Analysis of mesoscopic mechanical dynamic characteristics of ballast bed with under sleeper pads

The meso-dynamical behaviour of a high-speed rail ballast bed with under sleeper pads(USPs)was studied.The geometrically irregular refined discrete element model of the ballast particles was constructed using 3D scanning techniques,and the 3D dynamic model of the rail-sleeper-ballast bed was constructed using the coupled discrete element method-multiflexible-body dynamics(DEM-MFBD)approach.We analyse the meso-mechanical dynamics of the ballast bed with USPs under dynamic load on a train and verify the correctness of the model in laboratory tests.It is shown that the deformation of the USPs increases the contact area between the sleeper and the ballast particles,and subsequently the number of contacts between them.As the depth of the granular ballast bed increases,the contact area becomes larger,and the contact force between the ballast particles gradually decreases.Under the action of the elastic USPs,the contact forces between ballast particles are reduced and the overall vibration level of the ballast bed can be reduced.The settlement of the granular ballast bed occurs mainly at the shallow position of the sleeper bottom,and the installation of the elastic USPs can be effective in reducing the stress on the ballast particles and the settlement of the ballast bed.

Can whole steps of grain production be outsourced? Empirical analysis based on the three provinces of Jiangsu,Jilin,and Sichuan in China

Certain outsourcing services for agricultural management in China,such as pest control in grain production,have experienced prolonged sluggishness,contrasting with the relatively high level of outsourcing services observed in harvesting,land preparation,and sowing.This study examines the feasibility of implementing whole-step outsourcing in grain production by conducting a case study of rice and maize production in Jiangsu,Jilin,and Sichuan provinces in China.The provision of outsourcing services hinges on two essential conditions:technological advancements fostering specialized production and economies of scale,coupled with a market size sufficient to realize the aforementioned potential economies of scale.The results showed that outsourcing pest control or harvesting services had varying economies of scale.The outsourcing services in pest control were less common than in harvesting services,and their marginal growth space of the economies of scale with technological change was also smaller.Determined by the operational characteristics of pest control itself,the market scale of its professional services is small.Therefore,achieving the whole-step outsourcing of grain production necessitates not only technological innovation but also effective policy interventions to overcome the constraints of market scale.Such interventions include(1)optimizing crop layouts between planning regions and reducing land fragmentation and(2)supplying timely and effective inter-regional agricultural information for service providers aided by information technology.

Effect of ball milling time on the microstructure and compressive properties of the Fe–Mn–Al porous steel

In the present work,Fe–Mn–Al–C powder mixtures were manufactured by elemental powders with different ball milling time,and the porous high-Mn and high-Al steel was fabricated by powder sintering.The results indicated that the powder size significantly decreased,and the morphology of the Fe powder tended to be increasingly flat as the milling time increased.However,the prolonged milling duration had limited impact on the phase transition of the powder mixture.The main phases of all the samples sintered at 640℃ were α-Fe,α-Mn and Al,and a small amount of Fe2Al5 and Al8Mn5.When the sintering temperature increased to 1200℃,the phase composition was mainly comprised of γ-Fe and α-Fe.The weight loss fraction of the sintered sample decreased with milling time,i.e.,8.3wt% after 20 h milling compared to15.3wt% for 10 h.The Mn depletion region(MDR) for the 10,15,and 20 h milled samples was about 780,600,and 370 μm,respectively.The total porosity of samples sintered at 640℃ decreased from ~46.6vol% for the 10 h milled powder to ~44.2vol% for 20 h milled powder.After sintering at 1200℃,the total porosity of sintered samples prepared by 10 and 20 h milled powder was ~58.3vol% and ~51.3vol%,respectively.The compressive strength and ductility of the 1200℃ sintered porous steel increased as the milling time increased.

