Wearable Structured Mental-Sensing-Graph Measurement

The emotional assessment under internet of things (IoT) architecture can support researchers to establish the relationships between human social and physiological signals and emotions. In this paper, a wearable emotion sensing system is developed under narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) wireless communication technology. The wearable sensing device integrates social linked sensors including voice, activity, and heart rate. Using this system, a dating experiment is set up to investigate multimodal factors of male’s attractiveness perception. In particular, the multimodal data are fused in a graph structure, and this further leads to a graph convolutional neural networks model for emotion evaluation and a mental-sensing-graph intelligent interpreter. Different types of mental-sensing-graphs are fused during the training stage, and the model achieves a verification accuracy of 0.93. The intrinsic relationships among the multimodal data have been captured by the subgraphs which have star-shaped structures, and the center of the subgraphs are mostly audio node. The obtained results show that the attractiveness perception of the male participants in dating is more aligned to language communication. The results also reveal that when the male participants date highly attractive women during the experiments, a significant correlation is observed between the multimodal features and the attractiveness perception levels

A review of phase change heat transfer in shape-stabilized phase change materials (ss-PCMs) based on porous supports for thermal energy storage

Latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) uses phase change materials (PCMs) to store and release heat, and can effectively address the mismatch between energy supply and demand. However, it suffers from low thermal conductivity and the leakage problem. One of the solutions is integrating porous supports and PCMs to fabricate shape-stabilized phase change materials (ss-PCMs). The phase change heat transfer in porous ss-PCMs is of fundamental importance for determining thermal-fluidic behaviours and evaluating LHTES system performance. This paper reviews the recent experimental and numerical investigations on phase change heat transfer in porous ss-PCMs. Materials, methods, apparatuses and significant outcomes are included in the section of experimental studies and it is found that paraffin and metal foam are the most used PCM and porous support respectively in the current researches. Numerical advances are reviewed from the aspect of different simulation methods. Compared to representative elementary volume (REV)-scale simulation, the pore-scale simulation can provide extra flow and heat transfer characteristics in pores, exhibiting great potential for the simulation of mesoporous, microporous and hierarchical porous materials. Moreover, there exists a research gap between phase change heat transfer and material preparation. Finally, this review outlooks the future research topics of phase change heat transfer in porous ss-PCMs

Spatio-Temporal Dynamic and Structural Characteristics of Land Use/Cover Change Based on a Complex Network: A Case Study of the Middle Reaches of Yangtze River Urban Agglomeration

Due to the rapid urbanization and industrialization, urban agglomeration has become the area with the most drastic and concentrated land use change. The research on the evolution law and structural characteristics of urban agglomeration land use system is of great significance for the sustainable development. Taking the middle reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomeration (MRYRUA) of China as the study area, we analyzed the phasic changes from 1980 to 2018 in land use/cover in the MRYRUA as well as the spatial differences between the three core regions. Furthermore, the transfer matrix of land use/cover change (LUCC) was converted to network, with land use types as nodes and conversion relationships between different land types as network connecting lines. Complex network indexes such as centrality, diffusion, and dominant flow were applied to identify the major changes in land use types, key change paths, and transformation patterns. The results show that: (1) in the past 40 years, the building land area in the MRYRUA has increased significantly, while the area of crop land and forest has, and still is, decreasing at an accelerated rate; (2) in terms of the scale, structure, and spatial distribution of land use transfer, there are distinct differences among the three core regions. The Wuhan metropolitan area has the largest intensity of land use transfer and the most drastic structural adjustment; (3) in all four periods, the land use transition network, crop land, and water bodies are the key land use types. Over time, the influence of building land and forest in the land use transition network has increased; and (4) the first transfer direction of each land use type was stable during different periods, such as the transfer of crop land to water bodies and building land, the transfer of water bodies to crop land, and the mutual transformations among crop land and forest, indicating a stable transfer pattern in the MRYRUA

Spatio-Temporal Dynamic and Structural Characteristics of Land Use/Cover Change Based on a Complex Network: A Case Study of the Middle Reaches of Yangtze River Urban Agglomeration

Due to the rapid urbanization and industrialization, urban agglomeration has become the area with the most drastic and concentrated land use change. The research on the evolution law and structural characteristics of urban agglomeration land use system is of great significance for the sustainable development. Taking the middle reaches of the Yangtze River urban agglomeration (MRYRUA) of China as the study area, we analyzed the phasic changes from 1980 to 2018 in land use/cover in the MRYRUA as well as the spatial differences between the three core regions. Furthermore, the transfer matrix of land use/cover change (LUCC) was converted to network, with land use types as nodes and conversion relationships between different land types as network connecting lines. Complex network indexes such as centrality, diffusion, and dominant flow were applied to identify the major changes in land use types, key change paths, and transformation patterns. The results show that: (1) in the past 40 years, the building land area in the MRYRUA has increased significantly, while the area of crop land and forest has, and still is, decreasing at an accelerated rate; (2) in terms of the scale, structure, and spatial distribution of land use transfer, there are distinct differences among the three core regions. The Wuhan metropolitan area has the largest intensity of land use transfer and the most drastic structural adjustment; (3) in all four periods, the land use transition network, crop land, and water bodies are the key land use types. Over time, the influence of building land and forest in the land use transition network has increased; and (4) the first transfer direction of each land use type was stable during different periods, such as the transfer of crop land to water bodies and building land, the transfer of water bodies to crop land, and the mutual transformations among crop land and forest, indicating a stable transfer pattern in the MRYRUA

