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International audience; This paper studies the rheological behavior of aqueous suspensions of fine grained (d50 = 200 nm) alumina. Rheological measurements were performed on suspensions containing various amounts of solid and 0.26 wt% of ammonium polymethacrylate in order to ensure a good state of dispersion. Brownian motions, colloidal interactions and hydrodynamic interactions dictate the behavior. The viscosity is mainly influenced by the shear rate and by the solid volume fraction. A Maron and Pierce model was used to describe this last effect in the hydrodynamic regime. The maximum packing fraction was found to be 40 vol%. This value is related to the colloidal stability as described by the DLVO theory. In fact, the maximum packing fraction leads to a surface-to-surface separation distance of about 46 nm because of the repulsive potential. Finally, a dimensionless approach was achieved to quantitatively identify, on the rheogram, the different flow regimes associated to each dominant interaction type.

Commercial pure γ-Al2O3 and SiO2 (1−30 wt.%) doped γ-Al2O3 were characterized as acid catalysts in ethanol conversion and used as supports for NiO and MoO3. Supported catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation. All catalytic materials were characterized by BET, XRD, FE-SEM microscopy, UV–vis and IR spectroscopies. Pure and silica-doped NiO/Al2O3 materials were used as precursors of metal catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation. Pure and silica-doped MoO3/Al2O3 materials were used as catalysts for ethanol oxidative dehydrogenation to acetaldehyde. These data show that the addition of silica in moderate amounts selectively influences a part of the alumina surface and strongly modifies the dispersing properties of alumina support. In particular, silica preferentially bonds over the strongest Lewis acid-base sites of γ-Al2O3, where also Ni2+ and molybdate species tend to interact. Being the SiO2-Al2O3 interaction stronger than the NiO-Al2O3 interaction and the MoO3-Al2O3 interaction, silica displaces nickel and molybdate species to less preferential sites where their interaction with exposed alumina is weaker. This results in more easily reducible Ni2+ species and larger Ni metal particles for silica doped Ni/Al2O3, and more monomeric and less polymeric molybdate species for silica doped MoO3/Al2O3.

Assisted migration (AM) is the translocation of species beyond their historical range to locations that are expected to be more suitable under future climate change. However, a relocated population may fail to establish in its donor community if there is high uncertainty in decision-making, climate, and interactions with the recipient ecological community. To quantify the benefit to persistence and risk of establishment failure of AM under different management scenarios (e.g., choosing target species, proportion of population to relocate, and optimal location to relocate), we built a stochastic metacommunity model to simulate several species reproducing, dispersing, and competing on a temperature gradient as temperature increases over time. Without AM, the species were vulnerable to climate change when they had low population sizes, short dispersal, and strong poleward competition. When relocating species that exemplified these traits, AM increased the long-term persistence of the species most when relocating a fraction of the donor population, even if the remaining population was very small or rapidly declining. This suggests that leaving behind a fraction of the population could be a robust approach, allowing managers to repeat AM in case they move the species to the wrong place and at the wrong time, especially when it is difficult to identify a species' optimal climate. We found that AM most benefitted species with low dispersal ability and least benefited species with narrow thermal tolerances, for which AM increased extinction risk on average. Although relocation did not affect the persistence of nontarget species in our simple competitive model, researchers will need to consider a more complete set of community interactions to comprehensively understand invasion potential.Identificación de Estrategias Sólidas para la Migración Asistida en una Metacomunidad Estocástica Competitiva Resumen La migración asistida es la translocación de especies más allá de su extensión histórica a localidades que se espera sean más adecuadas bajo el cambio climático futuro. Sin embargo, una población reubicada puede no establecerse en su comunidad donante si existe una mucha incertidumbre en cuanto a la toma de decisiones, el clima y las interacciones con la comunidad ecológica receptora. Para cuantificar el beneficio para la persistencia y el riesgo de fallas en el establecimiento de la migración asistida bajo diferentes escenarios de manejo (p. ej.: elección de especies objetivo, proporción de la población a reubicar y localidad óptima para la reubicación) construimos un modelo de metacomunidad estocástica para simular la reproducción, dispersión y competencia de varias especies a lo largo de un gradiente de temperatura conforme la temperatura incrementa con el tiempo. Sin la migración asistida, las especies presentaron vulnerabilidad ante el cambio climático cuando presentaron un tamaño poblacional menor, una dispersión reducida y una competencia fuerte hacia los extremos. Cuando se reubicó a especies con estas características, la migración asistida incrementó más la persistencia a largo plazo de las especies cuando se reubicó una fracción de la población donante, incluso si la población remanente era muy pequeña o se encontraba en una rápida declinación. Esto sugiere que dejar una fracción de la población podría ser una estrategia sólida que permite a los gestores repetir la migración asistida en caso de que muden a la especie al lugar equivocado en el momento equivocado, especialmente cuando es difícil identificar el clima óptimo de la especie. Descubrimos que la migración asistida benefició más a las especies con una baja habilidad de dispersión y tuvo menos beneficios para las especies con una tolerancia térmica reducida, para las que la migración asistida aumentó en promedio el riesgo de extinción. Aunque la reubicación no afectó la persistencia de las especies que no consideramos como objetivo en nuestro modelo competitivo simple, los investigadores necesitarán considerar un conjunto más completo de interacciones comunitarias para entender por completo el potencial de invasión.

This study deals with a two-dimensional (2D) contaminant transport problem subject to depth varying input source in a finite homogeneous groundwater reservoir. A depth varying input source at the upstream boundary is assumed as the location of disposal site of the pollutant from where the contaminant enters the soil medium and ultimately to the groundwater reservoir. At the extreme boundary of the flow site, the concentration gradient of the contaminant is assumed to be zero. Contaminant dispersion is considered along the horizontal and vertical directions of the groundwater flow. The governing transport equation is the advection–dispersion equation (ADE) associated with linear sorption and first-order biological degradation. The ADE is solved analytically by adopting Laplace transform method. Crank–Nicolson scheme is also adopted for the numerical simulation of the modelled problem. In the graphical comparison of the analytical and numerical solutions, the numerical solution follows very closely with the analytical solution. Also, Root Mean Square (RMS) error and CPU run time are obtained to account for the performance of the numerical solution. HIGHLIGHTS Two-dimensional contaminant transport is discussed in a finite homogeneous porous medium.; Exponentially decaying depth-dependent source is assumed at the upstream of the domain.; The governing equation is solved analytically and numerically.; The RMS error is observed very less.; Verified the input data used in the present study from the existing literature.

The transient current technique (TCT) is widely used in the field of silicon particle detector development. So far, only laser wavelengths with a photon energy larger than or similar to the silicon bandgap (single photon absorption) were used. Recently, measurements using two-photon absorption (TPA) for silicon detector testing have been carried out for the first time. Excess carriers are only created at the focal point of the laser beam and thus resolution in all three spatial directions could be achieved. The resolution perpendicular to the incident laser beam could be increased roughly by a factor of 10. First measurements using this new method were performed at the Singular Laser Facility of Universidad del País Vasco (UPV)/Euskal Herriko Unibertzitatea (EHU). Following the initial success of the method, a compact TPA-TCT setup is under development. A first description of the setup and laser system is presented in this article., This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under Grant FPA2013-48387-C6-1-P and in part by the Wolfgang Gentner Programme of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research under Grant 05E15CHA.

