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"Cai, Ming"
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A DFN–DEM Multi-scale Modeling Approach for Simulating Tunnel Excavation Response in Jointed Rock Masses
Based on the concept of the representative elementary volume (REV) and the synthetic rock mass (SRM) modeling technique, a DFN–DEM multi-scale modeling approach is proposed for modeling excavation responses in jointed rock masses. Discrete fracture networks (DFNs) are generated using MoFrac. For a given volume of jointed rock masses, multi-scale DFN models are constructed according to the hierarchical order of fracture size. Based on the DFN models of various scales, equivalent rock mass properties are obtained using 3DEC SRM models. A tunnel excavation simulation using data from the Äspö TAS08 tunnel is conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed multi-scale modeling approach. The modeling results show that it is efficient to model the mechanical response of the rock mass using the proposed approach. The proposed approach has the advantages of both equivalent continuum and discontinuum methods, with a higher degree of accuracy compared with the pure continuum approach and a less computational effort compared with the pure discontinuum approach.
Journal Article
Age-associated B cells contribute to the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis by inducing activation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes via TNF-α-mediated ERK1/2 and JAK-STAT1 pathways
ObjectivesAge-associated B cells (ABCs) are a recently identified B cell subset, whose expansion has been increasingly linked to the pathogenesis of autoimmune disorders. This study aimed to investigate whether ABCs are involved in the pathogenesis and underlying mechanisms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).MethodsABCs were assessed in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice and patients with RA using flow cytometry. Transcriptomic features of RA ABCs were explored using RNA-seq. Primary fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) derived from the synovial tissue of patients with RA were cocultured with ABCs or ABCs-conditioned medium (ABCsCM). IL-6, MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13 levels in the coculture supernatant were detected by ELISA. Signalling pathways related to ABCs-induced FLS activation were examined using western blotting.ResultsIncreased ABCs levels in the blood, spleen and inflammatory joints of CIA mice were observed. Notably, ABCs were elevated in the blood, synovial fluid and synovial tissue of patients with RA and positively correlated with disease activity. RNA-seq revealed upregulated chemotaxis-related genes in RA ABCs compared with those in naive and memory B cells. Coculture of FLS with RA ABCs or ABCsCM led to an active phenotype of FLS, with increased production of IL-6, MMP-1, MMP-3 and MMP-13. Mechanistically, ABCsCM-derived TNF-α promoted the upregulation of interferon-stimulated genes in FLS, with elevated phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and STAT1. Furthermore, blockage of ERK1/2 and Janus Kinase (JAK)-STAT1 pathways inhibited the activation of FLS induced by ABCsCM.ConclusionsOur results suggest that ABCs contribute to the pathogenesis of RA by inducing the activation of FLS via TNF-α-mediated ERK1/2 and JAK-STAT1 pathways.
Journal Article
Attribution of mortality to the urban heat island during heatwaves in the West Midlands, UK
Background
The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect describes the phenomenon whereby cities are generally warmer than surrounding rural areas. Traditionally, temperature monitoring sites are placed outside of city centres, which means that point measurements do not always reflect the true air temperature of urban centres, and estimates of health impacts based on such data may under-estimate the impact of heat on public health. Climate change is likely to exacerbate heatwaves in future, but because climate projections do not usually include the UHI, health impacts may be further underestimated. These factors motivate a two-dimensional analysis of population weighted temperature across an urban area, for heat related health impact assessments, since populations are typically densest in urban centres, where ambient temperatures are highest and the UHI is most pronounced. We investigate the sensitivity of health impact estimates to the use of population weighting and the inclusion of urban temperatures in exposure data.
Methods
We quantify the attribution of the UHI to heat related mortality in the West Midlands during the heatwave of August 2003 by comparing health impacts based on two modelled temperature simulations. The first simulation is based on detailed urban land use information and captures the extent of the UHI, whereas in the second simulation, urban land surfaces have been replaced by rural types.
