Practical Issues for the Application of High-performance Concrete to Highway Structures

In recent years, the advantages of high-performance concrete (HPC) have been well documented. Among others, these advantages include enhanced design flexibility and improved durability performance that results in reduced maintenance costs and an increased service life. Despite these obvious benefits, the implementation of HPC has been very slow. This can be attributed to several factors including the uncertainty related to current design codes and a lack of familiarity of designers and contractors with practices and requirements for proper design and construction of high-performance concrete structures. This paper introduces and discusses several fundamental issues that affect the implementation of HPC and impact the practitioner. These include issues related to quality control/quality assurance, specifications, material performance, and structural behavior. Within the scope of this discussion, the fundamental differences and similarities between HPC and conventional concrete are discussed. The objective of this discussion is to provide the practicing engineer with a conceptual understanding of the practical issues that affect the design and use of HPC for highway structures with the desire to further stimulate the implementation of HPC

Current Research Advance on Echinococcosis

Echinococcosis is caused by infection with larva (metacestode) of the tapeworms of the genus Echinococcus. Within genus Echinococcus, two species are known as public health concern worldwide: Echinococcus guanulosus causing cystic echinococcosis (CE) and Echinococcus multilocularis causing alveolar echinococcosis (AE). The co-evaluation due to the interaction between parasites and their hosts has been well known to be able to allow tolerating to maintain parasitism as long as possible. With many research advanced findings, scientists have been much interested in using either those molecules from parasites producing due to invading and surviving or those cytokines from hosts responding due to defenses to carry out immunotherapeutic practice that is not only against parasitic infection but also for cancer or other immunological related disorders. Taken advance of knowledge on Echinococcus genome research outcomes, recent attentions regarding the discoveries of targeting antiparasitic drug and/or vaccine were extensively discussed in this review

The Analysis of Curved Beam Using B-Spline Wavelet on Interval Finite Element Method

A B-spline wavelet on interval (BSWI) finite element is developed for curved beams, and the static and free vibration behaviors of curved beam (arch) are investigated in this paper. Instead of the traditional polynomial interpolation, scaling functions at a certain scale have been adopted to form the shape functions and construct wavelet-based elements. Different from the process of the direct wavelet addition in the other wavelet numerical methods, the element displacement field represented by the coefficients of wavelets expansions is transformed from wavelet space to physical space by aid of the corresponding transformation matrix. Furthermore, compared with the commonly used Daubechies wavelet, BSWI has explicit expressions and excellent approximation properties, which guarantee satisfactory results. Numerical examples are performed to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency with respect to previously published formulations for curved beams

Antarctic Ardley Island terrace — An ideal place to study the marine to terrestrial succession of microbial communities

The study of chronosequences is an effective tool to study the effects of environmental changes or disturbances on microbial community structures, diversity, and the functional properties of ecosystems. Here, we conduct a chronosequence study on the Ardley Island coastal terrace of the Fildes Peninsula, Maritime Antarctica. The results revealed that prokaryotic microorganism communities changed orderly among the six successional stages. Some marine microbial groups could still be found in near-coastal soils of the late stage (lowest stratum). Animal pathogenic bacteria and stress-resistant microorganisms occurred at the greatest level with the longest succession period. The main driving factors for the succession of bacteria, archaea, and fungi along Ardley Island terrace were found through Adonis analysis (PERMANOVA). During analysis, soil elements Mg, Si, and Na were related to the bacterial and archaeal community structure discrepancies, while Al, Ti, K, and Cl were related to the fungal community structure discrepancies. On the other hand, other environmental factors also play an important role in the succession of microbial communities, which could be different among each microorganism. The succession of bacterial communities is greatly affected by pH and water content; archaeal communities are greatly affected by NH4+; fungal communities are affected by nutrients such as NO3−. In the analysis of the characteristic microorganisms along terrace, the succession of microorganisms was found to be influenced by complex and comprehensive factors. For instance, environmental instability, relationship with plants and ecological niches, and environmental tolerance. The results found that budding reproduction and/or with filamentous appendages bacteria were enriched in the late stage, which might be connected to its tolerance to rapid changes and barren environments. In addition, the decline in ammonia oxidation capacity of Thaumarchaeota archaeade with succession and the evolution of the fungi-plant relationship throughout classes were revealed. Overall, this research improves the understanding of the effect of the marine–to–terrestrial transition of the Ardley Island terrace on microbial communities. These findings will lay the foundation for more in-depth research regarding microbial adaptations and evolutionary mechanisms throughout the marine–terrestrial transition in the future

Design and Simulation of an Igniter for Surrounding-Type Underground In-Situ Coal Gasification

