Improved bulk density of bamboo pellets as biomass for energy production

To the best of our knowledge, there is the lack of sufficient information concerning bamboo pellets. In the preliminary research, bamboo pellets showed a low bulk density which could not meet requirement of Pellet Fuels Institute Standard Specification for Residential/Commercial Densified (PFI). To improve its bulk density, pellets were manufactured using mixtures of bamboo and pine particles and the properties were investigated. It was found that adding pine particles to bamboo particles was an effective way to improve bulk density of bamboo pellets. When adding 40% pine particles to bamboo particles, bulk density of pellets increased from 0.54 g/cm3 to 0.60 g/cm3, meeting grade requirement of PFI utility. Furthermore, length, diameter and inorganic ash of pellets were also improved. Fine contents of pellets decreased from premium grade to utility grade according to PFI standard. Net calorific value also slightly decreased but it could meet the requirement of DIN 51731 (\u3e17,500 J/g). The effect of this interaction on bulk density, inorganic ash, Net calorific value, combustion rate and heat release rate were significant. The results from this research will be very helpful to develop bamboo pellets and provide guidelines for further research

Improved bulk density of bamboo pellets as biomass for energy production

To the best of our knowledge, there is the lack of sufficient information concerning bamboo pellets. In the preliminary research, bamboo pellets showed a low bulk density which could not meet requirement of Pellet Fuels Institute Standard Specification for Residential/Commercial Densified (PFI). To improve its bulk density, pellets were manufactured using mixtures of bamboo and pine particles and the properties were investigated. It was found that adding pine particles to bamboo particles was an effective way to improve bulk density of bamboo pellets. When adding 40% pine particles to bamboo particles, bulk density of pellets increased from 0.54 g/cm3 to 0.60 g/cm3, meeting grade requirement of PFI utility. Furthermore, length, diameter and inorganic ash of pellets were also improved. Fine contents of pellets decreased from premium grade to utility grade according to PFI standard. Net calorific value also slightly decreased but it could meet the requirement of DIN 51731 (\u3e17,500 J/g). The effect of this interaction on bulk density, inorganic ash, Net calorific value, combustion rate and heat release rate were significant. The results from this research will be very helpful to develop bamboo pellets and provide guidelines for further research

Many Labs 2: Investigating Variation in Replicability Across Samples and Settings

We conducted preregistered replications of 28 classic and contemporary published findings, with protocols that were peer reviewed in advance, to examine variation in effect magnitudes across samples and settings. Each protocol was administered to approximately half of 125 samples that comprised 15,305 participants from 36 countries and territories. Using the conventional criterion of statistical significance (p < .05), we found that 15 (54%) of the replications provided evidence of a statistically significant effect in the same direction as the original finding. With a strict significance criterion (p < .0001), 14 (50%) of the replications still provided such evidence, a reflection of the extremely highpowered design. Seven (25%) of the replications yielded effect sizes larger than the original ones, and 21 (75%) yielded effect sizes smaller than the original ones. The median comparable Cohen’s ds were 0.60 for the original findings and 0.15 for the replications. The effect sizes were small (< 0.20) in 16 of the replications (57%), and 9 effects (32%) were in the direction opposite the direction of the original effect. Across settings, the Q statistic indicated significant heterogeneity in 11 (39%) of the replication effects, and most of those were among the findings with the largest overall effect sizes; only 1 effect that was near zero in the aggregate showed significant heterogeneity according to this measure. Only 1 effect had a tau value greater than .20, an indication of moderate heterogeneity. Eight others had tau values near or slightly above .10, an indication of slight heterogeneity. Moderation tests indicated that very little heterogeneity was attributable to the order in which the tasks were performed or whether the tasks were administered in lab versus online. Exploratory comparisons revealed little heterogeneity between Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) cultures and less WEIRD cultures (i.e., cultures with relatively high and low WEIRDness scores, respectively). Cumulatively, variability in the observed effect sizes was attributable more to the effect being studied than to the sample or setting in which it was studied.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIP

Comparative Properties of Bamboo and Pine Pellets

Bamboo is a biomass material that has great potential as a bioenergy resource of the future. To the best of our knowledge, there is a lack of sufficient information concerning bamboo pellets. Bamboo and pine pellets were therefore manufactured using a laboratory pellet mill. This study was carried out to compare and evaluate the properties of bamboo and pine pellets as biomass solid fuels. Bamboo pellets exhibited better combustion properties except for inorganic ash and worse overall physical properties than pine pellets. Most properties of both pellets were improved through carbonization treatment except for bulk and particle density. The properties of all pellets determined in this study met the requirements of Pellet Fuels Institute standards except for bulk density of bamboo pellets, and the gross calorific value also met the minimum requirement for producing commercial pellets of DIN 51731 (>17,500 J/g) (1996). The information from this study is helpful for evaluating properties of bamboo pellets and developing and using bamboo resources

Improving TIGGE Precipitation Forecasts Using an SVR Ensemble Approach in the Huaihe River Basin

