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Background: In recent years, there have been great improvements in the therapy of renal cell carcinoma. Nevertheless, the therapeutic effect varies significantly from person to person. To discern the effective treatment for different populations, predictive molecular biomarkers in response to target, immunological, and combined therapies are widely studied. Conclusion: This review summarized those studies from three perspectives (SNPs, mutation, and expression level) and listed the relationship between biomarkers and therapeutic effect, highlighting the great potential of predictive molecular biomarkers in metastatic RCC therapy. However, due to a series of reasons, most of these findings require further validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate energy consumption prediction is pivotal in supporting efficient grid scheduling and enhancing renewable energy penetration. This paper proposes a novel hybrid prediction model called CEEMDAN-SE-EC-BiLSTM. The proposed model utilizes Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (CEEMDAN) to decompose the original energy consumption data into Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). Afterwards, Sample Entropy (SE) is employed to evaluate the complexity of the IMFs. The complexed IMFs are then transformed into simpler IMFs using a second decomposition. All IMFs are predicted using Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) to attain the initial predicted sequence. To further refine the prediction, an Error Correction (EC) technique is introduced. This involves subtracting the initial predicted sequence from the original sequence to obtain the error sequence, which is then decomposed using CEEMDAN. Subsequently, the decomposed error sequence is predicted using BiLSTM to generate the error prediction sequence. Finally, the predicted results and the error prediction are combined to obtain the final energy forecast sequence. To verify the superior performance of the proposed method, the model is tested on five selected buildings and benchmarked against seven prediction models. The experimental results indicate that the proposed hybrid prediction model achieves the highest accuracy in building energy prediction. • A novel hybrid approach for building energy prediction is proposed. • The SE is used to evaluate the necessity for secondary decomposition. • The EC technique is employed to improve the prediction accuracy. • The performance of the proposed model is benchmarked against other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a method to invert the two-dimensional distribution of a temperature and volume concentration of soot particles from color images. By using numerical simulation, the temperature field and particle volume-concentration field of a non-uniform soot flame are simultaneously reconstructed using the wide-response spectrum of a color CCD camera without adding monochromatic filters. The influence of number of cameras, error of camera position angle, measurement noise and different reconstruction algorithms on measurement accuracy are analyzed. The numerical-simulation results demonstrate that camera-position angle errors play a crucial role in the reconstruction accuracy. In addition, increasing the number of cameras can improve the reconstruction result accuracy. Compared with the least squares algorithm, the Tikhonov-regularization algorithm has a stronger anti-noise ability and can resist 39 dB of noise. The conclusions obtained in this paper are helpful to guide following experimental studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an economically important flatfish in Asia, Japanese flounder is threatened by continuously rising temperatures due to global warming. To understand the molecular responses of this species to temperature stress, adult Japanese flounder individuals were treated with two kinds of heat stress—a gradual temperature rise (GTR) and an abrupt temperature rise (ATR)—in aquaria under experimental conditions. Changes in histopathology, programmed cell death levels and the oxidative stress status of gills were investigated. Histopathology showed that the damage caused by ATR stress was more serious. TUNEL signals confirmed this result, showing more programmed cell death in the ATR group. In addition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and the 8-O-hDG contents of both the GTR and ATR groups increased significantly, and the total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activities and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) levels decreased in the two stressed groups, which showed damage to antioxidant systems. Meanwhile, RNA-seq was utilized to illustrate the molecular mechanisms underyling gill damage. Compared to the control group of 18 °C, 507 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened in the GTR group; 341 were up-regulated and 166 were down-regulated, and pathway enrichment analysis indicated that they were involved in regulation and adaptation, including chaperone and folding catalyst pathways, the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling (MAPK) pathway and DNA replication protein pathways. After ATR stress, 1070 DEGs were identified, 627 were up-regulated and 423 were down-regulated, and most DEGs were involved in chaperone and folding catalyst and DNA-related pathways, such as DNA replication proteins and nucleotide excision repair. The annotation of DEGs showed the great importance of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in protecting Japanese flounder from heat stress injury; 12 hsp genes were found after GTR, while 5 hsp genes were found after ATR. In summary, our study records gill dysfunction after heat stress, with different response patterns observed in the two experimental designs; chaperones were activated to defend heat stress after GTR, while replication was almost abandoned due to the severe damage consequent on ATR stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) is a cold-water fish widely cultured in Northeast Asia. With global warming and increased breeding density, Japanese flounder aquaculture is threatened by heat stress. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying heat stress is important. This study applied two laboratory heat stress conditions, gradual temperature rise (GTR) and abrupt temperature rise (ATR) to imitate the stresses faced by Japanese flounder. The histological damage of spleen and the underlying molecular mechanisms were revealed. Histological observation showed that the size and number of melanoma macrophage centers (MMCs) changed under the applied heat stresses; however, inflammatory infiltration and erythrocytes specifically appeared only under the ATR stress. Transcriptome analysis identified 1073 and 985 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the GTR vs. the C and the ATR vs. the C groups, respectively. Functional enrichment analysis illustrated GTR and ATR stresses affected similar categories while simultaneously influencing diverse functions. The "Protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum (ER)" was the most enriched pathway in two kinds of heat stress. The "Apoptosis" pathway was GTR-specific while the"DNA replication" was ATR-specific. In addition, the comparison between GTR and ATR stresses in "Protein processing in ER" pathway were further described. The results illustrated both acute and chronic heat stress could increase misfolded proteins, disrupt the ER function, and cause histological damage. Misfolded proteins in the GTR group were removed by apoptosis, whereas those in the ATR group were cleared via DNA-related pathways. Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) analysis identified 20 hub genes, eight of which were shared between the two groups (hsp90aa1.1 , hspa5 , hsp90b1 , hsp90ab1 , hspa9 , hsp70 , hspe1 and hspd1); three (hspa4b , fn1a and bmp4) were GTR-specific, whereas nine genes (chek1 , pcna , aurkb , rpal , cdc6 , rrm1 , mcm5 , pold1 and mcm3) were ATR-specific. The current study sheds light on the molecular mechanisms underlying the heat stress response in Japanese flounder. • Heat stress damaged the histological structure of spleen. • More serious damage was observed in ATR group in compared to GTR group. • The functional enrichment analysis of DEGs in GTR and ATR stresses showed commonality and specificity. • Heat stress could increase misfolded proteins and disrupt the ER function, then caused the spleen histological damage. • A total of twenty hub genes were identified as the key genes of Japanese flounder in response to heat stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 11 hsp20 genes were identified in large yellow croaker. • Hsp20 genes were evolutionarily-constrained among fishes. • Hsp20 genes functions in environmental adaptation of fishes. Large yellow croaker (Larimichthys crocea) is an economically important fish in China, but its aquaculture industry has been threatened by both biotic and abiotic stressors such as hypoxia and pathogens. In the current study, hsp20 genes were identified and analyzed systematically for the first time from the genome of large yellow croaker, and their roles in hypoxia response and Aeromonas hydrophila, Pseudomonas plecoglossicida infection were investigated. Herein, 11 hsp20 genes were identified and annotated, phylogenetic analysis and selection pressure analysis showed that the hsp20 genes were evolutionarily-constrained and their function was conserved among fishes. Besides, we observed the expression patterns of the hsp20 genes under hypoxia and two pathogens' stress. In brief, seven, four, seven genes responded to hypoxia stress, A. hydrophila infection and P. plecoglossicida challenge, respectively, which indicated that they were involved in hypoxia and disease responses. Furthermore, pathogen- and time-specific pattern was observed after A. hydrophila and P. plecoglossicida infection whereas tissue-specific pattern was observed after hypoxia exposure, revealing that hsp20 genes showed differential functions in response to hypoxia and immune stress. Taken together, these results provided preliminary information for future analysis of the roles of hsp20 genes in both biotic and abiotic stress response in fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KCNQ/M potassium channels play a vital role in neuronal excitability; however, it is required to explore their pharmacological modulation on N‐Methyl‐ d‐aspartic acid receptors (NMDARs)‐mediated glutamatergic transmission of neurons upon ischemic insults. In the current study, both presynaptic glutamatergic release and activities of NMDARs were measured by NMDAR‐induced miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) in cultured cortical neurons of C57 mice undergoing oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) or OGD/reperfusion (OGD/R). The KCNQ/M‐channel opener, retigabine (RTG), suppressed the overactivation of postsynaptic NMDARs induced by OGD and then NO transient; RTG also decreased OGD‐induced neuronal death measured with MTT assay, suggesting the beneficial role of KCNQ/M‐channels for the neurons exposed to ischemic insults. However, when the neurons exposed to the subsequent reperfusion, KCNQ/M‐channels played a differential role from its protective effect. OGD/R increased presynaptic glutamatergic release, which was further augmented by RTG or decreased by KCNQ/M‐channel blocker, XE991. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were produced partly in a NO‐dependent manner. In addition, XE991 decreased neuronal injuries upon reperfusion measured with DCF and PI staining. Meanwhile, the addition of RTG upon OGD or XE991 upon reperfusion can reverse OGD or OGD/R‐reduced mitochondrial membrane potential. Our present study indicates the dual role of KCNQ/M‐channels in OGD and OGD/R, which will decide the fate of neurons. Provided that activation of KCNQ/M‐channels has differential effects on neuronal injuries during OGD or OGD/R, we propose that therapy targeting KCNQ/M‐channels may be effective for ischemic injuries but the proper timing is so crucial for the corresponding treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the formed interfacial Co–O–Cu bonds in Co-doped Cu(OH)2 (Co2–Cu(OH)2) sufficiently expose active sites and improve the reaction kinetics. As a result, the optimal Co2–Cu(OH)2 provides an amazing faradaic efficiency (91.6%), high selectivity (93.2%) and robust stability toward the NO3RR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An experimental design was used to investigate the effects of different torrefaction conditions on the properties of biomass. • Two spectrometers were simultaneously used to capture high SNR signals of continuous spectrum and characteristic spectrum. • In-situ detection of the temperature and K release concentration of torrefied biomass pellet combustion was achieved. • Changes in combustion characteristics and K release characteristics of torrefied biomass were evaluated. The orthogonal experiment designed in this paper investigated the effect of changes in experimental parameters such as biomass species, torrefaction temperature, torrefaction time, torrefaction oxygen concentration on the physicochemical properties and combustion characteristics of the torrefaction products. Two optical fiber spectrometers were used to capture the spontaneous emission spectra of the combustion flame of compressed pellets of torrefied biomass, and the in-situ measurement of pellet combustion temperature and K release concentration at high heating rate was realized by multi-spectral analysis algorithm. The experimental results indicate that for biomass, torrefaction will lead to a decrease of volatile and moisture content and an increase of fixed carbon and ash content in components, a decrease of O and H and an increase of C content in elements, a certain loss of biomass quality, an increase of high heat value, and each indicator move closer to coal. The effects of various experimental parameters on the volatile content, mass yield, high heat value increase rate and energy yield in biomass torrefaction products have similar laws, i.e., biomass species / torrefaction oxygen concentration > torrefaction temperature > torrefaction time. The mild torrefaction product pellets have a shorter ignition delay, increased volatile combustion flame height and peak temperature, longer volatile and char combustion duration, but lower peak char combustion temperature, among which the selected torrefaction products of rice straw and pine wood showed an increase in peak temperature of 0.56 % (11 K) and 0.61 % (12 K) for the volatile stage respectively, and a decrease of and 1.29 % (20 K) and 1.29 % (21 K) for the char stage respectively. In addition, the peak K release concentration during combustion of the mild torrefaction product pellets was reduced, among which the peak K release concentrations during the volatile and char stage were reduced by 43.22 % (3.89 ppm) and 52.93 % (51.55 ppm) of the rice straw torrefaction product respectively, and by 73.14 % (1.28 ppm) and 62.08 % (15.01 ppm) for the pine wood torrefaction product respectively. Biomass torrefaction products have fuel properties closer to coal, less K released from the combustion process, which have the potential to become an alternative to coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low temperature is one of major environmental factors limiting the growth, quality and yield of tobacco. However, the molecular mechanism of tobacco cold response remains largely unknown. Here, integrated biochemical, transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were carried out on tobacco leaves of cold-tolerant cultivar Xiangyan7 and cold-sensitive cultivar Taiyan8 under short- /long-term cold stress and recovery. Physiological and biochemical results showed that Taiyan8 was sensitive while Xiangyan7 was insensitive to cold stress. Integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis revealed several key pathways in tobacco response to cold, including flavonoid biosynthesis, glutathione metabolism, zeatin biosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism; two important pathways in the recovery, namely glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, flavonoid biosynthesis. The two cultivars had similar mechanisms in response to long-term cold stress. Whereas, more enriched pathways were identified in Taiyan8 under short-term stress, and the specifically enriched pathways were mainly involved in amino acid metabolism. By analyzing the metabolites involved in these pathways, a total of 26 key metabolites were screened out. These metabolites contents and biochemical indicator values were used as trait data for correlation analysis with gene expression modules, and 5 highly correlated modules were found. Within these modules, we identified 12 key candidate genes weighted as module hub genes, which involved ATPases, chlorophyll A-B binding protein, S-adenosine methionine decarboxylase, chalcone and stilbene synthases, UDP-glucosyltransferases, alcohol dehydrogenase, abhydrolase, proteins with ankyrin-repeat domains. The expression profiles of these genes further verified their