Eco-friendly and cost-effective materials and processes to manufacture functional substrates are crucial to further advance the area of printed electronics. One potential key component in the printed ...electronics platform is an electrically functionalized paper, produced by simply mixing common cellulosic pulp fibers with high-performance electroactive materials. Herein, an electronic paper including nanographite has been prepared using a standardized and scalable papermaking technique. No retention aid was needed to achieve a conducting nanographite loading as high as 50 wt %. The spontaneous retention that provides the integrity and stability of the nanographite paper, likely originates partially from an observed water-stable adhesion of nanographite flakes onto the fiber surfaces. The resulting paper exhibits excellent electrical characteristics, such as an in-plane conductivity of 107 S/cm and an areal capacitance of 9.2 mF/cm2, and was explored as the back-electrode in printed electrochromic displays.
Coupled one-dimensional (1D) sewer and two-dimensional (2D) overland flow hydrodynamic models were constructed to evaluate the flood mitigation efficiency of a renowned blue-green stormwater ...retrofit, i.e. Augustenborg, in Malmö, Sweden. Simulation results showed that the blue-green stormwater systems were effective in controlling local surface flooding in inner-city catchments, having reduced the total flooded surfaces by about 70%. However, basement flooding could still be a potential problem depending on the magnitude of the inflows through combined sewer from upstream areas. Moreover, interactions between blue-green retrofits and the surrounding pipe-system were studied. It was observed that the blue-green retrofits reduced the peak flows by approximately 80% and levelled out the runoff. This is a substantial advantage for downstream pipe-bound catchments, as they do not receive a cloudburst-equivalent runoff from the retrofitted catchment, but a reduced flow corresponding to a much milder rainfall. Blue-green retrofits are more effective if primarily implemented in the upstream areas of a pipe-bound catchment since the resulting reduced runoff and levelled out discharge would benefit the entire network lying downstream. Implementing blue-green retrofits from upstream towards downstream can be considered as a sustainable approach.
•Blue-green stormwater retrofits can efficiently control local pluvial floods.•Catchment isolation is a key aspect of retrofits and enhances flood mitigation.•Retrofits cannot solve basement flooding if network is already overloaded upstream.•At cloudbursts, discharge from the retrofit can be 80% lower than the pipe-system.•A general methodology is suggested for a sustainable implementation of retrofits.
•A cosimulation software for modeling of sewers and blue-green systems is developed.•The software is facilitated with a cost-benefit optimization algorithm.•The developed toolchain is applied to a ...city level drainage area of circa 954 ha.•It is implied that unoptimized blue-green retrofits may deteriorate flood situation.
The development of tools to help cities and water utility authorities communicate and plan for long-term sustainable solutions is of utmost importance in the era of a changing and uncertain climate. This study introduces a hybrid modeling concept for the cosimulation of mesoscale blue-green stormwater systems and conventional urban sewer networks. The hybrid model successfully introduces the retention/detention effects of mesoscale blue-green stormwater systems to the hydraulic dynamics of the sewer network. The cosimulation package was further facilitated with a cost-oriented multiobjective optimization algorithm. The aim of the scalar multiobjective optimization was to minimize the total cost comprising both flooding costs and action costs – both parameters solely representing the financial components of cost – through optimal placement of mesoscale blue-green systems of optimal size. The suggested methodology provides a useful platform for sustainable management of the existing sewer networks in cities from a hydroeconomic perspective.
The communication outposts of the emerging Internet of Things are embodied by ordinary items, which desirably include all-printed flexible sensors, actuators, displays and akin organic electronic ...interface devices in combination with silicon-based digital signal processing and communication technologies. However, hybrid integration of smart electronic labels is partly hampered due to a lack of technology that (de)multiplex signals between silicon chips and printed electronic devices. Here, we report all-printed 4-to-7 decoders and seven-bit shift registers, including over 100 organic electrochemical transistors each, thus minimizing the number of terminals required to drive monolithically integrated all-printed electrochromic displays. These relatively advanced circuits are enabled by a reduction of the transistor footprint, an effort which includes several further developments of materials and screen printing processes. Our findings demonstrate that digital circuits based on organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) provide a unique bridge between all-printed organic electronics (OEs) and low-cost silicon chip technology for Internet of Things applications.
•We analyzed a new hydrological and meteorological dataset from a periglacial area.•We developed a numerical model of a permafrost catchment with a lake and a talik.•The active layer hydrology is ...independent of catchment external landscape features.•Long term water balances for the periglacial catchment were quantified.•The water exchange between lake and talik are small compared to other wb components.
This study investigates annual water balance conditions and their spatiotemporal variability under a wide variety of atmospheric driving conditions in the periglacial permafrost catchment of Two Boat Lake in Western Greenland. The study uses and combines a comprehensive hydrological multi-parameter dataset measured at the site with site conceptualization and numerical model development, application and testing. The model result reproduces measured lake and groundwater levels, as well as observations made by time-lapse cameras. The results highlights the importance of numerical modeling that takes into account and combines evapotranspiration with other surface and subsurface hydrological processes at various depths, in order to quantitatively understand and represent the dynamics and complexity of the interactions between meteorology, active layer hydrology, lakes, and unfrozen groundwater below permafrost in periglacial catchments. Regarding these interactions, the water flow between the studied lake and a through talik within and beneath it is found to be small compared to other water balance components. The modeling results show that recharge and discharge conditions in the talik can shift in time, while the lake and active layer conditions in the studied catchment are independent of catchment-external landscape features, such as the unfrozen groundwater system below the permafrost and the nearby continental-scale ice sheet.
