Inductive pulsed power supply (IPPS) is a competitive type of power supply for electromagnetic launch (EML). Compared with the capacitive type, the structure and working process of IPPS are more ...complicated, which make the design of the IPPS module difficult. In this article, the method of calculating the module performance from structural and electrical parameters is proposed. Based on that, the biobjective optimization of a 100-kJ module is carried out. With the help of genetic algorithms, the optimization results are 2500 nondominated solutions on the Pareto front, and one of the representative solutions is verified by experiments. The performance of the built module is in good agreement with the calculated value. Its energy density reaches 3.98 MJ/m 3 , the peak output current reaches 23 kA with 8.1-ms pulsewidth.
To obtain a better strength-toughness balance of martensite-austenite dual phase deposited metals, an austenite reversed treatment (ART) with short holding time (namely S-ART), combining with the ...advantage of quenching & partitioning (Q&P) is proposed. The dual phase deposited metal is heated to the intercritical region (620 °C) for austenite reversion with a short holding time of 0.5 h. Compared to the conventional ART (C-ART) with the holding time of 2.0 h, S-ART provides significant improvement in yield strength, elongation and impact toughness. Due to the stronger partitioning effect of carbon, the carbon concentration of the retained austenite (RA) during S-ART is higher than that of C-ART and as-welded. Therefore, the stability of the RA in S-ART state increases dramatically and induces sustained transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) effect, which contributes to the enhancement of yield strength, ductility and toughness. Moreover, after S-ART, the volume fraction of RA increases and the dislocation density in martensite decreases significantly, further improving the ductility and toughness.
In the context of increasingly fierce competition in the international construction market and gradually saturated Chinese domestic construction industry, regional construction industries urgently ...need to develop differentiated strategies to achieve sustainable development of international competitiveness. This research combines sustainability perspective with incremental perspective to propose the concept of sustainable international competitiveness and explores the impact of sustainability on the spatiotemporal evolution and influential factors of international competitiveness based on exploratory spatial data analysis and quantile regression method. Analysing panel statistical data from provincial regions in China, we find that most regions develop overseas construction projects independently, resulting in random distribution of competitiveness nationwide; meanwhile, spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics present geographical expansion of competitiveness decline in aggregation regions as well as robust polarization effect and path-dependent effect in dispersion regions. Additionally, determinant influential factors of sustainable international competitiveness vary with competitiveness increasing. These findings manifest unbalanced sustainability performances in strategy-driven and demand-driven regions resulting from single driving mode of competitiveness; reveal heterogeneous development mode of influential factors with inverted U-shaped effect, marginal effect, and escape-competition effect; and provide policy makers at national, regional, and firm levels with improvement strategies tailored to local conditions in extended industrial chain, integrated contracting mode, and updated strategy deployment; promoting high-quality and sustainable development of overseas construction projects with unified policy planning in the regional construction industry.
•Evaluate international competitiveness by sustainability and incremental perspectives.•Dynamically mine spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of competitiveness.•Propose differentiated improvement strategies tailored to local conditions.
Human adenovirus (HAdV) infection outbreak causes community-acquired pneumonia. Cellular immune dysfunction and hypercytokinemia play important roles in the pathogenesis of adenovirus respiratory ...infection. Some soluble factors in peripheral blood can assist in judging the virus-induced disease severity. The expression levels of inflammatory cytokines differ among patients with different disease severity. However, whether and how HAdV-7 infection influences the composition of blood immune cells and serum cytokine levels in patients at different disease stages, as well as the diagnosis values of these parameters, have rarely been intensively studied. We aimed to investigate lymphocytes profiles and cytokines levels in blood of patients at different disease stages upon human adenovirus type 7 (HAdV-7) infections, and explored the diagnosis values of the investigated parameters.
Patients from two outbreaks of HAdV-7 in military of China were categorized into upper respiratory infection (URI) group, common pneumonia (CP) group and severe pneumonia (SP) group according to disease severity. Peripheral blood samples were subjected to routine laboratory tests, while flow cytometry and ELISA were used to measure the lymphocyte subsets and cytokines in blood, respectively. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to examine the diagnostic of these blood parameters.
