TESS Giants Transiting Giants. I.: A Noninflated Hot Jupiter Orbiting a Massive Subgiant

While the population of confirmed exoplanets continues to grow, the sample of confirmed transiting planets around evolved stars is still limited. We present the discovery and confirmation of a hot Jupiter orbiting TOI-2184 (TIC 176956893), a massive evolved subgiant (M ⋆ = 1.53 ± 0.12 M ⊙, R ⋆ = 2.90 ± 0.14 R ⊙) in the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Southern Continuous Viewing Zone. The planet was flagged as a false positive by the TESS Quick-Look Pipeline due to periodic systematics introducing a spurious depth difference between even and odd transits. Using a new pipeline to remove background scattered light in TESS Full Frame Image data, we combine space-based TESS photometry, ground-based photometry, and ground-based radial velocity measurements to report a planet radius of R p = 1.017 ± 0.051 R J and mass of M p = 0.65 ± 0.16 M J . For a planet so close to its star, the mass and radius of TOI-2184b are unusually well matched to those of Jupiter. We find that the radius of TOI-2184b is smaller than theoretically predicted based on its mass and incident flux, providing a valuable new constraint on the timescale of post-main-sequence planet inflation. The discovery of TOI-2184b demonstrates the feasibility of detecting planets around faint (TESS magnitude > 12) post-main-sequence stars and suggests that many more similar systems are waiting to be detected in the TESS FFIs, whose confirmation may elucidate the final stages of planetary system evolution.

Evaluation of Pavement Runoff and Driving Safety on Highway Curve Segment

Runoff depth distribution on the concave and circular curve sections is obtained from a two-dimensional numerical simulating model in order to analyze the temporal and spatial variation of the pavement runoff on the curve section. The two-dimensional model verified by the field data can depict the alignment of pavement more accurately as compared to the empirical equation and a one-dimensional model. The runoff on the concave section and circular curve section is compared for the free water drainage and centerline drainage. Results show that a two-dimensional model is essential for the analysis of the centerline drainage. The runoff depth can be controlled by a reasonable curb height and location interval. The drainage type affects the variation of the runoff depth on the nearside lane, and the maximum water depth can be up to more than 80 mm on the concave section and nearly 60 mm on the circular curve section under centerline drainage. Besides the existing hydroplaning results, the runoff depth difference of the wheel trace should be considered to evaluate driving safety. Sideslip will occur when the depth difference becomes more than 6 mm under condition that the runoff depth is less than the tread depth (7 mm). When the runoff depth is more than the tread depth, sideslip will occur once the depth difference exceeds 4 mm.

Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Robotic Grasping in Clutter and Occlusion

In robotic manipulation, object grasping is a basic yet challenging task. Dexterous grasping necessitates intelligent visual observation of the target objects by emphasizing the importance of spatial equivariance to learn the grasping policy. In this paper, two significant challenges associated with robotic grasping in both clutter and occlusion scenarios are addressed. The first challenge is the coordination of push and grasp actions, in which the robot may occasionally fail to disrupt the arrangement of the objects in a well-ordered object scenario. On the other hand, when employed in a randomly cluttered object scenario, the pushing behavior may be less efficient, as many objects are more likely to be pushed out of the workspace. The second challenge is the avoidance of occlusion that occurs when the camera itself is entirely or partially occluded during a grasping action. This paper proposes a multi-view change observation-based approach (MV-COBA) to overcome these two problems. The proposed approach is divided into two parts: 1) using multiple cameras to set up multiple views to address the occlusion issue; and 2) using visual change observation on the basis of the pixel depth difference to address the challenge of coordinating push and grasp actions. According to experimental simulation findings, the proposed approach achieved an average grasp success rate of 83.6%, 86.3%, and 97.8% in the cluttered, well-ordered object, and occlusion scenarios, respectively.

