On the dependence of the laser-induced incandescence (LII) signal on soot volume fraction for variations in particle size

“The laser-induced incandescence (LII) signal is proportional to soot volume fraction” is an often used statement in scientific papers, and it has – within experimental uncertainties – been validated in comparisons with other diagnostic techniques in several investigations. In 1984 it was shown theoretically in a paper by Melton that there is a deviation from this statement in that the presence of larger particles leads to some overestimation of soot volume fractions. In the present paper we present a detailed theoretical investigation of how the soot particle size influences the relationship between LII signal and soot volume fraction for different experimental conditions. Several parameters have been varied; detection wavelength, time and delay of detection gate, ambient gas temperature and pressure, laser fluence, level of aggregation and spatial profile. Based on these results we are able, firstly, to understand how experimental conditions should be chosen in order to minimize the errors introduced when assuming a linear dependence between the signal and volume fraction and secondly, to obtain knowledge on how to use this information to obtain more accurate soot volume fraction data if the particle size is known

Supply Chain Driven Commercialisation of Bio Energy Carbon Capture and Storage

Pulp mills, as large biogenic CO2 point sources, could adopt Bio Energy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) through retrofitting carbon capture. These existing carbon sources constitute a great potential to roll out BECCS on commercial scale. Yet, despite political targets for negative emission production in Sweden, no incentive schemes were thus far enacted. While previous proposals focus on governmental compensation, the aim of this work is to set BECCS into the supply chain of a wide array of consumer products and thereby find alternative or complementary, business-driven, ways to incentivise BECCS when applied to the pulp and paper industry. In this work, we assess a “value proposition” for low-carbon products in supply chains linked to the pulp and paper industry. By projecting the costs and negative emissions related to BECCS from the pulp mill to typical consumer products, as exemplified by three case study products, we show how BECCS can substantially reduce the carbon footprint of the consumer products, while only marginally increasing their cost. Additional price premiums could shorten the payback period of the initial investment in BECCS. The developed business case presents how actors along the supply chain for pulp and paper products can collectively contribute to securing financing and to mitigating investment risks. The results challenge the private sector, i.e., the companies along the pulp-and-paper supply chain to commit considerable investments also in the case without or with too weak direct political incentives. We conclude by discussing the governance implications on corporate and public level to enable the collaborative “bottom-up” adoption of BECCS

Inclusion of frequency control constraints in energy system investment modeling

This study investigates how the inclusion of frequency control constraints in electricity system modeling impacts the levels of investment and dispatch in electricity generation and storage technologies for futures that include high-level penetration of variable renewable energy. This is achieved using a linear cost-minimizing investment and dispatch model using historic load, wind and solar conditions from Spain, Ireland, Sweden and Hungary for Year 2050. With an hourly time-resolution, constraints are added so as to ensure that, within each hour, sufficient inertial power and reserves are available to control the frequency of the power grid. Comparing the results obtained with and without these constraints reveals that the main impacts on the results are from battery investments and operation. Furthermore, it is found that the reserve requirements exert a greater impact on system composition and operation than do the inertial power requirements

Impacts of thermal energy storage on the management of variable demand and production in electricity and district heating systems: a Swedish case study

This study investigates how thermal energy storage (TES) influences the cost-optimal investment and operation of electricity and district heating (DH) systems in different scenarios. Greenfield energy system modelling for Year 2050 with a high time resolution shows that sensible TES strategies have a strong impact on the composition and operation of the DH system in all investigated scenarios. The introduction of TES displaces to a significant extent the heat-only boilers in all scenarios and can promote solar heating in small DH networks. The modelling shows that TES also promotes the use of power-to-heat processes and enables combined heat and power plants to increase full-load hours, with simultaneous adaptation to the variable production in the electricity system. A major benefit derived from TES is the ability to respond to rapid variations in the electricity system. Thus, the pit and tank storage systems with higher (dis)charging capacities are preferred over borehole storage

An attempt to estimate out-of-plane lung nodule elongation in tomosynthesis images

In chest tomosynthesis (TS) the most commonly used reconstruction methods are based on Filtered Back Projection (FBP) algorithms. Due to the limited angular range of x-ray projections, FBP reconstructed data is typically associated with a low spatial resolution in the out-of-plane dimension. Lung nodule measures that depend on depth information such as 3D shape and volume are therefore difficult to estimate. In this paper the relation between features from FBP reconstructed lung nodules and the true out-of-plane nodule elongation is investigated and a method for estimating the out-of-plane nodule elongation is proposed. In order to study these relations a number of steps that include simulation of spheroidal-shaped nodules, insertion into synthetic data volumes, construction of TS-projections and FBP-reconstruction were performed. In addition, the same procedure was used to simulate nodules and insert them into clinical chest TS projection data. The reconstructed nodule data was then investigated with respect to in-plane diameter, out-of-plane elongation, and attenuation coefficient. It was found that the voxel value in each nodule increased linearly with nodule elongation, for nodules with a constant attenuation coefficient. Similarly, the voxel value increased linearly with in-plane diameter. These observations indicate the possibility to predict the nodule elongation from the reconstructed voxel intensity values. Such a method would represent a quantitative approach to chest tomosynthesis that may be useful in future work on volume and growth rate estimation of lung nodules

