bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Gender and Comparative Advantage: Feminist–Heterodox Theorizing about Globalization
Authors: Osterreich Shaianne T.
Published: May 2019

Heterodox feminist scholars have argued that global trade patterns reflect patterns of competitive advantage—rather than comparative advantage—and that that competitive advantage is gendered. Further, they have suggested that we need more theoretical and empirical scholarship in this area. This paper assesses the state of the literature against this call to action for more feminist–heterodox work on trade, with an emphasis on the manufacturing sector. New strands on the impact of gender on global production have been developed, including (a) integrating gender relations into global value chain analysis, (b) empirical work examining possible trends in the de-feminization of industrial sectors with technological upgrading, and (c) conceptual and empirical work on the interplay between gender, social provisioning, informal work, and the informalization of formal work. The first two strands, although well developed, would benefit from more research that is better integrated with the third strand. Further, this whole range of scholarly work needs to contend more broadly with the causes and effects of persistent gender-based occupational segregation, which underpins all three strands of work. A lot of excellent work has been done, and yet, more scholarship is needed to best understand the extent to which employment in industrial exports can function as a means to gender equity, empowerment, and mobility.
Instructional Coaching for Implementing Visible Learning: A Model for Translating Research into Practice
Authors: Knight Jim
Published: May 2019

Visible Learning has been one of the most influential research initiatives conducted in education in the past few decades, and at the same time, instructional coaching is becoming one of the most popular forms of professional development. This paper considers how the implementation of Visible Learning may be supported through instructional coaches by: (a) offering a brief summary of the central tenants of Visible Learning; (b) summarizing the foundational research on instructional coaching conducted at the Kansas Coaching Project at The University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning; (c) describing what those findings reveal about effective instructional coaching practices; and (d) pointing out how the research findings suggest that instructional coaching should be used to support the implementation of Visible Learning or any other educational innovations.
Efficient and Compact Near-Field Coupled Hybrid Antenna Using a Single Radiating Subwavelength Split-Ring Resonator
Authors: Dang Zinching , Rahm Marco
Published: May 2019

Modern applications in the realms of wireless communication and mobile broadband Internet increase the demand for compact antennas with well defined directivity. Here, we present an approach for the design and implementation of hybrid antennas consisting of a classic feeding antenna that is near-field-coupled to a subwavelength resonator. In such a combined structure, the composite antenna always radiates at the resonance frequency of the subwavelength oscillator as well as at the resonance frequency of the feeding antenna. While the classic antenna serves as impedance-matched feeding element, the subwavelength resonator induces an additional resonance to the composite antenna. In general, these near-field coupled structures are known for decades and are lately published as near-field resonant parasitic antennas. We describe an antenna design consisting of a high-frequency electric dipole antenna at f d = 25 GHz that couples to a low-frequency subwavelength split-ring resonator, which emits electromagnetic waves at f SRR = 10.41 GHz. The radiating part of the antenna has a size of approximately 3.2 mm × 8 mm × 1 mm and thus is electrically small at this frequency with a product k · a = 0.5 . The input return loss of the antenna was moderate at − 18 dB and it radiated at a spectral bandwidth of 120 MHz. The measured main lobe of the antenna was observed at 60 ∘ with a − 3 dB angular width of 65 ∘ in the E-plane and at 130 ∘ with a − 3 dB angular width of 145 ∘ in the H-plane.
Remaining Useful Life Prediction of Lithium-Ion Batteries Based on Wiener Processes with Considering the Relaxation Effect
Authors: Xu Xiaodong , Yu Chuanqiang , Tang Shengjin , Sun Xiaoyan , Si Xiaosheng , Wu Lifeng
Published: May 2019

Remaining useful life (RUL) prediction has great importance in prognostics and health management (PHM). Relaxation effect refers to the capacity regeneration phenomenon of lithium-ion batteries during a long rest time, which can lead to a regenerated useful time (RUT). This paper mainly studies the influence of the relaxation effect on the degradation law of lithium-ion batteries, and proposes a novel RUL prediction method based on Wiener processes. This method can simplify the modeling complexity by using the RUT to model the recovery process. First, the life cycle of a lithium-ion battery is divided into the degradation processes that eliminate the relaxation effect and the recovery processes caused by relaxation effect. Next, the degradation model, after eliminating the relaxation effect, is established based on linear Wiener processes, and the model for RUT is established by using normal distribution. Then, the prior parameters estimation method based on maximum likelihood estimation and online updating method under the Bayesian framework are proposed. Finally, the experiments are carried out according to the degradation data of lithium-ion batteries published by NASA. The results show that the method proposed in this paper can effectively improve the accuracy of RUL prediction and has a strong engineering application value.
Evaluation of New Harvesting Methods to Reduce Weeds on Arable Fields and Collect a New Feedstock
Authors: Glasner Christoph , Vieregge Christopher , Robert Josef , Fenselau Johanna , Bitarafan Zahra , Andreasen Christian
Published: May 2019

