Isothermal reduction kinetics and mineral phase of chromium-bearing vanadium-titanium sinter reduced with CO gas at 873-1273 K

Reduction of chromium-bearing vanadium-titanium sinter (CVTS) was studied under simulated conditions of a blast furnace, and thermodynamics and kinetics were theoretically analyzed. Reduction kinetics of CVTS at different temperatures was evaluated using a shrinking unreacted core model. The microstructure, mineral phase, and variation of the sinter during reduction were observed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and metallographic microscopy. Results indicate that porosity of CVTS increased with temperature. Meanwhile, the reduction degree of the sinter improved with the reduction rate. Reduction of the sinter was controlled by a chemical reaction at the initial stage and inner diffusion at the final stage. Activation energies measured 29.22-99.69 kJ/mol. Phase transformations in CVTS reduction are as follows:Fe₂O₃→Fe₃O₄→FeO→Fe; Fe₂TiO₅→Fe₂TiO₄→FeTiO₃; FeO·V₂O₃→V₂O₃; FeO·Cr₂O₃→Cr₂O₃.     

Progress in bionic information processing techniques for an electronic nose based on olfactory models

As a novel bionic analytical technique, an electronic nose, inspired by the mechanism of the biological olfactory system and integrated with modern sensing technology, electronic technology and pattern recognition technology, has been widely used in many areas. Moreover, recent basic research findings in biological olfaction combined with computational neuroscience promote its development both in methodology and application. In this review, the basic information processing principle of biological olfaction and artificial olfaction are summarized and compared, and four olfactory models and their applications to electronic noses are presented. Finally, a chaotic olfactory neural network is detailed and the utilization of several biologically oriented learning rules and its spatiotemporal dynamic propties for electronic noses are discussed. The integration of various phenomena and their mechanisms for biological olfaction into an electronic nose context for information processing will not only make them more bionic, but also perform better than conventional methods. However, many problems still remain, which should be solved by further cooperation between theorists and engineers. Supported by the National Creative Research Groups Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60421002) and National Basic Research Programme of China (Grant No. 2004CB720302)     

Simulation of wind gust structure in the atmospheric boundary layer with Lattice Boltzmann Method

Cold fronts occur in northern East Asia during winter and spring.After cold frontal passage,airflow is downward and accompa-nying strong winds fluctuate significantly;this is termed wind gusts.Analysis of observation data shows that wind gust structure has coherent characteristics.This is important for entrainment of spring dust storms into the upper boundary layer,where they are transported great distances.The Lattice Boltzmann Method(LBM) is a computational fluid technique based on the Boltzmann transport equation.The LBM has been used to study complex motion such as turbulence,because it describes motion at the micro level.In this paper,Large eddy simulation is introduced in the LBM,enabling simulation of turbulent flow in the atmospheric boundary layer.The formation and development of wind gusts are simulated,and a coherent structure with a combination of wave and vortex is obtained.This explains the mechanism of soil erosion and sand entrainment by the coherent structure of wind gusts.     

Phase transition in the subducted oceanic lithosphere and generation of the subduction zone magma

Two metamorphic processes, i.e. subsolidus dehydration and partial melting occurring in MORB, metasediments and peridotite of subducted oceanic lithosphere are discussed on the basis of available experimental work and phase equilibrium modeling. Phase diagrams of hydrous MORB show that in most cold subduction P-T （pressure-temperature） regimes a large portion of water in the basic layer has released below the onset of blueschist facies （〈 20 km）, and at a depth （60--70 km） of transition from lawsonite blueschist to lawsonite eclogite facies through glaucophane dehydration; only a smaller portion of water will escape from the slab through dehydration of lawsonite and chloritoid in the depth range suitable for arc magma formation; and a very small portion of water stored in lawsonite and phengite will fade into the deeper mantle. The role of amphibole for arc magma formation is still arguable. In cold subduction P-Tregimes, the dehydration of chlorite and talc in AI-poor metasediments, and chloritoid and carpholite in AI-rich metapelites at a depth around 80--100 km will make some con- tributions to the formation of arc magma. Comparatively, dehydration of serpentine in hydrated peri- dotite occurs at depths of 120--180 km, playing an important role in the arc magmatism. Subduction of oceanic crust along warm P-T regimes will cross the solidi at a depth over 80 km, resulting in partial melting under fluid-saturated and fluid-absent conditions in the metasediments involving biotite and phengite, and in the basic rocks involving epidote and amphibole. The melt compositions of the basic crust are adakitic at pressures 〈 3.0 GPa, but become peraluminous granitic at higher pressures.     

ISTC： A New Method for Clustering Search Results

A new common phrase scoring method is proposed according to term frequency-inverse document frequency （TFIDF） and independence of the phrase. Combining the two properties can help identify more reasonable common phrases, which improve the accuracy of clustering. Also, the equation to measure the in-dependence of a phrase is proposed in this paper. The new algorithm which improves suffix tree clustering algorithm （STC） is named as improved suffix tree clustering （ISTC）. To validate the proposed algorithm, a prototype system is implemented and used to cluster several groups of web search results obtained from Google search engine. Experimental results show that the improved algorithm offers higher accuracy than traditional suffix tree clustering.     

