Influence of applied voltage and conductive material in DIET promotion for methane generation

The utilization of biological-, electrode- and conductive material-mediated direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) between exoelectrogenic bacteria and methanogenic archaea for enhancing methane productivity is widely reported in the literature. However, two cardinal questions are still controversial, i.e., which applied voltage value would be more recommended to enhance methane generation? and how the DIET over IIET has the upper hand in enhancing methane productivity? Herein, the influence of different applied voltages to promote biological-, conductive- and electrode-mediated DIET was investigated in MEC-AD reactors with conductive material. Polarized bioelectrodes induced electrode-mediated DIET (eDIET) and biological DIET (bDIET), in addition to cDIET (conductive material-mediated DIET), improved the methane yield to 315.40 mL/g COD_r with an applied voltage of 0.9 V. Whereas further increase of applied voltage 1.2 V, lessened methane production efficiency due to high-voltage inhibition and adverse effect on DIET promotion. The anaerobic digestion coupled microbial electrolysis cells with optimal electric potential selectively promotes the DIET through polarized electrodes were confirmed through microbial analysis. As the contribution of DIET increased to 80%, the methane yield increased, and the substrate residue decreased, resulting in a significant improvement in methane production.     

Magnetic properties,phase evolution,hollow structure and biomedical application of hematite (α-Fe2O3) and QUAIPH

We investigate synthesis, phase evolution, hollow and porous structure and magnetic properties of quasi-amorphous intermediate phase (QUAIPH) and hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) nanostructure synthesized by annealing of akaganeite (β-FeOOH) nanorods. It is found that the annealing temperature determines the phase composition of the products, the crystal structure/size dictates the magnetic properties whereas the final nanorod morphology is determined by the starting material. Annealing of β-FeOOH at ～300 °C resulted in the formation of hollow QUAIPH nanorods. The synthesized material shows low-cytotoxicity, superparamagnetism and good transverse relaxivity, which is rarely reported for QUAIPH. The QUAIPH nanorods started to transform to porous hematite nanostructures at ～350 °C and phase transformation was completed at 600 °C. During the annealing, the crystal structure changed from monoclinic (akaganeite) to quasi-amorphous and rhombohedral (hematite). Unusually, the crystallite size first decreased (akaganeite → QUAIPH) and then increased (QUAIPH → hematite) during annealing whereas the nanorods retained particle shape. The magnetic properties of the samples changed from antiferromagnetic (akaganeite) to superparamagnetic with blocking temperature T_B = 84 K (QUAIPH) and finally to weak-ferromagnetic with the Morin transition at T_M = 244 K and high coercivity H_C = 1652 Oe (hematite). The low-cytotoxicity and MRI relaxivity (r₂ = 5.80 mM^?1 s^?1 (akaganeite), r₂ = 4.31 mM^?1 s^?1 (QUAIPH) and r₂ = 5.17 mM^?1 s^?1 (hematite)) reveal potential for biomedical applications.     

基于平均飞行航迹的CCO减噪效用研究

近年来，通过优化飞行程序降低机场飞机噪声影响成为机场环境保护的重要研究方向。文章首先建立了基于飞机“噪声-功率-距离”数据的噪声计算模型，介绍了平均飞行航迹以及连续爬升运行(Continuous Climb Opera-tion, CCO)离场程序的相关理论，最后以大型国际机场为实例，使用飞机平均飞行航迹进行噪声预测，运用综合噪声模型计算出噪声影响面积并绘制噪声影响等值线图，比较了CCO离场相对常规的标准仪表离场(Standard Instru-ment Departure, SID)的降噪效果。结果表明，CCO离场程序可有效降低机场噪声影响，在高噪声级影响区域的降噪效果更佳。     

Real time power management strategy for fuel cell hybrid electric bus based on Lyapunov stability theorem

The fuel cell/battery durability and hybrid system stability are major considerations for the power management of fuel cell hybrid electric bus (FCHEB) operating on complicated driving conditions. In this paper, a real time nonlinear adaptive control (NAC) with stability analyze is formulated for power management of FCHEB. Firstly, the mathematical model of hybrid power system is analyzed, which is established for control-oriented design. Furthermore, the NAC-based strategy with quadratic Lyapunov function is set up to guarantee the stability of closed-loop power system, and the power split between fuel cell and battery is controlled with the durability consideration. Finally, two real-time power management strategies, state machine control (SMC) and fuzzy logic control (FLC), are implemented to evaluate the performance of NAC-based strategy, and the simulation results suggest that the guaranteed stability of NAC-based strategy can efficiently prolong fuel cell/battery lifespan and provide better fuel consumption economy for FCHEB.     

