A bi-layer optimization approach for a hybrid flow shop scheduling problem involving controllable processing times in the steelmaking industry

A steelmaking-continuous casting (SCC) scheduling problem is an example of complex hybrid flow shop scheduling problem (HFSSP) with a strong industrial background. This paper investigates the SCC scheduling problem that involves controllable processing times (CPT) with multiple objectives concerning the total waiting time, earliness/tardiness and adjusting cost. The SCC scheduling problem with CPT is seldom discussed in the existing literature. This study is motivated by the practical situation of a large integrated steel company in which the just-in-time (JIT) and cost-cutting production strategy have become a significant concern. To address this complex HFSSP, the scheduling problem is decomposed into two subproblems: a parallel machine scheduling problem (PMSP) in the last stage and an HFSSP in the upstream stages. First, a hybrid differential evolution (HDE) algorithm combined with a variable neighborhood decomposition search (VNDS) is proposed for the former subproblem. Second, an iterative backward list scheduling (IBLS) algorithm is presented to solve the latter subproblem. The effectiveness of this bi-layer optimization approach is verified by computational experiments on well-designed and real-world scheduling instances. This study provides a new perspective on modeling and solving practical SCC scheduling problems.     

Characteristic of polysaccharides from Flammulina velutipes in vitro digestion under salivary,simulated gastric and small intestinal conditions and fermentation by human gut microbiota

In this study, in vitro digestion and fermentation of Flammulina velutipes -derived polysaccharides (FVP) were investigated. It was found that FVP mainly consisted of 48.45% glucose, 15.40% mannose, 14.60% xylose, 11.80% fucose and 9.90% galactose. The -human saliva, simulated gastric and small intestinal juices conditions did not break down the FVP. Based on in vitro fermentation tests, FVP modulated the composition of gut microbiota by elevating the amounts of Bifidobacteriaceae and Bacteroidaceae and reducing the numbers of genera Lachnospiraceae and Enterococcaceae. Meanwhile, FVP affected the synthesis of short-chain fatty acids derived from gut microbiota.     

Fabrication and microwave absorption properties of magnetite nanoparticle–carbon nanotube–hollow carbon fiber composites

Absorbents with “tree-like” structures, which were composed of hollow porous carbon fibers (HPCFs) acting as “trunk” structures, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as “branch” structures and magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles playing the role of “fruit” structures were prepared by chemical vapor deposition technique and chemical reaction. Microwave reflection loss, permittivity and permeability of Fe₃O₄–CNTs–HPCFs composites were investigated in the frequency range of 2–18 GHz. It was proven that prepared absorbents possessed the excellent electromagnetic wave absorbing performances. The bandwidth with a reflection loss less than −15 dB covers a wide frequency range from 10.2 to 18 GHz with the thickness of 1.5–3.0 mm, and the minimum reflection loss is −50.9 dB at 14.03 GHz with a 2.5 mm thick sample layer. Microwave absorbing mechanism of the Fe₃O₄–CNTs–HPCFs composites is concluded as dielectric polarization and the synergetic interactions exist between Fe₃O₄ and CNTs–HPCFs.     

Effect of structure on the properties of polyurethanes based on aromatic cardanol-based polyols prepared by thiol-ene coupling

Industrial-grade cardanol and 2-mercaptoethanol were reacted to generate hydroxyl-functionalized cardanol by UV, free-radical-initiated thiol-ene coupling between the double bond moieties of the cardanol long carbon side chain and thiol functional groups. The average hydroxyl number of the hydroxyl-functionalized cardanol was controlled by reaction time, with the hydroxyl values of this ranging within 168–201 mg KOH g⁻¹. This cardanol was then used as a polyol to prepare cardanol-based polyurethane with hexamethylene diisocyanate and a NCO/OH ratio of 1. To compare the effect of cardanol-based polyols with the properties of cardanol-based polyurethane, cardanol modified with 10-undecylenate was used as a raw material to prepare cardanol-based polyols, including the long carbon chain of 10-undecylenate. All properties were examined, and data revealed that cardanol-based polyols including this long carbon chain can improve the hydrophobic and mechanic properties of the cardanol-based polyurethane.     

玄武岩纤维填料应用于两种混合生长反应器的评价

采用单丝直径微米级的伞状玄武岩纤维(BF)作为填料,将其引入序批式反应器(SBR)和后置缺氧反硝化SBR外聚合物(EPS)含量和扫描电子显微镜形貌图,考察了两种SHBR的污水处理效果。试验结果表明:基于SBR的SHBR的出水COD、氨氮、总氮去除率分别为83.2%、89.9%、86.8%;基于后置缺氧反硝化SBR的SHBR优良,而基于后置缺氧反硝化SBR的SHBR的脱氮效果得到进一步的优化和提升。两种SHBR的BF填料中EPS含量分析结果显示:在好氧环境下,蛋白质(PN)的含量高于多糖(PS)的含量;在缺氧条件下,PS的含量明显高于PN的含量。     

Yolk–shell structured iron carbide/N-doped carbon composite as highly efficient and stable oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst

We report a simple route to synthesize iron carbide/carbon yolk–shell composite via a facile two-step process including polymerization of pyrrole using Fe₃O₄ as a sacrificial template to form a Fe₃O₄/polypyrrole composite, followed by annealing at high temperature in N₂ atmosphere. The yolk–shell composite, with iron carbide (Fe_2.5C) embedded in nitrogen-doped carbon layers, shows impressively high catalytic activity and stability for oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline solution. Both the pyridinic-N and graphic-N in the shell of Fe₃O₄–PPy-700, together with the Fe_2.5C confined in carbon layers are believed to be the active sites for the ORR.     

