emergency management of water distribution systems the nodal demand control

Abstract During emergency situations (e.g., due to pipe bursts or other network failures), appropriate management of Water Distribution Systems (WDS) is required. Critical events often cause service failures, because the pressure head in some nodes of the network become inadequate to deliver required demand. In this paper, a new methodology is developed based on the nodal demand control. with the aim to increase the pressure head, and hence the flow rate actually delivered at critical nodes (i.e., hospitals, vulnerable customers, etc.). This is done to avoid or minimize service interruptions between the failure and the repair times. Furthermore, a pipe burst can cause isolation of a portion of the network such that the flow along pipes changes and this causes the reduction of head in some nodes. The proposed methodology is manages the delivered flow rate using a Pressure Driven Analysis (PDA) approach. This is based on operating control of valves and by identifying the nodes where the pressure control should be implemented. Those control nodes are chosen by the analysis of sensitivity matrices and the Max-Sum Method (Bush and Uber, 1998; Fiorini Morosini et al., 2014). The methodology is demonstrated on a case study for a real network of Cosenza, a town in the South of Italy

COST-S: a new methodology and tools for sewerage asset management based on whole life costs

This is the final version of the article. Freely available from IWA Publishing via the link in this record.This paper discusses the development of a methodology and software tools aimed at assisting management decisions in order to provide acceptable performance at a minimum cost over the whole life of the sewerage system. Whole Life Costing (WLC) approaches have been shown to offer an ideal platform to provide investment and operational management tools that take account of the timing of interventions, system behaviour and performance all within a sensible economic and engineering framework. The need for such a methodology and the requirements for its useful implementation are introduced first. The paper then describes how research collaboration between the UK Water Industry and two UK research centres (Centre for Water Systems at Exeter University and Pennine Water Group at Universities of Sheffield and Bradford), and supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant, resulted in an innovative, practical and auditable methodology with associated tools for better proactive management of ageing and rapidly deteriorating sewerage systems.The authors would like to acknowledge the generous support of EPSRC (Project No.GR/M16122/01 and GR/R98617/01) as well as that of the industrial collaborators;AWG, Northumbrian Water,Thames Water Services,United Utilities and Yorkshire Water Services

The Assessment of Breeding Value of First Farrowed Sows by the Method of Selection Indices

The goal of this research paper was to assess the breeding value of first farrowed Swedish Landrace sows by the means of selection indices method. The traits on the basis of which the breeding value of animals was assessed are following: daily liveweight gain, average thickness of collected back fat measured at five sites and number of liveborn piglets in the first litter. The liveweight gain and carcass quality traits determined at the end of performance test were corrected for the body mass of 100kg by the method of basic indexes and following mean values were determined: for corrected daily liveweight gain (KZDP) 499.92g/day and for corrected average collected backfat thickness (KSL) 20.01mm. The first farrowed sows on average produced 8.09 liveborn piglets in the litter. Studying the effect of the gilts` birth year and season on KZDP and KSL it was determined that the gilts` birth year and season had no statistically significant influence (P>0.05) on KZDP variation but they had a statistically significant effect on KSL (P0.05) on BZPL, while the KZDP class and the age at first farrowing had a statistically significant effect on the variability of these trait (P<0.05; P<0.01). All studied traits varied statistically significantly (P<0.01) under the impact of the gilts` sire or dam. Heritability coefficients were: h2= 0.402 for KZDP, h2= 0.261 for KSL and h2= 0.177 for BZPL. The relation between KZDP and KSL was of a medium strength both at phenotype and genetic levels (rph=0.491; rg=0.411), while the relation of these traits with BZPL did not exist, except for the genetic relationship between KSL and KZDP which was of a medium strength (rg=0.252). Three equations for the selection indexes were constructed among which as the most optimal was chosen the one which includes all three traits (KZDP, KSL and BZPL) and whose correlation coefficent of selection index and aggregate genotype was rIAG = 0.5473

An integrated framework for high-resolution urban flood modelling considering multiple information sources and urban features

