Experimental Study on the Factors of the Oil Shale Thermal Breakdown in High-Voltage Power Frequency Electric Heating Technology

We conducted an experimental study on the breakdown process of oil shale by high-voltage power frequency electric heating in-situ pyrolyzing (HVF) technology to examine the impact mechanisms of the electric field intensity, initial temperature, and moisture content on a breakdown, using Huadian oil shale samples. A thermal breakdown occurred when the electric field intensity was between 100 and 180 V/cm. The greater the electric field intensity, the easier the thermal breakdown and the lower the energy consumption. The critical temperature of the oil shale thermal breakdown ranged from 93 to 102 °C. A higher initial temperature increases the difficulty of breakdown, which is inconsistent with the classical theory of a solid thermal breakdown. The main factor that affects the electrical conductivity of oil shale is the presence of water, which is also a necessary condition for the thermal breakdown of oil shale. There should be an optimal moisture content that minimizes both the breakdown time and energy consumption for oil shale’s thermal breakdown. The thermal breakdown of oil shale results from heat generation and dissipation. The electric field intensity only affects the heat generation process, whereas the initial temperature and moisture content impact both the heat generation and dissipation processes, and the impacts of moisture content are greater than those of the initial temperature.© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Smart surface-enhanced Raman scattering traceable drug delivery systems

Open Access Article. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence.A novel smart nanoparticle-based system has been developed for tracking intracellular drug delivery through surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). This new drug delivery system (DDS) shows targeted cytotoxicity towards cancer cells via pH-cleavable covalent carboxylic hydrazone links and the SERS tracing capability based on gold@silica nanocarriers. Doxorubicin, as a model anticancer drug, was employed to compare SERS with conventional fluorescence tracing approaches. It is evident that SERS demonstrates higher sensitivity and resolution, revealing intracellular details, as the strengths of the original Raman signals can be amplified by SERS. Importantly, non-destructive SERS will provide the designed DDS with great autonomy and potential to study the dynamic procedures of non-fluorescent drug delivery into living cells

Tensile Properties of Single Rattan Fibers

The longitudinal tensile strength of single fibers of four rattan species, namely C. simplicifolius, C. nambariensis Becc. var. yingjiangensis, C. nambariensis var. xishuangbannaensis, and C. yunnanensis, was studied using a custom-built short vegetable fiber mechanical tester. The stress-strain curves produced by the four different rattans showed two distinct phases: a steep, straight segment in the initial phase followed by a straight line with a lower slope up to the breaking point. The respective average values for tensile elastic modulus, tensile strength, and elongation at breaking point of C. simplicifolius, C. nambariensis.var. xishuangbannaensis, C. yunnanensis, and C. nambariensis var. yingjiangensis canes were 10.61, 10.05, 9.10, and 9.54 GPa; 603, 566, 464, and 539 MPa; and 17.00, 17.24, 16.44, and 21.08%. The length position of the single fibers in the cane had variable effects on the three aforementioned properties for all four sampled rattan species. The tensile properties of C. simplicifolius fibers were highest. Compared with wood and bamboo, modulus of elasticity and tensile strength of the studied rattans were much lower, whereas elongation at breaking point of single rattan fibers was generally higher

Heat Stress in Legume Seed Setting: Effects, Causes, and Future Prospects

Grain legumes provide a rich resource of plant nutrition to human diets and are vital for food security and sustainable cropping. Heat stress during flowering has a detrimental effect on legume seed yield, mainly due to irreversible loss of seed number. To start with, we provide an overview of the developmental and physiological basis of controlling seed setting in response to heat stress. It is shown that every single process of seed setting including male and female gametophyte development, fertilization, and early seed/fruit development is sensitive to heat stress, in particular male reproductive development in legume crops is especially susceptible. A series of physiochemical processes including heat shock proteins, antioxidants, metabolites, and hormones centered with sugar starvation are proposed to play a key role in regulating legume seed setting in response to heat stress. The exploration of the molecular mechanisms underlying reproductive heat tolerance is in its infancy. Medicago truncatula, with a small diploid genome, and well-established transformation system and molecular platforms, has become a valuable model for testing gene function that can be applied to advance the physiological and molecular understanding of legume reproductive heat tolerance.The work is supported by National Key R & D Program of China (No. 2017YFD0301307 and 2017YFD0300204-3) and Anhui Agricultural University startup funds for YS, and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31760579) and Hainan University startup funds (No. kyqd1663) for YL

Numerical investigation on rock fragmentation by cutting head of roadheader based on fracture mechanics

To investigate the mechanical behavior and load torque of the cutting head in the rock fragmentation process, a numerical model was developed based on fracture mechanics and finite element method. And then, rock fragmentation and factors influencing the force of cutting head were investigated. The good agreement of variation characteristics of cutting torque between experimental results and numerical values indicated that the numerical model was reliable and correct, and thus it could be a useful approach for simulating rock fragmentation. The cutting torque and its range of fluctuation increased with the feeding speed, but decreased with the slope of linear variation of slanting angle (SLVSA). Improving the rotation speed could reduce cutting torque, but its effect on torque fluctuation was inconspicuous. Regression equations between the characteristic index (CI) of cutting torque, feeding speed, rotation speed and SLVSA are given

