425 research outputs found
Take-or-Pay Contracts for Renewables Deployment
Renewables require support policies to deliver the European 20% target. We discuss the requirements for least cost development and efficient operation and quantify how different schemes (i) allow for the development of a renewable energy technology portfolio; (ii) reduce rent transfers to infra-marginal technologies or better than marginal resource bases; and (iii) minimise regulatory risk and thus capital costs for new projects. Long-term take or pay contracts minimise regulatory uncertainty, create appropriate incentives for location and operation, allow for efficient system operation and seem compatible with European state aid. We discuss how property rights legislation protects existing renewables investors, and thus can ensure ongoing investment during a transition towards the new scheme
A Survey of Weeding Practices in New Zealand Academic Libraries
Weeding is the removal and disposal of materials from a libraryâs collection that meet
criteria set out in the collection development policy. Weeding the print collection of
an academic library should be viewed as a means of continuously improving the
quality of the collection, reflecting changes in the universityâs academic curriculum
and meeting patronsâ research needs (Dubicki, 2008). Weeding is often neglected
however because of time constraints, a desire to maintain the size of a collection, and
the belief that a book may be needed some time in the future ..
Analysis of galactic tides and stars on CDM microhalos
A special purpose N-body simulation has been built to understand the tidal
heating of the smallest dark matter substructures (10^{-6}\msun and 0.01pc)
from the grainy potential of the Milky Way due to individual stars in the disk
and the bulge. To test the method we first run simulations of single encounters
of microhalos with an isolated star, and compare with analytical predictions of
the dark particle bound fraction as a function of impact parameter. We then
follow the orbits of a set of microhalos in a realistic flattened Milky Way
potential. We concentrate on (detectable) microhalos passing near the Sun with
a range of pericenter and apocenter. Stellar perturbers near the orbital path
of a microhalo would exert stochachstic impulses, which we apply in a Monte
Carlo fashion according to the Besancon model for the distribution of stars of
different masses and ages in our Galaxy. Also incorporated are the usual
pericenter tidal heating and disk-shocking heating. We give a detailed
diagnosis of typical microhalos and find microhalos with internal tangential
anisotropy are slightly more robust than the ones with radial anisotropy. In
addition, the dark particles generally go through of a random walk in velocity
space and diffuse out of the microhalos.
We show that the typical destruction time scales are strongly correlated with
the stellar density averaged along a microhalo's orbit over the age of the
stellar disk. We also present the morphology of a microhalo at several epochs
which may hold the key to dark matter detections.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figure
A review of energy law education in the UK
This article focuses on reviewing energy law education in the UK. For such a fast-growing discipline it is important to reflect on the features that give cohesiveness to its curriculum development: how it is taught; who is teaching it and where it is being taught; and what content is given to the curriculum offered? Is it, for example, national in focus or international, or both? A recent review on the state of energy law education in the US demonstrates the scale and ambition of energy law education in that country. This article complements that exercise by providing a review of energy law education in the UK as at 2016. By comparing and contrasting the two approaches, we can glean some distinctive features of the UK approach. More research is needed on energy law education but from this article it is clear that energy law has taken a foothold in legal education in the UK
The role of prophylactic mesh placement to prevent incisional hernia in laparotomy. Is it time to change practice?
