Increase In Ratio Research Articles

Study on the Influence Characteristics of Excavation Face Instability of New Tunnels Orthogonally Crossing Existing Tunnels

This study aims to solve the problem of stability of the excavation surface of a new tunnel crossing an existing tunnel orthogonally. The relative horizontal spacing between the two tunnels is taken as an influencing factor, and transparent soil model tests are conducted and expanded with numerical simulations. Finally, the active destabilization mechanism and influence characteristics of the excavation surface of the two tunnels at different horizontal spacings, vertical spacings, and tunnel diameter ratios are obtained. The results show that when the excavated face is destabilized, the existing tunnel located in front of and above the excavation surface limits the development of the upper “silo” and the transfer of soil stress in the destabilized area, and the ultimate support pressure is reduced by 17.6% and 8.7%, respectively. This effect increases as the vertical spacing between the two tunnels decreases and the tunnel diameter ratio increases. At this point, the deformation trend of the existing tunnel cross-section is reflected as “elliptical-shaped”. This trend is more apparent when the vertical spacing between the two tunnels and the tunnel diameter ratio are decreased. The protection of the existing tunnel should be strengthened at this time.

The Impact of Reinforcement Ratio on the Punching Shear of CFRP Grid-Reinforced Concrete Two-Way Slabs

Corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete slabs undermines structural durability and shortens the lifespan of concrete structures. Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) is a promising material offering benefits such as high strength, corrosion resistance, and light weight. This study aims to investigate the punching shear performance of concrete slabs reinforced with CFRP grids, focusing on the effects of different reinforcement ratios. A series of experiments were conducted on two-way concrete slabs reinforced solely with CFRP grids to assess their punching shear resistance. Experimental results show that the CFRP grid achieves an ultimate tensile strength of 2181 MPa, with the cracking load of CFRP grid-reinforced slabs reaching approximately 20% of the ultimate load, highlighting a strong correlation between the ultimate load and grid reinforcement ratio. The observed punching failure exhibited clear brittle characteristics, characterized by the formation of radial and circumferential cracks on the tensile surface of the slab. The reinforcement ratio significantly influences the failure mode of the slabs; as the reinforcement ratio increases, the ultimate punching loads also increase. Additionally, a mathematical formula is proposed to predict the punching bearing capacity, achieving calculation errors below 20%. These findings contribute valuable insights into using CFRP grids as primary reinforcement, enhancing the design and application of durable concrete slab structures.

Nuclear burning in an accretion flow around a stellar-mass black hole embedded within an AGN disk

Abstract A stellar-mass black hole, embedded within the accretion disk of an active galactic nuclei (AGN), has the potential to accrete gas at a rate that can reach approximately ∼109 times the Eddington limit. This study explores the potential for nuclear burning in the rapidly accreting flow towards this black hole and studies how nucleosynthesis affects metal production. Using numerical methods, we have obtained the disk structure while considering nuclear burning and assessed the stability of the disk. In contrast to gas accretion onto the surface of a neutron star or white dwarf, the disk remains stable against the thermal and secular instabilities because advection cooling offsets the nuclear heating effects. The absence of a solid surface for a black hole prevents excessive mass accumulation in the inner disk region. Notably, nuclear fusion predominantly takes place in the inner disk region, resulting in substantial burning of $\rm ^{12}C$ and $\rm ^{3}He$, particularly for black holes around M = 10 M⊙ with accretion rates exceeding approximately ∼107 times the Eddington rate. The ejection of carbon-depleted gas through outflows can lead to an increase in the mass ratio of oxygen or nitrogen to carbon, which may be reflected in observed line ratios such as $\rm N\, V/C\, IV$ and $\rm O\, IV/C\, IV$. Consequently, these elevated spectral line ratios could be interpreted as indications of super-solar metallicity in the broad line region.

