Accelerations of large inertial particles in turbulence

Understanding the dynamics of material objects advected by turbulent flows is a long standing question in fluid dynamics. In this perspective article we focus on the characterization of the statistical properties of non-interacting finite-sized massive spherical particles advected by a vigorous turbulent flow. We study the fluctuations and temporal correlations of particle accelerations and explore their behaviours with respect to both the particle size and the particle mass density by means of fully-resolved numerical simulations. We observe that the measured trends can not be interpreted as the simple multiplicative combination of the two dominant effects: the spatial filtering of fluid accelerations and the added-mass-adjusted fluid-to-particle density ratio. We argue that other hydrodynamical forces or effects (e.g. preferential flow sampling) have still a significant role even at the largest particle sizes, which are here of the order of the integral scale of turbulence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Effect of Oat Protein-coupled Co-assemble Hybridization Technology on Water Solubility of Rice Protein

In order to improve the solubility of rice protein in aqueous solutions by using oat protein-coupled co-assemble hybridization technology, in this study, different ratios of rice protein and oat protein were used as raw materials, and the two proteins were mixed at pH12, and then restored to neutrality for the co-assemble hybridization. The solubility of the protein was determined and the mechanism of action was explored by analyzing sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, particle size, microscopic morphology, emulsification characteristics, foaming characteristics, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. The results indicated that the solubility of rice protein-oat protein was higher than that of rice protein (8.49%±1.53%), and the highest solubility 93.07%±2.15% was achieved at the ratio of 1:0.6 (rice protein/oat protein). The particle size of the rice protein-oat protein after co-assemble hybridization was about 0.1 μm, while the structure became looser and hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bond between rice protein and oat protein were changed, which increased the solubility of rice protein and further improved the emulsification and foaming characteristics. In conclusion, the oat protein-coupled co-assemble hybridization technology is a robust method that can solve the poor water solubility of rice protein

Research and optimization of YOLO-based method for automatic pavement defect detection

According to the latest statistics at the end of 2022, the total length of highways in China has reached 5.3548 million kilometers, with a maintenance mileage of 5.3503 million kilometers, accounting for 99.9% of the total maintenance coverage. Relying on inefficient manual pavement detection methods is difficult to meet the needs of large-scale detection. To tackle this issue, experiments were conducted to explore deep learning-based intelligent identification models, leveraging pavement distress data as the fundamental basis. The dataset encompasses pavement micro-cracks, which hold particular significance for the purpose of pavement preventive maintenance. The two-stage model Faster R-CNN achieved a mean average precision (mAP) of 0.938, which surpassed the one-stage object detection algorithms YOLOv5 (mAP: 0.91) and YOLOv7 (mAP: 0.932). To balance model weight and detection performance, this study proposes a YOLO-based optimization method on the basis of YOLOv5. This method achieves comparable detection performance (mAP: 0.93) to that of two-stage detectors, while exhibiting only a minimal increase in the number of parameters. Overall, the two-stage model demonstrated excellent detection performance when using a residual network (ResNet) as the backbone, whereas the YOLO algorithm of the one-stage detection model proved to be more suitable for practical engineering applications

