Cournot oligopoly game-based local energy trading considering renewable energy uncertainty costs

Facilitated by advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs), local energy trading develops rapidly, playing an important role in the energy supply chain. Thus, it is essential to develop local trading models and strategies that can benefit participants, not only stimulating local balancing but also promoting renewable penetration. This paper proposes a new local energy trading decision-making model for suppliers by using the Cournot Oligopoly game, considering the uncertainty costs of renewable energy. Four types of representative energy providers are modelled, traditional thermal generation, wind power, photovoltaic (PV) power, and electricity storage. The revenue of these technologies is extensively formulated according to their operation cost, investment cost, and income from selling energy. The uncertainty cost of renewable generation is integrated into the trading, modelled as a penalty for potential energy shortage that is derived from output probability distribution function (PDF). This trading model is formulated as a non-cooperative Cournot oligopoly game to enable energy suppliers to maximize their profits through local trading considering price. The response of the customer to energy price variations, i.e. demand elasticity, is also included in the model. A unique Nash equilibrium (NE) and optimum strategies are derived by the proposed Optimal-Generation-Plan (OGP) Algorithm. As demonstrated in a typical local market, the proposed approach can effectively model and resolve multiple suppliers’ competition in local energy trading. It can work as a vehicle to facilitate the trading between various generation technologies and customers, realising local balancing and benefiting all market participants with enhanced revenue and reduced energy bills.</p

Research on Temperature Field of the Support Structure for the Independent LNG Tank

The independent LNG (Liquified Nature Gas) containment is widely used for small or medium-sized LNG carrier and ship using LNG as fuels. The common tank pattern includes single-spherical-cylindrical tank and double-spherical-cylindrical tank, which is the key to design the hull structure and its support. The support is designed to connect the hull structure and LNG tank. Its main functions are heat transferring and force loading. This paper focus on the temperature field distribution of hull and its support structure. The thermal boundary conditions are simulated according to the heat transfer action, such as thermal convection, heat conduction and thermal radiation. The method on how to carry out thermal analysis is presented for an independent LNG containment. The case study is carried out with two typical independent LNG tanks. One is a tank with double spherical cylindrical in the LNG carrier, and the other is a tank with single spherical cylindrical on the deck of the ship using LNG as fuels. The result shows the method presented in this paper is a good reference for the structural design with independent LNG containment

Nanotherapeutics in angiogenesis: synthesis and in vivo assessment of drug efficacy and biocompatibility in zebrafish embryos

Author name used in this publication: Wong, Wing-Tak.published_fina

Cryogenic quasi-static embedded DRAM for energy-efficient compute-in-memory applications

Compute-in-memory (CIM) presents an attractive approach for energy-efficient computing in data-intensive applications. However, the development of suitable memory designs to achieve high-performance CIM remains a challenging task. Here, we propose a cryogenic quasi-static embedded DRAM to address the logic-memory mismatch of CIM. Guided by the re-calibrated cryogenic device model, the designed four-transistor bit-cell achieves full-swing data storage, low power consumption, and extended retention time at cryogenic temperatures. Combined with the adoption of cryogenic write bitline biasing technique and readout circuitry optimization, our 4Kb cryogenic eDRAM chip demonstrates a 1.37$\times$10$^6$ times improvement in retention time, while achieving a 75 times improvement in retention variability, compared to room-temperature operation. Moreover, it also achieves outstanding power performance with a retention power of 112 fW and a dynamic power of 108 $\mu$W at 4.2 K, which can be further decreased by 7.1% and 13.6% using the dynamic voltage scaling technique. This work reveals the great potential of cryogenic CMOS for high-density data storage and lays a solid foundation for energy-efficient CIM implementations

Roles of nitrate recycling ratio in the A2/O-MBBR denitrifying phosphorus removal system for high-efficient wastewater treatment: Performance comparison, nutrient mechanism and potential evaluation

