Improving the resilience of post-disaster water distribution systems using a dynamic optimization framework

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Improving the resilience of water distribution systems (WDSs) to handle natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes) is a critical step towards sustainable urban water management. This requires the water utility to be able to respond quickly to such disaster events and in an organized manner, to prioritize the use of available resources to restore service rapidly whilst minimizing the negative impacts. Many methods have been developed to evaluate the WDS resilience, but few efforts are made so far to improve resilience of a post-disaster WDS through identifying optimal sequencing of recovery actions. To address this gap, a new dynamic optimization framework is proposed here where the resilience of a post-disaster WDS is evaluated using six different metrics. A tailored Genetic Algorithm is developed to solve the complex optimization problem driven by these metrics. The proposed framework is demonstrated using a real-world WDS with 6,064 pipes. Results obtained show that the proposed framework successfully identifies near-optimal sequencing of recovery actions for this complex WDS. The gained insights, conditional on the specific attributes of the case study, include: (i) the near-optimal sequencing of recovery strategy heavily depends on the damage properties of the WDS, (ii) replacements of damaged elements tend to be scheduled at the intermediate-late stages of the recovery process due to their long operation time, and (iii) interventions to damaged pipe elements near critical facilities (e.g., hospitals) should not be necessarily the first priority to recover due to complex hydraulic interactions within the WDS

Why Can't We Accurately Predict Others' Decisions? Prediction Discrepancy in Risky Decision-Making

Individuals often fail to accurately predict others' decisions in a risky environment. In this paper, we investigate the characteristics and causes of this prediction discrepancy. Participants completed a risky decision-making task mixed with different domains (gain vs. loss) and probabilities (small vs. large), with some participants making decisions for themselves (the actor) and the others predicting the actors' decisions (the predictor). The results demonstrated a prediction discrepancy: predictions were more risk-averse than the actual decisions over small-probability gains and more risk-seeking over large-probability gains, while these patterns were reversed in the loss domain. Reported and predicted levels of emotional stimulation revealed a pattern that is consistent with the notion of risk-as-feelings and empathy gaps. Mediation analysis provided strong evidence that such prediction discrepancy is driven mainly by the predictor's underestimate of the intensity (not the impact) of the actor's emotional state

Protective effect of Yiguanjian decoction against DNA damage on concanavalin A-induced liver injury mice model

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the inhibitory effect of Yiguanjian decoction (YD) on DNA damage in Concanavalin A (Con A)-induced liver injury mice model and to explain the possible mechanism.MethodsTotally 120 male BALB/c mice were randomly divided into 6 groups, 20 mice each: normal group, model group, Bifendate group, YD low dose group, YD middle dose group and YD high dose group. Except normal group, liver injury model induced by Con A was established. While modeling, each mouse in YD group was given YD (0.4 mL/20 g per day) by intragastric administration (0.13 g YD for YD low dose group; 0.26 g for YD middle dose group; 0.52 g for YD high dose group). Bifendate group was given Bifendate (0.2 g·kg−1·d−1) by gavage. Normal group and model group were fed with same volume of physiological saline daily. After 8 weeks, the serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) were tested. The hematoxylin-eosin staining was used to evaluate the grade of liver inflammation and liver fibrosis stage. Hepatocellular DNA damage was detected by single cell gel electrophoresis technology. The protein expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Bax and MutT Homolog 1 (MTH1) was detected by western blotting and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Bax mRNA and MTH1 mRNA were detected by Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).ResultsYD can improve the degree of liver inflammation and fibrosis in the liver of chronic hepatitis mice, the dose effect relationship is remarkable (P < 0.05). YD can reduce liver cell DNA damage. The difference between YD middle dose group and model group was statistically significant (P < 0.05). YD middle dose group had decreased the protein expression of TNF-α in the mice liver of immunological liver injury (P < 0.05). YD can increase the protein expression of Bax (P < 0.05). Compared with normal group, the protein expression of MTH1 was decreased (P < 0.05), but there was no statistical significance between YD group and model group (P > 0.05). YD can increase the mRNA expression of Bax and MTH1 (both P < 0.05).ConclusionYD can effectively inhibit the DNA damage in immunological liver injury mice, the mechanism may be that it can decrease the TNF-α and increase the Bax and MTH1 expression

