In this paper, we consider an abstract market model for demand response where a supply function bidding is applied to match power supply deficit or surplus. We characterize the resulting equilibria ...in competitive and oligopolistic markets and propose distributed demand response algorithms to achieve the equilibria. We further show that the equilibrium in competitive market maximizes social welfare, and the equilibrium in oligopolistic market has bounded efficiency loss under certain mild assumptions. We also propose distributed demand response algorithms to achieve the equilibria.
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Combining triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and textile materials, wearable electronic devices show great application prospects in biomotion energy harvesting and multifunctional ...self-power sensors in this coming intelligent era. However, fabrication method by rigidly stitching two or more individual fabrics together and working mode that must cooperate with external materials, make textile-based TENG bulky, stiff, uncomfortable and hinder their range of application. Here, by using a double needle bed flat knitting machine technology, a 3D double faced interlock fabric TENG (3DFIF-TENG) is designed as self-powered, stretchable and substrate-free wearable TENG sensors (such as a bending sensor to detect arm bending degree, pressure sensors) and energy harvesting devices. Besides, due to the unique 3D structure and after improving the structure by knitting a woven fabric-TENG in the middle layer, the 3DFIF-TENG can be further used as a multifunctional sensors, such as a 3D tactile sensor. Besides, by knitting a woven fabric-TENG in the middle layer of the 3DFIF-TENG, it can be further used as a multifunctional sensor, such as a 3D tactile sensor. The substrate-free and 3D structure design in this paper may provide a promising direction for self-powered, stretchable wearable devices in energy harvesting, human motion or robot movement detection, and smart prosthetics.
Automatic generation control (AGC) regulates mechanical power generation in response to load changes through local measurements. Its main objective is to maintain system frequency and keep energy ...balanced within each control area in order to maintain the scheduled net interchanges between control areas. The scheduled interchanges as well as some other factors of AGC are determined at a slower time scale by considering a centralized economic dispatch (ED) problem among different generators. However, how to make AGC more economically efficient is less studied. In this paper, we study the connections between AGC and ED by reverse engineering AGC from an optimization view, and then we propose a distributed approach to slightly modify the conventional AGC to improve its economic efficiency by incorporating ED into the AGC automatically and dynamically.
Menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) are a novel source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MenSCs are attracting more and more attention since their discovery in 2007. MenSCs also have no moral ...dilemma and show some unique features of known adult-derived stem cells, which provide an alternative source for the research and application in regenerative medicine. Currently, people are increasingly interested in their clinical potential due to their high proliferation, remarkable versatility, and periodic acquisition in a non-invasive manner with no other sources of MSCs that are comparable in adult tissue. In this review, the plasticity of pluripotent biological characteristics, immunophenotype and function, differentiative potential, and immunomodulatory properties are assessed. Furthermore, we also summarize their therapeutic effects and functional characteristics in various diseases, including liver disease, diabetes, stroke, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, ovarian-related disease, myocardial infarction, Asherman syndrome, Alzheimer's disease, acute lung injury, cutaneous wound, endometriosis, and neurodegenerative diseases. Subsequently, the clinical potential of MenSCs is investigated. There is a need for a deeper understanding of its immunomodulatory and diagnostic properties with safety concern on a variety of environmental conditions (such as epidemiological backgrounds, age, hormonal status, and pre-contraceptive). In summary, MenSC has a great potential for reducing mortality and improving the quality of life of severe patients. As a kind of adult stem cells, MenSCs have multiple properties in treating a variety of diseases in regenerative medicine for future clinical applications.
Menstrual blood-derived stem cells (MenSCs) have great potential in the treatment of various diseases. As a novel type of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), MenSCs have attracted more interest due to ...their therapeutic effects in both animal models and clinical trials. Here, we described the differentiation, immunomodulation, paracrine, homing, and engraftment mechanisms of MenSCs. These include differentiation into targeting cells, immunomodulation with various immune cells, the paracrine effect on secreting cytokines, and homing and engraftment into injured sites. To better conduct MenSC-based therapy, some novel hotspots were proposed such as CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/cas9-mediated gene modification, exosomes for cell-free therapy, single-cell RNA sequence for precision medicine, engineered MenSC-based therapy for the delivery platform, and stem cell niches for improving microenvironment. Subsequently, current challenges were elaborated on, with regard to age of donor, dose of MenSCs, transplantation route, and monitoring time. The management of clinical research with respect to MenSC-based therapy in diseases will become more normative and strict. Thus, a more comprehensive horizon should be considered that includes a combination of traditional solutions and novel strategies. In summary, MenSC-based treatment has a great potential in treating diseases through diverse strategies, and more therapeutic mechanisms and novel strategies need to be elucidated for future regenerative medicine and clinical applications.
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) have demonstrated their promising potential in biomotion energy harvesting. A combination of the TENG and textile materials presents an effective approach toward ...smart fabric. However, most traditional fabric TENGs with an alternating current (AC) have to use a stiff, uncomfortable, and unfriendly rectifier bridge to obtain direct current (DC) to store and supply power for electronic devices. Here, a DC fabric TENG (DC F-TENG) with the most common plain structure is designed to harvest biomotion energy by tactfully taking advantage of the harmful and annoying electrostatic breakdown phenomenon of clothes. A small DC F-TENG (1.5 cm × 3.5 cm) can easily light up 416 serially connected light-emitting diodes. Furthermore, some yarn supercapacitors are fabricated and woven into the DC F-TENG to harvest and store energy and to power electronic devices, such as a hygrothermograph or a calculator, which shows great convenience and high efficiency in practice. This low-cost and efficient DC F-TENG which can directly generate DC energy without using the rectifier bridge by harvesting energy from unhealthy electrostatic breakdown has great potential as a lightweight, flexible, wearable, and comfortable energy-harvesting device in the future.
