bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Piping-Main Scheme for Condensers against the Adverse Impact of Environmental Conditions on Air-Cooled Thermal Power Units
Authors: Ni Weiming , Ge Zhihua , Yang Lijun , Du Xiaoze
Published: January 2020

To improve the adaptability of direct air-cooled power generating units to the variations of both meteorological condition and power load, a piping-main arrangement of air-cooled condensers was proposed. The heat and mass transfer models of the air-side were established for the air cooling system of 2 × 600 MW thermal power generating units. The coupled model for both flow resistance loss and condensate flow rate distributions of exhaust steam inside air-cooled condensers were developed based on the temperature fields through numerical simulation. Calculation results, including the condensate flow rate, back pressure, and coal consumption rate, were acquired under different ambient temperatures and wind velocities. The results show that the proposed piping-main arrangement can weaken the ambient wind impacts and reduce the backpressure significantly in summer by adjusting the number of air-cooled condenser cells in operation. The steam flow rate can be uniformed effectively by adjusting the number of operating air-cooled condenser cells during winter. It can also avoid the freezing accident in winter while cooling the exhaust steam of two turbines by part air-cooled condenser cells.
Collaborative Autonomous Optimization of Interconnected Multi-Energy Systems with Two-Stage Transactive Control Framework
Authors: Cheng Yizhi , Zhang Peichao , Liu Xuezhi
Published: January 2020

Motivated by the benefits of multi-energy integration, this paper establishes a bi-level two-stage framework based on transactive control, to achieve the optimal energy provision among interconnected multi-energy systems (MESs). At the lower level, each MES autonomously determines the optimal setpoints of its controllable assets by solving a cost minimization problem, in which rolling horizon optimization is adopted to deal with the load and renewable energies’ stochastic features. A technique is further implemented for optimization model convexification by relaxing storages’ complementarity constraints, and its mathematical proof verifies the exactness of the relaxation. At the upper level, a coordinator is responsible for minimizing total costs of interconnected MESs while preventing transformer overloading. This collaborative problem is solved iteratively in a proposed two-stage transactive control framework that is compatible with operational time requirement while retaining scalability, information privacy and operation authority of each MES. The effectiveness of the proposed framework is verified by simulation cases that conduct a detailed analysis of the collaborative autonomous optimization mechanism.
Wind Turbine Control Using Nonlinear Economic Model Predictive Control over All Operating Regions
Authors: Kong Xiaobing , Ma Lele , Liu Xiangjie , Abdelbaky Mohamed Abdelkarim , Wu Qian
Published: January 2020

With the gradual increase in the installed capacity of wind turbines, more and more attention has been paid to the economy of wind power. Economic model-predictive control (EMPC) has been developed as an effective advanced control strategy, which can improve the dynamic economy performance of the system. However, the variable-speed wind turbine (VSWT) system widely used is generally nonlinear and highly coupled nonaffine systems, containing multiple economic terms. Therefore, a nonlinear EMPC strategy considering power maximization and mechanical load minimization is proposed based on the comprehensive VSWT model, including the dynamics of the tower and the gearbox in this paper. Three groups of simulations verify the effectiveness and reliability/practicability of the proposed nonlinear EMPC strategy.
The Effects of Fin Parameters on the Solidification of PCMs in a Fin-Enhanced Thermal Energy Storage System
Authors: Zarei Mohammad Javad , Bazai Hassan , Sharifpur Mohsen , Mahian Omid , Shabani Bahman
Published: January 2020

In the present study, a triplex-tube, employing fin-enhanced phase change materials (PCMs), as a thermal energy storage (TES) system was studied numerically. The main flaw of the PCMs is their low thermal conductivity that restricts their effectiveness for energy storage applications. Metallic (copper) fins are added to the geometry of the system to improve their function by extending the heat transfer area. The effects of the presence, configuration, and dimensions of copper fins were investigated to understand the best design for minimizing the solidification time and achieving the best performance enhancement for the TES system selected for this study. The results revealed that the best performance belonged to fins with a mix configuration, with an attachment angle of 90° and the length and width of 28 mm and 1 mm, respectively. Using this configuration could reduce the required time for complete solidification by around 42% compared to the system without fins. Moreover, it was concluded that increasing the length of the fin could offer its positive effect for enhancing the performance of TES system up to an optimal point only while increasing the width showed a diverse influence. Furthermore, the angles between the tube surface and the fin direction were investigated and 90° was found to be the best choice for the TES case selected in this study. In addition, placement of the fins on the surface of internal or external tube or mix method did not show a significant effect while placing the fins on the external surface of the tube showed even a negative impact on the performance of the TES system compared with when no fins were applied.
Recurrent Neural Network-Based Adaptive Energy Management Control Strategy of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles Considering Battery Aging
Authors: Han Lu , Jiao Xiaohong , Zhang Zhao
Published: January 2020

