Research Progress of Galloping of Overhead Iced Transmission Lines

[Introduction] The galloping of transmission lines will lead to trip, worn hardware, broken insulator string, damaged tower-arm and other accidents. In serious cases, collapsed tower accidents may occur. Therefore, it is very meaningful to establish the galloping model of transmission lines and analyze its galloping. [Method] Classic and cutting-edge literature at home and abroad was systematically studied, and the research status about bending stiffness, aerodynamic coefficient, numerical simulation, and the analytic method of galloping equations was comprehensively summarized. The advantages and disadvantages of existing research was analyzed, and the development trend of transmission lines galloping topics was summarized here. [Result] The relevant results will have high reference value for the development of iced transmission lines galloping in China. [Conclusion] At this stage, the research of iced transmission lines galloping has made certain progress and conclusions, but there are still many challenges and problems to be solved

Genome-wide approach identifies a novel gene-maternal pre-pregnancy BMI interaction on preterm birth

Preterm birth (PTB) contributes significantly to infant mortality and morbidity with lifelong impact. Few robust genetic factors of PTB have been identified. Such ‘missing heritability’ may be partly due to gene × environment interactions (G × E), which is largely unexplored. Here we conduct genome-wide G × E analyses of PTB in 1,733 African-American women (698 mothers of PTB; 1,035 of term birth) from the Boston Birth Cohort. We show that maternal COL24A1 variants have a significant genome-wide interaction with maternal pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity on PTB risk, with rs11161721 (PG × E=1.8 × 10−8; empirical PG × E=1.2 × 10−8) as the top hit. This interaction is replicated in African-American mothers (PG × E=0.01) from an independent cohort and in meta-analysis (PG × E=3.6 × 10−9), but is not replicated in Caucasians. In adipose tissue, rs11161721 is significantly associated with altered COL24A1 expression. Our findings may provide new insight into the aetiology of PTB and improve our ability to predict and prevent PTB.HSN268200782096CHHSN268201200008I20-FY02-56, #21-FY07-605R21ES011666R21HD0664712R01HD041702101-2314-B-400-009-MY2103-2314-B-400-004-MY32016YFC02065079164320121477087NICHD R24HD04285

Extent of Height Variability Explained by Known Height-Associated Genetic Variants in an Isolated Population of the Adriatic Coast of Croatia

BACKGROUND: Human height is a classical example of a polygenic quantitative trait. Recent large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 200 height-associated loci, though these variants explain only 2∼10% of overall variability of normal height. The objective of this study was to investigate the variance explained by these loci in a relatively isolated population of European descent with limited admixture and homogeneous genetic background from the Adriatic coast of Croatia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In a sample of 1304 individuals from the island population of Hvar, Croatia, we performed genome-wide SNP typing and assessed the variance explained by genetic scores constructed from different panels of height-associated SNPs extracted from five published studies. The combined information of the 180 SNPs reported by Lango Allen el al. explained 7.94% of phenotypic variation in our sample. Genetic scores based on 20~50 SNPs reported by the remaining individual GWA studies explained 3~5% of height variance. These percentages of variance explained were within ranges comparable to the original studies and heterogeneity tests did not detect significant differences in effect size estimates between our study and the original reports, if the estimates were obtained from populations of European descent. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We have evaluated the portability of height-associated loci and the overall fitting of estimated effect sizes reported in large cohorts to an isolated population. We found proportions of explained height variability were comparable to multiple reference GWAS in cohorts of European descent. These results indicate similar genetic architecture and comparable effect sizes of height loci among populations of European descent

Monitoring the Setting Process of Cementitious Materials Using Guided Waves in Thin Rods

Characterizing early-age properties is very important for the quality control and durability of cementitious materials. In this paper, an approach using embedded guided waves was adopted to monitor the changes in the mechanical proprieties of mortar and concrete during setting, and embedded thin rods with low-cost piezoelectric sensors mounted on top were used for guide wave monitoring. Through continuous attenuation monitoring of the guided waves, the evolution of mortar and concrete properties was characterized. Four different kinds of metallic rods were tested at the same time to find out the optimal setup. Meanwhile, shear wave velocities of the mortar and concrete samples were monitored and correlated to the attenuation, and setting time tests were also performed on these samples. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach could monitor the evolution of the setting of cementitious materials quantitatively, and time of the initial setting could be determined by this technique as well. In addition, it is found that the attenuations of fundamental longitudinal guided wave mode are almost the same in concrete samples and mortar samples sieved from concrete, indicating that this technique is able to eliminate the effects of coarse aggregates, which makes it of great potential for in-situ monitoring of early age concrete