During harvesting, grain, straw, and chaff with weed seeds are separated. The chaff is returned to the fields, resulting in weed problems in the subsequent crops. We estimated the fraction of weed seeds a combine harvester could potentially harvest and used various methods to collect the chaff and treat it with heat to kill weed seeds or reduce weed seed germination. Chaff with weed seeds was placed on top of the straw and afterwards baled with the straw as a method to remove weed seeds from the field. We exposed chaff with weed seeds to exhaust gas with various temperatures and durations to study whether this heating method could be used to reduce the input of viable weed seeds to the soil during harvesting. By collecting the shed weed seeds during the growing season, we estimated that a combine harvester could potentially harvest 41%, 11%, and 100% of the seeds produced in the growing season by Bromus hordeaceus, Cirsium arvense, and Galium aparine, respectively. When the chaff was placed on top of the straw, 45% of the weed seeds stayed in the chaff fraction on top of the straw swath after one day, 35% got into the straw swath, and 20% past through the swath to the ground. Therefore, baling straw with chaff placed on the top only had a limited effect on reducing weed seed infestation. The study showed that thermal weed seed control during harvesting could potentially be applicable and incorporated in an integrated weed management approach.
A Quantitative Study of the Interactions between Oil Price and Renewable Energy Sources Stock Prices
Authors: Dominioni Goran , Romano Alessandro , Sotis Chiara
Published: May 2019

In this article, we apply an integrable nonautonomous Lotka–Volterra model to study the relationship between oil and renewable energy stock prices between 2006 and 2016. The advantage of this innovative approach is that it allows us to study the simultaneous interaction among n stock indices at any point in time. In line with previous studies, we find that the relationship between oil and renewables is characterized by major structural breaks taking place in 2008 and around 2013. The first structural break might be caused by the financial crisis, whereas more studies are required to advance a hypothesis on the causes behind the second structural break. Our main finding is that oil is always in a predator–prey relationship with wind, whereas it proceeds in mutualism with solar after 2012. Moreover, we find that solar and wind proceed in mutualism between 2008 and 2013 but have a rivalrous interaction before (competition) and after (predator–prey) that period. We explore the possible reasons behind these patterns and their policy implications.
Estimation of Equivalent Circuit Parameters of Single-Phase Transformer by Using Chaotic Optimization Approach
Authors: Ćalasan Martin , Mujičić Danilo , Rubežić Vesna , Radulović Milovan
Published: May 2019

This paper deals with parameter estimation of single-phase transformer equivalent circuit by using Chaotic Optimization Approach (COA). Unknown transformer equivalent circuit parameters need to be accurately estimated for the best possible matching between the measured and the estimated transformer output characteristics (for example, output power—load resistance characteristic). Unlike literature approaches which apply different estimation techniques and are based either on the nameplate data or the load data obtained from experiments, in this paper the use of COA is evaluated on both types of input data. For two single-phase transformers, different with respect to machine power and voltage levels, the COA-based parameter estimation is compared to various literature techniques as well as to classical method based on open-circuit and short-circuit tests. The results show that COA outperforms other approaches in terms of average error between the measured and the estimated values of the primary current, secondary current and secondary voltage at full load, or between the measured and the estimated output characteristics. The effectiveness of COA is additionally confirmed through its application on laboratory 2kVA, 220 V/110 V, 50 Hz single-phase transformer.
Experimental Observation of Natural Convection Heat Transfer Performance of a Rectangular Thermosyphon
Authors: Huang C. S. , Yu Chia-Wang , Chen R. H. , Tzeng Chun-Ta , Lai Chi-Ming
Published: May 2019

This study experimentally investigates the natural convection heat transfer performance of a rectangular thermosyphon with an aspect ratio of 3.5. The experimental model is divided into a loop body, a heating section, a cooling section, and two adiabatic sections. The heating section and the cooling section are located in the vertical legs of the rectangular loop. The length of the vertical heating section and the length of the upper and lower horizontal insulation sections are 700 mm and 200 mm, respectively, and the inner diameter of the loop is 11 mm. The relevant parameters and their ranges are as follows: the input thermal power is 30–60 W (with a heat flux in the range of 60–3800 W/m2); the temperature in the cooling section is 30, 40, or 50 °C; and the potential difference between the hot and cold sections is 5, 11, or 18 for the cooling section lengths of 60, 45, and 30 cm, respectively. The results indicate that the value of the dimensionless heat transfer coefficient, the Nusselt number, is generally between 5 and 10. The heating power is the main factor affecting the natural convection intensity of the thermosyphon.
A Day-ahead and Day-in Decision Model Considering the Uncertainty of Multiple Kinds of Demand Response
Authors: Sheng Siqing , Gu Qing
Published: May 2019

