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Rice wine, known as yellow wine in China and Japan, possesses considerable nutritional value and holds significant global influence. This study addresses the challenge of preserving rice wine, which is prone to rancidity due to its low alcohol content. Conventional storage techniques employing pottery jars often result in substantial spoilage losses. Through rigorous investigation, this research identifies a polarization phenomenon exhibited by degraded rice wine when subjected to high-frequency microwaves(>60GHz), presenting a pioneering method for detecting spoilage, even within sealed containers. Employing a multi-channel microwave radar apparatus, the study delves into the susceptibility of rice wine to electromagnetic waves across various frequencies, uncovering pronounced polarization traits in deteriorated samples within the E-band microwave spectrum. Furthermore, lab-controlled simulations elucidate a direct correlation between physicochemical alterations and high-frequency Radar Cross Section (RCS) signals during the wine's deterioration process. A novel six-membered Hydrated Cluster hypothesis is proposed, offering insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. Additionally, dielectric property assessments conducted using vector network analyzers (VNA) reveal noteworthy enhancements in the dielectric constant of deteriorated rice wine, particularly within the high-frequency domain, thereby augmenting detectability. These findings carry implications for refining rice wine preservation techniques and contribute to the advancement of non-destructive testing technologies, enabling the detection of rice wine deterioration or indications thereof, even within sealed vessels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insufficient compaction of the subgrade can result in nonuniform deformation, leading to severe subgrade distress. To address this issue and find a new method for rapid detection and evaluation of subgrade compaction, we used the lightweight deflectometer (LWD) to analyze the dynamic deformation modulus (Evd) of subgrades filled with four types of soils—silt (ML), well-graded gravel (GW), lean clay (CL), and poorly graded sand (SP)—in different regions of Gansu province, China. Concurrently, we measured the degree of compaction (Doc) using the sand replacement method (SRM) to establish its correlation with dynamic deformation modulus (Evd). A strong correlation between the degree of compaction and dynamic deformation modulus was established for soils ML, GW, CL, and SP, and suitable formulas were selected based on curve variations. The developed formulas enabled back-calculation of the dynamic deformation modulus requirements corresponding to different degrees of compaction ranging from 90 to 100, facilitating direct queries and quick field checks. Results demonstrated that the LWD, as a reliable rapid detection method, effectively controlled subgrade compaction quality in field construction. Moreover, it extended the testing area and increased measurement frequency, thus providing a practical means for quickly evaluating the qualification rate and uniformity of subgrade compaction. When we build roads, most subgrade underneath the roads needs to be filled with soil. If we don't pack the soil properly in the filling process, the subgrade can crack and become uneven over time. It's hard to fix this problem once the road is open, so it's important to make sure the soil is packed tightly enough before the road is finished. There are two ways to check if the soil is packed properly: one is a traditional method called the sand replacement method, and the other is a machine called the lightweight deflectometer. These methods help identify insufficient compaction of the subgrade and prevent uneven deformation problems during the filling process. What's more, the lightweight deflectometer is a fast, convenient, and reliable tool that can assist or serve as an alternative to the traditional sand replacement method for controlling subgrade construction quality. This study is important because it helps us understand how to evaluate compaction of the filled subgrade in a different way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, elimination of eggs with dead embryos in China’s poultry-egg incubation industry mainly relies on manual inspection and a lack of relevant automatic-detection equipment restricts seriously the development of egg-incubation industry. Accurate identification of dead eggs is a key technical task for solving this problem. In this study we design a set of image-acquisition devices for analyzing duck eggs on the stage when they are removed from the incubation tray (25 days after incubation beginning). We suggest an improved object-detection algorithm based on a YOLOv4 network and identify dead embryos with high accuracy during the egg-hatching period. According to the characteristics of collected images of the breedingduck eggs, we remove the head subnetwork for detecting small objects in the YOLOv4 network and simplify the backbone subnetwork of this network to improve the detection efficiency. The experimental results testify that the average recognition accuracy of our YOLO-Lite network is equal to 98.33%, the recall rate amounts to 94.12% and the single-frame image-recognition time is about 15 ms. These figures are better than the corresponding parameters 96.67%, 88.89% and 32 ms, which are typical for the technique before our improvement. Therefore our results can provide a basis for the further research and development of appropriate intelligent detection equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apple is an important cash crop in China, and the prediction of its freshness can effectively reduce its storage risk and avoid economic loss. The change in the concentration of odor information such as ethylene, carbon dioxide, and ethanol emitted during apple storage is an important feature to characterize the freshness of apples. In order to accurately predict the freshness level of apples, an electronic nose system based on a gas sensor array and wireless transmission module is designed, and a neural network prediction model using an improved Sparrow Search Algorithm (SSA) based on chaotic sequence (Tent) to optimize Back Propagation (BP) is proposed. The odor information emitted by apples is studied to complete an apple freshness prediction. Furthermore, by fitting the relationship between the prediction coefficient and the input vector, the accuracy benchmark of the prediction model is set, which further improves the prediction accuracy of apple odor information. Compared with the traditional prediction method, the system has the characteristics of simple operation, low cost, reliable results, mobile portability, and it avoids the damage to apples in the process of freshness prediction to realize non-destructive testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tieguanyin is one of the top ten famous teas in China, due to its brand effect and market value, illegal businessmen often use adulterated Tieguanyin to make high profits. Tea adulteration detection becomes especially important to eliminate tea fraud in the market. This study developed a non-destructive testing method to detect adulterated Tieguanyin. Benshan was used as adulterated tea and adulterated in the proportion of 0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, and 100% (w/w) in Tieguanyin. The fluorescence hyperspectral data of the samples were collected to establish a two-class discrimination model and a prediction model of the degree of adulteration. The two-class discrimination model used support vector classification (SVC) for classification and it worked best when using derivative pre-processing, with 100% recall, precision, and accuracy. In the adulteration degree detection, the support vector regression (SVR) was used for adulteration prediction, and the second derivative (2ndDer)-principal component analysis (PCA)-SVR model predicted the best results with Rc2 and Rp2 of 0.9298 and 0.9124, respectively, and RMSEC and RMSEP of 0.09 and 0.1044, respectively. Results showed that fluorescence hyperspectral technology has wide application prospects and feasibility in the non-destructive detection of adulterated tea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is an established technology with a wide range of applications for civil engineering, geological research, archaeological studies, and hydrological practices. In this regard, this study applies bibliometric and scientometric assessment to provide a systematic review of the literature on GPR-related research. This study reports the