involvement in tobacco cold response and recovery. These findings provide new insights into the regulatory networks of tobacco response to cold stress. • Compared with Taiyan8, Xiangyan7 is relatively insensitive to low temperature stress. • There are some similar mechanisms in the two cultivars response to long-term cold stress. • Amino acid metabolism is specifically enriched in Taiyan8 under short-term cold stress. • Five correlated modules are identified through module-trait relationship analysis. • Twelve key candidate genes are expression validated and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fractal tree-like fins are used to accelerate melting under microgravity. • Thermocapillary convection and gravity effects on melting are analyzed. • Melting acceleration degree due to fins increases with increasing bifurcation angle. • Effect of thermocapillarity on melting increases with increasing bifurcation angle. Under microgravity environment for spacecraft operation, the melting rate of phase change material is restricted by its low heat transfer performance and disappearance of natural convection. To accelerate the melting under microgravity, the insertion of fractal tree-like fins into a latent heat thermal energy storage unit is proposed. The dynamic melting behavior and heat transfer performance in cavities with fractal tree-like fins having bifurcation angle of 30°, 60° and 90° are investigated through a transient model based on the enthalpy-porosity method. The relationship between the effects of tree-like fins and thermocapillary convection on melting is disclosed. The results show that during melting driven by combined heat conduction and thermocapillary convection, the presence of tree-like fins significantly accelerates melting, and the increment degree of melting rate increases with the increase of bifurcation angle. Compared with cavity without fin, 30°, 60° and 90° fins reduce melting time by 47.7%, 57.2% and 64.3%, respectively. The fractal tree-like fins also enhance the increment speed of energy storage capacity, while enhancing and slightly deteriorating heat transfer at the beginning and end of melting, respectively. The thermocapillary convection accelerates the melting under microgravity, and the acceleration effect degree increases with the increase of bifurcation angle. With the presence of natural convection, compared with the cavity without fin, 30°, 60° and 90° fins reduce the melting time by 57.8%, 60.6% and 65.3%, respectively; the acceleration effect of fins on melting is enhanced, and the effect of bifurcation angle on melting becomes weaker. The present design innovatively introduces tree-like fins into thermal energy storage under microgravity condition, and can be used for temperature control of spacecraft electronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The paper presents the inversion of two-dimensional (2-D) distributions of temperature and soot volume fraction from visible flame images. Experimental investigation was conducted in an axisymmetric, co-flow, ethylene/air laminar diffusion flame. A color digital camera was used to capture the flame image in visible spectrum. With consideration of the broad response spectrum of R, G, and B bands of the camera, the directional emissive power of R and G bands were calibrated and used to reconstruct 2-D distributions of temperature and soot volume fraction in the flame. The profiles of temperature and soot volume fraction reconstructed in this paper are both in good agreement with those obtained by multi-wavelength emission technique. The preliminary results showed that this technique is reliable and effective to diagnose combustion processes of sooting flames. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A total of 14 mapk genes were identified and characterized in Japanese flounder genome. • The mapk genes were evolving-constrained and function conserved. • The mapk genes play an important role after biotic and abiotic stresses. Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) are a series of serine/threonine protein kinases showing evolutionary conservation, which can be activated by many stimulus signals and then transfer them from cell membrane to nucleus. MAPKs regulate a variety of biological processes, such as apoptosis, hormone signaling and immune response. In this study, 14 putative mapk genes in Japanese flounder were identified, and their basic physical and chemical properties were characterized. Phylogenetic analysis showed that mapk genes were divided into three main subfamilies, including ERK, JNK and the p38 MAPK. Selection pressure analysis revealed they were evolutionarily-constrained and undergone strong purifying selection. Gene structure and conserved protein motif comparison suggested high levels of conservation in members of mapk gene family. The expression patterns were further investigated in each embryonic and larval development stages and different tissues. In addition, RNA-seq analyses after bacteria and temperature stresses suggested mapk genes had different expression patterns. Three mapk genes showed significant differences in response to E. tarda challenge and five were induced significantly after temperature stress, indicating their potential functions. This systematic analysis provided valuable information for further understanding of the regulation mechanism of mapk gene family under different stresses in Japanese flounder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines factors underlying firms' investments in environmental protection (green investments). Using micro data from Ireland's industry sector over the period 2008–2016, we analyse a range of factors internal to firms such as firm characteristics, as well as external factors including environmental regulations, competition and spillover effects from other firms' green investment decisions. Our results indicate that larger firms, importers, and firms which are part of an enterprise group are more likely to invest in equipment for pollution control and in equipment linked to cleaner technologies. Within industry competition incentivizes firms to invest in equipment linked to cleaner technologies. Further, our results indicate that the propensity of firms to invest in equipment for pollution control are higher for more energy-intensive firms. Finally, our results uncover significant positive spillover effects from firms with green investments in the same industry or the same region on firms' decisions to invest on environmental protection. • Only a small proportion of firms invest in equipment for environmental protection. • Larger firms are more likely to invest in equipment for environmental protection. • Local firms and importers are more likely to invest in environmental protection. • Within industry competition incentivizes firms to investment in cleaner technologies. • There are positive spillovers within industry and within region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A measurement method of K concentration is proposed based on the emission spectrum. • The temperature affected the radiation intensity of the K characteristic spectra. • The K concentration of biomass pellets was measured at different combustion stages. • The peak K release concentration of the rice straw was 110.43 ppm. Here, a calibration method using the K concentration, temperature and the characteristic spectral line radiation intensity in flame is described. In addition, a radiation function model between these three variables, I λ 766 T , C K = 0.821 · I b (λ 766 , T) · C K , was established. A Y-type optical fiber was used to connect the spectral signals from the same direction to two spectrometers. The continuous spectra in the 500–800 nm band were used for multi-spectral temperature measurements. The combination of the measured temperature and the K characteristic spectral line radiation intensity at 766 nm was used for measurements of K concentration. The temperature and equivalent ratio of the heating atmosphere were 1300 K (±20 K) and 0.786, respectively. Compared with rice straw pellet, pine wood pellet had a lower K concentration and higher combustion temperature during the entire combustion process. The peak K release concentrations of the pine wood pellet and the rice straw pellet during the volatile combustion stage were 2.09 ppm and 10.03 ppm, respectively, and the peak flame temperatures were 1774 K and 1756 K, respectively. In the char combustion stage, the peak K release concentrations were 27.83 ppm and 110.43 ppm, respectively, and the peak surface temperatures were 1287 K and 1143 K, respectively. The established