The uncertainty of demand response (DR) will affect the economics of power grid dispatch due to the randomness of participating users’ intentions. According to the different working mechanisms of price-based demand response (PBDR) and incentive-based demand response (IBDR), the uncertainty models of two types of DR were established, respectively. Firstly, the fuzzy variable was used to describe the load change in PBDR, and the robust optimization theory was used to establish the uncertain set of the actual interruption of the interruptible load (IL). Secondly, according to the different acting speed of the two types of DR, they were deployed in the two-stage scheduling model with other output resources; then based on the fuzzy chance constrained programming theory and multi-stage robust optimization theory, the dispatch problem was transformed and solved by the bat algorithm (BA) and the entropy weighting method. Consequently, intraday running costs decrease with increasing confidence of day-ahead, but increase with day-in reliability, and the economics of the model were verified in the improved IEEE33 node system.
ANFTS Mode Control for an Electronically Controlled Hydraulic Power Steering System on a Permanent Magnet Slip Clutch
Authors: Geng Guoqing , Shen Qingyuan , Jiang Haobin
Published: May 2019

There are various uncertain factors such as parameter perturbation and external disturbance during the steering process of a permanent magnet slip clutch electronically controlled hydraulic power steering system (P-ECHPS) of medium and heavy duty vehicles, which is an electronically controlled hydraulic power steering system based on a permanent magnetic slip clutch (PMSC). In order to avoid the immutable single assistance characteristic of a hydraulic power steering system, a PMSC speed-controlled model and P-ECHPS of each subsystem model were studied. Combined with non-singular terminal sliding mode and fast terminal sliding mode, an Adaptive Non-singular Fast Terminal Sliding (ANFTS) mode control strategy was proposed to control precisely the rotor speed of the PMSC in P-ECHPS, thus achieving better power control for the entire P-ECHPS system. The simulation results show that adaptive nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode control enables PMSC output speed to track the target speed. Compared with the non-singular terminal sliding mode control and the ordinary sliding mode control, the convergence speed has been improved by 66.7% and 84.2%, respectively. The rapid control prototype test of PMSC based on dSPACE (dSPACE is a development and verification platform based on MATLAB/Simulink software.) was carried out. The validity of the adaptive NFTSM algorithm and the correctness of the offline simulation results are validated. The adaptive NFTSM algorithm have better robustness and can realize variable assist characteristics and save energy.
Analysis of the Temperature Characteristics of Three-Phase Coaxial Superconducting Power Cable according to a Liquid Nitrogen Circulation Method for Real-Grid Application in Korea
Authors: Lee Seok-Ju , Sung Hae-Jin , Park Minwon , Won DuYean , Yoo Jaeun , Yang Hyung Suk
Published: May 2019

Large-capacity superconducting power cables are in the spotlight to replace existing underground transmission power cables for energy power transmission. Among them, the three-phase coaxial superconducting power cable has the economic advantage of reducing the superconducting shielding layer by enabling magnetic shielding when the three phases are homogeneous without an independent superconducting shielding layer for magnetic shielding. In order to develop the three-phase coaxial superconducting power cable, the electrical and structural design should be carried out to construct the superconducting layer. However, the thermal design and analysis for the cooling of the three-phase coaxial superconducting power cable must be done first, so that the electrical design can be made using the temperature transferred to the superconducting layer. The three-phase coaxial superconducting cable requires a cooling system to circulate the cryogenic refrigerant for cooling below a certain temperature, and the structure of the cable through which the cryogenic refrigerant travels must also be analyzed. In this paper, the authors conducted a longitudinal temperature analysis according to the structure of the refrigerant circulation system of the cable and proposed a refrigerant circulation system suitable for this development. The temperature profile according to this analysis was then used as a function of temperature for the electrical (superconducting and insulating layers) design of the three-phase coaxial superconducting power cable. It is also expected to be used to analyze the cooling structure of the three-phase coaxial superconducting power cable installed in the real grid system.
Hybrid AC/DC Microgrid Planning with Optimal Placement of DC Feeders
Authors: Wu Xiong , Wang Zhao , Ding Tao , Li Zhiyi
Published: May 2019

With the significant increase in DC loads (such as data and telecommunication centers) at the power distribution level, an additional set of power electronic converters are required to connect these DC loads to the AC-dominant power network. Notably, hybrid AC/DC microgrids (MGs) serve as promising solutions to satisfying both the AC and DC loads with a reduced number of installed converters. Since DC loads may be randomly distributed in the MG, how to place DC feeders to simultaneously fulfill the economic and security requirements of MG operations remains a challenging problem. To address this issue, this paper proposes a hybrid AC/DC MG planning model to determine the optimal placement of DC feeders with the objective of minimizing the total cost of the investment of distributed energy resources (DERs), converters, and AC/DC distribution lines, as well as the operation of DERs. In particular, the power flow of the hybrid AC/DC MG is derived in a unified manner and then incorporated in the planning model. Eventually, the proposed model suffices to find the optimal number and siting for both DERs and DC feeders while ensuring the continuality of the DC feeders. The proposed model is tested in two MG-based distribution systems, and its effectiveness is validated by the results of numerical experiments.
Assessment of an Innovative Way to Store Hydrogen in Vehicles
Authors: Baptista Andresa , Pinho Carlos , Pinto Gustavo , Ribeiro Leonardo , Monteiro Joaquim , Santos Tiago
Published: May 2019

