A daily representation of Great Britain's energy vectors : Natural gas, electricity and transport fuels

In much of Europe there is a strong push to decarbonise energy demands, including the largest single end-use demand – heat. Moving heat demands over to the electrical network poses significant challenges and the use of hybrid energy vector and storage systems (heat and electrical storage) will be a critical component in managing this transition. As an example of these challenges (facing many developed countries), the scale of recently available daily energy flows through the UK’s electrical, gas and transport systems are presented. When this data is expressed graphically it illustrates important differences in the demand characteristics of these different vectors; these include the quantity of energy delivered through the networks on a daily basis, and the scale of variability in the gas demand over multiple timescales (seasonal, weekly and daily). As the UK proceeds to migrate heating demands to the electrical network in its drive to cut carbon emissions, electrical demand will significantly increase. Additionally, the greater variability and uncertainty shown in the gas demand will also migrate to the electrical demand posing significant difficulties for the maintenance of a secure and reliable electrical system in the coming decades. The paper concludes an analysis of the different means of accommodating increasingly volatile electricity demands in future energy networks

Gauge Theories in Particle Physics: A Practical Introduction, Fourth Edition - 2 Volume set

The fourth edition of this well-established, highly regarded two-volume set continues to provide a fundamental introduction to advanced particle physics while incorporating substantial new experimental results, especially in the areas of CP violation and neutrino oscillations. It offers an accessible and practical introduction to the three gauge theories included in the Standard Model of particle physics: quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and the Glashow-Salam-Weinberg (GSW) electroweak theory. In the first volume, a new chapter on Lorentz transformations and discrete symmetries presents a simple treatment of Lorentz transformations of Dirac spinors. Along with updating experimental results, this edition also introduces Majorana fermions at an early stage, making the material suitable for a first course in relativistic quantum mechanics. Covering much of the experimental progress made in the last ten years, the second volume remains focused on the two non-Abelian quantum gauge field theories of the Standard Model: QCD and the GSW electroweak theory. A new chapter on CP violation and oscillation phenomena describes CP violation in B-meson decays as well as the main experiments that have led to our current knowledge of mass-squared differences and mixing angles for neutrinos. Exploring a new era in particle physics, this edition discusses the exciting discovery of a boson with properties consistent with those of the Standard Model Higgs boson. It also updates many other topics, including jet algorithms, lattice QCD, effective Lagrangians, and three-generation quark mixing and the CKM matrix. This revised and updated edition provides a self-contained pedagogical treatment of the subject, from relativistic quantum mechanics to the frontiers of the Standard Model. For each theory, the authors discuss the main conceptual points, detail many practical calculations of physical quantities from first principles, and compare these quantitative predictions with experimental results, helping readers improve both their calculation skills and physical insight

Multi-region System Modelling by using Genetic Programming to Extract Rule Consequent Functions in a TSK Fuzzy System

[EN] This paper aims to build a fuzzy system by means of genetic programming, which is used to extract the relevant function for each rule consequent through symbolic regression. The employed TSK fuzzy system is complemented with a variational Bayesian Gaussian mixture clustering method, which identifies the domain partition, simultaneously specifying the number of rules as well as the parameters in the fuzzy sets. The genetic programming approach is accompanied with an orthogonal least square algorithm, to extract robust rule consequent functions for the fuzzy system. The proposed model is validated with a synthetic surface, and then with real data from a gas turbine compressor map case, which is compared with an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system model. The results have demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed approach for modelling system with small data or bifurcating dynamics, where the analytical equations are not available, such as those in a typical industrial setting.Research supported by EPSRC Grant EVES (EP/R029741/1).Zhang, Y.; Martínez-García, M.; Serrano, J.; Latimer, A. (2019). Multi-region System Modelling by using Genetic Programming to Extract Rule Consequent Functions in a TSK Fuzzy System. IEEE. 987-992. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICARM.2019.8834163S98799

Great Britain's Energy Vectors and Transmission Level Energy Storage

As an example of the challenges facing many developed countries, the scale of daily energy flows through Great Britain's electrical, gas and transport systems are presented. When this data is expressed graphically it illustrates important differences in the demand characteristics of these different vectors; these include the scale of energy delivered through the networks on a daily basis, and the scale of variability in the different demands over multiple timescales (seasonal, weekly and daily). The paper discusses energy storage in general; the scale of within day stores of energy available to the gas and electrical transmission networks, and suggests Synthetic Natural Gas as an interesting energy carrier that could use existing natural gas infrastructure

