Search

The organic soil is widely distributed around Dianchi Lake in Kunming, which is rich in the humic group (HG). In order to explore the effect of HG on the strength development of organic soil, this paper adopts the method of adding humic acid (HA) reagent into the undisturbed cohesive soil (blending method) and soaking it in fulvic acid (FA) solution (steeping method) to simulate the organic soil. Then, the effect of HG on soil is analyzed by the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and the scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests. The UCS test shows that HA can significantly reduce the UCS of the samples, and it continues to decrease with the increase of the HA reagent content. FA can substantially enhance the UCS of the samples, which continues to increase with the concentration of FA solution (decreasing the pH value). Under each HG condition, the steeping of FA can significantly increase the UCS of the sample when the content of the HA reagent is less than 10%, and the growth rate of the UCS decreases when it is greater than 10%. With the increase of steeping age, the UCS of the 5% HA samples continued to increase and gradually became stable, and when the content of the HA reagent is more than 5%, the UCS curve first increases and then decreases. The SEM test shows that adding HA reagent can significantly increase the pore size, improve the connectivity between the pores, and weaken the connection of the soil structure. The steeping of FA can reduce the pore size, weaken the connectivity between the pores, and strengthen the connection of the sample structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An airport gate is the core resource of an airport operation, which is an important place for passengers to get on and off the aircraft and for maintaining aircraft. It is the prerequisite for other related dispatch. Effective and reasonable allocation of gates can reduce airport operating costs and increase passenger satisfaction. Therefore, an airport gate assignment problem (AGAP) needs to be urgently solved in the actual operation of the airport. In this paper, considering the actual operation of the airport, we formulate an integer programming model for AGAP by considering multiple constraints. The model aims to maximize the number of passengers on flights parked at the gate. A tabu search-based algorithm is designed to solve the problem. In the process of algorithm design, an effective initial solution is obtained. A unique neighborhood structure and search strategy for tabu search are designed. The algorithm can adapt to the dynamic scheduling of airports. Finally, tests are performed using actual airport data selected from Kunming Changshui International Airport in China. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can enhance the local search ability and global search ability and get satisfactory results in a limited time. These results provide an effective support for the actual gate assignment in airport operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central precocious puberty (CPP) is associated with adverse health outcomes in females; however, CPP pathogenesis remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the association of 20 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in eight genes with CPP risk and hormone levels. A case-control study on 247 and 243 girls with and without CPP, respectively, was conducted at Kunming Children's Hospital, China, from September 2019 to August 2020. The genotype of the SNPs and their haplotypes were identified. Additionally, the effects of the polymorphisms on hormone levels were investigated. Three variants (rs10159082, rs7538038, and rs5780218) in KISS1 and two variants (rs7895833 and rs3758391) in SIRT1 were related to an increased CPP risk (odds ratio (OR) = 1.524, 1.507, 1.409, 1.348, and 1.737; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.176–1.974, 1.152–1.970, 1.089–1.824, 1.023–1.777, and 1.242–2.430, respectively). Rs3740051in SIRT1 and rs1544410 in VDR reduced CPP risk (OR = 0.689, 0.464; 95% CI, 0.511–0.928, 0.232–0.925, respectively). Rs1544410, rs7975232, and rs731236 in VDR were negatively correlated with peak follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH; β = −2.181; P = 0.045), basal FSH (β = −0.391; P = 0.010), and insulin-like growth factor (β = −50.360; P = 0.041) levels, respectively. KISS1, SIRT1, and VDR variants were associated with CPP susceptibility, and VDR SNPs influenced hormonal levels in Chinese females with CPP. In particular, VDR polymorphism rs1544410 was associated with both CPP risk and GnRH-stimulated peak FSH levels. Further functional research and large-scale genetic studies of these loci and genes are required to confirm our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]