A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a product that can greatly alleviate problems related to the energy crisis and environmental pollution. However, replacing such a battery will increase the cost of usage before the end of the life of a HEV. Thus, research on the multi-objective energy management control problem, which aims to not only minimize the gasoline consumption and consumed electricity but also prolong battery life, is necessary and challenging for HEV. This paper presents an adaptive equivalent consumption minimization strategy based on a recurrent neural network (RNN-A-ECMS) to solve the multi-objective optimal control problem for a plug-in HEV (PHEV). The two objectives of energy consumption and battery loss are balanced in the cost function by a weighting factor that changes in real time with the operating mode and current state of the vehicle. The near-global optimality of the energy management control is guaranteed by the equivalent factor (EF) in the designed A-ECMS. As the determined EF is dependent on the optimal co-state of the Pontryagin’s minimum principle (PMP), which results in the online ECMS being regarded as a realization of PMP-based global optimization during the whole driving cycle. The time-varying weight factor and the co-state of the PMP are map tables on the state of charge (SOC) of the battery and power demand, which are established offline by the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and real historical traffic data. In addition to the mappings of the weight factor and the major component of the EF linked to the optimal co-state of the PMP, the real-time performance of the energy management control is also guaranteed by the tuning component of the EF of A-ECMS resulting from the Proportional plus Integral (PI) control on the deviation between the battery SOC and the optimal trajectory of the SOC obtained by the Recurrent Neural Network (RNN). The RNN is trained offline by the SOC trajectory optimized by dynamic programming (DP) utilizing the historical traffic data. Finally, the effectiveness and the adaptability of the proposed RNN-A-ECMS are demonstrated on the test platform of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles based on GT-SUITE (a professional integrated simulation platform for engine/vehicle systems developed by Gamma Technologies of US company) compared with the existing strategy.
Simulation Study to Investigate the Effects of Operational Conditions on Methylcyclohexane Dehydrogenation for Hydrogen Production
Authors: Hamayun Muhammad Haris , Maafa Ibrahim M. , Hussain Murid , Aslam Rabya
Published: January 2020

In the recent era, hydrogen has gained immense consideration as a clean-energy carrier. Its storage is, however, still the main hurdle in the implementation of a hydrogen-based clean economy. Liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) are a potential option for hydrogen storage in ambient conditions, and can contribute to the clean-fuel concept in the future. In the present work, a parametric and simulation study was carried out for the storage and release of hydrogen for the methylcyclohexane toluene system. In particular, the methylcyclohexane dehydrogenation reaction is investigated over six potential catalysts for the temperature range of 300–450 °C and a pressure range of 1–3 bar to select the best catalyst under optimum operating conditions. Moreover, the effects of hydrogen addition in the feed mixture, and byproduct yield, are also studied as functions of operating conditions. The best catalyst selected for the process is 1 wt. % Pt/γ-Al2O3. The optimum operating conditions selected for the dehydrogenation process are 360 °C and 1.8 bar. Hydrogen addition in the feed reduces the percentage of methylcyclohexane conversion but is required to enhance the catalyst’s stability. Aspen HYSYS v. 9.0 (AspenTech, Lahore, Pakistan) has been used to carry out the simulation study.
Memory Effect and Fractional Differential Dynamics in Planar Microsupercapacitors Based on Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Arrays
Authors: Kitsyuk Evgeny P. , Sibatov Renat T. , Svetukhin Vyacheslav V.
Published: January 2020

The development of portable electronic devices has greatly stimulated the need for miniaturized power sources. Planar supercapacitors are micro-scale electrochemical energy storage devices that can be integrated with other microelectronic devices on a chip. In this paper, we study the behavior of microsupercapacitors with in-plane interdigital electrodes of carbon nanotube array under sinusoidal excitation, step voltage input and sawlike voltage input. Considering the anomalous diffusion of ions in the array and interelectrode space, we propose a fractional-order equivalent circuit model that successfully describes the measured impedance spectra. We demonstrate that the response of the investigated micro-supercapacitors is linear and the system is time-invariant. The numerical inversion of the Laplace transforms for electric current response in an equivalent circuit with a given impedance leads to results consistent with potentiostatic measurements and cyclic voltammograms. The use of electrodes based on an ordered array of nanotubes reduces the role of nonlinear effects in the behavior of a supercapacitor. The effect of the disordering of nanotubes with increasing array height on supercapacitor impedance is considered in the framework of a distributed-order subdiffusion model.
Stationary Energy Storage System for Fast EV Charging Stations: Optimality Analysis and Results Validation
Authors: Hussain Akhtar , Bui Van-Hai , Baek Ju-Won , Kim Hak-Man
Published: January 2020

In order to minimize the peak load of electric vehicles (EVs) and enhance the resilience of fast EV charging stations, several sizing methods for deployment of the stationary energy storage system (ESS) have been proposed. However, methods for assessing the optimality of the obtained results and performance of the determined sizes under different conditions are missing. In order to address these issues, a two-step approach is proposed in this study, which comprises of optimality analysis and performance evaluation steps. In the case of optimality analysis, random sizes of battery and converter (scenarios) are generated using Monte Carlo simulations and their results are compared with the results of sizes obtained from sizing methods. In order to carry out this analysis, two performance analysis indices are proposed in this study, which are named the cost index and the power index. These indices respectively determine the performance of the determined sizes in terms of total network cost and performance ratio of power bought during peak intervals and investment cost of the ESS. During performance evaluation, the performance of the determined sizes (battery and converter) are analyzed for different seasons of the year and typical public holidays. Typical working days and holidays have been analyzed for each season of the year and suitability of the determined sizes is analyzed. Simulation results have proved that the proposed method is suitable for determining the optimality of results obtained by different sizing methods.
Effects of Salinity on Formation Behavior of Methane Hydrate in Montmorillonite
Authors: Tao Yuanqing , Yan Kefeng , Li Xiaosen , Chen Zhaoyang , Yu Yisong , Xu Chungang
Published: January 2020

