RanBP2-Mediated SUMOylation Promotes Human DNA Polymerase Lambda Nuclear Localization and DNA Repair

Cellular DNA is under constant attack by a wide variety of agents, both endogenous and exogenous. To counteract DNA damage, human cells have a large collection of DNA repair factors. Among them, DNA polymerase lambda (Polλ) stands out for its versatility, as it participates in different DNA repair and damage tolerance pathways in which gap-filling DNA synthesis is required. In this work we show that human Polλ is conjugated with Small Ubiquitin-like MOdifier (SUMO) proteins both in vitro and in vivo, with Lys27 being the main target of this covalent modification. Polλ SUMOylation takes place in the nuclear pore complex and is mediated by the E3 ligase RanBP2. This post-translational modification promotes Polλ entry into the nucleus, which is required for its recruitment to DNA lesions and stimulated by DNA damage induction. Our work represents an advance in the knowledge of molecular pathways that regulate cellular localization of human Polλ, which are essential to be able to perform its functions during repair of nuclear DNA, and that might constitute an important point for the modulation of its activity in human cells

Development and validation of a dynamic thermal model of a minibus using TRNSYS

[EN] The current paper presents a dynamic thermal model of a vehicle including two thermal zones, one for the front region (driver) and one for the back (passengers). The model, developed in TRNSYS, is able to predict the cabin¿s thermal behaviour under variable ambient temperatures and solar radiation. A minibus was used to validate the model using experimental data for ambient temperature, solar radiation and the indoor temperature of a minibus parked both inside and outside a garage in Torino (Italy). The proposed model accurately reproduces the warm-up and cool-down of the cabin. In addition, the model has been used to calculate the cooling load of the cabin during a summer day, and to quantify the thermal loads under variable ambient conditions. In future work, the model will be used to predict the dynamic performance of the A/C system in an urban driving cycle and to optimise the compressor control strategy.Daniela C. Vásconez-Núñez acknowledges the financial support provided by the CONVOCATORIA ABIERTA 2013-SEGUNDA FASE program, which was funded by the SENESCYT (Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación) (Grant No 2014-AR3R7463) of Ecuador.Vásconez-Núñez, DC.; Gonzálvez-Maciá, J.; Corberán, JM.; Payá-Herrero, J. (2018). Development and validation of a dynamic thermal model of a minibus using TRNSYS. International Journal of Vehicle Design. 77(1/2):87-107. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJVD.2018.098272S87107771/

Dynamic Modelling and Techno-Economic Assessment of a Compressed Heat Energy Storage System: Application in a 26-MW Wind Farm in Spain

