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A late-model all-fiber mode-locked laser was introduced in this paper. This pulsed Er-doped fiber laser has a novel Sagnac loop structure and uses the tapered fiber coated with two-dimensional layer ferromagnetic insulator Cr2Si2Te6 as a saturable absorber in order to achieve passive mode locking. When the pump power was 167.6 mW, the laser worked at the fundamental repetition frequency of 19.1 MHz with a signal-to-noise ratio of 62.5 dB. The central wavelength of the spectrum was 1561.0 nm, and the maximum output power was 8.9 mW with a minimum pulse width of 5.2 ps. The mutual interference of beams makes the use of the saturable absorber more efficient. The results reveal that this Er-doped fiber laser has great application potential in nonlinear optics and ultrafast photonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming to the problem that thermal error seriously weakens grinding accuracy, according to the involute property and involute helical gear form-grinding principle, this work proposes a novel thermal error predicting model with the combination of steady-state temperature field working condition and non-steady-state temperature field working condition to optimize machining accuracy, eliminate warm-up time, and improve processing efficiency. In view of the above, the independently developed new type of high-precision horizontal forming CNC gear grinder L300G is taken as research object, and the combination of fuzzy clustering algorithm and mutual information theory is taken to optimize temperature variables, which is also verified with the comprehensive gray correlation; on this basis, L300G thermal error predicting model is established based on the combination of autoregressive time series and BP neural network. Then, the model is given practice tests through temperature field finite element analysis, temperature and thermal error measuring, temperature variables optimizing, thermal error predicting, and involute helical gear form-grinding. Results show that the model is fairly effective in thermal error predicting; what is more, after thermal error real-time compensation, it can eliminate warm-up time of gear grinder about 6000 s, and the Gleason measuring results show that the involute helical gear form-grinding tooth profile accuracy is improved from level 6 to 4, which verifies the correctness. So that it is expected to be widely used in high-precision form-grinding of horizontal gear grinder; besides, it also has significance for high-precision form-grinding research of vertical gear grinder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence and mechanism of porous structure on the deformation failure of cement sheaths under hydraulic pressure is still unclear. To solve this problem, a net slurry cement sheath and a liquid silicon cement sheath were prepared by using a cement material and a liquid silicon suspension. The distributions of the pore radius and spatial location were analyzed using computed tomography scanning and statistics to obtain their probability density distribution functions. Based on the distribution functions, the single-layer and double-layer porous reconstruction models of the net slurry cement sheath and liquid silicon cement sheath were constructed using a FLAC 3D program. A series of numerical simulations were conducted to study the deformation failure of the cement sheaths under in situ stress and hydraulic pressure. The effects of the porous and double-layer structures on the breakdown pressure, plastic failure zone, radial deformation, and stress distribution of the cement sheaths were analyzed. As a result, the mechanisms for the influence of the porous and double-layer structures on the failure mode, failure path, and interaction between the cement sheath and metal casing were revealed. The results of this research provide a theoretical basis for an in-depth understanding of the failure mechanisms of porous cement sheaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of an optical system with sensitive line-of-sight (LOS) is influenced by rotational vibration. In view of this, a design methodology is proposed for a passive vibration isolation system in an optical system with sensitive LOS. Rotational vibration is attributed to two sources: transmitted from the mounting base and generated by modal coupling. Therefore, the elimination of the rotational vibration caused by coupling becomes an important part of the design of the isolation system. Additionally, the decoupling conditions of the system can be obtained. When the system is totally decoupled, the vibration on each degree of freedom (DOF) can be analyzed independently. Therefore, the stiffness and damping coefficient on each DOF could be obtained by limiting the vibration transmissibility, in accordance to actual requirements. The design of a vibration isolation system must be restricted by the size and shape of the payload and the installation space, and the layout constrains are thus also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazilin, a constituent of the Chinese medicine heartwood, exhibits pronounced anti-tumor effects. To date, brazilin quantification mostly relies on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which is not accurate enough because of an easily oxidizable structure. Herein, a thin-layer chromatography (TLC)-based method was developed for the quantitative analysis of brazilin. A water solution of purified brazilin was spotted on a GF254 silica gel plate and developed using a mixture of chloroform‒acetone‒formic acid (8:4:1, V/V). After ammonia vaporing, AlCl3 solution (90 mg/mL) was sprayed to form a stable compound. Detection was performed at 508 nm using a dual-beam TLC scanner, and brazilin was quantitatively analyzed by using an external standard. The optimal time for ammonia vaporing was 6 min. Sample stability remained for 10‒200 min. At 508 nm, brazilin absorbance showed a good linear relationship in the range of 0‒6 μg (R2 = 0.9962). Precision RSD was no more than 3.40%, and recovery was between 100 and 105%. This novel TLC-based method has great potential for the