Numerical back analysis based on incomplete in situ stress measurements is widely used to estimate the three-dimensional (3D) in situ stress fields of large deep underground caverns. However, the ...variable collinearity caused by complex geological environments has rarely been considered. This paper proposes a numerical back analysis method for 3D in situ stress fields based on stepwise regression (BSSR). In BSSR, the collinearity between independent variables is associated with the surface topography, and insignificant variables caused by variable collinearity are eliminated through stepwise regression. BSSR was applied to the underground powerhouse of a hydropower station for validation, and the results showed that it can reliably estimate the 3D in situ stress field despite the complex geological environments. Multidimensional mathematical models of in situ stress fields were established with the improved predictive ability and clear physical meaning, which can quantify the contributions of six geological actions and three stress sources. The findings of this study can help with understanding the formation mechanism of in situ stress fields for large, deep underground caverns in complex geological environments and provide a useful reference for optimizing excavation schemes and support designs.
Bark tissue of Populus × canescens can hyperaccumulate cadmium, but microstructural, transcriptomic, and physiological response mechanisms are poorly understood. Histochemical assays, transmission ...electron microscopic observations, energy-dispersive x-ray microanalysis, and transcriptomic and physiological analyses have been performed to enhance our understanding of cadmium accumulation and detoxification in P. × canescens. Cadmium was allocated to the phloem of the bark, and subcellular cadmium compartmentalization occurred mainly in vacuoles of phloem cells. Transcripts involved in microstructural alteration, changes in nutrition and primary metabolism, and stimulation of stress responses showed significantly differential expression in the bark of P. × canescens exposed to cadmium. About 48% of the differentially regulated transcripts formed a coregulation network in which 43 hub genes played a central role both in cross talk among distinct biological processes and in coordinating the transcriptomic regulation in the bark of P. × canescens in response to cadmium. The cadmium transcriptome in the bark of P. × canescens was mirrored by physiological readouts. Cadmium accumulation led to decreased total nitrogen, phosphorus, and calcium and increased sulfur in the bark. Cadmium inhibited photosynthesis, resulting in decreased carbohydrate levels. Cadmium induced oxidative stress and antioxidants, including free proline, soluble phenolics, ascorbate, and thiol compounds. These results suggest that orchestrated microstructural, transcriptomic, and physiological regulation may sustain cadmium hyperaccumulation in P. × canescens bark and provide new insights into engineering woody plants for phytoremediation.
Floods are considered one of the most disastrous hazards all over the world and cause serious casualties and property damage. Therefore, the assessment and regionalization of flood disasters are ...becoming increasingly important and urgent. To predict the probability of a flood, an essential step is to map flood susceptibility. The main objective of this work is to investigate the use a novel hybrid technique by integrating multi-criteria decision analysis and geographic information system to evaluate flood susceptibility mapping (FSM), which is constructed by ensemble of decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), analytic network process, weighted linear combinations (WLC) and interval rough numbers (IRN) techniques in the case study at Shangyou County, China. Specifically, we improve the DEMATEL method by applying IRN to determine connections in the network structure based on criteria and to accept imprecisions during collective decision making. The application of IRN can eliminate the necessity of additional information to define uncertain number intervals. Therefore, the quality of the existing data during collective decision making and experts’ perceptions that are expressed through an aggregation matrix can be retained. In this work, eleven conditioning factors associated with flooding were considered and historical flood locations were randomly divided into the training (70% of the total) and validation (30%) sets. The flood susceptibility map validates a satisfactory consistency between the flood-susceptible areas and the spatial distribution of the previous flood events. The accuracy of the map was evaluated by using objective measures of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC). The AUC values of the proposed method coupling with the WLC fuzzy technique for aggregation and flood susceptibility index are 0.988 and 0.964, respectively, which proves that the WLC fuzzy method is more effective for FSM in the study area. The proposed method can be helpful in predicting accurate flood occurrence locations with similar geographic environments and can be effectively used for flood management and prevention.
Disturbance stress assessment is crucial for ensuring the safety of deep engineering projects. Currently, the primary technique for continuously monitoring three-dimensional disturbance stress is the ...stress relief method, but its accuracy can be compromised by rock damage that occurs after excavation. To mitigate this issue, grouting is employed to repair damaged rock masses and enhance their mechanical properties. However, the impact of grouting techniques on improving the accuracy of disturbance stress testing is challenging to evaluate through laboratory and in situ experiments. To address this problem, numerical simulation technology is employed to investigate disturbance stress testing after the repair of damaged surrounding rock through grouting. The simulation results indicate that grouting repair significantly enhances the accuracy of stress testing. As the depth of damaged rock mass repair increases, the error in stress testing decreases. Achieving complete repair of the initial damage zone during grouting is essential to eliminate errors in stress testing. Expanding on the positive effects of grouting repair on stress testing, a segmented testing method for disturbance stress is proposed. The method involves separately testing the initial stress and stress changes, thereby reducing the stress level within the rock, minimizing rock failure, and enhancing the accuracy of disturbance stress testing. This study provides valuable reference methods, and the outcomes of this research will serve as a foundation for enhancing the accuracy of disturbance stress testing in deep hard rock engineering.
