Clinical manifestations and imaging and pathological features of giant cell angioblastoma: Report of four cases and literature review

Giant cell angioblastoma is a relatively rare vasogenic tumour. To date, studies on its clinical manifestations, imaging characteristics, pathological features, and prognosis are extremely limited and unknown, with only a few cases recorded. In this study, four cases of giant cell angioblastoma confirmed by pathological examination were reported to improve our understanding and deep exploration of the tumour spectrum. All cases in our study were male, including two adults and two boys. The lesions were located in the lower segment of the femur, medial condyle of the femur, knee joint, and popliteal fossa. Regarding the imaging characteristics, two patients with lesions in bone showed bone destruction, while the other two had lesions that invaded soft tissues, showing irregular, abnormal signal shadows and obvious enhancement. Histopathological analysis revealed that the nodular tumour tissue was mainly composed of oval and spindle cells, with varying numbers of osteoclast-like multinucleated giant cells, and the interstitial tissues were often filled with blood vessels of different sizes. The immunophenotype demonstrates that endothelial cells of small vessels in nodules expressed CD31, SMA, and ERG, while osteoclast-like multinucleated giant cells and histiocytes expressed CD68 and CD163, and the surrounding cells expressed SMA. All four patients were treated with surgical resection. One of them relapsed 1 month after surgery and received a second surgical resection. No distant metastasis or death occurred during the follow-up period. This study indicates that giant cell angioblastoma is a local invasive vascular tumour that can develop both in children and adults with skin, mucous membrane, soft tissue, and bone involvement. Imaging characteristics show bone destruction and irregular, abnormal signal shadows; in addition, obvious pathological morphological features can be observed. Currently, the treatment is mainly surgical resection, and interferons may be used as adjuvant chemotherapy

Using time delay in the nonlinear oscillations of magnetic levitation for simultaneous energy harvesting and vibration suppression

In this paper, the nonlinear oscillations of magnetic levitation in the presence of a time delay is investigated, with the purpose of simultaneous energy harvesting and vibration suppression. To harvest energy, a coil with seven layers of 36 gauge wire wound around the outer casing is utilized. Although the proposed control feedback consumes some power, the results show the harvestable power can be much larger than the consumed power, which makes the proposed concept feasible. The first-order perturbation method is utilized to examine the possibility of energy harvesting and vibration suppression for different selections of the delay parameters, the distances between the magnets and the external load resistances. In addition, the stability map of the time-delayed control is analytically determined. The influence of the time delay parameters chosen from Single Periodic Solutions (SPS) and Multiple Periodic Solutions (MPS) on the vibration and power amplitudes is studied. It is shown that a point chosen from the MPS region enables the system to harvest power over a broad range of excitation frequencies. Also, the effect of the distance between the magnets on the frequency response of the system is examined. In addition, to select the optimum value for the distance between the magnets for different values of the time delay parameters, a parameter called the Perfection Rate (PR), which reflects both the electrical and mechanical behavior of the system, is used. Finally, it is shown that the presence of the time delay and a point chosen from the MPS region enables the system to harvest more power over a broad range of excitation frequency and to suppress higher levels of vibration, than for a point chosen from the SPS region and without time delay

Fundamentally manipulating the electronic structure of polar bifunctional catalysts for lithium-sulfur batteries: Heterojunction design versus doping engineering

Heterogeneous structures and doping strategies have been intensively used to manipulate the catalytic conversion of polysulfides to enhance reaction kinetics and suppress the shuttle effect in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. However, understanding how to select suitable strategies for engineering the electronic structure of polar catalysts is lacking. Here, a comparative investigation between heterogeneous structures and doping strategies is conducted to assess their impact on the modulation of the electronic structures and their effectiveness in catalyzing the conversion of polysulfides. These findings reveal that Co0.125Zn0.875Se, with metal-cation dopants, exhibits superior performance compared to CoSe2/ZnSe heterogeneous structures. The incorporation of low Co2+ dopants induces the subtle lattice strain in Co0.125Zn0.875Se, resulting in the increased exposure of active sites. As a result, Co0.125Zn0.875Se demonstrates enhanced electron accumulation on surface Se sites, improved charge carrier mobility, and optimized both p-band and d-band centers. The Li-S cells employing Co0.125Zn0.875Se catalyst demonstrate significantly improved capacity (1261.3 mAh g−1 at 0.5 C) and cycle stability (0.048% capacity delay rate within 1000 cycles at 2 C). This study provides valuable guidance for the modulation of the electronic structure of typical polar catalysts, serving as a design directive to tailor the catalytic activity of advanced Li-S catalysts

Reservoir Characteristics and Its Comprehensive Evaluation of Gray Relational Analysis on the Western Sulige Gas Field, Ordos Basin, China

