Water and sediment quality in Qinghai Lake, China: a revisit after half a century.

Qinghai Lake, situated on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, is the largest lake in China. In this study, the water and sediment quality were investigated in Qinghai Lake, three sublakes, and five major tributaries. Both Na+ and Cl- were found to be the major ions present in Qinghai Lake and the three sublakes, while Ca2+ and HCO3- dominated the tributaries. Compared with historical data from the 1960s, the concentrations of NH4 (+), NO3 (-), and soluble reactive silica have increased considerably, likely caused by increased human activities in the area. Compared to the historical data, chemical oxygen demand has increased and lake water transparency has decreased, likely related to an increase in nutrient levels. Relatively high concentrations of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) were observed in Qinghai Lake sediments, although P fraction types and low water concentrations of these two indicate low possibility of transfer into the water column. The ratios of C/N suggest that the organic matter in the sediments are primarily from autochthonous sources. TN and total organic carbon in the sediment cores increased slowly up the core while TP and total inorganic carbon have been fairly constant

Visualization for Better Stakeholder Communication: Design of a visualization strategy tool and an empowering visual tool for multi-stakeholder projects

Strategic Product Desig

Promoting sensitivity and selectivity of HCHO sensor based on strained InP₃ monolayer: A DFT study

Sensitive materials for formaldehyde (HCHO) sensor need high sensitivity and selectivity. The research on two dimensional (2D) sensitive material is growing, and most studies focus on the pristine or modified graphene. So it is essential to introduce other 2D materials into HCHO gas sensor. In this report, the adsorption behaviors of organic gas molecules including C2H6, C2H4, C2H2, C6H6, C2H5OH and HCHO over indium triphosphide (InP3) monolayer were studied by using first-principle atomistic simulations. The calculation results demonstrate that InP3 monolayer has a high sensitivity and selectivity to HCHO than others. By comparing the structures and adsorption results of InP3 monolayer, graphene and single-layered MoS2, it was found that the polarity bonds and steric effect of the site on monolayer play an important role in the detection of HCHO. The effect of strain on the gas/substrate adsorption systems was also studied, implying that the stained InP3 monolayer could enhance the sensitivity and selectivity to HCHO. This study provides useful insights into the gas-surface interaction that may assist future experimental development of 2D material for HCHO sensing and performance optimization based on strain.Accepted author manuscriptElectronic Components, Technology and Material

A reappraisal of the ink-bottle effect and pore structure of cementitious materials using intrusion-extrusion cyclic mercury porosimetry

Reliable characterization of the pore structure is essentially important for transport-related durability studies of cementitious materials. Mercury intrusion porosimetry has been commonly used for pore structure measurement while the ink-bottle effect significantly affects the trustworthiness of pore size features of cementitious materials. Pressurization-depressurization cycling mercury intrusion porosimetry (PDC-MIP) is an alternative approach previously reported with the purpose to provide better estimates of pore size results. It is found however that the PDC-MIP greatly overestimates the ink-bottle pore volume owing to the incomplete extrusion of mercury in throat pores after the pressurization-depressurization cycle. Intrusion-extrusion cyclic mercury porosimetry (IEC-MIP), as a further improvement, is then described, which can reliably capture the ink-bottle effect and obtain a clear picture of the distribution of the ink-bottle pores in cementitious materials. The ink-bottle effect of cement pastes is observed being pore size-dependent and the role of critical pores is emphasized. Water-cement ratio primarily changes the effective porosity while plays a minor role in the ink-bottle porosity. The addition of reactive blends substantially enhances the ink-bottle effect during mercury penetration into small pores. IEC-MIP tests, together with a unique data analysis, enable to obtain a more truthful pore size distribution.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Materials and Environmen

Protocol for Reading Out Majorana Vortex Qubits and Testing Non-Abelian Statistics

The successful testing of non-Abelian statistics not only serves as a milestone in fundamental physics but also provides a quantum-gate operation in topological quantum computation. An accurate and efficient readout scheme of a topological qubit is an essential step toward the experimental confirmation of non-Abelian statistics. In the current work, we propose a protocol to read out the quantum state of a Majorana vortex qubit on a topological superconductor island. The protocol consists of four Majorana zero modes trapped in spatially well-separated vortex cores on the two-dimensional surface of a Coulomb blockaded topological superconductor. Our proposed measurement is implemented by a pair of weakly coupled Majorana modes separately in touch with two normal-metal leads and the readout is realized by observing the conductance-peak location in terms of the gate voltage. Using this protocol, we can further test the non-Abelian statistics of Majorana zero modes in the two-dimensional platform. A successful readout of a Majorana qubit is a crucial step toward the future application of topological quantum computation. In addition, this Coulomb-blockaded setup can distinguish Majorana zero modes from Caroli-de Gennes-Matricon modes in vortex cores.ChemE/Delft Ingenious DesignQuTec

Potential impact of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) on phenols degradation in an UASB reactor and its degradation properties

Methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) as a solvent is extensively used for the phenols extraction from the wastewater, so it is unavoidable to expose in the effluent due to the solubility and leakage problem. The present study evaluated the impact of MIBK on phenols degradation in an UASB reactor and analyzed its degradation properties. The results indicated that the continuous dosing (0.1 g L−1) and impact (10 g L−1) of MIBK had limited effect on phenols removal (1–2% reduction) in the UASB reactor, but the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) values of sludge decreased by 45–75% after MIBK exposure. Anaerobic degradation rate of MIBK fitted well to a pseudo-first-order kinetic equation with respect to the initial concentration of 35 mg L−1 (k = 0.0115 h−1, R2 = 0.9664). Furthermore, the relative methane generation rate constants of MIBK were 0.00816, 0.00613, 0.00273, and 0.00207 d−1 at the initial concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 5, and 10 g L−1, respectively. MIBK showed higher inhibitory effect on the methanogenesis than on phenols degradation. This study pointed out that the industrial installations should consider the influence of solvent on anaerobic treatment of phenolic wastewater.Sanitary Engineerin

Evaluation of photocatalytic micro-surfacing mixture: road performance, vehicle exhaust gas degradation capacity and environmental impacts

To purify severe air pollution in traffic-intensive urban areas and tunnels, an innovative type of photocatalytic micro-surfacing mixture (PMM) was designed, which was enhanced by polypropylene (PP) fiber and nano-TiO2. In this work, the road performance of sixteen PMMs with the different contents of PP and nano-TiO2 were evaluated by wet-track abrasion test, wheel rutting deformation test and low-temperature splitting test. The vehicle exhaust (VE) gas degradation capacity of sixteen PMMs was characterized under ultraviolet (UV) light and visible light conditions. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to evaluate the environmental impact of PMM. The results showed that the road performances of PMM were improved with the increase of the PP fibers amount. The VE gas degradation capacity was significantly enhanced with the increase of nano-TiO2 amount. PMM with 0.2 wt% PP fibers and 60 wt% replacement of mineral filler with nano-TiO2 was a viable alternative to improve photocatalytic degradation of VE in pavement engineering. In addition, the modified micro-surfacing mixture facilitates a significant reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Pavement Engineerin

Thermal inductance in GaN devices

Using the analogue of the electric inductance, we reveal the properties of the thermal inductance in GaN-based light-emitting diode devices by testing their transient thermal behaviors. We find that the devices exhibit a transient thermal response under step-down or step-up currents and observe notable inductive phenomena of the temperature response as time evolves from start up to some hundred microseconds. We define thermal inductance as the rapid change in device temperature that is opposite to the temperature change expected from the power input. These findings can promote new temperature measurements, and novel thermal analyses of high-frequency semiconductor devices that combining the thermal resistances, thermal capacitances, and thermal inductances.Accepted author manuscriptElectronic Components, Technology and Material

Life cycle assessment of material footprint in recycling: A case of concrete recycling

Meeting the current demand for concrete requires not only mining tons of gravel and sand, but also burning large amounts of fossil fuel resources in cement kilning. Consequently, concrete recycling is crucial to achieving a material-efficient society, especially with the application of various categories of concrete and the goal of phasing out fossil fuels. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to assess the engineering material footprint (EMF) and the fossil fuel material footprint (FMF) in closed-loop recycling of three types of concrete: siliceous concrete, limestone concrete, and lightweight aggregate concrete. This study aims to investigate the impact of (i) concrete categories, (ii) methods to model recycling, and (iii) using renewable energy sources on the material footprint in concrete recycling. The results highlight that the concrete recycling system can reduce 99% of the EMF and 66–93% of the FMF compared with the baseline system, in which concrete waste is landfilled. All three recycling modeling approaches indicate that concrete recycling can considerably reduce EMF and FMF compared with the baseline system, primarily resulting from the displacement of virgin raw materials. Using alternative diesels is more sensitive than adopting renewable electricity in reduction of the FMF in concrete recycling. Replacing diesel with electrolysis- and coal-based synthetic diesel for concrete recycling could even increase the FMF, while using biodiesel made from rapeseed and wood-based synthetic diesel can reduce 47–51% and 84–89% of the FMF, respectively, compared to the virgin diesel-based recycling system. Finally, we discussed the multifunctionality and rebound effects of recycling, and double-counting risk in material and energy accounting.Resources & Recyclin

Joint energy consumption optimization method for wing-diesel engine-powered hybrid ships towards a more energy-efficient shipping

Wing-diesel engine-powered hybrid ships can effectively reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by using wind energy as the auxiliary driving power. The energy optimization management of the hybrid system can further improve the ship's energy efficiency. To achieve this purpose, it is significant to establish an effective energy consumption model for the energy optimization management of the hybrid system. Therefore, an energy consumption model is established based on the energy conversion analysis of the hybrid power system in this paper. This model can effectively describe the energy consumption of the hybrid ship under different navigational environmental conditions. Then, a joint optimization method of the wing attack angle and of the sailing speed for the hybrid ship is proposed by adopting a swarm intelligence optimization algorithm, in order to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the hybrid ship under different navigational environmental conditions. Finally, the energy consumption optimization potentials by adopting the hybrid power system and the proposed joint optimization method are analyzed. The results show that the energy consumption and CO2 emissions along a typical route can be reduced by about 4.5%. This study provides an important basis for future practical operations of wing-diesel engine-powered hybrid ships.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Transport Engineering and Logistic