The use of hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels for vehicle propulsion is already a reality. However, due to its physical characteristics, storage is still a challenge. There is an innovative way, presented in this study, to store hydrogen in conventional vehicles propelled by spark-ignition reciprocating engines and fuel cells, using hydrogen as fuel; the storage of hydrogen will be at high pressure within small spheres randomly packed in a tank, like the conventional tank of fuel used nowadays in current vehicles. Therefore, the main purpose of the present study is to assess the performance of this storage system and compare it to others already applied by car manufacturers in their cars. In order to evaluate the performance of this storage system, some parameters were taken into account: The energy stored by volume and stored by weight, hydrogen leakage, and compliance with current standards. This system is safer than conventional storage systems since hydrogen is stored inside small spheres containing small amounts of hydrogen. Besides, its gravimetric energy density (GED) is threefold and the volumetric energy density (VED) is about half when compared with homologous values for conventional systems, and both exceed the targets set by the U.S. Department of Energy. Regarding the leakage of hydrogen, it complies with the European Standards, provided a suitable choice of materials and dimensions is made.
Experimental Research of High-Temperature and High-Pressure Water Jet Characteristics in ICRC Engine Relevant Conditions
Authors: Kang Zhe , Zhang Zhehao , Deng Jun , Li Liguang , Wu Zhijun
Published: May 2019

The internal combustion Rankine cycle (ICRC) concept provides a potential solution for future high thermal efficiency and low emission powertrains, and direct water injection (DWI) proved to be the key parameter for ICRC optimization. This paper was dedicated to investigating the fundamental mechanisms of water spray characteristics under different water injection control parameters. In order to do so, an experimental test system was carefully designed and built based on the Bosch and Schlieren methods: the Bosch method is utilized to measure the effect of injection and ambient pressure on water injection characteristics, and the Schlieren method is utilized to investigate the impact of water injection and ambient temperature on water spray and evaporation processes. The experimental results indicate that both control parameters show important effects on water injection and spray characteristics. The water injection and ambient pressure show significant impacts on steady-state flow quantity and cyclic water injection quantity, and the water injection and ambient pressure affect the evaporation ability of water vapor within the spray which leads to a different variation trend during the initial, developing, and developed water spray stages. The results of this work can be used as fundamental supplements for ICRC, steam assistant technology (SAT), and DWI-related ICEs experimental and numerical researches, and provide extra information to understand the DWI process within engine-relevant conditions.
High Efficiency Solar Power Generation with Improved Discontinuous Pulse Width Modulation (DPWM) Overmodulation Algorithms
Authors: Li Lan , Wang Hao , Chen Xiangping , Bukhari Abid Ali Shah , Cao Wenping , Chai Lun , Li Bing
Published: May 2019

The efficiency of a photovoltaic (PV) system strongly depends on the transformation process from solar energy to electricity, where maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is widely regarded as a promising technology to harvest solar energy in the first step. Furthermore, inverters are an essential part of solar power generation systems. Their performance dictates the power yield, system costs and reliable operation. This paper proposes a novel control technology combining discontinuous pulse width modulation (DPWM) and overmodulation technology to better utilize direct current (DC) electrical power and to reduce the switching losses in the electronic power devices in conversion. In order to optimize the performance of the PV inverter, the overmodulation region is refined from conventional two-level space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) control technology. Then, the turn-on and turn-off times of the switching devices in different modulation areas are deduced analytically. A new DPWM algorithm is proposed to achieve the full region control. An experimental platform based on a digital signal processing (DSP) controller is developed for validation purposes, after maximum power is achieved via a DC/DC converter under MPPT operation. Experimental results on a PV system show that the DPWM control algorithm lowers the harmonic distortion of the output voltage and current, as well as the switching losses. Moreover, better utilization of the DC-link voltage also improves the PV inverter performance. The developed algorithm may also be applied to other applications utilizing grid-tie power inverters.
An Analytic Method for Power System Fault Diagnosis Employing Topology Description
Authors: Xu Biao , Yin Xianggen , Wu Dali , Pang Shuai , Wang Yikai
Published: May 2019

When a fault occurs in a power system, fault section estimation is the primary premise for troubleshooting and power recovery, and an effective fault diagnosis system will play a big role in decision making. However, the topology information is not well employed in existing fault diagnosis methods, and it is complex and time consuming to analyze the relationship between the protective devices and the sections. In this paper, a novel analytic method which employs topology description is proposed for fault diagnosis. The topology descriptions of the sections and the protective devices are firstly established according to the network structure, and based on which the operating logic and the cooperative relationship of the protective devices can be easily analyzed by matrix operation. Considering the factors of logic error and communication error, the fault diagnosis problem is formulated as an integer programming problem and can be solved by intelligent algorithm. The case studies of different power systems show that the proposed method can quickly identify the fault section, even with the abnormal operation or error alarm of protective devices.
An Evaluation Method of Brittleness Characteristics of Shale Based on the Unloading Experiment
Authors: Zhou Xiaogui , Liu Haiming , Guo Yintong , Wang Lei , Hou Zhenkun , Deng Peng
Published: May 2019

