The conventional (σ1 > σ2 = σ3) multi-step creep test and true triaxial (σ1 > σ2 > σ3) multi-step creep test of Jinping marble with rectangular shape were conducted. In this way, the effects of σ1, ...σ2, σ3 and time on creep behaviour were compared and analysed. Unlike conventional creep tests, Jinping marble showed differential creep deformation and failure characteristics in σ2 and σ3-directions under true triaxial stress. The crack time-dependent evolution was-directional, and the crack tip growth was nearly parallel to the σ1-direction with high stress and opened along the σ2 and σ3-directions with low stress. Moreover, when σ2 > σ3, the crack growth in the σ2-direction was inhibited, and the crack evolution mainly occurred along the σ3-direction. This difference eventually led to the macroscopic failure plane of Jinping marble generally acting parallel to the σ2-direction and along the σ3-direction. The larger the value of σ2, the steeper the macroscopic failure surface, and the failure mode of the rock samples changed from shear to near-splitting failure: however, increasing σ2 can only cause closure of initial cracks opening along the σ2-direction, but did not change the number of initial cracks opening along the σ3-direction. The experimental data also showed that the differential creep deformation in the σ2 and σ3-directions caused by true triaxial stress did not change with time and σ1, but was only affected by σ2 and σ3. The differential creep deformation in σ2 and σ3-directions can be described by the formula DI = a(1-exp(b((σ2-σ3)/σ3))).
The rock structure and three-dimensional stress state play a vital role in the mechanical behaviour of rock masses. Here, a series of true triaxial compression tests (
σ
1
>
σ
2
>
σ
3
) are ...conducted on jointed marble (50 × 50 × 100 mm
3
) containing a natural stiff joint, taken from the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL-II) project. The purposes of this study are to investigate the joint effect and estimate the stress dependency of jointed marble. The test results show that jointed marble can fail in four distinct forms, namely, splitting or shearing of intact marble, opening of the joint or sliding along the joint, and these failure modes are influenced by the joint configuration and the minimum and intermediate principal stresses. Generally, jointed marble has more brittle post-peak behaviour than intact marble. The linear Mogi-Coulomb failure criterion can be modified to describe the strength of the jointed marble under true triaxial compression. The jointed marble strength is more sensitive to the minimum principal stress than to the intermediate principal stress. A maximum decline of 25% in strength is observed, which corresponds to a joint dip angle of 60° at
σ
2
= 60 MPa and
σ
3
= 30 MPa. The link between the experimental results and in situ fracturing at CJPL-II is also demonstrated.
Identifying building function type (BFT) is vital for many studies and applications, such as urban planning, disaster risk assessment and management, and traffic control. Traditional remote sensing ...methods are commonly used for land use/cover classification, but they have some limitations in BFT identification. Considering that the dynamic variations of social sensing mobile signaling (MS) data at diurnal and daily scales are directly related to BFT, in this paper, we propose a method to infer BFT using MS data obtained from mobile devices. First, based on the different patterns of population dynamics within different building types, we propose a BFT classification scheme with five categories: residential (R), working (W), entertainment (E), visiting (V), and hospital (H). Then, a random forest (RF) classification model is constructed based on two days (one workday and one weekend) of MS data with a temporal resolution of one hour to identify the BFT. According to the cross-validation method, the overall classification accuracy is 84.89%, and the Kappa coefficient is 0.78. Applying the MS data-constructed RF model to the central areas of Beijing Dongcheng and Xicheng Districts, the overall detection rate is 97.35%. In addition, to verify the feasibility of the MS data, the Sentinel-2 (S2) remote sensing data are used for comparison, with a classification accuracy of 73.33%. The better performance of the MS method shows its excellent potential for BFT identification, as the spatial and temporal population dynamics reviewed based on MS data are more correlated with BFT than geometric or spectral features in remote sensing images. This is an innovative attempt to identify BFT with MS data, and such a method compensates for the scarcity of BFT studies driven by population dynamics. Overall, in this study, we show the feasibility of using time series MS data to identify BFT and we provide a new path for building function mapping at large scales.
