Optimizing Energy Savings for a Fleet of Commercial Autonomous Vehicles via Centralized and Decentralized Platooning Decisions

Thanks to advanced technologies like Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, platooning is becoming more and more useful as a method to potentially increase road capacity and reduce energy consumption. While there are many studies in the literature reporting significant fuel and energy savings as a result of platooning, these studies are ignoring the extra energy required to maintain vehicles in close formation referred to as string stability. Also, there are other factors many of the current studies are not considering such as the position of a vehicle in a platoon, the background traffic that may complicate the process of forming platoons, and the vehicle type. Thus, optimizing and quantifying the savings that may be gained from platooning is challenging. In this study, we develop a simulation-optimization framework to tackle this challenge. The simulation model simulates real traffic conditions for individual vehicles and platoons. Additionally, the simulation model implements platoon forming decisions obtained from an optimization model. Vissim is used to simulate the actions taken by all the vehicles and platoons and capture the energy expended by each vehicle over its entire trip duration. Our optimization model determines vehicle-to-platoon assignments given the locations, speed, and acceleration of vehicles and platoons. Particularly, we concentrate two different optimization models. One is a centralized model to make platooning decisions with aim to maximize potential energy savings system-wide. On the other hand, a decentralized model utilizing a competition game is developed to make decisions for individual vehicle energy saving purpose. In addition to the simulation- optimization framework, an accurate energy consumption model is developed, which is inspired by the work of Tadakuma and colleagues. The energy consumption model utilizes a hybrid prediction formula for aerodynamic drag reduction in multi-vehicle formations unifying both physical mechanisms and existing empirical study data. In addition to the centralized and decentralized decision making models, we track a single platoon to observe the energy consumption for this one platoon under different parameters in order to better understand the factors that impact energy savings. Our results show that a system-wide savings of about 3% in centralized model, and 1.5% in decentralized model can be realized over 100 miles when platoons are formed strategically. Comparison between two models also confirm, as expected, that the centralized model forms better platoons in terms of energy savings

Trained immunity: a cutting edge approach for designing novel vaccines against parasitic diseases?

The preventive situation of parasitosis, a global public health burden especially for developing countries, is not looking that good. Similar to other infections, vaccines would be the best choice for preventing and controlling parasitic infection. However, ideal antigenic molecules for vaccine development have not been identified so far, resulting from the complicated life history and enormous genomes of the parasites. Furthermore, the suppression or down-regulation of anti-infectious immunity mediated by the parasites or their derived molecules can compromise the effect of parasitic vaccines. Comparing the early immune profiles of several parasites in the permissive and non-permissive hosts, a robust innate immune response is proposed to be a critical event to eliminate the parasites. Therefore, enhancing innate immunity may be essential for designing novel and effective parasitic vaccines. The newly emerging trained immunity (also termed innate immune memory) has been increasingly recognized to provide a novel perspective for vaccine development targeting innate immunity. This article reviews the current status of parasitic vaccines and anti-infectious immunity, as well as the conception, characteristics, and mechanisms of trained immunity and its research progress in Parasitology, highlighting the possible consideration of trained immunity in designing novel vaccines against parasitic diseases

Influence of Chrysanthemum morifolium-maize intercropping pattern on yield, quality, soil condition, and rhizosphere soil microbial communities of C. morifolium

IntroductionChrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. is a perennial herb in the Compositae family, often employed in traditional Chinese medicine due to its medicinal value. The planting of C. morifolium faces the challenges of continuous cropping, and intercropping is able to somewhat overcome the obstacles of continuous cropping.MethodsIn our study, we designed two different C. morifolium-maize intercropping patterns, including C. morifolium-maize narrow-wide row planting (IS) and C. morifolium-maize middle row planting (IM). Compared with monoculture, the agronomic traits, yield, active ingredients, soil physicochemical properties, soil enzyme activities, and rhizosphere soil microbial communities of C. morifolium and maize were measured under the two C. morifolium-maize intercropping patterns.ResultsThe findings indicated that (1) Intercropping elevated the agronomic traits, yield, and active ingredients of C. morifolium, especially in C. morifolium-maize narrow-wide row planting pattern, which indicating that interspecific distance played an important role in intercropping system; (2) Intercropping enhanced soil physicochemical properties and enzyme activities of C. morifolium and maize; (3) Intercropping altered rhizosphere soil microbial communities of C. morifolium and maize, making microbial interrelationships more complex. (4) Intercropping could recruit a large number of beneficial microorganisms enrich in the soil, including Bacillus, Sphingomonas, Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, Chaetomium, and Ceratorhiza, which may increase the content of AN, NN, AvK, ExCa, AvCu, AvZn and other nutrients in soil and promoted the growth and quality of C. morifolium.DiscussionIn summary, intercropping with maize could promote the accumulation of beneficial microorganisms in the soil, thus improving the overall growing environment, and finally realizing the growth and improvement of C. morifolium

