Multistage Infrastructure System Design: An Integrated Biofuel Supply Chain against Feedstock Seasonality and Uncertainty

A biofuel supply chain consists of various interdependent components from feedstock resources all the way to energy demand sites. This study focuses on the design of an efficient biofuel supply chain system against seasonal variations and uncertainties of feedstock supply in an integrative manner. By integrating planning and operational decisions in a stochastic programming framework, we aim at finding an effective design strategy for biofuel supply chain that is economically viable and hedges well against a wide range of future uncertainties. A solution algorithm based on scenario decomposition is designed to overcome computational challenges involved in large-scale applications. A California case study is implemented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methods in evaluating the economic potential, the infrastructure needs, and the risk of wastes-based bioethanol production

RANKL/RANK promotes the migration of gastric cancer cells by interacting with EGFR

BACKGROUND: The incidence and mortality rates of gastric cancer (GC) rank in top five among all malignant tumors. Chemokines and their receptor-signaling pathways reportedly play key roles in the metastasis of malignant tumor cells. Receptor activator of nuclear factor κB ligand (RANKL) is a member of the tumor necrosis factor family, with strong chemokine-like effects. Some studies have pointed out that the RANKL/RANK pathway is vital for the metastasis of cancer cells, but the specific mechanisms in GC remain poorly understood. RESULTS: This study reports original findings in cell culture models and in patients with GC. Flow cytometry and western blotting analyses showed that RANK was expressed in BGC-823 and SGC-7901 cells in particular. Chemotaxis experiments and wound healing assay suggested that RANKL spurred the migration of GC cells. This effect was offset by osteoprotegerin (OPG), a decoy receptor for RANKL. RANKL contributed to the activation of human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) family pathways. The lipid raft core protein, caveolin 1 (Cav-1), interacted with both RANK and human epidermal growth factor receptor-1(EGFR). Knockdown of Cav-1 blocked the activation of EGFR and cell migration induced by RANKL. Moreover, RANK-positive GC patients who displayed higher levels of EGFR expression had poor overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, we confirmed that with the promotion of RANKL, RANK and EGFR can form complexes with the lipid raft core protein Cav-1, which together promote GC cell migration. The formation of the RANK-Cav-1-EGFR complex provides a novel mechanism for the metastasis of GC. These observations warrant confirmation in independent studies, in vitro and in vivo. They also inform future drug target discovery research and innovation in the treatment of GC progression

Multistage Infrastructure System Design: An Integrated Biofuel Supply Chain against Feedstock Seasonality and Uncertainty

A biofuel supply chain consists of various interdependent components from feedstock resources all the way to energy demand sites. This study focuses on the design of an efficient biofuel supply chain system against seasonal variations and uncertainties of feedstock supply in an integrative manner. By integrating planning and operational decisions in a stochastic programming framework, we aim at finding an effective design strategy for biofuel supply chain that is economically viable and hedges well against a wide range of future uncertainties. A solution algorithm based on scenario decomposition is designed to overcome computational challenges involved in large-scale applications. A California case study is implemented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methods in evaluating the economic potential, the infrastructure needs, and the risk of wastes-based bioethanol production

Optimal Allocation of Multiple Emergency Service Resources for Protection of Critical Transportation Infrastructure

Optimal deployment of limited emergency resources in a large area is of interest to public agencies at all levels. In this paper, the problem of allocating limited emergency service vehicles including fire engines, fire trucks, and ambulances among a set of candidate stations is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming model, in which the objective is to maximize the service coverage of critical transportation infrastructure (CTI). On the basis of this model, the effects of demand at CTI nodes and of transportation network performance on the optimal coverage of CTI are studied. In addition, given a fixed total budget, the most efficient distribution of investment among the three types of emergency service vehicles is identified. To cope with the uncertainty involved in some of the model parameters such as traffic network performance, formulations based on various risk preferences are proposed. The concept of regret is applied to evaluate the robustness of proposed resource allocation strategies. The applicability of the proposed methodologies to high-density metropolitan areas is demonstrated through a case study that uses data from current practice in Singapore

