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This research focuses on characterizing the dissolved organic matter found at water treatment plants with closed systems. Recycled water generated as a by-product of water treatment is added to raw water in those systems. The dissolved organic matter in the raw water was found to be higher in summer than in winter, but the water treatment process was able to produce purified water of the similar quality in both seasons. The recycled water contained mostly low molecular weight and protein-like substances, and this composition was different from that of the raw water, which mainly contained humic-like substances. The recycled water did not influence the concentration of humic-like substances or the molecular weight distribution in the influent water.

In precision agriculture, suitable soil moisture and nutrient levels are important for crop production. Therefore, studying the spatial variability in soil moisture and nutrient, and their impact on crop yield is essential. In this study, spatial variability in soil mechanical composition, bulk density, water content and nutrient content in north China along with its impact on crop yield is investigated. Results show that soil mechanical composition and bulk density respectively exhibited moderate and weak spatial variation at the 0–80 cm soil depth. Soil moisture and NH4+-N contents at the 0–80 cm soil depth showed moderate spatial variation, while soil NO3−-N content showed a moderate spatial variation from the seedling stage to the filling stage and a strong spatial variation from the milk-riping stage to the maturing stage. The maximum attainable yield was achieved under the optimum soil moisture, NH4+-N, or NO3−-N contents for the whole growth period and each growth stage. At high soil water condition, both soil NH4+-N and NO3−-N contents were found to be significantly different between the high and low yield areas, while at low soil water condition, only soil NO3−-N content affected the crop yield significantly. At either low or high soil NO3−-N level, soil NH4+-N content in high-producing areas was significantly lower than that in low-producing areas. Excess fertilization was found in the experimental area. This study can provide a scientific basis for developing appropriate crop irrigation and fertilization management practices to obtain high yield.

The objectives of this study were to obtain rational irrigation and nitrogen (N) management for reducing methane (CH4) emission from paddy field and understand how CH4 emission flux is affected by the changes in soil enzyme activities and organic carbon fractions under different irrigation and N management. Two-season field experiments were conducted with three irrigation modes, conventional irrigation (C), “thin-shallow-wet-dry” irrigation (T), and alternate drying and wetting irrigation (D), and two N treatments, 100% urea (FM1) and 50% urea and 50% pig manure (FM2), to investigate CH4 emission flux, soil enzyme activities, and organic carbon fractions and analyze the relationships between them. CH4 emission fluxes from early and late rice fields peaked at tillering stage (652.74 and 103.78 mg m−2 h−1). Compared to C mode, D and T modes increased early rice yield and D mode also increased total yield of both seasons. However, D and T modes decreased cumulative CH4 emissions over the whole growth period under FM2. CH4 emission flux was positively correlated with saccharase activity and microbial biomass carbon (MBC), but negatively correlated with cellulase activity. Path analysis indicates that cellulase activity had a direct negative effect on CH4 emission. FM2-D and FM2-T were rational irrigation and fertilizer treatments for rice production with higher yield and lower CH4 emission, and CH4 emission flux was affected by the changes in MBC, saccharase, and cellulase activities in soils under different irrigation and N management.

We describe the synergistic utilization of titanocene/photoredox dual catalysis driven by visible light for the radical opening/spirocyclization of easily accessible epoxyalkynes. This environmentally benign process uses the organic donor–acceptor fluorophore 2,4,5,6-tetra(9H-carbazol-9-yl)isophthalonitrile (4CzIPN) as a photocatalyst and Hantzsch ester (HE) as an electron donor instead of stoichiometric metallic reductants. The photocatalytic conditions showed exceptionally high reactivity for the synthesis of privileged and synthetically challenging spirocycles featuring a spiro all-carbon quaternary stereocenter. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) studies suggest that Cp2TiIIICl is the catalytically active species., We describe the synergistic utilization of titanocene/photoredox dual catalysis driven by visible light for radical opening/spirocyclization of easily accessible epoxyalkynes.

We have developed a practical “in situ immobilization” strategy where pyrene-tagged, multicomponent chiral catalysts (MCCs) are anchored onto graphene materials via π–π stacking interactions. The resulting novel hybrid catalysts showed excellent catalytic activity and enantioselectivity towards the hydrogenation of dehydroamino acid esters. Moreover, the catalysts demonstrated enhanced stability as they can be readily recycled and reused for up to thirteen runs without obvious deterioration of reactivity or enantioselectivity.