Increased co-expression of TIM-3 with TIGIT or 2B4 on CD8+ T cells is associated with poor prognosis in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in malignant tumors improves patient outcomes. Because single-agent immune checkpoint blockade has a low objective response rate, it is meaningful to explore combined blockade of immune checkpoint receptors. We aimed to investigate the co-expression of TIM-3 with TIGIT or 2B4 on peripheral blood CD8+ T cells from patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The correlation between co-expression level and clinical characteristics and prognosis was studied to provide a basis for immunotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Flow cytometry was used to detect TIM-3/TIGIT and TIM-3/2B4 co-expression on CD8+ T cells. The differences in co-expression between patients and healthy controls were analyzed. The correlation between co-expression of TIM-3/TIGIT or TIM-3/2B4 and the patient clinical characteristics and prognosis was examined. Also, the correlation between the TIM-3/TIGIT or 2B4 co-expression and other common inhibitory receptors was analyzed. We further validated our results using mRNA data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. TIM-3/TIGIT and TIM-3/2B4 co-expression was upregulated on peripheral blood CD8+ T cells from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. They were both correlated with poor prognosis. There was a correlation between TIM-3/TIGIT co-expression and patient age and pathological stage, whereas TIM-3/2B4 co-expression correlated with age and sex. CD8+ T cells with elevated mRNA levels of TIM3/TIGIT and TIM3/2B4 also showed increased expression of multiple inhibitory receptors, indicating T cell exhaustion in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. TIM-3/TIGIT or TIM-3/2B4 can be used as potential targets for combination immunotherapy in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Microwave‐Assisted Pyrolysis of Biomass for Bio‐Oil Production

Microwave‐assisted pyrolysis (MAP) is a new thermochemical process that converts biomass to bio‐oil. Compared with the conventional electrical heating pyrolysis, MAP is more rapid, efficient, selective, controllable, and flexible. This chapter provides an up‐to‐date knowledge of bio‐oil production from microwave‐assisted pyrolysis of biomass. The chemical, physical, and energy properties of bio‐oils obtained from microwave‐assisted pyrolysis of biomass are described in comparison with those from conventional pyrolysis, the characteristics of microwave‐assisted pyrolysis as affected by biomass feedstock properties, microwave heating operations, use of exogenous microwave absorbents, and catalysts are discussed. With the advantages it offers and the further research and development recommended, microwave‐assisted pyrolysis has a bright future in production of bio‐oils that can effectively narrow the energy gap and reduce negative environmental impacts of our energy production and application practice

Increased co-expression of 4-1BB with PD-1 on CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes is associated with improved prognosis and immunotherapy response in cervical cancer

BackgroundThe combination of agonistic antibodies with immune checkpoint inhibitors presents a promising avenue for cancer immunotherapy. Our objective is to explore the co-expression of 4-1BB, ICOS, CD28, with PD-1 on CD8+ T cells in the peripheral blood and tumor tissue of cervical cancer(CC) patients, with a specific focus on the association between the co-expression levels of 4-1BB with PD-1 and clinical features, prognosis as well as immunotherapy response. The goal is to offer valuable insights into cervical cancer immunotherapy.MethodsIn this study, 50 treatment-naive patients diagnosed with CC were enrolled. Flow cytometry was used to detect PD-1/4-1BB, PD-1/ICOS and PD-1/CD28 co-expression on CD8+ T cells. Subsequent analysis aimed to investigate the differential co-expression between peripheral blood and cancer tissue, and also the correlation between co-expression and clinical features in these patients. Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort, The IMvigor210 cohort, The BMS038cohort and Immunophenoscores were utilized to investigate the correlation between PD-1/4-1BB and the immune microenvironment, prognosis, immunotherapy, and drug sensitivity in cervical cancer.ResultsThe co-expression levels of PD-1/4-1BB, PD-1/ICOS, and PD-1/CD28 on CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were significantly higher in cervical cancer patients compared to those in peripheral blood. Clinical feature analysis reveals that on CD8+ TILs, the co-expression of PD-1/4-1BB is more closely correlated with clinical characteristics compared to PD-1/ICOS, PD-1/CD28, PD-1, and 4-1BB. Pseudo-time analysis and cell communication profiling reveal close associations between the subgroups harboring 4-1BB and PD-1. The prognosis, tumor mutation burden, immune landscape, and immunotherapy response exhibit statistically significant variations between the high and low co-expression groups of PD-1/4-1BB. The high co-expression group of PD-1/4-1BB is more likely to benefit from immunotherapy.ConclusionPD-1/4-1BB, PD-1/ICOS, and PD-1/CD28 exhibit elevated co-expression on CD8+TILs of cervical cancer, while demonstrating lower expression in circulating T cells. The co-expression patterns of PD-1/4-1BB significantly contributed to the prediction of immune cell infiltration characteristics, prognosis, and tailored immunotherapy tactics. PD-1/4-1BB exhibits potential as a target for combination immunotherapy in cervical cancer