Purpose . Propagation of a shear wave in sandy marine sediments is considered. The acoustic properties of a shear wave are the phase velocity and the attenuation coefficient. It is known that in dry sandy sediments, the attenuation coefficient is directly proportional to frequency. In the saturated mediums, there are the deviations from this law that implies existence of two physical mechanisms of losses – the intergranular friction and viscous loss. The study is aimed at developing a two-phase theoretical model of the shear wave propagation in the unconsolidated marine sediments, and at identifying the dissipative effects caused by the fluid relative movement in the pore space. Methods and Results . The intergranular friction is modeled using a springpot, which represents an element combing conservative properties of a spring and dissipative ones of a dashpot. The equation of motion is applied, where a part of fluid is assumed to be associated with the media solid phase and another part is considered to be mobile. For a harmonic displacement, the equations of state and the equation of motion yield a new two-phase dispersion relation (the theory of Grain Shearing + + Effective Density , or GS + EDs , for short). The results of the GS + EDs theory are compared with the data of the velocity and attenuation measurements taken from the open sources. It is shown that during propagation of the compressional and shear waves, the mechanisms of interaction between the granules, and between the granules and fluid are not similar. Character of the changes in the grain-to-grain friction parameters when the pore space is saturated with fluid, is analyzed. Conclusion . Manifestation of the dissipative effects resulting from the pore saturation with fluid depends on the density of the granules packing. In case of a dense packing, there are no conditions for the fluid relative movement, and the sandy sediments exhibit the property of a constant Q -factor. If the packing is loose, the viscous losses make a significant contribution, and the attenuation frequency dependence is nonlinear. The effective pore sizes for the compression and shear waves do not coincide.

The phenology of vascular epiphytes, which account for about 10 % of the world's flowering plants and perform important ecological functions, has been just partially explored. Since phenology is a key tool for the management and conservation of species, the objective of this review was to synthesize the information published so far about the phenology of vascular epiphytes, detect gaps of knowledge, and suggest future lines of investigation to understand the underlying mechanisms. We conducted an online search for articles in Google Scholar and in the ISI Web of Science database from 1800 to 2020, with different combinations of keywords. 107 studies addressing the phenology of different holoepiphyte species were found; 88 % of the studies were performed in the Neotropic, especially in tropical and subtropical wet forests. The phenology of only ca. 2 % (418 spp.) of all reported holoepiphyte species has been explored. There is a bias toward the study of the flowering and fruiting phenology in members of the Orchidaceae (192 spp.) and Bromeliaceae (124 spp.) families. In general, the vegetative and reproductive phenology of epiphytes tends to be seasonal; however, there is a huge gap in our understanding of the proximate and ultimate factors involved. Future research should explicitly focus on studying those factors. RESUMEN Las epífitas vasculares, que representan cerca del 10 % de la flora vascular y cumplen funciones ecológicas importantes, se han explorado poco desde el punto de vista fenológico. Dado que la fenología es una herramienta clave para el manejo y conservación de especies, el objetivo de este trabajo fue sintetizar la información publicada, detectar vacíos de conocimiento y sugerir líneas de investigación que permitan entender los mecanismos que regulan la fenología de este grupo. Se realizó una búsqueda de artículos en Google Académico y en la base de datos ISI Web of Science desde 1800 a 2020, con diferentes combinaciones de palabras clave. Se encontraron 107 estudios que abordan la fenología de especies holoepífitas, el 88 % de estos estudios se realizaron en el Neotrópico, principalmente en bosques lluviosos tropicales y subtropicales. Solamente se ha estudiado la fenología de ca. 2 % (418 spp.) del total de especies de holoepífitas reportadas; los trabajos se han enfocado principalmente en estudiar la floración y fructificación de miembros de Orchidaceae (192 spp.) y Bromeliaceae (124 spp.). La fenología vegetativa y reproductiva de las epífitas tiende a ser estacional. Sin embargo, existe un vacío enorme de los factores próximos y últimos implicados; los futuros estudios pueden enfocarse a elucidar qué factores detonan la fenología de epífitas vasculares.

High-performance photonic crystal fiber (PCF) has an important impact on the development of the full potential of complex terahertz systems. A new kind of PCF with D-shaped air holes in core region was proposed for terahertz (THz) region. The numerical simulation results showed that the proposed PCF has a flat dispersion of 0.09 ± 0.28 ps/THz/cm at 0.8-1.2 THz. At 1 THz, an ultra-high birefringence of 0.0595, a low effective material loss (EML) of 0.0557 cm-1, and dispersion that can be considered zero were obtained. In addition, other characteristics of the proposed PCF were strictly analyzed, such as confinement loss, bending loss, and effective mode area. The PCF is expected to be used for short distance propagation of terahertz, polarization maintaining and sensing applications of terahertz waves.

This work proposes an approach to fabricate flexible transparent ultraviolet (UV)-shielding membrane by casting method, which uniformly disperses pristine zinc oxide nanoparticles (NPs) in low-density polyethylene (LDPE). The critical conditions for film fabrication, such as casting temperature, LDPE concentration in the solution, dissolution time, NP concentration, and post hot press cooling processes, are systematically studied. It is found that the casting temperature needs to be close to the melting temperature of LDPE, namely, 115°C, so that transparent film formation without cracks can be guaranteed. NP agglomerates are suppressed if the polymer concentration is controlled below 6%. For good dispersion of NPs, LDPE has to be swelled or unentangled enough in the solution (close to 200 h dissolution time), and then the NP agglomerates can be diminished due to the diffusion of the NPs into the polymer gel (322 h dissolution time). When the NPs are well-dispersed in the LDPE film, the film can completely shield UV light while allowing high transmissivity for the visible light. As the concentration of NPs in the film increases from 4 to 6%, the transmissivity of the film decreases, the tensile strength increases, and the tensile failure strain decreases.

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel and simple approach to identifying both the direction and value of Doppler frequency shift (DFS) in this paper. A pair of phase modulators, as well as a dispersion medium in between them, are employed in the approach. The different dispersion-induced phase shifts of the upper and lower sidebands after passing the dispersion medium can be used to determine the direction of DFS. The value of DFS is characterized by measuring the frequency of the output signal from a low-speed photodetector. Experimental results verify the feasibility of the approach. The major advantages of the approach lie in that it can measure both the DFS direction and value while avoids the use of complicated modulators and additional reference signal, which greatly simplifies the system's architecture.

Significance Solute transport in porous materials is pertinent to many engineering and industrial applications. This research provides direct characterization of spatiotemporal behavior of solute transport in saturated and unsaturated porous media using high-resolution four-dimensional synchrotron X-ray imaging. This research has two key impacts: 1) we demonstrate a workflow for direct characterization of solute transport in any porous material, which allows better design of fabricated porous materials and detailed characterization of natural porous materials, and 2) we evaluate the underlying assumptions used in the existing theories and identify the major gaps in theories that need to be addressed for better predictive modeling., Solute transport in unsaturated porous materials is a complex process, which exhibits some distinct features differentiating it from transport under saturated conditions. These features emerge mostly due to the different transport time scales at different regions of the flow network, which can be classified into flowing and stagnant regions, predominantly controlled by advection and diffusion, respectively. Under unsaturated conditions, the solute breakthrough curves show early arrivals and very long tails, and this type of transport is usually referred to as non-Fickian. This study directly characterizes transport through an unsaturated porous medium in three spatial dimensions at the resolution of 3.25 μm and the time resolution of 6 s. Using advanced high-speed, high-spatial resolution, synchrotron-based X-ray computed microtomography (sCT) we obtained detailed information on solute transport through a glass bead packing at different saturations. A large experimental dataset (>50 TB) was produced, while imaging the evolution of the solute concentration with time at any given point within the field of view. We show that the fluids’ topology has a critical signature on the non-Fickian transport, which yet needs to be included in the Darcy-scale solute transport models. The three-dimensional (3D) results show that the fully mixing assumption at the pore scale is not valid, and even after injection of several pore volumes the concentration field at the pore scale is not uniform. Additionally, results demonstrate that dispersivity is changing with saturation, being twofold larger at the saturation of 0.52 compared to that at the fully saturated domain.

