Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of motor cortex enhances running performance.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a technique used to modulate neuronal excitability through non-invasive brain stimulation that can enhance exercise performance. We hypothesize that tDCS would improve submaximal running time to exhaustion (TTE) and delay the increase in the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) over time. We also hypothesize that tDCS would not lead to difference in cardiorespiratory responses. We employed a randomized, single-blinded, and counterbalanced design in which 10 trained men participated. After receiving either 20 min of 1.98 mA anodal tDCS applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) or sham-operated control on separate days, participants completed a constant-load test involving running at a speed equivalent to 80% of their own maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max). During this constant-load test, RPE, heart rate (HR), VO2, pulmonary ventilation (VE), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), and ventilatory threshold (VT) were continuously monitored. TTE was recorded at the end of the test. TTEs were significantly longer in the tDCS than in the sham conditions (21.18 ± 7.13 min; 18.44 ± 6.32 min; p = 0.011). For TTE, no significant differences were found in RPE between conditions at isotime. In addition, no significant differences in HR, VO2, VE, RER, and VT were found during TTE between the two stimulation conditions at any time point. These results indicate that the application of tDCS does not induce a change of the exercise performance-related index; however, it can affect the increase of the exercise duration due to the stimuli in the M1 area

Biomimetic Electrospun Films for Effective Radiative Cooling Under Sunlight

We demonstrate that natural silk can be restructured by electrospinning into nanoscale morphology mimicking white beetle scales for enhanced radiative cooling. While natural silk cocoons exhibit strong broadband light scattering by Anderson localization, for exceptionally strong scattering, white beetle scales rely on different physics that remains largely unclear. By electrospinning regenerated silk, we create silk films where the fibers are a quarter micron in mean diameter and randomly oriented in the plane directions, similar to white beetle scale structures. Relative to raw silk films, the restructured silk films substantially increase optical scattering strength in the visible spectrum and emissivity in the atmospheric transparency window. As a result, our restructured silk film lowers the average temperature of a black substrate underneath by 7.5 °C relative to a raw silk film during the daytime of intense solar radiation. Our work suggests that scattering physics hidden in white beetle scales achieves even stronger sunlight rejection than that in natural silk cocoons which ingeniously embodies Anderson localization. Moreover, the strong scattering in our electrospun fibrous films points to highly efficient cooling fabrics that mimic nanostructures in white beetle scales with synthetic polymers

Operation algorithm of PV/BESS application considering demand response uncertainty in an independent microgrid system

Various renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, are now being used in power systems. Meanwhile, few new steam power plants and transmission lines are being constructed because of the environmental problems they cause. As an alternative, small-scale independent power systems with energy-storage systems such as microgrids are increasing. In a small microgrid system that is vulnerable to frequency variation, coordinating an optimized scheduling between the energy-storage system and renewable energy generation is important. However, considering the uncertainty of weather forecasting and uneven load patterns, several cases should be considered. In this paper, the operation algorithm of a stable PV/BESS system is proposed. This system contributes helps decide the output battery to design battery capacity as a contingency for unexpected situations in a microgrid system

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation of motor cortex enhances running performance.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a technique used to modulate neuronal excitability through non-invasive brain stimulation that can enhance exercise performance. We hypothesize that tDCS would improve submaximal running time to exhaustion (TTE) and delay the increase in the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) over time. We also hypothesize that tDCS would not lead to difference in cardiorespiratory responses. We employed a randomized, single-blinded, and counterbalanced design in which 10 trained men participated. After receiving either 20 min of 1.98 mA anodal tDCS applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) or sham-operated control on separate days, participants completed a constant-load test involving running at a speed equivalent to 80% of their own maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max). During this constant-load test, RPE, heart rate (HR), VO2, pulmonary ventilation (VE), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), and ventilatory threshold (VT) were continuously monitored. TTE was recorded at the end of the test. TTEs were significantly longer in the tDCS than in the sham conditions (21.18 ± 7.13 min; 18.44 ± 6.32 min; p = 0.011). For TTE, no significant differences were found in RPE between conditions at isotime. In addition, no significant differences in HR, VO2, VE, RER, and VT were found during TTE between the two stimulation conditions at any time point. These results indicate that the application of tDCS does not induce a change of the exercise performance-related index; however, it can affect the increase of the exercise duration due to the stimuli in the M1 area

Dynamics of Dilute Solutions of Poly(aspartic acid) and Its Sodium Salt Elucidated from Atomistic Molecular Dynamics Simulations with Explicit Water

The use of forward osmosis (FO) process for seawater desalination has attracted tremendous interest in recent years. Besides the manufacture of suitable membranes, the major technical challenge in the efficient deployment of the FO technology lies in the development of a suitable “draw solute”. Owing to its inherent advantages, poly­(aspartic acid) has arisen to be an attractive candidate for this purpose. However, an investigation of its molecular level properties has not been studied in detail. In this paper, the dynamics of poly­(aspartic acid) and its sodium salt in the dilute concentration regime have been reported. The quantification of the polymer conformational properties, its solvation behavior, and the counterion dynamics are studied. The neutral polymer shows a preferentially coiled structure whereas the fully ionized polymer has an extended structure. Upon comparing with poly­(acrylic acid) polymer, another polymer which has been used as a draw solute, poly­(aspartic acid) forms more number of hydrogen bonds as well as fewer ion pairs

Direct linkage between dimethyl sulfide production and microzooplankton grazing, resulting from prey composition change under high partial pressure of carbon dioxide conditions

Oceanic dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is the enzymatic cleavage product of the algal metabolite dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and is the most abundant form of sulfur released into the atmosphere. To investigate the effects of two emerging environmental threats (ocean acidification and warming) on marine DMS production, we performed a large-scale perturbation experiment in a coastal environment. At both ambient temperature and 2 °C warmer, an increase in partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) in seawater (160-830 ppmv pCO2) favored the growth of large diatoms, which outcompeted other phytoplankton species in a natural phytoplankton assemblage and reduced the growth rate of smaller, DMSP-rich phototrophic dinoflagellates. This decreased the grazing rate of heterotrophic dinoflagellates (ubiquitous micrograzers), resulting in reduced DMS production via grazing activity. Both the magnitude and sign of the effect of pCO2 on possible future oceanic DMS production were strongly linked to pCO2-induced alterations to the phytoplankton community and the cellular DMSP content of the dominant species and its association with micrograzers

Direct linkage between dimethyl sulfide production and microzooplankton grazing resulting from prey composition change under high pCO2 conditions

Oceanic dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is the enzymatic cleavage product of the algal metabolite dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and is the most abundant form of sulfur released into the atmosphere. To investigate the effects of two emerging environmental threats (ocean acidification and warming) on marine DMS production, we performed a large-scale perturbation experiment in a coastal environment. At both ambient temperature and ∼2 °C warmer, an increase in partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) in seawater (160-830 ppmv pCO2) favored the growth of large diatoms, which outcompeted other phytoplankton species in a natural phytoplankton assemblage and reduced the growth rate of smaller, DMSP-rich phototrophic dinoflagellates. This decreased the grazing rate of heterotrophic dinoflagellates (ubiquitous micrograzers), resulting in reduced DMS production via grazing activity. Both the magnitude and sign of the effect of pCO2 on possible future oceanic DMS production were strongly linked to pCO2-induced alterations to the phytoplankton community and the cellular DMSP content of the dominant species and its association with micrograzers. © 2014 American Chemical Society.11Nsciescopu