Direct and indirect effects of climatic variations on the interannual variability in net ecosystem exchange across terrestrial ecosystems

Climatic variables not only directly affect the interannual variability (IAV) in net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) but also indirectly drive it by changing the physiological parameters. Identifying these direct and indirect paths can reveal the underlying mechanisms of carbon (C) dynamics. In this study, we applied a path analysis using flux data from 65 sites to quantify the direct and indirect climatic effects on IAV in NEE and to evaluate the potential relationships among the climatic variables and physiological parameters that represent physiology and phenology of ecosystems. We found that the maximum photosynthetic rate was the most important factor for the IAV in gross primary productivity (GPP), which was mainly induced by the variation in vapour pressure deficit. For ecosystem respiration (RE), the most important drivers were GPP and the reference respiratory rate. The biome type regulated the direct and indirect paths, with distinctive differences between forests and non-forests, evergreen needleleaf forests and deciduous broadleaf forests, and between grasslands and croplands. Different paths were also found among wet, moist and dry ecosystems. However, the climatic variables can only partly explain the IAV in physiological parameters, suggesting that the latter may also result from other biotic and disturbance factors. In addition, the climatic variables related to NEE were not necessarily the same as those related to GPP and RE, indicating the emerging difficulty encountered when studying the IAV in NEE. Overall, our results highlight the contribution of certain physiological parameters to the IAV in C fluxes and the importance of biome type and multi-year water conditions, which should receive more attention in future experimental and modelling research

Effects of Bisphenol A Stress on Activated Sludge in Sequential Batch Reactors and Functional Recovery

This study assessed the toxic effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on the microbial community and the function of activated sludge in sequencing batch reactors (SBRs). The toxicity of BPA was mitigated through dosing sludge with Rhodococcus Req-001. BPA reduced the biomass of sludge, and the proportion of viable bacteria decreased with the aggravation of BPA pollution. BPA affected the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs), increased the ratio of polysaccharide to protein, and deteriorated the sedimentation performance of sludge. BPA decreased the abundances of functional bacteria involved in the degradation of organic matter and water purification, including Polaromonas, Dechloromonas, and Nitrospira, and the water purification capacity of the reactor decreased. Req-001 enhanced the BPA removal efficiency by 15%, and increased ammonia nitrogen and phosphorus removal by 8.8% and 22.7%, respectively. The functional recovery ability of the sludge system and the high removal ability of Req-001 make it a promising specie for use in BPA bioremediation. This study combined the effect of BPA on activated sludge and reactor performance with the microbial community, clarified the toxic mechanism of BPA on activated sludge, and therefore provides a theoretical basis and potential solutions to help WWTPs cope with the toxic effects of BPA

Image Recognition of Icing Thickness on Power Transmission Lines Based on a Least Squares Hough Transform

In view of the shortcomings of current image detection methods for icing thickness on power transmission lines, an image measuring method for icing thickness based on remote online monitoring was proposed. In this method, a Canny operator is used to get the image edge, in addition, a Hough transform and least squares are combined to solve the problems of traditional Hough transform in the parameter space whereby it is easily disturbed by the image background and noises, and eventually the edges of iced power transmission lines and un-iced power transmission lines are accurately detected in images which have low contrast, complex grayscale, and many noises. Furthermore, based on the imaging principle of the camera, a new geometric calculation model for icing thickness is established by using the radius of power transmission line as a reference, and automatic calculation of icing thickness is achieved. The results show that proposed image recognition method is rarely disturbed by noises and background, the image recognition results show good agreement with the real edges of iced power transmission lines and un-iced power transmission lines, and is simple and easy to program, which suggests that the method can be used for image recognition and calculation of icing thickness

Optimal Design of a High Efficiency LLC Resonant Converter with a Narrow Frequency Range for Voltage Regulation

As a key factor in the design of a voltage-adjustable LLC resonant converter, frequency regulation range is very important to the optimization of magnetic components and efficiency improvement. This paper presents a novel optimal design method for LLC resonant converters, which can narrow the frequency variation range and ensure high efficiency under the premise of a required gain achievement. A simplified gain model was utilized to simplify the calculation and the expected efficiency was initially set as 96.5%. The restricted area of parameter optimization design can be obtained by taking the intersection of the gain requirement, the efficiency requirement, and three restrictions of ZVS (Zero Voltage Switch). The proposed method was verified by simulation and experiments of a 150 W prototype. The results show that the proposed method can achieve ZVS from full-load to no-load conditions and can reach 1.6 times the normalized voltage gain in the frequency variation range of 18 kHz with a peak efficiency of up to 96.3%. Moreover, the expected efficiency is adjustable, which means a converter with a higher efficiency can be designed. The proposed method can also be used for the design of large-power LLC resonant converters to obtain a wide output voltage range and higher efficiency

5000 h Multi-Factor Accelerated Aging Test of FRP Made Transmission Tower: Characterization, Thermal Decomposition and Reaction Kinetics Study

Three kinds of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composites, including modified polyurethane resin (LGD), epoxy resin (E44) and modified unsaturated polyester resin (D33) glass-fiber reinforced plastics, were subjected to a 5000 h multi-factor accelerated aging test according to the power industry standard. To examine aging resistance and thermal stability of transmission towers made by these three composites, relevant bending properties, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG), activation energy, as well as microscopic morphology were revealed. The results showed that for these composites, bending modulus retention rates were higher than 94% under the aging test and that of the LGD was highest. Additionally, the onset degradation temperature, temperature at maximum rate of weight loss and T5% reduced at 5000 h, with D33 having highest value and lowest decline rate. The activation energy was calculated with the Bagchi, Coats-Redfern and Broido method, respectively. Although the activation energy of all composites decreased after test, the D33, LGD materials had the highest activation energy which enjoys slight decline. Analysis of the whole experimental results suggested that D33 and LGD composites have good aging resistance, whose basic performance could still perform well after 5000 h aging test, so they can be used to composite towers and applied to engineering practice