Signs of imbalanced lymphocytes composition and hypercytokinemia were observed in HAdV-7-infected patients. The percentages of CD3
T cells and NK cells were significantly decreased along with the aggravation of the disease, particularly for NK cells and CD4
T cells. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) increased significantly in patients with more severe disease. In addition, the levels of serum CXCL10, IL-2 and TNF-α were positively correlated with disease severity, while reduced levels of IFN-γ and IL-10 were found in SP patients. Furthermore, analysis of ROC showed that multiple parameters including the percentage of blood CD3
cells and serum CXCL10 level could predict the progression of HAdV-7 infection.
Imbalance of immune state with hypercytokinemia occurred during HAdV-7 infection. The percentages of blood immune cells such as CD3
T cells and the levels of serum cytokines such as CXCL10 showed potential diagnosis values in HAdV-7 infection.
Microplastics (MPs) may significantly affect the bioavailability of coexisting pollutants in soil by adsorption-desorption behavior. However, the mechanisms underlying these interaction remain ...unclear. Herein, the influence of unused polythylene mulch film-derived MPs (MFMPs) and farmland residual polyethylene mulch film-derived MPs (MFMPs-aged) on the adsorption-desorption behavior and bioavailability of atrazine (ATZ) in soil were investigated. The adsorption kinetics and the adsorption isotherms of ATZ on soil, MFMPs, and MFMPs-aged fitted well by the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir model, respectively. ATZ were easier to desorb from soil, MFMPs, and MFMPs-aged in the simulated earthworm digestive fluid than that in the CaCl2 solution. The adsorption and desorption capacities of MFMPs and MFMPs-aged for ATZ were higher than those of soil, especially for MFMPs-aged. The existence of MPs in soil strengthened the adsorption and desorption capacities of ATZ, and the strengthened effects were promoted by the addition amount and aging process of MPs. Moreover, the occurrence of MPs significantly increased the bioaccumulation of ATZ in earthworms, especially for MFMPs-aged. This study deepens the knowledge of the interaction mechanisms of mulch film-derived MPs and pesticide pollution.
Display omitted
•The adsorption and desorption capacities of ATZ on MPs increased after aging.•The adsorption and desorption capacities of ATZ on MPs were higher than those on soil.•Simulated earthworm digestive fluid promoted the desorption of ATZ from MPs and soil.•The addition of MPs increased the adsorption and desorption capacities of ATZ in soil.•The presence of MPs in soil enhanced the bioaccumulation of ATZ in earthworms.
Cryptosporidium is a highly pathogenic parasite responsible for diarrhea in children worldwide. Here, the epidemiological status and genetic characteristics of Cryptosporidium in children with or ...without diarrhea were investigated with tracking of potential sources in Wenzhou City, China.
A total of 1032 children were recruited, 684 of whom had diarrhea and 348 without, from Yuying Children's Hospital in Wenzhou, China. Samples of stool were collected from each participant, followed by extraction of DNA, genotyping, and molecular identification of Cryptosporidium species and subtypes.
Twenty-two of the 1032 (2.1%) children were infected with Cryptosporidium spp. with 2.5% (17/684) and 1.4% (5/348) in diarrhoeic and asymptomatic children, respectively. Four Cryptosporidium species were identified, including C. parvum (68.2%; 15/22), C. felis (13.6%; 3/22), C. viatorum (9.1%; 2/22), and C. baileyi (9.1%; 2/22). Two C. parvum subtypes named IIdA19G1 (n = 14) and IInA10 (n = 1), and one each of C. felis (XIXa) and C. viatorum (XVaA3g) subtype was found as well.
This is the first research that identified Cryptosporidium in children of Wenzhou, China, using PCR. Identification of zoonotic C. parvum, C. felis, C. viatorum, and their subtypes indicate potential cross-species transmission of Cryptosporidium between children and animals. Additionally, the presence of C. baileyi in children suggests that this species has a wider host range than previously believed and that it possesses the capacity to infect humans.