Copper–4,4′-dipyridyl coordination compound as solid reagent for spectrophotometric determination of reducing sugar employing a multicommutation approach

In this work a multicommuted flow system employing copper–4,4′- dipyridyl coordination compound as the solid-phase reagent for the spectrophotometric determination of reducing sugar was developed. The coordination compound was synthesized through a reaction of the 4,4′-dipyridyl and copper (II) nitrate, under hydrothermal conditions. The complex was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), power X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Based on the characterization, a multicommuted spectrophotometric procedure for the determination of reducing sugar using copper (II) complex as solid reagent is proposed. The proposed method was based on the redox reaction between a monosaccharide, such as fructose and glucose (reducing sugar) and Cu(II). This reaction, mediated in an alkaline medium, produces a yellow compound that can be determined by absorption electronic spectroscopy (λ_ABS = 420 nm). Under optimum experimental conditions, a linear response ranging from 1.0 to 20.0 g L⁻¹ (R = 0.9978 and n = 5), a detection (3σ criterion) and quantification (10σ criterion) limit estimated at 0.23 and 0.75 g L⁻¹, respectively, a standard deviation relative of 4.7% (n = 7), for a reference solution of 10.0 g L⁻¹ reducing sugar, and a sampling rate of 75 determinations per hour were achieved. The proposed system was applied to the determination of reducing sugars in coconut water and juices. The analysis of ten samples and the application of the t-test to the results found, and those obtained using reference procedures (AOAC), provided no significant differences at a 95% confidence level. This system enabled the analysis of reducing sugar with ease and simplicity, providing a significant economy of the solid reagent (600 μg per determination) and reducing effluent generation.     

Enhanced propene/ethene selectivity for methanol conversion over pure silica zeolite: Role of hydrogen-bonded silanol groups

Pure silica zeolite with MEL structure (Si-ZSM-11) was firstly reported as an efficient Methanol-to-Propene (MTP) catalyst in methanol conversion, with higher propene yield (14.0 wt.%) and propene/ethene ratio (5.9) than H-ZSM-11 zeolite with a Si/Al ratio of 26 (7.4 wt.% and 1.9, respectively). Hydrogen-bonded silanol groups in Si-ZSM-11 are weakly acidic and act as active sites in methanol conversion, predominantly promoting propene production and inhibiting side reactions.     

Ni2V2O7 dandelion microsphere for a high-performance electrocatalyst in water splitting

Water splitting is an effective way to produce hydrogen to solve the energy crisis problem, and inorganic metal compounds are widely used in electrocatalysis field due to efficient hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we synthesize Ni₂V₂O₇ dandelion microsphere from nickel nitrate and vanadium pentoxide by “one-step hydrothermal” way, which exhibits large specific surface area of 102.74 m² g⁻¹. The as-prepared Ni₂V₂O₇ microsphere shows good electrocatalysis performances including OER overpotential of 358 mV and good stability, as well as HER overpotential of 195 mV. Furthermore, the Ni₂V₂O₇ microsphere electrode is assembled to Ni₂V₂O₇ microsphere//Ni₂V₂O₇ microsphere system, showing the water splitting voltage of 1.50 V at 10 mA cm⁻² by two-electrode method, which is much lower than those of commercial RuO₂//Pt/C system and most of spinel oxides electrocatalysts. Our work opens up a new and facile avenue for fabricating inorganic microsphere electrocatalyst in hydrogen production field.     

A spatio-temporal fusion method for remote sensing data Using a linear injection model and local neighbourhood information

This paper presents a spatio-temporal fusion method for remote sensing images by using a linear injection model and local neighbourhood information. In this method, the linear injection model is first introduced to generate an initial fused image, the spatial details are extracted from the fine-resolution image at the base date, and are weighted by a proper injection gains. Then, the spatial details and the relative spectral information from the coarse-resolution images are blended to generate the fusion result. To further enhance its robustness to the noise, the local neighbourhood information, derived from the fine-resolution image and the fused result simultaneously, is introduced to refine the initial fused image to obtain a more accurate prediction result. The algorithm can effectively capture phenology change or land-cover-type change with minimum input data. Simulated data and two types of real satellite images with seasonal changes and land-cover-type changes are employed to test the performance of the proposed method. Compared with a spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance fusion model (STARFM) and a flexible spatio-temporal fusion algorithm (FSDAF), results show that the proposed approach improves the accuracy of fused images in phenology change area and effectively captures land-cover-type reflectance changes.