Nucleation in binary polymer blends: Effects of foreign mesoscopic spherical particles

We study nucleation in binary polymer blends in the presence of mesoscopic spherical particles using self-consistent field theory, considering both heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleation mechanisms. Heterogeneous nucleation is found to be highly sensitive to surface selectivity and particle size, with rather subtle dependence on the particle size. Particles that preferentially adsorb the nucleating species generally favor heterogeneous nucleation. For sufficiently strong adsorption, barrierless nucleation is possible. By comparing the free energy barrier for homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation, we construct a kinetic phase diagram

Environmental Justice in Greater Los Angeles: Impacts of Spatial and Ethnic Factors on Residents' Socioeconomic and Health Status

Environmental justice advocates that all people are protected from disproportionate impacts of environmental hazards. Despite this ideal aspiration, social and environmental inequalities exist throughout greater Los Angeles. Previous research has identified and mapped pollutant levels, demographic information, and the population’s socioeconomic status and health issues. Nevertheless, the complex interrelationships between these factors remain unclear. To close this knowledge gap, we first measured the spatial centrality using sDNA software. These data were then integrated with other socioeconomic and health data collected from CalEnvironScreen, with census tract as the unit of analysis. Finally, structural equation modeling (SEM) was executed to explore direct, indirect, and total effects among variables. The results show that the White population tends to reside in the more segregated areas and lives closer to green space, contributing to higher housing stability, financial security, and more education attainment. In contrast, people of color, especially Latinx, experience the opposite of the environmental benefits. Spatial centrality exhibits a significant indirect effect on environmental justice by influencing ethnicity composition and pollution levels. Moreover, green space accessibility significantly influences environmental justice via pollution. These findings can assist decision-makers to create a more inclusive society and curtail social segregation for all individuals

Nucleation in binary polymer blends: Effects of adding diblock copolymers

The effects of adding AB diblock copolymers to A/B binary blends on the structure and thermodynamics of critical nuclei are studied using the self-consistent field theory. At a fixed ratio of the amount of the two homopolymers, depending on the degree of polymerization and composition of the diblocks, their addition to the blends can either increase or decrease the nucleation free energy barrier relative to the pure A/B blends. The qualitative trend can be deduced from the shift in the coexistence boundary and the spinodal. The distribution of diblock copolymers in critical nuclei depends on the composition of the diblocks and the quench depth. Near the coexistence, symmetric diblocks exhibit surfactant behavior, being highly concentrated on the interface of the critical nuclei. Near the spinodal, they act more like co-solvent with a relatively uniform distribution

Study on stability and bearing characteristics of macroscopic pressure arch of surrounding rock in western deep buried stope of China

In view of the obvious loose and weak occurrence characteristics of the deeply buried thick weakly cemented stratum in the western mining area of China, the bearing characteristics and stability mechanism of the macrography surrounding rock pressure arch (SRPA) are studied. Firstly, considering the engineering characteristics of deep mining, a SRPA model with trapezoidal load was constructed based on the three-hinged arch theory, the shape characteristic, rise-span ratio and arch thickness equations were derived, the arch thickness under different stress paths is analyzed to characterize the bearing performance of pressure arch. Secondly, the internal force distribution law and destabilization damage type were studied by establishing a two-dimensional bearing SRPA model through arch without articulation theory. The instability type and location can be accurately judged and verified by simulation of similar materials. The results show that, the rational arch axis of SRPA is a cubic parabola with opening downward, its rise-span ratio is between 0.3 and 0.5. Increasing the rise-span ratio and lateral pressure coefficient can promote the stable bearing capacity of arch. Axial force distribution on the SRPA section is basically consistent with the arch axis, and the arch has the best bearing characteristics. The positive bending moment occurs in the ranges of [0°, 30°] and [81°, 90°] on both sides of the symmetry axis, where is prone to tensile failure. The maximum shear force is concentrated on the arch waist and skewback, and these sections are prone to shear failure. The instability modes of SRPA can be divided into “skewback—vault (arch waist)” and “vault (arch waist)—skewback”. The research results have theoretical guiding significance for mining roof management

MC-MLP:Multiple Coordinate Frames in all-MLP Architecture for Vision

In deep learning, Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLPs) have once again garnered attention from researchers. This paper introduces MC-MLP, a general MLP-like backbone for computer vision that is composed of a series of fully-connected (FC) layers. In MC-MLP, we propose that the same semantic information has varying levels of difficulty in learning, depending on the coordinate frame of features. To address this, we perform an orthogonal transform on the feature information, equivalent to changing the coordinate frame of features. Through this design, MC-MLP is equipped with multi-coordinate frame receptive fields and the ability to learn information across different coordinate frames. Experiments demonstrate that MC-MLP outperforms most MLPs in image classification tasks, achieving better performance at the same parameter level. The code will be available at: https://github.com/ZZM11/MC-MLP

Is hyperuricemia an independent risk factor for new-onset chronic kidney disease?: a systematic review and meta-analysis based on observational cohort studies

This article discusses the role of interrogation in intelligence during the Second World War, and it focuses on the importance of culture in the collection of Human Intelligence in the European theatre of operation. It argues that cultural issues, including but not limited to language knowledge, provided an added value to interrogation, interviewing and questioning during and after the Second World War, for example through the employment of native speakers, in particular former refugees and enemy aliens. The article also highlights some of the flaws involved in this process, which led to bad prisoner handling and therefore bad intelligence collection. It also tries to complement archival sources with personal accounts and oral histories in order to achieve a deeper understanding of the role of the human being in the collection of intelligence through interrogation and questioning