Temperature Contributes More than Precipitation to Runoff in the High Mountains of Northwest China

In alpine areas in Northwest China, such as the Tianshan Mountains, the lack of climate data (because of scarce meteorological stations) makes it difficult to assess the impact of climate change on runoff. The main contribution of this study was to develop an integrated method to assess the impact of climate change on runoff in data-scarce high mountains. Based on reanalysis products, this study firstly downscaled climate data using machine learning algorithms, then developed a Batch Gradient Descent Linear Regression to calculate the contributions of temperature and precipitation to runoff. Applying this method to six mountainous basins originating from the Tianshan Mountains, we found that climate changes in high mountains are more significant than in lowlands. In high mountains, the runoff changes are mainly affected by temperature, whereas in lowlands, precipitation contributes more than temperature to runoff. The contributions of precipitation and temperature to runoff changes were 20% and 80%, respectively, in the Kumarik River. The insights gained in this study can guide other studies on climate and hydrology in high mountain basins

Genomic profiles and their relationships with clinical characteristics and immune features in cervical cancer

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the genomic alteration profiles of cervical cancer patients, examine the correlation between mutation patterns and clinical and immune attributes, and discover novel targets for treatment of individuals with cervical cancer. Methods: We performed targeted next-generation sequencing of tumor tissues and blood samples obtained from 45 cervical cancer patients to analyze somatic alterations, mutation patterns, and HLA alleles comprehensively. Additionally, we used flow cytometry to assess expression levels of immune checkpoint genes. Results: Notably, genes such as AR (78%), KMT2D (76%), and NOTCH1 (62%) exhibited higher mutation frequencies. Moreover, the tumor mutation burden (TMB) was significantly greater in HPV-positive cervical cancer patients than in HPV-negative patients (P=0.029). BMI (P=0.047) and mutations in BARD1 (P=0.034), CEP290 (P=4E-04), and SLX4 (P=0.0128) were identified as predictors of shorter overall survival in cervical cancer patients. Furthermore, the present study revealed significant upregulation of PD-1 (P=0.027) and Tim-3 (P=0.048) in the high mutant-allele tumor heterogeneity (MATH) cohort. In the elderly cervical cancer patient population, HLA-A03:01 emerged as a high-risk allele (OR=3.2, P<0.0001); HLA-C07:02 (OR=0.073, P=0.02) and HLA-B*07:02 (OR=0.257, P=0.037) were associated with a reduced risk among patients with low TMB. Conclusions: This study offers insights into the mutation characteristics of cervical cancer patients and identifies potential therapeutic

Isotopic Characterization of River Waters and Water Source Identification in an Inland River, Central Asia

Understanding runoff generation and dynamics is the basis for water resource management, while water isotopic ratios are a potential tool for studying the mechanism on a large scale. In this paper, spatial variations of δ18O and δD of river water and their sources within a large region of the Tarim River were investigated. The results showed obvious spatial variations of both water isotope values along the river flow direction, and significant seasonal variation occurred within the river water isotopes. This indicated that different proportions of rain and melt water entering river water should lead to spatial variation, and for mid-stream and downstream regions, the transformation relationship between surface water and groundwater should consider less input of melt water. Furthermore, we quantitatively determine the ratio of different water sources using the stable isotope mass balance method and other stable tracer elements. Results showed the contribution of ice-snowmelt water varied from 14.97% to 40.85%, that of rain varied from 9.04% to 54.80%, and that of groundwater varied from 15.34% to 58.85%, and they also showed that baseflow is a factor connecting melt water and groundwater, which meant the Hotan River and the Yarkand River are melt water–dependent rivers, and seasonal precipitation is the main water supply source of baseflow in the Aksu River and the Kaidu River