Crustal stress field in Yunnan: implication for crust-mantle coupling

We applied the g CAP algorithm to determine 239 focal mechanism solutions 3：0≤MW≤ 6：0） with records of dense Chin Array stations deployed in Yunnan,and then inverted 686 focal mechanisms（including 447 previous results） for the regional crustal stress field with a damped linear inversion. The results indicate dominantly strike-slip environment in Yunnan as both the maximum（r1） and minimum（r3） principal stress axes are sub-horizontal. We further calculated the horizontal stress orientations（i.e., maximum and minimum horizontal compressive stress axes： S H and S h, respectively） accordingly and found an abrupt change near ＊26°N. To the north, S H aligns NW-SE to nearly E-W while S h aligns nearly N-S. In contrast, to the south, both S H and S h rotate laterally and show dominantly fan-shaped patterns. The minimum horizontal stress（i.e., maximum strain axis） S h rotates from NW-SE to the west of Tengchong volcano gradually to nearly E-W in west Yunnan, and further toNE-SW in the South China block in the east. The crustal strain field is consistent with the upper mantle strain field indicated by shear-wave splitting observations in Yunnan but not in other regions. Therefore, the crust and upper mantle in Yunnan are coupled and suffering vertically coherent pure-shear deformation in the lithosphere.

The design and synthesis of dextran-doxorubicin prodrug-based pH-sensitive drug delivery system for improving chemotherapy efficacy

Tumor cells show acidic conditions compared with normal cells,which further inspires scientist to build nanocarrier responsive to tumor microenvironment(TME)for enhancing tumor therapeutic efficacy.Here,we report a pH-sensitive and biocompatible polyprodrug based on dextran-doxorubicin(DOX)prodrug(DOXDT)for enhanced chemotherapy.Highdensity DOX component was covalently decorated on the nanocarrier and the drug molecules could be effectively released in the acidic tumor tissue/cells,improving chemotherapy efficacy.Specifically,a dextran-based copolymer was preliminarily prepared by one-step atom transfer radical polymerization(ATRP);then DOX was conjugated on the copolymer component via pH-responsive hydrazone bond.The structure of DOXDT can be well-controlled.The resulting DOXDT was able to further self-assemble into nanoscale micelles with a hydration diameter of about 32.4 nm,which presented excellent micellar stability.Compared to lipid-based drug delivery system,the DOXDT prodrug showed higher drug load capacity up to 23.6%.In addition,excellent stability and smaller size of the nanocarrier contributed to better tissue permeability and tumor suppressive effects in vivo.Hence,this amphipathic DOXDT prodrug is promising in the development of translational DOX formulations,which would be widely applied in cancer therapy.

Indocyanine Green-Conjugated Magnetic Prussian Blue Nanoparticles for Synchronous Photothermal/Photodynamic Tumor Therapy

Indocyanine green(ICG) is capable of inducing a photothermal effect and the production of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species for cancer therapy. However, the major challenge in applying ICG molecules for antitumor therapy is associated with their instability in aqueous conditions and rapid clearance from blood circulation,which causes insufficient bioavailability at the tumor site.Herein, we conjugated ICG molecules with Prussian blue nanoparticles enclosing a Fe_3O_4 nanocore, which was facilitated by cationic polyethyleneimine via electrostatic adsorption. The nanocarrier-loaded ICG formed stable aggregates that enhanced cellular uptake and prevented fluorescence quenching. Moreover, the strong superparamagnetism of the Fe_3O_4 core in the obtained nanocomposites further improved cellular internalization of the drugs guided by a localized magnetic field. The therapeutic efficacy of this nanoplatform was evaluated using tumor models established in nude mice, which demonstrated remarkable tumor ablation in vivo due to strong photothermal/photodynamic effects. This study provides promising evidence that this multifunctional nanoagent might function as an efficient mediator for combining photothermal and photodynamic cancer therapy.