quantitative assessment of brazilin. It is simpler, more reliable, and faster than HPLC-based analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the calculation of transformer no-load characteristics measured by low-frequency test method is not perfect, different interpolation methods are explored to fit and convert the transformer's volt-ampere characteristics under power frequency (50 Hz) excitation to find the best interpolation fitting conversion method. The no-load test of transformer is carried out by using 10 Hz, 15 Hz, 20 Hz low-frequency square wave and triangular wave excitation. Then the measured excitation voltage, excitation current and no-load loss are converted to those of 50 Hz sine wave excitation. The converted volt-ampere characteristic curve is calculated by the proposed algorithm, and compared with the measured results under the 50 Hz sine wave excitation. Experiments show that under the condition that the magnetic flux amplitudes are equal at each frequency of non-sinusoidal and sine waves, whether it is square wave or triangular wave excitation, the volt-ampere characteristic curve converted to the 50 Hz sine wave excitation by the proposed method can better approximate the curve of the measured 50 Hz sine wave excitation. The average values of the relative errors of the converted excitation current of the three frequencies are within 4%, and those of the converted excitation voltage of the square wave are within 1.1%, and those of the converted excitation voltage of the triangular wave are within 0.47%. Compared with the generalized Steinmetz equation method and the multi-frequency method, the proposed method has a better conversion effect and can almost replace the no-load test results of the 50 Hz sine wave, which has practical value in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taoer River, a representative ecologically sensitive area in Northeast China, has undergone great climate changes and rapid social developments since 1961. Subsequently, a substantial alteration of the streamflow regime was observed and severe eco-environmental problems were becoming prominent. To provide decision makers the scientific basis for effective resource management and sound future planning, it is crucial to understand and assess the impacts of the climate variability and human activities on streamflow in this region. In this study, we combined an observation-based statistical analysis and physical modeling experiments to address this broad question. The Mann-Kendall and Sen's slope were used to examine the trends and the moving t test was used to identify change points for the streamflow, precipitation, and potential evapotranspiration datasets. A statistically significant upward trend ( α = 5 %) was found for annual streamflow. An abrupt change point was identified in 1985 for the basin outlet station at Taonan. Accordingly, the streamflow was divided into baseline and changed period for attribution analysis. To investigate the impacts of climate change and human activities on annual streamflow, we applied a distributed hydrological model and six Budyko-type functions during the two periods. The results indicated that climate change and human activities accounted for about 45 and 55 % of the changes in streamflow, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of fractures in nature rock appears irregular and induces complicated seepage flow behavior. The mechanism and quantitative description of fluid flow through rock fractures is a difficult subject that has been greatly concerned in the fields of geotechnical, mining, geological, and petroleum engineering. In order to probe the mechanism of fluid flow and the effects of rough structures, we conducted a few laboratory tests of fluid flow through single rough fractures, in which the Weierstrass-Mandelbrot fractal function and PMMA material were employed to produce the fracture models with various fractal roughnesses. A high-speed video camera was employed to record the fluid flow through the entire single rough fracture with a constant hydraulic pressure. The properties of fluid flow varying with the fracture roughness and the influences of the rough structure were analyzed. The components of flow resistance of a single rough fracture were discussed. A fractal model was proposed to relate the fluid resistance to the fracture roughness. A fractal equivalent permeability coefficient of a single rough fracture was formulated. This study aims to provide an experimental basis and reference for better understanding and quantitatively relating the fluid flow properties to the structures of rock fractures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is one of the most costly natural disasters in the world. Understanding the drought characteristics in space and time will help deepen our apprehension of the drought formation and evolution mechanisms. It can also contribute to design monitoring system for drought warning and mitigation. In this study, we analyzed meteorological droughts, using the Standardized Precipitation Index, for Lancang River Basin, Southwest China. The 46-year (1960-2005) daily precipitation observations from 35 meteorological stations in the basin were used to derive the drought index. Spatial patterns and temporal patterns of the drought characteristics at multiple scales were investigated. The results utilizing the Principal Component Analysis and K-means clustering methods suggest that the study area can be divided into four sub-regions geographically with each sub-region having its own distinctive temporal evolution patterns of droughts. The temporal variability of droughts was investigated using the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) analysis and the wavelet method. The EMD analysis showed that more than 60 % of the variance of the drought is associated with intra-decadal fluctuations in precipitation, except for one sub region, represented by the Changdu station. The wavelet transform showed an evolution of the main cycle near 3-7 years for most parts of the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characterization of pore structure in rocks