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Wound Bundles in Emergency Midline Laparotomy Identifies That It Is Time for Improvement:Special Issue: Trauma and Emergency: Beyond Damage Control Surgery
Background: Emergency midline laparotomy is the cornerstone of survival in patients with peritonitis. While bundling of care elements has been shown to optimize outcomes, this has focused on elective rather than emergency abdominal surgery. The aim of this study was to undertake a systematic review and meta-analysis of factors affecting the development of surgical site infection (SSI) in patients undergoing midline emergency laparotomy. Methods: An ethically approved, PROSPERO registered (ID: CRD42020193246) meta-analysis and systematic review, searching PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Cochrane Library electronic databases from January 2015 to June 2020 and adhering to PRISMA guidelines was undertaken. Search headings included âemergency surgeryâ, âlaparotomyâ, âsurgical site infectionâ, âmidline incisionâ and âwound bundleâ. Suitable publications were graded using Methodological Index for Non-Randomised Studies (MINORS); papers scoring â„16/24 were included for data analysis. The primary outcome in this study was SSI rates following the use of wound bundles. Secondary outcomes consisted of the effect of the individual interventions included in the bundles and the SSI rates for superficial and deep infections. Five studies focusing on closure techniques were grouped to assess their effect on SSI. Results: This study identified 1875 articles. A total of 58 were potentially suitable, and 11 were included after applying MINORS score. The final cohort included 2,856 patients from eight countries. Three papers came from the USA, two papers from Japan and the remainder from Denmark, England, Iran, Netherlands, Spain and Turkey. There was a 32% non-significant SSI reduction after the implementation of wound bundles (RR = 0.68; CI, 0.39â1.17; p = 0.16). In bundles used for technical closure the reduction in SSI of 15% was non-significant (RR = 0.85; CI, 0.57â1.26; p = 0.41). Analysis of an effective wound bundle was limited due to insufficient data. Conclusions: This study identified a significant deficit in the world literature relating to emergency laparotomy and wound outcome optimisation. Given the global burden of emergency general surgery urgent action is needed to assess bundleâs ability to potentially improve outcome after emergency laparotomy
Agrarstruktur in Ghandruk und Umgebung : Schwerpunkt Ackerbau und HausgÀrten
Immunity to human influenza A virus (IAV) infection is only partially understood. Broadly non-neutralizing antibodies may assist in reducing disease but have not been well characterized.We measured internalization of opsonized, influenza protein-coated fluorescent beads and live IAV into a monocytic cell line to study antibody-dependent phagocytosis (ADP) against multiple influenza hemagglutinin (HA) subtypes. We analyzed influenza HA-specific ADP in healthy human donors, in preparations of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), and following IAV infection of humans and macaques.We found that both sera from healthy adults and IVIG preparations had broad ADP to multiple seasonal HA proteins and weak cross-reactive ADP to non-circulating HA proteins. The ADP in experimentally influenza-infected macaque plasma and naturally influenza-infected human sera mediated phagocytosis of both homologous and heterologous IAVs. Further, the IAV phagocytosed in an antibody-mediated manner had reduced infectivity in vitro.We conclude that IAV infections in humans and macaques leads to the development of influenza-specific ADP that can clear IAV infection in vitro. Repeated exposure of humans to multiple IAV infections likely leads to the development of ADP that is cross-reactive to strains not previously encountered. Further analyses of the protective capacity of broadly reactive influenza-specific ADP is warranted
Robotic arm-assisted bi-unicompartmental knee arthroplasty maintains natural knee joint anatomy compared with total knee arthroplasty : a prospective randomized controlled trial
Aims The aim of this study was to compare robotic arm-assisted bi-unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (bi-UKA) with conventional mechanically aligned total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in order to determine the changes in the anatomy of the knee and alignment of the lower limb following surgery. Methods An analysis of 38 patients who underwent TKA and 32 who underwent bi-UKA was performed as a secondary study from a prospective, single-centre, randomized controlled trial. CT imaging was used to measure coronal, sagittal, and axial alignment of the knee preoperatively and at three months postoperatively to determine changes in anatomy that had occurred as a result of the surgery. The hip-knee-ankle angle (HKAA) was also measured to identify any differences between the two groups. Results The pre- to postoperative changes in joint anatomy were significantly less in patients undergoing bi-UKA in all three planes in both the femur and tibia, except for femoral sagittal component orientation in which there was no difference. Overall, for the six parameters of alignment (three femoral and three tibial), 47% of bi-UKAs and 24% TKAs had a change of < 2° (p = 0.045). The change in HKAA towards neutral in varus and valgus knees was significantly less in patients undergoing bi-UKA compared with those undergoing TKA (p < 0.001). Alignment was neutral in those undergoing TKA (mean 179.5° (SD 3.2°)) while those undergoing bi-UKA had mild residual varus or valgus alignment (mean 177.8° (SD 3.4°)) (p < 0.001). Conclusion Robotic-assisted, cruciate-sparing bi-UKA maintains the natural anatomy of the knee in the coronal, sagittal, and axial planes better, and may therefore preserve normal joint kinematics, compared with a mechanically aligned TKA. This includes preservation of coronal joint line obliquity. HKAA alignment was corrected towards neutral significantly less in patients undergoing bi-UKA, which may represent restoration of the pre-disease constitutional alignment (p < 0.001)
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