Blast-related mild TBI: LIMBIC-CENC focused review with implications commentary.

BACKGROUND: A significant factor for the high prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among U.S. service members is their exposure to explosive munitions leading to blast-related TBI. Our understanding of the specific clinical effects of mild TBI having a component of blast mechanism remains limited compared to pure blunt mechanisms. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review is to provide a synopsis of clinical research findings on the long-term effects of blast-related mild TBI derived to date from the Long-Term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium - Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (LIMBIC-CENC). METHODS: Publications on blast-related mild TBI from LIMBIC-CENC and the LIMBIC-CENC prospective longitudinal study (PLS) cohort were reviewed and their findings summarized. Findings from the broader literature on blast-related mild TBI that evaluate similar outcomes are additionally reviewed for a perspective on the state of the literature. RESULTS: The most consistent and compelling evidence for long-term effects of blast-related TBI is for poorer psychological health, greater healthcare utilization and disability levels, neuroimaging impacts on brain structure and function, and greater headache impact on daily life. To date, evidence for chronic cognitive performance deficits from blast-related mild TBI is limited, but futher research including crucial longitudinal data is needed. CONCLUSION: Commentary is provided on: how LIMBIC-CENC findings assimilate with the broader literature; ongoing research gaps alongside future research needs and priorities; how the scientific community can utilize the LIMBIC-CENC database for independent or collaborative research; and how the evidence from the clinical research should be assimilated into clinical practice.

Comparison between the Baltic Sea and Irish Sea level of Cs-137 contamination on benthic, demersal and pelagic fish species.

The Irish Sea and the Baltic Sea are nowadays still the two most Cs-137 contaminated Seas worldwide. However, the origins of this contaminations are completely different. While the Baltic Sea was unintentionally contaminated due to global fallout after the accident in the Chernobyl nuclear powerplant in 1986, the Irish sea was intentionally used for low level liquid radioactive waste discharges from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing facility (called Windscale until 1981) between the 1950s and 1990s. Nowadays, more than 30 years later, it is still possible to detect these contaminations in fish, water and sediments of both seas. Since fish are an important part of the human diet, monitoring Cs-137 levels in fish is essential for assessing the potential radiation exposure to humans. In 2019 and 2020 two surveys were dedicated to study the current levels of radioactive contamination in fish species from both Seas. During both surveys, fish samples were collected and analysed by gamma spectrometry later on. The results show that the average Cs-137 activity in benthic, demersal and pelagic fish species from the Baltic Sea are 2.7, 4.6 and 4.2, respectively, times higher than the corresponding values of the Irish Sea. Based on this and two other comparisons, it is concluded that the Baltic Sea is the most contaminated with Cs-137.

Kosakonia oryziphila NP19 bacterium acts as a plant growth promoter and biopesticide to suppress blast disease in KDML105 rice.

This study demonstrates that root-associated Kosakonia oryziphila NP19, isolated from rice roots, is a promising plant growth-promoting bioagent and biopesticide for combating rice blast caused by Pyricularia oryzae. In vitro experiments were conducted on fresh leaves of Khao Dawk Mali 105 (KDML105) jasmine rice seedlings. The results showed that NP19 effectively inhibited the germination of P. oryzae fungal conidia. Fungal infection was suppressed across three different treatment conditions: rice colonized with NP19 and inoculated by fungal conidia, a mix of NP19 and fungal conidia concurrently inoculated on the leaves, and fungal conidia inoculation first followed by NP19 inoculation after 30 h. Additionally, NP19 reduced fungal mycelial growth by 9.9-53.4%. In pot experiments, NP19 enhanced the activities of peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) by 6.1-63.0% and 3.0-67.7%, respectively, indicating a boost in the plant's defense mechanisms. Compared to the uncolonized control, the NP19-colonized rice had 0.3-24.7% more pigment contents, 4.1% more filled grains per panicle, 26.3% greater filled grain yield, 34.4% higher harvest index, and 10.1% more content of the aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP); for rice colonized with NP19 and infected with P. oryzae, these increases were 0.2-49.2%, 4.6%, 9.1%, 54.4%, and 7.5%, respectively. In field experiments, blast-infected rice that was colonized and/or inoculated with NP19 treatments had 15.1-27.2% more filled grains per panicle, 103.6-119.8% greater filled grain yield, and 18.0-35.8% higher 2AP content. A higher SOD activity (6.9-29.5%) was also observed in the above-mentioned rice than in the blast-infected rice that was not colonized and inoculated with NP19. Following blast infection, NP19 applied to leaves decreased blast lesion progression. Therefore, K. oryziphila NP19 was demonstrated to be a potential candidate for use as a plant growth-promoting bioagent and biopesticide for suppressing rice blast.

