AHFO-based soil water content sensing technology considering soil-sensor thermal contact resistance

The actively heated fiber-optic(AHFO)technology has become emerged as a research focus due to its advantages of distributed,real-time measurement and good durability.These attributes have led to the gradual application of AHFO technology to the water content measurement of in situ soil.However,all existing in situ applications of AHFO technology fail to consider the effect of soilesensor contact quality on water content measurements,limiting potential for the wider application of AHFO technology.To address this issue,the authors propose a method for determining the soilesensor thermal contact resistance based on the principle of an infinite cylindrical heat source.This is then used to establish an AHFO water content measurement technology that considers the thermal contact resistance.The reliability and validity of the new measurement technology are explored through a laboratory test and a field case study,and the spatial-temporal evolution of the soil water content in the case is revealed.The results demonstrate that method for determining the soilesensor thermal contact resistance is highly effective and applicable to all types of soils.This method requires only the moisture content,dry density,and thermal response of the in situ soil to be obtained.In the field case,the measurement error of soil water content between the AHFO method,which takes into account the thermal contact resistance,and the neutron scattering method is only 0.011.The water content of in situ soil exhibits a seasonal variation,with an increase in spring and autumn and a decrease in summer and winter.Furthermore,the response of shallow soils to precipitation and evaporation is significant.These findings contribute to the enhancement of the accuracy of the AHFO technology in the measurement of the water content of in situ soils,thereby facilitating the dissemination and utilization of this technology.

Sawtooth Activity in Ohmically Heated Plasma on HT-7 Tokamak

Sawtooth activity on HT-7 tokamak has been investigated experimentally mainly by using soft x-ray diode array and magnetic probes. Their behaviors and occurrences are correlated closely to the discharge conditions: the electron density Ne, the electron temperature Te, the safety factor qa on plasma boundary and wall condition etc. When central line-averaged electron density Ne(0) is over 2.0×1013cm-3 , major sawtooth activity emerges with a period of up to 6.5 ms and a fluctuation amplitude of up to 2-30 % of SXR radiation signal. In some cases such as the safety factor between 4.2-4.7 and Zeff=3.0-6.0, a monster sawtooth activity often emerges without apparent deterioration of plasma confinement and without major disruption. During these events, abundant MHD phenomena are observed including partial sawtooth oscillations. In this paper, the observed sawtooth behaviors and their dependence on the and their dependence density Ne and wall condition in ohmically heated plasma are introduced, the results are discussed and presented.

Novel heat shock protein Hsp70L1 activates dendritic cells and acts as a Th1 polarizing adjuvant

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are reported to act as effective adjuvants to elicit anti-tumor and anti-infection immunity. Here, we report that Hsp70-like protein 1 (Hsp70L1), a novel HSP derived from human dendritic cells (DCs), has potent adjuvant effects that polarize responses toward Th1. With a calculated molecular weight of 54.8 kDa, Hsp70L1 is smaller in size than Hsp70 but resembles it both structurally and functionally. Hsp70L1 shares common receptors on DCs with Hsp70 and can interact with DCs, promoting DC maturation and stimulating secretion of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin 12p70 (IL-12p70), IL-1beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and the chemokines IP-10, macrophage inflammatory protein-1alpha (MIP-1alpha), MIP-1beta, and normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES). The induction of interferon-gamma-inducible protein 10 (IP-10) secretion by Hsp70L1 is not shared by Hsp70, and other functional differences include more potent stimulation of DC IL-12p70, CC-chemokine, and CCR7 and CXCR4 expression by Hsp70L1. Immunization of mice with the hybrid peptide Hsp70L1-ovalbumin(OVA)(257-264) induces an OVA(257-264)-specific Th1 response and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) that results in significant inhibition of E.G7-OVA tumor growth. The ability of Hsp70L1 to activate DCs indicates its potential as a novel adjuvant for use with peptide immunizations; the Hsp70L1 antigen peptide hybrid may serve as a more effective vaccine for the control of cancer and infectious diseases.

Improved sweat gland function during active heating in tennis athletes

Background：Relatively few studies on the peripheral sweating mechanisms of trained tennis athletes have been conducted.The purpose of this study was to compare the sweating capacities of tennis athletes against untrained subjects（controls）.Methods：Thirty-fi e healthy male volunteers participated including 15 untrained subjects and 20 trained tennis athletes（nationally ranked）.Active heat generation was performed for 30 min（running at 60%VO2max） in a climate chamber（temperature,25.0°C ± 0.5°C;relative humidity,60% ± 3%,termed active heating）.Sweating data（local sweat onset time,local sweat volume,activated sweat glands,sweat output per gland,whole body sweat loss volume） were measured by the capacitance hygrometer-ventilated capsule method and starch-iodide paper.Mean body temperature was calculated from tympanic and skin temperatures.Results：Local sweat onset time was shorter for tennis athletes（p〈0.001）.Local sweat volume,activated sweat glands of the torso and limbs,sweat output per gland,and whole body sweat loss volume were significant y higher for tennis athletes than control subjects after active heating（p〈0.001）.Tympanic and mean body temperatures were lower among tennis athletes than controls（p〈0.05）.Conclusion：These results indicate that tennis athletes had increased regulatory capacity of their sweat gland function.

