bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Animal Cruelty and Neglect: Prevalence and Community Actions in Victoria, Australia
Authors: Glanville Carmen , Ford Jennifer , Coleman Grahame
Published: December 2019

While animal mistreatment is common worldwide, its true scale is largely unknown. Currently, organisations rely on community reporting (case data) and trends found therein to inform prevention activities. To investigate the prevalence, types, and responses to animal mistreatment in Victoria, we conducted a representative telephone survey (n = 1801) across six Local Government Areas (LGAs); three with high numbers of RSPCA reported cases and three demographically similar areas with low numbers of such cases. Overall, 25.7% of people surveyed had witnessed at least one incident of mistreatment in the last 12 months, with those relating to neglect or poor management predominating. No differences in prevalence were found between LGAs when socio-economic index and local government comparator group were controlled for. However, participants in regional cities recalled witnessing more separate incidents than those in metropolitan or interface areas. Actions taken after witnessing mistreatment were varied, yet many participants did nothing (27%) and only 9% reported to RSPCA Victoria. Attitudes to reporting were positive but did not predict reporting behaviour. Together, these results demonstrate that case data are not reliable indicators of the true prevalence of animal mistreatment; it is common and grossly underreported, highlighting the need for effective, evidence-based prevention programs.
Real-Time Monitoring of Self-Fed Supplement Intake, Feeding Behaviour, and Growth Rate as Affected by Forage Quantity and Quality of Rotationally Grazed Beef Cattle
Authors: Imaz José A. , García Sergio , González Luciano A.
Published: December 2019

Supplement intake and liveweight (LW) data were collected daily and remotely by digital in-paddock technologies (electronic feeder (EF) and walk-over-weighing scale (WOW)) to study the effect of forage quantity and quality on the intake of a self-fed supplement (molasses-lick blocks (MLB)), LW, liveweight change (LWC), and feeding behaviour of grazing beef cattle. Fifty-two crossbred weaners were rotationally grazed or fed for 254 days on different forages: sudangrass (SG), autumn pastures (P), winter pastures with concentrate (P+C), oat crops (OC), lucerne hay (LH), and oaten hay (OH). Forage quantity and quality were measured on the day of entry (high feed availability) and exit (low feed availability) stages of grazing or hay delivery. The intake of MLB was 111% higher (p < 0.05) at low compared to high feed availability, and this was also reflected in the feeding behaviour of animals (e.g., greater feeding frequency and rate). Moreover, there was a large temporal variability of daily MLB intake (Coefficient of variation (CV) = 146.41%). Supplementing MLB improved LWC only with SG, P, or OH (p < 0.05). The behaviour of animals around MLB reflects changes in feed quantity and quality and could be used to enhance cattle grazing and nutritional management in real time.
June Temperature Trends in the Southwest Deserts of the USA (1950–2018) and Implications for Our Urban Areas
Authors: Brazel Anthony
Published: December 2019

Within the United States, the Southwest USA deserts show the largest temperature changes (1901–2010) besides Alaska, according to the most recent USA National Climate Assessment report. The report does not discuss urban effects vs. regional effects that might be evident in trends. Twenty-five temperature stations with ca. 68-year records (1950 to 2018) have been accessed from US Global Historical Climate Network archives. Land cover data are accessed from a National Land Cover Database. June results considering both urban and rural sites show an astounding rate per year change among sites ranging from −0.01 to 0.05 °C for maximum temperatures and 0.01 to 0.11 °C for minimum temperatures (−0.8 to 3.2 °C, and 0.8 to 8.0 °C for the entire period). For maximum temperatures, almost half of the sites showed no significant trends at a stringent 0.01 level of statistical significance, but 20 of 25 were significant at the 0.05 level. For minimum temperatures, over 75% of sites were significant at the 0.01 level (92% at 0.05 level of significance). The urban-dominated stations in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, and Yuma show large minimum temperature trends, indicating emerging heat island effects. Rural sites, by comparison, show much smaller trends. Addressing heat in our urban areas by local actions, through collaborations with stakeholders and political resolve, will aid in meeting future urban challenges in this era of projected global climate change and continued warming.
Impact of Effective Roughness Length on Mesoscale Meteorological Simulations over Heterogeneous Land Surfaces in Taiwan
Authors: Cheng Fang-Yi , Lin Chin-Fang , Wang Yu-Tzu , Tsai Jeng-Lin , Tsuang Ben-Jei , Lin Ching-Ho
Published: December 2019

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) modeling system obtains the aerodynamic roughness length (z0) from a land use (LU) lookup table. The effective aerodynamic roughness length (z0eff) was estimated for the island of Taiwan by considering the individual roughness lengths (z0i) of the underlying LU types within a modeling grid box. Two z0eff datasets were prepared: one using the z0i from the default LU lookup table and the other using the observed z0i for three LU types (urban, dry cropland and pasture, and irrigated cropland and pasture). The spatial variability of the z0eff distribution was higher than that of the LU table-based z0 distribution. Three WRF sensitivity experiments were performed: (1) dominant LU table-based z0 (namely, S1), (2) z0eff estimated from the default z0i (namely, S2), and (3) z0eff estimated from the observed z0i (namely, S3). Comparisons of the thermal field, temperature, and surface sensible and latent heat fluxes revealed no significant differences among the three simulations. The wind field overestimation and surface momentum flux underestimation in S1 were reduced in S2 and S3, and these improvements were more prominent over areas with highly heterogeneous land surface conditions.
The Chemistry, Pharmacology and Therapeutic Potential of the Edible Mushroom Dictyophora indusiata (Vent ex. Pers.) Fischer (Synn. Phallus indusiatus)
Authors: Habtemariam Solomon
Published: December 2019

