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In this work, a novel enhanced deep borehole heat exchanger (EDBHE) was proposed to improve heat extraction efficiency based on the jet grouting method. By means of this technology, a soilcrete zone with high thermal conductivity was built near the wellbore. To analyze the feasibility and efficiency of this method, we firstly constructed a validated deep borehole heat exchanger (DBHE) model based on the field experimental data. Numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the 30-year production performance of EDBHE. Results demonstrated that the jet grouting method is an efficient way for improving thermal output of DBHE. It is evaluated that the average annual heat production rate over a 30-year heating period of EDBHE is 463.2 kW, which is 1.27 times as that of DBHE. Sensitivity analyses indicate that the heat production rate and outlet temperature mainly depend on the height and radius of the artificial soilcrete zone. However, thermal output is not sensitive to thermal conductivity of the soilcrete zone due to the higher thermal resistance of the geological formation. For the experimental site used in this work, the recommended height, radius, and thermal conductivity of the soilcrete are 1000 m, 1.0 m, and 50 W/m °C, respectively.

Abstract Congestion management design is key to a fair and efficient use of transmission facilities and an improvement of market efficiency. Emergence of bilateral electricity markets provides a more flexible, private and decentralized decision-making scenario, in which the self-interested players autonomously search for counterparts to negotiate profitable transactions. In competitive bilateral markets of imperfect and incomplete information and explicit consideration of the network constraints, which make the markets significantly complex, more sophisticated bargaining strategies and market evaluation tools are imperative to both players and regulators. In this paper, under an assumption of imperfect and incomplete information, evolutionary bipartite complex network theory is employed to develop quantities bidding strategies through a dynamic game, in which the players drive the evolution of the network while maximizing their own utilities with explicitly considering the congestion management results. Resorting to adjustment bids, two congestion management schemes, with and without balancing bilateral transactions, are considered. The approach is illustrated with an application to the IEEE30 test system, assessing the impact of different congestion management schemes on the negotiations, market equilibria, market performance and gaming opportunities for the market participants in congestion managements.

Abstract Coal combustion in O2/CO2 environment was examined with a bituminous coal in which the gas-phase and char combustion stages were considered separately. The effects of temperature (1000–1300 °C) and the excess oxygen ratio λ (0.6–1.4) on the conversion of volatile-N and char-N to NOx were studied. Also, the reduction of recycle NOx by fuel-N was investigated under various conditions. The results show that fuel-N conversion to NO in O2/CO2 is lower than that in O2/N2. In O2/CO2 atmosphere, the volatile-N conversion ratios vary from 1–7% to 15–24% under fuel-rich and fuel-lean conditions, respectively. The char-N conversion ratios are 11–28% and 30–50% under fuel-rich and fuel-lean conditions, respectively. The influences of temperature on the conversion of volatile-N to NO under fuel-rich and fuel-lean conditions are contrary. A significant difference for char-N conversion in fuel-rich and fuel-lean conditions is observed. The experimental data of recycle NO reduction indicate that the reduction of recycle NO by gas-phase reaction can be enhanced by volatile-N addition in fuel-lean condition at high temperature, while in fuel-rich condition, the volatile-N influence cancelled out and the overall impact is small. NO/char reaction competes with the conversion of fuel-N to NO at higher temperatures.

Theoretically, parents can adjust vital offspring traits to the irregular and rapid occurrence of heat waves via developmental plasticity. However, the direction and strength of such trait modifications are often species-specific. Here, we investigated within-generational plasticity (WGP) and trans-generational plasticity (TGP) effects induced by heat waves during the offspring development of the predator Phytoseiulus persimilis and its herbivorous prey, the spider mite Tetranychus urticae, to assess plastic developmental modifications. Single offspring individuals with different parental thermal origin (reared under mild or extreme heat waves) of both species were exposed to mild or extreme heat waves until adulthood, and food consumption, age and size at maturity were recorded. The offspring traits were influenced by within-generational plasticity (WGP), trans-generational plasticity (TGP), non-plastic trans-generational effects (TGE) and/or their interactions. When exposed to extreme heat waves, both species speeded up development (exclusively WGP), consumed more (due to the fact of WGP but also to TGP in prey females and to non-plastic TGE in predator males), and predator females got smaller (non-plastic TGE and WGP), whereas prey males and females were equally sized irrespective of their origin, because TGE, WGP and TGP acted in opposite directions. The body sizes of predator males were insensitive to parental and offspring heat wave conditions. Species comparisons indicated stronger reductions in the developmental time and reduced female predator-prey body size ratios in favor of the prey under extreme heat waves. Further investigations are needed to evaluate, whether trait modifications result in lowered suppression success of the predator on its prey under heat waves or not.

AbstractAlthough it is an integral part of global change, most of the research addressing the effects of climate change on forests have overlooked the role of environmental pollution. Similarly, most studies investigating the effects of air pollutants on forests have generally neglected the impacts of climate change. We review the current knowledge on combined air pollution and climate change effects on global forest ecosystems and identify several key research priorities as a roadmap for the future. Specifically, we recommend (1) the establishment of much denser array of monitoring sites, particularly in the South Hemisphere; (2) further integration of ground and satellite monitoring; (3) generation of flux‐based standards and critical levels taking into account the sensitivity of dominant forest tree species; (4) long‐term monitoring of N, S, P cycles and base cations deposition together at global scale; (5) intensification of experimental studies, addressing the combined effects of different abiotic factors on forests by assuring a better representation of taxonomic and functional diversity across the ~73,000 tree species on Earth; (6) more experimental focus on phenomics and genomics; (7) improved knowledge on key processes regulating the dynamics of radionuclides in forest systems; and (8) development of models integrating air pollution and climate change data from long‐term monitoring programs.

The sensitivity of Chinese soybean cultivars to ambient ozone (O3) in the field is unknown, although soybean is a major staple food in China. Using ethylenediurea (EDU) as an O3 protectant, we tested the gas exchange, pigments, antioxidants and biomass of 19 cultivars exposed to 28ppm·hr AOT40 (accumulated O3 over an hourly concentration threshold of 40ppb) over the growing season at a field site in China. By comparing the average biomass with and without EDU, we estimated the cultivar-specific sensitivity to O3 and ranked the cultivars from very tolerant (45% change), which helps in choosing the best-suited cultivars for local cultivation. Higher lipid peroxidation and activity of the ascorbate peroxidase enzyme were major responses to O3 damage, which eventually translated into lower biomass production. The constitutional level of total ascorbate in the leaves was the most important parameter explaining O3 sensitivity among these cultivars. Surprisingly, the role of stomatal conductance was insignificant. These results will guide future breeding efforts towards more O3-tolerant cultivars in China, while strategies for implementing control measures of regional O3 pollution are being implemented. Overall, these results suggest that present ambient O3 pollution is a serious concern for soybean in China, which highlights the urgent need for policy-making actions to protect this critical staple food.

In the version of this Article originally published, the units of ‘Total electricity yield’ and ‘Potential electricity gain’ in Table 1 were incorrectly presented as GWh yr–1; they should have been TWh yr–1. These errors have now been corrected.