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Fair and reasonable allocation of regulated consumption quota ratio (RCQR) of renewable energy is the foundation and key to guarantee the effective implementation of the mechanism associated with renewable energy consumption in China. Given this background, the allocation strategy of RCQR based on game theory is proposed for guaranteeing the consumption of renewable energy in this paper. In the proposed strategy, the RCQR of renewable energy for the market entities is allocated by determining the reasonable weights based on three proportional allocation methods (i.e., electricity consumption, electricity selling profits, and electricity purchasing cost) and the group satisfaction degree method. Then, game theory is used to coordinate the inconsistency of the four methods of determining weights. Finally, an allocation case of RCQR in Anhui, China is taken as an example for demonstration to verify the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed strategy. The simulation results show that the RCQR can be appropriately allocated by the proposed strategy, and it can be obtained that there is still a certain margin between the obliged consumption under the proposed strategy of each market entity and its maximum acceptable consumption.

Sepsis and septic shock driven by microbial infections are still among the most challenging health problems, causing 11 million deaths worldwide every year. How does the host's response to pathogen infections effectively restore homeostasis instead of precipitating pathogenic and potentially fatal feedforward reactions? Recently, there have been significant new advances in our understanding of the interface between mammalian immunity and coagulation ('immunocoagulation') and its impact on sepsis. In particular, the release and activation of F3 (the main initiator of coagulation) from and on myeloid or epithelial cells is facilitated by activating inflammasomes and consequent gasdermin D (GSDMD)-mediated pyroptosis, coupled to signaling via high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), stimulator of interferon response CGAMP interactor 1 (STING1), or sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1). Pharmacological modulation of the immunocoagulation pathways emerge as novel and potential therapeutic strategies for sepsis.

In this paper, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-assisted relay communication system is studied, where a UAV is served as a flying relay to maintain a communication link between a mobile source node and a remote destination node. Specifically, an average outage probability minimization problem is formulated firstly, with the constraints on the transmission power of the source node, the maximum energy consumption budget, the transmission power, the speed and acceleration of the flying UAV relay. Next, the closed-form of outage probability is derived, under the hybrid line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight probability channel model. To deal with the formulated nonconvex optimization, a long-term proactive optimization mechanism is developed. In particular, firstly, an approximation for line-of-sight probability and a reformulation of the primal problem are given, respectively. Then, the reformulated problem is transformed into two subproblems: one is the transmission power optimization with given UAV’s trajectory and the other is the trajectory optimization with given transmission power allocation. Next, two subproblems are tackled via tailoring primal–dual subgradient method and successive convex approximation, respectively. Furthermore, a proactive optimization algorithm is proposed to jointly optimize the transmission power allocation and the three-dimensional trajectory. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm under various parameter configurations.

The heterogeneous hydrolysis of dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) plays an important role in regulating NOx. The N2O5 uptake coefficient, γ(N2O5), was determined using an iterative box model that was constrained to observational data obtained in suburban Beijing from February to March 2016. The box model determined 2289 individual γ(N2O5) values that varied from

The influences of blowing ratio, rotational speed, Reynolds number, and injection angle on film cooling were experimentally studied on turbine blade suction side near leading edge. One row of round holes is located at streamwise location of 13.5% on suction side. Three injection angles, 30°, 45°, and 60°, were tested. Investigations were conducted with three rotational speeds, 300 rpm, 400 rpm, and 500 rpm with blowing ratio varying from 0.5 to 3.0. Reynolds numbers corresponding to rotational speeds are 20,300, 27,200, and 33,800, respectively. Steady-state Thermochromic Liquid Crystal thermography was adopted to measure the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness. The pressure distributions and the second flow of the whole fluid domain were numerical simulated. Results showed that the blade mid-span has the best film coverage. Film cooling effectiveness descends with the increasing blowing ratio. Rotation can deflect the film trajectories toward the tip of the blade. The corresponding Reynolds number increases with the increase of rotational speed, which improves the film cooling performance. The coolant ejects with a smaller injection angle and a smaller blowing ratio can produce weaker inward film defections and so a better film coverage.

Typical influences of mix component on the properties of coral concrete (CC) were analyzed in this paper. Different types of fine aggregates (sea sand and river sand), mixing water (seawater and fresh water) and cementitious materials (cement and fly ash) were considered. An experimental system was developed involving uniaxial compression tests and the use of digital image correlation (DIC) method to investigate the deformation distribution and crack propagation of CC. The variations in failure pattern, strength and deformation of CC were studied. Test results indicated that the failure of CC adopting sea sand and seawater was brittle compared to CC using fresh water and river sand. It was found that axial stress-strain curve (SSC) of ordinary concrete (OC) was different from that of CC. The curvature and the descending slope of SSC obviously changed with the variation of mix components. The seawater improved the strength and elastic modulus of CC compared to fresh water, however, the effect of sea sand was negative. It was verified that prismatic compressive strength of CC with fly ash (FA) developed slowly in early stage, while it increased quickly in late stage. After using different types of aggregates, mixing water and cementitious materials, obvious changes were found in the crack propagation and the axial deformation distribution. However, typical influence of mix component on horizontal displacement distribution was negligible. The cracking of CC was seldom observed before the peak stress when compared to OC, and the seawater and sea sand accelerated the CC crack growth after the peak point. Finally, a numerical stress-strain expression of CC considering the influences of mix component was suggested, which could be used in the theoretical analysis and practical design.

Silicosis is caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust particles and known as one of the most serious occupational diseases worldwide. However, little is known about intrinsic factors leading to disease susceptibility. Single-cell sequencing of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cells of mine workers with silicosis and their co-workers who did not develop silicosis revealed that the impaired interferon (IFN)-γ signaling in myeloid cells was strongly associated with the occurrence of silicosis. Global or myeloid cell-specific deletion of interferon γ receptor (IFN-γR) markedly enhanced the crystalline silica-induced pulmonary injury in wild-type but not in NLRP3 deficient mice.