Biodegradation of dissolved organic carbon in soil extracts and leachates from a temperate forest stand and its relationship to ultraviolet absorbance

The amount and biodegradability of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in forest floors can contribute to carbon sequestration in soils and the release of CO 2-C from soil to the atmosphere.There is only limited knowledge about the biodegradation of DOC in soil extracts and leachates due to the limitations inherent in degradation experiments.Differences in the biodegradation of DOC were studied in forest soil extracts using cold and hot water and 4 mmol/L CaCl 2 solution and in soil leachates sampled under different conditions over a wide range of DOC concentrations.From these results,we developed a simple and rapid method for determining the biodegradable organic C in forest floors.The hot water extracts and CaCl 2 extracts after CH 3 Cl fumigation contained higher concentrations of biodegradable organic C than the cold water extracts and CaCl 2 extracts before fumigation,with rapid DOC degradation occurring 24-48 h after incubation with an inoculum,followed by slow DOC degradation till 120-168 h into the incubation.During a 7-d incubation with an inoculum,the variation in DOC degradation in the different soil extracts was consistent with the change in special UV absorbance at 254 nm.Relatively higher levels of biodegradable organic C were detected in soil leachates from the forest canopy than in forest gaps between April and October 2008 (P <0.05).Relatively lower concentrations of DOC and biodegradable organic C were observed in soil leachates from N-fertilized plots during the growing season compared with the control,with the exception of the plot treated with KNO 3 at a rate of 45 kg N ha 1 a 1.Around 77.4% to 96.3% of the variability in the biodegradable organic C concentrations in the forest floors could be accounted for by the initial DOC concentration and UV absorbance at 254 nm.Compared with the conventional inoculum incubation method,the method of analyzing UV absorbance at 254 nm is less time consuming and requires a much smaller sample volume.The results suggest that the regression models obtained using the initial DOC concentration and UV absorbance can provide a rapid,simple and reliable method for determining the biodegradable organic C content,especially in field studies involving relatively large numbers of samples.     

The records of coastline changes reflected by mangroves on the Sunda Shelf since the last 40 ka

This paper presents a 40000-year-long high-resolution mangrove record from sediments of Core 18300, 18302 and 18323 on the continental shelf of the southern South China Sea and reconstructs the coastline changes on Sunda Shelf since the last 40000 years. In the period Marine Isotope 3, the old Sunda Shelf had low sea level, and it was partly exposed. Flourishing vegetations grew on the exposed old land. Mangroves developed along the coastline. On the Last Glacial Maximum, the sea level dropped greatly, coastline moved from inner shelf to outer shelf, the Old Sunda Land exposed further, and the lowering sea level induced the gradual disappearing of mangroves from the inner Sunda Shelf to the outer Sunda Shelf. And pioneer vegetation ferns covered the broadly exposed old land immediately. At the time of the last Deglaciation, sea level rose greatly, the coastline moved to the sea and the Sunda Shelf was drown again. Mangroves were emergent again from outer shelf to inner shelf and developed quickly.     

Rainfall-interception effect of vegetation restored region of gully in arid-hot valley of Jinshajiang River

This paper divides the process of rainfall redistribution into four levels in vegetation restored region of gully in arid-hot valley of Jinshajiang River. These levels include arbor interception, litter interception, soil interception and surface runoff. The results showed that the maximum of interception was 8.10 mm, the mean interception was 4.53 mm, the maximum of interception rate was 56.10 % and the mean interception rate was 32.63 %.When the rainfall is over 20 mm, the interception rate descends rapidly along with the rainfall increasing. The maximum of water-holding content of litter was 8.14-20.33 t/hm^2, the mean of which is 12.52 t/hm^2 and the maximum of water-holding content was over two times of it own weight. The rainfall of litter interception was 150.24 mm, accounted for the rainfall income 24.48%.The maximum water-holding capacity of soil achieves 2 198.54 t/hm^2, but that of the barren land is 1 825.60 t/hm^2. The rainfall of soil interception was 219.87 mm, accounted for the rainfall income 35.82%. The surface runoff of vegetation restored region was 43.41 mm, accounted for 7.07% of the rainfall income, but the surface runoff of non-forest land was 413,24 mm, accounts for 70.26% of the rainfall income.The surface runoff of the planted forest community was by 63.19% lower than that of the non-forest land. Through the interception of the forest land that reduced the soil erosion effectively, good hydrology effect was obtained.     

Effect of deep cryogenic treatment on the properties of 80CrMo12 5 tool steel

The effect of deep cryogenic treatment on the mechanical properties of 80CrMo12 5 tool steel was investigated. Moreover, the effects of stabilization (holding at room temperature for some periods before deep cryogenic treatment) and tempering before deep cryogenic treatment were studied. The results show that deep cryogenic treatment can eliminate the retained austenite, making a better carbide distribution and a higher carbide amount. As a result, a remarkable improvement in wear resistance of cryogenically treated specimens is observed. Moreover, the ultimate tensile strength increases, and the toughness of the sample decreases. It is also found that both stabilization and tempering before deep cryogenic treatment decrease the wear resistance, hardness, and carbides homogeneity compared to the deep cryogenically treated samples. It is concluded that deep cryogenic treatment should be performed without any delay on samples after quenching to reach the highest wear resistance and hardness.     

Analysis of fragrance composition in three cultivars of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Osmanthus fragrans</Emphasis> Albus group flower by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

With supercritical CO2 fluid extraction(SCFE), essential oil was extracted from three cultivars of Xianning osmanthus. The fresh osmanthus flower was processed with a petroleum ether digestion method to produce the extractum. The yields of essential oil and extractum were 0.19 % and 0.13 % (m/m) respectively. The essential oil and fragrance composition and content extracted were analyzed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The result showed that essential oil contained 36.99%(area/total area) of ionone, ionol and 13.11% of linalool; ionone and ionol contained in extractum were as high as up to 33.33%, while linalool up to 21.92%. Whether essential oil or extractum contains only about 40% fat acid and other ester matters. None of environmental estrogen (phthalic ester) was found in fragrance ingredients. The result also showed that the quality of O. fragrans Albus group fragrance in Xianning is better than that produced in Hangzhou and Anhui districts.