A technical review of face mask wearing in preventing respiratory COVID-19 transmission

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries have recommended their citizens to adopt social distance, hand hygiene, and face mask wearing. However, wearing face masks has not been well adopted by many citizens. While the reasons are complex, there is a general perception that the evidence to support face mask wearing is lacking, especially for the general public in a community setting. Face mask wearing can block or filter airborne virus-carrying particles through the working of colloid and interface science. This paper assesses current knowledge behind the design and functioning of face masks by reviewing the selection of materials, mask specifications, relevant laboratory tests, and respiratory virus transmission trials, with an overview of future development of reusable masks for the general public. This review highlights the effectiveness of face mask wearing in the prevention of COVID-19 infection.     

Measurement of Residual Dipolar Couplings of Organic Molecules in Multiple Solvent Systems Using a Liquid-Crystalline-Based Medium

Residual dipolar coupling (RDC), a robust anisotropic NMR parameter for structural elucidation of organic molecules, is only accessible in an anisotropic environment. Herein, we introduce a novel alignment medium based on the molecular self-assembly of oligopeptide amphiphile (OPA). This medium is compatible with different intermediate and polar solvent systems, such as CD₃OD, [D₆]DMSO, and D₂O. The preparation of the OPA-based medium is simple and rapid, while only very weak background signals were observed from OPAs. Furthermore, we show that the purity of OPA has only a minor influence on the quality of the RDC data. These advantages allow RDC measurements of organic molecules with different polarities and solubilities with high efficiency and accuracy.     

离心力场作用下多孔介质中强制对流换热的研究

对离心流化床中空气通过多孔物料层的强制对流换热进行了理论和实验研究。获得了气流和物料间强制对流换热的准则关联式。研究结果表明,在气流速度和温度梯度方向一致的条件下,强制对流换热比通常的边界层强制对流换热有所强化,其换热的准则关联式具有 Nu=CRePr的线性形式。从而验证了改变气流方向和热流密度矢量之间夹角可以强化换热的这一强化传热新原理。     

Confinement in a planar waveguide with porous silicon omnidirectional mirrors as confining walls

We present the design and study of waveguide structures based on porous silicon where the light confinement is not due to the usual total reflection effect but to the use of photonic crystals (PCs) as confining walls. These PC are omnidirectional mirrors (OMs), consisting of the periodic repetition of two porous silicon layers with different refractive indices and thicknesses. They reflect the radiation for all angles of incidence within a frequency range called the omnidirectional band gap (OBG). We have followed the PC formalism to investigate the properties of the OM as a multimode waveguide: the number of modes within the band gap, their field spatial distribution and their confinement as a function of the frequency and the core thickness.     

Cosmic dust and our origins

The small solid particles in the space between the stars provide the surfaces for the production of many simple and complex molecules. Processes involving the effects of ultraviolet irradiation of the thin (hundredth micron) mantles are shown to produce a wide range of molecules and ions also seen in comets. Some of the more complex ones inferred from laboratory experiments are expected to play an important role in the origin of life. An outline of the chemical evolution of interstellar dust as observed and as studied in the laboratory is presented. Observations of comets are shown to provide substantial evidence for their being fluffy aggregates of interstellar dust as it was in the protosolar nebula, i.e. the interstellar cloud which collapsed to form the solar system. The theory that comets may have brought the progenitors of life to the earth is summarized.     

A novel approach to the acoustic characterisation of porous road surfaces

Porous road surfaces offer an effective means of reducing the generation and propagation of noise from road traffic. However, the porosity of these surfaces can deteriorate over time, leading to a reduction in their noise reducing properties. Efficient methods are therefore required for monitoring this performance. Existing techniques for performing in-situ measurements of acoustic absorption are unsuitable for use within the traffic stream. Static measurements using time domain Maximum Length Sequence (MLS) based techniques have been demonstrated to offer advantages over traditional techniques, presenting the opportunity for measurements under dynamic conditions. This paper describes the design of a system for carrying out dynamic MLS-based measurements. Results are presented which demonstrate that stable dynamic measurements can be carried out at speeds of up to 30 km/h.     

A new stochastic method of reconstructing porous media

We present a new stochastic method of reconstructing porous medium from limited morphological information obtained from two-dimensional micro- images of real porous medium. The method is similar to simulated annealing method in the capability of reconstructing both isotropic and anisotropic structures of multi-phase but differs from the latter in that voxels for exchange are not selected completely randomly as their neighborhood will also be checked and this new method is much simpler to implement and program. We applied it to reconstruct real sandstone utilizing morphological information contained in porosity, two-point probability function and linear-path function. Good agreement of those references verifies our developed method’s powerful capability. The existing isolated regions of both pore phase and matrix phase do quite minor harm to their good connectivity. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used to compute the permeability of the reconstructed system and the results show its good isotropy and conductivity. However, due to the disadvantage of this method that the connectivity of the reconstructed system’s pore space will decrease when porosity becomes small, we suggest the porosity of the system to be reconstructed be no less than 0.2 to ensure its connectivity and conductivity.     

分形介质的传热与传质分析(综述)

本文论述了分形介质的分形理论和数学基础,并简要综述了用分形理论和方法研究分形介质的传热与传质特性(如多孔介质的渗透率、热导率以及池核态沸腾换热)方面目前所取得的研究进展,最后扼要展望了用分形理论和方法进一步研究分形介质的传热与传质的可能的若干课题和方向。     

二次阳极氧化方法制备有序多孔氧化铝膜

通过二次阳极氧化方法制备多孔氧化铝膜与一次阳极氧化方法制备多孔氧化铝膜孔排布规律性的对比 ,结果发现 ,二次阳极氧化方法制取的多孔氧化铝膜孔排布规律性明显好于一次阳极氧化法制取的多孔膜 .在几个微米范围内 ,孔呈理想的六角排布 .去除一次阳极氧化膜后 ,二次阳极氧化得以在更良好的表面进行 ,制取的氧化铝膜孔规律性和有序度更高 .有序区域的尺寸与晶粒内的亚晶大小有一定关系