Monitoring the Setting Process of Cementitious Materials Using Guided Waves in Thin Rods

Characterizing early-age properties is very important for the quality control and durability of cementitious materials. In this paper, an approach using embedded guided waves was adopted to monitor the changes in the mechanical proprieties of mortar and concrete during setting, and embedded thin rods with low-cost piezoelectric sensors mounted on top were used for guide wave monitoring. Through continuous attenuation monitoring of the guided waves, the evolution of mortar and concrete properties was characterized. Four different kinds of metallic rods were tested at the same time to find out the optimal setup. Meanwhile, shear wave velocities of the mortar and concrete samples were monitored and correlated to the attenuation, and setting time tests were also performed on these samples. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach could monitor the evolution of the setting of cementitious materials quantitatively, and time of the initial setting could be determined by this technique as well. In addition, it is found that the attenuations of fundamental longitudinal guided wave mode are almost the same in concrete samples and mortar samples sieved from concrete, indicating that this technique is able to eliminate the effects of coarse aggregates, which makes it of great potential for in-situ monitoring of early age concrete

Investigation on Influences of Two Discrete Methods on Galloping Characteristics of Iced Quad Bundle Conductors

The partial differential galloping equation of iced quad conductors can be transformed into an ordinary differential galloping equation by two discrete methods: one is a direct discrete method and the other is an indirect discrete method. The two discrete methods are reasonable and effective and have their own advantages and disadvantages, but whether the two different discrete methods would cause the differences in galloping characteristics of the iced quad conductor has not been studied. Based on this concept, this paper studies this problem systematically. Firstly, based on the variational principle for Hamiltonian, the partial differential galloping equation with 3DOFs of the iced quad bundle conductor is derived and then two discrete methods are used to transform the partial differential galloping equation into an ordinary differential galloping equation. One is to use a direct method to transform partial differential galloping equation into an ordinary differential galloping equation, while the other is to use an indirect method to transform partial differential galloping equation into an ordinary differential galloping equation. Secondly, based on the wind tunnel test, the three-component aerodynamic coefficients of each subconductor of the iced quad conductor are obtained, and the equivalent aerodynamic coefficients at the central axis of the quad bundle conductor are obtained by using a reasonable method. Then, the aerodynamic coefficients are fitted by Taylor rules and the aerodynamic coefficients of wind angle of attack which is 55° are used in the analysis of galloping characteristics of the iced quad conductor. Finally, based on the numerical method, the displacement response of the two discrete methods is obtained. By comparing the differences of the displacement response obtained by the two discrete methods, it is found that the two discrete methods have certain influences on the phase, frequency, and amplitude of the iced quad bundle conductor. By comparing the calculation process of these two discrete methods, it can be obtained that the calculation process of the direct discrete method is more complex and the calculation process of the indirect discrete method is simpler. By comparing the calculation results of these two discrete methods, the amplitude obtained by the indirect discrete method is bigger than that obtained by the direct discrete method, especially the amplitude in the torsional direction. The research conclusion of this paper can offer some guidance to civil and electric engineering

Influences of Two Calculation Methods about Dynamic Tension on Vibration Characteristics of Cable-Bridge Coupling Model

For the cable-bridge coupling model, the dynamic tension of cables is an important parameter to study the vibration characteristics of the model. Based on this concept, two calculation methods about dynamic tension of cables were introduced in great detail, and the influences of these two calculation methods on the vibration characteristics of cable-bridge coupling model were systematically investigated. Firstly, the vibration equation of the cable was derived based on the variational principle for Hamiltonian, and the vibration equation of the bridge deck was obtained by Newton’s law. Then, the vibration equation of the cable and bridge deck was transformed into ordinary differential vibration equation by the Galerkin method. In addition, the differences of the coefficients in the ordinary differential vibration equation obtained by these two calculation methods about dynamic tension were compared, and a parameter analysis was listed. Finally, the resonance mode of the cable-bridge coupling model was analyzed by a multiple scales method, and an example analysis was listed. The results of parameter analysis show that there are obvious differences in the linear coefficient and nonlinear coefficient of the ordinary differential vibration equation obtained by these two calculation methods. The results of example analysis show that, for the cable-bridge coupling model with 1 : 1 resonance, the amplitude of the model would not be different because of the two calculation methods about dynamic tension, but the amplitude of the cable would be affected by the calculation method significantly. It can be found that the research conclusions here can be helpful to the perfection of theoretical modeling and has certain guiding value for practical engineering