The performance of the suction side tip region film cooling under rotating condition is investigated by numerical simulation methods in this paper. In the simulation, three classical types of tip structures, including flat tip, double squealer tip and single squealer tip, are chosen to investigate tip structure effects. The effects of blowing ratios, density ratios and rotating Reynolds numbers (Ro) are analyzed. The results showed that the film performance on the suction side tip region is mainly influenced by the tip leakage vortex and the passage vortex: the tip structure changes the flow field greatly. The leakage flow in the double squealer tip results attaches the suction side wall best. For high blowing ratio results one leg of the counter rotating vortex pair (CRVP) is compressed and swept off the wall. The other one is pushed onto the wall achieving the better film coverage. Similarly one leg of CRVP dominates the jet flow at the near hole exit region for low density coolant results. But for the downstream film cooling the low density coolant has better performance. Rotation changes the mainstream stricture. The passage vortex is strengthened as the Ro increases. So the film deflection becomes more and more obvious.

Detailed film cooling effectiveness for fan-shaped and cylindrical holes on the suction side of a turbine blade under rotating conditions was obtained by experimental measurements. The experiments were conducted using a 1-stage turbine installed in a closed-loop, low-speed, thermal wind tunnel. The turbine section was designed to rotate at different settled speeds, and the velocity of the mainstream was adjusted to achieve a zero-incidence angle. In the experiments, a steady-state thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) technique was used to evaluate the film cooling performance. The row hole was situated at an axial location of 8% with an injection angle of 45°. The diameter of the cylindrical hole was 0.8 mm, and the length-to-diameter ratio was 6. For the fan-shaped hole, the forward expansion angle and the lateral diffusion angle were 12° and 10°, respectively. The effects of blowing ratio (M), rotation speed ( Ω ) and density ratio (DR) on the film cooling performance were analyzed. The blowing ratio was varied from 0.5 to 2.0 with three rotation speeds, 300 rpm, 450 rpm and 600 rpm. CO2 and N2 acted as coolants to achieve the two density ratios of 1.47 and 0.98, respectively. The results showed that the row of fan-shaped holes had better film cooling performance under most operating conditions and especially at low blowing ratios. The length of the coolant trace first increases and then decreases along the spanwise direction, from hub to tip, at all operating conditions. With an increase in the rotation speed, the lateral averaged film cooling effectiveness of both hole geometries decreases. However, fan-shaped holes have better film cooling performance at low rotation speed. In addition, the results for the density ratio showed that CO2, which has a higher density ratio, achieves higher film cooling performance for fan-shaped holes, while the length of the coolant trace is almost constant between the two density ratios.

Nighttime chemistry plays an important role in NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) removal. A box model was used to study nighttime nitrate radical (NO3), O3 oxidation and nitrate products in Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China. The model input data were collected from five representative monitoring sites in YRD regions from 20 August to 11 September 2016. The production rate of NO3 was found very fast with the nocturnal average of 1–3 ppbv h−1 in different sites. Large directly NO3 loss frequency was determined from VOCs measurements, with the average of 0.01–0.03 s−1, which represented a lower limit due to the lack of monoterpene measurement. The model results show NO3 governs nocturnal oxidation of hydrocarbons (HCs) in YRD region (80%) and O3 contributes to 20% in average. The oxidation percentage attributable to NO3 increased against the NOx concentration, with 3.5–7.7 ppbv HCs removal by NO3 per night in average, suggesting that the production of organic nitrate by NO3 oxidation may be significant. As to products, the integrated inorganic nitrate production in the nighttime was considerable around 62% ± 20% of the whole day in urban sites, but the percentage was small in rural sites. More inorganic nitrate was produced with the increase of NOx, since the HCs oxidation by NO3 has already been saturated at night. This study highlights nocturnal fast oxidation by NO3 in YRD region, and the variability of oxidation is large in different NOx regime.

The film cooling performance of the suction side of a turbine blade is experimentally and numerically investigated under the rotating condition. Experiments were performed on a 1.0-stage turbine. In the experiments, the effects of density ratio (0.96 and 1.52) and blowing ratio (0.2–1.0) were studied. The rotational effects were studied by comparing results of three mainstream rotating Reynolds numbers (3528, 4410 and 5292). Three hole positions of 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of the total blade height were set on three blades to confirm the mainstream influence. The jets of the holes at 1/4 and 3/4 of the blade height deflect to the mid-span of the blades. The film protection at both hole positions is damaged by the mainstream vortices, resulting in a lower cooling effectiveness. Moreover, as proven by the flow field, the passage vortex influence can be strengthened by the rotation. Thus, as the rotating Reynolds number increases the film cooling performance worsens. An optimal blowing ratio, 0.6, for the mid-span hole film cooling exists. Different from the flat plate film cooling, the film deflection occurs in the blade film cooling and decreases as the blowing ratio. At last, the high density ratio can improve the film cooling performance.

Background Increased DAN protein (Grem1, Grem2, Grem3, Cerberus, NBL1, SOST, and USAG1) levels are often associated with severe disease-states in adult kidneys. Grem1, SOST, and USAG1 have been demonstrated to be upregulated and play a critical role in the progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN); however, the expression and the role of other DAN family members in DN have not been reported yet. In this study, we investigated the expression and the role of Grem2 in the development of renal lesions in mice with type 2 DN. Methods Fourteen-week-old BTBRob/ob (a mouse model of type 2 diabetes mellitus) and control (BTBR, wild type) mice were evaluated for renal functional and structural biomarkers. Urine was collected for protein content assay, and renal tissues were harvested for molecular analysis with real-time PCR, Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. In vitro studies, human podocytes were transfected with Grem2 plasmid and were evaluated for apoptosis (morphologic assay and Western blotting). To evaluate the Grem2-mediated downstream signaling, the phosphorylation status of Smad2/3 and Smad1/5/8 was assessed. To establish a causal relationship, the effect of SIS3 (an inhibitor for Samd2/3) and BMP-7 (an agonist for Smad1/5/8) was evaluated on Germ2-induced podocyte apoptosis. Results BTBRob/ob mice showed elevated urinary protein levels. Renal tissues of BTBRob/ob mice showed an increased expression of Grem2; both glomerular and tubular cells displayed enhanced Grem2 expression. In vitro studies, high glucose increased Grem2 expression in cultured human podocytes, whereas, Grem2 silencing partially protected podocyte from high glucose-induced apoptosis. Overexpression of Grem2 in podocytes not only increased Bax/Bcl2 expression ratio but also promoted podocyte apoptosis; moreover, an overexpression of Grem2 increased the phosphorylation of Smad2/3 and decreased the phosphorylation of Smad1/5/8; furthermore, SIS3 and BMP-7 attenuated Grem2-induced podocyte apoptosis. Conclusions High glucose increases Grem2 expression in kidney cells. Grem2 mediates podocyte apoptosis through Smads.