Analysis on Heat Characteristics for Summer Maize Cropping in a Semi-Arid Region

Heat stress during flowering is a critical limitation for summer maize production. However, the incidence of heat varies with years and locations, and it poses a great risk to successful maize reproduction and kernel setting. Therefore, it is essential to provide a sound quantification of heat occurrence in relation to maize growth and development. Here, we analyzed the characteristics of heat occurrence based on climate data for over 60 years on Huaibei Plain, China. The effective accumulated temperature showed a slight interannual variation. The average maximum temperature (Tmax) during flowering was 32◦C–33◦C, which was approximately 2◦C higher than that over the whole growing season. The probability (P) for the daily Tmax > 33◦C during flowering was closer to 50% and this maximum temperature ranged between 33◦C and 37◦C. The five levels from normal to extreme heat for Tmax were defined. Across the six studied sites, the mild level heat stress accounted for most of incidents (P, 25–50%), followed by moderate (P, 13–25%) and severe (P, 0.5–13%), and the minimum for extreme heat stress (P, 0.5%). Four phases bracketing flowering during maize development were given, i.e., 1 week prior to anthesis, 1 week during anthesis, 1 week for anthesis-silking, and 1week post silking. There was a greater probability for heat stress incidents from anthesis to silking compared to the other developmental stages. Additionally, maize grain yield slightly increased with the increase in Tmax to 33◦C, but it declined as Tmax surpassed 33◦C. In conclusion, the pattern and characteristics of heat stress were quantified bracketing maize flowering. These findings assist to advise summer maize cropping strategies on the semi-arid and semi-humid Huaibei Plain, China or similar climate and cropping regions

Case Report: Tumor-to-tumor metastasis with prostate cancer metastatic to lung cancer: the first reported case

Tumor-to-tumor metastasis (TTM) occurs rarely in tumor progression, but this event has significant clinical implications. Although the impact of TTM on patient prognosis and survival has been increasingly recognized, understanding of TTM biology and treatment is limited. Prostate cancer is among the most common malignancies threatening male health. Prostate cancer can potentially metastasize to primary lung Cancer; however, this is an exceedingly rare event. We here report for the first time a case of TTM from a prostate cancer to a coexisting primary lung cancer

Lovastatin enhances adenovirus-mediated TRAIL induced apoptosis by depleting cholesterol of lipid rafts and affecting CAR and death receptor expression of prostate cancer cells

Oncolytic adenovirus and apoptosis inducer TRAIL are promising cancer therapies. Their antitumor efficacy, when used as single agents, is limited. Oncolytic adenoviruses have low infection activity, and cancer cells develop resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Here, we explored combining prostate-restricted replication competent adenovirus-mediated TRAIL (PRRA-TRAIL) with lovastatin, a commonly used cholesterol-lowering drug, as a potential therapy for advanced prostate cancer (PCa). Lovastatin significantly enhanced the efficacy of PRRA-TRAIL by promoting the in vivo tumor suppression, and the in vitro cell killing and apoptosis induction, via integration of multiple molecular mechanisms. Lovastatin enhanced PRRA replication and virus-delivered transgene expression by increasing the expression levels of CAR and integrins, which are critical for adenovirus 5 binding and internalization. Lovastatin enhanced TRAIL-induced apoptosis by increasing death receptor DR4 expression. These multiple effects of lovastatin on CAR, integrins and DR4 expression were closely associated with cholesterol-depletion in lipid rafts. These studies, for the first time, show correlations between cholesterol/lipid rafts, oncolytic adenovirus infection efficiency and the antitumor efficacy of TRAIL at the cellular level. This work enhances our understanding of the molecular mechanisms that support use of lovastatin, in combination with PRRA-TRAIL, as a candidate strategy to treat human refractory prostate cancer in the future

Interactions of row blades of a marine compressor based on POD analysis

The complex internal flow of the marine low-pressure compressor (LPC) is characterized by a series of unsteady flow structures, presenting extensive temporal and spatial features that pose challenges to direct data analysis. This paper employs the Unsteady Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) method to simulate a marine 1.5-stage LPC with full-channel configuration. Validation of the compressor’s overall characteristics and the unsteady pressure is achieved through comparison with experimental data. Additionally, the Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) method is applied to decompose the velocity and pressure fields in various computational regions. The results demonstrate that the combined use of URANS and POD facilitates detailed insights into blade interactions. The consistency between time-averaged variables and POD modes underscores the practical physical significance of the POD modes. Furthermore, the study reveals that the Rotor-Stator interaction significantly outweighs the Inlet Guide Vane (IGV)-Rotor interaction. The coherent modal pairs generated by different interferences exhibit diverse characteristics within the computational domain, with distinct frequencies observed for the same interference reaction in the upstream and downstream regions. Notably, the POD modes of the rotor pressure field unveil a separation bubble structure