Synthesized trade-off analysis of flood control solutions under future deep uncertainty: An application to the central business district of Shanghai.

Coastal mega-cities will face increasing flood risk under the current protection standard because of future climate change. Previous studies seldom evaluate the comparative effectiveness of alternative options in reducing flood risk under the uncertainty of future extreme rainfall. Long-term planning to manage flood risk is further challenged by uncertainty in socioeconomic factors and contested stakeholder priorities. In this study, we conducted a knowledge co-creation process together with infrastructure experts, policy makers, and other stakeholders to develop an integrated framework for flexible testing of multiple flood-risk mitigation strategies under the condition of deep uncertainties. We implemented this framework to the reoccurrence scenarios in the 2050s of a record-breaking extreme rainfall event in central Shanghai. Three uncertain factors, including precipitation, urban rain island effect and the decrease of urban drainage capacity caused by land subsidence and sea level rise, are selected to build future extreme inundation scenarios in the case study. The risk-reduction performance and cost-effectiveness of all possible solutions are examined across different scenarios. The results show that drainage capacity decrease caused by sea-level rise and land subsidence will contribute the most to the rise of future inundation risk in central Shanghai. The combination of increased green area, improved drainage system, and the deep tunnel with a runoff absorbing capacity of 30% comes out to be the most favorable and robust solution which can reduce the future inundation risk by 85% (±8%). This research indicates that to conduct a successful synthesized trade-off analysis of alternative flood control solutions under future deep uncertainty is bound to be a knowledge co-creation process of scientists, decision makers, field experts, and other stakeholders

The Effect of Environmental Regulation on Corporate Environmental Governance Behavior and Its Mechanisms

Environmental regulation is an institutional guarantee for achieving green and sustainable economic development, and the implementation effect of environmental regulation policies is a concern for all sectors of society. This paper empirically examines the impact of environmental regulation on firms’ environmental governance behavior using a double difference model with the help of a quasi-natural experiment, the new Environmental Protection Law, and analyzes the mediating effect of central environmental protection inspectors using data from listed companies in China from 2011 to 2020. It was found that environmental regulation significantly enhances firms’ motivation to participate in environmental governance and central environmental protection inspectors play a mediating role in the impact of environmental regulation on firms’ environmental governance behavior. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis shows that the enhancement effect of environmental regulation on firms’ environmental governance behavior mainly exists in large-scale firms and nonstate enterprises

Effect of Salinity on Performance and Microbial Community during Granulation Process in a Sequencing Batch Reactor

This study focused on the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs), reactor nutrient removal performance and the microbial community under varying concentrations of NaCl (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 g/L) during a granulation process in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The microorganisms tended to secrete higher levels of protein (PN) and polysaccharide (PS) as a protective mechanism under saline conditions, with tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) playing a crucial role in stabilizing granules. An overall high removal rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) throughout operation was observed. However, the removal rate of total nitrogen (TN) progressively decreased with the stepwise increase in salinity from 85.59% at 10 g/L to 64.18% at 40 g/L. The low total phosphorus (TP) removal efficiency during the operation process is due to the loss of sludge biomass and inhibition of phosphorus-accumulating bacteria activity. Moreover, salinity caused the changes in microbial community structure. Paracoccus, Thauera and unclassified_f_Rhodobacteraceae were dominant genera at 10 g, 20 g/L and 30 g/L salinity, respectively, while Azoarcus, Halomonas, unclassified_f_Flavobacteriaceaeand Vibrio replaced them at 40 g/L salinity

The Effect of Environmental Regulation on Corporate Environmental Governance Behavior and Its Mechanisms

Environmental regulation is an institutional guarantee for achieving green and sustainable economic development, and the implementation effect of environmental regulation policies is a concern for all sectors of society. This paper empirically examines the impact of environmental regulation on firms’ environmental governance behavior using a double difference model with the help of a quasi-natural experiment, the new Environmental Protection Law, and analyzes the mediating effect of central environmental protection inspectors using data from listed companies in China from 2011 to 2020. It was found that environmental regulation significantly enhances firms’ motivation to participate in environmental governance and central environmental protection inspectors play a mediating role in the impact of environmental regulation on firms’ environmental governance behavior. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis shows that the enhancement effect of environmental regulation on firms’ environmental governance behavior mainly exists in large-scale firms and nonstate enterprises

Numerical Investigation of the Ribs’ Shape, Spacing, and Height on Heat Transfer Performance of Turbulent Flow in a Flat Plate Heat Exchanger