To optimize the gas passage of underground coal igniters and enhance the performance and efficiency of ignition heaters, meeting the demands of actual underground operations, this paper designs a set of annular ignition heaters. By simulating the internal gas flow within the igniter, the pressure distribution and velocity characteristics inside the igniter are analyzed. Utilizing combustion flow field simulation technology, a comparison is made between the heating and ignition effects of annular igniters and central igniters in coal heating. The performance of the deflecting tube under different eccentric angles is simulated to determine the optimal eccentric angle for achieving the best heating effect. The results indicate that annular igniters for underground in-situ coal gasification have significant advantages over traditional igniters in terms of wellbore heating and flame penetration, with the optimal eccentric angle of the igniter being 10°

Geophagy of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) at Xiangguqing in the Baimaxueshan Nature Reserve, China

Geophagy is common in extant nonhuman primate species, but the exact reasons for it across species remain unclear. Previous diet studies on Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti) were only focused on organic materials (plants and small animals). There are no reports on R. bieti exhibiting geophagy in the field before this study. This study was carried out at Xiangguqing in the Baimaxueshan Nature Reserve from June 2008 to May 2009. We recorded the behavior of geophagy and collected samples of soil consumed by the monkeys there and analyzed their content in a laboratory. We identified a total of eight sites where the monkeys consumed soil in the home range during the study period. The total time spent ingesting soil was 13,690 seconds. 20 adult males, 34 adult females except lactating mothers, and 12 immatures without infants were seen to eat soil throughout this study. Average time spent in soil-eating bouts differed significantly among age/sex classes. This study suggests that particular age/sex classes or individuals in certain states of society and health will predictably display a behavioral pattern of geophagy. Our data indicate that geophagy in R. bieti is best explained as a response to nutrient deficiency, as soil consumed by the monkeys was significantly higher in calcium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, and sodium. Although R. bieti consumes iron- rich soil, control samples that were not consumed also had high levels of iron, suggesting that high altitude alone is not a sufficient explanation for geophagy in this species.PublishedYe

Overexpression of suppressor of zest 12 is associated with cervical node metastasis and unfavorable prognosis in tongue squamous cell carcinoma

OBJECTIVE: Increased expression of suppressor of zest 12 (SUZ12), a core component of the polycomb repressive complex 2, contributes to human tumorigenesis and associates with patient prognosis. In the present study, we sought to investigate the expression of SUZ12 and its clinicopathological significance in primary tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC). METHODS: The expression of SUZ12 protein was determined by immunohistochemistry in clinical samples from a retrospective cohort of 72 patients with primary TSCC who were treated at our institution from Jan. 2007 to Dec. 2013. The potential associations between SUZ12 abundance and multiple clinicopathological parameters were assessed by Chi square test. Moreover, the effect of SUZ12 expression on patients’ survival was further estimated by Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses. RESULTS: Our immunohistochemical staining data revealed aberrant overexpression of SUZ12 in a large subset of TSCC as compared to normal tongue mucosa. Elevated SUZ12 was found to be significantly associated with cervical nodes metastasis (P = 0.0325) and reduced overall as well as disease-free survival (Log-rank test, P = 0.0225, 0.0179, respectively). Both univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis identified the expression status of SUZ12 (low/high) as an important independent prognostic factor for patients’ survival. CONCLUSIONS: Our data reveal that aberrant SUZ12 overexpression is associated with cervical nodes metastasis and reduced survival in TSCC. These findings suggest that SUZ12 might play critical roles during tongue tumorigenesis and serve as a novel biomarker with diagnostic and prognostic significance

Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine Share Similar Philosophical Approaches to Fight COVID-19

This article is a commentary exploring the disciplines of Western medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine's philosophical methods to fight COVID-19 to understand their philosophical theories that could achieve the maximum benefits for treatment of COVID-19 and other diseases

High-performance piezoelectric nanogenerators based on Cs₂Ag_0.3Na_0.7InCl₆ double perovskites with high polarity induced by Zr/Te codoping

Piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENGs), which operate based on mechanical-to-electrical energy conversion, have been widely explored for exciting applications in modern devices such as wearable electronics, self-powered sensors, and energy harvesters. Herein, we report on high-performance PENGs based on Cs2Ag0.3Na0.7InCl6 double perovskite (CDP) within a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix, which exhibit enhanced polarity due to rationally designed Zr/Te codoping. As a proof of concept, the resultant PENGs based on Zr/Te codoped CDP@PVDF deliver an excellent piezoelectric output, with a maximum open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density of 67 V and 18 μA·cm−2. This level of performance is ∼19 and ∼12 times higher than PVDF-based PENGs with no CDP, and ∼2 and ∼4 times higher than CDP@PVDF-based PENGs without doping or with single Te doping, and ∼1 and ∼2 times higher than CDP@PVDF-based PENGs with single Zr doping, respectively. Moreover, the as-assembled PENGs exhibit impressive potential in wearable energy harvesters, motion sensors, and DC-power devices with robust stability, underscoring their bright future toward practical applications.</p