Effect of the Sodium Silicate Modulus and Slag Content on Fresh and Hardened Properties of Alkali-Activated Fly Ash/Slag

This paper presents the results of an experimental study performed to investigate the effect of activator modulus (SiO2/Na2O) and slag addition on the fresh and hardened properties of alkali-activated fly ash/slag (AAFS) pastes. Four activator moduli (SiO2/Na2O), i.e., 0.0, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0, and five slag-to-binder ratios, i.e., 0, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 1.0, were used to prepare AAFS mixtures. The setting time, flowability, heat evolution, compressive strength, microstructure, and reaction products of AAFS pastes were studied. The results showed that the activator modulus and slag content had a combined effect on the setting behavior and workability of AAFS mixtures. Both the activator modulus and slag content affected the types of reaction products formed in AAFS. The coexistence of N-A-S-H gel and C-A-S-H gel was identified in AAFS activated with high pH but low SiO2 content (low modulus). C-A-S-H gel had a higher space-filling ability than N-A-S-H gel. Thus, AAFS with higher slag content had a finer pore structure and higher heat release (degree of reaction), corresponding to a higher compressive strength. The dissolution of slag was more pronounced when NaOH (modulus of 0.0) was applied as the activator. The use of Na2SiO3 as activator significantly refined the pores in AAFS by incorporating soluble Si in the activator, while further increasing the modulus from 1.5 to 2.0 prohibited the reaction process of AAFS, resulting in a lower heat release, coarser pore structure, and reduced compressive strength. Therefore, in view of the strength and microstructure, the optimum modulus is 1.5

The influence of different intensity of monsoon on typhoon precipitation: a comparative study of typhoons Soudelor and Maria

In this paper, multiple sets of reanalysis datasets are used to analyze the intensity of the Asian summer monsoon from 1979 to 2021. Typhoon Soudelor (No. 1513) and Typhoon Maria (No. 1808) were selected from the weak monsoon year 2015 and the strong monsoon year 2018, both of which were generated in the Northwest Pacific in July and made landfall in South China. The Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) was used to simulate the two typhoons, starting 48 h prior to their landfall. The reasons for the differences in precipitation and how the monsoon affects typhoon precipitation in this process are analyzed from the aspects of monsoon background, ambient weather systems, typhoon thermodynamic structure, and water vapor conditions. The analysis shows that the circulation of Soudelor was stable and maintained for a long time. Despite existing in the background of a weak monsoon, the monsoon flow was able to reach the key area affecting typhoons and inject enough warm and moist flow to affect Soudelor. Combined with the analysis of typhoon structure, the strong water vapor transport of Soudelor and increased low-level convergence were conducive to the formation of typhoon-related rainstorms. The monsoon appeared to provide environmental conditions favorable for typhoon precipitation, resulting in a wide range of precipitation and heavy precipitation. Typhoon Maria developed and changed rapidly, moved rapidly, and the precipitation maintained itself for a relatively short time. The monsoon flow was not transported into Maria, resulting in insufficient water vapor inside Maria, which prevented the strengthening of typhoon precipitation. The precipitation of Maria mainly came from the dynamics of the typhoon itself and was not affected by the monsoon. In addition, this study defines an area on the southwest side of the typhoon moving with the center of the typhoon as the key area affecting typhoons. The characteristics of this area can be simply linked to typhoon precipitation, which can be considered an important research area for future analysis and prediction of typhoon precipitation

Towards Benchmarking GUI Compatibility Testing on Mobile Applications

GUI is a bridge connecting user and application. Existing GUI testing tasks can be categorized into two groups: functionality testing and compatibility testing. While the functionality testing focuses on detecting application runtime bugs, the compatibility testing aims at detecting bugs resulting from device or platform difference. To automate testing procedures and improve testing efficiency, previous works have proposed dozens of tools. To evaluate these tools, in functionality testing, researchers have published testing benchmarks. Comparatively, in compatibility testing, the question of ``Do existing methods indeed effectively assist test cases replay?'' is not well answered. To answer this question and advance the related research in GUI compatibility testing, we propose a benchmark of GUI compatibility testing. In our experiments, we compare the replay success rate of existing tools. Based on the experimental results, we summarize causes which may lead to ineffectiveness in test case replay and propose opportunities for improving the state-of-the-art