publication trends, sources of publications and subject categories, cooperation of countries, productivity of authors, citations of publications, and clusters of keywords in GPR-related research. The Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) and the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), which can be accessed through the Web of Science Core Collection, are used as references. The findings report that the number of publications is 6880 between 2001 and 2021. The number of annual publications has increased significantly, from 139 in 2001 to 576 in 2021. The studies are published in 894 journals, and the annual number of active journals increased from 68 in 2001 to 215 in 2021. Throughout the study, the number of subject categories involved in GPR-related research fluctuated, ranging from 38 in 2001 to 68 in 2021. The research studies originated from 118 countries on 6 continents, where the United States and the People's Republic of China led the research articles. The top five most common keywords are ground-penetrating radar, non-destructive testing, geophysics, electrical resistivity tomography, and radar. After investigating the clusters of keywords, it is determined that civil engineering, geological research, archaeological studies, and hydrological practices are the four main research fields incorporating GPR utilization. This study offers academics and practitioners an in-depth review of the latest research in GPR research as well as a multidisciplinary reference for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Railway Science & Engineering is the property of Journal of Railway Science & Engineering Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Testing equipment is still lacking on the fruits post-production, particularly in a major fruit consuming of China. The current online device cannot fully meet to collect the full surface image information of spherical fruits, leading fail to accurately calculate the defect area. This study aims to rapidly and accurately detect the surface defect area of spherical fruits. The full surface image synthesis and defect area correction were proposed using the ideal ball model. A series of online detection and grading device were designed for the external quality of spherical fruits. This device was also different from the traditional full-surface detection device. Specifically, four cameras were used to collect images at the same time to obtain the full surface images of spherical fruits. The collected images were used to synthesize and correct, in order to obtain more accurate values of the surface defect area. Taking the apple as an example, an online detection device was designed to explore the best excitation light source required for the apple image acquisition. The refraction effect was then evaluated to clarify the influence on the fruit cup material. Then, the ball model was established to accurately calculate the surface defect area of apples using the apple full surface image synthesis and the defect area correction. A series of experiments were carried out to verify after segmentation and synthesis of the apple surface image, indicating no missing rate in the overall images. A defect area correction was proposed to calculate the real area of apple defects at any position in the image. 120 samples were selected for verification, including 30 scratch samples, 30 bruise samples, 30 spot samples, and 30 surface corruption samples, respectively. The determination coefficient (R 2 ) was 0.978 7 between the predicted and the real value of the scratch sample defect area, where the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) was 3.577 4 mm2, R 2 was 0.975 8 in the deflection angle experiment, and the RMSE was 3.466 3 mm2 . The R2 was 0.973 0 between the predicted and the real value for the defect area of the impact sample, where the RMSE was 3.9819 mm2, the R 2 was 0.974 2 in the deflection angle experiment, and the RMSE was 4.062 4 mm2 . The R 2 was 0.970 8 between the predicted and real value for the defect area of the speckled spot sample, where the RMSE was 3.836 6 mm2, and the R 2 was 0.977 9 in the deflection angle experiment, the RMSE was 3.895 3 mm2 . In the surface corruption sample defect area, the R 2 was 0.981 2 between the predicted and real values, the RMSE was 3.178 1 mm2, whereas, the R 2 was 0.974 8 in the deflection angle experiment, and the RMSE was 6.304 4 mm2 . The detection speed of the device was 2 apples/s, the rating accuracy was 95%, indicating a higher detection and apple rating accuracy than before. The relatively stable running was realized for the detection and grading evaluation of external defects of apples. The finding can provide technical support for the external quality detection of spherical fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with other piles with the same cross-sectional area, "U-shaped" structural section sheet pile can increase the moment of inertia of the structure's section. Due to the large excavation depth of the open section of the "Yin Jiang Ji Huai" river canal project in Anhui province, China, the unprotected excavated inclined canal slope covers a large land area, which results in the current situation of high housing demolition costs and a shortage of land resources in densely populated areas. In this study, the non-destructive testing of a U-shaped sheet-pile wall to protect the vertical slope of the underwater expansive soil in the canal project is studied, which is of great significance in reducing the construction area and minimizing the cost of construction. It is necessary to test the structural integrity of the U-shaped sheet pile, which is also vital to ensuring the whole project quality. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is used to detect the structural integrity of the U-shaped sheet pile in expansive soil. On the basis of identification and conversion of the original GPR data format, the processing methods based on the time-varying automatic gain and wavelet analysis are implemented. This case study proves that the GPR testing method is effective to estimate the quality of the U-shaped sheet pile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most reservoirs built in earlier years in China generally have major safety issues and leakage is a common problem with them. Nowadays as the technology of Non Destructive Testing (NDT) has developed and matured greatly, it has been widely used in detecting internal seepage channels, voids, cracks of the dam body and is showing obvious advantages in these aspects. This paper employed a method integrating geological radar (geo-radar) with ultrasonic detection to conduct safety test on the dam body of the Xidachuan Reservoir located in the Linjiang City of Jilin Province of China. The NDT discovered main leakage risk positions of the dam, gave a safety evaluation of the dam body, and proposed targeted treatment measures. NDT can quickly and accurately inspect the quality problems with the dam without causing damages to the structure and it can provide reliable guarantees for the quality of dam projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal wood damage poses a significant threat to tree health, impacting wood quality, mechanical stability, and wind resistance, therby challenging forest resource conservation and sustainable management efforts. The health of Populus euphratica , a keystone species, is crucial for the stability and sustainability of desert riparian forest ecosystems. Consequently, quantitatively diagnosing internal wood damage in living trees is essential for the conservation of existing forests. In this study, the degree of internal wood damage in the trunks of sample Populus euphratica trees of varying ages from the midstream of the Tarim River was quantified using Arbotom stress wave testing technology. The relationships among growth characteristics, soil physicochemical factors, and standing wood decay were analyzed. The results indicated that Arbotom stress wave testing technology achieved an accuracy of up to 92% in diagnosing internal wood damage in living P. euphratica trees. Healthy trees were more prevalent among middle-aged trees (65%), followed by mature (50%), near-mature (42%), and over-mature (30%) trees. The area of internal decay in over-mature and mature forests accounted for a significant proportion of decay, ranging from light to heavy decay levels. At the stand scale, increased in the level of trunk decay caused by increasing tree age. At the individual scale, light, moderate, and heavy decay were significantly positively correlated with diameter at breast height, tree height, and crown diameter, respectively (p < 0.01). Light