Building energy efficiency has been a cornerstone of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies for decades. However, impact evaluations have revealed that energy savings typically fall short of ...engineering model forecasts that currently guide funding decisions. This creates a resource allocation problem that impedes progress on climate change. Using data from the Illinois implementation of the U.S.’s largest energy efficiency program, we demonstrate that a data-driven approach to predicting retrofit impacts based on previously realized outcomes is more accurate than the status quo engineering models. Targeting high-return interventions based on these predictions dramatically increases net social benefits, from $0.93 to $1.23 per dollar invested.
•ML-based prediction with household data can increase the accuracy of engineering projections used in the nation’s largest energy efficiency program.•We develop an ex ante targeting function to predict the NPV of benefits from a range of retrofits.•Targeting funds to projects using ex ante projections increases benefits from $0.93 to $1.23.
Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) is one of the most promising light capture materials for solar cells or solar fuels. Construction of 3D hierarchical structure is very important for efficient optoelectronic devices. ...It is challenging to directly fabricate 3D hierarchical structure CZTS film by a facile solution method. Herein, we present a one-step sol-gel method for fabrication of CZTS thin films with 3D hierarchical structures. For the first time, it is found that the morphologies of thin films can be adjusted between dense, porous and 3D hierarchical structures by tuning anion ratios of Cl−/Ac− in precursor solution. Further analysis suggests the formation of intermediate phases of SnO2 nanoparticles and SnS2 nanosheets by tuning ratios of Cl−/Ac− in precursor solution, which has important effects on the formation of different nanostructures of CZTS. This study can deepen understanding of anion' effect on morphologies of samples using a solution method and forms a reference to prepare novel nanostructures of other materials.
Abstract
Cu
2
ZnSnS
4
(CZTS) is one of the most promising light capture materials for solar cells or solar fuels. Construction of 3D hierarchical structure is very important for efficient ...optoelectronic devices. It is challenging to directly fabricate 3D hierarchical structure CZTS film by a facile solution method. Herein, we present a one-step sol–gel method for fabrication of CZTS thin films with 3D hierarchical structures. For the first time, it is found that the morphologies of thin films can be adjusted between dense, porous and 3D hierarchical structures by tuning anion ratios of Cl
−
/Ac
−
in precursor solution. Further analysis suggests the formation of intermediate phases of SnO
2
nanoparticles and SnS
2
nanosheets by tuning ratios of Cl
−
/Ac
−
in precursor solution, which has important effects on the formation of different nanostructures of CZTS. This study can deepen understanding of anion’ effect on morphologies of samples using a solution method and forms a reference to prepare novel nanostructures of other materials.
Cu sub(2)ZnSnS sub(4) (CZTS) is one of the most promising light capture materials for solar cells or solar fuels. Construction of 3D hierarchical structure is very important for efficient ...optoelectronic devices. It is challenging to directly fabricate 3D hierarchical structure CZTS film by a facile solution method. Herein, we present a one-step sol-gel method for fabrication of CZTS thin films with 3D hierarchical structures. For the first time, it is found that the morphologies of thin films can be adjusted between dense, porous and 3D hierarchical structures by tuning anion ratios of Cl super(-)/Ac super(-) in precursor solution. Further analysis suggests the formation of intermediate phases of SnO sub(2) nanoparticles and SnS sub(2) nanosheets by tuning ratios of Cl super(-)/Ac super(-) in precursor solution, which has important effects on the formation of different nanostructures of CZTS. This study can deepen understanding of anion' effect on morphologies of samples using a solution method and forms a reference to prepare novel nanostructures of other materials.
Building energy efficiency has been a cornerstone of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies for decades. However, impact evaluations have revealed that energy savings typically fall short of ...engineering model forecasts that currently guide funding decisions. This creates a resource allocation problem that impedes progress on climate change. Using data from the largest U.S. energy efficiency program, we demonstrate that a data-driven approach to predicting retrofit impacts based on previously realized outcomes is more accurate than the status quo engineering models. Targeting high-return interventions based on these predictions dramatically increases net social benefits, from $0.93 to $1.23 per dollar invested.
Building energy efficiency has been a cornerstone of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies for decades. However, impact evaluations have revealed that energy savings typically fall short of ...engineering model forecasts that currently guide funding decisions. This creates a resource allocation problem that impedes progress on climate change. Using data from the largest U.S. energy efficiency program, we demonstrate that a data-driven approach to predicting retrofit impacts based on previously realized outcomes is more accurate than the status quo engineering models. Targeting high-return interventions based on these predictions dramatically increases net social benefits, from $0.93 to $1.23 per dollar invested.