Dictyophora indusiata (Vent. Ex. Pers.) Fischer or Phallus indusiatus is an edible member of the higher mushroom phylum of Basidiomycetes. Known for its morphological elegance that gave it the names bridal veil fungus, veiled lady or queen of the mushrooms, it has numerous medicinal values that are beginning to be acknowledged through pharmacological efficacy studies. In an attempt to promote research on this valuable natural resource, the present communication aims to provide a comprehensive review of the chemistry, pharmacology and potential therapeutic applications of extracts and compounds isolated from D. indusiata. Of the bioactive compounds, the chemistry of the polysaccharides as major bioactive components primarily the β-(1→3)-D-glucan with side branches of β-(1→6)-glucosyl units are discussed, while small molecular weight compounds include terpenoids and alkaloids. Biochemical and cellular mechanisms of action from general antioxidant and anti-inflammatory to more specific signaling mechanisms are outlined along with potential applications in cancer and immunotherapy, neurodegenerative and chronic inflammatory diseases, etc. Further research areas and limitations of the current scientific data are also highlighted.
Higher CCL22+ Cell Infiltration is Associated with Poor Prognosis in Cervical Cancer Patients
Authors: Wang Qun , Schmoeckel Elisa , Kost Bernd P. , Kuhn Christina , Vattai Aurelia , Vilsmaier Theresa , Mahner Sven , Mayr Doris , Jeschke Udo , Heidegger Helene Hildegard
Published: December 2019

The chemokine CCL22 recruits regulatory T (T-reg) cells into tumor tissues and is expressed in many human tumors. However, the prognostic role of CCL22 in cervical cancer (CC) has not been determined. This study retrospectively analyzed the clinical significance of the expression of CCL22 and FOXP3 in 230 cervical cancer patients. Immunohistochemical staining analyses of CCL22 and FOXP3 were performed with a tissue microarray. Double immunofluorescence staining, cell coculture, and ELISA were used to determine CCL22 expressing cells and mechanisms. The higher number of infiltrating CCL22+ cells (CCL22high) group was associated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.004), Fédération Internationale de Gynécologie et d’Obstétrique (FIGO) stages (p = 0.010), therapeutic strategies (p = 0.007), and survival status (p = 0.002). The number of infiltrating CCL22+ cells was positively correlated with that of infiltrating FOXP3+ cells (r = 0.210, p = 0.001). The CCL22high group had a lower overall survival rate (OS), compared to the CCL22low group (p = 0.001). However, no significant differences in progression free survival (PFS) were noted between the two groups. CCL22high was an independent predictor of shorter OS (HR, 4.985; p = 0.0001). The OS of the combination group CCL22highFOXP3high was significantly lower than that of the combination group CCL22lowFOXP3low regardless of the FIGO stage and disease subtype. CCL22highFOXP3high was an independent indictor of shorter OS (HR, 5.284; p = 0.009). The PFS of group CCL22highFOXP3high was significantly lower than that of group CCL22lowFOXP3low in cervical adenocarcinoma, but CCL22highFOXP3high was not an independent indicator (HR, 3.018; p = 0.068). CCL22 was primarily expressed in M2-like macrophages in CC and induced by cervical cancer cells. The findings of our study indicate that cervical cancer patients with elevated CCL22+ infiltrating cells require more aggressive treatment. Moreover, the results provide a basis for subsequent, comprehensive studies to advance the design of immunotherapy for cervical cancer.
Immunotherapy for Multiple Myeloma
Authors: Tamura Hideto , Ishibashi Mariko , Sunakawa Mika , Inokuchi Koiti
Published: December 2019

Despite therapeutic advances over the past decades, multiple myeloma (MM) remains a largely incurable disease with poor prognosis in high-risk patients, and thus new treatment strategies are needed to achieve treatment breakthroughs. MM represents various forms of impaired immune surveillance characterized by not only disrupted antibody production but also immune dysfunction of T, natural killer cells, and dendritic cells, although immunotherapeutic interventions such as allogeneic stem-cell transplantation and dendritic cell-based tumor vaccines were reported to prolong survival in limited populations of MM patients. Recently, epoch-making immunotherapies, i.e., immunomodulatory drug-intensified monoclonal antibodies, such as daratumumab combined with lenalidomide and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy targeting B-cell maturation antigen, have been developed, and was shown to improve prognosis even in advanced-stage MM patients. Clinical trials using other antibody-based treatments, such as antibody drug-conjugate and bispecific antigen-directed CD3 T-cell engager targeting, are ongoing. The manipulation of anergic T-cells by checkpoint inhibitors, including an anti-T-cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domains (TIGIT) antibody, also has the potential to prolong survival times. Those new treatments or their combination will improve prognosis and possibly point toward a cure for MM.
Maternal Yes-Associated Protein Participates in Porcine Blastocyst Development via Modulation of Trophectoderm Epithelium Barrier Function
Authors: Cao Zubing , Xu Tengteng , Tong Xu , Wang Yiqing , Zhang Dandan , Gao Di , Zhang Ling , Ning Wei , Qi Xin , Ma Yangyang , Yu Tong , Knott Jason G. , Zhang Yunhai
Published: December 2019