decay was significantly negatively correlated with soil pH (p < 0.05). Moderate decay was significantly positively correlated (p < 0.05) with available-P and soil electrical conductivity and negatively correlated with Avail-K (p < 0.05). Heavy decay was significantly negatively correlated (p < 0.05) with available-K in both the 40–60 cm and 60–100 cm depth soil layers. The findings elucidate the causes and factors driving P. euphratica trunk decay in the Tarim River Basin, offering insights to aid in preventing and controlling standing tree decay and the sustainable management of natural desert riparian forest resources in arid areas. • Quantitative diagnosis of internal wood damage in living trees using non-destructive testing (NDT) methods can provide effective information. • At the stand scale, internal stem decay was age-related and increased with age. • At the individual scale, significant positive correlation between internal wood damage and diameter at breast height, tree height, and crown diameter. • Soil physicochemical properties affecting P. euphratica vary at different degrees of trunk internal decay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex formation process of reconstructed soil triggers the high spatial variability of soil physical properties, for which traditional soil sampling methods are not applicable due to the destructive and time-consuming modes. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) can collect continuous and high-resolution data flexibly, but the technology has rarely been employed to detect reconstructed soil properties in opencast coalmine regions. This study explored the applicability and accuracy of GPR in measuring reconstructed soil bulk density (RSBD) in southern dump, expanded western dump, and internal dump of the Antaibao open-pit mine, China. The variations of RSBD and the relationships between the dielectric constant and RSBD were analyzed based on ring knife sampling weighing, GPR detection, variance analysis, and fitting analysis. The results showed that (1) RSBD exhibited significant variations in different dumps and at different depths of the same profile. (2) RSBD differences in different dumps could be qualitatively analyzed based on the large-amplitude signals in GPR images. (3) When the soil volume moisture content ranged from 15 to 25%, RSBD was found to be negatively correlated with the dielectric constant. GPR has the potential to be widely employed to detect RSBD in reclaimed lands, which can contribute to the development of non-destructive quality testing of land reclamation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Shipin Kexue/ Food Science is the property of Food Science Editorial Department and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

According to the climatic characteristics of seasonal frozen area in northeast China, the concrete strength tests, surface resistivity, rapid chloride permeability, and freeze-thaw test under salt solution were carried out to study the influences of mineral admixtures and air content on the conventional properties and salt freeze-thaw resistance of concretes. Then, the correlation analysis of surface resistivity with strength and rapid chloride permeability were further investigated. Subsequently, the changes of cumulative mass loss and relative dynamic elastic modulus varying with salt freeze-thaw cycles were analyzed to study the influences of mineral admixtures and air content on salt freeze-thaw resistance of concrete. The test results showed that fly ash (FA) was not conducive to improve the strength and salt freeze-thaw resistance of concrete. However, blast furnace slag (BFS) and silica fume (SF) could improve the compressive and flexural strength of concrete, in which SF can improve its strength more significantly. Increasing the air content of concrete will lead to the reduction of its compressive strength, and the flexural strength first increased and then decreased. Nevertheless, the addition of air-entrainment agent (AEA) has the best effect on improving the salt freeze-thaw resistance of concrete. Moreover, surface resistivity of concrete has a good exponential function relationship with strength and a good power function relationship with rapid chloride permeability. Therefore, it is of great significance for engineering quality control and quickly and nondestructive testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the current state of non-destructive research on the density, surface tension and viscosity of molten samples using the electrostatic levitation furnace (ELF) aboard the China Space Station (CSS). To address the challenges posed by the microgravity environment during the non-destructive testing process of containerless technology, we have developed several solutions. These include a temperature correction for infrared temperature measurement, a dual-camera position correction technique for density testing, a double electrode synchronous excitation, semi-frequency excitation and fine-sweeping approach for surface tension testing, and a signal demodulation method for viscosity testing. The uncertainties of the three thermophysical properties were 0.51 %, 3.10 %, and 9.78 %, respectively. This study highlights the feasibility and accuracy of measurements conducted in the ELF on the CSS, offering valuable insights into the behavior of molten materials under microgravity conditions. The findings from this study significantly contribute to our understanding of the thermophysical properties of molten materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pinus massoniana is a pioneer reforestation tree species in China. It is crucial to evaluate the seedling vigor of Pinus massoniana for reforestation work, and leaf moisture and nitrogen content are key factors used to achieve it. In this paper, we proposed a non-destructive testing method based on the multi-scale short cut convolutional neural network (MS-SC-CNN) to measure moisture and nitrogen content in leaves of Pinus massoniana seedlings. By designing a reasonable short cut structure, the method realized the transmission of loss function gradient across the multi-layer structure in the network and reduced the information loss caused by the multi-layer transmission in the forward propagation. Meanwhile, in the back propagation stage, the loss caused by the multi-layer transmission of gradient was reduced. Thus, the gradient vanishing problem in training was avoided. Since the method realized cross-layer transmission error, the convolutional layer could be increased appropriately to obtain higher measurement accuracy. To verify the performance of the proposed MS-SC-CNN non-destructive measurement method, the near-infrared hyperspectral data of sample leaves of 219 Pinus massoniana seedlings were collected from the Huangping Forest Farm in Guizhou Province. The correlation coefficient between the measured and real values of the prediction was as high as 0.977 and the root mean square error was 0.242 for the moisture content of Pinus massoniana seedling leaves. For the nitrogen content of Pinus massoniana seedling leaves, the correlation coefficient between the measured and real values of the prediction was 0.906 and the root-mean-square error was 0.061. The results showed that the non-destructive testing method based on MS-SC-CNN that we proposed can accurately measure the moisture and nitrogen content in leaves of Pinus massoniana seedlings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Irrigation & Drainage is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Mogao Grottoes is famous around the world for its exquisite wall paintings and colorful painted sculptures, and was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987. Although the site is located in an arid area, water is still one of the main factors threatening the long-term preservation of cultural relics. The relationship between rainfall infiltration and wall painting deterioration was investigated as part of efforts to develop conservation strategies to prevent deterioration caused by atmospheric precipitation. This was done through artificial rainfall simulation experiments and high-density electrical non-destructive test. Areas prone to wall painting deterioration, as evidenced by periodic condition assessment, showed an association between further deterioration and natural heavy rainfall. The results show that the covering layer above the grottoes has a small runoff coefficient, and the rainfall infiltration is much larger than the volume of runoff produced. The rainwater migrates preferentially along the rock fractures in the form of gas or through the gaps between the grotto eaves and the rock, or