The damage-fracture evolution of deep rock mass has obvious particularity, which is revealed in 2400-m-deep tunnels by field tests. The evolution of the excavation damaged zone depth is consistent ...with that of the fractured zone depth. The ratio of the excavation damaged zone depth to the excavation fractured zone depth is greater than 2.0 in a rock mass with both high strength and good integrity, but less than 1.5 in a rock mass with lower strength or poor integrity. Zonal disintegration in a rock mass with high strength and fair integrity is more likely to occur when it contains more than two groups of primary fractures in damaged zones. Fractures develop outward in zonal disintegration but are totally different from the single-zone fracture, in which the fractures develop inward, and it is the starting position of the fractured zone when the excavation surface of the middle pilot is 7–9 m close to the pre-set borehole and it stops after the excavation surface of the baseplate is 11–14 m away. The most intense evolution occurs around 2–4 m from the pre-set borehole in the sidewall expansion stage. The research results provide a reference for the monitoring scheme and support design of CJPL-III in its future construction.
This study presents three new hybrid artificial intelligence optimization models—namely, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) with cultural (ANFIS-CA), bees (ANFIS-BA), and invasive weed ...optimization (ANFIS-IWO) algorithms—for flood susceptibility mapping (FSM) in the Haraz watershed, Iran. Ten continuous and categorical flood conditioning factors were chosen based on the 201 flood locations, including topographic wetness index (TWI), river density, stream power index (SPI), curvature, distance from river, lithology, elevation, ground slope, land use, and rainfall. The step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) model was adopted for the assessment of relationship between flood locations and conditioning factors. The ANFIS model, based on SWARA weights, was employed for providing FSMs with three optimization models to enhance the accuracy of prediction. To evaluate the model performance and prediction capability, root-mean-square error (RMSE) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (area under the ROC (AUROC)) were used. Results showed that ANFIS-IWO with lower RMSE (0.359) had a better performance, while ANFIS-BA with higher AUROC (94.4%) showed a better prediction capability, followed by ANFIS0-IWO (0.939) and ANFIS-CA (0.921). These models can be suggested for FSM in similar climatic and physiographic areas for developing measures to mitigate flood damages and to sustainably manage floodplains.
Based on the radiated energy of 133 rock bursts monitored by a microseismic technique at the Jinping II hydropower station, in Sichuan province, China, we analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of ...qualitative classification methods for the rock burst intensity. Then, we investigated the characteristics, magnitude, and laws of the radiated energy, as well as the relationship between the rock burst radiated energy and intensity. Then, we selected the energy as an evaluation index for the rock burst intensity classification, and proposed a new rock burst intensity quantitative classification method, which utilized the hierarchical clustering analysis technique with the complete-linkage method. Next, we created a new set of criteria for the quantitative classification of the rock burst intensity based on radiated energy and surrounding rock damage severity. The new criteria classified the rock burst intensity into five levels: extremely intense, intense, moderate, weak, and none, and the common logarithms of the radiated energy of each level were >7 lg(
E
/J), >4 lg(
E
/J) and <7 lg(
E
/J), >2 lg(
E
/J) and <4 lg(
E
/J), >1 lg(
E
/J) and <2 lg(
E
/J), and <1 lg(
E
/J), respectively. Finally, we investigated the factors influencing the classification, and verified its feasibility and applicability via several practical rock burst examples.
Objectives
High‐mobility group box‐1 (HMGB1) and aberrant mitochondrial fission mediated by excessive activation of GTPase dynamin‐related protein 1 (Drp1) have been found to be elevated in patients ...with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and critically implicated in PAH pathogenesis. However, it remains unknown whether Drp1‐mediated mitochondrial fission and which downstream targets of mitochondrial fission mediate HMGB1‐induced pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) proliferation and migration leading to vascular remodelling in PAH. This study aims to address these issues.
Methods
Primary cultured PASMCs were obtained from male Sprague‐Dawley (SD) rats. We detected RNA levels by qRT‐PCR, protein levels by Western blotting, cell proliferation by Cell Counting Kit‐8 (CCK‐8) and EdU incorporation assays, migration by wound healing and transwell assays. SD rats were injected with monocrotaline (MCT) to establish PAH. Hemodynamic parameters were measured by closed‐chest right heart catheterization.