The establishment of a functional trophectoderm (TE) epithelium is an essential prerequisite for blastocyst formation and placentation. Transcription coactivator yes-associated protein (YAP), a downstream effector of the hippo signaling pathway, is required for specification of both the TE and epiblast lineages in mice. However, the biological role of YAP in porcine blastocyst development is not known. Here, we report that maternally derived YAP protein is localized to both the cytoplasm and nuclei prior to the morula stage and is then predominantly localized to the TE nuclei in blastocysts. Functionally, maternal YAP knockdown severely impeded blastocyst formation and perturbed the allocation of the first two lineages. The treatment of embryos with verteporfin, a pharmacological inhibitor of YAP, faithfully recapitulated the phenotype observed in YAP deleted embryos. Mechanistically, we found that maternal YAP regulates multiple genes which are important for lineage commitment, tight junction assembly, and fluid accumulation. Consistent with the effects on tight junction gene expression, a permeability assay revealed that paracellular sealing was defective in the trophectoderm epithelium. Lastly, YAP knockdown in a single blastomere at the 2-cell stage revealed that the cellular progeny of the YAP+ blastomere were sufficient to sustain blastocyst formation via direct complementation of the defective trophectoderm epithelium. In summary, these findings demonstrate that maternal YAP facilitates porcine blastocyst development through transcriptional regulation of key genes that are essential for lineage commitment, tight junction assembly, and fluid accumulation.
Mechanotransduction in the Cardiovascular System: From Developmental Origins to Homeostasis and Pathology
Authors: Garoffolo Gloria , Pesce Maurizio
Published: December 2019

With the term ‘mechanotransduction’, it is intended the ability of cells to sense and respond to mechanical forces by activating intracellular signal transduction pathways and the relative phenotypic adaptation. While a known role of mechanical stimuli has been acknowledged for developmental biology processes and morphogenesis in various organs, the response of cells to mechanical cues is now also emerging as a major pathophysiology determinant. Cells of the cardiovascular system are typically exposed to a variety of mechanical stimuli ranging from compression to strain and flow (shear) stress. In addition, these cells can also translate subtle changes in biophysical characteristics of the surrounding matrix, such as the stiffness, into intracellular activation cascades with consequent evolution toward pro-inflammatory/pro-fibrotic phenotypes. Since cellular mechanotransduction has a potential readout on long-lasting modifications of the chromatin, exposure of the cells to mechanically altered environments may have similar persisting consequences to those of metabolic dysfunctions or chronic inflammation. In the present review, we highlight the roles of mechanical forces on the control of cardiovascular formation during embryogenesis, and in the development and pathogenesis of the cardiovascular system.
18F-FDG PET-Based Imaging of Myocardial Inflammation Predicts a Functional Outcome Following Transplantation of mESC-Derived Cardiac Induced Cells in a Mouse Model of Myocardial Infarction
Authors: Vasudevan Praveen , Gaebel Ralf , Doering Piet , Mueller Paula , Lemcke Heiko , Stenzel Jan , Lindner Tobias , Kurth Jens , Steinhoff Gustav , Vollmar Brigitte , Krause Bernd Joachim , Ince Hueseyin , David Robert , Lang Cajetan Immanuel
Published: December 2019

Cellular inflammation following acute myocardial infarction has gained increasing importance as a target mechanism for therapeutic approaches. We sought to investigate the effect of syngeneic cardiac induced cells (CiC) on myocardial inflammation using 18F-FDG PET (Positron emission tomography)-based imaging and the resulting effect on cardiac pump function using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in a mouse model of myocardial infarction. Mice underwent permanent left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) ligation inducing an acute inflammatory response. The therapy group received an intramyocardial injection of 106 CiC into the border zone of the infarction. Five days after myocardial infarction, 18F-FDG PET was performed under anaesthesia with ketamine and xylazine (KX) to image the inflammatory response in the heart. Flow cytometry of the mononuclear cells in the heart was performed to analyze the inflammatory response. The effect of CiC therapy on cardiac function was determined after three weeks by CMR. The 18F-FDG PET imaging of the heart five days after myocardial infarction (MI) revealed high focal tracer accumulation in the border zone of the infarcted myocardium, whereas no difference was observed in the tracer uptake between infarct and remote myocardium. The CiC transplantation induced a shift in 18F-FDG uptake pattern, leading to significantly higher 18F-FDG uptake in the whole heart, as well as the remote area of the heart. Correspondingly, high numbers of CD11+ cells could be measured by flow cytometry in this region. The CiC transplantation significantly improved the left ventricular ejection function (LVEF) three weeks after myocardial infarction. The CiC transplantation after myocardial infarction leads to an improvement in pump function through modulation of the cellular inflammatory response five days after myocardial infarction. By combining CiC transplantation and the cardiac glucose uptake suppression protocol with KX in a mouse model, we show for the first time, that imaging of cellular inflammation after myocardial infarction using 18F-FDG PET can be used as an early prognostic tool for assessing the efficacy of cardiac stem cell therapies.
Rare Human Diseases: Model Organisms in Deciphering the Molecular Basis of Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia
Authors: Poprzeczko Martyna , Bicka Marta , Farahat Hanan , Bazan Rafal , Osinka Anna , Fabczak Hanna , Joachimiak Ewa , Wloga Dorota
Published: December 2019

