Adsorption kinetics of Eu(III) and Am(III) onto bentonite: analysis and application of the liquid membrane tidal diffusion model

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - A new liquid membrane tidal diffusion model (LMTD) was applied based on three assumptions to analyze the kinetics of Eu(III) adsorption on...     

Applications of photocatalytic titanium dioxide-based nanomaterials in sustainable agriculture

Photocatalytic materials are attracting attention as emerging resources for agricultural applications. This timely review assesses the current developments in the use of biocompatible titanium dioxide (TiO₂)-based photocatalytic nanomaterials (TiO₂-PN) as models to unravel agricultural growth, harvest, and post-harvest problems. Such developments can lead to technological innovations aimed at addressing the pressing global environmental challenges faced by farming. TiO₂-PN have been used as antimicrobial, growth-regulating, and fertilizer-like agents. The promising agricultural research applications of TiO₂-PN are highlighted along with a discussion of the main challenges that will need to be overcome to fully understand the roles of TiO₂-PN in the sustainable and productive exploitation of land and water for agricultural applications under natural conditions. In particular, rhizosphere internalization, translocation, and plant bioaccumulation pathways of photocatalytic materials from environmental exposition are outlined to illustrate the effect of TiO₂ on the agricultural cycle. Nanotoxicology and regulations are also discussed to illustrate the importance of biocompatibility and green synthesis of nanomaterials for safe use in real applications. This overview is focused on motivating and intensifying our understanding of on-site agricultural studies. Complementary biological approaches and structural damage observed by biological transmission electron, scanning electron, and optical microscopies should accelerate the practical contribution of TiO₂-PN to sustainable agriculture in conjunction with plant factories and plasma nitrogen fixation technology. Loadings below 10 μg/L of TiO₂-PN with a size of 40 nm benefit seed germination and root elongation as well as partially suppressing metal root translocation. However, only approximately 5% of current studies were carried out in real agricultural settings.     

Novel biogeography-based optimization algorithm with hybrid migration and global-best Gaussian mutation

The Biogeography-Based Optimization algorithm and its variants have been used widely for optimization problems. To get better performance, a novel Biogeography-Based Optimization algorithm with Hybrid migration and global-best Gaussian mutation is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a linearly dynamic random heuristic crossover strategy and an exponentially dynamic random differential mutation one are presented to form a hybrid migration operator, and the former is used to get stronger local search ability and the latter strengthen the global search ability. Secondly, a new global-best Gaussian mutation operator is put forward to balance exploration and exploitation better. Finally, a random opposition learning strategy is merged to avoid getting stuck in local optima. The experiments on the classical benchmark functions and the complexity functions from CEC-2013 and CEC-2017 test sets, and the Wilcoxon, Bonferroni-Holm and Friedman statistical tests are used to evaluate our algorithm. The results show that our algorithm obtains better performance and faster running speed compared with quite a few state-of-the-art competitive algorithms. In addition, experimental results on Minimum Spanning Tree and K-means clustering optimization show that our algorithm can cope with these two problems better than the comparison algorithms.     

Component ordering strategies in assembly systems with uncertain capacity and random yield

Sourcing components in a complex global supplier network may lead to a high degree of supply uncertainty. Events, such as unexpected production defects or insufficient supplier capacity, can cause unexpected shortages of required components and halt the assembly of final products. Accordingly, the assembly enterprises must effectively manage various supply uncertainties in their component ordering decisions to avoid such component shortfalls. These issues have guided this research to investigate the optimal ordering strategies of an assembler facing the following two types of supply uncertainty: the uncertain production capacity of a standard component (component 1) and the random production yield of a core component (component 2). The assembler makes the component ordering decisions before these supply uncertainties are realized. We characterize the optimal ordering decision and find that the assembler should order components 1 and 2 according to a fixed ratio, which only depends on the random yield of component 2 and the production cost of component 1, but not on the uncertain capacity of component 1. A case study is presented to further explore the intertwined effects of these two uncertainties in an assembly system. Finally, the model is extended to consider a secondary option of buying additional component 1 s after observing some or all of the supply uncertainties, and this secondary option endows the firm with different capabilities in counteracting the supply uncertainties.     

The visible and ultraviolet organic light-emitting diodes with germanium dioxide as facile solution-processed anode buffer layer

Germanium dioxide (GeO₂) aqueous solutions are facilely prepared and the corresponding anode buffer layers (ABLs) with solution process are demonstrated. Atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements show that solution-processed GeO₂ behaves superior film morphology and enhanced work function. Using GeO₂ as ABL of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), the visible device with tris(8-hydroxy-quinolinato)aluminium as emitter gives maximum luminous efficiency of 6.5 cd/A and power efficiency of 3.5 lm/W, the ultraviolet device with 3-(4-biphenyl)-4-phenyl-5-tert-butylphenyl-1,2,4-triazole as emitter exhibits short-wavelength emission with peak of 376 nm, full-width at half-maximum of 42 nm, maximum radiance of 3.36 mW/cm² and external quantum efficiency of 1.5%. The performances are almost comparable to the counterparts with poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (styrenesulfonate) as ABL. The current, impedance, phase and capacitance as a function of voltage characteristics elucidate that the GeO₂ ABL formed from appropriate concentration of GeO₂ aqueous solution favors hole injection enhancement and accordingly promoting device performance.     