ABSTRACT The use of digital twins is a rapidly emerging field for improved real-time control (RTC) and decision support for the operation of collection systems and water resource recovery facilities ...(WRRFs). Digital twins for collection systems can help minimize the impacts of flow variation due to extreme weather events, attenuate flows to the WRRF, and reduce sewer overflows and the associated effects. Similarly, digital twins for WRRFs can help improve process, energy, and cost efficiency, fully utilise plant volumes, reduce carbon footprint, and support operator training. The current study provides an overview of two digital twin applications for collection systems (Future City Flow) and WRRFs (TwinPlant) and presents a first example of digital twin integration for proactive collection system-WRRF operation under wet-weather conditions. Current applications of the integrated digital twin are described, including (i) proactive implementation of wet-weather operation mode in WRRF based on inflow forecast and (ii) evaluation of the impacts of RTC in collection systems on WRRF performance. Other potential application examples are described together with the challenges related to the use of this solution. Overall, this new approach has a wide potential to support the cooperation within water utilities towards the adoption of integrated wastewater management.
Abstract
The emerging challenges facing the City of Gothenburg and surrounding municipalities include the impacts of a variable climate, rapid growth and urbanization, aging infrastructure and ...changing community values and customer expectations. A digital twin (DT), based on the Future City Flow (FCF) platform, was created for the catchment to address many of these challenges in terms of improved real-time sewerage performance and predictability in the face of storms, improved DT visualization of the regional sewage transport system for operators and greater responsiveness to avoid service interruption. The FCF-based DT provides a sound base for modelling, simulating, forecasting and controlling the catchment. The versatility of the FCF DT makes it useful for gaining insight into catchment dynamics and the simulator can be used to study the effects of different scenarios or changes in the catchment. The predictive control imbedded in the FCF DT recommends setpoints for controlling the catchment that can be used by the operators for decision support or even be directly applied in the control system as model-based predictive control. A DT requires good quality online data from the catchment and, perhaps most importantly, high-quality rain forecasts, especially when prognosing long time horizons.
Aim
Positive outcomes for paediatric rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) were high in Sweden during the 1990s, but the last decade has seen decreasing trends in overall survival rates. We investigated the ...incidence, patient and disease characteristics, treatment and outcome of RMS to see whether any reason could be found for this decline.
Methods
This study included 210 children under the age of 15 who were diagnosed with RMS and whose details were recorded in the population‐based Swedish Childhood Cancer Registry from 1984 to 2010.
Results
The overall annual incidence of RMS was 4.9 per million, and the 5‐year overall survival rates were 59 ± 7% in 1984–1989, 78 ± 5% in 1990–1999 and 71 ± 5% in 2000–2010. When patients with localised disease were analysed separately, there was no difference in the 5‐year survival rates between 1990 and 1999 (82 ± 5%) and 2000–2010 (81 ± 5%), but the outcome in 1984–1989 (53 ± 8%) was significantly worse. The prevalence of metastatic disease was unexpectedly high during 2000–2010 (28%, p = 0.010), compared to an overall mean of 18% for the whole study period.
Conclusion
Our results suggest that a higher rate of metastatic disease may explain the declining trend in overall survival rates in paediatric RMS in Sweden over the last decade.
This study simulates and quantifies the exchange and the pathways of deep and shallow groundwater flow and solute transport under different climate and permafrost conditions, considering the example ...field case of the coastal Forsmark catchment in Sweden. A number of simulation scenarios for different climate and permafrost condition combinations have been performed with the three-dimensional groundwater flow and transport model MIKE SHE. Results show generally decreasing vertical groundwater flow with depth, and smaller vertical flow under permafrost conditions than under unfrozen conditions. Also the overall pattern of both the vertical and the horizontal groundwater flow, and the water exchange between the deep and shallow groundwater systems, change dramatically in the presence of permafrost relative to unfrozen conditions. However, although the vertical groundwater flow decreases significantly in the presence of permafrost, there is still an exchange of water between the unfrozen groundwater system below the permafrost and the shallow groundwater in the active layer, via taliks. ‘Through taliks’ tend to prevail in areas that constitute groundwater discharge zones under unfrozen conditions, which then mostly shift to net recharge zones (through taliks with net downward flow) under permafrost conditions.
Background: Compelling evidence suggests that childhood leukemia often originates in utero. Birth weight is one of the few pregnancy-related risk factors that has been associated with leukemia risk, ...but the association has remained poorly characterized. We conducted a population-based case–control study in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland to investigate the association between birth weight (and other birth characteristics) and the risk of childhood leukemia. Methods: Overall, 1905 children (aged 0–14 years) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 299 children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) diagnosed between January 1, 1984, and December 31, 1999, were identified in the Nordic Society of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology acute leukemia database. Each case patient was matched to five population control subjects (n = 10745) on nationality, age, and sex. All live-born siblings of case patients (n = 3812) and control subjects (n = 17 937) were also identified in population registers. Information on birth weight and gestational age at birth was ascertained from the national Medical Birth Registers. The association between various birth characteristics and leukemia risk was assessed by conditional logistic regression. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: Risk of ALL overall was statistically significantly associated with birth weight (odds ratio OR = 1.26 per 1-kg increase in birth weight, 95% confidence interval CI = 1.13 to 1.41). The association was similar for B- and T-lineage ALL and across all diagnostic ages (0–14 years). However, children with ALL did not weigh more at birth than their siblings. Statistically significantly reduced risks of B-precursor ALL were observed with increasing position in the birth order (OR = 0.90 per position increase, 95% CI = 0.84 to 0.96) and increasing gestational age (OR = 0.87 per 2-week increase in gestational age, 95% CI = 0.81 to 0.94). Risk of AML did not vary monotonically with birth weight, and low birth weight (<1500 g i.e., 3.3 pounds) was associated with the highest risk. Conclusion: Our results are compatible with the hypothesis that a high birth weight is associated with an increased risk of ALL.
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