through cracks in the form of liquid. This is the main mechanism for activation of salt damage and deterioration of the wall paintings. The covering layer above the grottoes is thin, and the through-cracks in the surrounding rock or external wooden eaves are particularly vulnerable to rainfall infiltration. This indicates that more attention should be paid to the system of preventive protection by rainwater disposal. This research has important practical value in improving preventive protection of the Mogao Grottoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To quickly evaluate the material properties of ancient wooden structure members on site, the larch species of northeastern China was used as the research object, and the nondestructive testing method of the stress wave and the micro-drill resistance meter were used to measure it. The variation laws of the larch wood's cross and vertical property indexes were determined. According to the variation law of material property indexes, the detection divisions under the nondestructive testing technology of stress wave and micro-drill resistance instruments were divided, which provides a basis for improving the accuracy of on-site nondestructive testing. From the comparison of shade and light side data, it was found that there was little difference in material properties indexes. According to the change trend of larch wood with density, the pith, juvenile wood, mature wood, and overmature wood were divided, which provided a reference value for the study of wood growth laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Using NIRS combined with CNN-LSTM to monitor the entire process of the classic formula Zhuru Decoction. • CNN-LSTM can accurately and quickly monitor the main pharmacological components of Zhuru Decoction. • The method can provide a reference for the rapid testing of traditional Chinese medicine compound prescriptions. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a collective term for the medicines of all ethnic groups in China, including Han Chinese and ethnic minority medicines, reflecting the Chinese people's understanding of life, health and disease, and is a system of medicine with a long historical tradition and unique theories and technical methods. Due to the nonlinearity, large hysteresis, and strong interference in the concentration process used in the production of traditional Chinese medicine, it is challenging to use just one conventional control method to achieve the desired control effect. The majority of traditional quality control methods used in processing the samples will result in the loss of the active ingredient and in the detection of impurities. Monitoring of multiple critical quality attributes (CQAs) is crucial for the overall process of the index ingredient. In this study, based on the above background, fast and nondestructive near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technique incorporating convolutional neural network (CNN) and long-short-term memory network (LSTM) was utilized to construct a quantitative model based on the seven characteristic components, puerarin, 3′-hydroxy puerarin, 3′-methoxy puerarin, puerarin apigenin, daidzin, glycyrrhizin and glycyrrhizic acid, during the concentration process. The results showed that the relative mean error (MAPE) values of the different components ranged from 0.7% to 2.8% and R2 from 0.981 to 0.992 based on the proposed CNN-LSTM model. The results showed that the combined model of near-infrared spectroscopy fused with convolutional neural network (CNN) and long-short-term memory network (LSTM) was feasible for accurate and rapid monitoring of the concentration of the classic famous prescription Zhuru Decoction (ZRD) during the decoction process and that the method could provide a reference value for rapid nondestructive testing of traditional Chinese medicine compound formulas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

12Cr1MoV is a commonly used heat-resistant steel for the steam pipelines of subcritical power boilers in China. Usually, the girth weld joints are the weakest areas of the entire steam pipelines. In this work, a leakage failure of girth weld joint in a 12Cr1MoV steam pipe with about 10 years' service was analyzed. The crack is along the intercritical heat affected zone (ICHAZ) in the hoop direction, and the fracture completely duplicating the geometry of the fusion line. The microstructure had degraded seriously by carbides spheroidization. In the region of ICHAZ and FGHAZ (type IV zone), creep cavities were observed along the grain boundaries. These phenomena indicate the weld joint had suffered type IV creep cracking. The formation and accumulation of the cavities in type IV zone of the weld joint before cracking is a unique phenomenon of creep. Therefore, the proper NDT method and signal extraction with strong ability on cavities recognition should be the key points for detecting the creep damage in early stage. The sensitivity and selectivity of the signal are both important for the practical application on the creep inspection. • The type IV cracking of 12Cr1MoV stream pipe girth weld was analyzed. • Creep cavities was observed to distribute at ICHAZ/FCHAC in wideness of 400–500 μm. • Creep detection by NDT should avoid the microstructure dependence as much as possible. • The NDT with high sensitivity & selectivity just on the creep cavities is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: This technology can be used to evaluate photographs and achieve optical density (OD) calibration, including non-destructive testing (NDT), DNA microarrays in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, human bone image, fMRI cortical mapping, etc. In visual diffuse transmission density measurement, it is hard to measure optical density (OD) up to 6.0 because the signal to noise is more than 10E-06. Thus, there are only two methods to find the measurement. One is using a highly sensitive detector with low background noise, and the other is improving the incident light flux with a wide spectrum, including visual scope. A new diffuse optics emitter was designed to realize OD measurements up to 6.0. It uses 235 optical fibers on a hemisphere to collect and feed in the incident flux, then emits this flux by a diffuse opal. Thus, an incident light with a high diffuse coefficient and high incident flux was realized for high OD measurement. This emitter has been used in the new national reference of National Institute of Metrology, China (NIM) for diffuse transmission optical density. According to the measurement result in this reference, the OD can be measured up to 6.6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: The tracked wall-climbing robot is used for the capacity calibration of several oil tanks located in Zhoushan city, China. And we also plan to use the robot for the inspection like non-destructive testing of the oil tanks by adding the corresponding sensors. Large vertical metal tanks are the primary vessels for the storage and turnover of crude oil, and the accuracy of their capacity calibrations are of great significance. The optical reference line method (ORLM) is used for capacity calibration and is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and hazardous, because of the elevated work. This paper aims to present a robot to overcome the problems above. We propose a tracked wall-climbing robot (TWCR) with permanent magnetic adhesion tracks, a collapsible scale, and an optional shovel-like rust remover that enable the TWCR to move stably on tank surfaces and perform the ORLM. Two sets of field tests (internal ORLM and external ORLM) indicate that capacity calibration by the TWCR is time saving, convenient, and safe, in addition to being accurate and reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing emphasis on the conservation of cultural relics, the renovation work of historic buildings has become more and more important. Basically, most of the ancient buildings in China are wooden structure. Wood is a flexible material which could resist deformation in the earthquake. The drawback, however, is that they are susceptible to temperature, humidity and other external influences (which will lead to rot, cracks, tilt, foundation settlement, etc.), and poses a hidden danger to entire architecture. Besides, after years of use, the decline in mechanical properties could affects their bearing capacity. Moreover, traditional renovation methods, determining renovation and demolition in the absence of accurate and effective detection and evaluation methods, like eyeballing, knocking, which are simple and depend largely on manual experience and lacks of accuracy, will cause the loss