Elemental analysis of particulate matter in a metal workshop and of biological samples from exposed workers

During metal welding and cutting, large amounts of particulate matter (PM) are produced that might represent a significant health risk for the exposed workers. In the present pilot study, we performed an elemental analysis of fine PM collected in a metal workshop. Also, elemental analysis of the hair and nail samples collected from workers exposed to the workshop dust and control group was done. Concentrations of 15 elements in PM were measured with X‐Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Particle Induced X‐ray Emission (PIXE), whereas inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) was used to determine 12 elements in hair and nail samples. Mean 8‐hr concentrations of PM_2.5, Fe, and Mn in the vicinity of welders were up to 1803, 860, and 30 μg/m³, respectively, whereas in the nearby city, daily PM_2.5 concentrations are on average 11 μg/m³. We found that several elements, especially Fe and Mn, had substantially higher concentrations in hair and nail samples of exposed workers than in the control group, which indicates the accumulation of metals in workers' tissues, although limit values were not exceeded.     

Majorana Representation for a Composite System

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - The Majorana representation, which provides an intuitive way to represent the quantum state by stars on the Bloch sphere, has drawn considerable...     

Development of an improved divergence‐free‐condition compensated coupled framework to solve flow problems with time‐varying geometries

In this article a coupled version of the improved divergence‐free‐condition compensated method will be proposed to simulate time‐varying geometries by direct forcing immersed boundary method. The proposed method can be seen as a quasi‐multi‐moment framework due to the fact that the momentum equations are discretized by both cell‐centered and cell‐face velocity. For simulating time‐varying geometries, a semi‐implicit iterative method is proposed for calculating the direct forcing terms. Treatments for suppressing spurious force oscillations, calculating drag/lift forces, and evaluating velocity and pressure for freshly cells will also be addressed. In order to show the applicability and accuracy, analytical as well as benchmark problems will be investigated by the present framework and compared with other numerical and experimental results.     

基于联合神经网络学习的中文电力计量命名实体识别

随着电力计量业务的不断扩展，迫切需要由业务信息、技术知识、行业标准及其内在联系所组成的电力计量知识图谱，为电网的决策和发展提供更为全面有效的支持。命名实体识别是构建知识图谱的基础。针对电力计量领域需要，结合中文分词技术特点，基于联合学习思想，提出了一种基于联合学习的中文电力计量命名实体识别技术。该技术联合CNN-BLSTM-CRF模型与整合词典知识的分词模型，使其共享实体类别和置信度；同时将2个模型的先后计算顺序改为并行计算，减少了识别误差累积。结果表明，在不需要人工构建特征的情况下，方法的正确率、召回率、F值等均显著优于以往方法。     

Flow-induced shear stress and deformation of a core–shell-structured microcapsule in a microchannel

A numerical model was developed and validated to investigate the fluid–structure interactions between fully developed pipe flow and core–shell-structured microcapsule in a microchannel. Different flow rates and microcapsule shell thicknesses were considered. A sixth-order rotational symmetric distribution of von Mises stress over the microcapsule shell can be observed on the microcapsule with a thinner shell configuration, especially at higher flow rate conditions. It is also observed that when being carried along in a fully developed pipe flow, the microcapsule with a thinner shell tends to accumulate stress at a higher rate compared to that with a thicker shell. In general, for the same microcapsule configuration, higher flow velocity would induce a higher stress level over the microcapsule shell. The deformation gradient was used to capture the microcapsule's deformation in the present study. The effect of Young's modulus on the microcapsule shell on the microcapsule deformation was investigated as well. Our findings will shed light on the understanding of the stability of core–shell-structured microcapsule when subjected to flow-induced shear stress in a microfluidic system, enabling a more exquisite control over the breakup dynamics of drug-loaded microcapsule for biomedical applications.     

Novel alternating copolyoxamides with high crystallinity and heat resistance

Two series of novel alternating copolyoxamides (PAnT-alt-n2 and PAn2-alt-62) are synthesized via solution/solid-state polycondensation (SSP). The alternating structures are analyzed carefully with ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR spectra. The melting behaviors, thermal stabilities, crystal structures and crystallinities are systematically evaluated by DSC, TGA and WAXD. The results reveal that these alternating copolyoxamides possess almost perfect alternating chain structures and have high melting temperature (T_m > 270 °C), high crystallinity (X_c > 32%) and high decomposition temperature (T₅ > 405 °C) as well as low saturated water absorption (<3.5 wt%), which suggests that they have high potential as engineering plastic of high heat resistant.     

On the Fundamental Polymer Chemistry of Inverse Vulcanization for Statistical and Segmented Copolymers from Elemental Sulfur

In this concept review, the fundamental and polymerization chemistry of inverse vulcanization for the preparation of statistical and segmented sulfur copolymers, which have been actively developed and advanced in various applications over the past decade is discussed. This concept review delves into a discussion of step-growth polymerization constructs to describe the inverse vulcanization process and discuss prepolymer approaches for the synthesis of segmented sulfur polyurethanes. Furthermore, this concept review discusses the advantages of inverse vulcanization in conjunction with dynamic covalent polymerization and post-polymerization modifications to prepare segmented block copolymers with enhanced thermomechanical and flame retardant properties of these materials.     

Phosphoric-Acid Retention in High-Temperature Proton-Exchange Membranes

Great efforts have been conducted to develop high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) due to its features of enhanced electrocatalyst reactivity, simplified hydrothermal management system and high CO tolerance of catalysts, and remarkable progress has been achieved. However, the easy leaching of phosphoric acid (PA) from the membranes during operation limits its commercial scale-up in complicated environments. This concept here mainly focuses on the recent developments for mitigation of PA loss in PEMs. The probable mechanisms of PA loss are proposed. The approaches to improve PA retention for example via introduction of phosphonic acid by covalent bond, using ion-pairs interaction and siphoning effect, and blending with inorganic nanoparticles are described in detail. Among these strategies, the siphoning effect from the intrinsic microporous PEMs is the most efficient and enables the cell to operate flexibly within a broad temperature range. Therefore, this concept may provide new ideas for the scientists to retain PA, to improve the cell performance and expand the potential applications of PA doped PEMs at elevated humidity and wide temperature range.     

零误差计算

研究采用有误差的数值计算来获得无误差的准确值具有重要的理论价值和应用价值.这种通过近似的数值方法获得准确结果的计算被称为零误差计算.本文首先指出,只有一致离散集合中的数才能够开展零误差计算,即有非零隔离界的数集,这也是"数"可以进行零误差计算的一个充要条件.以此为基本出发点,本文分析代数数零误差计算的最低理论精度,该精度对应于恢复近似代数数的准确值时必要的误差控制条件,但由于所采用恢复算法的局限性,这一理论精度往往不能保证成功恢复出代数数的准确值.为此,本文给出采用PSLQ (partial-sum-LQ-decomposition)算法进行代数数零误差计算所需的精度控制条件,与基于LLL (Lenstra-Lenstra-Lovász)算法相比,该精度控制条件关于代数数次数的依赖程度由二次降为拟线性,从而可降低相应算法的复杂度.最后探讨零误差计算未来的发展趋势.