Results
HMGB1 increased Drp1 phosphorylation and Drp1‐dependent mitochondrial fragmentation through extracellular signal‐regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) signalling activation, and subsequently triggered autophagy activation, which further led to bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2 (BMPR2) lysosomal degradation and inhibitor of DNA binding 1 (Id1) downregulation, and eventually promoted PASMCs proliferation/migration. Inhibition of ERK1/2 cascade, knockdown of Drp1 or suppression of autophagy restored HMGB1‐induced reductions of BMPR2 and Id1, and diminished HMGB1‐induced PASMCs proliferation/migration. In addition, pharmacological inhibition of HMGB1 by glycyrrhizin, suppression of mitochondrial fission by Mdivi‐1 or blockage of autophagy by chloroquine prevented PAH development in MCT‐induced rats PAH model.
Conclusions
HMGB1 promotes PASMCs proliferation/migration and pulmonary vascular remodelling by activating ERK1/2/Drp1/Autophagy/BMPR2/Id1 axis, suggesting that this cascade might be a potential novel target for management of PAH.
The molecular mechanisms underlying HMGB1‐induced pulmonary vascular remodelling in PAH. HMGB1 increases Drp1 phosphorylation and Drp1‐dependent mitochondrial fission through activation of ERK1/2 signaling pathway, and subsequently stimulates autophagy activation, which further lead to BMPR2 lysosomal degradation and Id1 downregulation, and ultimately promotes PASMCs proliferation/migration and pulmonary vascular remodeling in PAH.
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•Developed a Bayesian updating model for rock engineering.•Integrated the monitored data, prior knowledge and model using MCMC.•Dynamic model parameters and its uncertainty during the ...construction.•Verified and illustrated the developed method using rock tunnel.
Rock mechanical parameters and their uncertainties are critical to rock stability analysis, engineering design, and safe construction in rock mechanics and engineering. The back analysis is widely adopted in rock engineering to determine the mechanical parameters of the surrounding rock mass, but this does not consider the uncertainty. This problem is addressed here by the proposed approach by developing a system of Bayesian inferences for updating mechanical parameters and their statistical properties using monitored field data, then integrating the monitored data, prior knowledge of geotechnical parameters, and a mechanical model of a rock tunnel using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation. The proposed approach is illustrated by a circular tunnel with an analytical solution, which was then applied to an experimental tunnel in Goupitan Hydropower Station, China. The mechanical properties and strength parameters of the surrounding rock mass were modeled as random variables. The displacement was predicted with the aid of the parameters updated by Bayesian inferences and agreed closely with monitored displacements. It indicates that Bayesian inferences combined the monitored data into the tunnel model to update its parameters dynamically. Further study indicated that the performance of Bayesian inferences is improved greatly by regularly supplementing field monitoring data. Bayesian inference is a significant and new approach for determining the mechanical parameters of the surrounding rock mass in a tunnel model and contributes to safe construction in rock engineering.
To determine whether there are alterations in marrow fat content in individuals first-time diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and to explore the associations between marrow fat fraction ...and MRI-based findings in trabecular bone microarchitecture.
A case-control study was conducted, involving adults with first-time diagnosed T1DM (n=35) and age- and sex-matched healthy adults (n=46). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and 3 Tesla-MRI of the proximal tibia were performed to assess trabecular microarchitecture and vertebral marrow fat fraction. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test the associations of marrow fat fraction with trabecular microarchitecture and bone density while adjusting for potential confounding factors.
In individuals first-time diagnosed with T1DM, the marrow fat fraction was significantly higher (
< 0.001) compared to healthy controls. T1DM patients also exhibited higher trabecular separation median (IQR): 2.19 (1.70, 2.68) vs 1.81 (1.62, 2.10),
< 0.001, lower trabecular volume 0.45 (0.30, 0.56) vs 0.53 (0.38, 0.60),
= 0.013, and lower trabecular number 0.37 (0.26, 0.44) vs 0.41 (0.32, 0.47),
= 0.020 compared to controls. However, bone density was similar between the two groups (
= 0.815). In individuals with T1DM, there was an inverse association between marrow fat fraction and trabecular volume (
= -0.69,
< 0.001) as well as trabecular number (
= -0.55,
< 0.001), and a positive association with trabecular separation (
= 0.75,
< 0.001). Marrow fat fraction was independently associated with total trabecular volume (standardized β = -0.21), trabecular number (β = -0.12), and trabecular separation (β = 0.57) of the proximal tibia after adjusting for various factors including age, gender, body mass index, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, blood glucose, plasma glycated hemoglobin, lipid profile, and bone turnover biomarkers.
Individuals first-time diagnosed with T1DM experience expansion of marrow adiposity, and elevated marrow fat content is associated with MRI-based trabecular microstructure.