Developing cost-effective photocathodes that show desirable performance for use in commercial photoelectrochemical water splitting devices remains a fundamental and practical challenge. Sb2Se3 semiconductors satisfy most of the demands expected for an ideal highly efficient photocathode, including favorable cost and optoelectronic properties. Herein, we have demonstrated outstanding photoelectrodes using a noble-metal-free catalyst, namely, a MoSx-decorated low-cost Sb2Se3/In2S3 heterojunction, as the photocathode. This enabled a maximum photocurrent density of up to −27 mA cm−2 (0 V vs. RHE, 100 mW cm−2, AM 1.5G filter) with a remarkable half solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency (STH) of 2.6%, obtained via decreasing charge recombination and accelerating charge transfer through morphological optimization of the In2S3 layer.

Aiming at the problem of coordinating system economy, security and control performance in secondary frequency regulation of the power grid, a sectional automatic generation control (AGC) dispatch framework is proposed. The dispatch of AGC is classified as three sections with the sectional dispatch method. Besides, a hierarchical multi-agent deep deterministic policy gradient (HMA-DDPG) algorithm is proposed for the framework in this paper. This algorithm, considering economy and security of the system in AGC dispatch, can ensure the control performance of AGC. Furthermore, through simulation, the control effect of the sectional dispatch method and several AGC dispatch methods on the Guangdong province power grid system and the IEEE 39 bus system is compared. The result shows that the best effect can be achieved with the sectional dispatch method.

Mineral flotation processes are controlled by monitoring the grade of the present minerals. The economy of the flotation process can be significantly improved by on-line analysis of minerals in a slurry. However, online and quantitative mineral identification of slurries is challenging. Industrial developers are demanding novel ideas enabling differentiation between minerals with similar elemental contents, such as scheelite and fluorite or gangue minerals, since they have different flotation properties. The primary focus of this research is the measurement of mineral contents from the elemental concentrations acquired by an on-stream slurry analyser based on X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR). In this work, the samples in the test were obtained from a tungsten dressing plant. It is vital to master the mineral grade for controlling the flotation plant. The XRF parameters were optimised by Monte Carlo simulation, and the XRF and NIR data fusion was discussed. A multivariate statistical method called the least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) was employed to perform the element-to-mineral conversion. The results show that such data integrations enable on-stream and quantitative identification of slurry mineral contents, especially for scheelite, wolframite, fluorite and calcite, which are essential minerals in tungsten ore beneficiation. This technique can lead to many benefits, such as rapid control of concentrate quality, enhanced recovery and savings in money, time, energy and workforce.

In the current electrical load profile analysis, considering the shortage of traditional methods on the typical load profile extraction of single consumers and the load profile feature extraction, this paper proposes an approach based on time series data mining. Firstly, this method reduces the dimension of the load profile of a single consumer based on the Piecewise Aggregate Approximation(PAA), and re-expresses the load profile of the consumer over a period based on the Symbolic Aggregate approXimation(SAX), representing the consumer’s load profile with a symbolic string to extract the typical load profile. Then, combined with the load characteristic indices and time series-based features, the typical load profiles of different consumers are clustered based on the K-means algorithm to analyze the power consumption behaviors. Finally, this paper performs a case analysis with a UCI test data set, and the results show that the proposed approach can excavate typical power consumption behaviors of consumers and improve the electrical load profile analysis efficiency and the clustering quality.

A novel flame-assisted deposition (FAD) method was used to generate and immobilize cobalt oxide (CoOx) on the surface of fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and TiO2 modified hematite (TiO2/Fe2O3) for electrochemical and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water oxidation, respectively, with significant performance.

Systematically analyzing the problem of heavy metals in the municipal sludge, a meta-analysis of nine metals was undertaken to distinguish the sources and sinks of those with the impact of their accumulation on the environment. Municipal sludge was rich in N, P and K nutrients, was found to contain heavy metals comprising the descending order ZnMnCuCrPbNiAsCdHg. The forms, in which heavy metals accumulated in geographical regions, were characterized. The geographical distribution of heavy metals in the sludge showed a significant difference, with higher accumulation in Eastern and Southern regions, however, the risk evaluations showed the higher risk of heavy metals accumulation in Eastern and Western regions. Agricultural, industrial and traffic activities, and storm water pipeline sediments were identified as the main sources of heavy metals in the sludge. The correlation analysis elucidated the role of the total organic carbon in the accumulation of heavy metals in sludge. Municipal sludge is endowed with resource properties due to the detection of heavy metal contents thresholds in household products and its own resource-attributable enrichment behavior, which requires deduction of environmental risks.