Multistage optimization of the supply chains of biofuels

In this study, a mathematical model that integrates spatial and temporal dimensions is developed for strategic planning of future bioethanol supply chain systems. The planning objective is to minimize the cost of the entire supply chain of biofuel from biowaste feedstock fields to end users over the entire planning horizon, simultaneously satisfying demand, resource, and technology constraints. This model is used to evaluate the economic potential and infrastructure requirements for bioethanol production from eight waste biomass resources in California as a case study. It is found that, through careful supply chain design, biowaste-based ethanol production can be sustained at a compatible cost around $1.1 per gallon.Bioethanol production Sustainability Energy supply chain Multistage mix-integer optimization model Lingocellulosic biomass

Energy content, nutrient digestibility coefficient, growth performance and serum parameters of pigs fed diets containing tomato pomace

This study designed was to evaluate energy content and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients in tomato pomace (TP), and to determine the effects of TP on the performance of growing pigs. In Exp. 1, 12 barrows were allocated to 2 treatments, a basal diet or a diet containing 194.6 g/kg TP. Exp. 2, growing pigs (n = 180) were allocated to 5 treatments: T1 was a basal diet. T2 and T3 were diets containing 50 or 100 g/kg TP, respectively. T4 and T5 were based on T2 or T3 except that soybean oil (SBO) was added. Soybean oil was added such that digestible energy content was equivalent to basal diet. In Exp. 1, the DE and ME content of TP were 7.01 and 6.59 MJ/kg, respectively. The ATTD of DM, CP, GE, OM and NDF were 0.45, 0.54, 0.35, 0.46 and 0.39, respectively. In Exp. 2, TP addition linearly increased (P < .05) G:F and decreased (P < .05) ADG, ATTD of DM, EE, NDF, GE and OM. In 50 g/kg TP diet, SBO addition increased (P < .05) ATTD of DM, EE, NDF, GE and OM. Optimal supplementation of TP in diets is 50 g/kg for growing pigs, but increasing dietary energy density can largely eliminate the negative effects of fibre in TP. Abbreviations: ADFI: average daily feed intake; ADG: average daily gain; ALB: albumin; ALT: glutamic-pyruvic transaminase; AST: glutamic oxalacetic transaminase; ATTD: apparent total tract digestibility; BW: body weight; CLB: globulin; CREA: creatinine; G:F: gain:feed ratio; GLU: glucose; GSH-Px: glutathione peroxidase; HDL-C: high-density cholesterol; MDA: malondialdehyde; P: total phosphorus; SBO: soybean oil; SOD: superoxide dismutase; SUN: serum urea nitrogen; T-AOC: total antioxidant capacity; TC: total cholesterol; TG: total triglyceride; TP: tomato pomac

Inhibitory Impact of 3′-Terminal 2′-O-Methylated Small Silencing RNA on Target-Primed Polymerization and Unbiased Amplified Quantification of the RNA in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>

3′-terminal 2′-O-methylation has been found in several kinds of small silencing RNA, regarded as a protective mechanism against enzymatic 3′ → 5′ degradation and 3′-end uridylation. The influence of this modification on enzymatic polymerization, however, remains unknown. Herein, a systematic investigation is performed to explore this issue. We found these methylated small RNAs exhibited a suppression behavior in target-primed polymerization, revealing biased result for the manipulation of these small RNAs by conventional polymerization-based methodology. The related potential mechanism is investigated and discussed, which is probably ascribed to the big size of modified group and its close location to 3′-OH. Furthermore, two novel solutions each utilizing base-stacking hybridization and three-way junction structure have been proposed to realize unbiased recognition of small RNAs. On the basis of phosphorothioate against nicking, a creative amplified strategy, phosphorothioate-protected polymerization/binicking amplification, has also been developed for the unbiased quantification of methylated small RNA in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>, demonstrating its promising potential for real sample analysis. Collectively, our studies uncover the polymerization inhibition by 3′-terminal 2′-O-methylated small RNAs with mechanistic discussion, and propose novel unbiased solutions for amplified quantification of small RNAs in real sample

Post-discharge surveillance and positive virus detection in two medical staff recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), China, January to February 2020