Design, preparation and pharmacodynamics of ICG-Fe(Ⅲ) based HCPT nanocrystals against cancer

The use of nanocrystal technology to manufacture drug delivery systems intended to enhance therapeutic efficacy has attracted the attention of the pharmaceutical industry.However,the clinical application of nanocrystal drugs for injection is restricted by Ostwald ripening and the large-scale use of stabilizers such as polysorbate and lecithin,which have potential toxicity risks including hemolysis and allergies.Here,we designed an amorphous nanocrystal drug complex(IHNC),which is stabilizer-free and composed of indocyanine green(ICG)framework loading with a chemotherapeutic agent of 10-hydroxycamptothecin(HCPT).Considering the possibility of industrial manufacturing,IHNC was simply prepared with the assistance of ferric ion(III)via supramolecular assembly strategy.The theoretical result of Materials Studio simulation indicated that the prepared ICG-Fe(III)framework showed a stable spherical structure with the appropriate cavity for encapsulating the two drugs of HCPT and ICG with equal mass ratio.The IHNC was stable at physiological pH,with excellent PTT/PDT efficacy,and in vivo probing characteristics.The nanoscale size and reductive stimuli-responsiveness can be conducive to drug accumulation into the tumor site and rapid unloading of cargo.Moreover,such combination therapy showed synergistic photo/chemotherapy effect against 4T1 breast cancer and its tumor inhibition rate even up to 79.4%.These findings demonstrated that the nanocrystal drug delivery strategy could avoid the use of stabilizers and provide a new strategy for drug delivery for combination therapy.

RNA-Seq analysis reveals the growth and photosynthetic responses of rapeseed(Brassica napus L.)under red and blue LEDs with supplemental yellow,green,or white light

Compound light is required for plant growth and development,but the response mechanisms of plants are undercharacterized and not fully understood.The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of supplemental light(green light,G;white light,W;yellow light,Y)added to red–blue light(RB)and sole W on the growth and photosynthesis of rapeseed seedlings.The results revealed that supplemental G/W improved the growth and photosynthesis of seedlings,but supplemental Y significantly reduced the photosynthetic rate and palisade tissue layer.Sole W caused similar responses in terms of growth,leaf development,oxidative damage,and antioxidant capability as supplemental Y.In total,449,367,813,and 751 differentially expressed genes(DEGs)were identified under supplemental G,Y,and W and sole W,respectively,compared to RB.The DEGs under different lights were closely associated with pathways such as light stimulus and high-light response,root growth,leaf development,photosynthesis,photosynthesis-antenna proteins,carbohydrate synthesis and degradation,secondary metabolism,plant hormones,and antioxidant capacity,which contributed to the distinct growth and photosynthesis under different treatments.Our results suggest that Y is more likely substituted by other wavelengths to achieve certain effects similar to those of supplemental Y,while G has a more distinctive effect on rapeseed.Taken together,supplementation RB with G/W promotes the growth of rapeseed seedlings in a controlled environment.

Preparation of aldoxime through direct ammoximation using titanium silicalite-1 catalyst

The liquid phase direct ammoximation of 5-isooctyl salicylaldehyde with ammonia and hydrogen peroxide was studied using titanium silicalite-1(TS-1)catalyst.The effect of reaction parameters on the yield of the product was studied,which include reaction temperature,reaction time,molar ratio of ammonia to aldehyde as well as hydrogen peroxide to aldehyde.The influence of the amount of catalyst on the reaction results was also investigated.The maximum 5-isooctyl salicylaldoxime yield of 98.76%was achieved under the following optimal reaction conditions:the molar ratio of 5-isooctylaldehyde to hydrogen peroxide and ammonia of 1:1.4:1.6,the reaction temperature of 70℃,the amount of TS-1 of 17.5 g·mol^(-1)(5-isooctyl salicylaldehyde),and the feeding time of 2 h.This method has the mild reaction conditions and avoids the shortcomings of traditional methods.Moreover,useless inorganic salts by-products are avoided,and there is no environmental pollution.

Effects of Ion Doping on the Optical Properties of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) play a leading role in the third generation photovoltaics due to their low cost, easy fabrication process, high conversion efficiency and good stability. As a media of dye adsorption, electron transport, and electrolyte diffusion, the nanocrystalline semiconductor photoanode plays a key role during light-to-electricity conversion in DSC. This paper studies the influence of different ions doping and different concentration of ion doping on the electrical and optical properties of DSC, through the photoelectric property test of DSC. We learn that Zn2+ doped TiO2 photoanode is the best. At the same time there was an optimum doping concentration which was 0.05% (mole fraction).

