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With the development of data-driven techniques, district-scale building energy prediction has attracted increasing attention in recent years for revealing energy use patterns and reduction potentials. However, data acquisition in large building groups is difficult and adjacent buildings also interact with each other. To reduce data cost and incorporate the inter-building impact with the data-driven building energy model, this study proposes a deep learning predictive approach that fuses the building network model with a long short-term memory learning model for district-scale building energy modeling. The building network was constructed based on correlations between the energy use intensity of buildings, which can significantly reduce the computational complexity of the deep learning models for energy dynamic prediction. Five typical building groups with energy use data from 2015 to 2018 on two institutional campuses were selected to perform the validation experiment with TensorFlow. Based on the prediction error assessments, the results suggest that for total building energy use intensity prediction, the proposed model can achieve a mean absolute percentage error of 6.66% and a root mean square error of 0.36 kWh/m2, compared to 12.05% and 0.63 kWh/m2 of the conventional artificial neural network model and to 11.06% and 0.89 kWh/m2 for the support vector regression model.

Urbanization has led to changes in urban morphology and climate, while urban open space has become an important ecological factor for evaluating the performance of urban development. This study presents an optimization approach using computational performance simulation. With a genetic algorithm using the Grasshopper tool, this study analyzed the layout and configuration of urban open space and its impact on the urban micro-climate under summer and winter conditions. The outdoor mean Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was applied as the performance indicator for evaluating the quality of the urban micro-climate. Two cases—one testbed and one real urban block in Nanjing, China—were used to validate the computer-aided simulation process. The optimization results in the testbed showed UTCI values varied from 36.5 to 37.3 °C in summer and from −4.9 to −1.9 °C in winter. In the case of the real urban block, optimization results show, for summer, although the average UTCI value increased by 0.6 °C, the average air velocity increased by 0.2 m/s; while in winter, the average UTCI value increased by 1.7 °C and the average air velocity decreased by 0.2 m/s. These results demonstrate that the proposed computer-aided optimization process can improve the thermal comfort conditions of open space in urban blocks. Finally, this study discusses strategies and guidelines for the layout design of urban open space to improve urban environment comfort.

Predicting multi-building energy use at campus or city district scale has recently gained more attention; and more researchers have started to define reference buildings and study inter-impact between building groups. However, how to integrate the relationship to define reference buildings and predict multi-building energy use, using significantly less amount of building data and reducing complexity of prediction models, remains an open research question. To resolve this, this study proposed a novel method to predict multi-building energy use by integrating a social network analysis (SNA) with an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique. The SNA method was used to establish a building network (BN) by identifying reference buildings and determine correlations between reference buildings and non-reference buildings. The ANN technique was applied to learn correlations and historical building energy use, and then used to predict multi-building energy use. To validate the SNA-ANN method, 17 buildings in the Southeast University campus, located in Nanjing, China, were studied. These buildings have three years of actual monthly electricity use data and were grouped into four types: office, educational, laboratory, and residential. The results showed the integrated SNA-ANN method achieved average prediction accuracies of 90.67% for the office group, 90.79% for the educational group, 92.34% for the laboratory group, and 83.32% for the residential group. The results demonstrated the proposed SNA-ANN method achieved an accuracy of 90.28% for the predicted energy use for all building groups. Finally, this study provides insights into advancing the interdisciplinary research on multi-building energy use prediction.

In areas with a dry and hot climate, factors such as strong solar radiation, high temperature, low humidity, dazzling light, and dust storms can tremendously reduce people's thermal comfort. Therefore, researchers are paying more attention to outdoor thermal comfort in urban environments as part of urban design. This study proposed an automatic workflow to optimize urban spatial forms with the aim of improvement of outdoor thermal comfort conditions, characterized by the universal thermal climate index (UTCI). A city with a dry and hot climate-Kashgar, China-is further selected as an actual case study of an urban block and Rhino & Grasshopper is the platform used to conduct simulation and optimization process with the genetic algorithm. Results showed that in summer, the proposed method can reduce the averaged UTCI from 31.17 to 27.43 °C, a decrease of about 3.74 °C, and reduce mean radiation temperature (MRT) from 43.94 to 41.29 °C, a decrease of about 2.65 °C.

