NF-κB signaling network is a crucial component of innate immunity. miRNAs are a subtype of small noncoding RNAs, involved in regulation of gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. Increasing evidence has emerged that miRNAs play an important role in regulation of NF-κB signaling pathway during viral infections. Both host and viral miRNAs are attributed to modulation of NF-κB activity, thus affecting viral infection and clearance. Understandings of the mechanisms of these miRNAs will open a direction for development of novel antivirus drugs.
The gas phase surface discharge with microporous bubbling was used to evaluate the degradation feasibility of pharmaceutical contaminants. After 25 min treatment, 82% removal of ibuprofen (initial concentration of 60...
The thermophysical properties of backfill material (BM) in a heat exchange borehole significantly influence the heat exchange effect of ground source heat pumps (GSHPs). Several treatments such as compaction and adding bentonite, cement, and fine sands are often used to improve the thermophysical properties. In this study, a 3A molecular sieve (3A-MS), a type of porous material, was added to the BM to enhance its water maintaining capacity. Three types of backfill materials with different additive contents, named as BM-0, BM-1, and BM-2, were examined. The variation of the BM properties such as the soil–water characteristic curve (SWCC), thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, and thermal diffusivity with the groundwater content were investigated through a series of experiments and simulations. A scanning electron microscope (SEM), an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and the BET method for specific surface area pore size analysis were used to characterize the material. The results indicated that the specific heat capacity improved with the water content whereas the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity decreased with the water content. The variation of the buried pipe outlet temperature with the change of the thermal physical parameters of the BM were researched by a numerical simulation and theoretical calculations; the results showed that BM-2 could raise the heat transfer rate per meter by 45.9% in summer and 118.4% in winter compared with the backfill materials without groundwater (NW). The research results provide theoretical support for the improvement of BM for ground source heat pump projects where abundant groundwater is available.
To solve the problems of phase change materials (PCM) including low thermal conductivity and easy washout and loss after liquefaction in current studies on borehole backfill materials, capric acid-lauric acid/expanded graphite (CA-LA/EG) PCM admixture with high thermal conductivity and high heat capacity was developed by using expanded graphite as the carrier. The PCM admixture is mixed with original sands (drilling debris) to make phase change backfill materials (PCBM). When the PCM backfilling is applied, the key issue is to dissipate the large amount of heat stored as latent heat in boreholes to the surrounding formation in time; otherwise, serious heat accumulation would be induced. Numerical simulation of application of the PCBM in multiple intermittent operation cycles was conducted when the admixture percentages and thermal conductivities are different. The result shows that compared with conventional low-conductivity PCM admixtures and ordinary backfill sands such as drilling debris, the CA-LA/EG admixture can mitigate the temperature fluctuation in borehole and improve its heat exchange rate. The heat exchange rate was increased by 11.6% when 30% of CA-LA/EG admixture was added. However, the improvement declined as the number of operation cycle increased, so the intermittent operation mode is suggested to match the PCBM application since the heat in borehole should be dissipated in time to reserve storage capacity in the next operation cycle and continuously utilize the high heat capacity of the PCM.
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