Infection of domestic pigs with a genotype II potent strain of ASFV causes cytokine storm and lymphocyte mass reduction

The whole-genome sequence of an African swine fever virus (ASFV) strain (HuB/HH/2019) isolated from Hubei, China, was highly similar to that of the Georgia 2007/1 strain ASFV. After infection with strong strains, domestic pigs show typical symptoms of infection, including fever, depression, reddening of the skin, hemorrhagic swelling of various tissues, and dysfunction. The earliest detoxification occurred in pharyngeal swabs at 4 days post-infection. The viral load in the blood was extremely high, and ASFV was detected in multiple tissues, with the highest viral loads in the spleen and lungs. An imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory factors in the serum leads to an excessive inflammatory response in the body. Immune factor expression is suppressed without effectively eliciting an immune defense. Antibodies against p30 were not detected in acutely dead domestic pigs. Sequencing of the peripheral blood mononuclear cell transcriptome revealed elevated transcription of genes associated with immunity, defense, and stress. The massive reduction in lymphocyte counts in the blood collapses the body’s immune system. An excessive inflammatory response with a massive reduction in the lymphocyte count may be an important cause of mortality in domestic pigs. These two reasons have inspired researchers to reduce excessive inflammatory responses and stimulate effective immune responses for future vaccine development

Assessment of Satellite Products in Estimating Tropical Cyclone Remote Precipitation over the Yangtze River Delta Region

Satellite products have shown great potential in estimating torrential rainfall due to their wide and consistent global coverage. This study assessed the monitoring capabilities of satellite products for the tropical cyclone remote precipitation (TRP) over the Yangtze River Delta region (YRDR) associated with severe typhoon Khanun (2017) and super-typhoon Mangkhut (2018). The satellite products include the CPC MORPHing technique (CMORPH) data, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 3B42 Version 7 (TRMM 3B42), and Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM IMERG). Eight precision evaluation indexes and statistical methods were used to analyze and evaluate the monitoring capabilities of CMORPH, TRMM 3B42, and GPM IMERG satellite precipitation products. The results indicated that the monitoring capability of TRMM satellite precipitation products was superior in capturing the spatial distribution, and GPM products captured the temporal distributions and different category precipitation observed from gauge stations. In contrast, the CMORPH products performed moderately during two heavy rainfall events, often underestimating or overestimating precipitation amounts and inaccurately detecting precipitation peaks. Overall, the three satellite precipitation products showed low POD, high FAR, low TS, and high FBIAS for heavy rainfall events, and the differences in monitoring torrential TRP may be related to satellite retrieval algorithms

Methods of grinding power signal acquisition and dynamic power monitoring database establishment

The grinding power monitoring experimental platform was built with PPC−3 power sensor and NI 9203 acquisition card. An intelligent grinding process decision-making system driven by monitored power data was developed based on LabVIEW software to promote green, efficient and intelligent grinding. In order to overcome the problems of huge amount of bottom process monitoring data (i.e. grinding dynamic power signals collected online) of the decision-making system, mixture with noise and unclear typical characteristics, a method of feature extraction of grinding power signals and establishment of relational database is proposed. The type Ⅱ Chebyshev low-pass filter was used to filter and improve the signal-to-noise ratio of grinding power signals. The peak and the valley characteristic points of power signals were extracted and marked in time domain based on the peak and the valley searching method, and the head and the tail correction and interpolation correction were carried out to ensure the integrity and accuracy of grinding power data. At the same time, the working state of grinding process was marked based on binarization, and the dynamic flow data was converted into string and stored in the cells of relational database. The grinding test results of bearing steel show that the database establishment method can accurately extract the grinding power characteristics and transform 2090000 dynamic data points into 2×52998 cell data, the data volume is reduced to 5.07% of the source data, which significantly reduces the storage scale of data and speeds up the access speed of grinding database

A study on high-shear and low-pressure grinding with body-armour-like abrasive tool (BAAT) for Inconel 718 superalloys

A novel body-armour-like abrasive tool (BAAT) was developed for the high-shear and low-pressure grinding of super alloys with an aim to reduce the ratio of normal force to tangential force. A composite process model was developed based on finite element method (FEM) method whereby. Shear thickening fluid (STF) inside the BAAT was set as variable viscosity through TABULAR approach. An experimental platform was established to explore the effects of high-shear and low-pressure grinding process on Inconel 718 specimens. The surface roughness and surface morphology of Inconel 718 specimens were examined. The experimental results were validated against the developed process model outcomes to demonstrate the efficacy. It was determined that the force ratio increased from 0.12 to 0.48 with the computational model while the force ratio experimentally enhanced from 0.298 to 0.577. The results from the computational model was consistent with the experimental outcomes which signifies the effectiveness of developed process model. Even from experimental results, it was evaluated that the surface roughness (Ra) reduced from 0.744 μm to 0.201 μm after removal of horizontal scratches and elimination of vertical processing texture. Inconel 718 specimens exhibited fine surface quality which represented that BAAT acquired desirable characteristics of processing under high-shear and low-pressure environment with excellent grinding performance