[EN] One of the main challenges for a further integration of renewable energy sources in the electricity grid is the development of large-scale energy storage systems to overcome their intermittency. This paper presents the concept named CHEST (Compressed Heat Energy STorage), in which the excess electricity is employed to increase the temperature of a heat source by means of a high-temperature heat pump. This heat is stored in a combination of latent and sensible heat storage systems. Later, the stored heat is used to drive an organic Rankine cycle, and hereby to produce electricity when needed. A novel application of this storage system is presented by exploring its potential integration in the Spanish technical constraints electricity market. A detailed dynamic model of the proposed CHEST system was developed and applied to a case study of a 26-MW wind power plant in Spain. Different capacities of the storage system were assessed for the case under study. The results show that roundtrip efficiencies above 90% can be achieved in all the simulated scenarios and that the CHEST system can provide from 1% to 20% of the total energy contribution of the power plant, depending on its size. The CHEST concept could be economically feasible if its capital expenditure (CAPEX) ranges between 200 and 650 k€/MWThis work has been partially funded by the grant agreement No. 764042 (CHESTER project) of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.Sánchez Canales, V.; Payá-Herrero, J.; Corberán, JM.; Hassan, A. (2020). Dynamic Modelling and Techno-Economic Assessment of a Compressed Heat Energy Storage System: Application in a 26-MW Wind Farm in Spain. Energies. 13(18):1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/en13184739S1181318Nikolaou, T., Stavrakakis, G. S., & Tsamoudalis, K. (2020). Modeling and Optimal Dimensioning of a Pumped Hydro Energy Storage System for the Exploitation of the Rejected Wind Energy in the Non-Interconnected Electrical Power System of the Crete Island, Greece. Energies, 13(11), 2705. doi:10.3390/en13112705Shi, J., Yang, Y., & Deng, Z. (2009). A reliability growth model for 300 MW pumped-storage power units. Frontiers of Energy and Power Engineering in China, 3(3), 337-340. doi:10.1007/s11708-009-0032-yArgyrou, M. C., Christodoulides, P., & Kalogirou, S. A. (2018). Energy storage for electricity generation and related processes: Technologies appraisal and grid scale applications. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 94, 804-821. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2018.06.044Jockenhöfer, H., Steinmann, W.-D., & Bauer, D. (2018). Detailed numerical investigation of a pumped thermal energy storage with low temperature heat integration. Energy, 145, 665-676. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2017.12.087Steinmann, W.-D. (2017). Thermo-mechanical concepts for bulk energy storage. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 75, 205-219. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2016.10.065Thess, A. (2013). Thermodynamic Efficiency of Pumped Heat Electricity Storage. Physical Review Letters, 111(11). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.111.110602Guo, J., Cai, L., Chen, J., & Zhou, Y. (2016). Performance optimization and comparison of pumped thermal and pumped cryogenic electricity storage systems. Energy, 106, 260-269. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2016.03.053Attonaty, K., Stouffs, P., Pouvreau, J., Oriol, J., & Deydier, A. (2019). Thermodynamic analysis of a 200 MWh electricity storage system based on high temperature thermal energy storage. Energy, 172, 1132-1143. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2019.01.153Frate, G. F., Antonelli, M., & Desideri, U. (2017). A novel Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage (PTES) system with thermal integration. Applied Thermal Engineering, 121, 1051-1058. doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.04.127Mateu-Royo, C., Mota-Babiloni, A., Navarro-Esbrí, J., Peris, B., Molés, F., & Amat-Albuixech, M. (2019). Multi-objective optimization of a novel reversible High-Temperature Heat Pump-Organic Rankine Cycle (HTHP-ORC) for industrial low-grade waste heat recovery. Energy Conversion and Management, 197, 111908. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2019.111908Benato, A. (2017). Performance and cost evaluation of an innovative Pumped Thermal Electricity Storage power system. Energy, 138, 419-436. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2017.07.066Benato, A., & Stoppato, A. (2019). Integrated Thermal Electricity Storage System: Energetic and cost performance. Energy Conversion and Management, 197, 111833. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2019.111833Maximov, S., Harrison, G., & Friedrich, D. (2019). Long Term Impact of Grid Level Energy Storage on Renewable Energy Penetration and Emissions in the Chilean Electric System. Energies, 12(6), 1070. doi:10.3390/en12061070Steinmann, W. D. (2014). The CHEST (Compressed Heat Energy STorage) concept for facility scale thermo mechanical energy storage. Energy, 69, 543-552. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2014.03.049Hu, B., Wu, D., Wang, L. W., & Wang, R. Z. (2017). Exergy analysis of R1234ze(Z) as high temperature heat pump working fluid with multi-stage compression. Frontiers in Energy, 11(4), 493-502. doi:10.1007/s11708-017-0510-6He, Y.-L., Wang, R., Roskilly, A. P., & Li, P. (2017). Efficient use of waste heat and solar energy: Technologies of cooling, heating, power generation and heat transfer. Frontiers in Energy, 11(4), 411-413. doi:10.1007/s11708-017-0525-zHassan, A. H., O’Donoghue, L., Sánchez-Canales, V., Corberán, J. M., Payá, J., & Jockenhöfer, H. (2020). Thermodynamic analysis of high-temperature pumped thermal energy storage systems: Refrigerant selection, performance and limitations. Energy Reports, 6, 147-159. doi:10.1016/j.egyr.2020.05.010Steinmann, W.-D., Bauer, D., Jockenhöfer, H., & Johnson, M. (2019). Pumped thermal energy storage (PTES) as smart sector-coupling technology for heat and electricity. Energy, 183, 185-190. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2019.06.058Pereira da Cunha, J., & Eames, P. (2016). Thermal energy storage for low and medium temperature applications using phase change materials – A review. Applied Energy, 177, 227-238. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.05.097Cecchinato, L. (2010). Part load efficiency of packaged air-cooled water chillers with inverter driven scroll compressors. Energy Conversion and Management, 51(7), 1500-1509. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2010.02.008The Turbocor Family of Compressors Model TT300, Danfoss TURBOCOR. Datasheetwww.turbocor.com,USAPalkowski, C., Zottl, A., Malenkovic, I., & Simo, A. (2019). Fixing Efficiency Values by Unfixing Compressor Speed: Dynamic Test Method for Heat Pumps. Energies, 12(6), 1045. doi:10.3390/en12061045Estadísticas del Sistema Eléctrico | Red Eléctrica de Españahttps://www.ree.es/es/estadisticas-del-sistema-electrico/3015/3001OMIP Operador del Mercado Ibérico de Energía—Polo Portuguéshttps://www.omip.pt/El Mercado de Restricciones Técnicashttp://mifacturadeluz.com/mercado-de-restricciones-tecnicas/Puerto Escandón (España)—Parques eólicos—Acceso en línea—The Wind Powerhttps://www.thewindpower.net/windfarm_es_2253_puerto-escandon.phpFederico Bava DS D2.1 Case studies: User Requirements and Boundary Conditions Definition. CHESTERhttps://www.chester-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CHESTER_D2.1_Case-Studies_v5.0.pdfEstado actual de la energía termosolar (CSP)—HELIONOTICIAShttp://helionoticias.es/estado-actual-de-la-energia-termosolar-csp/Gallo, A. B., Simões-Moreira, J. R., Costa, H. K. M., Santos, M. M., & Moutinho dos Santos, E. (2016). Energy storage in the energy transition context: A technology review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 65, 800-822. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2016.07.028Smallbone, A., Jülch, V., Wardle, R., & Roskilly, A. P. (2017). Levelised Cost of Storage for Pumped Heat Energy Storage in comparison with other energy storage technologies. Energy Conversion and Management, 152, 221-228. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2017.09.04

