Electrical and optical measurements in the early hydrogen discharge of GLAST-Ⅲ

This work presents the first electrical and optical measurements of the initial phase of hydrogen discharge in the upgraded spherical tokamak GLAST-III, initiated with electron cyclotron heating(ECH). Diagnostic measurements provide insights into expected and unexpected physics issues related to the initial phase of discharge. A triple Langmuir probe(TLP) has been developed to measure time series of the floating potential, plasma electron temperature and number density over the entire discharge, allowing monitoring of the two phases of the discharge: the ECH pre-ionization phase following by the plasma current formation phase. A TLP has the ability to give time-resolved measurements of the floating potential(V_(float)), electron temperature(T_e) and ion saturation current(I_(sat)∝n_e√kT_e).sat e eThe evolution of the ECH-assisted pre-ionization and subsequent plasma current phases in one shot are well envisioned by the probe. Intense fluctuations in the plasma current phase advocate for efficient equilibrium and feedback control systems. Moreover, the emergence of some strong impurity lines in the emission spectrum, even after only a few shots, suggests a crucial need for improvements in the base vacuum level. A noticeable change in the shape of the temporal profiles of the floating potential, electron temperature, ion saturation current(I_(sat)) and light emission has been observed with changing hydrogen fill pressure and vertical magnetic field.     

Elastic buckling strength of corroded steel plates

Corrosion makes structures more vulnerable to buckling and yielding failures. It is common practice to assume a uniform thickness reduction for general corrosion. To estimate the remaining strength of corroded structures, typically a much higher level of accuracy is required, since the actual corroded structures have irregular surfaces. Elastic buckling of simply supported rectangular corroded plates are studied with one- and both-sided irregular surfaces. Eigenvalue analysis by using finite element method (FEM) is employed for computing Euler stress. The influence of various geometric and corrosion characteristics are investigated and it is found that the aspect ratio of the plate, the average thickness diminution, the standard deviation of thickness diminution and the amount of corrosion loss have influence on the reduction of buckling strength of the corroded plates. Buckling strength of one- and both-sided corroded plates are the same. In plates with low value of aspect ratio, reduction of buckling strength is negligible. Reduction of buckling strength is more prominent in plates with higher aspect ratio. Reduction of buckling strength is very sensitive to the amount of corrosion loss; the higher the amount of corrosion loss, the more reduction of buckling strength. Reduction of buckling strength is less sensitive to the standard deviation of thickness diminution.     

Pharmacotherapeutics and molecular docking studies of alpha-synuclein modulators as promising therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is an age-related neurodegenerative ailment that affects dopamine-producing neurons in a specific area of the brain called the substantia nigra of the ventral midbrain. It is clinically characterized by movement disorder and marked with unusual synaptic protein alpha-synuclein accumulation in the brain. To date, only a few Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs are available on the market for the treatment of PD. Nonetheless, these drugs show parasympathomimetic related adverse events and remarkably higher toxicity; hence, it is important to find more efficacious molecules to treat PD. In our study, We chosen 22 natural compounds as inhibitors that potentially block the alpha-synuclein clump—the pathological hallmark of PD—and provide new avenues for its treatment. Most of these molecules exhibited good pharmacokinetic behaviors, making them decisively favorable drug candidates to cure PD. Molecular docking studies were performed to investigate the binding interactions between natural compounds and alpha-synuclein as anti-Parkinson drug targets. Among the examined compounds, curcumin and piperine emerged as promising phytochemicals with the highest binding affinity, key residual stable bindings and showed a good inhibitory features. Thus, the present study indicates that curcumin and piperine hold the potential to be developed as treatment options against PD. Experimental validations are needed for insights into their mechanism of action and potential clinical application.     

