Rocky coast processes: with special reference to the recession of soft rock cliffs

Substantial progress in research on the recession of coastal cliffs composed of soft materials has been made in recent years and data with higher accuracy have been accumulated. This paper provides the state of the art review in the recession studies and highlights two new findings obtained from the reanalysis of existing data. The review topics are: episodic and localized nature of cliff recession; the development of cliffline; the relationship between cliff height and recession rate; mechanisms of cliff toe erosion by waves; a fundamental equation for wave-induced toe erosion; factors controlling toe erosion; and slope instabilities and mass movements. The findings are presented on (1) the temporal change in cliffline recession mode and (2) the effect of beach sediment at the cliff base on the cliff erosion.     

Engineering nanostructures of CuO-based photocatalysts for water treatment: Current progress and future challenges

Nowadays, increasing extortions regarding environmental problems and energy scarcity have stuck the development and endurance of human society. The issue of inorganic and organic pollutants that exist in water from agricultural, domestic, and industrial activities has directed the development of advanced technologies to address the challenges of water scarcity efficiently. To solve this major issue, various scientists and researchers are looking for novel and effective technologies that can efficiently remove pollutants from wastewater. Nanoscale metal oxide materials have been proposed due to their distinctive size, physical and chemical properties along with promising applications. Cupric Oxide (CuO) is one of the most commonly used benchmark photocatalysts in photodegradation owing to the fact that they are cost-effective, non-toxic, and more efficient in absorption across a significant fraction of solar spectrum. In this review, we have summarized synthetic strategies of CuO fabrication, modification methods with applications for water treatment purposes. Moreover, an elaborative discussion on feasible strategies includes; binary and ternary heterojunction formation, Z-scheme based photocatalytic system, incorporation of rare earth/transition metal ions as dopants, and carbonaceous materials serving as a support system. The mechanistic insight inferring photo-induced charge separation and transfer, the functional reactive radical species involved in a photocatalytic reaction, have been successfully featured and examined. Finally, a conclusive remark regarding current studies and unresolved challenges related to CuO are put forth for future perspectives.     

A switchable ionic liquid with polarity swing-assisted regeneration properties used for the preconcentration of cadmium in biological samples

In the present study the cadmium (Cd) was determined in serum samples of psoriatic patients. The severity of psoriasis was evaluated according to criteria based on standard clinical diagnosis using Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) score. In present study, an innovative tunable green solvent system based microextraction (TSS-ME) was applied for the enrichment of Cd in acid digested serum samples prior to determination with flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The hydrophobic complex of Cd-ammonium pyrrolidine thiocarbamate was extracted in a tunable solvent system which was prepared from a polybasic amine (N, N, N′, N′-tetramethyl-1, 4-diaminobutane), decanol and water system. The tunable green solvent system (TSS) which has zero ionic strength was converted to homogeneous monophasic polar hydrophilic phase via exposure to CO₂ at different pressure and time duration. Then hydrophobic enriched Cd- ammonium pyrrolidine thiocarbamate was back extracted, using HNO₃ (0.1 to 0.5 mol L⁻¹) then the second round of TSS-ME was applied. The acidic aqueous phase enrich with analyte was separated from tunable solvent. The separated TSS was easily reused for up to 10 time for preconcentration purposes without loss of its enrichment character. The smoker and nonsmoker psoriatic patients at PASI >10, have two to three folds higher Cd levels in serum samples than healthy persons.     

Tri-peptide reference structures for the calculation of relative solvent accessible surface area in protein amino acid residues

Relative amino acid residue solvent accessibility values allow the quantitative comparison of atomic solvent-accessible surface areas in different residue types and physical environments in proteins and in protein structural alignments. Geometry-optimised tri-peptide structures in extended solvent-exposed reference conformations have been obtained for 43 amino acid residue types at a high level of quantum chemical theory. Significant increases in side-chain solvent accessibility, offset by reductions in main-chain atom solvent exposure, were observed for standard residue types in partially geometry-optimised structures when compared to non-minimised models built from identical sets of proper dihedral angles abstracted from the literature. Optimisation of proper dihedral angles led most notably to marked increases of up to 54% in proline main-chain atom solvent accessibility compared to literature values. Similar effects were observed for fully-optimised tri-peptides in implicit solvent. The relief of internal strain energy was associated with systematic variation in N, C^α and C^β atom solvent accessibility across all standard residue types. The results underline the importance of optimisation of ‘hard’ degrees of freedom (bond lengths and valence bond angles) and improper dihedral angle values from force field or other context-independent reference values, and impact on the use of standardised fixed internal co-ordinate geometry in sampling approaches to the determination of absolute values of protein amino acid residue solvent accessibility. Quantum chemical methods provide a useful and accurate alternative to molecular mechanics methods to perform energy minimisation of peptides containing non-standard (chemically modified) amino acid residues frequently present in experimental protein structure data sets, for which force field parameters may not be available. Reference tri-peptide atomic co-ordinate sets including hydrogen atoms are made freely available.     