Direct air capture based on ionic liquids: From molecular design to process assessment

Direct air capture is a key carbon dioxide removal technology to mitigate climate change and keep the global average temperature rise below 1.5–2 °C. This work addresses for the first time the use of ionic liquids for direct air capture connecting their material design by molecular simulation to process modelling. First, 26 different ionic liquids were designed through quantum chemical calculations and their isotherms were computed to identify those with a positive cyclic working capacity at conditions relevant for direct air capture. Then, the most promising ionic liquids were assessed via process simulations in Aspen Plus. A wide range of operating configurations were screened by modifying the key process variables: air velocity (1 – 3 m/s), solvent mass flow (5 – 50 t/h) and temperature (293 – 323 K), and regeneration pressure (0.1 – 1 bar) and temperature (373 – 393 K). Exergy, energy and productivity were computed to detect optimal operating conditions; moreover, a simplified economic analysis was carried out to highlight the major cost components. The direct air capture system based on [P66614][Im] exhibited the most exergy (5.44 – 16.73 MJ/kg) and energy (15.15 – 35.42 MJ/kg) efficiency for similar productivity (0.5 – 1.3 kg/(m3·h)) thanks to its enhanced cyclic capacity (0.6 – 0.3 mol/kg). The minimum exergy required by [P66614][Im]-based DAC process is slightly better than alkali scrubbing (6.21 MJ/kg) and in line with amine (5.59 MJ/kg) scrubbing. In addition, the assessed DAC process has a theoretical potential to operate in the range of 200 $/tCO2 under reasonable energy and plant expenses. We conclude this work providing guidelines to address future development of direct air capture technologies based on ionic liquidsThe authors are grateful to Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion ´ of Spain (project PID2020-118259RB-I00) and Comunidad de Madrid (project P2018/EMT4348) for financial suppor

Thermal characterisation of compact heat exchangers for air heating and cooling in electric vehicles

