•The feasibility of using anhydrous sodium metasilicate as a geopolymer activator for soil stabilization had been verified.•The strengths of stabilized clay samples activated by a conventional ...activator and the ASM activator had been compared.•The effects of modulus ratio, content of activators, GGBS on the strengths of stabilized clay samples were evaluated.•The two-stage process of dissolution ofASM powder in geopolymer-stabilized clay was verified by the 29Si MAS-NMR results.
This paper presents recent research on the use of anhydrous sodium metasilicate (ASM) powder as the alkaline activator of a one-part geopolymer binder for use in soil stabilization, to enhance the strength properties of soft clay. Geotechnical, mineralogical and microstructural tests were used to determine the performance of the geopolymer binder when mixed into an artificial soft clay. Comparison with the strength development of geopolymer-stabilized clay samples activated by a conventional sodium hydroxide activator and the ASM activator had been made. The effects of modulus ratio (SiO2/Na2O), content of the activators, as well as the GGBS content, water content, and curing time on the strength development of the geopolymer-stabilized clay samples were evaluated. The results indicate that the ASM powder alone is suitable as an alkaline activator to generate a one-part geopolymer binder for soil stabilization based on its high 28-d strength (4.2MPa) and its modulus ratio, which was in the optimal range (0.9–1.2). The microstructural analyses confirm the influence of the two-stage dissolution process of the hydrated amorphous alkali metal silicate powders on the strength development of the ASM-powder clay samples and the formation of the geopolymer gels. This study demonstrates that the ASM powder can be used to substitute for sodium hydroxide in generating a geopolymer binder, which can lead to more practical applications for geopolymer in soil stabilization.
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are highly promising next‐generation photovoltaic devices because of the cheap raw materials, ideal band gap of ≈1.5 eV, broad absorption range, and high absorption ...coefficient. Although lead‐based inorganic‐organic PSC has achieved the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 25.2%, the toxic nature of lead and poor stability strongly limits the commercialization. Lead‐free inorganic PSCs are potential alternatives to toxic and unstable organic‐inorganic PSCs. Particularly, double‐perovskite Cs2AgBiBr6‐based PSC has received interests for its all inorganic and lead‐free features. However, the PCE is limited by the inherent and extrinsic defects of Cs2AgBiBr6 films. Herein, an effective and facile strategy is reported for improving the PCE and stability by introducing an N719 dye interlayer, which plays multifunctional roles such as broadening the absorption spectrum, suppressing the charge carrier recombination, accelerating the hole extraction, and constructing an appropriate energy level alignment. Consequently, the optimizing cell delivers an outstanding PCE of 2.84%, much improved as compared with other Cs2AgBiBr6‐based PSCs reported so far in the literature. Moreover, the N719 interlayer greatly enhances the stability of PSCs under ambient conditions. This work highlights a useful strategy to boost the PCE and stability of lead‐free Cs2AgBiBr6‐based PSCs simultaneously, accelerating the commercialization of PSC technology.
A multifunctional N719 dye interlayer is introduced into lead‐free all‐inorganic Cs2AgBiBr6‐based perovskite solar cells to enhance the efficiency and stability by broadening the absorption spectrum, promoting the charge carrier separation/extraction and constructing an appropriate energy level alignment. As a result, the optimized device shows a superior power conversion efficiency of 2.84% and excellent operational stability under ambient conditions.
Drug discovery is a cost and time-intensive process that is often assisted by computational methods, such as virtual screening, to speed up and guide the design of new compounds. For many years, ...machine learning methods have been successfully applied in the context of computer-aided drug discovery. Recently, thanks to the rise of novel technologies as well as the increasing amount of available chemical and bioactivity data, deep learning has gained a tremendous impact in rational active compound discovery. Herein, recent applications and developments of machine learning, with a focus on deep learning, in virtual screening for active compound design are reviewed. This includes introducing different compound and protein encodings, deep learning techniques as well as frequently used bioactivity and benchmark data sets for model training and testing. Finally, the present state-of-the-art, including the current challenges and emerging problems, are examined and discussed.