In the last decades, there have been many articles on the spatial structure of metropolitan areas, but a study for explaining driving factors of changes in the spatial structure of metropolitan areas has remained unknown so far. To fill this gap, the article explains the driving factors of these changes using a systematic review method. To this end, 115 peer-reviewed scientific articles published from 1999 to 2019 were carefully analyzed. According to the results, 4 main dimensions including contextual and intrinsic, incentive and disincentive, developmental, and transformative were identified in this regard. This article argues that spatial structure subject to the driving factors have undergone vast changes over the past two decades, and the metropolitan areas have been shifting from concentrated and compact patterns toward decentralized and dispersed patterns.

Clustering of tracers floating on the ocean surface and evolving due to combined velocity fields consisting of a deterministic mesoscale component and a kinematic random component is analysed. The random component represents the influence of submesoscale motions. A theory of exponential clustering in random velocity fields is applied to characterise the obtained clustering scenarios in both steady and unsteady time-dependent mesoscale flows, as simulated by a comprehensive realistic, eddy-resolving, general circulation model for the Japan/East Sea. The mesoscale flow field abounds in transient eddy-like patterns modulating and branching the main currents, and the underlying time-mean flow component features closed recirculation zones that can entrap the tracer. The submesoscale flow component is modelled kinematically, as a divergent random velocity field with a prescribed correlation radius and variance. The combined flow induces tracer clustering, that is, the exponential growth of tracer density in patches with vanishing areas. The statistical topography methodology, which provides integral characteristics to quantify the emerging clusters, uncovers drastic dependence of the clustering rates on whether the mesoscale flow component is taken to be steady or time-dependent. The former situation favours robust exponential clustering, similar to the theoretically understood case of purely divergent and zero-mean random velocity. The latter situation, on the contrary, hinders exponential clustering due to significant advection of the tracer out of the nearly enclosed eddies, at the rate faster than the clustering rate.

The aim of the study is to present all distribution sites of Bombus semenoviellus in Poland reported between 1988 and 2019. The increase of species dispersion was concluded, especially in the central part of the country, as well as the occurrence in the high Karkonosze and Tatry mountains. This is likely the effect of progressing climate change, as well as the increase in climate continentalism in Europe. Differences between summer and winter temperatures favour the spread of this Siberian bumblebee species throughout the continent. Many specimens were found on plants originating from its central and west Asia. Those plants also occur in eastern and central Europe which could have helped this bumblebee spread west throughout Europe. B. semenoviellus will increase its range towards Western Europe. Based on observations so far, it is not possible to determine its invasive features and increased competitiveness for food and nesting places in relation to other bumblebee species.

Chemistry - a European journal 26(47), 10817 - 10825 (2020). doi:10.1002/chem.202001444, Diadamantyl ether (DAE, C20H30O) represents a good model to study the interplay between London dispersion and hydrogen‐bond interactions. By using broadband rotational spectroscopy, an accurate experimental structure of the diadamantyl ether monomer is obtained and its aggregates with water and a variety of aliphatic alcohols of increasing size are analyzed. In the monomer, C−H⋅⋅⋅H−C London dispersion attractions between the two adamantyl subunits further stabilize its structure. Water and the alcohol partners bind to diadamantyl ether through hydrogen bonding and non‐covalent Owater/alcohol⋅⋅⋅H−CDAE and C−Halcohol⋅⋅⋅H−CDAE interactions. Electrostatic contributions drive the stabilization of all the complexes, whereas London dispersion interactions become more pronounced with increasing size of the alcohol. Complexes with dominant dispersion contributions are significantly higher in energy and were not observed in the experiment. The results presented herein shed light on the first steps of microsolvation and aggregation of molecular complexes with London dispersion energy donor (DED) groups and the kind of interactions that control them., Published by Wiley-VCH, Weinheim

Six isostructural crystalline solvates of cele­coxib are reported and the inter­molecular inter­actions involving the solvent mol­ecules are described., Six isostructural crystalline solvates of the active pharmaceutical ingredient cele­coxib {4-[5-(4-methyl­phen­yl)-3-(tri­fluoro­meth­yl)pyrazol-1-yl]benzene­sul­fon­amide; C17H14F3N3O2S} are described, containing di­methyl­formamide (DMF, C3H7NO, 1), di­methyl­acetamide (DMA, C4H9NO, 2), N-methylpyrrolidin-2-one (NMP, C5H9NO, 3), tetra­methyl­urea (TMU, C5H12N2O, 4), 1,3-dimethyl-3,4,5,6-tetra­hydro­pyrimidin-2(1H)-one (DMPU, C6H12N2O, 5) or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, C2H6OS, 6). The host cele­coxib structure contains one-dimensional channel voids accommodating the solvent mol­ecules, which accept hydrogen bonds from the NH2 groups of two cele­coxib mol­ecules. The solvent binding sites have local twofold rotation symmetry, which is consistent with the point symmetry of the solvent mol­ecule in 4 and 5, but introduces orientational disorder for the solvent mol­ecules in 1, 2, 3 and 6. Despite the isostructurality of 1–6, the unit-cell volume and solvent-accessible void space show significant variation. In particular, 4 and 5 show an enlarged and skewed unit cell, which can be attributed to a specific inter­action between an N—CH3 group in the solvent mol­ecule and the toluene group of cele­coxib. Inter­molecular inter­action energies calculated using the PIXEL method show that the total inter­action energy between the cele­coxib and solvent mol­ecules is broadly correlated with the mol­ecular volume of the solvent, except in 6, where the increased polarity of the S=O bond leads to greater overall stabilization com­pared to the similarly-sized DMF mol­ecule in 1. In the structures showing disorder, the most stable orientations of the solvent mol­ecules make C—H⋯O contacts to the S=O groups of cele­coxib.

The Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) is considered as the most important factor in the dispersal and spread of oak species. We conducted studies in oak stands in four countries (Poland, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine) in the autumn of 2015 and 2016. To identify the preferences of Jays for both acorns and trees, we compared the size of acorns and tree characteristics between each selected tree and the closest unused oak. We found that acorns from selected oaks were smaller (narrower) than those from unused trees. We found no differences in the characteristics of selected and unused oaks. These results indicate that the size of acorns can be an important indicator determining the choices of foraging birds. The Jays’ preferences for specific trees may influence the composition of oak populations. Trees with certain phenotypic and genomic characteristics may be favoured and dominate in the ecosystem.

In this contribution we show how the Lorentz‐Lorenz and the Clausius‐Mosotti equations are related to Beer's law. Accordingly, the linear concentration dependence of absorbance is a consequence of neglecting the difference between the local and the applied electric field. Additionally, it is necessary to assume that the absorption index and the related refractive index change is small. By connecting the Lorentz‐Lorenz equations with dispersion theory, it becomes obvious that the oscillators are coupled via the local field. We investigate this coupling with numerical examples and show that, as a consequence, the integrated absorbance of a single band is in general no longer linearly depending on the concentration. In practice, the deviations from Beer's law usually do not set in before the density reaches about one tenth of that of condensed matter. For solutions, the Lorentz‐Lorenz equations predict a strong coupling also between the oscillators of solute and solvent. In particular, in the infrared spectral region, the absorption coefficients are prognosticated to be much higher due to this coupling compared to those in the gas phase., Lorentz‐Lorenz equation revisited: The local field of Lorentz shifts the oscillator position to lower wavenumber and leads to coupling. Therefore, absorbance is no longer depending linearly on concentration.

espanolLas bellotas del genero Quercusson muy apreciadas por diversos animales. Se ha cuestionado si la seleccion de una bellota puede depender de las caracteristicas intrinsecas del fruto. En este trabajo determinamos si el tamano y la calidad de las bellotas (sanas o danadas) influyen en su seleccion. Los resultados muestran que Q. affinisfue la especie con las bellotas mas grandes, pero con la tasa mas baja de seleccion, y que Q. eduardiitenia bellotas mas pequenas, pero con la tasa mas alta de seleccion. La seleccion la llevan a cabo dos grupos de vertebrados con periodos de actividad claramente separados. Los arrendajos Aphelocoma spp. realizaban su actividad de dia y los roedores Peromyscus spp., de noche. El tamano y la calidad solo representaron una influencia significativa en la seleccion de bellotas de Q. affinis. Nuestros resultados sugieren que la ausencia de animales grandes puede poner en riesgo el establecimiento de especies con bellotas grandes (como Q. affinis). EnglishAcorns of the species of the genus Quercus are highly appreciated by a diverse group of animals. It remains unclear whether the choice to move an acorn is related to the intrinsic characteristics of the fruit. In this work, we aimed to determine whether the size and quality of acorns (healthy or damaged) influenced their removal. We found that Q. affinis was the species with the largest acorns but the lowest removal rate, and Q. eduardii was the species with the smallest acorns but highest removal rates. Two groups of vertebrates carried out this removal, and this activity occurred at two clearly separate times. Jays Aphelocoma spp. carried out their activity during the day, and rodents Peromyscus spp. removed acorns at night. Size and quality only had a significant influence on the removal of Q. affinis. Our results suggest that absence of large animals could put the establishment of species with large acorns (such as Q. affinis) at risk.

