Single-Crystalline TiO2(B) Nanobelts with Unusual Large Exposed {100} Facets and Enhanced Li-Storage Capacity

The {100} facet of single-crystalline TiO₂(B) is an ideal platform for inserting Li ions, but it is hard to be obtained due to its high surface energy. Here, the single-crystalline TiO₂(B) nanobelts from H₂Ti₃O₇ with nearly 70% {100} facets exposed are synthesized, which significantly enhances Li-storage capacity. The first-principle calculations demonstrate an ab in-plane 2D diffusion through the exposed {100} facets. As a consequence, the nanobelts can significantly accommodate Li ions in LiTiO₂ formula with specific capacity up to 335 mAh g⁻¹, which is in good agreement with the electrochemical characterizations. Coating with conductive and protective poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate), the cut-off discharge voltage is as low as 0.5 V, leading to a capacity of 160.7 mAh g⁻¹ after 1500 cycles with a retention rate of 66% at 1C. This work provides a practical strategy to increase the Li-ion capacity and cycle stability by tailoring the crystal orientation and nanostructures.     

Effect of ZnO layer thickness upon optoelectrical properties of NiO/ ZnO heterojunction prepared at room temperature

In this work, p-NiO/n-ZnO heterostructures were successfully prepared at room temperature using RF sputtering technique. The influence of ZnO layer thickness on the performance of the heterojunction was investigated. The deposited ZnO layers have a hexagonal Wurtzite structure with preferable growth orientations along (002) and (103) for thinner films. Increasing the thickness results in more crystallographic orientation randomness. The current–voltage measurements of the realized heterojunctions showed a clear rectifying behavior. The measured ideality factor varies from 2.5 to 1.6 according to the thickness of ZnO layer. The series resistance of the device is enlarged with increasing ZnO thickness. The deduced parameters from the I–V characteristics suggest that 200 nm is the optimal thickness of the ZnO layer according to our experimental conditions. We attribute the relatively better performance of this thickness to achieving reasonable compensation between serial resistance and ideality factor. The best heterojunction was tested and successfully used as a UV detector.     

Cross-Layer Optimization of Dynamic Packet Assignment for Video Transmission Over IEEE 802.11e Networks

Video transmission over IEEE 802.11e wireless networks still shows poor performance for large bandwidth demand and frequently changed environments. Thus, several enhancements of IEEE 802.11e were proposed. On the other hand, big frames and simultaneous sending of adjacent frames always cause packet dropping for buffer overflow. In the past, we proposed an IEEE 802.11e enhancement named DFAA and a content aware mechanism to solve the above problems. The motivation of this paper is to find a proper way to integrate these two mechanisms. A DFAA enhancement (DFAA-E) is proposed to make up the insufficiency of content aware mechanism. Experiments results show that the combination of DFAA-E and content aware mechanism improves the video decoded quality greatly. And its performance can be further enhanced by selecting the suitable settings of certain parameters.     

A dense and compact laser cladding layer with solid metallurgical bonding significantly improved corrosion resistance of Mg alloy for engineering applications

Although Mg alloy attracts great attention for engineering applications because of high specific strength and low density, low corrosion resistance limits its extensive use. In this study, Mg–Al–Zn–Mn alloy was treated via a laser cladding process to generate a dense and compact laser cladding layer with solid metallurgical bonding on the substrate for improving corrosion resistance, effectively hindering the corrosion pervasion into Mg alloy. The corrosion current density declined from 103 μA/cm² for Mg alloy to 13 μA/cm² for the laser cladding layer in NaCl aqueous solution. Moreover, the laser cladding layer was slightly corroded in comparison with Mg alloy in NaCl aqueous solution. Besides, the microhardness of the cladding layer reached a mean value of 170.5 HV, 3.1 times of Mg alloy (56.8 HV) due to the in situ formation of hardening intermetallic phases. Wear resistance of laser cladding layer was also obviously improved. These results demonstrated that the laser cladding layer obviously enhanced anticorrosion property of Mg alloy for engineering applications.     

Formation of a protective layer against corrosion on Mg alloy via alkali pretreatment followed by vanillic acid treatment

Although Mg alloy possesses high specific strength, low density, and good biocompatibility, poor corrosion resistance hinders its further applications. In the present study, an innovative protective layer against corrosion was prepared on the AZ31 Mg alloy via alkali pretreatment followed by vanillic acid treatment. The alkali pretreatment supplied –OH for the AZ31 Mg alloy surface to react with vanillic acid. The vanillic acid treatment played a crucial role in enhancing the corrosion resistance due to the excellent ability to act as a barrier and retard aqueous solution penetration, which effectively isolated the underlying Mg alloy from the corrosive environment. The corrosion current density of alkali and vanillic acid-treated Mg alloy (AZ31V) almost showed two orders of magnitude lower values in comparison with that of the AZ31 Mg alloy, and the corrosion potential of AZ31V Mg alloy increased from −1.41 to −1.25 V. The immersion tests proved that there was no occurrence of severe corrosion. Hence, the alkali pretreatment and vanillic acid treatment may represent a promising method to improve the corrosion resistance of Mg alloy.     

Passive target detection and tracking from electromagnetic field measurements

This paper presents a novel approach to the localization of moving targets in a complex environment based on the measurement of the perturbations induced by the target presence on an independently‐generated time‐varying electromagnetic field. Field perturbations are measured via a set of sensors deployed over the domain of interest and used to detect and track a possible target by resorting to a particle Bernoulli filter (PBF). To comply with real‐time operation, the PBF works along with an artificial neural network (ANN) model of the environment trained offline via finite elements (FEs). The performance of the proposed algorithm is assessed via simulation experiments.     

国际32.5水泥的技术现状与发展趋势

正进入21世纪以来,国际水泥混凝土产业经历了17年的科研试验、工业生产与工程应用等大量的实践,促使人们对过去曾被视为"低标号"的32.5水泥的认知发生了的逆转。非但一扫早先那种"水泥要向高标号发展"的旧传统理念,进而开始青睐于32.5水泥的新发展,并寄于厚望。这是国际水泥混凝土工业的一项重大技术进步,对发展方向具有重要指导意义,我国应予密切关注。(1)须要再次澄清一个重要的基本概念和现今     

Reoptimization framework and policy analysis for maritime inventory routing under uncertainty

We study a maritime inventory routing problem, in which shipments between production and consumption nodes are carried out by a fleet of vessels. The vessels have specific capacities and can be chartered under different agreements. The inventory levels of all consumption nodes and some production nodes should be maintained within specified bounds; for the remaining production nodes, orders should be picked up within pre-defined time windows. We propose a discrete-time mixed-integer programming model. In the face of new information and uncertainty, this optimization model has to be re-solved, as the horizon is rolled forward. We discuss how to account for different sources of uncertainty. We present a rolling-horizon reoptimization framework that allows us to study different policies that impact the quality of the implemented solution, so we can identify the optimal set of policies.