In marine sediments, seawater influences the phase behavior of natural gas hydrate. As a porous medium, the water distribution and physical properties of montmorillonite are influenced by the salt ions in seawater. In this work, the bound-water content in, and crystal structure of, montmorillonite is measured to investigate the effect of salt ions on the water distribution in montmorillonite. It can be determined from the results that the bound-water content in montmorillonite decreases as the salt-ion concentration increases. Salt ions affect the intercalation of water molecules in montmorillonite, and they then inhibit the expansion effect of montmorillonite. Next, the phase behaviors of methane hydrate in montmorillonite with NaCl solution are investigated using high-pressure micro-differential scanning calorimetry. The phase behavior of hydrate in montmorillonite with NaCl solution is discussed. In montmorillonite with NaCl solution, the phase equilibrium temperatures and the conversion rate of methane hydrate both decrease with increasing NaCl concentration. The results show that methane hydrate in montmorillonite is influenced not only by the phase-equilibrium effect of salt ions, but also by the formation effect of the salt ions on the bound-water content in montmorillonite.
Investigation of Corrosion Methods for Bipolar Plates for High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Application
Authors: Pilinski Nadine , Käding Claudia , Dushina Anastasia , Hickmann Thorsten , Dyck Alexander , Wagner Peter
Published: January 2020

In this work, different methods and electrochemical set-ups were investigated in order to study the corrosion behaviour of bipolar plates (BPP) for high temperature (HT) polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell application. Using confocal and scanning electron microscopy, it was shown that chemical and electrochemical aging significantly increases surface roughness as well as morphology changes, confirming material degradation. Identical electrochemical corrosion behaviour was observed for both set-ups with typical quinone/hydroquinone peaks in the potential range ~0.6–0.7 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). The appearance of the peaks and an increase of double layer capacitance can be related to the oxidation of carbon surface and, consequently, material corrosion. Simultaneously, an optimised corrosion set-up was introduced and verified regarding suitability. Both investigated set-ups and methods are useful to analyse the oxidation behaviour and corrosion resistance.
Switched Energy Management Strategy for Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle Based on Switch Network
Authors: Chen Xu , Hu Guangdi , Guo Feng , Ye Mengqi , Huang Jingyuan
Published: January 2020

Environmentally friendly and pollution-free fuel cell/lithium battery hybrid vehicles have received the attention of the community in recent years. It is imperative for fuel cell/lithium battery hybrid vehicles to use the energy management strategy (EMS) to distribute the output power of each power source to improve fuel economy and system life. In practical application, inconsistency of battery pack will lead to security hazard and capacity degradation. However, few EMS take the inconsistency of battery pack into account. Also, the current battery equalization strategy rarely discusses how to perform the equilibrium process while meeting the power demand of vehicle. To solve these issues, a novel equalization energy management strategy (EEMS) based on the switch network is proposed at first. Then, a switched energy management strategy (SEMS) that switches between the EEMS and the equivalent consumption minimization strategy (ECMS) is proposed and implemented in the fuel cell/lithium battery hybrid system to validate its effectiveness. The results show that the proposed SEMS can ameliorate the inconsistency of series lithium battery pack while meeting the power demand of vehicle’s normal operation. It can improve the safety and durability of the system and reduce the equalization time. Besides, it has good expansibility and no energy waste.
Hydrate Formation and Decomposition Regularities in Offshore Gas Reservoir Production Pipelines
Authors: Wei Na , Sun Wantong , Meng Yingfeng , Zhao Jinzhou , Kvamme Bjørn , Zhou Shouwei , Zhang Liehui , Li Qingping , Zhang Yao , Jiang Lin , Li Haitao , Pei Jun
Published: January 2020

In recent years, the exploitation and utilization of offshore oil and gas resources have attracted more attention. In offshore gas reservoir production, wellbore temperature and pressure change continuously when water-bearing natural gas flows upward. The wellbore temperature is also affected by the low-temperature sea water. The combination of temperatures and pressures controlled by the upward flow, and cooling from the surrounding seawater frequently leads to the conditions of temperature and pressure for hydrate formation. This can lead to pipeline blockage and other safety accidents. In this study, we utilize mathematical models of hydrate phase equilibrium, wellbore temperature, wellbore pressure to study hydrate formation and decomposition in offshore gas reservoir production. Numerical solution algorithms are developed and numerical solutions are validated. The sensitivity influence of different parameters on the regions and regularities of hydrate formation and decomposition in wellbores are obtained through numerical simulations. It is found that increased daily gas production, water content, or geothermal gradient in offshore gas reservoir production pipelines results in less hydrate formation in the wellbores. Accordingly, the risk of wellbore blockage decreases and production safety is maintained. Decreased tubing head pressure or seawater depth results in similar effects. The result of this study establishes a set of prediction methods for hydrate formation and decomposition that can be used in the development of guidelines for safe construction design.
Verification of the Reliability of Offshore Wind Resource Prediction Using an Atmosphere–Ocean Coupled Model
Authors: Kang Minhyeop , Ko Kyungnam , Kim Minyeong
Published: January 2020

