Biohydrogen by Rhodobacter sphaeroides during photo-fermentation: Mixed vs. sole carbon sources enhance bacterial growth and H2 production

Mixed carbon sources fermentation by bacteria is a promising approach for biohydrogen (H₂) production biotechnology. In the present study, growth and Н₂ production by purple bacteria Rhodobacter sphaeroides MDC6521 during mixed carbon sources (succinate + acetate, succinate + malate, and malate + acetate) photo-fermentation was investigated. The growth rate of bacteria in mixed carbon sources containing medium was of ∼0.33 h⁻¹ which was considerably higher (1.3–1.7-fold) compared with sole carbon substrate containing one. Moreover, the H₂ production during photo-fermentation of succinate and acetate mixture was of ∼6.5 mmol H₂ g⁻¹ (dry weight of biomass) and significantly more (∼2–3-fold) than that with appropriate sole sources and higher (1.5-fold) than that with succinate and malate mixture. Probably, supplementation of the mixed carbon sources into bacterial culture alters the mode of metabolism, resulting in enhanced H₂ production, thus they can be preferable compared to the sole carbon source. The changed F_OF₁-ATPase activity of membrane vesicles suggested its important role in the increase of Н₂ production efficiency. The results showed that mixed carbon sources provide more H₂ than the sole carbon substrates and succinate with acetate mixture is better than succinate with malate.     

An improved fitting method for subgroup parameters based on the heterogeneous cells

An accurate subgroup parameters fitting method, where background cross sections obtained based on heterogeneous cells are used to fit the subgroup level and subgroup weight, is proposed in this paper. Due to the dependence of background cross section on the subgroup level, the calculation of the subgroup parameters is a nonlinear problem, which causes the iteration between fitting subgroup parameters and updating background cross sections. The cubic spline interpolation method is used to update the background cross sections to avoid frequently solving fixed source equations. In the fitting process, the negative subgroup parameters are often obtained, and the accuracy of the subgroup parameters is very sensitive to the iterative initial values of subgroup levels. To avoid these problems, additional constraints ensuring positive subgroup parameters and guaranteeing numerical stability are added to the optimization function. Penalty function method is used to convert the optimization problem with constraints into the one without constraints, making the problem easy to be solved. The proposed method is tested against the problems of pin cell, pressurized water reactor assemblies and plate-type assembly. The numerical results show that the self-shielded cross sections calculated by the proposed method agree well with those by Monte Carlo code.     

异构分布式系统中一种新型主副版本调度算法

针对异构分布式系统中处理器数量相对较少时优先级约束条件带来的副版本调度易失败问题，提出一种新型高可靠性主副版本调度算法（HRPB）。任务模型以有向无环图（DAG）表示，该算法共计调度主、副两个版本的任务。在任务优先级排序阶段，根据任务执行时间及截止时限来制定新指标平均最晚开始时间（ALST）进行排序；在任务处理器分配阶段，采取多一重备份策略以解决处理器数量相对较少时优先级约束条件带来的副版本调度易失败问题，并且改进了副版本调度时的可靠性指标计算方法。通过随机生成DAG图进行算法仿真测试，实验结果表明，HRPB比eFRD具有更优的副版本调度成功率、更高的系统可靠性。     

A review on distributed generation impacts on electric power system

In 2021, the world's total installed capacity of generation units based on renewable energy sources (not including hydropower) amounted to about 1674 GW: over 825 GW and 849 GW of wind and solar power plants were installed respectively. The growing of the installed capacity of these distributed generators is a response to the increasing the power consumption, global environmental issues and has also become possible due to the development of technology in field of power semiconductor devices. However, on the way of large-scale implementation of distributed generators based on renewable energy sources, traditional electric power system meets new challenges to ensure the reliability and sustainability of new electric power systems with renewable energy sources. In particular, distributed generators change processes in the electric power system, impact to the parameters and power balance, change the magnitude and direction of power flow and short-circuit current, which determines the need to update the settings of the relay protection and automation systems of traditional electric power system and to coordinate their operation with automatic control systems of installed distributed generators. The above-mentioned tasks form a number of scientific research directions, one of which is a task of determining optimal size and location of distributed generators. The main purpose of this optimization task is to reduce power losses, operating and total electricity cost, improve the voltage profile, etc. In addition, the correct and reasonable placement of distributed generators defines an effective planning of the operating modes of electric power system and power plants (especially based on renewable energy sources, the operating modes of which depend on weather conditions and can be sharply variable).The paper highlighted the impacts of distributed generators on power losses, the voltage level, maintaining the power balance and the possibility of participating in the frequency regulation, and short-circuit current in power system. The optimization criteria, the main limiting conditions, as well as methods for solving this optimization problem are considered. This review will help the System operators and investing companies, especially in Russia, to form the main aim, objective function and constraints that will aid to meet their load demand at minimum cost and to choose from the options available for optimization of location and capacity of distributed generators.     