is relevant in determining their various mechanical behaviors. Digital image processing methods integrated with fractal theory were applied to analyze images of rock slices obtained from industry CT, elucidating the characteristics of rock pore structure and the relationship between porosity and fractal dimensions. The gray values of pixels in CT images of rocks provide comprehensive results with respect to the attenuation coefficients of various materials in corresponding rock elements, and these values also reflect the effect of rock porosity at various scales. A segmentation threshold can be determined by inverse analysis based on the pore ratios that are measured experimentally, and subsequently binary images of rock pores can be obtained to study their topological structures. The fractal dimension of rock pore structure increases with an increase in rock pore ratio, and fractal dimensions might differ even if pore ratios are the same. The more complex the structure of a rock, the larger the fractal dimension becomes. The experimental studies have validated that fractal dimension calculated directly from gray CT images of rocks can give an effective complementary parameter to use alongside pore ratios and they can suitably represent the fractal characteristics of rock pores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development history and current state of studies on the characteristics and mechanisms of deformation and failure of rock materials were briefly reviewed from the viewpoint of energy. The main scope and the achievable objectives of the energy-based research system were expatiated. It was validated by experiments that the damage process of rocks can be well described by the rock damage evolution equation established based on energy dissipation. It was found from the uniaxial compression and biaxial compression tests that only a small proportion of the total input energy in hard rocks is dissipated before peak load and a large proportion in soft rocks is dissipated before peak load. For both hard and soft rocks, the energy dissipated after peak load accounts for a greater proportion. More energy would be required for rock failure under equal biaxial compression than under unequal biaxial compression. The total absorbed energy is different for rock failure under high-rate loading and low-rate loading. More fragmented failure pattern usually corresponds to higher energy absorption. The mesoscopic analysis on the damage and failure of bedded salt rocks showed that the energy dissipation is prominent and the total absorbed energy for rock failure is low when cracks propagate in the weak mud interlayer while it is contrary when cracks propagate in the salt rock. The energy accumulation, transfer, dissipation and release during the failure process of tunnel with impending failure under disturbance were analyzed theoretically based on the elastoplastic mechanics theory. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of energy dissipation and energy release of fractured rocks under unloading was simulated numerically. It was demonstrated that energy is likely to be released from the weakest surface under compression, which triggers the global failure of rocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pore characteristics, mineral compositions, physical and mechanical properties of the subarkose sandstones were acquired by means of CT scan, X-ray diffraction and physical tests. A few physical models possessing the same pore characteristics and matrix properties but different porosities compared to the natural sandstones were developed. The 3D finite element models of the rock media with varied porosities were established based on the CT image processing of the physical models and the MIMICS software platform. The failure processes of the porous rock media loaded by the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) were simulated by satisfying the elastic wave propagation theory. The dynamic responses, stress transition, deformation and failure mechanisms of the porous rock media subjected to the wave stresses were analyzed. It is shown that an explicit and quantitative analysis of the stress, strain and deformation and failure mechanisms of porous rocks under the wave stresses can be achieved by using the developed 3D finite element models. With applied wave stresses of certain amplitude and velocity, no evident pore deformation was observed for the rock media with a porosity less than 15%. The deformation is dominantly the combination of microplasticity (shear strain), cracking (tensile strain) of matrix and coalescence of the cracked regions around pores. Shear stresses lead to microplasticity, while tensile stresses result in cracking of the matrix. Cracking and coalescence of the matrix elements in the neighborhood of pores resulted from the high transverse tensile stress or tensile strain which exceeded the threshold values. The simulation results of stress wave propagation, deformation and failure mechanisms and energy dissipation in porous rock media were in good agreement with the physical tests. The present study provides a reference for analyzing the intrinsic mechanisms of the complex dynamic response, stress transit mode, deformation and failure mechanisms and the disaster mechanisms of rock media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of porous models having the similar statistical characteristics of pores and physical properties with natural sandstones have been produced using reactive powder concrete (RPC) and polystyrenes. Spit-Hopkinson-Pressure -Bar tests and CT scans have been carried out on the models with the various porosities to probe the performance of wave propagations and the responses of pores and the matrix during wave propagations. It is shown that porosities significantly influence wave propagations. For an identical impact strain rate, the greater the porosity is, the larger the amplitude of the reflected wave appears, the more the peak in the reflected wave presents, and the smaller the amplitude of the transmitted wave turns out. A single peak emerges in the reflected wave when the porosity falls down to 