A Hybrid Model Integrating Elman Neural Network with Variational Mode Decomposition and Box–Cox Transformation for Monthly Runoff Time Series Prediction

Water Resources Management - Precise and reliable monthly runoff prediction plays a vital role in the optimal management of water resources, but the nonstationarity and skewness of monthly runoff...     

Comparison of Frequency Calculation Methods for Precipitation Series Containing Zero Values

The Muskingum-based (MK-based) distributions and their probability weighted moments (PWMs) have been used for frequency calculation of hydrological data that contain zero values. However, the performance of different MK-based distributions have not been compared and evaluated. Moreover, the partial L-moments (PLMs), which are used for analyzing censored samples, have not been used for frequency calculation of such hydrological data. To obtain the most effective method, this study compares and evaluates the performance of four MK-based distributions by fitting 64 monthly precipitation series and using the ordinary least square (OLS) criterion, Akaike information criterion (AIC), residual square sum criterion (RSS), and the Quasi-optimal Deterministic coefficient (QD). The distributions include ?exponential distribution combines with Dirac delta function (M-like), two-parameter gamma distribution (GA2) combines with Dirac delta function (DGA2), two-parameter generalized Pareto distribution combines with Dirac delta function (DGP2), and two-parameter Weibull distribution (WB2) combines with Dirac delta function (DWB2). The applicability of PLMs were also tested and PLMs of four traditional distributions, including GA2, WB2, generalized extreme value distribution (GEV) and three-parameter generalized Pareto distribution (GP3) were used in application. Results showed that the PLMs are feasible for frequency calculation of hydrological data with zeros. The DGP2 and GP3 are superior to the other MK-based distributions and traditional distributions, respectively. The DGP2 distribution is the optimal choice in most cases and is more universal than the other distributions.

     

Physiochemical structure of semicoke derived from co-carbonization of coal and sawdust blends

The substitution of coal blending with sawdust had been widely investigated for metallurgical coke production. In this paper, the physiochemical structures of the semicoke derived from sawdust/coals blends co-coking were characterized by several analytical techniques including FTIR-ATR, XPS, NMR, OM, and SEM. Meanwhile, the influence of the sawdust on the physicochemical properties of the sawdust/coals blends were also investigated. Results indicated that partial substitution of coal blending with sawdust benefited from the formation of colloid and optical anisotropy due to the positive synergetic effect, whereas high proportion of sawdust (>10 wt%) inhibited the agglomeration of semi-coke. On the other hand, the semicoke consisted primarily of aromatic carbons replaced by the oxygen linked to carbons and aliphatic carbons when the coal blending was replaced by high proportion of sawdust, causing a less polyaromatic graphite-like structure formation in the semicoke.     

Phenolic profiling reveals the metabolite basis of flesh colour and fresh-cut browning in apple fruit

Flesh colour, which is affected by cultivars and browning, can largely impact consumer acceptance in fresh-cut apples. The study profiled phenolic metabolites from apple flesh of twenty-three cultivars by widely targeted metabolomics. Comparison among white- and yellow-fleshed cultivars showed fifteen phenolics, mainly quercetin 3-O-glucoside, hyperoside, hesperetin 5-O-glucoside and cymaroside, in white-fleshed apples were significantly higher than those in yellow-fleshed apples. It may indicate a metabolite basis of yellow and white flesh colour, and better potential nutrition in white-fleshed apples. In addition, ten phenolic metabolites including five cyanidin glycosides showed significant differences between the highest and the lowest browning groups, indicating them may be crucial in browning of fresh-cut apple. This work elucidates the differences of phenolic profiles among apple cultivars with different flesh colour and provides useful data to evaluate the suitability of apple for fresh-cut processing.     

Stabilization for Schrödinger Equation with Internal Damping and Boundary Disturbance

In this paper, the stabilization for Schrödinger equation subject to internal damping and boundary disturbance at the control end is investigated. Due to its immeasurability, the nonlinear observer system is designed to obtain the state information, and the existence of weak solution and its convergence for the nonlinear observer system are proved. The feedback control is realized by the backstepping transformation. In addition, the adaptive disturbance rejection control is applied to estimate the disturbance. According to the observer and disturbance estimation, the feedback control is finally designed to stabilize the system asymptotically.

     

Atomistic insight into the lubrication of glycerol aqueous solution: The role of the solid interface-induced microstructure of fluid molecules

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the solid surface-induced microstructure and friction coefficient of glycerol aqueous solutions with different water contents confined in graphene and FeO nanoslits. Results show that the friction coefficient of glycerol aqueous solutions confined in both nanoslits presents similar nonlinear variation tendencies with increasing water content, but their lowest value and the corresponding water contents differ. Distinctive microstructures of the near-surface liquid layer induced by surfaces with different hydrophilicity are responsible for their difference in lubrication. The sliding primarily occurs at the solid–liquid interface for the hydrophobic graphene nanoslit owing to almost the same velocity difference in fluid molecules. By contrast, the sliding mainly occurs at the liquid–liquid interface for the hydrophilic FeO nanoslit because of the large velocity difference in fluid molecules. The weaker the interaction force at the sliding position, the lower the friction coefficient.