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Numerical simulations were conducted based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics–finite element method coupling method to investigate the damage evolutions and failure mechanism of reinforced concrete impacted by abrasive water jet. The response processes of damage and fragmentation of reinforced concrete were analyzed. The influences of key jet parameters on fracture characteristics of reinforced concrete were obtained. In addition, evolution laws of stress and damage and the failure mechanism of reinforced concrete impacted by abrasive water jet were revealed. The results indicate that the morphologies of broken pits undergo changes in the following sequence: V-shape, U-shape, and hourglass-shape. The broken pit range almost linearly increases with the impact time. Increasing abrasive concentration is more conducive to peeling concrete above steel, but an appropriate concentration is more suitable for cutting steel. Increasing jet diameter can expand the broken pit width, especially its bottom width, and increase damage to concrete below steel. The concrete stresses beneath steel display a raindrop-like distribution pattern. The concrete protective layer mainly suffers from the multiple stepwise damage accumulation failure caused by compressive shear and tensile stresses, and the interface concrete between steel and protective layer undergoes brittle failure due to weak bonding strength and massive stress concentration. The concrete beneath steel mainly undergoes brittle failure due to strong extrusion effect of steel. In addition, the concrete within steel reinforcement framework is influenced by various forces, such as tensile stress and shear stress, leading to occurrence of damage accumulation without failure. The research results would lay the theoretical foundation for abrasive water jet efficiently crushing reinforced concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maritime transportation plays a pivotal role in global trade and international supply chains. However, the sector is also a significant source of emissions. One of the most promising technologies for reducing these emissions is air lubrication, which involves installing bubbles along the hull of a ship. Despite its potential, the design of cost-effective bubble-installation plans for ship fleets over the planning horizon remains unexplored in the literature. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a mathematical programming model designed to optimize the installation of bubble-based systems. We present several propositions concerning the model's properties, supported by rigorous proofs. To validate the model's effectiveness, we conduct a series of computational experiments. The findings demonstrate that our optimization model enables shipping companies to devise bubble-installation plans that are cost-effective. This contribution not only extends the current understanding of emission reduction technologies in maritime transportation, but also offers practical insights for their implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background Although the fusion of the transmembrane serine protease 2 gene (TMPRSS2) with the erythroblast transformation-specific-related gene (ERG), or TMPRSS2-ERG, occurs frequently in prostate cancer, its impact on clinical outcomes remains controversial. Roughly half of TMPRSS2-ERG fusions occur through intrachromosomal deletion of interstitial genes and the remainder via insertional chromosomal rearrangements. Because prostate cancers with deletion-derived TMPRSS2-ERG fusions are more aggressive than those with insertional fusions, we investigated the impact of interstitial gene loss on prostate cancer progression. Methods We conducted an unbiased analysis of transcriptome data from large collections of prostate cancer samples and employed diverse in vitro and in vivo models combined with genetic approaches to characterize the interstitial gene loss that imposes the most important impact on clinical outcome. Results This analysis identified FAM3B as the top-ranked interstitial gene whose loss is associated with a poor prognosis. The association between FAM3B loss and poor clinical outcome extended to fusion-negative prostate cancers where FAM3B downregulation occurred through epigenetic imprinting. Importantly, FAM3B loss drives disease progression in prostate cancer. FAM3B acts as an intermediator of a self-governing androgen receptor feedback loop. Specifically, androgen receptor upregulates FAM3B expression by binding to an intronic enhancer to induce an enhancer RNA and facilitate enhancer-promoter looping. FAM3B, in turn, attenuates androgen receptor signaling. Conclusion Loss of FAM3B in prostate cancer, whether through the TMPRSS2-ERG translocation or epigenetic imprinting, causes an exit from this autoregulatory loop to unleash androgen receptor activity and prostate cancer progression. These findings establish FAM3B loss as a new driver of prostate cancer progression and support the utility of FAM3B loss as a biomarker to better define aggressive prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A water jet with an air ring protective layer is a promising rock‐breaking and cutting rate improvement method in submerged environment, such as oil–gas drilling. The jet flow field characteristic determines the jet impinge performance and is affected by nozzle structure parameters. In this study, the water jet flow with air ring under submerged environment was numerically simulated. The jet flow field structure with air ring was obtained by analyzing the distributions of jet velocity and air content at different cross sections. The effects of several critical nozzle structure parameters on jet isokinetic core length and axial velocity were investigated by adopting the orthogonal design method. The results show that the jet flow field structure with air ring in radial direction includes a high‐speed water jet zone, air ring protective layer, and air–water mixed zone, having the advantages of concentrated energy in axis region, long core section length, and low‐velocity attenuation. The influence degrees of nozzle structure parameters on jet core section length and axial velocity at X = 0.3 m are: length‐diameter ratio > outlet diameter > conic angle > air nozzle diameter > water‐air nozzle spacing and outlet diameter > length‐diameter ratio > conic angle > water‐air nozzle spacing > air nozzle diameter, respectively. The jet core section length and axial velocity both increase exponentially with the increasing outlet diameter, both first increase rapidly and then slowly decreases with the increase of conic angle and water–air nozzle spacing. There is the optimal conic angle of 15° and appropriate water–air nozzle spacing of 3–5 mm. With the increase of length–diameter ratio, they both first decrease rapidly and then slow down, indicating that conical nozzle is more suitable for water jet with air ring. And 0.9–1.2 mm is proper for the air nozzle diameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]