Additive effects of mild head trauma, blast exposure, and aging within white matter tracts: A novel Diffusion Tensor Imaging analysis approach.

Existing diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies of neurological injury following high-level blast exposure (hlBE) in military personnel have produced widely variable results. This is potentially due to prior studies often not considering the quantity and/or recency of hlBE, as well as co-morbidity with non-blast head trauma (nbHT). Herein, we compare commonly used DTI metrics: fractional anisotropy and mean, axial, and radial diffusivity, in Veterans with and without history of hlBE and/or nbHT. We use both the traditional method of dividing participants into 2 equally weighted groups and an alternative method wherein each participant is weighted by quantity and recency of hlBE and/or nbHT. While no differences were detected using the traditional method, the alternative method revealed diffuse and extensive changes in all DTI metrics. These effects were quantified within 43 anatomically defined white matter tracts, which identified the forceps minor, middle corpus callosum, acoustic and optic radiations, fornix, uncinate, inferior fronto-occipital and inferior longitudinal fasciculi, and cingulum, as the pathways most affected by hlBE and nbHT. Moreover, additive effects of aging were present in many of the same tracts suggesting that these neuroanatomical effects may compound with age.

Influence of the chemical composition of leachates on the results of ecotoxicity tests for different slag types.

In this study, four ecotoxicological tests on Vibrio fischeri bacteria, Sinapis alba L. (white mustard), Daphnia magna S. (daphnia's) and earthworms were performed for three types of aqueous slag (ladle, blast furnace and converter) leachates with two-grain sizes (<4 mm, <10 mm). Concentrations of toxic elements and concentrations of Cr(VI), Ca, Na, Al, and other ions were determined. The raw slags were analyzed using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRFS), and major substances were determined by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The aqueous slag leachates passed ecotoxicological tests and met the required criteria, showing no toxicity to Vibrio fischeri and complying with white mustard test criteria. According to the results of the ecotoxicity tests with daphnia, the blast furnace slag samples were not ecotoxic, while two other slag samples were found to be entirely compliant. Characterization of the slags showed that the effect of element/ion leachability and slag grain size is essential. Biplot principal component analysis (PCA) showed that grain size does not significantly affect the separation of individuals on the plane. A positive correlation on toxicity was found with pH, conductivity, calcium content, dissolved content, salinity and fluoride concentration, whereas a negative correlation was found with magnesium concentration, dissolved organic carbon and potassium concentration. The effective concentration at 50% inhibition (EC50) value for Vibrio fischeri correlated with the first dimension of bivariate assessment. In summary, it was found that the investigated slags can be effectively reused as they comply with regulations and do not endanger the environment.

