The Role of Education in Urbanization: An Empirical Study Based on China’s Provincial-Level Panel Data from 2005 to 2020

Urbanization is a crucial factor in economic growth and common prosperity and thus an inevitable pathway to a nation’s modernization. To achieve the goal of common prosperity of Chinese society as a whole, it is imperative to enhance the education level of its farmers, accelerate the construction of the new countryside, and develop modern, large-scale agriculture, so as to liberate more farmers from the agricultural labor and allow them to enter the secondary and tertiary sectors of economy that provide higher incomes. This study seeks to verify the promotional effect of education on the urbanization level by utilizing the provincial-level panel data from 2005 to 2020 in China. The two-way fixed effects model is adopted in the analysis. Research findings include that: (i) Investment in education has substantial promotional effects on the urbanization level; (ii) Economic growth and technological advancement significantly advances the progression of urbanization; (iii) The development level of the region can moderate the impact of education on urbanization

On-chip spectroscopy with thermally-tuned high-Q photonic crystal cavities

Spectroscopic methods are a sensitive way to determine the chemical composition of potentially hazardous materials. Here, we demonstrate that thermally-tuned high-Q photonic crystal cavities can be used as a compact high-resolution on-chip spectrometer. We have used such a chip-scale spectrometer to measure the absorption spectra of both acetylene and hydrogen cyanide in the 1550 nm spectral band, and show that we can discriminate between the two chemical species even though the two materials have spectral features in the same spectral region. Our results pave the way for the development of chip-size chemical sensors that can detect toxic substances

Simulation Of Microstructural Evolution Of Cross-Linked Templated Silica-Aerogels Under Compression

The evolution of a cross-linked templated aerogel mesostructure under compression was simulated using the Material Point Method (MPM) on a model generated from X-ray nano-computed tomographic image. The aerogel mesostructure is that identified in acid-catalyzed surfactant template materials, which after cross-linking with polyurea, demonstrate very high compressive yield strengths and energy absorption capabilities. In MPM each voxel occupied by aerogles in an X-ray tomograph was converted to a material point to generate a MPM model. A parallel version of MPM code, developed in our group, has been used to simulate the response of a cross-linked templated aerogels under compression at high strain rates. For a comparison with experimental data, a long split Hopkinson pressure bar was used to measure the stress-strain relationship of this material at high strain rates. The results from the simulations show that the MPM can effectively model cross-linked templated silica-aerogel considering its microstructure, and capture the elastic, compaction and densification behaviors of the aerogel, and the simulation results agree reasonably well with the experimental data. Simulations also indicate a nearly uniform compression at all three stages of deformation in the aerogel, consistent with experimental observations. Simulations were also conducted to indentify functions of ultra-thin polymer coating and the effect of density or porosity. Models with different porosities indicate that the skeletal wall thickness of both the silica particles and the polymer coating affect the local stress distribution, which in turn could induce different mechanical response under compression. MPM simulations show that the stress-strain behavior of cross-linked templated aerogels under compression follows a power law relation with bulk density.Mechanical & Aerospace Engineerin

Further Exploration of Heat of Immersion as a Method To Quantify Wettability For Particulates: Effect of Temperature

A previous paper by our group concluded that to distinguish between the wettability of different particles, heat of immersion is the best method as opposed to the Washburn or sessile drop method. In this paper, heats of immersion of three different particles with three different wettabilities are measured at different temperatures to examine one critical assumption concerning the temperature dependence of the heat of immersion. In addition, surfactants are added to the water and the effect of surfactant concentration on the heat of wetting is measured. One particularly noteworthy aspect of the current study is that some measurements were made at pressures higher than atmospheric with no more difficulty than measurements made at atmospheric pressure. The previous paper showed that, for certain particles, the relationship used by us and others between heat of wetting and contact angle gave impossible values for certain surfaces. In this thesis, the derivation of that expression is re-examined and certain assumptions are highlighted. Because of issues with the assumptions, we conclude that using heat of immersion to quantify wetting is perfectly appropriate, but without measurement of the values of liquid-solid interfacial energy with temperature, conversion to the contact angle is likely not appropriate. Keywords – nanoparticles, wettability, silica, heat of immersion, contact angl

An Empirical Evaluation of Algorithms for Computing Equilibria in Games for Approximate Inference in Large Dimensional Probabilistic Graphical Models

Work in graphical models for game theory typically borrows from results in probabilistic graphical models. In this work, we instead consider the opposite direction. By using recent advances in equilibrium computation, we propose game-theoretic inspired, practical methods to perform probabilistic inference. We perform synthetic experiments using several different classes of Ising models, in order to evaluate our proposed approximation algorithms along with existing methods in the probabilistic graphical model literature. We also perform experiments using Ising models learned from the popular MNIST dataset. Our experiments show that the game-theoretic inspired methods are competitive with current state-of-the-art algorithms such as tree-reweighed message passing, and even consistently outperform said algorithms in certain cases.Master of ScienceComputer and Information Science, College of Engineering & Computer ScienceUniversity of Michigan-Dearbornhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140771/1/ms_draft (2).pdfDescription of ms_draft (2).pdf : Master's Thesi