In this paper, we investigate the Cauchy problem for the N – abc family of Camassa-Holm type equation with both dissipation and dispersion. Furthermore, we establish the blow-up result of the positive solutions in finite time under certain conditions on the initial datum. This result complements the early one in the literature, such as [E. Novruzov, Blow-up phenomena for the weakly dissipative Dullin-Gottwald-Holm equation, J. Math. Phys. 54 (2013), no. 9, 092703, DOI 10.1063/1.4820786] and [Z.Y. Zhang, J.H. Huang, and M.B. Sun, Blow-up phenomena for the weakly dissipative Dullin-Gottwald-Holm equation revisited, J. Math. Phys. 56 (2015), no. 9, 092701, DOI 10.1063/1.4930198].

Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-10T19:50:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-02-20 National Research Foundation of South Africa Natural Resources Canada USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Studies have demonstrated that semiochemical-baited intercept traps differ in their performance for sampling insects, but we have an incomplete understanding of how and why intercept trap design effects vary among insects. This can significantly delay both the development of new and optimization of existing survey and detection tools. The development of a mechanistic understanding of why trap performance varies within and among species would mitigate this delay. The primary objective of this study was to develop methods to characterize and compare the odor plumes associated with intercept traps that differ in their performance for forest Coleoptera. We released CO2 and measured fluctuations of this tracer gas from 175-point locations arranged in a 2-by-3-by-2-m grid cuboid downwind of a standard multiple-funnel, a modified multiple-funnel, a panel, a canopy malaise trap, and a blank control (i.e., no trap) in a greenhouse. Significant differences in trapping efficacy between these different trap designs were observed for Monochamus scutellatus (Say) and Monochamus notatus (Drury) in a field trial. Significant differences were also observed in how CO2 accumulated in time at different positions downwind among these different trap designs. Turbulent dispersion is the dominant force structuring odor plumes and creates intermittency in the odor plume that is important for sustained upwind flight in insects. Methodological and instrumental limitations resulted in the inability to determine instantaneous plume structures and vortex shedding frequencies for different intercept trap designs. Although we observed differences in the odor plumes emanating downwind of the different intercept trap designs, we were unable to reconcile these differences with capture rates of the different trap designs for M. scutellatus and M. notatus. Univ Pretoria, Forestry & Agr Biotechnol Inst, Dept Chem, ZA-0002 Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa Canadian Forest Serv, Nat Resources Canada, Great Lakes Forestry Ctr, 1219 Queen St E, Sault Ste Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada Sao Paulo State Univ, Sch Agr & Vet Sci, Dept Crop Protect, BR-14884900 Jaboticabal, Brazil Univ Pretoria, Forestry & Agr Biotechnol Inst, Dept Biochem Genet & Microbiol, ZA-0002 Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa Univ Pretoria, Forestry & Agr Biotechnol Inst, Dept Zool & Entomol, ZA-0002 Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa Sao Paulo State Univ, Sch Agr & Vet Sci, Dept Crop Protect, BR-14884900 Jaboticabal, Brazil National Research Foundation of South Africa: 99644 USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service: 15-8130-0395-CA

Field experiments were undertaken in the summer of 2015 in Manchester, UK, to investigate the dispersion behaviour and infiltration into buildings of gas-phase pollutants over horizontal distances of 1–5 km. Inert cyclic perfluorocarbon tracers were released for 15 min at either one or three release points and samples taken in locations indoors and outdoors up to 2 km downwind. Background measurements of these cyclic perfluorocarbons range between 5.6 and 12.6 parts per quadrillion (ppq). On most occasions, tracer concentrations are higher on the sixth floor than at ground level. Tracer concentrations persist in the least well-ventilated rooms after concentrations return to background levels outdoors. The highest tracer concentrations, 329 ppq above background, occur at dawn on 23 July from a sixth-floor sampling position during thermally stable conditions. At low wind speeds, tracer is detected upwind of the prevailing wind direction; on 24 July, tracer is detected to the north-west of the release point for north-north-east wind direction. A simple street network model does not predict tracer concentrations at low wind speeds over the km scales in this investigation due to tracer likely escaping the urban canopy. Predictions from a simple correlation model overestimate concentrations originating from distant sources, which is believed to be due to infiltration into buildings along the journey from source to receptor. A Gaussian plume model predicts the highest tracer concentrations for most receptor points on 23 July when the lowest Obukhov length of – 26 m was measured, agreeing with tracer measurements.

In this paper, we present and compare two experimentally feasible photonic crystal fiber (PCF) designs ( $\textit{Type-I}$ and $\textit{Type-II}$ ) which ensure near-zero flattened dispersion with ultra-high phase and group birefringence at THz frequencies. Both structures are based on a subset of a triangular array of circular air-holes, which define the cladding of the PCF and a central elliptical air-hole which breaks the symmetry of the structure, thus introducing high levels of birefringence. Additionally, we investigate the possibility of further enhancing the birefringence properties of $\textit{Type-II}$ structure by selectively filling the air-holes with Potassium Chloride (KCl) as strong Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) material. Our investigation reveals that significant enhancement of birefringence can be achieved than its original counterpart with birefringence to be as high as 0.0627 at 6.2 THz and near-zero flat dispersion of $-$ 0.54 $\pm$ 0.04 ps/THz/cm over the frequency range of 6.2 $-$ 6.3 THz.

International audience; Dielectric nanomaterials offer great promise for diverse technological applications such as capacitors, actuators, and sensors. Unfortunately, the exploitation of desirable dielectric properties in polymer nanocomposites is a great challenge due to lack of efficient routes to achieve uniform dispersion of nanoparticles and good compatibility of interfaces at high nanoparticle loadings. A dilemma between the nanofiller loading and dispersion as well as interfacial compatibility makes it impossible to fully exploit the intrinsic polarization of the nanoparticles. Herein, we solve such a dilemma and fabricate highly filled barium titanate/silicone rubber (BT/SR) nanocomposites through chemically bonding BT nanoparticles with SR by “thiol–ene click” and isostatic pressing techniques. BT loading varies from 88 wt% to 97 wt% without compromising the uniform dispersion quality and good interfacial adhesion with the SR matrix. The 90 wt% BT nanocomposite shows an optimum dielectric constant as high as 55, while its loss tangent can be kept as low as 0.019 at 103 Hz. Meanwhile, it displays good stability of dielectric properties from room temperature up to 100 °C. In addition, the breakdown strength just decreases slightly compared to neat SR (97 MV m−1) but is still beyond 75 MV m−1. The present work provides a facile strategy towards superior dielectric polymer nanocomposites.