Phylogenetic relationships among Chinese species of Morella (Myricaceae) are unresolved. Here, we use restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) to identify candidate loci that will help in ...determining phylogenetic relationships among Morella rubra, M. adenophora, M. nana and M. esculenta. Three methods for inferring phylogeny, maximum parsimony (MP), maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian concordance, were applied to data sets including as many as 4253 RAD loci with 8360 parsimony informative variable sites. All three methods significantly favored the topology of (((M. rubra, M. adenophora), M. nana), M. esculenta). Two species from North America (M. cerifera and M. pensylvanica) were placed as sister to the four Chinese species. According to BEAST analysis, we deduced speciation of M. rubra to be at about the Miocene-Pliocene boundary (5.28 Ma). Intraspecific divergence in M. rubra occurred in the late Pliocene (3.39 Ma). From pooled data, we assembled 29378, 21902 and 23552 de novo contigs with an average length of 229, 234 and 234 bp for M. rubra, M. nana and M. esculenta respectively. The contigs were used to investigate functional classification of RAD tags in a BLASTX search. Additionally, we identified 3808 unlinked SNP sites across the four populations of M. rubra and discovered genes associated with fruit ripening and senescence, fruit quality and disease/defense metabolism based on KEGG database.
Abstract
The asymmetric hydro turbine governing system (AHTGS) has been widely applied in engineering practice, yet the stability characteristics and nonlinear behaviours of AHTGS are seldom studied. ...Therefore, the authors are motivated to study the stability characteristics and nonlinear behaviours of AHTGS by using Hopf bifurcation theory. Firstly, the refined nonlinear mathematical model of AHTGS is constructed, which takes account of the nonlinear head loss in asymmetric penstocks. Subsequently, the multi-stability characteristics of AHTGS is revealed based on the refined nonlinear mathematical model by using stable domain. Then, the multi-timescale oscillation phenomenon is revealed, i.e. system dynamic response consists of two subwaves with different frequencies. Moreover, the relationship of the two subwaves and the system multi-stability is investigated. The result indicates that the two supercritical bifurcation lines are emerged and a two-timescale oscillation is generated. The stability of the two-timescale oscillation is determined by the two emerged stable domains. In addition, the cause of high-frequency and low-frequency subwaves has been verified as the natural hydraulic oscillation and hydraulic interference between the hydro turbine generating units, respectively. The overall stability of AHTGS is determined by the intersection area of the two stable domains, therefore the reasonable tuning of control parameters within the comprehensive stable domain is critical to maintain the stability of AHTGS.
Abstract
Background
To assess the geometrical risk factors for meniscal injuries. We hypothesized that the narrowness of the intercondylar notch and the smaller tibial spine could increase the risk ...of meniscal injuries.
Methods
We retrospectively studied two hundred and seven patients examined for knee magnetic resonance images. Two experienced orthopedists evaluated the severity of meniscal injuries. The notch width, bicondylar notch width, notch width index, condyle width of the femur, tibial spine height, and intercondylar angle were measured in magnetic resonance image slides by two blinded orthopedists.
Results
A total of 112 patients with a meniscus injury and 95 patients were as healthy control in all two hundred and seven patients. The NWI (
P
= 0.027) in patients with meniscus injuries was significantly different from the control group. A 1 SD (0.04 mm) increase in NWI was associated with a 0.4-fold increase in the risk of meniscal injury. A 1 SD (0.04 mm) increase in NWI was associated with a 0.64-fold increase in the risk of grade 3 meniscal injury. Furthermore, NWI and medial spine height are decreased significantly in grade 2 (
P
< 0.05) meniscal injury than in other grades. The medial spine height was significantly decreased in the meniscal injury group (
P
= 0.025), and the decrease in medial spine height would increase the risk of meniscal injury (OR = 0.77) and grade 3 meniscal injury (OR = 0.8).
Conclusions
The stenosis of the femoral intercondylar notch and small medial tibial spine is risk factors of meniscal injury. The decreased NWI and the medial tibial spine height were also associated with the severity of the meniscal injury.
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