of historical information of ancient construction. Also, Traditional way of stylobate repairing can only be qualitative analysis which are visually or empirically, deciding partial repair or comprehensive replacement. Internal damage remains unclearly and inaccurately that often result in the loss of historical information and over-repair of heritage. Paper aims to interpret with two typical example in Mukden Palace, where located in the temperate sub-humid continental climate, with a huge temperature difference between day and night, one is the stone stylobate of Dazheng Hall, the palace used for holding ceremonies, the other is the wooden structure of Ancestral Temple. Both faced with varying degrees of damage, such as foundation broken, frieze panel inclined and pillar cracked. Non-destructive Testing (NDT) Technology using in those two projects includes 3D scanning, ground penetrating, concrete ultrasonic testing and mineral element analyzing that can collect data more comprehensive than just using traditional methods, especially for internal damage. Then generating the quantitative analysis of damage category. Furthermore, discussing cause of damage and moderately protection methods of the stone stylobate and the wooden structure on the basis of testing. As well as providing references of repairing project of traditional Chinese stony heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Transmission step-heating thermography was applied to measure the thickness of ancient cast iron Buddha head. • Accuracy of the step-heating thickness measurement method was assessed analytically and experimentally. • Effects of temperature rise time on thickness measurement accuracy were evaluated. • These data are useful for relic preservation and study of ancient iron casting. The authors report on the development of a step-heating infrared thermography method for nondestructive evaluation of a cast-iron Buddha head made in the Song Dynasty (AD 960–1279) in China. In particular, this method measures the wall-thickness distribution, which can be used as an indicator for the condition of the object. Unlike other areas of analysis, inspection of cultural relics requires special attention to safety. To avoid the heat shock associated with traditional flash thermography, a step-heating method with a mild heating process is considered to be more acceptable for evaluating cultural relics made from various materials. Before application to inspection of the Buddha head, a numerical analysis and experimental tests were performed to verify the accuracy of this step-heating thickness measurement method. Finally, thickness images of the Buddha head were acquired and analyzed. The step-heating thickness measurement method has a high accuracy and can be safely used for inspecting cultural relics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yuanba Gasfield is the first ultra-deep high-sulfur reef gas field in China. The high yield is accompanied hy a large amount of water, the corrosion problems along with reservoir development have increased obviously. For this reason, the corrosion problems and corresponding protective measures of the water gathering system in Yuanha Gasfield arc introduced. According to the classification of corrosion damage, the corrosion of the water gathering system in Yuanha Gasfield is local corrosion. The sulfur-resistant carbon steel cannot be used alone in the water gathering system in high-sulfur gas field, but when the sulfur-resistant carbon steel was added with corrosion inhibitor, its service life may he prolonged. The corrosion problems are noted due to increased media nonuniformity during pipelines outages. In addition, in the development and production process of high-sulfur gas fields, traditional online corrosion monitoring technology can not discover local corrosion such as pitting corrosion in time, therefore non-destructive testing methods like radiation detection and ultrasonic thickness measurement are introduced to complement fixed-point detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faience is a kind of ancient ceramic product which was widely found in many areas. Chinese faience appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771BCE), about three thousand years later than western Asia. The sudden and late emergence of Chinese faience implies that its production technology may be influenced by the West. However, little information is known about how the faience productions spread from the West to central China. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, located in the northwestern part of China, is one of the most important areas of cultural exchanges between the East and the West since ancient times. The study of faience unearthed in Xinjiang is of great significance to explore the early trade and cultural exchanges between central China and the West. In this paper, Synchrotron Radiation Micro-CT (SR-μCT) and Energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (EDXRF) have been applied to obtain the information of microstructure and chemical composition of faience beads excavated from Ya’er cemetery (1050-300BCE) in Hami Basin, The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. These faience beads are the earliest faience artifacts in China up to our knowledge and this is the first time to analyze the excavated faience in Xinjiang scientifically. Based on the microstructure of faience beads in CT slices, it is found that two glazing methods, direct application and efflorescence, were used in faience production. Additionally, a cylindrical core made of organic material sustained the faience bead during shaping and firing. According to EDXRF analysis, various glaze recipes have been used to produce these faience beads, possibly indicating different provenance. The characteristics of higher Na 2 O/K 2 O ratio of faience glaze showed that these faience beads might come from the West. Thus, it is suggested that there was a faience road from Western Asia through Xinjiang to central China about three thousand years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The infrared nondestructive testing experiment under natural excitation is carried out on the blades with wear damage, and the best light conditions are obtained. • Through the physical modeling method of fluid-thermal-solid coupling, the simulation of scene reconstruction is carried out, and the experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results. • Based on the simulation model, the influence of wind speed on the temperature, pressure and stress at the damaged blade is studied. At the same time, from the actual project, the influence of wind direction on the temperature, pressure and stress at the damaged blade is also studied. In recent years, with the increase of wind power generation and the rapid growth of the number of wind turbines installed, the safety monitoring of wind turbine blades has also attracted wide attention. To further study the thermal effect of wind turbine damaged blades under natural excitation in summer in northern China, based on the outdoor infrared non-destructive testing of wind turbine blades, a numerical simulation of wind turbine blades with wear damage is carried out by using the fluid solid heat transfer theory in COMSOL multi-physical field coupling software. The best detection light condition is obtained, in which the detection effect of wear damage is the best when the light intensity reaches 1000 W.m−2 or above at noon. The simulation results are basically in agreement with the experimental results. And compared with the previous physical modeling method using natural convection heat transfer coefficient to replace wind speed, the physical modeling method considering wind speed and air humidity is more consistent with the experimental results, the maximum error value was decreased by 7.46 %, which verifies the rationality of the model and the feasibility of the method. In addition, the blade works in the natural environment for a long time, the thermal stress will have a significant impact on its fatigue strength, so on the basis of this model, the coupling analysis, and then analyze the change of thermal stress in different wind speed. With the increase of wind speed, the temperature on the blade surface gradually decreases and the wind pressure gradually increases. Because the influence of temperature on the stress is greater than that of wind pressure, the stress also shows a gradual downward trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raman spectroscopy was employed to investigate six Imperial China Engraved Coiling Dragon stamps non-destructively. The results have shown that (1) the main colors (yellow, green, scarlet, brown, vermilion, and blue) on the six stamps were all prepared from inorganic pigments, including chrome yellow, chrome orange, Prussian blue, red lead, magnesium sulfate hydrate, and ultramarine blue. (2) Raman spectrometer has been allowed for successfully identifying the molecular structure of the pigments printed on the six examined stamps, suggesting that such a dual analytical approach could satisfy the need for pigment identification on stamps. (3) The finding that certain pigments were intentionally mixed to produce a whole different hue or color, the mechanism of which could be explained by theories of chromatology and metamerism, also provides new insight into the future conservation, authentication, and restoration of the early printings. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reveal the moisture migration mechanism of the unsaturated red clays, which are sensitive to water content change and widely distributed in South China, and then rationally use them as a filling material for highway embankments, a method to measure the water content of red clay cylinders using X-ray computed tomography (CT) was proposed and verified. Then, studies on the moisture migrations in the red clays under the rainfall and ground water level were performed at different degrees of compaction. The results show that the relationship between dry density, water content, and CT value determined from X-ray CT tests can be used to nondestructively measure the water content of red clay cylinders at different migration time, which avoids the error reduced by the sample-to-sample variation. The rainfall, ground water level, and degree of compaction are factors that can significantly affect the moisture migration distance and migration rate. Some techniques, such as lowering groundwater table and increasing degree of compaction of the red clays, can be used to prevent or delay the moisture migration in highway embankments filled with red clays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The reliability of the stress wave non-destructive testing technique in the trunk defects diagnosis of Populus euphratica riparian forest in extreme arid desert conditions was verified. • The trunk internal decay of P. euphratica was negatively correlated with tree vitality. • There was a significant positive correlation between tree trunk decay and groundwater depth. • The trunk decay occurrence in the lower reaches was much higher than that in the middle reaches of the Tarim River. Trunk internal decay is a common phenomenon in forest ecosystems, causing the loss of forest resources. Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica Oliv.) is the only constructive tree species of the desert riparian forests along the Tarim River in northwestern China. The ecosystem stability of these forests has been damaged due to widespread internal decay or hollow rot in many tree trunks. However, forest resource conservation is difficult due to the unclear spatial patterns of P. euphratica trunk decay under different water conditions and tree morphology in the middle (MTR) and lower reaches (LTR) of the Tarim River. We conducted a field experiment and lab analysis to assess the reliability of the ARBOTOM® 2D stress wave Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) technique on P. euphratica populations. We explored the quantitative characterization method and the spatial distribution patterns of P. euphratica trunk internal decay in the MTR and LTR. Our study found that (1) the accuracy of the stress wave NDT technique in detecting trunk decay of P. euphratica in the arid desert area was more than 80%; The severity of internal trunk decays can be quantitatively characterized by the combination of the Matlab Image Processing Toolbox, (2) the trunk decay proportion of P. euphratica showed an increasing trend with the tree height in the MTR. The LTR first increased, then decreased. The degree of decay was highest when the tree height was 6–7 m. The trunk decay proportion of individual trees positively correlated with the diameter at breast height and crown loss (p < 0.001) and negatively correlated with the crown diameter (p < 0.001). The higher the decay occurrence, the worse the individual size was, and vice versa, and (3) the decay proportion of the P. euphratica showed an overall increasing trend with an increase in groundwater depth. The trunk decay was significantly higher in the LTR compared to the MTR at the same distance of 300–1050 m from the river channel. Our findings suggested that the trunk decay in P. euphratica had a higher difference among different tree morphology, and the occurrence of decay in the LTR was much higher than in the MTR. The water stress at the site is one of the leading factors in internal defects in the riparian forests along the Tarim River. The results provide a theoretical basis and scientific support for desert riparian forest ecosystems' conservation and sustainable management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A portable Raman spectrometer was used for the in situ nondestructive analysis of precious gemstone beads collected in the Han-Cultural Museum of Hepu county. These beads dated to the Han Dynasties (206 bc to 220 ad) were unearthed from the Hepu county, which was one of the important ancient ports along the Maritime Silk Road, Guangxi Province. Gemstone beads made of beryl group minerals (e.g. aquamarine, goshenite and heliodor) and almandine, which had formerly been mistakenly regarded as coloured quartz beads, were successfully identified. These beryl beads were the earliest known ones ever found in China. In addition, some beads made of amethyst, chalcedony and citrine were also determined. Referred to the research results reported for other artefacts from Hepu county and other places, the possible provenances of these gemstone beads are discussed briefly. The present research provides valuable information for the early trade between south China and South Asia through the Maritime Silk Road. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nondestructive methods to estimate individual leaf area (LA) accurately, by leaf length (L) and/or width (W), is helpful for the in situ and successive LA measurements. However, leaf shape and size may covary with environment and thus alter the coefficients of LA estimation models. To test such hypothesis, we carried out an experiment by measuring Saussurea stoliczkai C. B. Clarke leaves along an altitudinal transect in Damxung county, central Tibet. In July 2011, we selected seven sites at about every 150 m in altitude from 4,350 m to 5,250 m a.s.l. A total of 1,389 leaves (182 to 203 leaves for each site) were measured. For each site, models developed by two leaf dimensions [LA = a (L×W) + b] could estimate LA more accurately than those by single dimension. L, W, LA and leaf shape index (L:W ratio) all decreased with increasing altitude, leading to significant differences in coefficients of two-dimension model between almost every two sites. Accordingly, a common two-dimension model is unlikely to occur for S. stoliczkai across the whole altitudinal transect, indicating that the varying leaf shape may alter the coefficient of LA estimation models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase identification based on nondestructive analytical techniques using portable equipment is ideal for the analysis of art and archaeological objects. Portable(p)-XRF and p-Raman are very widely used for this purpose, yet p-XRD is relatively rare despite its importance for the analysis of crystalline materials. This paper overviews 6 types of p-XRD systems developed for analysis of art and archaeological materials. The characteristics of each system are compared. One of the p-XRD systems developed by the authors was brought to many museums as well as many archeological sites in Egypt and Syria to characterize the cultural heritage artifacts, e.g., amulet made of Egyptian blue, blue painted pottery, and Islamic pottery from Egypt, jade from China, variscite from Syria, a Japanese classic painting drawn by Korin Ogata, and oil paintings drawn by Taro Okamoto. Practical application data are shown to demonstrate the potential ability of the method for analysis of various art and archaeological materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on non-destructive testing (NDT) industry, which include the role and history of the NDT qualification for the in-service inspection of nuclear power plants, the introduction on the NDT technologies of coiled tubing in China and overseas, and the presentation of efficient methods of stress analysis and strength assessment for higher generation wheel bearings.