A step forward towards a comprehensive framework for assessing liquefaction land damage vulnerability: Exploration from historical data

The unprecedented liquefaction-related land damage during earthquakes has highlighted the need to develop a model that better interprets the liquefaction land damage vulnerability (LLDV) when determining whether liquefaction is likely to cause damage at the ground’s surface. This paper presents the development of a novel comprehensive framework based on select case history records of cone penetration tests using a Bayesian belief network (BBN) methodology to assess seismic soil liquefaction and liquefaction land damage potentials in one model. The BBN-based LLDV model is developed by integrating multi-related factors of seismic soil liquefaction and its induced hazards using a machine learning (ML) algorithm-K2 and domain knowledge (DK) data fusion methodology. Compared with the C4.5 decision tree-J48 model, naive Bayesian (NB) classifier, and BBN-K2 ML prediction methods in terms of overall accuracy and the Cohen’s kappa coefficient, the proposed BBN K2 and DK model has a better performance and provides a substitutive novel LLDV framework for characterizing the vulnerability of land to liquefaction-induced damage. The proposed model not only predicts quantitatively the seismic soil liquefaction potential and its ground damage potential probability but can also identify the main reasons and fault-finding state combinations, and the results are likely to assist in decisions on seismic risk mitigation measures for sustainable development. The proposed model is simple to perform in practice and provides a step toward a more sophisticated liquefaction risk assessment modeling. This study also interprets the BBN model sensitivity analysis and most probable explanation of seismic soil liquefied sites based on an engineering point of view.     

Influence of accelerated curing on the compressive strength of polymer-modified concrete

In recent building practice, rapid construction is one of the principal requisites. Furthermore, in designing concrete structures, compressive strength is the most significant of all parameters. While 3-d and 7-d compressive strength reflects the strengths at early phases, the ultimate strength is paramount. An effort has been made in this study to develop mathematical models for predicting compressive strength of concrete incorporating ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) at the later phases. Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) goodness-of-fit test was used to examine distribution of the data. The compressive strength of EVA-modified concrete was studied by incorporating various concentrations of EVA as an admixture and by testing at ages of 28, 56, 90, 120, 210, and 365 d. An accelerated compressive strength at 3.5 hours was considered as a reference strength on the basis of which all the specified strengths were predicted by means of linear regression fit. Based on the results of KS goodness-of-fit test, it was concluded that KS test statistics value (D) in each case was lower than the critical value 0.521 for a significance level of 0.05, which demonstrated that the data was normally distributed. Based on the results of compressive strength test, it was concluded that the strength of EVA-modified specimens increased at all ages and the optimum dosage of EVA was achieved at 16% concentration. Furthermore, it was concluded that predicted compressive strength values lies within a 6% difference from the actual strength values for all the mixes, which indicates the practicability of the regression equations. This research work may help in understanding the role of EVA as a viable material in polymer-based cement composites.     

On the prediction of the roundness error in BTA deep hole machining based on the stochastic description of the cutting tool motion

This paper presents a methodology of predicting the maximum possible out-of-roundness of the hole produced, in BTA deep hole machining, as a function of certain machining parameters. Based on the solutions of the stochastic differential equations representing the machine tool-workpiece system in BTA deep hole machining, and the true cutting tool motion, an index describing the upper bound of the roundness error is defined. A parametric analysis of the out-of-roundness index is carried out. This analysis points out that at a low length-to-diameter ratio of the cutting tool, the axial force is the predominant factor causing the tool-tip deviation from the ideal motion, and that the radial and tangential forces are the major causes for the tool tip deviation at high length-to-diameter ratio of the cutting tool. The experimental measurement of out-of-roundness of the specimens under different machining conditions shows that the roundness error obtained lies within the zone described by the theoretical prediction.     