function model for measuring K concentration is also applicable to the combustion diagnosis of other K-rich fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) is an economically important flatfish endemic to Asia that faces natural challenges, such as heat shock and bacterial infection. Here, we investigated whether heat shock protein 20 (hsp20) in Japanese flounder played a role in immune reactions against Edwardsiella tarda. Hsp20 is ubiquitously produced by cells in the stress response; it not only functions as a chaperone and housekeeping protein but also participates in the immune response during infection. In this study, we identified and annotated 13 hsp20 genes using bioinformatic methods in Japanese flounder. Phylogenetic and selection pressure analysis showed that the hsp20 genes were evolutionarily-constrained and their function was conserved. Hsp20 genes are also involved in the embryogenesis and act as the sentinel role in an unchallenged organism. Moreover, the regulated expression patterns of hsp20 genes after E. tarda infection were examined for the first time in Japanese flounder. Eleven out of 13 genes were differentially expressed after bacterial challenge, which indicated that they may be involved in disease response genes or as disease defence against pathogens. These results provide valuable information for clarifying the evolutionary relationship of the hsp20 genes, and early insights into the immune functions of hsp20 genes in Japanese flounder. • A full set of 13 hsp20s were identified and characterized in Japanese flounder genome. • The hsp20 genes were evolving-constrained and function conserved by phylogenetic and selection pressure analysis. • Most hsp20 genes were regulated in a time-specific, tissue-specific pattern after bacterial infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The spectral emissivity of an R-type thermocouple was measured in the band of 500–1000 nm. • 2D steady temperatures of an R-type thermocouple were measured by a spectrometer and a high-speed camera. • 2D transient temperatures of an R-type thermocouple were also measured. • These remote temperature measurements were consistent with those from thermocouple voltage readings. The spectral emissivity of an object is required to measure its temperature remotely, based on thermal imaging from a high-speed digital camera. However, it is often difficult to obtain the spectral emissivity of objects under transient conditions, as is the case with burning fuels; hence, the accuracy of the temperature measurement is compromised. This manuscript describes a method of temperature measurement of objects with simultaneous use of a spectrometer and a high-speed camera. The method was demonstrated by viewing the bead of an R-type thermocouple heated by a premixed natural gas flame to temperatures in the range of 1450–1530 K, and by comparing such remote temperature measurements with those obtained based on the thermocouple's voltage output. The spectral emissivity of the heated thermocouple was acquired from spectroscopic analysis of its output radiation, in the wavelength range of 500–1000 nm. It was shown that the thermocouple approached graybody behavior at the upper end of this band. It was also shown that spectral emissivity of R-type thermocouple is close to the emissivity of S-type thermocouple, reported in the literature in the wavelength range of 500–700 nm and, also, close to the emissivity of pure platinum. This suggests that the effect of rhodium on the platinum emissivity is negligible. The temperature of the R-type thermocouple was measured at four different flame conditions (by varying the fuel/air equivalence ratio) using the spectrometer and the high-speed camera, and it was compared with the thermocouple temperature measurements. The flame was either steady or unsteady; the latter condition was implemented to evaluate the transient response of the measurements. In both cases, the comparison showed that the results of the three different temperature measurement methods have very high consistency and were within 11 K in the explored temperature range. Hence, this method is suitable for temperature measurements of objects of varying temperature and emissivity, such as solid fuel particles during their combustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As-synthesized Cu3PdN nanocrystals displayed high faradaic efficiency and selectivity for nitrate-to-ammonia conversion. The excellent performances can be attributed to the charge redistribution in Cu3PdN as a result of modulations of the electronic structures of Pd and Cu atoms, which altered the adsorption activation energy of the intermediates during the nitrate reduction reaction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study used various diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) models (including monoexponential, biexponential, stretched-exponential and kurtosis models) in renal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare whether there were differences in each diffusion parameter between patients with primary aldosteronism (PA) and healthy volunteers. Materials and methods: Twenty-two (female:male, 14:8; age, 48 ± 10 years) patients with PA and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent MRI examinations of the kidneys. The independent-sample t test or the Mann‒Whitney U test was used to detect differences in the diffusion metrics of the kidneys between the two groups. Univariable and multivariable linear regression were applied to analyze the correlations between diffusion parameters and the clinical indicators. Results: The mean diffusivity (MD, p < 0.001) and radial diffusivity (Dr, p < 0.001) values in the medulla were lower in the PA group than in the HC group. The medullary fractional anisotropy (FA, p < 0.001) was higher than that of HCs. The FA (p < 0.001) and axial diffusivity (Da, p < 0.001) values in the cortex were lower in the PA group. The cortical α (anomalous exponent term, p = 0.016) was higher in the PA patients than in the HCs. Linear regression analysis showed that log(plasma aldosterone concentration) and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were correlated with medullary FA. Conclusion: The stretched-exponential model (cortical α) and the kurtosis model (FA, MD and Dr in the medulla and FA and Da in the cortex) showed significant differences between PA patients and healthy volunteers and may have potential for noninvasive renal assessment in PA patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steel slag derivates prepared from waste steel slag using acid leach method, are employed to promote hydrogen production from organic solid waste by in-line pyrolysis-steam reforming of Chinese medicine residues (CMR). The optimum pyrolysis conditions are determined during the fast pyrolysis experiment of CMR (T prolysis = 800 °C, F N2 = 200 mL STP /min). During in-line pyrolysis-reforming of CMR with steel slag derivates, for example CaO(SS)-50 wt%LR compounds, as reforming catalyst, the hydrogen yield is profoundly increased from 7.57 mmol/g CMR (pyrolysis operation) to 11.49 mmol/g CMR , while tar yield has been reduced 30.50%. FeO x in LR remarkably increases lattice oxygen and adsorption oxygen in NCA-LR or NCA-LR-CaO(SS) compounds, so tar and CO conversion are efficiently improved while coke deposition on catalyst surface is significantly reduced. LR is demonstrated to be able to act as or partially alternate nickel-based catalyst during steam reforming of pyrolysis gas, which would greatly reduce the cost of hydrogen production from OSWs. • Comprehensive utilization of typical organic solid waste and steel slag for hydrogen production. • A hydrogen yield of 15.13 mmol/g CMR was achieved at T reforming of 700 °C with CaO(SS)-20 wt%LR as catalyst. • Steel slag derivates effectively promoted tar conversion and reduced carbon deposition. • LR could act as or partially alternate nickel-based catalyst during steam-volatiles reforming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought stress inhibits seed germination, plant growth and development of tobacco, and seriously affects the yield and quality of tobacco leaves. However, the molecular mechanism underlying tobacco drought stress response remains largely unknown. In this study, integrated analysis of transcriptome and metabolome was performed on the germinated seeds of a cultivated variety K326 and its EMS mutagenic mutant M28 with great drought tolerance. The result showed that drought stress inhibited seed germination of the both varieties, while the germination rate of M28 was faster than that of K326 under drought