Shale reservoir has an initial unloading effect during the natural uplift and erosion process, which causes the shale brittleness to change, affecting the design of the fracturing scheme. To consider this, the axial compression loading and confining pressure unloading experiment of shale is carried out, and then the influence of unloading rate on the mechanical parameters, failure characteristics, and the brittleness of rock are analyzed. What is more, a new evaluation method of brittleness characteristics that take the unloading effect into consideration is proposed. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The unloading rate has a weakening effect on the mechanical parameters, such as the destructive confining pressure and the residual strength of the samples. (2) The failure characteristics of shale specimens are a single shear failure in an oblique section under low unloading rate, and multiple shear zones accompanied with bedding fracture under high unloading rate. (3) The brittleness of shale samples is well verified by the brittleness index B d 1 and B d 2 during the loading path; nevertheless, it has shortage at the unloading path. This paper proposes a new brittleness evaluation method which can consider the influence of the different unloading rates and unloading points. Furthermore, there is a nice characterization between the brittleness damage and this method.
A Novel Nonintrusive Load Monitoring Approach based on Linear-Chain Conditional Random Fields
Authors: He Hui , Liu Zixuan , Jiao Runhai , Yan Guangwei
Published: May 2019

In a real interactive service system, a smart meter can only read the total amount of energy consumption rather than analyze the internal load components for users. Nonintrusive load monitoring (NILM), as a vital part of smart power utilization techniques, can provide load disaggregation information, which can be further used for optimal energy use. In our paper, we introduce a new method called linear-chain conditional random fields (CRFs) for NILM and combine two promising features: current signals and real power measurements. The proposed method relaxes the independent assumption and avoids the label bias problem. Case studies on two open datasets showed that the proposed method can efficiently identify multistate appliances and detect appliances that are not easily identified by other models.
Improvement of Organosolv Fractionation Performance for Rice Husk through a Low Acid-Catalyzation
Authors: Kim Tae Hoon , Ryu Hyun Jin , Oh Kyeong Keun
Published: May 2019

For the effective utilization of rice husk, organosolv fractionation was investigated to separate three main components (glucan, xylose, and lignin) with low acid concentration. Reaction temperatures of 170–190 °C, ethanol concentrations of 50%–70% (v/v), and sulfuric acid concentrations of 0%–0.7% (w/v) were investigated, with the reaction time and liquid-to-solid ratio kept constant at 60 min and 10, respectively. The fractionation conditions for the efficient separation into the three components of rice husk were determined to be 180 °C, 60% (v/v) of ethanol, and 0.25% (w/v) of sulfuric acid. Under these fractionation conditions, 86.8% of the xylan and 77.5% of the lignin were removed from the rice husk, and xylose and lignin were obtained from the liquid in 67.6% and 49.8% yields, respectively. The glucan digestibility of the fractionated rice husk was 85.2% with an enzyme loading of 15 FPU (filter paper unit) of cellulase per g-glucan.
A Mixing Behavior Study of Biomass Particles and Sands in Fluidized Bed Based on CFD-DEM Simulation
Authors: Wang Heng , Zhong Zhaoping
Published: May 2019

The present paper studied the mixing characteristics of biomass and sands in a fluidized bed. A three dimensional model is calculated on the basis of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the discrete element method (DEM), while the lab-scale experiments under similar conditions are conducted. To investigate the mixing behavior of biomass and sands, particle distribution, particles time averaged kinetic motion and the Lacey index are analyzed and the effects of gas velocity and biomass size are discussed. Gas velocity provides the basic motion for particle movement and biomass particles gain a lot more kinetic motion than sands due to their large size. The biomass mixing process in a horizontal direction is more sensitive to gas velocity than in a vertical direction. Biomass size could slightly affect the mixing quality and a well mixing in fluidized bed could be reached if the size of biomass to sands is smaller than 4 times.
The Economic Effects of the Development of the Renewable Energy Industry in China
Authors: Liu Jia , Li Jizu , Yao Xilong
Published: May 2019

It is believed that renewable energy may become a dominant energy in the future. However, whether renewable energy can promote industry development like the use of fossil energy is still unknown. This paper uses social accounting matrix (SAM) multiplier model to analyze the economic effects of renewable and coal energy in China. The transmission mechanisms of renewable and coal energy on production factors are also compared from the perspective of sector industry chain based on the structural path analysis (SPA) analysis method. We found that; renewable energy plays a stronger role in promoting the national economy than coal energy. Meanwhile, renewable energy can better promote the upgrading of the industrial structure compared with coal energy. Additionally, renewable energy affects economic development, mainly through the intermediate industries such as electrical machinery manufacturing and transportation, warehousing and service industries. These findings provide further insights into the influence path of renewable energy, which yields important implications for reasonably designing and choosing new energy development planning.
A Methodology for Dependability Evaluation of Smart Grids
Authors: Alves Gisliany , Marques Danielle , Silva Ivanovitch , Guedes Luiz Affonso , da Silva Maria da Guia
Published: May 2019