Updates in biology, classification, and management of acute myeloid leukemia with antecedent hematologic disorder and therapy related acute myeloid leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia with antecedent hematologic disorder (AHD-AML) and therapy related AML (t-AML) constitute a heterogenous disease with inferior outcomes. It is often characterized by high-risk cytogenetic and molecular alterations associated with AHD or prior cancer therapy. Historically, the standard of care treatment has been intensive induction with "7 + 3", with an improved overall response rate and survival with CPX-351. Results from large registry-based studies suggested that allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant is preferable to consolidation chemotherapy alone for achieving long-term survival in patients with AHD-AML. Prevalence of high-risk genetic features and advanced age and comorbidities in patients make AHD-AML and t-AML clinically challenging subgroups to treat with intensive approaches. Recent reports on less intensive treatment options, particularly the hypomethylating agent-venetoclax combination, have shown encouraging response rates in these patients. However, emerging resistance mechanisms compromise duration of response and overall survival. Several novel agents targeting apoptotic machinery, signaling pathways, and immune checkpoints are under clinical investigation, with an aim to truly improve overall outcomes in this subgroup. We reviewed updates in biology, classification, and clinical data comparing safety and efficacy of intensive and less intensive treatment options, and summarized ongoing studies with promising novel therapies in AHD-AML and t-AML.

Effect of Solution-to-Binder Ratio and Molarity on Volume Changes in Slag Binder Activated by Sodium Hydroxide at Early Age.

This research investigates the impact of solution concentration and solution-to-binder ratio (S/B) on the volume changes in alkali-activated slags with sodium hydroxide at 20 °C. Autogenous and thermal strains are monitored with a customized testing device in which thermal variations are controlled. Consequently, both the autogenous strain and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) are determined. Heat flow and internal relative humidity (IRH) are also monitored in parallel, making this research a multifaceted study. The magnitudes of autogenous strain and CTE are higher than those of ordinary Portland cement paste. Decreasing the solution concentration or S/B generally decreases the autogenous strain (swelling and shrinkage) and the CTE. The shrinkage amounted to 87 to 1981 µm/m, while the swelling reached between 27 and 295 µm/m and was only present in half of the compositions. The amplitude of the CTE, which increases up to 55 µm/m/°C for some compositions while the CTE of OPC remains between 20 and 25 µm/m/°C, can be explained by the high CTE of the solution in comparison with water. The IRH of paste cannot explain the autogenous strain's development alone. Increasing S/B eliminates the self-desiccation-related decrease.

The actin motor protein OsMYA1 associates with OsExo70H1 and contributes to rice secretory defense by modulating OsSyp121 distribution.

Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) is a devastating hemibiotrophic pathogen. Its biotrophic invasive hyphae (IH) are enclosed in the extrainvasive hyphal membrane produced by plant cells, thus generating a front line of the battlefield between the pathogen and the host plants. In plants, defense-related complexes such as proteins, callose-rich materials and vesicles, are directionally secreted to this interface to confer defense responses, but the underlying molecular mechanism is poorly understood. In this study, we found that a Myosin gene, Myosin A1 (OsMYA1), contributed to rice defense. The OsMYA1 knockout mutant exhibited decreased resistance to M. oryzae infection. OsMYA1 localizes to the actin cytoskeleton and surrounds the IH of M. oryzae. OsMYA1 interacts with an exocyst subunit, OsExo70H1, and regulates its accumulation at the plasma membrane (PM) and pathogen-plant interface. Furthermore, OsExo70H1 interacted with the rice syntaxin of the plants121 protein (OsSyp121), and the distribution of OsSyp121 to the PM or the pathogen-plant interface was disrupted in both the OsMYA1 and OsExo70H1 mutants. Overall, these results not only reveal a new function of OsMYA1 in rice blast resistance, but also uncover a molecular mechanism by which plants regulate defense against M. oryzae by OsMYA1-initiated vesicle secretory pathway, which originates from the actin cytoskeleton to the PM.

Low-cost optimization of industrial textile landfill sludge re-dewatering using ferrous sulfate and blast furnace slag.

