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Abstract In the present study, Loblolly pine biomass residue was converted to bio-oil in a two-step process, consisting of 1) fast pyrolysis in the presence of zeolite ZSM-5 as a catalyst to produce pyrolysis oil, 2) hydrogenation of pyrolysis oil using formic acid as the hydrogen source in presence of Ru/activated carbon catalyst. Pyrolysis oils were analyzed by 13C, 31P and HSQC-NMR and the results revealed that the zeolite-induced catalytic fast pyrolysis process led to effective demethoxylation, producing more catechol and p-hydroxy-phenyl hydroxyl groups in the bio-oils, resulting in a decrease in the methoxyl group content by about 85 % and rich aromatic structures in the pyrolysis oils. The properties of pyrolysis oil with and without zeolite were in the bio-oil range. Hydrogenated pyrolysis oil showed that 79 % of the aromatic protons are eliminated and 87 % of protons are aliphatic in nature, with no oxygen attached to the α-carbon.

Cattail-grass-derived porous carbon as high-capacity anode materials were prepared via high-temperature carbonization and activation with KOH. The samples exhibited different structures and morphologies with increasing treatment time. It was found that the cattail grass with activation treatment—1 (CGA-1) sample obtained at 800 °C for 1 h presented excellent electrochemical performance. As an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, CGA-1 showed a high charge–discharge capacity of 814.7 mAh g−1 at the current density of 0.1 A g−1 after 400 cycles, which suggests that it has a great potential for energy storage.

Исследование ландшафтов всегда было традиционным научным направлением географии. В России подобная направленность исследований остаётся актуальной, несмотря на то, что термины «геоэкология» и «ландшафтная экология» сегодня более распространены в англоязычном научном сообществе. Наш краткий обзор показывает значительное ускорение антропогенных ландшафтных изменений в Европе, Центральной Азии и азиатской части России за последние пять десятилетий. Ландшафтные исследования в антропоцене должны быть направлены на достижение и сохранение устойчивости ландшафта при его высокой производительности, что включает в себя прекращение деградации ландшафтов, развитие культурных и сохранение природных ландшафтов. Чистая вода и чистый воздух, плодородные и здоровые почвы для производства продуктов питания и других экосистемных услуг, а также биологически разнообразная зеленая среда являются атрибутами ландшафтов, обеспечивающих выживание и благополучие населения. Дисциплинарные и междисциплинарные исследования должны генерировать знания, инновации и правила принятия действенных решений. Генерация знаний в глобализованном мире основана на сборе больших массивов данных и моделировании сценариев. Международные длительные полевые опыты и системы агроэкологического мониторинга будут предоставлять данные для экосистемных моделей и систем поддержки принимаемых решений. Landscape research has been a traditional scientific discipline of geography. This is still the case in Russia, whilst the terms geo-ecology and landscape ecology have become established in the English speaking scientific community. Our short review reveals huge and accelerating anthropogenic landscape transformations in Europe, Central Asia and Asian Russia since the end the 1960s. Landscape research in the Anthropocene has to focus on achieving landscape sustainability at high productivity. This includes halting landscape degradation, developing cultural landscapes, and maintaining semi-natural landscapes. Clean water and air, fertile and healthy soils for food and other ecosystem services and a green and bio-diverse environment are attributes of landscapes for the survival and well-being of humans. Research has to generate knowledge, innovations and decision rules by disciplinary, interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary work. Knowledge generation in a globalized world is based on big data gathering and scenario modelling. International long-term experiments and agri-environmental monitoring systems will deliver data for ecosystem models and decision support systems.

