| 1. |
- Yaghootkar, Hanieh, et al.
(author)
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Genetic Studies of Leptin Concentrations Implicate Leptin in the Regulation of Early Adiposity
- 2020
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In: Diabetes. - : American Diabetes Association. - 0012-1797 .- 1939-327X. ; 69:12, s. 2806-2818
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Leptin influences food intake by informing the brain about the status of body fat stores. Rare LEP mutations associated with congenital leptin deficiency cause severe early-onset obesity that can be mitigated by administering leptin. However, the role of genetic regulation of leptin in polygenic obesity remains poorly understood. We performed an exome-based analysis in up to 57,232 individuals of diverse ancestries to identify genetic variants that influence adiposity-adjusted leptin concentrations. We identify five novel variants, including four missense variants, in LEP, ZNF800, KLHL31, and ACTL9, and one intergenic variant near KLF14. The missense variant Val94Met (rs17151919) in LEP was common in individuals of African ancestry only, and its association with lower leptin concentrations was specific to this ancestry (P = 2 × 10-16, n = 3,901). Using in vitro analyses, we show that the Met94 allele decreases leptin secretion. We also show that the Met94 allele is associated with higher BMI in young African-ancestry children but not in adults, suggesting that leptin regulates early adiposity.
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| 2. |
- Liu, G.Q., et al.
(author)
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Naphthenic acid corrosion characteristic and corrosion product film resistance of carbon steel and Cr5Mo low alloy steel in secondary vacuum gas oil
- 2016
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In: Corrosion Engineering, Science and Technology. - 1478-422X .- 1743-2782. ; 51:6, s. 445-454
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although naphthenic acid corrosion (NAC) has been studied for many years, the mechanism of NAC is not fully understood. The objective of this paper is to study high-temperature NAC in secondary vacuum gas oil of an industrial crude oil vacuum distillation tower. A high-temperature autoclave was applied to conduct high-temperature corrosion test to investigate NAC behaviour of carbon steel and Cr5Mo low alloy steel at different sulphur contents and total acid numbers (TAN). The result shows that the corrosion rate of carbon steel and low alloy steel is high at low TAN and high TAN while it keeps at a low value at medium TAN. Corrosion product film on Cr5Mo low alloy steel surface is denser and more compact than that of carbon steel at high TAN. The chromium present in Cr5Mo low alloy steel plays an important role in NAC resistance by the formation of Cr7S8 film in the inner layer of the scale. Corrosion rates of the two steels in secondary vacuum gas oil are high at low TAN and high TAN, but low at medium TAN which are strange and different from previous experimental results conducted in non-industrial oil solution. A tentative explanation for this new phenomenon is also put forward.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Li, Zhen, et al.
(author)
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Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production
- 2022
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In: Photo‐ and Electro‐Catalytic Processes. - : John Wiley & Sons. ; , s. 415-483
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)
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| 5. |
- Parreiras, Lucas S., et al.
(author)
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Engineering and two-stage evolution of a lignocellulosic hydrolysate-tolerant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain for anaerobic fermentation of xylose from AFEX pretreated corn stover
- 2014
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 9:9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The inability of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to ferment xylose effectively under anaerobic conditions is a major barrier to economical production of lignocellulosic biofuels. Although genetic approaches have enabled engineering of S. cerevisiae to convert xylose efficiently into ethanol in defined lab medium, few strains are able to ferment xylose from lignocellulosic hydrolysates in the absence of oxygen. This limited xylose conversion is believed to result from small molecules generated during biomass pretreatment and hydrolysis, which induce cellular stress and impair metabolism. Here, we describe the development of a xylose-fermenting S. cerevisiae strain with tolerance to a range of pretreated and hydrolyzed lignocellulose, including Ammonia Fiber Expansion (AFEX)-pretreated corn stover hydrolysate (ACSH). We genetically engineered a hydrolysate-resistant yeast strain with bacterial xylose isomerase and then applied two separate stages of aerobic and anaerobic directed evolution. The emergent S. cerevisiae strain rapidly converted xylose from lab medium and ACSH to ethanol under strict anaerobic conditions. Metabolomic, genetic and biochemical analyses suggested that a missense mutation in GRE3, which was acquired during the anaerobic evolution, contributed toward improved xylose conversion by reducing intracellular production of xylitol, an inhibitor of xylose isomerase. These results validate our combinatorial approach, which utilized phenotypic strain selection, rational engineering and directed evolution for the generation of a robust S. cerevisiae strain with the ability to ferment xylose anaerobically from ACSH.
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| 6. |
- Zhang, L., et al.
