Dynamic stability analysis method of anchored rocky slope considering seismic deterioration effect.

The seismic deterioration effects of anchor cables and slope structural planes are often neglected in the dynamic stability analysis of anchored rocky slopes to the extent that the stability of slopes is overestimated. In this paper, a dynamic calculation method for anchored rocky slopes considering the seismic deterioration effect is established, and a stability evaluation method for anchored rocky slopes based on the Gaussian mixture model is proposed. The seismic deterioration effect on the stability of anchored rocky slopes is quantitatively analyzed with an engineering example, and the relationship between seismic intensity and the failure probability of slopes is clarified. The results show that compared with the calculation method without considering the seismic deterioration effect, the minimum safety factor and post-earthquake safety factor obtained by the proposed method in this paper are smaller. The number of seismic deteriorations of the slope is used as the number of components of the Gaussian mixture model to construct the failure probability model of the slope, which can accurately predict the failure probability of anchored rocky slopes. The research results significantly improve the accuracy of the stability calculation of anchored rocky slopes, which can be used to guide the seismic design and safety assessment of anchored rocky slopes.

An Automated Instance Segmentation Method for Crack Detection Integrated with CrackMover Data Augmentation.

Crack detection plays a critical role in ensuring road safety and maintenance. Traditional, manual, and semi-automatic detection methods have proven inefficient. Nowadays, the emergence of deep learning techniques has opened up new possibilities for automatic crack detection. However, there are few methods with both localization and segmentation abilities, and most perform poorly. The consistent nature of pavement over a small mileage range gives us the opportunity to make improvements. A novel data-augmentation strategy called CrackMover, specifically tailored for crack detection methods, is proposed. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of CrackMover for various methods. Moreover, this paper presents a new instance segmentation method for crack detection. It adopts a redesigned backbone network and incorporates a cascade structure for the region-based convolutional network (R-CNN) part. The experimental evaluation showcases significant performance improvements achieved by these approaches in crack detection. The proposed method achieves an average precision of 33.3%, surpassing Mask R-CNN with a Residual Network 50 backbone by 8.6%, proving its effectiveness in detecting crack distress.

Long-term high-altitude exposure influences task-related representations in visual working memory.

Objective: Human working memory is impaired when individuals are exposed to high altitudes, however, whether the capacity of visual working memory is affected remains unclear. This study combined a lateralized change detection task and event-related potentials analysis to explore changes in visual working memory capacity among individuals who emigrated from a low-altitude environment to Tibet (a high-altitude environment). Materials and methods: Thirty-five college students were recruited from Tibet University as the high-altitude (HA) group, and thirty-six low-altitude (LA) students were enrolled from South China Normal University (sea level) as the LA group. We measured participants' contralateral delay activity (CDA) under different memory loads. Results: ERP component analysis showed that both the HA and LA groups reached an asymptote at memory load four. However, the contralateral and ipsilateral activity of the HA and LA groups shows different patterns. The results showed a significantly larger contralateral activity for the LA group than for the HA group at memory load one (p = 0.04, Cohen's d = 0.52) and load three (p = 0.02, Cohen's d = 0.61). Additionally, we found marginally larger contralateral activity at memory load four for the LA group (p = 0.06, Cohen's d = 0.47), but not at memory load two (p = 0.10) or load five (p = 0.12). No significant differences were observed for ipsilateral activity. In addition, we observed that the HA group performed larger ipsilateral activity than contralateral activity under each memory load, compared with the LA group. Conclusion: These findings demonstrated that the attentional resource of long-term HA exposure is more captured by task-irrelevant information, potentially due to impaired inhibitory control, which makes it difficult for them to exclude the interference of task-irrelevant information.

VWM-based bias in conscious access can be extended to a new sandwich masking task and real-life stimuli.

Previous studies using breaking continuous flash suppression observed that the content of visual working memory (VWM) influences the priority for accessing visual awareness. However, most studies have used simple stimuli, whereas real-life objects are typically more meaningful and contain more perceptual information than simple objects. In this study, we intermixed a delayed match-to-sample task to manipulate the content of VWM, and a breaking repeated masking suppression (b-RMS) task to investigate whether this memory-based effect in conscious access can be extended to a new sandwich masking task and real-life stimuli. The results revealed that memory-congruent objects broke RMS faster than incongruent objects for both simple and real-life objects. Specifically, for simple objects, color-matching targets broke RMS faster than color-mismatching targets, whereas state-matching targets broke RMS faster than state-mismatching targets for real-life objects. These results suggest that the faster detection of VWM-matching over VWM mismatching stimuli-which has been mostly studied using only one type of task (b-CFS) and stimulus (colored shapes)-extends to (1) yet another masking technique (b-RMS) and to (2) a novel stimulus type (real-life objects), providing evidence that memory-based biases in conscious access are a ubiquitous phenomenon.

Evaluation of Void Defects behind Tunnel Lining through GPR forward Simulation.

