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Highlights: Electric double-layer regulation enabled by an ultrathin multifunctional solid electrolyte interphase layer with zincophilicity and rapid transport kinetics. Lowered potential drop over the Helmholtz layer and suppressed diffuse layer. Inhibited side reactions and uniform zinc deposition. The practical application of aqueous zinc-ion batteries for large-grid scale systems is still hindered by uncontrolled zinc dendrite and side reactions. Regulating the electrical double layer via the electrode/electrolyte interface layer is an effective strategy to improve the stability of Zn anodes. Herein, we report an ultrathin zincophilic ZnS layer as a model regulator. At a given cycling current, the cell with Zn@ZnS electrode displays a lower potential drop over the Helmholtz layer (stern layer) and a suppressed diffuse layer, indicating the regulated charge distribution and decreased electric double layer repulsion force. Boosted zinc adsorption sites are also expected as proved by the enhanced electric double-layer capacitance. Consequently, the symmetric cell with the ZnS protection layer can stably cycle for around 3,000 h at 1 mA cm−2 with a lower overpotential of 25 mV. When coupled with an I2/AC cathode, the cell demonstrates a high rate performance of 160 mAh g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and long cycling stability of over 10,000 cycles at 10 A g−1. The Zn||MnO2 also sustains both high capacity and long cycling stability of 130 mAh g−1 after 1,200 cycles at 0.5 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and to evaluate the associations between thyroid parameters, MAFLD and liver fibrosis in euthyroid patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: Overall, 776 patients with newly diagnosed T2DM and 120 subjects without diabetes were included. All the participants were euthyroid, and were categorized as non-MAFLD and MAFLD. Demographic information, biochemical parameters, and serum thyroid hormones were collected. The thyroid hormone sensitivity indices were calculated. MAFLD was defined according to abdominal ultrasound and clinical manifestations. Noninvasive fibrosis indices were calculated to identify advanced liver fibrosis. Results: The prevalence of MAFLD was significantly higher in patients with T2DM than in subjects without diabetes. Levels of free triiodothyronine (FT3) and FT3 to free thyroxine (FT4) ratio were significantly higher in subjects with MAFLD. In patients with T2DM, levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), Thyroid feedback quantile-based index (TFQIFT3) calculated using FT3 and TSH, thyrotroph T3 resistance index (TT3RI) and thyrotroph T4 resistance index (TT4RI) were significantly higher in subjects with MAFLD. The prevalence of MAFLD increased with the rise of FT3, FT3/FT4, TSH, and sensitivity to thyroid hormone indices (TFQIFT3, TT3RI, and TT4RI). But significant correlations were not found between thyroid hormones, sensitivity to thyroid hormones and MAFLD, after adjustment for BMI and HOMA-IR. The incidence of advanced fibrosis tended to increase as the rise of TSH and sensitivity to thyroid hormone indices (TFQIFT3, TT3RI, TT4RI, and TSHI). Conclusion: MAFLD was prevalent in euthyroid patients with newly diagnosed T2DM. Higher normal FT3, TSH and impaired sensitivity to thyroid hormones are associated with increased incidence of MAFLD, being dependent on other metabolic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trihalomethanes (THMs) are the most common species of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in swimming pools and have received widespread attention due to their risk to public health. However, studies examining within-day variation and the carcinogenic health risks from exposure to THMs in indoor swimming pools are limited. Our study aimed to detect the within-day variation of four THMs categories and carcinogenic health risk in indoor swimming pool water in Taiyuan, China, and to examine the correlations between THMs and environmental parameters. Our results showed chloroform (TCM) was the most abundant component in THMs with median concentrations from 0.038–0.118 μg/m3. TCM and THMs were significantly positively correlated with FCl and significantly negatively correlated with the cumulative number of swimmers (CNS) in the swimming pool. The concentration of total THMs and TCM, lifetime average daily doses (LADD) of TCM, and the total lifetime cancer risks (ELCR) values of THMs declined with time with the highest level occurring at 8:00 am. ELCR values of THMs were in the range of 1.368 × 10−5–1.968 × 10−5, which exceeded the negligible risk level (10−6) defined by US EPA. Our results suggest that THM occurrence and the carcinogenic health risks in pool water varied temporally. Exposure to pool water THMs may pose a carcinogenic risk to human health, especially at the pool's opening time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider multi-sensor with partly overlapping field of view (FoV) in the labeled random finite set (L-RFS) framework. This is different from most existing multi-sensor tracking algorithms, where the sensors are assumed to have the same FoV. We describe the partly overlapping FoV by modeling probability field of detection for individual sensors in whole observation area and can be seen as the same range of FoV. We consider all these using generalized labeled multi-Bernoulli filter in labeled RFS framework. Besides, we also propose a measurement-driven target birth model. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is verified by experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waves caused by frequent shipping traffic in a channel could alter the hydrodynamic field, which plays an important role for sediment transport and morphological changes. In this paper, the impacts of ship waves on the cross-sectional bed profile in a channel are investigated by means of laboratory experiments and numerical modeling. Experimental tests were performed with a self-propelled ship model, and a sand bed composed of horizontal platform and side slope was exposed to various ship wave conditions. The bed at the intersection of the horizontal platform and side slope was clearly found to be the most scoured. Based on experimental datasets, XBeach model showed good predictions of ship-induced flow velocity and bed profile changes despite the overestimation of bed deposition along the side slope. Influences of ship sailing conditions on cross-sectional bed profile were further examined. The curvature