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a recessive heterogeneous disorder of motile cilia, affecting one per 15,000–30,000 individuals; however, the frequency of this disorder is likely underestimated. Even though more than 40 genes are currently associated with PCD, in the case of approximately 30% of patients, the genetic cause of the manifested PCD symptoms remains unknown. Because motile cilia are highly evolutionarily conserved organelles at both the proteomic and ultrastructural levels, analyses in the unicellular and multicellular model organisms can help not only to identify new proteins essential for cilia motility (and thus identify new putative PCD-causative genes), but also to elucidate the function of the proteins encoded by known PCD-causative genes. Consequently, studies involving model organisms can help us to understand the molecular mechanism(s) behind the phenotypic changes observed in the motile cilia of PCD affected patients. Here, we summarize the current state of the art in the genetics and biology of PCD and emphasize the impact of the studies conducted using model organisms on existing knowledge.
Improving Thickness Uniformity of Mo/Si Multilayers on Curved Spherical Substrates by a Masking Technique
Authors: Zhang Zhe , Qi Runze , Yao Yiyun , Shi Yingna , Li Wenbin , Huang Qiushi , Yi Shengzhen , Zhang Zhong , Wang Zhanshan , Xie Chun
Published: December 2019

In this work, a masking technique was used to improve the thickness uniformity of a Mo/Si multilayer deposited on a curved spherical mirror by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering with planetary rotation stages. The clear aperture of the mirror was 125 mm with a radius of curvature equal to 143.82 mm. Two different shadow masks were prepared; one was flat and the other was oblique. When using the flat mask, the non-uniformity considerably increased owing to the relatively large gap between the mask and substrate. The deviation between the designed and measured layer thickness and non-uniformity gradually reduced with a smaller gap. The second mask was designed with an oblique profile. Using the oblique mask, the deviation from multilayer thickness uniformity was substantially reduced to a magnitude below 0.8% on the curved spherical substrate over the clear aperture of 125 mm. Multilayers still achieved a smooth growth when deposited with obliquely incident particles. The facile masking technique proposed in this study can be used for depositing uniform coatings on curved spherical substrates with large numerical apertures for high-resolution microscopes, telescopes, and other related optical systems.
Cohesive Element Model for Fracture Behavior Analysis of Al2O3/Graphene Composite Ceramic Tool Material
Authors: Zhang Yongpeng , Xiao Guangchun , Xu Chonghai , Zhou Tingting , Yi Mingdong , Chen Zhaoqiang
Published: December 2019

The microstructure model of Al2O3/graphene (AG) composite ceramic tool material is established based on Voronoi tessellation. The cohesive element method was used to simulate the crack growth of AG. The effect of cohesive parameters at the grain boundary of Al2O3 and graphene on the crack propagation was investigated. The results show that the grain strength of graphene is too high, the crack propagation to graphene grains will be hindered and cannot propagate forward. Cracks tend to spread along the paths where the crack propagation drive force was high and the resistance was low. When the interface strength between Al2O3 and graphene was at the weak interface, the crack propagation path and length were relatively straight and short. The average energy release rate G C is 1.042 × 10−3 J/m2, which is 2.4% higher than that of single-phase Al2O3 ceramic tool materials. However, if the interface strength between Al2O3 and graphene was at the strong interface, the crack propagated along graphene particles for a short distance, consuming a large amount of fracture energy. Furthermore, the crack will deflect around graphene grains, which increases the crack propagation length. The average energy release rate G C is 1.039 × 10−3 J/m2, which is 2% higher than that of single-phase Al2O3 ceramic tool materials.
Liquid Crystal Optics and Physics: Recent Advances and Prospects
Authors: Wang Chun-Ta , Yang Chan-Shan , Guo Qi
Published: December 2019

For more than 100 years, liquid crystals (LCs) have been extensively investigated and LC displays now are becoming ubiquitous in our daily life, from TVs, mobile phones to indoor/outdoor signage [...]
Improving Neural Machine Translation by Filtering Synthetic Parallel Data
Authors: Xu Guanghao , Ko Youngjoong , Seo Jungyun
Published: December 2019

Synthetic data has been shown to be effective in training state-of-the-art neural machine translation (NMT) systems. Because the synthetic data is often generated by back-translating monolingual data from the target language into the source language, it potentially contains a lot of noise—weakly paired sentences or translation errors. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to filter this noise from synthetic data. For each sentence pair of the synthetic data, we compute a semantic similarity score using bilingual word embeddings. By selecting sentence pairs according to these scores, we obtain better synthetic parallel data. Experimental results on the IWSLT 2017 Korean→English translation task show that despite using much less data, our method outperforms the baseline NMT system with back-translation by up to 0.72 and 0.62 Bleu points for tst2016 and tst2017, respectively.
Analysis of the Forces Driving the Oscillations in 3D Fluidic Oscillators
Authors: Baghaei Masoud , Bergada Josep M.
Published: December 2019

