Upscaled modeling of CO2 injection and migration with coupled thermal processes

A practical modeling approach for CO2 storage over relatively large length and time scales is the vertical-equilibrium model, which solves partially integrated conservation equations for flow in two lateral dimensions. We couple heat transfer within the vertical equilibrium framework for fluid flow, focusing on thermal processes that most impact the CO2 plume. We investigate a simplified representation of heat exchange that also includes transport of heat within the plume. In addition, we explore available CO2 thermodynamic models for reliable prediction of density under different injection pressures and temperatures. The model concept is demonstrated on simplified systems.publishedVersio

The frontiers of participatory public engagement

Currently missing from critical literature on public engagement with academic research is a public-centric analysis of the wider contemporary context of developments in the field of public engagement and participation. Drawing on three differently useful strands of the existing theoretical literature on the public, this article compares a diverse sample of 100 participatory public engagement initiatives in order to first, analyse a selection of the myriad ways that the public is being constituted and supported across this contemporary field and second, identify what socio-cultural researchers might learn from these developments. Emerging from this research is a preliminary map of the field of public engagement and participation. This map highlights relationships and divergences that exist among diverse forms of practice and brings into clearer view a set of tensions between different contemporary approaches to public engagement and participation. Two ‘frontiers’ of participatory public engagement that socio-cultural researchers should attend are also identified. At the first, scholars need to be critical regarding the particular versions of the public that their preferred approach to engagement and participation supports and concerning how their specific identifications with the public relate to those being addressed across the wider field. At the second frontier, researchers need to consider the possibilities for political intervention that public engagement and participation practice could open out, both in the settings they are already working and also in the much broader, rapidly developing and increasingly complicated contemporary field of public engagement and participation that this article explores

Estimation of genetic parameters for feed efficiency traits using random regression models in dairy cattle.

Feed efficiency has become an increasingly important research topic in recent years. As feed costs rise and the environmental impacts of agriculture become more apparent, improving the efficiency with which dairy cows convert feed to milk is increasingly important. However, feed intake is expensive to measure accurately on large populations, making the inclusion of this trait in breeding programs difficult. Understanding how the genetic parameters of feed efficiency and traits related to feed efficiency vary throughout the lactation period is valuable to gain understanding into the genetic nature of feed efficiency. This study used 121,226 dry matter intake (DMI) records, 120,500 energy corrected milk (ECM) records, and 98,975 metabolic body weight (MBW) records, collected on 7,440 first lactation Holstein cows from 6 countries (Canada, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and United States of America), from January 2003 to February 2022. Genetic parameters were estimated using a multiple-trait random regression model with a fourth order Legendre polynomial for all traits. Weekly phenotypes for DMI were re-parameterized using linear regressions of DMI on ECM and MBW, creating a measure of feed efficiency that was genetically corrected for ECM and MBW, referred to as genomic residual feed intake (gRFI). Heritability (SE) estimates varied from 0.15 (0.03) to 0.29 (0.02) for DMI, 0.24 (0.01) to 0.29 (0.03) for ECM, 0.55 (0.03) to 0.83 (0.05) for MBW, and 0.12 (0.03) to 0.22 (0.06) for gRFI. In general, heritability estimates were lower in the first stage of lactation compared with the later stages of lactation. Additive genetic correlations between weeks of lactation varied, with stronger correlations between weeks of lactation that were close together. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the change in genetic parameters across the first lactation, providing insight into potential selection strategies to include feed efficiency in breeding programs

Novel genetic parameters for genetic residual feed intake in dairy cattle using time series data from multiple parities and countries in North America and Europe.