Germplasm resources, genetic diversity, functional genes, genetic breeding, and prospects of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit: a review

Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit. is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant that has been widely used in China, Japan and Korea to relieve cough, vomiting, and inflammation. This review summarizes the recent research focus on germplasm resources, genetic diversity, functional genes, genetic breeding and prospects of P. ternata. The impact of germplasm resources and biogeography are the key factors of the effects of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, avoiding the medical negligence caused by using the confused medicine. Genetic diversity and genetic breeding are the basis of germplasm improvement. A virus-free technique of tissue culture is used to rapid propagation of P. ternata, promoting the production of seedlings without season restrictions. Functional gene research is the theoretical basis and target of germplasm improvement. Many genes, such as PtsHSP17.2 and PtSAD have been confirmed to play an important role in heat stress, guiding the selection and breeding of heat-resistant and drought-resistant P. ternata resources. Still, some problems exist in the production of P. ternata, presenting a challenge in breeding and cultivation. We summarize previous studies here and propose directions for further study to advance the research in the production of P. ternata

Framework for Accommodating Emerging Autonomous Vehicles

69A3551747117In the era of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, platooning has the potential to increase roadway capacity and reduce energy consumption. However, vehicles may expend extra energy as they try to form platoons. Also, depending on its position within a platoon, the energy savings of each vehicle can be different. Thus, optimizing and quantifying the savings that may be gained from platooning is challenging. In this project, we develop a simulation-optimization framework to tackle the challenge of quantifying energy savings from platooning. Our optimization model determines vehicle-to-platoon assignments given the current location, speed, and destination of all the vehicles and platoons on the freeway. The simulation model takes these platooning decisions from the optimization model and implements them. Vissim is used to simulate the actions taken by all the vehicles and platoons and capture the energy expended by each vehicle over its entire trip duration. The system is simulated with and without platooning to quantify the energy savings. The optimization model is turned off when assessing the system's performance without platooning. In addition to the simulation-optimization framework, an accurate energy consumption model is developed in this project, inspired by Tadakuma and colleagues' work. The energy consumption model utilizes a hybrid prediction formula for aerodynamic drag reduction in multivehicle formations unifying both physical mechanisms and existing empirical study data. Our results show that a system-wide savings of about 3% can be realized over 160 kilometers when platoons are formed strategically

Metabolome Profiling of Eight Chinese Yam (Dioscorea polystachya Turcz.) Varieties Reveals Metabolite Diversity and Variety Specific Uses

The Chinese yam (Dioscorea polystachya Turcz.) is an underutilized orphan tuber crop. However, in China it has been used in traditional medicine and food for centuries due to the presence of high starch, protein, fiber, and biologically active compounds. Knowledge on the metabolomic profiles of Chinese yam varieties is needed to explore the underutilized metabolites and variety specific uses. Here, the metabolome of eight Chinese yam varieties that are cultivated in different Chinese regions was profiled. A total of 431 metabolites belonging to different biochemical classes was detected. The majority of detected metabolites were classified as amino acids and derivatives. The different yam varieties offer unique uses; e.g., Hebei Ma Yam, Henan Huai Yam, and Henan Wild Yam were the most metabolically enriched and suitable as food and medicine. Yams from Hubei region had comparable nutritional profiles, which is most probably due to their geographical origin. Specifically, Henan Wild Yam had the highest concentrations of diosgenin, vitamins, and polysaccharides. Overall, this study presents a metabolome reference for D. polystachya varieties