As a highly heterogeneous material, the porous structure of coal is usually described by fractal dimension, which generally can be obtained by gas adsorption, light scattering and image analysis methods. In this paper, the pore structure (pore volume and specific surface area) and adsorption performance (Langmuir volume and Langmuir pressure) of 12 different rank coal samples were investigated by liquid nitrogen adsorption experiment (LNA) and methane isotherm adsorption experiment. And the fractal characteristics of these coals were studied by three fractal dimensions D1, D2 and D3 acquired from LNA and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. Results indicate that the adsorption pore volume and specific surface area show U-shaped evolutionary trends during the coalification process. The changes of pore volume and specific surface area are dominated by the mechanical compaction and dehydration effects before the second coalification jump (Ro,max = 1.3%), while they are then mainly controlled by concomitant metamorphic pores until the fourth coalification jump (Ro,max = 3.7%). Langmuir volume first increases and then reaches a steady value at the third coalification jump (Ro,max = 2.5%) with the increasing coal rank, however, Langmuir pressure monotonously decreases during the whole coalification process. D1 and D2 exhibit a dramatically increase from Ro,max = 0.6% to Ro,max = 2.0% and then a slowly rise when Ro,max increases from 2.0% to 3.5%, which is relevant to the changes of pore structure and macromolecule structure in coal. D3 increases at a low speed first and then increases at a high speed with the increasing coal rank, which reflects the surface morphology of pores in coal. Fractal dimension D1, D2 and D3 can be used to depict the methane adsorption properties of coal in varying metamorphism degrees. Generally, D2 is larger than D1, which is because N2 adsorption can probe more macropores but SAXS can detect more micropores. Additionally, D1, D2 and D3 are all negatively related to PL. Our investigations also confirm that SAXS may be more superior to character the adsorption capacity of coal according to its highest relativity. This work clarifies the intrinsic sense and difference for characterising the surface irregularity by various methods, and provides an understanding for the experimental means relating to adsorption pores.

An experimental investigation has been performed to investigate the effects of the rotation and blowing ratio on the film cooling effectiveness distributions of the leading-edge regions of a twist gas turbine blade using a thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) technique. The experiments were carried out at three rotating speeds, including 400 rpm (positive incidence angle), 550 rpm (zero incidence angle), and 700 rpm (negative incidence angle). The averaged blowing ratio ranged from 0.5 to 2.0. CO2 was used as the coolant to ensure that the coolant-to-mainstream ratio was equal to 1.56. The Reynolds number, based on the mainstream velocity of the turbine outlet and the rotor blade chord length, was 6.08 × 104. The effects of the rotating speed and the blowing ratio were analyzed based on the film cooling effectiveness distribution. The results show that rotating speed plays an indispensable role in determining the film cooling effectiveness of distributions on the leading edge. The position of the stagnation line moves from the pressure side (PS) to the suction side (SS) via an increase in rotating speed. Under the same blowing ratio, the area-averaged film cooling effectiveness increases monotonously with an increase in rotating speed. Under the same rotating speed, the area-averaged film cooling effectiveness increases with the increase in blowing ratio. More details about the effects of the rotation speed and blowing ratio on the spanwise averaged film cooling effectiveness of the leading-edge region are shown in this study.

The outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) had a large impact on human health and socio-economics worldwide. The lockdown implemented in China beginning from January 23, 2020 led to sharp reductions in human activities and associated emissions. The declines in primary pollution provided a unique opportunity to examine the relationship between anthropogenic emissions and air quality. This study reports on air pollutant and meteorological measurements at different heights from a tall tower in the Pearl River Delta. These measurements were used to investigate the vertical scale response of pollutants to understand reductions in human activities. Compared to that in the pre-lockdown period (from December 16, 2019), the concentrations of surface layer nitric oxide (NO

Fractures are coalbed methane (CBM) migration pathways and key factors in determining coal reservoir permeability. During the depletion of CBM wells, the increase of effective stress with water pumping and gas desorption will affect gas production by changing reservoir permeability. However, the current understanding of the impacts of fracturing in different directions on CBM recovery is inadequate. In this work, we collected 4 types of cubic coal samples (samples cut parallel to face and butt cleats and perpendicular to the bedding plane) from the Fukang mining area in China to investigate the anisotropic characteristics of P-wave velocity, fractures and permeability under varying effective stresses from 3.5 to 8.5 MPa in the laboratory. The results indicate that the permeability exponentially decreased with increasing P-wave velocity. The acoustic wave velocities significantly decreased from direction perpendicular to the bedding plane to the butt cleat direction to the face cleat direction. However, the fracture aperture exhibited the opposite trend. The maximum acoustic wave velocities ratios of the perpendicular bedding plane direction to the parallel bedding plane direction are 1.12, 1.23, 1.05 and 1.15 for sample LY, DH, XG and QM, respectively. However, the ratios of butt cleat direction to face cleat direction are 1.23, 1.21, 1.01 and 1.07. A good coupling effect was detected between the aperture, porosity, connectivity, and permeability. The permeability decreased exponentially as the effective stress increased in the selected coal samples. Under the 3.5–6.5 MPa effective stress conditions, the permeability decreased rapidly, and from 6.5 to 8.5 MPa, the permeability decreased more slowly. Contrary to the permeability loss rate (PLR), the stress sensitivity coefficient and dimensionless permeability parallel to the bedding plane were greater than perpendicular to the bedding plane. The effective stress returned from 8.5 MPa to 3.5 MPa, and the permeability rebounded but did not fully recover. The irreversible permeability loss rate (IPLR) showed that the permeability was restored the least in the direction perpendicular to the bedding plane. The maximum IPLR ratios of the perpendicular to the bedding plane direction to the parallel bedding plane direction are 3.39, 5.34, 1.86 and 23.00 in sample LY, DH, XG and QM, respectively. According to the study of anisotropic fractures and permeability, multi-lateral well is recommended as the appropriate well type to obtain the optimal CBM recovery effect.

