Production Of Systems Research Articles

In-depth understanding of the microscopic mechanism of biochar carbonaceous structures during thermochemical conversion: Pyrolysis, combustion and gasification

The thermochemical utilization of biomass char is vital for addressing environmental pollution and the energy crisis. The carbonaceous structure plays a crucial role in this process, and understanding the conversion mechanism aids in optimizing biomass reactors. This study performs a comprehensive analysis of high-temperature rice husk char using 13C NMR, XPS, and FTIR techniques. The carbonaceous structure is classified based on carbon bonding modes and the forms of O and N. The reaction mechanisms of thermochemical transformations under various atmospheres (N2, O2, CO2, H2O) are investigated using ReaxFF-MD. The reaction characteristics are determined, and the reaction activities are compared. The results indicate that the nitrogen-containing heterocycles remain in pyridine-type pyrolysis products under the N2 atmosphere (pyrolysis). Repolymerization occurs in the initial stages of pyrolysis, with the size of aromatic rings affecting the formation of heavy components. Under the O2 atmosphere (combustion), the degree of complete carbon oxidation is linked to the number of aromatic rings. The reactivity of aliphatic carbonaceous structures depends on the hydrogen content. Under the CO2 atmosphere (gasification), the pyrrole-type structure exhibits the highest gasification activity. Aromatic structures with oxygen functional groups are more susceptible to reacting with CO2, indicating higher sensitivity. Aliphatic H atoms tend to be oxidized into H2O. Under the H2O atmosphere (gasification), hydrogen in the gasification of aromatic carbon primarily originates from H at the aromatic boundary. In N2 and CO2 atmospheres, the CO bridge bond breaks first, followed by reactions. In H2O gasification, the breaking of bridge bonds connected to aliphatic carbon occurs simultaneously with gasification. Each reaction system's product distribution and elemental migration processes are also determined. The findings provide valuable theoretical insights into the application of biomass char.

Root cause analysis of faults in cement pre-decomposition system using kernel principal component analysis and multi-scale symbolic transfer entropy

The industrial production process is complex, and when a fault occurs, multiple variables deviate from their normal state. In this paper, a solution is proposed which utilizes correlation and causality analysis to identify the root cause of failure at an early stage. Kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) demonstrates excellent monitoring performance in nonlinear systems. By applying the unified contribution graph method to KPCA, the main fault variables can be identified. Additionally, the Multi-Scale Symbolic Transfer Entropy (MSTE) method is employed to construct a delay causality diagram, addressing non-stationarity and lack of time-lag analysis. It considers time delays between variables while excluding indirect causality to diagnose the root failure point. The effectiveness of KPCA-MSTE is further validated by analyzing the failure process of a cement predecomposition system in actual production.

Key Challenges for In Vitro Testing of Tobacco Products for Regulatory Applications: Recommendations for the In Vitro Mouse Lymphoma Assay.

The Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS) is sponsoring a series of workshops to develop recommendations for optimal scientific and technical approaches for conducting in vitro assays to assess potential toxicity within and across traditional tobacco and various tobacco and nicotine next-generation products (NGPs), including Heated Tobacco Products (HTPs) and Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). This report was developed by a working group composed of attendees of the seventh IIVS workshop, 'Approaches and recommendations for conducting the mouse lymphoma gene mutation assay (MLA) and introduction to in vitro disease models', which was held virtually on 21-23 June 2022. This publication provides a background overview of the MLA, and includes the description of assay conduct and data interpretation, key challenges and recommended best practices for evaluating tobacco and nicotine products, with a focus on the evaluation of NGPs, and a summary of how the assay has been used to evaluate and compare tobacco and nicotine products.

A Functional Hydrogel Bead-Based High-Throughput Screening System for Mammalian Cells with Enhanced Secretion of Therapeutic Antibodies.

Droplet-based high-throughput screening systems are an emerging technology that provides a quick test to screen millions of cells with distinctive characteristics. Biopharmaceuticals, specifically therapeutic proteins, are produced by culturing cells that secrete heterologous recombinant proteins with different populations and expression levels; therefore, a technology to discriminate cells that produce more target proteins is needed. Here, we present a droplet-based microfluidic strategy for encapsulating, screening, and selecting target cells with redox-responsive hydrogel beads (HBs). As a proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate the enrichment of hybridoma cells with enhanced capability of antibody secretion using horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-catalyzed hydrogelation of tetra-thiolate poly(ethylene glycol); hybridoma cells were encapsulated in disulfide-bonded HBs. Recombinant protein G or protein M with a C-terminal cysteine residue was installed in the HBs via disulfide bonding to capture antibodies secreted from the cells. HBs were fluorescently stained by adding the protein L-HRP conjugate using a tyramide signal amplification system. HBs were then separated by fluorescence-activated droplet sorting and degraded by reducing the disulfide bonds to recover the target cells. Finally, we succeeded in the selection of hybridoma cells with enhanced antibody secretion, indicating the potential of this system in the therapeutic protein production.

