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Biomass pelletization technology has recently gained significant interest, where pyrolyzed pellets have a very wide range of applications (e.g., as pellet fuels and adsorbents). In this study, furfural residue pellets (FRPs) were pyrolyzed at temperatures of 200–850 °C in a tube furnace. The physical and chemical properties of the pyrolyzed FRPs (PFRPs) obtained at various temperatures were compared, and the kinetic parameters of the pyrolysis process were calculated using the distributed activation energy model (DAEM). The PFRPs prepared at 450, 650, and 850 °C had higher volumetric energy densities than coal, whereas other properties (e.g., H/C and O/C ratios) were found to be similar to those of coal. The maximum iodine adsorption value (i.e. 317.8 mg/g) and methylene blue adsorption value (i.e. 96.4 mg/g) were achieved by pyrolysis at 650 °C and 450 °C, respectively, indicating that pyrolysis promoted the formation of micropore structures at 650 °C. Two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) was employed to explore the temperature-sensitivity of the surface functional groups of the PFRPs. Based on comparison of the volumetric energy density, hydrophobicity, particle density, and strength, the PFRPs prepared at 250–300 °C afforded the best overall performance, where the sample prepared at 300 °C exhibited the maximum hydrophobicity.

Torrefaction integrated with pelletization has gained increasingly interest as it enhances the characteristics of fuel pellets (e.g. hydrophobicity and energy density). In current study, torrefaction of furfural residue pellets (FRPs) and sawdust pellets (SPs) was performed by employing tubular reactor furnace, and quality of pellets was compared. The characteristics of both types of pellets were significantly improved with increasing torrefaction temperature from 200 °C to 300 °C and residence time from 15 min to 30 min. The highest lower heating value of 23.78 MJ/kg and energy density ratio (1.27) for torrefied furfural residue pellets (TFRPs) and 26.76 MJ/kg and 1.46 for torrefied sawdust pellets (TSPs) were achieved at 300 °C and 120 min. Increasing torrefaction temperature and residence time, the volumetric energy densities of TFRPs increased from 25.69 (at 200 °C and 15 min) to 27.59 kJ/m3 (at 300 °C and 120 min), while those of TSPs correspondingly decreased from 20.81 to 16.69 kJ/m3. The highest true densities (i.e. 2.40 and 1.85 g/cm3) and porosities (i.e. 52 and 65 v %) of TFRPs and TSPs were achieved at 300 °C and 120 min, much higher than those of un-torrefied pellets. Moisture uptake of TFRPs and TSPs at 300 °C were only 1.4 wt% and 2.0–2.8 wt%, respectively, showing strong water-resistant ability. The crystallinity of cellulose in FRPs was found higher than that of SPs, while the crystallinity of cellulose in TFRPs was found lower than that of TSPs at same process conditions. FTIR showed that O-H bond was destroyed after torrefaction for both FRP and SP.

We identified three unrelated individuals with de novo missense variants in CDK19, encoding a cyclin-dependent kinase protein family member that predominantly regulates gene transcription. These individuals presented with hypotonia, global developmental delay, epileptic encephalopathy, and dysmorphic features. CDK19 is conserved between vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms, but currently abnormalities in CDK19 are not known to be associated with a human disorder. Loss of Cdk8, the fly homolog of CDK19, causes larval lethality, which is suppressed by expression of human CDK19 reference cDNA. In contrast, the CDK19 p.Tyr32His and p.Thr196Ala variants identified in the affected individuals fail to rescue the loss of Cdk8 and behave as null alleles. Additionally, neuronal RNAi-mediated knockdown of Cdk8 in flies results in semi-lethality. The few eclosing flies exhibit severe seizures and a reduced lifespan. Both phenotypes are fully suppressed by moderate expression of the CDK19 reference cDNA but not by expression of the two variants. Finally, loss of Cdk8 causes an obvious loss of boutons and synapses at larval neuromuscular junctions (NMJs). Together, our findings demonstrate that human CDK19 fully replaces the function of Cdk8 in the fly, the human disease-associated CDK19 variants behave as strong loss-of-function variants, and deleterious CDK19 variants underlie a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder.

This study compared products distribution, heavy metals migration and distribution of textile dyeing sludge (DS) pyrolysis in microwave-assisted auger pyrolyser (MWAP) and fluidized bed pyrolyser (FBP). FBP had higher gas and CO2 yields, while MWAP was beneficial to production of condensates. The yields of FBP char (FC) and MWAP char (MC) decreased while the non-condensable gas yields increased with temperature. Condensates yield reached maximum at 650 °C for both MWAP and FBP. Kaolin decreased condensate yield for FBP and increased it for MWAP. However, kaolin achieved the highest condensate and gas yields compared with other additives. CaO reduced gas yield by sorption of CO2 and FBP had better sulfur retention ability than MWAP. Cu, Zn, Ni were enriched in MC, and Zn, Ni were enriched in FC. The residue ratios (RRs) of the enriched heavy metals were 73.91–100% and 75.28–100% for FBP and MWAP, respectively, indicating good stability of these heavy metals. CaO, kaolin and Ca-bentonite retained Zn, Ni and Pb at various degrees with maximum RRs of Zn and Ni up to 97.96% and 100%, respectively. All heavy metal contents in FCs and MCs met requirements of national standard (CJ/T 362 2011, China), showing slight potential ecological risks.

