Analysis of renewable energy consumption and economy considering the joint optimal allocation of "renewable energy + energy storage + synchronous condenser".

As renewable energy becomes increasingly dominant in the energy mix, the power system is evolving towards high proportions of renewable energy installations and power electronics-based equipment. This transition introduces significant challenges to the grid's safe and stable operation. On the one hand, renewable energy generation equipment inherently provides weak voltage support, necessitating improvements in the voltage support capacity at renewable energy grid points. This situation leads to frequent curtailments and power limitations. On the other hand, the output of renewable energy is characterized by its volatility and randomness, resulting in substantial power curtailment. The joint intelligent control and optimization technology of "renewable energy + energy storage + synchronous condenser" can effectively enhance the deliverable capacity limits of renewable energy, boost its utilization rates, and meet the demands for renewable energy transmission and consumption. Initially, the paper discusses the mechanism by which distributed synchronous condensers improve the short-circuit ratio based on the MRSCR (Multiple Renewable Energy Station Short-Circuits Ratio) index. Subsequently, with the minimum total cost of system operation as the optimization objective, a time-series production simulation optimization model is established. A corresponding optimization method, considering the joint configuration of "renewable energy + energy storage + synchronous condenser," is proposed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through common calculations using BPA, SCCP, and the production simulation model, considering a real-world example involving large-scale renewable and thermal energy transmission through an AC/DC system. The study reveals that the joint intelligent control and optimization technology can enhance both the sending and absorbing capacities of renewable energy while yielding favorable economic benefits.

Biofilm-developed biomass residues as novel bulking agents and microbial carriers for synergistically enhanced bioevaporation: Degradation potential and contribution to metabolic heat.

Economical and easily prepared bulking agents and microbial carriers are essential in the practical application of bioevaporation process. Biofilm-developed biomass residues not only provide structural support and microbial sources but also may contribute metabolic heat to the bioevaporation process, achieving the enhanced water evaporation and synergistic treatment of biomass residues. In this study, biofilm was cultivated on the rice straw, wheat straw, sawdust, corncob, luffa cylindrica and palm first, then those biofilm-developed biomass residues were successfully used as the bulking agents and microbial carriers in food waste bioevaporation. The degradation potential (volatile solid degradation ratio) of those biomass residues was in the order of corncob (23.96%), wheat straw (21.12%), rice straw (14.57%), luffa cylindrica (11.02%), sawdust (-2.87%) and palm (-9.24%). It's primarily the degradation of the major components, cellulose and hemicellulose, in corncob and wheat straw governed the metabolic heat contribution (91.73 and 79.61%) to the bioevaporation process. While the high lignin content in sawdust (14.57%) and palm (28.62%) caused negligible degradation of cellulose and hemicellulose, hence made them only function as structural supporter and did not contribute any metabolic heat. Moreover, though the metabolic heat contribution of rice straw and luffa cylindrica reached 58.19 and 37.84%, their lowest lignocellulose content (62.99 and 65.95%) and their lower density, as well as the dominated Xanthomonas (bacteria) and Mycothermus (fungi) led to their rapid collapse during the repeated cycles of bioevaporation. The greatest abundance of thermophilic bacteria (22.3-88.0%) and thermophilic fungi (82.0-99.3%) was observed in the corncob pile. Furthermore, considering the Staphylococcus (pathogenic bacteria) and Candida (animal pathogen) was effectively inhibited, the biofilm-developed corncob was the most favorable bulking agents and microbial carrier for the synergistic bioevaporation of highly concentrated organic wastewater and biomass residues.

Evolution of lmiRNAs and their targets from MITEs for rice adaptation.