Open-Loop Control Co-Design of Semisubmersible Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Using Linear Parameter-Varying Models

Abstract This paper discusses a framework to design elements of the plant and control systems for floating offshore wind turbines in an integrated manner using linear parameter-varying models. Multiple linearized models derived from aero-elastic simulation software in different operating regions characterized by the incoming wind speed are combined to construct an approximate low-fidelity model of the system. The combined model is then used to generate open-loop, optimal control trajectories as part of a nested control co-design strategy that explores the system’s power production and stability using the platform pitch tilt as a proxy in the context of crucial plant and control design decisions. The radial distance between the central and outer columns and the diameter of the outer columns of the semisubmersible platform are the plant design variables. The platform stability and power production are studied for different plant design decisions. The effect of plant decisions on subsequent power production and stability response of the floating wind turbine is quantified in terms of the levelized cost of energy. The results show that the inner-loop constraints and the plant design decisions affect the turbine’s power and, subsequently, the cost of the system.

Simulation of carbon dioxide direct air capture plant using potassium hydroxide aqueous Solution: Energy optimization and CO2 purity enhancement

While various methods of direct air capture (DAC) technology have been implemented, its widespread effectiveness hinges on achieving optimal design and process improvements, largely owing to the high energy costs involved. Literatures reports a substantial heat demand for high-temperature aqueous solutions DAC (HT DAC), ranging from 1420 to 2250 kWh per ton of CO2, accompanied by electricity consumption rates varying from 366 to 2790 kWh per ton of CO2. The present study adopts the HT DAC method with an aqueous KOH absorbent as its focus, aiming to mitigate energy consumption. Given that a substantial portion of energy consumption in comparable processes can be attributed to the calciner and slaker units, our research centers its attention on the Air Separation Unit (ASU) and the steam cycle unit, investigating their impact on the system's production capacity, the enhancement of CO2 purity, and the augmentation of equipment thermal recovery. Process optimization, results a remarkable increase in heat recovery (21.1 %) and significant reductions in utilities consumption. The outcomes indicate that this facility has the capacity to annually capture around 1.1 million tons of CO2 with a purity of 99 mol% for utilization across various industries. The process design necessitates 5.24 gigajoules (GJ) of heat and 343 kW-hours (kWh) of electricity per ton of captured CO2. Notably, in addition to fulfilling the internal electricity requirements, the facility can export 8 MWh of electricity per ton of captured CO2 to the grid.

The Dlt and LiaFSR systems derepress SpeB production independently in the Δpde2 mutant of Streptococcus pyogenes.

The second messenger molecule, c-di-AMP, plays a critical role in pathogenesis and virulence in S. pyogenes. We previously reported that deleting the c-di-AMP phosphodiesterase gene pde2 severely suppresses SpeB production at the transcriptional level. We performed transposon mutagenesis to gain insight into the mechanism of how Pde2 is involved in SpeB regulation. We identified one of the genes of the dlt operon, dltX, as a suppressor of the SpeB-null phenotype of the Δpde2 mutant. The dlt operon consists of five genes, dltX, dltA, dltB, dltC, and dltD in many Gram-positive bacteria, and its function is to incorporate D-alanine into lipoteichoic acids. DltX, a small membrane protein, is a newly identified member of the operon. The in-frame deletion of dltX or insertional inactivation of dltA in the Δpde2 mutant restored SpeB production, indicating that D-alanylation is crucial for the suppressor phenotype. These mutations did not affect the growth in lab media but showed increased negative cell surface charge and enhanced sensitivity to polymyxin B. Considering that dlt mutations change cell surface charge and sensitivity to cationic antimicrobial peptides, we examined the LiaFSR system that senses and responds to cell envelope stress. The ΔliaR mutation in the Δpde2 mutant also derepressed SpeB production, like the ΔdltX mutation. LiaFSR controls speB expression by regulating the expression of the transcriptional regulator SpxA2. However, the Dlt system did not regulate spxA2 expression. The SpeB phenotype of the Δpde2ΔdltX mutant in higher salt media differed from that of the Δpde2ΔliaR mutant, suggesting a unique pathway for the Dlt system in SpeB production, possibly related to ion transport or turgor pressure regulation.

