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This paper develops an operation strategy for hybrid power production units (turbine integrated with energy storage) participating in the balancing of the power grid. The developed strategy targets the reduction of the mechanical stress of the hybrid’s turbine unit by utilizing the available storage capacity. The problem is addressed using the methods of operations research combined with the receding horizon control approach. The benefits of the operational strategy are demonstrated via numerical simulations.

This paper presents a robust soft sensor for estimating heat exchanger fouling in combustion–thermal power plant context. The approach is data–driven and focuses on identifying the effect of plant load changes to fouling estimation. Proposed method is applied to real process measurements and results are presented. The method consists of two blocks; a static energy balance calculation block for “traditional” fouling indicator calculation and a dynamic subspace identification block for finding sootblowing– and load level dynamics components of the static fouling indicator signal. Results from applying the proposed method to real plant data show that load level dynamics can be decoupled from static fouling estimate.

Cholesterol accumulation in late endosomes is a prevailing phenotype of Niemann-Pick type C1 (NPC1) mutant cells. Likewise, annexin A6 (AnxA6) overexpression induces a phenotype reminiscent of NPC1 mutant cells. Here, we demonstrate that this cellular cholesterol imbalance is due to AnxA6 promoting Rab7 inactivation via TBC1D15, a Rab7-GAP. In NPC1 mutant cells, AnxA6 depletion and eventual Rab7 activation was associated with peripheral distribution and increased mobility of late endosomes. This was accompanied by an enhanced lipid accumulation in lipid droplets in an acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT)-dependent manner. Moreover, in AnxA6-deficient NPC1 mutant cells, Rab7-mediated rescue of late endosome-cholesterol export required the StAR-related lipid transfer domain-3 (StARD3) protein. Electron microscopy revealed a significant increase of membrane contact sites (MCS) between late endosomes and ER in NPC1 mutant cells lacking AnxA6, suggesting late endosome-cholesterol transfer to the ER via Rab7 and StARD3-dependent MCS formation. This study identifies AnxA6 as a novel gatekeeper that controls cellular distribution of late endosome-cholesterol via regulation of a Rab7-GAP and MCS formation. © 2019, The Author(s).

CIE 2019, Washington DC, June 14 to 22, 2019. -- http://washington2019.cie.co.at, Angular intensity distributions of light sources are traditionally measured using goniophotometers. Usually, goniophotometers are expensive to obtain and resource intensive to operate, due to requirements of a dedicated laboratory and the time consuming nature of the measurements. In addition to other applications, such as lighting design, angular intensity distribution data are used for spatial corrections to increase accuracy of luminous flux measurements with integrating spheres. Because goniometric measurements are so laborious, many laboratories omit the spatial correction altogether, increasing their measurement uncertainty by up to a few percent, depending on the integrating sphere and the light source under test. Previously, the fisheye camera method was developed to enable faster and more cost-effective measurements of angular intensity distributions of light sources. Using the fisheye camera method, such angular distribution is obtained in a matter of seconds from a fisheye camera image captured through a port of an integrating sphere, while the sphere is illuminated by the lamp under test. The method was reported in CIE 2017 Midterm Meeting in Jeju, where doubts were presented about the wide applicability of the method and its comparability with traditional goniophotometers. In this study, the performance of the method is confirmed. The fisheye camera method is validated by measuring six LED lamps in eight integrating spheres of various configurations, and by comparing the obtained angular data with that measured using five goniophotometers of different types.

We use the Semliki Forest Virus (SFV) as a tool for protein expression in primary cultures of rat hippocampal neurons. These cells develop in vitro into polarized neurons that can be infected with recombinant SFV with an efficiency of 60 - 80%. SFV-driven protein expression is detectable within 3-4 hours postinfection, at which time the newly-synthesized proteins are mainly present in the cell soma. By 6 to 8 hours postinfection foreign proteins are detectable in the neurites. Protein expression can continue for up to 48 hours. However, after 8 - 10 hours infected neurons start to suffer from cytopathic effects as evidenced by a change in morphology and detachment from the coverslip. The infection does not seem to affect the polarized distribution of proteins. Upon overexpression of rab8, a somatodendritic distribution is observed, similar to that of the endogenous protein. Therefore, the SFV expression system is suitable for short-term expression of proteins and can be used successfully to study the polarized distribution of heterologous proteins expressed in cultured hippocampal neurons.

Publication in the conference proceedings of EUSIPCO, Poznan, Poland, 2007

Summary Systematic insight into cellular dysfunction can improve understanding of disease etiology, risk assessment, and patient stratification. We present a multiparametric high-content imaging platform enabling quantification of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) uptake and lipid storage in cytoplasmic droplets of primary leukocyte subpopulations. We validate this platform with samples from 65 individuals with variable blood LDL-cholesterol (LDL-c) levels, including familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and non-FH subjects. We integrate lipid storage data into another readout parameter, lipid mobilization, measuring the efficiency with which cells deplete lipid reservoirs. Lipid mobilization correlates positively with LDL uptake and negatively with hypercholesterolemia and age, improving differentiation of individuals with normal and elevated LDL-c. Moreover, combination of cell-based readouts with a polygenic risk score for LDL-c explains hypercholesterolemia better than the genetic risk score alone. This platform provides functional insights into cellular lipid trafficking and has broad possible applications in dissecting the cellular basis of metabolic disorders.