This paper reports on an experimental investigation of the influences of mainstream Reynolds number and coolant density on film cooling characteristics on the leading edge of a twisted turbine blade under rotational conditions. The experiments were carried out at a test facility with a 1-stage turbine using the thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) technique. The mainstream Reynolds number varied from 4.4201 × 104 to 7.1797 × 104. All tests were carried out at three rotational speeds of 400 r/min, 500 r/min and 650 r/min to fix the rotation number at 0.0018. The coolant-to-mainstream density ratios were fixed at 1.04 and 1.56 with N2 and CO2 as coolants, respectively. The blowing ratio effect was also considered. The results showed that under the same blowing ratio, the averaged film cooling effectiveness on the measurement area increased with increasing mainstream Reynolds number for both coolant gases. Under the same Reynolds number, the span-wise averaged film cooling effectiveness increased as the blowing ratio increased for both coolant gases. Under the same Reynolds number and blowing ratio, higher-density coolant jets (CO2) provided higher averaged film cooling effectiveness than lower-density coolant jets (N2) on the measurement area. Overall, mainstream Reynolds number, blowing ratio and coolant density played significant roles in the film cooling characteristics of the leading edge under rotational conditions.

Combined heat and power (CHP) plants are operating under more fluctuating working conditions due to the increasingly inconsistent demands for heat and power and integration of renewable energy. This paper proposes to use an electric heat pump (EHP) to decouple heat and power and save energy by recovering waste heat from the cooling water. The thermodynamic model of the CHP unit under dynamic working conditions is established, and the dynamic EHP model based on an efficiency factor is proposed. The thermo-electric decoupling and energy-saving potential with different heat and power outputs and the heat pump DH ratio χHP are analyzed for a CHP unit as a case study. Absorption heat pump (AHP) and EHP-based waste heat recovery systems are also compared. The results indicate that the heat and power decoupling potential is bigger when χHP and the heat demand are increasing. The energy-saving effect is clearer by increasing the coefficient of performance (COP), χHP, or both. AHP and EHP can help the system obtain a certain level of heat and power decoupling and energy-saving effects, but these effects of the AHP-based system are smaller than that with EHP, especially under high heat demand and low power demand working conditions.

The integrality of caprock decides the safety of CO2 enhanced coalbed methane recovery (CO2-ECBM), the inferior caprock may reduce the seal performance and induce gas leakage. However, the attribute of caprock can be modified through the supercritical CO2 (ScCO2)-water-rock reaction. To clarify the responses of multi-scale microstructures, physical-mechanical and hydraulic characteristics of caprock after the geochemical reaction, the rock samples of coal seam roof from Qinshui Basin was first collected to simulate geochemical reactions between ScCO2, water, and caprock, then the scanning electron microscope (SEM), low-temperature liquid nitrogen adsorption (LTLNA), mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), P-wave velocity, mechanical and permeability tests were conducted. Results show that the ScCO2-water-rock reaction promotes the formation of dissolution caves, which makes the surface rough and uneven and affects the pore distribution through enlarging the volume of transition pores, mesopores, and macropores and reducing the volume of micropores. The P-wave velocity of the sample is decreased nonlinearly with the increasing ScCO2-water-rock reaction time because of the pore structure damage induced by the chemical dissolution effect. The strain energy evolution is also influenced by the ScCO2-water-rock reaction, the long-time geochemical reaction promotes more elastic energy transform to dissipative energy. The peak strength, elastic modulus and Possion's ratio change regularly with increasing reaction time while the failure pattern is independent of the ScCO2-water-rock reaction. The varieties of mechanical parameters can be ascribed to the considerable increase of macropores and can be predicted by the logistic function. The ScCO2-water-rock reaction has not changed the primary permeability while it largely enhances the permeability peak and elevates the infiltration ability of the loaded rock sample. The main leakage form in the study area is the diffusive loss and the CO2-ECBM recovery is relatively safe, however, the CO2 leakage may be exacerbated if the ScCO2-water-rock geochemical reaction is coupled with the local stress concentration or connected with the pre-existing fractures in the roof rocks. This study deepens the understanding of the consequences of ScCO2-water-rock reaction on caprock and provides some help for the site selection and the preliminary safety evaluation of CO2-ECBM.

Electric vehicles have gained rapid development in recent years, and many shaped electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS) have been built in China. However, with the increase of the number and scale of EVCS, the economic problems of EVCS operation are becoming more and more prominent, and there are many problems in their operation, all of which affect the economic and social benefits of EVCS. In order to improve the economic operation of EVCS, this paper adopts Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory-Interpretative Structural Modeling (DEMATEL-ISM) method to identify and analyse its influencing factors. According to the opinions of experts and EVCS enterprises, the influencing factors system of economic operation of EVCS is constructed by Delphi method, including four aspects of planning, external environment, management and technology. Based on the analysis results of multilevel hierarchical structure model, the influencing factors of EVCS economic operation can be divided into four levels. Among them, the top-level factors include charging price, gasoline price, electric vehicle battery, reliability of power supply, and spare parts management. The factors in the second layer include charging monitoring system and safety management. The third level factors include charging station address, charging station scale, regional power grid situation, government policy, technical supervision management, operation data analysis and management, personal training management. The third level elements directly affect the second level factors and have an impact on the first level factors through the second level factors. Furthermore, it is also found that the number of electric vehicles is the deepest factor and the most basic segment which affects the economic operation of EVCS and the other factors. This method is feasible and can be utilized to quantitatively analyse the influencing factors of economic operation of EVCS.