One of the main advantages of fluidic oscillators is that they do not have moving parts, which brings high reliability whenever being used in real applications. To use these devices in real applications, it is necessary to evaluate their performance, since each application requires a particular injected fluid momentum and frequency. In this paper, the performance of a given fluidic oscillator is evaluated at different Reynolds numbers via a 3D-computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The net momentum applied to the incoming jet is compared with the dynamic maximum stagnation pressure in the mixing chamber, to the dynamic output mass flow, to the dynamic feedback channels mass flow, to the pressure acting to both feedback channels outlets, and to the mixing chamber inlet jet oscillation angle. A perfect correlation between these parameters is obtained, therefore indicating the oscillation is triggered by the pressure momentum term applied to the jet at the feedback channels outlets. The paper proves that the stagnation pressure fluctuations appearing at the mixing chamber inclined walls are responsible for the pressure momentum term acting at the feedback channels outlets. Until now it was thought that the oscillations were driven by the mass flow flowing along the feedback channels, however in this paper it is proved that the oscillations are pressure driven. The peak to peak stagnation pressure fluctuations increase with increasing Reynolds number, and so does the pressure momentum term acting onto the mixing chamber inlet incoming jet.
Powering a Sustainable and Circular Economy—An Engineering Approach to Estimating Renewable Energy Potentials within Earth System Boundaries
Authors: Desing Harald , Widmer Rolf , Beloin-Saint-Pierre Didier , Hischier Roland , Wäger Patrick
Published: December 2019

This study proposes a method to estimate the appropriability of renewable energy resources at the global scale, when Earth system boundaries/needs and the human demand for chemical energy are respected. The method is based on an engineering approach, i.e., uncertainties of parameters and models are considered and potentials calculated with 99 % confidence. We used literature data to test our method and provide initial results for global appropriable technical potentials (ATP) that sum up to 71 TW , which is significantly larger than the current global energy demand. Consequently, there is sufficient renewable energy potentially available to increase energy access for a growing world population as well as for a development towards increasingly closed material cycles within the technosphere. Solar energy collected on the built environment ( 29 % ) and in desert areas ( 69 % ) represent the dominant part of this potential, followed in great distance by hydro ( 0.6 % ), terrestrial heat ( 0.4 % ), wind ( 0.35 % ), and biomass ( 0.2 % ). Furthermore, we propose indicators to evaluate an energy mix on different levels, from an energy mix in single products to the mix used by the global economy, against the estimated RE potentials, which allow an evaluation and consideration in the design of sustainable–circular products and systems.
Design of a Nonlinear Predictive Controller for a Fractional-Order Hydraulic Turbine Governing System with Mechanical Time Delay
Authors: Tian Yuqiang , Wang Bin , Chen Diyi , Wang Shaokun , Chen Peng , Yang Ying
Published: December 2019

A nonlinear predictive control method for a fractional-order hydraulic turbine governing system (HTGS) with a time delay is studied in this paper. First, a fractional-order model of a time-delay hydraulic turbine governing system is presented. Second, the fractional-order hydraulic servo subsystem is transformed into a standard controlled autoregressive moving average (CARMA) model according to the Grünwald-Letnikov (G-L) definition of fractional calculus. Third, based on the delayed Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model, the fuzzy prediction model of the integer-order part of the HTGS is given. Then, by introducing a fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm, the fuzzy prediction model can be easily transformed into the CARMA model. Furthermore, a nonlinear predictive controller is proposed to stabilize the time-delay HTGS. Finally, the experiment results are consistent with the theoretical analysis.
Evaluation of Optimization-Based EV Charging Scheduling with Load Limit in a Realistic Scenario
Authors: Limmer Steffen
Published: December 2019

In the literature, optimization-based approaches are frequently proposed for the control of electric vehicle charging. However, they are usually evaluated under simplifying assumptions and are not compared to more simple approaches. The present work compares optimization-based approaches with rule-based ones in a simple but realistic scenario, in which a certain limit for the total load has to be satisfied. The scenario is based on the situation at an office building in Germany. In simulation experiments, different control approaches are evaluated not only in terms of pure performance but also from an economic perspective. The results indicate that, although the optimization-based approaches outperform the rule-based approaches, they are not always the right choice from an economic point of view.
Speed and Pressure Controls of Pumps-as-Turbines Installed in Branch of Water-Distribution Network Subjected to Highly Variable Flow Rates
Authors: Alberizzi Jacopo Carlo , Renzi Massimiliano , Righetti Maurizio , Pisaturo Giuseppe Roberto , Rossi Mosè
Published: December 2019

The use of Pumps-as-Turbines (PaTs) to replace hydraulic turbines as energy-recovery units in industrial and civil applications is widening the penetration of hydropower in small-scale plants. PaTs show advantages in terms of installation costs and the availability of solutions. Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) represent a potential application where PaTs can be installed to recover water-pressure energy. In this work, a MATLAB©–Simulink model of a WDN branch located in South-Tyrol (Italy) was developed. The flow rate of the WDN was assessed though a measurement campaign showing high daily variability, which negatively affect PaT performance. To let the machine operate close to the Best Efficiency Point (BEP), four different operating strategies were studied to meet the constraint of a fixed pressure equal to 4 bar downstream the WDN branch, required to supply water to users. A PaT speed control strategy was implemented, granting better exploitation of flow rates even in the presence of high daily fluctuations. Energy recovery was 23% higher than that of the reference thanks to an advanced strategy based on controlling PaT rotational speed when the flow rate is smaller than that of the design, and operating in off-design conditions when flow rate is higher than that of the BEP.
Tie-Line Reserve Power Probability Margin for Day-Ahead Dispatching in Power Systems with High Proportion Renewable Power Sources
Authors: Chen Yue , Guo Zhizhong , Tadie Abebe Tilahun , Li Hongbo , Wang Guizhong , Hou Yingwei
Published: December 2019

