This study reports the emissions of condensable particulate matter (CPM) and filterable particulate matter (FPM) in two coal-fired power plants with different air pollution control devices (APCDs). ...The mechanisms of CPM removed by existing APCDs in coal-fired power plants were explored, and a series of analyses were also carried out on the composition and characteristics of CPM. The results show that the removal efficiencies to CPM by electrostatic-bag-precipitator (EBP) and ESP are 77.34% and 79.23%, respectively, so the difference is not obvious because the interception filtration mechanisms of baghouses for CPM have less effect on CPM compared to FPM. The mechanism of EBP/ESP to remove CPM is mainly electrostatic adsorption and FPM’s adsorption. The concentration of CPM decreases when passing through WFGD. However, the WESP can increase the CPM in different ways. For example, the pollution of the circulation of the flushing fluid may cause the increase of CPM. In addition, CPM mainly includes three parts. The first part is organic fractions such as alkanes and esters; the second is the water-soluble ions that include SO
4
2−
, NH
4
+
, and Cl
−
; and the third is Na, Ca, and other minerals. The research in this study is helpful to understand the impact of existing APCDs in coal-fired power plants on CPM and the sources of CPM.
Graphical abstract
Variable and complex marine environmental loads combined with wave resistance and the insufficient controllability of large caisson structures pose serious challenges during maritime towing. Cable ...breakage events are common, and improper behaviors could give rise to a variety of accidents. This work explored the dynamic responses of large caisson structures following towing cable breakage under irregular waves combined with harsh currents. Two types of cable breakage, i.e., main bridle and towing bridle breakage, were taken into account. Four potential wave–current combinations were assumed for each situation according to direction. The obtained results show that drag rope breakage could give rise to lateral shifts in the structure, which can become a serious condition when exposed to angled waves. Additionally, following breakage, significant force fluctuations took place in the remaining intact cables. For main cable breakage, both lateral and backward displacements were observed in the structure, which gradually entered a ‘flowing with the wave’ state. Furthermore, under the two abovementioned cable breakage conditions, the structure air gap consistently exceeded 2.3 m, ignoring the possibility of a wave slamming event.
In this study, the buckling behavior of axial compressed H-shape column with time-variant corrosion defects was assessed. A simplified numerical simulation method able to consider the ...mechanical-electrochemical interaction during corrosion was proposed, the corrosion process was governed by a stress-corrosion (SC) model, which was embedded into ABAQUS by a user defined UMESHMOTION subroutine. Based on the user defined FORTRAN subroutine, both general corrosion, random corrosion and the stress-acceleration effect can be considered. By applying such numerical method, the time-variant corrosion morphology and collapse force of H-shape column under axial compression can be obtained. Such method avoids the disadvantage of conventional method, where the damage form and size are presupposed and history-independent. Moreover, a reverse structural design method was proposed, where the optimized original shape and dimension of the structure can be determined based on the allowable final state, service load and service life.
•A simplified numerical simulation method able to consider mechanical-electrochemical interaction was proposed.•The time-variant corroded profile of structures can be obtained by UMESHMOTION subroutine.•A random corrosion modeling method was proposed.•The effect of pit on damage evolution and buckling response of H-piles were investigated.•A reverse design method able to obtain an optimized shape and dimension of structure was proposed.
Microglia are resident innate immune cells that play an essential role in the development and surveillance of the central nervous system as well as the shared pathogenesis of neurodegenerative ...diseases. Microglia rapidly respond to multiple inflammatory stimuli and activate towards different phenotypes, such as pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory phenotypes. Cytokines, epigenetic and long non-coding RNA modulations have been shown to regulate microglial activation; however, the role of circRNAs in microglia-mediated neuroinflammation remains elusive. Here, we performed circRNA sequencing in IL-4-treated anti-inflammatory microglia and discovered 120 differentially expressed circRNAs. We systemically verified the identities of circRNAs by assays of PCR, RNase R treatment and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), among others. We found that circAdgre1 promoted IL-4-induced anti-inflammatory responses and further conferred neuroprotective effects upon lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimuli. Taken together, our results show that circRNAs might be possible therapeutic targets for microglia-mediated neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.
(
) is one of the most common causative genes in Parkinson's disease (PD). The complex structure of this multiple domains' protein determines its versatile functions in multiple physiological ...processes, including migration, autophagy, phagocytosis, and mitochondrial function, among others. Mounting studies have also demonstrated the role of LRRK2 in mediating neuroinflammation, the prominent hallmark of PD, and intricate functions in immune cells, such as microglia, macrophages, and astrocytes. Of those, microglia were extensively studied in PD, which serves as the resident immune cell of the central nervous system that is rapidly activated upon neuronal injury and pathogenic insult. Moreover, the activation and function of immune cells can be achieved by modulating their intracellular metabolic profiles, in which LRRK2 plays an emerging role. Here, we provide an updated review focusing on the double-faceted role of LRRK2 in regulating various cellular physiology and immune functions especially in microglia. Moreover, we will summarize the latest discovery of the three-dimensional structure of LRRK2, as well as the function and dysfunction of LRRK2 in immune cell-related pathways.
