Although immunotherapy has become the standard of treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), only a limited number of patients benefit from it clinically because of the resistance to immunotherapeutic agents. Of late, the usefulness of herbal medicines in combination with immunotherapy has been investigated. Bojungikki-Tang (BJIKT) is a widely used traditional herbal medicine. It synergistically enhances the antitumor effects of chemotherapy and regulates the immune responses in cancer, but its antitumor effect with immunotherapy in NSCLC is unclear. In this study, we investigated the combined effects of BJIKT and an anti-PD-1 antibody in a KLN205-DBA/2 syngeneic lung cancer model. Immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry analyses were performed to analyze the changes in immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. BJIKT plus an anti-PD-1 antibody treatment significantly inhibited tumor growth, unlike the respective monotherapies. Compared to monotherapy, the combination treatment... [more]

This study shows the results of a simulation tool using the TRNSyS 2017 simulator, validated with experimental data from a greenhouse in an arid zone in northwestern Mexico. Additionally, experimental data on the performance of geothermal heat pumps are shown during the year 2020 in heating and cooling mode. With this information, an average deviation of the simulator for the outlet fluid temperature of the geothermal heat exchanger (GHE) of 2.77% and an average deviation of the coefficient of performance in cooling mode (EER) of the geothermal heat pump (GHP) of 3.7% was obtained. In the experimental study, it was observed that in the last 2 weeks of July and the first 2 weeks of August, the subsoil is saturated, which causes a decrease in the thermal inertia of the GHE. During the experimental study, it was possible to determine that the flow indicated in the GHE to obtain the highest performance of the GHP system in greenhouses in arid zones corresponds to 1 GPM, obtaining an EER of... [more]

Supply chain management (SCM), which generally refers to horizontal integration management, has steadily become the core competitiveness of company rivalry and an essential approach to developing national comprehensive and national strength since the end of the 20th century due to the numerous needs arising from a competitive international economy. Manufacturers develop a community of interest by forming long-term strategic partnerships with suppliers and vendors throughout the supply chain. This paper defines supply chain management by reviewing the existing literature and discusses the current state of supply chain management research, as well as prospective research directions. Specifically, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the influential studies of SCM in terms of various aspects, such as research areas, journals, countries/regions, institutions, authors and corresponding authors, most cited publications, and author keywords, based on the 8998 reviews and articles collected... [more]

Calcium hydroxide is promising for thermal energy storage due to its low cost and high energy density. Nevertheless, the powdered material is cohesive and has low thermal conductivity which is a major challenge for the operation of moving bed reactors. One approach to facilitate the movement of the reaction bed is the stabilisation of the particles through the coating of Ca(OH)2 granules with Al2O3 particles. In this work, a newly designed reactor concept was specifically developed for testing coated Ca(OH)2 granules. The design allows for the movement of the reaction bed by gravity assistance and direct heating of the particles by a counter current gas flow. The operation was successfully demonstrated and proved to achieve high heat transfer between gas and granules. Furthermore, the movement of the reaction bed was achieved after the discharging phase. Two batches of uncoated and coated Ca(OH)2 granules were subject of 10 thermochemical cycles in this reactor. The cycling stability,... [more]

Permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) have been gradually used as the driving equipment of coal mine belt conveyors. To ensure safety and stability, it is necessary to carry out real-time and accurate fault diagnosis of PMSM. Therefore, a fault diagnosis method for PMSM based on digital twin and ISSA-RF (Improved Sparrow Search Algorithm Optimized Random Forest) is proposed. Firstly, the multi-strategy hybrid ISSA is used to solve the problems of uneven population distribution, insufficient population diversity, low convergence speed, etc. In addition, the fault diagnosis model of ISSA-RF permanent magnet synchronous motor is constructed based on the optimization of the number of Random Forest decision trees and that of features of each node by ISSA. Secondly, considering the operation mechanism and physical properties of PMSM, the relevant digital twin model is constructed and the real-time mapping of physical entity and virtual model is realized through data interactive transmi... [more]