Automated Monitoring and Visualization System in Production

In the modern world cyber-physical production systems are increasingly used. They allow you to control the flow of the technological process in production in real time. But the use of such an approach is greatly complicated by the fact that the equipment of many enterprises is old and cannot support the necessary functions. This is primarily due to the lack of the necessary sensors, as well as the corresponding software. Since the complete replacement of production equipment is very expensive, the task is to create separate monitoring systems. They must be able to integrate into the necessary parts of the production process. And they should also be cheap. In this work, we propose to build a model of such a monitoring and visualization system. The main attention in the work is focused on the hardware implementation of the proposed system and the relationship of its individual elements.

Circular economy for aquatic food systems: insights from a multiscale phosphorus flow analysis in Norway

As wild-caught fish become scarce, feed ingredients for farming fish, such as salmon, are increasingly sourced from agricultural plants that depend on mineral fertilizers. Since these fish are naturally carnivorous, they have difficulty digesting the phosphorus in plant-based feed. So additional phosphorus supplements are added to the feed, resulting in a disproportionate increase in mineral phosphorus use and emission. Aquatic food production is increasingly relying on agriculture and mineral phosphorus resources. The feed surplus and the excreta are seldom collected and recycled, leading to a massive loss of nutrients to water bodies and the seafloor, resulting in local risk for eutrophication. Norway currently produces more than half of the world’s Atlantic salmon, and it is set to increase production from currently 1.5 to 5 Mt. in 2050. This has large implications for feed supply and emissions globally. There is a lack of studies that analyze the phosphorus system in aquatic food production at a sufficient spatial and temporal granularity to effectively inform interventions for a more circular use of phosphorus. Here, we present a multi-scale phosphorus flow analysis at monthly resolution ranging between 2005 and 2021 for aquatic food production in Norway and quantitatively discuss the effectiveness of alternative strategies for improving resource efficiency. The results indicate that P emissions from aquaculture have nearly doubled in the period between 2005 and 2021. The P use efficiency (PUE) in Norwegian aquaculture was 19% in 2021. The addition of phytase to the feed could improve the PUE by 8% by reducing P supplements and emissions by 7 kt/y. The use of Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture close to fish farming sites could absorb emissions by 4 kt/y by creating new marine food products. Sludge collection systems could reduce P emissions by 4 to 11 kt/y, depending on the technology. Using the sludge in local agriculture would exacerbate the current P accumulation in soils close to the coastline, given that the animal density in this region is already high. Hence, a large and sophisticated processing infrastructure will be needed to create transportable, high-quality secondary fertilizers for effective sludge recycling in regions with a P deficit.

BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice differ in oxidant and antioxidant responses in innate and adaptive immune cells in an asthma model induced by cockroach allergens

Asthma is a complex and heterogenous disease affected by a multitude of factors. Several phenotypes of asthma exist which are influenced by various molecular mechanisms that include presence of antioxidant and oxidant enzymes in different immune cells such as dendritic cells (DCs), alveolar macrophages (AMs), neutrophils, and T cells. Close interaction between epithelial cells and dendritic cells initiates complex pathogenesis of asthma followed by involvement of other innate and adaptive immune cells. In chronic phase of the disease, these immune cells support each other in amplification of airway inflammation where oxidant-antioxidant balance is known to be an important contributing factor. Genetic variability in antioxidant response may influence the development of airway inflammation, however it has not been studied in mice yet. The two most studied mice strains, i.e. BALB/c and C57BL/6 are reported to have dissimilar airway responses to the same allergens due to their genetic makeup. In this investigation, we explored whether these strains had any differences in pulmonary oxidant-antioxidant system (Nrf2, SOD2, iNOS, HO-1, nitrotyrosine) in different immune cells (DCs, AMs, neutrophils, T cells), airway inflammation (presence of eosinophils and/or neutrophils) and mucus production in response to repeated cockroach allergen extract (CE) mouse model of asthma. Our data show that C57BL/6 mice had better induction of antioxidant system than BALB/c mice. Consequently, iNOS/nitrotyrosine levels were much exaggerated in BALB/c than C57BL/6 mice. As a result, BALB/c mice developed mixed granulocytic airway inflammation, whereas C57BL/6 developed mostly eosinophilic airway inflammation. Our data suggest that an exaggerated oxidant generation along with a weak antioxidant induction in response to a natural allergen on a susceptible genetic background may determine development of severe asthma phenotype such as mixed granulocyte inflammation.

