Extreme wave run-up and pressure on a vertical seawall

The performance of coastal vertical seawalls in extreme weather events is studied numerically, aiming to provide guidance in designing and reassessing coastal structures with vertical wall. The extreme wave run-up and the pressure on the vertical seawall are investigated extensively. A time-domain higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM) is coupled with a mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian technique as a time marching technique. Focused wave groups are generated by a piston wave-maker in the numerical wave tank using a wave focusing technique for accurately reproducing extreme sea states. An acceleration-potential scheme is used to calculate the transient wave loads. Comparisons with experimental data show that the extended numerical model is able to accurately predict extreme wave run-ups and pressures on a vertical seawall. The effects of the wave spectrum bandwidth, the wall position and the wave nonlinearity on the wave run-up and the maximum wave load on the vertical seawall are investigated by doing parametric studies.</p

Accurate and Comprehensive Spectrum Characterization for Cavity-Enhanced Electro-Optic Comb Generators

Cavity-enhanced electro-optic comb generators (CEEOCGs) can provide optical frequency combs with excellent stability and configurability. The existing methods for CEEOCGs spectrum characterization, however, are based on approximations and have suffered from either iterative calculations or limited applicable conditions. In this paper, we show a spectrum characterization method by accumulating the optical electrical field with respect to the count of the round-trip propagation inside of CEEOCGs. The identity transformation and complete analysis of the intracavity phase delay were conducted to eliminate approximations and be applicable to arbitrary conditions, respectively. The calculation efficiency was improved by the noniterative matrix operations. Setting the maximum propagation count as 1000, the spectrum of the center ±300 comb modes can be characterized with merely the truncation error of floating-point numbers within 1.2 s. More importantly, the effects of all CEEOCG parameters were comprehensively characterized for the first time. Accordingly, not only the exact working condition of CEEOCG can be identified for further optimization, but also the power of each comb mode can be predicted accurately and efficiently for applications in optical communications and waveform synthesis

Sc and Ta-doped SrCoO3-δ perovskite as a high-performance cathode for solid oxide fuel cells

Sealing and stability is the challenge for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) at high temperature. It is crucial to operate SOFCs at a low temperature to avoid these issues. Thus, it is necessary to improve the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of cathode. The SrCoO3-δ perovskite with a cubic phase is identified as a potential cathode material for SOFCs due to its high oxygen permeability and reasonable electrical conductivity. However, it readily decomposes into the orthorhombic structured brownmillerite Sr2Co2O5 or hexagonal Sr6Co5O15 during high-temperature sintering resulting in the loss of a significant amount of lattice oxygen. Herein, we partially replace Co with Sc and Ta at SrCoO3-δ to stabilize its cubic perovskite structure and restrain the lattice oxygen loss, thus improving the oxygen-ionic conductivity, and the structural and chemical stability. The synthesized SrSc0.175Ta0.025Co0.8O3-δ (SSTC) cathode achieves a remarkably high ORR performance and an area-specific resistance obtained in this study reaches as low as 0.233, 0.033, and 0.004 Ω cm2 at 500, 600, and 700 °C, respectively. The new Sc and Ta-doped SrCoO3-δ perovskite cathode even present a better ORR activity than the previously reported Sc and Nb-doped SrCoO3-δ cathode. The reason for the improved performance by Ta doping is possible that Ta–O bond is stronger than Nb–O bond and the electronegativity of Ta5+ is lower than that of Nb5+, resulting in a lower valence state of cobalt and a higher oxygen vacancies concentration

The recent advances and future perspectives of genetic compensation studies in the zebrafish model

Genetic compensation is a remarkable biological concept to explain the genetic robustness in an organism to maintain its fitness and viability if there is a disruption occurred in the genetic variation by mutation. However, the underlying mechanism in genetic compensation remain unsolvable. The initial concept of genetic compensation has been studied in model organisms when there was a discrepancy between knockout-mediated and knockdown-mediated phenotypes. In the zebrafish model, several studies have reported that zebrafish mutants did not exhibit severe phenotype as shown in zebrafish morphants for the same genes. This phenomenon in zebrafish mutants but not morphants is due to the response of genetic compensation. In 2019, two amazing works partially uncovered genetic compensation could be triggered by the upregulation of compensating genes through regulating NMD and/or PTC-bearing mRNA in collaboration with epigenetic machinery in mutant zebrafish. In this review, we would like to update the recent advances and future perspectives of genetic compensation studies, which including the hypothesis of time-dependent involvement and addressing the discrepancy between knockout-mediated and knockdown-mediated to study gene function in the zebrafish model. At last, the study of genetic compensation could be a potential therapeutic strategy to treat human genetic disorder related diseases