A silicon nitride horizontal slot waveguide with silicon dioxide cladding is designed to achieve flat negative dispersion ( $\text {nm}\cdot \text {km}$ )) over an octave-spanning bandwidth (782 to 2100 nm). Simulations show that, when a 10-fs pulse with 1-W peak power is input into a 5-cm long waveguide, the pulse width becomes 448 times wider and its peak power is reduced to $2.23\times 10^{-3}$ W. After passing through another ideal positive dispersion element, we find that the output pulse peak power can be recompressed close to 1 W in the case of different input pulse widths. Moreover, for the input pulse with a much higher peak power, the pulse width of the output pulse can be compressed to a much narrower level because of the spectral broadening introduced by optical nonlinearity. A 100-fs input pulse with 10-kW peak power can be compressed to 12.5 fs with a peak power of 63 kW. Considering the time-domain broadening and the peak power reduction, such a slot waveguide with a flat negative dispersion could be used as a time stretcher for 10-fs level pulse in on-chip chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system.

Planck Collaboration: et al., Observations of the submillimetre emission from Galactic dust, in both total intensity I and polarization, have received tremendous interest thanks to the Planck full-sky maps. In this paper we make use of such full-sky maps of dust polarized emission produced from the third public release of Planck data. As the basis for expanding on astrophysical studies of the polarized thermal emission from Galactic dust, we present full-sky maps of the dust polarization fraction p, polarization angle ψ, and dispersion function of polarization angles 𝒮. The joint distribution (one-point statistics) of p and NH confirms that the mean and maximum polarization fractions decrease with increasing NH. The uncertainty on the maximum observed polarization fraction, pmax = 22.0−1.4+3.5% at 353 GHz and 80′ resolution, is dominated by the uncertainty on the Galactic emission zero level in total intensity, in particular towards diffuse lines of sight at high Galactic latitudes. Furthermore, the inverse behaviour between p and 𝒮 found earlier is seen to be present at high latitudes. This follows the 𝒮 ∝ p−1 relationship expected from models of the polarized sky (including numerical simulations of magnetohydrodynamical turbulence) that include effects from only the topology of the turbulent magnetic field, but otherwise have uniform alignment and dust properties. Thus, the statistical properties of p, ψ, and 𝒮 for the most part reflect the structure of the Galactic magnetic field. Nevertheless, we search for potential signatures of varying grain alignment and dust properties. First, we analyse the product map 𝒮 × p, looking for residual trends. While the polarization fraction p decreases by a factor of 3−4 between NH = 1020 cm−2 and NH = 2 × 1022 cm−2, out of the Galactic plane, this product 𝒮 × p only decreases by about 25%. Because 𝒮 is independent of the grain alignment efficiency, this demonstrates that the systematic decrease in p with NH is determined mostly by the magnetic-field structure and not by a drop in grain alignment. This systematic trend is observed both in the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) and in molecular clouds of the Gould Belt. Second, we look for a dependence of polarization properties on the dust temperature, as we would expect from the radiative alignment torque (RAT) theory. We find no systematic trend of 𝒮 × p with the dust temperature Td, whether in the diffuse ISM or in the molecular clouds of the Gould Belt. In the diffuse ISM, lines of sight with high polarization fraction p and low polarization angle dispersion 𝒮 tend, on the contrary, to have colder dust than lines of sight with low p and high 𝒮. We also compare the Planck thermal dust polarization with starlight polarization data in the visible at high Galactic latitudes. The agreement in polarization angles is remarkable, and is consistent with what we expect from the noise and the observed dispersion of polarization angles in the visible on the scale of the Planck beam. The two polarization emission-to-extinction ratios, RP/p and RS/V, which primarily characterize dust optical properties, have only a weak dependence on the column density, and converge towards the values previously determined for translucent lines of sight. We also determine an upper limit for the polarization fraction in extinction, pV/E(B − V), of 13% at high Galactic latitude, compatible with the polarization fraction p ≈ 20% observed at 353 GHz. Taken together, these results provide strong constraints for models of Galactic dust in diffuse gas., The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Framework Programme/ERC grant agreement ERC-2016-ADG-742719. This research has received funding from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-17-CE31-0022). The Planck Collaboration acknowledges the support of ESA; CNES, and CNRS/INSU-IN2P3-INP (France); ASI, CNR, and INAF (Italy); NASA and DoE (USA); STFC and UKSA (UK); CSIC, MINECO, JA, and RES (Spain); Tekes, AoF, and CSC (Finland); DLR and MPG (Germany); CSA (Canada); DTU Space (Denmark); SER/SSO (Switzerland); RCN (Norway); SFI (Ireland); FCT/MCTES (Portugal); ERC and PRACE (EU).

Introduction. The primary functions of secondary processing of radar information are to detect and maintain the trajectories of air targets (AT). The AT trajectory detection can be characterised by the probability of detecting trajectory and average autocapture time. When the target moves, its distance from the radar station changes, leading to a change in the signal/noise ratio and the probability of detecting AT.Aim. To assess the impact of a change in the probability of detection of a straight and evenly moving target at consecutive time intervals of radar observation upon the characteristics of trajectory detection during secondary processing of radar information.Methods and materials. The research aim was achieved using the methods of mathematical statistics, including verification of statistical hypotheses, assessment of distribution parameters and theory of perturbations by small parameters. The ratio of the distance travelled by the AT during the review period to the target range at the initial moment of its detection was chosen as a perturbation parameter.Results. Analytical expressions were established for the probability of detecting a straight-moving AT and the probability of detecting the trajectory of its movement at interval multiples during the study period. The study illustrated the probability of detecting AT moving away from radar by means of consistent radar observations with reduced signal/noise ratios and angles between the velocity vector and the AT vector radius relative to the radar. The increase in AT speed which causes the z parameter to change from 0.01 to 0.07 reduces the probability of AT detection from 0.727 to 0.52 and leads to a corresponding change in the probability of detecting the trajectory. If the observation time is reduced by one time interval, the probability of detecting the trajectory is from 0.03 to 0.04…0.07 for signal/noise 40 ratio and from 0.06 to 0.08…0.11 for signal/noise 25 ratio (with the probability of false alarm 10–4 ).Conclusion. The resulting expressions allow for the calculation of directly moving AT trajectory detection, considering changes in the probability of detecting targets in successive time intervals of radar observations.

International audience; Recently, the BESIII experiment renewed the interest on baryon form factors by measuring the modulus and phase of the ratio GEΛ/GMΛ between the electric and the magnetic Λ form factors with unprecedented accuracy. The BESIII measurement together with older, less precise data, can be analyzed by means of a dispersive procedure based on analyticity and a set of first-principle constraints. Such a dispersive procedure shows the unique ability to determine, for the first time, the complex structure of the ratio knowing its modulus and phase measured by the BESIII Collaboration at only one energy point. Different classes of solutions are obtained, and in all cases, the timelike and spacelike behaviors show interesting properties; spacelike zeros or unexpected large determinations for the phase. More data at different energies would be crucial to enhance the predictive power of the dispersive procedure and to unravel further remarkable features of the Λ baryon.