Temperature-driven baseline is highly responsive to anomalous structural behavior of long-span bridges, which means that the discrepancy between the measured and forecasting temperature-induced strain (TIS) can be examined for anomalies. In this regard, it is important to guarantee the accuracy of the forecasting TIS responses for reliable assessment of structural performance. Bayesian dynamic linear model (BDLM) has shown a promising application in the field of structural health monitoring. Traditionally, BDLM is used to forecast structural responses by utilizing its trend form, seasonal form, regression form, or combination of the three forms. However, different features of time series cannot be totally captured by these forms, which would undermine the accuracy of BDLM. To improve the computational accuracy, an improved BDLM, which considers an autoregressive (AR) component in addition to the trend, seasonal and regression components, is presented in this paper. Specifically, the AR component is able to model the component which cannot be captured by other three components. The real-time monitoring data collected from a long-span cable-stayed bridge is utilized to demonstrate the feasibility of the improved BDLM-based method. In particular, the present BDLM-based method allows for probabilistic forecasts, offering substantial information about the target TIS response, such as mean and confidence interval. Results show that the improved BDLM is capable of capturing the relationship between temperature and TIS. Compared to the AR model, multiple linear regression (MLR) model and BDLM without the AR component, the improved BDLM shows better forecasting performance in modeling and forecasting the TIS of a long-span bridge.

Serviceability performances of the long span bridge during strong winds, including the safety and comfort condition of driving road vehicle on the bridge, have attracted more and more attention in recent years. The dynamic behavior of the riding vehicle is essential for serviceability performance assessment. The vehicle-bridge coupling (VBC) simulation, featured as time-consuming, is traditionally applied, however, cannot meet the requirement for timely decision. Therefore, a monitoring-based approach, with the hybrid combination of in-situ structural health monitoring (SHM) data and dynamic simulation of single vehicle model, is presented in this paper to estimate the vehicle dynamic responses in a more efficient way. A numerical case study of a quarter vehicle model riding on a simply supported beam bridge is presented to validate the proposed approach. The first step is to investigate the feasibility of reproducing structural responses with the data from limited sensors using interpolation methods. Subsequently, dynamic responses of the riding vehicle are estimated using the monitoring-based approach. The influences of random traffic and wind loads are also considered. The estimated vehicle responses generally match VBC-based results, which proves reliability of the monitoring-based approach. Furthermore, the SHM data of a long-span bridge are utilized to investigate the potential usage of the proposed method. In particular, the dynamic responses of a popular light truck on the bridge and rigid road are respectively estimated and compared with each other. Results show that, among all the factors, i.e., bridge vibration, wind loads, and road roughness, the bridge vibration contributes the majority to the vertical vibration of the vehicle. For the lateral and torsional vibration of the vehicle, wind forces and bridge vibration are dominant factors. To summarize, the monitoring-based approach could help to estimate the dynamic responses of the riding vehicle on the bridge with a good reliability, regardless of the operation condition of the bridge, and provide timely and reliable information for serviceability and safety assessment.

Microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MWAP) of furfural residue (FR) was performed in a continuously operated auger reactor. The effects of temperature and additives on pyrolysis products and char properties were investigated. The yield of FRBC (furfural residue biochar) decreased to 43.62 wt.% and non-condensable gas yield increased to 40.37 wt.% with temperature increasing to 750 °C. However, condensate yield increased with increasing temperature from 450 to 550 °C, reaching maximum (i.e. 21.49 wt.%) at 550 °C, then decreased to 15.65 wt.% as temperature reached 750 °C. Kaolin and K2CO3 promoted production of non-condensable gases and CaO increased the yield of FRBC. The relative proportion (RP) values of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulfur in FRBC were 50.49–65.07 wt.%, 13.05–26.81 wt.%, 61.99–79.84 wt.% and 60.93–74.16 wt.%, respectively. The highest iodine adsorption value of 127mg/g and methylene blue number of 59 mg/g were achieved for FRBC at 450 °C. Kaolin, CaO and K2CO3 increased methylene blue number, and K2CO3 significantly increased iodine adsorption capacity of FRBC. CaO retained sulfur, chlorine, zinc, and kaolin showed greater retention capacities for copper, nickel, chromium and zinc. The major crystalline phases of sulfur and nitrogen were CaSO4, K2Ca2(SO4)3, Zr(NO3)4 in FRBC and K2Ca2(SO4)3 in FR.

Fast quantitative determination of active aluminum (Al

Eight undescribed steroidal saponins named solasaponins A-H were isolated from the fruits of Solanum xanthocarpum, including an unusual 16,26-epoxy-furostanol saponin, two furostanol saponins, three isospirostanol saponins, two pseudo-spirostanol saponins. The structures of all compounds were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic data analyses (1D, 2D NMR, and HRESIMS) combined with physico-chemical analysis methods (acid hydrolysis, optical rotation, and IR). The cytotoxicities of all compounds in vitro against two human cancer cell lines (A-549 and HepG2) were evaluated by CCK-8 assay.