This study was based on an industrial sludge landfill with a scale of 1 million cubic meters, which had been filled for more than 10 years. It focused on the secondary dewatering of industrial textile landfill sludge (LS) with a total organic carbon (TOC) content greater than 50% and a volatile suspended solids to suspended solids (VSS/SS) ratio of 0.59. A response surface methodology (RSM) model was established using the coagulant ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) and conditioning agents such as hydrated magnesium oxide (MgO), blast furnace slag (BFS), and calcium oxide (CaO). By solving the RSM equations for the respective indicators, the optimal dosages of FeSO4, MgO, and BFS were determined to be 90 mg/g of dry sludge (DS), and for CaO 174.85 mg/g DS. Further examinations of the dewatering performance, apparent properties, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) components, rheological characteristics, moisture distribution, and pollutant content variation led to the development of a green waste-based dewatering agent composed of FeSO4 and BFS. In small-scale diaphragm plate and frame filter press tests, the optimal water content (WC) was 69.11%. In the final production-scale experiments, it was 65.72%, with the actual application cost being only 13.07 $/ton DS. Additionally, when FeSO4 and BFS were used together, the combined action of Fe and Si could significantly reduce the biotoxicity of heavy metals (HMs), cut down 75.2% of the LS's TOC, and effectively reduced the leaching of organic substances from the leachate, which was beneficial for subsequent disposal. In conclusion, the combined use of FeSO4 and BFS for the secondary dewatering of industrial textile LS was economically efficient, effective in dewatering, and had significant harm reduction effects, making it a worthwhile for waste treatment.

Blast Exposure Associations With Hearing Loss and Self-Reported Hearing Difficulty.

OBJECTIVE: Examine associations between military blast exposures on hearing loss and self-reported hearing difficulties among Active-Duty Service Members (ADSM) and Veterans from the Noise Outcomes in Servicemembers Epidemiology (NOISE) study. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Multi-institutional tertiary referral centers. METHODS: Blast exposure was assessed with a comprehensive blast questionnaire. Outcome measures included pure-tone hearing thresholds; Speech Recognition in Noise Test; Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults (HHIA); and Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ)-12. RESULTS: Twenty-one percent (102/494) of ADSM and 36.8% (196/533) of Veterans self-reported blast exposure. Compared to ADSM without blast exposure, blast-exposed ADSM had increased odds of high frequency (3-8 kHz) and extended-high frequency (9-16 kHz) hearing loss (odds ratio [OR] = 2.5, CI: 1.3, 4.7; OR = 3.7, CI: 1.9, 7.0, respectively). ADSM and Veterans with blast exposure were more likely than their nonblast exposed counterparts to report hearing difficulty on the HHIA (OR = 1.9, CI: 1.1, 3.3; OR = 2.1, CI: 1.4, 3.2, respectively). Those with self-reported blast exposure also had lower SSQ-12 scores (ADSM mean difference = -0.6, CI: -1.0, -0.1; Veteran mean difference: -0.9, CI: -1.3, -0.5). CONCLUSION: Results suggest that blast exposure is a prevalent source of hearing injury in the military. We found that among ADSM, blast exposure was associated with hearing loss, predominately in the higher frequencies. Blast exposure was associated with poorer self-perceived hearing ability in ADSM and Veterans. IRB: #FWH20180143H Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA) Military Healthcare System; #3159/9495 Joint VA Portland Health Care System (VAPORHCS) Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU).

GCPDFFNet: Small Object Detection for Rice Blast Recognition.

Early detection of rice blast disease is pivotal to ensure rice yield. We collected in situ images of rice blast and constructed a rice blast dataset based on variations in lesion shape, size, and color. Given that rice blast lesions are small and typically exhibit round, oval, and fusiform shapes, we proposed a small object detection model named GCPDFFNet (global context-based parallel differentiation feature fusion network) for rice blast recognition. The GCPDFFNet model has three global context feature extraction modules and two parallel differentiation feature fusion modules. The global context modules are employed to focus on the lesion areas; the parallel differentiation feature fusion modules are used to enhance the recognition effect of small-sized lesions. In addition, we proposed the SCYLLA normalized Wasserstein distance loss function, specifically designed to accelerate model convergence and improve the detection accuracy of rice blast disease. Comparative experiments were conducted on the rice blast dataset to evaluate the performance of the model. The proposed GCPDFFNet model outperformed the baseline network CenterNet, with a significant increase in mean average precision from 83.6 to 95.4% on the rice blast test set while maintaining a satisfactory frames per second drop from 147.9 to 122.1. Our results suggest that the GCPDFFNet model can accurately detect in situ rice blast disease while ensuring the inference speed meets the real-time requirements.

