Rip currents near coastal structures in Lake Michigan: Characterization and assessment for warnings

Rip currents near coastal structures commonly occur in Lake Michigan in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Lack of timely warning due to undocumented characteristics of rip currents and no assessment tool can contribute to tragic drownings incidents. In this paper, we characterized rip current occurrences near breakwater structures and developed an assessment tool for providing timely rip current warnings to beachgoers at the study site, City of Port Washington, WI. Characteristics of rip currents near the structure were observed from field measurements or visual images. Deflection rip currents had speeds of ～ 0.2 m/s and lasted for several hours. The rip current occurrences were associated with environmental proxies. It was found that rip currents can occur even when the water appears calm near the structure. A Structure Rip Checklist and Assessment Matrix (SRiCAM) with a four-tiered risk was developed and validated using observations. Furthermore, the SRiCAM was integrated into cyberinfrastructure with a data contingency plan to provide real-time warnings to the public. The applicability of the SRiCAM to other locations across Lake Michigan was further tested and results are promising. Overall, the SRiCAM has the potential to be widely extended to foster recreational water safety and resilience to rip current hazards in the Great Lakes.     

Differential gene expression of the healthy conjunctiva during the day

PurposeTo determine if there is diurnal variation in gene expression in normal healthy conjunctival cells.MethodsBulbar conjunctival swab samples were collected from four healthy subjects in the morning and evening of the same day. The two swab samples were taken from one eye of each participant, with a minimum of five hours gap between the two samples. RNA was extracted and analysed using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq).ResultsA total of 121 genes were differentially expressed between the morning and the evening conjunctival samples, of which 94 genes were upregulated in the morning, and 27 genes were upregulated in the evening. Many of the genes that were upregulated in the morning were involved in defence, cell turnover and regulation of gene expression, while the genes upregulated in the evening were involved in signalling and mucin production.ConclusionsThis study has identified several genes whose expression changes over the course of the day. Knowledge of diurnal variations of conjunctival gene expression provides an insight into the regulatory status of the healthy eye and provides a baseline for examining changes during ocular surface disease.     

One-step synthesis of Co2P/N-P co-doped porous carbon composites derived from soybean derivatives as acidic and alkaline HER electrocatalysts

Developing inexpensive and efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in both acidic and alkaline mediums is of great significance to the hydrogen energy industry. Hereby, we prepared a mixture of precursors with homogeneous composition by using the chelating ability of soybean protein isolate (C and N source) and phytic acid (dopant and phosphating agent) with cobalt ions, and achieved one-step synthesis and construction of Co₂P/N–P co-doped porous carbon composite by carbonization at 800 °C. The as-synthesized Co₂P/NPPC-800 electrocatalyst exhibits low HER overpotentials of 121 and 125 mV at 10 mA cm^?2 in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ and 1.0 M KOH, which are close to those of the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Additionally, the NPPC substrate surrounding the Co₂P could diminish the corrosion during the HER, and Co₂P/NPPC-800 displays good stability and durability. Furthermore, this work offers a convenient synthesis strategy for phosphide/doped porous carbon composites in other electrochemical energy technologies.     

A novel method of shrimp blanching by CO2 heat pump: Quality,energy, and economy analysis

To reduce the energy consumption of the shrimp blanching process and improve the economic value of the blanched product, a transcritical CO₂ heat pump blanching system (THPB system) was designed in this paper. The trends of astaxanthin were investigated at atmospheric pressure near boiling temperature, combined with the color and structural properties of shrimp samples, and the optimal blanching times of 270 s and 240 s were obtained at 90°C and 95°C, respectively. In contrast to the fuel blanching system (FB system) at 100°C, the annual standard coal consumption of the THPB system with 90°C blanching is decreased by 79%, and the annual operating cost can be saved by CNY 63,800, with a payback period of about 3.13 years.Industrial relevanceBlanching is one of the effective ways to prolong the shelf life of shrimp. However, the research on the blanching time and temperature of shrimp is not comprehensive. In addition, the traditional fuel blanching process has high energy consumption and pollution, and can no longer meet the quality requirements of the modern food processing industry. Heat pump has been shown to have better performance in food drying, but it is less used in blanching. The information presented in this study may provide other insights into food processing.     

