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Ozone (O3), a major air pollutant, can negatively impact plant growth and yield. While O3 impacts have been widely documented in crops such as wheat and soybean, few studies have looked at the effects of O3 on sorghum, a C4 plant and the fifth most important cereal crop worldwide. We exposed grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor cv. HAT150843) to a range of O3 concentrations (daytime mean O3 concentrations ranged between 20 and 97 ppb) in open-top chambers, and examined how whole plant and leaf morphological traits varied in response to O3 exposure. Results showed no significant impact of realistic O3 exposure on whole plant biomass and its partitioning in sorghum. These findings suggest that sorghum is generally resistant to O3 and should be considered as a favourable crop in O3 polluted regions, while acknowledging further research is needed to understand the mechanistic basis of O3 tolerance in sorghum.

Dust accumulation on photovoltaic (PV) modules significantly reduces their performance, especially in desert environments. Cleaning can be costly or not feasible. This paper presents a comprehensive study of PV modules performance in a desert environment, focusing on the impact of dust on power output reduction at various tilt angles to determine the optimal angle in uncleaned conditions. Seven pairs of PV modules were installed on the roof of the Faculty of Engineering in Jeddah City at angles of 0°, 15°, 25°, 45°, 60°, 70°, and 90°. The output power of both the cleaned and dusty modules was recorded over a 12-month period. The results show that dust accumulation, tilt angle, and rain significantly reduce power. The optimal tilt for maximum average output power varies with the seasonal position of the sun and the amount of dust on the module’s surface. After 183 days of dust accumulation without rain, the power reduction for the dusty modules reached 80.4%, 75.6%, and 60.2% at tilt angles of 0°, 15°, and 25°, respectively. In the rainy period, the highest performance of the dusty modules was observed at a 45° tilt angle, with a power reduction of 5.9%. Conversely, during the dry period and throughout the year, the tilt angle that generated the highest power output was 25°, with power reduction of, respectively, 28.7% and 20.7%. These findings provide valuable insights into the impact of dust and tilt on PV module performance and contribute to the development of predictive models and optimization strategies for solar panel systems in harsh desert conditions. This research highlights the importance of strategic tilt selection to enhance the performance and longevity of PV installations in desert environments.

The Arctic climate system is in great distress, warming faster than the rest of the world and transforming more rapidly than previously anticipated. Sustained and harmonized multidisciplinary observations at key locations are needed to fill knowledge gaps and evaluate the ongoing climate change impacts on the complex Arctic marine system. For more than a decade, the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) has functioned as a “detection array” for ecosystem changes and trends in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean. This long-term collaborative initiative builds on active involvement of scientists conducting in situ observations within marine disciplines to systematically document how the arctic marine ecosystem is transforming with environmental change. The DBO concept is currently being expanded into other sectors of the Arctic, including Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, the Atlantic Arctic gateway area, and the East Siberian Sea. Through increased collaboration and joint practices, findings from these regional areas can leverage to pan-Arctic perspectives and improve our understanding of the entire Arctic Ocean. Common practices are now being developed, including key phenomena and relevant indicators to study. Also, we strive towards harmonized routines for sampling, analysis and data sharing to increase the comparability across both disciplines and regions, and to improve the usability of our in-situ observations also for the modelling and remote sensing scopes. An ambition is, moreover, to expand from today's predominantly open-sea coverage towards coastal regions, to the benefit of both local communities and researchers. The process of establishing a pan-Arctic DBO network is to a large part facilitated by the EU Horizon project Arctic PASSION (2022-2025). Here, we present the latest developments and shared priorities, as well as our vision of how to incorporate our efforts into other parallel processes aiming to strengthen the pan-Arctic observing system towards, during and beyond the upcoming IPY.

Due to its innovative structure and superior handling of long time series data with parallel input, the Transformer model has demonstrated a remarkable effectiveness. However, its application in lithium-ion battery degradation research requires a massive amount of data, which is disadvantageous for the online monitoring of batteries. This paper proposes a lithium-ion battery degradation research method based on the CNN-Transformer model. By leveraging the efficiency of the CNN model in feature extraction, it reduces the dependency of the Transformer model on data volume, thereby ensuring faster overall model training without a significant loss in model accuracy. This facilitates the online monitoring of battery degradation. The dataset used for training and validation consists of charge–discharge data from 124 lithium iron phosphate batteries. The experimental results include an analysis of the model training results for both single-battery and multiple-battery data, compared with commonly used models such as LSTM and Transformer. Regarding the instability of single-battery data in the CNN-Transformer model, statistical analysis is conducted to analyze the experimental results. The final model results indicate that the root mean square error (RMSE) of capacity predictions for the majority of batteries among the 124 batteries is within 3% of the actual values.

Published online: 26 November 2024 This study investigates the relationships between social and political trust and views on energy affordability, which are crucial for promoting sustainable energy practices. The findings indicate that social and especially political trust are negatively correlated with perceptions of energy affordability. The study also finds that the probability of being highly concerned about energy affordability is declining in the level of trust, especially in countries, as those in Southern European, that prioritize energy affordability. These findings confirm the critical role of trust in effective energy policies, fostering public support for transitions to sustainable energy systems. The study recommends that policymakers enhance transparency, accountability, and public engagement to build trust, thereby improving perceptions of energy affordability and supporting sustainable energy transitions.

N‐Ethyl carboxylic acid functionalized polyethyleneimine (N‐CEPEI) has been explored as a novel water‐solution binder for LiFePO4 (LFP) cathodes, which is synthesized via Michael addition reaction of acrylic acid with the primary and secondary amines from PEI, followed by subsequent in situ condensation. The N‐CEPEI binder facilitates the formation of a 3D polymer networks, which exhibits a higher diffusion efficacy of lithium ions and better mechanical strength compared to the commercial poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) binder, and thus maintains the structural integrity of LFP electrode. The electrochemical performance of the LFP electrode utilizing N‐CEPEI binder is evaluated through cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and long‐cycle‐life testing, and the results are compared with those of electrodes using PVDF and PEI binder. The optimal LFP electrode with N‐CEPEI binder exhibits superior cycling stability and rate capability, delivering a capacity of 139.60 mAh g−1 with a capacity retention of 94.8% after 400 cycles at 1 C, as compared with 86.6% for PVDF‐LFP electrode. Even at a high rate of 5 C, the N‐CEPEI‐LFP electrode maintains a capacity of 80 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles. This work highlights the potential of N‐CEPEI as an effective water‐solution binder for LFP‐based lithium‐ion batteries.

ABSTRACTThe analysis of the dispatchable potential of fuel‐cell hybrid electric vehicle (FCHEV) is particularly important to ensure the stable operation of the power system, but the uncertainty of vehicle owners' charging scheduling brings challenges to the analysis of the dispatchable potential of FCHEV aggregators. Therefore, this paper comprehensively considers the influence of vehicle charging scheduling uncertainty on the dispatchable potential of FCHEV aggregators, and proposes an analysis method for the dispatchable potential of FCHEV aggregators. In the context of urban transportation networks, the charging behavior of FCHEV is analyzed and modeled. From the subjective and objective perspectives, the evaluation index of the owner's charging scheduling was established. According to the relevant theories of behavioral psychology, the willingness of vehicle owners to participate in the dispatch of the power system is calculated, and the dispatchable potential of FCHEV aggregators is analyzed. Through the verification of examples, the analysis method proposed in this paper can effectively describe the uncertainty of vehicle owners' charging scheduling and ensure the validity of the evaluation results of dispatchable potential.