In this study, Escherichia coli (E. coli) was used as an indicator bacterium treated with five different concentrations of chlorine (0.1; 0.5; 1.0; 2.0, and 5.0 mg/L) and without chlorine (0.0 mg/L) to evaluate the changes in the DOM characteristics. The dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration initially increased along with the chlorine concentrations and decreased after 24 hours (0.0 and 0.1 mg/L) and 168 hours (0.5; 1.0; 2.0 and 5.0 mg/L). Ultra-violet absorbance at 260 nm (UV260) showed that the absorbance decreased for control without chlorine (0.0 mg/L) and 0.1 mg/L chlorine, while increased for other concentrations of chlorine within 120 hours. The DOC and UV260 results indicated that the high concentrations of chlorine initiated high contents of DOM which contained more humic-like molecules than the DOM released from E. coli without chlorine. Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) analysis suggested that the DOM released from E. coli without chlorine enriched with protein-like substances, whereas the fulvic-like and humic-like substances more intensified in the DOM for the high concentrations of chlorine (>1.0 mg/L). The molecular weight distribution of DOM showed that the intensity of high molecular weight substances and polydispersity increased along with chlorine concentration and contact time, whereas the low molecular weight substances were relatively higher in the DOM for control without chlorine. The obtained results of this study would be useful for a better understanding of the variation of DOM during treatment and could be used as an important reference for optimizing the operation condition of the water treatment plants.

Phenol adsorption by granular activated carbon from coconut shell was studied in batch experiments under various initial phenol concentrations. Adsorption equilibrium was reached within 4 hours. The characteristics of the phenol adsorption process onto granular activated carbon from coconut shell were studied by adsorption isotherm modeling, analysis that uses fluorescence spectroscopy, in addition to measuring nanoparticle size and volume distribution by a Zetasizer Nano. The Langmuir isotherm model best fits the phenol adsorption onto granular activated carbon from coconut shell, and the maximum adsorption capacities for unsterilized and sterilized types were found to be 17.54 mg/g and 13.70 mg/g, respectively. The excitation-emission matrix results showed that the humic-like substance’s peaks almost completely disappear post-adsorption. It was also found that the nanoparticle size distribution shifted from ranges of 0.72–1.74 nm in raw water to 45.66–726.73 nm and 57.08–1068.47 nm post-adsorption in unsterilized and sterilized water samples, respectively, suggesting that phenol adsorption had occurred. This study shows that low-cost coconut shell–based activated carbon demonstrated good removal capability and hence can be used as a new adsorbent material on large scale.

Situational awareness of electric vehicle charging behavior is an important prerequisite for active distribution network to realize charging demand analysis and controllable resource regulation. However, the subjective difference and randomness of charging behavior greatly affect the accuracy of charging demand analysis. In this regard, this paper proposes a method for predicting the subjective charging behavior of electric vehicles based on deep residual networks. Firstly, the K-means clustering algorithm is used to obtain the non-differentiated typical charging behavior. Secondly, a differentiated subjective behavior characteristic model is constructed with multi-dimensional influencing factors as input and charging behavior characteristics as output of the model. The input and output are correlated, and the non-linear related parts are deep knowledge mined and non-linear curve fit through the deep residual network. Taking a Chinese electric vehicle data set as an example for simulation verification, the results show that the proposed method can effectively distinguish the linear and nonlinear relationships between multi-dimensional factors and charging behavior characteristics, and has high-precision charging behavior prediction capabilities.

The resistance and capacitance parameters of a resistance–capacitance divider may change due to factors such as long-term operation, internal insulation flashover, and dielectric breakdown, which will affect the measurement characteristics of the resistance–capacitance divider. Since it is difficult to separate the voltage divider, and because improper disassembly will damage the insulation of the equipment, measuring the resistance and capacitance parameters of a voltage divider non-destructively has always been a problem. In this paper, an indirect method for evaluating the resistance and capacitance parameters is proposed, and the uncertainty of measurement of this method is determined. Simulation and actual test results show that this method can be used to estimate the resistance–capacitance parameters and has a good level of measurement accuracy. Besides, through the uncertainty analysis, it is concluded that the proposed method can overcome measurement errors within a certain range and has high practicability. Finally, a very practical application scenario of the proposed method is given, showing that the proposed method has good economic significance.