Experimental study on wake flow structures of screen cylinders using PIV

Experiments were conducted in a water flume using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to study the evolution of the vortical structures in the wakes of four types of screen cylinders at a Reynolds number of about 3200. The results were compared with that of a bare cylinder. The screen cylinders were made of stainless steel screen meshes of various porosities (37%, 48%, 61% and 67%) rolled into cylindrical shapes. Smoke wire flow visualisations in a wind tunnel were also conducted in support of the PIV tests. Depending on the porosity of the screen mesh, two vortex formation mechanisms for the screen cylinder wakes were identified. One was associated with wake instability and the other was associated with shear-layer (Kelvin-Helmholtz) convective instability which involved merging through pairing and tripling of small-scale vortices within the shear layers. The former was responsible for the formation of large-scale vortices in the bare cylinder and the screen cylinder wakes with 37% and 48% porosities, while the latter was responsible for the screen cylinder wakes with 61% and 67% porosities. The results also showed that with increasing porosity, the vortex formation region was extended farther downstream and the Reynolds shear stress, the Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE) and vortex intensity were decreased constantly.     

约束端面对管内甲烷爆炸特性的影响

为研究不同约束端面下甲烷的爆炸特性，利用自行搭建的实验平台完成了多种约束端面下不同浓度甲烷的爆炸实验。研究表明:约束端面的性质对甲烷的爆炸特性有显著影响，约束端面的承压强度越高，甲烷的爆炸超压越大。单层PVC薄膜作用下，薄膜破裂，不会引起火焰与超压的振荡；而纸膜破裂后，管道内外气流的高速泄放和回流则会引起超压振荡，使火焰前锋波动并发生扭曲变形；两者共同作用时，PVC薄膜会阻碍气流的泄放与回流，加速超压衰减，抑制火焰和超压的振荡。然而，随着纸膜层数增加，破膜时管道内外形成的巨大压差会使约束端面完全破裂，降低PVC薄膜的抑制作用。当破膜难度达到一定程度时，约束端面作用下的泄压峰值成为不同浓度甲烷爆炸的最大超压峰值，且泄爆压力并不随甲烷浓度的改变而改变，因此不同浓度甲烷的爆炸超压在较高的泄爆压力下相同；此时，相同约束端面下不同浓度甲烷的压力振荡曲线在压力衰减的前半个周期内完全重合，管道内外的压差成为主导超压振荡的重要因素，而不同浓度甲烷的燃烧速率对超压振荡的影响则可以忽略不计。     

Correlation between Boron Isotope of Coral Acropora and pH Value of Seawater Surface

A water circulation system with the almost same element composition and socket type was adopted in coral Acropora culture under different seawater pH value conditions and the data of the relationship between boron isotopic compositions of coral and seawater pH value by thermoelectric ionization mass spectrometer were obtained. According to the correlations between α_carb-3 of coral and the pH value of cultured seawater, α_carb-3 was not a constant but related to pH value, indicating that B(OH)₃ also incorporated carbonate. Therefore, the theoretical formula could not be used to calculate the seawater pH value from the δ¹¹B_carb value of the measured marine biological carbonate. The empirical equations obtained experimentally would be an alternative method to calculate the seawater pH value. In addition, the mixed precipitation of CaCO₃ and Mg(OH)₂ was found in aquaculture tanks with high pH value, and the δ¹¹B of the solid was significantly higher than that of cultured seawater. The result indicated that the presence of Mg(OH)₂ had a significant effect on the boron isotope fractionation, which deserved our attention.     

Estimation of high-order moment-independent importance measures for Shapley value analysis

Moment-independent importance measures are increasingly used by practitioners to understand how output uncertainty may be shared between a set of stochastic inputs. Computing Borgonovo's sensitivity indices for a large group of inputs is still a challenging problem due to the curse of dimensionality and it is addressed in this article. An estimation scheme taking the most of recent developments in copula theory is developed. Furthermore, the concept of Shapley value is used to derive new sensitivity indices, which makes the interpretation of Borgonovo's indices much easier. The resulting importance measure offers a double advantage compared with other existing methods since it allows to quantify the impact exerted by one input variable on the whole output distribution after taking into account all possible dependencies and interactions with other variables. The validity of the proposed methodology is established on several analytical examples and the benefits in terms of computational efficiency are illustrated with real-life test cases such as the study of the water flow through a borehole. In addition, a detailed case study dealing with the atmospheric re-entry of a launcher first stage is completed.