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.High accuracy models are required for informed decision making in urban flood management. This paper develops a new holistic framework for using information collected from multiple sources for setting parameters of a 2D flood model. This illustrates the importance of identifying key urban features from the terrain data for capturing high resolution flood processes. A Cellular Automata based model CADDIES was used to simulate surface water flood inundation. Existing reports and flood photos obtained via social media were used to set model parameters and investigate different approaches for representing infiltration and drainage system capacity in urban flood modelling. The results of different approaches to processing terrain datasets indicate that the representation of urban micro-features is critical to the accuracy of modelling results. The constant infiltration approach is better than the rainfall reduction approach in representing soil infiltration and drainage capacity, as it describes the flood recession process better. This study provides an in-depth insight into high resolution flood modelling.This research was partially funded by the British Council through the Global Innovation Initiative (GII206), the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under the Building Resilience into Risk Management project (EP/N010329/1), and the SINATRA project of the NERC Flooding From Intense Rainfall programme (NE/K008765/1). The first author was funded by the China Scholarship Council. The authors would also like to thank the UK Environment Agency for the LIDAR datasets, UK Met Office (BADC) for the Radar rainfall data, Ordnance Survey for the Master Maps, and NVIDIA Corporation for the Tesla K20c GPU used in this research

2OACTIVATION OF T CELLS UPON TREATMENT WITH BISPECIFIC ANTIBODIES CORRELATES WITH THE EXPRESSION OF CO-INHIBITORY RECEPTORS ON TUMOR-INFILTRATING LYMPHOCYTES IN HUMAN LUNG CANCER

Introduction: T cell bispecific antibodies (TCB) are designed to recruit and simultaneously activate T cells against target cells such as tumor cells expressing a particular surface antigen. However, it is currently unknown how immuno-modulatory mechanisms active in the tumor microenvironment such as the expression of T cell co-inhibitory receptors may influence the therapeutic effect of TCBs. Methods: We performed a comprehensive phenotypic analysis of tumor infiltrating immune cells from lung carcinoma digests by multicolour flow cytometry. In particular, expression of T cell co-inhibitory and -stimulatory receptors was analyzed. Tumor digests were treated with catumaxomab, a TCB directed against CD3 and EpCAM. T cell activation and effector functions were assessed upon exposure to catumaxomab. Results: CD8+ T cells in lung carcinoma showed a broad heterogeneity in expression of the T cell co-inhibitory receptors PD-1, Tim-3, CTLA-4, Lag-3 and BTLA. Tumor stage and nodal status correlated with number and intensity of expressed receptors. Upon exposure to catumaxomab, a considerable heterogeneity in T cell activation among different tumors was observed. Of note, T cells expressing high levels and multiple co-inhibitory receptors were more impaired in their activation and effector functions after treatment with catumaxomab indicating a higher level of exhaustion. In a further analysis of CD8+ TIL subsets we found that BTLA+ T cells expressed more additional inhibitory receptors than all other subsets, namely PD-1, Tim-3, CTLA-4 and Lag-3, whereas only a small part of PD-1+ T cells expressed another receptor. Tim-3+ T cells usually co-expressed PD-1, but multiple receptors were found only on a low number of cells. Conclusion: In summary, our data suggest that the activity of TCBs is largely affected by the expression of T cell co-inhibitory receptors on tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Furthermore, these data provide a clinical rationale for combining bispecific antibodies with compounds which antagonize T cell exhaustion. Disclosure: D. Thommen, J. Schreiner, P. Herzig, P. Mueller and A. Zippelius: received research funding from Roche Glycart; V. Karanikas: is employed by Roche Glycart. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Anisotropy and internal field distribution of MgB2 in the mixed state at low temperatures

Magnetization and muon spin relaxation on MgB2 were measured as a function of field at 2 K. Both indicate an inverse-squared penetration depth strongly decreasing with increasing field H below about 1 T. Magnetization also suggests the anisotropy of the penetration depth to increase with increasing H, interpolating between a low Hc1 and a high Hc2 anisotropy. Torque vs angle measurements are in agreement with this finding, while also ruling out drastic differences between the mixed state anisotropies of the two basic length scales penetration depth and coherence length.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Mechanistic immunological based classification of rheumatoid arthritis