Cracking behavior and delamination mechanism of lamellar structured TBC with localized mixed oxides

Mixed oxide (MO) with localized growth feature and high growth rate remarkably affects the lifetime of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs), which indicates that clarifying the ceramic cracking mechanism induced by MO is critical for developing new coatings with high durability. Two kinds of TBC models involving spherical and layered mixed oxides are created to explore the influence of MO growth on the local stress state and crack evolution during thermal cycle. The growth of α-Al₂O₃ is also included in the model. The undulating interface between ceramic coat and bond coat is approximated using a cosine curve. Dynamic ceramic cracking is realized by a surface-based cohesive interaction. The ceramic delamination by simulation agrees with the experimental observation. The effects of MO coverage ratio and growth rate on the TBC failure are also discussed. The results show that the MO growth causes the local ceramic coat to bear the normal tensile stress. The failure mode of coating is turned from α-Al₂O₃ thickness control to MO growth control. Once the mixed oxide appears, local ceramic cracking is easy to occur. When multiple cracks connect, ceramic delamination happens. Suppressing MO formation or decreasing MO growth can evidently improve the coating durability. These results in this work can provide important theoretical guidance for the development of anti-cracking TBCs.     

A modified Kozeny–Carman equation for predicting saturated hydraulic conductivity of compacted bentonite in confined condition

Kozeny–Carman (KC) equation is a well-known relation between hydraulic conductivity and pore properties in porous material. The applications of KC equation to predicting saturated hydraulic conductivities of sands and non-expansive soils are well documented. However, KC equation is incapable of predicting saturated hydraulic conductivity of expansive soil (e.g. bentonite) well. Based on a new dual-pore system, this study modified KC equation for improving the prediction of saturated hydraulic conductivities of bentonites. In this study, an assumption that inter-layer space (micropore) has limited effect on fluid flow performance of compacted bentonite was adopted. The critical parameters including total porosity and total tortuosity in conventional KC equation were replaced by macroporosity and tortuosity of macropore, respectively. Macroporosity and microporosity were calculated by basal spacing of compacted bentonite, which was estimated by assuming that specific surface area is changeable during saturation process. A comprehensive comparison of bentonite's saturated hydraulic conductivity predictions, including modified KC equation proposed in this study, conventional KC equation, and prediction method based on diffuse double layer (DDL) theory, was carried out. It was found that the predicted saturated hydraulic conductivity of bentonites calculated using modified KC equation fitted the experimental data better than others to a certain extent.     

Optimization of hydrogen enrichment via palladium membrane in vacuum environments using Taguchi method and normalized regression analysis

In this study, the separation of hydrogen from gas mixtures using a palladium membrane coupled with a vacuum environment on the permeate side was studied experimentally. The gas mixtures composed of H₂, N₂, and CO₂ were used as the feed. Hydrogen permeation fluxes were measured with membrane operating temperature in the range of 320–380 °C, pressures on the retentate side in the range of 2–5 atm, and vacuum pressures on the permeate side in the range of 15–51 kPa. The Taguchi method was used to design the operating conditions for the experiments based on an orthogonal array. Using the measured H₂ permeation fluxes from the Taguchi approach, the stepwise regression analysis was also employed for establishing the prediction models of H₂ permeation flux, followed by the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to identify the significance and suitability of operating conditions. Based on both the Taguchi approach and ANOVA, the H₂ permeation flux was mostly affected by the gas mixture composition, followed by the retentate side pressure, the vacuum degree, and the membrane temperature. The predicted optimal operating conditions were the gas mixture with 75% H₂ and 25% N₂, the membrane temperature of 320 °C, the retentate side pressure of 5 atm, and the vacuum degree of 51 kPa. Under these conditions, the H₂ permeation flux was 0.185 mol s^?1 m^?2. A second-order normalized regression model with a relative error of less than 7% was obtained based on the measured H₂ permeation flux.     

基于分形理论的黄河内蒙古段河势演变特征及其与凌汛灾害关联研究

寒区河道凌汛灾害河势“弯道效应”的量化评估十分重要。基于分形理论提出河道横断面-纵剖面-平面多维度河势分形维数计算方法及其物理机制，并探讨黄河内蒙古段不同维度河势演变分形特征及其与凌汛灾害的关联关系。结果表明，黄河内蒙古段不同维度河势均具有多尺度自相似分形特征，且具有多年记忆周期的长程相关性；冰坝（严重性冰塞）发生频次与河道主槽弯曲分形维数呈正相关指数型函数关系，与河相系数、深泓点高程和河段平均底坡分形维数负相关，与水深-面积分形维数正相关，总体表明冰坝灾害更易发生于主槽偏移摆动大、蜿蜒曲折、河湾发育程度高的宽浅型弯曲河道，研究成果可为凌汛期冰塞冰坝灾害易发河段诊断及预测提供重要理论依据。