In the complex fracturing process of shale gas wells, casing is subjected to serious deformation, which can easily to the failure of wellbore integrity and the reduction of well construction productivity. It is particularly important to clarify the casing deformation mechanism and carry out effective control. Based on the logging data of casing deformation from well and full-scale indoor tests, the casing deformation mechanism is mainly considered to be shear and non-uniform extrusion deformation caused by formation slip and displacement control, i.e., the ultimate working conditions. The slip displacement boundary (<40 mm) under complex fracturing conditions is quantified to provide the design and optimization basis. Then, the influence laws of steel grade and wall thickness on the shear and non-uniform extrusion bearing characteristics are studied, using unconventional oil and gas well casing simulation test systems for 110 ksi (φ139.7 × 10.54 mm) and 125 ksi (φ139.7 × 12.7 mm) ca... [more]

This paper examines the simulation, design, and fabrication of a nano-particle silver microheater. COMSOL Multiphysics is used to simulate the microheater of an area of 720 × 720 μm2. Different stages of the microheater fabrication process are discussed. The size of the cartridge used is 10 pL and the nozzle diameter was 50 μm. The drop spacing was chosen to be 45 μm after testing several different values. Controlled printing of Ag ink was reached by setting the tickle control frequency to 8 kHz and cartridge print height to 0.4 mm. The nozzle temperature was set at ambient temperature. The inkjet printed microheater is of same area and track and gap widths of 110 μm. The measured resistance of the microheater, 119 Ω, is approximately equal to the simulated resistance of 100 Ω. It was observed that the temperature at the center of the heater reaches up to 250 °C.

In this article, a new design method for an adaptive fast finite-time controller (FTC) is proposed for the finite-time stability (FTS) issue of a class of high-order stochastic nonlinear systems (HOSNSs) with unknown parameters. Using a power integrator technology and Lyapunov function approach, an adaptive state feedback controller is derived to ensure fast FTS of HOSNSs. The developed adaptive fast FTC is equipped with less settling time to obtain better steady-state accuracy compared with the traditional FTC. The effectiveness of the proposed adaptive control scheme is demonstrated by a numerical example.

Focusing on the motion energy consumption of a self-developed inchworm robot’s peristaltic gait, based on the “error tracking” of cubic polynomial programming in Cartesian space and seventh polynomial programming in joint space, we propose an optimal motion planning method of energy consumption considering both kinematic and dynamic constraints. Firstly, we offer a mathematical description of the energy consumption and space curve similarity operator. Secondly, we describe the mathematical models of the robot trajectory and path that were established in terms of their dynamics and kinematics. Then, we propose a motion planning method based on improved adaptive particle swarm optimization (PSO) to accelerate the convergence speed of the algorithm and ensure the accuracy of the model calculation. Finally, we outline the simulation test carried out to measure the inchworm-like robot’s creeping gait. The results show that the motion path obtained by using the planning method proposed in th... [more]

A control strategy combining adaptive backstep sliding mode control and dead-zone inverse compensation control in a series was proposed to solve the problem of system parameter uncertainty and system dead-zone in the process of position control in an electro−hydraulic servo closed pump control system. Firstly, an adaptive backstepping sliding mode controller was designed by introducing the sliding mode control principle. Secondly, the smooth dead-zone inverse function was constructed by using the smooth continuous index function to design the dead-zone inverse compensation controller, which is combined with the adaptive sliding mode controller to form a series controller. Finally, the feasibility of the controller was verified by using the pump control servo system of a lithium battery pole strip mill. The experimental results show that, compared with traditional PID control, the control strategy displayed no excessive overshoot before the steady state, the steady-state control accurac... [more]