Monster Sawtooth Activity in Ohmically Heated HT-7 Plasma

Experimental properties of monster sawtooth activities in ohmic HT-7 plasma are presented in this paper. The monster sawtooth activities belong to global fluctuations and are characterized with a series of large core collapses on SXR intensity traces with a long period, a large amplitude fluctuation and a large inversion radius. However, they emerge without apparent deterioration of plasma confinement and without major plasma disruption. During the events, long partial sawtooth collapses and abundant MHD phenomena are also observed.

Functional Materials and Innovative Strategies for Wearable Thermal Management Applications

Thermal management is essential in our body as it affects various bodily functions,ranging from thermal discomfort to serious organ failures,as an example of the worst-case scenario.There have been extensive studies about wearable materials and devices that augment thermoregulatory functionalities in our body,employing diverse materials and systematic approaches to attaining thermal homeostasis.This paper reviews the recent progress of functional materials and devices that contribute to thermoregulatory wearables,particularly emphasizing the strategic methodology to regulate body temperature.There exist several methods to promote personal thermal management in a wearable form.For instance,we can impede heat transfer using a thermally insulating material with extremely low thermal conductivity or directly cool and heat the skin surface.Thus,we classify many studies into two branches,passive and active thermal management modes,which are further subdivided into specific strategies.Apart from discussing the strategies and their mechanisms,we also identify the weaknesses of each strategy and scrutinize its potential direction that studies should follow to make substantial contributions to future thermal regulatory wearable industries.

PLDMLT:Multi-Task Learning of Diabetic Retinopathy Using the Pixel-Level Labeled Fundus Images

In the field of medical images,pixel-level labels are time-consuming and expensive to acquire,while image-level labels are relatively easier to obtain.Therefore,it makes sense to learn more information(knowledge)from a small number of hard-to-get pixel-level annotated images to apply to different tasks to maximize their usefulness and save time and training costs.In this paper,using Pixel-Level Labeled Images forMulti-Task Learning(PLDMLT),we focus on grading the severity of fundus images for Diabetic Retinopathy(DR).This is because,for the segmentation task,there is a finely labeled mask,while the severity grading task is without classification labels.To this end,we propose a two-stage multi-label learning weakly supervised algorithm,which generates initial classification pseudo labels in the first stage and visualizes heat maps at all levels of severity using Grad-Cam to further provide medical interpretability for the classification task.A multitask model framework with U-net as the baseline is proposed in the second stage.A label update network is designed to alleviate the gradient balance between the classification and segmentation tasks.Extensive experimental results show that our PLDMLTmethod significantly outperforms other stateof-the-art methods in DR segmentation on two public datasets,achieving up to 98.897%segmentation accuracy.In addition,our method achieves comparable competitiveness with single-task fully supervised learning in the DR severity grading task.

Microstructure and cementitious properties of calcined clay-containing gangue

To investigate the optimum calcination temperature and cementitious properties of gangue, the microstructure of clay-containing gangue calcined at different temperatures was analyzed by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, infrared spectroscopy （IR）, and magnetic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance （MAS NMR）. The results show that the structure of kaolinite in the gangue sample calcined at 500℃ is destroyed. The XRD spectra show the disappearance of illite at about 800℃ and the formation ofmullite at about 1000℃. With the increase in calcination temperature, octahedral （6-coordinated） aluminum is transformed to tetrahedral （4-coordinated） aluminum gradually. For the gangue sample calcined at 700℃, the 29Si MAS NMR sharp peak of Q4 （framework silicate-quartz） is left. Compared with kaolinite in gangue, the thermal transformed temperature of pure kaolinite is lagged. On the basis of the microstructure and cementitious properties of calcined gangue, the results can be concluded, in order to obtain metakaolinite, the optimum calcination temperature of this gangue is about 500℃, and the optimum temperature is about 700℃ for activated SiO2 and Al2O3.

Treatment of Severe Cholestatic Hepatitis by Integrating Traditional Chinese and Western Medicines

Objective: To study the curative effect of Chinese medicines in treating severe cholestatic hepatitis (SCH).Methods: Three hundred and fifty patients of SCH with total bilirubin level 171 μmol/L were treated with Chinese medicines. Those with Blood Stasis Syndrome were treated with the recipe mainly consisting of Radix Paeoniae Rubra, and those accompanied by blood Heat, fluid retention in the epigastric region, dampness disseminated in Sanjiao ( ) or Yang deficiency of both Spleen and Kidney were treated with recipe modified according to the symptoms and signs.Results: The treatment was markedly effective in 288 cases and effective in 26 cases, the total effective rate being 89.7%.Conclusion: It is difficult to treat severe cholestatic hepatitis, es pecially the chronic cholestatic good effect of Chinese herbal medicine in eliminating jaundice.