Influence of Filter Tube of Pumping Well on Groundwater Drawdown during Deep Foundation Pit Dewatering

The partial penetrating waterproof curtain combined with pumping wells is widely applied to deep foundation pit dewatering engineering. The filter tube of the pumping well plays a critical role on the environment effect that resulted from foundation pit dewatering. This paper investigated the impact of the filter tube on the groundwater drawdown outside the pit to provide a theoretical basis for the foundation pit dewatering design. Three patterns according to the relative position of the waterproof curtain and the filter tube, which are called wall-well patterns, namely the full-closed pattern, part-closed pattern, and none-closed pattern, have been analyzed. By taking a practice engineering case in Shanghai as an example, the relationship among the proportion of the filter tube length to the dewatering aquifer thickness, the buried depth difference of the wall-well, and the groundwater drawdown difference at both sides of the waterproof curtain are discussed by numerical simulation. The full-closed pattern is the optimal wall-well pattern on the ideal condition. The suggested and optimal values of the filter tube length to the dewatering aquifer thickness are 38.7% and 58.2%. The suggested and optimal values of the buried depth difference of the wall-well are −6.41 m and −1.92 m.

Influence of Using a Contrast-Enhanced CT Image as the Primary Image on CyberKnife Brain Radiosurgery Treatment Plans

Background and PurposeThis study aimed to quantify the differences between pre- and post-contrast agent (CA) CT for CyberKnife brain SRS plans.Materials and MethodsTwenty-five patients were retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into two categories, inhomogeneous cases (13 patients) and homogeneous cases (12 patients), according to whether the tumor was close to the cavity and inhomogeneous tissues or not. The pre-CA and post-CA plans were designed and calculated using the same monitor unit and paths as those in the ray-tracing algorithm, respectively.ResultsThe CT number difference of tumor between pre- and post-CA was significant (on average, 24.78 ± 18.56 HU, P-value < 0.01). The deviation value of the target was the largest at approximately 37 HU (inhomo-) and 13 HU (homo-) (P < 0.01), and the values of the organs at risk (OARs) were not statistically significant (P-value > 0.05). However, it was not statistically significant for the dose difference between the two groups with the injection of CA (P-value > 0.05). The absolute effective depth difference generally remained at a level of 1 mm, but the dose difference was quitely fluctuated sometimes more than 20%. The absolute effective depth difference of the inhomo-case (0.62 mm) was larger than that of the homo-case (0.37 mm) on median, as well as the variation amplitude (P-value < 0.05). Moreover, the relative dose differences between the two cases were 0.38% (inhomo-) and 0.2% (homo-), respectively (P-value < 0.05). At the criterion of 1 mm/1%, the gamma pass rate of the homo-case (95.89%) was larger than that of the inhomo-case (93.79%). For the OARs, except for the cochlea, the two cases were almost the same (>98.85%). The tumor control probability of the target was over 99.99% before and after injection of a CA, as well as the results for the homo-case and inhomo-case.ConclusionsConsidering the difference of evaluation indexes between pre- and post-CA images, we recommended plain CT to be employed as the primary image for improving the CK treatment accuracy of brain SRS, especially when the target was close to CA-sensitive OARs and cavity.

Fracture Initiation Mechanisms of Multibranched Radial-Drilling Fracturing

Compared with conventional hydraulic fracturing, radial-drilling fracturing presents remarkable advantages and can effectively develop low-permeability reservoirs. The radial borehole can reduce formation fracture pressure and guide the fracture initiation and propagation. Due to the large radial borehole azimuth or the strong anisotropy of the reservoir, the single radial borehole may not efficiently guide the fracture propagation. The researchers proposed multibranched radial-drilling fracturing. However, the research on fracture initiation of multibranched radial-drilling fracturing is inadequate. Radial boreholes usually need certain dip angles to avoid penetrating the interlayer, but the effect of dip angle on the stress field has never been considered before. In this paper, an analytical model for predicting stress distribution around the main wellbore with multiradial boreholes of arbitrary dip angle, azimuth angle, and phase angle is established for the first time, taking full account of the influences of in situ stress, internal pressure, and fracture fluid infiltration on the stress field. The model is utilized to calculate the fracture initiation pressure (FIP) and point out the specific fracture initiation location (FIL). The influences of azimuth angle, dip angle, phase angle, depth difference, and the stress profile radius on fracture initiation pressure, fracture initiation location, and maximum tensile stress distribution are investigated, and a series of sensitivity analyses are carried out. The results show that the areas between the radial boreholes and closer to the walls of radial boreholes are more prone to tensile failure, which provides a theoretical basis for radial boreholes guiding fracture initiation. The reduction of phase angle and depth difference enhances the interference between radial wells, which is conductive to the formation of hydraulic fracture networks between them. As the dip angle increases, the stress becomes increasingly concentrated, and the preferential rock tensile failure becomes increasingly easy. The farther the stress profile is from the main wellbore axis, the smaller it will be influenced by the main wellbore. When the distance exceeds 2R, the maximum tensile stress distribution on the profile remains constant. The research enriches the fracture initiation mechanism of multibranched radial-drilling fracturing and provides guidance for optimizing radial borehole layout parameters of hydraulic fracturing directed by multiradial boreholes.

