Wetting equilibrium in a rectangular channel

When a capillary channel with corners is wetted by a fluid, there are regions where the fluid fills the whole cross-section and regions where only the corners are filled by the fluid. The fluid fraction of the partially-filled region, $s^*$, is an important quantity related to the capillary pressure. We calculate the value of $s^*$ for channels with a cross-section slightly deviated from a rectangle: the height is larger in the center than those on the two short sides. We find that a small change in the cross-section geometry leads to a huge change of $s^*$. This result is consistent with experimental observations.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Soft Matte

Identification of induced polarization of submarine hydrocarbons in marine controllable source electromagnetic exploration

The identification of hydrocarbons buried on the seafloor is highly dependent on geophysical exploration capabilities. Seismic exploration has been an important tool in providing information on submarine stratigraphy before offshore drilling, but it is a challenge to identify the nature and saturation of the fluid in the structure by seismic exploration. Of all the physical properties, electrical parameters are the most sensitive to the fluids in the reservoir and would be able to be combined with seismic data to improve the identification of hydrocarbons at depth. However, the marine controlled-source electromagnetic method usually only considers the effect of electromagnetic induction and ignores the induced polarization (IP) effects. The IP effects can occur in the stratum where the reservoir is located due to a variety of factors, so considering the IP effects will make the modeling more reasonable and thus give more accurate results when interpreting and processing the data. We have used the integral equation method for modeling, adopted the scattering and superposition methods to calculate the dyadic Green’s function required in the study, replaced the real resistivity with a complex resistivity that takes into account the IP effects, investigated the response patterns of different ion polarization models, and analyzed the influence patterns of various model parameters. These investigations will provide important contributions to the study of submarine hydrocarbon detection. The field data also show the amplitude, and phase response results of polarizability show that it gradually increases from the offset

Better Zero-Shot Reasoning with Role-Play Prompting

Modern large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, exhibit a remarkable capacity for role-playing, enabling them to embody not only human characters but also non-human entities like a Linux terminal. This versatility allows them to simulate complex human-like interactions and behaviors within various contexts, as well as to emulate specific objects or systems. While these capabilities have enhanced user engagement and introduced novel modes of interaction, the influence of role-playing on LLMs' reasoning abilities remains underexplored. In this study, we introduce a strategically designed role-play prompting methodology and assess its performance under the zero-shot setting across twelve diverse reasoning benchmarks, encompassing arithmetic, commonsense reasoning, symbolic reasoning, and more. Leveraging models such as ChatGPT and Llama 2, our empirical results illustrate that role-play prompting consistently surpasses the standard zero-shot approach across most datasets. Notably, accuracy on AQuA rises from 53.5% to 63.8%, and on Last Letter from 23.8% to 84.2%. Beyond enhancing contextual understanding, we posit that role-play prompting serves as an implicit Chain-of-Thought (CoT) trigger, thereby improving the quality of reasoning. By comparing our approach with the Zero-Shot-CoT technique, which prompts the model to "think step by step", we further demonstrate that role-play prompting can generate a more effective CoT. This highlights its potential to augment the reasoning capabilities of LLMs

Analytical Multi-Scale Methodology for Fluidization Systems - Retrospect and Prospect

Understanding the spatio-temporal multi-scale structure of fluidization is a challenging problem. This presentation reviews our 20-year efforts on this subject, showing the roadmap that has gradually evolved from a simple idea to a systematic methodology inclusive of subsidiary, related systems and industrial applications. The strategy of establishing stability conditions through analyses of the compromise between dominant mechanisms is emphasized. The presentation concludes with prospects for further theoretical explorations and industrial applications

Evaluation of a pilot cooperative medical scheme in rural China: impact on gender patterns of health care utilization and prescription practices

