Based on techniques of close upper protective coal-rock layer mining, relieved gas extraction, and underground gangue washing-discharging-backfilling, this paper initiates the concept of mixed fully-mechanized coal mining, which combines a solid backfilling method and a caving method (hereinafter referred to as “backfill and caving mixed mining”). After the principle and key techniques are introduced, a physical simulation experiment and a numerical simulation are used to study the characteristics of the overlying strata’s fracture development, the main roof subsidence, the stress field and its influence area in the transition area with the length ratios of the backfilling section and the caving section, and the advancing distance of the mixed longwall face. Thus, the lengths of the caving section and the backfilling section, the parameters of the support system in the transition section, and the design process of the mixed longwall face are presented. In practice, the mixed longwall face Ji₁₅-31010 in Ping-dingshan No. 12 Colliery proves that the designed lengths of 120 m and 100 m for the backfilling section and the caving section, respectively, are appropriate. The monitoring results of the hydraulic support working resistance show that the supports were working well in general; the maximum growth height of the overlying strata fracture is 18 m; the gas drainage efficiency is up to 80% and the average gas concentration is 0.1 g/m³; a large quantity of gangue generated in the Ji₁₄ seam is disposed underground; coal and gas are extracted simultaneously; and significant environmental and economic benefits are realized. Full article

This study seeks to address the problems of major geo-environmental hazards caused by high-intensive coal mining in China’s western eco-environment frangible area including strong mining pressure, surface subsidence, soil and water loss, and land desertification. Using the high-intensive mining at the Xiao-jihan Coal Mine, this paper investigates the compaction characteristics of aeolian sand-based backfilling materials, and then the evolution of water-conducting fractures and surface deformation laws with different backfill material’s compression ratios (BMCRs) by using physical simulation and numerical simulation analysis methods. This study presents the technical system of water-preserved and environmental protection with rapid-backfilling methods in China’s western eco-environment frangible area. The backfill coal mining technique and application prospects are assessed and discussed. The results will be helpful for coordinated development of coal resources exploitation and environmental protection in China’s western eco-environment frangible area. Full article

The reliability of power packs is very important for the performance of electronic equipment and ensuring the reliability of power electronic circuits is especially vital for equipment security. An alteration in the converter component parameter can lead to the decline of the power supply quality. In order to effectively prevent failure and estimate the remaining useful life (RUL) of superbuck converters, a circuit failure prognostics framework is proposed in this paper. We employ the average value and ripple value of circuit output voltage as a feature set to calculate the Mahalanobis distance (MD) in order to reflect the health status of the circuit. Time varying MD sets form the circuit state time series. According to the working condition time series that have been obtained, we can predict the later situation with support vector regression (SVR). SVR has been improved by a modified grey wolf optimizer (MGWO) algorithm before estimating the RUL. This is the first attempt to apply the modified version of the grey wolf optimizer (GWO) to circuit prognostics and system health management (PHM). Subsequently, benchmark functions have been used to validate the performance of the MGWO. Finally, the simulation results of comparative experiments demonstrate that MGWO-SVR can predict the RUL of circuits with smaller error and higher prediction precision. Full article

The key to control the range extender generation system is to improve the efficiency and reduce the emissions of the electric vehicle (EV). In this paper, based on the purpose of efficiency optimization, both engine and generator are matched to get a public high efficiency region, and a partial power following control strategy was presented. The engine speed is constant in the defined power range, so the output power regulation of the range extender is only realized by the adjustment of the torque of the generator. Engine speed and generator torque were decoupled. An improved proportional resonant (PR) controller is adopted to achieve fast output power regulation. In order to ensure the response characteristics of the control system and to improve the robustness, the impacts on system’s characteristics and stability caused by PR controller and parameters in the inner-current loop were analyzed via frequency response characteristics. A pre-Tustin with deviation compensation is proposed for PR controller’s discretization. A stable and robust power following control method is obtained for the range extender control system. Finally, simulation and experiment of the proposed control strategy illustrated its feasibility and correctness. Full article

