Magnetized activated carbons (MAC) were prepared by activating rape straw powder, and pyrolyzing at different temperatures, then magnetizing activated carbon by hydrothermal method. MAC-300 had the ...largest adsorption capacity of Pb(II) (253.2 mg/g) and Cd(II) (73.3 mg/g). The adsorption isotherms and kinetics could conform to the Freundlich model and pseudo-second-order kinetic model, respectively, indicating that the adsorptive behavior of the adsorbent mainly depends on the non-uniform active points on the surface of the material. Meanwhile, the thermodynamic parameters showed that the adsorption of Pb(II) and Cd(II) by MAC-300 was a spontaneous and endothermic reaction. The adsorption capacity of MAC-300 could be improved by properly increasing the pH of the original solution. There was competitive adsorption when high-valent ions were present in solution. In combination with various characterizations and comparison tests of samples after adsorption, the adsorption mechanisms include surface electrostatic attraction, surface complexation, and co-precipitation. The results indicated that the MAC material was a potential material to remove heavy metal ions from the aqueous solution.
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•Activation carbon embedded with MnFe2O4 magnetic particles (MAC-T) was fabricated.•MAC-T had excellent ferromagnetic properties, stability, and reusability.•MAC-T showed high adsorption ability for Pb(II) and Cd(II).•The mechanisms were electrostatic attraction, complexation, and co-precipitation.
Urbanization directly drives rural to urban population migration and indirectly causes west to east migration in China, two phenomena that may significantly impact China's greenhouse gas emissions ...given its huge population and vast difference between the west rural and east urban areas. We analyzed these two phenomena by turning emissions into a per capita term, and extending the impact from the traditional urbanization rate effect to include population density effect. Our results show that population density has actually been the dominant demographic player in changing per capita emissions for the past two decades in China, and its elasticity changed from positive in economically less-developed provinces to negative for the developed provinces. This study therefore provides a new perspective in the study of the relationship between urbanization and greenhouse gas emissions, and our results indicate that population density change should be taken into account to accurately assess the impact of urbanization.
•Urbanization's impact on GHG emissions is assessed from demographic perspective.•Population density dominants over urbanization rate in changing per capita emissions.•Population density's GHG suppression echoes the ecological modernization theory.
•Firms benefit financially from female board directors through their devotion to CSR.•Female directors exert a greater impact on CSR when they are of greater power.•Female directors exert a greater ...impact on CSR in more innovation-intensive firms.
Integrating social role theory and stakeholder theory with group diversity literature and using data from a sample of S&P 1500 firms from 2007 to 2015, this study examines the boundary conditions under which female board representation increases firm performance through their positive influence on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Specifically, the effects of female board representation on firm performance through CSR is most pronounced when female directors have a greater power to promote CSR and when the firm has the motivation (i.e., being innovation intensive) to engage in CSR. Moreover, this moderated mediation model holds especially for three dimensions of CSR (e.g., environment, community, and employee relations), shedding light on the nuances of what women bring to the table.
Responding to an outbreak of a novel coronavirus agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in December 2019, China banned travel to and from Wuhan city on 23 January 2020 and implemented a ...national emergency response. We investigated the spread and control of COVID-19 using a data set that included case reports, human movement, and public health interventions. The Wuhan shutdown was associated with the delayed arrival of COVID-19 in other cities by 2.91 days. Cities that implemented control measures preemptively reported fewer cases on average (13.0) in the first week of their outbreaks compared with cities that started control later (20.6). Suspending intracity public transport, closing entertainment venues, and banning public gatherings were associated with reductions in case incidence. The national emergency response appears to have delayed the growth and limited the size of the COVID-19 epidemic in China, averting hundreds of thousands of cases by 19 February (day 50).
•A multi-source information fusion based fault diagnosis methodology is proposed.•The diagnosis model is obtained by combining two proposed Bayesian networks.•The proposed model can increase the ...fault diagnostic accuracy for single fault.•The model can correct the wrong results for multiple-simultaneous faults.
