Review of energy self-circulation systems integrating biogas utilization with Powerfuels production in global livestock industry.

Energy self-circulation systems, defined as energy systems incorporating the recycling utilization of waste biomass, have been proposed to reduce greenhouse gases emissions from livestock sector. In this study, a comprehensive review of the situation and challenges of biogas utilization in the livestock industry was provided. Moreover, two technological routes were proposed for a circular livestock system combined with Powerfuels production (CP-CLS), starting from biogas combustion for power generation and steam reforming to the sustainable development path of synthesizing, storing, and utilizing Powerfuels. The self-circulation capability and comprehensive benefits of the CP-CLS life cycle was discussed, along with future application scenarios and proposed standards for Powerfuels. To realize this potential, continuous research, development, and policy support are crucial. This study envisions the next generation of energy self-circulation systems, which expects to reduce the negative effect of livestock industry on climate change and promote sustainable development.

Changes in the mechanical properties of human mesenchymal stem cells during differentiation.

A thorough understanding of the changes in mechanical property behind intracellular biophysical and biochemical processes during differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) is helpful to direct and enhance the commitment of cells to a particular lineage. In this study, displacement creep of the mesenchymal cell lineages (osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic hMSCs) were determined by using atomic force microscopy, which was then used to determine their mechanical properties. We found that at any stages of differentiation, the mesenchymal cell lineages are linear viscoelastic materials and well matched with a simple power-law creep compliance. In addition, the viscoelasticity of mesenchymal cell lineages showed different trends during differentiation. The adipogenic hMSCs showed continuous softening at all stages. The osteogenic and chondrogenic hMSCs only continuously soften and become more fluid-like in the early stage of differentiation, and get stiffened and less fluid-like in the later stage. These findings will help more accurately imitate cellular biomechanics in the microenvironment, and provided an important reference in the biophysics biomimetic design of stem cell differentiation.

A fuel-consumption based window method for PEMS NOx emission calculation of heavy-duty diesel vehicles: Method description and case demonstration.

Due to the lack of engine reference torque and the accumulated work of reference transient cycle, the work based window (WBW) method for portable emission measurement system test data processing cannot be used for vehicle emission assessment in the current on-board diagnostics (OBD) system in China. In this work, a fuel-consumption based window (FBW) method was proposed to imitate a WBW method procedure by using fuel consumption rate as an alternative parameter to scale the window so the entire procedure can be based on the attainable data items in the OBD system. Some key issues regarding converting WBW method to FBW method, including window separation, window average power ratio calculation and specific NOx emission conversion from mg/kg. fuel to mg/kW.h, were solved by linking the 100-km fuel consumption and the average vehicle specific power of China World Transient Vehicle Cycle test. The comparison between the FBW and WBW methods on the NOx emission calculation results shows that the number of all windows, the number of valid windows, and the thresholds for >50% valid windows are quite similar for WBW and FBW methods. The estimation accuracy of average power ratio for the FBW method depends on the value of transmission efficiency of vehicle driveline. The deviations of 90% specific NOx emission in mg/kW.h between the two methods are smaller than 6% for the cases investigated in the present work.