Voids, a common defect in tunnel construction, lead to the deterioration of the lining structure and reduce the safety of tunnels. In this study, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) was used in tunnel lining void detection. Based on the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, a forward model was established to simulate the process of tunnel lining void detection. The area of the forward image and the actual void area was analyzed based on the binarization method. Both the plain concrete and reinforced concrete lining with various sizes of air-filled and water-filled voids were considered. The rationality of the model was verified by measured data. It was observed that the response mode of voids can be hyperbolic, bowl-shaped, and strip-shaped, and this depends on the void's width. Compared with the air-filled voids, water filling increases the response range of the voids and produces a virtual image. Although the diffracted wave caused by a steel bar will bring about significant interference to the void response, the center position of the voids can be accurately located using 3D GPR.

[Textual research on classical prescriptions in Mongolian medicine].

Mongolians have a long history of using prescriptions, which can be classified into four stages as follows: the germination and experience accumulation stage before the 13 th century, the theoretical formation stage from the 13 th to 16 th century, the rapid development stage from the 17 th to 20 th century, and the leaping development stage from the mid-20 th century to the present. The prescriptions from the ancient classical or representative medical books have always been used by Mongolian physicians for generations, and they are still in use due to the definite curative effects. In 2008, the Notice on Issuing the Supplementary Provisions to the Registration and Management of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) described that China has attached more importance to the excavation and development of classical prescriptions. As stipulated in the Law of the People's Republic of China on Traditional Chinese Medicine, the classical prescriptions should be those available in ancient TCM classics and still in wide use, with exact curative effects, distinct features, and obvious advantages. This paper expounded the historical formation and development of classical prescriptions in Mongo-lian medicine, introduced the five most influential ancient medical books revealing the formation and development of these classic prescriptions, and traced the origin of such classical prescriptions as Wenguanmu Siwei Decoction, Shouzhangshen Bawei Decoction, Jianghuang Siwei Decoction and summarized the origin, development history and characteristics of classical prescriptions in Mongolian medicine, aiming to provide a reference for their further research and development.

Neuropsychological effect of working memory capacity on mental rotation under hypoxia environment.

High-altitude exposure induces the decline of spatial manipulation such as mental rotation which is limited by working memory capacity, but the underlying neuropsychological effect remains to be identified. We evaluated the mental rotation task and the contralateral delay activity (CDA) task under hypoxia environment using the event-related potential. When compared with the controls, the behavior response was slowed on two tasks in the high-altitude group. The declined mental rotation and the decreased working memory capacity were synchronously related to the amplitudes of P50 and CDA, respectively. The P50 during mental rotation was positively correlated to that of rotation-related negativity (RRN) component, so was with the CDA. Time-frequency analysis showed that the beta/alpha power in mental rotation and the theta/alpha/beta power in CDA were enhanced in the high-altitude group. The present study might suggest that the decline of working memory capacity induced poor performance of mental rotation, which may be derived from a bottom-up sensory gating deficit reflected by P50.

Chemical profiling of Malva verticillata L. by UPLC-Q-TOF-MSE and their antioxidant activity in vitro.

Malva verticillata L. (M. verticillata) is an edible medicinal plant. Its dry, mature seeds are used in Traditional Mongolian Medicine. Nevertheless, detailed information regarding its chemical composition remains scarce. In this study, nineteen compounds were identified preliminarily using a UPLC-Q-TOF-MSE method. All of the compounds from M. verticillata are reported for the first time. M. verticillata is shown to be a rich source of phenolics, and the total phenolic content in the leaves, stems and seeds is 110.32 ±â€¯3.45 mg GAE/g extract, 97.98 ±â€¯4.19 mg GAE/g extract and 40.85 ±â€¯7.63 mg GAE/g extract, respectively. The leaves are ideal for scavenging ABTS free radicals and possess ferric reducing antioxidant power, and the seeds are ideal for scavenging DPPH free radicals. M. verticillata is a rich source of natural antioxidants. These findings support the notion that M. verticillata is a functional food and can be used in nutraceutical applications.

Development of Vegetation-Pervious Concrete in Grid Beam System for Soil Slope Protection.

One of the most efficient and environmentally friendly methods for preventing a landslide on a slope is to vegetate it. Vegetation-pervious concretes have a promising potential for soil protection. In this study, the vegetation-pervious concrete with low alkalinity was developed and studied. Combined with a grid beam structure system, the stability and strength between the vegetation-pervious concrete and base soil are believed to be enhanced effectively. For improving plant adaptability, the alkalinity of concrete can be decreased innovatively by adding a self-designed admixture into the cement paste. The effects of the admixture content on alkalinity and compressive strength of the hardened pervious concrete were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and compression test, respectively. Meanwhile, the permeability of the vegetation-pervious concrete was studied as well. Through comparing with ordinary pervious concrete, the effect of low alkaline pervious concrete on vegetation growth was investigated in a small-scale field for ten weeks. The test results indicated that the alkalinity of the cement samples decreased with the increase of admixture content, and the vegetation grew successfully on previous concrete. By increasing the admixture content to approximately 3.6%, the compressive strength of pervious concrete was more than 25 MPa.