Considering the significant influence of clouds on thermal infrared (TIR) data sea surface temperature (SST) retrieval, this study focuses on the reduction of cloud influence on Moderate Resolution ...Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) longwave SST retrieval. First, the quality level (QL) 3 MODIS SSTs are classified into cloudy or clear-sky pixels based on MODIS cloud mask products. The cloudy SST pixels, flagged as confident cloudy or probably cloudy in the cloud masks, are further classified into three groups according to their associated daytime cloud-top and optical properties. Taking the SSTs measured by 11 buoys over one year as the reference data, those three groups of cloudy SSTs are significantly underestimated, with biases of −33.45 °C, −6.35 °C, and −4.72 °C. The QL 3 clear-sky SSTs are identified as probably and confident clear in the cloud masks and are not influenced by clouds, with a bias of nearly 0 °C. Then, three support vector regression (SVR) models are individually proposed for the three groups of cloudy SSTs. Taking the cloud-top and optical parameters as inputs of the proposed SVR models, we can obtain SSTs with a bias of 0 °C and a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of less than 1.6 °C for the three groups of cloudy SSTs. The method proposed in this study shows the potential for TIR SST estimation under some cloudy conditions using satellite remote sensing cloud products. Considering the RMSE of 0.4 °C in operational sea surface temperature and sea ice analysis, further study is needed before actual applying the method proposed in this study.
Abstract
Background
Expression of glycoprotein A dominant repeat (GARP) has been reported to occur only in activated human naturally occurring regulatory T cells (Tregs) and their clones, and not in ...activated effector T cells, indicating that GARP is a marker for bona fide Tregs. A different phenotype of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may have a different immunologic mechanism.
Objective
To investigate whether the distribution of Tregs defined by GARP is related to the multi-organ loss of tissue phenotype in COPD.
Methods
GARP expression on T cells from peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) collected from patients with COPD was examined by flow cytometry. The correlation of GARP expression to clinical outcomes and clinical phenotype, including the body mass index, lung function and quantitative computed tomography (CT) scoring of emphysema, was analyzed.
Results
Patients with more baseline emphysema had lower forced expiratory volume, body mass index (BMI), worse functional capacity, and more osteoporosis, thus, resembling the multiple organ loss of tissue (MOLT) phenotype. Peripheral Foxp3
+
GARP
+
Tregs are reduced in COPD patients, and this reduction reversely correlates with quartiles of CT emphysema severity in COPD. Meanwhile, the frequencies of Foxp3
+
GARP
−
Tregs, which are characteristic of pro-inflammatory cytokine production, are significantly increased in COPD patients, and correlated with increasing quartiles of CT emphysema severity in COPD. Tregs in BAL show a similar pattern of variation in peripheral blood.
Conclusion
Decreased GARP expression reflects more advanced disease in MOLT phenotype of COPD. Our results have potential implications for better understanding of the immunological nature of COPD and the pathogenic events leading to lung damage.
Detailed and accurate historical earthquake disaster data are an important basis for understanding the characteristics of earthquake disaster losses and for conducting research on earthquake disaster ...prevention strategies and post-earthquake emergency rescue work. Due to different project scopes and discrepancies in data accuracy, the currently available databases may contain errors such as missing data or data with low accuracies. In this study, we developed the Mainland China Composite Earthquake causing Casualties Database (MCCEC-DAT), which contains 252 historical earthquake records that span from 1966 to 2021. The database contains earthquake attribute information (earthquake time, location, epicenter latitude and longitude, focal depth, epicentral intensity, etc.), loss information (number of deaths and injuries, building damage ratio, economic loss, cause of death, etc.), and socioeconomic data (population, population density, area of each zone of seismic intensity, mortality rate, etc.). This database also contains the lethality levels generated by this study. These levels are the result of the quantitative evaluation of the overall characteristic levels of the earthquake area. Furthermore, this metric permits the direct comparison of different spatial locations. Based on the results of the statistical analysis, this work shows that the distribution of historical earthquakes in mainland China has obvious spatial and temporal characteristics. Events are mainly distributed throughout the southwest region, and the magnitudes of those events are relatively diverse. The mortality rate is significantly correlated with the building damage ratio and the lethality level. The lethality level can not only facilitate an improved understanding of the comprehensive level of historical earthquake regions, but this metric also provides a quantitative foundation for the comparative analysis of earthquakes between different regions. Furthermore, the database can also provide a foundation for future research, such as research into assessing the loss from earthquake disasters.
