Machine learning based estimation of urban on-road CO2 concentration in Seoul.

The urban on-road CO2 emissions will continue to increase, it is therefore essential to manage urban on-road CO2 concentrations for effective urban CO2 mitigation. However, limited observations of on-road CO2 concentrations prevents a full understanding of its variation. Therefore, in this study, a machine learning-based model that predicts on-road CO2 concentration (CO2traffic) was developed for Seoul, South Korea. This model predicts hourly CO2traffic with high precision (R2 = 0.8 and RMSE = 22.9 ppm) by utilizing CO2 observations, traffic volume, traffic speed, and wind speed as the main factors. High spatiotemporal inhomogeneity of hourly CO2traffic over Seoul, with 14.3 ppm by time-of-day and 345.1 ppm by road, was apparent in the CO2traffic data predicted by the model. The large spatiotemporal variability of CO2traffic was related to different road types (major arterial roads, minor arterial roads, and urban highways) and land-use types (residential, commercial, bare ground, and urban vegetation). The cause of the increase in CO2traffic differed by road type, and the diurnal variation of CO2traffic differed according to land-use type. Our results demonstrate that high spatiotemporal on-road CO2 monitoring is required to manage urban on-road CO2 concentrations with high variability. In addition, this study demonstrated that a model using machine learning techniques can be an alternative for monitoring CO2 concentrations on all roads without conducting observations. Applying the machine learning techniques developed in this study to cities around the world with limited observation infrastructure will enable effective urban on-road CO2 emissions management.

Investigation of Thermal Stability of 0.6/1 kV Metal-Coated Carbon Fiber Cable and Joint.

For this paper, we manufactured the 0.6/1 kV 3-core cable using metal-coated carbon fiber (MCF), which can be utilized for a cable screen layer. This cable can be applied to non-earthed system, and has a shielding property of more than 90% of braiding density. However, new joints and methods are needed to connect the cables because carbon fiber has brittleness. Thus, the cable connection added a spring to the contact surface, reducing resistance and fiber brittleness. These cables and connection methods were evaluated for safety in a certain temperature, humidity and over-current environments. From the results, the change of the external shape and contact resistance of the cable and the joint against the humidity and temperature were not significant, and the insulation breakdown did not occur in the withstanding voltage property of 3.5 kV for 5 min. No thermal deformation of the cable and connections was observed at the current above the allowable current range; it can be used as stable as metal screen cable.

A Study on Shielding Effects for Electromagnetic Waves of the Sheet Heating Elements.

Exposure of human bodies to the electromagnetic waves emitted in various ways in our daily lives has become a growing concern. The extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic waves generated from ordinary products and electric power facilities are closely related to our daily lives. Nevertheless, there has been no clear solution suggested to shield the ELF electromagnetic waves from electronic products used by the general public. This study investigated the electromagneticwave shielding effects when exposed to ELF-emitting heating products. We (i) installed an actual surface heater on the floor of the classroom, (ii) measured the electromagnetic wave exposure at different settings (shielding/non-shielding/isolation distance), (iii) compared the measured results with the applicable international standards, and (iv) suggested a solution to shield electromagnetic waves and underscored the importance of isolation distance.

Insulin/glucose infusion successfully resuscitates bupivacaine-induced sudden-onset circulatory collapse in dogs.

PURPOSE: In previous studies, insulin reversed the cardiac toxicity gradually induced by a continuous infusion of bupivacaine. In this randomized controlled study, we intended to simulate a more relevant clinical situation by injecting bupivacaine rapidly as a bolus to induce sudden-onset circulatory collapse in dogs. We then evaluated the insulin effect. METHODS: Bupivacaine (10 mg.kg(-1) iv) was rapidly administered intravenously to 12 dogs. At the onset of circulatory collapse (defined as a mean arterial pressure [MAP] of 30 mmHg), external chest compression was initiated. Insulin (2 U.kg(-1) iv) was given to the insulin-glucose (IG) group (n = 6) and the same volume of 0.9% saline was given to the control (C) group (n = 6). The primary outcome was successful resuscitation defined as both MAP ≥ 60 mmHg and sinus rhythm on an electrocardiogram that lasted ≥ 60 sec. Hemodynamic and blood variables were measured, including cardiac output and electrocardiogram intervals. RESULTS: All IG dogs were successfully resuscitated within 15 (3) min, whereas none of the control dogs were resuscitated (P = 0.002). After circulatory collapse, the average MAP was higher in group IG than in group C (P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Insulin effectively reversed the sudden-onset circulatory collapse in dogs caused by an intravenous bolus injection of bupivacaine.

BetaDock: shape-priority docking method based on beta-complex.

This paper presents an approach and a software, BetaDock, to the docking problem by putting the priority on shape complementarity between a receptor and a ligand. The approach is based on the theory of the ß-complex. Given the Voronoi diagram of the receptor whose topology is stored in the quasi-triangulation, the ß-complex corresponding to water molecule is computed. Then, the boundary of the ß-complex defines the ß-shape which has the complete proximity information among all atoms on the receptor boundary. From the ß-shape, we first compute pockets where the ligand may bind. Then, we quickly place the ligand within each pocket by solving the singular value decomposition problem and the assignment problem. Using the conformations of the ligands within the pockets as the initial solutions, we run the genetic algorithm to find the optimal solution for the docking problem. The performance of the proposed algorithm was verified through a benchmark test and showed that BetaDock is superior to a popular docking software AutoDock 4.

Sphericity of a protein via the beta-complex.

Molecular shape is a fundamental factor in determining the function of a molecule. As proteins tend to fold into globular shapes, the shape descriptor for protein sphericity is important in understanding molecular functions. In this paper, a definition of protein sphericity is introduced based on the recently developed geometric constructs of the beta-complex and beta-shape of a protein. The beta-complex represents the Euclidean proximity among all the atoms in a protein, and the beta-shape is the polyhedron contained within the boundary of the corresponding beta-complex. Hence, the beta-shape determines the proximity among the atoms on the boundary of a protein. Given the volume of a beta-shape, the ratio between the surface area of a sphere with this volume and the surface area of the beta-shape itself is a good measure to classify the sphericity of a protein, especially when the radius of a probe is 3.0 A. The presented measure is invariant to translation and rotation.