Visualization of the complex structure and stress field inside rock by means of 3D printing technology

Accurate characterization and visualization of the complex inner structure and stress distribution of rocks are of vital significance to solve a variety of underground engineering problems. In this paper, we incorporate several advanced technologies, such as CT scan, three-dimensional（3D） reconstruction, and 3D printing, to produce a physical model representing the natural coal rock that inherently contains complex fractures or joints. We employ 3D frozen stress and photoelastic technologies to characterize and visualize the stress distribution within the fractured rock under uniaxial compression. The 3D printed model presents the fracture structures identical to those of the natural prototype. The mechanical properties of the printed model,including uniaxial compression strength, elastic modulus,and Poisson’s ratio, are testified to be similar to those of the prototype coal rock. The frozen stress and photoelastic tests show that the location of stress concentration and the stress gradient around the discontinuous fractures are in good agreement with the numerical predictions of the real coalsample. The proposed method appears to be capable of visually quantifying the influences of discontinuous,irregular fractures on the strength, deformation, and stress concentration of coal rock. The method of incorporating3 D printing and frozen stress technologies shows a promising way to quantify and visualize the complex fracture structures and their influences on 3D stress distribution of underground rocks, which can also be used to verify numerical simulations.     

Synergic catalytic effect of Ti hydride and Nb nanoparticles for improving hydrogenation and dehydrogenation kinetics of Mg-based nanocomposite

The Mg-9.3 wt% (TiH1.971-TiH)?0.7 wt% Nb nanocomposite has been synthesized by hydrogen plasma-metal reaction (HPMR) approach to enhance the hydrogen sorption kinetics of Mg at moderate temperatures by providing nanosizing effect of increasing H “diffusion channels” and adding transition metallic catalysts. The Mg nanoparticles (NPs) were in hexagonal shape range from 50 to 350 nm and the average size of the NPs was 177 nm. The small spherical TiH1.971, TiH and Nb NPs of about 25 nm uniformly decorated on the surface of the big Mg NPs. The Mg-TiH1.971-TiH-Nb nanocomposite could quickly absorb 5.6 wt% H2 within 5 min at 573 K and 4.5 wt% H2 within 5 min at 523 K, whereas the pure Mg prepared by HPMR could only absorb 4 and 1.5 wt% H2 at the same temperatures. TiH1.971, TiH and Nb NPs transformed into TiH2 and NbH during hydrogenation and recovered after dehydrogenation process. The apparent activation energies of the nanocomposite for hydrogenation and dehydrogenation were 45.0 and 50.7 kJ mol?1, which are much smaller than those of pure Mg NPs, 123.8 and 127.7 kJ mol?1. The improved sorption kinetics of the Mg-based nanocomposite at moderate temperatures and the small activation energy can be interpreted by the nanostructure of Mg and the synergic catalytic effects of Ti hydrides and Nb NPs.     

The tumour-suppressor genes lgl and dlg regulate basal protein targeting in Drosophila neuroblasts

Drosophila neuroblasts are a model system for studying asymmetric cell division: they divide unequally to produce an apical neuroblast and a basal ganglion mother cell that differ in size, mitotic activity and developmental potential. During neuroblast mitosis, an apical protein complex orients the mitotic spindle and targets determinants of cell fate to the basal cortex, but the mechanism of each process is unknown. Here we show that the tumour-suppressor genes lethal giant larvae (lgl) and discs large (dlg) regulate basal protein targeting, but not apical complex formation or spindle orientation, in both embryonic and larval neuroblasts. Dlg protein is apically enriched and is required for maintaining cortical localization of Lgl protein. Basal protein targeting requires microfilament and myosin function, yet the lgl phenotype is strongly suppressed by reducing levels of myosin II. We conclude that Dlg and Lgl promote, and myosin II inhibits, actomyosin-dependent basal protein targeting in neuroblasts.     

Sample maturation calculated using Raman spectroscopic parameters for solid organics: Methodology and geological applications

The shape and shift of Raman peak of solid organics prove to be capable of revealing atomic and molecular level vibration information of aromatic ring structure and its relationship with sample maturation. Raman "D" peaks and "G" peaks of a series of continuously maturated coal samples were measured, and the inter-peak intervals (G-D) and peak height ratios (Dh/Gh) were derived and correlated with the vitrinite reflectance (vRo%) of standard coal samples. As a result, two formulae were established by using the two Raman indices for calculation of Raman reflectance (RmcRo%), which is equivalent to vitrinite reflectance. The formula for calculating Raman reflectance indicative of organic maturation using Raman shift inter-peak interval (G-D) is RmcRo%=0.0537d(G-D)-11.21, which is mainly applicable to matured to highly matured carbonized samples of solid organics; The formula for calculating Raman reflectance indicative of organic maturation using Raman peak height ratio (Dh/Gh) is RmcRo%=1.1659h (Dh/Gh)+2.7588, which is mainly applicable to carbonized samples of solid organics that are over matured or going to be turned into granulated graphite. Preliminary applications indicate that Raman reflectance "RmcRo%" calculated based on results of Raman spectral analysis of solid organics can be used to characterize sample maturation at molecular level, so enjoying extensive prospects in geological applications.     