Since December 2019, 62 medical staff of Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan, China have been hospitalised with coronavirus disease 2019. During the post-discharge surveillance after clinical recovery, swabs were positive in two asymptomatic cases (3.23%). Case 1 had presented typical clinical and radiological manifestations on admission, while manifestation in Case 2 was very mild. In conclusion, a small proportion of recovered patients may test positive after discharge, and post-discharge surveillance and isolation need to be strengthened

Effects of particle size and adaptation duration on the digestible and metabolizable energy contents and digestibility of various chemical constituents in wheat for finishing pigs determined by the direct or indirect method

Objective This experiment was conducted as a 3×2×2 factorial design to examine the effects of particle size (mean particle size of 331, 640, or 862 μm), evaluation method (direct vs indirect method) and adaptation duration (7 or 26 days) on the energy content and the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of various chemical components in wheat when fed to finishing pigs. Methods Forty-two barrows (Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire) with an initial body weight of 63.0±0.8 kg were individually placed in metabolic cages and randomly allotted to 1 of 7 diets with 6 pigs fed each diet. For the indirect method, the pigs were fed either a corn-soybean meal based basal diet or diets in which 38.94% of the basal diet was substituted by wheat of the different particle sizes. In the direct method, the diets contained 97.34% wheat with the different particle sizes. For both the direct and indirect methods, the pigs were adapted to their diets for either 7 or 26 days. Results A reduction in particle size linearly increased the digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) contents as well as the ATTD of gross energy, crude protein, organic matter, ether extract (EE) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) (p<0.05), and had a trend to increase the ATTD of dry matter of wheat (p = 0.084). The DE, ME contents, and ATTD of gross energy, crude protein, dry matter and organic matter were higher (p<0.05) when determined by the direct method, but the ATTD of ADF, EE, and neutral detergent fiber were higher when determined by the indirect method (p<0.05). Prolongation of the adaption duration decreased the ATTD of neutral detergent fiber (p<0.05) and had a trend to increase the ATTD of EE (p = 0.061). There were no interactions between particle size and the duration of the adaptation duration. The ATTD of EE in wheat was influenced by a trend of interaction between method and adaptation duration (p = 0.074). The ATTD of ADF and EE in wheat was influenced by an interaction between evaluation method and wheat particle size such that there were linear equations (p<0.01) about ATTD of ADF and EE when determined by the direct method but quadratic equations (p = 0.073 and p = 0.088, respectively) about ATTD of ADF and EE when determined by the indirect method. Conclusion Decreasing particle size can improve the DE and ME contents of wheat; both of the direct and indirect methods of evaluation are suitable for evaluating the DE and ME contents of wheat with different particle sizes; and an adaptation duration of 7 d is sufficient to evaluate DE and ME contents of wheat in finishing pigs

An Intelligent Algorithm for Aerodynamic Parameters Calibration of Wind Tunnel Experiment at a High Angle of Attack

In this paper, an intelligent algorithm for the aerodynamic parameter calibration of wind tunnel experiments of advanced layout aircraft at a high angle of attack is proposed. The proposed algorithm is based on a homologous comparison and tuning algorithm, and it can effectively improve the accuracy of the wind tunnel experiment model. First, based on the analysis of large oscillation wind tunnel experimental data of an advanced layout scaled aircraft, the high angle of attack wind tunnel experimental model composed of static derivative, dynamic derivative, and rotating balance derivative is established. Second, to improve the accuracy of the wind tunnel experimental model effectively, the idea of combing layered calibration and intelligent algorithm for high angle of attack homologous comparison correction is proposed. The proposed method solves the problems of complex structure, a large amount of data, and poor accuracy in homologous comparison of high angle of attack aerodynamic models of advanced layout aircraft. Finally, the homologous comparison interface software is designed based on MATLAB GUI, which integrates the proposed methods and ideas and realizes effective adjustment of aerodynamic parameters of high angle of attack simulation flight wind tunnel test of an advanced layout aircraft. This study provides a reliable engineering and technical means for subsequent high angle of attack flight test verification of the advanced layout aircraft