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The unclear time-distance decay law between supply and demand, which makes it difficult to coordinate their fairness, is a key factor in the disordered spatiotemporal development of supply and demand. In order to advance the standardized renewal of living circles with a people-oriented approach, this paper clarifies the time-distance decay law between supply and demand embedded in residents' walking time-distance distributions and explores the spatiotemporal organizational order of supply and demand in living circle units aligned with this law. First, 24 sets of walking time-distance distribution data, each showing significant distribution differences, were standardized using a mean-based transformation relative to their own time-distance means, resulting in an observable law of relative time-distance distribution. Subsequently, an explanatory mechanism for the relative time-distance distribution was constructed based on the generation and decay effects of the relative time-distance between standard supply and demand. A functional model was fitted and verified, indicating that the decay law of the relative time-distance follows a negative exponential function with a parameter value of 2.08, and the time-distance threshold has a stable twofold relationship with the time-distance mean. Finally, by drawing an analogy between living circle units and the relative time-distance distribution and taking their standards as the mean time-distance, the study explored the layout relationships among living circle units. The spatiotemporal organizational order for same-level units was characterized by "one form where the time-distance mean and threshold serve as the service radius and influence radius, and another where supply and demand are placed at 0.5 times the time-distance mean inside and outside, respectively". For different-level units, the order featured "one form where the center of the upper-level spatiotemporal unit is located at the four corners of the lower-level units, with a service radius twice that of the lower-level unit. Another form ensures coordination of service radius differences between upper and lower units through a twofold speed relationship in travel modes, guaranteeing relative fairness in travel time consumption for the same type of supply across different levels". Additionally, an ideal layout pattern for living circle units was proposed, featuring a "snowflake-shaped" facility layout and a "twice-speed" transfer method. The findings suggest that the 15, 10, and 5 min living circle planning is not merely about the availability of services within their time-distance standards, but about ensuring multifaceted accessibility fairness for residents within these standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business incubators (BIs) in China have predominantly exhibited a government-led characteristic, recently broadening their spatial and temporal scope and extending reach to the county level. Regarding the inadequacies of county-level analysis scale, this study leverages Points of Interest (POI) big data to overcome them. To comprehend the governmental rationale in the construction of BIs, we examine the evolution dynamics of BIs in conjunction with policies. An economic geography framework is developed, conceptualizing BIs as quasi-public goods and productive services, and incorporating considerations of county-level fiscal operations and industrial structures. Focusing on the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region as a case study, our findings reveal that over 98% of County Administrative Units (CAUs) have built BIs. Using kernel density estimation and Moran's I, the spatial patterns of CAUs are identified. The CAUs are further classified into three categories of economic levels using the k-means algorithm, uncovering differentiated relationships between industry, finance, and their respective BI. Additionally, we analyze the density relationship between BIs and other facilities at a micro-level, showcasing various site selection rationales. The discussions highlight that while BIs tend to align with wealthier areas and advanced industries, affluent CAUs offer location advantages on BIs, whereas less wealthy CAUs prioritize quantity for political achievements. This paper concludes with recommendations about aligning BIs based on conditions and outlooks on future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unclear time-distance decay law between supply and demand, which makes it difficult to coordinate their fairness, is a key factor in the disordered spatiotemporal development of supply and demand. In order to advance the standardized renewal of living circles with a people-oriented approach, this paper clarifies the time-distance decay law between supply and demand embedded in residents’ walking time-distance distributions and explores the spatiotemporal organizational order of supply and demand in living circle units aligned with this law. First, 24 sets of walking time-distance distribution data, each showing significant distribution differences, were standardized using a mean-based transformation relative to their own time-distance means, resulting in an observable law of relative time-distance distribution. Subsequently, an explanatory mechanism for the relative time-distance distribution was constructed based on the generation and decay effects of the relative time-distance between standard supply and demand. A functional model was fitted and verified, indicating that the decay law of the relative time-distance follows a negative exponential function with a parameter value of 2.08, and the time-distance threshold has a stable twofold relationship with the time-distance mean. Finally, by drawing an analogy between living circle units and the relative time-distance distribution and taking their standards as the mean time-distance, the study explored the layout relationships among living circle units. The spatiotemporal organizational order for same-level units was characterized by “one form where the time-distance mean and threshold serve as the service radius and influence radius, and another where supply and demand are placed at 0.5 times the time-distance mean inside and outside, respectively”. For different-level units, the order featured “one form where the center of the upper-level spatiotemporal unit is located at the four corners of the lower-level units, with a service radius twice that of the lower-level unit. Another form ensures coordination of service radius differences between upper and lower units through a twofold speed relationship in travel modes, guaranteeing relative fairness in travel time consumption for the same type of supply across different levels”. Additionally, an ideal layout pattern for living circle units was proposed, featuring a “snowflake-shaped” facility layout and a “twice-speed” transfer method. The findings suggest that the 15, 10, and 5 min living circle planning is not merely about the availability of services within their time-distance standards, but about ensuring multifaceted accessibility fairness for residents within these standards.