The current electricity market reform has become a historical trend. Among them, large enterprises and users will face profound changes in the characteristics of the energy market and the industry's operating environment. Through the feasibility analysis of large users' participation in demand response and based on the potential of large users to participate in demand response, this paper establishes a bidding model for large users in the peak shaving market. Finally, in combination with specific parameter settings, a case analysis of large industrial users participating in peak shaving market transactions was carried out to verify the feasibility of the built model. At the same time, the large user quotation strategy for each time under the case was obtained and analyzed.

This is the first study on a Ru(bda) (bda: 2,2'-bipyridine-6,6'-dicarboxylic acid) catalyst in solution using a home-built electrochemical cell, in combination with an energy-dispersive X-ray absorption spectroscopy setup. The oxidation state and coordination number of the catalyst during electrocatalysis could be estimated, while avoiding radiation damage from the X-rays.

Effect of temperature on antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) during vermicomposting of domestic excess sludge remains poorly understood. Vermicomposting experiment with excess sludge was conducted at three different temperatures (15 °C, 20 °C, and 25 °C) to investigate the fate of ARGs, bacterial community and their relationship in the process. The vermicomposting at 25 °C did not significantly attenuate the targeted ARGs relative to that at 15 °C and 20 °C. The dynamics of qnrA, qnrS, and tetM genes during vermicomposting at 15 °C and 20 °C followed the first-order kinetic model. Temperature remarkably impacted bacterial diversity of the final products with the lowest Shannon index at 25 °C. The presence of the genus (Aeromonas and Chitinophagaceae) at 25 °C may contribute to the rebound of the genes (qnrA, qnrS and tetM). The study indicates that 20 °C is a suitable vermicomposting temperature to simultaneously reach the highest removal efficiency of the ARGs and the good biostability of the final product.

To solve the problem of baseline drift in the detection of soil samples by x-ray fluorescence spectrum, an improved adaptive iterative weighted penalized least squares ( IairPLS ) method is proposed to estimate the baseline of x-ray fluorescence spectrum signals. We improved the original exponential weight function to solve the problem of baseline underestimation caused by adaptive iterative weighted penalized least squares. The improved function effectively reduces the risk of baseline underestimation and speeds up the weighting process, achieving good results. In this paper, the MC simulation spectrum and soil real analysis spectrum are used to verify the performance of the algorithm. Finally, the algorithm is compared with previous penalized least squares methods (asymmetric least squares, adaptive iterative reweighted penalized least squares, and multiple constrained reweighted penalized least squares), with the results showing that the proposed method has the least root-mean-square error after baseline correction for optimal smoothing parameters λ and the best relative error of baseline estimation accuracy. Meanwhile, the IairPLS method can effectively improve the quantitative analysis ability of the x-ray fluorescence spectrum. The proposed method can be successfully applied to the actual x-ray fluorescence spectrum, which provides a powerful basis for quantitative analysis.

The fate and behavior of radioactive cesium (Cs) in the water environment are of great concern. The involvement of bacteria regarding their accumulation capability for this element is the most fundamental factor that needs to be clarified even for exploring the interactions between many environmental factors that involve together in governing the transport and distribution of Cs. As the first systematical study that aimed to evaluate the accumulation capability of environmental bacteria for Cs, bacteria in the sediment of a freshwater reservoir and coastal water environment were isolated and multiplied for contact experiment with Cs under different temperature conditions (5, 25, and 35 °C). The accumulation concentration of Cs in bacteria from freshwater sediment varied in 3.95 × 10−6 to 5.68×10−4ng-Cs/cell, and that from coastal sediment in 1.52 × 10−6 to 7.41×10−4ng-Cs/cell, indicating obvious differences among bacterial species. Bacteria of coastal sediment possessed higher accumulation capability for Cs than bacteria from freshwater sediment, and temperature dependency was confirmed for bacteria from coastal sediment. The findings of this study have great reference value for better understanding and controlling the fate and behavior of radioactive Cs associated with bacteria in the water environment.

