Abundance of general aerobic heterotrophic bacteria in the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea and their adaptation to temperature

The abundance of general aerobic heterotrophic bacteria(GAB) from the water and sediment in the Bering Sea and the Chukchi Sea was determined by using petri dish cultivation and counting method. The abundance of GAB among the different sea areas, sampling sites, layers of sediments surveyed and adaptability to differential temperatures was studied. The result obtained showed that: the occurrence percentage of GAB in the surface water was higher than that in sediment, but the abundance was only 0.17% of sediment. The occurrence percentage of GAB in surficial layer of sediment was higher than that in the other layers. The occurrence percentage of GAB in surficial layer of sediment was higher than that in the other layers. The occurrence percentage, abundance and its variation of GAB in the Bering Sea were higher than that in the Chukchi Sea respectively. The average value of the abundance in the all sediment surveyed was 3166.3×10 2 CFU·g -1(wet.). The abundance of GAB in sediment showed a trend: roughly higher in the lower latitudinal area than higher latitude. The results from temperature test mean that: the majority of bacteria tested were cold-adapted ones, minority might be mesophilic bacteria. The results indicated that, Arctic ocean bacteria had a stronger adaptability to environmental temperature.

Ethylene purification in a metal–organic framework over a wide temperature range via pore confinement

The separation of C2H4from C_(2)H_(6)/C_(2)H_(4)mixture is of great importance but difficult and energy intensive. Adsorptive separation provides an alternative approach to ameliorate this situation. Here, we report a microporous metal–organic framework(MOF) BUT-315-a as a C_(2)H_(6)-selective adsorbent for the separation of C2H6/C2H4gas mixture. BUT-315-a combines good IAST selectivity of 2.35 with high C_(2)H_(6)uptake of 97.5 cm^(3)g^(-1), giving superior high separation potential ΔQ(2226 mmol L^(-1)) for equimolar C_(2)H_(6)/C_(2)H_(4) at 298 K. Impressively, such excellent performance can be preserved at higher temperatures of 313 and 323 K to accommodate industrial conditions. Efficient dynamic separation performance of BUT-315-a has been demonstrated by column breakthrough experiments under varied temperatures and gas ratios. Theoretical calculations further reveal multiple synergistic interactions between C_(2)H_(6) and the framework. This work highlights a new benchmark material for C_(2)H_(6)/C_(2)H_(4)separation and provides guidance for designing adsorbent for separation applications.

Adaptive output-feedback power-level control for modular high temperature gas-cooled reactors

Small modular reactors(SMRs) are beneficial in providing electricity power safely and viable for specific applications such as seawater desalination and heat production. Due to its inherent safety feature, the modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor(MHTGR) is considered as one of the best candidates for SMR-based nuclear power plants. Since its dynamics presents high nonlinearity and parameter uncertainty, it is necessary to develop adaptive power-level control, which is beneficial to safe, stable, and efficient operation of MHTGR and is easy to be implemented. In this paper, based on the physically-based control design approach, an adaptive outputfeedback power-level control is proposed for MHTGRs. This control can guarantee globally bounded closedloop stability and has a simple form. Numerical simulation results show the correctness of the theoretical analysis and satisfactory regulation performance of this control.

Effect of regional warming on the abundance of P seudeuphausia sinica Wang et Chen(Euphausiacea)off the Changjiang River(Yangtze River)Estuary

Distribution and abundance of Pseudeuphausia sinica off the Changjiang River Estuary （30 ° 00′ – 32 ° 00′ N, 122 ° 00′ –123 ° 30 ′E）, the East China Sea were studied in relation to environmental features associated with the regional warming. P. sinica is a subtropical species. Off the Changjiang River Estuary, its abundance reached maximum in summer. To examine spatial and temporal changes of P. sinica off the Changjiang River Estuary, the authors have combined all available sampling data in 1979, 1981, and 2000–2007. This database shows that a significant increase in abundances of P. sinica was observed in spring of 2000–2007 as compared with 1979, 1981. The abundance of P. sinica increased from 0.18–0.21 ind./m 3 in 1979 and 1981 to 0.68–4.00 ind./m 3 in 2000–2007. Accordingly, the sea temperature increased obviously from spring of 1979, 1981 to the 2000s. The authors further found a positive relationship between average surface temperature and average abundance of P. sinica. Regional warming, together with the release of predator induced stress due to a sharp decline in the abundance of its predator （e.g., fishes）, were thought to be responsible for the increase in abundance of P. sinica in water off the Changjiang River Estuary.

A 658-W VCSEL-pumped rod laser module with52.6% optical efficiency

A high-efficiency and high-power vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser(VCSEL) side-pumped rod Nd:YAG laser with temperature adaptability are demonstrated. The VCSEL side-pumped laser module is designed and optimized. Five VCSEL arrays are symmetrically located around the laser rod and a large size diffused reflection chamber is designed to ensure a uniform pump distribution. Furthermore, the absorbed pump power distribution of the rod is simulated to verify the uniformity of the pump absorption. Finally, a proof-of-principle experiment is performed in short linear cavity laser with single laser module. A continuous-wave output power of 658 W at 1064 nm is obtained, the corresponding optical-to-optical efficiency is 52.6%, and the power variations are ±0.7% over 400 s and ±3.1% over the temperature range from 16 ℃ to 26 ℃. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power and the highest optical-to-optical efficiency ever reported for VCSEL pumped solid-state lasers. By inserting a telescopic module into the cavity and optimizing the TEM_(00) mode volume, the average beam quality is measured to be M~2= 1.34 under an output power of 102 W. The experimental results reveal that such a high power rod laser module with temperature stability is appropriate for field applications.