In power systems with a high proportion of renewable power sources (PSHPRPSs), the power constraints of the tie-line may limit the ability of the reserve power to accommodate uncertain power generation, resulting in difficulties for the grid power balance. As uncertain power generation cannot be predicted accurately and in accordance with the law of probability and statistics, it is necessary to use a probability model to calculate the uncertain power of the tie-line. Here, day-ahead prediction error probability optimal power flow (DPEPOPF) is proposed to calculate the tie-line reserve power probability margin (TRPPM) in day-ahead dispatching. In day-ahead dispatching, TRPPM is reserved for real-time dispatching to accommodate uncertain power generation, so as to avoid tie-line power congestion. This study classifies the area of the grid based on the principle of area control error accommodation, and the DPEPOPF is divided into two categories: An inter-area day-ahead prediction error probability optimal power flow mathematical model, and an intra-area day-ahead prediction error probability optimal power flow mathematical model. The point estimate optimization algorithm was implemented in MATLAB 8.3.0.532 (R2014a) to calculate the TRPPM. The simulation results verify the accuracy of the model and effectively avoid power congestion of the tie-line.
Electricity Consumption Prediction of Solid Electric Thermal Storage with a Cyber–Physical Approach
Authors: Ji Huichao , Yang Junyou , Wang Haixin , Tian Kun , Okoye Martin Onyeka , Feng Jiawei
Published: December 2019

This paper proposes a cyber–physical approach to enhance the prediction accuracy of electricity consumption of solid electric thermal storage (SETS) system, which integrates a physical model and a data-based cyber model. In the cyber–physical model, the prediction error of the physical model is used as an input of the cyber model to further calibrate the prediction error. Firstly, customers’ behavior characteristics are extracted by the integration of K-means and one-versus-one support vector machine. Secondly, based on the behavior characteristics and ambient temperature, the physical model is developed to predict daily electricity consumption. Finally, the error levels of physical model are classified, together with the temperature and prediction values of the physical model, are selected as the inputs of the cyber model using the back propagation (BP) neural network to calibrate the results of the physical model. The effectiveness of the proposed cyber–physical model (CPM) is verified by a 1 MW SETS system. The simulation results show that, compared with the physical model (PM) and cyber model (CM), the maximum relative errors (MRE) with the CPM are reduced to 25.4% and 4.8%, respectively.
Semi-Analytical Model for Two-Phase Flowback in Complex Fracture Networks in Shale Oil Reservoirs
Authors: Cai Yuzhe , Dahi Taleghani Arash
Published: December 2019

Flowback data is the earliest available data for estimating fracture geometries and the assessment of different fracturing techniques. Considerable attention has been paid recently to analyze flowback data quantitively in order to obtain fracture properties such as effective half-length and effective conductivity by simply assuming fractures having bi-wing planar geometries and constant fracture compressibility. However, this simplifying assumption ignores the complexity of fracture networks. To overcome this limitation, we proposed a semi-analytical method, which can be used as a direct model for fast inverse analysis to characterize complex fracture networks generated during hydraulic fracturing. A two-phase oil–water flowback model with a matrix oil influx for wells with bi-wing planar fractures is also presented to identify limitations of the former solution. Since most available flowback studies use constant fracture properties and the assumption of planar fractures, considering variable fracture properties and complex fracture geometries gives this model more robustness for modeling fracture flow during flowback, more realistically. The proposed models have been validated by numerical simulations. The presented procedure provides a simple way for modeling early flowback in complex fracture networks and it can be used for inverse analysis.
Wear Fault Diagnosis of Aeroengines Based on Broad Learning System and Ensemble Learning
Authors: Wang Mengmeng , Ge Quanbo , Jiang Haoyu , Yao Gang
Published: December 2019

An aircraft engine (aeroengine) operates in an extremely harsh environment, causing the working state of the engine to constantly change. As a result, the engine is prone to various kinds of wear faults. This paper proposes a new intelligent method for the diagnosis of aeroengine wear faults based on oil analysis, in which broad learning system (BLS) and ensemble learning models are introduced and integrated into the bagging-BLS model, in which 100 sub-BLS models are established, which are further optimized by ensemble learning. Experiments are conducted to verify the proposed method, based on the analysis of oil data, in which the random forest and single BLS algorithms are used for comparison. The results show that the output accuracy of the proposed method is stable (at 0.988), showing that the bagging-BLS model can improve the accuracy and reliability of engine wear fault diagnosis, reflecting the development trend of fault diagnosis in implementing intelligent technology.
Effects of Salt on Root Aeration, Nitrification, and Nitrogen Uptake in Mangroves
Authors: Zhao Yan , Wang Xun , Wang Youshao , Jiang Zhaoyu , Ma Xiaoyu , Inyang Aniefiok Ini , Cheng Hao
Published: December 2019