Stability,periodicity, and symmetries of certain second‐order fractional difference equation with quadratic terms via KAM theory

By using the Kolmogorov–Arnold–Moser theory, we investigate the stability of the equilibrium solution of the difference equation where A ,B ,D > 0,u _?1,u ₀>0. We also use the symmetries to find effectively the periodic solutions with feasible periods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

阿拉尔垦区自然灾害对农业经济影响的研究

阿拉尔垦区是新疆重要的棉花、林果产业基地,然而频发的自然灾害给农业经济造成了极为严重的影响.自然灾害发生频率高、灾害地域分布不均衡以及带来的破坏效果大和损失严重等特点,引起了人们的广泛关注.采用层次分析法作为基础理论,通过专家打分法确定权重建立评价模型.阿拉尔垦区自然灾害对农业经济影响的研究是一个非常重要的理论和实践问题,它对于提高农民收入、促进农业可持续发展和社会稳定具有重要的意义.     

长三角地区房地产市场是如何实现"去库存"的?

长三角地区在全国房地产"库存"的背景下,实现了房地产市场的不断向好.对长三角地区有关面板数据进行实证研究,实证结果表明房地产开发投资、医院床位数、工业生产总值与人均房地产成交面积呈正相关.城镇人口数,中、长期贷款利率与人均房地产成交面积呈负相关,高收入城市比低收入城市人均房地产成交面积低14.%,教育支出和城镇居民总的可支配收入对人均房地产成交面积影响不显著.     

二维过渡金属硫属化合物的大面积制备与应用研究进展

二维过渡金属硫属化合物(TMDs)因具有可调带隙、 谷电子学性质和高催化活性等优点, 在电子学、 光电子学和能源相关领域受到广泛关注. 为了实现以上应用, 实现大面积、 厚度均匀TMDs薄膜的批量制备至关重要. 化学气相沉积法(CVD)是制备大面积均匀、 高质量二维材料普遍使用的方法. 本文从前驱体的供给和衬底的设计两个角度, 总结了目前合成大面积TMDs薄膜的CVD方法, 并讨论了高质量TMDs的生长机制和参数优化方法; 介绍了高质量TMDs在电子学、 光电子学和电/光催化等方面的应用; 讨论了目前合成大面积均匀、 高质量TMDs所面临的挑战, 并对该领域的发展方向进行了展望.     

植物油中脂肪酸不同定量方法的比较分析

比较峰面积归一化法与标准曲线法两种方法分析植物油中脂肪酸百分比含量的差异。利用气相色谱-质谱联用仪(GC-MS)检测10种市售食用植物油中的8种主要脂肪酸,峰面积归一化法和标准曲线法计算脂肪酸的百分比含量。结果表明,标准曲线法与峰面积归一化法相比,肉豆蔻酸、棕榈酸、十七烷酸、硬脂酸和棕榈油酸所占的百分比升高,而油酸、亚油酸和亚麻酸比例降低;饱和脂肪酸比例升高,不饱和脂肪酸百分比降低。利用峰面积归一化法计算植物油中脂肪酸百分比时,降低了饱和脂肪酸比例,升高了不饱和脂肪酸比例,可能对健康有潜在的不利影响。建议使用标准曲线法计算不同植物油中脂肪酸的百分比。     

Synthesis of activated carbon foams with high specific surface area using polyurethane elastomer templates for effective removal of methylene blue

Carbon foams have gained significant attention due to their tuneable properties that enable a wide range of applications including catalysis, energy storage and wastewater treatment. Novel synthesis pathways enable novel applications via yielding complex, hierarchical material structure. In this work, activated carbon foams (ACFs) were produced from waste polyurethane elastomer templates using different synthesis pathways, including a novel one-step method. Uniquely, the produced foams exhibited complex structure and contained carbon microspheres. The ACFs were synthesized by impregnating the elastomers in an acidified sucrose solution followed by direct activation using CO₂ at 1000 ℃. Different pyrolysis and activation conditions were investigated. The ACFs were characterized by a high specific surface area (S_BET) of 2172 m²/g and an enhanced pore volume of 1.08 cm³/g. Computer tomography and morphological studies revealed an inhomogeneous porous structure and the presence of numerous carbon spheres of varying sizes embedded in the porous network of the three-dimensional carbon foam. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy indicated that the obtained carbon foam was amorphous and of turbostratic structure. Moreover, the activation process enhanced the surface of the carbon foam, making it more hydrophilic via altering pore size distribution and introducing oxygen functional groups. In equilibrium, the adsorption of methylene blue on ACF followed the Langmuir isotherm model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 592 mg/g. Based on these results, the produced ACFs have potential applications as adsorbents, catalyst support and electrode material in energy storage systems.