Objective To evaluate the value of PLT and its parameters combined with AFP, CA199, CA125 and CEA on the preoperative differential diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). Methods We analyzed retrospectively 274 patients with liver cancer who underwent surgery in the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University. They were divided into 229 cases in HCC group and 45 cases in ICC group according to postoperative pathological results. The differences of PLT, its parameters and tumor markers between the two groups were compared. ROC curve was used to evaluate the differential diagnosis effect on HCC and ICC by significantly different indicators in single and combined forms. The best scheme was verified in the patients with determined and undetermined preoperative diagnosis. Results Compared with HCC group, the levels of PLT, PCT, CA199 and CA125 in ICC group were higher (P < 0.05) and the level of AFP was lower (P < 0.05). The diagnostic analysis results of ROC curve showed that in single test, the AUC of AFP for HCC diagnosis was the largest (0.827). The AUC of the combined groups was higher than the single groups of tumor markers; the AUC of the PCT+AFP+CA199+CA125 group was the highest in all combination groups, and AUC was 0.891. The verification of the best combination group showed that the AUC was 0.924 in the preoperative determined diagnosis group and 0.854 in the undetermined diagnosis group. Conclusion Tumor markers in combination with PLT and PCT can increase the preoperative differential diagnosis efficacy of HCC and ICC. The combination of PCT, AFP, CA199 and CA125 before operation is helpful to further determine the diagnosis and plan the operation scheme.

Defect identification for unintentionally induced defects and radiation‐implemented defects always attracts great attention in semiconductor materials. Recent advances in carbon‐implemented single‐photon emitters in silicon urgently require the accurate identification of defect structures to reveal transition mechanisms. Using hybrid functional with finite size correction, we investigate the charge and optical transitions of carbon‐related defects, including CSiCSi, VSiCSi, CSi, SiiCSiCSi, and Ci. Except for Ci, other defects present the negative‐U feature in the charge transition process. CSiCSi and VSiCSi tend to perform p‐type conductivity with the electron capture transition close to the valence band, of which transition level ε (0/−1) is 0.30 eV for CSiCSi and ε (+1/−2) is 0.34 eV for VSiCSi. CSi and SiiCSiCSi present a bipolar doping character, and CSi tends to capture holes with transition ε (0/+2) = 0.10 eV. The optical transitions that typically emit or absorb light in the telecom optical wavelength bands are identified in these defects in terms of band edge recombination. The zero‐phonon lines of optical transitions of ε (+2/+1) for VSiCSi and Ci are consistent with a previous experiment involving single‐photon emitters. The findings are helpful to understand the performance degradation of silicon devices and provide a reference for identifying the structure of carbon‐related defects in silicon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The airway epithelium plays a pivotal role in regulating mucosal immunity and inflammation. Epithelial barrier function, homeostasis of luminal fluid, and mucociliary clearance are major components of mucosal defense mechanisms. The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) is one of the key players in controlling airway fluid volume and composition, and characteristic cytokines cause ENaC and barrier dysfunctions following pulmonary infections or allergic reactions. Given the limited understanding of the requisite duration and magnitude of cytokines to affect ENaC and barrier function, available treatment options for restoring normal ENaC activity are limited. Previous studies have demonstrated that distinct amino acids can modulate epithelial ion channel activities and barrier function in intestines and airways. Here, we have investigated the time- and concentration-dependent effect of representative cytokines for Th1- (IFN-γ and TNF-α), Th2- (IL-4 and IL-13), and Treg-mediated (TGF-β1) immune responses on ENaC activity and barrier function in human bronchial epithelial cells. When cells were exposed to Th1 and Treg cytokines, ENaC activity decreased gradually while barrier function remained largely unaffected. In contrast, Th2 cytokines had an immediate and profound inhibitory effect on ENaC activity that was subsequently followed by epithelial barrier disruption. These functional changes were associated with decreased membrane protein expression of α-, β-, and γ-ENaC, and decreased mRNA levels of β- and γ-ENaC. A proprietary blend of amino acids was developed based on their ability to prevent Th2 cytokine-induced ENaC dysfunction. Exposure to the select amino acids reversed the inhibitory effect of IL-13 on ENaC activity by increasing mRNA levels of β- and γ-ENaC, and protein expression of γ-ENaC. This study indicates the beneficial effect of select amino acids on ENaC activity in an in vitro setting of Th2-mediated inflammation suggesting these amino acids as a novel therapeutic approach for correcting this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural variations (SVs) are a feature of plant genomes that has been largely unexplored despite their significant impact on plant phenotypic