Three-dimensional multi-level heat transfer model of silica aerogel

This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.In this paper, a 3-D multi-level heat transfer model is developed in consideration of the tortuous path of heat conduction in solid skeleton and the fractal characteristic of silica aerogel. The heat conduction is analyzed for both the secondary particle model and the cluster model. The expression of effective thermal conductivity of a multi-level model is derived. The theoretical predictions from the proposed multi-level model are compared with three sets of experimental data with different densities and porosities. The results from the proposed model show good agreement with the experimental data

Atmospheric effects of the emerging mainland Chinese transportation system at and beyond the regional scale

Local surface travel needs in the People's Republic of China (mainland China) have traditionally been met largely by nonpolluting bicycles. A major automobile manufacturing/importing effort has begun in the country over the last decade, and planning documents indicate that the Chinese may strive to acquire more than 100 million vehicles early in the next century. By analogy with large automotive fleets already existing in the western world, both regional and global scale pollution effects are to be expected from the increase. The present work adopts the latest projections of Chinese automobile manufacture and performs some quantitative assessments of the extent of pollution generation. Focus for the investigation is placed upon the oxidant ozone. Emissions of the precursor species nitrogen oxides and volatile organics are constructed based on data for the current automotive sector in the eastern portion of the United States. Ozone production is first estimated from measured values for continental/oceanic scale yields relative to precursor oxidation. The estimates are then corroborated through idealized two dimensional modeling of the photochemistry taking place in springtime air flow off the Asian land mass and toward the Pacific Ocean. The projected fleet sizes could increase coastal and remote oceanic ozone concentrations by tens of parts per billion (ppb) in the lower troposphere. Influences on the tropospheric aerosol system and on the major greenhouse gas carbon dioxide are treated peripherally. Nitrogen oxides created during the vehicular internal combustion process will contribute to nitrate pollution levels measured in the open Pacific. The potential for soot and fugitive dust increases should be considered as the automotive infrastructure develops. Since the emerging Chinese automotive transportation system will represent a substantial addition to the global fleet and all the carbon in gasoline is eventually oxidized completely, a significant rise in global carbon dioxide inputs will ensue as well. Some policy issues are treated preliminary. The assumption is made that alterations to regional oxidant/aerosol systems and to terrestrial climate are conceivable. The likelihood that the Chinese can achieve the latest vehicle fleet goals is discussed, from the points of view of new production, positive pollution feedbacks from a growing automobile industry, and known petroleum reserves. Vehicular fuel and maintenance options lying before the Chinese are outlines and compared. To provide some perspective on the magnitude of the environmental changes associated with an Asian automotive buildup, recent estimates of the effects of future air traffic over the Pacific Rim are described

Bio-Inspired Aggregation Control of Carbon Nanotubes for Ultra-Strong Composites

High performance nanocomposites require well dispersion and high alignment of the nanometer-sized components, at a high mass or volume fraction as well. However, the road towards such composite structure is severely hindered due to the easy aggregation of these nanometer-sized components. Here we demonstrate a big step to approach the ideal composite structure for carbon nanotube (CNT) where all the CNTs were highly packed, aligned, and unaggregated, with the impregnated polymers acting as interfacial adhesions and mortars to build up the composite structure. The strategy was based on a bio-inspired aggregation control to limit the CNT aggregation to be sub 20--50 nm, a dimension determined by the CNT growth. After being stretched with full structural relaxation in a multi-step way, the CNT/polymer (bismaleimide) composite yielded super-high tensile strengths up to 6.27--6.94 GPa, more than 100% higher than those of carbon fiber/epoxy composites, and toughnesses up to 117--192 MPa. We anticipate that the present study can be generalized for developing multifunctional and smart nanocomposites where all the surfaces of nanometer-sized components can take part in shear transfer of mechanical, thermal, and electrical signals

Lead-free multilayer piezoelectric transformer

Author name used in this publication: K. H. LamAuthor name used in this publication: S. WangAuthor name used in this publication: C. L. SunAuthor name used in this publication: X. Z. Zhao2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Propagation of an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection in three dimensions

Solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are the most significant drivers of adverse space weather at Earth, but the physics governing their propagation through the heliosphere is not well understood. While stereoscopic imaging of CMEs with the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) has provided some insight into their three-dimensional (3D) propagation, the mechanisms governing their evolution remain unclear due to difficulties in reconstructing their true 3D structure. Here we use a new elliptical tie-pointing technique to reconstruct a full CME front in 3D, enabling us to quantify its deflected trajectory from high latitudes along the ecliptic, and measure its increasing angular width and propagation from 2-46 solar radii (approximately 0.2 AU). Beyond 7 solar radii, we show that its motion is determined by an aerodynamic drag in the solar wind and, using our reconstruction as input for a 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulation, we determine an accurate arrival time at the Lagrangian L1 point near Earth.Comment: 5 figures, 2 supplementary movie

