Spontaneous Directional Self-Cleaning on the Feathers of the Aquatic Bird Anser cygnoides domesticus Induced by a Transient Superhydrophilicity

In nature, the feathers of the goose Anser cygnoides domesticus stay superhydrophobic over a long term, thought as the main reason for keeping the surface clean. However, contaminants, especially those that are oleophilic or trapped within textures, cannot be removed off the superhydrophobic feathers spontaneously. Here, a different self-cleaning strategy based on superhydrophilic feathers is revealed that is imparted by self-coating of the amphiphilic saliva, which enables removing away low-surface-tension and/or small-size contaminants by forming directional water sheeting depending on their unique anisotropic microstructures. Particularly, the surface superhydrophilicity is switchable to superhydrophobicity upon exposure to air for maintaining a clean surface for a long time, which is further enhanced by coating with self-secreted preening oil. By alternate switching between a transient superhydrophilicity and a long-term stable superhydrophobicity, the goose feathers exhibit an integrated smart self-cleaning strategy, which is also shared by other aquatic birds. An attractive point is the re-entrant structure of the feathers, which facilitates not only liquid spreading on superhydrophilic feathers, but also long-term stability of the cleaned surface by shedding water droplets off the superhydrophobicity feathers. Thus, artificial self-cleaning microtextures are developed. The result renews the common knowledge on the self-cleaning of aquatic bird feathers, offering inspiration for developing bioinspired self-cleaning microtextures and coatings.     

Display illumination with modulated directional backlight

Illumination is essential for modern life as colorful world is perceived by human visionary system. Display technology has been developing rapidly in recent decades, and the basic principle is related to the way that the image is illuminated and light is emanated. Traditional illumination is provided by different types of light sources, and the display image is visible in large viewing space until the emanating light decays to zero. This work proposes and demonstrates a novel illumination scheme for a display in which the displaying images are visible only in specific spatial regions. The directional backlight ensures the image propagating to specific direction while imaging visibility can be controlled to terminate abruptly at certain distance from the display screen while exerting no influence to nearby regions. The working principle for such an illumination scheme is the use of the modulated coherent directional backlight through an axicon lens. It is shown that the illumination scheme can robustly deliver carried image information to the designated viewing region. This new illumination scheme has many advantages over conventional illumination, including its usage for personal display, very lower energy consumption, as well as minimizing light hazard pollution.     

Efficiency evaluation of healthcare services in China based on stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis and directional distance function

Evaluating the efficiency of healthcare services accurately can help in analyzing the rationality of inputs and outputs in such services. Considering the consistency and equity of assessment criteria, this study conducts the stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA-2) with a directional distance function to evaluate the efficiency of healthcare services in 31 provincial administrative regions of mainland China, as observed in 2018. We use SMAA-DDF to explore all the projection directions to the efficient frontier instead of a certain projection direction. We measure the maximum and average efficiencies for each of the 31 provincial healthcare services. Our empirical findings show that only seven provinces achieve optimal healthcare service efficiency; the eastern area performed the best, followed by the central, western, and northeast areas. Furthermore, the path along the projection directions is provided to help inefficient provinces improve their efficiency and obtain the best possible positions.     

Colostrum source and passive immunity transfer in dairy bull calves

Colostrum is essential for good neonate health; however, it is not known whether different calves absorb the nutrients from colostrum equally well. In this study, the absorption of protein, IgG, and γ-glutamyl transferase was compared in newborn dairy bull calves for 1 wk after feeding colostrum from different sources. Thirty-five Holstein-Friesian bull calves were randomly allocated into 3 groups and fed colostrum within 4 h after birth. Group A calves (n = 12) were bottle fed colostrum from their own dam for 3 d. Colostrum from these group A cows was also used as foster cow colostrum for the group B calves (n = 12), such that each group A and B calf pair received identical colostrum from each milking of the respective group A dam (10% of birth weight per day). The group C calves (n = 11) were fed 1 bottle (2 L) of pooled colostrum and transition milk (referred to as pooled colostrum), as was the standard practice on the dairy farm. The pooled colostrum was collected from the other dairy cows on the farm 0 to 4 d postpartum and stored at 4°C for less than 12 h. Blood was sampled from calves before the first feeding and at 1, 2, 3, and 7 d after birth. Levels of total solids, total protein, and IgG were higher in the dam colostrum than in the pooled colostrum. At birth, there were no differences between the calf groups for any measurements, and all calves had very low IgG levels. After receiving colostrum, the glucose, plasma γ-glutamyl transferase, serum total protein, and IgG concentrations increased significantly in all calves. There were no differences in any blood measurements at any time point between the pairs of group A and group B calves that received colostrum from the same cow except for the IgG concentration 2 d after birth. However, the group A calves had a higher total serum protein level and IgG concentration than the group C calves for all the time points after the first feeding. The group B calves had a higher IgG concentration than the group C calves on d 1, 2, and 7 after birth. Compared with groups A and B, there was no difference in the proportion of calves in group C that failed to have passive immunity transferred adequately based on the IgG threshold (<10 g/L). Thus, the calves receiving identical colostrum from the same cow had the same levels of IgG, and even the pooled colostrum provided sufficient transfer of IgG as the calves were fed within 4 h after birth.     

