Controlling effect of tectonic-paleogeomorphology on deposition in the south of Lufeng sag, Pearl River Mouth Basin

Paleogene depositional systems in the south of Lufeng sag have complex spatial distribution, which are influenced by pre-depositional paleogeomorphology and multi-period tectonic activities. In this paper, to clarify the controlling effect of tectonic-paleogeomorphology on sedimentary facies distribution and effectively guide oil and gas exploration, the Paleogene paleogeomorphic pattern in the south of Lufeng sag is reconstructed by the impression method, and the temporal and spatial evolution laws of the main faults are clarified. The results show that braided river deltas developed stably in the long-axis gentle slope belt of the lake basin, while the short-axis sedimentary system changed from fan deltas to braided river deltas in response to the change of active strength of dominant faults from strong to weak. It is found that the scale of the sedimentary fan is closely related to the activity of the main fault, the area of the catchment, and the vertical elevation difference. The steep cliff is controlled by the boundary fault with large fault throw and steep section, and there are wedge-shaped sand bodies near the steep cliff. The multi-level fault-step zone provides the driving force for the advancement of the sedimentary system, and the sand body extends for a long distance. It is established that the supply capacity of the source area and the accommodated space of the lake basin are coupled to control the deposition scale. Moreover, the slope controlled by the combination of paleogeomorphic assemblage and the activity of the main fault determines the sedimentary type, and the structural slope-break zone defines the spreading pattern of the sands.Cited as: Jiang, M., Chen, D., Chang, X., Shu, L., Wang, F. Controlling effect of tectonic-paleogeomorphology on deposition in the south of Lufeng sag, Pearl River Mouth Basin. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2022, 6(5): 363-374. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2022.05.0

Broadband RCS Reduction of Antenna with AMC Using Gradually Concentric Ring Arrangement

This paper proposes a new method to the broadband RCS reduction with the artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) surfaces. The AMC surfaces can introduce a zero-degree reflection phase shift to incident waves. The phase difference between the antenna and AMC structures is 180°. Therefore, the AMC structures can be used to achieve RCS reduction. However, the bandwidth of zero-degree reflection phase of AMC structures is very narrow. In light of this, a novel gradually concentric ring arrangement AMC (GCRA-AMC) which can be applied to achieve the broadband RCS reduction is presented. The simulated and measured results show that the radiation performance of antennas is preserved when the GCRA-AMC is used. The RCS of the antenna with GCRA-AMC has been considerably reduced in a broad frequency band. The largest RCS reduction is more than 17 dB

Displacement mechanism of polymeric surfactant in chemical cold flooding for heavy oil based on microscopic visualization experiments

 In order to study the microscopic oil displacement mechanism of polymeric surfactant in chemical cold flooding for heavy oil, the indoor microscopic visualization displacement experiments were carried out. The flooding experiment of heavy oil was conducted by using water, osmotic modified oil displacing agent (a kind of polymeric surfactant) and water-in-oil emulsion (obtained by mixing polymeric surfactant and heavy oil) as displacing phases to study the mechanism of polymeric surfactant to enhance oil recovery in heavy oil reservoir. The experimental results show that the polymeric surfactant can increase the viscosity of the water phase, reduce the water-oil mobility ratio, expand the swept area, and there is no obvious fingering phenomenon which occurs during water flooding. The polymeric surfactant has the surfactant characteristics which can reduce the interfacial tension between oil and water to promote the formation of oil droplets with smaller droplet diameter. And the interfacial film composed of polymeric surfactant molecules will be formed on the surface of oil droplets to prevent the coalescence of oil droplets and improve the flow ability of oil phase. The water-in-oil emulsion can be miscible with the oil in heavy oil displacement process, and thus sweeps the areas such as the dead pores which cannot be swept by water and polymeric surfactant flooding, which increases the sweep efficiency to a certain extent.Cited as: Xu, F., Chen, Q., Ma, M., Wang, Y., Yu, F., Li, J. Displacement mechanism of polymeric surfactant in chemical cold flooding for heavy oil based on microscopic visualization experiments. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2020, 4(1): 77-85, doi: 10.26804/ager.2020.01.0

INDUSTRY HERDING BEHAVIOR IN BULL AND BEAR MARKETS: EVIDENCE FROM MOROCCO

This paper investigate sherding behavior on the Moroccan Stock Exchange using daily data of listed firms. We follow the methodology of (Chang et al., 2000) to test for the presence of herding behaviour in the context of market level and industry level during rising and falling market. At the market level, the empirical evidence indicates that herding is more pronounced in down market and no evidence of herding is reported during rising market. However, when testing industry herding behavior, we find that industry herding is more pronounced in down markets (11 of 24 industries) and only (3 of 24 industries) during up markets. Overall, the empirical results suggest that investors tend to herd more during bearish market due to the behavior of “flight to safety”

Transcriptomic analysis reveals the molecular mechanisms underlying osteoclast differentiation in the estrogen-deficient pullets

