Anomalies of upper critical field in the spinel superconductor LiTi2_2O4−δ_{4-\delta}

High-field electrical transport and point-contact tunneling spectroscopy were used to investigate superconducting properties of the unique spinel oxide, LiTi$_2$O$_{4-\delta}$ films with various oxygen content. We find that the upper critical field $B_\mathrm{c2}$ gradually increases as more oxygen impurities are brought into the samples by carefully tuning the deposition atmosphere. It is striking that although the superconducting transition temperature and energy gap are almost unchanged, an astonishing isotropic $B_\mathrm{c2}$ up to $\sim$ 26 Tesla is observed in oxygen-rich sample, which is doubled compared to the anoxic sample and breaks the Pauli limit. Such anomalies of $B_\mathrm{c2}$ were rarely reported in other three dimensional superconductors. Combined with all the anomalies, three dimensional spin-orbit interaction induced by tiny oxygen impurities is naturally proposed to account for the remarkable enhancement of $B_\mathrm{c2}$ in oxygen-rich LiTi$_2$O$_{4-\delta}$ films. Such mechanism could be general and therefore provides ideas for optimizing practical superconductors with higher $B_\mathrm{c2}$

Anomalies of upper critical field in the spinel superconductor LiTi2 O4-δ

© 2019 American Physical Society. High-field electrical transport and point-contact tunneling spectroscopy are used to investigate superconducting properties of spinel oxide LiTi2O4-δ films with various oxygen contents. It is striking that although the superconducting transition temperature and energy gap are almost unchanged, an isotropic upper critical field Bc2 up to 26.0 T is observed in the oxygen-rich sample, which is more than twice the Bc2 of 11.3 T in the anoxic one. The change of the dominating pair-breaking mechanism from the orbital effect to the spin flip at Bc2 is achieved by tuning oxygen contents, which can be explained by the appearance of small Fermi pockets due to extra oxygen. Our paper provides deep understanding of the intrinsic relation between Bc2 and the complex Fermi surface, and contributes a promising way to enhance Bc2 for practical superconductors

Privacy-Preserving Electricity Theft Detection based on Blockchain

In  most   electricity  theft  detection   schemes,  con-sumers’   power   consumption   data   is   directly   input   into   thedetection  center.  Although  it  is  valid  in  detecting  the  theft  ofconsumers,  the  privacy  of  all  consumers  is  at  risk  unless  thedetection center is assumed to be trusted. In fact, it is impractical.Moreover, existing schemes may result in some security problems,such  as  the  collusion  attack  due  to  the  presence  of  a  trustedthird party, and malicious data tampering caused by the systemoperator  (SO)  being  attacked.  Aiming  at  the  problems  above,we   propose   a   blockchain-based   privacy-preserving   electricitytheft  detection  scheme  without  a  third  party.  Specifically,  theproposed scheme uses an improved functional encryption schemeto  enable  electricity  theft  detection  and  load  monitoring  whilepreserving consumers’ privacy; distributed storage of consumers’data  with  blockchain  to  resolve  security  problems  such  as  datatampering, etc. Meanwhile, we build a long short-term memorynetwork (LSTM) model to perform higher accuracy for electricitytheft  detection.  The  proposed  scheme  is  evaluated  in  a  realenvironment,  and  the  results  show  that  it  is  more  accurate  inelectricity  theft  detection  within  acceptable  communication  andcomputational overhead. Our system analysis demonstrates thatthe  proposed  scheme  can  resist  various  security  attacks  andpreserve the consumer’s privacy.</p

Crack initiation and propagation behaviour under high-temperature very-high-cycle fatigue: Directionally solidified columnar-grained vs. single-crystal superalloys

Role of oxidation and recrystallisation on very-high-cycle fatigue of columnar-grained DZ125 and single-crystal DD6 superalloys are investigated. With the temperature increase from 850 to 1000 °C for DZ125 while from 1000 to 1100 °C for DD6, the Mode-I cracking tendency increases due to internal oxide penetration. Recrystallisation can occur for both the electrolytically and mechanically polished surface conditions, controlled primarily by temperature and test duration. Its presence can lead to strain localisation at subsurface, but the surface recrystallisation does not necessarily determine the oxide penetration. By comparison with the single-crystal DD6 that shows the pure Stage I at 1000 °C, the columnar-grained DZ125 exhibits the distinctive Stage I cracking followed by Mode I propagation. This fracture characteristics in DZ125 can be attributed to the combined effect of the high-angle grain boundaries and far-field stress. The microstructure-related factor plays a vital role when the crack length is small, whereas the role of stress becomes predominant when the crack length is comparable to a couple of grains, ultimately leading to the shift from the crystallographic Stage I to Mode I propagation

High temperature fatigue behavior of a near-alpha titanium alloy

High-cycle and very-high-cycle fatigue at 450 °C in near-α titanium with bi-modal microstructure are investigated. Stress-life duality appears with one data group spanning from 105 to 107 and the other from 107 to 109 cycles, characterized by surface and subsurface cracking, respectively. Misfit strain induced by the high misorientation of a particular primary α-grain relative to its surroundings, termed as local texture, promotes the subsurface fatigue-crack initiation. Fatigue strength increases up to 100 MPa owing to cyclic pre-strain at 450 °C, but the duality remains. Strain hardening by activation of prismatic slip is responsible for the improved fatigue strength.</a

Exposure to greenness, air pollution and respiratory health among pre-school children in northern China

