Flash point is one of the major physical and chemical properties used to determine the fire and explosion hazards of liquids; therefore, the prediction of flash points is an important safety consideration. In this paper, flash point prediction methods based on vapor pressure, molecular structure, composition range, and boiling point of flammable liquids are reviewed, respectively. Le Chatelier's rule and Antoine equations are used in the correlation between vapor pressure and flash point. Research on the correlations between flash point and composition range of the mixture has focused on flash point predictions for binary and ternary solutions, and further investigation for multicomponent solutions is required in the future. With regard to the correlation between molecular structure and flash point, some key breakthroughs have been made through quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) analysis. In particular, the artificial neural network (ANN) in QSPR is one possible correlation technique because of its nonlinear property and high accuracy and has the potential for wide application.

Dietary phosphorus oversupply wastes non-renewable natural resources and raises environmental concerns in animal agriculture. We hypothesized that laying hens do not need large safety margins for dietary phosphorus because of the existence of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23). In experiment 1, a total of 504 Hy-Line Brown laying hens (40-week-old) were randomly assigned to seven diets (for each diet, six replicates of 12 hens), containing 0.12, 0.17, 0.22, 0.27, 0.32, 0.37, and 0.42% non-phytate phosphorus, respectively, for 15 weeks. In experiment 2, a total of 14 Hy-Line Brown laying hens (40-week-old) were randomly assigned to two diets: (1) phosphorus restricted (n = 7) diet containing 0.14% non-phytate phosphorus, and (2) regular phosphorus (n = 7) diet containing 0.32% non-phytate phosphorus, for 21 days. Laying performance and egg quality were investigated in experiments 1 and 2. Phosphorus excretion and physiological changes were determined in experiment 2. It was found that dietary non-phytate phosphorus levels had no effects (P > 0.05) on laying performance and egg quality in either experiment. In experiment 2, laying hens fed 0.14% non-phytate phosphorus had decreased phosphorus excretion (by 52.6%, P < 0.001) when compared to those fed 0.32% non-phytate phosphorus. In response to the 0.14% non-phytate phosphorus diet, laying hens in experiment 2 exhibited: (1) suppressed calvaria mRNA expressions of FGF23 (by 57.8%, P < 0.001) and fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1, by 52.8%, P = 0.012), (2) decreased serum levels of FGF23 (by 41.7%, P = 0.011) and phosphorus (by 40.3%, P < 0.001), (3) decreased kidney mRNA expressions of FGFR1 (by 66.0%, P = 0.040) and FGFR4 (by 63.3%, P = 0.012) and decreased kidney protein expression of type 2a sodium-phosphorus co-transporter (NPt2a, by 51%, P = 0.025), (4) increased duodenum protein expression of NPt2b (by 45%, P = 0.032), and (5) increased excretion of calcium (by 22.9%, P ≤ 0.024). Collectively, decreasing dietary non-phytate phosphorus by up to 0.12% had no negative effects on egg-production performance but significantly decreased phosphorus excretion in laying hens. The laying hens adjusted to low-phosphorus diets by increasing intestinal NPt2b protein production, which was associated with decreased serum FGF23 concentration. Decreasing dietary non-phytate phosphorus is suggested to laying-hen nutritionists.

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Conformity is a common phenomenon existing both in humans and in social animals, which has strong impact on collective behaviors. The effects of conformity on cooperation in a population have been widely explored in evolutionary games. Conformity-driven individuals tend to follow the strategy adopted by the majority of their neighbors. In most previous studies, the individuals take the half-number of their neighbors as the threshold for identifying the majority. However, in reality, the individuals may determine the majority based on a different threshold. For example, they might not conform unless the proportion of the majority reaches three-quarters. In contrast, it is also possible that the individuals have a lower reference than the half for majority. Here, we study the effects of the conformity threshold on cooperation in spatial prisoner's dilemma games. Our results show that there always exists an optimal conformity threshold for the population to maximize the cooperation level. Moreover, we find that the optimal conformity threshold depends on the payoff parameter of the game. Besides, the robustness of the results has been checked and we find that the simulation results are qualitatively unchanged when the different network scheme is used.

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Developments of oil and gas reservoirs in South China Sea are presently accelerated, to cope with the significant increase in energy demand from the mainland. Pipe-in-Pipe (PIP) flowline systems have been widely employed in this region and are continuously being considered for further developments. This is due to its significant thermal insulation capacity to deal with the High Pressure and High Temperature (HPHT) issue. However, the methods in industry for design of PIP systems usually have two side extremes. Simplified analytical approach may lack of accuracy and detailed FE analysis always brings considerably sophisticated modelling and post-processing tasks. To overcome this situation, COTEC Offshore Solutions, together with its mother company, China Offshore Oil Engineering Company, have developed a cost-effective, beam elements based, 3D simulation model using ABAQUS, a general purpose finite element analysis (FEA) package. The mode allows complicated structures of PIP system to be represented in an effective way and adopts a representation of stinger for S-lay installation analysis. A full-history time-dominate analysis from installation to operation is performed in one model, rather than the commonly used ‘snapshot’ analysis. In this study, a simplified modeling guidance of PIP components have been suggested. On the basis of the guidance, a novel 3D beam-elements based model has been produced to accurately represent complex PIP structural behaviors, but with minimum increase in modeling complexity. The analysis is carried out on the time-domain basis, which permits the full strain and stress history of the installation and operation to be observed and the most onerous time-point during the full installation and operation to be captured.