One-step to prepare high-performance gas diffusion layer (GDL) with three different functional layers for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs)

Gas diffusion layer (GDL) is one of the most important components of fuel cells. In order to improve the fuel cell performance, GDL has developed from single layer to dual layers, and then to multiple layers. However, dual or multi layers in GDL are usually prepared by layer-by-layer methods, which cost too much time, energy, and resources. In this work, we successfully developed a facile one-step method to prepare a GDL with three functional layers by utilizing the different sedimentation rates and filtration rates of short carbon fiber (CF) and carbon nanotube (CNT). The treatment temperature for this GDL is much lower than that of traditional method. The thickness of the GDL can be effectively controlled from as thin as 50 μm to more than 200 μm by simply adjusting the content of CF. The GDL with high flexibility is suitable to develop high performance flexible electronics. The fuel cell with the GDL has the maximum power density 1021 mW cm^?2, which shows 19% improvement comparing to the conventional one. Therefore, this work breaks the traditional concept that GDL for fuel cells only can be prepared by very complex and high-cost procedure.     

农村综合能源系统多层协同优化运行方法

农村综合能源系统通过多种能源的协同互补,在满足农村用户多元化用能需求的同时,能有效提升能源利用效率和用能经济性。首先,在考虑适应农村典型场景的基础上,提出了一种三层协同自律的农村综合能源分层协同运行优化框架。然后,基于农村综合能源系统典型设备,建立了三层农村综合能源系统源-储-荷联合优化调度模型以及相应的优化调度流程。调度模型中冬季通过对沼气发电机组的余热回收与空气源热泵协同对用户供热;夏季对沼气发电机组余热进行回收,并通过溴化锂制冷机与空气源热泵联合对农村用户供冷。最后,对农村综合能源系统多层协同优化方法进行了算例分析,结果表明该优化方法提高了农村居民用能的经济性,验证了所提方法的有效性。     

The impact of the thermal treatment during ink preparation on the ionomer-supported catalyst interactions in the catalyst layers

Catalyst slurries (inks) were prepared with and without thermal treatment to determine the support/ionomer structures and interactions in the catalyst layer (CL) which impact on membrane electrode performance and durability. The thermal treatment of the ink has a nominal effect on the ionomer/support structure in which the carbon support is non-graphitised. The agglomerate/aggregate structures have a high degree of support/ionomer interface and sufficient macroporosity for water movement in the CL. This improves the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) performance, but also accelerates electrochemical carbon degradation. Thermal treatment of graphitised support-containing inks resulted in increased performance facilitated by a larger support/ionomer interface. Without thermal treatment, the more hydrophobic support would form aggregate structures in which water contact was restricted, limiting proton transfer, isolating catalyst, decreasing performance. The water limited access, would however, prolong stability during accelerates carbon degradation. The electrochemical properties were studied using full and half MEA cells.     

Structural insights into peptide self-assembly using photo-induced crosslinking experiments and discontinuous molecular dynamics

Determining the structure of the (oligomeric) intermediates that form during the self-assembly of amyloidogenic peptides is challenging because of their heterogeneous and dynamic nature. Thus, there is need for methodology to analyze the underlying molecular structure of these transient species. In this work, a combination of fluorescence quenching, photo-induced crosslinking (PIC) and molecular dynamics simulation was used to study the assembly of a synthetic amyloid-forming peptide, Aβ_16-22. A PIC amino acid containing a trifluormethyldiazirine (TFMD) group—Fmoc(TFMD)Phe—was incorporated into the sequence (Aβ*_16–22). Electrospray ionization ion-mobility spectrometry mass-spectrometry (ESI-IMS-MS) analysis of the PIC products confirmed that Aβ*_16–22 forms assemblies with the monomers arranged as anti-parallel, in-register β-strands at all time points during the aggregation assay. The assembly process was also monitored separately using fluorescence quenching to profile the fibril assembly reaction. The molecular picture resulting from discontinuous molecule dynamics simulations showed that Aβ_16-22 assembles through a single-step nucleation into a β-sheet fibril in agreement with these experimental observations. This study provides detailed structural insights into the Aβ_16-22 self-assembly processes, paving the way to explore the self-assembly mechanism of larger, more complex peptides, including those whose aggregation is responsible for human disease.     