We analyze dynamical properties of the logarithmic Schr{\"o}dinger equation under a quadratic potential. The sign of the nonlinearity is such that it is known that in the absence of external potential, every solution is dispersive, with a universal asymptotic profile. The introduction of a harmonic potential generates solitary waves, corresponding to generalized Gaussons. We prove that they are orbitally stable, using an inequality related to relative entropy, which may be thought of as dual to the classical logarithmic Sobolev inequality. In the case of a partial confinement, we show a universal dispersive behavior for suitable marginals. For repulsive harmonic potentials, the dispersive rate is dictated by the potential, and no universal behavior must be expected., Comment: More explanations

Hydrodynamic dispersion process in relation with the geometrical properties of the porous media are studied in two sets of 6 porous media samples of porosity θ ranging from 0.1 to 0.25. These two sets of samples display distinctly different evolutions of the microstructures with porosity but share the same permeability trend with porosity. The methodology combines three approaches. First, numerical experiments are performed to measure pre-asymptotic to asymptotic dispersion from diffusion-controlled to advection-controlled regime using Time-Domain Random Walk solute transport simulations. Second, a porosity-equivalent network of bonds is extracted in order to measure the geometrical properties of the samples. Third, the results of the direct numerical simulations are interpreted as a Continuous Time Random Walk (CTRW) process controlled by the flow speed distribution and correlation. These complementary modeling approaches allow evaluating the relation between the parameters of the conceptual transport process embedded in the CTRW model, the flow field properties and the pore-scale geometrical properties. The results of the direct numerical simulations for all the 12 samples show the same scaling properties of the mean flow distribution, the first passage time distribution and the asymptotic dispersion vs. the Péclet number than those predicted by the CTRW model. It allows predicting the asymptotic dispersion coefficient D* from Pe = 1 to the largest values of Pe expected for laminar flow in natural environments (Pe≈ 4,000). D*∝Pe2−α for Pe≥Pecrit, where α can be inferred from the Eulerian flow distribution and Pecrit depends on porosity. The Eulerian flow distribution is controlled by the distribution of fractions of fluid flowing at each of the pore network nodes and thus is determined mainly by the distribution of the throat radius and the coordination number. The later scales with the number of throats per unit volume independently on the porosity. The asymptotic dispersion coefficient D* decreases when porosity increases for all Péclet values larger than 1 due to the increase with porosity of both α and the flow speed decorrelation length., The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the CNRS-PICS project CROSSCALE (Project No. 280090). A. P. and M. D. gratefully acknowledge the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the project HydroPore (PID2019106887 GB-C31). Computations have been realized with the support of MESOLR, the Center of Competence in High-Performance Computing from the Languedoc-Roussillon region, France.

Amplitudes of the form $\gamma^*(q^2)\to \gamma P_1P_2$ appear as sub-processes in the computation of the muon $g-2$. We test a proposed theoretical modelling against very precise experimental measurements by the KLOE collaboration at $q^2=m^2_\phi$. Starting from an exact parameter-free dispersive representation for the $S$-wave satisfying QCD asymptotic constraints and Low's soft photon theorem we derive, in an effective theory spirit, a two-channel Omn\`es integral representation which involves two subtraction parameters. The discontinuities along the left-hand cuts which, for timelike virtualities, extend both on the real axis and into the complex plane are saturated by the contributions from the light vector mesons. In the case of $P_1P_2=\pi\eta$, we show that a very good fit of the KLOE data can be achieved with two real parameters, using a $T$-matrix previously determined from $\gamma\gamma$ scattering data. This indicates a good compatibility between the two data sets and confirms the validity of the $T$-matrix. The resulting amplitude is also found to be compatible with the chiral soft pion theorem. Applications to the $I=1$ scalar form factors and to the $a_0(980)$ resonance complex pole are presented., Comment: 47 pages,13 figures [v2: version accepted for publication]

[EN]Molecular aggregation is of paramount importance in many chemical processes, including those in living beings. Thus, characterization of the intermolecular interactions is an important step in its understanding. We describe here the aggregation of benzyl alcohol at the molecular level, a process governed by a delicate equilibrium between OHMIDLINE HORIZONTAL ELLIPSISO and OHMIDLINE HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS pi hydrogen bonds and dispersive interactions. Using microwave, FTIR, Raman and mass-resolved double-resonance IR/UV spectroscopic techniques, we explored the cluster growth up to the tetramer and found a complex landscape, partly due to the appearance of multiple stereoisomers of very similar stability. Interestingly, a consistently homochiral synchronization of transiently chiral monomer conformers was observed during cluster growth to converge in the tetramer, where the fully homochiral species dominates the potential energy surface. The data on the aggregation of benzyl alcohol also constitute an excellent playground to fine-tune the parameters of the most advanced functionals. The Gottingen part of the project was partly funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - 271107160/SPP1807. We thank M. Lange and E. K. M. M. Sennert for the measurement of the FTIR spectrum and E. Meyer for help with the measurement of the Raman spectrum. Computational resources from the GWDG and the Gottingen Faculty of Chemistry (DFG - 405832858/INST 186/1294-1 FUGG) are acknowledged. We thank the Gottingen chemistry workshops for valuable support. This publication was supported financially by the Open Access Grant Program of the DFG and the Open Access Publication Fund of the University of Gottingen. The Bilbao and Valladolid groups acknowledge funding from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN-FEDER PGC2018-098561-B-C21 and PGC2018-098561-B-C22). Bilbao's group also thank the SGIKER (UPV/EHU, MICIU-FEDER) for the computational and laser resources. The Hamburg part of this work was financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SCHN1280/4-2, project number 271359857) in the context of the priority program SPP 1807 "Control of London dispersion interactions in molecular chemistry". P. Pinacho would like to thank the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for a postdoctoral fellowship.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are promising biomaterials, but their tendency to agglomerate when dried limits their use in several applications. Ultrasonication is commonly used to disperse CNCs in water, bringing enough energy to the suspension to break agglomerates. While the optimized parameters for sonication are now well defined for small volumes of low concentration CNC suspensions, a deeper understanding of the influence of the dispersing process is needed to work with larger volumes, at higher concentrations. Herein, rheology is used to define the distribution and dispersion states upon ultrasonication of a 3.2 wt% CNC suspension. After considering the importance of the measurement sampling volume, the behavior of a more concentrated suspension (6.4 wt%) is examined and compared with a never-dried suspension of the same concentration to validate the dispersion state.

The objective of this study is to explore the limits of a one-dimensional model to predict the movement and mixing of the air and exhaust gases recirculation (EGR) flows in compact intake manifolds of recent automotive engines. In particular, the high pressure EGR loop configuration is evaluated in this study from the perspective of the EGR dispersion among cylinders. The experimental work includes the use of a fast CO2 tracking system that provides crank-angle resolved results in six locations of the intake manifold together with the acquisition of the time-averaged CO2 concentration in all the intake pipes (eight locations) to evaluate the EGR dispersion empirically. A specific system was developed to inject the EGR in three locations of the intake manifold in a flexible way to modify the dispersion. Up to 29 engine running conditions defined by engine speed, engine torque and EGR rate, spanning the entire engine map, including full load operation, were evaluated. A one-dimensional engine model was built to detect the limits in reproducing the EGR transport in the intake manifold and quantify the accuracy when predicting the dispersion among cylinders. The study concludes that the predicted EGR rate in the cylinders may differ up to 75% from the experimental measurement at low engine averaged EGR rate. The model prediction improves to differences lower than 40% in EGR rate per cylinder if the engine operating points with an EGR rate lower than 10% are excluded. In this situation, 80% of the predicted in-cylinder EGR rates have differences lower than 25% when compared to experiments.

Modelling the environmental factors influencing the spatial variation of fish early life stages density and their drift history can identify the key biological and physical processes for the recruitment variability. Distance-based linear multivariate techniques were used to characterize the spawning areas of the European anchovy Engraulis encrasicolus in the Gulf of Cadiz (GoC). Chlorophyll is the environmental variable that best characterized its spawning areas with a time-lag of three days. The use of Lagrangian models to simulate the dispersal of small pelagic species more dependent on advection such as the European anchovy early life stages (early larvae and eggs) in the GoC could provide the degree of connectivity between spawning and nursery areas and identify the physical drivers of the recruitment variability. The larval final destination is critical for the survival of a marine species which is coastal-dependent during its early life stages. Simulations with a Lagrangian transport model in the Southwest Iberian Peninsula were performed during the most intense spawning peak of 2016, when a strong and persistent countercurrent event developed. Most of the simulated early life stages were transported to the western Portuguese coast and, to a lesser extent, to the Atlantic oligotrophic waters, suggesting an increase in the connectivity between the subdivision 9a South and West components. Although different environmental processes occurring during ontogenetic stages, as well as overfishing, among others, can explain part of the variability observed in recruitment, events such as the development of coastal countercurrents during the spawning season could partly account for an increase of anchovy on the western Portuguese coast and a decrease in the Gulf of Cadiz one year later., Financial support was given by ECOCADIZ 2016 (Spanish Institute of Oceanography, Spain). The authors thank the crews of the R/V Miguel Oliver for technical assistance on the field. ATM acknowledges project 'SARDINHA2020-Abordagem Ecossistémica para a gestão da pesca da sardinha (MAR-01.04.02-FEAMP-0009)', from the Programa Operacional MAR 2020 (Portugal). Open Access has been partly financed by the University of Cadiz (Spain), the Campus de Excelencia Internacional/Global del Mar (CEI MAR, Spain), and the research group RNM337-Oceanograflía y Teedetección (Spain).