Heterogeneous oxidation of indoor surfaces by gas‐phase hydroxyl radicals

We investigate heterogeneous oxidation kinetics of monolayer‐thick, surface‐sorbed organics, namely di‐n‐octyl phthalate (DnOP) and palmitic acid (PA), with gas‐phase OH. The pseudo‐first order rate constants for organic loss at OH concentrations of 1.6 × 10⁸ molecules/cm³ are: (2.3 ± 0.1) × 10^?4 to (4.8 ± 0.8) × 10^?4 s^?1, and (1.3 ± 0.5) × 10^?4 s^?1 for DnOP and PA, respectively. Films developed in indoor office environments over a few weeks are also oxidized using the same OH concentration. Heterogeneous decay rate constants of mass signals from these films, attributed to phthalates (MW = 390.6) and to PA, are similar to those for the single‐component films, ie, (1.9 ± 0.4) × 10^?4 to (3.4 ± 0.5) × 10^?4 s^?1, and (1.1 ± 0.4) × 10^?4 s^?1, respectively. These results suggest that the lifetimes for OH heterogeneous oxidation of monolayer‐thick indoor organic films will be on the timescale of weeks to months. To support this argument, we present the first analysis of the mass transfer processes that occur when short‐lived gas‐phase molecules, such as OH, are taken up by reactive indoor surfaces. Due to rapid chemical production, the diffusion limitation to mass transfer is less important for short‐lived molecules than for molecules with little chemical production, such as ozone.     

Itinerarium Wittichi ex Calendarium Sculteti: New biographical evidence on the Breslau mathematician Paul Wittich (ca. 1546–ca. 1587)

In the present paper, I present and discuss some new information about the life of Paul Wittich from Wrocław, Poland (formerly Breslau, Germany), an elusive mathematician and astronomer of the late 16th century. Wittich seems to have played a significant role in the emergence of two important, though short-lived, developments of late 16th-century science: the so-called prosthaphaeresis calculating method, and the geoheliocentric model of the universe usually attributed to Tycho Brahe. His role in both achievements, however, has not been sufficiently explained so far, and it is my belief that one of the main obstacles to that endeavor has been our scarce knowledge about the details of Wittich's life. Thus, I attempt to reconstruct his life with aim of being able to evaluate, eventually, his involvement in the development of mathematics and astronomy towards the end of the 16th century, primarily with the use of whatever scant sources can be found concerning Wittich. The source that I present here—a notebook of Bartholomäus Scultetus, an astronomer from Görlitz—is known and has already been used, but only to a limited extent by the community of historians of science, or by those of astronomy and mathematics. By presenting the information about Wittich from Scultetus's notebook, I aim to bring this source to the attention of those communities, clarify some hitherto unclear details from Wittich's life, and set out new paths for further investigation into his biography.     

High-speed,two-dimensional digital image correlation algorithm using heterogeneous (CPU-GPU) framework

Two-dimensional digital image correlation (2D-DIC) is an experimental technique used to measure in-plane displacement of a test specimen. Real-time measurement of full-field displacement data is challenging due to enormous computational load of the algorithm. In order to improve the computational speed, the focus of recent research works has been on the approach of parallelization across subsets within image pairs using graphics processing unit (GPU). But alternate GPU-based parallelization approaches to improve the performance of this algorithm as per the order of data processing have not been explored. To address this research gap, our method utilizes parallelism within a subset as well as across subsets for each computation step in an iteration cycle. A heterogeneous (CPU-GPU) framework in combination with a pyramid-based initial values estimation for subsets (in parallel) is proposed in this work. The precompute steps of the proposed framework are implemented using CPU, whereas the main iterative steps are realized using GPU. It is demonstrated that the overall computational speed of the proposed heterogeneous framework improves by compared to a sequential CPU-based implementation for a pair of gray-scale images with a resolution of pixels. As an important milestone, feasibility to measure deformations in real time ( 1 s) is manifested in this study.     

Smart utilization of renewable energy sources in a microgrid system integrated with plug‐in hybrid electric vehicles

Mass roll‐out of plug‐in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and significant penetration of renewable energy sources in distribution system play a major role in delivering low carbon environment. However, placing and utilizing these units randomly result in overloading, increased power loss, and reduced voltage profile. This paper responds to these technical challenges by using a strategic placement method for locating the distributed generation (DG) and the charging station (CS) of PHEVs in a multi‐zone distribution system. For simultaneously scheduling of these units in each zone, the smart energy management framework is proposed in this paper. Apart from usual energy management constraints, this paper also incorporates the real‐time constraints involving the capacity of PHEV batteries, the mobility pattern, and the power level of the charging infrastructure. The simulation studies are carried out for each hour of a day. To cope with this time constraint execution, particle swarm optimization algorithm‐based approach is used. The proposed framework is tested in IEEE 33 and IEEE 69 bus radial distribution system. The obtained results imply that the presented energy management framework provides maximum profits for the vehicle owner, and meanwhile it fulfills preferences of the user in each zone simultaneously.     

Computational continua for linear elastic heterogeneous solids on unstructured finite element meshes

The computational continua framework, which is a variant of higher‐order computational homogenization theories that is free of scale separation, does not require higher‐order finite element continuity, and is free of higher‐order boundary conditions, has been generalized to unstructured meshes. The salient features of the proposed generalization are (i) a nonlocal quadrature scheme for distorted elements that accounts for unit cell distortion in the parent element domain and (ii) an approximate variant of the nonlocal quadrature that eliminates the cost of computing positions of the quadrature points in the preprocessing stage. The performance of the computational continua framework on unstructured meshes has been compared to the first‐order homogenization theory and the direct numerical simulation.