An exploratory randomised controlled trial of a premises-level intervention to reduce alcohol-related harm including violence in the United Kingdom

<b>Background</b><p></p> To assess the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial of a licensed premises intervention to reduce severe intoxication and disorder; to establish effect sizes and identify appropriate approaches to the development and maintenance of a rigorous research design and intervention implementation.<p></p> <b>Methods</b><p></p> An exploratory two-armed parallel randomised controlled trial with a nested process evaluation. An audit of risk factors and a tailored action plan for high risk premises, with three month follow up audit and feedback. Thirty-two premises that had experienced at least one assault in the year prior to the intervention were recruited, match paired and randomly allocated to control or intervention group. Police violence data and data from a street survey of study premises’ customers, including measures of breath alcohol concentration and surveyor rated customer intoxication, were used to assess effect sizes for a future definitive trial. A nested process evaluation explored implementation barriers and the fidelity of the intervention with key stakeholders and senior staff in intervention premises using semi-structured interviews.<p></p> <b>Results</b><p></p> The process evaluation indicated implementation barriers and low fidelity, with a reluctance to implement the intervention and to submit to a formal risk audit. Power calculations suggest the intervention effect on violence and subjective intoxication would be raised to significance with a study size of 517 premises.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b><p></p> It is methodologically feasible to conduct randomised controlled trials where licensed premises are the unit of allocation. However, lack of enthusiasm in senior premises staff indicates the need for intervention enforcement, rather than voluntary agreements, and on-going strategies to promote sustainability

The reduction of intoxication and disorder in premises licensed to serve alcohol: An exploratory randomised controlled trial

Background: Licensed premises offer a valuable point of intervention to reduce alcohol-related harm. Objective: To describe the research design for an exploratory trial examining the feasibility and acceptability of a premises-level intervention designed to reduce severe intoxication and related disorder. The study also aims to assess the feasibility of a potential future large scale effectiveness trial and provide information on key trial design parameters including inclusion criteria, premises recruitment methods, strategies to implement the intervention and trial design, outcome measures, data collection methods and intra-cluster correlations. Design: A randomised controlled trial in licensed premises that had experienced at least one assault in the year preceding the intervention, documented in police or hospital Emergency Department (ED) records. Premises were recruited from four study areas by piloting four recruitment strategies of varying intensity. Thirty two licensed premises were grouped into matched pairs to reduce potential bias and randomly allocated to the control or intervention condition. The study included a nested process evaluation to provide information on intervention acceptability and implementation. Outcome measures included police-recorded violent incidents, assault-related attendances at each premises' local ED and patron Breath Alcohol Concentration assessed on exiting and entering study premises. Results: The most successful recruitment method involved local police licensing officers and yielded a 100% success rate. Police-records of violence provided the most appropriate source of data about disorder at the premises level. Conclusion: The methodology of an exploratory trial is presented and despite challenges presented by the study environment it is argued an exploratory trial is warranted. Initial investigations in recruitment methods suggest that study premises should be recruited with the assistance of police officers. Police data were of sufficient quality to identify disorder and street surveys are a feasible method for measuring intoxication at the individual level

Constitutively active Smad2/3 are broad scope potentiators of transcription factor-mediated cellular reprogramming

Reprogramming of cellular identity using exogenous expression of transcription factors (TFs) is a powerful and exciting tool for tissue engineering, disease modeling, and regenerative medicine. However, generation of desired cell types using this approach is often plagued by inefficiency, slow conversion, and an inability to produce mature functional cells. Here, we show that expression of constitutively active SMAD2/3 significantly improves the efficiency of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) generation by the Yamanaka factors. Mechanistically, SMAD3 interacts with reprogramming factors and co-activators and co-occupies OCT4 target loci during reprogramming. Unexpectedly, active SMAD2/3 also markedly enhances three other TF-mediated direct reprogramming conversions, from B cells to macrophages, myoblasts to adipocytes, and human fibroblasts to neurons, highlighting broad and general roles for SMAD2/3 as cell-reprogramming potentiators. Our results suggest that co-expression of active SMAD2/3 could enhance multiple types of TF-based cell identity conversion and therefore be a powerful tool for cellular engineering. Ruetz et al. show that constitutively active SMAD2/3 has a surprising ability to boost the efficiency of cell reprogramming both to iPSCs and across lineages and may therefore be a general factor that can enhance transcription-factor-mediated reprogramming in a variety of contexts

Identification of multiple risk loci and regulatory mechanisms influencing susceptibility to multiple myeloma

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have transformed our understanding of susceptibility to multiple myeloma (MM), but much of the heritability remains unexplained. We report a new GWAS, a meta-analysis with previous GWAS and a replication series, totalling 9974 MM cases and 247,556 controls of European ancestry. Collectively, these data provide evidence for six new MM risk loci, bringing the total number to 23. Integration of information from gene expression, epigenetic profiling and in situ Hi-C data for the 23 risk loci implicate disruption of developmental transcriptional regulators as a basis of MM susceptibility, compatible with altered B-cell differentiation as a key mechanism. Dysregulation of autophagy/apoptosis and cell cycle signalling feature as recurrently perturbed pathways. Our findings provide further insight into the biological basis of MM.</p