In this study, we designed and synthesized a novel battery-type electrode featuring three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical ZnO@Ni _xCo_1−x(OH) _y core/shell nanowire/nanosheet arrays arranged on Ni foam substrate via a two-step protocol including a wet chemical process followed by electro-deposition. We then characterized its composition, structure and surface morphology by X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy, EDS elemental mapping. Our electrochemical measurements show that the ZnO@Ni_0.67Co_0.33(OH) _y electrode material exhibited a noticeably high specific capacity of as much as 255 (mA·h)/g at 1 A/g. Additionally, it demonstrated a superior rate capability, as well as an excellent cycling stability with 81.6% capacity retention over 2000 cycles at 5 A/g. This sample delivered a high energy density of 64 W·h/kg and a power density of 250 W/kg at a current density of 1 A/g. With such remarkable electrochemical properties, we expect the 3D hierarchical hybrid electrode material presented in this work to have promising applications for the next generation of energy storage systems.

As a key piece of equipment in bioethanol production, cooking tank is usually used to ensure the uniformity of liquefaction. In this paper, we propose a novel type of cooking tank to ensure a type of starch slurry flow known as a quasi-plug flow in a large-scale process. In the analyses of flow field, we used computational fluid dynamics (CFD). To simulate the liquid–solid two-phase flow, we chose a Euler–Euler model based on particle dynamics. We investigated the effects of several key structural parameters on the flow field. The results show that for a tank with 12,800 mm in height and 1000 mm in diameter, the optimized inlet tube angle and inlet tube diameter range from 0° to 45° and 0.125 to 0.15 D (diameter of cooking tank), respectively. We determined the optimum cone mouth diameter at the exit and its distance to the bottom to range from 0.18 to 0.30 D and 0.045 to 0.070 D, respectively. The analysis results suggest that the tank performs well when its aspect ratio ranges from 9.62 to 12.8. Our findings provide a theoretical basis for designing and optimizing the cooking tank.

In this work, granulation between dodecyl-benzenesulfonic acid and sodium carbonate was investigated in a laboratory-scale high shear mixer. The effects of formulation parameters and process variables, including primary carbonate size, binder content, impeller speed, and operating temperature, were correlated to the properties of the product granules. Design of experiment and analysis of variance were combined to analyze the experimental data, and results showed that larger granule sizes with fewer fine particles can be obtained by employing higher binder contents and larger sodium carbonate sizes. The shear force of the impeller can extensively break oversized granules. The binder content exerted a contrasting effect on the flowability of granules formed with two kinds of sodium carbonate, likely because of differences in the liquid saturation of the solids. The dissolution rate determined by in-line size analysis showed that high binder contents were beneficial to dissolution performance, and the relationships between Hunter color and tested parameters were evaluated. The results of this work can be used as a reliable guidance for process control and optimization in powder detergent manufacturing.

Biochanin A (BCA) and CPe-III peptide, which both exist in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), possess significant antihyperlipidemic properties. However, the actual mechanisms of those compounds in inhibiting the dysregulation of lipid metabolism and complicated inflammation have not been well characterized. This study investigated the effects of BCA, CPe-III peptide, and combined BCA and CPe-III peptide (BC) on the expression of genes involved in hepatic lipid and inflammation metabolism. Results demonstrated that BCA, CPe-III peptide, and BC significantly attenuated hepatitis and hyperlipidemia by downregulating those genes involved in pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α), hepatic fatty acid (FA) synthesis (ACC1 and FAS), cholesterol metabolism (SREBP2, HMGCR, and PCSK9), and upregulating key regulators involved in FA oxidation (PPARα and FABP1), lipolysis (ATGL), LDLR, reverse cholesterol transport (ABCA1, SR-B1, and LXRα), and cholesterol catabolism (CYP7A1). Moreover, they also altered the expression of lipid metabolism-related proteins, including SREBP2, PCSK9, LDLR, ABCA1, and CYP7A1. Finally, these results revealed that the combination treatment of BCA and CPe-III peptide resulted in greater antihyperlipidemic activity compared with individual compounds.

This study investigated the heat transfer and flow characteristics of one kind of swirl generator in a circular heat exchanger tube through a numerical simulation. The swirl flow induced by this type of swirl generator can obtain a high heat transfer rate with minimal pressure drop penalty. The simulations were carried out to understand the physical behavior of this kind of mesoscale heat enhancement component. By visualizing the heat transfer and flow characteristics, it is found that the swirl flow is induced by swirl generator in the circular tube couples with the impinging jet effect. After passing through the swirl generator, the local friction factor of liquid can quickly return to lower level more quickly, while the local Nusselt number maintains higher values for a distance; thus, the evaluation criterion of local performance is improved. Single-factor optimization is used for three geometric parameters, i.e., the angle of swirl generator (25º, 45º, and 60º), the length of swirl generator (0.005, 0.01, and 0.02 m), and the center rod radius (1, 2, and 3 mm). The optimum parameters of the swirl generator for laminar flow of air in a circular tube are obtained, which should be 60º, 0.005 m, and 3 mm, respectively.