Significant permanent fault rupture may occur during earthquakes and induce adverse effects on pipelines when they are located within a fault zone. Although fault movement–pipeline interaction has ...attracted increasing research attention recently, a simplified method that can be used to directly estimate curvatures of continuous pipelines due to normal fault movement has not been developed. In this study, a systematic finite element (FE) parametric study with 950 FE runs is conducted to investigate normal fault movement–induced bending behavior in continuous pipelines. Centrifuge test results are adopted to verify the numerical model. It is found that ground settlement due to normal fault movement is well captured by an error function. A dimensionless plot is developed between relative pipe–soil stiffness and ratio of maximum pipe curvature to maximum ground curvature. The maximum curvatures of pipelines due to normal fault movement can be estimated directly from the developed dimensionless plot. As the relative pipe–soil stiffness increases from 1.0 × 10
–4
to 1.0 × 10
3
, the curvature ratio decreases from 1 to 0. When the relative pipe–soil stiffness is less than 1.0 × 10
–3
, the curvature ratio is close to 1. In contrast, the curvature ratio is close to zero when the relative pipe–soil stiffness is larger than 10
2
.
Prefabricated vertical-horizontal drains (PVHDs) with high efficiency have been applied to accelerate the consolidation of dredger fill foundations. Considering the nonlinear characteristics of soil, ...the horizontal and vertical drainage paths and the penetration degree of horizontal drainage pipes, an improved consolidation calculation method for dredger fill foundations treated by PVHDs was developed. Sensitivity analysis was carried out on the parameters of the PVHDs system, and the effectiveness of the proposed method was verified by field tests. It is found that the parameters C
c
/C
k
, loading ratio (Δp/σ'), and penetration degree (ρ) jointly control the rate of the consolidation process. The average settlement consolidation degree (U
s
) calculated by the proposed method agrees well with the field test values. By increasing ρ from 0.2 to 1.0, the consolidation time can be reduced by half when U
s
reaches 90%.
This study aimed to separately compare and rank the effect of various living-low and training-high (LLTH) modes on aerobic and anaerobic performances in athletes, focusing on training intensity, ...modality, and volume, through network meta-analysis. We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, EBSCO, and Cochrane from their inception date to June 30, 2023. Based on the hypoxic training modality and the intensity and duration of work intervals, LLTH was divided into intermittent hypoxic exposure, continuous hypoxic training, repeated sprint training in hypoxia (RSH; work interval: 5-10 s and rest interval: approximately 30 s), interval sprint training in hypoxia (ISH; work interval: 15-30 s), short-duration high-intensity interval training (s-IHT; short work interval: 1-2 min), long-duration high-intensity interval training (l-IHT; long work interval: > 5 min), and continuous and interval training under hypoxia. A meta-analysis was conducted to determine the standardized mean differences (SMDs) among the effects of various hypoxic interventions on aerobic and anaerobic performances. From 2,072 originally identified titles, 56 studies were included in the analysis. The pooled data from 53 studies showed that only l-IHT (SMDs: 0.78 95% credible interval; CrI, 0.52-1.05) and RSH (SMDs: 0.30 95% CrI, 0.10-0.50) compared with normoxic training effectively improved athletes' aerobic performance. Furthermore, the pooled data from 29 studies revealed that active intermittent hypoxic training compared with normoxic training can effectively improve anaerobic performance, with SMDs ranging from 0.97 (95% CrI, 0.12-1.81) for l-IHT to 0.32 (95% CrI, 0.05-0.59) for RSH. When adopting a program for LLTH, sufficient duration and work intensity intervals are key to achieving optimal improvements in athletes' overall performance, regardless of the potential improvement in aerobic or anaerobic performance. Nevertheless, it is essential to acknowledge that this study incorporated merely one study on the improvement of anaerobic performance by l-IHT, undermining the credibility of the results. Accordingly, more related studies are needed in the future to provide evidence-based support. It seems difficult to achieve beneficial adaptive changes in performance with intermittent passive hypoxic exposure and continuous low-intensity hypoxic training.