The long-term effect of nitrate recycling ratios (R = 100%–500%) on the denitrifying phosphorus removal (DPR) characteristics was studied in a novel two-sludge system, which coupled Anaerobic Anoxic Oxic (A2/O) with Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) for simultaneous nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) removals. During the 220 days’ operation, effluent COD (30.87–45.15 mg/L) can meet the discharge standard completely, but N and P removals were significantly affected by the R-value, including CODintra removal efficiency (CODintra-Re: 56.09–85.98%), TN removal (TN-Re: 52.06–80.50%), anaerobic PO43− release (PO43--An: 10.66–29.02 mg/L) and oxic PO43− absorption (PO43--O: 2.22–6.26 mg/L). Meanwhile, N and P displayed close correlation with the ΔPO43−/ΔNO3- ratio of 4.20–4.41 at R = 300%–400%, resulting in the high-efficient anoxic poly-β-hydroxyalkanoates (PHA) utilization (ΔPHAA: 64.88 mgCOD/gVSS). Based on the stoichiometry methodology, at R of 300%–400%, the percentages of phosphorus accumulation organisms (PAOs) and glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs) contributed to ΔPHAAn (ΔGlyAn) were 71.7%, 28.3% (61.3%, 38.7%) in the anaerobic stage, respectively, while N denitrification rate (NDRA: 3.91–3.93 mg N/(gVSS·h)) and P uptake rate (PURA: 3.76–3.90 mg P/(gVSS·h)) reached the peak, suggesting superior DPR performance with higher contribution of denitrifying PAOs (DPAOs) (70%) than denitrifying GAOs (DGAOs) (30%) in the anoxic stage. Microbial community analysis showed that Accumulibacter (27.66–30.01%) was more enriched than Competibacter (13.41–14.34%) and was responsible for the improved C, N, P removals and DPR characteristics. For optimizing operation, the combined effect of nitrate recycling ratio with other process parameters especially economic evaluation should be considere

Global, Regional, and National Change Patterns in the Incidence of Low Back Pain From 1990 to 2019 and Its Predicted Level in the Next Decade

Objectives: To analyze and describe the spatiotemporal trends of Low back pain (LBP) burdens from 1990 to 2019 and anticipate the following decade’s incidence.Methods: Using data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 Study, we described net drifts, local drifts, age effects, and period cohort effects in incidence and forecasted incidence rates and cases by sex from 2020 to 2029 using the Nordpred R package.Results: LBP remained the leading cause of the musculoskeletal disease burden globally and across all socio-demographic index (SDI) regions. China is the top country. For recent periods, high-SDI countries faced unfavorable or worsening risks. The relative risk of incidence showed improving trends over time and in successively younger birth cohorts amongst low-middle-, middle- and high-middle-SDI countries. Additionally, the age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR) of LBP in both sexes globally showed a decreasing trend, but the incident cases would increase from 223 to 253 million overall in the next decade.Conclusion: As the population ages, incident cases will rise but ASIR will fall. To minimise LBP, public awareness and disease prevention and control are needed

Transcriptome sequencing of olfactory-related genes in olfactory transduction of large yellow croaker (Larimichthy crocea) in response to bile salts

Fish produce and release bile salts as chemical signalling substances that act as sensitive olfactory stimuli. To investigate how bile salts affect olfactory signal transduction in large yellow croaker (Larimichthy crocea), deep sequencing of olfactory epithelium was conducted to analyse olfactory-related genes in olfactory transduction. Sodium cholates (SAS) have typical bile salt chemical structures, hence we used four different concentrations of SAS to stimulate L. crocea, and the fish displayed a significant behavioural preference for 0.30% SAS. We then sequenced olfactory epithelium tissues, and identified 9938 unigenes that were significantly differentially expressed between SAS-stimulated and control groups, including 9055 up-regulated and 883 down-regulated unigenes. Subsequent Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses found eight categories linked to the olfactory transduction pathway that was highly enriched with some differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including the olfactory receptor (OR), Adenylate cyclase type 3 (ADCY3) and Calmodulin (CALM). Genes in these categories were analysed by RT-qPCR, which revealed aspects of the pathway transformation between odor detection, and recovery and adaptation. The results provide new insight into the effects of bile salt stimulation in olfactory molecular mechanisms in fishes, and expands our knowledge of olfactory transduction, and signal generation and decline

Rationales, design and recruitment of the Taizhou Longitudinal Study

<p/> <p>Background</p> <p>Rapid economic growth in China in the past decades has been accompanied by dramatic changes in lifestyle and environmental exposures. The burdens of non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, have also increased substantially.</p> <p>Methods/design</p> <p>We initiated a large prospective cohort–the Taizhou Longitudinal Study–in Taizhou (a medium-size city in China) to explore the environmental and genetic risk factors for common non-communicable diseases. The sample size of the cohort will be at least 100,000 adults aged 30–80 years drawn from the general residents of the districts of Hailin, Gaogang, and Taixing (sample frame, 1.8 million) of Taizhou. A three-stage stratified sampling method will be applied. Baseline investigations include interviewer-administered questionnaire, anthropometric measurements, and collection of buccal mucosal cells and blood specimens. DNA will be extracted for genetic studies and serum samples will be used for biochemical examinations. A follow-up survey will be conducted every three years to obtain information on disease occurrence and information on selected lifestyle exposures. Study participants will be followed-up indefinitely by using a chronic disease register system for morbidity and cause-specific mortality. Information on non-fatal events will be obtained for certain major categories of disease (e.g., cancer, stroke, myocardial infarction) through established registry systems.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The Taizhou Longitudinal Study will provide a good basis for exploring the roles of many important environmental factors (especially those concomitant with the economic transformation in China) for common chronic diseases, solely or via interaction with genetic factors.</p