Esophageal cancer (ESCA) is one of the highest lethal malignancy tumors worldwide. Baculoviral IAP repeat-containing protein 3 (BIRC3) is the main inhibitor of apoptosis in many malignancies. The aim of this study was to clarify how BIRC3 acts in ESCA cells. Through TNMplot and GEPIA2 analysis, BIRC3 was found abundantly expressed in ESCA cells. The quantitative RT-PCR assay confirmed BIRC3 was pronouncedly induced in all used ESCA cell lines. In addition, proinflammatory cytokines TNFα and IL-1β were shown to have promotion effects on BIRC3 expression in ESCA cells. These promotive effects were blocked when the function of NF-κB was inhibited by bay 11-7082, which indicates the expression of the BIRC3 gene was regulated via the NF-κB transcription pathway in ESCA. Moreover, bioinformatics analysis showed that the BIRC3 gene had many NF-κB binding cis-elements. Chromatin immunoprecipitation was then performed and it was found that NF-κB directly interacts with cis-elements of the... [more]

The classification effect of hyperspectral remote sensing images is greatly affected by the problem of dimensionality. Feature extraction, as a common dimension reduction method, can make up for the deficiency of the classification of hyperspectral remote sensing images. However, different feature extraction methods and classification methods adapt to different conditions and lack comprehensive comparative analysis. Therefore, principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and locality preserving projections (LPP) were selected to reduce the dimensionality of hyperspectral remote sensing images, and subsequently, support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and the k-nearest neighbor (KNN) were used to classify the output images, respectively. In the experiment, two hyperspectral remote sensing data groups were used to evaluate the nine combination methods. The experimental results show that the classification effect of the combination method when applying... [more]

The transformation to Supply Chain (SC) 4.0 promises new opportunities for companies to gain competitiveness. The Lean Value Stream Mapping (VSM) tool allows the supervision of all the processes of the entire SC, from which we can identify the different types of waste that hinder the competitiveness of the SC. Following the existing problems detected with the help of a diagnostic, we will propose a new process design by integrating 4.0 technologies to modernize the company. For our case study, we treat the multinational SC of Automotive Wiring Equipment Morocco, where we will focus on the downstream part of the SC composed of the warehouse and the different stages of road and sea transport until the final delivery in Austria. Then, we will consider the opportunities offered by each country in terms of logistics competitiveness. In this research work, we will show how Lean VSM4.0 will contribute to sustainable development by integrating the three pillars economic, environmental, and soc... [more]

In order to assess the sunflower oil (SFO) oxidative stability that was added by the essential oils extracted from Lonicera japonica flower buds (LJEO) during deep-frying at 180 °C for 30 h, we clarified the compound/compounds of LJEO that improved the oxidative stability of SFO. The results displayed that the addition of LJEO (0.06 g/kg) could significantly restrict the elevation or the reduction in the levels of total polar compounds (TPC), thiobarbituric acid (TBA), conjugated dienes and conjugated trienes, and the values for polymer, viscosity and the color of SFO during the whole period. Meanwhile, the reduction in the sensory attributes, including flavor, taste, crispness and overall acceptability of the fried product, youtiao, was obviously restricted as well. After the bioassay-guided fractionation of LJEO and repeated deep-frying at 180 °C for 30 h, one of its chemical constituents, eugenol, was demonstrated to be the very compound that did significantly inhibit the oxidative... [more]

To study the movement law of methane in the goaf drained by a large-diameter borehole drilling machine under “U”-shaped ventilation, a simulation on a coal mine was conducted on Fluent to find the optimal spacing between large-diameter boreholes and the most appropriate distance between the borehole and the upper corner. The variation of borehole drilling and the methane concentration in the upper corner were obtained through a field test. Results show that the method of drilling large-diameter boreholes greatly reduces the methane concentration in the goaf and the upper corner, with the optimal borehole spacing being 30 m and the most appropriate distance between the borehole and the upper corner being 15 m. When the large-diameter borehole is drilled 25 m deep down into the goaf, it penetrates into the stress impact area, and the methane concentration increases rapidly, with the maximum being 3.7%. When the borehole is drilled 35 m down into the goaf, the methane concentration slight... [more]