The aberrant expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) has recently emerged as key molecules in human cancers; however, whether lncRNAs are implicated in the progression of clear cell renal cell ...carcinoma (ccRCC) remains unclear.
Candidate lncRNAs were selected using microarray analysis and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to detect lncRNAs expression in human ccRCC tissues. Overexpression and knocking down experiments in vivo and in vitro were performed to uncover the biological roles of lncRNA-URRCC on ccRCC cell proliferation and invasion. Microarray, chromatin immunoprecipitation, Luciferase reporter assay and western blot were constructed to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the functions of lncRNA-URRCC.
The microarray analysis and qRT-PCR identified a new lncRNA, URRCC, whose expression is upregulated in RCC samples and associated with poor prognosis, leading to promote ccRCC cell proliferation and invasion. Mechanistically, URRCC enhances the expression of EGFL7 via mediating histone H3 acetylation of EGFL7 promoter, activation of P-AKT signaling, and suppressing P-AKT downstream gene, FOXO3. In return, FOXO3 could inhibit the transcription of URRCC via binding to the special region on the promoter of URRCC.
Our data suggests that targeting this newly identified feed-back loop between LncRNA-URRCC and EGFL7/P-AKT/FOXO3 signaling may enhance the efficacy of existing therapy and potentially imparts a new avenue to develop more potent therapeutic approaches to suppress RCC progression.
In this study, an extensive numerical parametric study is conducted in sand to investigate the effectiveness of countermeasures (i.e., methods used to alleviate tunnel deformation) to reduce tunnel ...response due to overlying basement excavation. Centrifuge test results were adopted to calibrate soil parameters and numerical modeling procedures. It is found that the maximum heave and tensile strains (i.e., transverse and longitudinal) of tunnel decrease as an increase in the wall penetration depth. But the reduction in the maximum heave and tensile strains of tunnel is less than 20% when the wall penetration depth is increased by three times. Using a 2 m thick diaphragm wall to replace a sheet pile wall, the maximum transverse tensile strain of tunnel is reduced by up to 27%. The maximum heave and longitudinal tensile strain of tunnel decrease as an increase in the thickness of tunnel lining. However, a slight increase in the thickness of tunnel lining causes an increase in the maximum transverse tensile strain of tunnel. By further increasing the lining thickness, the maximum transverse tensile strain starts to decrease. In terms of the maximum transverse tensile strain of tunnel, a slight increase in the lining thickness may even cause adverse effects on existing tunnels.
Although microRNAs (miRNAs) were revealed as crucial modulators in tumor metastasis and target therapy, our understanding of their roles in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) and Sunitinib ...treatment was limited. Here we sought to identify human miRNAs that acted as key regulators in renal cancer metastasis and Sunitinib treatment.
We focused on 2 published microarray data to select out our anchored miRNA and then explored the roles of miR-452-5p both in vitro and in vivo, which was downregulated after Sunitinib treatment while upregulated in metastasis renal cell carcinoma (RCC) tissues.
Here, we discovered that treating with Sunitinib, the targeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), inhibited renal cancer cell migration and invasion via attenuating the expression of miR-452-5p. The novel identified miR-452-5p was upregulated and associated with poor prognosis in RCC. Preclinical studies using multiple RCC cells and xenografts model illustrated that miR-452-5p could promote RCC cell migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, P65 could directly bind to the miR-452-5p promoter and thus transcriptionally induce miR-452-5p expression, which led to post-transcriptionally abrogate SMAD4 expression, thus inhibition of its downstream gene SMAD7.
Our study presented a road map for targeting this newly identified miR-452-5p and its SMAD4/SMAD7 signals pathway, which imparted a new potential therapeutic strategy for mRCC treatment.
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