A study of aerosol dispersion was conducted in a university classroom using a CO2 tracer gas emitted from three source locations in a steady release, one source location per test. The tracer gas emitted from the single source location represented the potentially infectious aerosol droplets emitted from a single student and was thus a way to examine the influence of one sick student on the rest of the class. Two parameters were adjusted during the testing—the spacing of the desks, which included a spread and compressed configuration, and the inclusion of three-sided clear dividers attached to the student desk surfaces. Tracer dispersion was measured through the use of monitors in 13 locations within the classroom, with eight monitors representing seated student locations, four monitors representing a standing instructor along the classroom front, and one monitor at the return vent in the ceiling. As expected, spacing strongly influenced concentration levels at desks adjacent to the source location. The use of dividers reduced overall student and instructor location tracer concentrations when compared to desks without dividers in most cases. Finally, the influence of air change differences on the results was noted with consistent trends. The experimental construct provides a systematic means for classroom testing that may be broadly applicable to various configurations of classrooms beyond the one tested. Graphic abstract

The Lagrangian dispersion statistics of the Black Sea are estimated using satellite-tracked drifters, satellite altimeter data and a high-resolution ocean model. Comparison between the in-situ measurements and the model reveals good agreement in terms of the surface dispersion. The mean sub-basin coherent structures and currents of the Black Sea are well reproduced by the model. Seasonal variability of the dispersion in the upper (15 m), intermediate (150 m) and deep (750 m) layers are discussed with a special focus of the role of sub-basin scale structures and currents on the turbulent dispersion regimes. In terms of the surface relative dispersion, the results show the presence of the three known turbulent exponential, Richardson and diffusive-like regimes. The non-local exponential regime is only detected by the model for scales

Made available in DSpace on 2021-06-25T10:28:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-07-01 National Natural Science Foundation of China A major contaminant transport process in soils is hydrodynamic dispersion by affecting the spreading and arrival of surface-applied pollutants at underlying groundwater reservoirs. When a soil is unsaturated, hydrodynamic dispersion is very much affected by soil water saturation. Centimeter- and decimeter-scale column experiments were carried out to explore the effects of fluid saturation and particle size on the unsaturated solute dispersivity. Measured in-situ breakthrough curves were analyzed in terms of both classical advection–dispersion and dual-porosity (mobile-immobile) type transport equations. A clear non-monotonic relationship was found between the dispersivity and soil water saturation. The extent of non-monotonicity was more pronounced for a relatively coarse-textured sand compared to a finer sand. This finding has been reported rarely before; it explains some of the inconsistencies of saturation-dispersivity relationships in the literature. School of Civil Engineering Sun Yat-sen University Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) Department of Earth Sciences Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80021 Department of Watershed and Rangeland Management Gonbad Kavous University Center for Environmental Studies São Paulo State University UNESP Center for Environmental Studies São Paulo State University UNESP National Natural Science Foundation of China: 42007165 National Natural Science Foundation of China: 51822908

The development of bio-based nanocomposites is of high scientific and industrial interest, since they offer excellent advantages in creating functional materials. However, dispersion and distribution of the nanomaterials inside the polymer matrix is a key challenge to achieve high-performance functional nanocomposites. In this context, for better dispersion, biobased triethyl citrate (TEC) as a dispersing agent in a liquid-assisted extrusion process was used to prepare the nanocomposites of poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and chitin nanocrystals (ChNCs). The aim was to identify the effect of the TEC content on the dispersion of ChNCs in the PLA matrix and the manufacturing of a functional nanocomposite. The nanocomposite film’s optical properties, microstructure, migration of the additive and nanocomposites’ thermal, mechanical and rheological properties, all influenced by the ChNC dispersion, were studied. The microscopy study confirmed that the dispersion of the ChNCs was improved with the increasing TEC content, and the best dispersion was found in the nanocomposite prepared with 15 wt% TEC. Additionally, the nanocomposite with the highest TEC content (15 wt%) resembled the mechanical properties of commonly used polymers like polyethylene and polypropylene. The addition of ChNCs in PLA-TEC15 enhanced the melt viscosity, as well as melt strength, of the polymer and demonstrated antibacterial activity.

Wind energy is an important renewable energy source for generating electricity that has the potential to replace fossil fuels. Herein, we propose confidence intervals for the difference between the coefficients of variation of Weibull distributions constructed using the concepts of the generalized confidence interval (GCI), Bayesian methods, the method of variance estimates recovery (MOVER) based on Hendricks and Robey’s confidence interval, a percentile bootstrap method, and a bootstrap method with standard errors. To analyze their performances, their coverage probabilities and expected lengths were evaluated via Monte Carlo simulation. The simulation results indicate that the coverage probabilities of GCI were greater than or sometimes close to the nominal confidence level. However, when the Weibull shape parameter was small, the Bayesian- highest posterior density interval was preferable. All of the proposed confidence intervals were applied to wind speed data measured at 90-meter wind energy potential stations at various regions in Thailand.

Streams and rivers are globally important in the carbon and nitrogen cycles due to high carbon and nitrogen turnover rates and contribute disproportionately to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to their areal coverage. The hyporheic zone may be a hotspot of biogeochemical reactivity within fluvial ecosystems resulting in high rates of nutrient attenuation and associated GHG production. Controls on streambed nutrient cycling and particularly GHG production remain insufficiently understood. In this study, porewater concentrations of nutrients (NH4+, NO3-, NO2-) and GHGes (CO2, CH4, N2O) were measured alongside surface water breakthrough curves (BTC) of conservative (uranine) and reactive tracers [resazurin (raz)-resorufin (rru)] to provide insights into often assumed correlations between in-stream advective transport and transient storage metrics, and streambed biogeochemistry. Streambed biogeochemical concentrations were significantly correlated with advective transport time but not with dispersion and transient storage. The effect of advective transport time varied between chemical species, with NH4+, CO2, and CH4 exhibiting positive correlations and NO3-, NO2-, and N2O displaying negative correlations with advective transport time and vice versa for long-term storage. These findings increase knowledge of the relationship between hydrological drivers and streambed chemistry, potentially highlighting areas of the streambed expected to have elevated nutrients and GHGs. This improved understanding may allow chemical species to be effectively targeted by morphological restoration, which will aid in effective pollution and climate remediation.

The dispersion mechanisms in a clay-based polymer nanocomposite (CPNC) during twin-screw extrusion are studied by in-situ rheo-optical techniques, which relate the CPNC morphology with its viscosity. This methodology avoids the problems associated with post extrusion structural rearrangement. The polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix, which can be processed at ambient and low temperatures, is used to bypass any issues associated with thermal degradation. Local heating in the first part of the extruder allows testing of the usefulness of low matrix viscosity to enhance polymer intercalation before applying larger stresses for clay dispersion. The comparison of clay particle sizes measured in line with models for the kinetics of particle dispersion indicates that larger screw speeds promote the break-up of clay particles, whereas smaller screw speeds favor the erosion of the clay tactoids. Thus, different levels of clay dispersion are generated, which do not simply relate to a progressively better PDMS intercalation and higher clay exfoliation as screw speed is increased. Reducing the PDMS viscosity in the first mixing zone of the screw facilitates dispersion at lower screw speeds, but a complex interplay between stresses and residence times at larger screw speeds is observed. More importantly, the results underline that the use of larger stresses is inefficient per se in dispersing clay if sufficient time is not given for PDMS to intercalate the clay galleries and thus facilitate tactoid disruption or erosion., The authors thank the FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) for financial support under the framework of Strategic Funding grant UID/CTM/50025/2020. L.H. acknowledges funding from the FCT Investigator Programme through grant IF/00606/2014.