In today’s linear economy, waste streams, environmental pollution, and social−economic differences are increasing with population growth. The need to develop towards a circular economy is obvious, especially since waste streams are composed of valuable compounds. Waste is a heterogeneous and complex matrix, the selective isolation of, for example, polyphenolic compounds, is challenging due to its energy efficiency and at least partially its selectivity. Extraction is handled as an emerging technology in biorefinery approaches. Conventional solid liquid extraction with organic solvents is hazardous and environmentally unfriendly. New extraction methods and green solvents open a wider scope of applications. This research focuses on the question of whether these methods and solvents are suitable to replace their organic counterparts and on the definition of parameters to optimize the processes. This review deals with the process development of agro-food industrial waste streams for bioref... [more]

Lithium-ion batteries are state of the art and, still, their performance is constantly improving. To increase the energy density and electric conductivity, electrodes are usually calendered. Hereby, a higher degree of compaction, while reducing structural damage, can be reached by heating the calendering rolls. For industrially relevant line speeds, it is however questionable whether the contact time between electrode and roll is sufficient to reach the full positive effect of the increased temperature. This study shows a numerical approach based on the discrete element method to simulate the heating behavior of electrodes before and during calendering using a typical NMC-622-cathode as a model structure. To improve the results of existing, more simplified discrete element method simulations, which neglect the heat transfer through the carbon black−binder matrix, an extension with heat transfer through the carbon black−binder matrix has been implemented. Considering process parameters,... [more]

The failure of thickeners at high temperature results in gelled acid acidification fracturing. To solve the problem, 8 kinds of polymers were synthesized by free radical polymerization of aqueous solution using AM, AMPS, NaAMPS, MAPTAC, DTAB and NVP as raw materials. The polymer was characterized by infrared spectroscopy and viscosity-average molecular weight, and the temperature resistance, rheology, salt resistance and shear resistance of the polymer solution were compared, and the mechanism was analyzed. The results show that the viscosity of GTY−2 is 181.52 mPa·s, and the viscosity loss rate is 56.89% at 180 °C and 100 s−1, and its temperature resistance is the best. Meanwhile, the viscosity retention rate of GTY−2 is 84.58% after 160 min shear, showing the strongest shear resistance. The viscosity loss rate of GTY−1 in 20% hydrochloric acid solution is 80.88%, and its acid resistance is stronger than that of GTY−2. Moreover, due to the amphiphilicity of DTAB, the molecular hydrati... [more]

Research aimed at finding alternative fuels to replace petroleum diesel (petrodiesel) used in controlled combustion engines (CCEs) has identified biodiesel as one of the main candidates, due to its sustainability and potential for use in energy matrices. In this study, the gas emissions from a diesel CCE were investigated, with a focus on total hydrocarbons (THC) and carbon monoxide (CO). Biodiesel (B100) samples derived from the transesterification of frying oil, produced applying conventional chemical catalysis (CC) or non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology, were tested as alternative fuels. Three engine rotation speeds were investigated (900, 1500, and 2500 rpm) and biodiesel samples obtained from the residual frying oil were compared with conventional road diesel (S-500) without biodiesel added, acquired from a gas station. Blends were also prepared with S-500 and B100 obtained applying NTP for 15 or 30 min, in mixes containing 2, 12, 20, and 50% of biodiesel. These blends showed redu... [more]

While COVID-19 vaccines are generally available, not all people receive vaccines. To reach herd immunity, most of a population must be vaccinated. It is, thus, important to identify factors influencing people’s vaccination preferences, as knowledge of these preferences allows for governments and health programs to increase their vaccine coverage more effectively. Fortunately, vaccination data were collected by U.S. Census Bureau in partnership with the CDC via the Household Pulse Survey (HPS) for Americans. This study presents the first analysis of the 24 vaccination datasets collected by the HPS from January 2021 to May 2022 for 250 million respondents of different ages, genders, sexual orientations, races, education statuses, marital statuses, household sizes, household income levels, and resources used for spending needs, and with different reasons for not receiving or planning to receive a vaccine. Statistical analysis techniques, including an analysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey mu... [more]