Transcriptome Analysis on the Mechanism of Ethylicin Inhibiting Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae on Kiwifruit

Bacterial canker disease caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa) is a devastating disease of kiwifruit, which is severely limiting the development of the kiwifruit industry. Ethylicin is a broad-spectrum plant biomimetic fungicide. However, its application in the control of kiwifruit bacterial canker is rarely reported, and the mechanism of ethylicin on Psa remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the effect of ethylicin on Psa in vitro and in vivo and found that ethylicin can inhibit the growth of Psa and prevent the cankering in the plant stem. Mechanism investigation indicated that ethylicin acted by limiting the movement of Psa, destroying the cell membrane of Psa, and inhibiting the formation of Psa biofilm. In addition, it was also found through transcriptomics research that ethylicin can up-regulate the expression of genes related to protein export and biofilm formation–Pseudomonas aeruginosa and down-regulate the expression of genes related to flagellar assembly in Psa. This study concluded that ethylicin can effectively inhibit Psa growth, and it could help to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of ethylicin inhibiting Psa and provide practical data for the application of ethylicin as a highly potent agent for controlling the bacterial canker disease of kiwifruit

A Combination of 3D-QSAR, Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Studies of Benzimidazole-Quinolinone Derivatives as iNOS Inhibitors

Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS) has been involved in a variety of diseases, and thus it is interesting to discover and optimize new iNOS inhibitors. In previous studies, a series of benzimidazole-quinolinone derivatives with high inhibitory activity against human iNOS were discovered. In this work, three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationships (3D-QSAR), molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation approaches were applied to investigate the functionalities of active molecular interaction between these active ligands and iNOS. A QSAR model with R2 of 0.9356, Q2 of 0.8373 and Pearson-R value of 0.9406 was constructed, which presents a good predictive ability in both internal and external validation. Furthermore, a combined analysis incorporating the obtained model and the MD results indicates: (1) compounds with the proper-size hydrophobic substituents at position 3 in ring-C (R3 substituent), hydrophilic substituents near the X6 of ring-D and hydrophilic or H-bond acceptor groups at position 2 in ring-B show enhanced biological activities; (2) Met368, Trp366, Gly365, Tyr367, Phe363, Pro344, Gln257, Val346, Asn364, Met349, Thr370, Glu371 and Tyr485 are key amino acids in the active pocket, and activities of iNOS inhibitors are consistent with their capability to alter the position of these important residues, especially Glu371 and Thr370. The results provide a set of useful guidelines for the rational design of novel iNOS inhibitors

Descriptive study of relationship between cardio-ankle vascular index and biomarkers in vascular-related diseases

Background: Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) was supposed to be an independent predictor for vascular-related events. Biomarkers such as homocysteine (Hcy), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and urine albumin(microalbumin) (UAE) have involved the pathophysiological development of arteriosclerosis. The present study was to investigate relationship between CAVI and biomarkers in vascular-related diseases. Methods: A total of 656 subjects (M/F 272/384) from department of Vascular Medicine were enrolled into our study. They were divided into four groups according to the numbers of suffered diseases, healthy group (group 0: subjects without diseases of hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), coronary heart disease (CHD); n = 186), group 1 (with one of diseases of hypertension, CHD, DM; n = 237), group 2 (with two of diseases of hypertension, CHD, DM; n = 174), and group 3 (with all diseases of hypertension, CHD, DM; n = 59). CAVI was measured by VS-1000 apparatus. Results: CAVI was increasing with increasing numbers of suffered vascular-related diseases. Similar results were found in the parameters of biomarkers such as Hcy, log NT-ProBNP, and log UAE. There were positive correlation between log NT-proBNP, Hcy, log UAE, and CAVI in the entire study group and nonhealthy group. Positive correlation between log UAE and CAVI were found in the entire study group after adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, uric acid, and lipids. Multivariate analysis showed that log UAE was an independent associating factor of CAVI in all subjects. Conclusions: CAVI was significantly higher in subjects with hypertension, CHD, and DM. There was correlation between arterial stiffness and biomarkers such as NT-proBNP, Hcy, and UAE