Crystalline lens thickness change is associated with axial length elongation and myopia progression in orthokeratology

AimsConsidering individual variability in regards to the effects of orthokeratology (ortho-k) on myopia progression and controversies regarding the precise underlying mechanism, the aim of this study was to investigate several ocular measurements associated with axial length (AL) growth in children wearing ortho-k lenses.MethodsIn this retrospective chart review, medical records of 53 Chinese children who wore ortho-k lenses over the course of 12 months were reviewed. Baseline variables included age at initiation of ortho-k wear, refractive error (spherical equivalent, SE), central corneal thickness (CCT), and flat and steep keratometry of corneal principal meridians. The change of anterior chamber depth (ACD) and the change of crystalline lens thickness (CLT) between baseline and the 12-month follow-up were also analyzed. The contributions of all analyzed variables to AL change were assessed using univariate and multivariate regression analyses.ResultsInitially, the results of paired t-test showed that CLT and AL were significantly increased after 12 months of ortho-k wear compared with that at baseline (P = 0.001 and < 0.001). The ACD did not change significantly after 12 months compared with that at baseline (P = 0.491). Subsequently, univariate analyses showed that a reduced rate of AL elongation was found in children who were older age at initiation of ortho-k wear (P = 0.028), had greater SE (higher degree of myopia) at baseline (p = 0.006), had thicker CCT at baseline (P = 0.04), and had greater increase of CLT (P = 0.001) in 12 months. At last, only greater SE (higher degree of myopia) and greater increase of CLT were associated with smaller increases of AL in multivariable analyses, (P = 0.003 and 0.001).ConclusionsBoth CLT and AL were significantly increased in children with overnight ortho-k wear after 12 months of follow-up. Greater baseline SE and greater increase of CLT were associated with less increase in AL during ortho-k wear in children with myopia.     

Coastal trapped waves in the southern Caspian Sea

Previous studies reported coastal trapped waves (CTWs) in the Caspian Sea (CS). This study deals with the generation mechanisms, the temporal and spatial variability of CTWs in this area, and their transformations during propagation from the origin to the destination using recent measurements and high-resolution numerical simulations. CTWs are observed at all stations with periods of 2–6 days after northerly storms. The Absheron Peninsula, old Sefidrud delta, and Nur coasts were identified as the CTWs prone regions. The generation of CTWs in these locations was confirmed using numerical experiments. The propagation away from the generating location of CTWs was analyzed using a representative real wind storm. In the west part of the CS, the generation mechanism of CTWs is mainly similar to the barotropic Kelvin waves; in contrast, it is similar to the continental shelf waves in the southern shelves. The results can be used to study the contribution of generated CTWs to the transport of sediment and biological materials in all large lakes.     

The use of seed texture features for discriminating different cultivars of stored apples

The aim of this study was to identify the textural features of apple seeds with the highest discriminatory power for distinguishing the seeds of different apple cultivars with the use of discriminative classifiers. The seeds of apple cvs. Gala, Jonagold and Idared were scanned with the use of a flatbed scanner, and the acquired images were processed to calculate textural features from color channels: L, a, b, R, G, B, Y, U, V, H, S, I, X, Y and Z. The selected textures were used to develop discriminative models and distinguish the seeds of the examined apple cultivars. The analyses were performed for color spaces and color channels. The seeds of apple cvs. Gala and Idared were discriminated with 100% accuracy in models based on the textures from Lab and YUV color spaces and color channel L for the Naive Bayes, Multilayer Perceptron and Multi Class classifiers. The discriminatory accuracies of the seeds of all analyzed apple cultivars (Gala, Idared and Jonagold) ranged from 72% to 85%. The discriminatory accuracy of the textures selected from Lab color space for the Naive Bayes classifier reached 85%. The seeds of apple cvs. Gala and Jonagold were discriminated with 78–90% accuracy, and the discriminatory accuracy of the textures from Lab color space and color channel b for the Naive Bayes classifier reached 90%. The seeds of apple cvs. Idared and Jonagold were distinguished with 80–94% accuracy. The models based on textures from Lab color space and color channel b for the Naive Bayes classifier were characterized by 94% discriminatory accuracy. The study demonstrated that textural features are useful for discriminating the seeds of different apple cultivars.