Proteome biology of stem cells

AbstractThe notion that integration of cutting-edge technologies in stem cell research would be enhanced by proteomic analyses has emanated from rapid advances in proteome technology. These advances have increased the probability that basic properties of stem cells will be elucidated more effectively, leading to acceleration toward novel stem cell therapies. We have therefore sought to establish a world-wide alliance of proteomics and stem cell researchers, which has resulted in the foundation of an initiative supported by the Human Proteome Organisation (HUPO) and the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) called the Proteome Biology of Stem Cells Initiative. Here we report on the rationale and goals of this initiative

Metric trees of generalized roundness one

Every finite metric tree has generalized roundness strictly greater than one. On the other hand, some countable metric trees have generalized roundness precisely one. The purpose of this paper is to identify some large classes of countable metric trees that have generalized roundness precisely one. At the outset we consider spherically symmetric trees endowed with the usual combinatorial metric (SSTs). Using a simple geometric argument we show how to determine decent upper bounds on the generalized roundness of finite SSTs that depend only on the downward degree sequence of the tree in question. By considering limits it follows that if the downward degree sequence $(d_{0}, d_{1}, d_{2}...)$ of a SST $(T,\rho)$ satisfies $|\{j \, | \, d_{j} > 1 \}| = \aleph_{0}$, then $(T,\rho)$ has generalized roundness one. Included among the trees that satisfy this condition are all complete $n$-ary trees of depth $\infty$ ($n \geq 2$), all $k$-regular trees ($k \geq 3$) and inductive limits of Cantor trees. The remainder of the paper deals with two classes of countable metric trees of generalized roundness one whose members are not, in general, spherically symmetric. The first such class of trees are merely required to spread out at a sufficient rate (with a restriction on the number of leaves) and the second such class of trees resemble infinite combs.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

Strange quarks and lattice QCD

The last few years have seen a dramatic improvement in our knowledge of the strange form factors of the nucleon. With regard to the vector from factors the level of agreement between theory and experiment gives us considerable confidence in our ability to calculate with non-perturbative QCD. The calculation of the strange scalar form factor has moved significantly in the last two years, with the application of new techniques which yield values considerably smaller than believed for the past 20 years. These new values turn out to have important consequences for the detection of neutralinos, a favourite dark matter candidate. Finally, very recent lattice studies have resurrected interest in the famed H-dibaryon, with modern chiral extrapolation of lattice data suggesting that it may be only slightly unbound. We review some of the major sources of uncertainty in that chiral extrapolation.Comment: Invited talk at the Asia-Pacific few Body Conference, Seoul Kore

Genetic and Environmental Influences in Delinquent Peer Affiliation: From the Peer Network Approach

Mainstream criminologists have long maintained that delinquent peer group formation is largely a function of family-environmental variables, and have ignored self-selection into peer groups because of genetic proclivities. A small number of recent studies, however, suggest that genes are implicated in delinquent peer affiliation. Given the potentially far-reaching implication of such research findings, the authors replicate Beaver, Wright, & DeLisi\u27s (2008) study, among others, using a direct measure of peer delinquency. That is, the authors analyze the Add Health genetic data employing a measure of peer delinquency which is based on the delinquency counts reported by peers themselves rather than respondents‘ self-reports. Even employing this alternative measure, their results clearly support the original study, providing further evidence of genetic underpinnings of delinquent peer group formation

Can nuclear weapons fallout mark the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch?

Many scientists are making the case that humanity is living in a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, but there is no agreement yet as to when this epoch began. The start might be defined by a historical event, such as the beginning of the fossil-fueled Industrial Revolution or the first nuclear explosion in 1945. Standard stratigraphic practice, however, requires a more significant, globally widespread, and abrupt signature, and the fallout from nuclear weapons testing appears most suitable. The appearance of plutonium 239 (used in post- 1945 above-ground nuclear weapons tests) makes a good marker: This isotope is rare in nature but a significant component of fallout. It has other features to recommend it as a stable marker in layers of sedimentary rock and soil, including: long half-life, low solubility, and high particle reactivity. It may be used in conjunction with other radioactive isotopes, such as americium 241 and carbon 14, to categorize distinct fallout signatures in sediments and ice caps. On a global scale, the first appearance of plutonium 239 in sedimentary sequences corresponds to the early 1950s. While plutonium is easily detectable over the entire Earth using modern measurement techniques, a site to define the Anthropocene (known as a Ògolden spikeÓ) would ideally be located between 30 and 60 degrees north of the equator, where fallout is maximal, within undisturbed marine or lake environments