Novel Matrine Derivatives as Potential Larvicidal Agents against <i>Aedes albopictus</i>: Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Mechanistic Analysis

A large number of studies have shown that matrine (MA) possesses various pharmacological activities and is one of the few natural, plant-derived pesticides with the highest prospects for promotion and application. Fifty-eight MA derivatives were prepared, including 10 intermediates and 48 target compounds in 3 series, to develop novel mosquitocidal agents. Compounds 4b, 4e, 4f, 4m, 4n, 6e, 6k, 6m, and 6o showed good larvicidal activity against Aedes albopictus, which is both a highly aggressive mosquito and an important viral vector that can transmit a wide range of pathogens. Dipping methods and a bottle bioassay were used for insecticidal activity evaluation. The LC50 values of 4e, 4m, and 6m reached 147.65, 140.08, and 205.79 μg/mL, respectively, whereas the LC50 value of MA was 659.34 μg/mL. Structure–activity relationship analysis demonstrated that larvicidal activity could be improved by the unsaturated heterocyclic groups introduced into the carboxyl group after opening the D ring. The MA derivatives with oxidized N-1 lost their mosquitocidal activities, indicating that the bareness of N-1 is crucial to maintain their anti-mosquito activity. However, the activity was not greatly influenced by introducing a cyan group at C-6 or a benzene sulfonyl group at N-16. Additionally, compounds 4e and 4m exhibited good inhibitory activities against acetylcholinesterase with inhibitory rates of 59.12% and 54.30%, respectively, at a concentration of 250 μg/mL, whereas the inhibitory rate of MA was 9.88%. Therefore, the structural modification and mosquitocidal activity of MA and its derivatives obtained here pave the way for those seeking strong mosquitocidal agents of plant origin

Self-Supported Stainless Steel Nanocone Array Coated with a Layer of Ni–Fe Oxides/(Oxy)hydroxides as a Highly Active and Robust Electrode for Water Oxidation

Highly efficient, robust, and cheap water oxidation electrodes are of great significance for large-scale production of hydrogen by electrolysis of water. Here, a self-supported stainless steel (SS) nanocone array coated with a layer of nanoparticulate Ni–Fe oxides/(oxy)­hydroxides was fabricated by a facile, low-cost, and easily scalable two-step process. The construction of a nanocone array on the surface of an AISI 304 SS plate by acid corrosion greatly enlarged the specific surface area of the substrate, and the subsequent formation of a layer of Ni–Fe oxides/(oxy)­hydroxides featuring the NiFe₂O₄ spinel phase on the nanocone surface by electrodeposition of [Ni­(bpy)₃]²⁺ significantly enhanced the intrinsic activity and the stability of the SS-based electrode. The as-prepared electrode demonstrated superior activity for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1 M KOH, with 232 and 280 mV overpotentials to achieve 10 and 100 mA cm_geo^–2 current densities, respectively. The high activity of the electrode was maintained over 340 h of chronopotentiometric test at 20 mA cm_geo^–2, and the electrode also showed good stability over 100 h of electrolysis at high current density (200 mA cm^–2). More important for practical application, the used SS-based electrode can be easily regenerated with the original OER activity. The superior activity of this SS-based electrode stems from synergistic combination of high conductivity of the SS substrate, a large electrochemically active surface area of the nanocone array, and a uniformly coated nanoparticulate Ni–Fe oxide/(oxy)­hydroxide layer with an optimal Ni/Fe ratio

Research Progress on the Geomechanical Properties of Block-in-Matrix Rocks

The differences in geomechanical properties and the uncertainty in the spatial distribution of Bimrock pose significant challenges to the construction and disaster prediction of geotechnical engineering. To clarify the geomechanical characteristics of Bimrock, this paper summarizes the basic concepts and classification methods of Bimrock at home and abroad. It discusses the methods and characteristics of determining the geometric features of Bimrock blocks and explores the influencing factors and laws of failure modes and strength under different stress states of Bimrock. The study finds that the failure mode of Bimrock is mainly influenced by factors such as block proportion, degree of welding between blocks and matrix, strength ratio between blocks and matrix, and geometric properties of blocks. Among these factors, block proportion is the most significant, and the degree of welding is a controlling factor. However, due to the complexity of Bimrock structures, there is a lack of applicable methods and mechanical models for the evaluation of geomechanical characteristics of Bimrock in engineering practice. This article also explores the influence and research methods of the geological characteristics of Bimrock in slope and tunnel engineering and, finally, provides prospects for the future research trends relating to Bimrock