Potential nuclear accidents propel serious environmental pollution, and the resultant radionuclide release devastates severely the environment severely and threatens aquatic organism survival. Likewise, ongoing climate change coupled with the gradual increase in global surface temperatures can also adversely impact the aquatic ecosystems. In the present study, we preconditioned zebrafish (Danio rerio) at three different temperatures (18 °C, 26 °C and 34 °C) to investigate the effects of a temperature profile on their radiosensitivity (exposure to 20 Gy of gamma rays) to identify the potential biochemical mechanism responsible for influencing radiosensitivity. We found that preconditioning of zebrafish at different temperatures moulded specific gut microbiota configurations and impacted hepatic glycometabolism and sensitivity to subsequent radiation. Following antibiotic treatment to reduce gut bacteria, these observed differences in the expression of hepatic glycometabolism-related genes and radiation-induced intestinal toxicity were minimal, supporting the hypothesis that the gut bacteria reshaped by different ambient temperatures might be the key modulators of hepatic functions and radiosensitivity in zebrafish. Together, our findings provide novel insights into the connection of radiation injuries with temperature alterations in fish, and suggest that maintaining the stability of gram-positive bacteria may be efficacious to protect aquatic organisms against short or long-term radioactive contamination in the context of global climate change.

The organic-rich shale of the Longtan Formation of the Upper Permian in western Guizhou formed during the marine-continental transitional facies depositional environment. With a high total organic carbon (TOC) content and a large cumulative thickness, it is thought to be the superior source rock for shale gas development. The depositional environment of marine-continental transitional shale is significantly different from marine shale, which leads to the various accumulation characteristics of the organic matter. In this paper, shale samples were collected from the Longtan Formation of the Upper Permian, which is typical marine-continental transitional shale. The TOC, major elements and trace elements were measured, and the formation and preservation conditions were investigated using multiple geochemical proxies, including paleoclimate, detrital influx, redox parameters, paleoproductivity and sedimentation rate. The TOC decreases first and then increases from the bottom to the top of the Longtan Formation shale, and the TOC for the lower Longtan Formation is higher than the upper Longtan Formation. For the lower Longtan Formation, the positive correlations between TOC and redox indicators (V, U and V/Cr) demonstrate that the dysoxic bottom water environment was the key factor that controlled the accumulation of organic matter. For the upper Longtan Formation, there are positive correlations between the TOC and the paleoclimate and sedimentation rate, which suggests that the enrichment of the organic matter was influenced by both a warm and humid paleoclimate and the high sedimentation rate of an oxic environment. However, the high detrital influx (aluminosilicate) occurred as the diluent decreased the concentration of organic matter. The paleoproductivity has a poor correlation with TOC for the Longtan Formation, suggesting that it was inferior to the gathering of organic matter. The sedimentary models built for the upper and lower Longtan Formation shale can reproduce the enrichment of organic matter.

In the troposphere, ozone is a harmful gas compound to both human health and vegetation. Ozone is produced from the reaction of NOx ( NO + NO2) and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) with light. Due to the highly nonlinear relationships between ozone and its precursors, proper ozone mitigation relies on the knowledge of chemical mechanisms. In this study, an observation-based method is used to simulate ozone formation and elucidate its controlling factors for a rural site on the North China Plain. The instantaneous ozone production rate is calculated utilizing a box model using the dataset obtained from the Wangdu campaign. First, the model was operated in a time-dependent mode to calculate the ozone production rate at each time stamp. The calculated ozone formation rate showed a diurnal average maximum value of 17 ppbv/h (1-h diurnal averaged). The contribution of individual peroxy radicals to ozone production was analyzed. In addition, the functional dependence of calculated P(O3) reveals that ozone production was in a NOx-limited regime during the campaign. Furthermore, the missing peroxy radical source will further extend NOx-limited conditions to earlier in the day, making NOx limitation dominate more of a day than the current chemical model predicts. Finally, a multiple scenarios mode, also known as EKMA (empirical kinetic modeling approach), was used to simulate the response of P(O3) to the imaginary change in precursor concentrations. We found that ozone production was in the NOx-limited region. However, the use of NO2 measured by the molybdenum converter and/or the absence of a peroxy radical source in the current chemical model could over-emphasize the VOC-limited effect on ozone production.

Excessive alcohol consumption remains a major public health problem that affects millions of people worldwide. Accumulative experimental evidence has suggested an important involvement of gut microbiota in the modulation of host’s immunological and neurological functions. However, it is previously unknown whether enteric microbiota is implicated in the formation of alcohol withdrawal-induced anxiety. Using a murine model of chronic alcoholism and withdrawal, we examined the impact of alcohol consumption on the possible alterations of gut microbiota as well as alcohol withdrawal-induced anxiety and behavior changes. The 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that alcohol consumption did not alter the abundance of bacteria, but markedly changed the composition of gut microbiota. Moreover, the transplantation of enteric microbes from alcohol-fed mice to normal healthy controls remarkably shaped the composition of gut bacteria, and elicited behavioral signs of alcohol withdrawal-induced anxiety. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, we further confirmed that the expression of genes implicated in alcohol addiction, BDNF, CRHR1 and OPRM1, was also altered by transplantation of gut microbes from alcohol-exposed donors. Collectively, our findings suggested a possibility that the alterations of gut microbiota composition might contribute to the development of alcohol withdrawal-induced anxiety, and reveal potentially new etiologies for treating alcohol addiction.