stress. Besides, the levels of phytohormone ABA, GA19, and zeatin were increased by drought stress in M28. Five vital pathways were identified through integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis, including zeatin biosynthesis, aspartate and glutamate synthesis, phenylamine metabolism, glutathione metabolism, and phenylpropanoid synthesis. Furthermore, 20 key metabolites in the above pathways were selected for further analysis of gene modular-trait relationship, and then four highly correlated modules were found. Then analysis of gene expression network was carried out of Top30 hub gene of these four modules, and 9 key candidate genes were identified, including HSP70s, XTH16s, APX, PHI-1, 14-3-3, SCP, PPO. In conclusion, our study uncovered some key drought-responsive pathways and genes of tobacco during seeds germination, providing new insights into the regulatory mechanisms of tobacco drought stress response. • Drought stress inhibited the germination rate of K326 more seriously than that of M28. • The levels of phytohormone ABA, GA19, and zeatin were increased by drought stress in M28. • Zeatin biosynthesis and phenylpropanoid synthesis were identified involved in tobacco drought response. • Nine key candidate hub-genes identified in gene expression network: HSP70s, XTH16s, APX, PHI-1, 14-3-3, SCP, PPO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, rapeseed meal is selected as the biomass raw material, KOH is used as the active agent, and N–P co-doped biomass carbon-based materials are prepared by co-activation synthesis of dopant and activator. The obtained N–P co-doped biomass carbon-based material (RM@NP) exhibits a large surface area of 3765.7 m2 g with a hierarchical structure of meso- and micropores. RM@NP is effectively doped with nitrogen and phosphorus elements, resulting in relative mass fractions of nitrogen and phosphorus of 2.32 % and 0.17 %, respectively. To assess their potential as electrode materials for supercapacitors, the electrochemical performance of the carbon materials is investigated. In a three-electrode system, the specific capacitance of the RM@NP reaches 460.0 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 in 6 M KOH, and also the specific capacitance is 344.3 F g−1 at 10 A g−1, with the corresponding retention rate of the capacitance is calculated of 75.0 %. When the specific energy is 10.1 W h kg−1, the RM@NP specific power reaches 625.0 W kg−1 in a two-electrode system. After 10,000 cycles, a retention rate of the capacitance of 83.9 % is achieved. [Display omitted] • N–P co-doped porous carbon is prepared from rapeseed hectoliter as precursor. • As a high-performance supercapacitor electrode material. • Achieved a high specific surface area of 3765.7 and great mesopore structure. • The specific capacitance reached 460.0 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 in three-electrode system. • The carbon-based electrode reached 6.4 W h kg−1 at a power density of 3125.0 W kg−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel channel-selection convolutional neural network (CS-CNN) is proposed to predict NOx emission from coal-fired boilers under steady-state and transient load conditions. First, a new channel-selection convolutional layer (CS-CL) is presented to replace regular convolutional layer (RCL). The CS-CL evaluates the channel importance of the input variables, selects the Top-C important channels and releases the hyperparameters of the remaining low-importance channels, thus contributing to maximize the utilization of the parameter resources of the model. The advantages of using CS-CLs are the preservation of the great majority of manipulated variables involved in combustion control among the input variables and the prevention of the model overfitting problem due to the redundancy of input variables. Second, a sliding window-based preprocessing method is applied to the historical data of the boiler which is divided into four-dimensional (4D) tensors. Then, comparative tests are performed on long short-term memory (LSTM) model, baseline CNN and CS-CNN using the historical data of a 670 MW boiler. The results of tests showed that CS-CNN has higher prediction performance. Finally, in order to increase the interpretability of the deep learning black box model, this study analyzes the working mechanism of the CS-CNN through ablation analysis and visualization of model parameters. • Channel importance assessment of input variables by channel selection convolutional layer. • Data-driven model for complete burner manipulation variables. • Novel convolutional neural network for predicting NOx emission from coal-fired boilers. • Model visualization analysis of convolutional neural network for industrial time series data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetic effect on soot properties in ethylene inverse diffusion flames (IDF) was investigated in this study. The investigation involved the use of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis (HRTEM), Raman spectroscopy analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) to examine the nanostructure and graphitization degree of soot collected from flame exhaust gas at various height above burner surface (HAB) under both magnetic and non-magnetic conditions. Increasing the magnetic flux density resulted in modifications to soot properties. When the sampling height was HAB = 4 cm, increasing magnetic flux density resulted in longer fringe lengths, lower fringe tortuosity, less amorphous carbon content and surface oxygen content for the collected soot from flame exhaust gas. These results indicated higher graphitization degrees, which may be attributed to longer residence time and oxidation of soot particle in flames. Moreover, when the sampling height increased from HAB = 4 cm to 6 cm under non-magnetic condition, the nanostructure of soot in the flame exhaust gas was more organized, possible due to the oxidation of soot at the region between HAB = 4 and 6 cm region. However, with the magnetic field on, the crystalline structure of soot in the flame exhaust gas became increasingly disordered as the sampling height increased. This suggested that the soot may also be affected by the magnetic effects in addition to oxidation at the region between HAB = 4 and 6 cm region. The magnetic effect could trigger the transformation of graphitic carbon to amorphous carbon in soot particles as they passed through the magnetic field. With more elaborated magnetic fields, the magnetic effect on soot could contribute to strategies controlling soot emissions and removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steel slag-derived CaO (CaO(SS)) was applied in cyclic sorption enhanced steam reforming of coke oven gas process (cyclic SE-SRCOG) for high-purity hydrogen production. Effects of leaching acid concentration on the cyclic CO 2 capture capacity of CaO(SS) were investigated. Using 1 mol/L acetic acid solution as leaching solution, the prepared CaO-based sorbent showed a stable CO 2 capture capacity of 0.27 g CO2 /g CaO after 35 sorption-desorption cycles. Impacts of operating modes (with different particles contents and loading patterns), operating procedure, and leaching residue (LR) blending on cyclic SE-SRCOG performance were experimentally investigated in detail. Combined catalyst-sorbent by adhesively tableting exhibited the worst stability due to loss of Ni active sites, caused by severe sintering and coverage by CaCO 3. With a reforming temperature of 600 °C, cyclic SE-SRCOG with layered packing catalyst-sorbent particles could achieve H 2 purity of 95% and CH 4 conversion of 87% at the 5th cycle, and they were still maintained to be 87% and 65% at the 10th cycle, respectively. In operating mode using layered packed catalyst-sorbent particles, integration of LR into the sorbent facilitated further improvements of CH 4 conversion to 86% at the 10th cycle, mainly due to that LR could act as catalytic promoters of SRCOG and sintering-resistance spacers of CaO(SS). [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steel slag, a waste from steelmaking plant, has been proven to be good candidate resources for low-cost calcium-based CO 2 sorbent derivation. In this work, a cheap and sintering-resistance CaO-based sorbent (CaO (SS)) was prepared from low cost waste steel slag and was applied to enhance catalytic steam reforming of coke oven gas for production of high-purity hydrogen. This steel slag-derived CaO possessed a high and stable CO 2 capture capacity of about 0.48 g CO 2 /g sorbent after 35 adsorption/desorption cycles, which was mainly ascribed to the mesoporous structure