Results and conclusions
The results suggest that the UHI contributed around 50 % of the total heat-related mortality during the 2003 heatwave in the West Midlands. We also find that taking a geographical, rather than population-weighted, mean of temperature across the regions under-estimates the population exposure to temperatures by around 1 °C, roughly equivalent to a 20 % underestimation in mortality. We compare the mortality contribution of the UHI to impacts expected from a range of projected temperatures based on the UKCP09 Climate Projections. For a medium emissions scenario, a typical heatwave in 2080 could be responsible for an increase in mortality of around 3 times the rate in 2003 (278 vs. 90 deaths) when including changes in population, population weighting and the UHI effect in the West Midlands, and assuming no change in population adaptation to heat in future.
Journal Article
Assembly of Homochiral Magneto-Optical Dy6 Triangular Clusters by Fixing Carbon Dioxide in the Air
A new hydrazone Schiff base bridging ligand (H2LSchiff (E)-N′-((1-hydroxynaphthalen-2-yl)methylene)pyrazine-2-carbohydrazide) and L/D-proline were used to construct a pair of homochiral Dy6 cluster complexes, [Dy6(CO3)(L-Pro)6(LSchiff)4(HLSchiff)2]·5DMA·2H2O (L-1, L-HPro = L-proline; DMA = N,N-dimethylacetamide) and [Dy6(CO3)(D-Pro)6(LSchiff)4(HLSchiff)2]·5DMA·2H2O (D-1, D-HPro = D-proline), which show a novel triangular Dy6 topology. Notably, the fixation of CO2 in the air formed a carbonato central bridge, playing a key role in assembling L-1/D-1. Magnetic measurements revealed that L-1/D-1 displays intramolecular ferromagnetic coupling and magnetic relaxation behaviours. Furthermore, L-1/D-1 shows a distinct magneto-optical Faraday effect and has a second harmonic generation (SHG) response (1.0 × KDP) at room temperature. The results show that the immobilization of CO2 provides a novel pathway for homochiral multifunctional 4f cluster complexes.
Journal Article
Invasive alien plants benefit more from clonal integration in heterogeneous environments than natives
What confers invasive alien plants a competitive advantage over native plants remains open to debate. Many of the world’s worst invasive alien plants are clonal and able to share resources within clones (clonal integration), particularly in heterogeneous environments. Here, we tested the hypothesis that clonal integration benefits invasive clonal plants more than natives and thus confers invasives a competitive advantage.
Weselected five congeneric and naturally co-occurring pairs of invasive alien and native clonal plants in China, and grew pairs of connected and disconnected ramets under heterogeneous light, soil nutrient and water conditions that are commonly encountered by alien plants during their invasion into new areas.
Clonal integration increased biomass of all plants in all three heterogeneous resource environments. However, invasive plants benefited more from clonal integration than natives. Consequently, invasive plants produced more biomass than natives.
Our results indicate that clonal integration may confer invasive alien clonal plants a competitive advantage over natives. Therefore, differences in the ability of clonal integration could potentially explain, at least partly, the invasion success of alien clonal plants in areas where resources are heterogeneously distributed.
Journal Article
Symptoms and negative emotions in patients with advanced thyroid cancer: a prospective cross-sectional study
Background
There is no relevant research on the symptoms and emotions of patients with advanced thyroid cancer in mainland China.
Aim
To investigate the symptoms and negative emotions of patients with advanced thyroid cancer and to analyze the correlation between the two preliminarily.
Methods
Using a convenience sampling method, 180 patients who visited a multidisciplinary outpatient service for advanced thyroid cancer at West China Hospital of Sichuan University from January 2023 to December 2023 were selected as the research subjects. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory-Thyroid Cancer module (MDASI-THY) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The correlation between symptom severity and negative emotions was determined by Spearman correlation analysis.
