Effectiveness of Dynamic Compaction on Liquefied Foundation in Highway Practice

In this paper, the in-situ dynamic compaction tests with different values of single-drop-compaction energy are performed on a liquefiable ground encountered in highway engineering practice. Excess pore pressure, total surface settlement and lateral deformation under dynamic compaction impact are measured and analyzed at different conditions, such as single drop-compaction-energy, drop numbers, depth of soil layer etc. The standard penetration test (SPT) is used for investigating the compaction effectiveness. The investigation results indicate dynamic compaction technique is an effective way for improving liquefiable ground in highway engineering practice. Relatively small single-drop-compaction energy and relatively more drop numbers should be adopted for improving natural sedimentary liquefiable ground with dynamic compaction. The in-situ dynamic compaction tests show that the effective effect range by dynamic compaction impact depends on the single-drop-compaction energy. It is also found that the measured maximum lateral deformation has a good linear relationship with the total vertical surface settlement

Quantum Optical Memory for Entanglement Distribution

Optical photons are powerful carriers of quantum information, which can be delivered in free space by satellites or in fibers on the ground over long distances. Entanglement of quantum states over long distances can empower quantum computing, quantum communications, and quantum sensing. Quantum optical memories can effectively store and manipulate quantum states, which makes them indispensable elements in future long-distance quantum networks. Over the past two decades, quantum optical memories with high fidelity, high efficiencies, long storage times, and promising multiplexing capabilities have been developed, especially at the single photon level. In this review, we introduce the working principles of commonly used quantum memory protocols and summarize the recent advances in quantum memory demonstrations. We also offer a vision for future quantum optical memory devices that may enable entanglement distribution over long distances

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation by the frequency chirps : enhanced thermal field and cavitation at the focus

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has become popular in the noninvasive ablation of a variety of solid tumors and cancers with promising clinical outcomes. Its ablation efficiency should be improved for the reduced treatment duration, especially for a large target. The frequency chirps were proposed and investigated for the enhanced lesion production and bubble cavitation at the focus during HIFU ablation. First, a nonlinear wave model was used to simulate the acoustic field using different excitation strategies (at the constant frequency excitation, downward and upward frequency chirps) and subsequently, the bubble dynamics and cavitation-enhanced temperature elevation were calculated by the Gilmore and Bioheat equations, respectively. Then the temperature rises and the produced lesion in the gel phantom were measured by the thermocouple and recorded photographically, respectively. Bubble activities at the focus were measured by passive cavitation detection (PCD) to quantify the scattering and inertial cavitation levels using short-time Fourier-transform (STFT). Finally, the enhanced temperature elevation, lesion production, and bubble cavitation were further confirmed in the ex vivo tissue samples. It is found that the frequency sweeping time plays a more important role in the enhancement of HIFU-produced lesion in the gel phantom while the frequency sweeping range seems more critical in the tissue. Altogether, large frequency sweeping range in a short time is preferable, and the frequency sweeping direction has little influence on the lesion enhancement.Accepted versio

A workpiece registration and localization adjustment method with contact inspection under multi-tolerance conditions

The workpiece contour errors from previous process affect current process. In order to improve workpiece allowance distribution, this article presents a workpiece registration and localization adjustment method with contact inspection. According to the analysis of machining deviation, the rotational and translational registration matrixes from multi-tolerance surfaces to workpiece are obtained by surface characteristic and translational vectors. The workpiece localization (position and orientation) adjustment can be realized by transforming coordinate systems of 5-axis machine tool. Through adaptive and iterative registration and adjustment, the optimized workpiece localization for current process is obtained. The experimental results show that the method can improve allowance uniformity effectively

Reliable Visual Exploration System with Fault Tolerance Structure

Reliability of visual tracking and mapping is a challenging problem in robotics research, and it limits the promotion of vision-based mobile robot applications to a great extent. In this paper, we propose to improve the reliability of visual exploration in terms of its fault tolerance. Three modules are involved in our visual exploration system: visual localization and mapping, active controller and termination condition. High maintainability of mapping is obtained by the submap-based visual mapping module, persistent driving is achieved by a semantic segmentation based active controller, and robustness of re-localization is guaranteed by a novel completeness evaluation method in the termination condition. All the modules are integrated tightly for maintaining mapping and improving visual tracking. The system is verified with simulations and real world experiments, and all the solutions to fault tolerance are verified to overcome the failure conditions of visual tracking and mapping

Sao Paulo Cycling Network Development Design: A Minimum Spanning Tree Approach

Cycling is a heated topic in social media and a political hotspot in São Paulo. The implementation of bicycles took place in the city after the cooperation agreement signed by the Municipal Bureau of International and the Institute for Transportation and development policy in 2009. The recent 10-year development of the cycling infrastructure resulted in an unconnected and scattered network throughout the city. To improve the accessibility and increase the service coverage, the study proposed the minimum spanning tree to design a well-connected cycling network. A case study of 4 center districts has been researched. The new plan aims to serve 94.49% inhabitants within 350 m of the walking distance and create links to the daily trip destinations in the regions, such as public transport stations, schools, shopping malls, hospitals, etc.</p

Experimental Study on Hot Spot Stresses of Curved Composite Twin-Girder Bridges

Curved composite twin-girder bridges are suitable for mountainous areas, due to their advantages of light self-weight, excellent mechanical performance, and fewer construction requirements. It has been found that many composite twin-girder bridges collapsed due to fatigue failure. However, the literature review showed no relevant studies on the fatigue performance of curved composite twin-girder bridges. Because of this, the specimen of 1:2 scale curved composite twin-girder bridge in accordance with the design scheme of Xizhen Bridge in China was designed and tested. Three possible fatigue details were selected: cruciform connections, transverse attachments, and transverse splices named Class I, Class II, and Class III. For the test data of nominal stress (NS), equations were proposed to convert the strain value into the internal force of the fatigue detail position. The stress caused by torsion accounts for 2.8% of the total stress, which is almost negligible. The fatigue evaluation process based on the hot spot stress (HSS) S-N curve method is presented. The HSS method is more conservative than the NS S-N curve method in predicting the fatigue life of complex structures with high-stress concentrations