Microenvironment responsive pod-structured astaxanthin nanocarrier for ameliorating inflammatory bowel disease

Anti-inflammatory drugs targeting inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)have attracted considerable attention but still face low therapeutic outcomes and frequent side effects.Astaxanthin(ATX),a natural ketone,possesses potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.However,it faces problems such as poor water solubility,photothermal instability,and low bioavailability.Here,we employed a supramolecular encapsulation strategy to create a nanoscale oral delivery system for ATX(referred to as FC-ATX NPs)by coupling fucoidan(FUC)with chitosan oligosaccharides(COS).The obtained FC-ATX NPs exhibited a particular“bean pod”structure with uniform size,good encapsulation efficiency,excellent physical and chemical stability,pH-triggered intestinal targeted slow-release properties,and potent antioxidant capacity.In vitro cell culture experiments showed that FC-ATX NPs promoted cellular uptake and scavenged excessive intracellular reactive oxygen species(ROS).In mouse models of colitis,FC-ATX NPs enhanced the drug absorption of intestinal epithelial cells and effectively accumulated at the site of inflammation.This work provides an efficient approach to enhance the bioavailability of ATX and has excellent application potential as an oral targeted delivery system for colitis therapy.

Self-shrinking supramolecular nanoparticles syndicate energy suppression and NIR-II mild photothermal amplification of mitochondrial oxidative stress for breast cancer therapy

Photothermal therapy(PTT)may lead to healthy tissue damage,tumor metastasis,and recurrence,which makes mild photothermal therapy(mild PTT)stand out.However,overcoming heat resistance,insufficient therapeutic effect,and poor photothermal conversion efficiency has become new challenge.Herein,we report a dynamic supramolecular nanocarrier formed from amide-sericin and aldehyde-polyhydroxy glucan(denoted as SDA),the loose cavity of which can be filled by using the pharmaceutical combination of lonidamine(LND)and NIR-II photothermal agent of IR-1061,producing SDLI with a tighter inner hole,smaller and uniform particle size and excellent stability due to multiple pulling forces.Moreover,the intricate internal network structure prevents the hydrophobic IR-1061 from forming aggregates in the small cavity,and the photothermal conversion efficiency(PCE)can reach 48.9%.At the acidic tumor microenvironment of pH 6.5,the controlled release of LND can solve the problem of heat resistance of NIR-II mild PTT and significantly improve the therapeutic effect of NIR-II mild PTT.Meanwhile,SDLI also shows a reasonable tumor inhibition rate,so the synergistic strategy of inhibiting tumor energy metabolism and NIR-II mild PTT to magnify mitochondrial oxidative stress,continuous cell stress state-induced immunogenic cell death to promote the induction of tumor apoptosis is proposed to achieve more effective cancer treatment.

An object detection method for bayberry trees based on an improved YOLO algorithm

To quickly detect and count the number of bayberry trees,this paper improves the YOLO-v4 model and proposes an optimal YOLO-v4 method for detecting bayberry trees based on UAV images.We used the Leaky_ReLU activation function to accelerate the model extraction speed and used the DIoU NMS to retain the most accurate prediction boxes.In order to increase the recall rate of the object detection and construct the optimal YOLO-v4 model,the K-Means clustering method was embedded into DIoU NMS.We trained the model using UAV images of bayberry trees,it was determined that the optimal YOLO-v4 model threshold was 0.25,which had the best extraction effect.The optimal YOLO-v4 model had a detection accuracy of up to 97.78%and a recall rate of up to 98.16%on the dataset.The optimal YOLO-v4 model was compared with YOLO-v4,YOLO-v4 tiny,the YOLO-v3 model,and the Faster R-CNN model.With guaranteed accuracy,the recall rate was higher,up to 97.45%,and the detection of bayberry trees was better in different contexts.The result shows that the optimal YOLO-v4 model can accurately achieve the rapid detection and statistics of the number of bayberry trees in large-area orchards.