The potential effects of salt on the growth, root anatomy, radial oxygen loss (ROL), and nitrogen (N) dynamics in mangroves were investigated using the seedlings of Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh. The results showed that a moderate salinity (200 mM NaCl) appeared to have little negative effect on the growth of A. marina. However, higher salt stresses (400 and 600 mM NaCl) significantly inhibited the biomass yield. Concentrations of N in the roots and leaves decreased sharply with increasing salinity. Nevertheless, the presence of salt directly altered root anatomy (e.g., reduced root porosity and promoted suberization within the exodermis and endodermis), leading to a significant reduction in ROL. The results further showed that reduced ROL induced by salt could restrain soil nitrification, resulting in less ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria (AOA and AOB) gene copies and lower concentrations of NO3− in the soils. While increased root suberization induced by salt inhibited NH4+ and NO3− uptake and influx into the roots. In summary, this study indicated that inhibited root aeration may be a defense response to salt, however these root symptoms were not advantageous for rhizosphere nitrification and N uptake by A. marina.
Conversion of Pinus nigra Plantations with Natural Regeneration in the Slovenian Karst: The Importance of Intermediate, Gradually Formed Canopy Gaps
Authors: Diaci Jurij , Adamič Tomaž , Rozman Andrej , Fidej Gal , Roženbergar Dušan
Published: December 2019

Since the mid-19th century, Pinus nigra plantations have played a key role in the restoration of degraded European landscapes. Nowadays, these plantations are aging and prone to natural disturbances, insect infestations, and diseases. For their successful gradual conversion, knowledge of optimal gap spatiotemporal dynamics is crucial. We studied herb and natural regeneration patterns along with site factors on 477 subplots within 44 plots distributed over four stand types: closed stand (14% diffuse light), open stand (21%), gap edge (23%), and gap (57%). Despite the abundant Quercus petraea, Q. cerris, and Q. pubescens mast year, no one-year seedlings were recorded, which is likely due to the summer drought. Short seedlings (h < 20 cm) of Quercus sp., Fraxinus ornus and Ostrya carpinifolia were more successful within closed stands. Short Quercus seedlings were positively associated with soil depth and negatively associated with soil nutrients, distance to seed trees, and Sesleria autumnalis coverage. Taller Quercus seedlings required more light than both of its strongest competitors and were positively related to humid soils and less rocky sites. Ungulate overbrowsing significantly impeded natural regeneration. The results indicate a satisfactory Quercus density for conversion and the importance of advanced regeneration, which should be gradually, but persistently, released by progressively widening gaps.
Spectrum Management Schemes for Internet of Remote Things (IoRT) Devices in 5G Networks via GEO Satellite
Authors: Aiyetoro Gbolahan , Owolawi Pius
Published: December 2019

The rapid growth of not just mobile devices but also Internet of Things (IoT) devices has introduced a new paradigm in mobile networks. This evolution and the continuous need to provide spectrum efficient, high data rates, low latency, and low energy consumption radio access networks have led to the emergence of fifth generation (5G) networks. Due to technical and economical limitations, the satellite air interface is expected to complement the 5G terrestrial air interface in the provision of 5G services including IoT communications. More importantly, it is on this premise that the 5G satellite air interface is expected to provide network access to IoT devices in rural and remote areas termed Internet of Remote Things (IoRT). While this remains an interesting solution, several radio resource management issues exist. One of them, spectrum management, in the 5G satellite as it affects IoRT communications, remains unclear. Hence, the aim of this paper is to investigate and recommend the spectrum management scheme that will be most suitable not only for Human-to-Human communications but also Machine-to-Machine communications in 5G satellite networks. In order to conduct this investigation, a new dynamic scheduling scheme that will be suitable for such a scenario is proposed in this paper. The investigation is conducted through simulations, using throughput, delay, spectral efficiency, and fairness index as the performance metrics.
The Introduction of Thousands of Tonnes of Glyphosate in the food Chain—An Evaluation of Glyphosate Tolerant Soybeans
Authors: Bøhn Thomas , Millstone Erik
Published: December 2019

Glyphosate-tolerant (GT) soybeans dominate the world soybean market. These plants have triggered increased use of, as well as increased residues of, glyphosate in soybean products. We present data that show farmers have doubled their glyphosate applications per season (from two to four) and that residues of late season spraying of glyphosate (at full bloom of the plant) result in much higher residues in the harvested plants and products. GT soybeans produced on commercial farms in the USA, Brazil and Argentina accumulate in total an estimated 2500–10,000 metric tonnes of glyphosate per year, which enter global food chains. We also review studies that have compared the quality of GT soybeans with conventional and organic soybeans. Feeding studies in Daphnia magna have shown dose-related adverse effects (mortality, reduced fecundity and delayed reproduction) of glyphosate residues in soybeans, even at glyphosate concentrations below allowed residue levels. We argue that GT soybeans need to be tested in fully representative and realistic contexts. However, the current risk assessment system has only required and received data from field trials with beans that were sprayed with much lower doses of glyphosate as compared to contemporary commercial farms. This has left knowledge gaps and a potentially serious underestimation of health risks to consumers.
Glyceridic and Unsaponifiable Components of Microencapsulated Sacha Inchi (Plukenetia huayllabambana L. and Plukenetia volubilis L.) Edible Oils
Authors: Chasquibol Nancy A. , Gallardo Gabriela , Gómez-Coca Raquel B. , Trujillo Diego , Moreda Wenceslao , Pérez-Camino M. Carmen
Published: December 2019