This study provides an interpretation of isopycnal eddy transport for mass and passive tracers in double-gyre eddy-resolving oceanic circulation. This paper focuses on a transport/diffusion tensor representation of the eddy tracer flux, and a companion paper will focus on advective eddy-induced tracer and mass transports. We use a spatial filter to separate the large and small scales, which leads to results distinct from those obtained via a temporal Reynolds eddy decomposition. To work towards a parameterisation, we relate the eddy tracer flux to the large-scale tracer gradient via the transport tensor K . The symmetric part of K is the diffusion tensor, S , which parameterises diffusive fluxes and whose mixing properties are determined by the signs of its eigenvalues. The eigenvalues of S are robustly of opposite sign (polar) and thus quantify filamentation of the tracer via both up- and down-gradient fluxes. Given the prevalence of polar eigenvalues – which are also obtained for Reynolds eddy fluxes – representing their associated effects should be a target of future eddy tracer transport closures. Given the inherent inhomogeneity and anisotropy of the eddy-induced transport, we argue that a full transport tensor is better suited to this task than scalar coefficients or diagonal tensors. The diffusion axis, which represents the direction of preferential mixing, tends to align with the large-scale velocity vector and contours of large-scale relative vorticity and layer thickness. Strong shears can inhibit this alignment. We show that the large-scale velocity gradient matrix may be suitable for parameterising the transport tensor, in particular at depth. Furthermore, since entries of K and S exhibit probabilistic distributions when conditioned on certain large-scale flow features, we suggest that a stochastic closure for the eddy transport would be most suitable.

We present new techniques to analyze natural local search algorithms for several variants of the max-sum diversification problem which, in its most basic form, is as follows: given an n-point set [Formula: see text] and an integer k, select k points in X so that the sum of all of their [Formula: see text] Euclidean distances is maximized. This problem has recently received a lot of attention in the context of information retrieval and web search. We focus on distances of negative type, a class that includes Euclidean distances of unbounded dimension, as well as several other natural distances, including nonmetric ones. We prove that local search over these distances provides simple and fast polynomial-time approximation schemes (PTASs) for variants that are constrained by a matroid or even a matroid intersection, and asymptotically optimal O(1)-approximations when combining the sum-of-distances objective with a monotone submodular function.

In this paper, the dispersion of a solute in the peristaltic propulsion of an incompressible and viscous fluid through a permeable medium under the influence of wall properties with simultaneous homogeneous, heterogeneous chemical reactions in an inclined uniform channel has been studied. The issue is studied through conditions of Taylor’s limit and long wavelength hypothesis. The mean effective coefficient of scattering expression is computed and outcomes are interpreted physically through graphs.

The relation between static and dynamic stiffness in shales is important for many engineering applications. Dynamic stiffness, calculated from wave velocities, is often related to static stiffness through simple empirical correlations. The reason for this is that dynamic properties are often easier to obtain; however, it is the static properties that define the actual subsurface response to stress or pore pressure changes. Rocks are not elastic media, and stiffness depends on the stress state, stress change amplitude, loading rate, drainage conditions, fluid saturation, and scale. All these factors require consideration when static and dynamic stiffness properties are to be related. Two mechanisms that may have a strong effect on the stiffness of shales were studied in this experimental work: (1) a reduction of undrained static stiffness with an increase in stress amplitude and (2) a frequency dependence (or dispersion) of dynamic stiffness. Laboratory tests were performed on four fully brine-saturated undrained field shales from different overburden formations. Experiments were conducted using a low-frequency apparatus—a triaxial loading cell with the ability to measure dynamic stiffness at seismic frequencies (1–150 Hz) and ultrasonic velocities (500 kHz). Shale anisotropy was characterized by testing differently oriented core plugs. The results demonstrated that all the tested shales exhibited a dispersion of dynamic stiffness from seismic to ultrasonic frequencies. Young’s modulus dispersion for the tested shales ranged from nearly 30% to above 100%. Wave velocity dispersion was on the order of 10–20% for P-waves and 20–40% for S-waves. In static tests, the undrained rock stiffness gradually decreased with increasing stress amplitude. For one shale, the static undrained Young’s modulus was reduced by 50% when amplitude of the loading–unloading measurement cycle increased from 1 to 3 MPa. This finding is explained by non-elastic deformations that increase with the stress level. A method of zero-stress extrapolation of static stiffness was used to obtain the purely elastic response. The stiffness for the limit of zero stress change amplitude agreed well with the dynamic response at seismic frequency, providing a link between static and dynamic stiffness.

In order to study the dispersion characteristics of seabed seismic waves excited by acoustic sources in shallow water, the sound field at liquid-solid interface is derived based on the wave equation firstly, which results demonstrate that the longitudinal wave and transversal wave are not dispersive, while the Scholte wave is normal dispersive. Then, the numerical simulation is carried out on the sound field at the liquid-solid interface excited by the air gun sound source based on high-order staggered grid finite difference method, which results demonstrate that the dispersion phenomenon of Scholte waves is observed and the theoretical analysis results were verified. Finally, the data of experiment in the sea are analyzed based on the transformation, and the dispersion curve of Scholte wave is finely extracted.

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (May 2019) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policy, Recent recognition of the widespread occurrence of freshwater beneath the ocean has renewed interest in approaches to understand and predict its extent. The most straightforward methodologies are based on the sharp-interface approximation, which neglects dispersive mechanisms. The understanding of dispersion effects on freshwater extents in coastal aquifers is based almost entirely on onshore aquifer situations. This study explores dispersion in offshore coastal aquifers, in terms of the steady-state freshwater extent, seawater circulation and freshwater discharge, through numerical experimentation. Results show that increasing dispersion causes a seaward shift in the interface toe location, as expected, whereas the interface tip shows a non-monotonic relationship with dispersion that depends on the contrast between aquifer and aquitard hydraulic conductivities. Higher dispersion leads to enhanced seawater recirculation rates and freshwater discharge, as opposed to non-monotonic relationships obtained previously for onshore aquifers. The mixing zone at the toe widens as dispersion increases, similar to onshore cases, whereas the mixing zone at the tip has a surprisingly non-monotonic relationship with dispersion. The dispersion relationships revealed in this study can be explained by counteractions between dispersion, density and advective forces, and refraction across the aquifer-aquitard interface, which in combination produce offshore aquifer behaviour that differs, in some ways, to the manner in which onshore aquifers respond to dispersive processes. Consequently, previous empirical corrections to sharp-interface methods (to account for dispersive effects) applied to onshore coastal aquifers are ineffective in their application to offshore settings.

*The work of Shaw was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences research council EP/H011072/1. This support is gratefully acknowledged.

The paper considers the quasi-monochromatic radio frequency oscillations that are observable in transmission lines of doubly connected cross-sections, partially filled with a magnetized ferrite. The frequencies and amplitudes of the oscillations appearing under the impact of short carrier-free electric pulses are determined by dispersive and non-linear properties of the line&rsquo, s structure. The dispersion characteristics are governed by the geometry and size of the line and the spatial arrangement in the line of the ferromagnetic material with its intrinsic dispersion. The dependences shown by the oscillation parameters in real physical experiments are reproduced and analyzed via numerical simulation within models which account separately for different physical properties of the material and the structure.