and the presence of MgO and Fe 2 O 3. Product gas containing 95.8 vol% H 2 and 1.4 vol% CO, with a CH 4 conversion of 91.3% was achieved at 600 °C by steam reforming of COG enhanced by CaO (SS). Although high temperature was beneficial for methane conversion, CH 4 conversion was remarkably increased at lower operation temperatures with the promotion effects from CaO (SS), and CO selectivity has been also greatly decreased. Reducing WHSV could increase methane conversion and reduce CO selectivity due to longer reactants residence time. Reducing C/A could increase methane conversion and hydrogen recovery factor, and also decrease CO selectivity. When being mixed with catalyst during SE-SRCOG, CaO (SS) with a uniform size distribution favored methane conversion due to the high utilization efficiency of catalyst. Promising stability of CaO (SS) in cyclic reforming/calcination tests was evidenced with a hydrogen recovery factor >2.1 and CH 4 conversion of 82.5% at 600 °C after 10 cycles using CaO (SS) as sorbent. • Synergistic resource utilization of coke oven gas and steel slag. • Sintering-resistance CaO-based sorbent was derived from waste steel slag. • H 2 recovery factor >2.7 was achieved at 600 °C by SE-SRCOG. • Product gas containing 82 vol% H 2 was still obtained after 10 cycling tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the biological structure of biomass materials, the preparation of carbon materials with special pore structures and rich surface groups is an important route in the development of new carbon materials for electrodes. In this work, a nitrogen self-doped carbon with unique tubular channel structures was synthesized from garlic peels for the high-performance supercapacitor electrode application. The mild KHCO 3 was selected as the activator and therefore the biological structure of garlic peels is well preserved, showing a large number of long tubular channels with a diameter of around 50 nm. It was found that a nitrogen self-doped porous carbon material (SPC-4KC) with a nitrogen relative content of 1.77% and a large specific surface area of 1993.73 m2 g−1 was formed at 800 ℃ at a KHCO 3 /SPC mass ratio of 4:1. Using as the electrode material, the mass-specific capacitance of the SPC-4KC-based electrode reached 303.38 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 in the three-electrode system. In the two-electrode system, when the energy density is 7.42 W h kg−1, the power density is 314.33 W kg−1. Also, the material exhibits excellent cycle stability, with a capacitance retention of 94.87% after 5000 cycles at a current density of 10 A g−1. • Waste garlic peels were green synthesized into nitrogen self-doped porous carbon materials. • Nitrogen self-doped porous carbon materials have unique mesoporous tubular channels. • A mild, environmentally friendly activator, KHCO 3 , is employed and effective. • The obtained carbon electrode shows a high specific capacitance of 303.38 F g−1. • The material exhibits excellent cycle stability, with a capacitance retention of 94.87% after 5000 cycles at a current density of 10 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract PIWI family member piwil1 , which associates with Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA), is responsible in regulation of germ cell differentiation and maintenance of reproductive stem cells. In this study, we analyzed the piwil1 gene in Paralichthys olivaceus. Bioinformatics analysis and structure prediction showed that piwil1 had the conserved domains: PAZ domain and PIWI domain. Expression analysis during embryonic development implied that piwil1 gene was maternally inherited. The tissue distribution showed a sexually dimorphic gene expression pattern, with higher expression level in testis than ovary. In situ hybridization results demonstrated that piwil1 was predominantly distributed in oogonia, oocytes, sertoli cells and spermatocytes. A CpG island was predicted in the 5′-flanking region of piwil1 gene, and its methylation levels showed significant disparity between males and females, indicating that the sexually dimorphic expression of piwil1 gene might be regulated by methylation. Furthermore, we explored the distinct roles of human chorionic gonadotropin and 17α-methyltestosterone in regulating the expression of piwil1 , and found that piwil1 was interacting with the HPG axis hormones. These results indicated that piwil1 might play a crucial role in gonadal development and gametogenesis in Paralichthys olivaceus. Highlights • Piwil1 transcripts are more abundant in the testis than in the ovary. • Piwil1 gene is maternally inherited. • Piwil1 which is regulated by methylation and HPG axis participates in gonadal development and gametogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-modality examinations have been extensively applied in current clinical cancer management. Leveraging multi-modality medical images can be highly beneficial for automated tumor segmentation as they provide complementary information that could make the segmentation of tumors more accurate. This paper investigates CNN-based methods for automated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) segmentation using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) images. Specially, a multi-modality convolutional neural network (M-CNN) is designed to jointly learn a multi-modal similarity metric and segmentation of paired CT-MR images. By jointly optimizing the similarity learning error and the segmentation error, the feature learning processes of both modalities are mutually guided. In doing so, the segmentation sub-networks are able to take advantage of the other modality's information. Considering that each modality possesses certain distinctive characteristics, we combine the higher-layer features extracted by a single-modality CNN (S-CNN) and M-CNN to form a combined CNN (C-CNN) for each modality, which is able to further utilize the complementary information of different modalities and improve the segmentation performance. The proposed M-CNN and C-CNN were evaluated on 90 CT-MR images of NPC patients. Experimental results demonstrate that our methods achieve improved segmentation performance compared to their counterparts without multi-modal information fusion and the existing CNN-based multi-modality segmentation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Comprehensive mechanism explorations on plasma-based dry reforming by detailed kinetic modeling and in-situ OES measurements. • A CH 4 conversion as high as 44.76 % was achieved without catalyst at 300 °C. • Plasma kinetic model with incorporation of dynamic electron filed and thermal effects. • The formation of C 2 hydrocarbons followed a pathway of CH 4 ↔ CH 3 /CH → C 2 H 6 ↔ C 2 H 5 ↔ C 2 H 4 → C 2 H 2. Plasma-based dry reforming in an atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor has been thoroughly studied by combination of experiments and detailed kinetics simulation. With the assistances of in-situ optical emission spectroscopy (OES) measurements and reaction pathway analysis based on plasma kinetic simulation considering non-constant electric field and thermal effects, this study provided deep insights into the reaction mechanism of plasma-based dry reforming under varied feeding gas composition, gas residence time and operation temperature. A CH 4 conversion as high as 44.76 % could be achieved without catalyst at 300 °C, with an SEI of 78 J/cm3 and feeding CH 4 ratio of 50 %. Increase of feeding CH 4 proportions were found to enhance the generation of C 2 and C 3 hydrocarbons. Consistently, the OES analysis showed that the relative intensities of spectra bands induced by deexcitation of CH, CO, and C 2 also increased monotonically. With the same increment in SEI, increasing gas residence time led to larger promotions in CH 4 and CO 2 conversion, as being compared to increase of input power. The reason could be explained as that CH 4 and CO 2 molecules experienced more successive micro-discharges with a longer gas residence time, so more energy would be devoted into CH 4 /CO 2 conversion, whereas more energy was dissipated into heat as rudely increased the discharge power due to the limit of reaction time. CO 2 conversion continuously decreased with increasing gas temperature, owing to the recombination of CO and O enhanced at higher gas temperatures. Reaction pathway analysis showed that CH 4 conversion was mainly induced by electronic dissociation and ionization at the discharge stage, while CO 2 was mainly converted by recombination reaction CO 2 + CH 2 → CH 2 O + CO and also electron collision vibrational reaction e + CO 2 → e + CO 2 (v n). The formation of C 2 hydrocarbon products was supposed to follow the path of CH 4 ↔ CH 3 /CH → C 2 H 6 ↔ C 2 H 5 ↔ C 2 H 4 → C 2 H 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Context: Facet tropism is defined as the angular difference between the left and the right facet orientation. Facet tropism was suggested to be associated with the disc degeneration and facet degeneration in the lumbar spine. However, little is known about the relationship between facet tropism and pathologic changes in the cervical spine and the mechanism behind.Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the biomechanical impact of facet tropism on the intervertebral disc and facet joints.Study Design: A finite element analysis study.Methods: The computed tomography (CT) scans of a 28-year-old male volunteer was used to construct the finite element model. First, a symmetrical cervical model from C2 to C7 was constructed. The facet orientations at each level were simulated using the data from our previously published study. Second, the facet orientations at the C5-C6 level were altered to simulate facet tropism with respect to the sagittal plane. The angular difference of the moderate facet tropism model was set to be 7 degrees, whereas the severe facet tropism model was set to be 14 degrees. The inferior of the C7 vertebra was fixed. A 75 N follower loading was applied to simulate the weight of the head. A 1.0 N⋅m moments was applied on the odontoid process of the C2 to simulate flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation.Results: The intradiscal pressure (IDP) at the C5-C6 level of the severe facet tropism model increased by 49.02%, 57.14%, 39.06%, and 30.67%, under flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation moments, in comparison with the symmetrical model. The contact force of the severe facet tropism model increased by 35.64%, 31.74%, 79.26%, and 59.47% from the symmetrical model under flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation, respectively.Conclusions: Facet tropism with respect to the sagittal plane at the C5-C6 level increased the IDP and facet contact force under flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation. The results suggested that facet tropism might be the anatomic risk factor of the development of cervical disc degeneration or facet degeneration. Future clinical studies are in need to verify the biomechanical impact of facet tropism on the development of degenerative changes in the cervical spine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nickel might have involved in the hydrothermal (HT) treatment of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) containing wastes because of the corrosion of Ni-containing reactors, which was caused by the HCl generated in this process. This work has been conducted to investigate if the nickel has a positive effect on the HT dechlorination of PVC, which was usually neglected in previous research. The HT dechlorination of two kinds of PVC was performed in subcritical nickel-containing water with various Ni 2+ concentrations under several HT operating conditions in order to investigate the effect of the nickel on the dechlorination efficiency (DE). The FTIR, 13 C NMR and SEM techniques were utilized to characterize the hydrochars and the ICP-OES was used to measure the nickel content in the separated liquid (SL) to explore the possibility of reuse the nickel-containing water. The chlorine in the SLs was measured by potentiometric titration to solve the DE. The results show that the Ni 2+ could significantly accelerate the HT dechlorination of PVC at a relative mild condition. The DE was about 76% at a HT temperature of 220 °C for 30 min in 0.1 M Ni 2+ -containing water, 6 times higher than that without Ni 2+ . The HT temperature has a dominant effect on the DE which reached up to 87% at a HT temperature of 260 °C. At higher HT temperature, the acceleration of Ni 2+ was not obvious because of the aggravation of the corrosion and also the higher heat and mass transfer. Besides, the DE could not reach 100% at some circumstances because of the cyclization and cross-linking, which would be also weakened under higher temperature. According to the FTIR and 13 C NMR spectrum, both elimination and substitution happened during the HT dechlorination with Ni 2+ . The Ni 2+ could promote the evolution of the pores in PVCs and strengthen the substitution of Cl with OH, which was responsible for the acceleration of dechlorination at mild Ni 2+ -containing system. The ICP-OES result verified that the Ni 2+ worked as catalyst and the Ni 2+ -containing water could be reused. This result was beneficial for both the treatment of the nickel-containing wastewater and also the HT treatment of organic wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by the demand for accurate intrinsic kinetics for the prediction of the combustion rate of purely fired Zhundong coal (ZDC) in a slag tapping boiler, the surface activation function (SAF) and intrinsic kinetic parameters of two types of rapid-pyrolysis ZDC chars were revealed via the isothermal and nonisothermal thermogravimetric analysis methods. The isothermal kinetic results show that the activation energy (E), reaction order and SAF of these two chars were the same, at 146 kJ/mol, 0.78 and X 0.44 (1 – X)−0.48, respectively. Therefore, the difference in the intrinsic reaction rate between these two chars was caused only by the different pre-exponential factors, which are mainly influenced by the specific surface area and catalytic elements in char ash. Nonisothermal kinetic parameters were obtained via the isothermal model-fitting method (ISOM), thereby using the isothermal SAF to fit the nonisothermal data at different heating rates (β s). The results indicate that the E values of the two chars were 148.95 ± 3.12 kJ/mol and 146.16 ± 1.66 kJ/mol, indicating that β has little influence on E. These measured values are consistent with the isothermal E values, so the ISOM is suitable for the determination of the nonisothermal kinetics of rapid-pyrolysis char combustion. • Intrinsic combustion kinetics of rapid-pyrolysis Zhundong coal chars were obtained. • Different chars have the same E , reaction order and surface activation function. • Catalytic elements have a positive effect on A but have little influence on E. • The heating rate has little influence on E of rapid-pyrolysis char combustion. • ISOM is suitable to describe the combustion kinetics of rapid-pyrolysis char. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Soot inception limits and its difference in coflow flames are interpreted in C/O ratio space. • Effects of Z st on soot inception are studied using kinetics analysis in C/O ratio space. • The position of chemiluminescence in C/O ratio space and the effect of Z st on it are evaluated. • Considering the low-emission combustion technology, oxy-combustion. This study investigates soot inception limits of laminar coflow diffusion flames in the carbon-to-oxygen atom (C/O) ratio space, as well as the mechanism of flame structure affecting soot inception. And chemiluminescence characteristics in flames are evaluated. Oxy-ethylene flames with the same adiabatic flame temperature (2500 K) and different stoichiometric mixture fractions (Z st , 0.3–0.6) are investigated by relocating CO 2 from oxidant to fuel. The position of soot inception and the chemiluminescence of CH*, C 2 *, and CO 2 * are measured by a hyperspectral imager. A numerical model with a detailed kinetic mechanism is used to obtain the temperature and gas-phase species concentration. The results prove that the critical C/O ratio favorable for soot inception is 0.53, and the critical temperatures on the flame centerline and sheet are 1322 K and 1632 K, respectively. The comparatively low temperature on the flame centerline can cause soot inception, as the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentration and residence time can guarantee the collision and cluster formation of PAHs. Although fuel pyrolysis is promoted on the flame sheet, oxygen-containing species dilutes the concentrations of fuel pyrolysis products and PAHs to limit soot inception, necessitating high temperatures for chemical bond formation. Furthermore, the mixture fraction, local C/O ratio, and net reaction and production rate are calculated, and the key reaction paths are also identified. The results demonstrate that the increase of Z st achieves the suppression of soot inception by lowering the formation of benzene and PAHs in the high C/O ratio (>0.5) zone, improving the oxygenation in the low C/O ratio (<0.5) zone, and