The formation and regulation of loquat fruit quality have always been an important research field to improve fruit quality, commodities, and market value. Fruit size, soluble solids content, and ...titratable acid content represent the most important quality factors in loquat. Mineral nutrients in abundance or deficiency are among the most important key factor that affect fruit quality. In the present study, we use artificial neural network (ANN) to explore the effects of mineral nutrients in soil and leaves on the key fruit quality of loquat. The results show that the ANN model with the structure of 12–12–1 can predict the single fruit weight with the highest accuracy (R2 = .91), the ANN model with the structure of 10–11–1 can predict the soluble solid content with the highest accuracy (R2 = .91), and the ANN model with the structure of 9–10–1 can predict the titratable acid content with the highest accuracy (R2 = .95). Meanwhile, we also conduct sensitivity analysis to analyze the relative contribution of mineral nutrients in soils and leaves to determine of the key fruit quality. In terms of relative contribution, Ca, Fe, and Mg content in soils and Zn, K, and Ca content in leaves contribute relatively largely to a single fruit weight, Mn, Fe, and Mg content in soils and the N content in leaves contribute relatively largely to the soluble solid content, and the P, Ca, N, Mg, and Fe in leaves contribute relatively largely to the titratable acid content of loquat. The established artificial neural network prediction models can improve the quality of loquat fruit by optimizing the content of mineral elements in soils and leaves.
The artificial neural network can accurately predict the key fruit quality of loquat by the mineral content in leaves and soils.
Large caissons are extensively applied as deep-water foundations in marine engineering. In fact, caissons are generally prefabricated and transported to project site by wet towing. Motion responses ...of large caissons and those occurring during the towing process were investigated, and CO2 emissions under various conditions were calculated. These are all considered to ensure towing safety and environmental protection. The caisson resistance coefficient was simulated via Ansys Fluent software. The effects of towrope length, towing speed, and drift depth on the motion responses of caissons under the combined action of wind and wave were evaluated via Ansys AQWA software. Maximum heave value was dominantly affected by rope length and draft depth, and its fluctuation was highly influenced by towing speed and draft depth. However, all of the above mentioned factors had insignificant influences on pitch response. When towing existed, rope tension was rapidly increased from zero to a constant value that depended on towing speed and drift depth. However, the speed of achieving this stable phase depended on the length of the towrope.
Protein nuclear transport is an important process in eukaryotic cells, and is closely related to the normal function of cells. Normally, protein nuclear transport is accomplished by nuclear receptor ...mediation, which requires the participation of multiple proteins. Therefore, protein nuclear transport cannot be separated from the interaction between proteins. In this paper, the relationship between protein interaction and protein nuclear transport is studied, and its effects on cellular and physiological functions are analyzed from many aspects.
This study aims at proposing a fully coupled numerical simulation method of tribocorrosion development on anchor chains during service life, where the mechano-electrochemical interaction is ...considered in a simplified way. The damage evolution can be realized by a user-defined UMESHMOTION FORTRAN subroutine, where both stress-accelerated corrosion and corrosion-accelerated wear can be considered. Based on this numerical method, the time-variant damage morphology of mooring chain can be obtained. Simulation results obtained by different damage evolution models are shown and compared, and some discussions on the simplified simulation method of reciprocating tribocorrosion are also presented. A systematic parametric study is carried out, and the key factors affecting the tribocorrosion of chain link are revealed. Finally, a modified design method is proposed, and it can be used for optimization of the design of marine anchor chains.
Clay minerals composed of Si and Al could help reduce ultrafine particulate matter (PM) formation as an additive during coal combustion while currently unacceptable high adding dosages (normally 3–5 ...wt.%) are required due to their inadequate capture efficiency. To find additives that could effectively reduce the formation of ultrafine PM, coal combustion with a novel nano SiO2 additive (<100 nm) was performed to evaluate its effects on reducing ultrafine PM. The generated PM10 was sampled to characterize their particle size distribution, mass yield, size-resolved composition and micromorphology. The results showed that adding a small dosage (0.6%) of nano SiO2 reduced the mass yield of ultrafine PM by 30.70%, showing a much higher ultrafine PM capture efficiency than an existing micron-sized natural clay mineral. However, its performance on different coals varied due to disparities in ash content and composition in coal. A composition analysis revealed that the Na content in the ultrafine PM was decreased after adding nano SiO2, indicating that nano SiO2 inhibited the migration of volatile alkali metals such as Na into ultrafine PM because the Na-containing mineral vapor reacted with the nano SiO2 additive particles with a large specific surface area at a high temperature and inhibited their transformation into ultrafine PM via homogenous nucleation. Changes in the element size distributions and micromorphology showed that the majority of the added nano SiO2 particles reacted or coalesced with each other and/or the minerals embedded in coal, finally growing into a larger PM.
PDF