Smart grids are a new trend in electric power distribution, which has been guiding the digitization of electric ecosystems. These smart networks are continually being introduced in order to improve the dependability (reliability, availability) and efficiency of power grid systems. However, smart grids are often complex, composed of heterogeneous components (intelligent automation systems, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) control systems, power systems, smart metering systems, and others). Additionally, they are organized under a hierarchical topology infrastructure demanded by priority-based services, resulting in a costly modeling and evaluation of their dependability requirements. This work explores smart grid modeling as a graph in order to propose a methodology for dependability evaluation. The methodology is based on Fault Tree formalism, where the top event is generated automatically and encompasses the hierarchical infrastructure, redundant features, load priorities, and failure and repair distribution rates of all components of a smart grid. The methodology is suitable to be applied in early design stages, making possible to evaluate instantaneous and average measurements of reliability and availability, as well as to identify eventual critical regions and components of smart grid. The study of a specific use-case of low-voltage distribution network is used for validation purposes.
Four Challenges for Better Biocatalysts
Authors: Timson David J.
Published: May 2019

Biocatalysis (the use of biological molecules or materials to catalyse chemical reactions) has considerable potential. The use of biological molecules as catalysts enables new and more specific syntheses. It also meets many of the core principles of “green chemistry”. While there have been some considerable successes in biocatalysis, the full potential has yet to be realised. This results, partly, from some key challenges in understanding the fundamental biochemistry of enzymes. This review summarises four of these challenges: the need to understand protein folding, the need for a qualitative understanding of the hydrophobic effect, the need to understand and quantify the effects of organic solvents on biomolecules and the need for a deep understanding of enzymatic catalysis. If these challenges were addressed, then the number of successful biocatalysis projects is likely to increase. It would enable accurate prediction of protein structures, and the effects of changes in sequence or solution conditions on these structures. We would be better able to predict how substrates bind and are transformed into products, again leading to better enzyme engineering. Most significantly, it may enable the de novo design of enzymes to catalyse specific reactions.
The Survival of Pinus ponderosa Saplings Subjected to Increasing Levels of Fire Behavior and Impacts on Post-Fire Growth
Authors: Steady Wade D. , Partelli Feltrin Raquel , Johnson Daniel M. , Sparks Aaron M. , Kolden Crystal A. , Talhelm Alan F. , Lutz James A. , Boschetti Luigi , Hudak Andrew T. , Nelson Andrew S. , Smith Alistair M. S.
Published: May 2019

Improved predictions of tree species mortality and growth metrics following fires are important to assess fire impacts on forest succession, and ultimately forest growth and yield. Recent studies have shown that North American conifers exhibit a ‘toxicological dose-response’ relationship between fire behavior and the resultant mortality or recovery of the trees. Prior studies have not been conclusive due to potential pseudo-replication in the experimental design and time-limited observations. We explored whether dose-response relationships are observed in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) saplings exposed to surface fires of increasing fire behavior (as quantified by Fire Radiative Energy—FRE). We confirmed equivalent dose-response relationships to the prior studies that were focused on other conifer species. The post-fire growth in the saplings that survived the fires decreased with increasing FRE dosages, while the percentage mortality in the sapling dosage groups increased with the amount of FRE applied. Furthermore, as with lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), a low FRE dosage could be applied that did not yield mortality in any of the replicates (r = 10). These results suggest that land management agencies could use planned burns to reduce fire hazard while still maintaining a crop of young saplings. Incorporation of these results into earth-system models and growth and yield models could help reduce uncertainties associated with the impacts of fire on timber growth, forest resilience, carbon dynamics, and ecosystem economics.
Numerical Optimization of a Stall Margin Enhancing Recirculation Channel for an Axial Compressor
Authors: Kawase Motoyuki , Rona Aldo
Published: May 2019

A proof of concept is provided by computational fluid dynamic simulations of a new recirculating type casing treatment. This treatment aims at extending the stable operating range of highly loaded axial compressors, so to improve the safety of sorties of high-speed, high-performance aircraft powered by high specific thrust engines. This casing treatment, featuring an axisymmetric recirculation channel, is evaluated on the NASA rotor 37 test case by steady and unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations, using the realizable k-ε model. Flow blockage at the recirculation channel outlet was mitigated by chamfering the exit of the recirculation channel inner wall. The channel axial location from the rotor blade tip leading edge was optimized parametrically over the range −4.6% to 47.6% of the rotor tip axial chord c z . Locating the channel at 18.2% c z provided the best stall margin gain of approximately 5.5% compared to the untreated rotor. No rotor adiabatic efficiency was lost by the application of this casing treatment. The investigation into the flow structure with the recirculating channel gave a good insight into how the new casing treatment generates this benefit. The combination of stall margin gain at no rotor adiabatic efficiency loss makes this design attractive for applications to high-speed gas turbine engines.
RNA-seq Transcriptome Analysis in Ovarian Tissue of Pelibuey Breed to Explore the Regulation of Prolificacy
Authors: Hernández-Montiel Wilber , Collí-Dula Reyna Cristina , Ramón-Ugalde Julio Porfirio , Martínez-Núñez Mario Alberto , Zamora-Bustillos Roberto
Published: May 2019

