Consolidation considering clogging

In land reclamation projects, the vacuum preloading method has been widely used to strengthen dredged fills by removing water. However, during the improvement process, clogging inevitably occurs in the drains and soils, hindering water drainage and causing inhomogeneous consolidation results. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the effect of clogging on the consolidation behavior of dredged slurry at different radii. In this study, analytical solutions are derived under an uneven strain assumption to calculate the consolidation in the clogging zone and the normal zone, with time-dependent discharge capacity and clogging in the soil considered. Results calculated by the proposed solutions indicated that the clogging effect slows down the development of consolidation, reduces the final consolidation degree, and increases the difference between consolidations at different radii. It is found that the influence of the clogging effect's varies with the speed of the discharge capacity decay, the value of the initial discharge capacity of the drain, the permeability, and the radius of the clogging zone. Finally, a practical application of the proposed solution is discussed, and the proposed solution is suggested for the calculation of consolidation when treating high-water-content slurry

Hyperspectral Video Processing on Resource-Constrained Platforms

Hyperspectral imaging offers valuable spectral diversity for scene analysis and information extraction. However, exploiting this spectral diversity involves significant challenges in performing efficient video processing, especially in resource-constrained environments. These challenges arise due to the high memory and computational requirements for hyperspectral video processing applications. This paper presents system design methods using band subset selection to address this problem. These methods are applied to develop an adaptive video processing system targeted to an Android platform. The system dynamically adapts the selected bands to process based on constraints on real-time performance and video analysis accuracy. Experimental results provide quantitative insight into trade-offs between accuracy and real-time performance under stringent resource constraints. The results also validate the effectiveness of the proposed system in performing adaptive, resource-constrained hyperspectral video processing

Novel sequences of subgroup J avian leukosis viruses associated with hemangioma in Chinese layer hens

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) preferentially induces myeloid leukosis (ML) in meat-type birds. Since 2008, many clinical cases of hemangioma rather than ML have frequently been reported in association with ALV-J infection in Chinese layer flocks.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three ALV-J strains associated with hemangioma were isolated and their proviral genomic sequences were determined. The three isolates, JL093-1, SD09DP03 and HLJ09MDJ-1, were 7,670, 7,670, and 7,633 nt in length. Their gag and pol genes were well conserved, with identities of 94.5-98.6% and 97.1-99.5%, respectively, with other ALV-J strains at the amino acid level (aa), while the env genes of the three isolates shared a higher aa identity with the env genes of other hemangioma strains than with those of ML strains. Interestingly, two novel 19-bp insertions in the U3 region in the LTR and 5' UTR, most likely derived from other retroviruses, were found in all the three isolates, thereby separately introducing one E2BP binding site in the U3 region in the LTR and RNA polymerase II transcription factor IIB and core promoter motif ten elements in the 5' UTR. Meanwhile, two binding sites in the U3 LTRs of the three isolates for NFAP-1 and AIB REP1 were lost, and a 1-base deletion in the E element of the 3' UTR of JL093-1 and SD09DP03 introduced a binding site for c-Ets-1. In addition to the changes listed above, the rTM of the 3' UTR was deleted in each of the three isolates.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study is the first to discovery the coexistence of two novel insertions in the U3 region in the LTR and the 5' UTR of ALV-J associated with hemangioma symptoms, and the transcriptional regulatory elements introduced should be taken into consideration in the occurrence of hemangioma.</p

Large-strain self-weight consolidation of dredged sludge

Prediction for self-weight consolidation of dredged sludge is important for its reuse in civil engineering applications. In this work, considering the special nonlinear relationships of e – k and e – σ′ for dredged sludge, Gibson’s large strain consolidation equation was modified to simulate the self-weight consolidation process of dredged sludge. Using the finite difference method (FDM), the influences of four main parameters, including initial height, initial void ratio, void ratio at the liquid limit, and specific gravity of soil particles, on the consolidation process of dredged slurry were analyzed. For the aforementioned four parameters, the self-weight consolidation of dredged slurry is most sensitive to the variation of void ratio at the liquid limit, whereas its response to the change of specific gravity of soil particles is relatively subtle. Consolidation behaviors under other commonly used constitutive models were also calculated for comparison. It was found that the total settlement obtained by the present relation is larger than the results obtained using typical nonlinear constitutive relations, and the speed of consolidation is higher

