Traditional Chinese Medicine syndrome-related herbal prescriptions in treatment of malignant tumors

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the distribution characteristics of TCM syndromes and the related herbal prescriptions for malignant tumors (MT).MethodsA clinical database of the TCM syndromes and the herbal prescriptions in treatment of 136 MT patients were established. The data were then analyzed using cluster and frequency analysis.ResultsAccording to the cluster analysis, the TCM syndromes in MT patients mainly included two patterns: deficiency of both Qi and Yin and internal accumulation of toxic heat. The commonly-prescribed herbs were Huangqi (Astraglus), Nüzhenzi (Fructus Ligustri Lucidi), Lingzhi (Ganoderma Lucidum), Huaishan (Dioscorea Opposita), Xiakucao (Prunella Vulgaris), and Baihuasheshecao (Herba Hedyotidis).ConclusionDeficiency of Qi and Yin is the primary syndrome of MT, and internal accumulation of toxic heat is the secondary syndrome. The herbs for Qi supplementation and Yin nourishment are mainly used, with the assistance of herbs for heat-clearance and detoxification

Integrating Wildfires Propagation Prediction Into Early Warning of Electrical Transmission Line Outages

Wildfires could pose a significant danger to electrical transmission lines and cause considerable losses to the power grids and residents nearby. Previous studies of preventing wildfire damages to electrical transmission lines mostly analyze wildfire and power system security independently due to their differences in disciplines and cannot satisfy the requirement of the power grid for active and timely responses. In this paper, we have designed an integrated wildfire early warning system framework for power grids, taking prediction of wildfires and early warning of line outage probability together. First, the proposed model simulates the spatiotemporal process of wildfires via a geography cellular automata model and predicts when and where wildfires initially get into the security buffer of an electrical transmission line. It is developed in the context of electrical transmission line operating with various situations of topography, vegetation, wind and, especially, multiple ignition points. Second, we have proposed a line outage model (LOM), based on wildfire prediction and breakdown mechanisms of the air gap, to predict the breakdown probability varying with time and the most vulnerable poles at the holistic line scale. Finally, to illustrate the validation and rationality of our proposed system, a case study for a 500-kV transmission line near Miyi county, China, is presented, and the results under various wildfire situations are studied and compared. By integrating wildfire prediction into the LOM and alarming the holistic line breakdown probability along time, this paper makes a significant contribution in the early warning system to prevent transmission lines to be damaged by wildfires, illustrating the related breakdown mechanisms at the line operation level rather than laboratory experiments only. Meanwhile, the implementation of cellular automata model under comprehensive environmental conditions and simulation of the breakdown probability for the 500-kV transmission line could serve as references for other studies in the community

Optimization of ultrasound-assisted extraction of polyphenols from maize filaments by response surface methodology and its identification

Maize filaments (MF) are the outer thread-like part of corn, which are widely used in traditional and official medicine. In the current study, central composite design (CCD) was used to investigate the effect of process variables on polyphenols contents from MF by ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). Results showed that the obtained optimal UAE conditions were as follows: extraction power of 520.01 W, ethanol concentration of 61.08%, and a solvent-to-material ratio of 26.83 mL/g for polyphenols extraction. These experimental values under optimal conditions were consistent with the predicted values with polyphenols content of 7.1±0.015 mg/g. Sixteen phenolic compounds, including gallic acid, catechin, picatechin, hyperoside etc were identified in MF polyphenols extractions by HPLC-MS/MS method. The antioxidant activity of the MF polyphenols extractions were also studied, which showed that MF polyphenols extractions have excellent radical scavenging ability for ABTS radicals, •OH, DPPH radicals and •O2-, and 42.56 ± 1.24% of lipid oxidation inhibition

Evolution of the Second-Phase Particles and Their Effect on Tensile Fracture Behavior of 2219 Al-xCu Alloys

In this study, the continuous evolution of the second-phase particles across as-cast, homogenization, multi-directional forging (MDF), and solution-aging treatment and their effect on tensile fracture behavior of 2219 aluminum alloys with different Cu contents was examined by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and tensile tests. The results showed that the microstructure of as-cast 2219 aluminum alloy consisted of the α-Al matrix, Al2Cu coarse phase, and Fe-rich impurity phase. Severe segregation of Cu existed, and eutectic networks can be observed in the ingot. With an increase in Cu content, the eutectic networks became coarsen and thicker. During the complex improved process, the refinement mechanisms were fragmentation, dissolution, and diffusion of Al2Cu particles. Most fine Al2Cu particles were fully dissolved into the matrix and partial coarse particles were still retained after solution-aging treatment. Thus, the elongations of all the samples, undergoing solution treatment followed by water quenching, increased evidently. Then, the elongations decreased slightly due to the increase of precipitates. The fractography analysis of peak aged condition samples indicated that the fracture mode was diverted from a typical inter-granular fracture to a mainly trans-granular fracture with increase in Cu content from 5.56% to 6.52%. Fracture initiation mainly occurred by original microcrack propagation and microvoid nucleation at the coarse constituents