Impacts of communication delay on vehicle platoon string stability and its compensation strategy:A review

Based on the four-element model,this paper reviewed the important research progress in vehicle platoon,compared the advantages and disadvantages of different models in each element longitudinally,and summarized the linkage between each element horizontally.The stability criteria are briefly reviewed from three dimensions:local stability,string stability,and traffic flow stability.The impact of communication delay on vehicle platoon is quantitatively summarized from two aspects:the variation of controller gains and the variation of headway time values.Aiming at the inevitable communication delay in vehicle platoon,the compensation strategies are analyzed from five levels.(1)Optimizing the communication network structure.(2)Reconstructing acceleration information.(3)Tuning controller gains.(4)Constructing a multi-branch selection structure.(5)Improving the controller.The results show that,although these compensation strategies can alleviate the negative impact of communication delay to a certain extent,they also have some defects such as difficulty in adapting to complex and various real road conditions,poor accuracy and real-time performance,insufficient security,and limited application scenarios.It is necessary to further improve the accuracy and real-time performance of the device,design an encrypted and scalable network architecture to ensure communication security and adaptability,and conduct further real vehicle testing.

Design of single-phased magnesium alloys with typically high solubility rare earth elements for biomedical applications:Concept and proof

Rare earth elements(REEs)have been long applied in magnesium alloys,among which the mischmetal-containing WE43 alloy has already got the CE mark approval for clinical application.A considerable amount of REEs(7 wt%)is needed in that multi-phased alloy to achieve a good combination of mechanical strength and corrosion resistance.However,the high complex RE addition accompanied with multiple second phases may bring the concern of biological hazards.Single-phased Mg-RE alloys with simpler compositions were proposed to improve the overall performance,i.e.,“Simpler alloy,better performance”.The single-phased microstructure can be successfully obtained with typical high-solubility REEs(Ho,Er or Lu)through traditional smelting,casting and extrusion in a wide compositional range.A good corrosion resistance with a macroscopically uniform corrosion mode was guaranteed by the homogeneously single-phased microstructure.The bimodal-grained structure with plenty of sub-grain microstructures allow us to minimize the RE addition to<1 wt%,without losing mechanical properties.The single-phased Mg-RE alloys show comparable mechanical properties to the clinically-proven Mg-based implants.They exhibited similar in-vitro and in-vivo performances(without local or systematic toxicity in SD-rats)compared to a high purity magnesium.In addition,metal elements in our single-phased alloys can be gradually excreted through the urinary system and digestive system,showing no consistent accumulation of RE in main organs,i.e.,less burden on organs.The novel concept in this study focuses on the simplification of Mg-RE based alloys for biomedical purpose,and other biodegradable metals with single-phased microstructures are expected to be explored.

Synthesis of a novel Al foam with a periodic architecture by introducing hollow Al tubes and Al/Mg powders

In this work,we synthesized a brand-new Al foam with a periodic structure via a simple powder metallurgical route.The periodic architecture consists of both hierarchical porous and bi-directional composition-graded structures.The results show that the hierarchical porous material includes large pores on millimeter scale inheriting from the hollow structure of the Al tubes,and small pores on mi-crometer scale produced by the sintering of Al/Mg powders.The bi-directional Mg concentration-graded structure is formed in the tube walls due to the condensation of Mg vapor in the inner tube wall.The addition of Mg powders achieves excellent metallurgical bonding between the Al powders and the hollow tubes at 550℃.The plateau stress and energy absorption capacity of the Al foam in y-axis compression are significantly higher than that in the x-axis due to their anisotropic structure.In general,the Al foam with Mg addition presents the most superior compression performance,and we believe that our find-ings could open up a unique strategy for developing high-performance metallic foams with the periodic architecture involving both hierarchical porous and bi-directional graded structure.

