Spatial energy evolution of focused waves generated in numerical wave tank

This paper numerically investigates the energy evolution of the focused wave and its correlation with input parameters for the wave generation. The focused wave is numerically generated based on the fully nonlinear potential wave theory which is solved by the Quasi Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian-Finite Element Method. The investigation is performed by dividing the generated wave energy into three categories according to their frequency intervals, i.e., the initially assigned frequency interval [f1 fN], the frequencies lower (f fN) than the initial interval. The amount of the generated energy falling into three energy categories and the energy distribution in the initial frequency interval are analysed against amplitude parameters and frequency bands under three amplitude spectra. Four indicators are proposed to indicate the actual energy variations comparing to the initial design. It is found that for all the three frequency intervals the energies increase when the amplitude parameters increases or the given frequency shifts towards the lower frequency domain. The choice of wave amplitude spectrum plays a significant role to maintain the distribution of the energy in the design frequency range and to minimise the energies out of the design frequency range. The results from the second-order wave group theory are used to assist analyses of the mechanism of the energy evolution alongside the focused wave generation. It is found that the lower-frequency energy in the vicinity of the focusing point is dominated by the second-order difference waves, whereas the higher-frequency energy is mainly produced by the wave flap. The waves which are higher than the second-order and the complex interactions not considered by the second-order wave theory are found significantly disturbing the energy distribution in the originally assigned wave-frequency interval

Development of a Vacuum Ultra-Violet Laser-Based Angle-Resolved Photoemission System with a Super-High Energy Resolution Better Than 1 meV

The design and performance of the first vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) laser-based angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) system are described. The VUV laser with a photon energy of 6.994 eV and bandwidth of 0.26 meV is achieved from the second harmonic generation using a novel non-linear optical crystal KBe2BO3F2 (KBBF). The new VUV laser-based ARPES system exhibits superior performance, including super-high energy resolution better than 1 meV, high momentum resolution, super-high photon flux and much enhanced bulk sensitivity, which are demonstrated from measurements on a typical Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 high temperature superconductor. Issues and further development related to the VUV laser-based photoemission technique are discussed.Comment: 29 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument

Reconstructing South China in Phanerozoic and Precambrian supercontinents

This paper is financially supported by a NSFC Major Program (41190070) entitled “Reconstruction of East Asian Blocks in Pangea”. PAC acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council grant FL160100168 and WW thanks the support from “Thousand Youth Talents Plan”.The history of the South China Craton and the constituent Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks are directly linked to Earth's Phanerozoic and Precambrian record of supercontinent assembly and dispersal. Exposed Archean rocks are limited to isolated fragments in the Yangtze Block that preserve a record of Meso- to Neo-Archean magmatism, sedimentation and metamorphism associated with a period of global craton formation and stabilization that corresponds with the assembly of the Kenor supercontinent/supercraton. However, there are insufficient data to link its history with other similar aged cratons. The tectonostratigraphic record in South China in the Paleoproterozoic, corresponding with the assembly of Nuna, suggests that rock units in the Yangtze Block were spatially linked with northwestern Laurentia and possibly Siberia, whereas Cathaysia was joined to northern India. During the formation of Rodinia at the end of the Mesoproterozoic through to that of Pangea in the mid-Paleozoic, Cathaysia remained joined to northern India. Early Neoproterozoic supra-subduction zone magmatic arc-back arc assemblages ranging in age from ~ 1000 Ma to 810 Ma occur within Cathaysia, along its northwestern margin, and along the southeastern margin of the Yangtze Block. These rocks provide a record of convergent plate interaction, which continued along the western margin of the Yangtze Block until around 700 Ma and correlates with similar along strike subduction zone magmatism in northwest India, Seychelles and Madagascar. During the final assembly of Gondwana in the early Paleozoic suturing of India-South China with the Western Australia-Mawson blocks along the Kuunga Orogen resulted in the accretion of the Sanya Block of Hainan Island with the rest of Cathaysia. The accretion of Laurussia to Gondwana in the mid-Paleozoic to form Pangea corresponds with the initiation of lithospheric extension along the northern margin of Gondwana and the separation of a number of continental blocks, including South China, which then drifted northward across the Paleo-Tethys to collide with the Asian segment of Pangea in the Permo-Triassic.PostprintPeer reviewe

Topography and structural diversity regulate ecosystem multifunctionality in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest

Forest functionality is generally considered a byproduct of forest diversity. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many researchers associate increasing multi-functionality with increasing diversity. Diversity, however, is an often-overused word that may describe a host of features, including the diversity of species, functional trait and structure. Furthermore, variable environmental features (such as topography) influence the interaction between forest plants and their function. Incorporating complex topography (like that associated with tropical and subtropical forests) into estimates of forest functionality is challenging and highly uncertain. In this paper, we applied structural equation models to disentangle the relative importance of topography and different components of what might be considered “plant diversity” to forest multifunctionality using repeated census of a 20-ha subtropical forest plot. We found that multifunctionality was principally influenced by structural diversity more so than either species composition or functional trait diversity. In our SEM model approach, we observed variations in topography could account for about 30% of variation in multifunctionality. Furthermore, variations in topography could indirectly influence forest multifunctionality by changing species composition, functional trait diversity, and structural diversity. Our work highlights the importance of topography and forest structure in regulating subtropical forest multifunctionality on the local scale. This suggests future subtropical forest management should focus on regulating forest structure. Namely, our results suggest land managers must take topography (and the complex interaction between topography and plant diversity) into account in order to build robust and multifunctional forests