5%. The larger the impact strain rate, the much remarkable the phenomena. The energy-dissipated ratio of porous models, i.e., W J / W I , linearly increases with the increment of porosities. The ratio is sensitive to the impact strain rate. Differences in the performance of wave propagations and energy dissipation result from the varied mechanisms that pores response to impacts. For the porosity less than 10%, the mechanism appears to be a process fracturing the matrix to generate new surfaces or pores. Energy has primarily been dissipated in creating new surfaces or pores. No apparent pore deformation takes place. The impact strain rate takes little effect on pore geometry. For the porosity of 15% or more, the mechanism works depending on the impact strain rate. When a low impact strain rate applies, the mechanism still appears to crack the matrix to generate surfaces or pores, but the amount is lower as compared to the case with a low porosity. If a large impact stain rate applies, the mechanism combines both fracturing the matrix and deforming the pores, with the deforming pores predominating. The vast majority of energy has been dissipated to deform pores. Only high porosity and impact strain rate can bring significant deformation to the pores. The proposed eccentricity of pores is capable of characterizing the geometry of pores and its change during wave propagations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geometric features and the distribution properties of pores in rocks were investigated by means of CT scanning tests of sandstones. The centroidal coordinates of pores, the statistic characterristics of pore distance, quantity, size and their probability density functions were formulated in this paper. The Monte Carlo method and the random number generating algorithm were employed to generate two series of random numbers with the desired statistic characteristics and probability density functions upon which the random distribution of pore position, distance and quantity were determined. A three-dimensional porous structural model of sandstone was constructed based on the FLAC3D program and the information of the pore position and distribution that the series of random numbers defined. On the basis of modelling, the Brazil split tests of rock discs were carried out to examine the stress distribution, the pattern of element failure and the inosculation offailed elements. The simulation indicated that the proposed model was consistent with the realistic porous structure of rock in terms of their statistic properties of pores and geometric similarity. The built-up model disclosed the influence of pores on the stress distribution, failure mode of material elements and the inosculation of failed elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an elegant generalization of wavelet transform, wavelet packet (WP) provides an effective representation tool for adaptive waveform analysis. Recent work shows that image-coding methods based on WP decomposition can achieve significant gain over those based on a usual wavelet transform. However, most of the work adopts a tree-structured quantization scheme, which is a successful technique for wavelet image coding, but not appropriate for WP subbands. This paper presents an image-coding algorithm based on a rate-distortion optimized wavelet packet decomposition and on an intraband block-partitioning scheme. By encoding each WP subband separately with the block-partitioning algorithm and the JPEG2000 context modeling, the proposed algorithm naturally avoids the difficulty in defining parent-offspring relationships for the WP coefficients, which has to be faced when adopting the tree-structured quantization scheme. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms SPIHT and JPEG2000 schemes and also surpasses state-of-the-art WP image coding algorithms, in terms of both PSNR and visual quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has been widely used in medical diagnosis. In practice, doctors often zoom in on LDCT slices for clearer lesions and issues, while, a simple zooming operation fails to suppress low-dose artifacts, leading to distorted details. Therefore, numerous LDCT super-resolution (SR) methods have been proposed to promote the quality of zooming without the increase of the dose in CT scanning. However, there are still some drawbacks that need to be addressed in existing methods. First, the region of interest (ROI) is not emphasized due to the lack of guidance in the reconstruction process. Second, the convolutional blocks extracting fix-resolution features fail to concentrate on the essential multi-scale features. Third, a single SR head cannot suppress the residual artifacts. To address these issues, we propose an LDCT CT joint SR and denoising reconstruction network. Our proposed network consists of global dual-guidance attention fusion modules (GDAFMs) and multi-scale anastomosis blocks (MABs). The GDAFM directs the network to focus on ROI by fusing the extra mask guidance and average CT image guidance, while the MAB introduces hierarchical features through anastomosis connections to leverage multi-scale features and promote the feature representation ability. To suppress radial residual artifacts, we optimize our network using the feedback feature distillation mechanism (FFDM) which shares the backbone to learn features corresponding to the denoising task. We apply the proposed method to the 3D-IRCADB and PANCREAS datasets to evaluate its ability on LDCT image SR reconstruction. The experimental results compared with state-of-the-art methods illustrate the superiority of our approach with respect to peak signal-to-noise (PSNR), structural similarity (SSIM), and qualitative observations. Our proposed LDCT joint SR and denoising reconstruction network has been extensively evaluated through ablation, quantitative, and qualitative experiments. The results demonstrate that our method can recover noise-free and detail-sharp images, resulting in better reconstruction results. Code is available at https://github.com/neu-szy/ldct_sr_dn_w_ffdm ., (© 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine.)