This paper describes a humanoid robot developed for the 2020 Beijing Ski Robot Challenge. The goal is to design a skiing robot that can independently perform skiing movements to reach a designated destination. Aiming at the biped alpine skiing robot, we proposed a skiing control algorithm based on DDPG reinforcement learning. In this paper, the approximate method is used to establish the relationship between tilting angle, skateboard cutting angle and turning radius of the robot. In order to simplify the dimension of the output of the control algorithm, the relationship among turning radius and foot length and toe distance is established. We established the relationship among the turning radius, the length of the feet and the distance between the toes, and also controlled the turning radius by controlling the length of the feet and the distance between the feet, moreover, we obtained the angles of each joint of the humanoid robot by establishing the kinematics model of the humanoid robot. The control algorithm uses critic network to evaluate the state-action value, and uses actor network to generate the parameters of foot length and foot spacing in real time. In the process of DDPG network training, the concept of zero torque point (ZMP) of the robot is introduced, and the ZMP point of the robot is used to judge whether the robot falls or not, and the termination time of the sequence is determined, and the training is carried out on the gym simulation platform.

Coking wastewater (CWW) contains high contents of phenols and other toxic and refractory compounds including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with the most carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) among them. The mechanism of PAHs/BaP degradation in activated sludge of CWW treatment with phenol as co-substrate was studied. For characterizing the structure and functions of microbial community associated with BaP degradation with phenol as co-substrate, high-throughput MiSeq sequencing was used to examine the 16S rRNA genes of microbiology, revealing noticeable shifts in CWW activated sludge bacterial populations. Major genera involved in anaerobic degradation were Tissierella_Soehngenia, Diaphorobacter and Geobacter, whereas in aerobic degradation Rhodanobacter, Dyella and Thauera prevailed. BaP degradation with phenol as co-substrate induced bacterial diversification in CWW activated sludge in opposite trends when anaerobic and aerobic conditions were applied. In order to predict the microbial community functional profiling, a bioinformatics software package of phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt) was run to find that some dominant genera enriched in the BaP pathway may own the ability to degrade PAHs/BaP. Further experiments should focus on testing the dominant genera in BaP degradation at different oxygen levels.

In the present work, a new in-situ prompt gamma-ray neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) setup was developed for the quantitative measurement of chromium (Cr) in aqueous solutions which consists of a 4" × 4″ inch Bismuth Germanate detector and a 300 mCi 241Americium-beryllium neutron source. A series of standard samples were prepared by dissolving Cr compounds in deionized water of analytical pure grade and measured using the in situ PGNAA setup. Quantitative spectrum analysis was conducted using Monte Carlo Library Least-Squares approach (MCLLS). Simulates of elemental library spectra were in silico modeled using the CEARCPG code, which was developed by Prof. Robin Gardner research group in North Carolina State University. The fitted spectra presented were in excellent agreement with the total experimental spectrum, and the correlation coefficients were all nearly 1. After applying the MCLLS approach, the minimum detectable concentration of Cr was 301.5 mg/L, better than that obtained with other setups, and the relative deviation of the Cr quantitative analysis accuracy was less than 4.09%.

Although polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are considered as toxic and refractory pollutants, their biodegradation can be facilitated by biosurfactants. However, few studies have been performed to understand the potential isolation and application of biosurfactant-producing microorganism for promoting the in-situ removal of PAHs from wastewaters. In this work, a biosurfactant-producing strain S5 isolated from coking wastewater was identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The biosurfactant produced by strain S5 was determined as glycolipid with a critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 96.5 mg/L, and reduced the surface tension from 72.2 to 29.6 mN/m. Addition indigenous P. aeruginosa S5 to coking wastewater effectively promoted the biodegradation of high weight molecular (HWM) PAHs (reduction from 9141.02 to 5117.16 µg/L in 15 days) in sludge phase. The results showed that the removal of PAHs in the sludge was enhanced by inoculating indigenous biosurfactant-producing microorganism in coking wastewater serving as an in-site remediation technology.

The plant bioassay is the most reliable and efficiently used bioassay in genotoxicity biomonitoring of industrial wastes as it confirms the detection of different endpoints such as cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity using Allium cepa, Vicia faba, Tradescantia spp. etc. An array of such methods using living organisms are available to test the level and variation of toxicity caused by polluting factors. Various research studies have monitored the toxicity of industrial effluents/waste and indicated the cytotoxic, genotoxic and mutagenic nature which can pollute the total environment. Chemical tests may be less accurate and less reliable when compared to biological methods for the purpose of toxicity monitoring of natural resources. The present review investigated the genotoxicity of industrial effluents and wastes by using plant based systems. They are also safe to handle and do not require sophisticated instruments thus providing a sustainable monitoring system to growing problem of environmental pollution.