An atmosphere–ocean coupled model is proposed as an optimal numerical prediction method for the offshore wind resource. Meteorological prediction models are mainly used for wind speed prediction, with active studies using atmospheric models. Seawater mixing occurring at sea due to solar radiation and wind intensity can significantly change the sea surface temperature (SST), an important variable for predicting wind resources and energy production, considering its wind effect, within a short time. This study used the weather research forecasting and ocean mixed layer (WRF-OML) model, an atmosphere–ocean coupled model, to reflect time-dependent SST and sea surface fluxes. Results are compared with those of the WRF model, another atmospheric model, and verified through comparison with observation data of a meteorological mast (met-mast) at sea. At a height of 94 m, the wind speed predicted had a bias and root mean square error of 1.09 m/s and 2.88 m/s for the WRF model, and −0.07 m/s and 2.45 m/s for the WRF-OML model, respectively. Thus, the WRF-OML model has a higher reliability. In comparing to the met-mast observation data, the annual energy production (AEP) estimation based on the predicted wind speed showed an overestimation of 15.3% and underestimation of 5.9% from the WRF and WRF-OML models, respectively.
The Essential Oil and Hydrolats from Myristica fragrans Seeds with Magnesium Aluminometasilicate as Excipient: Antioxidant, Antibacterial, and Anti-inflammatory Activity
Authors: Matulyte Inga , Jekabsone Aiste , Jankauskaite Lina , Zavistanaviciute Paulina , Sakiene Vytaute , Bartkiene Elena , Ruzauskas Modestas , Kopustinskiene Dalia M. , Santini Antonello , Bernatoniene Jurga
Published: January 2020

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) essential oil has antimicrobial, antiseptic, antiparasitic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. We have recently demonstrated that hydrodistillation of nutmeg essential oil by applying magnesium aluminometasilicate as an excipient significantly increases both the content and amount of bioactive substances in the oil and hydrolats. In this study, we aimed to compare the antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory activity of hydrolats and essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation in the presence and absence of magnesium aluminometasilicate as an excipient. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method revealed that magnesium aluminometasilicate did not significantly improved antioxidant activity of both essential oil and hydrolat. Antibacterial efficiency was evaluated by monitoring growth of 15 bacterial strains treated by a range of dilutions of the essential oil and the hydrolats. Essential oil with an excipient completely inhibited the growth of E. faecalis, S. mutans (referent), and P. multocida, whereas the pure oil was only efficient against the latter strain. Finally, the anti-inflammatory properties of the substances were assessed in a fibroblast cell culture treated with viral dsRNR mimetic Poly I:C. The essential oil with an excipient protected cells against Poly I:C-induced necrosis more efficiently compared to pure essential oil. Also, both the oil and the hydrolats with aluminometasilicate were more efficient in preventing IL-6 release in the presence of Poly I:C. Our results show that the use of magnesium aluminometasilicate as an excipient might change and in some cases improve the biological activities of nutmeg essential oil and hydrolats.
Use of Tiger Nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) Oil Emulsion as Animal Fat Replacement in Beef Burgers
Authors: Carvalho Barros Julliane , Munekata Paulo E. S. , de Carvalho Francisco Allan Leandro , Pateiro Mirian , Barba Francisco J. , Domínguez Rubén , Trindade Marco Antonio , Lorenzo José Manuel
Published: January 2020

The present study evaluated the replacement of beef fat in beef burgers using a tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.) oil emulsion, in order to reduce total fat and saturated fatty acids in the studied samples. Three formulations were processed: Control—100% beef fat; tiger nut 50% (TN50)—50% of beef fat replaced using tiger nut oil emulsion and tiger nut 100% (TN100)—100% of beef fat replaced by tiger nut oil emulsion. The physicochemical parameters were affected after fat replacement. Moreover, the protein and fat contents decreased in those sample with tiger nut oil emulsion, thus the formulation TN100 can be considered as “reduced fat content”. Regarding color, an increased L* and b* value parameters was observed after TN100 while the values of a* remained similar to the Control samples. The hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess and chewiness were similar in all formulations. The addition of tiger nut oil emulsion as a substitute for beef fat reduced saturated fat and increased the mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Oleic acid was found to be in highest proportions in burgers. The TN100 samples were considered as acceptable by consumers. Therefore, total replacement of beef fat using tiger nut oil emulsions in beef burger resulted in a well-accepted and healthier meat product with reduced total and saturated fat contents, as well as increased unsaturated fatty acids.
SparkRA: Enabling Big Data Scalability for the GATK RNA-seq Pipeline with Apache Spark
Authors: Al-Ars Zaid , Wang Saiyi , Mushtaq Hamid
Published: January 2020