Analysis of thermo-mechanical coupling characteristics of feed system of woodworking center based on fuzzy control algorithm

With the rapid development of science and technology, automatic control systems have been applied in more and more fields. At the same time, the requirements for the stability, accuracy, response speed, and self-regulation ability of the system are also increasing. In the wood processing industry, the heating system of factories is an important link to ensure normal production. Therefore, in order to further improve the production efficiency of the wood processing industry and enhance the stability and controllability of the heating system in wood processing production, this article takes into account the delay and coupling effects in the rapid heating process, and combines fuzzy control with temperature control to study and establish a woodworking thermal mechanical coupling model based on fuzzy control algorithm. The results show that compared with traditional PID control, fuzzy control has advantages such as short response time, small overshoot, high steady-state accuracy, fast steady-state recovery, and good dynamic and static performance. Under the condition of rapid heating, the existence of delay effect weakens the effect of Thermal shock, while the coupling effect not only affects the propagation of thermoelastic waves in the elastic body, but also weakens the weakening effect of delay effect on Thermal shock to a certain extent.

Application of Artificial Intelligence for Automated Defect Detection on Nuclear Power Plant Fuel Asssembly Components

For manufacturing nuclear fuel, Framatome's various plants and workshops carry out rolling operations of chemical and thermal treatment on zirconium tubes. After the finishing stages of these tubes, a series of checks are carried out, including a visual inspection of the final external surface, to ensure the quality and integrity of these cladding tubes, essential for nuclear safety. Today, this visual inspection is automated but requires a significant amount of time for an expert to review the rejected components by the current analysis system. To minimize the number of components rejected by the existing system while respecting the same level of defect detections, a study of the application of Artificial Intelligence was conducted. Two convolutional networks of a similar architecture have been developed: one for making a decision to sanction the tube and one to classify the type of rejection. In this article we present the architecture of the chosen neural networks, as well as the performance obtained for a large set of evaluation data from the rejections of produced tubes. Finally, we put these results into perspective by exposing the potential productivity gain using this system in production assisted by Artificial Intelligence.

Design of an Unordered Gripping System Based on 3D Vision

For the current mainstream 2D vision-guided robotic arm gripping system in industrial production, the vision part is seriously affected by the lighting environment, camera imaging distance, and other factors. It cannot provide more comprehensive 6DOF position information on the target workpiece and complete the gripping of mutually scattered and stacked workpieces. This paper designs a disordered grasping system based on the 3D vision to solve the above problems. In addition, the traditional Euclidean clustering algorithm and fast point feature histogram algorithm are improved to enhance the segmentation and feature recognition efficiency of the point cloud. The accuracy of the system is 94.3 % without stacking and 88.2 % with stacking, which is 5.2 % higher than the average accuracy of the system before the algorithm improvement and more than 2s higher than the time. The accuracy and speed of the system meet the requirements of general industrial production for a robotic arm grasping system, which has certain practical application value.

General layout design of mountain PV plant based on array spacing planning

Abstract Reasonable determination of the installation inclination and array spacing of PV power plant modules is essential to improve the power generation efficiency of PV power plants. This paper firstly derives the formula for calculating the north-south spacing of PV arrays with arbitrary slope inclination and visualizes the north-south spacing of complex mountain PV arrays using ArcGIS. Secondly, a mountain PV array system is proposed to ensure that the system can still operate at the maximum power point in real-time when the solar radiation intensity changes drastically due to unpredictable environmental variables. Finally, to verify the feasibility of the active PV array system in real-life production, an experimental platform is built, and an operational test experiment of the active PV array system under partial shading conditions is conducted, as well as a long-term power boost comparison test. The experimental results show that the mountain PV array system has a 95.7% matching degree in the operation test experiment, which can be perfectly adapted to most PV plants; in the power boost comparison test, the power generation of the traditional PV system is 254Wh, and the power generation of the mountain PV array system is 483Wh, which is about 1.9 times higher than the performance of the traditional PV system. The mountain PV array system has good adaptability to various harsh and unexpected conditions and solves the problem of improving the power output of PV systems in the shadow-shaded environment of mountainous areas, which improves the general usability of PV.

A Risk Characterization Model and Visualization System in Aluminum Production

Electrolytic aluminum operation accidents have caused great losses to countries and people. Therefore, taking two typical accidents of explosion and leakage in electrolytic aluminum production as the research object, the form of accident risk characterization was explored and a risk characterization visualization system was designed. Based on the methods of risk assessment and characterization, the likelihood and consequence of accidents were studied. The influencing factors of likelihood and a type of Euclidean distance formula were used to characterize the likelihood. The consequence portion was characterized by two components, with one being the failure degree determined by the accident and the other being the exposure degree of people and equipment. The intensity of event was used to characterize the failure degree and the spatial search model was used to characterize the exposure degree. Finally, the visual system of electrolytic aluminum operation accidents was established based on the risk characterization model.