Design and Preparation of Carbon Based Composite Phase Change Material for Energy Piles.

Energy piles-A fairly new renewable energy concept-Use a ground heat exchanger (GHE) in the foundation piles to supply heating and cooling loads to the supported building. Applying phase change materials (PCMs) to piles can help in maintaining a stable temperature within the piles and can then influence the axial load acting on the piles. In this study, two kinds of carbon-based composite PCMs (expanded graphite-based PCM and graphite nanoplatelet-based PCM) were prepared by vacuum impregnation for potential application in energy piles. Thereafter, a systematic study was performed and different characterization tests were carried out on two composite PCMs. The composite PCMs retained up to 93.1% of paraffin and were chemically compatible, thermally stable and reliable. The latent heat of the composite PCM was up to 152.8 J/g while the compressive strength of cement paste containing 10 wt % GNP-PCM was found to be 37 MPa. Hence, the developed composite PCM has potential for thermal energy storage applications.

Thermal Properties of Cement-Based Composites for Geothermal Energy Applications.

Geothermal energy piles are a quite recent renewable energy technique where geothermal energy in the foundation of a building is used to transport and store geothermal energy. In this paper, a structural-functional integrated cement-based composite, which can be used for energy piles, was developed using expanded graphite and graphite nanoplatelet-based composite phase change materials (CPCMs). Its mechanical properties, thermal-regulatory performance, and heat of hydration were evaluated. Test results showed that the compressive strength of GNP-Paraffin cement-based composites at 28 days was more than 25 MPa. The flexural strength and density of thermal energy storage cement paste composite decreased with increases in the percentage of CPCM in the cement paste. The infrared thermal image analysis results showed superior thermal control capability of cement based materials with CPCMs. Hence, the carbon-based CPCMs are promising thermal energy storage materials and can be used to improve the durability of energy piles.

Preparation and Supercooling Modification of Salt Hydrate Phase Change Materials Based on CaCl2·2H2O/CaCl2.

Salt hydrates have issues of supercooling when they are utilized as phase change materials (PCMs). In this research, a new method was adopted to prepare a salt hydrate PCM (based on a mixture of calcium chloride dihydrate and calcium chloride anhydrous) as a novel PCM system to reduce the supercooling phenomenon existing in CaCl2·6H2O. Six samples with different compositions of CaCl2 were prepared. The relationship between the performance and the proportion of calcium chloride dihydrate (CaCl2·2H2O) and calcium chloride anhydrous (CaCl2) was also investigated. The supercooling degree of the final PCM reduced with the increase in volume of CaCl2·2H2O during its preparation. The PCM obtained with 66.21 wt % CaCl2·2H2O reduced the supercooling degree by about 96.8%. All six samples, whose ratio of CaCl2·2H2O to (CaCl2 plus CaCl2·2H2O) was 0%, 34.03%, 53.82%, 76.56%, 90.74%, and 100% respectively, showed relatively higher enthalpy (greater than 155.29 J/g), and have the possibility to be applied in buildings for thermal energy storage purposes. Hence, CaCl2·2H2O plays an important role in reducing supercooling and it can be helpful in adjusting the solidification enthalpy. Thereafter, the influence of adding different percentages of Nano-SiO2 (0.1 wt %, 0.3 wt %, 0.5 wt %) in reducing the supercooling degree of some PCM samples was investigated. The test results showed that the supercooling of the salt hydrate PCM in Samples 6 and 5 reduced to 0.2 °C and 0.4 °C respectively. Finally, the effect of the different cooling conditions, including frozen storage (-20 °C) and cold storage (5 °C), that were used to prepare the salt hydrate PCM was considered. It was found that both cooling conditions are effective in reducing the supercooling degree of the salt hydrate PCM. With the synergistic action of the two materials, the performance and properties of the newly developed PCM systems were better especially in terms of reducing the supercooling degree of the PCM. The novel composite PCMs are promising candidates for thermal energy storage applications.

Lignans from Syringa pinnatifolia Hemsl. Var. alashanensis.

Two new lignans, syripinnalignans A and B (1 and 2), together with two known lignans, were isolated from the stem of Syringa pinnatifolia Hemsl. Var. alashanensis. The structures of 1 and 2 were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including extensive 1D and 2D NMR techniques.

Two new flavonoid glycosides from Artemisia frigida Willd.

An investigation of the n-BuOH-soluble fraction from the aerial parts of Artemisia frigida has led to the isolation of two new flavonoid glycosides, named friginoside A and friginoside B. Their structures were characterized as 5,7-dihydroxy-3',4',5'-trimethoxy flavone 7-O-ß-d-glucuronide (1) and 5,7-dihydroxy-3',4',5'-trimethoxyflavone 7-O-ß-d-glucuronyl-(1 â†’ 2)O-ß-d-glucuronide (2) on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR spectral analysis.