Influence of Compressive Strength and Steel-Tube Thickness on Axial Compression Performance of Ultra-High-Performance Concrete-Filled Stainless-Steel Tube Columns Containing Coarse Aggregates

With the increasing use of concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) structures, exposed steel tubes are highly susceptible to corrosion, posing potential safety hazards. This study innovatively proposes the use of stainless-steel tubes instead of traditional carbon-steel ones and introduces coarse aggregates into ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC), forming a coarse aggregate-incorporated ultra-high-performance concrete-filled stainless-steel tube (CA-UFSST). The inclusion of coarse aggregates not only compensates for the shortcomings of UHPC but also enhances the overall mechanical performance of the composite structure. Twenty sets of specimens were designed to analyze the influence of four parameters, including the coarse aggregate content, compressive strength, stainless-steel-tube thickness, and stainless-steel type on the axial compression performance of UHPC. The experimental results indicate that the failure mode of UHPC is related to the confinement ratio. As the confinement ratio increases, the failure mode transitions from shear failure to bulging failure. The addition of coarse aggregates enhances the stiffness of the specimens. Furthermore, this paper discusses the applicability of six current codes in predicting the bearing capacity of CA-UFSST and finds that the European code exhibits the best prediction performance. However, as the confinement ratio increases, the prediction accuracy becomes notably insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a more accurate calculation model for the axial compression bearing capacity.

Abstract 4120741: Estrogen Regulates Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Tregs via CD45 + Fibroblast-derived IL-33

Background: Sexual dimorphisms manifest during the progression of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are a subset of T cells characterized by their immunosuppressive and tissue-repairing functions, therefore playing a protective role in AAA. Aims: We aim to elucidate the mechanism underlying sexual dimorphism in Tregs presented in AAA aortas, which is significant for unraveling the pathogenesis of AAA and developing gender-specific therapeutic approaches. Methods and Results: AAA mice were induced by receiving porcine pancreatic elastase. By flow cytometry, we observed that ovariectomy (OVX) increased the ratio of Tregs in female mice, while estrogen led to a decrease in aortic Tregs. Additionally, compared to littermate controls, estrogen receptor α (ERα) KO mice exhibited an increase in Treg ratio. Similar results were observed for the ST2 + Treg ratio. IL-33, as an alarming molecule, can promote the maintenance of ST2 + Tregs in tissues. Western blot revealed lower IL-33 expression levels in female mice than in male mice. By analyzing the IL-33 expression profiles of various cells in AAA tissue, we found that IL-33 mainly originates from fibroblasts. We found two subpopulations of fibroblasts, CD45 + and CD45 - fibroblasts. Immunofluorescence on the aortas verified the presence of cells co-expressing CD45 and PDGFRα in AAA fragments. Furthermore, IL-33 expression only showed gender differences in CD45 + fibroblasts. Adoptive transfer of CD45.1 + mouse bone marrow macrophages into CD45.2 + mice revealed that aortic CD45.1 + cells could regain the PDGFRα phenotype, with a lower proportion of female PDGFRα + cells in CD45.2 - CD45.1 + cells than in male mice. Lyz2(cre/+); Rosa26(tdtomato/+) mice showed the presence of lyz2-tdtomato + cells expressing PDGFRα in the aortic adventitia after AAA induction. This suggests that CD45 + fibroblasts are partially derived from bone marrow macrophages, which can migrate to aneurysms and acquire a PDGFRα phenotype. Conclusions: Female sex hormones negatively regulate CD45 + fibroblast formation and IL-33 secretion between female and male mice during AAA. This resulted in reduced Treg function in female mice compared to male mice.

Finite Element Modeling and Artificial Neural Network Analyses on the Flexural Capacity of Concrete T-Beams Reinforced with Prestressed Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Strands and Non-Prestressed Steel Rebars

The use of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strands as prestressed reinforcement in prestressed concrete (PC) structures offers an effective solution to the corrosion issues associated with prestressed steel strands. In this study, the flexural behavior of PC beams reinforced with prestressed CFRP strands and non-prestressed steel rebars was investigated using finite element modeling (FEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) methods. First, three-dimensional nonlinear FE models were developed. The FE results indicated that the predicted failure mode, load-deflection curve, and ultimate load agreed well with the previous test results. Variations in prestress level, concrete strength, and steel reinforcement ratio shifted the failure mode from concrete crushing to CFRP strand fracture. While the ultimate load generally increased with a higher prestressed level, an excessively high prestress level reduced the ultimate load due to premature fracture of CFRP strands. An increase in concrete strength and steel reinforcement ratio also contributed to a rise in the ultimate load. Subsequently, the verified FE models were utilized to create a database for training the back propagation ANN (BP-ANN) model. The ultimate moments of the experimental specimens were predicted using the trained model. The results showed the correlation coefficients for both the training and test datasets were approximately 0.99, and the maximum error between the predicted and test ultimate moments was around 8%, demonstrating that the BP-ANN method is an effective tool for accurately predicting the ultimate capacity of this type of PC beam.