In this paper, we propose a novel method based on the plate theory to simultaneously predict retention times and peak shapes under gradient elutions and different flow rates by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The proposed method yielded excellent retention prediction results in experiments with 16 common sulfonamides under 18 gradient conditions and four different flow rates, including 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, and 1.5 mL/min. The mean absolute deviation was 0.70%, which indicates accurate prediction. Moreover, the proposed method predicts the change well in peak shapes caused by the expansion or compression of peaks under different gradient conditions.

In this paper, 2,3,5-trimethyl-1,4-benzoquinone (TMBQ) was synthesized through the direct oxidation of 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene (pseudocumene, TMB) in the HCOOH–H₂O₂ system. The influence of three active species was studied, including performic acid (PFA) generated in formic acid, peracetic acid (PAA) generated in acetic acid, and trifluoroperacetic (TFPA) acid generated in trifluoroacetic acid. The effects of sulfuric acid and sodium formate addition were investigated, the over-oxidation of TMB was discussed, and the main reason for the decreasing selectivity was revealed. The oxidation of TMB can be controlled and improved through adjusting the reaction temperature, mole ratio of oxidant to substrate, and reactant concentration. The TMBQ yield of 28% was achieved with a TMB concentration of 0.2 mol/L, H₂O₂/TMB mole ratio of 6:1, and reaction temperature 37 °C. The selectivity of 72% was obtained with a TMB concentration of 0.2 mol/L, H₂O₂/TMB mole ratio of 5:1, and reaction temperature of 27 °C. The reaction mechanisms were proposed and discussed based on the gas chromatography–flame ionization detection (GC–FID) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometer (GC–MS) results.

Novel three-dimensional string and ball-like titanium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide, TiO₂/rGO (STG) composites were prepared using a one-step hydrolysis process followed by a low-temperature hydrothermal treatment. The STG composites exhibited excellent photo-catalytic degradation performance for methylene blue owing to a good synergistic effect between TiO₂ and rGO. The STG composites with 1.0 wt% of rGO loading exhibited the highest removal rate of 86.0% for methylene blue and its reaction rate constant (5.27 × 10⁻³ min⁻¹) was much higher than those of pure string and ball-like TiO₂ (ST). In addition, the STG composites also showed an outstanding capability for the photo-catalysis degradation of other cationic dyes. In addition, a possible photo-catalytic degradation mechanism for the STG composite was postulated, in which $^{ \bullet } {\text{O}}_{2}^{ - }$ and ^•OH were the main oxidizing groups. This work offers new insights into a better design and preparation of novel composite materials for the removal of organic dyes.

During the storehouse surface rolling construction of a core rockfill dam, the spreading thickness of dam face is an important factor that affects the construction quality of the dam storehouse’ rolling surface and the overall quality of the entire dam. Currently, the method used to monitor and control spreading thickness during the dam construction process is artificial sampling check after spreading, which makes it difficult to monitor the entire dam storehouse surface. In this paper, we present an in-depth study based on real-time monitoring and control theory of storehouse surface rolling construction and obtain the rolling compaction thickness by analyzing the construction track of the rolling machine. Comparatively, the traditional method can only analyze the rolling thickness of the dam storehouse surface after it has been compacted and cannot determine the thickness of the dam storehouse surface in real time. To solve these problems, our system monitors the construction progress of the leveling machine and employs a real-time spreading thickness monitoring model based on the K-nearest neighbor algorithm. Taking the LHK core rockfill dam in Southwest China as an example, we performed real-time monitoring for the spreading thickness and conducted real-time interactive queries regarding the spreading thickness. This approach provides a new method for controlling the spreading thickness of the core rockfill dam storehouse surface.

In this paper, the vertical seismic effects on tunnels are studied based on a classic mass–damper–spring model. An analytical discrete model of urban underground tunnels subjected to vertical earthquake excitations is proposed by considering the first vertical vibration mode. Taking a light rail project in Tianjin as an example, this study uses the proposed discrete model to analyze the displacements of tunnel and soil under vertical earthquake excitations. The soil displacement responses at different tunnel locations are analyzed with linear random vibration theory. The computational cost is greatly reduced using the proposed model. It can be seen that different from the case of horizontal earthquakes, the displacement responses under vertical earthquake excitations keep growing after seismic acceleration reaches its peak for a short duration, and then, they begin to decay. The soils at different positions around the tunnels have large relative displacement under vertical earthquake excitations. Moreover, a finite-element model is also established for displacement responses using ABAQUS. The comparison with the results of the finite-element model shows that the results of the proposed discrete model are available.