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Tumor immunity is closely associated with the prognosis of tumors, including osteosarcoma (OS). The aim of the present study was to construct an immune-related prognostic index (PI) to predict the prognosis of OS. Herein, OS expression data were sourced from the Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET) database . We divided the OS patients into nonmetastatic and metastatic groups, allowing differentially immune-related genes (DIRGs) to be selected. After DIRGs were further investigated by enrichment analysis, four keys prognostic IRGs (CD79A, CSF3R, MTNR1B and NPPC) were identified using a Cox proportional hazards model . Then, an immune-related prognostic index was constructed. Finally, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was employed to further explore the underlying mechanisms. The difference in tumor-infiltrating immune cell (TIIC) abundance was also discussed. In our study, eight upregulated genes and 30 downregulated genes were identified. Several Gene Ontology (GO) terms and the most significantly enriched KEGG pathways were immune-associated functions and pathways. Four genes, including CD79A, CSF3R, MTNR1B and NPPC, were used to establish a risk assessment model for evaluating OS prognosis. GSEA revealed that the risk score was related to cytokine receptor interaction and to the chemokine and B cell receptor signaling pathways. Furthermore, high risk markedly related to the infiltration of several immune cell types, including M2 macrophages, naïve CD4 T cells, and CD8 T cells . In sum, we developed a survival model for OS. The underlying molecular mechanisms of the high-risk group may affect immune-related biological processes and TIICs. Abbreviations TARGET : Therapeutically Applicable Research To Generate Effective Treatments; PI: Prognostic index; OS: Osteosarcoma; DIRGs: Differentially immune-related genes; GSEA: Gene set enrichment analysis; TIIC: Tumor-infiltrating immune cell.

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The present work proposes a novel industrial multi-field synergistic dryer with a drying capacity of 3.45 t/h. The energy, exergy, and quality aspects of the drying process were studied. An energy–exergy methodology was employed to estimate the energetic and exergetic performance, heat loss characteristics and heat recovery behavior of the dryer. Additionally, the quality of the dried paddy seeds was evaluated by its crackle ratio, generation potential, and generation rate. The results showed that the overall energy and exergy efficiency ranged from 13.26% to 56.63% and 39.03% to 60.23%, respectively. The improvement potential rates of the whole system varied from the lowest 8.49 kW to the highest 15.83 kW and respectively accounted for 15.81%–29.48% of the total exergy input, indicating that the performance of the dryer is acceptable. The total recovered radiant energy and radiant exergy recover rate were respectively ascertained to be 237.64 MJ and 0.26 kW. As for the quality aspect, the generation potential and generation rate of the dried paddy seeds respectively ranged from 75% to 90% and 69% to 88% while the crackle ratio of the paddy seeds was 1%, which indicated that the quality performance of the dried seed is of economic viability.

The improvement of the design and operation of energy conversion systems is a theme of global concern. As an energy intensive operation, industrial agricultural product drying has also attracted significant attention in recent years. Taking a novel industrial corn drying system with drying capacity of 5.5 t/h as a study case, based on existing exergoeconomic and exergetic analysis methodology, the present work investigated the exergetic and economic performance of the drying system and identified its energy use deficiencies. The results showed that the average drying rate for corn drying in the system is 1.98 gwater/gdry matter h. The average exergy rate for dehydrating the moisture from the corn kernel is 345.22 kW and the exergy efficiency of the drying chamber ranges from 14.81% to 40.10%. The average cost of producing 1 GJ exergy for removing water from wet corn kernels is USD 25.971, while the average cost of removing 1 kg water is USD 0.159. These results might help to further understand the drying process from the exergoeconomic perspective and aid formulation of a scientific index for agricultural product industrial drying. Additionally, the results also indicated that, from an energy perspective, the combustion chamber should be firstly optimized, while the drying chamber should be given priority from the exergoeconomics perspective. The main results would be helpful for further optimizing the drying process from both energetic and economic perspectives and provide new thinking about agricultural product industrial drying from the perspective of exergoeconomics.

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