To solve the problems of high error on both sides and high coefficient of variation during liquid manure distribution, this work designed a distribution mechanism integrating conveying, stirring and distribution functions, combined with the physical properties of selected liquid manure. Taking rotor speed, inlet flow and moving cutter structure as test factors, the Design-Expert 8.0.6 software was used to design "three-factor three-level quadratic regression" orthogonal test and establish response surface regression model. Through observing relative error and coefficient of variation, uniform distribution characteristics test and parameter optimization of liquid manure were performed. The results showed that the primary and secondary order of influencing factors on the relative error is rotor speed> inlet flow > moving cutter structure; the primary and secondary order of influencing factors on the coefficient of variation is inlet flow > moving cutter structure> rotor speed. Further, the optimization test indicated that 170 r/min rotor speed, 80 m3/h inlet flow, combined with arc-shaped moving cutter structure could output 10.50% relative error and 9.30% variation rate, which was less than 5% relative to the model predicted value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the effect of surfactants in compound solution on the wetting-agglomeration properties of the bituminous coal dust, this paper selected anionic surfactants SDS, SDBS and non-ionic surfactants APG0810 and PPG400 for compounding with agglomerated solutions 0.05 wt% XTG (xanthan gum). The sink test, surface tension test, viscosity test, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR) and scanning electron microscope(SEM) were used to investigate the wettability and agglomeration of the four compound solutions and analyze the agglomeration wetting mechanism. The results show that SDBS has the most obvious improvement in the wettability of compound solution. The surface tension of SDBS + 0.05 wt% XTG is 28.98 mN/m after CMC value and sinking rate will reach 14.29 mg/s with 0.6 wt% SDBS in compound solution; Furthermore, FTIR results showed that surface hydroxyl content of bituminous coal dust treated by 0.2 wt% SDBS + 0.05 wt% XTG solutions has increased 26.3% than that treated by 0.05 wt% XTG, which promoted the adsorption of xanthan gum molecules on the coal surface. The presence of surfactants decreases the viscosity and surface tension of compound solution, and xanthan gum–surfactants interaction will promote bituminous coal dust agglomeration effect. This agglomeration mechanism is mainly reflected in the distribution mechanism and bituminous coal dust can form to large agglomerates under this action. [Display omitted] • Influence mechanism of surfactants in compound solution on viscosity is analyzed. • Wetting-agglomeration properties of coal dust by composite reagent are studied. • The distribution mechanism about coal dust agglomeration has been found. • The formed process of distribution mechanism has been described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organizational valuable data needs to be shared with multiple parties and stakeholders in a cloud environment for storage, analysis, and data utilization. However, to ensure the security, preserve privacy while sharing the data effectively among various parties have become formidable challenges. In this article, by utilizing encryption, machine learning, and probabilistic approaches, we propose a novel model that supports multiple participants to securely share their data for distinct purposes. The model defines the access policy and communication protocol among the involved multiple untrusted parties to process the owners’ data. The proposed model minimizes the risk associated with the leakage by providing a robust mechanism for prevention coupled with detection. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed model for different classifiers over various datasets. The proposed model ensures high accuracy and precision up to 97% and 100% relatively and secures a significant improvement up to 0.01%, 103%, 151%, 87%, 96%, 43%, and 186% for average probability, average success rate, detection rate, accuracy, precision, recall, and specificity, respectively, compared to the prior works that prove its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Shenzhen land rearrangement is an important model of government-led land redevelopment. Its purpose is to implement planning and solve historical problems created by the original rural land ownership. By reviewing the changes in the Shenzhen land rearrangement policy, this study found that the