The classical autoimmunity paradigm in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is strongly supported by immunogenetics suggesting follicular helper T-cell responses driving high titre specific autoantibodies that pre-dates disease onset. Using the immunological disease continuum model of inflammation against self with “pure” adaptive and innate immune disease at opposite boundaries, we propose a novel immune mechanistic classification describing the heterogeneity within RA. Mutations or SNPs in autoinflammatory genes including MEFV and NOD2 are linked to seronegative RA phenotypes including some so called palindromic RA cases. However, just as innate and adaptive immunity are closely functionally integrated, some ACPA+ RA cases have superimposed “autoinflammatory” features including abrupt onset attacks, severe attacks, self-limiting attacks, relevant autoinflammatory mutations or SNPs and therapeutic responses to autoinflammatory pathway therapies including colchicine and IL-1 pathway blockade. An emergent feature from this classification that non-destructive RA phenotypes, both innate and adaptive, have disease epicentres situated in the extracapsular tissues. This mixed innate and adaptive immunopathogenesis may be the key to understanding severe disease flares, resistant disease subsets that are unresponsive to standard therapy and for therapies that target the autoinflammatory component of disease that are not currently considered by expert therapeutic recommendations

Assessing and visualising hazard impacts to enhance the resilience of Critical Infrastructures to urban flooding

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThe design, construction and maintenance of Critical Infrastructures (CI) is commonly based on standards that are rigorous, so as to withstand any climate or weather-linked pressures. However, due to climate change, climate characteristics may shift, resulting in increased frequency/magnitude of potential failures, or exposure to new unknown risks. As vital components for the normal functioning of modern societies, the resilience of CIs under climate stressors encompasses their structural integrity, their operational elements, and their capacity to maximize business output. In this work, we propose an integrated and participatory methodological approach to enhance the resilience of interconnected CIs to urban flooding under climate change, by assessing the risk and introducing adaptation measures. The main objectives of the proposed methodology and approach are: (i) to provide scientific evidence for better understanding of how future climate regimes might affect normal operation of interconnected CI in urban areas during their lifespan; (ii) to assess the cost-effectiveness of different adaptation measures; (iii) to involve local stakeholders and operators in the co-design of the approach, as well as the assessment and the evaluation of adaptation measures; (iv) to combine computational modelling with advanced 3D visualisation techniques for effectively engaging stakeholders in decision making; (v) to include risk assessment and damage functions co-designed by end-users and local stakeholders; (vi) to integrate all of the aforementioned components in a specifically designed cloud platform as a Decision Support System for end-users, (vii) to validate the DSS by the end users and local stakeholders. The paper presents the computational background and tools. Additionally, it describes a Case Study in Torbay, UK, where the full methodology and the proposed participatory approach have been applied, with all the specifics, i.e., the scenarios of extreme flooding, the numerical and visualization results, the response of the stakeholders and the evaluation of selected adaptation measures.European CommissionEuropean Union FP7Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Mapping urban infrastructure interdependencies and fuzzy risks

This is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record.In this study, we considered the relationships between different types of CI and services to simulate possible cascading effects during extreme hazard conditions brought on by climate change and how to analyse impacts with limited data resources. An area in central Bristol, UK, was used as the case study to investigate the interdependencies among select assets and services. A wide range of plausible scenarios caused by pipe bursts in the area were simulated using the CADDIES 2D modelling framework, to identify the hotspots with high risk. The impact on CI, including water supply, electricity, wastewater, solid waste, transportation, telecommunication, and emergency services were assessed by the HAZUR tool. The analysis demonstrated that with limited data resources the dynamics of the interdependencies between CI networks can be highlighted and a basis of risk quantification can be established. The same procedure can be repeated to evaluate the impact of other types of hazards, or the compound hazard scenarios to provide a holistic assessment. Therefore, urban planners and managers can further explore options of interventions for setting up strategies to strengthen city resilience.This study is supported by the RESCCUE (RESilience to cope with Climate Change in Urban arEas) project, funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 700174)