The Pelibuey sheep (Ovis aries) is an indigenous breed distributed in the tropical regions of Mexico. The prolificacy of this sheep is on average from 1 to 1.5 lambs, being an important breeding characteristic that owners seek to increase with the purpose of economic improvements. New-generation RNA sequencing technology has been used to identify the genes that are expressed in the ovarian tissue of sheep that have two or more lambs per parturition, as well as to elucidate the metabolic pathways that are affected by the expression of these genes, with the purpose of better understanding the prolificacy in the sheep. In the present study, the transcriptional expression of multiparous and uniparous sheep was compared using RNA sequencing. Multiparous (M group) and uniparous (U group) sheep that had a genealogical record for three generations (M, n = 5 and U, n = 5) were selected. RNA was extracted from ovarian tissue and subsequently used to prepare the libraries that were sequenced using the Illumina NextSeq500 platform. A total of 31,575 genes were detected from the transcriptomic analysis of which 4908 were significantly expressed (p-value ≤ 0.001) in the ovary of sheep. Subsequently, a second filter was carried out to evaluate the false discovery rate (FDR) and select those genes with p-values ≤ 0.05 and values of expression ≥ 1 (log2), obtaining 354 differential expressed genes (DEG): 120 genes up-regulated and 234 genes down-regulated in the group M with respect to the group U. Through Gene Ontology (GO) and metabolic analysis, we obtained information on the function of differentially expressed genes, and its importance in the reproduction of multiparous sheep. This result suggest that genes identified in the present study participate in the development of the final stages of follicles.
White Adipose Tissue Response of Obese Mice to Ambient Oxygen Restriction at Thermoneutrality: Response Markers Identified, but no WAT Inflammation
Authors: Hoevenaars Femke P. M. , Keijer Jaap , van der Stelt Inge , Duivenvoorde Loes P. M. , Herreman Laure , van Nes Robin , Friedecký David , Hegeman Maria A. , van Schothorst Evert M.
Published: May 2019

Obesity is associated with white adipose tissue (WAT) hypoxia and inflammation. We aimed to test whether mild environmental oxygen restriction (OxR, 13% O2), imposing tissue hypoxia, triggers WAT inflammation in obese mice. Thirteen weeks diet-induced obese male adult C57BL/6JOlaHsd mice housed at thermoneutrality were exposed for five days to OxR versus normoxia. WAT and blood were isolated and used for analysis of metabolites and adipokines, WAT histology and macrophage staining, and WAT transcriptomics. OxR increased circulating levels of haemoglobin and haematocrit as well as hypoxia responsive transcripts in WAT and decreased blood glucose, indicating systemic and tissue hypoxia. WAT aconitase activity was inhibited. Macrophage infiltration as marker for WAT inflammation tended to be decreased, which was supported by down regulation of inflammatory genes S100a8, Ccl8, Clec9a, Saa3, Mgst2, and Saa1. Other down regulated processes include cytoskeleton remodelling and metabolism, while response to hypoxia appeared most prominently up regulated. The adipokines coiled-coil domain containing 3 (CCDC3) and adiponectin, as well as the putative WAT hormone cholecystokinin (CCK), were reduced by OxR on transcript (Cck, Ccdc3) and/or serum protein level (adiponectin, CCDC3). Conclusively, our data demonstrate that also in obese mice OxR does not trigger WAT inflammation. However, OxR does evoke a metabolic response in WAT, with CCDC3 and adiponectin as potential markers for systemic or WAT hypoxia.
Outcome Definition Influences the Relationship between Genetic Polymorphisms of ERCC1, ERCC2, SLC22A2 and Cisplatin Nephrotoxicity in Adult Testicular Cancer Patients
Authors: Zazuli Zulfan , Otten Leila S. , Drögemöller Britt I. , Medeiros Mara , Monzon Jose G. , Wright Galen E. B. , Kollmannsberger Christian K. , Bedard Philippe L. , Chen Zhuo , Gelmon Karen A. , McGoldrick Nicole , Kitchlu Abhijat , Vijverberg Susanne J. H. , Masereeuw Rosalinde , Ross Colin J. D. , Liu Geoffrey , Carleton Bruce C. , Maitland-van der Zee Anke H.
Published: May 2019