Noise & mottle suppression methods for cumulative Cherenkov images of radiation therapy delivery

Purpose.Cherenkov imaging during radiotherapy provides a real time visualization of beam delivery on patient tissue, which can be used dynamically for incident detection or to review a summary of the delivered surface signal for treatment verification. Very few photons form the images, and one limitation is that the noise level per frame can be quite high, and mottle in the cumulative processed images can cause mild overall noise. This work focused on removing or suppressing noise via image postprocessing.Approach.Images were analyzed for peak-signal-to-noise and spatial frequencies present, and several established noise/mottle reduction algorithms were chosen based upon these observations. These included total variation minimization (TV-L1), non-local means filter (NLM), block-matching 3D (BM3D), alpha (adaptive) trimmed mean (ATM), and bilateral filtering. Each were applied to images acquired using a BeamSite camera (DoseOptics) imaged signal from 6x photons from a TrueBeam linac delivering dose at 600 MU min-1incident on an anthropomorphic phantom and tissue slab phantom in various configurations and beam angles. The standard denoised images were tested for PSNR, noise power spectrum (NPS) and image sharpness.Results.The average peak-signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) increase was 17.4% for TV-L1. NLM denoising increased the average PSNR by 19.1%, BM3D processing increased it by12.1% and the bilateral filter increased the average PSNR by 19.0%. Lastly, the ATM filter resulted in the lowest average PSNR increase of 10.9%. Of all of these, the NLM and bilateral filters produced improved edge sharpness with, generally, the lowest NPS curve.Conclusion.For cumulative image Cherenkov data, NLM and the bilateral filter yielded optimal denoising with the TV-L1 algorithm giving comparable results. Single video frame Cherenkov images exhibit much higher noise levels compared to cumulative images. Noise suppression algorithms for these frame rates will likely be a different processing pipeline involving these filters incorporated with machine learning.

Film-Cooling Performance Comparison of Blade Tips With a Trailing Edge, Pressure Side Cutback, or a Suction Side Squealer in a Transonic Linear Cascade

Abstract Film-cooling effectiveness and leakage flow play crucial roles in turbine blade heat transfer. In contrast to the conventional trailing edge cutback squealer blade tip (CB tip), this study aims to compare the film-cooling effectiveness of a suction side squealer tip (SS tip) under different blowing ratios and density ratios. This experiment is conducted in a three-blade cascade wind tunnel under transonic conditions. While applying the pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) technique for film-cooling effectiveness measurements, both top-view and side-view perspectives were employed to illustrate the distribution of local cooling effectiveness across various regions of the blade. Furthermore, PSP can be used to estimate the leakage flow across the blade tip by analyzing the local static pressure distribution. For the CB tip, the film-cooling effectiveness within the cavity increases as both the blowing ratio and density ratio increase. The PSP technique clearly captures the accumulation of coolant within the cavity and the coolant discharge near the trailing edge in the vicinity of the squealer cutback. When the blade tip is outfitted with only a suction side squealer, the film-cooling effectiveness on the blade tip is comparable to that of the full squealer with the trailing edge cutback. This similarity is achieved as the CB tip design requires 14–20% more coolant to achieve the same blowing ratios as the SS tip. The advantage of the SS tip is further demonstrated as leakage flow across the tip is reduced compared to the CB tip.

FEATURES OF ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS OF DOLOMITES OF THE LOWER PERMIAN DEPOSITS BY X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY

In this work, using the methods of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray phase analysis (XRF), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XFS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), the physicochemical properties of dolomite rocks selected from one well at different depths of occurrence were studied. The SEM method shows that, depending on the depth of occurrence, dolomite is characterized by both ordinary crystals of rhombohedral morphology, the size of which varies from 50 to 80 microns along the diagonal axis, and unusual shapes, in the form of hexagonal plates up to 1 microns thick and 1 to 10 microns in diameter. It has been found that dolomite plates in places form spherical aggregates ranging in size from 20 to 40 microns. According to the RF analysis data, it was found that in samples of dolomite rock (of ordinary and unusual shape), after calcination at 1000 °C for 5 hours, there is a twofold increase in the molar stoichiometric ratio of Mg and Ca, compared with the initial (non-calcined) state of dolomite. By the XRD method, it was found that during calcination of dolomite samples, a phase transformation (CaMg(CO3)2 → CaO + MgO + 2CO2) is observed, in which lime (CaO) and periclase (MgO) phases are formed. Precision SEM studies have shown that periclase nanocrystals, whose size varies from 100 nm to 300 nm, are evenly distributed on the surface of larger lime fragments. As a result of numerous measurements of the X-ray spectra of the RF, it was found that the overlap of lime fragments with numerous periclase nanocrystals is the cause of a significant overestimation of the magnesium content after calcination of dolomite samples. It is concluded that in order to correctly conduct elemental analysis and obtain adequate information about the weight fraction of rock-forming oxides in dolomite samples, they must first be dissolved in hydrochloric acid. The method of sample preparation proposed by the authors for the correct elemental analysis of dolomite rocks has been tested on numerous samples, which showed convincing convergence of the data obtained by XRF (decomposition into rock-forming oxides) and XRF analysis.

Air Excess Coefficient and Irreversibility Value Analysis of Gas Turbines

Gas turbines used in natural gas cycle power plants have been researched in terms of energy efficiency. Gas turbines used in power generation plants have a very complex structure because they contain many components. In order to determine the thermodynamic performance of this system, the efficiency of each component and the increase in entropy of each component were calculated using exergy analysis. Irreversibility was chosen as the main parameter and used for thermodynamic optimization of production. The system consists of many components. An increase in the irreversibility of a single component causes an increase in the irreversibility of other components. The effect of gas turbine pressure ratio and excess air percentage on fuel consumption, fuel exergy, combustion chamber exergy change and irreversibility change was investigated. It was observed that the increase in compressor pressure ratio increased irreversibility. Maximum irreversibility was observed in the combustion chamber. Irreversibility was compared with the excess air used in the combustion chamber. The air excess coefficient was examined as percentages of 100%, 200%, and 300%, respectively. The compression pressure ratio was examined for air excess coefficient percentage values from 3 to 40.

BRET Nano Q-Body: A Nanobody-Based Ratiometric Bioluminescent Immunosensor for Point-of-Care Testing.

We developed a nanobody-based homogeneous bioluminescent immunosensor to achieve a one-pot detection for point-of-care testing (POCT). This immunosensor was named BRET nano Q-body as its emission color changes via bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) upon antigen addition. NanoLuc luciferase and a cysteine-containing tag were fused to the N-terminus of the nanobody, which was labeled with a fluorescent dye via thiol-maleimide Michael addition. The nanobody employed in this proof-of-principle experiment recognizes methotrexate (MTX), a chemotherapeutic agent. After optimizing the fluorescent dye and linker, the BRET nano Q-body dose-dependently exhibited a greater than 7-fold increase in emission ratio (TAMRA/NanoLuc). Moreover, we found its superior thermostability endurance in organic solvents, reducing agents, and detergents due to the robust structure of nanobody, as well as accommodation in biological fluids, such as milk, serum, and whole blood without dilution, with limits of detection of 0.50, 1.6, and 3.7 nM, respectively. Furthermore, the BRET nano Q-body was subjected to lyophilization and fabricated into a paper device, which markedly improved its portability and enabled more than one month of storage at 25 °C. The paper device also performed appropriate functions in the biological fluids without any dilution and can be used for on-site therapeutic drug monitoring of MTX. Altogether, we developed a powerful tool, the BRET nano Q-body, for POCT, and demonstrated its applicability in several biological fluids. In addition, we confirmed the feasibility of paper devices, which are expected to be transformative for in situ detection in therapeutic, diagnostic, and environmental applications.