Cryptographic Lightweight Encryption Algorithm with Dimensionality Reduction in Edge Computing

Edge Computing is one of the radically evolving systems through generations as it is able to effectively meet the data saving standards of consumers, providers and the workers. Requisition for Edge Computing based items have been increasing tremendously. Apart from the advantages it holds, there remain lots of objections and restrictions, which hinders it from accomplishing the need of consumers all around the world. Some of the limitations are constraints on computing and hardware, functions and accessibility, remote administration and connectivity. There is also a backlog in security due to its inability to create a trust between devices involved in encryption and decryption. This is because security of data greatly depends upon faster encryption and decryption in order to transfer it. In addition, its devices are considerably exposed to side channel attacks, including Power Analysis attacks that are capable of overturning the process. Constrained space and the ability of it is one of the most challenging tasks. To prevail over from this issue we are proposing a Cryptographic Lightweight Encryption Algorithm with Dimensionality Reduction in Edge Computing. The t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding is one of the efficient dimensionality reduction technique that greatly decreases the size of the non-linear data. The three dimensional image data obtained from the system, which are connected with it, are dimensionally reduced, and then lightweight encryption algorithm is employed. Hence, the security backlog can be solved effectively using this method.     

渗流作用下新型装配重力式挡土墙有限元分析

为研究渗流作用下新型装配重力式挡土墙应力变化及墙体排水通道对墙后土体固结的影响,采用ABAQUS进行有限元分析,有限元分析结果与模型试验结果相吻合,证明该模型的合理性。在此基础上研究渗流作用下墙体应力变化趋势及墙体排水通道对墙后土体固结效果的影响。研究结果表明:横向排水通道对墙后土体固结效果的影响优于纵向排水通道对土体固结效果的影响,墙体底部横向排水通道的影响作用最显著;渗流作用下墙体应力由上往下呈先增大后减小的趋势,墙体下部所受最大水平剪应力最大。     

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.     

Airline planning and scheduling: Models and solution methodologies

The airline industry is a representative industry with high cost and low profitability. Therefore, airlines should carefully plan their schedules to ensure that overall profit is maximized. We review the literature on airline planning and scheduling and focus on mathematical formulations and solution methodologies. Our research framework is anchored on three major problems in the airline scheduling, namely, fleet assignment, aircraft routing, and crew scheduling. General formulation, widely used solution approaches, and important extensions are presented for each problem and integrated problems. We conclude the review by identifying promising areas for further research.     

Selection of risk response actions with consideration of secondary risks

Secondary risk in project risk management refers to the risk that arises as a direct result of implementing a risk response action (RRA). It is important for project managers (PMs) to consider the effects caused by the secondary risks in the process of RRA selection. The purpose of this paper is to propose an optimization method to address the problem of selecting risk response actions (RRAs) with consideration of secondary risk which is seldom considered in the existing studies. The optimization model aims to minimize the total risk costs with time constraint being placed on the project makespan. By solving the model, an optimal set of RRAs along with the earliest start time for each activity can both be obtained. The results show that secondary risk plays an important role in the process of RRA selection. Project managers should allocate more budget for responding the project risk when the secondary risk is considered, and consider all factors relating to both time and cost so as to select appropriate RRAs to mitigate primary risk and secondary risk.     

小型特种精细化工过程自动化和信息化研究发展趋势探讨

针对采取小批量间歇性批次生产方式、工艺介质腐蚀性强、危险性大的小型特种精细化工生产工艺研究试验过程自动化、信息化程度不高，导致工艺研究试验中获取数据较少、过程机理研究不够透彻、人工操作多、安全风险高、研究试验消耗大及效率不高等问题，综述了期待通过智能控制、在线分析、模拟仿真和虚拟制造、工况监测及预测性维护以及信息管理和生产调度等关键技术的研究和应用，提高小型特种精细化工生产工艺过程的自动化和信息化程度，实现小型特种精细化工生产工艺过程的数字化、虚拟化和智能化，降低生产安全风险和试验消耗，提高小型特种精细化工生产工艺研究试验的成功率和效率，达到小型特种精细化工生产工艺过程的数字化设计和精准生产的目标。