Resilience assessment of the nitrogen flow system in food production and consumption for sustainable development on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

A robust and resilient nitrogen (N) flow system can effectively ensure consistent food production and consumption activities while preserving environmental quality. In this study, we constructed an indicator system to evaluate N flow system resilience including food production and consumption, at the county scale on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) from 1998 to 2018. The subsystem coupling coordination degree (CCD) and the effect of N losses on N flow system resilience were subsequently explored. The results indicated that despite the overall N flow system resilience remaining low and exhibiting spatiotemporal disparities from 1998 to 2018, over 90 % of the counties experienced improvements. High resilience areas (>0.15) were mainly concentrated in some counties in Sichuan Province, where N losses were positively correlated with system resilience. The level of resilience depended on agricultural and livestock development, and the CCD of subsystems was also high (>0.5) in this region, with the most balanced environmental and socioeconomic development. The low system resilience areas were concentrated in the eastern part of the QTP, where human activities caused substantial disturbances. The fragmentation of the agro-pastoral system coupled with the low system resilience of the food production and driving pressure subsystems led to low CCD between subsystems. In contrast, the western regions, characterized by a stable food production system, high food self-sufficiency, and weak dependence on external systems, showed a higher degree of system resilience and resistance. Our findings provide a reference for N resource management and policy formulation for food production and consumption in the agricultural and pastoral areas of the QTP.

Microalgae in Manaus and the potential of the productive spatial circuit and the use of the territory

Based on the polarity and potentiality of Microalgae production in the region of Manaus (AM) using biotechnologies. The research aims at an approach referring to: a) productive circuit; and b) land use. The bibliographic analysis was structured around the categories used. The circuit polarized by Manaus, that is, a regionalized dynamic, approaches the importance of the ideals of the formation of networks, as structuring of specific use of the territory, for the productive spatial circuit of Microalga, circuit worked by several subjects (economic, political, social, between others). What we identified indicates that the spatial productive circuit is surrounded by different forms of work and techniques, few forms of investment, but it is still lacking and far from S&T and management systems that are better founded and added to the productive systems, which concomitantly to the spatial circuit There is a type of solidarity system in the microalgae production, which is structured by individuals, public and private institutions that work together to overcome the difficulties related to production, distribution, circulation and consumption.

Heterosis and combining ability of two-line system in hybrid wheat production as a hybrid wheat technology in Egypt

Heterosis and combining ability of two-line system in hybrid wheat production as a hybrid wheat technology in Egypt

Semantic interference affects speech production by increasing disfluencies, not errors

Several studies have shown that different types of disfluency occur depending on the language production stage at which people experience difficulties. The current study combined a network task and a picture–word interference task to analyse whether lexical-semantic difficulty triggers errors and disfluencies in connected-speech production. The participants produced more disfluencies in the presence of a semantically related distractor word than an unrelated distractor word, while few semantic errors were made. These results support the hypothesis that difficulties at distinct stages of language production lead to distinct patterns of disfluency, with lexical-semantic difficulties leading to self-corrections and silent pauses. The results also have implications for the role of the monitoring system in connected-speech production.

Comparative Study of Flesh Quality, Blood Profile, Antioxidant Status, and Intestinal Microbiota of European Catfish (Silurus glanis) Cultivated in a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) and Earthen Pond System.

With the increasing demand for European catfish, traditional extensive growth methods in polyculture are no longer sufficient to meet market needs. Therefore, this study aimed to identify indicators for improving recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) technology by determining and comparing growth performance, flesh quality, blood profile, oxidative status, and intestinal microbiota parameters between fish cultivated in a RAS and an earthen pond. Results revealed that RAS-grown fish had a higher fat content compared to pond-grown fish, while no significant differences were found for growth parameters. Sensory analysis showed no significant difference in taste between the two groups. Blood composition analysis showed small differences. Oxidative status analyses showed higher catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities in RAS-grown fish and slightly higher superoxide dismutase activity in pond-grown fish. Microbial analysis showed differences in the intestinal microflora, with a higher total number of aerobic germs and anaerobic germs and a lower total number of sulfite-reducing clostridia in RAS-grown fish. This study provides valuable insights into the comparative performance of a RAS and a pond rearing system in European catfish production, potentially informing future growth technologies.