This bottom‐up modeling study, supported by new population census 2011 data, simulates ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure on local to regional scales. It quantifies, present‐day ...premature mortalities associated with the exposure to near‐surface PM2.5 and O3 concentrations in India using a regional chemistry model. We estimate that PM2.5 exposure leads to about 570,000 (CI95: 320,000–730,000) premature mortalities in 2011. On a national scale, our estimate of mortality by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to O3 exposure is about 12,000 people. The Indo‐Gangetic region accounts for a large part (~42%) of the estimated mortalities. The associated lost life expectancy is calculated as 3.4 ± 1.1 years for all of India with highest values found for Delhi (6.3 ± 2.2 years). The economic cost of estimated premature mortalities associated with PM2.5 and O3 exposure is about 640 (350–800) billion USD in 2011, which is a factor of 10 higher than total expenditure on health by public and private expenditure.
Key Points
PM2.5 exposure is causing 570,000 premature mortalities
Economic cost of estimated premature mortalities is about 640 billion USD
PM2.5 should be the primary target for reducing pollution impacts on health
We have used visible-infrared sum-frequency generation spectroscopy to reveal fundamental characteristics of water structure at the fused silica surface. By studying a wide range of ionic strengths, ...from 0.05 mM to 4 M, we are able to comment on the contributions of second- and third-order nonlinearities to the spectroscopic response. Spectra obtained from extremely dilute salt concentrations provide evidence of the previously sought increasing surface charge with ionic strength. This is followed by a screening regime where the extent to which the surface field penetrates into the bulk is limited by the electrolyte. Data from intermediate salt concentrations reveal a few strongly ordered layers of water immediately adjacent to the surface. At high concentrations, we observe a significant disruption of solvent ordering. Together, the observation of these four distinct regimes provides a unified understanding of interfacial water structure in the presence of salt that consolidates previous reports in the literature.
We have used visible-infrared sum-frequency generation spectroscopy to study the structure of water molecules that form the interface with fused silica. Spectra throughout the OH-stretching region ...were collected in two different polarization schemes so that the orientation of interfacial water molecules could be studied. A depth profiling experiment was performed by varying the ionic strength, thereby peeling away the outskirts of this interfacial region, leaving water molecules progressively closer to the charged interface. As the ionic strength increases, the spectral intensity drops since the interfacial region is becoming thinner. However, we notice a change in the relative contribution of tetrahedrally coordinated molecules compared to those that make less hydrogen bonds. We have the opportunity to study these two water species individually; we conclude that the higher coordination species exists some distance away from the interface and is oriented close to the plane of the surface with a mean tilt angle ∼70° and a narrow tilt and twist distribution. We have evidence that lower coordination water molecules are close to the interface and offer two possibilities for their orientation that are consistent with our data. One has a twist angle distribution centered in the plane of the interface, tilted ∼35° from the normal. The other possibility is that they are twisted out of the plane of the interface and tilted ∼30° from the normal. As the electrolyte concentration increases, we observe a reduction of the mean tilt angle in all cases. This is consistent with a picture of molecules nearer to the surface better aligned in the presence of a stronger interfacial field.
The molecular structure of the hexadecane droplet/alkanol/water interface has been investigated using vibrational sum frequency scattering and second harmonic scattering. This combination of methods ...allows us to investigate the interfacial alkyl chain conformation of the oil and several alkanols, ranging from 1-pentanol to 1-dodecanol, the orientational distribution of the methyl groups, the surface density of the alkanols, as well as the orientational alignment of water. For the hexadecane/1-dodecanol/water interface, dodecanol alkyl chains form a fluid layer with a wide distribution of tilt angles of the terminal CH3 groups. Indistinguishable spectra are recorded for the alkanol alkyl chains of 1-pentanol, 1-hexanol, 1-octanol, and 1-dodecanol, and alkanols with chain length longer than 6 C atoms all form films with similar densities. In contrast, the alkyl chains of the oil phase are relatively more distorted with respect to the pure oil/water interface for alkanols with shorter chain lengths. The projected surface area of a saturated film of hexanol is 29 ± 5 Å2, which requires a free energy of adsorption of Δ G = −26.3 ± 0.7 kJ/mol. In addition, with increasing alkanol density the interfacial water structure loses its initial orientational alignment, which matches with the added number of interfacial 1-hexanol molecules. The found structures differ significantly from those reported on the alkanol/water and alkanol/air interface and charged surfactant/oil/water interface.
•Gas-fueled distributed generation increases dependency of electric grid on gas grid.•Optimal operation of group of 10kW and 50kW electric generators for load flattening.•Consider effects of ...centralized vs. decentralized decision making and seasonality.
The efficient and economical design and operation of individual small-scale distributed generation (DG) units has received considerable attention. It is now plausible to envision a future scenario where a large number of such units, spanning capacities from the kW to the MW scale, are deployed in a region. As distributed electricity generation using natural gas becomes more widespread, the dependency of the electric grid on the natural gas grid will increase. This concerns multiple interaction points along the two networks, and reaches beyond the natural gas demand of large-scale load following or baseload gas-fired powerplants. More specifically, a better understanding is required of the potential changes in the dynamic behavior and interaction of the electricity and natural gas grids at or close to residential use sites (neighborhoods), where the small-scale DG infrastructure is likely to be located. In this paper, an optimization-based framework is developed for analyzing the operation of an ensemble of small-scale natural gas fueled DG units, and quantify their ability to flatten the electric grid load (i.e., reduce the peak demand) of the neighborhood that they serve. Our analysis relies on realistic energy use data and takes into account capacity limitations of the current natural gas distribution infrastructure, centralized vs. decentralized control of the DG unit operation, equipment durability considerations, heating preferences of home users, and seasonal effects. There is a substantial increase in natural gas consumption near consumers for all scenarios considered, which has implications for the control of the natural gas grid. We demonstrate the importance of having a centralized decision-making scheme when multiple distributed generation resources are present, and make recommendations for the optimal sizing of generators.