Several previous reports have suggested that estrogen (E2) is a vital signal responsible for the reg-ulation of skeletal homeostasis and bone remodeling in mammals. E2 could efficiently accelerate the growth of medullary bone in pullets during sexual maturity. Fur-thermore, the low E2 level can strengthen the mechanical bone functions in female hens. However, mechanistic studies to describe the effects of E2 on bone in pullets during the initiation of the puberty period are remaining elusive. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the effect of inhibiting E2 biosynthesis on the biomechani-cal properties and its molecular mechanism during sexual maturity of pullets. In this study, a total of 90 Hy-line Sonia pullets with comparable body weight at 13 wk of age were selected and categorized into 2 separate groups. Daily, 0.5 mg/4 mL of letrozole (LZ) was orally adminis-tered to the treatment (TRT) group and 4 mL of saline to the control (CON) group of pullets for 6 wk. Com-pared with the CON group, a lower plasma E2 level was observed in the TRT group. Furthermore, plasma P, Gla protein (BGP), and 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) levels were markedly suppressed, whereas the plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) levels were signifi-cantly elevated. Moreover, the cortical bone thickness and breaking strength of the tibia and femur, the bone mineral density of the humerus, and the bone mineral content of the humerus as well as the femur were increased significantly. The expression levels of 340 dif-ferentially expressed genes (DEGs) differed signifi-cantly between the CON and TRT group in the tibia at 19 wk of age. Among them, 32 genes were up-regulated, whereas 308 were down-regulated in the TRT group. The variations in candidate genes associated with oste-oclast differentiation and cell adhesion may indicate that LZ inhibits E2 biosynthesis, consequently, reduces osteoclast differentiation by suppressing inter-cellular communication and cells attaching to extracellular matrix components. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that inhibiting E2 synthesis during sex-ual maturity of pullets decreased osteoclast differentia-tion and considerably enhanced bone quality

Morphology and transverse alignment of the patella have no effect on knee gait characteristics in healthy Chinese adults over the age of 40 years

Background: The influence of patella morphology and horizontal alignment on knee joint kinematics and kinetics remains uncertain. This study aimed to assess patella morphology and transverse alignment in relation to knee kinetics and kinematics in individuals without knee conditions. A secondary objective was to investigate the impact of femur and tibia alignment and shape on knee gait within this population.Patients and methods: We conducted a prospective collection of data, including full-leg anteroposterior and skyline X-ray views and three-dimensional gait data, from a cohort comprising 54 healthy individuals aged 40 years and older. Our study involved correlation and logistic regression analyses to examine the influence of patella, femur, and tibia morphology and alignment on knee gait.Results: The patellar tilt angle or the patella index did not show any significant relationships with different aspects of gait in the knee joint, such as velocity, angle, or moment (p > 0.05, respectively). Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that the tibiofemoral angle and the Q angle both had a significant effect on the adduction angle (OR = 1.330, 95%CI 1.033–1.711, p = 0.027; OR = 0.475, 95%CI 0.285–0.792, p = 0.04; respectively). The primary variable influencing the knee adduction moment was the tibiofemoral angle (OR = 1.526, 95% CI 1.125–2.069, p = 0.007).Conclusion: In healthy Chinese individuals aged over 40, patella morphology and transverse alignment do not impact knee gait. However, the femoral-tibial angle has a big impact on the knee adduction moment

Integrative analysis of circRNA, miRNA, and mRNA profiles to reveal ceRNA regulation in chicken muscle development from the embryonic to post-hatching periods.

peer reviewed[en] BACKGROUND: The growth and development of skeletal muscle are regulated by protein-coding genes and non-coding RNA. Circular RNA (circRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA involved in a variety of biological processes, especially in post-transcriptional regulation. To better understand the regulatory mechanism of circRNAs during the development of muscle in chicken, we performed RNA-seq with linear RNA depletion for chicken breast muscle in 12 (E 12) and17 (E 17) day embryos, and 1 (D 1), 14 (D 14), 56 (D 56), and 98 (D 98) days post-hatch. RESULTS: We identified 5755 differentially expressed (DE)-circRNAs during muscle development. We profiled the expression of DE-circRNAs and mRNAs (identified in our previous study) at up to six time points during chicken muscle development and uncovered a significant profile (profile 16) for circRNA upregulation during aging in muscle tissues. To investigate competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulation in muscle and identify muscle-related circRNAs, we constructed a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory network using the circRNAs and mRNAs from profile 16 and miRNAs identified in our previous study, which included 361 miRNAs, 68 circRNAs, 599 mRNAs, and 31,063 interacting pairs. Functional annotation showed that upregulated circRNAs might contribute to glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, biosynthesis of amino acids, pyruvate metabolism, carbon metabolism, glycogen and sucrose metabolism through the ceRNA network, and thus affected postnatal muscle development by regulating muscle protein deposition. Of them, circRNA225 and circRNA226 from the same host gene might be key circRNAs that could regulate muscle development by interacting with seven common miRNAs and 207 mRNAs. Our experiments also demonstrated that there were interactions among circRNA225, gga-miR-1306-5p, and heat shock protein alpha 8 (HSPA8). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that adequate supply of nutrients such as energy and protein after hatching may be a key factor in ensuring chicken yield, and provide several candidate circRNAs for future studies concerning ceRNA regulation during chicken muscle development

Experimental analysis of defrosting and heating performance of a solar-assisted heat pump integrated phase change energy storage

This thesis investigates a novel solar-assisted heat pump integrated phase change energy storage system. The defrosting performance of this system was studied experimentally and the results were compared with two traditionally used methods: reverse cycle defrosting (RCD) method and hot gas bypass defrosting (HGBD) method. The results show that the phase change energy storage system has superior performance compared with traditional defrosting methods. The indoor temperature drop recorded was relatively small and the defrosting time was 75% of the RCD system and 53% of HGBD system. The phase change energy storage system increased the condensation temperature which consequently increased the temperature difference of heat transfer resulting in higher conductivity in the defrosting progress. Compared with the method of RCD and the method of HGBD, the recovery time of the system was shortened by 90 and 160 seconds, respectively. The system works with low-temperature heat source and circulating water, which considerably reduces energy consumption, thereby improving the performance of the defrosting system. A further experimental study was also conducted on the heating performance and the results also indicated that the value of COP can reach up to 3.6 in daytime, and the indoor temperature can be stably maintained above 18°C throughout the day