essence of Shenzhen land rearrangement is the fair and reasonable distribution and sharing of land value-added benefits and repair costs between the government, communities, and stakeholders; and in the process, allowing the original rural collective community organizations to fulfill a central role. Additionally, combined with the implementation of the Xiawei land rearrangement benefit coordination project implementation case, through the comprehensive use of land rights confirmation, land use planning, land price rules and funds, and other policy means, the land consolidation benefit coordination mechanism was analyzed, and the benefit coordination distribution mechanism was further improved. The proposal also provides a sample for the distribution of value-added income from agricultural land entering the market across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments were conducted to study the adsorption kinetics and isothermal adsorption mechanism of nitrification inhibitor nitrapyrin onto the black soil of northeastern China. The nitrapyrin adsorption kinetics of the black soil were fitted with a quasi-second-order kinetics equation before and after organic matter removal (R2 ≥ 0.8320, p <.05). The adsorption isotherm was obtained by the Langmuir equation (R2 ≥ 0.9400, p <.05). Isothermal adsorption requires less energy and is a spontaneous endothermic reaction with an L-type isothermal curve (n > 1), dominated by surface physical adsorption. With the decrease of organic matter content in black soil, the adsorption mechanism of nitrapyin changed from distribution mechanism to surface adsorption. The black soil's organic matter content exhibited a quadratic relation with the maximum adsorption capacity and adsorption constant (Kf) at the different temperatures, reaching significant levels (R2 ≥ 0.6484, p <.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the local equilibrium modeling method of a non-equilibrium multi-phase reaction system in the top-blowing melting process of electronic waste was studied. The automatic judgment mechanism of phase transformation and the improvement of the trace component solving algorithm were explored to build the mathematical model of the element migration and transformation. Secondly, to determine the distribution mechanism of various elements in top-blowing smelting of electronic waste, the thermodynamic digital simulation system was developed according to the software platform of metallurgical process calculation. On this basis, combined with the industrial production practice, the coupling simulation experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of oxygen:feed ratio, oxygen concentration, amount of additive iron powder and CaO:SiO2 ratio of the slag on the smelting process. In addition, the direct yields of metals in the slag were Cu 90.69 wt%, Au 98.57 wt%, Ag 94.84 wt%, and Pd 97.87 wt% under the optimum conditions. Finally, the simulated values were consistent with industrial data, which can provide theoretical guidance for the industrial production practice of the top-blowing smelting of electronic waste.

Before 11th five-year plan, geologists proposed the viewpoint that the gas generation intensity that's more than 20 × 108 m3/km2 was an important condition for forming conventional large gas fields. However, recent exploration findings indicate that large-area tight sandstone gas that has a gas generation intensity of less than 20 × 108 m3/km2 can still form reserves. This is an area worth exploring. Through innovative accumulation simulation, microscopic pore throat analysis of reservoirs, and dissection of typical gas reservoirs, several factors have been established, including the comprehensive evaluation models involving gas charging pressure, reservoir physical properties, and lower gas generation limit. In addition, the paper has made it certain that the tight sandstone gas in a low gas generation intensity area has accumulation characteristics such as “partial water displacing, long-term gas supply, gas control by tight reservoirs of scale, gas abundance control by physical properties, combined control and enrichment of dominant resources, etc.”, and has proposed the viewpoint that this area has the accumulation mechanism that of a “non-dominant transportation, long-term continuous charging, reservoir controlling by physical property difference, and enrichment in partial sweet spots” and shows discontinuous “patchy distribution” on the plane. This is of much significance to fine exploration and development of the trillion cubic meter resources of the low gas generation intensity areas in the west of Sulige gas field.