Charged atomization characteristics and influencing factors analysis of aviation kerosene/ethanol blended fuel

ABSTRACT In this study, an experimental apparatus for charged atomization was established to explore the charged atomization modes of blended aviation kerosene/ethanol fuels and the corresponding evolution of atomization modes for E0 (100% aviation kerosene), E10 (10% ethanol + 90% aviation kerosene), E30 (30% ethanol + 70% aviation kerosene), and E50 (50% ethanol + 50% aviation kerosene) blends with varying applied voltages. Furthermore, the influence of the ethanol blending ratio, electrode separation distance, fuel flow rate, nozzle diameter, and other influencing factors on the charged atomization characteristics was investigated. Experimental results within the 0 to 10 kV voltage range revealed that as the voltage increased, the E0 fuel transitioned from droplet formation to spindle shape without exhibiting atomization, while the E10, E30, and E50 fuels displayed a sequential progression of atomization modes including droplet, micro-droplet, pulsed-jet, cone-jet, deflected-jet, and multi-jet configurations. As the ethanol blending ratio increases, the critical voltage required for the transition to atomization mode decreases, while the atomization cone angle gradually increases. The average atomization cone angles are 38.98°, 49.97°, and 66.83° for E10, E30, and E50, respectively. When the nozzle diameter is reduced from 1.05 mm to 0.3 mm, the charged atomization cone angle does not change significantly. With increasing fuel flow, the critical voltage for the atomization mode transition increases progressively, and the charged atomization cone angle also increases. The average atomization cone angles are 65.80°, 88.45°, 93.04°, 103.63°, and 110.97°, respectively.

Seismic Vibration Control and Multi-Objective Optimization of Transmission Tower with Tuned Mass Damper Under Near-Fault Pulse-like Ground Motions

Although the wind load is usually adopted as the governing lateral load in the design of transmission towers, many tall transmission towers may be damaged or even collapse in high seismic intensity areas, especially under near-fault pulse-like ground motions. To study the seismic vibration control effect of a tuned mass damper (TMD) attached to transmission tower, parametric analyses are conducted in SAP2000 through CSI OAPI programming, including TMD parameters such as the mass ratio μ from 0.5% to 10%, the frequency ratio f from 0.7 to 1.2, and the damping ratio ξ from 0.01 to 0.2. Based on the obtained analysis results, artificial neural network (ANN) is trained to predict the vibration reduction ratios of peak responses and the corresponding vibration reduction cost. Finally, the NSGA-III algorithm is adopted to perform the multi-objective optimization of a transmission tower equipped with TMD. Results show that the vibration reduction ratios first increase and then decrease with the increase of frequency ratio, but first increase and then remain stable with the increase of mass ratio and damping ratio. In addition, ANN fitting can accurately predict the nonlinear relationship between TMD parameters and objective functions. Through multi-objective optimization with the NSGA-III algorithm, TMD can simultaneously and significantly reduce different peak responses of transmission towers under near-fault pulse-like ground motions in a cost-effective manner.

How CO2 gas accelerates water nucleation at low temperature.

We conducted homogeneous nucleation experiments for dilute binary H2O-CO2 mixtures in Ar-N2 carrier gas with different CO2/H2O ratios at temperatures of 57 and 75K and total pressures of ∼40 and 70Pa, respectively. Direct experimental information on the number and type of molecules in the clusters and on the cluster number concentration is obtained by mass spectrometric detection of nucleating clusters that form in the uniform region of Laval expansions. Only homo-molecular water clusters are observed in the mass spectra. However, as the CO2/H2O ratio increases, a significant increase in the nucleation rate is observed. A simple kinetic model suggests that this acceleration of nucleation is due to the formation of short-lived, transient hetero-molecular H2O-CO2 dimers. Comparison with homogeneous binary nucleation of toluene-CO2 and unary nucleation of H2O shows that nucleation becomes more efficient in systems with stronger intermolecular interactions and a larger number of degrees of freedom. Such studies at the molecular level will improve our understanding of homogeneous nucleation mechanisms in atmospheric and industrial processes.