The complete genome of hydrocarbon-degrading Pseudoalteromonas sp. NJ289 and its phylogenetic relationship

Genus Pseudoalteromonas belongs to Family Pseudoalteromonadaceae in Gammaproteobacteria. A cold-adapted gram-negative bacterium, hydrocarbon-degrading Pseudoalteromonas sp. NJ289, was isolated from sea-ice of the Antarctica region, and sequenced the whole genome through the next generation sequencing platform. The assembly yielded three contigs representing two chromosomes and one plasmid with the sizes of 3.2 Mb, 636 kb and 1.8 kb, respectively. The G＋C contents of genome were 40.83% and included 3 589 ORFs. Functional annotation indicated some potential roles in enzymatic activity and environmental adaptability. This study may help for understanding the population diverse, evolutionary ecology and the microbial interaction.

Assessing the energy saving potential of using adaptive setpoint temperatures:The case study of a regional adaptive comfort model for Brazil in both the present and the future

It has been found in recent years that using setpoint temperatures based on adaptive thermal comfort models is a successful method of energy conservation.Recent studies using adaptive setpoint temperatures incorporate international models from ASHRAE Standard 55 and EN16798-1.This study,however,has instead considered a regional Brazilian adaptive comfort model.This study investigates the energy demand arising from the use of a local Brazilian comfort model in order to assess the energy implications from the use of the worldwide ASHRAE Standard 55 adaptive model and various fixed setpoint temperatures.All of Brazil’s climate zones,full air-conditioning,mixed-mode building operating modes,present-day climate change scenarios,and future scenarios—specifically Representative Concentration Pathways(RCP)2.6,4.5,and 8.5 for the years 2050 and 2100—have all been taken into account in building energy simulations.The use of adaptive setpoint temperatures based on the Brazilian local model considering mixed-mode has been found to significantly reduce energy consumption when compared to static setpoint temperatures(average energy-saving values ranging from 52%to 58%)and the ASHRAE 55 adaptive model(average values ranging from 15%to 21%).Considering climate change and the mixed-mode Brazilian model,the overall energy demand for the three groups of climatic zones(annual average outdoor temperatures≤21℃,>21 and≤25℃and>25℃)ranged between 2%decrease and 5%increase,4%and 27%increase,and 13%and 45%increase,respectively.It is concluded as a consequence that setting setpoint temperatures based on the Brazilian local adaptive comfort model is a very efficient energy-saving method.

Secretome profiling reveals temperature-dependent growth of Aspergillus fumigatus

Aspergillus fumigatus is a ubiquitous opportunistic fungus. In this study, systematic analyses were carried out to study the temperature adaptability of A. fumigatus. A total of 241 glycoside hydrolases and 69 proteases in the secretome revealed the strong capability of A. fumigatus to degrade plant biomass and protein substrates. In total, 129 pathogenesis-related proteins detected in the secretome were strongly correlated with glycoside hydrolases and proteases. The variety and abundance of proteins remained at temperatures of 34°C–45°C. The percentage of endo-1,4-xylanase increased when the temperature was lowered to 20°C, while the percentage of cellobiohydrolase increased as temperature was increased, suggesting that the strain obtains carbon mainly by degrading xylan and cellulose, and the main types of proteases in the secretome were aminopeptidases and carboxypeptidases. Only half of the proteins were retained and their abundance declined to 9.7% at 55°C. The activities of the remaining β-glycosidases and proteases were merely 35% and 24%, respectively, when the secretome was treated at 60°C for 2 h. Therefore, temperatures >60°C restrict the growth of A. fumigatus.

Thermal comfort assessment in civil aircraft cabins

Aircraft passengers are more and demanding in terms of thermal comfort. But it is not yet easy for aircraft crew to control the environment control system （ECS） that satisfies the thermal comfort for most passengers due to a number of causes. This paper adopts a corrected predicted mean vote （PMV） model and an adaptive model to assess the thermal comfort conditions for 31 investigated flights and draws the conclusion that there does exist an uncomfortable thermal phe- nomenon in civil aircraft cabins, especially in some short-haul continental flights. It is necessary to develop an easy way to predict the thermal sensation of passengers and to direct the crew to con- trol ECS. Due to the assessment consistency of the corrected PMV model and the adaptive model, the adaptive model of thermal neutrality temperature can be used as a method to predict the cabin optimal operative temperature. Because only the mean outdoor effective temperature ET＊ of a departure city is an input variable for the adaptive model, this method can be easily understood and implemented by the crew and can satisfy 80-90% of the thermal acceptability levels of passen- gers.