As a newly identified form of pollutant in the ocean, microplastics are receiving more and more attention from researchers. In order to evaluate the potential impact of microplastics, it is important to have comprehensive knowledge of the current microplastic situation. This study analyzed the abundance, polymer type, size, shape and color of microplastics in the seawater and sediments of Jiaozhou Bay, China, a semi-enclosed bay highly affected by surrounding human activities. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of microplastics were carried out using stereo microscope and attenuated total reflection micro-Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (ATR-μ-FT-IR). The abundance of microplastics in the bay seawater samples ranged between 20 items/m3 and 120 items/m3. The abundance of microplastics in sediment samples in the bay were between 7 items/kg d.w. and 25 items/kg d.w. The microplastics were mainly in black and blue colors with fiber being the dominant shape in all samples. All microplastics identified were smaller than 4 mm in this study. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was the main type of microplastics, followed by polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE). Both the abundance and types of microplastics show positive correlations between the seawater and sediment samples. Microplastic polymer types in the bay showed close match to the polymer types in the estuaries. Relatively higher abundance of microplastics tended to be found in the area where there were residual currents and sediment transport trends. Our study showed riverine input is an important contributor to the microplastics in the bay and physical factors such as residual currents would greatly affect the aggregation of microplastics. Unlabelled Image • The distribution of microplastics in Jiaozhou Bay of China was studied. • The dominant microplastics polymer types in Jiaozhou Bay were PET, PP and PE. • Microplastics in seawater and sediments show positive correlations. • More microplastics were found in areas with residual currents and sedimentary trends. • River input contributed to the distribution of microplastics in the bay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate identification and quantification of microplastic pollution in marine sediments are crucial for assessing their ecological impact. In this study, we explored the potential of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as an analytical tool for the analysis of microplastics in complex environmental matrices such as marine sediments. Two common plastic polymers, polystyrene (PS) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), were investigated. The marine sediments facing the Tiber River mouth (Italy) were collected according to a bathymetric gradient. Results demonstrated the successful detection and quantification of PS in all sediment samples (within a range of 12.3–64.6 μg/L), while no ABS significant signals were found. An increment trend with depth was observed in the PS signal, relatable to its physicochemical properties and the Tiber River plume hydrodynamic characteristics. The NMR's non-destructive nature and minimal sample preparation represent a promising avenue for standardizing protocols to assess the microplastic distribution and impact in marine sediments. [Display omitted] • NMR used for PS and ABS detection in marine sediments at the Tiber River mouth. • Efficient PS quantification in multiphasic matrices of marine sediments. • ~27 ± 16 μg/L of PS found in sediments from 300 m up to 6 km seaward the river mouth. • The PS concentration showed an increasing trend toward deeper bathymetric levels. • Hypopycnal river plume seems responsible of PS transport dominated by buoyancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual finger force (FF) in a grip task is a vital concern in rehabilitation engineering and precise control of manipulators because disorders in any of the fingers will affect the stability or accuracy of the grip force (GF). To understand the functions of each finger in a dynamic grip exertion task, a GF following experiment with four individual fingers without thumb was designed. This study obtained four individual FFs from the distal phalanges with a cylindrical handle in dynamic GF following tasks. Ten healthy male subjects with similar hand sizes participated in the four-finger linear GF following tasks at different submaximal voluntary contraction (SMVC) levels. The total GF, individual FF, finger force contribution, and following error were subsequently calculated and analyzed. The statistics indicated the following: 1) the accuracy and stability of GF at low %MVC were significantly higher than those at high SMVC; 2) at low SMVC, the ability of the fingers to increase the GF was better than the ability to reduce it, but it was contrary at high SMVC; 3) when the target wave (TW) was changing, all four fingers strongly participated in the force exertion, but the participation of the little finger decreased significantly when TW remained stable; 4) the index finger and ring finger had a complementary relationship and played a vital role in the adjustment and control of GF. The middle finger and little finger had a minor influence on the force control and adjustment. In conclusion, each of the fingers had different functions in a GF following task. These findings can be used in the assessment of finger injury rehabilitation and for algorithms of precise control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been suggested that the distribution of refugees over host countries can be made more fair or efficient if policy makers take into account not only numbers of refugees to be distributed but also the goodness of the matches between refugees and their possible host countries. There are different ways to design distribution mechanisms that incorporate this practice, which opens up a space for normative considerations. In particular, if the mechanism takes countries' or refugees' preferences into account, there may be trade-offs between satisfying their preferences and the number of refugees distributed. This article argues that, in such cases, it is not a reasonable policy to satisfy preferences. Moreover, conditions are given which, if satisfied, prevent the trade-off from occurring. Finally, it is argued that countries should not express preferences over refugees, but rather that priorities for refugees should be imposed, and that fairness beats efficiency in the context of distributing asylum. The framework of matching theory is used to make the arguments precise, but the results are general and relevant for other distribution mechanisms such as the relocations currently in effect in the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Sliding valve distribution radial piston pump (SVDRPP) is presented. In this pump, a new distribution method that uses sliding valves to distribute oil for the piston chambers is developed. With this design, the disadvantages brought by the distribution shaft and the check valves (traditional distribution mechanisms), such as the poor stress state of the shaft and the energy waste for opening the check valves, are expected to be eliminated. In addition, a method of using pressure oil to accomplish the returning stroke of the piston is also proposed, which could be used to replace the usage of springs along with their shortcomings. A pump with five pistons is designed as an example to elaborate the structure and the working principle of SVDRPP. Furthermore, the flow characteristics of SVDRPP are studied, and the formulas of the displacement, the average flow rate and the instantaneous flow rate are deduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tailings were discharged to the Boroo River from gold mining by amalgamation, resulting in soil contamination near the river. To identify the sources and distribution mechanisms of each metal(loid) in the soil, a total of 184 soil samples were collected near the river and analyzed for As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, and Hg contents. According to the positive matrix factorization result, three factors affected the contamination levels: the application of Hg for gold mining (Factor 1), light minerals containing Cu and Zn (Factor 2), and heavy minerals containing As and Cd (Factor 3). Soil samples were classified into four groups by hierarchical clustering. Groups A and B seemed to be affected by light and heavy minerals discharged in early and later stages of ore processing, respectively. The spatial distribution of the groups suggested differentiation in travel distances by specific gravity. Groups C and D showed high Hg contents implying the effect of Hg mismanagement and spill accidents. The study results show that the distribution of soil contaminants near rivers in mining areas is controlled by the specific gravity of minerals discharged to the environment (e.g., river), ore processing stages, and insufficient recovery and/or spills of Hg, which will help establish restoration measures., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, starting from the dye molecular structure activity relationship, the effect of substituents on the coloration process, such as dissolution, adsorption and diffusion behaviors, was investigated by molecular dynamics simulations in a waterless dyeing (D5) system. Related dyeing experiment test were performed to verify the accuracy of the simulation results. The results showed that the diffusion coefficient of disperse dyes decreased gradually due to an introduction of one ortho-substituent cyano group compared with unsubstituted dyes. Meanwhile, using the substituent N-cyanoethyl group instead of N-ethyl group in coupling component further decreased the