Results
Disturbed sleep was the symptom with the highest incidence (74.4%) and the greatest severity (3.0 points), while mood distress was the symptom with the highest incidence (63.3%) and the greatest severity (2.0 points). 71 patients (39.4%) had anxiety, and 62 patients (34.4%) had depression. All symptoms and symptom interference were positively correlated with anxiety and depression (
P
< 0.05).
Conclusion
Patients with advanced thyroid cancer have multiple symptoms that seriously affect their daily lives and emotions. Medical staff should conduct targeted observation and preventive treatment to reduce the burden of symptoms and improve the negative emotions of patients.
Journal Article
Forty-Year Review of the Hoek–Brown Failure Criterion for Jointed Rock Masses
The Hoek–Brown failure criterion has developed into the most widely used system for estimating rock mass strength in rock engineering. The reason lies in its unique framework for integrating the strength properties of intact rock and geological observations in the field. While the determination of intact rock properties from laboratory tests is relatively straightforward, quantifying the relevant geological characteristics remains challenging. Strength degradation relations play a central role in the Hoek–Brown failure criterion by downgrading the strength properties of intact rock, based on quantitative measures of rock mass quality and disturbance, to estimate the strength properties of the rock mass. In this independent review, the origin and evolution of the Hoek–Brown failure criterion and the associated strength degradation relations and rock mass characterization methods are discussed. Common methods for estimating rock mass cohesion, friction angle and deformation modulus are presented. The effect of parameter uncertainty on the reliability of estimated rock mass properties is investigated. Understanding the basis and development of the Hoek–Brown failure criterion is essential for proper use of the system within its limits of applicability and with realistic expectations of reliability.
Journal Article
Two Dy2 Zero-Field Single-Molecule Magnets Derived from Hydrazone Schiff Base-Bridging Ligands and 1,3-Di(2-pyridyl)-1,3-propanedione
Two hydrazone Schiff base-bridging ligands with different heterocycles 2-[(E)-(5-chloro-2-hydroxyphenyl)methylidene]diazanyl(pyrazine-2-yl)methanone (H2LSchiff-1) and (E)-N′-(2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylidene)nicotinohydrazide (H2LSchiff-2) together with 1,3-di(2-pyridyl)-1,3-propanedione (Hdpp) were chosen to construct two new Dy2 complexes, [Dy2(LSchiff-1)2(DMF)2(dpp)2]·0.5DMF (1) and [Dy2(LSchiff-2)2(DMF)2(dpp)2]·2DMF (2). Although the [N2O6] coordination spheres are observed for the Dy3+ ions in 1 and 2, their coordination configurations have some differences (both the biaugmented trigonal prism and the Snub diphenoid J84 in 1 and only the biaugmented trigonal prism in 2). Magnetic research revealed that both 1 and 2 possess ferromagnetic interactions between two Dy3+ ions and perform as zero-field single-molecule magnets, with Ueff/k values of 49.7 K at 0 Oe for 1 and 151.8 K at 0 Oe for 2. This work suggests that the heterocycle groups (pyrazine vs. pyridine) on the hydrazone Schiff base-bridging ligands have effects on the SMM properties of 1 and 2.
Journal Article
Age/autoimmunity-associated B cells in inflammatory arthritis: An emerging therapeutic target
Age/autoimmunity-associated B cells (ABCs) are a novel B cell subpopulation with a unique transcriptional signature and cell surface phenotype. They are not sensitive to BCR but rely on TLR7 or TLR9 in the context of T cell-derived cytokines for the differentiation. It has been established that aberrant expansion of ABCs is linked to the pathogenesis of systemic autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Recently, we and other groups have shown that increased ABCs is associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity and have demonstrated their pathogenic role in RA, indicating that targeting specific B cell subsets is a promising strategy for the treatment of inflammatory arthritis. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of ABCs, focusing on their emerging role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory arthritis. A deep understanding of the biology of ABCs in the context of inflammatory settings in vivo will ultimately contribute to the development of novel targeted therapies for the treatment of inflammatory arthritis.
Journal Article