Natural gas hydrates, crystalline solids whose gas molecules are so compressed that they are denser than a typical fluid hydrocarbon, have extensive applications in the areas of climate change and the energy crisis. The hydrate deposit located in the Shenhu Area on the continental slope of the South China Sea is regarded as the most promising target for gas hydrate exploration in China. Samples taken at drilling site SH2 have indicated a high abundance of methane hydrate reserves in clay sediments. In the last few decades, with its relatively low energy cost, the depressurization gas recovery method has been generally regarded as technically feasible and the most promising one. For the purpose of a better acquaintance with the feasible field operational factors and processes which control the production behavior of a real 3D geological CH₄-hydrate deposit, it is urgent to figure out the effects of the parameters such as well type, well spacing, bottom hole pressure, and perforation intervals on methane recovery. One years’ numerical simulation results show that under the condition of 3000 kPa constant bottom hole pressure, 1000 m well spacing, perforation in higher intervals and with one horizontal well, the daily peak gas rate can reach 4325.02 m³ and the cumulative gas volume is 1.291 × 10⁶ m³. What’s more, some new knowledge and its explanation of the curve tendency and evolution for the production process are provided. Technically, one factor at a time design (OFAT) and an orthogonal design were used in the simulation to investigate which factors dominate the productivity ability and which is the most sensitive one. The results indicated that the order of effects of the factors on gas yield was perforation interval > bottom hole pressure > well spacing. Full article

Mexico City Metropolitan Area children and young adults exposed to high concentrations of air pollutants including fine and ultrafine particulate matter (PM) vs. clean air controls, exhibit myocardial inflammation and inflammasome activation with a differential right and left ventricular expression of key inflammatory genes and inflammasomes. We investigated the mRNA expression levels of the prion protein gene PRNP, which plays an important role in the protection against oxidative stress and metal toxicity, and the glucose regulated protein 78, a key protein in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling, in ventricular autopsy samples from 30 children and young adults age 19.97 ± 6.8 years with a lifetime of low (n:4) vs. high (n:26) air pollution exposures. Light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies were carried out in human ventricles, and electron microscopy studies were also done in 5 young, highly exposed Mexico City dogs. There was significant left ventricular PRNP and bi-ventricular GRP78 mRNA up-regulation in Mexico City young urbanites vs. controls. PRNP up-regulation in the left ventricle was significantly different from the right, p < 0.0001, and there was a strong left ventricular PRNP and GRP78 correlation (p = 0.0005). Marked abnormalities in capillary endothelial cells, numerous nanosized particles in myocardial ER and in abnormal mitochondria characterized the highly exposed ventricles. Early and sustained cardiac ER stress could result in detrimental irreversible consequences in urban children, and while highly complex systems maintain myocardial homeostasis, failure to compensate for chronic myocardial inflammation, oxidative and ER stress, and particles damaging myocardial organelles may prime the development of pathophysiological cardiovascular states in young urbanites. Nanosized PM could play a key cardiac myocyte toxicity role. Full article

A computational strategy based on comparative molecular fields analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA) was performed on a series of the 11H-dibenz[b,e]azepine and dibenz[b,f][1,4]oxazepine derivatives as potent agonists of the human TRPA1 receptor. The CoMFA and CoMSIA models resulting from a 21 molecule training set gave r²_cv values of 0.631 and 0.542 and r² values of 0.986 and 0.981, respectively. The statistically significant models were validated by a test set of five compounds with predictive r²_pred. values of 0.967 and 0.981 for CoMFA and CoMSIA, respectively. A systemic external validation was also performed on the established models. The information obtained from 3D counter maps could facilitate the design of more potent human TRPA1 receptor agonists. Full article

Due to the battery resource constraints, saving energy is a critical issue in wireless sensor networks, particularly in large sensor networks. One possible solution is to deploy multiple sink nodes simultaneously. Another possible solution is to employ an adaptive clustering hierarchy routing scheme. In this paper, we propose a multiple sink cluster wireless sensor networks scheme which combines the two solutions, and propose an efficient transmission power control scheme for a sink-centric cluster routing protocol in multiple sink wireless sensor networks, denoted as MSCWSNs-PC. It is a distributed, scalable, self-organizing, adaptive system, and the sensor nodes do not require knowledge of the global network and their location. All sinks effectively work out a representative view of a monitored region, after which power control is employed to optimize network topology. The simulations demonstrate the advantages of our new protocol. Full article