diffusion coefficient, which was attributed to an increase of aggregation capacity. Simultaneously, the solubility of disperse dyes containing bis N-cyanoethyl groups in D5 media also decreased obviously due to the low dye-D5 interaction energy, which was consistent with their aggregation behavior. Additionally, the growing strong interaction energy between dye molecules and polyester fibers due to an introduction of cyano group or N-cyanoethyl group contributed to increasing the adsorption efficiency and dyeing uptake. It will be an effective and labor-saving method to select and develop the special disperse dyes for the sustainable D5 dyeing system. [Display omitted] • Distribution mechanism of disperse dyes was investigated based on molecular dynamic simulation. • The aggregation of disperse dye containing cyano, especially bis N-cyanoethyl groups, increased compared with unsubstituted dye. • The growing interaction energy between dye and polyester fibers contributed to increasing dyeing uptake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Five genera were predominant populations responsible for substrate alteration and flavor formation. • Staphylococcus was the most abundant functional genus in broad bean paste. • Staphylococcus gallinarum was the most abundant Staphylococcus specie. • BBP environment led to dominant position and species coexistence of Staphylococcus. • Congeneric competition shaped ecological distributions of Staphylococcus species. Although the microbial diversity and structure in bean-based fermented foods have been widely studied, systematic studies on functional microbiota and mechanism of community forms in multi-microbial fermentation systems were still lacking. In this work, the metabolic pathway and functional potential of microbial community in broad bean paste (BBP) were investigated by metagenomics approach, and Staphylococcus , Bacillus , Weissella , Aspergillus and Zygosaccharomyces were found to be the potential predominant populations responsible for substrate alteration and flavor biosynthesis. Among them, Staphylococcus was the most abundant and widespread functional microbe, and closely related Staphylococcus species were diverse and ubiquitously distributed, with the opportunistic pathogen S. gallinarum being the most abundant Staphylococcus specie isolated from BBP. To explain the dominance status of S. gallinarum and species distributions of Staphylococcus genus, we tested the effects of abiotic and biotic factors on three Staphylococcus species using a tractable BBP model, demonstrating that adaptation to environmental conditions (environmental parameters and other functional microbes) led to the dominant position and species coexistence of Staphylococcus , and congeneric competition among Staphylococcus species further shaped ecological distributions of closely related Staphylococcus species. In general, this work revealed the metabolic potential of microbial community and distribution mechanism of Staphylococcus species during BBP fermentation, which could help traditional factories to more precisely control the safety and quality of bean-based fermented foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the local equilibrium modeling method of a non-equilibrium multi-phase reaction system in the top-blowing melting process of electronic waste was studied. The automatic judgment mechanism of phase transformation and the improvement of the trace component solving algorithm were explored to build the mathematical model of the element migration and transformation. Secondly, to determine the distribution mechanism of various elements in top-blowing smelting of electronic waste, the thermodynamic digital simulation system was developed according to the software platform of metallurgical process calculation. On this basis, combined with the industrial production practice, the coupling simulation experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of oxygen:feed ratio, oxygen concentration, amount of additive iron powder and CaO:SiO2 ratio of the slag on the smelting process. In addition, the direct yields of metals in the slag were Cu 90.69 wt%, Au 98.57 wt%, Ag 94.84 wt%, and Pd 97.87 wt% under the optimum conditions. Finally, the simulated values were consistent with industrial data, which can provide theoretical guidance for the industrial production practice of the top-blowing smelting of electronic waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of flocs with ultrafiltration (UF) membranes is a promising method to alleviate membrane fouling and reduce land use; however, the floc charge and related pollutant distribution mechanism in the floc-based layer, which are key issues in further improving membrane performance, have been given little attention up to this point. Herein, the UF membrane performance in the presence of differently charged floc layers and the corresponding