Spatial metabolomics can reveal intercellular heterogeneity and tissue organization. Here we report on the spatial single nuclear metabolomics (SEAM) method, a flexible platform combining ...high-spatial-resolution imaging mass spectrometry and a set of computational algorithms that can display multiscale and multicolor tissue tomography together with identification and clustering of single nuclei by their in situ metabolic fingerprints. We first applied SEAM to a range of wild-type mouse tissues, then delineated a consistent pattern of metabolic zonation in mouse liver. We further studied the spatial metabolic profile in the human fibrotic liver. We discovered subpopulations of hepatocytes with special metabolic features associated with their proximity to the fibrotic niche, and validated this finding by spatial transcriptomics with Geo-seq. These demonstrations highlighted SEAM's ability to explore the spatial metabolic profile and tissue histology at the single-cell level, leading to a deeper understanding of tissue metabolic organization.
This paper presents a study of haze in Singapore caused by biomass burning in Southeast Asia over the 6-year period from 2010 to 2015, using the Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling Environment ...(NAME), which is a Lagrangian dispersion model. The major contributing source regions to the haze are identified using forwards and backwards model simulations of particulate matter.The coincidence of relatively strong southeast monsoonal winds with increased biomass burning activities in the Maritime Continent create the main Singapore haze season from August to October (ASO), which brings particulate matter from varying source regions to Singapore. Five regions are identified as the dominating sources of pollution during recent haze seasons: Riau, Peninsular Malaysia, South Sumatra, and Central and West Kalimantan. In contrast, off-season haze episodes in Singapore are characterised by unusual weather conditions, ideal for biomass burning, and contributions dominated by a single source region (different for each event). The two most recent off-season haze events in mid-2013 and early 2014 have different source regions, which differ from the major contributing source regions for the haze season. These results challenge the current popular assumption that haze in Singapore is dominated by emissions/burning from only Indonesia. For example, it is shown that Peninsular Malaysia is a large source for the Maritime Continent off-season biomass burning impact on Singapore.The results demonstrate that haze in Singapore varies across year, season, and location and is influenced by local and regional weather, climate, and regional burning. Differences in haze concentrations and variation in the relative contributions from the various source regions are seen between monitoring stations across Singapore, on a seasonal as well as on an inter-annual timescale. This study shows that even across small scales, such as in Singapore, variation in local meteorology can impact concentrations of particulate matter significantly, and it emphasises the importance of the scale of modelling both spatially and temporally.
The cancer transcriptome is remarkably complex, including low-abundance transcripts, many not polyadenylated. To fully characterize the transcriptome of localized prostate cancer, we performed ...ultra-deep total RNA-seq on 144 tumors with rich clinical annotation. This revealed a linear transcriptomic subtype associated with the aggressive intraductal carcinoma sub-histology and a fusion profile that differentiates localized from metastatic disease. Analysis of back-splicing events showed widespread RNA circularization, with the average tumor expressing 7,232 circular RNAs (circRNAs). The degree of circRNA production was correlated to disease progression in multiple patient cohorts. Loss-of-function screening identified 11.3% of highly abundant circRNAs as essential for cell proliferation; for ∼90% of these, their parental linear transcripts were not essential. Individual circRNAs can have distinct functions, with circCSNK1G3 promoting cell growth by interacting with miR-181. These data advocate for adoption of ultra-deep RNA-seq without poly-A selection to interrogate both linear and circular transcriptomes.
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•Ultra-deep rRNA-depleted RNA sequencing of 144 localized prostate tumors•Fusion gene profiles differentiate localized from metastatic disease•Widespread RNA circularization events define clinically distinct tumor subtypes•Functional screening reveals pervasive circular isoform-specific essentiality
RNA circularization is a pervasive feature of prostate cancer, with hundreds of circRNAs promoting cell proliferation through functions distinct from their parental linear RNA.
Performing real-time receding horizon motion planning for autonomous vehicles while providing safety guarantees remains difficult. This is because existing methods to accurately predict ego vehicle ...behavior under a chosen controller use online numerical integration that requires a fine time discretization and thereby adversely affects real-time performance. To address this limitation, several recent papers have proposed to apply offline reachability analysis to conservatively predict the behavior of the ego vehicle. Reachable sets can be constructed by utilizing a simplified model whose behavior is assumed a priori to conservatively bound the dynamics of a full-order model. However, it can be challenging to meticulously construct this conservative bound. This paper proposes a framework named REFINE to overcome the limitations of these existing approaches. REFINE utilizes a parameterized robust controller that partially linearizes the vehicle dynamics even in the presence of modeling error. Zonotope-based reachability analysis is then performed on the closed-loop, full-order vehicle dynamics to offline compute the corresponding control-parameterized, over-approximate Forward Reachable Sets (FRS). Because reachability analysis is applied to the full-order model, the potential conservativeness introduced by using a simplified model is avoided. The pre-computed, control-parameterized FRS is then used online in an optimization framework to ensure safety. The proposed method is compared to several state-of-the-art methods during a simulation-based evaluation on a full-size vehicle model and is demonstrated on a <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">\frac{1}{10}</tex-math></inline-formula>th race car robot in real hardware testing. In contrast to existing methods, REFINE is shown to enable the vehicle to safely navigate itself through complex environments.
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