth maps, respectively. To further reduce the coding complexity of 3D-HEVC, a self-learning residual model-based fast coding unit (CU) size decision approach is proposed for the intra coding of both texture views and depth maps. Residual signal, which is defined as the difference between the original luminance pixel and the optimal prediction luminance pixel, is firstly extracted from each CU. Since residue signal is strongly correlated with the optimal CU partition, it is used as the feature of each CU. Then, a self-learning residual model is established by intra feature learning, which iteratively learns the features of the previously encoded coding tree unit (CTU) generated by itself. Finally, a binary classifier is developed with the self-learning residual model to early terminate CU size decision of both texture views and depth maps. Experimental results show the proposed fast intra CU size decision approach achieves 33.3% and 49.3% encoding time reduction on average for texture views and depth maps with negligible loss of overall video quality, respectively.     

Optimal PMU placement considering topology constraints

A new optimization algorithm for optimal PMU configuration based on combination of graph theory and genetic algorithm is proposed. According to four topology reconstruction rules and three PMU configuration rules based on the graphic relationships between PMUs, constraints of PMU placement are put forward through topology constraint analysis, which dramatically limits the feasible solution space, thereby enhancing the algorithm speed. Meanwhile, an improved genetic algorithm based on serial number coding is presented to avoid infeasible solutions and improve the overall optimization performance. New corresponding crossover and mutation operator is also created. Examples show that the proposed algorithm performs very well and is highly valuable to large-scale networks.     

嵌入式盲文单手输入系统设计与实现

计算机录入编辑盲文是信息处理的特殊应用领域，是特殊教育中的重要研究课题。文中将盲文制作为特殊符号，通过制作字库，编写个性化码表，然后嵌入到主流输入法，从而实现盲文与汉字混排以及实现单手盲文输入。该系统具有易学易记性、盲文编码多样性、嵌入性强等优点，并通过实验证明输入盲文效率能提高5~6倍，在盲文出版、盲文印刷、盲文教学等领域有重要的应用价值。但盲文字符在不同平台(如智能手机)与不同操作系统兼容性问题还有待进一步研究开发。     

基于BP算法的无人机物理层网络编码研究

建立了基于置信传播(BP)算法的双向中继系统传输模型,理论推导了中继节点处物理层网络编码的映射关系,研究了不同调制方式下各种异步因素对通信系统误码率的影响规律,为无人机在实战中更广泛地应用提供理论基础.     

An optimization model for evaluating the economic impact of availability and maintenance notions during the synthesis and design of a power plant

In this paper, we introduce an optimization strategy in order to comprehensively quantify the impact of availability and maintenance notions during the early stages of synthesis and design of a new natural gas combined cycle power plant. A detailed state-space approach is thoroughly discussed, where influence of maintenance funds on each component's repair rate is directly assessed.In this context, analysis of the reliability characteristics of the system is centered at two designer-adopted parameters, which largely influence the obtained results: the number of components which may fail independently at the same time, and the number of simultaneous failure/repair events.Then, optimal solutions are evaluated as the availability-related parameters and the amount of resources assigned for maintenance actions are varied across a wide range of feasible values, which enable obtaining more accurate and detailed estimations of the expected economic performance for the project when compared with traditional economic evaluation approaches.