Effect of lactose content on dielectric properties of whole milk and skim milk

Dielectric properties (dielectric constant ε′ and dielectric loss factor ε′′) of whole milk and skim milk with the lactose content of 4.56–6.44% and 4.57–6.47%, respectively, were measured over the frequency range of 20–4500 MHz at 25 °C using a vector network analyzer. The results showed that ε′ decreased with increasing frequency, and ε′′ changed with V shape and its minimum was noted at about 2000 MHz. Whole milk had lower dielectric properties than skim milk at almost same lactose content and a given frequency. ε′ had weak positive linear relationship with lactose content for whole milk, but had negative linear relationship for skim milk. No matter for which milk, ε′′ had very good negative linear relationship with lactose content below 1000 MHz and had good positive linear relationship above 2300 MHz. The study provides information on developing rapid lactose detector for milk in future.     

Double hysteresis loops and enhanced mechanical quality factor of Mn-doped 0.75PMN-0.25PT ceramics

Relaxor ferroelectric 0.75 Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-0.25PbTiO₃ (0.75PMN-0.25PT) ceramics with Mn-doping concentration of 0%, 1%, 2% and 3 mol% were prepared by two-step sintering. The phase composition, microstructure, dielectric property, ferroelectric property, piezoelectric property and electromechanical property were investigated. Results indicate that all ceramics exhibit pure perovskite phases and high density. Mn-doping induces some decrease in dielectric constant ε_r, dielectric loss tanδ, remnant polarization P_r, piezoelectric coefficient d₃₃, and electromechanical coupling coefficient k_p, while significant increase in mechanical quality factor Q_m and the figure of merit (FOM) of 0.75PMN-0.25PT ceramics. For 3 mol% Mn-doped 0.75PMN-0.25PT ceramics, Q_m enhances by 1449%, FOM increases by 923%, and tanδ decreases by 67%, which makes it more suitable for high power applications. Interestingly, double P-E loops are observed in 3 mol% Mn-doped 0.75PMN-0.25PT ceramics. The phenomenon was investigated by the symmetry-conforming principle of point defects and the internal bias field.     

Nonlinear Factor-Augmented Predictive Regression Models with Functional Coefficients

This article introduces a new class of functional-coefficient predictive regression models, where the regressors consist of auto-regressors and latent factor regressors, and the coefficients vary with certain index variable. The unobservable factor regressors are estimated through imposing an approximate factor model on high dimensional exogenous variables and subsequently implementing the classical principal component analysis. With the estimated factor regressors, a local linear smoothing method is used to estimate the coefficient functions (with appropriate rotation) and obtain a one-step ahead nonlinear forecast of the response variable, and then a wild bootstrap procedure is introduced to construct the prediction interval. Under regularity conditions, the asymptotic properties of the proposed methods are derived, showing that the local linear estimator and the nonlinear forecast using the estimated factor regressors are asymptotically equivalent to those using the true latent factor regressors. The developed model and methodology are further generalized to the factor-augmented vector predictive regression with functional coefficients. Finally, some extensive simulation studies and an empirical application to forecast the UK inflation are given to examine the finite-sample performance of the proposed model and methodology.     

Pore structure of reactively synthesized nanolaminate Ti3SiC2 alloyed with Al

Ti₃SiC₂ has the unique properties integrating the advantages of metals and ceramics, and good open pore structure when alloyed with Al. In this work, porous Ti₃SiC₂ compounds with different Al/Si atom ratios were prepared through the reactive synthesis of elemental powders at 1300 °C. The results indicate that the phase compositions are determined by Al element mole number, and that the pore structure can be controlled through varying Ti particle size. The MAX phase transits from Ti₃SiC₂ with Al element mole number no more than 0.6 to Ti₃AlC₂ with Al element mole number in the range of 0.8–1.2. When Al element mole number is 0.6, the porous compound has a single MAX phase of Ti₃SiC₂ with uniform microporous structure and high bending strength. Porous Ti₃SiC₂ alloyed with 0.6Al has a slow linear increase rate of 0.0083%/μm in open porosity with increasing Ti particle size, and a strict linear relationship between the maximum aperture and Ti particle size with the increase rate of 0.0342 μm/μm. The pore structure formed by the phase transition mechanism for porous MAX phase has the smallest tortuosity factor compared with that formed by the clearance mechanism and the Kirkendall effect.     