Recently, the use of the numerical rainfall forecast has become a common approach to improve the lead time of streamflow forecasts for flood control and reservoir regulation. The control forecasts of five operational global prediction systems from different centers were evaluated against the observed data by a series of area-weighted verification and classification metrics during May to September 2015–2017 in six subcatchments of the Xixian Catchment in the Huaihe River Basin. According to the demand of flood control safety, four different ensemble methods were adopted to reduce the forecast errors of the datasets, especially the errors of missing alarm (MA), which may be detrimental to reservoir regulation and flood control. The results indicate that the raw forecast datasets have large missing alarm errors (MEs) and cannot be directly applied to the extension of flood forecasting lead time. Although the ensemble methods can improve the performance of rainfall forecasts, the missing alarm error is still large, leading to a huge hazard in flood control. To improve the lead time of the flood forecast, as well as avert the risk from rainfall prediction, a new ensemble method was proposed on the basis of support vector regression (SVR). Compared to the other methods, the new method has a better ability in reducing the ME of the forecasts. More specifically, with the use of the new method, the lead time of flood forecasts can be prolonged to at least 3 d without great risk in flood control, which corresponds to the aim of flood prevention and disaster reduction

Microbial Fuel Cell for Renewable Energies Generation from Manure Treatment

In the process of society, high-density livestock farms have developed rapidly to satisfy the increasing demand for meat products. Excessive wastewater from the livestock farms accordingly brought multiple pollution and deteriorate the environment, with the wastewater containing abundant chemical energy regarded as futility. Furthermore, the ingredients of wastewater varied from distinct livestock farms as a result of different animal feeding habits. Consequently, it is a necessity for specific wastewater treatment applied to a certain farm to control various pollution incidents while effectively recovering the potential chemical energy in wastewater. Microbial fuel cell, a device that converts chemical energy in the organic matter directly into electrical energy by a microorganism, is expected to be integrated with the existing wastewater treatment systems to make up for the shortcomings of existing technologies, improve the treatment efficiency and energy recovery rate. Therefore, it is a predictable trend for the microbial fuel cell to be combined with the traditional farm wastewater treatment system. This article demonstrates two traditional manure treatment methods: composting and biogas fermentation, followed by an evaluation of four advanced wastewater treatment technologies merged with microbial fuel cell. It is concluded that incorporating microbial fuel cells with separate wastewater treatment system will be a consequential sustainable development strategy in the future, with the purpose of fecal water treatment and energy recovery efficiently achieved

Secrets behind Protein Sequences: Unveiling the Potential Reasons for Varying Allergenicity Caused by Caseins from Cows, Goats, Camels, and Mares Based on Bioinformatics Analyses

This study systematically investigated the differences in allergenicity of casein in cow milk (CM), goat milk (GM), camel milk (CAM), and mare milk (MM) from protein structures using bioinformatics. Primary structure sequence analysis reveals high sequence similarity between the α-casein of CM and GM, while all allergenic subtypes are likely to have good hydrophilicity and thermal stability. By analyzing linear B-cell epitope, T-cell epitope, and allergenic peptides, the strongest casein allergenicity is observed for CM, followed by GM, and the casein of MM has the weakest allergenicity. Meanwhile, 7, 9, and 16 similar or identical amino acid fragments in linear B-cell epitopes, T-cell epitopes, and allergenic peptides, respectively, were observed in different milks. Among these, the same T-cell epitope FLGAEVQNQ was shared by κ-CN in all four different species’ milk. Epitope results may provide targets of allergenic fragments for reducing milk allergenicity through physical or/and chemical methods. This study explained the underlying secrets for the high allergenicity of CM to some extent from the perspective of casein and provided new insights for the dairy industry to reduce milk allergy. Furthermore, it provides a new idea and method for comparing the allergenicity of homologous proteins from different species

Secrets behind Protein Sequences: Unveiling the Potential Reasons for Varying Allergenicity Caused by Caseins from Cows, Goats, Camels, and Mares Based on Bioinformatics Analyses

This study systematically investigated the differences in allergenicity of casein in cow milk (CM), goat milk (GM), camel milk (CAM), and mare milk (MM) from protein structures using bioinformatics. Primary structure sequence analysis reveals high sequence similarity between the &alpha;-casein of CM and GM, while all allergenic subtypes are likely to have good hydrophilicity and thermal stability. By analyzing linear B-cell epitope, T-cell epitope, and allergenic peptides, the strongest casein allergenicity is observed for CM, followed by GM, and the casein of MM has the weakest allergenicity. Meanwhile, 7, 9, and 16 similar or identical amino acid fragments in linear B-cell epitopes, T-cell epitopes, and allergenic peptides, respectively, were observed in different milks. Among these, the same T-cell epitope FLGAEVQNQ was shared by &kappa;-CN in all four different species&rsquo; milk. Epitope results may provide targets of allergenic fragments for reducing milk allergenicity through physical or/and chemical methods. This study explained the underlying secrets for the high allergenicity of CM to some extent from the perspective of casein and provided new insights for the dairy industry to reduce milk allergy. Furthermore, it provides a new idea and method for comparing the allergenicity of homologous proteins from different species