Ant-behavior inspired intelligent nanonet for targeted drug delivery in cancer therapy

Targeted drug delivery system is believed as one of the most promising solutions for cancer treatment due to its low-dose requirement and less side effects. However, both passive targeting and active targeting rely on systemic blood circulation and diffusion, which is actually not the real “active” drug delivery. In this paper, an ant-behavior inspired nanonetwork composing of intelligent nanomachines is proposed. A big intelligent nanomachine take small intelligent nanomachines and drugs to the vicinity of of the tumor area. The small intelligent nanomachines can coordinate with each other to find the most effective path to the tumor cell for drug transportation. The framework and mechanism of this cooperative network are proposed. The route finding algorithm is presented. The convergence performance is analytically analyzed where the influence of the factors such as molecule degradation rate, home-destination distance, number of small nanomachines to the convergence is presented. Finally the simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism and analytical analysi

The Influence of ENSO on the Long‐Term Water Storage Anomalies in the Middle‐Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River Basin: Evaluation and Analysis

Recent extreme events in the Middle‐Lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin (MLYRB) are proven to be possibly linked to the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events as indicated by terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA). But the relatively short observation time of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment series missions (2002–2017; 2018–present) affects the robustness of the evaluation of TWSA. Here, the applicability of four long‐term TWSA data sets (since 1979) in the MLYRB is evaluated first using an evaluation framework including two completely independent tests. After selecting the optimal one, we investigate the effects of ENSO on TWSA in the MLYRB at the basin, subbasin, and grid cell scales, respectively. Results show that ENSO, especially the Eastern Pacific type ENSO has had a significant impact on TWSA variations in the MLYRB and its two subbasins (the Dongting Lake basin and the Poyang Lake basin) since 1979 with correlation coefficients at 0.56–0.65 and time lags at 5–6 months. However, TWSAs in the other two subbasins (the Hanjiang River basin and the Mainstream River basin) have almost no correlation with ENSO. Further analysis reveals that compared with human activity that has a limited impact on TWSA, precipitation is one of the key inducements for regional water storage changes in these two subbasins, and the no correlation between ENSO and TWSA is mainly caused by the weak link between ENSO and precipitation

GTWS-MLrec: global terrestrial water storage reconstruction by machine learning from 1940 to present

Terrestrial water storage (TWS) includes all forms of water stored on and below the land surface, and is a key determinant of global water and energy budgets. However, TWS data from measurements by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission are only available from 2002, limiting global and regional understanding of the long-term trends and variabilities in the terrestrial water cycle under climate change. This study presents long-term (i.e., 1940–2022) and relatively high-resolution (i.e., 0.25∘) monthly time series of TWS anomalies over the global land surface. The reconstruction is achieved by using a set of machine learning models with a large number of predictors, including climatic and hydrological variables, land use/land cover data, and vegetation indicators (e.g., leaf area index). The outcome, machine-learning-reconstructed TWS estimates (i.e., GTWS-MLrec), fits well with the GRACE/GRACE-FO measurements, showing high correlation coefficients and low biases in the GRACE era. We also evaluate GTWS-MLrec with other independent products such as the land–ocean mass budget, atmospheric and terrestrial water budget in 341 large river basins, and streamflow measurements at 10 168 gauges. The results show that our proposed GTWS-MLrec performs overall as well as, or is more reliable than, previous TWS datasets. Moreover, our reconstructions successfully reproduce the consequences of climate variability such as strong El Niño events. The GTWS-MLrec dataset consists of three reconstructions based on (a) mascons of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, the Center for Space Research at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA; (b) three detrended and de-seasonalized reconstructions; and (c) six global average TWS series over land areas, both with and without Greenland and Antarctica. Along with its extensive attributes, GTWS_MLrec can support a wide range of geoscience applications such as better understanding the global water budget, constraining and evaluating hydrological models, climate-carbon coupling, and water resources management. GTWS-MLrec is available on Zenodo through https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10040927 (Yin, 2023)

Control of Copper Content in Flash Smelting Slag and the Recovery of Valuable Metals from Slag—A Thermodynamic Consideration

To determine slag properties and the factors influencing these properties for optimization of operating conditions in the copper flash smelting process, the composition and microstructures of the quenched smelting and converting slags have been analyzed. Thermodynamic software FactSage 8.2 has been used to investigate the effects of matte grade, SO2 partial pressure, and the Fe/SiO2 ratio on the liquidus temperature and the copper content of the smelting slag. The possibility to recover valuable metals from the smelting and converting slags through pyrometallurgical reduction by carbon is also discussed. It was found that the flash smelting slag temperature is usually higher than its liquidus temperature and the copper (1.2% Cu) is mainly present in the slag as dissolved copper. In the copper flash smelting process, the copper content in the slag can be decreased by decreasing the Fe/SiO2 ratio and temperature. In pyrometallurgical slag reduction, most Cu, Mo, and Ni can be recovered as an alloy. The conditions of recovery such as the ratio of smelting slag to converting slag, temperature, and reduction extent have been discussed