Evidence of paleoseismic activity recorded in glaciolacustrine sediments predating the Weichselian glacial maximum in East Lithuania

Soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDS) were identified in proglacial lacustrine (glaciolacustrine) sediments dated to 25–24 ka in the Buivydžiai outcrop, situated 30 km north of Vilnius in east Lithuania. These sediments accumulated in front of the last Weichselian glaciation maximum. The SSDS originated due to sandy silt liquefaction that disrupted the decimeter-thick silty sand interlayer. A NW-SE trending Buivydžiai fault was mapped in the proximity (8 km) of the Buivydžiai outcrop. The fault is well traced by a dense drilling in the sediments of the preglacial Daumantai Formation in the basal part of the Quaternary cover and attributed to the earliest Pleistocene. Depth difference of the formation along the fault is ~5–8 m; the northern flank is relatively uplifted with respect to the southern flank. The Buivydžiai earthquake was most likely induced by formation of an elastic forebulge flexure of the Earth's crust in front of the ice sheet. The magnitude was evaluated ~M = 6.0–6.5 and was most likely of shallow hypocenter depth. Furthermore, the Bystritsa (Belarus) earthquake of magnitude M = 3.5–4.0 was registered in December 1908 to the east (12 km) of the Buivydžiai outcrop along the Buivydžiai fault, which points to recurrent seismic activity of this fault.

An Analytical Model for Fracture Initiation from a Particular Radial Borehole in Hydraulic Fracturing Guided by Multiradial Boreholes

Radial drilling-fracturing, the combination of the hydraulic fracturing and radial borehole, is a technology that can guide the hydraulic fractures to directionally propagate and efficiently develop low permeability reservoir. In this paper, an analytical model of two radial boreholes (a basic research unit) is established to predict fracture initiation pressure (FIP) from one particular radial borehole and the interference between radial boreholes when the hydraulic fracturing is guided by multi-radial boreholes. The model is based on the stress superposition principle and the maximum tensile stress criterion. The effects of in situ stress, wellbore pressure, and fracturing fluid percolation are considered. Then, sensitivity analysis is performed by examining the impact of the intersection angle between radial boreholes, the depth difference between radial boreholes, the radius of radial boreholes, Biot coefficient, and the number of radial boreholes. The results show that FIP declines with the increase of radial boreholes number and the decrease of intersection angle and depth difference between radial boreholes. Meanwhile, the increase of radial borehole number and the reduction of intersection angle and depth difference strengthen the interference between radial boreholes, which conduce to the formation of the fracture network connecting radial boreholes. Besides, FIP declines with the increase of radial borehole radius and the decrease of Biot coefficient. Large radius and low Biot coefficient can enlarge the influence range of additional stress field produced by radial boreholes, enhance the mutual interference between radial boreholes, and guide fracture growth between radial boreholes. In hydraulic fracturing design, in order to reduce FIP and strengthen the interference between radial boreholes, the optimization design can be carried out by lowering intersection angle, increasing radius and number of boreholes, and reducing the depth difference between boreholes when the conditions permit. The research clarifies the interference between radial boreholes and provides the theoretical basis for optimizing radial boreholes layout in hydraulic fracturing guided by multi-radial boreholes.