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 2003 the Chinese government introduced voluntary cooperative medical schemes (CMS), soon to be in place throughout rural China. Families who chose to enroll do so as a single unit and nothing is known about any differential effect of these new schemes on family members. This study evaluates the impact of one pilot CMS in Anhui Province on health care use by girls aged less than 5 years and women 65 years or older, and on the pattern and cost of prescriptions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Health care records were extracted covering a 10 year period, before, during and after the pilot CMS in 4 townships, one with the intervention and 3 comparison townships without. The impact of the intervention on the age and gender distribution of patients presenting for health care and on the prescription of certain drugs was assessed by logistic regression. The cost of prescriptions before, during and after the intervention period was also assessed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>203,058 registration and 643,588 prescription records were identified. During the intervention there was a reduced likelihood overall that a patient was female (OR = 0.92: 95%CI 0.87 - 0.97) at the intervention site. Girls aged < 5 years had an increased likelihood of health care (OR = 1.41: 95%CI 1.23 - 1.59) during the CMS, but women ≥ 65 years were relatively disadvantaged (OR = 0.84: 95%CI 0.75 - 0.95). The use of antibiotics and systemic steroids increased disproportionately at the intervention site for patients ≥ 5 years. Prescription costs at the township hospital also increased at the intervention site, particularly for older men.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This evaluation suggests that all family members did not benefit equally from the pilot CMS and that women ≥ 65 years may be disadvantaged by the newly available reimbursements of health care costs through the CMS. It points to the need, in future evaluations, to use individuals rather than families as the unit of analysis, in order to determine whether such health care inequalities are wide-spread and persistent or are reduced in the longer term. The results also support earlier concerns about the influence of new funding resources on prescription practices and the need for regulation of for-profit prescribing.</p

Sci. China Ser. C-Life Sci.

The biological patterning of the drosophila retina in vivo has striking resemblance to liquid bubbles, in which the surface mechanics due to N-cadherin within a sub-group of retina cells can be mimicked by surface tension. In this work, the aggregating patterns were reasonably simplified into 21) clusters consisting of 2-6 identical bubbles confined within a shrinking boundary. By using a hybrid fluid dynamics model proposed for liquid foams, the aggregating process of 2-6 retina cells was studied. Assuming the minimal perimeter for patterning cells to be the condition of stability patterns, the stable converged patterns we simulated in this work are the same as the experimental observations. More importantly, a new pattern of 6 cells was obtained which was found physically more stable than the other two reported by Hayashi and Carthew([1]). Aggregating perimeters of cells, i.e. the surface energy, showed a good linear fit with the cell numbers.The biological patterning of the drosophila retina in vivo has striking resemblance to liquid bubbles, in which the surface mechanics due to N-cadherin within a sub-group of retina cells can be mimicked by surface tension. In this work, the aggregating patterns were reasonably simplified into 21) clusters consisting of 2-6 identical bubbles confined within a shrinking boundary. By using a hybrid fluid dynamics model proposed for liquid foams, the aggregating process of 2-6 retina cells was studied. Assuming the minimal perimeter for patterning cells to be the condition of stability patterns, the stable converged patterns we simulated in this work are the same as the experimental observations. More importantly, a new pattern of 6 cells was obtained which was found physically more stable than the other two reported by Hayashi and Carthew([1]). Aggregating perimeters of cells, i.e. the surface energy, showed a good linear fit with the cell numbers

The mechanism of pattern formation in the developing drosophila retina

The biological patterning of the drosophila retina in vivo has striking resemblance to liquid bubbles, in which the surface mechanics due to N-cadherin within a sub-group of retina cells can be mimicked by surface tension. In this work, the aggregating patterns were reasonably simplified into 21) clusters consisting of 2-6 identical bubbles confined within a shrinking boundary. By using a hybrid fluid dynamics model proposed for liquid foams, the aggregating process of 2-6 retina cells was studied. Assuming the minimal perimeter for patterning cells to be the condition of stability patterns, the stable converged patterns we simulated in this work are the same as the experimental observations. More importantly, a new pattern of 6 cells was obtained which was found physically more stable than the other two reported by Hayashi and Carthew(1). Aggregating perimeters of cells, i.e. the surface energy, showed a good linear fit with the cell numbers