River water pollution has been reported globally. In suggestion to adapt sustainability approach, this study carry out to tests the structural equation model between sustainable development and water resources management in the Malacca River basin (Malaysia). The model consists of six latent constructs (anthropogenic activities; law, regulation and policy; land and water ecosystem; Malacca River; river water pollution; sustainability) and twenty four items based on 400 questionnaires which were completed and returned by the local residents of Malacca state. Selected study area is within Malacca River basin. The result show the Malacca River is influenced by water law-regulation-policy (β = 0.546, p < 0.001), anthropogen-ic activities (β = 0.145, p < 0.001), river water pollution (β = 0.142, p < 0.001), land and water ecosystem (β = 0.105, p < 0.01), as well as sustainable approach (β = 0.127, p < 0.5). It was found that a sustainable approach and water law-regulation-policy have a direct influence on anthropogenic activities, river water pollution, as well as the land and water ecosystem. In conclusion, this study suggests developing an earlier approach of the model involved with water resources management and sustainable development.
The increase of ship’s energy utilization efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions have been high lightened in recent years and have become an increasingly important subject for ship designers and owners. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is seeking measures to reduce the CO2emissions from ships, and their proposed energy efficiency design index (EEDI) and energy efficiency operational indicator (EEOI) aim at ensuring that future vessels will be more efficient. Waste heat recovery can be employed not only to improve energy utilization efficiency but also to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this paper, a typical conceptual large container ship employing a low speed marine diesel engine as the main propulsion machinery is introduced and three possible types of waste heat recovery systems are designed. To calculate the EEDI and EEOI of the given large container ship, two software packages are developed. From the viewpoint of operation and maintenance, lowering the ship speed and improving container load rate can greatly reduce EEOI and further reduce total fuel consumption. Although the large container ship itself can reach the IMO requirements of EEDI at the first stage with a reduction factor 10% under the reference line value, the proposed waste heat recovery systems can improve the ship EEDI reduction factor to 20% under the reference line value.
A kind of generalized proportional-integral(GPI) observer for descriptor linear systems is introduced. We first propose two complete parametric solutions to generalized Sylvester matrix equation corresponding to the left eigenvector matrices in the case of Jordan form. Then a parametric design approach for the observer is presented. The proposed method provides all parametric expression of the gain matrices and the corresponding finite left eigenvector matrix and guarantees the regularity and impulse-freeness of the expanded error system. Two numerical examples are given to explain the design procedure and illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
With the continuous increase of output power ratings, multi-phase (multichannel) interleaved power factor corrector (IPFC) is gradually employed in domestic and commercial inverter air-conditioners. IPFC can solve several main problems, such as power rating increase, power device selection, input current ripple reduction as well as inductor on-board mounting. But for a multi-phase IPFC, the key problem is that it should show rapid dynamic responds and good current sharing capability, so in this paper the aim is to improve the dynamic performance and current sharing capability by means of passivity control theory. Considering the power circuit topology of a four-phase IPFC, an EL (Euler-Lagrange) mathematical model is established when the IPFC operates in continuous conduction mode (CCM). Then the passivity of the four-phase IPFC is proved, and the passivity-based controller using the state variables feedback and damping injection method is designed. The proposed control scheme, which is easy to control and needs no proportion integral controller, has strong robustness on disturbance from singlephase AC input voltage, the load as well as the parameters of the employed devices. Even in wide-range load condition, the mains current has a fast dynamic response and the average output voltage almost keep unchanged. As a result, the main functions of the four-phase IPFC are implemented including nearly unitary power factor and constant DC output voltage. Meanwhile, the four-phase IPFC acquires an excellent current sparing effect after using passivity-based controller. The above analysis has been proved with simulated results by means of MATLAB/SIMULINK and experimental results, showing that the passivity-based IPFC controller has superior performances and feasibility.
The last study on n-alkanes in surface sediments of Taihu Lake was in 2000, only 13 surface sediment samples were analysed, in order to have a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of n-alkanes in the surface sediments of Taihu Lake, 41 surface sediment samples were analyzed by GC-MS. C10 to C37 were detected, the total concentrations of n-alkanes ranged from 2109 ng g−1 to 9096 ng g−1 (dry weight). There was strong odd carbon predominance in long chain n-alkanes and even carbon predominance in short chain n-alkanes. When this finding was combined with the analysis results of wax n-alkanes (WaxCn), carbon preference index (CPI), unresolved complex mixture (UCM), hopanes and steranes, it was considered that the long chain n-alkanes were mainly from terrigenous higher plants, and that the short chain n-alkanes mainly originated from bacteria and algae in the lake, compared with previous studies, there were no obvious anthropogenic petrogenic inputs. Terrestrial and aquatic hydrocarbons ratio (TAR) and C21−/C25+ indicated that terrigenous input was higher than aquatic sources and the nearshore n-alkanes were mainly from land-derived sources. Moreover, the distribution of short chain n-alkanes presented a relatively uniform pattern, while the long chain n-alkanes presented a trend that concentrations dropped from nearshore places to the middle of lake.