Comparative Dissolution Study of Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride-sustained Release Tablets by Using Carbopol-934 and Guar Gum Polymers

Aims: This study aimed to identify the potential release of the drug from the tablet dosage form using Carbopol-934 and Guar Gum polymers at different concentration ratios. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the cumulative percentage of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride released from different polymers. Method: We formulated ciprofloxacin hydrochloride sustained-release tablets with Carbopol-934 and Guar gum using the wet granulation method. For the formulation of sustained-release ciprofloxacin hydrochloride tablets, both polymers were mixed in varying ratios. The tablets were examined for pre-formulation studies, including the angle of repose, bulk density, compressibility index, and physiological properties, such as variations in weight, friability, and drug content. For postformulation studies, such as the in vitro study, the in vitro release of the drugs was evaluated in a phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.4) for 8 h. However, the physiological properties of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride tablets were limited due to their liberality. Results: The tablets containing guar gum (Batches B-I and B-II) showed better drug content than other polymer-based batches, such as Carbopol-934 (Batch A-I, A-II) and a mixture of both polymer Carbopol-934 and Guar gum (Batch C-I, C-II). Sustained drug release was observed in the guar gum polymer-based tablets (Batch B-II). It was observed that the dissolution profile of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride tablets formed using different polymers showed an increase in the polymer ratio, which can be related to the increase in drug release. Conclusion: From this study, we can conclude that the ciprofloxacin hydrochloride drug release percentage was maximum when guar gum polymer was used in the tablet dosage form.

Health screening and its association with emergency department visits and related costs among home-dwelling older adults

Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the health screening procedure for home-dwelling older adults in reducing emergency department visits and associated costs. Methods Data were derived from health screenings from 2020 to 2021 for 75-year-old home-dwelling residents of Western Finland. The study compared emergency department visits and associated costs between older adults who participated in the health screening (intervention group) and those who did not (non-intervention group). For each older adult, three non-intervention controls were matched according to age, sex, health screening year and wellbeing service county. Emergency department visits and International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes from one year before to two years after health screening were analyzed. Results In the non-intervention group, a 19% increase in emergency visit rates was seen (457–564 per 1000 person-years), while the intervention group showed a 67% decrease (165–23). Annual costs for the non-intervention group increased from 148 euros (€) to €183, a mean ratio increase of 1.24 per person-year (range 1.08–1.40). In contrast, the intervention group’s costs decreased from €53 to €8, a mean reduction ratio of 0.15 per person-year (range 0.10–0.71). The intervention group had lower frequency of visits for respiratory and circulatory diseases but higher for digestive and metabolic diseases, unlike the non-intervention group. Conclusions The implementation of the health screening is an effective strategy for reducing both the frequency of emergency department visits and associated costs in home-dwelling older adults in good condition.

Micropropagation and in vitro rejuvenation of Eucalyptus cloeziana F. Muell.

Micropropagation is an important tool for the propagation for recalcitrant species, like Eucalyptus cloeziana. This is a first reported about a complete study of the E. cloeziana, it includes the vegetative rescue protocol of mature trees, its micropropagation up to the implementation of a mini-garden and clonal micro-garden and evaluation of adventitious rooting of their propagules. The in vitro rejuvenation of E. cloeziana genotypes (03, 05, 06, 13 and 15), over 21 successive subcultures, was evaluated by comparing minicutting and microcutting techniques and the efficiency of this biotechnological tool for cloning of the mature trees. The results provide evidence of the in vitro rejuvenation occurring in the mature E. cloeziana trees during micropropagation, leading to increases in the multiplication ratios of the microstumps of three genotypes (03, 05 and 15). The survival and callogenesis percentages of the mini and microcuttings of E. cloeziana were higher than 80% upon exiting of the greenhouse (30-days old) in the three cutting times. The results suggesting that factors beyond tissue maturity influence the adventitious rooting of the E. cloeziana because minicuttings and microcuttings of the 05 and 13 elite genotypes exhibited rooting percentages lower than 20%. These findings provided a theoretical basis for realizing the micropropagation of the epicormic shoots of the mature trees and, subsequently, its in vitro rejuvenation by axillary bud proliferation.

Numerical analysis of soil reinforced by sand columns using different installation methods

This study involves a finite element numerical simulation of laboratory tests conducted on small-scale models. The tests involved the installation of columns using different techniques: without soil displacement and without column compaction (WR-NC), and without soil displacement but with column compaction (WR-WC). The reinforced soil masses were then subjected to a uniform 150 kPa load. A comparison between the numerical and experimental results showed excellent agreement, validating the simulation. Following this validation, a parametric analysis was carried out to examine the effects of the various parameters on the behavior of the reinforced soil masses. In the first method, three different column diameters were analyzed, focusing on the effects of diameter (area replacement ratio), column length, and geogrid containment benefits. In the second method, three levels of compaction pressure were applied during the column installation. The study evaluated the impact of column installation techniques on the behavior of the reinforced masses. The findings indicate that settlement reduction is proportional to the increase in area replacement ratio and column length. Additionally, confining the columns with geogrid was shown to be effective in further reducing settlements. The results also revealed that increasing compaction stress leads to greater radial expansion of the columns, which densifies and stiffens the surrounding soil, thereby reducing settlement. Overall, the study concludes that column installation techniques significantly influence the behavior of reinforced soil masses.