(author)
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A nearly end-to-end deep learning approach to fault diagnosis of wind turbine gearboxes under nonstationary conditions
- 2023
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In: Engineering applications of artificial intelligence. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0952-1976 .- 1873-6769. ; 119
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Fault diagnosis of wind turbine gearboxes is crucial in ensuring wind farms’ reliability and safety. However, nonstationary working conditions, such as load change or speed regulation, may result in an accuracy deterioration of many existing fault diagnosis approaches. To overcome the issue, this research proposes a nearly end-to-end deep learning approach to fault diagnosis of wind turbine gearboxes using vibration signals. Concretely, we adopt Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) to decompose vibration signals into a series of Intrinsic Mode Functions (IMFs). Then, the multi-channel IMFs are fed into a 1D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for automatic feature learning and fault classification. Since EMD is a signal processing technique requiring no prior knowledge, the model architecture can be viewed as nearly end-to-end. The proposed approach was validated in a real-world dataset; it proved deep learning models have an overwhelming advantage in representation capacity over traditional shallow models. It also demonstrated that the introduction of EMD as a preprocessing step improves both the training efficiency and the generalization ability of a deep model, thus leading to a better fault diagnosis efficacy under variable working conditions.
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| 7. |
- Bader, Alexander, et al.
(author)
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Proton Temperature Anisotropies in the Plasma Environment of Venus
- 2019
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - : American Geophysical Union (AGU). - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 124:5, s. 3312-3330
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Velocity distribution functions (VDFs) are a key to understanding the interplay between particles and waves in a plasma. Any deviation from an isotropic Maxwellian distribution may be unstable and result in wave generation. Using data from the ion mass spectrometer IMA (Ion Mass Analyzer) and the magnetometer (MAG) onboard Venus Express, we study proton distributions in the plasma environment of Venus. We focus on the temperature anisotropy, that is, the ratio between the proton temperature perpendicular (T-perpendicular to) and parallel (T-parallel to) to the background magnetic field. We calculate average values of T-perpendicular to and T-parallel to for different spatial areas around Venus. In addition we present spatial maps of the average of the two temperatures and of their average ratio. Our results show that the proton distributions in the solar wind are quite isotropic, while at the bow shock stronger perpendicular than parallel heating makes the downstream VDFs slightly anisotropic (T-perpendicular to/T-parallel to > 1) and possibly unstable to generation of proton cyclotron waves or mirror mode waves. Both wave modes have previously been observed in Venus's magnetosheath. The perpendicular heating is strongest in the near-subsolar magnetosheath (T-perpendicular to/ T-parallel to approximate to 3/2), which is also where mirror mode waves are most frequently observed. We believe that the mirror mode waves observed here are indeed generated by the anisotropy. In the magnetotail we observe planetary protons with largely isotropic VDFs, originating from Venus's ionosphere.
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| 8. |
- Dai, Qile, et al.
(author)
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OTTERS: a powerful TWAS framework leveraging summary-level reference data
- 2023
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Most existing TWAS tools require individual-level eQTL reference data and thus are not applicable to summary-level reference eQTL datasets. The development of TWAS methods that can harness summary-level reference data is valuable to enable TWAS in broader settings and enhance power due to increased reference sample size. Thus, we develop a TWAS framework called OTTERS (Omnibus Transcriptome Test using Expression Reference Summary data) that adapts multiple polygenic risk score (PRS) methods to estimate eQTL weights from summary-level eQTL reference data and conducts an omnibus TWAS. We show that OTTERS is a practical and powerful TWAS tool by both simulations and application studies.
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| 9. |
- Evans, David A.D., et al.
(author)
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An expanding list of reliable paleomagnetic poles for Precambrian tectonic reconstructions
- 2021
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In: Ancient Supercontinents and the Paleogeography of Earth. - : Elsevier. ; , s. 605-639
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a compilation of reliable Precambrian paleomagnetic poles from three successive international workshops (in years 2009, 2014, 2017), comprising paleomagnetists specializing in Precambrian tectonic reconstructions. The working groups compiled lists of two global classes of poles, published through the end of 2017. “Grade-A” results are judged to provide essential constraints on tectonic reconstructions; “Grade-B” poles are judged to be suggestive of high-quality, but not yet demonstrated to be primary, or perhaps lacking precise geochronologic or other constraints. Our catalog documents a resurgence of high-quality data acquisition in recent years, and highlights specific cratons and time intervals that are most lacking in the data needed to reconstruct those blocks through supercontinental cycles.
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| 10. |
- Farnocchia, Davide, et al.
(author)
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International Asteroid Warning Network Timing Campaign: 2019 XS
- 2022
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In: The Planetary Science Journal. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 2632-3338. ; 3:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As part of the International Asteroid Warning Network's observational exercises, we conducted a campaign to observe near-Earth asteroid 2019 XS around its close approach to Earth on 2021 November 9. The goal of the campaign was to characterize errors in the observation times reported to the Minor Planet Center, which become an increasingly important consideration as astrometric accuracy improves and more fast-moving asteroids are observed. As part of the exercise, a total of 957 astrometric observations of 2019 XS during the encounter were reported and subsequently were analyzed to obtain the corresponding residuals. While the timing errors are typically smaller than 1 s, the reported times appear to be negatively biased, i.e., they are generally earlier than they should be. We also compared the observer-provided position uncertainty with the cross-track residuals, which are independent of timing errors. A large fraction of the estimated uncertainties appear to be optimistic, especially when <0 2. We compiled individual reports for each observer to help identify and remove the root cause of any possible timing error and improve the uncertainty quantification process. We suggest possible sources of timing errors and describe a simple procedure to derive reliable, conservative position uncertainties.
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