煤巷高效快速掘进技术优化浅析

煤巷掘进效率低容易造成采掘接替紧张,以柠条塔煤矿S12002工作面胶运顺槽和辅运顺槽为工程背景,采用理论分析和现场工程对比试验相结合的方法,分析了制约巷道快速掘进各环节的因素,提出了优化控制对策。在减少顶板锚杆的支护数量,改良锚固方式并增大锚固长度和排距后,支护效率提高了20%,支护密度降低了30%,极大降低了顶板支护环节的时间;对掘进工艺进行优化后,将日单进水平从35 m左右提升到50~60 m左右,月单进水平从900 m提升到1500 m以上,创出了单日掘进75 m新水平,实现了高效快速掘进。实践表明,该方式现场成巷效果良好,可以满足煤巷高效快速掘进的需要。     

基于改进正弦余弦算法的无线传感器节点部署优化

为了提高无线传感器网络（WSN）的性能，提出了一种基于改进正弦余弦算法（ESCA）的节点部署优化方法。首先，引入双曲正弦调节因子和动态余弦波权重系数，以平衡算法的全局探索与局部开发能力；然后，提出了一种基于拉普拉斯和高斯分布的变异策略，避免算法陷入局部最优。对于基准函数的优化实验结果表明，ESCA相比引力搜索算法、鲸鱼优化算法、基本正弦余弦算法（SCA）及其改进算法具有更高的收敛精度和收敛速度。最后，将ESCA应用于WSN节点部署优化，结果表明其优化覆盖率相比改进粒子群优化算法、外推人工蜂群算法、改进灰狼优化算法和自适应混沌量子粒子群算法分别提高了1.55个百分点、7.72个百分点、2.99个百分点和7.63个百分点，用更少节点便可达到相同目标精度。     

巨型工程机械子午线轮胎高强度、低生热胎面基部胶配方开发

通过对国外知名品牌37.00R57和40.00R57规格巨型工程机械子午线轮胎胎面基部胶组成分析和物理性能测试,对我公司巨型工程机械子午线轮胎胎面基部胶配方进行优化设计。新开发配方半成品和成品胶料动态损耗因子分别降低37.9%和26.6%,胶料物理性能达到竞品水平,成品轮胎TKPH提升13.6%。     

Seeing is believing? When scanning electron microscopy (SEM) meets clinical dentistry: The replica technique.

In restorative dentistry, the in situ replication of intra‐oral situations, is based on a non‐invasive and non‐destructive scanning electron microscopy (SEM) evaluation method. The technique is suitable for investigation restorative materials and dental hard‐ and soft‐tissues, and its interfaces. Surface characteristics, integrity of interfaces (margins), or fracture analysis (chipping, cracks, etc.) with reliable resolution and under high magnification (from ×50 to ×5,000). Overall the current study aims to share detailed and reproducible information about the replica technique. Specific goals are: (a) to describe detailed each step involved in producing a replica of an intra‐oral situation, (b) to validate an integrated workflow based on a rational sequence from visual examination, to macrophotography and SEM analysis using the replica technique; (c) to present three clinical cases documented using the technique. A compilation of three clinical situations/cases were analyzed here by means the replica technique showing a wide range of possibilities that can be reached and explored with the described technique. This guidance document will contribute to a more accurate use of the replica technique and help researchers and clinicians to understand and identify issues related to restorative procedures under high magnification.     

Balancing exploration and exploitation in differential evolution via variable scaling factors: An application to practical problems

Some optimization problems in the field of nuclear engineering, as for example the incore nuclear fuel management and a nuclear reactor core design, are highly multimodal, requiring techniques that overcome local optima, exploring the search space and promoting the exploitation of its most promising areas. The differential evolution algorithm (DE) relies mainly on the mechanism of mutation, where an individual is perturbed using the weighted difference (with the so-called “scaling factor” F) between two randomly chosen individuals. DE's canonical version employs a constant value of F. However, this parameter should be variable in order to balance the exploration and exploitation of the search space. In this work, we test some variable scaling factors from the literature and present the novel exponential scaling factor. These methods are applied to two problems: the aforementioned core design and the turbine balancing problem, which is an NP-hard (i.e. intrinsically harder than those that can be solved in nondeterministic polynomial time) combinatorial optimization problem that can be used to assess the potential of an algorithm to be applied to fuel management optimization. DE with variable scaling factors perform well in both problems, showing potential to be used in other nuclear science and engineering optimization problems.