CFD-Based Validation Study on the Fire Prevention Wisdom of Ancient Village Houses in Western Hunan

Ancient villages are precious architectural treasures that have been protected from fire hazards for centuries through traditional fire prevention strategies. However, research on traditional fire response strategies is limited, with existing studies mainly focusing on climate response strategies, conservation, and renewal. No prior research has revealed the quantitative fire response strategies used for ancient buildings. This paper takes the first ancient village in western Hunan, High-Chair village, as an example, and it (1) assesses the fire risk of High-Chair village; (2) determines the traditional fire response strategies of the ancient village, including fire prevention culture, residential layout, wall forms, and fire resistant materials; and (3) uses CFD simulation to reveal and verify the science and rationale of the traditional patio layout and hill wall forms. The study suggests utilizing CFD simulation to quantitatively assess and validate fire response strategies. Such knowledge of fire prevention can provide fire mitigation solutions for rural construction

Decreased Plasma Nesfatin-1 Level Is Related to the Thyroid Dysfunction in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Aims. Thyroid dysfunction is frequently observed in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but the underlying mechanism is still poorly understood. The present study aimed to investigate whether nesfatin-1 played a role in the thyroid dysfunction in patients with T2DM. Methods. 55 euthyroid patients were enrolled in this study including 30 patients with T2DM and 25 patients with impaired glucose regulation (IGR). 30 age-matched healthy people were also included as the control. The plasma levels of nesfatin-1, thyrotropin (TSH), and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) as well as the body mass index (BMI) were comparatively analyzed among the three groups. Results. The nesfatin-1 was significantly lower in patients with T2DM than in patients with IGR and in the control. On the contrary, the TSH level was significantly higher in patients with T2DM than in patients with IGR and in the control. Simple regression analysis showed that the plasma nesfatin-1 was negatively correlated with the TSH and HbA1c levels and positively correlated with the BMI. With multiple stepwise regression analysis, the nesfatin-1 remained to be independently correlated with the TSH, BMI, and HbA1c. Conclusions. The study was suggesting a role of nesfatin-1 in thyroid dysfunction in patients with T2DM

Comparison of the Preparation Process of Rare Earth Oxides from the Water Leaching Solution of Waste Nd-Fe-B Magnets’ Sulfate Roasting Products

The new process developed here consisting of sulfurization roasting transformation and water immersion can effectively realize the separation of rare earth elements (REEs) and impurities from spent Nd-Fe-B magnets. For the industrial application of the new process, it is critical to determine how to economically and efficiently prepare rare earth oxide (RExOy) products with higher purity from the obtained water leaching solution. Therefore, according to rare earth sulfate (RE2(SO4)3) solution characteristics, the oxalic acid precipitation–calcination method, sodium carbonate precipitation–calcination method, and double sulfates precipitation–alkali conversion–calcination method were optimized and compared. The results show that the recovery efficiency of REE recovery via the oxalic acid precipitation–calcination method is 99.44%, and the purity of RExOy is 99.83% under optimal technological conditions. However, the cost of oxalic acid precipitation is higher. The process consisting of the double sulfates precipitation–alkali conversion–calcination method is relatively complicated, the recovery efficiency of REEs is 97.95%, and the purity of the RExOy is 98.04%. The recovery efficiency of the REEs and the purity of the RExOy obtained from the sodium carbonate precipitation–calcination method are 99.12% and 98.33%, respectively. Moreover, the recycling cost of sodium carbonate precipitation is the lowest among the three processes for preparing RExOy, so it has industrial application potential. The obtained results for REE recovery from spent Nd-Fe-B magnets in this research can provide theoretical guidance for the innovation of the recycling process for REEs as secondary resources

Extraction of Ga and Ge from zinc refinery residues in H2C2O4 solutions containing H2O2

A new oxalic acid (H2C2O4) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) based extraction process was developed to recover valuable metals - in particular Ga and Ge - from the zinc refinery residues. H2C2O4 and H2O2 leaching studies indicated that the selective leaching of metals in the residues, that primarily contain Zn, Cu, Fe, SiO2, Ga and Ge, can be achieved. Under the optimal leaching conditions ([H2C2O4] = 110 g/L, [H2O2] = 0.12 mol/L, L/S ratio = 8, T = 40 °C and t = 30 min), 99.32% of the Ga, 98.86% of the Ge and 30.25% of the Fe were leached out, whereas the leaching of Zn, Cu and Si only reached 0.30%, 0.82% and 0.43%, respectively. Concerning leachate purification, 98.31% of the iron could be removed in the form of FeC2O4·2H2O with minor losses of Ga and Ge (1.08% and 0.68%) using an ultrasound-assisted iron powder replacement method under optimal conditions. The Ga (99.36%) and Ge (99.89%) were subsequently extracted by tri(octyl-decyl)amine (N235). After extraction, the loaded organic phase was stripped of Ga (98.91%) and Ge (99.21%) into separate solutions using sequential treatments of 2 mol/L H2SO4 and 4 mol/L NaOH respectively. Based on these results, a process flow sheet of efficient separation and recovery of Ga and Ge is presented.Peer reviewe