To improve the battery state of charge (SOC) of the electric vehicle (EV), this paper proposes a master−slave electro-hydraulic hybrid electric vehicle (MSEH-HEV). The MSEH-HEV uses a planetary row as the core transmission component to realize the interconversion between mechanical energy, hydraulic energy and electrical energy. Meanwhile, this paper introduces the six working modes in vehicle operation, matches the parameters of key components to the requirements of the vehicle’s performance and designs a rule-based control strategy to dominate the energy distribution and the operating mode switching. The research uses AMESim and Simulink to perform a co-simulation of the MSEH-HEV, and the superiority of MSEH-HEV is testified by comparing it with an AMESim licensed EV. The simulation results show that in the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) and the Extra Urban Driving Cycle (EUDC), the MSEH-HEV has a 15% reduction in battery consumption, and the motor peak torque is greatly reduce... [more]

The non-oxygenated oil product of the pyrolysis of polypropylene cannot be used directly as an engine fuel due to its high content of alkenes. However, high pressure of hydrogen gas is commonly employed in the hydrotreatment of alkenes to produce alkanes. A semi-batch hydrogenation reaction using a hydrogen gas self-inducing impeller to internally recirculate the hydrogen gas has been implemented in the present work to provide small hydrogen gas bubbles so that the gas dispersion in the liquid phase is intensified. This technique is expected to improve the contact of hydrogen, oil, and the Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, which in turn alleviates high pressures of hydrogen gas. The hydrogenation reaction was performed at 185 °C with an impeller speed of 400 rpm. The pressure was varied from 2 to 8 bar. At the pressure of 2 bar, the main reactions are the hydrogenation of alkenes and cyclization of alkenes leading to cycloalkane formation, while at the pressures of 4, 6, and 8 bar, the main reactions... [more]

Lignite’s large abundance, physicochemical properties and low cost are attractive for industrial wastewater remediation. However, directly applying lignite for wastewater treatment suffers low efficiency. Here, we synthesize highly efficient zero-valent iron (ZVI)-decorated lignite carbon through the in-situ carbonization of a lignite and FeCl2 mixture for heavy metal removal. The effect of carbonization temperature on the morphology, structure and crystallite phases of ZVI-decorated lignite carbons (ZVI-LXs) was investigated. At an optimized temperature (i.e., 1000 °C), ZVI particles were found evenly distributed on the lignite matrix with the particles between 20 to 190 nm. Moreover, ZVI particles were protected by a graphene shell that was formed in situ during the carbonization. The synthesized ZVI-L1000 exhibited higher Cu2+, Pb2+ and Cd2+ stripping capacities than pristine lignite in a wide pH range of 2.2−6.3 due to the surface-deposited ZVI particles. The maximum Langmuir adsor... [more]

Powder deaggregation in Dry Powder Inhalers (DPI) with carrier-based formulations is a key process for the effectiveness of drug administration. Carrier-wall collisions are one of the recognised mechanisms responsible for active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) aerosolisation, and DPI geometries are designed to maximise their efficacy. The detachment of fine and cohesive API particles is investigated at a fundamental level by simulating with DEM the normal collision of a carrier sphere with an API particle attached. The impact velocity at which detachment occurs (escape velocity) is determined as a function of key parameters, such as cohesiveness, coefficient of restitution, static and rolling friction. An analytical model for the escape velocity is then derived, examining the role of the initial position of the particle, cohesion model and particle size. Finally, the results are framed in the context of DPI inhalers, comparing the results obtained with impact velocities typically recor... [more]

Bubble size and its distribution are the important parameters which have a direct impact on mass transfer in bubble column reactors. For this, a new robust image processing technique was presented for investigating hydrodynamic aspects and bubble behavior in real chemical or biochemical processes. The experiments were performed in a small-scale bubble column. The study was conducted for the wide range of clear liquid heights and superficial gas velocities. However, a major challenge in image analysis techniques is identification of overlapping or cluster bubbles. This problem can be overcome with the help of the proposed algorithm. In this respect, large numbers of videos were recorded using a high-speed camera. Based on detailed experiments, the gas−liquid dispersion area was divided into different zones. A foam region width was found as inversely proportional to the clear liquid height. An entry region width was found as directly proportional to the clear liquid height. Hydrodynamic... [more]