Abstract: Uniformity and quality of the grout behind the lining segments have a great influence on the long-term settlement in shield tunnel construction in soft soil areas. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the grouting treatment before the tunnel operation, a nondestructive testing method using ground penetrating radar (GPR) was proposed to detect the grout thickness behind the lining segments of metro lines in Shanghai, China. GPR has shown to be a viable approach due to the facts that: (1) the detecting objects (concrete segments, grout and soil) were in the depth of one meter or less; (2) dielectric parameters of all the materials can be obtained from the laboratory; (3) the contrasts in the dielectric properties among these three materials were large enough; (4) only the boundary between the grout and the soil needed to be found since the concrete segments had a known even thickness of 0.35m. Three GPR frequencies 250MHz, 500MHz and 1GHz were used in the field tests in Shanghai Metro line 9. The results showed that the 250MHz GPR had a low resolution while the 1GHz GPR had a shallow detecting depth. Frequency at 500MHz showed the most promising results. These tests results demonstrated that nondestructive geophysics techniques such as GPR detection can be used to mitigate the risks of long-term ground settlement, a critical issue of shield tunnel construction in soft soil areas such as Shanghai. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In China, atmospheric storage tanks are not included in the regulations governing the management of special equipment, and their inspection is therefore not compulsory. There is a greater discrepancy between China and developed countries regarding atmospheric storage tank inspection techniques, compared with other techniques for the inspection of pressure vessels. It is widely believed that the reduction in strength and perforation of the tanks is due mainly to serious corrosion occurring on the bottom surface of the tank floors. The currently available nondestructive testing methods for atmospheric storage tanks are analysed in this paper. We discuss the principles, the use of inspection equipment, and the application of acoustic emission testing, magnetic flux leakage testing and ultrasonic crawler testing techniques for atmospheric storage tank inspection. The problems associated with the inspection methods are discussed. A practice for inspecting and evaluating atmosphere storage tanks using these testing methods is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper demonstrates capabilities of microfocus X-ray computed tomography (µCT) in characterizing the development of coal porosity and fractures. For the investigated coals, the CT number of minerals, pores and coal matrix are approximately 3000, <600 and 1000–1600 Hounsfield unit (HU), respectively. The total CT number of analyzed coals mainly relate to the density, coal maceral composition, and proportion of minerals and pores. Although the estimated porosities by segmentation method show some uncertainty, the results correlate well with the analyzed porosities by helium gas method and water-saturated method. The aperture, spacing and spatial distribution of fractures, and mineral morphology are semi-quantitatively evaluated by µCT using a computer-aided design. The slicing analyses of coals demonstrated that distributions of porosity in coals are highly anisotropic. The spatial disposition of pores, fractures and minerals is the most important factor that influences coal porosity and permeability. In spite of the limitation of low spatial resolution (70 μm) and some ring artifacts of X-ray, µCT has major advantages in non-destructive detection and 3D visualized characterization of pores, fractures and minerals compared to traditional methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents abstracts on nondestructive testing which include the analysis of oil and gas pipeline's nondestructive testing (NDT) technical standards, a review of the new methods of NDT in China, and an evaluation of the compressive strength for different treatment-associated drilling core.

• A good two-step vacuum diffusion bonding process for CLAM steel was developed by measuring austenite transformation. • UT technology was successfully used for non-destructive testing of diffusion bonded joint. • The microstructure, element distribution and mechanical properties of diffusion bonded joint were investigated. Solid diffusion bonding of China low activation martensitic (CLAM) steels was performed. The bonding process was designed based on the austenite transformation, and the austenite transformation information was obtained by using high-resolution dilatometer prior to diffusion bonding. The reliable joining between CLAM/CLAM steels was obtained by using a two-step diffusion bonding procedure. Ultrasonic non-destructive testing revealed no lack-of-bonding porosities at the diffusion bonding interface. Details on interfacial microstructure and mechanical properties of diffusion bonded joint were investigated. Microstructure analysis showed the uniform distribution of elements across the joint, and there was no significant microstructure gradient at the vicinity of the joint. The tensile properties of diffusion bonded samples are almost identical to those of base metal. However, the fracture position of the diffusion bonded samples was located on the base materials, which is related to the finer martensite near the joint zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of Chinese medical herbs depends on their geographical origins. Combining support vector machine (SVM) with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a fast, accurate and nondestructive technique to classify the herbal origins. It is time consuming to tune the key parameters of SVM elaborately. However, a special leave-one-out (LOO) error bound of generalization ability (i.e., the ratio of the number of support vectors to the number of training vectors) can be estimated through training binary SVM once. In this paper, averaging all LOO error bounds over binary SVM classifiers is defined as the LOO error bound for multiclass problem according to one-against-other technique. Using this error bound and grid search, we can estimate the regularization and kernel parameters in SVM efficiently. In our experiments, 269 spectral curves of Dahurian Angelica Root (Baizhi in Chinese) from four provinces in China are examined in detail using polynomial and RBF kernels. On eight testing subsets, the average error rate is 3.53%. For four geographical origins, the highest error rate 6.07% is obtained using Zhejiang's herb. These results demonstrate that for classifying the herbal origins our proposed method can effectively tune SVM parameters and achieve high classification accuracy simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-destructive testing plays a very important role in the on-going industrialisation of China. This paper reviews the history, personnel qualification and certification system, standards, production of instruments, research and application areas for NDT in China. China not only has a large requirement for conventional NDT instruments and materials, but also for advanced instruments and techniques. China is already a big market for NDT instruments, techniques and services and this will continue over the coming years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most widely used methods to assess the nitrogen (N) status of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) are the determination of plant total N by combustion, the testing of nitrate in the leaf tissue and the use