Cloud-cloud collision and star formation in G323.18+0.15

We studied the cloud-cloud collision candidate G323.18+0.15 based on signatures of induced filaments, clumps, and star formation. We used archival molecular spectrum line data from the SEDIGISM $^{13}$CO($J$\,=\,2--1) survey, from the Mopra southern Galactic plane CO survey, and infrared to radio data from the GLIMPSE, MIPS, Hi-GAL, and SGPS surveys. Our new result shows that the G323.18+0.15 complex is 3.55kpc away from us and consists of three cloud components, G323.18a, G323.18b, and G323.18c. G323.18b shows a perfect U-shape structure, which can be fully complemented by G323.18a, suggesting a collision between G323.18a and the combined G323.18bc filamentary structure. One dense compressed layer (filament) is formed at the bottom of G323.18b, where we detect a greatly increased velocity dispersion. The bridge with an intermediate velocity in a position-velocity diagram appears between G323.18a and G323.18b, which corresponds to the compressed layer. G323.18a plus G323.18b as a whole are probably not gravitationally bound. This indicates that high-mass star formation in the compressed layer may have been caused by an accidental event. The column density in the compressed layer of about $1.36 \times 10^{22}$cm$^{-2}$ and most of the dense clumps and high-mass stars are located there. The average surface density of classI and classII young stellar objects (YSOs) inside the G323.18+0.15 complex is much higher than the density in the surroundings. The timescale of the collision between G323.18a and G323.18b is $1.59$Myr. This is longer than the typical lifetime of classI YSOs and is comparable to the lifetime of classII YSOs

Anti-diabetic Effect of Punica granatum Flower Polyphenols Extract in Type 2 Diabetic Rats: Activation of Akt/GSK-3β and Inhibition of IRE1α-XBP1 Pathways

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the most common type of diabetes with more than hundreds of millions of patients worldwide. However, the medicines for treatment of T2DM are very limited. In China, Punica granatum L. flower (PGF) has been used as an anti-diabetic herb in the herbal medicine. The activity involves in improvement of insulin sensitivity. However, the underlying mechanism of action is elusive. The current study was designed to address this issue by investigating the effect of polyphenols extract of PGF in diabetic rats. A rat model was orally administrated with PGF polyphenols extract at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg for 4 weeks. Insulin sensitivity was improved as indicated by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), insulin tolerance test (ITT) and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). At the molecular level, insulin signaling activity was improved with an elevation in insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate (IRS-1), Akt and GSK-3β. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signals including phosphorylation of inositol-requiring kinase1 (IRE1) and activation of X box binding protein (XBP-1) splicing were decreased by the PGF treatment. Expressions of IRE1α, XBPs, and CHOP were all decreased by PGF. Blood lipid profile, liver glycogen content and antioxidant status were improved by PGF in the rats. The observations suggest that PGF is able to lower glucose levels in T2DM rats by improving the insulin resistance. The mechanism is likely related to the activation of Akt-GSK3β signaling pathway and inhibition of ER stress

Molecular Basis of the Differentiation and Function of Virus Specific Follicular Helper CD4+ T Cells

During viral infection, virus-specific follicular helper T cells provide important help to cognate B cells for their survival, consecutive proliferation and mutation and eventual differentiation into memory B cells and antibody-secreting plasma cells. Similar to Tfh cells generated in other conditions, the differentiation of virus-specific Tfh cells can also be characterized as a process involved multiple factors and stages, however, which also exhibits distinct features. Here, we mainly focus on the current understanding of Tfh fate commitment, functional maturation, lineage maintenance and memory transition and formation in the context of viral infection

A 60GHz Wireless Access Scheme with Electrical LO Devices Free in Mobile Terminals and Base Stations

Abstract: we propose a 60GHz wireless access network scheme with centralized LO service delivered to mobile terminals and base stations from the central office. Bidirectional transmission based on the scheme has been experimentally demonstrated. OCIS codes: (060.0060) Fiber optics and optical communications; (060.2330) Fiber optics communications Introduction Due to the increasing demand for in-door, high speed wireless access networks for next generation, millimeter-wave (MM-W) wireless-over-fiber (WoF) technology has been considered as a very promising solution. However, with the increasing of the carrier frequency up to 60GHz, the diameter of the coverage area of each base station (BS) is limited within tens of meters. As a consequence, numerous electrical local oscillator (LO) devices of high frequency are required in each BS and mobile terminal (MT), incurring high system complexity and cost. Hence, cost-effective microwave photonic techniques for frequency up-conversion have been developed for system integration In this paper, we propose a new CO-BS-MT architecture to construct a bidirectional 60GHz WoF system, while providing both remote BS and MT with LO service of high-quality from the CO. For the downlink transmission, frequency up-conversion via optical beating and self-heterodyne detection techniques have been utilized to transmit and receive MM-W signals, while eliminating the use of electrical LO generators in both BS and MT. For the uplink transmission, the high-frequency LO, which is required for data up-conversion in MT and the MM-W signal downconversion in BS, is provided by the centralized LO service distributed from CO, instead of relying on electrical LO generators in MT and BS. The stability and operational parameters of LO are pre-determined and controlled in CO. A proof-of-concept experiment is carried out to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed scheme