The use of water as an oxygen and hydrogen source for the paired oxygenation and hydrogenation of organic substrates to produce valuable chemicals is of utmost importance as a means of establishing green chemical syntheses. Inspired by the active Ni3+ intermediates involved in electrocatalytic water oxidation by nickel‐based materials, we prepared NiBx as a catalyst and used water as the oxygen source for the oxygenation of various organic compounds. NiBx was further employed as both an anode and a cathode in a paired electrosynthesis cell for the respective oxygenation and hydrogenation of organic compounds, with water as both the oxygen and hydrogen source. Conversion efficiency and selectivity of ≥99 % were observed during the oxygenation of 5‐hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid and the simultaneous hydrogenation of p‐nitrophenol to p‐aminophenol. This paired electrosynthesis cell has also been coupled to a solar cell as a stand‐alone reactor in response to sunlight.

Irrigation and fertilization affect soil microbial communities in relation to nitrogen transformation and consequently impact nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from paddy fields. The objective of this ...

Objective Although not life threatening, spasmodic torticollis (ST) impairs patients’ daily activity, socialization and work. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) and mental health in patients with ST after microvascular decompression (MVD). Patients and methods From June 2014 to June 2017, patients with ST who underwent MVD in our department were included in this study. Toronto Western Sparse Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS) were used to evaluate the ST symptoms. Quality of life was assessed by the craniocervical dystonia questionnaire (CDQ-24). Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were used to evaluate the mental health. Intraoperative findings and follow-up results were analyzed. Results A total of 104 consecutive patients were enrolled in this study. At the 12 months follow-up, the total effective rate was 81.73%. After MVD surgery, 88(84.62%) ST patients experienced QOL improvement. The severity of ST symptoms was positively correlated with the CDQ-24 score(r = 0.31, P = 0.02). Forty-eight patients (46.16%) with ST have moderate to severe depression and nine (8.65%) have depression preoperatively. Pain and disability domains of TWSTRS were found have high relation with BDI-II score(r = 0.27, P = 0.02; r = 0.33, P = 0.03). There was a positive correlation of educational levels with the BDI-II scores(r = 0.45, P = 0.02). Conclusion ST affects patients’ QOL both physically and mentally. MVD for ST not only provides high spasm-relief rate but also leads to significantly higher QOL after surgery. Not only ST symptoms, but also psychiatric status of patients should be routinely followed. Psychological care and psychopharmaceuticals should also be considered for these patients.

Zircaloy-4 with 200 wppm hydrogen was irradiated with 3 MeV Fe11+ ions and the microstructural evolution of δ-hydride precipitation under ion irradiation was investigated. TEM observation of unirradiated sample shows the needle-like δ-hydride and the orientation relationship between α-Zr matrix and δ-hydride is (0002)α//(1 1 ¯ 1)δ, [2 1 ¯ 1 ¯ 0]α//[011]δ. After ion irradiation, both and -type dislocation loops were observed in α-Zr matrix. Some circular structures with obviously different contrast from the α-Zr matrix were observed in the irradiated Zircaloy-4-200 wppm H samples. The circular structures were identified as δ-hydrides with an fcc structure by indexing the FFT patterns of HRTEM images. There is an orientation relationship of (01 1 ¯ 1 ¯ )α//(200)δ, [01 1 ¯ 2]α//[011]δ between the circular δ-hydride and α-Zr. The formation of circular δ-hydride is related with ion irradiation and the formation process is explained by the hydrogen trapping mechanism.

Mesoporous LaFeO3 was used as a p-type visible-light-absorbing semiconductor (VLAS) substrate for light-driven H2 generation. The successful modification of LaFeO3 with a molecular dye (P1*) and a molecular hydrogen production catalyst (NiP) paved a novel way to construct DS-PEC photocathodes for solar-driven H2 generation by using VLASs.

The fixation capability of cesium on five recycling materials was compared through two sets of sorption experiments using the materials mixed with and without soil. The estimated Freundlich constant K and the distribution of sorbed cesium on the materials revealed a general order of the fixation capability as carbonized sludge > coconut shell biochar > incinerated sewage sludge ash > rice husk biochar > slag. Parametric strong positive correlations were found existent between the fixation capability of cesium and the property-related indexes of the materials such as cation exchange capacity, organic matter content and the potassium concentration.