A New Path of Quench-Induced Residual Stress Control in Thick 7050 Aluminum Alloy Plates

The high magnitude of quench-induced residual stress in thick aluminum plates is attributed not only to high thermal stress but also to high yield strength due to quench-induced precipitation hardening. To date, lowering the thermal stress is the only path to reduce the residual stress in the design of quenching technology. In this paper, a new path is proposed that reduces the residual stress through decreasing the yield strength at ambient temperatures by eliminating the precipitation hardening effect during quenching. As certified in several experiments, the high yield strength of thick as-quenched plates decreases rapidly from a short period of extra heat preservation at relatively higher temperatures. Therefore, an interrupted quenching method is proposed, wherein quenching is interrupted after an initial cooling period and the sample is placed in air to make the temperature field uniform; afterward, the sample is cooled to room temperature. Interrupted quenching tests were conducted on 115 mm thick 7050 aluminum plates and significant residual stress reductions were observed in the specimens compared with the residual stresses in the specimens subjected to regular quenching

A Novel Sodium–Potassium Anode Supported by Fluorinated Aluminum Foam

Sodium–potassium (NaK) liquid alloy is a promising candidate for use as an anode material in sodium batteries because of its fluidity, which effectively suppresses the growth of sodium or potassium dendrites. However, the poor wettability of NaK alloy on conventional metal substrates is unfavorable for cell fabrication due to its strong surface tension. In this paper, low-density and low-cost fluorinated aluminum foam is used as a substrate support material for NaK liquid alloy. By combining low-surface-tension NaKC with fluorinated aluminum foam, we obtain a uniformly distributed and structurally stable electrode material. The composite electrode has a cycling stability of more than 3000 h in a symmetrical cell. Furthermore, when coupled with a sulfurized polyacrylonitrile cathode in carbonate electrolyte, it maintains excellent stability even after 800 cycles, with 72% of capacity retention

Na⁺/K⁺ Hybrid Battery Based on a Sulfurized Polyacrylonitrile Cathode

Sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) nanocomposites were synthesized and used as a cathode in a novel rechargeable Na+/K+ hybrid battery with high performance for the first time. When 0.9 mol NaPF6 and 0.1 mol KPF6 were dissolved in ethylene carbonate (EC)/dimethyl carbonate(DMC)/ethyl methyl cabonate(EMC) (4:3:2, v/v/v), used as hybrid electrolyte, Na foil was used as the anode, and SPAN composites were used as the cathode, a hybrid ion system was created via composition–decomposition between Na+/K+ and SPAN and stripping–depositing of Na+ with suppressed dendrites by taking advantage of the self-healing electrostatic shield effect. As a result, a highly reversible calculated capacity of 1405.5 mAh gsulfur−1 with a coulombic efficiency approaching 100% after 100 cycles was obtained at a current density of 35 mA g−1. This environmentally benign, low-cost Na+/K+ hybrid battery shows promise as a new future flexible energy storage system (ESS) technology

Effect of Cu on the Fracture and Exfoliation Corrosion Behavior of Al-Zn-Mg-xCu Alloy

In the present work, the influence of Cu content on microstructure, mechanical properties and exfoliation corrosion behaviors of Al-Zn-Mg-xCu alloy extrusions has been investigated in longitudinal-transverse (L-T) and short-longitudinal (S-L) directions by means of mechanical tensile and exfoliation corrosion testing combined with optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that a higher Cu content significantly decreased the fracture toughness and ductility of the alloy in S-L direction compared with L-T direction. Concomitant with the increase in Cu content, a transition in fracture mode was observed from transgranular dimpled rupture to intergranular rupture in S-L direction. Moreover, the exfoliation corrosion (EXCO) resistance of the alloy decreased as the Cu content increased and the exfoliation corrosion resistance of the alloy in short-transverse (S-T) direction was better than that of L-T direction. These results were mainly associated with the large number of coarse intermetallics caused by high Cu content in the L-T direction of alloy

Mixture Modules Based Intelligent Control System for Autonomous Driving

Part 3: Autonomous Vehicles - Aerial VehiclesInternational audienceAs a typical artificial intelligence system, a safe and comfortable control system is essential for self-driving vehicles to have the same level of driving ability as human drivers. This paper proposes a novel control system for autonomous driving vehicles based on mixture modules, which aims to ensure the accuracy of path tracking while meeting the requirements of safety and ride comfort. The mixture modules consist of a lateral controller to control the steering wheel angle of the vehicle for path tracking and a longitudinal controller to adjust the speed of the vehicle. We conducted a series of experiments on our simulation platform and real self-driving vehicles to test the proposed control system and compared it with the traditional methods which are widely used. The experimental results indicate that our control system can run effectively on real vehicles. It may accurately track the intended driving path and adjust the driving speed comfortably and smoothly, which demonstrates a high level of intelligence