86 research outputs found

    Optimising Structural Loading and Power Production for Floating Wave Energy Converters

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    This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from EWTEC via the link in this record.This paper investigates the design trade-off between power production and structural loading for Wave Energy Converters (WECs), based on tank test results for the Albatern 12S floating wave energy array. This work feeds into the design development process, which is currently in the concept design and testing phase. The paper focuses on two methods for reducing structural loading: limiting the power take off (PTO) torque generation capacity (for operational loads), and controlling the PTO damping (for extreme loads). The torque that can be generated by the primary PTO mechanism affects the size (and cost) of the structural components within the device. Increased torque results in a potentially greater power capture, but also greater structural loading. It is therefore important to highlight the target torque limit early in the design process. The aim of this work is to identify the optimum torque limit to refine the design towards the lowest overall Levelised Cost of Energy (LCoE). In addition, a high-level investigation of the impact of PTO damping on extreme loading has been carried out, to help to identify appropriate “operational” and “survival” sea states for the device. The paper calculates an optimum torque limit for the device at the West Harris site and quantifies the trade-off between Annual Energy Production and structural cost, using the LCoE as an optimisation criteria. The approach is in principle applicable to other technologies, if the design drivers are adjusted to the technology’s working principle.Tank testing was funded by Wave Energy Scotland (WES) as part of the Novel Wave Energy Converter Stage 1 (NWEC1) programme. This work has been carried out as part of the IDCORE programme, funded by the Energy Technology Institute and RCUK Energy programme (grant no. EP/J500847/1

    Steel-concrete connections for floating wave energy converters

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    In order to make wave power technologies competitive within the overall energy market, there needs to be significant reductions in the levelised cost of energy (LCoE). One area for potential cost reduction is the use of cheaper materials that are suitable for use in the harsh marine environment, such as reinforced concrete, which gives good corrosion and fatigue properties while providing excellent strength and stiffness at low unit cost. Concrete has the potential to be used for a wide range of wave energy device configurations, however in general use has been limited to nearshore fixed bottom wave energy converters. To date, no dynamic floating wave energy devices have successfully utilised reinforced concrete as structural material, mainly due to the uncertainty surrounding the behaviour of critical dynamic connections between concrete sections and other materials. This paper explores the main issues surrounding steel-concrete connections for floating wave energy converters, providing a review of available design options and standards and assessing the applicability of these to WECs. A methodology is proposed for the evaluation of connection options, and a case study of the Squid 12S floating WEC (developed by Albatern) is presented.This work has been carried out as part of the IDCORE programme, funded by the Energy Technology Institute and RCUK Energy programme (grant no. EP/J500847/1

    The Prognostic Role of RASSF1A Promoter Methylation in Breast Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of Published Data

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    promoter methylation status and both disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in female breast cancer.Eligible studies were identified through searching the PubMed, Web of Science and Embase databases. Studies were pooled and summary hazard ratios (HR) with corresponding confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Funnel plots were also carried out to evaluate publication bias. promoter methylation status with OS in 1439 patients. The hazard estimates ranged from 1.21–6.90 with a combined random-effects estimates of 3.47 (95%CI 1.44–8.34). OS reported in multivariate analysis was evaluated in four series comprising 1346 cases and the summarized random-effects HR estimate was 3.35 (95%CI 1.14–9.85). Additionally, no publication bias was detected for both OS and DFS. promoter methylation

    Recent Salmon Declines: A Result of Lost Feeding Opportunities Due to Bad Timing?

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    As the timing of spring productivity blooms in near-shore areas advances due to warming trends in global climate, the selection pressures on out-migrating salmon smolts are shifting. Species and stocks that leave natal streams earlier may be favoured over later-migrating fish. The low post-release survival of hatchery fish during recent years may be in part due to static release times that do not take the timing of plankton blooms into account. This study examined the effects of release time on the migratory behaviour and survival of wild and hatchery-reared coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) using acoustic and coded-wire telemetry. Plankton monitoring and near-shore seining were also conducted to determine which habitat and food sources were favoured. Acoustic tags (n = 140) and coded-wire tags (n = 266,692) were implanted into coho salmon smolts at the Seymour and Quinsam Rivers, in British Columbia, Canada. Differences between wild and hatchery fish, and early and late releases were examined during the entire lifecycle. Physiological sampling was also carried out on 30 fish from each release group. The smolt-to-adult survival of coho salmon released during periods of high marine productivity was 1.5- to 3-fold greater than those released both before and after, and the fish's degree of smoltification affected their downstream migration time and duration of stay in the estuary. Therefore, hatchery managers should consider having smolts fully developed and ready for release during the peak of the near-shore plankton blooms. Monitoring chlorophyll a levels and water temperature early in the spring could provide a forecast of the timing of these blooms, giving hatcheries time to adjust their release schedule

    Identification of Genes with Allelic Imbalance on 6p Associated with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in Southern Chinese

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    Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignancy of epithelial origin. The etiology of NPC is complex and includes multiple genetic and environmental factors. We employed case-control analysis to study the association of chromosome 6p regions with NPC. In total, 360 subjects and 360 healthy controls were included, and 233 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on 6p were examined. Significant single-marker associations were found for SNPs rs2267633 (p = 4.49×10−5), rs2076483 (most significant, p = 3.36×10−5), and rs29230 (p = 1.43×10−4). The highly associated genes were the gamma-amino butyric acid B receptor 1 (GABBR1), human leukocyte antigen (HLA-A), and HLA complex group 9 (HCG9). Haplotypic associations were found for haplotypes AAA (located within GABBR1, p-value  = 6.46×10−5) and TT (located within HLA-A, p = 0.0014). Further investigation of the homozygous genotype frequencies between cases and controls suggested that micro-deletion regions occur in GABBR1 and neural precursor cell expressed developmentally down-regulated 9 (NEDD9). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) using 11 pairs of NPC biopsy samples confirmed the significant decline in GABBR1 and NEDD9 mRNA expression in the cancer tissues compared to the adjacent non-tumor tissue (p<0.05). Our study demonstrates that multiple chromosome 6p susceptibility loci contribute to the risk of NPC, possibly though GABBR1 and NEDD9 loss of function