[EN] The use of air conditioning in all-electric cars reduces their driving range by 33% in average. With the purpose of reducing the energy consumption of the vehicle and optimising the performance of the batteries, the mobile air-conditioning can be integrated with the temperature control system of the powertrain by means of a coolant loop. In such layouts, the air-to-coolant heat exchangers must operate efficiently in both air heating and cooling modes. Dynamic simulation tools comprising the entire thermal system are essential to assess its performance. In this context, fast but accurate models of the system components are required. This paper presents the thermal characterisation of a commercial compact louvered-fin flat-tube heat exchanger (heater core) for this novel application, based on an experimental campaign comprising 279 working points that reflect real air-conditioning (heating and cooling) working conditions. A general methodology to fit a single correlation of the global heat transfer coefficient for both dry and wet working conditions is explained. The semiempirical correlation developed is employed in a single-node model of the heat exchanger that requires minimal computation time. The present model predicts the heat transfer rate with an average deviation of 3.5% in the cases with dehumidification and 1.9% in the cases when the heat exchanger remains dry.This work has been supported by the European Commission under the 7th European Community framework program as part of the ICE project ‘‘MagnetoCaloric Refrigeration for Efficient Electric Air-Conditioning”, Grant Agreement no. 265434. B. Torregrosa-Jaime acknowledges the Spanish Education, Culture and Sport Ministry (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte) for receiving the Research Fellowship FPU ref. AP2010-2160.Torregrosa-Jaime, B.; Corberán, JM.; Payá-Herrero, J.; Delamarche, JL. (2017). Thermal characterisation of compact heat exchangers for air heating and cooling in electric vehicles. Applied Thermal Engineering. 115:774-781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.01.017S77478111

Glutamate adsorption on the Au(111) surface at different pH values

Adsorbed amino acids can modulate the behavior of metal nanoparticles in advanced applications. Using a combination of electrochemical experiments, FTIR spectroscopy, and DFT calculations, glutamate species interacting with the Au(111) surface in solution are here investigated. Electrochemical results indicate that the adsorption behavior depends on the solution pH (which controls the glutamate ionization) and on the charge of the surface. Glutamate adsorption starts at potentials slightly negative to the potential of zero charge. The thermodynamic analysis of these results indicates that two electrons are exchanged per molecule, implying that both carboxylic groups become deprotonated upon adsorption. The FTIR spectra reveal that carboxylate groups are bonded to the surface in the bidentate configuration (with both oxygen atoms attached to the surface). Plausible adsorbed configurations, consistent with the whole of these insights, were found using DFT. -Additionally, it was observed that glutamate oxidation only takes place when the surface is oxidized, which suggests that this oxidation process involves the transfer of an oxygen group to the molecule, though, according to the FTIR spectra, the main chain remains intact.Financial support from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Project PID2019-105653GB-100) and Generalitat Valenciana (Project PROMETEO/2020/063) is acknowledged

Situación de las poblaciones valencianas del género Marsilea: medidas para su conservación

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] analiza la situación de las poblaciones valencianas de Marsilea batardae, M. quadrifolia y M. strigosa, así como las amenazas que actualmente pesan sobre ellas. Asimismo se comentan las medidas que se han puesto en marcha para asegurar su conservación, entre las que destacan las introducciones experimentales.The situation of Valencian populations of Marsilea batardae, M. quadrifolia and M. strigosa, as well as the threats that they suffer at present are analysed here. Likewise the measures applied to ensure their conservation, with emphasis on the experimental introductions, are commented

First principles study of the adsorption of C60 on Si(111)

The adsorption of C60 on Si(111) has been studied by means of first-principles density functional calculations. A 2x2 adatom surface reconstruction was used to simulate the terraces of the 7x7 reconstruction. The structure of several possible adsorption configurations was optimized using the ab initio atomic forces, finding good candidates for two different adsorption states observed experimentally. While the C60 molecule remains closely spherical, the silicon substrate appears quite soft, especially the adatoms, which move substantially to form extra C-Si bonds, at the expense of breaking Si-Si bonds. The structural relaxation has a much larger effect on the adsorption energies, which strongly depend on the adsorption configuration, than on the charge transfer.Comment: 4 pages with 3 postscript figures, to appear in Surf. Science. (proceedings of the European Conference on Surface Science ECOSS-19, Sept 2000