Individualized analysis reveals CpG sites with methylation aberrations in almost all lung adenocarcinoma tissues

Additional file 1: Table S1. Stable and reversal CpG site pairs identified in the samples measured by two platforms

Solving the battle of post-disaster response and restauration (BPDRR) problem with the aid of multi-phase optimization framework

This is a joint publication in collaboration with Prof. Zheng's water research group at Zhejiang University in China. The study was carried out for participating the competition of "Battle of Post-Disaster Response and Restoration (BPDRR)" organized in the WDSA/ CCWI 2018 conference, and our result was at the top level among all the participated teams. Two journal papers based on this study are under preparation.The Battle of Post-Disaster Response and Restauration (BPDRR) is a challenging optimization problem which requires the restauration of the B-city water distribution network (WDN) after an earthquake. More specifically, the water utility is looking to schedule the available three crews to isolate, repair or replace the damaged pipes to rapidly improve the system’s capacity of restoring the service. A many-objective analysis framework is used to identify the best way to respond to the disaster and restore functionality of the water distribution network for each post-earthquake scenario. The many-objective formulation focuses on a suite of six objectives, as follows: (1) time that the hospitals and the firefighting flows are without supply, (2) rapidity of recovery, (3) resilience loss, (4) average time each consumer (node) is without service, (5) number of consumers (nodes) without service for more than 8 consecutive hours, and (6) volume of water lost during the next 7 days after the event. We proposed a multi-phase optimization methodology in combination with manual intervention, which takes the advantage of evolutionary computation as well as engineering experiences. The method consists of three stages: (1) preliminary analysis; (2) sub-optimization; and (3) global optimization. A pressure-driven model is used to enable the pipe-breaking analysis as it can simulate the outflows and water shortages induced by pipe breaks. Such a strategy is expected to find feasible and optimal solutions in an efficient manner. The improved genetic algorithm is applied to solve the optimization problem. Details of the recovery strategy resulting from the proposed optimization method are provided. The results provide some value insights on how to make considerate optimal recovery plan. For instance, certain broken pipes have to be fixed between particular time stamps to avoid negative affects on the level of services at some critical facilities

A kognitív készségek rendszere és fejlődése

Additional file 7: Figure S1. The KEGG pathways separately enriched with hypermethylated (a) and hypomethylated (b) genes in at least 10% of the 539 TCGA lung adenocarcinoma samples

Room-Temperature Pressure Synthesis of Layered Black Phosphorus–Graphene Composite for Sodium-Ion Battery Anodes

Sodium-ion batteries offer an attractive option for grid-level energy storage due to the high natural abundance of sodium and low material cost of sodium compounds. Phosphorus (P) is a promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries, with a theoretical capacity of 2596 mAh/g. The red phosphorus (RP) form has worse electronic conductivity and lower initial Coulombic efficiency than black phosphorus (BP), but high material cost and limited production capacity have slowed the development of BP anodes. To address these challenges, we have developed a simple and scalable method to synthesize layered BP/graphene composite (BP/rGO) by pressurization at room temperature. A carbon-black-free and binder-free BP/rGO anode prepared with this method achieved specific charge capacities of 1460.1, 1401.2, 1377.6, 1339.7, 1277.8, 1123.78, and 720.8 mAh/g in a rate capability test at charge and discharge current densities of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, 10, 20, and 40 A/g, respectively. In a cycling performance test, after 500 deep cycles, the capacity of BP/rGO anodes stabilized at 1250 and 640 mAh/g at 1 and 40 A/g, respectively, which marks a significant performance improvement for sodium-ion battery anodes

Formation of PbSe/CdSe Core/Shell Nanocrystals for Stable Near-Infrared High Photoluminescence Emission

PbSe/CdSe core/shell nanocrystals with quantum yield of 70% were obtained by the “successive ion layer adsorption and reaction” technology in solution. The thickness of the CdSe shell was exactly controlled. A series of spectral red shifts with the CdSe shell growth were observed, which was attributed to the combined effect of the surface polarization and the expansion of carriers’ wavefunctions. The stability of PbSe nanocrystals was tremendously improved with CdSe shells