    Development and Experimental Validation of a 20K Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua) Oligonucleotide Microarray Based on a Collection of over 150,000 ESTs

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    The collapse of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) wild populations strongly impacted the Atlantic cod fishery and led to the development of cod aquaculture. In order to improve aquaculture and broodstock quality, we need to gain knowledge of genes and pathways involved in Atlantic cod responses to pathogens and other stressors. The Atlantic Cod Genomics and Broodstock Development Project has generated over 150,000 expressed sequence tags from 42 cDNA libraries representing various tissues, developmental stages, and stimuli. We used this resource to develop an Atlantic cod oligonucleotide microarray containing 20,000 unique probes. Selection of sequences from the full range of cDNA libraries enables application of the microarray for a broad spectrum of Atlantic cod functional genomics studies. We included sequences that were highly abundant in suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) libraries, which were enriched for transcripts responsive to pathogens or other stressors. These sequences represent genes that potentially play an important role in stress and/or immune responses, making the microarray particularly useful for studies of Atlantic cod gene expression responses to immune stimuli and other stressors. To demonstrate its value, we used the microarray to analyze the Atlantic cod spleen response to stimulation with formalin-killed, atypical Aeromonas salmonicida, resulting in a gene expression profile that indicates a strong innate immune response. These results were further validated by quantitative PCR analysis and comparison to results from previous analysis of an SSH library. This study shows that the Atlantic cod 20K oligonucleotide microarray is a valuable new tool for Atlantic cod functional genomics research

    Characterization of Genome-Wide Association-Identified Variants for Atrial Fibrillation in African Americans

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    Despite a greater burden of risk factors, atrial fibrillation (AF) is less common among African Americans than European-descent populations. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for AF in European-descent populations have identified three predominant genomic regions associated with increased risk (1q21, 4q25, and 16q22). The contribution of these loci to AF risk in African American is unknown.We studied 73 African Americans with AF from the Vanderbilt-Meharry AF registry and 71 African American controls, with no history of AF including after cardiac surgery. Tests of association were performed for 148 SNPs across the three regions associated with AF, and 22 SNPs were significantly associated with AF (P<0.05). The SNPs with the strongest associations in African Americans were both different from the index SNPs identified in European-descent populations and independent from the index European-descent population SNPs (r(2)<0.40 in HapMap CEU): 1q21 rs4845396 (odds ratio [OR] 0.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.13-0.67, P = 0.003), 4q25 rs4631108 (OR 3.43, 95% CI 1.59-7.42, P = 0.002), and 16q22 rs16971547 (OR 8.1, 95% CI 1.46-45.4, P = 0.016). Estimates of European ancestry were similar among cases (23.6%) and controls (23.8%). Accordingly, the probability of having two copies of the European derived chromosomes at each region did not differ between cases and controls.Variable European admixture at known AF loci does not explain decreased AF susceptibility in African Americans. These data support the role of 1q21, 4q25, and 16q22 variants in AF risk for African Americans, although the index SNPs differ from those identified in European-descent populations

    Inflammatory and Immunological parameters in adults with Down syndrome

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The increase in life expectancy within the general population has resulted in an increasing number of elderly adults, including patients with Down syndrome (DS), with a current life expectancy of about 50 years. We evaluate the parameters of humoral and cellular immune response, the quantitative expression of the regulator of calcineurin1 gene (RCAN1) and the production of cytokines. The study group consisted of adults DS (n = 24) and a control group with intellectual disability without Down syndrome (ID) (n = 21) and living in a similar environmental background. It was evaluated serology, immunophenotyping, the quantitative gene expression of RCAN1 and the production of cytokines.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the DS group, the results showed an increase in NK cells, CD8, decreased CD19 (p < 0.05) and an increase spontaneous production of IFNgamma, TNFalpha and IL-10 (p < 0.05). There was not any difference in RCAN1 gene expression between the groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data suggest a similar humoral response in the two groups. The immunophenotyping suggests sign of premature aging of the immune system and the cytokine production show a proinflammatory profile.</p

    Continental flood basalts derived from the hydrous mantle transition zone

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    It has previously been postulated that the Earth's hydrous mantle transition zone may play a key role in intraplate magmatism, but no confirmatory evidence has been reported. Here we demonstrate that hydrothermally altered subducted oceanic crust was involved in generating the late Cenozoic Chifeng continental flood basalts of East Asia. This study combines oxygen isotopes with conventional geochemistry to provide evidence for an origin in the hydrous mantle transition zone. These observations lead us to propose an alternative thermochemical model, whereby slab-triggered wet upwelling produces large volumes of melt that may rise from the hydrous mantle transition zone. This model explains the lack of pre-magmatic lithospheric extension or a hotspot track and also the arc-like signatures observed in some large-scale intracontinental magmas. Deep-Earth water cycling, linked to cold subduction, slab stagnation, wet mantle upwelling and assembly/breakup of supercontinents, can potentially account for the chemical diversity of many continental flood basalts
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