Twenty-four nucleotide long microRNAs (lmiRNAs) direct DNA methylation at target genes and regulate their transcription. The evolutionary origin of lmiRNAs and the range of lmiRNA-mediated regulation remain obscure. Here, we reannotated lmiRNAs and their targets in rice by applying stringent criteria. We found that the majority of lmiRNAs are derived from Miniature Inverted-repeat Transposable Elements (MITEs) and most sites targeted by MITE-derived lmiRNAs reside within MITEs, suggesting co-evolution of lmiRNAs and their targets through MITE amplification. lmiRNAs undergo dynamically changes under stress conditions and the genes targeted by lmiRNAs show an enrichment for stress-responsive genes, suggesting that lmiRNAs are widely involved in plant responses to stresses. We constructed the evolutionary histories of lmiRNAs and their targets. Nearly half of lmiRNAs emerged before or when the AA genome was diverged, while the emergence of lmiRNA targets coincided with or followed the emergence of lmiRNAs. Furthermore, we found that the sequences of a lmiRNA target site underwent variations, coincident with the divergence of rice accessions and the distribution of rice accessions in different geographical locations and climatic conditions. Our findings highlight MITEs as an important origin of lmiRNAs and suggest that the evolution of lmiRNA-target regulatory modules may contribute to rice adaptation to environmental changes.

Hydrophobization of cellulose oxalate using oleic acid in a catalyst-free esterification suitable for preparing reinforcement in polymeric composites.

It is common practice to use cellulose as reinforcement and fatty acid as compatibilizer in the preparation of polymeric composites. However, the used catalysts (e.g., pyridine) are usually toxic and should be avoided. In this study, a new type of microcellulose - cellulose oxalate (COX) was chosen as reinforcement to be reacted with oleic acid to prepare hydrophobic fillers in a catalyst-free esterification for different times. For comparison, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was also selected. The success of esterification of COX and oleic acid was confirmed but little esterification occurred when MCC was used. After reacting COX with oleic acid for 18 and 48 h, the products showed stable water contact angles of about 130°. Composites of polypropylene with COX or MCC were prepared. Tensile tests showed that for a given reaction time, the COX-based composites exhibited higher values of both Young's modulus and tensile strength than those of MCC-based composites.

N6-methyldeoxyadenine is a transgenerational epigenetic signal for mitochondrial stress adaptation.

N6-methyldeoxyadenine (6mA), a major type of DNA methylation in bacteria, represents a part of restriction-modification systems to discriminate host genome from invader DNA1. With the recent advent of more sensitive detection techniques, 6mA has also been detected in some eukaryotes2-8. However, the physiological function of this epigenetic mark in eukaryotes remains elusive. Heritable changes in DNA 5mC methylation have been associated with transgenerational inheritance of responses to a high-fat diet9, thus raising the exciting possibility that 6mA may also be transmitted across generations and serve as a carrier of inheritable information. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model, here we report that histone H3K4me3 and DNA 6mA modifications are required for the transmission of mitochondrial stress adaptations to progeny. Intriguingly, the global DNA 6mA level is significantly elevated following mitochondrial perturbation. N6-methyldeoxyadenine marks mitochondrial stress response genes and promotes their transcription to alleviate mitochondrial stress in progeny. These findings suggest that 6mA is a precisely regulated epigenetic mark that modulates stress response and signals transgenerational inheritance in C. elegans.

Monoamine and neuropeptide connections significantly alter the degree distributions of the Caenorhabditis elegans connectome.

To understand the behaviors of an individual, it is crucial to understand the neural connections of the nervous system, that is, the connectome. The hermaphrodite Caenorhabditis elegans connectome has served as a prototype for analytical studies since the chemical synapses and gap junctions among the 302 neurons were completely mapped. Recently, monoamine (MA) and neuropeptide (NP) connections were established, which form a multilayer connectome in conjunction with chemical synapses and gap junctions. In this study, we investigated the difference in the in-degree and out-degree distributions, respectively, among the connectomes with and without MA and NP connections. We found that the in-degree and out-degree distributions show different properties of dissimilarity. We discovered that only a few of the degree distributions can be fitted perfectly to power-law or exponential models. Finally, clustering analysis suggests that MA and NP connections significantly alter the degree distributions of the C. elegans connectome. Overall, our study provides an insight into the structural properties of the multilayer connectome with MA and NP connections and confirms the necessity to investigate the multilayer connectome to understand the behaviors of a worm.