Personalized web search using clickthrough data and web page rating

Personalization of Web search is to carry out retrieval for each user incorporating his/her interests. We propose a novel technique to construct personalized information retrieval model from the users' clickthrough data and Web page ratings. This model builds on the userbased collaborative filtering technology and the top-N resource recommending algorithm, which consists of three parts: user profile, user-based collaborative filtering, and the personalized search model. Firstly, we conduct user's preference score to construct the user profile from clicked sequence score and Web page rating. Then it attains similar users with a given user by user-based collaborative filtering algorithm and calculates the recommendable Web page scoring value. Finally, personalized informaion retrieval be modeled by three case applies (rating information for the user himself; at least rating information by similar users; not make use of any rating information). Experimental results indicate that our technique significantly improves the search performance. © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER

An activity-based integrated land-use transport model for urban spatial distribution simulation

This research develops an activity-based integrated land use/transport interaction model based on the concepts – activities (mainly, households and employment activities), activity location and relocation for Chinese regions. It consists of a residential and employment location sub-model, a transport sub-model and an implicit real estate rent adjustment sub-model. The model is developed to model the urban activity distribution evolution, predict urban spatial development trends and examine various planning decision implications. It spatially distributes household and employment activity change of a study area by zone based on the current activity distribution, land use policies and the accessibilities of the zones. The model is subsequently calibrated to predict the distribution of households and employment activities in Beijing metropolitan area in 2025. Model results show that the resident and employment densities are still high in central Beijing in 2025, and most zones’ resident densities are higher than their employment densities. However, there is also significant population density increase along the 6th ring road, indicating the relocation trend of the residents and businesses to the outskirts. This is consistent with the government objectives to decentralize activities within the central urban area. The paper also suggests that the model should be used mainly in examining the possible differences arising from the adoption of different policies though predicting future of a city distribution proves feasible

Study on the serum oxidative stress status in silicosis patients

To determine whether oxidative-stress damage play an important role in the mechanism of silicosis, the oxidative stress parameters were investigated in silicosis patients and controls group. 128 silicosis patients and 130 healthy controls were included. The serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and the levels of malonyldialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) were analyzed. The levels of GSH and MDA in silicosis patients were significantly higher than those of the controls group. SOD activity was higher in the silicosis group than that in the controls (p < 0.05) except for III stage. None of the 3 variables examined were associated with the age among both the controls and silicosis patients. The GSH level and SOD activity significantly declined over a prolonged disease period, while MDA levels remained largely unaffected by the disease duration. These results confirmed the role of oxidative stress in the mechanism of silicosis. Therefore, effective antioxidant therapy for inhibiting oxidative stress may be a therapeutic option in silicosis.Key words: Silica, silicosis, superoxide dismutase, glutathione, malondialdehyde

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Disparities and risks of sexually transmissible infections among men who have sex with men in China: a meta-analysis and data synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including Hepatitis B and C virus, are emerging public health risks in China, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM). This study aims to assess the magnitude and risks of STIs among Chinese MSM. METHODS: Chinese and English peer-reviewed articles were searched in five electronic databases from January 2000 to February 2013. Pooled prevalence estimates for each STI infection were calculated using meta-analysis. Infection risks of STIs in MSM, HIV-positive MSM and male sex workers (MSW) were obtained. This review followed the PRISMA guidelines and was registered in PROSPERO. RESULTS: Eighty-eight articles (11 in English and 77 in Chinese) investigating 35,203 MSM in 28 provinces were included in this review. The prevalence levels of STIs among MSM were 6.3% (95% CI: 3.5-11.0%) for chlamydia, 1.5% (0.7-2.9%) for genital wart, 1.9% (1.3-2.7%) for gonorrhoea, 8.9% (7.8-10.2%) for hepatitis B (HBV), 1.2% (1.0-1.6%) for hepatitis C (HCV), 66.3% (57.4-74.1%) for human papillomavirus (HPV), 10.6% (6.2-17.6%) for herpes simplex virus (HSV-2) and 4.3% (3.2-5.8%) for Ureaplasma urealyticum. HIV-positive MSM have consistently higher odds of all these infections than the broader MSM population. As a subgroup of MSM, MSW were 2.5 (1.4-4.7), 5.7 (2.7-12.3), and 2.2 (1.4-3.7) times more likely to be infected with chlamydia, gonorrhoea and HCV than the broader MSM population, respectively. CONCLUSION: Prevalence levels of STIs among MSW were significantly higher than the broader MSM population. Co-infection of HIV and STIs were prevalent among Chinese MSM. Integration of HIV and STIs healthcare and surveillance systems is essential in providing effective HIV/STIs preventive measures and treatments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO NO: CRD42013003721