Airborne bacterial assemblage in a zero carbon building: A case study

Currently, there is little information pertaining to the airborne bacterial communities of green buildings. In this case study, the air bacterial community of a zero carbon building (ZCB) in Hong Kong was characterized by targeting the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Bacteria associated with the outdoor environment dominated the indoor airborne bacterial assemblage, with a modest contribution from bacteria associated with human skin. Differences in overall community diversity, membership, and composition associated with short (day‐to‐day) and long‐term temporal properties were detected, which may have been driven by specific environmental genera and taxa. Furthermore, time‐decay relationships in community membership (based on unweighted UniFrac distances) and composition (based on weighted UniFrac distances) differed depending on the season and sampling location. A Bayesian source‐tracking approach further supported the importance of adjacent outdoor air bacterial assemblage in sourcing the ZCB indoor bioaerosol. Despite the unique building attributes, the ZCB microbial assemblage detected and its temporal characteristics were not dissimilar to that of conventional built environments investigated previously. Future controlled experiments and microbial assemblage investigations of other ZCBs will undoubtedly uncover additional knowledge related to how airborne bacteria in green buildings may be influenced by their distinctive architectural attributes.     

Investigation of the energy-size reduction and mineral liberation of raw coal in the Hardgrove mill

Raw coal was ground in a Hardgrove mill, and mineral liberation from coal was investigated by float-sink test and electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA). Based on EPMA, associated conditions of mineral were determined. Analyses of energy-size reduction show that energy efficiency decreases with time. For +0.074 mm progenies, yields of particles in ?1.5 g.cm^?3 decrease with the increase of size and time, and products in +1.8 g.cm^?3 show the opposite trend. EPMA of 0.25–0.125 mm, 1.5–1.8 g.cm^?3 products ground for 10 min indicates that only part of minerals are liberated. For ?0.074 mm products, the yield of particles in ?1.5 g.cm^?3 decreases by 23.36% in last several minutes, but ash content of +1.8 g.cm^?3 also decreases by 13.18%. Since breakage of raw coal in last 9 min does not reduce particle size obviously, and liberation degree cannot be improved dramatically, closed grinding of 10 min in Hardgrove mill is proper to balance the size reduction and mineral liberation.     

Controllable Fe/HCS catalysts in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis: Effects of crystallization time

The Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) continues to be an attractive alternative for producing a broad range of fuels and chemicals through the conversion of syngas (H₂ and CO), which can be derived from various sources, such as coal, natural gas, and biomass. Among iron carbides, Fe₂C, as an active phase, has barely been studied due to its thermodynamic instability. Here, we fabricated a series of Fe₂C embedded in hollow carbon sphere (HCS) catalysts. By varying the crystallization time, the shell thickness of the HCS was manipulated, which significantly influenced the catalytic performance in the FTS. To investigate the relationship between the geometric structure of the HCS and the physic-chemical properties of Fe species, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, N₂ physical adsorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction, Raman spectroscopy, and Mössbauer spectroscopy techniques were employed to characterize the catalysts before and after the reaction. Evidently, a suitable thickness of the carbon layer was beneficial for enhancing the catalytic activity in the FTS due to its high porosity, appropriate electronic environment, and relatively high Fe₂C content.     

Significant population genetic structuring in Rhyzopertha dominica across Turkey: Biogeographic and practical implications

Rhyzopertha dominica is a key pest of stored grain. Understanding the movement of this beetle on broad geographic scales is crucial, particularly when developing strategies to prevent the spread of phosphine resistance. We assessed population genetic structuring in this pest across Turkey, using a combination of mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase I) and microsatellite markers. In addition, we screened samples for Wolbachia, as this endosymbiont has previously been suggested to be associated with low mitochondrial genetic diversity in this beetle. Mitochondrial genetic diversity was low, with only six haplotypes identified. The genetic diversity was, however, substantially higher than that previously found in Australia or India, suggesting that R. dominica may have originated in the Middle East. Wolbachia were detected only at a single site, indicating they are not impacting the mitochondrial genetic diversity of R. dominica across Turkey. Microsatellite markers indicated there is significant geographic genetic structuring across Turkey, even among sites less than 100 km apart, suggesting there is little movement of beetles across regions within the country. This contrasts with the significantly higher levels of gene-flow found in Australia and the United States. We suggest that the limited movement of beetles across Turkey may be due to a combination of the historically localised agricultural practices (which limits anthropogenic movement among regions), and the mountainous landscape (which limits active flight among regions). Our results demonstrate that the movement of stored product pests may differ significantly across studies conducted in different countries. As a consequence, phosphine resistance management strategies must incorporate region specific information on the extent of beetle movement.     

