Self-localization is a crucial task for intelligent vehicles. Existing localization methods usually require high-cost IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) or expensive LiDAR sensors (e.g., Velodyne ...HDL-64E). In this paper, we propose a low-cost yet accurate localization solution by using a custom-level GPS receiver and a low-cost camera with the support of HD map. Unlike existing HD map-based methods, which usually requires unique landmarks within the sensed range, the proposed method utilizes common lane lines for vehicle localization by using Kalman filter to fuse the GPS, monocular vision, and HD map for more accurate vehicle localization. In the Kalman filter framework, the observations consist of two parts. One is the raw GPS coordinate. The other is the lateral distance between the vehicle and the lane, which is computed from the monocular camera. The HD map plays the role of providing reference position information and correlating the local lateral distance from the vision and the GPS coordinates so as to formulate a linear Kalman filter. In the prediction step, we propose using a data-driven motion model rather than a Kinematic model, which is more adaptive and flexible. The proposed method has been tested with both simulation data and real data collected in the field. The results demonstrate that the localization errors from the proposed method are less than half or even one-third of the original GPS positioning errors by using low cost sensors with HD map support. Experimental results also demonstrate that the integration of the proposed method into existing ones can greatly enhance the localization results.
Spin-based devices can reduce energy leakage and thus increase energy efficiency. They have been seen as an approach to overcoming the constraints of CMOS downscaling, specifically, the Magnetic ...Tunnel Junction (MTJ) which has been the focus of much research in recent years. Its nonvolatility, scalability and low power consumption are highly attractive when applied in several components. This paper aims at providing a survey of a selection of MTJ applications such as memory and analog to digital converter, among others.
We present ALMA observations of the CO(1−0) line and 3 mm continuum emission in eight ultraluminous infrared (IR) quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) at z = 0.06-0.19. All eight IR QSO hosts are clearly ...resolved in their CO molecular gas emission with a median source size of 3.2 kpc, and seven out of eight sources are detected in 3 mm continuum, which is found to be more centrally concentrated with respect to molecular gas with sizes of 0.4−1.0 kpc. Our observations reveal a diversity of CO morphology and kinematics for the IR QSO systems, which can be roughly classified into three categories: rotating gas disk with ordered velocity gradient, compact CO peak with disturbed velocity, and multiple CO distinct sources undergoing a merger between a luminous QSO and a companion galaxy separated by a few kpc. The molecular gas in three of the IR QSO hosts is found to be rotation-dominated with a ratio of the maximum rotation velocity to the local velocity dispersion of Vrot/ = 4-6. Basic estimates of the dynamical masses within the CO-emitting regions give masses between 7.4 × 109 and 6.9 × 1010 M . We find an increasing trend between black hole mass accretion rate and star formation rate (SFR) over 3 orders of magnitude in far-IR luminosity/SFR, in line with the correlation between QSO bolometric luminosity and star formation activity, indicative of a likely direct connection between active galactic nuclei and star formation activity over galaxy evolution timescales.
Energy storage devices become an indispensable part of modern power systems with high renewable energy penetration level. To reduce the operating costs, it is a promising way to allow the sharing and ...leasing of energy storage devices. In this paper, a bi‐lever optimized dispatch scheme is proposed to improve the usage efficiency of cloud energy storage in multi microgrids (MMG) system. Minimizing the operating costs of shared cloud energy storage is the main task of the upper lever while maximizing the profits of MMG is the goal of the lower lever. Moreover, the transaction cost and benefit between the two levers play an important role in system level optimization. This leads to a hybrid optimization problem with both discrete decision variables and continuous decision variables. To solve the problem, a relaxation‐based bi‐lever reformulation and decomposition algorithm is developed. The effectiveness of the proposed bi‐lever dispatch optimization model is verified by carrying out numerical experiments in three scenarios. It is shown that the proposed cloud energy storage service can effectively reduce the operating cost of MMG.
As an important component of modern power systems, microgrid has the advantage of high reliability, high efficiency, high cleanness and high flexibility. To further adopt to the large‐scale scattered renewable energy, the concept of multi‐microgrid (MMG) was proposed. A typical MMG allows multiple operational mode, that is, it can be operated independently as well as interactively with the utility grid. In particular, it becomes possible to improve resource utilisation and economic benefits by trading electric power between MMG and external equipment such as energy storage devices.
