ALBERT

Description: Stand structure and topography are important factors affecting forest vegetation carbon density (FVCD). Revealing the interaction mechanisms between stand structure and topography on FVCD is of great significance for enhancing forest vegetation carbon storage and achieving regional carbon neutrality. Based on stratified sampling, systematic distribution and forest continuous inventory sample plots in Jiangxi province, the variation characteristics of FVCD and its correlations with stand structure and topographic factors were studied. The results are as follows: (1) The average FVCD in Jiangxi province was 44.23 Mg/ha, which was dominated by the carbon density of the arbor layer, accounting for about 81.39% of the total forest—far lower than the average level of global FVCD, which proved that the forest in Jiangxi province was dominated by middle-age and young forests with low carbon density, and also showed that the potential for forest vegetation carbon storage in Jiangxi province was huge. (2) Except for vegetation carbon densities of shrub and herb layers, the vegetation carbon densities of other forest layers in Jiangxi province were significantly different among different forest types. Volume per unit area was the most important factor affecting the vegetation carbon densities of arbor and total forest, and vegetation carbon density–volume models of the main forests were built for vegetation carbon density calculation in Jiangxi province. (3) The vegetation carbon densities of arbor layer, snag and log layer, and total forest increased significantly with increases in elevation and slope. Except for the shrub layer and herb layer, the vegetation carbon densities of the other layers and the total forest had extremely significant or significant differences between slope position gradients—indicating that the effect of topography on FVCD in Jiangxi province was significant, mainly through influencing of forest distribution and human disturbance intensity.

Description: Gut microbiota, a major contributor to human health, is influenced by physical activity and diet, and displays a functional cross-talk with skeletal muscle. Conversely, few data are available on the impact of hypoactivity, although sedentary lifestyles are widespread and associated with negative health and socio-economic impacts. The study aim was to determine the effect of Dry Immersion (DI), a severe hypoactivity model, on the human gut microbiota composition. Stool samples were collected from 14 healthy men before and after 5 days of DI to determine the gut microbiota taxonomic profiles by 16S metagenomic sequencing in strictly controlled dietary conditions. The α and β diversities indices were unchanged. However, the operational taxonomic units associated with the Clostridiales order and the Lachnospiraceae family, belonging to the Firmicutes phylum, were significantly increased after DI. Propionate, a short-chain fatty acid metabolized by skeletal muscle, was significantly reduced in post-DI stool samples. The finding that intestine bacteria are sensitive to hypoactivity raises questions about their impact and role in chronic sedentary lifestyles.

Description: The paper addresses the sustainability of the European Union’s food consumption through a water footprint assessment of selected vulnerable agricultural imports from a two-pronged perspective: (1) the degree of the EU’s dependence on global green water resources embedded in the apparent consumption of selected water-intensive agricultural products and (2) the degree of commitment of countries of origin to sustainability policies. The study argues that the vulnerability of the EU’s agricultural imports to water risks can be estimated based on the amount of green water consumed in producing crops in the countries of origin. The results show that the EU’s consumption of agricultural goods is highly dependent on virtual water imports for all six selected vulnerable agricultural products, from the lowest footprint for bananas (5 mil. km3) to the largest for coffee (69 mil. km3). The analysis also points to a greater concern for quality issues in the countries of origin (56.53%) relative to management (26.52%) and availability issues (16.85%), but the latter are to arise in importance for sustainable production in the years to come. Our conclusions contribute to building up a responsible commitment towards (1) development of environmental policies and the design of practical measures by providing quantitative information that makes problems more clearly defined and tangible, and (2) assessing the outcome of policies and practical measures by understanding their effects on the sustainability of food consumption.

Description: ArcheoBot is a prototype of a Telegram Bot: it is an experimental prototype that builds on the common digital experiences of the authors of this article, aiming to offer a quick, powerful, easy to use tool. It aims to serve archaeological and topographical investigations quickly and to interface with other software for the management of collected data.

Description: Background: After preterm birth, infants are at high risk for delays in language development. A promising intervention to reduce this risk is represented by the exposure to parental voices through book-reading in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). This study investigated the possible advantages of book-reading to preterm neonates during their NICU stay on their subsequent language development. Methods: 100 families of preterm infants were recruited. The parents of 55 preterm infants (Reading Group) received a colored picture-book on NICU admission and were supported to read to their neonate as often as possible and to continue after hospital discharge. Forty-five infants (Control Group) were recruited before the beginning of the intervention. Infant language development was assessed with the Hearing and Language quotients of the Griffith Mental Development Scale at the corrected ages of 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months. Results: Regardless of group membership, Hearing and Language mean quotients decreased between 9 and 18 months; nevertheless, this decrease was considerably reduced in the Reading group, compared to the Control Group. Conclusions: Reading in NICUs represents a suitable intervention that could positively influence language development and parent-infant relationships in preterm children. The study findings support its implementation as a preventive measure.

