Androgen Receptor Plays a Vital Role in Benomyl- or Carbendazim-Induced Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity and Endocrine-Disrupting Activity in Rats

Benomyl and its metabolite carbendazim were reported to induce reproductive and developmental toxicity and endocrine-disrupting activity in rats. The exactly underlying mechanism of reproductive and developmental toxicity and endocrine-disrupting activity still remain unclear. Based on our unpublished data it showed that the antiandrogen flutamide can completely recover the reproductive and developmental toxicity including embryolethality induced by benomyl and carbendazim in rats. This manuscript aimed to review and generalize the results based on our previous reports. Androgen receptor might play an important role in benomyl- and carbendazim-induced reproductive and developmental toxicity and endocrine-disrupting activity. The evidences were (1) androgen- and androgen receptor-dependent mechanisms are possibly involved in carbendazim-induced toxicity; (2) carbendazim exposure in utero displays a transient and weak androgenic effect and reduces flutamide antiandrogenicity in male rats; (3) antagonistic effect of flutamide on the carbendazim-androgenic effect on mRNA and protein levels; (4) benomyl and carbendazim exhibit an androgenic effect, leading to increase weight of ventral prostate and seminal vesicles and uterine fluid retention in young adult rats. The molecular underlying mechanism of reproductive and developmental toxicity and endocrine-disrupting activity induced by benomyl and carbendazim through androgen receptor need to be further investigated

The Forecasting of Humanitarian Supplies Demand Based on Gray Relational Analysis and BP Neural Network

This paper analyzes the characteristics of humanitarian supplies demand in the context of flood and discusses the disasters associated factors which influence the demand of humanitarian supplies. Then we choose the severe flooding whose grades is more than fifty year return period between 2004 and 2016 as the analysis objects，which is illustrated by the example of the Red Cross Society of China whose demand of relief tent in the flood. Finally, we set up gray relational analysis and BP neural network

Building Flexibility Estimation and Control for Grid Ancillary Services

The increased adoption of intermittent renewable energy, such as wind and solar, onto the electrical grid is increasing the need for greater demand flexibility and the development of more advanced demand management solutions. For example, in March 2017 solar and wind set record highs in California, contributing over 49% of its power supply. Furthermore, Hawaii has committed to meeting 100% of its electrical demand from renewables by 2045. This transformation requires solutions to robustly and cost-effectively manage dynamic changes on the grid while ensuring quality of service. Advanced demand response approaches are a key way of enabling this required grid flexibility. Advances in direct digital control of building systems, combined with the increased connectivity of end devices now enable greater participation. To achieve this, end devices will need to estimate the amount of grid services (flexibility) they can offer, and then automatically fulfil that commitment when called upon without noticeable loss in quality of service (e.g. indoor comfort). This paper presents data-driven methods for estimating the demand flexibility of commercial buildings and the control architecture to enable the execution of committed reserves while ensuring quality of service. In particular, we describe the methodology for 1) qualifying the HVAC system to provide three power grid ancillary services (frequency response, frequency regulation and ramping services) based on defined metrics for response and ramp time, 2) quantifying the magnitude and frequency bandwidth of the service it can provide, and 3) controlling the building’s cooling and heating demand within the specified flexibility limits to provide grid service. UTRC’s high performance building test-bed, a medium-sized commercial office building was used for the experimental study. The building testing was focused on the air-side electricity consumer - the supply air fans in the AHU. The resulting data verifies that air-side HVAC loads (ventilation fans) are sufficiently responsive to meet the requirements of frequency regulation (\u3c5 seconds response time) and ramping services (\u3c10 minutes response time) with ON/OFF control command, direct fan speed control, and indirect control through static pressure set-point adjustment. The proposed frequency regulation control changes the command to the AHU fan motor speed (and hence power consumption) by indirectly modifying the duct static pressure set-point to track a given regulation reference signal. This architecture was selected for equipment reliability and ease of implementation. The experimental frequency response data from static pressure set-point to AHU fan power consumption shows that each ventilation fan can provide up to 1.5 kW for frequency regulation (16.7% of its rated power) during operational hours without impacting the indoor climate or baseline controls, and the acceptable frequency range was identified as 0.0055 - 0.022 Hz based on the grid response metrics and controls requirement. The accuracy of the flexibility estimation and the performance of the frequency regulation controller were verified through closed-loop active response experiment. Moreover, we describe how a population of commercial buildings with different flexibilities can be engaged and coordinated to provide adequate and reliable frequency regulation service to the grid

Evaluation of Optimal Chiller Plant Control Algorithms in Model-Based Design Platform with Hardware-in-the-Loop