重影点判别可见性在相交问题中的应用

相交包括直线与平面、平面与平面相交。直线与平面、平面与平面的相交问题,主要是求交点、交线和判别直线与平面、平面与平面重迭部分的可见性问题。利用积聚投影法和辅助平面法,求直线与平面的交点和平面与平面的交线,学生基本都可正确求出。对于单纯重影可见性判别也可理解,可是当利用重影点来判别直线与平面、平面与平面相交重迭部分的     

In-situ secondary growth of nanocube-based Prussian-blue film as an ultrasensitive biosensor

A regular nanostructure has been widely confirmed to result ina marked improvement in material performance in biosensing applications.In the present study,a regular nanostructured Prussian blue(PB) film with two heterogeneous crystal layers was synthesized in-situ using a secondary growth method.A PB seed layer was first controlled to form uniform cube-like crystal nuclei through an ultrasonic reaction with a single reactant.Then,well-defined 100 nm PB nanocubes were further crystallized on this seed layer using a self-assembly approach.In order to accelerate the electron transfer rate during the enzyme reaction for glucose detection,the graphene was used as the main cross-linker to immobilize glucose oxidase on the PB film.The as-prepared biosensor exhibited high electrocatalysis and electron conductivity for the detection of trace glucose with a sensitivity of141.5 μA mM~(-1) cm~(-2),as well as excellent anti-interference ability in the presence of ascorbic acid and uric acid under a low operation potential of-0.05 V.     

Watermarking on 3D mesh based on spherical wavelet transform

In this paper we propose a robust watermarking algorithm for 3D mesh. The algorithm is based on spherical wavelet transform. Our basic idea is to decompose the original mesh into a series of details at different scales by using spherical wavelet transform; the watermark is then embedded into the different levels of details. The embedding process includes: global sphere parameterization, spherical uniform sampling, spherical wavelet forward transform, embedding watermark, spherical wavelet inverse transform, and at last resampling the mesh watermarked to recover the topological connectivity of the original model. Experiments showed that our algorithm can improve the capacity of the watermark and the robustness of watermarking against attacks.     

Ultrafastly activated needle coke as electrode material for supercapacitors

The uniform porous structure makes activated porous carbons(APCs) superior electrode material.Traditionally,APCs are produced by a combination of time-consuming high-temperature heat treatment and activation,with a production time of up to several hours.The produced APCs have relatively low specific surface area(SSA) and porosity.Therefore,the electrochemical performance is poor,which limits its application in high-power energy storage devices.Here,APCs materials are directly synthesized by a hi...     

Problems in wavelet analysis of hydrologic series and some suggestions on improvement

Applying the wavelet theory and methods to investigate the hydrologic processes such as precipitation and runoff is a hot field. However, several aspects in research are usually ignored: the effect of admissible condition of wavelet functions and the disturbance of noises for the detection of periods, the effect of the length of a hydrologic time-series on the final result, and the choice between the anomaly and the original time series for wavelet analysis. In this paper, these issues are fully discussed. Precipitation data from Lanzhou Precipitation Station are taken for case study. The result indicates that in the wavelet analysis of hydrologic series, denoise methods should be used to eliminate the influence of noises. The MexHat wavelet function satisfies the admissible condition, which ensures that the periodic properties of hydrologic processes can be well represented by using the MexHat wavelet for decomposition. The affected range of hydro-logic series which should be discarded before analysis is given. It is also suggested that the anomaly series should be used to highlight the actual undulation of the hydrologic series.     

Tumour hypoxia promotes tolerance and angiogenesis via CCL28 and T(reg) cells

Although immune mechanisms can suppress tumour growth, tumours establish potent, overlapping mechanisms that mediate immune evasion. Emerging evidence suggests a link between angiogenesis and the tolerance of tumours to immune mechanisms. Hypoxia, a condition that is known to drive angiogenesis in tumours, results in the release of damage-associated pattern molecules, which can trigger the rejection of tumours by the immune system. Thus, the counter-activation of tolerance mechanisms at the site of tumour hypoxia would be a crucial condition for maintaining the immunological escape of tumours. However, a direct link between tumour hypoxia and tolerance through the recruitment of regulatory cells has not been established. We proposed that tumour hypoxia induces the expression of chemotactic factors that promote tolerance. Here we show that tumour hypoxia promotes the recruitment of regulatory T (T(reg)) cells through induction of expression of the chemokine CC-chemokine ligand 28 (CCL28), which, in turn, promotes tumour tolerance and angiogenesis. Thus, peripheral immune tolerance and angiogenesis programs are closely connected and cooperate to sustain tumour growth.