Feeder cells can promote cell proliferation and help overcome the developmental arrest of early embryos by producing growth factors. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feeder cells on the development of all single porcine parthenogenetic embryos in vitro. Firstly, we showed that the cleavage and blastocyst formation rate of all single procine parthenogenetic embryos co-cultured with feeder cells increased in contrast to those cultured without feeder cells (p<0.05). However, no statistically significant differences were observed between the blastocyst formation rate in the embryos co-cultured with 3 different kinds feeder cells namely oviduct epithelial feeder cells, granulose feeder cells and porcine fetal fibroblast feeder cells (p>0.05). Secondly, highly significant differences were observed between the cleavage and blastocyst formation rate (p<0.05) when the embryos were co-cultured with oviduct epithelial feeder cells in different volume drops ranging from 3 to 20 μL and the cleavage rate were the highest when cultured in 5 μL drops. Thirdly, the tempospacial pattern of the development of single embryos co-cultured with oviduct epithelial feeder cells was consistent with that of traditional multi-embryo culture, indicating that the co-culturing does not affect the developmental competence of the porcine parthenogenetic embryos. Finally, highly significant differences were observed between the cleavage and blastocyst formation rate with and without zona pellucida in vitro (p<0.05). In this study, a new adaption of in vitro co-culture of single porcine parthenogenetic embryos using feeder cells has been successfully established and this will facilitate further investigations to discover the mechanistic mode of developmental arrest of porcine embryos.
In this paper, a new lifting wavelet domain audio watermarking algorithm based on the statistical characteristics of sub-band coefficients is proposed. First of all, an original audio signal was segmented and each segment was divided into two sections. Then, the Barker code was used for synchronization, the LWT (lifting wavelet transform) was performed on each section, a synchronization code and a watermark were embedded into the first section and the second section, respectively, by modifying the statistical average value of the sub-band coefficients. The embed strength was determined adaptively according to the auditory masking property. Experiments show that the embedded watermark has better robustness against common signal processing attacks than present algorithms based on LWT and can resist random cropping in particular.
Culture gas atmosphere is one of the most important factors affecting embryo development in vitro. The main objective of this study was to compare the effects of CO concentration on the subsequent pre-implantation developmental capacity of pig embryos in vitro, including embryos obtained via parthenogenesis, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Pig embryos were developed in four different CO2 concentrations in air: 3%, 5%, 10%, or 15%. The cleavage rate of pig parthenogenetic, IVF, or ICSI embryos developed in CO2 concen- trations under 5% was the highest. There were no significant differences in the oocyte cleavage rate in ICSI embryos in CO2 concentrations under 3% and 5% (p>0.05). However, as CO2 levels increased (up to 15%) the blastocyst output on day 7, from parthenogenetic, IVF, and ICSI em- bryos, decreased to 0%. These findings demonstrate that CO2 positively affects the developmen- tal capacity of pig embryos. However, high or low CO2 levels do not significantly improve the developmental capacity of pig embryos. The best results were obtained for all of the pig embryos at a 5% CO2 concentration.
In this paper, crushability of foundry sand particles was studied. Three kinds of in-service silica sands in foundry enterprises selected as the study object, and foundry sand particles were subjected to mechanical load and thermal load during service were analyzed. A set of methods for simulating mechanical load and thermal load by milling and thermal-cold cycling were designed and researched, which were used to characterize the crushability for silica sand particles, the microstructure was observed by SEM. According to the user’s experience in actual application, the crushability of Sand C was the best and then Sand B, the last Sand A. The results indicated that mechanical load, thermal load and thermal-mechanical load can all be used to characterize the crushability of foundry sand particles. Microscopic appearances can qualitatively characterize the crushability of foundry sand particles to a certain extent, combining with the additions and cracks which are observed on the surface.
Sapelovirus A (SV-A) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus which is associated with acute diarrhea, pneumonia and reproductive disorders. The virus capsid is composed of four proteins, and the functions of the structural proteins are unclear. In this study, we expressed SV-A structural protein VP1 and studied its antigenicity and immunogenicity. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the target gene was expressed at high levels at 0.6 mM concentration of IPTG for 24 h. The mouse polyclonal antibody against SV-A VP1 protein was produced and reached a high antiserum titer (1: 2,048,000). Immunized mice sera with the recombinant SV-A VP1 protein showed specific recognition of purified VP1 protein by western blot assay and could recognize native SV-A VP1 protein in PK-15 cells infected with SV-A by indirect immunofluorescence assay. The successfully purified recombinant protein was able to preserve its antigenic determinants and the generated mouse anti-SV-A VP1 antibodies could recognize native SV-A, which may have the potential to be used to detect SV-A infection in pigs.
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