In order to expand the direct current-cold metal transfer (DC-CMT) method to include large-thickness plate welding, a tungsten inert gas–CMT (TIG–CMT) hybrid welding process was employed in this work. Adding a stable TIG arc can increase the total heat input on the workpiece and the penetration capacity of the DC-CMT welding process. Al6061 plates 4 mm thick were welded successfully by this method. As the TIG current increased, the heat input of the welding process increased. The effect of TIG current on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the joints was investigated. The hardening phase in Al6061 was sensitive to the heat input provided by the welding process. Because of microstructural transformation, a decrease in the mechanical properties (softening phenomenon) invariably appeared in the heat-affected zone (HAZ). With increasing TIG current, the microstructures of the joints coarsened, and the width of the partially melted zone (PMZ) and HAZ of the joints broadened. A precipitation strengthening phase of Mg2Si appeared in HAZ. The hardness curve of the joint presented roughly W-type distribution. The hardness obtained in the softened zone was approximately 50% that of the base metal (BM). The joints demonstrated good deformation capability before fracture. As compared to the base material, the strength and the elongation of the joints decreased approximately 40% and 50%, respectively.

Dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) is one of the basic trace gases which plays a key role in nighttime atmosphere. An intercomparison and validation of different N2O5 measurement methods is important for determining the true accuracy of these methods. Cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS) and cavity enhanced absorption spectrometer (CEAS) were used to measure N2O5 at the campus of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) from February 21, 2016 to March 4, 2016. The detection limits were 1.6 ppt (1σ) at 30 s intervals for the CEAS instrument and 3.9 ppt (1σ) at 10 s time resolution for the CRDS instrument respectively. In this study, a comparison of the 1 min observations from the two instruments was presented. The two data sets showed a good agreement within their uncertainties, with an absolute shift of 15.6 ppt, slope of 0.94 and a correlation coefficient R2 = 0.97. In general, the difference between the CRDS and CEAS instruments for N2O5 measurement can be explained by their combined measurement uncertainties. However, high relative humidity (> 60%) and high PM2.5 concentration (> 200 μg/m3) may contribute to the discrepancies. The excellent agreement between the measurement by the CRDS and CEAS instruments demonstrates the capability of the two instruments for accurately measuring N2O5 with high sensitivity.

District heating (DH) is playing an indispensable role in the energy supply all over the world. The high share of DH based on combined heat and power (CHP) indicates the energy efficiency of the local heating systems. In the future, the optimal planning and design of a DH system should consider not only the techno-economic feasibility but also the capability to improve energy efficiency and environment protection. This means that single objective optimization model for the planning of DH system is limited in this regard. Therefore, a multicriteria decision making (MCDM) model for decision support on the planning and designing of DH system is developed in this paper. This is a typical problem with uncertainty and imprecision both in the criteria measurements and the weights. In view of this, we adopted the fuzzy set theory and grey relational analysis to develop a fuzzy grey multicriteria decision making (FG-MCDM) model for DH systems. Sensitivity analysis was also conducted to study the influence of weight vectors on the evaluation results. The model can take into account energy, economy and environment concerns synthetically and thus facilitates more judicious decision making on DH systems.

Scrubbers are more and more used to recover waste heat from coal-fired exhaust flue gas (EFG). But the heat and mass transfer mechanism in the counter flow direct contact scrubber is not clear enough, and the heat recovery rate (E) needs to be improved cost effectively. This paper proposes to use a simulation model to study the heat and mass transfer mechanism and thus to improve the scrubber design without intensive experiments. A mathematical model based on the two-film theory was established, and the finite difference method was used to solve it. The model was validated using experimental data and heat recovery equation is obtained with relation to the main influencing factors. The results show that the most sensitive factors on E are the liquid-to-gas ratio rwf and the equivalent diameter of water droplets rd. In addition, height to diameter ratio (H/D) is more important than flue gas velocity. E can be increased by 25% and 36% when rwf increases from 4 to 6 and rd decreases from 0.002 m to 0.0015 m, respectively. Intensive simulations help determine the scope of the influencing factors to improve scrubber design.

CHP based combined district heating (DH) systems with gas-fired boilers for peak load shaving have higher energy and environmental efficiencies compared to DH systems supplied heat by heat only boilers. However, proper multicriteria decision making method is lacking for them. This paper is dedicated to develop a decision support framework from economy, energy, technology and environment viewpoints, in order to facilitate the planning/retrofitting of the combined DH systems. Firstly, the installation strategy of gas-fired boilers is introduced, and then combined heating alternatives to be addressed are constructed by choosing different base load ratios of CHP. Secondly, a criterion aggregation system is developed, based on which weights can be elicited using complementary judgment matrix (CJM) plus feasible weight space (FWS) methods. Thirdly, an application-oriented, multicriteria decision support framework is demonstrated in a real-life DH system in Daqing, China. Stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA) is implemented to synthetically handle the decision problem, which is characterized by incommensurable measurements, conflicting preferences, uncertainties and imprecise information. The results indicate that the developed framework works well in the multicriteria decision making for the combined district heating systems. The optimal base load ratio in the demonstration case is between 0.66 and 0.77 with high confidence.

