Lixia Gao¹, Sheng Shi^1,2,*, Wensheng Hou¹, Shuhua Wang¹, Zhifeng Yan¹, Chao Ge¹

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.6, pp. 703-713, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.09055

Abstract In this study, waste cotton fabric was used as cellulose raw material and pretreated in aqueous NaOH/urea solution system to investigate the effect of NaOH/urea pretreatment solution on the hydrolysis of cotton fiber. The cotton fiber was pretreated with different conditions of aqueous NaOH/urea solution, and the pretreated cotton fiber was hydrolyzed under the same conditions as the original cotton fiber. The results of characterization analysis showed that water retention value of pretreated cotton fiber was higher than that of unpretreated sample. Moreover, the cotton fiber presented both a convoluted structure and a coarser surface, XRD results suggested that the… More >

Xueliang Wang¹, Qiangang Xu¹, Xiuxin Wang¹, Junhui Guo², Wancheng Cao¹, Chun Xiao^3,*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.5, pp. 565-577, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.09020

Abstract An accelerated decay test and a natural decay test were conducted synchronically to explore the strength degradation of decaying wood members under long-term exposure to natural environment. A natural decay test was carried out to measure the bending strength, compressive strength parallel to grain and modulus of elasticity of the wood members, with 6 groups of specimens decayed in natural environment for 3 to 18 months respectively. To compare with corresponding decay test, in which 6 other groups of specimens were measured under accelerated conditions. The experimental data collected were evaluated by Pearson productmoment for the correlation. The results indicate… More >

Zhichao Han, Yaojun Zhang^*, Panyang He

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.4, pp. 405-416, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.09351

Abstract In this study, a magnetic P zeolite was directly synthesized by utilization of industrial solid wastes of zinc slag (ZS) and circulating fluidized bed fly ash (CFBFA) via one-step hydrothermal method. The effects of different CFBFA/ZS ratios and hydrothermal times on the as-synthesized zeolite were investigated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) results indicated that the magnetic P zeolite possessed well-defined crystals and superparamagnetism. The as-prepared zeolite was employed as a Fenton-like solid catalyst for degradation of direct green B dye wastewater. It was discovered that the magnetic P zeolite took the advantage of rapid separation and… More >

Xin Gu², Lin Wang^{1, 2, 3}, Fuyong Chen², Hongrui Li², Wengang Zhang^{1, 2, 3, ∗}

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.63, No.1, pp. 263-281, 2020, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2020.07535

Abstract Temporal variation of rock mass properties, especially the strength degradation due to drying-wetting cycles as well as the acidic wetting fluid (rainfall or reservoir water) is crucial to stability of reservoir rock slopes. Based on a series of drying-wetting cycling and experiments considering the influences of pH values, the degradation degree models of the reduced cohesion c′, friction angle φ′ are developed. 2D stability analysis of the slope is subsequently carried out to calculate the factor of safety (Fs) via limit equilibrium method (LEM) and a predictive model of Fs is built using multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), revealing the… More >

Tingting Yang¹, Shuwen Jia¹, Hao Ma^{2, *}

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.62, No.3, pp. 1249-1258, 2020, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2020.05777

Abstract Underwater imaging is widely used in ocean, river and lake exploration, but it is affected by properties of water and the optics. In order to solve the lower-resolution underwater image formed by the influence of water and light, the image super-resolution reconstruction technique is applied to the underwater image processing. This paper addresses the problem of generating super-resolution underwater images by convolutional neural network framework technology. We research the degradation model of underwater images, and analyze the lower-resolution factors of underwater images in different situations, and compare different traditional super-resolution image reconstruction algorithms. We further show that the algorithm of… More >

Vázquez MB¹, MV Bianchinotti^1,2

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.82, pp. 113-118, 2013, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2013.82.113

Abstract Strains of Mucor, Penicillium and Trichoderma, able to use metsulfuron-methyl (MM) as a sole carbon and energy source, were isolated from agricultural soils in Argentina. This is the first time this ability is recorded in the Mucor or Trichoderma species. When the isolated strains were compared in relation to their capacity to use the herbicide, those of Trichoderma showed the best results. Because of this, they were selected for further assays. The effect of metsulfuron on growth in liquid media was tested. Also, the ability of conidia to germinate in water agar medium containing the target herbicide was evaluated. All… More >

Wen L¹, SK Dong¹, YY Li¹, C Pulver², XY Li¹, JJ Shi³, YL Wang³, YS Ma³, DM Liu⁴

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.82, pp. 45-54, 2013, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2013.82.045

Abstract The alpine grassland in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is an extensive rangeland ecosystem sustaining a sparse population of traditional nomadic pastoralists in China. However, global climate change and anthropologic disturbances have severely degraded the alpine grasslands, and the consequences of this degradation are largely unknown. Forage is the only food source for livestock in the alpine region, and livestock is the major income source for nomadic herders. Therefore, it is critical to assess the forage quantity and quality along the current grassland degradation gradient. In this study, we examined the botanical composition, biomass of different functional groups, and forage grass nutritive… More >

Kun Peng¹, Xinyang Cui¹, Aike Qiao^1,*, Makoto Ohta², Koji Shimoyama², Yongliang Mu³

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.1, pp. 53-53, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.05729

Abstract Biodegradable stents which can avoid risks caused by incompatibility between artery and permanent stents are attracting much interests. However, biodegradable stents have not been extensively applied in clinical therapy because of their insufficient scaffold performance as a result of poor Young’s Modulus of biodegradable materials and weaken structures in degradation process. In this study, a patented stent and a common stent were simulated to degrade in a 40% stenotic vesel based on a corrosion model involving uniform corrosion and stress corrosion. In the degradation process, the scaffold performance of the two stents and their functionality on reshaping diseased vessels are… More >

A. Riccio¹, M. Zarrelli², F. Caputo¹

Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.9, No.1, pp. 21-42, 2013, DOI:10.32604/sdhm.2013.009.021

Abstract In the present paper a three-dimensional Progressive Damage Approach (PDA) for laminated composites will be presented. This approach is based on the use of a progressive damage finite element with the geometrically non-linear finite element formulation for stress calculation. The FEM element has been integrated with Hashin's failure criteria to split fibre and matrix failure modes and to simulate stiffness degradation within each ply by means of the Ply Discount Method (PDM). FEM code previsions, in the case of complex structures with different mesh densities and element types, were compared with the results obtained using embedded global-local approach to prove… More >

Yan Liang^1,*, Jialei Yan¹, Zhanqi Cheng^1,*, Huai Chen¹, Ruimin Mao¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.121, No.1, pp. 177-214, 2019, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2019.07141

Abstract An offshore long-span continuous rigid-frame bridge is taken as an example to study the effect of degradation of bond-slip behavior on the seismic performance of bridges in an offshore environment during a service period. On the basis of a numerical simulation analysis using the OpenSeeS platform, the influence of durability degradation of concrete carbonization, steel corrosion, and degradation of bond-slip performance is considered collectively using incremental dynamic analysis method to examine the time-varying seismic fragility of the offshore bridge. Results show that when bond slip is considered, the exceedance probability of the bridge components and the system increases significantly, and… More >