The rapid proliferation of low-cost RNA-seq data has resulted in a growing interest in RNA analysis techniques for various applications, ranging from identifying genotype–phenotype relationships to validating discoveries of other analysis results. However, many practical applications in this field are limited by the available computational resources and associated long computing time needed to perform the analysis. GATK has a popular best practices pipeline specifically designed for variant calling RNA-seq analysis. Some tools in this pipeline are not optimized to scale the analysis to multiple processors or compute nodes efficiently, thereby limiting their ability to process large datasets. In this paper, we present SparkRA, an Apache Spark based pipeline to efficiently scale up the GATK RNA-seq variant calling pipeline on multiple cores in one node or in a large cluster. On a single node with 20 hyper-threaded cores, the original pipeline runs for more than 5 h to process a dataset of 32 GB. In contrast, SparkRA is able to reduce the overall computation time of the pipeline on the same single node by about 4×, reducing the computation time down to 1.3 h. On a cluster with 16 nodes (each with eight single-threaded cores), SparkRA is able to further reduce this computation time by 7.7× compared to a single node. Compared to other scalable state-of-the-art solutions, SparkRA is 1.2× faster while achieving the same accuracy of the results.
Determination of Peak Impact Force for Buildings Exposed to Structural Pounding during Earthquakes
Authors: Khatami Seyed Mohammad , Naderpour Hosein , Barros Rui Carneiro , Jakubczyk-Gałczyńska Anna , Jankowski Robert
Published: January 2020

Structural pounding between adjacent, insufficiently separated buildings, or bridge segments, has been repeatedly observed during seismic excitations. Such earthquake-induced collisions may cause severe structural damage or even lead to the collapse of colliding structures. The aim of the present paper was to show the results of the study focused on determination of peak impact forces during collisions between buildings exposed to different seismic excitations. A set of different ground motion records, with various peak ground acceleration (PGA) values and frequency contents, were considered. First, pounding-involved numerical analysis was conducted for the basic parameters of colliding buildings. Then, the parametric study was carried out for different structural natural periods, structural damping ratios, gap sizes between buildings and coefficients of restitution. The results of the analysis conducted for the basic structural parameters indicate that the largest response of the analysed buildings was observed for the Duzce earthquake. The parametric study showed that the pounding-involved structural response depended substantially on all parameters considered in the analysis, and the largest response was observed for different ground motions. The results of the study presented in this paper indicate that the value of the peak impact force expected during the time of the earthquake does not depend on the PGA value of ground motion, but rather on the frequency contents of excitation and pounding scenario. It is therefore recommended that the peak impact force for buildings exposed to structural pounding during earthquakes should be determined individually for the specific structural configuration taking into account the design ground motion.
Stability Analysis of Plant-Root-Reinforced Shallow Slopes along Mountainous Road Corridors Based on Numerical Modeling
Authors: Tsige Damtew , Senadheera Sanjaya , Talema Ayalew
Published: January 2020

Engineering methods such as soil nails, geosynthetic reinforcement, retaining structures, gabions, and shotcrete are implemented to stabilize road cut slopes along mountainous areas. However, these structures are not environmentally friendly and, particularly in Ethiopia, it is impossible to address all road problems due to financial limitations. Nowadays, soil reinforcement with plant roots is recognized as an environmentally sustainable alternative to improve shallow slope failure along mountainous transportation corridors. The aims of this study was, therefore, to conduct slope stability analysis along a road corridor by incorporating the effect of plant roots. Five plant species were selected for the analysis based on their mechanical characteristics. Namely, Eucalyptus globules (tree), Psidium guajava (shrub), Salix subserrata (shrub), Chrysopogon zizanioides, and Pennisetum macrourum (grasses). The roots’ tensile strength and soil parameters were determined through tensile strength testing and triaxial compression tests, respectively. The factor of safety of the slope was calculated by the PLAXIS-2D software. The study showed that when the slope was reinforced with plant roots, the factor of safety (FOS) improved from 22–34%. The decreasing effect of vegetation on slope stability was observed when soil moisture increased. The sensitivity analysis also indicated that: (1) as the spacing between plants decreased, the effect of vegetation on the slope increased. (2) Slope angle modification with a combination of plant roots had a significant impact on slope stabilization. Of the five-selected plant species, Salix subserrata was the promising plant species for slope stabilization as it exhibited better root mechanical properties among selected plant species.
Visualisation of Spatial Data Uncertainty. A Case Study of a Database of Topographic Objects
Authors: Ślusarski Marek , Jurkiewicz Magdalena
Published: January 2020