traits and local adaptation to abiotic and biotic stress. In this study, we employed woolly grape (Vitis retordii), a species native to the tropical and subtropical regions of East Asia with both coastal and inland habitats, as a valuable model for examining the impact of SVs on local adaptation. We assembled a haplotype‐resolved chromosomal reference genome for woolly grape, and conducted population genetic analyses based on whole‐genome sequencing (WGS) data from coastal and inland populations. The demographic analyses revealed recent bottlenecks in all populations and asymmetric gene flow from the inland to the coastal population. In total, 1,035 genes associated with plant adaptive regulation for salt stress, radiation, and environmental adaptation were detected underlying local selection by SVs and SNPs in the coastal population, of which 37.29% and 65.26% were detected by SVs and SNPs, respectively. Candidate genes such as FSD2, RGA1, and AAP8 associated with salt tolerance were found to be highly differentiated and selected during the process of local adaptation to coastal habitats in SV regions. Our study highlights the importance of SVs in local adaptation; candidate genes related to salt stress and climatic adaptation to tropical and subtropical environments are important genomic resources for future breeding programs of grapevine and its rootstocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advancement of acoustic metamaterials enables the highly efficient absorption of low-frequency noise with a subwavelength structure thickness, but the complexity of these structures often hinders their large-scale practical applications. Here, we propose a straightforward and compact acoustic metamaterial structure composed of Helmholtz resonators with side slits (HRSS) for low-frequency noise absorption. The introduction of side slits not only simplifies the overall structure but also allows for easy adjustment of acoustic characteristics. By adjusting the depth of the resonator within the slit across 25 distinct units, an absorption coefficient above 0.8 is realized from 470 to 930 Hz. This work demonstrates the extensive low-frequency sound absorption capability of HRSS, providing valuable insights into the design of future practical acoustic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment and diagnosis of controller performance for model‐based closed‐loop control systems has received considerable attention in recent years. A recognized factor dilapidating the controller performance is mismatching the true dynamical model of the plant and the mathematic model employed in the controller. In order to reduce the heavy effort to re‐identify the entire model, a large amount of recent works have been focusing on locating the mismatch. To further improve the mathematic model as well as controller performance, in this article, we provide a novel prediction‐based plant‐model mismatch quantification approach, which belongs to the class of moment match methodology. In particular, two cases of output prediction are considered: one‐step ahead prediction and multistep ahead prediction. Compared with existing efforts along the same line of mismatch quantification, when using the one‐step ahead prediction, our method shows an advantage of light computational complexity. On the other hand, when utilizing multistep predictions, it shows better convergence and robustness than the former, especially in the case of structural mismatches, and the long‐term prediction capability of the model is employed. With both predictions and consideration of the existence of unknown noise models in practice, we show that the plant‐model mismatch and unknown parameters of noise models can be quantified as the solution of a minimization issue that penalizes the discrepancy between the sample of plant outputs and the predictions calculated by considering the plant‐model mismatch and noise model parameters. Several examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the electrochemical performance of batteries approaching the bottleneck gradually, it is increasingly urgent to solve the safety issue. Herein, all‐in‐one strategy is ingeniously developed to design smart, safe, and simple (3S) practical pouch‐type LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2||Graphite@SiO (NCM811||Gr@SiO) cell, taking full advantage of liquid and solid‐state electrolytes. Even under the harsh thermal abuse and high voltage condition (100 °C, 3–4.5 V), the pouch‐type 3S NCM811||Gr@SiO cell can present superior capacity retention of 84.6% after 250 cycles (based pouch cell: 47.8% after 250 cycles). More surprisingly, the designed 3S NCM811||Gr@SiO cell can efficiently improve self‐generated heat T1 by 45 °C, increase TR triggering temperature T2 by 40 °C, and decrease the TR highest T3 by 118 °C. These superior electrochemical and safety performances of practical 3S pouch‐type cells are attributed to the robust and stable anion‐induced electrode‐electrolyte interphases and local solid‐state electrolyte protection layer. All the fundamental findings break the conventional battery design guidelines and open up a new direction to develop practical high‐performance batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the problem of prescribed‐time constrained tracking control for a class of 2×2$$ 2\times 2 $$ hyperbolic partial differential equation (PDE) systems with actuator dynamics, which