In order to increase the diagnostic accuracy of ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system, especially for multiple-simultaneous faults, the paper proposes a multi-source information fusion based fault diagnosis methodology by using Bayesian network, due to the fact that it is considered to be one of the most useful models in the filed of probabilistic knowledge representation and reasoning, and can deal with the uncertainty problem of fault diagnosis well. The Bayesian networks based on sensor data and observed information of human being are established, respectively. Each Bayesian network consists of two layers: fault layer and fault symptom layer. The Bayesian network structure is established according to the cause and effect sequence of faults and symptoms, and the parameters are studied by using Noisy-OR and Noisy-MAX model. The entire fault diagnosis model is established by combining the two proposed Bayesian networks. Six fault diagnosis cases of GSHP system are studied, and the results show that the fault diagnosis model using evidences from only sensor data is accurate for single fault, while it is not accurate enough for multiple-simultaneous faults. By adding the observed information as evidences, the probability of fault present for single fault of “Refrigerant overcharge” increases to 100% from 99.69%, and the probabilities of fault present for multiple-simultaneous faults of “Non-condensable gas” and “Expansion valve port largen” increases to almost 100% from 61.1% and 52.3%, respectively. In addition, the observed information can correct the wrong fault diagnostic results, such as “Evaporator fouling”. Therefore, the multi-source information fusion based fault diagnosis model using Bayesian network can increase the fault diagnostic accuracy greatly.
Dispensing and manipulation of small droplets is important in bioassays, chemical analysis and patterning of functional inks. So far, dispensing of small droplets has been achieved by squeezing the ...liquid out of a small orifice similar in size to the droplets. Here we report that instead of squeezing the liquid out, small droplets can also be dispensed advantageously from large orifices by draining the liquid out of a drop suspended from a nozzle. The droplet volume is adjustable from attolitre to microlitre. More importantly, the method can handle suspensions and liquids with viscosities as high as thousands mPa s markedly increasing the range of applicable liquids for controlled dispensing. Furthermore, the movement of the dispensed droplets is controllable by the direction and the strength of an electric field potentially allowing the use of the droplet for extracting analytes from small sample volume or placing a droplet onto a pre-patterned surface.
Tillage measures have been effectively adopted for mitigating waterlogging damage in field crops, yet little is known about the role of tillage measures in crop responses to waterlogging. A field ...experiment was performed to investigate the effect of conventional planting (CK), small ridge planting (SR), big ridge planting (BR) and film side planting (FS) on soil available nutrients and enzymatic activity, chlorophyll contents, leaf nutrients, soluble protein, soluble sugar, nitrate reductase, antioxidant enzyme activity, lipid peroxidation, agronomic traits and yield of rapeseed under waterlogging stress conditions.
Tillage measures remarkably improved rapeseed growth and yield parameters under waterlogging stress conditions. Under waterlogging conditions, rapeseed yield was significantly increased by 33.09 and 22.70% in the SR and BR groups, respectively, compared with CK. Correlation analysis showed that NO
-N, NH
-N, and urease in soils and malonaldehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and nitrate reductase in roots were the key factors affecting rapeseed yield. The SR and BR groups had significantly increased NO
-N by 180.30 and 139.77%, NH
-N by 115.78 and 66.59%, urease by 41.27 and 26.45%, SOD by 6.64 and 4.66%, nitrate reductase by 71.67 and 26.67%, and significantly decreased MDA content by 14.81 and 13.35% under waterlogging stress, respectively, compared with CK. In addition, chlorophyll and N content in leaves, soluble sugar and POD in roots, and most agronomic traits were also significantly enhanced in response to SR and BR under waterlogging conditions.