A high-throughput chaotic advection microreactor for preparation of uniform and aggregated barium sulfate nanoparticles

A high-throughput (105.5 g/h) passive four-stage asymmetric oscillating feedback microreactor using chaotic mixing mechanism was developed to prepare aggregated Barium sulfate (BaSO₄) particles of high primary nanoparticle size uniformity. Three-dimensional unsteady simulations showed that chaotic mixing could be induced by three unique secondary flows (i.e., vortex, recirculation, and oscillation), and the fluid oscillation mechanism was examined in detail. Simulations and Villermaux–Dushman experiments indicate that almost complete mixing down to molecular level can be achieved and the prepared BaSO₄ nanoparticles were with narrow primary particle size distribution (PSD) having geometric standard deviation, σ_g, less than 1.43 when the total volumetric flow rate Q_total was larger than 10 ml/min. By selecting Q_total and reactant concentrations, average primary particle size can be controlled from 23 to 109 nm as determined by microscopy. An average size of 26 nm with narrow primary PSD (σ_g = 1.22) could be achieved at Q_total of 160 ml/min.     

二次侧非能动余热排出系统流动不稳定性研究

二次侧非能动余热排出（ASP）系统是压水堆核电厂应对全厂断电事故的重要措施之一。为研究ASP系统的运行特性，设计建造了ASP系统试验装置（ASPTF）。在ASPTF上开展了ASP系统运行稳定性影响试验，并对试验结果进行了理论分析。试验研究与理论分析结果表明：低压低功率下ASP系统中出现流动不稳定性；增加蒸汽管线或回水管线阻力系数可抑制ASP系统出现流动不稳定性；降低加热功率时ASP系统更易出现流动不稳定性；主泵运行状态影响ASP系统的输入功率进而影响系统的流动不稳定性。     

定向长钻孔整体水力压裂增透技术在赵固二矿的应用

针对赵固二矿煤层透气性低、钻孔有效影响半径小，实施定向长钻孔代替底板岩巷进行区域瓦斯治理期间钻孔工程量大、瓦斯抽采效果不理想的问题。结合煤层赋存特征及钻孔施工情况，采用定向长钻孔整体水力压裂增透技术，理论分析了合理坐封位置、压裂参数，完成200 m煤巷条带一次整体压裂，最大泵注压力24.3 MPa、累计注水量1 613 m³。并基于煤层全水分变化，考察确定了单个钻孔压裂影响范围达到巷道两帮30 m，有效改善了煤体储层特性，提高了煤层瓦斯抽采效率。在实现定向钻孔对预抽煤巷条带可靠控制的同时，最大程度降低了钻孔工程量、缩短了瓦斯治理周期，为实现矿区“以孔代巷”及高效安全开采提供了技术支撑。     

基于有限元的大流量换向阀仿真分析及结构优化

为了提高大流量换向阀的设计能力,该文采用ANSYS仿真平台对大流量换向阀仿真分析及结构优化。研究结果表明:撞击阶段应力集中区域基本出现在二级阀芯径向进油口部位,此时形成的最大应力等于24.26 MPa,明显比682 MPa的材料屈服极限更低。进液阀套达到了271.83 MPa的最大压应力,但明显低于682 MPa的屈服极限,表明壁厚满足设计标准。进液阀套形最大应力出现在阀套内部,跟瞬态冲击条件下最大应力出现区域存在明显差异。二级阀芯最大应力都出现于阀芯部位,完成结构优化之后,二级阀芯的最大应力发生了显著降低,其余各部位的应力也显著减小,可以满足设计标准。     

煤层顶板裂隙高位定向长钻孔安全高效抽采技术的研究与应用

放顶煤开采期间，上覆岩层受到矿压的影响，形成冒落带、裂隙带、弯曲下沉带，工作面采空区遗煤和围岩涌出的大量瓦斯飘浮在上方裂隙带区域，造成瓦斯聚集并向外涌出，形成了安全隐患，因此必须将该区域瓦斯抽出来；以往治理采空区瓦斯主要采用顶板裂隙高位钻场、顶板高抽巷等措施，但是这2种方法施工成本较高，且施工周期长，对生产接替影响较大。煤层顶板裂隙高位定向长钻孔安全高效抽采采用大功率钻机+定向钻进技术，在裂隙带施工控制整个回采范围的长钻孔，减少采空区和邻近层瓦斯向工作面空间的流动，真正实现了“以孔代巷”，既节省了成本，又缩短了工期，还提高了采空区瓦斯抽采的连续性、稳定性，减少了采空区瓦斯向外涌出，提升了瓦斯抽采效果，促进了煤矿安全高效发展。     

The Critical Role of Passive Permeability in Designing Successful Drugs

Passive permeability is a key property in drug disposition and delivery. It is critical for gastrointestinal absorption, brain penetration, renal reabsorption, defining clearance mechanisms and drug-drug interactions. Passive diffusion rate is translatable across tissues and animal species, while the extent of absorption is dependent on drug properties, as well as in vivo physiology/pathophysiology. Design principles have been developed to guide medicinal chemistry to enhance absorption, which combine the balance of aqueous solubility, permeability and the sometimes unfavorable compound characteristic demanded by the target. Permeability assays have been implemented that enable rapid development of structure-permeability relationships for absorption improvement. Future advances in assay development to reduce nonspecific binding and improve mass balance will enable more accurately measurement of passive permeability. Design principles that integrate potency, selectivity, passive permeability and other ADMET properties facilitate rapid advancement of successful drug candidates to patients.