Effect of progestin on thyroid function in female Wistar rats

IntroductionTo characterize the influence of female-specific hormones on women’s thyroid function, the study investigated the influence of extra progestin from oral contraceptives on inducing thyroid dysfunction.MethodsSixty female Wistar rats were divided into six groups based on levonorgestrel or desogestrel administration as the main active agents: control, low (0.0039 mg*20-fold), medium (0.0039 mg*100-fold), high (0.0318 mg*100-fold) levonorgestrel (pure product); and low (0.0083 mg*20-fold) and high (0.0083 mg*100-fold) desogestrel (pure product). Progestin was administered by gavage every 4 days for 1 month. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way analysis of variance and the Kruskal–Wallis test.ResultsFollowing levonorgestrel gavage, serum free T4 and thyroidstimulating hormone levels were significantly lower in the experimental group than that in the control group (p=0.013 and 0.043). After desogestrel gavage, the serum free T4 and free T3 levels were lower in the experimental group than that in the control group (p=0.019 and 0.030). Thyroid hormone antibody concentrations were lower in rats administered levonorgestrel and desogestrel than that in control rats. Moreover, exposure to progestin upregulated the expression of the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor and sodium iodide symporter in thyroid.DiscussionProgestin stimulation enhanced the proliferation of follicular epithelial cells in rat thyroid tissues. Progestin exposure could cause thyroid dysfunction by upregulating the transcription of thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor and sodium iodide symporter in thyroid, thus inducing pathomorphological changes in rats’ thyroid

Influence of carbonation on “maximum phenomenon” in surface layer of specimens subjected to cyclic drying-wetting condition

Numerous researches have reported that there is a tendency chloride content first climbs to the maximum then declines with depth increasing in the surface layer of concrete under cyclic drying-wetting environments, which is temporally called ‘maximum phenomenon’ in this paper. This research focuses on the impact of different carbonation conditions on this phenomenon for both pastes and mortars. The distribution of chloride suggests that coupled effect of carbonation and capillary suction/moisture evaporation is more likely to lead to the formation of maximum phenomenon than the merely effect of capillary suction/moisture evaporation. Furthermore, analysis of pore structure and phase composition reveals that this particular phenomenon is directly related to the release of bound chloride fixed in Friedel's salt triggered by carbonation. In addition, the forming process of maximum phenomenon is proposed in the end based on Friedel's salt decomposition under cyclic drying and wetting condition.Authors appreciate the financial supports from the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) under the contract No. 2015CB655105 and No. 2015CB655100, the Natural Science Foundation under the contract No. 51308262, No. 51708108 and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province under the contract No. BK20131012.Peer reviewe

Impacts of Filled Check Dams with Different Deployment Strategies on the Flood and Sediment Transport Processes in a Loess Plateau Catchment

As one of the most widespread engineering structures for conserving water and soil, check dams have significantly modified the local landform and hydrologic responses. However, the influences of sedimentary lands caused by filled up check dams on the runoff and sediment transport processes were seldom studied. Employing an integrated hydrologic-response and sediment transport model, this study investigated the influences of filled check dams with different deployment strategies in a Loess Plateau catchment. Six hypothetical deployment strategies of check dams were compared with no-dam scenario and the reality scenario. Results showed that filled check dams were still able to reduce Flood peak (Qp) by 31% to 93% under different deployment strategies. Considerable delays of peak time and decreases were also found in scenarios, which were characterized as having larger and more connective sedimentary lands on the main channel. Reduction rates of Sediment yield (SY) and the total mass of Eroded sediment (ES) ranged from 4% to 52% and 2% to 16%, respectively, indicating that proper distributions of check dams can promote sediment deposition in the channel and reduce soil erosion. The results of this study indicate that (1) check dam systems could still be useful in flood attenuation and sediment control even when they were filled, and (2) optimizing the deployment strategies of check dams can help reduce erosion

Investigating the jamming of particles in a three-dimensional fluid-driven flow via coupled CFD–DEM simulations

The clogging of a dense stream of particles when passing through an orifice occurs ubiquitously in both natural and industrial fields. Since most of the jamming phenomena lead to the negative effects, studying and preventing jamming is of great importance. There are two typical types of jamming due to different types of driving force: (a) gravity-driven jamming and (b) fluid-driven jamming. Among these two types of jamming, the fluid-driven jamming occurs in fluid-driven particle flows, and the initial solid concentration, the fluid velocity, and the orifice-particle size ratio has been demonstrated to have effects on the occurrence of this jamming. Although the individual influence of the initial solid concentration and orifice-particle size ratio on jamming has been studied, the coupled effects of these two factors on jamming are little known. In addition, the complex effects of the fluid velocity on jamming have not been fully discussed. To address these problems, this work performs a three-dimensional simulation of the fluid-driven jamming using the coupled Computational Fluid Dynamics–Discrete Element Method (CFD–DEM) model. At first, the jamming probability under different initial conditions is studied. The jamming probability is displayed on the solid concentration–orifice size ratio plane to illustrate the coupled effects of these two factors on jamming. The simulation results show that the critical solid concentration, at which the jamming probability increases to 1, increases with the orifice-particle size ratio. This is because an orifice with a larger orifice size ratio has a greater particle discharge capacity, which allows more particles to pass through without jamming. Then, we reveal the influence of fluid velocity over a wide range on the fluid-driven jamming type, jamming probability and shape of the jamming dome. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first time that the shape of the jamming dome has been related to the fluid velocity. The jamming dome formed in the higher-speed flow has a greater curvature due to the greater fluid drag acting on the particles