This paper presents a numerical study of detailed heat transfer and flow field characteristics in a flat plate heat exchanger with different types of ribs (rectangular and triangular) with different heights (H: 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 mm) and spacings (S: 75, 95, 128, and 195 mm). A comprehensive numerical model was established and validated with experimental data in the literature, resulting in good agreement. The effects of the height, spacing, and shape of the ribs in addition to thermal-hydraulic parameters were investigated over two values of the Reynolds number (9880–3210). The results concluded that the highest values of the thermal-hydraulic parameters are 1.62 and 1.84 for the hot and cold air sides, in the rectangular ribs, with a thickness, height, and spacing of 75 mm, and 95 mm, respectively. It is worth mentioning that the rectangular ribs have the maximum value of thermal performance at the high and low values of the Reynolds number of turbulent flows. The present design can be used in waste heat recovery systems

Numerical Investigation of the Ribs’ Shape, Spacing, and Height on Heat Transfer Performance of Turbulent Flow in a Flat Plate Heat Exchanger

This paper presents a numerical study of detailed heat transfer and flow field characteristics in a flat plate heat exchanger with different types of ribs (rectangular and triangular) with different heights (H: 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 mm) and spacings (S: 75, 95, 128, and 195 mm). A comprehensive numerical model was established and validated with experimental data in the literature, resulting in good agreement. The effects of the height, spacing, and shape of the ribs in addition to thermal-hydraulic parameters were investigated over two values of the Reynolds number (9880–3210). The results concluded that the highest values of the thermal-hydraulic parameters are 1.62 and 1.84 for the hot and cold air sides, in the rectangular ribs, with a thickness, height, and spacing of 75 mm, and 95 mm, respectively. It is worth mentioning that the rectangular ribs have the maximum value of thermal performance at the high and low values of the Reynolds number of turbulent flows. The present design can be used in waste heat recovery systems

Numerical investigation of a photovoltaic module under different weather conditions

In this study, a numerical investigation of the uncooled polycrystalline concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) module was established using ANSYS software. The main objective is to estimate the maximum allowable solar concentration ratio (CR) at which the CPV module can safely operate without overheating. The numerical model was validated using data from the literature, resulting in a very good agreement. The thermal and electrical performance of the CPV module was studied at different ambient temperatures (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 °C), wind speeds (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 m/s), and CR number of (1.0,1.5, and 2.0 suns). This smaller CR can be achieved using a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC). The CPV system can safely operate when CR ranges from 1.0 to 1.5 suns, (1 Sun = 1000 W/m2), at all studied values of ambient temperatures and wind speeds. However, increasing the CR up to 2.0 makes results in a safe operation at wind speed values from 3 to 5 m/s. Further, the electrical efficiency increases rapidly by increasing the wind speed from 1 to 2 m/s and this increase gradually drops by growing the wind speed from 3 to 5 m/s. Furthermore, the minimum solar cell efficiency reached 12.56% at CR of 2.0 and 1 m/s. The highest heat dissipation from the CPV module is occurred at the lower ambient temperature and gradually decreases as wind speed rises

A guidebook of spatial transcriptomic technologies, data resources and analysis approaches

Advances in transcriptomic technologies have deepened our understanding of the cellular gene expression programs of multicellular organisms and provided a theoretical basis for disease diagnosis and therapy. However, both bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing approaches lose the spatial context of cells within the tissue microenvironment, and the development of spatial transcriptomics has made overall bias-free access to both transcriptional information and spatial information possible. Here, we elaborate development of spatial transcriptomic technologies to help researchers select the best-suited technology for their goals and integrate the vast amounts of data to facilitate data accessibility and availability. Then, we marshal various computational approaches to analyze spatial transcriptomic data for various purposes and describe the spatial multimodal omics and its potential for application in tumor tissue. Finally, we provide a detailed discussion and outlook of the spatial transcriptomic technologies, data resources and analysis approaches to guide current and future research on spatial transcriptomics

Protective effect of Kaempferol on LPS plus ATP-induced inflammatory response in cardiac fibroblasts

Inflammatory response is an important mechanism in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Cardiac fibroblasts play a crucial role in cardiac inflammation and might become a potential therapeutic target in cardiovascular diseases. Kaempferol, a flavonoid commonly existing in many edible fruits, vegetables, and Chinese herbs, is well known to possess anti-inflammatory property and thus has a therapeutic potential for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. To date, the effect of kaempferol on cardiac fibroblasts inflammation is unknown. In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effect of kaempferol on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) plus ATP-induced cardiac fibroblasts and explored the underlying mechanisms. Our results showed that kaempferol at concentrations of 12.5 and 25 μg/mL significantly suppressed the release of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-18 and inhibited activation of NF-κB and Akt in LPS plus ATP-induced cardiac fibroblasts. These findings suggest that kaempferol attenuates cardiac fibroblast inflammation through suppression of activation of NF-κB and Akt