The bacterial phoD gene encodes alkaline phosphomonoesterase, an enzyme which plays an important role in the release of plant-available inorganic phosphorus (P) from organic P in soil. However, the ...relationships between phoD gene community, alkaline phosphomonoesterase activity, and P availability in soil are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated how alkaline phosphomonoesterase activity, phoD gene abundance, and community structure are influenced by plant-available P using soils (0–10, 10–20 and 20–40 cm) from a long-term field trial in which a continuous maize (Zea mays L.) crop had received different levels of P fertilizer inputs (30, 60 kg P ha−1 year−1) for 28 years. Quantitative PCR and high-throughput sequencing were used to analyze phoD gene abundance and community composition. Alkaline phosphomonoesterase enzyme activity was negatively correlated with soil available P, which was reflected in corresponding data for phoD gene abundance. On the other hand, positive correlations were determined between phoD gene α-diversity and available P, while shifts in phoD gene community structure were related to changes in soil pH and P availability. The relative abundance of Pseudomonas was negatively correlated with P availability and positively correlated with alkaline phosphomonoesterase activity, suggesting that Pseudomonas may play an important role in soil organic P mineralization. The findings of this study demonstrated that changes of soil P availability as a result of long-term P fertilizer inputs significantly affected alkaline phosphomonoesterase activity by regulating phoD gene abundance, diversity, as well as altering the phoD gene community composition.
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•phoD gene abundance was negatively correlated with available soil phosphorus (P).•Long-term P fertilizer inputs increased phoD gene diversity.•Shifts in phoD-harboring bacterial community structure were related to soil pH and available P.•Relative abundance of Pseudomonas bacteria was negatively correlated with P availability.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is unable to provide precise localization services indoors, which has led to wireless sensor network (WSN) localization technology becoming a hot research issue in ...the field of indoor location. At present, the ranging technology of wireless sensor networks based on received signal strength has been extensively used in indoor positioning. However, wireless signals have serious multipath effects in indoor environments. In order to reduce the adverse influence of multipath effects on distance estimation between nodes, a multi-channel ranging localization algorithm based on signal diversity is herein proposed. In real indoor environments, the parameters used for multi-channel localization algorithms are generally unknown or time-varying. In order to increase the positioning accuracy of the multi-channel location algorithm in a multipath environment, we propose an optimal multi-channel trilateration positioning algorithm (OMCT) by establishing a novel multi-objective evolutionary model. The presented algorithm utilizes a three-edge constraint to prevent the traditional multi-channel localization algorithm falling into local optima. The results of a large number of practical experiments and numerical simulations show that no matter how the channel number and multipath number change, the positioning error of our presented algorithm is always smaller compared with that of the state-of-the-art algorithm.
Lysyl oxidase (LOX) and lysyl oxidase-like proteins (LOXL), a family of extracellular matrix (ECM) crosslinking enzymes that have been recognised as playing an important role in fibrogenesis for more ...than 40 years, are logical targets for antifibrotic treatments. Pulmonary fibrosis, especially idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), is a progressive and lethal disease characterised by excessive deposition of ECM in the lung parenchyma. In this review, we discuss the current clinical approaches for IPF and review members of LOX family-LOX, LOXL1, LOXL2, LOXL3 and LOXL4 in IPF patients and in animal models of bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. Although these findings are controversial and require further validation, LOX/LOXL1/LOXL2 as potential therapeutic targets for IPF deserve continued attention. So far to our knowledge, LOXL3 or LOXL4 has not clearly shown specific therapeutic potential.
All-oral regimens are associated with higher effectiveness and shorter treatment duration for chronic hepatitis C. Given its superior effect and enormous patients in China, clinicians or patients may ...be compelled to consider delaying treatment for all-oral regimen.
To estimate cost-effectiveness of delaying treatment for all-oral regimen in the subsequent years under different assumptions about their price and efficacy compared with standard of care in China.
A state-transition Markov model was developed to estimate lifetime costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and net monetary benefit (NB) were calculated. And sensitivity analyses were also performed to assess the impact of uncertainty.
For treatment naive patients with Genotype 1, immediate treatment with all-oral regimen under assumed cost and efficacy at present was cost-effective compared with peginterferon α-2a (PegIFN) regimen at present with an ICER of $12536 per QALY gained and a positive NB of $6832 at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $21209. And it was more than 95% likely to be cost-effective if weekly drug cost was less than $1000. Moreover, patients delaying treatment for all-oral regimen in the 1st year were associated with increase in QALYs of 0.62 and increase in cost of $10114 compared with initiating PegIFN regimen at present, which resulted in a positive NB of $3115.
From a payer perspective, all-oral regimen is associated with good long-term health and economic benefit for treatment-naive patients infected with HCV genotype 1. Particularly, if all-oral regimen would become available at lower price in the future, delaying treatment for all-oral regimen may be a good choice for patients in China.
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