A genome-wide association study of panicle blast resistance to Magnaporthe oryzae in rice.

Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae), is one of the most serious diseases worldwide. Developing blast-resistant rice varieties is an effective strategy to control the spread of rice blast and reduce the reliance on chemical pesticides. In this study, 477 sequenced rice germplasms from 48 countries were inoculated and assessed at the booting stage. We found that 23 germplasms exhibited high panicle blast resistance against M. oryzae. Genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) identified 43 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) significantly associated (P < 1.0 × 10-4) with resistance to rice panicle blast. These QTL intervals encompass four genes (OsAKT1, OsRACK1A, Bsr-k1 and Pi25/Pid3) previously reported to contribute to rice blast resistance. We selected QTLs with -Log10 (P-value) greater than 6.0 or those detected in two-year replicates, amounting to 12 QTLs, for further candidate gene analysis. Three blast resistance candidate genes (Os06g0316800, Os06g0320000, Pi25/Pid3) were identified based on significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) distributions within annotated gene sequences across these 12 QTLs and the differential expression levels among blast-resistant varieties after 72 h of inoculation. Os06g0316800 encodes a glycine-rich protein, OsGrp6, an important component of plant cell walls involved in cellular stress responses and signaling. Os06g0320000 encodes a protein with unknown function (DUF953), part of the thioredoxin-like family, which is crucial for maintaining reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis in vivo, named as OsTrxl1. Lastly, Pi25/Pid3 encodes a disease resistance protein, underscoring its potential importance in plant biology. By analyzing the haplotypes of these three genes, we identified favorable haplotypes for blast resistance, providing valuable genetic resources for future rice blast resistance breeding programs. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-024-01486-5.

How state firework restrictions affect the incidence of paediatric firework injuries in the USA.

OBJECTIVES: State laws dictate firework access in the USA, and the association between state laws and paediatric firework injuries has not been investigated. We hypothesise that states with fewer firework restrictions will have a higher incidence of paediatric firework injuries. METHODS: A retrospective review (2012-2020) of paediatric patients who sustained a fireworks-related injury was conducted using the Pediatric Health Information System. Inclusion criteria were age less than 18 years and International Classification of Diseases code for fireworks-related injury. States were classified as 'unrestrictive' or 'restrictive' based on permitted fireworks. Case number, demographics and injury severity were evaluated. A negative binomial regression was used to evaluate independent variables predictive of firework injuries, with the dependent variable being the number of injuries. Independent variables that were predictive of number of injuries were subsequently evaluated with a Mann-Whitney test to determine the significance of the differences between 'unrestrictive' and 'restrictive' states. RESULTS: During the study period, 2299 fireworks-related injuries were reported. Mean age was 9.2±4.8 years (range 0-17). Most injuries, based on raw numbers, were in 'unrestrictive' states (72.6%). When normalised measures were used for comparison, based on paediatric state population, there was a statistically significant difference with a higher percentage of injuries in unrestricted states (p=0.002). The mean number of cases per million pediatric-aged individuals was higher in the 'unrestrictive' states versus the 'restrictive' states (p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS: States with fewer firework restrictions had a higher incidence of fireworks-related injuries in children. Restricting fireworks may protect children from fireworks-related injuries.

Design and properties of ternary alkali-activated binder based on blast furnace slag, recycled powder and waste glass powder.