Study of microcutting fundamentals for peripheral and end cutting edges in micro-end-milling

In the micro-end-milling of surfaces, thin walls, and micro channels, etc, both peripheral and end cutting edges of micro end mills are engaged in cutting. However, the microcutting fundamentals for end cutting edges have not been well studied, even though those for peripheral cutting edges have been studied widely. Key micromilling variable analyses show that the order of significance is the axial depth of cut (a p), feed per tooth (f z), and radial depth of cut (a e). It means that the microcutting mechanisms of the end cutting edge need to be studied and compared with that of the peripheral cutting edge in order to understand micro-end-milling mechanisms more thoroughly. Simulations using the finite element method (FEM) show that the minimum undeformed chip thickness (MUCT) is different for peripheral and end cutting edges, even though the cutting edge radius remains unchanged. The results of those simulations have been experimentally validated. It shows that the MUCT of the end cutting edge is larger than that of the peripheral cutting edge. That means the MUCT is not only the size of a certain proportion of the cutting edge radius, as mentioned in previous studies, but also has a close relationship with the location of the cutting edge. Therefore, a p could be several times larger than f z according to the relationship between MUCT and the micromilling parameters. It creates a solid basis for the selection and quantization of micro-end-milling parameters in the fabrication of complicated geometries as thin walls and micro channels

Enhancing Urban Flood Forecasting: Integrating Weather Forecasts and Hydrological Models

Precipitation data in urban hydrological models are derived from an ideal stormwater model, which has some uncertainties and limited prediction times. Therefore, to reliably forecast urban flooding, prolong prediction time periods, and better support associated research in urban flood forecasting, a combination of weather forecasts and urban hydrology is necessary. By applying comprehensive cloud microphysical schemes in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to the predecessor torrential rainfall associated with Typhoon Khanun (2017), this study evaluated different configurations of atmospheric-hydrological simulations based on the WRF model and InfoWorks ICM. Results showed that the microphysics scheme could significantly affect spatial and temporal distributions of the simulated torrential rainfall. Generally, the combination of WRF and NSSL schemes produced better performance. Applying the NSSL scheme to the WRF model and combining it with the InfoWorks ICM system can reproduce torrential rainfall and urban flood formations

Preparation and Properties of Environmentally Friendly Resin-Based Artificial Stones Fabricated from Ceramic Waste

The rapid development of the traditional ceramic industry contributes considerably to economic advancements; however, the ecological hazards caused by the large amount of sintered ceramic wastes generated during ceramic production and discarded at landfill sites are becoming increasingly severe. To realize the large-scale resource utilization of ceramic waste, sintered ceramic waste was used in this study to partially replace natural quartz sand, and new environmentally friendly artificial stones were fabricated by using vacuum vibration molding and inorganic/organic composite curing technology. The effects of ceramic waste addition and particle size on the mechanical strength, surface hardness, wear resistance, stain resistance, and microstructure of artificial stone materials were investigated. The results showed that the replacement of quartz sand with 40–55% ceramic waste significantly improved the mechanical strength of artificial stone and maintained sufficient surface hardness and wear resistance. When 45% of ceramic waste powder (particle size ≥ 120 mesh) was added, the bending strength of the artificial stone was 64.4 MPa, whereas when 55% of ceramic waste particles with different particle sizes were added, the maximum compressive strength was 158.7 MPa. Good wear resistance and sufficient Moh’s hardness of 5.5–6.5 was obtained for all the samples. The prepared ceramic waste artificial stone also had a dense microstructure and low water absorption and porosity, which are helpful for improving stain resistance

Study on a Novel Strategy for High-Quality Grinding Surface Based on the Coefficient of Friction

Surface quality has a significant impact on the service life of machine parts. Grinding is often the last process to ensure surface quality and accuracy of material formation. In this study, a high-quality surface was developed by determining the coefficient of friction in grinding a quartz fiber-reinforced silica ceramic composite. By processing the physical signals in the grinding process, a multi-objective function was established by considering grinding parameters, i.e., surface roughness, coefficient of friction, active energy consumption, and effective grinding time. The weight vector coefficients of the sub-objective functions were optimized through a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on the decomposition (MOEA/D) algorithm. The genetic algorithm was used to optimize the process parameters of the multi-objective function, and the optimal range for the coefficient of friction was determined to be 0.197~0.216. The experimental results indicated that when the coefficient of friction tends to 0.197, the distribution distance of the microscopic data points on the surface profile is small and the distribution uniformity is good. When the coefficient of friction tends to 0.216, the surface profile shows a good periodic characteristic. The quality of a grinding surface depends on the uniformity and periodicity of the surface’s topography. The coefficient of friction explained the typical physical characteristics of high-quality grinding surfaces. The multi-objective optimization function was even more important for the subsequent high-quality machining of mechanical parts to provide guidance and reference significance