compressing the C/O ratio space favorable for soot formation. Meanwhile, the (CH* and C 2 *) chemiluminescence zone with a C/O ratio of roughly 0.5 exists in the flame. With Z st increases, the CH* and C 2 * chemiluminescence diminishes at the flame root and enhances downstream, whereas CO 2 * chemiluminescence remains unaltered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The 2D structure model of Zhundong coal was obtained by a13C-NMR, FTIR, XPS. • The angle, atomic vibration, bond torsion and inversion of the 2D structure was optimized to obtain the 3D energy-minimum conformation. • The 2D structure was verified by using 13C-NMR simulation. • The 3D structure was verified by using FTIR simulation. Understanding the coal molecular structure is of paramount importance for the effective utilization of coal. In this paper, the molecular structure of Zhundong coal (ZD) was characterized by physical detection techniques, such as solid state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C-NMR), fourier transform infrared resonance spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The occurrence and distribution of aromatic carbocyclic frameworks were analyzed by 13C-NMR. Based on the FTIR and XPS analysis, the existing forms and the length of the aliphatic chain, the substitution forms of aromatic carbocyclic rings, and different types of functional groups were confirmed. The aliphatic chains and functional groups were introduced into these aromatic carbocyclic frameworks, and the 2D molecular structures model of ZD with the molecular chemical formula as C 179 H 124 O 21 N 4 were constructed. The simulated 13C-NMR spectra of which were consistent with the experimental spectra, indicating the accuracy of the 2D ZD molecular structure model. Efforts were made to obtain the energy-minimum conformation of the 3D molecular structure by molecular mechanics (MM) and molecular dynamics (MD). The simulated FTIR spectra of the model were in good agreement with the experimental results, which fully verified the accuracy of the ZD molecular structure. The molecular structure provides a deep reference to understand the structural characteristics of ZD coal at the molecular micro-scale, which would be helpful to understand the reactivity of ZD coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a hyperspectral imaging technique for capturing radiative images at a high temporal–spatial resolution, for the purpose of spectrally visualizing the instantaneous combustion behaviors of single coal particles. We initially use a hyperspectral imaging device to record the combustion processes of two types of single pulverized coal particles on a McKenna flat-flame burner. From the snapshot images captured by the device, we observe the combustion processes, ignition characteristics, flame morphologies, and sizes of the two single coal particles. The observations indicate that the two single coal particles undergo volatile release/combustion and char ignition/oxidation during the luminous combustion process; moreover, both particles exhibit homogeneous ignition characteristics under the experimental conditions. Furthermore, based on the spectral radiative intensity images obtained via the device, the soot temperature and volume fraction images of the two single coal particles in the envelope flame are obtained at different burning times. Thereafter, the influences of the combustion behaviors and soot formation mechanisms on the distribution rules of the soot temperature and concentration at different combustion periods are discussed. Finally, the temperature and apparent spectral emissivity values of the two single char particles during the char oxidation process are also calculated to analyze their combustion behaviors. The results show that the temperature changes within a relatively narrow range with respect to the burning time during the oxidation stage, whereas the spectral emissivity continues to increase with the oxidation of chars and subsequently decreases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass combustion for heat and power generation is one of the best ways for substituting fossil fuels. It is necessary to develop in situ temperature and emissivity measurement technology for biomass volatile flame. In this study, combustion experiments on three biomass pellets of pine wood, rice husk and fir wood were carried out in a laboratory biomass burner at two A/F flowrates. A multi-wavelength radiation thermometry method was proposed to calculate temperature and wavelength-dependent emissivity based on Rayleigh approximation. The results showed that the temperature and emissivity of pine wood combustion were higher than those of rice husk and fir wood volatile flames. Though the emissivity of rice husk was less than that of fir wood, the temperature of rice husk combustion was higher than that of fir wood due to the latter's higher moisture content. The temperatures measured by the spectrometer system agreed well with the thermocouple data. The normalized emissivities of the three different biomass show the same trend, indicating the radiative properties of biomass volatile flames do not change with biomass species and combustion conditions. • A radiation thermometry was proposed to measure biomass volatile matter flame. • Flame temperature of pine wood was higher than those of rice husk and fir wood. • The combustion emissivity of rice husk was less than that of fir wood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) was performed to upgrade the sawdust. • Hydrochar characterizing and kinetics analysis were conduted. • The HTC temperature plays an important role in hydrochar performance. • The CO 2 , CO, CH 4 , and H 2 O were main gas products from hydrochar pyrolysis. This work intends to reveal the pyrolysis behavior of hydrochar from hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of pinewood sawdust. The elemental analysis and pyrolysis test were performed to study the effect of HTC on hydrochar performance. The elemental analysis indicates that the fuel properties could be highly upgraded by the HTC process. Compared with raw biomass (48.10 % and 19.12 MJ/kg), the carbon content and heating value was improved to 69.05 % and 26.66 MJ/kg for HTC-260. The atomic ratios H/C and O/C were decreased from 1.31 to 0.90 and 0.72 to 0.26, respectively, by means of dehydration and decarboxylation in the HTC process. The pyrolysis test implies that the thermal stability of hydrochars has been improved by the HTC. The hydrochars decomposition temperature and the pyrochar yields became higher and higher with the HTC temperature. For the HTC-260, the pyrochar yield was increased from 24.4%–53.02% at a pyrolysis temperature of 800 ºC. According to the TGA-FTIR, the main gas products were CO 2 , CO, CH 4 , and H 2 O. Higher HTC temperature promoted more CH 4 production due to the devolatilization, decarboxylation, dehydration and polymerization occurred in the HTC process. 240–260 °C could be considered as a good option to maximize the energy efficiency when taking the HTC as a pretreatment procedure over thermal drying or torrefaction. All these results indicate the HTC is promising to upgrade high-moist biomass for multi-value-added products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes experimental explorations on the effects of gas extraction on hydrodynamics in a pilot‐scalegas fluidized bed membrane reactor (FBMR) at high temperatures. Differential pressure signals were measured at different vertical intervals in bed and were then characterized by multiscale resolution and power spectra analysis. The experimental results showed that the relative amplitude of σr (σ/xav) of pressure signal tended todecrease with the increase of gas extraction fraction.At room temperature, 20% gas extraction caused defluidization at an inlet velocity of 2Umf. However, athigh temperatures the gas extraction simultaneously decreased the magnitude of the low‐frequency components and the numbers of the medium‐ to small‐sized structures, mainly due to the decreased number of small‐sized structures and the integration of bubbles. This effect of gas extraction increased with increase of gas extraction fraction and slightly decreased at higher inlet gas velocities. At elevated temperatures, the D6 sub‐signals (0.781~1.562Hz) possessed the highest wavelet energy distribution percentage of the pressure signals, which meant that the medium‐ to small‐sized bubbles dominated the gas‐solid flow dynamics. Gas extraction was observed to enhance the dominance of the D6 scale components.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]