The locally resonant sonic material (LRSM) is an artificial metamaterial that can block underwater sound. The low-frequency insulation performance of LRSM can be enhanced by coupling local resonance and Bragg scattering effects. However, such method is hard to be experimentally proven as the best optimizing method. Hence, this paper proposes a statistical optimization method, which first finds a group of optimal solutions of an object function by utilizing genetic algorithm multiple times, and then analyzes the distribution of the fitness and the Euclidean distance of the obtained solutions, in order to verify whether the result is the global optimum. By using this method, we obtain the global optimal solution of the low-frequency insulation of LRSM. By varying parameters of the optimum, it can be found that the optimized insulation performance of the LRSM is contributed by the coupling of local resonance with Bragg scattering effect, as well as a distinct impedance mismatch between the matrix of LRSM and the surrounding water. This indicates coupling different effects with impedance mismatches is the best method to enhance the low-frequency insulation performance of LRSM.

To investigate the adsorptive properties of a local laterite deposited in Chenzhou, Hunan province, China, the adsorptive properties of the natural laterite were investigated by batch technique in this study. The effects of contact time, pH, ionic strength, temperature, and the concentration on adsorption properties were also analyzed. The obtained experimental results show that the main mineral composition of laterite is kaolinite and montmorillonite. The adsorption process achieved equilibrium within 60 minutes and 90 minutes for Sr(II) and Cr(VI), respectively. The adsorption capacities for Cr(VI) and Sr(II) by the laterite were about 7.25 mg·g^-1 and 8.35 mg·g^-1 under the given experimental conditions, respectively. The equilibrium adsorption data were fitted to the second-order kinetic equation. The adsorption capacity for Sr(II) onto the laterite increased with increasing pH from 3–11 but decreased with increasing ionic strength from 0.001 to 1.0 M NaCl. The Sr(II) adsorption reaction on laterite was endothermic and the process of adsorption was favored at high temperature. Similarly, the adsorption capacity for Cr(VI) onto the laterite increased with increasing pH from 3–11, however, the ionic strength and temperature had an insignificant effect on Cr(VI) adsorption. The adsorption of Cr(VI) and Sr(II) was dominated by ion exchange and surface complexation in this work. Furthermore, the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm model was used for the description of the adsorption process. The results suggest that the studied laterite samples can be effectively used for the treatment of contaminated wastewaters.