A chemical box model was used to study nitrate radical (NO 3 ), dinitrogen pentoxide (N 2 O 5 ) and nitryl chloride (ClNO 2 ) in a rural site during the Campaign of Air Quality Research in Beijing 2006 (CAREBeijing-2006). The model was based on regional atmospheric chemistry mechanism version 2 (RACM2) with the heterogeneous uptake of N 2 O 5 and the simplified chloride radical (Cl) chemistry mechanism. A high production rate of NO 3 with a mean value of 0.8 ppbv/h and low mixing ratios of NO 3 and N 2 O 5 (peak values of 17 pptv and 480 pptv, respectively) existed in this site. Budget analysis showed that NO emission suppressed the NO 3 chemistry at the surface layer, the reaction of NO 3 with VOCs made a similar contribution to NO 3 loss as N 2 O 5 heterogeneous uptake. The NO 3 chemistry was predominantly controlled by isoprene, and NO 3 oxidation produced organic nitrate with a mean value of 0.06 ppbv/h during nighttime. The organic nitrate production initiated by NO 3 was equal to that initiated by OH, implying the importance of nighttime chemistry for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. We confirmed that the N 2 O 5 heterogeneous reaction accounted for nighttime particle NO 3 − enhancement, with a large day to day variability, and made less of a contribution to NOx loss compared to that of OH reacting with NO 2 . Additionally, abundant ClNO 2 , up to 5.0 ppbv, was formed by N 2 O 5 heterogeneous uptake. ClNO 2 was sustained at a high level until noon in spite of the gradually increasing photolysis of ClNO 2 after sunrise. Chlorine activation caused by N 2 O 5 heterogeneous uptake increased primary ROx formation by 5% and accounted for 8% of the net ozone production enhancement in the morning.

The lacking of ground temperature measurement data has been preventing the development of underground engineering in China. Therefore, this paper proposed and validated a numerical prediction model that comprehensively considered the effects of short-wave solar radiation, long-wave radiation, latent evaporation energy, heat convection, heat conduction, soil freezing and thawing latent heat on ground temperature. Three frequently-used typical meteorological year databases were used to provide the weather parameters for the numerical model. Comparison of three city cases showed that the model using the “Chinese typical year weather” performed best in accuracy. Moreover, due to the much calculation time required for the numerical model, the two-harmonic analytical correlation (THAC) with higher accuracy than Kusada correlation and Baggs correlation was introduced to obtain ground temperature rapidly. Considering the variety of soil types, the universal correction formulas about the relationship between the THAC coefficients and the soil thermal diffusivity were developed through a series of typical city cases. Simultaneously, THACs of main cities in two climate regions corresponding to soil thermal diffusivity of 8.13*10-2 m2/day were provided as the standard THACs. The THACs of other types of soil were proved to be derived according to the universal correction formulas and the standard THACs.

Ozone (O3) is a typical photochemical product, generally with a maximum value in the late afternoon and a minimum value at night. This study aimed to investigate the variation characteristics of nocturnal O3 in a subtropical urban city (Shaoguan, Guangdong Province, China). The measurement campaigns were conducted from 23 July to July 28, 2020. O3 lidar, aerosol lidar, and wind profile lidar were utilised to detect the vertical distributions of the O3 concentrations, aerosol extinction coefficient, and wind velocity. The topographic features, pollutant data (PM10, PM2.5, O3, SO2, NO2, and CO), and meteorological parameters (temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction) were also analysed. The results showed that the concentration of nocturnal O3 over Shaoguan peaked at midnight. The horizontal wind was dominated by southwest and south winds, and the vertical wind was dominated by downdrafts during the fixed-point observations in Shaoguan. Horizontal transport might have a high impact on the increase in the nocturnal O3 because of high pollutant emissions in upwind cities. This was further justified by the 24-h back trajectories of the air mass generated by the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. Vertical transport of O3 in the lower or middle troposphere might be induced by the subtropical high and nocturnal mountain-valley breezes. Thus, the vertical mixing of O3 affects the O3 concentration at night.

This study reports on the first continuous measurements of ambient OH and HO2 radicals at a suburban site in Chengdu, Southwest China, which were collected during 2019 as part of a comprehensive field campaign ‘CompreHensive field experiment to explOre the photochemical Ozone formation mechaniSm in summEr - 2019 (CHOOSE-2019)’. The mean concentrations (11:00–15:00) of the observed OH and HO2 radicals were 9.5 × 106 and 9.0 × 108 cm-3, respectively. To investigate the state-of-the-art chemical mechanism of radical, closure experiments were conducted with a box model, in which the RACM2 mechanism updated with the latest isoprene chemistry (RACM2-LIM1) was used. In the base run, OH radicals were underestimated by the model for the low-NO regime, which was likely due to the missing OH recycling. However, good agreement between the observed and modeled OH concentrations was achieved when an additional species X (equivalent to 0.25 ppb of NO mixing ratio) from one new OH regeneration cycle (RO2 + X → HO2, HO2 + X → OH) was added into the model. Additionally, in the base run, the model could reproduce the observed HO2 concentrations. Discrepancies in the observed and modeled HO2 concentrations were found in the sensitivity runs with HO2 heterogeneous uptake, indicating that the impact of the uptake may be less significant in Chengdu because of the relatively low aerosol concentrations. The ROx (= OH + HO2 + RO2) primary source was dominated by photolysis reactions, in which HONO, O3, and HCHO photolysis accounted for 34%, 19%, and 23% during the daytime, respectively. The efficiency of radical cycling was quantified by the radical chain length, which was determined by the NO to NO2 ratio successfully. The parameterization of the radical chain length may be very useful for the further determinations of radical recycling.

Radiotherapy is often employed to treat abdominal and pelvic malignancies, but is frequently accompanied by diverse acute and chronic local injuries. It was previously unknown whether abdominal and pelvic radiotherapy impairs distant cognitive dysfunction. In the present study, we demonstrated that total abdominal irradiation (TAI) exposure caused cognitive deficits in mouse models. Mechanically, microarray assay analysis revealed that TAI elevated the expression level of miR-34a-5p in small intestine tissues and peripheral blood (PD), which targeted the 3′UTR of Brain-derived neurotrophic factor ( Bdnf ) mRNA in hippocampus to mediate cognitive dysfunction. Tail intravenous injection of miR-34a-5p antagomir immediately after TAI exposure rescued TAI-mediated cognitive impairment via blocking the up-regulation of miR-34a-5p in PD, resulting in restoring the Bdnf expression in the hippocampus. More importantly, high throughput sequencing validated that the gut bacterial composition of mice was shifted after TAI exposure, which was retained by miR-34a-5p antagomir injection. Thus, our findings provide new insights into pathogenic mechanism underlying abdominal and pelvic radiotherapy-mediated distant cognitive impairment.