Although the Sulige gas field has been developed for several years, accurate reservoir classification, evaluation, and prediction is still a worth-exploring scientific issue as this is a necessary procedure which could give the guidance of well deployment during later gas field development. Here, based on the analysis of lithological features and diagenesis, we give an evaluation of gas reservoirs in the western Sulige gas field by using the improved method of gray relational analysis. Our results show that the study area Su-54 block is dominated by low permeability and low porosity litharenite and lithic silicarenite with clear evidence of strong diagenesis processes. Compaction is believed to be relatively strong due to the great burial depth and destroy most of the primary pores. Based on the premise of a lower limit of an effective reservoir, we select five parameters (permeability (K), porosity (Φ), effective sand thickness (M), effective sand/sand thickness ratio (D), and gas saturation (Sg)) to calculate the correlation coefficient, relational degree, and index weights for reservoir quality evaluation. By weighted gray correlation theory, the dynamic testing data—effective thickness of gas production data—is used as mother sequences. The results show that the predicted favorable areas for gas exploration and development coincide well with sedimentary and sand body distribution (e.g., point bars and central bars) in the study block; well blocks such as s372, s373, s374, and e24 could be future key development targets. This also indicates a broader application of the gray relational analysis to quality evaluation and distribution prediction of reservoirs. Therefore, our findings could give a new theoretical and practical guidance for the later gas exploration and development, for the search of hidden stratigraphic lithological traps, and for the improvement of the proven rate of oil and gas resources in this area

Dislocation Reduction and Stress Relaxation of GaN and InGaN Multiple Quantum Wells with Improved Performance via Serpentine Channel Patterned Mask.

The existence of high threading dislocation density (TDD) in GaN-based epilayers is a long unsolved problem, which hinders further applications of defect-sensitive GaN-based devices. Multiple-modulation of epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELOG) is used to achieve high-quality GaN template on a novel serpentine channel patterned sapphire substrate (SCPSS). The dislocation blocking brought by the serpentine channel patterned mask, coupled with repeated dislocation bending, can reduce the dislocation density to a yet-to-be-optimized level of ∼2 × 10(5) to 2 × 10(6) cm(-2). About 80% area utilization rate of GaN with low TDD and stress relaxation is obtained. The periodical variations of dislocation density, optical properties and residual stress in GaN-based epilayers on SCPSS are analyzed. The quantum efficiency of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) on it can be increased by 52% compared with the conventional sapphire substrate. The reduced nonradiative recombination centers, the enhanced carrier localization, and the suppressed quantum confined Stark effect, are the main determinants of improved luminous performance in MQWs on SCPSS. This developed ELOG on serpentine shaped mask needs no interruption and regrowth, which can be a promising candidate for the heteroepitaxy of semipolar/nonpolar GaN and GaAs with high quality

Insights into the Weathering Crust Reservoirs of Granitoids: A Case Study from Qinghai Oilfield of Qaidam Basin, Northwest China

With proven reserves of 9.836 × 1010 m3, the largest known natural gas reservoir among terrigenous basement rocks has been discovered within the granitoids of the northern Qaidam Basin. Due to their high heterogeneity, the genesis of basement reservoirs remains unknown. Herein, the structure of the weathering crust in granitoids and their potential controlling factors on the reservoir development mechanism are discussed using a multidisciplinary approach based on data from cores, thin sections, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), conventional and imaging logs, and physical property and major elements analyses. Moreover, the classification standard of the weathering crust structure is established. The dissolution belt holding diverse reservoir spaces accounts for more than 50% of the total porosity, while the disintegration belt is the main context for the development of cleavage fractures and crack fractures. The original pores exist mainly among the crystal grains of quartz and mica, while the secondary pores and fractures were generated by the alteration of aluminosilicate minerals as well as biotite or hornblende. The quality of these reservoirs is controlled by their mineral composition, tectonic uplift, faulting, and paleogeomorphology. The femic granitoid is the main reservoir-forming lithology in the case of dissolution, while the felsic granitoid is more likely to develop cracks. The formation of the disintegration belt is significantly linked to the presence of faulting. These belts were mostly induced by tectonic deformation along the Altyn fault belt from the late Oligocene to the early Miocene. The diversity in paleogeomorphology influences the extent of the weathering. The exhumation in the Altyn terrane from the late Jurassic to the Cenozoic corresponds to the weathering and hypergene leaching period of the weathering crust within granitoids. Three types of reservoirs are present in the rocks: fractured-porous (Type Ⅰ); porous (Type Ⅱ); and fractured (Type Ⅲ). The fractured-porous and fractured reservoirs were developed mainly in the granitic gneiss and granite, while the porous reservoir was formed in granitic diorite and granitic gneiss. The reservoirs that developed in the weathering crust of granitoids are dominated by Type Ⅰ and Type Ⅱ. The highest quality reservoir, which is the fractured-porous type, developed mainly in the dissolution belt of the weathering crust, and has a porosity ranging from 1.56% to 8.48% and a permeability ranging from 0.03 mD to 14.48 mD. The mechanisms of the development of weathering crust reservoirs provide further information for the hydrocarbon exploration of basement rocks worldwide