Sensitivity analysis of thermal factors affecting the nonlinear freezing process of soil

In the construction of artificial freezing methods and cold region engineering, the determination of the accurate temperature field is the demand of both ensuring the stability of frozen soil and reducing the project investment. Affected by the external environment, phase change latent heat, non-linear thermal parameters, etc., the temperature evolution of the soil freezing process is a non-linear form, and the temperature field evolution will be more complex with the change of different influencing factors. Scientific control and utilization of the influencing factors of the frozen soil temperature field play a vital role in improving the freezing efficiency and accuracy of the soil temperature field. This study aims to analyze the sensitivity of thermal factors on the nonlinear formation process of frozen soil temperature field, and to provide the results for the control of various factors in frozen soil engineering. A freezing model test was designed and implemented, the boundary conditions and temperature evolution in the model were monitored. Meanwhile, the thermal parameters and unfrozen water content of the model soil were tested indoor. Then the theoretical relationship between unfrozen water content and parameters was deduced to determine the variation range of unfrozen water content. The boundary condition values (including the maximum, minimum and average values) and thermal parameters were used in the orthogonal simulation of the freezing model, respectively. The temperature simulation values were compared with the model test values, and the factors affecting the nonlinear heat transfer of frozen soils were analyzed quantitatively by both the range method and variance analysis method. Several suggestions of the vital factors in the soil freezing construction were offered based on this research

The cytokine receptor DR3 identifies and promotes the activation of thymic NKT17 cells

Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells correspond to a population of thymus-generated T cells with innate-like characteristics and effector functions. Among the various iNKT subsets, NKT17 is the only subset that produces the proinflammatory cytokine IL-17. But, how NKT17 cells acquire this ability and what would selectively trigger their activation remain incompletely understood. Here, we identified the cytokine receptor DR3 being specifically expressed on thymic NKT17 cells and mostly absent on other thymic iNKT subsets. Moreover, DR3 ligation promoted the in vivo activation of thymic NKT17 cells and provided costimulatory effects upon agonistic α-GalCer stimulation. Thus, we identified a specific surface marker for thymic NKT17 cells that triggers their activation and augments their effector functions both in vivo and in vitro. These findings provide new insights for deciphering the role and function of murine NKT17 cells and for understanding the development and activation mechanisms of iNKT cells in general