This paper presents differential evolution with Gaussian mutation to solve the complex non-smooth non-convex combined heat and power economic dispatch (CHPED) problem. Valve-point loading and ...prohibited operating zones of conventional thermal generators are taken into account. Differential evolution (DE) is a simple yet powerful global optimization technique. It exploits the differences of randomly sampled pairs of objective vectors for its mutation process. This mutation process is not suitable for complex multimodal optimization. This paper proposes Gaussian mutation in DE which improves search efficiency and guarantees a high probability of obtaining the global optimum without significantly impairing the simplicity of the structure of DE. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been verified on five test problems and three test systems. The results of the proposed approach are compared with those obtained by other evolutionary methods. It is found that the proposed differential evolution with Gaussian mutation-based approach is able to provide better solution.
The ordered arrangement of water molecules at solid surfaces is a consequence of hydrogen-bonding opportunities, electrostatic and dipolar interactions, and specific interactions with the surface. ...This perspective highlights recent understanding of this water structure at the solid-liquid interface. We discuss findings from three experimental techniques (attenuated total internal reflection infrared spectroscopy, second harmonic generation spectroscopy, and vibrationally-resonant sum-frequency generation spectroscopy) and two simulation approaches (molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations). In each case, we also provide examples of how these techniques reveal the importance of interfacial water organization in rationalizing the structure of adsorbed biomolecules.
We report a case of a 76-year-old female with a stage IB, grade I endometrioid endometrial carcinoma who presented with right-hip pain and an enlarging black, exophytic, subungual lesion on her ...right-small-finger distal phalanx. Clinically, the distal phalanx lesion was suspicious for a subungual melanoma; however, advanced imaging suggested metastatic disease, with lesions in the acetabulum, lungs, brain, vulva, and vagina.
Partial amputation of the right, small finger and vulvar biopsies confirmed an endometrial carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first described case of endometrial adenocarcinoma metastasis to the phalanx of an upper extremity, mimicking a subungual melanoma.
Aim: To identify changes in root system architecture traits of wheat due to exogenous application of epibrassinolide for the alleviation of negative impact of low moisture stress in wheat crop. ...Methodology: On the basis of growth performances one set of contrasting wheat genotypes were identified (HD-2733, relatively stress tolerant and DBW-187 relatively stress sensitive). Similarly, brassinosteroids (BRs) concentration was selected by pilot experiments, wherein 0.01mM performed best among all. Taking all these results into consideration, four treatments (T0=well-watered, T1=water deficit, T3=EBL + well wateredandT4=EBL + water deficit) were maintained for evaluation of root architectural traits, biomassand grain yield per plant. Results: The tolerant genotype (HD-2733) showed better tolerance in almost all root traits and in yield as compared to the sensitive genotype (DBW-187). epibrassinolide under water deficit condition was found to be effective as the root trait values were higher for root length, root volume, root surface area and root biomass under EBL+ water deficit treatment as compared to water deficit. Shoot biomass was highly sensitive to water deficit as the biomass allocation under water deficit was more towards root as compared to shoot. Interpretation: Epibrassinolide can be a potent biochemical to improve the root characteristics as well as yield per plant. Seeds of tolerant genotype treated with 0.01m M EBL even under low moisture stress can be recommended. Key words: Epibrassinolide, Root system, Wheat, Water deficit
Evaporation is an interfacial phenomenon in which a water molecule breaks the intermolecular hydrogen (H−) bonds and enters the vapor phase. However, a detailed demonstration of the role of ...interfacial water structure in the evaporation process is still lacking. Here, we purposefully perturb the H-bonding environment at the air/water interface by introducing kosmotropic (HPO4 –2, SO4 –2, and CO3 –2) and chaotropic ions (NO3 – and I–) to determine their influence on the evaporation process. Using time-resolved interferometry on aqueous salt droplets, we found that kosmotropes reduce evaporation, whereas chaotropes accelerate the evaporation process, following the Hofmeister series: HPO4 –2 < SO4 –2 < CO3 –2 < Cl– < NO3 – < I–. To extract deeper molecular-level insights into the observed Hofmeister trend in the evaporation rates, we investigated the air/water interface in the presence of ions using surface-specific sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy. The SFG vibrational spectra reveal the significant impact of ions on the strength of the H-bonding environment and the orientation of free OH oscillators from ∼36.2 to 48.4° at the air/water interface, where both the effects follow the Hofmeister series. It is established that the slow evaporating water molecules experience a strong H-bonding environment with free OH oscillators tilted away from the surface normal in the presence of kosmotropes. In contrast, the fast evaporating water molecules experience a weak H-bonding environment with free OH oscillators tilted toward the surface normal in the presence of chaotropes at the air/water interface. Our experimental outcomes showcase the complex bonding environment of interfacial water molecules and their decisive role in the evaporation process.
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