The ‘4 per mille Soils for Food Security and Climate’ was launched at the COP21 with an aspiration to increase global soil organic matter stocks by 4 per 1000 (or 0.4 %) per year as a compensation for the global emissions of greenhouse gases by anthropogenic sources. This paper surveyed the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock estimates and sequestration potentials from 20 regions in the world (New Zealand, Chile, South Africa, Australia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, India, China Taiwan, South Korea, China Mainland, United States of America, France, Canada, Belgium, England & Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Russia). We asked whether the 4 per mille initiative is feasible for the region. The outcomes highlight region specific efforts and scopes for soil carbon sequestration. Reported soil C sequestration rates globally show that under best management practices, 4 per mille or even higher sequestration rates can be accomplished. High C sequestration rates (up to 10 per mille) can be achieved for soils with low initial SOC stock (topsoil less than 30 t C ha− 1), and at the first twenty years after implementation of best management practices. In addition, areas which have reached equilibrium will not be able to further increase their sequestration. We found that most studies on SOC sequestration only consider topsoil (up to 0.3 m depth), as it is considered to be most affected by management techniques. The 4 per mille number was based on a blanket calculation of the whole global soil profile C stock, however the potential to increase SOC is mostly on managed agricultural lands. If we consider 4 per mille in the top 1m of global agricultural soils, SOC sequestration is between 2-3 Gt C year− 1, which effectively offset 20–35% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. As a strategy for climate change mitigation, soil carbon sequestration buys time over the next ten to twenty years while other effective sequestration and low carbon technologies become viable. The challenge for cropping farmers is to find disruptive technologies that will further improve soil condition and deliver increased soil carbon. Progress in 4 per mille requires collaboration and communication between scientists, farmers, policy makers, and marketeers.

In this paper, we investigate the energy harvesting (EH) technique and accordingly design transceivers for a $K$ link multiple-input multiple-output interference channel. Each link consists of two full-duplex (FD) Internet of Things (IoT) nodes exchanging information simultaneously in a bi-directional communication channel. All the nodes suffer from interference, in particular strong self-interference and inter-node interference, due to operating in FD mode and simultaneous transmission at each link, respectively. Further, we divide the received signal at each node into two parts. While one part of the signal is used for information decoding, the other part is used for EH. We jointly design the transmit and receive beamforming vectors and receiver power splitting ratios by minimizing the total transmission power of the system, subject to both signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio and EH threshold constraints. Furthermore, the case of multiple-input single-output interference channel is also included for the sake of comparison. We also revisit the above problems for the case when the available channel state information (CSI) at the transmitters is imperfect, where the errors of the CSI are assumed to be norm bounded. Simulation results show that the EH technique can harvest enough energy to support power consumption limited IoT devices by aiding in recharging their respective batteries.

The accelerator-driven sub-critical system is driven by external neutron sources, which are generated by the spallation reaction and maintain the stable operation of the sub-critical core, while the external neutron source increases the complexity of reactor neutron kinetic processes. This article focuses on simulation analysis of neutron space–time kinetics with a dynamic analysis code, which is developed based on the improved quasi-static approximation and Monte Carlo neutron transport method. The amplitude function and shape functions are solved to achieve the dynamics simulation process. Then, the transient responses of beam interruptions and reactivity insertions are calculated and analyzed for an experimental facility. To further verify the correctness and reliability of dynamic behavior, the simulation results are compared with experimental values, and the results show that the normalized neutron fluxes varying with time are in good agreement with the corresponding values. It can be concluded that the improved quasi-static coupled probability theory method can be used to solve the neutron space–time kinetic problem of the experimental facility, and the results are reliable.

In this study, the hybrid power system of the diesel, as the main power source, and new energy, as the auxiliary energy is developed. An optimal energy management strategy was proposed for the hybrid ship, aiming to minimize consumption of the fuel. The model of the hybrid power system was established in the MATLAB/SIMULINK simulation environment. The optimal energy management strategy was verified by simulation according to the typical drive cycle of ship compared to original energy management strategy. The simulation results show that the proposed optimization can improve fuel economy while the state of charge of the battery is maintained at reasonable range.

Spinel LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 as one of the high-energy positive electrode materials for next generation Li-ion batteries has attracted significant interest due to its economic and environmental advantages. However, the sensitivity of this type of material upon short to long term ambient storage conditions and the impact on the electrochemical performances remains poorly explored. Nevertheless, this remains an important aspect for practical large-scale synthesis, storage and utilization. Herein, we study and compare the evolution of surface chemistry, bulk crystal structure and elemental content evolution and distribution of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 using a variety of characterization techniques including XPS and STEM-EDS-EELS, as well as electrochemical analysis. We show that Mn species dominate the outer surface (0–5 nm), while Ni and Li are preferentially located further away and in the bulk. The studied LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 material is found to be stable, with minor changes in surface or bulk characteristics detected, even after 12 months of storage under ambient air conditions. The low surface reactivity to air also accounts for the minor changes to the electrochemical performance of the air-exposed LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4, compared to the pristine material. This study provides guidance for the appropriate storage, handling and processing of this high-performance cathode material.