Effects of PCE on the Dispersion of Cement Particles and Initial Hydration

The effects of polycarboxylate superplasticizers (PCEs) on the dispersing properties and initial hydration of cement particles with various water-to-cement (w/c) ratios was investigated, including the water film thickness (WFT), rheology, fluidity, adsorption of PCEs, zeta potential, degree of hydration, hydration products. The experimental results demonstrate that the initial rheological and fluidity parameters were more sensitive to the PCE dosage at a lower w/c because the WFT and the zeta potential on cement particles change more significantly. Moreover, the higher adsorption amounts of the PCEs at a lower w/c lead to a stronger inhibition of the initial hydration, whilst, at the same PCE dosage, the cement pastes have a more rapid fluidity loss and quicker hydration reactions at a higher w/c due to a lower adsorption amount of the PCE on cement particles

Generative probabilistic prediction of precipitation induced landslide deformation with variational autoencoder and gated recurrent unit

Landslides, prevalent in mountainous areas, are typically triggered by tectonic movements, climatic changes, and human activities. They pose catastrophic risks, especially when occurring near settlements and infrastructure. Therefore, detecting, monitoring, and predicting landslide deformations is essential for geo-risk mitigation. The mainstream of the previous studies have often focused on deterministic models for immediate landslide prediction. However, in most of them, the aspect of prediction uncertainties are not sufficiently addressed. This paper introduces an innovative probabilistic prediction method using a Variational Autoencoder (VAE) combined with Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) to forecast landslide deformations from a generative standpoint. Our approach consists of two main elements: firstly, training the VAE-GRU model to maximize the variational lower bound on the likelihood of historical precipitation data; secondly, using the learned approximated posterior distribution to predict imminent deformations from a generative angle. To assess the prediction quality, we use four widely-used metrics: Prediction Interval Coverage Probability (PICP), Prediction Interval Normalized Average Width (PINAW), Coverage Width-Based Criterion (CWC), and Prediction Interval Normalized Root Mean Square Width (PINRW). The results demonstrate that our proposed VAE-GRU framework surpasses traditional state-of-the-art (SOTA) probabilistic deformation prediction algorithms in terms of accuracy and reliability

Progress in micro/nano sensors and nanoenergy for future AIoT-based smart home applications

10.1088/2632-959x/abf3d4Nano Expres

Supramolecular assemblies of cucurbit[n]urils and 4-aminopyridine controlled by cucurbit[n]uril size (n = 5, 6, 7 and 8)

The binding interactions between 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) and a series of cucurbit[n]urils (Q[5], Q[6], TMeQ[6], Q[7], Q[8]) have been studied using 1H NMR spectroscopy, UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and X-ray crystallography. The data indicates that the Q[5]@4-AP complex exhibits exo binding, which is not observed in the other four host-guest complexes. Furthermore, X-ray crystallography clearly reveals how the Q[n]s bind with 4-AP to form complexes, for example Q[5] forms an outer-surface complex, whilst Q[6], TMeQ[6] and Q[7] formed a 1:1 host and guest type complex, and Q[8] formed a stable 1:2 ternary complex due to its large cavity, which can accommodate two 4-AP molecules

Effects of mating-type ratio imbalance on the degeneration of Cordyceps militaris subculture and preventative measures

The rapid degeneration of Cordyceps militaris strains during subculture represents a bottleneck problem that affects production stability. This study explored the mechanism underlying this degeneration in three production and three wild-type strains of Cordyceps militaris, isolating single-conidium strains from each. The effects of subculturing on fructification in both original and single mating-type strains were compared. Changes in the ratio of the two mating types were analyzed in both original and degenerated strains. Based on these findings, the two mating strains were paired in different ratios to determine their effects on fruiting. The resulting five strains were heterokaryotic strains with both MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 mating-type genes. Strain jb-2 was a single mating type (MAT1-1) mutant strain that produced stable fruiting bodies but failed to produce ascospores. It was found that the loss of or imbalance in mating types was the main reason for the rapid degeneration of fruiting traits during subculture and that this occurred randomly in the MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 types. The strains differed significantly in their stability during subculture. Fruiting was stable in the single mating-type Jb-2 strain, and the eleventh-generation fruited normally. There were differences in yield between the production and wild strains after inoculation with spawn containing different proportions of mating types. The production strain was more stable when inoculated with strains with mating-type ratios of 1:9 to 9:1 without affecting the yield. However, the yield of the wild-type strain xf-1 was positively correlated with the proportion of the MAT1-2 type, while the other two strains showed no correlations. Subculturing single mating-type mycelia separately and mixing them before production effectively mitigated degeneration during subculture. For Cordyceps militaris breeding, selecting strains containing both mating types, which are insensitive to the proportion of mating-type genes, enhanced stability in subculture and reduced the risk of mating-type loss. Direct breeding of specific single-mating type strains to induce fruiting is thus an effective breeding strategy