The Database of Topographic Objects (DTO) is the official database of Poland for collecting and providing spatial data with the detail level of a topographic map. Polish national DTOs manage information about the spatial location and attribute values of geographic objects. Data in the DTO are the starting point for geographic information systems (GISs) for various central and local governments as well as private institutions. Every set of spatial data based on measurement-derived data is susceptible to uncertainty. Therefore, the widespread awareness of data uncertainty is of vital importance to all GIS users. Cartographic visualisation techniques are an effective approach to informing spatial dataset users about the uncertainty of the data. The objective of the research was to define a set of methods for visualising the DTO data uncertainty using expert know-how and experience. This set contains visualisation techniques for presenting three types of uncertainty: positional, attribute, and temporal. The positional uncertainty for point objects was presented using visual variables, object fill with hue colour and lightness, and glyphs placed at map symbol positions. The positional uncertainty for linear objects was presented using linear object contours made of dotted lines and glyphs at vertices. Fill grain density and contour crispness were employed to represent the positional uncertainty for surface objects. The attribute value uncertainty and the temporal uncertainty were represented using fill grain density and fill colour value. The proposed set of the DTO uncertainty visualisation methods provides a finite array of visualisation techniques that can be tested and juxtaposed. The visualisation methods were comprehensively evaluated in a survey among experts who use spatial databases. Results of user preference analysis have demonstrated that the set of the DTO data uncertainty visualisation techniques may be applied to the full extent. The future implementation of the proposed visualisation methods in GIS databases will help data users interpret values correctly.
Spatio-Temporal Land-Use Changes and the Response in Landscape Pattern to Hemeroby in a Resource-Based City
Authors: Tian Yu , Liu Bingxi , Hu Yuandong , Xu Qing , Qu Ming , Xu Dawei
Published: January 2020

Hemeroby is an integrated indicator used to measure the impact and degree of all human interventions on ecological components or ecosystems. The constant exploitation of resources is a strong interference of human beings to the natural environment. With the depletion of non-renewable resources, some cities with resource exploitation as their main industry—“resource-based cities”—are facing great development pressure. In order to quantify the impact of human disturbance on the natural environment and provide some scientific support for policy makers of the resource-based city, we used remote sensing images and landscape pattern metrics, introduced the synthetic hemeroby index model and analyzed the relationship between human disturbance and landscape pattern during 1990–2017. The results showed that: (1) The hemeroby in Daqing continued to rise during 1990–2017, and the main factor was the continuous expansion of the construction land and the reclamation of farmland. (2) In the areas with different hemeroby, there were significant differences in landscape pattern. In the areas with high-level hemeroby, the heterogeneity of landscape pattern was low, the aggregation among patches was high, and the shape of patches was regular, whereas the landscape pattern in the areas with medium-level hemeroby was just opposite. Although the heterogeneity of landscape pattern and the aggregation among patches were high in the areas with low-level hemeroby, the complexity of landscape was low and the shape of patches was regular. (3) In the temporal dimension, the increase of hemeroby contributed to the complexity of patch shape, the decrease of the aggregation among patches, and the fragmentation of landscape pattern. In the spatial dimension, the response in landscape pattern to human disturbance was relatively insensitive in the areas with low-level hemeroby, and this response was basically same in the high-level hemeroby and the whole study areas.
Efficient Estimation of Biomass from Residual Agroforestry
Authors: Bascietto Marco , Sperandio Giulio , Bajocco Sofia
Published: January 2020

Cost-effective sampling methods for the estimation of variables of interest that are time-consuming are a major concern. Ranked set sampling (RSS) is a sampling method that assumes that a set of sampling units drawn from the population can be ranked by other means without the actual measurement of the variable of interest. We used data on vegetation dynamics from satellite remote sensing as a means in which to rapidly rank sampling units across various land covers and to estimate their residual agroforestry biomass contribution for a small cogeneration facility located in the center of a study area in central Italy. A remote sensing map used as an auxiliary variable in RSS enabled us to cut down the photo-interpretation of the residual biomass present in sampling units from 745 to 139, increase the relative precision of the estimate over common simple random sampling, and avoid individual subjective bias being introduced. The photo-interpretation of the sampling units resulted in a 1.12 Mg ha−1 year−1 mean annual density of residual biomass supply, although unevenly distributed among land cover classes; this led to an estimate of a yearly supply of 132 Gg over the whole 2276 km2 wide study area. Further applications of this study might include the spatial quantification of biomass supply-related ecosystem services.
Field Geological Investigations and Stability Analysis of Duanjiagou Landslide
Authors: Wang Xingang , Xia Tangdai , Zhang Longju , Gao Min , Cheng Kang
Published: January 2020

This paper analyses the stability of the Duanjiagou landslide on the Bazhong to Guangan Expressway K134–K135 segment in China. The Duanjiagou landslide took place on 4 November 2015. In order to discover the cause of the landslide, we carried out field geological investigations. The indoor physical property experiments were performed by taking the undisturbed soil sample from the borehole cores. To study the strength of the soil, we carried out a saturation direct shear test and saturation residual shear test on sliding zone soil samples. According to the physical properties of soil and the saturated shear strength parameters of sliding zone soil, the stability was analyzed by the landslide force transmission method and numerical simulation method. The results showed that in the initial sliding stage, the safety factor obtained by using the average value of saturated shear strength parameters was in good agreement with the field observation situation. The landslide was at an unstable state. The softening of soil and roadbed excavation at the foot of the slope are the main reasons for landslides.
New Engineered-Botulinum Toxins Inhibit the Release of Pain-Related Mediators
Authors: Tang Minhong , Meng Jianghui , Wang Jiafu
Published: January 2020