of SPAD readings. However, due to their labor requirements or high costs these methods can hardly be applied to the huge wheat growing areas of the Northern China Plain. This study therefore examined an alternative method to measure the N status of wheat by using a digital camera to record the visible green light reflected from the plant canopy. The experiment was conducted near Beijing in a multi-factorial field trial with three levels of N. The intensity of green light reflected from the wheat canopy was compared to the total N concentration, to the nitrate concentration of the basal stem, and to the SPAD readings of leaves. The results show significant inverse relationships between greenness intensity, canopy total N, and SPAD readings at booting and flowering. At booting, sap nitrate <2000 mg L−1 was inversely related to greenness intensity and to sap nitrate concentration in the basal stem. At sap nitrate ˜2000 mg L−1, the greenness intensity reached a plateau. At booting and flowering, significant inverse relationships between greenness intensity and shoot biomass were found. The results show the potential of the new method to assess the N status of winter wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The density and modulus of elasticity (MOE) distribution can provide information on the effectiveness of parametric and non-parametric methods in calculating the characteristic value of MOE. In this study, we aim to determine the optimal distribution model of the actual measured data of the lumber. We also estimate the lumber's MOE characteristic value and compare the difference in density and MOE between natural and planted larch. Approximately 1200 pieces of dimension lumber of 4 m × 140 mm × 40 mm in size, made from larch and planted larch, were obtained, tested, and the corresponding standard MOE value was calculated. Results revealed the 3-parameter Weibull distribution to be optimal in fitting the natural and planted larch distributions. The parametric method proved effective in calculating the characteristic value of both larch groups, with characteristic MOE values of 9.73 kN/mm2 and 8.84 kN/mm2, and characteristic density values of 530 kg/m3 and 460 kg/m3 for natural and planted larch, respectively. Moreover, the MOE and density values followed grades C40 and C35. Thus, the conclusion is that the parametric method should be used to determine these characteristic values for natural and planted larch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The sample covers 87 different rice (with chaff) varieties in China. • Samples were scanned with a high-energy wavelength range of 938-−2215 nm and the spectral image absorption peak of the sample appears obviously. • The optimal characteristic wavelengthcombination was selected. • According to the visualization image, the distribution of rice protein could be understood. The study aimed to establish predictive models of protein content in rice (with husk) using a hyperspectral imaging (HSI) system in a collection of 87 rice varieties in China in the wavelength range of 938–2215 nm and the first established multivariate calibration models over the full wavelength range by using partial least-square regression (PLSR), principal component regression (PCR) and least-square support vector regression (LS-SVR). In predictive model optimisation, the optimal wavelengths were selected by using regression coefficients (RC) as discriminating factors to establish PLSR models. According to the RC of models, the optimal wavelength combination was 17 and 7 characteristics. The model based on the 17-characteristic wavelengths was determined as the optimal optimisation model with coefficients of determination for prediction of 0.8011 and root mean square error of prediction of 0.52. The mapping of protein content was achieved by transferring a quantitative model to each pixel. According to the visualisation image, the distribution of rice protein could be understood, thus realising the possibility of on-line detection of protein content by using HSI technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, preserving historic trees and ancient timber structures has attracted more attention from researchers and institutions. Nondestructive testing (NDT) technology has gained momentum in the application and research in recent years. This paper presents some examples of the application of NDT techniques in the protection of historic trees and ancient timber structures in China. A total of nine NDT techniques were applied, including five techniques of visual inspection, sounding, Resistograph, stress wave transmission velocity, stress wave tomography for both historic trees and ancient timber structures, two techniques of the pulling-test and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) for historic trees alone, and two techniques of acoustic emission (AE) and digital imaging for ancient timber structures. Based on field testing, there is a very good detecting effect for visual inspection and Resistograph, but sounding works unsatisfactorily. The stress wave transmission velocity is found to be excellent in screening for the internal defects of historic tree trunks, but performs badly in screening for the internal defects within the wood members of ancient timber structures. AE is less successful but digital imaging performs well in long-term monitoring and damage warning of wood structures. The stress wave tomography successfully obtains images of internal defects inside tree trunks. The anchorage of some historic trees cannot be quantitatively evaluated with the pulling test if the tree is too large. GPR's resolution and accuracy are very low, which limit its application. Theoretical research on NDT and promotion of NDT technology are still an essential part of the work in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the urban shantytown renovation project in Hongguang Town, Helan County, Ningxia, in Northwest China, the influence of fly ash and silica fume admixture on the mechanical properties of Self-compacting Concrete (SCC) was tested and analyzed in this work. The experimental tests including compressive strength, splitting strength, triaxial strength and an ultrasonic nondestructive test. Furthermore, the Back Propagation (BP) neural network algorithms were established. The results show that there is an obvious difference between the development law of compressive strength of SCC and that of ordinary concrete. The splitting pressure ratio of SCC is 1/10 to 1/8, while that of ordinary concrete is 1/13 to 1/10. Moreover, the peak strain, peak stress and initial stiffness of SCC increase with the increase of the confining pressure when compressed from three directions. In addition, the ultrasonic amplitude of SCC can reflect the changing laws of its compressive strength. As a conclusion, the addition of fly ash and silica fume increases the splitting pressure ratio of SCC. More importantly, the compressive strength formula for SCC with silica fume and a low content of fly ash is proposed, and the model equation between the amplitude and compressive strength is given. This study provides a reference for the mixture ratio of fly ash and silica fume in the application of SCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a comment on non-destructive testing (NDT) in China by the Technical Committee, The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing. The Committee reports that NDT industry in China is still growing, so it is important. There is also increased recognition in China that quality control and health and safety are paramount. Both of these issues have driven the demand for NDT - practice and research.