probability density function of the bed profile curve after the action of ship passages with different speeds was left-skewed distribution and steeper than the normal distribution curve, indicating that the bed profile changed smoothly connected with a smaller slope and without major mutations. Moreover, the relationships between bed scour and deposition depths and ship drafts and offshore distances were established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ship-induced hydrodynamics in a canal result in different mechanism of the cross-sectional evolution. However, the ship-induced hydrodynamic factors are not induced in existing studies of cross-sectional stability of a canal. In this paper, the minimum rate of energy dissipation equations for a canal are derived based on the theory of thermodynamics, introducing the ship wave factors, and variational equation is adopted to establish the stable cross-sectional shape equations. Then, the measured results in Changzhou segment of the Grand Canal are used to evaluate the performance of the derived equations by comparing with other typical equations without considering ship wave factors. The results show that the derived equations give better prediction of the cross-sectional area, mean water depth, maximum water depth and the bottom width of the stable cross-section with the relative error less than 20%. At last, an application of the derived equations is given for Yan River to predict the stable cross-sectional shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Definition of hydraulic geometry of navigable canals and its expression are studied in this paper. The hydrodynamic and morphologic characteristics of navigable canals are analyzed on the basis of the data collected from field surveys conducted at two segments of the Grand Canal in Jiangsu Province, China. The channel morphologic factor and the ship hydrodynamic factor are adopted to describe the hydraulic geometry relation of navigable canals. The correlation analysis shows that the ship hydrodynamics can be a dominant factor influencing the channel evolution with larger determination coefficient. Furthermore, the undetermined index in the proposed hydraulic geometry relation is also discussed, which indicates that the index related to the intensity of water flow (qualitatively reflected by the integrated ship flow intensity) is within a range of 0.5 to 1.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced understanding of light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) infiltration into sandy porous medium is significant to the effective design of remediation strategies. A system for buried pipeline leakage in 2-D sandbox was conducted to investigate the migration of diesel through a sandy porous medium, and the system could also be conducted to investigate groundwater remediation. Two groups of experiments were carried out. The first experiment consisted of diesel infiltration into a fine sand matrix. We could notice that diesel spilled in dry sand layer at a constant speed and the diesel front kept longitudinal movement due to the gravity before it arrived at the edge of the capillary zone. The diesel front broadened as a whole because of the capillary force jacking after it reached the capillary zone. Finally, the bulk of the diesel was contained on top of the capillary zone. To protect groundwater, the second experiment consisted of remediating soils and groundwater. The results indicated that the voltage of electrocoagulation apparatus had a great influence on the treatment effect, and the removal rate of diesel was found to be more than 90% with a constant voltage of 20 V. The efficiency of groundwater remediation was influenced by the flow velocity, and it took 11 h when the flow velocity was 2.089 L/min. To summarize, the research was conducive to the study on diesel pollution control and pollution prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jiangsu Province has the longest inland restricted waterway among all the provinces in China. Ecological revetment is the hot topic of current research on the river or channel regulation engineering in China. Evaluation of ecological restoration capability of revetment is an important part of revetment design as well as an effective basis of the revetment selection. Liudaxian channel of Jiangsu province is chosen for this study, an index system and method for evaluating of ecological restoration capability of revetment is established. By analyzing the mechanism and process of revetment impact on river ecosystems, indicators of ecological restoration capability and quantitative calculation method are proposed in revetment structure level. Based on the degree of influence of the indicator to river ecological function, instead of expert opinion, the set value iteration method was used to analyze the degree of influence of the indicator to river ecosystem, which made weight assignments objectively. Combining with gray relational analysis (GRA) method, the set value iteration based on ecological theory - gray correlation evaluation model was established, which achieved quantitative evaluation of the ecological restoration of revetment. The evaluating result of the projects shows that revetment of wood pile with ladder-sand tube + three-dimensional vegetation net is chosen as the recommended slope protection measure. The revetment ecological restoration evaluation model proposed in this paper with the advantages of objective, standardized and quantitative, offers an effective and feasible tool for designers and managers to evaluate the ecological restoration capability of revetment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secretion of lysosomes and related organelles is important for immune system function. High-resolution membrane capacitance techniques were used to track changes in membrane area in single phagocytes during opsonized polystyrene bead uptake and release. Secretagogue stimulation of cells preloaded with beads resulted in immediate vesicle discharge, visualized as step increases in capacitance. The size of the increases were consistent with phagosome size. This hypothesis was confirmed by direct observation of dye release from bead-containing phagosomes after secretagogue stimulation. Capacitance recordings of exocytosis were correlated with quantal free radical release, as determined by amperometry. Thus, phagosomes undergo regulated secretion in macrophages, one function of which may be to deliver sequestered free radicals to the extracellular space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]