Sacha inchi (Plukenetia huayllabambana L. and Plukenetia volubilis L.) edible oils were microencapsulated and the lipid fraction of the microparticles was characterized. Hi-cap®, Capsule®, Arabic gum, and the binary combination of Arabic gum + maltodextrin and the ternary combination of Arabic gum + maltodextrin + whey protein isolate, were used as coating materials for the encapsulation process using spray-drying. The surface and the total oils obtained from the microparticles were evaluated in terms of fatty acid composition, minor glyceride polar compounds, polymers, oxidized triglycerides, diglycerides, monoglycerides, and free fatty acids, along with their unsaponifiable components, sterols, and tocopherols. Differences between the original oils and the microencapsulated ones were determined. The most remarkable results included the presence of polymers when there were none in the original oils, the slight loss in ω3-fatty acids, up to 6%, the loss in tocopherols, in some of the cases around 30%, the maintaining of the phytosterol in their initial levels and the presence of cholesterol in the oils encapsulated with whey protein isolate.
Labeling of Monilinia fructicola with GFP and Its Validation for Studies on Host-Pathogen Interactions in Stone and Pome Fruit
Authors: Rodríguez-Pires Silvia , Espeso Eduardo Antonio , Baró-Montel Nuria , Torres Rosario , Melgarejo Paloma , De Cal Antonieta
Published: December 2019

To compare in vivo the infection process of Monilinia fructicola on nectarines and apples using confocal microscopy it is necessary to transform a pathogenic strain with a construct expressing a fluorescent chromophore such as GFP. Thus, germinated conidia of the pathogen were transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens carrying the plasmid pPK2-hphgfp that allowed the expression of a fluorescent Hph-GFP chimera. The transformants were selected according to their resistance to hygromycin B, provided by the constitutive expression of the hph-gfp gene driven by the glyceraldehyde 3P dehydrogenase promoter of Aspergillus nidulans. The presence of T-DNA construct in the genomic DNA was confirmed by PCR using a range of specific primers. Subsequent PCR-mediated analyses proved integration of the transgene at a different genomic location in each transformant and the existence of structural reorganizations at these insertion points. The expression of Hph-GFP in three independent M. fructicola transformants was monitored by immunodetection and epifluorescence and confocal microscopy. The Atd9-M. fructicola transformant displayed no morphological defects and showed growth and pathogenic characteristics similar to the wild type. Microscopy analysis of the Atd9 transformant evidenced that nectarine infection by M. fructicola was at least three times faster than on apples.
Regulation of AMH, AMHR-II, and BMPs (2,6) Genes of Bovine Granulosa Cells Treated with Exogenous FSH and Their Association with Protein Hormones
Authors: Umer Saqib , Sammad Abdul , Zou Huiying , Khan Adnan , Weldegebriall Sahlu Bahlibi , Hao Haisheng , Zhao Xueming , Wang Yachun , Zhao Shanjiang , Zhu Huabin
Published: December 2019

Anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) is an important reproductive marker of ovarian reserve produced by granulosa cells (GCs) of pre-antral and early-antral ovarian follicles in several species, including cattle. This hormone plays a vital role during the recruitment of primordial follicles and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH)-dependent follicular growth. However, the regulatory mechanism of AMH expression in follicles is still unclear. In this study, we compared the expression of AMH, AMHR-II, BMP2, BMP6, FSHR, and LHCGR genes during follicular development. In-vitro expression study was performed with and without FSH for AMH, AMHR-II, BMP2, and BMP6 genes in bovine GCs which were isolated from 3–8 mm follicles. Association among the mRNA expression and hormone level was estimated. GCs were collected from small (3–8 mm), medium (9–12 mm) and large size (13 to 24 mm) follicles before, during onset, and after deviation, respectively. Further, mRNA expression, hormones (AMH, FSH, and LH), apoptosis of GCs, and cell viability were detected by qRT-PCR, ELISA, flow cytometry, and spectrophotometry. AMH, AMHR-II, BMP2, and FSHR genes were highly expressed in small and medium follicles as compared to large ones. In addition, the highest level of AMH protein (84.14 ± 5.41 ng/mL) was found in medium-size follicles. Lower doses of FSH increased the viability of bovine GCs while higher doses repressed them. In-vitro cultured GCs treated with FSH significantly increased the AMH, AMHR-II, and BMP2 expression levels at lower doses, while expression levels decreased at higher doses. We found an optimum level of FSH (25 ng/mL) which can significantly enhance AMH and BMP2 abundance (p < 0.05). In summary, AMH, AMHR-II, and BMP2 genes showed a higher expression in follicles developed in the presence of FSH. However, lower doses of FSH demonstrated a stimulatory effect on AMH and BMP2 expression, while expression started to decline at the maximum dose. In this study, we have provided a better understanding of the mechanisms regulating AMH, AMHR II, and BMP2 signaling in GCs during folliculogenesis, which would improve the outcomes of conventional assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), such as superovulation and oestrus synchronization in bovines.