Diastereomers of the pentacoordinate chiral phosphorus compounds in solution: absolute configurations and predominant conformations

The absolute structural information about four sets of diastereomers of pentacoordinate spirophosphoranes, derived separately from L (or D)-phenylglycine and L (or D)-phenylalanine, has been obtained by using vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectroscopic measurements and density functional theory (DFT) for the first time. Each compound contains a stereogenic centre at the phosphorus center and two at the amino acid ligands. Geometric searches at the B3LYP/6-311++ G** level have been performed for all possible low energy conformers whose vibrational absorption (VA) and VCD spectra have also been simulated. The good agreement between the experimental VA and VCD spectra in the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution and the simulated ones allows us to assign the absolute configurations and predominant conformations of these pentacoordinate phosphorus compounds with high confidence. Solvent effects have been examined by using both the experimental measurements and theoretical calculations. The implicit continuous polarization model and the explicit solute-solvent intermolecular hydrogen-bonding model have been considered to understand the effects of DMSO on the spectra observed. The influence of basis sets and different functionals on the VA and VCD spectra of this type of coordination compounds has also been investigated.University of Alberta ; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ; Alberta Ingenuity ; NSFC [20732004, 20972130, 20773098]; Petro-Canad

Oocyte Source and Hormonal Stimulation for In Vitro

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of in vitro embryo production in cattle utilizing sexed sperm from two bulls and oocytes recovered by OPU. Twenty donor animals were employed in eight OPU replicates: the first four OPU trials were conducted on animals without hormone treatment, and the last four were run on the same animals, following FSH subcutaneous and intramuscular administration. A higher rate of blastocyst development was recorded in stimulated, as compared to nonstimulated animals, (25.2% versus 12.8%, P = .001). Ocytes derived from slaughterhouse (SH) ovaries were also fertilized with sperm from the same bulls. Overall, non-sexed sperm used with oocytes derived from SH ovaries was significantly more efficient for blastocyst development than was sexed sperm with these same SH derived oocytes and sexed sperm with stimulated donor oocytes (39.8% versus 25.0% and 25.2%, P = .001). In conclusion, the use of sexed sperm with OPU-derived oocytes resulted in a significantly higher blastocyst development when donors were hormonally stimulated; furthermore, the level of efficiency achieved was comparable to that attained when the same sexed sperm was tested on oocytes derived from SH ovaries

Air cushion barge platform for offshore wind turbine and its stability at a large range of angle

One of typical bases for floating offshore wind turbines is the barge platform that has merits of simpler structure and lower costs, but disadvantages of significant responses in waves. In order to improve the hydrodynamic performance of the barge platforms, in this paper a novel Air cushion Barge Platform (ACBP) is proposed, into which multiple air chambers are incorporated to mitigate the wave loads and reduce the dynamic motions due to waves. However, the existing analytical method is not suitable for evaluating the righting moment and stability of the ACBP at large angles. To address this issue, a new analytical method is developed, which can be used to quickly calculate its righting moment and evaluate its stability in the whole range of trim angles, including very large one with possible emergence of the platform bottom and so with air leakage from a few chambers before capsized. The newly proposed analytical method is calibrated by the CFD results, and then is employed for investigating the static and dynamic stability of the ACBP for two typical designs

Direct and indirect effects of climate on richness drive the latitudinal diversity gradient in forest trees

Data accessibility statement: Full census data are available upon reasonable request from the ForestGEO data portal, http://ctfs.si.edu/datarequest/ We thank Margie Mayfield, three anonymous reviewers and Jacob Weiner for constructive comments on the manuscript. This study was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0506100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31622014 and 31570426), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (17lgzd24) to CC. XW was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB3103). DS was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (grant no. 16-26369S). Yves Rosseel provided us valuable suggestions on using the lavaan package conducting SEM analyses. Funding and citation information for each forest plot is available in the Supplementary Information Text 1.Peer reviewedPostprin

An Experimental Study of Focusing Wave Generation with Improved Wave Amplitude Spectra

We experimentally investigate the generating results of space-time focusing waves based on two new wave spectra, i.e., the quasi constant wave amplitude spectrum (QCWA) and the quasi constant wave steepness spectrum (QCWS), in which amplitude and steepness for each wave component can be adjusted with fixed wave energy. The wavemaker signal consists of a theoretical wavemaker motion signal and two different auxiliary functions at two ends of the signal. By testing a series of focusing waves in a physical wave tank, we found that with given wave energy, the QCWA spectrum can produce a focusing wave with larger crest elevation and farther focusing location from the wavemaker flap, as compared with the QCWS spectrum. However, both spectra lead to larger focusing wave crests when the wave frequency bandwidth was narrowed down and a positive correlation between the generated relative wave crest elevation and the input wave elevation parameter. The two spectra produce different focusing wave positions for the same wave frequency range. We also found that the focusing time strongly relates to the energy of the highest-frequency wave component of the wave spectrum