Closed pores, which have been confirmed to exist in coal, have a dual significance in illustrating the tremendous gas outburst content in coal mining and ascertaining the exact methane content in coal, although it is unknown if this methane can be exploited and utilized. In this paper, the principal objective is to explore the evolution and formation mechanisms of closed pores, regarding which there is a lack of knowledge and understanding. We investigated the varieties of closed pore contents in coalification, combining the small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and liquid nitrogen adsorption methods (LNA), and simultaneously analyzed the surface topography of closed pores by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The closed pore volume represents a low-high-low evolution trend during coalification owing to the appearance of gas pores in the pyrogenic hydrocarbon generation stage. However, the specific surface area increases uniformly due to the increase in the number of micro-pores. The tectonic deformation effect impels the increase of closed pores, which reflected in the larger pore volume and specific surface area in strong deformation coal than that in weak deformation coal. The genesis of closed pores can be summarized as a result of heterogeneous matrix shrinkage, the tectonic compressive stress and the tectonic shear stress. Finally, this work provides a novel method to investigate the mechanism of geological CO 2 sequestration.

Stress-induced neural injuries are closely linked to the pathogenesis of various neuropsychiatric disorders and psychosomatic diseases. We and others have previously demonstrated certain protective effects of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) in stress-induced cerebral impairments, but the underlying protective mechanisms still remain poorly elucidated. Here we provide evidence to support the possible involvement of PKCα and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signaling pathways in EGCG-mediated protection against restraint stress-induced neural injuries in rats. In both open-field and step-through behavioral tests, the restraint stress-induced neuronal impairments were significantly ameliorated by administration of EGCG or green tea polyphenols (GTPs), which was associated with a partial restoration of normal plasma glucocorticoid, dopamine and serotonin levels. Furthermore, the stress-induced decrease of PKCα and ERK1/2 expression and phosphorylation was significantly attenuated by EGCG and to a less extent by GTP administration. Additionally, EGCG supplementation restored the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the expression of a key regulator of cellular energy metabolism, the peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), in stressed animals. In conclusion, PKCα and ERK1/2 signaling pathways as well as PGC-1α-mediated ATP production might be involved in EGCG-mediated protection against stress-induced neural injuries.

The Gerchberg–Saxton (GS) algorithm is widely used in various disciplines of modern sciences and technologies where phase retrieval is required. However, this legendary algorithm most likely stagnates after a few iterations. Many efforts have been taken to improve this situation. Here we propose to introduce the strategy of gradient descent and weighting technique to the GS algorithm, and demonstrate it using two examples: design of a diffractive optical element (DOE) to achieve off-axis illumination in lithographic tools, and design of a computer generated hologram (CGH) for holographic display. Both numerical simulation and optical experiments are carried out for demonstration.

In recent years, thermal energy storage by means of phase change materials (PCMs) achieved considerable attention.This paper presented a new heat exchanger of composite shape-stabilize phase change material PEG/EG/SiO2. This heat exchanger can be applied to solar energy low temperature storage or indoor heating, which could make good use of electric power cost between peak and valley. The effect of inlet velocity and inlet temperatures in the heat ex-changer during a charging and discharging process has been simulated by CFD modelling. According contrast and analysis of the result, it is found that increasing inlet velocity and in-let temperature of working fluid can shorten the heat storage time. Exothermic process is consists of sensible heat release progress and latent heat release progress, of which time ac-counted for 8.9% and 91.1% respectively. The research provides a new idea for the development of phase change heat exchanger.

Heparin, a mammalian polysaccharide, is a widely used anticoagulant medicine to treat thrombotic disorders. It is also known to improve outcomes in sepsis, a leading cause of mortality resulted from infection-induced immune dysfunction. Whereas it is relatively clear how heparin exerts its anticoagulant effect, the immunomodulatory mechanisms enabled by heparin remain enigmatic. Here, we show that heparin prevented caspase-11-dependent immune responses and lethality in sepsis independent of its anticoagulant properties. Heparin or a chemically modified form of heparin without anticoagulant function inhibited the alarmin HMGB1-lipopolysaccharide (LPS) interaction and prevented the macrophage glycocalyx degradation by heparanase. These events blocked the cytosolic delivery of LPS in macrophages and the activation of caspase-11, a cytosolic LPS receptor that mediates lethality in sepsis. Survival was higher in septic patients treated with heparin than those without heparin treatment. The identification of this previously unrecognized heparin function establishes a link between innate immune responses and coagulation.

We report a continuous record of surface ozone (O3) in urban Beijing, China, from 2013 to 2019. A linear fit to the 7-year record shows that the annual MDA8-O3 (the maximum daily average of 8-h O3 concentration) and annual average O3 increased by 2.30 and 1.91 ppbv yr−1 (p

Microfractures in the coal reservoir contribute greatly to the exploitation of coalbed methane. In this study, the 3D microfracture structure of low-volatility bituminous coal is characterized by using nano-computed tomography (nano-CT), and the seepage characteristic of the single-phase water flow in the microfracture network is simulated by Avizo and Comsol. The result shows that the low-volatility bituminous coal HB02 has significant structural heterogeneity and is dominated by type D microfractures on the nanoscale. By pore network modeling analysis, the connected microfracture network consists of 4945 pore bodies and 7194 pore throats, and the connected porosity is 1.96%. Additionally, as the pore diameter increases, the coordination number of the connected pores increases, but the shape factor decreases, indicating that larger pores have a better permeability and much rougher surface. Seepage simulation shows that the permeability of the microfracture network are strong anisotropic, and the microfracture structure has strong controlling effect on seepage. The permeability value in the horizontal (X-axis and Y-axis) direction is higher than that in the vertical (Z-axis) direction.