Web wrinkling resulting from moment transfer

Considerable research has been focused on the impact of roller misalignment on web instability. Early work focused on the prediction of trough instabilities in the entering span, just upstream of the misaligned roller [1]. Later works involving misaligned [2] and tapered [3] rollers proved that the trough instability was a required precursor for the occurrence of wrinkles on the misaligned or tapered roller. The compressive stress required to induce web wrinkles on a roller can be 2 orders of magnitude larger, in the absolute sense, than the compressive stress required to precipitate trough instabilities in a web span. These works [2][3] found the out-of-plane web deformation due to troughs was responsible for creating the larger compressive stresses that would finally result in wrinkles whenever the misalignment or taper became sufficient. The three works referenced thus far all rely upon an assumption that the friction forces between the web and the upstream roller, which separates the entering and pre-entering spans, are sufficient to prevent moment transfer. The lateral deformation of the web in the pre-entering and entering spans as a result of moment transfer has been another focus of web handling research [4][5]. This publication will focus on the impact of moment transfer on web wrinkling. It will be shown that troughs may now occur in both the pre-entering and entering spans. It will also be shown that wrinkles can precipitate on either the misaligned roller or the roller upstream of the misaligned roller. It will be shown that these behaviors can be predicted and the predictions will be validated by test results. It will be shown that as a result of moment transfer the roller misalignment to induce wrinkles can be less than the misalignment required to induce wrinkles when moment transfer does not occur.Mechanical and Aerospace Engineerin

Explicit simulations of web transport through process machines using periodic media analysis technique

In this paper, the periodic media analysis (PMA) technique in Abaqus/Explicit [1] has been applied to simulate multiple cases of web transport through process machines. The Abaqus models for web transport developed in the Web Handling Research Center (WHRC) at Oklahoma State University (OSU) all have long free upstream spans, which are required to achieve steady state for post-simulation analysis. This increases model size and complexity, induces longer simulation run time and limits applications of simulations. The primary goal of introducing PMA to web handling modeling is to create simulation models which take a shorter time to run. The PMA technique is a Lagrangian technique that offers a Eulerian-like view into a moving structure. Models created using this technique have smaller sizes, and the simulation run time is significantly reduced compared to OSU models [2]. In this work, the moment transfer due to roller misalignment case has been modeled using the PMA technique. The results, e.g. lateral displacements and moment distribution, are compared to OSU model results and experimental results. The comparisons show good agreements. More importantly, the PMA model takes a much shorter time (about 40% less) to conduct. Two more cases, actual wrinkle formation and web with non-uniformity running through rollers, have been modeled using PMA as well. The simulation results from the actual wrinkle formation case agree with the wrinkle failure criterion [3] based upon Timoshenko's shell buckling theory [4]. The web with non-uniformity case indicates the capability of PMA to study complex web structures

OpenGDA: Graph Domain Adaptation Benchmark for Cross-network Learning

Graph domain adaptation models are widely adopted in cross-network learning tasks, with the aim of transferring labeling or structural knowledge. Currently, there mainly exist two limitations in evaluating graph domain adaptation models. On one side, they are primarily tested for the specific cross-network node classification task, leaving tasks at edge-level and graph-level largely under-explored. Moreover, they are primarily tested in limited scenarios, such as social networks or citation networks, lacking validation of model's capability in richer scenarios. As comprehensively assessing models could enhance model practicality in real-world applications, we propose a benchmark, known as OpenGDA. It provides abundant pre-processed and unified datasets for different types of tasks (node, edge, graph). They originate from diverse scenarios, covering web information systems, urban systems and natural systems. Furthermore, it integrates state-of-the-art models with standardized and end-to-end pipelines. Overall, OpenGDA provides a user-friendly, scalable and reproducible benchmark for evaluating graph domain adaptation models. The benchmark experiments highlight the challenges of applying GDA models to real-world applications with consistent good performance, and potentially provide insights to future research. As an emerging project, OpenGDA will be regularly updated with new datasets and models. It could be accessed from https://github.com/Skyorca/OpenGDA.Comment: Under Revie

Explicit simulations of cambered web steering

Cambered webs are common in the web handling industry. The mechanics analyses of stressed cambered webs have been reported by several publications [1]-[3]. The majority of the test data that exist demonstrate that cambered webs steer towards their longer side. A closed form solution [4] and numerical methods [5]-[9] have been focused on the lateral behavior of the cambered web as well, but have provided no explanation of steering toward the longer side. The work that has been done focused on analyzing or modeling a cambered web span. The results from the current work demonstrate that camber in a web causes slippage between webs and rollers that produce lateral steerage. To better understand cambered web response under tension, studying the lateral mechanics of a cambered web passing over aligned rollers is the major focus of this work. Abaqus/Explicit [10] has been used to model cambered web and the transit of the web over a series of rollers. An Abaqus user defined subroutine, VUAMP, has been used to develop the first successful simulation of a web position guide interacting through contact friction with a web. This capability was needed such that a cambered web could be presented with known orientation and initial conditions to a test span where the web steering behavior resulting from camber could be studied. Simulation results are compared to experimental results [3]. The boundary conditions, which govern the steering of a cambered web in a test span, have been concluded based upon this analysis.Mechanical and Aerospace Engineerin