Ternary alkali-activated binder was prepared by blast furnace slag (GGBS), recycled powder (RP) and waste glass powder (WGP) using simplex centroid design method. By measuring the fluidity, setting time, drying shrinkage and mechanical property of specimen, the complementary effect of GGBS, RP and WGP was discussed. The reaction mechanism and microstructure were explored by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The results reveal that the addition of RP could significantly reduce the fluidity and setting time of paste, while WGP can obviously improve the rheological property and play a retarding role. The workability of paste can be effectively regulated by mixing RP and WGP together. Whether added alone or in combination, RP and WGP can effectively improve the shrinkage performance. In the ternary system, GGBS can be rapidly activated and form a skeleton structure. The fine RP particles can play a good role in filling the structure, and the pozzolanic reaction of WGP gradually occurs, which makes the microstructure more compact. The incorporation of GGBS, RP and WGP can promote the growth of hydration products, improve the density of microstructure, and form a certain complementary effect.

Selection of an alternate cementitious mortar using ceramic tile dust waste: a hybrid MCDM approach.

Selection of a suitable alternative material from a pool of alternatives with many conflicting criteria becomes a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem. In the present study, ternary blended mortars were prepared using ceramic tile dust waste (CTD), fly ash (FA), and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) as binder components. Crusher dust (CD) was used as a fine aggregate component. Binder to aggregate ratios of 1:3 and 1:1 were prepared considering suitable flow. A total of 16 mortar mixes were cast. These mortars were tested for various conflicting criteria compressive strength, flexural strength, porosity, water absorption, bulk density, thermal conductivity, specific heat, thermal diffusivity, and thermal effusivity whose weightages obtained were 29.09%, 20.08%, 12.77%, 10.60%, 8.74%, 6.74%, 5.54%, 4.47%, and 1.97%, respectively, as per AHP analysis. Later, considering these different criteria and alternate mortars, it was observed that a 1:1 mortar with 20% CTD, 30% FA, and 50% GGBFS (RC20F30G50) is found to be the suitable mortar with the highest relative closeness coefficient of 0.861 and the highest net outranking flow of 0.316 with respect to MCDM techniques: technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and preference ranking organization method for enrichment of evaluations (PROMETHEE-II), respectively. The ranking of the mortar in both methods complies with the relative weightages of the criteria and the performance of the mortars with respect to the above criteria.

Introgression of blast and bacterial blight disease resistance genes in a rice genotype ADT43 through marker assisted back cross breeding.

Bacterial Leaf Blight (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae) and blast (Magnaporthe oryzae) are the major biotic stresses around the rice-growing zones of the world. The development of resistant varieties through Marker Assisted Backcross Breeding is the utmost economical and eco-friendly method for achieving stable yield. Amongst the resistance genes recognized, Xa21 and Pi54 possess broad-spectrum resistance to many Xoo and blast strains around the world. In the present study, we have effectively introgressed a Bacterial Blight resistance gene (Xa21) and a blast resistance gene (Pi54) into susceptible variety ADT43 from RP-Bio-Patho-2 coupled with phenotypic selection for agronomic, cooking quality and grain traits through MABC. MABC was sustained till BC2F2 generation with specific markers pTA248 for Xa21 and Pi54MAS for Pi54 resistance genes. A set of SSR markers for parental polymorphism were utilized for maximum regaining of recurrent parent genome in each backcrossing. "Positive plants" from BC2F1 were selfed to generate BC2F2 and the homozygous lines for bacterial leaf blight and blast resistance genes were identified for further assessment.

Synergistic Leaching of Titanium, Aluminum, and Magnesium Components during Dilute Acid Pressure Treatment of High-Titanium Blast Furnace Slag.

This study focuses on an improved leaching process through the combination of pressurized conditions and direct filtration of acid leaching slurry, which is conductive to improving the filterability of acid leaching systems and the extraction rates of Ti, Al, and Mg components. The effects of sulfuric acid concentration, reaction temperature, particle size of materials, acid-slag ratio, and reaction time on the leaching efficiency were systematically investigated. The results showed that pressurization significantly enhances the filtration efficiency of the reaction slurry. Under the same filtration time, the filtration efficiency increased from 46% under ordinary pressure to 78% under pressurized conditions. Moreover, under the optimal reaction conditions, the extraction rates of Ti, Al, and Mg components were more than 88.21%, 97.8%, and 96.31%, respectively. Additionally, XRD and FTIR showed that titanium oxide sulfate hydrate crystals were produced in the acid-leached residues when the reaction temperature exceeded 190 °C, thereby reducing the extraction rate of Ti component. And the XRD pattern shows that when the reaction temperature is maintained at 190 °C and the reaction time is extended to 150 min, titanium oxide sulfate hydrate crystals will be formed to reduce the extraction rate of the Ti component. In summary, this study not only provides important theoretical support for the resource utilization of high-titanium blast furnace slag but also offers a feasible solution for efficient extraction and convenient filtration, thus holding significant academic and practical implications.