Overall, SR and BR mitigated the waterlogging damage in rapeseed mainly by reducing the loss of soil available nitrogen, decreasing the MDA content in roots, and promoting urease in soils and SOD and nitrate reductase in roots. Finally, thorough assessment of rapeseed parameters indicated that SR treatment was most effective followed by BR treatment, to alleviate the adverse effects of waterlogging stress.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
This study provides an accurate method for evaluating the fit of earphones, which could be used for establishing a linkage between interference/gap values with human perception. Seven commercial CAD ...software tools stood out and were explored for the analysis of the deviation between earphone and ear. However, the current deviation analysis method remains to be improved for earphone fit evaluation due to excessive points in the calculation (Geomagic Wrap and Siemens NX), lack of value on interference (Geomagic Control X), computation boundary required (Rapidform XOR/Redesign), repetitive computation with same points and inclined calculation line segment or even invalid calculation (Solidworks, Creo). Therefore, an accurate deviation analysis algorithm was promoted, which calculated the deviation between earphone and ear exactly and classified the interference set and gap set precisely. There are five main procedures of this algorithm, which are point cloud model pre-processing, the generation of distance vectors, the discrimination of interference set and gap set, the discrimination of validity, and statistical analysis and visualization. Furthermore, the usability and validity of the deviation analysis algorithm were verified through statistical analysis and comparing visual effects based on the earphone-wearing experiment. It is certified that the deviation analysis algorithm is appropriate for earphone fit evaluation and the eight indexes of this algorithm were proved to be related to subjective comfort scores. It is meaningful for ear-worn product fit analysis, design, and development phases.
Soil washing with chelators, a viable method for treating soils contaminated with potentially toxic metals, has drawn increasing attentions. The objective of this study was to determine a new ...generation of mixed degradable chelating agents from N, N-bis (carboxymethyl) glutamic acid (GLDA), S, S-stereoisomer of ethyleneiaminedisucc--inic acid (EDDS), nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), and citric acid (CA), and to evaluate its effectiveness and feasibility to reduce toxic metals contamination in two different agricultural soils. A comparative leaching test conducted on the four individual degradable chelating agents showed that the capacity of single chelator in mobilizing copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) varied significantly. Using a combination of GLDA and NTA was more advantageous than using a single chelating agent in extracting potentially toxic metals. The removal efficiencies of Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb reached 38.2, 9.8, 71.4, and 19.5% for soil 1, and 25.0, 5.2, 59.7, and 18.5% for soil 2, respectively, at mixed chelator (MC) concentrations of 3 mmol/L (GLDA) and 2 mmol/L (NTA), pH of 6.0, and a contact time of 4.0 h. The effects of washing conditions, chelator concentration, pH values, and contact time on the removal efficiencies of target toxic metals were investigated. The results showed that the combined chelating agent has a lower pH dependence, making it feasible for a wider range of applications. The effects of the chelating agents on the morphological distribution of potentially toxic metals and the soil enzyme activity before and after the treatments were also studied. After washing, the content of the water-soluble, acid-soluble, reducible, and oxidizable target metals showed a certain degree of decrease. Although the activities of catalase, urease, and invertase appeared to be inhibited during a short period of time, their activities were stimulated and later promoted with the degradation of the chelating agent. In general, the chelating agent combination has a great potential for toxic metals leaching.
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•The combination of GLDA and NTA is more profitable than using a single chelator.•The combined chelating agent has lower pH dependence.•Removal efficiency of toxicity metals was increased by using mixed chelator.•Mixed chelators can inhibit soil enzyme activities for short time.
The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area faces a severe fine particulate matter (PM2.5) problem. To date, considerable progress has been made toward understanding the PM2.5 problem, including spatial-temporal ...characterization, driving factors, and health effects. However, little research has been done on the dynamic interactions and relationships between PM2.5 concentrations in different cities in this area. To address the research gap, this study discovered a phenomenon of time-lagged intercity correlations of PM2.5 time series and proposed a visualization framework based on this phenomenon to visualize the interaction in PM2.5 concentrations between cities. The visualizations produced using the framework show that there are significant time-lagged correlations between the PM2.5 time series in different cities in this area. The visualizations also show that the correlations are more significant in colder months and between cities that are closer, and that there are seasonal changes in the temporal order of the correlated PM2.5 time series. Further analysis suggests that the time-lagged intercity correlations of PM2.5 time series are most likely due to synoptic meteorological variations. We argue that the visualizations demonstrate the interactions of air pollution between cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and the significant effect of synoptic meteorological conditions on PM2.5 pollution. The visualization framework could help determine the pathway of regional transportation of air pollution and may also be useful in delineating the area of interaction of PM2.5 pollution for impact analysis.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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