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•Surface modification of g-C3N4 was obtained by a simple illumination in pure water.•Hydroxyl groups could be introduced on the surface of g-C3N4 via breaking C=N.•The adsorption ...capacity of g-C3N4 for methylene blue was significantly improved.•The photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4 were significantly improved after modification.
The surface of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is decisive in its photocatalytic performance because the critical processes including pollutants adsorption, interfacial charge transfer, and redox reaction etc, readily take place on its surface. In this study, a novel surface functionalization strategy was developed to introduce hydroxyl groups on the surface of g-C3N4 through a simple illumination modification in pure water. The specific surface area and morphology of g-C3N4 did not show significant changes after light irradiation modification, but there were significant differences in the composition of surface functional groups, surface charge properties, and photocatalytic activities. A series of characterization results indicated that hydroxyl groups introduction on the surface of g-C3N4 could significantly enhance surface electronegativity, accelerate photogenerated charge carriers separation and transfer, and increase O2•- radicals generation, thereby improving the highly selective adsorption and photocatalytic degradation performance of g-C3N4 for cationic methylene blue (MB) wastewater treatment. This work provides an effective strategy for fabricating efficient g-C3N4 photocatalysts for different kinds of organic wastewater treatment via simple surface modification.
Vitamin E is essential for human health and plays positive roles in anti-oxidation. Previously, we detected large variation in vitamin E content among 161 oil palm accessions. In this study, twenty ...oil palm accessions with distinct variation in vitamin E contents (171.30 to 1 258.50 ppm) were selected for genetic variation analysis and developing functional markers associated with vitamin E contents. Thirty-seven homologous genes in oil palm belonging to vitamin E biosynthesis pathway were identified via BLASTP analysis, the lengths of which ranged from 426 to 25 717 bp (average 7 089 bp). Multiplex PCR sequencing for the 37 genes found 1 703 SNPs and 85 indels among the 20 oil palm accessions, with 226 SNPs locating in the coding regions. Clustering analysis for these polymorphic loci showed that the 20 oil palm accessions could be divided into five groups. Among these groups, group I included eight oil palm accessions whose vitamin E content (mean value: 893.50 ppm) was far higher than other groups (mean value 256.29 to 532.94 ppm). Correlation analysis between the markers and vitamin E traits showed that 134 SNP and 7 indel markers were significantly (p < 0.05) related with total vitamin E content. Among these functional markers, the indel EgTMT-1-24 was highly correlated with variation in vitamin E content, especially tocotrienol content. Our study identified a number of candidate function associated markers and provided clues for further research into molecular breeding for high vitamin E content oil palm.
Some inflammatory biomarkers are associated with the post-surgical prognosis in cancer patients. However, their clinical importance in gallbladder cancer has rarely been explored. The aim of this ...study is to assess the efficacy of surgical intervention and the effectiveness of preoperative test on neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) for predicting the prognosis in gallbladder cancer patients. In this study, a total of 255 gallbladder cancer patients were retrospectively selected. For each patient, we recorded his/her treatment algorithm (with or without surgery) and their preoperative inflammatory biomarkers, as well as their detailed survival information for 5 years. A total of 216 patients received surgical intervention and the other 39 chose conservative treatment. The median survival time was 4.6 months for non-surgical group (P < 0.001), and 12.2 months for surgical intervention group. Among the surgical group, ROC analysis showed the AUC of NLR, PLR and MLR were 0.675 (95% CI: 0.600 to 0.751, P < 0.001), 0.599 (95% CI: 0.520 to 0.677, P = 0.017) and 0.607 (95% CI: 0.529 to 0.686, P = 0.009), respectively. In conclusion, surgical intervention did improve the overall survival, and elevated NLR and MLR before surgery are associated with shorter OS of GBC patients.
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