Targeted delivery of potent inhibitor of cytokine/pain-mediator into inflammatory or pain-sensing cells is a promising avenue for treating chronic pain, a world-wide major healthcare burden. An unmet need exists for a specific and effective delivery strategy. Herein, we describe a new approach using sortase to site-specifically ligate a non-toxic botulinum neurotoxin D (BoNT/D) core-therapeutic (synaptobrevin-cleaving protease and translocation domains) to cell-specific targeting ligands. An engineered core-therapeutic was efficiently ligated to IL-1β ligand within minutes. The resultant conjugate specifically entered into cultured murine primary macrophages, cleaved synaptobrevin 3 and inhibited LPS/IFN-γ evoked IL-6 release. Likewise, a CGRP receptor antagonist ligand delivered BoNT/D protease into sensory neurons and inhibited K+-evoked substance P release. As cytokines and neuropeptides are major regulators of inflammation and pain, blocking their release by novel engineered inhibitors highlights their therapeutic potential. Our report describes a new and widely-applicable strategy for the production of targeted bio-therapeutics for numerous chronic diseases.
Crosstalk with Jasmonic Acid Integrates Multiple Responses in Plant Development
Authors: Jang Geupil , Yoon Youngdae , Choi Yang Do
Published: January 2020

To date, extensive studies have identified many classes of hormones in plants and revealed the specific, nonredundant signaling pathways for each hormone. However, plant hormone functions largely overlap in many aspects of plant development and environmental responses, suggesting that studying the crosstalk among plant hormones is key to understanding hormonal responses in plants. The phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) is deeply involved in the regulation of plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. In addition, a growing number of studies suggest that JA plays an essential role in the modulation of plant growth and development under stress conditions, and crosstalk between JA and other phytohormones involved in growth and development, such as gibberellic acid (GA), cytokinin, and auxin modulate various developmental processes. This review summarizes recent findings of JA crosstalk in the modulation of plant growth and development, focusing on JA–GA, JA–cytokinin, and JA–auxin crosstalk. The molecular mechanisms underlying this crosstalk are also discussed.
Iron and Sphingolipids as Common Players of (Mal)Adaptation to Hypoxia in Pulmonary Diseases
Authors: Ottolenghi Sara , Zulueta Aida , Caretti Anna
Published: January 2020

Hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, can occur in both physiological (high altitude) and pathological conditions (respiratory diseases). In this narrative review, we introduce high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and Cystic Fibrosis (CF) as examples of maladaptation to hypoxia, and highlight some of the potential mechanisms influencing the prognosis of the affected patients. Among the specific pathways modulated in response to hypoxia, iron metabolism has been widely explored in recent years. Recent evidence emphasizes hepcidin as highly involved in the compensatory response to hypoxia in healthy subjects. A less investigated field in the adaptation to hypoxia is the sphingolipid (SPL) metabolism, especially through Ceramide and sphingosine 1 phosphate. Both individually and in concert, iron and SPL are active players of the (mal)adaptation to physiological hypoxia, which can result in the pathological HAPE. Our aim is to identify some pathways and/or markers involved in the physiological adaptation to low atmospheric pressures (high altitudes) that could be involved in pathological adaptation to hypoxia as it occurs in pulmonary inflammatory diseases. Hepcidin, Cer, S1P, and their interplay in hypoxia are raising growing interest both as prognostic factors and therapeutical targets.
Systemic Oxidative Stress Is Increased in Postmenopausal Women and Independently Associates with Homocysteine Levels
Authors: Bourgonje Arno R. , Abdulle Amaal Eman , Al-Rawas Areej M. , Al-Maqbali Muna , Al-Saleh Mohsin , Enriquez Marvin B. , Al-Siyabi Sultan , Al-Hashmi Khamis , Al-Lawati Intisar , Bulthuis Marian L. C. , Mulder Douwe J. , Gordijn Sanne J. , van Goor Harry , Saleh Jumana
Published: January 2020

Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Postmenopausal women have an increased risk of developing CVD due to decreased estrogen availability, which is accompanied by increased oxidative stress. Serum free thiols (R-SH) provide a robust and powerful read-out of systemic oxidative stress. In this study, we aimed to establish serum levels of free thiols and explore associations between free thiols and demographic, clinical, and biochemical parameters related to obesity and the risk for developing CVD in both pre- and postmenopausal women. Serum free thiols were measured in a cohort consisting of healthy pre- (n = 223) and postmenopausal (n = 118) Omani women. Postmenopausal women had significantly lower levels of serum free thiols as compared to premenopausal women (762.9 ± 85.3 vs. 780 ± 80.9 μM, age-adjusted p < 0.001). Women′s age was positively associated with serum free thiol levels in premenopausal women (β = 0.36, p = 0.002), whereas an inverse association was observed in postmenopausal women (β = −0.29, p = 0.002). Homocysteine levels were significantly inversely associated with serum free thiol levels in both pre- (β = −0.19, p = 0.005) and postmenopausal (β = −0.20, p = 0.032) women, independent from known cardiovascular risk factors. In this study, we show that postmenopausal women are affected by increased systemic oxidative stress, which independently associates with homocysteine levels.
Differential Subcellular Distribution and Translocation of Seven 14-3-3 Isoforms in Response to EGF and During the Cell Cycle
Authors: Abdrabou Abdalla , Brandwein Daniel , Wang Zhixiang
Published: January 2020