Acute lung injury (ALI) is a severe health issue with significant morbidity and mortality. Artemisinin is used for the treatment of fever and malaria in clinical practice. Dihydroartemisinin (DHA), ...the major active metabolite of artemisinin, plays a role in anti‑organizational fibrosis and anti‑neuronal cell death. However, whether DHA can attenuate ALI remains unclear. The current study thus examined the effects of DHA on ALI and primary macrophages. The results revealed that DHA attenuated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‑induced pulmonary pathological damage. DHA suppressed the LPS‑induced infiltration of inflammatory cells, the elevation of myeloperoxidase activity, oxidative stress and the production of pro‑inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)‑1β, tumor necrosis factor‑α, and IL‑6. Furthermore, DHA reduced the LPS‑induced inflammatory response by suppressing the degradation of I‑κB and the nuclear translocation of nuclear factor κ‑light‑chain‑enhancer of activated B cells (NF‑κB)/p65 in vivo and in vitro. DHA activated the nuclear factor‑erythroid 2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway, which was suppressed by LPS treatment. The Nrf2 inhibitor, ML385, diminished the protective effects of DHA against LPS‑induced inflammation in macrophages. On the whole, the findings of this study demonstrate that DHA exerts therapeutic effects against LPS‑induced ALI by inhibiting the Nrf2‑mediated NF‑κB activation in macrophages. The present study also confirmed the therapeutic effects of DHA in mice with LPS‑induced ALI. Thus, these findings demonstrate that DHA exhibits anti‑inflammatory activities and may be a therapeutic candidate for the treatment of ALI.
Extremely metal-poor galaxies with metallicity below 10% of the solar value in the local universe are the best analogues to investigating the interstellar medium at a quasi-primitive environment in ...the early universe. In spite of the ongoing formation of stars in these galaxies, the presence of molecular gas (which is known to provide the material reservoir for star formation in galaxies such as our Milky Way) remains unclear. Here we report the detection of carbon monoxide (CO), the primary tracer of molecular gas, in a galaxy with 7% solar metallicity, with additional detections in two galaxies at higher metallicities. Such detections offer direct evidence for the existence of molecular gas in these galaxies that contain few metals. Using archived infrared data, it is shown that the molecular gas mass per CO luminosity at extremely low metallicity is approximately one-thousand times the Milky Way value.
CO
2
emission control is one of the most vital parts of environment management. China owns the largest CO
2
emission in the world. For the sake of clarifying China’s emission sharing responsibilities ...and set emission reduction targets, a considerable number of scholars have worked to project China’s embodied CO
2
emission. Single Regional Input–output (SRIO) model is widely used for investigating CO
2
emission issues. Considering the ubiquitous time lag of input–output data, entropy optimization model is introduced to estimate SRIO tables. However, the uncertainty in the corresponding model parameters necessarily has a serious impact on the estimation results. To consider the impact of uncertainties, we introduce robust optimization into entropy minimization model for SRIO table estimation. Based on three different uncertainty sets, we constructed three robust entropy minimization models to construct 2016 China’s SRIO tables and calculate China’s embodied CO
2
emission based on those tables. The estimation results show that the model based on the ball uncertainty set has the best performance with less uncertainty, while the model based on the budgeted uncertainty set performances more ‘robust’ facing greater uncertainty, which means its performance is less volatile at different levels of uncertainty. Moreover, the embodied carbon emission is predicted to reach 9632.57 Mt CO
2
. The top emitter is the sector of supply of electricity, heating and water, which accounts for more than 40% of total CO
2
emission.
