Enhancement of photocatalytic oxidation of humic acid in Tio?suspensions by increasing cation strength

Author name used in this publication: X. Z. Li2001-2002 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Photoelectrocatalytic degradation of humic acid in aqueous solution using a Ti/TiO?mesh photoelectrode

Author name used in this publication: X. Z. LiAuthor name used in this publication: F. B. Li2001-2002 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Sliding stability analysis of a retaining wall constructed by soilbags

Model tests were conducted to analyse the sliding stability of a retaining wall constructed by soilbags. The aim was to obtain an equation that calculates the active resultant earth pressure of sand acting on the wall in the ultimate state. Additionally, shear tests on multi-layers of vertically stacked soilbags were designed to investigate how the interlayer friction resistance varied with the height of the wall. The results show that the active earth pressure acting on the soilbag-constructed retaining wall in the ultimate state is non-linear, but it can be calculated from the force equilibrium of a differential element. The interlayer friction resistance of soilbags is found to be related to the shape of the sliding surface. Based on the obtained equation and the unique shear test results, the sliding stability of the retaining wall constructed by soilbags could be appropriately analyse

Investigation of the ultimate particle size distribution of a carbonate sand

A series of ring shear tests were conducted to investigate the ultimate particle size distribution of a carbonate sand. The tests were carried out under different stress levels, on three types of specimens: 1) uniformly graded specimens made of dry natural sand 2) remoulded specimens of the crushed sand after first shearing to large strains 3) specimens made of natural sand grains but with the same grading as in (2). The first series of tests on type (1), carried out to very large strains, led to apparently stable gradings, distinct for each stress level. Only limited additional particle breakage could be induced by remoulding the specimens after shearing (type (2)) and subjecting them to more shearing. Tests on specimens created at the apparently stable gradings (type (3)) but from the intact sand particles however led to significantly greater breakage. For the three types a stable, fractal grading was achieved. Analyses of the soil particles’ shape showed that the aspect ratio, sphericity and circularity reach a steady value at large strains, in parallel to reaching a stable grading. The mobilized angle of shearing resistance however was not significantly different in the different types of samples, suggesting the final grading dominates the behaviour

A factorial Bayesian copula framework for partitioning uncertainties in multivariate risk inference

National Key Research and Development Plan; Natural Sciences Foundation of China; Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canad

Development of clustered polynomial chaos expansion model for stochastic hydrological prediction

Data availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342065388_Yuanjiaan1981-1987. The code used in this paper are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Supplementary data are available online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002216942100069X?via%3Dihub#s0075 .This study introduced a clustered polynomial chaos expansion (CPCE) model to reveal random propagation and dynamic sensitivity of uncertainty parameters in hydrologic prediction. In the CPCE model, the random characteristics of the streamflow simulations resulting from parameter uncertainties are characterized through the polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) model based on the probabilistic collocation method. At the same time, a multivariate discrete non-functional relationship between PCE coefficients and hydrological model inputs is established based on stepwise cluster analysis. Therefore, compared with traditional PCE method, the developed CPCE model cannot only reflect uncertainty propagation in stochastic hydrological simulation, but also have the capability of random forecasting. Moreover, the dynamic sensitivities of model parameters are investigated through the multilevel factorial analyses. The developed approach was applied for streamflow forecasting for the Ruihe watershed, China. Results showed that with effective quantification for the random characteristics of hydrological processes, the CPCE model can directly predict runoff series and generate the associated probability distributions at different time periods. The dynamic sensitivity analysis indicates that the maximum soil moisture capacity within the catchment plays a key role in the accuracy of the low-flow forecasting, while the degree of spatial variability in soil moisture capacities has a remarkable impact on the accuracy of the high-flow forecasting in the studied watershed.National Key Research and Development Plan (2016YFC0502800), the Natural Sciences Foundation (51520105013, 51679087), the 111 Program (B14008) and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Management of Drinking Water Source in Rural Communities under Climate Change

In rural communities where central public water supply systems can hardly reach, the acquisition and management of safe drinking water sources are challenging due to population growth, environmental pollution, and climate change. Numerous endeavours have been made over the past several decades to help rural communities manage drinking water sources and obtain safe drinking water under climate change, which are summarized in this review. Firstly, the crises of rural drinking water safety under climate change are overviewed based on the extensive investigation of recent studies on rural water security. Second, the sustainable management of rural drinking water sources are systematically reviewed, mainly focusing on issues of water quality assessments, drinking water quantity and quality improvement, system maintenance and community management, and decision making in rural regions across the world. Finally, knowledge gaps of recent endeavors are highlighted, emerging threats and complications to water security under climate change are identified and perspectives for future works are discussed.This research was supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the National Foreign Expert Project (G2021111016L and (G2021111017L)

Development of a copula-based particle filter (CopPF) approach for hydrologic data assimilation under consideration of parameter interdependence

National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research and Development Plan, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canad

Association of proinflammatory cytokines and chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment in breast cancer patients: a multi-centered, prospective, cohort study.

BackgroundExisting evidence suggests that proinflammatory cytokines play an intermediary role in postchemotherapy cognitive impairment. This is one of the largest multicentered, cohort studies conducted in Singapore to evaluate the prevalence and proinflammatory biomarkers associated with cognitive impairment in breast cancer patients.Patients and methodsChemotherapy-receiving breast cancer patients (stages I-III) were recruited. Proinflammatory plasma cytokines concentrations [interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interferon-γ and tumor necrosis factor-α] were evaluated at 3 time points (before chemotherapy, 6 and 12 weeks after chemotherapy initiation). The FACT-Cog (version 3) was utilized to evaluate patients' self-perceived cognitive disturbances and a computerized neuropsychological assessment (Headminder) was administered to evaluate patients' memory, attention, response speed and processing speed. Changes of cognition throughout chemotherapy treatment were compared against the baseline. Linear mixed-effects models were applied to test the relationships of clinical variables and cytokine concentrations on self-perceived cognitive disturbances and each objective cognitive domain.ResultsNinety-nine patients were included (age 50.5 ± 8.4 years; 81.8% Chinese; mean duration of education = 10.8 ± 3.3 years). Higher plasma IL-1β was associated with poorer response speed performance (estimate: -0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.34 to -0.03; P = 0.023), and a higher concentration of IL-4 was associated with better response speed performance (P = 0.022). Higher concentrations of IL-1β and IL-6 were associated with more severe self-perceived cognitive disturbances (P = 0.018 and 0.001, respectively). Patients with higher concentrations of IL-4 also reported less severe cognitive disturbances (P = 0.022).ConclusionsWhile elevated concentrations of IL-6 and IL-1β were observed in patients with poorer response speed performance and perceived cognitive disturbances, IL-4 may be protective against chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment. This study is important because cytokines would potentially be mechanistic mediators of chemotherapy-associated cognitive changes

A coupled ensemble filtering and probabilistic collocation approach for uncertainty quantification of hydrological models

Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51190095 and 51225904) and the Program for Innovative Research Team in University (IRT1127)