VAPOR-LIQUID EQUILIBRIA OF TOLUENE + n-BUTANOL AND TOLUENE + n-BUTANOL + CALCIUM CHLORIDE AT 94.0kPa

Vapor-liquid equilibrium data of toluene + n-butanol and toluene+ n-butanol + CaCl₂ (at saturation) were measured at a pressure of 94.0 kPa, using a modified Malanowski equilibrium still. The salt investigated in this work, i.e., CaCl₂, exhibits a slight salting-out effect on toluene. The experimental results of the salt-free binary were compared with those obtained from NRTL, ASOG, and UNIFAC models. The latter two models predicted the bubble-point temperatures within 0.5 K (as a root mean square deviation, RMSD) whereas the NRTL model, which was employed to establish thermodynamic consistency by directly fitting the experimental data, correlated the bubble-point temperatures with an RMSD of 0.2 K. On the other hand, the experimental data of toluene+n-butanol+CaCl₂ were compared with those predicted by the NRTL-Tan model for the effect of the electrolyte. This model predicted the bubble-point temperatures with an RMSD of 0.5 K. Calcium chloride has been shown not to have a sensible effect on the azeotropic composition.     

Application of machine learning algorithms for the evaluation of seismic soil liquefaction potential

This study investigates the performance of four machine learning (ML) algorithms to evaluate the earthquake-induced liquefaction potential of soil based on the cone penetration test field case history records using the Bayesian belief network (BBN) learning software Netica. The BBN structures that were developed by ML algorithms-K2, hill climbing (HC), tree augmented naive (TAN) Bayes, and Tabu search were adopted to perform parameter learning in Netica, thereby fixing the BBN models. The performance measure indexes, namely, overall accuracy (OA), precision, recall, F-measure, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, were used to evaluate the training and testing BBN models’ performance and highlight the capability of the K2 and TAN Bayes models over the Tabu search and HC models. The sensitivity analysis results showed that the cone tip resistance and vertical effective stress are the most sensitive factors, whereas the mean grain size is the least sensitive factor in the prediction of seismic soil liquefaction potential. The results of this study can provide theoretical support for researchers in selecting appropriate ML algorithms and improving the predictive performance of seismic soil liquefaction potential models.     

Microwave-assisted pre-ionization experiments on GLAST-Ⅲ

GLAss Spherical Tokamak(GLAST-Ⅲ) is a spherical tokamak with an insulating vacuum vessel that has a unique single-passage capability for incident microwaves.In this work,electron cyclotron resonance heating(ECRH)-assisted plasma pre-ionization in GLAST-Ⅲ is explored for three radio-frequency(RF) polarizations(the O-,X-,and M-modes) at different toroidal-field(TF) strengths and filled gas pressures.The optimum hydrogen pressure is identified for efficient plasma pre-ionization.A comparison of the plasma pre-ionizations initiated by the O-,X-,and M-modes shows prominent differences in the breakdown time,location,and wave absorption.In the case of O-mode polarization,microwave absorption occurs for a relatively shorter duration,resulting in a bell-shaped electron-temperature(T_e) temporal profile.Microwave absorption is dominant in the case of the X-mode,leading to a broader T_e temporal profile.The M-mode discharge contains features of both the X-and O-modes.Efficient plasma pre-ionization is achieved in the X-mode polarization for the intermediate TF strengths(with a central toroidal magnetic field B_0=0.075 T).Traces of the electron-number density show a similar tendency,as revealed by T_e.These results suggest that the X-mode is the best candidate for efficient plasma pre-ionization at low filled gas pressures(~10~(-2) Pa) in small tokamaks.     

Synthesis, Sintering, and Microstructure of Nasicons

The preparation and characterization of Hong and von Alpen types of Nasicons are described. When highly reactive gel-processed powders are heated at about 1000°C, Nasicons are formed in a finely divided state. Sintering of compacts requires 1125° to 1325°C, depending on the composition. Observed sintering kinetics suggest a liquid-phase mechanism; SEM reveals the Hong Nasicons to contain two (when zirconia-free) or three phases. The von Alpen materials are zirconia-free, but consist of two phases. A glass phase is common to both materials, and its presence is attributed to the liquid-phase sintering mechanism.