搅拌棒吸附萃取技术

搅拌棒吸附萃取技术的提出至今已有二十年,其源于固相微萃取,却有更高的固定相体积、萃取容量和萃取回收率。搅拌棒吸附萃取作为一种高效的样品前处理方法,广泛应用于环境样品、食品样品、药物样品和挥发性物质的分离富集。搅拌棒的核心是涂层,目前已有商品化涂层、自制分子印迹聚合物涂层和自制非印迹涂层。本文介绍了搅拌棒吸附萃取的基本原理,系统评述了各种搅拌棒吸附萃取涂层的发展和应用研究进展,并介绍了一些新颖的搅拌棒萃取模式,最后对搅拌棒吸附萃取技术的发展进行了总结和展望。

Spatial-temporal variations of natural suitability of human settlement environment in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area A case study in Fengjie County,China

With rapid environmental degeneration and socio-economie development,the human settlement environment (HSE)has experienced dramatic changes and attracted attention from different communities.Consequently,the spatial-temporal evaluation of natural suitability of the human settlement environment (NSHSE)has become essential for understanding the patterns and dynamics of HSE,and for coordinating sustainable development among regional populations,resources,and environments.This study aims to explore the spatialtemporal evolution of NSHSE patterns in 1997,2005,and 2009 in Fengjie County near the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA).A spatially weighted NSHSE model was established by integrating multi-source data (e.g.,census data,meteorological data,remote sensing images,DEM data,and GIS data)into one framework,where the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)linear regression model was applied to calculate the weights of indices in the NSHSE model.Results show that the trend of natural suitability has been first downward and then upward, which is evidenced by the disparity of NSHSE existing in the south,north,and central areas of Fengjie County. Results also reveal clustered NSHSE patterns for all 30 townships.Meanwhile,NSHSE has significant influence on population distribution,and 71.49% of the total population is living in moderate and high suitable districts.

Bioresponsive immune-booster-based prodrug nanogel for cancer immunotherapy

The combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy motivates a potent immune system by triggering immunogenic cell death(ICD), showing great potential in inhibiting tumor growth and improving the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment(ITM). However, the therapeutic effectiveness has been restricted by inferior drug bioavailability. Herein, we reported a universal bioresponsive doxorubicin(DOX)-based nanogel to achieve tumor-specific co-delivery of drugs. DOX-based mannose nanogels(DM NGs) was designed and choosed as an example to elucidate the mechanism of combined chemo-immunotherapy. As expected, the DM NGs exhibited prominent micellar stability, selective drug release and prolonged survival time, benefited from the enhanced tumor permeability and prolonged blood circulation. We discovered that the DOX delivered by DM NGs could induce powerful antitumor immune response facilitated by promoting ICD. Meanwhile, the released mannose from DM NGs was proved as a powerful and synergetic treatment for breast cancer in vitro and in vivo, via damaging the glucose metabolism in glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Overall, the regulation of tumor microenvironment with DOX-based nanogel is expected to be an effectual candidate strategy to overcome the current limitations of ICD-based immunotherapy, offering a paradigm for the exploitation of immunomodulatory nanomedicines.

ROS-responsive cyclodextrin nanoplatform for combined photodynamic therapy and chemotherapy of cancer

Cyclodextrin(CD) has special spatial structure and well biological safety,so it has been widely used for constructing CD-based na noplatforms.Through functionalization,cyclodextrin can form various stimulusresponse nanoplatforms,such as pH,temperature,redox,light and magnetic fields.In this study,we designed a highly sensitive reactive oxygen species(ROS)-responsive polymer PCP which encapsulated doxorubicin(DOX) and purpurin 18(P18) to achieve the syne rgy of photodynamic and chemotherapy.The high content of reactive oxygen species(ROS) in the tumor microenvironment(TME) triggers the cleavage of the borate bond of MPEG-CD-PHB(PCP),thereby promoting the re lease of drugs.When irradiated with nea rinfrared laser,the photosensitizer P18 released by polymer micelles can produce reactive oxygen species to promote cell apoptosis.Compared with monotherapy,a series of experiments confirmed that our micelles had enhanced anti-cancer activity.This work was beneficial to the design of ROS-responsive materials and provides an effective strategy for the application of collaborative anti-tumor therapy.