A Microgrid Stability Improvement Method by Applying Virtual Adaptive Resistor Paralleling with a Grid-Connected Inverter

An increase in renewable energy generation in the microgrid can cause voltage oscillation problems. To address this issue, an equivalent circuit of the microgrid was established, including a synchronous generator, grid-connected inverter, and constant power load. Then, the impact of different renewable energy generation ratios, different direct current (DC) voltage loops, and phase-locked loop control bandwidths of the grid-connected inverter on microgrid stability were analyzed. The results indicate that an increase in the renewable energy generation ratio leads to a decrease in the stability margin of the microgrid. A microgrid stability improvement method involving the parallel connection of a virtual resistor with the grid-connected inverter was proposed. The resistance value of the virtual resistor was obtained through an adaptive algorithm. This method ensures the stable operation of the microgrid under different renewable energy generation ratios.

Metabolomics and proteomics insights into hepatic responses of weaned piglets to dietary Spirulina inclusion and lysozyme supplementation

BackgroundStudying the effect of dietary Spirulina and lysozyme supplementation on the metabolome and proteome of liver tissue contributes to understanding potential hepatic adaptations of piglets to these novel diets. This study aimed to understand the influence of including 10% Spirulina on the metabolome and proteome of piglet liver tissue. Three groups of 10 post-weaned piglets, housed in pairs, were fed for 28 days with one of three experimental diets: a cereal and soybean meal-based diet (Control), a base diet with 10% Spirulina (SP), and an SP diet supplemented with 0.01% lysozyme (SP + L). At the end of the trial, animals were sacrificed and liver tissue was collected. Metabolomics analysis (n = 10) was performed using NMR data analysed with PCA and PLS-DA. Proteomics analysis (n = 5) was conducted using a filter aided sample preparation (FASP) protocol and Tandem Mass Tag (TMT)-based quantitative approach with an Orbitrap mass spectrometer.ResultsGrowth performance showed an average daily gain reduction of 9.5% and a feed conversion ratio increase of 10.6% in groups fed Spirulina compared to the control group. Metabolomic analysis revealed no significant differences among the groups and identified 60 metabolites in the liver tissue. Proteomics analysis identified 2,560 proteins, with 132, 11, and 52 differentially expressed in the Control vs. SP, Control vs. SP + L and SP vs. SP + L comparisons, respectively. This study demonstrated that Spirulina enhances liver energy conversion efficiency, detoxification and cellular secretion. It improves hepatic metabolic efficiency through alterations in fatty acid oxidation (e.g., upregulation of enzymes like fatty acid synthase and increased acetyl-CoA levels), carbohydrate catabolism (e.g., increased glucose and glucose-6-phosphate), pyruvate metabolism (e.g., higher levels of pyruvate and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase), and cellular defence mechanisms (e.g., upregulation of glutathione and metallothionein). Lysozyme supplementation mitigates some adverse effects of Spirulina, bringing physiological responses closer to control levels. This includes fewer differentially expressed proteins and improved dry matter, organic matter and energy digestibility. Lysozyme also enhances coenzyme availability, skeletal myofibril assembly, actin-mediated cell contraction, tissue regeneration and development through mesenchymal migration and nucleic acid synthesis pathways.ConclusionsWhile Spirulina inclusion had some adverse effects on growth performance, it also enhanced hepatic metabolic efficiency by improving fatty acid oxidation, carbohydrate catabolism and cellular defence mechanisms. The addition of lysozyme further improved these benefits by reducing some of the negative impacts on growth and enhancing nutrient digestibility, tissue regeneration, and overall metabolic balance. Together, Spirulina and lysozyme demonstrate potential as functional dietary components, but further optimization is needed to fully realize their benefits without compromising growth performance.