Biodiesel is a renewable and environmentally friendly liquid fuel. However, the feedstock, predominantly crop oil, is a limited and expensive food resource which prevents large scale application of ...biodiesel. Development of non-food feedstocks are therefore, needed to fully utilize biodiesel's potential. In this study, the larvae of a high fat containing insect, black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) (BSFL), was evaluated for biodiesel production. Specifically, the BSFL was grown on organic wastes for 10 days and used for crude fat extraction by petroleum ether. The extracted crude fat was then converted into biodiesel by acid-catalyzed (1% H sub(2SO) sub(4)) esterification and alkaline-catalyzed (0.8% NaOH) transesterification, resulting in 35.5 g, 57.8 g and 91.4 g of biodiesel being produced from 1000 BSFL growing on 1 kg of cattle manure, pig manure and chicken manure, respectively. The major ester components of the resulting biodiesel were lauric acid methyl ester (35.5%), oleinic acid methyl ester (23.6%) and palmitic acid methyl ester (14.8%). Fuel properties of the BSFL fat-based biodiesel, such as density (885 kg/msuper3), viscosity (5.8 mmsuper2/s), ester content (97.2%), flash point (123 degC), and cetane number (53) were comparable to those of rapeseed-oil-based biodiesel. These results demonstrated that the organic waste-grown BSFL could be a feasible non-food feedstock for biodiesel production.
Multi-year inventories of vehicular emissions at a high spatial resolution of 40
km×40
km were established in China using the GIS methodology for the period 1980–2005, based on provincial statistical ...data from yearbooks regarding vehicles and roads, and on the emission factors for each vehicle category in each province calculated by COPERT III program. Results showed that the emissions of CH
4, CO, CO
2, NMVOC, NO
x
, PM
10, and SO
2 increased from 5, 1066, 19
893, 169, 174, 26, and 16 thousand tons in 1980 to 377, 36
197, 674
629, 5911, 4539, 983, and 484 thousand tons in 2005 at an annual average rate of 19%, 15%, 15%, 15%, 14%, 16%, and 15%, respectively. Statistical analysis of vehicular emissions and GDP showed that they were well positively correlated, which revealed that increase of pollutant emissions has been accompanying the growth of GDP. Spatial distribution of pollutant emissions was rather unbalanced: over three-quarters of the total emissions concentrated in developed regions of China's southeastern, northern and central areas covering only 35.2% of China's territory, while the remaining emissions were distributed over the southwestern, northwestern and northeastern regions covering as much as 64.8% of the territory. In 2005, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta covering only 2.3%, 2.2%, and 1.9%, respectively, of the territory, generated about 10%, 19%, and 12%, respectively, of the total emissions. Since 1990, motorcycles have been the major contributors to the CH
4, CO, NMVOC, and PM
10 emissions, due to the large population. Heavy-duty vans were the major contributors to the NO
x
and SO
2 emissions because of high emission factors. Passenger cars contributed about one third of the emissions of each pollutant. Contributions of vehicle categories to emissions varied from province to province, due to the diversity of vehicle compositions among provinces.
A series of the magnetic CuFe2O4-loaded corncob biochar (CuFe2O4@CCBC) materials was obtained by combining the two-step impregnation of the corncob biochar with the pyrolysis of oxalate. CuFe2O4@CCBC ...and the pristine corncob biochar (CCBC) were characterized using XRD, SEM, VSM, BET, as well as pHZPC measurements. The results revealed that CuFe2O4 had a face-centered cubic crystalline phase and was homogeneously coated on the surface of CCBC. The as-prepared CuFe2O4@CCBC(5%) demonstrated a specific surface area of 74.98 m2·g−1, saturation magnetization of 5.75 emu·g−1 and pHZPC of 7.0. The adsorption dynamics and thermodynamic behavior of Pb(II) on CuFe2O4@CCBC and CCBC were investigated. The findings indicated that the pseudo-second kinetic and Langmuir equations suitably fitted the Pb(II) adsorption by CuFe2O4@CCBC or CCBC. At 30 °C and pH = 5.0, CuFe2O4@CCBC(5%) displayed an excellent performance in terms of the process rate and adsorption capacity towards Pb(II), for which the theoretical rate constant (k2) and maximum adsorption capacity (qm) were 7.68 × 10−3 g·mg−1··min−1 and 132.10 mg·g−1 separately, which were obviously higher than those of CCBC (4.38 × 10−3 g·mg−1·min−1 and 15.66 mg·g−1). The thermodynamic analyses exhibited that the adsorption reaction of the materials was endothermic and entropy-driven. The XPS and FTIR results revealed that the removal mechanism could be mainly attributed to the replacement of Pb2+ for H+ in Fe/Cu–OH and –COOH to form the inner surface complexes. Overall, the magnetic CuFe2O4-loaded biochar presents a high potential for use as an eco-friendly adsorbent to eliminate the heavy metals from the wastewater streams.
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