are described by a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Since the control input only appears in the ODE subsystem rather than directly on the boundary of PDE subsystem, the control task becomes quite challenging. The most important is that for the control of such ODE controlled PDE systems we mainly make the following two contributions: (1) the controlled output of the PDE system tracks the reference signal within the prescribed time; (2) the controlled output and all the actuator states are constrained. It is the first time that such a prescribed‐time constrained tracking control problem is addressed for the PDE‐ODE coupled system considered in this article. Through rigorous theoretical proof, it is demonstrated that all the system states and control signals are bounded and sufficiently continuous by configuring appropriate design parameters. Finally, the performance is investigated via numerical simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the characterization and first laser operation of ceramic Yb:LuScO3 in a thin-disk oscillator. The optical performance achieved with a ceramic Yb:LuScO3 disk is compared to the one obtained with an existing ceramic Yb:Lu2O3 disk for reference. The characterization covers the measurement of the fluorescence spectra, the fluorescence lifetimes, and nomarsky imaging. The investigation on the laser operation covers the measurement of resonator losses, output powers, and thermal behavior during continuous-wave operation in a multimode thin-disk oscillator. An average output power of 149 W and a slope efficiency of 51.8% were achieved with the ceramic Yb:LuScO3 disk which reached a maximum surface temperature of about 150 °C. At the same temperature level, a disk made of the already established ceramic Yb:Lu2O3 delivered 957 W of output power with a slope efficiency of 75.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trans-laminar fracture is an important topic for engineering composites. In this study, trans-laminar fracture initiation in quasi-isotropic carbon/epoxy laminates made of non-crimp fabrics was examined using in situ fast synchrotron X-ray radiography and ex situ X-ray computed tomography. The maximum split lengths were measured by in situ radiography and were compared with the predicted values in a detailed FE model using cohesive elements. Ex situ computed tomography scans were also conducted to confirm that no fibre breakage occurs before the final load drop in the experiments. In situ and ex situ observations are complementary for the understanding of damage initiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and control of material interfaces is a foundational approach to realize technologically useful effects and engineer material properties. This is especially true for two-dimensional (2D) materials, where van der Waals stacking allows disparate materials to be freely stacked together to form highly customizable interfaces. This has underpinned a recent wave of discoveries based on excitons in stacked double layers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), the archetypal family of 2D semiconductors. In such double-layer structures, the elegant interplay of charge, spin and moiré superlattice structure with many-body effects gives rise to diverse excitonic phenomena and correlated physics. Here we review some of the recent discoveries that highlight the versatility of TMD double layers to explore quantum optics and many-body effects. We identify outstanding challenges in the field and present a roadmap for unlocking the full potential of excitonic physics in TMD double layers and beyond, such as incorporating newly discovered ferroelectric and magnetic materials to engineer symmetries and add a new level of control to these remarkable engineered materials. This Review discusses the exciton physics of transition metal dichalcogenides, focusing on moiré patterns and exciton many-body physics, and outlines future research directions in the field., Author(s): Nathan P. Wilson [sup.1] [sup.2] [sup.3] , Wang Yao [sup.4] [sup.5] , Jie Shan [sup.6] , Xiaodong Xu [sup.1] [sup.7] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Physics, University of Washington, [...]

A courtyard is a traditional and popular construction feature found in China's urban buildings. This case study evaluates the performance of the traditional courtyard design of the Jiangnan Museum, located in Jiangsu Province. In the evaluation, the spatial layout of courtyards is adjusted, the aspect ratio is changed, and an ecological buffer space is created. To model and evaluate the performance of the courtyard design, this study applied the Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software, Parabolic Hyperbolic Or Elliptic Numerical Integration Code Series (PHOENICS), for wind environment simulation, and the EnergyPlus-based software, DesignBuilder, for energy simulation. Results show that a good combination of courtyard layout and aspect ratio can improve the use of natural ventilation by increasing free cooling during hot summers and reducing cold wind in winters. The results also show that ecological buffer areas of a courtyard can reduce cooling loads in summer by approximately 19.6% and heating loads in winter by approximately 22.3%. The study provides insights into the optimal design of a courtyard to maximize its benefit in regulating the microclimate during both winter and summer.