双馈风机风电场联络线出口故障方向判别

由于双馈风机风电场故障特性与传统同步机存在较大差别,因此传统方向元件应用于双馈风机风电场时存在适应性问题。针对双馈风机风电场存在的频率偏移、等值内阻抗不稳定和弱馈等特点,提出一种基于时域波形相似度的故障方向元件。根据推算的联络线对侧电压与保护安装处记忆电压波形的余弦相似度判断故障方向,能够有效解决双馈风机风电场出口故障方向判别存在的问题。在PSCAD/EMTDC中搭建典型的双馈风机接入系统,仿真结果表明,所提故障方向元件针对不同的故障类型均能有效判断故障方向。     

高质量浓度曲拉通X-100对煤泥浮选的抑制效应及机理

表面活性剂在煤泥浮选领域中应用广泛,且表面活性剂常被用于煤泥浮选促进剂,本文从另一个方面探究了表面活性剂在过量的情况下对煤泥浮选的抑制效应及其机理。以低灰煤粒和表面活性剂曲拉通X-100为研究对象,采用X射线光电子能谱(XPS)表征曲拉通X-100在煤表面的吸附状态,静态接触角测定仪测定曲拉通X-100对煤表面疏水性的影响,并探究了不同质量浓度曲拉通X-100液滴在煤粒表面的润湿与铺展情况,采用诱导时间测量仪分析不同质量浓度曲拉通X-100水溶液中的气泡与煤粒的黏附情况,最后通过紫外分光光度计定量表征浮选槽中残留曲拉通X-100质量浓度与不同浮选时间下浮选结果的对应关系。结果表明:高质量浓度曲拉通X-100会抑制煤粒上浮,随着浮选试验的进行,曲拉通X-100质量浓度逐渐降低,低质量浓度曲拉通X-100会促进煤粒被上浮气泡黏附而浮出;高质量浓度曲拉通X-100能够在煤粒表面发生有效吸附,该吸附属于物理吸附,且在一定程度上提高了煤表面的疏水性;高质量浓度曲拉通X-100水溶液更容易润湿煤表面,从而减缓了气泡-煤粒黏附过程中的液膜薄化与破裂速率;在高质量浓度曲拉通X-100水溶液中,气泡表面因罩盖有曲拉通X-100分子,导致气泡表面发生改性,难以与煤粒发生有效黏附。高质量浓度曲拉通X-100主要通过对气泡改性,以及减缓气泡与煤粒碰撞-黏附过程中的液膜薄化-破裂速率来抑制煤粒的浮选。     

富平银沟遗址青瓷标本的类型学分析

富平银沟遗址位于陕西省渭南市富平县华朱乡东北部银沟村。经过为期两年的考古调查与勘探,在该地区发现和搜集了大量的精美陶瓷产品。其中青瓷产品占比最大,具有很高的研究价值。本文主要通过选取银沟地区青瓷器形较为完整,并具有典型代表性的青瓷标本进行类型学的整理分析。根据器形,青瓷标本可分为碗、盘、盒、钵、香炉、瓶、罐、壶等。通过与耀州窑典型青瓷器的器形与纹饰对比,从器物的类型学解析银沟遗址青瓷器的烧造年代时期。     

Discrete‐time sector based hands‐off control for nonlinear system

This article presents a hands‐off control design for discrete‐time nonlinear system with a special type of nonlinear sector termed as “discrete‐time sector.” The design method to define the boundary of a discrete‐time sector is done with control‐Lyapunov function. The generalization of nonlinear system is viewed in the perspective of a comparison function. By means of a proposed sector, a switching control is designed such that no control action is experienced inside the sector thus, saving unnecessary control efforts. However, to study the robustness for discrete‐time system, a hands‐off control is modified to ensure the monotonic decrease in the energy of the system. Finally, the proposed approach is verified with the simulation results.     

Delay compensated control of the Stefan problem and robustness to delay mismatch

This paper presents a control design for the one‐phase Stefan problem under actuator delay via a backstepping method. The Stefan problem represents a liquid‐solid phase change phenomenon which describes the time evolution of a material's temperature profile and the interface position. The actuator delay is modeled by a first‐order hyperbolic partial differential equation (PDE), resulting in a cascaded transport‐diffusion PDE system defined on a time‐varying spatial domain described by an ordinary differential equation (ODE). Two nonlinear backstepping transformations are utilized for the control design. The setpoint restriction is given to guarantee a physical constraint on the proposed controller for the melting process. This constraint ensures the exponential convergence of the moving interface to a setpoint and the exponential stability of the temperature equilibrium profile and the delayed controller in the norm. Furthermore, robustness analysis with respect to the delay mismatch between the plant and the controller is studied, which provides analogous results to the exact compensation by restricting the control gain.