Residual feed intake is viewed as an important trait in breeding programs that could be used to enhance genetic progress in feed efficiency. In particular, improving feed efficiency could improve both economic and environmental sustainability in the dairy cattle industry. However, data remain sparse, limiting the development of reliable genomic evaluations across lactation and parity for residual feed intake. Here, we estimated novel genetic parameters for genetic residual feed intake (gRFI) across the first, second, and third parity, using a random regression model. Research data on the measured feed intake, milk production, and body weight of 7,379 cows (271,080 records) from 6 countries in 2 continents were shared through the Horizon 2020 project GenTORE and Resilient Dairy Genome Project. The countries included Canada (1,053 cows with 47,130 weekly records), Denmark (1,045 cows with 72,760 weekly records), France (329 cows with 16,888 weekly records), Germany (938 cows with 32,614 weekly records), the Netherlands (2,051 cows with 57,830 weekly records), and United States (1,963 cows with 43,858 weekly records). Each trait had variance components estimated from first to third parity, using a random regression model across countries. Genetic residual feed intake was found to be heritable in all 3 parities, with first parity being predominant (range: 22-34%). Genetic residual feed intake was highly correlated across parities for mid- to late lactation; however, genetic correlation across parities was lower during early lactation, especially when comparing first and third parity. We estimated a genetic correlation of 0.77 ± 0.37 between North America and Europe for dry matter intake at first parity. Published literature on genetic correlations between high input countries/continents for dry matter intake support a high genetic correlation for dry matter intake. In conclusion, our results demonstrate the feasibility of estimating variance components for gRFI across parities, and the value of sharing data on scarce phenotypes across countries. These results can potentially be implemented in genetic evaluations for gRFI in dairy cattle

Understanding micro-processes of community building and mutual learning on Twitter: a ‘small data’ approach

This article contributes to an emerging field of ‘small data’ research on Twitter by presenting a case study of how teachers and students at a sixth-form college in the north of England used this social media platform to help construct a ‘community of practice’ that enabled micro-processes of recognition and mutual learning. Conducted as part of a broader action research project that focused on the ‘digital story circle’ as a site of, and for, narrative exchange and knowledge production, this study takes the form of a detailed analysis of a departmental Twitter account, combining basic quantitative metrics, close reading of selected Twitter data and qualitative interviews with teachers and students. Working with (and sometimes against) Twitter's platform architecture, teachers and students constructed, through distinct patterns of use, a shared space for dialogue that facilitated community building within the department. On the whole, they were able to overcome justified anxieties about professionalism and privacy; this was achieved by building on high levels of pre-existing trust among staff and by performing that mutual trust online through personal modes of communication. Through micro-processes of recognition and a breaking down of conventional hierarchies that affirmed students' agency as knowledge producers, the departmental Twitter account enabled mutual learning beyond curriculum and classroom. The significance of such micro-processes could only have been uncovered through the detailed scrutiny that a ‘small data’ approach to Twitter, in supplement to some obvious virtues of Big Data approaches, is particularly well placed to provide

Digital platforms and narrative exchange: hidden constraints, emerging agency

It is well known that narrative exchange takes distinctive forms in the digital age. Less understood are the digitally based processes and infrastructures that support or constrain the wider exchange of narrative materials. This article reports on research in a UK sixth form college with ambitions to expand its students’ digital skills. Our approach was to identify the preconditions (sometimes, but often not, involving fully formed narrative agency) that might support sustained narrative exchange. We call these conditions collectively ‘proto-agency’, and explore them as a way of establishing what a ‘digital story circle’ (not just a digital story) might be: that is, how new digital platforms and resources contribute to the infrastructures for narrative exchange and wider empowerment in a complex institutional context. During our fieldwork, interesting insights into the tensions around social media emerged. Only by understanding such forms of proto-agency can we begin to asses

Solution-Blown Nanofiber Mats from Fish Sarcoplasmic Protein

In the present work, solution-blowing was adopted to form nanofibers from fish sarcoplasmic proteins (FSPs). Nanofiber mats containing different weight ratios (up to 90/10) of FSP in the FSP/nylon 6 blended nanofibers were formed from formic acid solutions, and compared to electrospun fibers made from the same solutions. The nanofiber mats produced by the two methods were characterized in terms of FSP content, fiber diameter distribution, fiber mat porosity, and mass of the fibers collected. The mechanical strength of the solution-blown fibers was also measured. Overall, fibers made by the two techniques were similar, but with some exceptions. The fiber diameter of the electrospun fibers was slightly smaller than those made using solution-blowing, however in both cases the fiber diameter increased with increasing FSP content. Interestingly, for uniform fibers the stretchability of the fibers increased with increasing FSP content, indicated by an increased strain at rupture. Moreover, the mechanical tests showed that up to 50% of nylon 6 could be replaced with FSP without compromising the mechanical properties, compared to pure nylon 6 nanofibers. Comparison of the yield showed that the production rate of solution-blowing was increased 30-fold in relation to electrospinning. Overall, this study reveals FSP as an interesting biopolymeric alternative to synthetic polymers, and the introduction of FSP to nylon 6 provides a composite with controlled properties