Multiple isoforms of 14-3-3 proteins exist in different organisms. In mammalian cells, 14-3-3 protein has seven isoforms (α/β, ε, η, γ, σ, θ/τ, and δ/ζ), with α and δ representing the phosphorylated versions of β and ζ, respectively. While the existence of multiple isoforms may represent one more level of regulation in 14-3-3 signaling, our knowledge regarding the isoform-specific functions of 14-3-3 proteins is very limited. Determination of the subcellular localization of the different 14-3-3 isoforms could give us important clues of their specific functions. In this study, by using indirect immunofluorescence, subcellular fractionation, and immunoblotting, we studied the subcellular localization of the total 14-3-3 protein and each of the seven 14-3-3 isoforms; their redistribution throughout the cell cycle; and their translocation in response to EGF in Cos-7 cells. We showed that 14-3-3 proteins are broadly distributed throughout the cell and associated with many subcellular structures/organelles, including the plasma membrane (PM), mitochondria, ER, nucleus, microtubules, and actin fibers. This broad distribution underlines the multiple functions identified for 14-3-3 proteins. The different isoforms of 14-3-3 proteins have distinctive subcellular localizations, which suggest their distinctive cellular functions. Most notably, 14-3-3ƞ is almost exclusively localized to the mitochondria, 14-3-3γ is only localized to the nucleus, and 14-3-3σ strongly and specifically associated with the centrosome during mitosis. We also examined the subcellular localization of the seven 14-3-3 isoforms in other cells, including HEK-293, MDA-MB-231, and MCF-7 cells, which largely confirmed our findings with Cos-7 cells.
Cytoplasmic and Nuclear Forms of Thyroid Hormone Receptor β1 Are Inversely Associated with Survival in Primary Breast Cancer
Authors: Shao Wanting , Kuhn Christina , Mayr Doris , Ditsch Nina , Kailuweit Magdalena , Wolf Verena , Harbeck Nadia , Mahner Sven , Jeschke Udo , Cavaillès Vincent , Sixou Sophie
Published: January 2020

The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of thyroid hormone receptor β1 (THRβ1) by immunohistochemistry in breast cancer (BC) tissues and to correlate the results with clinico-biological parameters. In a well-characterized cohort of 274 primary BC patients, THRβ1 was widely expressed with a predominant nuclear location, although cytoplasmic staining was also frequently observed. Both nuclear and cytoplasmic THRβ1 were correlated with high-risk BC markers such as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), Ki67 (also known as MKI67), prominin-1 (CD133), and N-cadherin. Overall survival analysis demonstrated that cytoplasmic THRβ1 was correlated with favourable survival (p = 0.015), whereas nuclear THRβ1 had a statistically significant correlation with poor outcome (p = 0.038). Interestingly, in our cohort, nuclear and cytoplasmic THRβ1 appeared to be independent markers either for poor (p = 0.0004) or for good (p = 0.048) prognosis, respectively. Altogether, these data indicate that the subcellular expression of THRβ1 may play an important role in oncogenesis. Moreover, the expression of nuclear THRβ1 is a negative outcome marker, which may help to identify high-risk BC subgroups.
Characterizing Body Image Distortion and Bodily Self-Plasticity in Anorexia Nervosa via Visuo-Tactile Stimulation in Virtual Reality
Authors: Provenzano Luca , Porciello Giuseppina , Ciccarone Sofia , Lenggenhager Bigna , Tieri Gaetano , Marucci Matteo , Dazzi Federico , Loriedo Camillo , Bufalari Ilaria
Published: January 2020

We combined virtual reality and multisensory bodily illusion with the aim to characterize and reduce the perceptual (body overestimation) and the cognitive-emotional (body dissatisfaction) components of body image distortion (BID) in anorexia nervosa (AN). For each participant (20 anorexics, 20 healthy controls) we built personalized avatars that reproduced their own body size, shape, and verisimilar increases and losses of their original weight. Body overestimation and dissatisfaction were measured by asking participants to choose the avatar that best resembled their real and ideal body. Results show higher body dissatisfaction in AN, caused by the desire of a thinner body, and no body-size overestimation. Interpersonal multisensory stimulation (IMS) was then applied on the avatar reproducing participant’s perceived body, and on the two avatars which reproduced increases and losses of 15% of it, all presented with a first-person perspective (1PP). Embodiment was stronger after synchronous IMS in both groups, but did not reduce BID in participants with AN. Interestingly, anorexics reported more negative emotions after embodying the fattest avatar, which scaled with symptoms severity. Overall, our findings suggest that the cognitive-emotional, more than the perceptual component of BID is severely altered in AN and that perspective (1PP vs. 3PP) from which a body is evaluated may play a crucial role. Future research and clinical trials might take advantage of virtual reality to reduce the emotional distress related to body dissatisfaction.