Assessing the wind energy potential of China in considering its variability/intermittency

While wind energy experienced massive deployment in the last decades, the intermittency of wind energy hindered its usage and hence leads to curtailment. It is imperative to quantify and mitigate the intermittency/variability of wind energy for research community as well as industry, but there are no consensus methods yet. The present study took the first attempt to quantify the cost of the variability/intermittency of wind energy with battery energy storage system, aiming at comprehensively assessing the spatial distribution of the exploitability of wind energy in China. The research found that the most abundant wind resources are located in Tibet Plateau, Hexi Corridor, Inner Mongolia in considering the abundance of wind resources, land use type, and landforms, as well as the variability of wind energy. In the near future, wind farms with the advanced energy storage technology in 2030 or 2050 could provide stable wind energy with marketing comparable prices, which is lower than the price of current coal-fired electricity (about 0.5 CNY/kWh). It is worth to note that the variability of wind energy in Qinghai Tibet Plateau could lead to high demanding of storage capacity and therefore unaffordable cost. The proposed methodology can be applied in different regions worldwide. The results of this study could also be a scientific foundation for policy makers for wind power development in China mainland

The regulations on cortical activation and functional connectivity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-primary somatosensory cortex elicited by acupuncture with reinforcing-reducing manipulation

IntroductionTraditional acupuncture with reinforcing-reducing manipulation is essential for clinical effectiveness, whereas the underlying central mechanism of it remains unknown. This study with multiple-channels functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) aims to explore cerebral-response modes during acupuncture with reinforcing-reducing manipulations.Materials and methodsFunctional near-infrared spectroscopy data were recorded from 35 healthy participants during the lifting-thrusting reinforcing manipulation, the lifting-thrusting reducing manipulation, and the even reinforcing-reducing manipulation with lifting-thrusting. The general linear model based (GLM) cortical activation analysis and the functional connectivity (FC) based on region of interest (ROI) analysis were combined to be conducted.ResultsIn comparison with the baseline, the results showed that three acupuncture with reinforcing-reducing manipulations similarly induced the hemodynamic responses in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and increased FC between the DLPFC and primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Specifically, the even reinforcing-reducing manipulation deactivated the bilateral DLPFC, the frontopolar area (FP), the right primary motor cortex (M1), the bilateral S1, and the bilateral secondary somatosensory cortex (S2); The reducing manipulation deactivated the bilateral DLPFC; The reinforcing manipulation activated the bilateral DLPFC, the left S1, and the right S2. The between-group comparisons indicated that the reinforcing-reducing manipulation induced opposite hemodynamic responses in the bilateral DLPFC and the left S1 and exhibited different FC patterns in the left DLPFC-S1, within the right DLPFC, and between the left S1 and the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC).ConclusionThese findings verified the feasibility of fNIRS for investigating cerebral functional activities of acupuncture manipulations, suggesting that the regulations on the DLPFC-S1 cortex may be the potential central mechanism for the realization of acupuncture with reinforcing-reducing manipulation’s effect.Clinical trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, identifier, ChiCTR2100051893

The Suitability Assessment of Agricultural Drought Monitoring Indices: A Case Study in Inland River Basin

Drought monitoring is an important scientific basis for drought impact evaluation and the selection of mitigation strategies. Since the drivers of drought vary among regions, there is no universal drought index applicable to different regions. The Shiyang River Basin, an inland river basin, located in Gansu Province, China, has a closed water cycle system. Drought is a dominant nature disaster for the sustainable development of the region. Thus, this is an ideal area to explore the suitability of drought-monitoring indices. Here, we took the Shiyang River Basin as an example, in order to explore suitable indicators for agricultural drought monitoring in inland river basins. This study assessed the twelve different widely used drought indices used for monitoring the impact of drought on crop growth, represented by net primary production (NPP). The results showed that the vegetation status-based drought indices (VCI and NVSWI) had the highest significant correlation (0.6 ≤ |R| ≤ 1, p p < 0.1). These four indices are good indicators for agricultural drought monitoring. Studies based on these four indices showed that agricultural drought has a tendency to slow down from 1982 to 2020. This is inconsistent with the monitoring of drought indices based on the meteorological variables that show a trend of increasing drought. This is mainly due to the increased efficiency of water management and its use in inland river basins. This indicates that other water resource information, such as runoff, should be included to construct an integrated agricultural drought-monitoring indices in management intensive regions, such as in an inland river basin

The Suitability Assessment of Agricultural Drought Monitoring Indices: A Case Study in Inland River Basin

Drought monitoring is an important scientific basis for drought impact evaluation and the selection of mitigation strategies. Since the drivers of drought vary among regions, there is no universal drought index applicable to different regions. The Shiyang River Basin, an inland river basin, located in Gansu Province, China, has a closed water cycle system. Drought is a dominant nature disaster for the sustainable development of the region. Thus, this is an ideal area to explore the suitability of drought-monitoring indices. Here, we took the Shiyang River Basin as an example, in order to explore suitable indicators for agricultural drought monitoring in inland river basins. This study assessed the twelve different widely used drought indices used for monitoring the impact of drought on crop growth, represented by net primary production (NPP). The results showed that the vegetation status-based drought indices (VCI and NVSWI) had the highest significant correlation (0.6 &le; |R| &le; 1, p &lt; 0.05) on NPP, and the integrated drought indices (DSI and ISDI) had the strong significant correlation (0.4 &le; |R| &lt; 0.6, p &lt; 0.1). These four indices are good indicators for agricultural drought monitoring. Studies based on these four indices showed that agricultural drought has a tendency to slow down from 1982 to 2020. This is inconsistent with the monitoring of drought indices based on the meteorological variables that show a trend of increasing drought. This is mainly due to the increased efficiency of water management and its use in inland river basins. This indicates that other water resource information, such as runoff, should be included to construct an integrated agricultural drought-monitoring indices in management intensive regions, such as in an inland river basin