Although previous research identified candidate genetic polymorphisms associated with cisplatin nephrotoxicity, varying outcome definitions potentially contributed to the variability in the effect size and direction of this relationship. We selected genetic variants that have been significantly associated with cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in more than one published study (SLC22A2 rs316019; ERCC1 rs11615 and rs3212986; ERCC2 rs1799793 and rs13181) and performed a replication analysis to confirm associations between these genetic polymorphisms and cisplatin nephrotoxicity using various outcome definitions. We included 282 germ cell testicular cancer patients treated with cisplatin from 2009–2014, aged >17 years recruited by the Canadian Pharmacogenomics Network for Drug Safety. Nephrotoxicity was defined using four grading tools: (1) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v4.03 for acute kidney injury (AKI) or CTCAE-AKI; (2) adjusted cisplatin-induced AKI; (3) elevation of serum creatinine; and (4) reduction in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Significant associations were only found when using the CTCAE v4.03 definition: genotype CA of the ERCC1 rs3212986 was associated with decreased risk of cisplatin nephrotoxicity (ORadj = 0.24; 95% CI: 0.08–0.70; p = 0.009) compared to genotype CC. In contrast, addition of allele A at SLC22A2 rs316019 was associated with increased risk (ORadj = 4.41; 95% CI: 1.96–9.88; p < 0.001) while genotype AC was associated with a higher risk of cisplatin nephrotoxicity (ORadj = 5.06; 95% CI: 1.69–15.16; p = 0.004) compared to genotype CC. Our study showed that different case definitions led to variability in the genetic risk ascertainment of cisplatin nephrotoxicity. Therefore, consensus on a set of clinically relevant outcome definitions that all such studies should follow is needed.
Role of Autophagy-Related Gene atg22 in Developmental Process and Virulence of Fusarium oxysporum
Authors: Khalid A. Rehman , Zhang Shumin , Luo Xiumei , Mehmood Khalid , Rahim Junaid , Shaheen Hamayun , Dong Pan , Qiu Dan , Ren Maozhi
Published: May 2019

Autophagy is a universal catabolic process preserved in eukaryotes from yeast to plants and mammals. The main purpose of autophagy is to degrade cytoplasmic materials within the lysosome/vacuole lumen and generate an internal nutrient pool that is recycled back to the cytosol during nutrient stress. Here, Fusarium oxysporum was utilized as a model organism, and we found that autophagy assumes an imperative job in affecting the morphology, development, improvement and pathogenicity of F. oxysporum. The search of autophagy pathway components from the F. oxysporum genome database recognized putative orthologs of 16 core autophagy-related (ATG) genes of yeast, which additionally incorporate the ubiquitin-like protein atg22. Present study elucidates the unreported role of Foatg22 in formation of autophagosomes. The deletion mutant of Foatg22 did not demonstrate positive monodansylcadaverine (MDC) staining, which exposed that Foatg22 is required for autophagy in F. oxysporum. Moreover, the ∆Foatg22 strains exhibited a decrease in hyphal development and conidiation, and reduction in pathogenicity on potato tubers and leaves of potato plant. The hyphae of ∆Foatg22 mutants were less dense when contrasted with wild-type (WT) and overexpression (OE) mutants. Our perceptions demonstrated that Foatg22 might be a key regulator for the control of dry rot disease in tuber and root crops during postharvest stage.
Micronuclei and Genome Chaos: Changing the System Inheritance
Authors: Ye Christine J. , Sharpe Zachary , Alemara Sarah , Mackenzie Stephanie , Liu Guo , Abdallah Batoul , Horne Steve , Regan Sarah , Heng Henry H.
Published: May 2019

Micronuclei research has regained its popularity due to the realization that genome chaos, a rapid and massive genome re-organization under stress, represents a major common mechanism for punctuated cancer evolution. The molecular link between micronuclei and chromothripsis (one subtype of genome chaos which has a selection advantage due to the limited local scales of chromosome re-organization), has recently become a hot topic, especially since the link between micronuclei and immune activation has been identified. Many diverse molecular mechanisms have been illustrated to explain the causative relationship between micronuclei and genome chaos. However, the newly revealed complexity also causes confusion regarding the common mechanisms of micronuclei and their impact on genomic systems. To make sense of these diverse and even conflicting observations, the genome theory is applied in order to explain a stress mediated common mechanism of the generation of micronuclei and their contribution to somatic evolution by altering the original set of information and system inheritance in which cellular selection functions. To achieve this goal, a history and a current new trend of micronuclei research is briefly reviewed, followed by a review of arising key issues essential in advancing the field, including the re-classification of micronuclei and how to unify diverse molecular characterizations. The mechanistic understanding of micronuclei and their biological function is re-examined based on the genome theory. Specifically, such analyses propose that micronuclei represent an effective way in changing the system inheritance by altering the coding of chromosomes, which belongs to the common evolutionary mechanism of cellular adaptation and its trade-off. Further studies of the role of micronuclei in disease need to be focused on the behavior of the adaptive system rather than specific molecular mechanisms that generate micronuclei. This new model can clarify issues important to stress induced micronuclei and genome instability, the formation and maintenance of genomic information, and cellular evolution essential in many common and complex diseases such as cancer.