Sub-Aperture Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging of Fixed-Platform Beam-Steering Radar for Blast Furnace Burden Surface Detection.

Due to the scheme of fixed-platform beam-steering radar and the space of the blast furnace being subjected to harsh environmental influences, the traditional detection methods of burden surface are limited by geometric distortion, noncoherent clutter, and noise interference, which leads to an increase in the image entropy value and the equivalent number of views, makes the density distribution of burden surface show a diffuse state, and greatly affects the stability and accuracy. In this paper, a new fixed-platform beam-steering radar synthetic aperture radar imaging method (FPBS-SAR) is proposed in the sensory domain of the blast furnace environment. From the perspective of fixed-platform beam-steering radar motion characteristics, the target range-azimuth coupled distance history model under the sub-aperture is established, the azimuthal Doppler variation characteristics of the fixed-platform beam-steering process are analyzed, and the compensation function of the transform domain for geometric disturbance correction is proposed. For noncoherent noise suppression in blast furnaces, the trimmed geometric mean-order-likelihood CFAR method is proposed to take into account the information of burden surface and clutter suppression. To verify the method, point target simulation and imaging for the industrial field measurement data are carried out. The results indicate that geometric distortion is well eliminated, the image entropy value and the equivalent number of views have decreased, and noncoherent noise in blast furnaces is suppressed.

Numerical Simulation and Field Monitoring of Blasting Vibration for Tunnel In-Situ Expansion by a Non-Cut Blast Scheme.

There have been ever more in-situ tunnel extension projects due to the growing demand for transportation. The traditional blast scheme requires a large quantity of explosive and the vibration effect is hard to control. In order to reduce explosive consumption and the vibration effect, an optimized non-cut blast scheme was proposed and applied to the in-situ expansion of the Gushan Tunnel. Refined numerical simulation was adopted to compare the traditional and optimized blast schemes. The vibration attenuation within the interlaid rock mass and the vibration effect on the adjacent tunnel were studied and compared. The simulation results were validated by the field monitoring of the vibration effect on the adjacent tunnel. Both the simulation and the monitoring results showed that the vibration velocity on the adjacent tunnel's back side was much smaller than its counterpart on the blast side, i.e., the presence of cavity reduced the blasting vibration effect significantly. The optimized non-cut blast scheme, which effectively utilized the existing free surface, could reduce the explosive consumption and vibration effect significantly, and might be preferred for in-situ tunnel expansion projects.

Link between the Reactivity of Slag and the Strength Development of Calcium Aluminate Cement.

The problem of loss of strength caused by the conversion reaction with calcium aluminate cements (CAC) is well known. It has been shown that the addition of ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) to CAC inhibits the conversion process. Different slags can have a different chemical and mineralogical composition depending on their origin and production process, which can significantly influence their reactivity. This work investigated the extent to which the R3 test, developed for Portland cement and based on isothermal calorimetry and/or bound water, was used to predict the reactivity of ground granulated blast furnace slag in a CAC. Mortars and cement pastes with a 30% replacement of slag were tested to evaluate their compressive strength and microstructure. The results show that slags with higher reactivity due to their hydraulic properties lead to a lower compressive strength loss within the first 6 h, a higher strength loss after 24 h due to stratlingite formation and a lower strength loss after 28 days due to pozzolanic reaction and stratlingite formation. The results also confirm that the R3 test was used as a rapid method to predict the effects of slag on the compressive strength of CAC.