Chiller systems account for 31% of the total cooling electricity consumption of medium-sized commercial buildings within 25k-200k square feet. In the last decade, advanced controls such as model predictive control (MPC) has demonstrated energy savings that typically range from 5% to 15%. However, the installation and commissioning efforts to deploy MPC into existing building automation system (BAS) are often cost prohibitive and therefore undermine the energy saving benefit it brings into the game. This paper presents a framework and results of using model-based design (MBD) to evaluate the benefit and trade-offs of different chiller plant control algorithms for medium-sized commercial buildings including an optimization-based algorithm that can be deployed rapidly with little installation and commission effort. A high-fidelity dynamic simulation model for selected building types and climate zones were developed and implemented in the hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) platform. Baseline and optimization-based control algorithms were deployed in Automated Logic Corporation (ALC) controller hardware with their performance monitored through WebCtrl in real-time. The first contribution of this paper is the development and successful integration of Modelica-based high-fidelity dynamic models of chiller plants, air-handling units, and building envelope and zones. The building types of medium office and large hotel were selected and modeled in details. In particular, the building envelope and zone models were developed based on a direct translation of the selected DOE EnergyPlus reference building models, which are widely accepted in the building modeling community. The chiller plant was modeled with physics-based components such as chillers, pumps, valves, and pipes that include typical dynamics in a real chiller plant. Both primary-secondary and primary-only configurations were modeled and considered in the controls evaluation. The air handling unit was modeled based on the component models from Modelica Buildings Library developed by LBNL and includes a finite-volume based cooling coil model capable of calculating latent heat transfer. The second contribution of this paper is the demonstration of utilizing HiL platform to benchmark baseline and optimal control algorithms based on detailed whole-building level dynamic models. In the HiL setup, a real-world hardware controller is coupled to the high-fidelity simulation model and operates in real-time. The HiL setup provides the same interface for installation of overlay software as it would be a demonstration site BAS, eliminates the risk associated with seasonal operation and availability in demonstration sites, enables precise evaluation of energy savings potential for various internal and external building load scenarios

Interference-aware coordinated power allocation in autonomous Wi-Fi environment

Self-managed access points (APs) with growing intelligence can optimize their own performances but pose potential negative impacts on others without energy ef ciency. In this paper, we focus on modeling the coordinated interaction among interest-independent and self-con gured APs, and conduct the power allocation case study in the autonomous Wi-Fi scenario. Speci cally, we build a `coordination Wi-Fi platform (CWP), a public platform for APs interacting with each other. OpenWrt-based APs in the physical world are mapped to virtual agents (VAs) in CWP, which communicate with each other through a standard request-reply process de ned as AP talk protocol (ATP).With ATP, an active interference measurement methodology is proposed re ecting both in-range interference and hidden terminal interference, and the Nash bargaining-based power control is further formulated for interference reductions. CWP is deployed in a real of ce environment, where coordination interactions between VAs can bring a maximum 40-Mb/s throughput improvement with the Nash bargaining-based power control in the multi-AP experiments

Reliability analysis of elastic graphite packer in heat injection well during oil shale in-situ conversion

Heat injection well reaches temperatures above 400 ◦C during the process of heat injection, Heat injection is essential for oil shale in-situ conversion technology. The downhole of the and part of the high-temperature gas dissipates through the wellbore annulus. Consequently, in addition to causing energy loss, the dissipation causes thermal damage to the casing and wellhead. To avoid dissipation, components that are suitable for high-temperature environments should be sealed and used during heat injection while mining. Therefore, this study presents the design of a packer composed of elastic graphite rubber and a high-temperature-resistant material. The influence of numerous factors, such as downhole temperature, working load, and height of rubber, on the reliability of the packer was analyzed. Subsequently, the numerical simulation analysis of the packer reliability in in-situ conversion mining under high temperature and pressure environments was performed. The results indicate that when the operating temperature is stable, the operating load has the most obvious influence on the sealing reliability of the packer, whereas the change in the height of the rubber has the least significant effect on the maximum contact stress between the casing and rubber. The change in the operating temperature has the least significant effect on the overall sealing performance of the packer. Moreover, the rise of the temperature will increase the sealing reliability of the packer, and on the contrary, the drop in the temperature will decrease it.Cited as: Guo, W., Shui, H., Liu, Z., Wang, Y., Tu, J. Reliability analysis of elastic graphite packer in heat injection well during oil shale in-situ conversion. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2023, 7(1): 28-38. https://doi.org/10.46690/ager.2023.01.0

The Pragmatic Strategy to Detect Endocrine-Disrupting Activity of Xenobiotics in Food

Endocrine-disrupting activity induced by xenobiotics might pose a possible health threat. Facing so many chemicals, there is an issue on how we detect them precisely and effectively. The whole embryo culture (WEC) test, an ex vivo exposure lasting 48 hours with rat embryos of 10.5 days old, is used to detect prenatal developmental toxicity. We extended the WEC function to detect the endocrine-disrupting activity induced by environmental chemicals. Results showed that in the development of rat embryo, basically 17ß-estradiol, triiodothyronine, triadimefon, penconazole, and propiconazole exhibited no significant effect on yolk sac circulatory system, allantois, flexion, heart caudal neural tube, hindbrain, midbrain, forebrain, otic system, optic system, olfactory system, maxillary process, forelimb, hind limb, yolk sac diameter, crown-rump length, head length, and developmental score. In the immunohistochemistry, the positive control of 17ß-estradiol showed positive effect for its receptor expressions. These three triazoles induced expressions of ERα and ERß in WEC. This result basically meets the mode of action that triazoles were designed to disrupt the synthesis of steroid hormone. Here we gave a strategy to detect possible endocrine-disrupting activity induced by xenobiotics in food. This strategy is quick to initiate the whole rat embryo culture with 10.5 days to detect the hormone receptors such as androgen, estrogen, thyroid, aromatase activity and its related receptors