humic acids (HA) distribution were investigated. The results indicated that the floc charge played an important role in UF membrane behavior due to the different HA distribution mechanisms. Owing to the electrostatic adsorption, most negatively charged HA molecules were relatively uniformly adsorbed inside the positively charged floc layer (pH < 8.5), and fewer HA molecules reached the membrane surface. The HA removal efficiency was as high as 92.5 ± 1.5% at a pH of 6, and the final J/J 0 was 0.73. It has been shown that pore adsorption or blocking was mainly alleviated, and the proportion of the irreversible fouling was only 6.0 ± 2.4% at a pH of 6. In contrast, fewer HA molecules were intercepted inside the negatively charged floc layer (pH > 8.5), and they were mostly distributed at the top and bottom of the cake layer due to electrostatic repulsion. The HA removal efficiency significantly decreased to 32.4 ± 1.2%, while the final J/J 0 increased to 0.78 at a pH of 9.5. Further experiments demonstrated that the cake-layer resistance was considerably alleviated, and the proportion of the reversible fouling was remarkably reduced to 49.5 ± 3.2% at a pH of 9.5. In addition, membrane fouling caused by large–molecular weight (MW) HA was easily alleviated by the positively charged floc layer, while that caused by small-MW HA was easily alleviated by the negatively charged one. These findings have significant potential applications in practical membrane-based treatments of drinking water. Image 1 • Floc charge played an important role in HA distribution and UF membrane performance. • HA were uniformly distributed inside the positively charged floc protection layer. • HA were at the top and bottom of the negatively charged floc protection layer. • HA removal efficiency was high with the positively charged floc protection layer. • HA removal efficiency was low with the negatively charged floc protection layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A distribution mechanism of air bubbles in ice is proposed for the simulations. • A mesoscopic model of ice with entrapped air bubbles is developed by S-ALE method. • The strain-rate-effect of ice with air bubbles is shown by the simulated SHPB test. • The amount and agglomeration of entrapped air bubbles in the specimen are studied. Hail ice inevitably contains entrapped air bubbles in nature. The dynamic mechanical properties of ice are highly affected by the dimension, distribution and amount of the entrapped air bubbles. The bubbles in ice neither could be manufactured by man-made or obtained from nature with controllable amount and distribution, nor simulated by classic FEM in mesoscale due to its small size. A stochastic algorithm has been proposed as the sparse distribution mechanism of air bubbles in ice to organize the air bubbles with controllable amount and agglomeration in numerical model. A mesoscopic numerical modeling method of ice with entrapped air bubbles has been developed by the meshfree ALE multi-material method. The effect of amount and agglomeration of the air bubbles in ice on dynamic mechanical properties has been investigated by simulated SHPB tests. The results show that the dynamic strengths of the ice with air bubbles are increase with the increasing of strain rates, nonlinear decrease with the increasing of volume ratios of the air bubbles. Both the volume ratios and distribution of air bubbles in ice affect the dynamic strengths at a low strain rates level; but the distribution rarely affects the dynamic strengths at a high strain rate level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Separation of refined silicon from Al–Si melt is still a puzzle for the solvent refining process, resulting in considerable waste of acid and silicon powder. A novel modified Czochralski method within the Al–Si alloy is proposed. After the modified Czochralski process, a large amount of refined Si particles was enriched around the seed crystalline Si and separated from the Al–Si melt. As for the Al–28%Si with the pulling rate of 0.001 mm/min, the recovery of refined Si in the pulled-up alloy (PUA) sample is 21.5%, an improvement of 22% compared with the theoretical value, which is much larger 1.99 times than that in the remained alloy (RA) sample. The content of impurities in the PUA is much less than that in the RA sample, which indicates that the modified Czochralski method is effective to improve the removal fraction of impurities. The apparent segregation coefficients of boron (B) and phosphorus (P) in the PUA and RA samples were evaluated. These results demonstrate that the modified Czochralski method for the alloy system is an effective way to enrich and separate refined silicon from the Al–Si melt, which provide a potential and clean production of solar grade silicon (SoG-Si) for the future industrial application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]