Description: Due to their low density, magnesium alloys are very appealing for light-weight constructions. However, the use of the most common magnesium alloy, AZ91 (Mg 9 wt.% Al, 1 wt.% Zn), is limited to temperatures below 150 °C due to creep failure. Several alloys with an improved creep resistance have been developed in the past, for example the alloy MRI 230D or Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants. However, there is an ongoing discussion in the literature regarding the mechanisms of the improved creep resistance. One factor claimed to be responsible for the improved creep resistance is the intermetallic phases which form during casting. Another possible explanation is an increased creep resistance due to the formation of precipitates. To gain more insight into the improved creep resistance of MRI 230D, nanoindentation measurements have been performed on the different phases of as-cast, creep-deformed and heat-treated samples of MRI 230D and Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants. These nanoindentation measurements clearly show that the intermetallic phase (IP) of the alloy MRI 230D does not lose strength during creep deformation in contrast to the Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants. High-temperature nanoindentation measurements performed at 200 °C clearly show that the intermetallic phases of the MRI 230D alloy maintain their strength. This is in clear contrast to the Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants, where the IP is significantly softer at 200 °C than at room temperature. Atom probe measurements have been used to gain insight into the differences in terms of chemical composition between the IPs of MRI 230D and the Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants in order to understand the dissimilar behaviour in terms of strength loss with increasing temperature.

Description: Apart from numerous technical challenges, the transition towards a carbon-neutral energy supply is greatly hindered by limited economic feasibility of renewable energy sources. This results in their slow and bounded penetration in both commercial and residential sectors that are responsible for over 40% of final energy consumption. This paper aims to demonstrate that combined application of sophisticated planning methodologies at building-level and presents incentive mechanisms for renewables that can result in prosumers, featuring hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES), with economic performance comparable to that of conventional energy systems. The presented research enhances existing planning methodologies by integrating appliance-level demand side management into the decision process and investigates its effect on the planning problem. Moreover, the proposed methodology features an innovative and holistic approach that simultaneously assess electrical and thermal domain in both an isolated and grid-connected context. The analyzed hybrid system consists of solar photovoltaic, wind turbine and battery with thermal supply featuring solar thermal collector and a ground-source heat pump. Overall optimization problem is modeled as a mixed-integer linear program, while ranking of all feasible alternatives is made by the multicriteria decision-making algorithm against several technological, economic, and environmental criteria. A real-life scenario of energy system retrofit for a building in the United Kingdom was employed to demonstrate overall cost savings of 12% in the present market and regulation context.

Description: The electric power industry sector has become increasingly aware of how counterproductive voltage sag affects distribution network systems (DNS). The voltage sag backfires disastrously at the demand load side and affects equipment in DNS. To settle the voltage sag issue, this paper achieved its primary purpose to mitigate the voltage sag based on integrating a hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) with the DNS using a distribution static synchronous compensator (D-STATCOM) system. Besides, this paper discusses the challenges and opportunities of D-STATCOM in DNS. In this paper, using HFC is well-designed, modeled, and simulated to mitigate the voltage sag in DNS with a positive impact on the environment and an immediate response to the issue of the injection of voltage. Furthermore, this modeling and controller are particularly suitable in terms of cost-effectiveness as well as reliability based on the adaptive network fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), fuzzy logic system (FLC), and proportional–integral (P-I). The effectiveness of the MATLAB simulation is confirmed by implementing the system and carrying out a DNS connection, obtaining efficiencies over 94.5% at three-phase fault for values of injection voltage in HFC D-STATCOM using a P-I controller. Moreover, the HFC D-STATCOM using FLC proved capable of supporting the network by 97.00%. The HFC D-STATCOM based ANFIS proved capable of supporting the network by 98.00% in the DNS.

Description: Horizontal wells can significantly improve the gas production and are expected to be an efficient exploitation method for the industrialization of natural gas hydrates (NGHs) in the future. However, the near-wellbore hydrate is highly prone to decomposition during the drilling process, owing to the disturbance aroused by the factors such as the drilling fluid temperature, pressure, and salinity. These issues can result in the engineering accidents such as bit sticking and wellbore instability, which are required for further investigations. This paper studies the characteristics of drilling fluid invasion into the marine NGH reservoir with varied drilling fluid parameters via numerical simulation. The effects of the drilling fluid parameters on the decomposition behavior of near-wellbore hydrates are presented. The simulating results show that the adjustments of drilling fluid density within the mud safety window have limited effects on the NGH decomposition, meanwhile the hydrates reservoir is most sensitive to the drilling fluid temperature variation. If the drilling fluid temperature grows considerably due to improper control, the range of the hydrates decomposition around the horizontal well tends to expand, which then aggravates wellbore instability. When the drilling fluid salinity varies in the range of 3.5–7.5%, the increase in the ion concentration speeds up the hydrate decomposition, which is adverse to maintaining wellbore stability.

Description: In the EU 28, the installed heating appliance stock is quite old, with an actual replacement rate of 4%. This is directly reflected in the average efficiency of the installed heating systems, where around 60% of the stock is rated with an energy class of C or D (the lowest classes of the energy label scale). The European project HARP aims at raising consumers’ awareness of the planned replacement of their old and inefficient heating appliances with more efficient and renewable solutions. In this direction, an energy labeling methodology for old appliances has been developed to rate the installed stock before the introduction of the EU energy label. The methodology has been developed for space heating appliances and water heaters, targeting two types of users: end consumers and professional users. The validation considered about 4600 space heating appliances and 800 water heaters built between 1972 and 2019. Three heating appliances and two water heaters were tested in the laboratory, confirming the reliability of the proposed methodology. The expected impact of defining an energy labeling methodology for installed heating appliances increases the current replacement rate of these appliances in the EU from 4% to 5%.