Background Evidence from developed countries on the association between greenspace and childhood respiratory health has been inconsistent whilst such evidence is largely lacking in the developing world where rapid urbanization is occurring. This study aimed to investigate the associations between surrounding greenness, air pollution and respiratory health among pre-school children in a rapidly developing city in China. Methods We recruited 2920 pre-school children in Taiyuan city. Greenness exposure was represented by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) which combined estimations based on a weighted mean that children spend time both in kindergarten and home (75% home, 25% kindergarten). Air pollution exposures were estimated from a land-use-regression model which was also calculated based on a weighted mean as with greenness. Logistic regression was performed to assess the relationships between greenness, air pollution and respiratory symptoms. Results Greenness had negatively impacted respiratory health among pre-school children in Taiyuan city, particularly for current dry cough at night. A 0.1-unit increment for NDVI300m was associated with an Odds Ratio (OR) of 2.45 (95%CI: 1.33–4.53) for dry cough at night. The associations were robust after adjusting for air pollution and road condition. No statistically significant associations were found between air pollution and any symptoms. The mediating effect of air pollution on dry cough at night with greenness was not observed. Conclusion Our study found that within different buffers, a higher level of greenness was consistently associated with a higher risk of dry cough at night among pre-school children. This finding has indicated that environmental policies on urban greening should be scientifically justified to protect respiratory health among young children.</p

Transition from internal to surface crack initiation of a single-crystal superalloy in the very-high-cycle fatigue regime at 1100 °C

Transition from internal to surface crack initiation is controlled by oxidation assisted fatigue-crack process in the very-high-cycle fatigue regime. Between 760 and 1000 °C, single crack initiation site is associated with internal casting defect, followed by a crystallographic Stage I propagation. By contrast, multiple surface crack initiation sites appear at 1100 °C, as the consequence of internal oxide penetration. The fatal crack follows a Mode I propagation and oxygen can diffuse into the material along the crack path. γ′-phase depletion appears surrounding the oxidised and cracked regions, while localised rafting can occur close to the crack tip

Superhydrophobic MOF based materials and their applications for oil-water separation

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising for a variety of applications, such as gas adsorption, catalysis, and separation, due to their uniform porosity, versatile structures, tunable functional groups, and extremely high specific surface areas. The escalating discharge of industrial and domestic oily effluents and oil spills not only cause significant environmental concerns but also result in resource depletion. Consequently, efficient oil-water separation has attracted considerable interest. MOFs with exceptional wettability have emerged as promising materials for advanced oil-water separation. This review discusses the synthesis of superhydrophobic MOFs and their complexes for oil-water separation. We examine the current state of research and the challenges faced by MOFs in achieving effective oil-water separation face. In addition, we provide insightful perspectives and recommendations for the design, characterization, and application of MOFs

Residential Proximity to Major Roadways and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Meta-Analysis.

Research indicates that higher levels of traffic-related pollution exposure increase the risk of diabetes, but the association between road proximity and diabetes risk remains unclear. To assess and quantify the association between residential proximity to major roadways and type 2 diabetes, a systematic review and meta-analysis was performed. Embase, Medline, and Web of Science were searched for eligible studies. Using a random-effects meta-analysis, the summary relative risks (RRs) were calculated. Bayesian meta-analysis was also performed. Eight studies (6 cohort and 2 cross-sectional) with 158,576 participants were finally included. The summary unadjusted RR for type 2 diabetes associated with residential proximity to major roadways was 1.24 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07-1.44, p = 0.001, I² = 48.1%). The summary adjusted RR of type 2 diabetes associated with residential proximity to major roadways was 1.12 (95% CI: 1.03-1.22, p = 0.01, I² = 17.9%). After excluding two cross-sectional studies, the summary results suggested that residential proximity to major roadways could increase type 2 diabetes risk (Adjusted RR = 1.13; 95% CI: 1.02-1.27, p = 0.025, I² = 36.6%). Bayesian meta-analysis showed that the unadjusted RR and adjusted RR of type 2 diabetes associated with residential proximity to major roadways were 1.22 (95% credibility interval: 1.06-1.55) and 1.13 (95% credibility interval: 1.01-1.31), respectively. The meta-analysis suggested that residential proximity to major roadways could significantly increase risk of type 2 diabetes, and it is an independent risk factor of type 2 diabetes. More well-designed studies are needed to further strengthen the evidence

Harmonics propagation and interaction evaluation in small-scale wind farms and hydroelectric generating systems

The harmonics exacerbated by the integration of distributed energy such as wind power has been extensively studied. However, the interaction and propagation mechanism between harmonic sources in the hydro-wind complementary generation system are still not clear. To tackle this challenge, the presented study establishes the hydro-wind complementary generation system model and explores the harmonics propagation and interaction in all components. Then three operation mode of complementary system (scenario 1: stand-alone Hydroelectric Generating System, scenario 2: stand-alone Wind Farm (WF) and scenario 3: complementary generation system) are selected. The results demonstrate that the integration of HGS diminishes the harmonic at DFIG side but at the grid side. In complementary generation system, the THDu rises but the corresponding THDi declines due to the regulation of power grid. Furthermore, the odd harmonics interactions analysis reveal that the doubly-fed induction generator's (DFIG) side and the stator's side are the two high-risk sources in the complementary generation process. The presented results provide a basis for power quality evaluation of hydro-wind complementary generation system