Efficacy and Safety of Different Norepinephrine Regimens for Prevention of Spinal Hypotension in Cesarean Section: A Randomized Trial

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of three different norepinephrine dosing regimens for preventing spinal hypotension in cesarean section. In this randomized double-blinded controlled study, 120 parturients scheduled for elective section delivery under spinal anesthesia were assigned to 1 of 4 groups. In the control group, patients received saline infusion. In three norepinephrine groups, the infusion dosage regimens were 5, 10, and 15 μg/kg/h, respectively. Hypotension was treated with a rescue bolus of 10 μg norepinephrine. The study protocol was continued until the end of surgery. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants that underwent hypotension. The proportion of hypotension participants was significantly reduced in the norepinephrine groups (37.9%, 20%, and 25%, respectively) compared to that in the control group (86.7%). However, the highest dose of norepinephrine (15 μg/kg/h) resulted in more hypertension episodes. In addition, blood pressure was better maintained in the norepinephrine 5 μg/kg/h and 10 μg/kg/h groups than in the control group and 15 μg/kg/h group. No significant differences in other hemodynamic variables, adverse effects, maternal and neonatal blood gases, or Apgar scores were observed among the groups. In summary, for patients who undergo cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia, infusion of 5–10 μg/kg/h norepinephrine was effective to reduce hypotension incidence without significant adverse effects on maternal and neonatal outcomes. Clinical Trial Registration Number is ChiCTR-INR-16009452

Improvement of the Salinized Soil Properties of Fly Ash by Freeze-Thaw Cycles: An Impact Test Study

To explore the mechanism of the microstructural change in salinized soil under freeze-thaw cycles and the strength characteristics of subgrade salinized soil improved by fly ash, an unconfined compressive test, a triaxial shear test, and a scanning electron microscopy test were carried out using salinized soil samples with different fly ash contents along the Suihua to Daqing expressway in China. The results showed that after several freeze-thaw cycles, the unconfined compressive strength, triaxial shear strength, cohesion, and internal friction angle of saline soil showed a decreasing trend. With an increase in the fly ash content, the internal friction angle, cohesion, unconfined compressive strength, and shear strength of the improved saline soil first increased and then decreased. When the fly ash content was 15%, the mechanical indexes, such as cohesion and the internal friction angle, reached the maximum value. Microscopic test results showed that the freeze-thaw cycle will lead to an increase in the proportion of pores and cracks, an increase in the average pore size, and a loosening of the soil structure. The addition of fly ash can fill the soil pores, improve the microstructure of the soil, increase the cohesive force of the soil particles, and improve the overall strength of the soil. Fly ash (15%) can be added to subgrade soil in the process of subgrade construction in the Suihua-Daqing expressway area to improve the shear strength and the resistance to freezing and thawing cycles. These research results are conducive to promoting the comprehensive utilization of fly ash, improving the utilization rate of resources, and promoting sustainable development, thus providing a reference for the design and construction of saline soil roadbed engineering in seasonal frozen areas and the development and construction of saline land belts in seasonal and winter areas

An Efficient Photocatalyst for Fast Reduction of Cr(VI) by Ultra-Trace Silver Enhanced Titania in Aqueous Solution

For the purpose of establishing a simple route to prepare a metal-semiconductor hybrid catalyst efficiently and reduce its cost through precise doping noble metals. In this study, ultra-trace silver doped TiO2 photocatalysts were fabricated via a “green” ultrasonic impregnation-assisted photoreduction strategy in an ethanol system, and its photocatalytic performance was systematically investigated by utilizing Cr(VI) as the model contaminant. A schottky energy barrier was constructed in Ag@TiO2, which served as a recombination center and possessed superior photocatalytic activity for Cr(VI) reduction. The obtained catalysts exhibited a significant e−/h+ separation efficiency which directly led to an obvious photocatalytic property enhancement. Then, the resultant Ag@TiO2 (0.06 wt %, 30 min irradiation) showed about 2.5 times the activity as that of commercial P25 NPs for Cr(VI) degradation. Moreover, after five cycles, it still maintained considerably high catalytic ability (62%). This work provides a deep insight into preparation techniques of metal-semiconductor photocatalyst and broadens their application prospect