Developing the framework for multi-criteria assessment of smart local energy systems

In response to the climate emergency, energy landscapes are rapidly shifting to cleaner, decentralised smart local energy systems (SLESs). SLES will facilitate connection of transport, heat and power through flexible energy supply, demand and storage options supported by digital technology. SLESs are expected to contribute to tackling the energy trilemma (cost, security and sustainability), but there is also scope for them to offer many co-benefits aligned with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These benefits may drive for ongoing political and financial investment in SLES; therefore, there’s a need to indicate how a SLES is performing over time relative to each of them. Currently, there is no standardised approach to evaluate SLES and most of the existing techno-socio-economic tools have limited scope to assess the complex multiple performance indices, scenarios and stakeholders. The Innovate UK-funded EnergyREV research consortium is developing a multi-criteria assessment tool (MCA) for SLES. This paper describes the first step in this process – developing a simplified and standardised framework for assessing the performance of the system and the realization of benefits. It explores existing protocols and stakeholder opinion to identify 50 potential factors that are important in monitoring the system performance. These are clustered into 10 key themes to create a taxonomy for SLES performance that are aligned with relevant UN SDGs to track wider co-benefits. The resulting MCA tool will be instrumental to project stakeholders in providing evidence to support performance claims and identifying potential benefits beyond targeted key performance indicators

Population expansion in the North African Late Pleistocene signalled by mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U6

Background <br/> The archaeology of North Africa remains enigmatic, with questions of population continuity versus discontinuity taking centre-stage. Debates have focused on population transitions between the bearers of the Middle Palaeolithic Aterian industry and the later Upper Palaeolithic populations of the Maghreb, as well as between the late Pleistocene and Holocene. <br/> Results Improved resolution of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup U6 phylogeny, by the screening of 39 new complete sequences, has enabled us to infer a signal of moderate population expansion using Bayesian coalescent methods. To ascertain the time for this expansion, we applied both a mutation rate accounting for purifying selection and one with an internal calibration based on four approximate archaeological dates: the settlement of the Canary Islands, the settlement of Sardinia and its internal population re-expansion, and the split between haplogroups U5 and U6 around the time of the first modern human settlement of the Near East. <br/> Conclusions <br/> A Bayesian skyline plot placed the main expansion in the time frame of the Late Pleistocene, around 20 ka, and spatial smoothing techniques suggested that the most probable geographic region for this demographic event was to the west of North Africa. A comparison with U6's European sister clade, U5, revealed a stronger population expansion at around this time in Europe. Also in contrast with U5, a weak signal of a recent population expansion in the last 5,000 years was observed in North Africa, pointing to a moderate impact of the late Neolithic on the local population size of the southern Mediterranean coast

Rare Presentation of Rosai-Dorfman Disease in Soft Tissue: Diagnostic Findings and Surgical Treatment.

Introduction and Importance. Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) is a rare, benign type II histiocytosis characterized by the infiltration of S100+ histiocytes and emperipolesis. The disease may present in the lymph nodes (nodal RDD), in extranodal sites, or in both nodal and extranodal sites. Among those patients who present exclusively in extranodal sites, only a minority of cases present in the soft tissue. Case Presentation. An 18-year-old female presented to orthopedic oncology clinic with a chief complaint of a mass located in her lower back. The patient underwent excision of the lumbosacral mass. Pathologic review demonstrated emperipolesis of lymphocytes and plasma cells within enlarged, eosinophilic histiocytes in a background of lymphoplasmacytic infiltration and collagenous stroma. Immunohistochemical staining demonstrated S100+ and CD163+ histiocytes, consistent with diagnosis of soft tissue RDD. Clinical Discussion. Histologically, RDD is generally characterized by emperipolesis-the presence of intact lymphocytes within the histiocyte cytoplasm-and a mixed infiltrate of S100+ histiocytes, mononuclear cells, plasma cells, and lymphocytes. Although soft tissue RDD may histologically resemble nodal RDD, soft tissue RDD also demonstrates some notable histologic differences including the lack of nodal architecture, the presence of increased fibrosis and collagen deposition, and generally fewer RDD cells. Conclusion. This case presentation demonstrates one few reports of isolated soft tissue RDD within the lumbosacral region without associated lymphadenopathy or skin changes and highlights the heterogeneity that still exists in the treatment paradigm of extranodal RDD

Effects Of 1-mcp Onthe Post-harvest Quality Of The Orange Cv. Pera Stored Under Refrigeration

The aim of this work was to analyse the effects of 1-MCP upon the post-harvest quality of the orange cv. Pera stored for 45 days at a temperature of 7 °C. The fruit was divided into four treatments, and then submitted to the application of three concentrations of 1-methylciclopropene (0.1, 0.5 and 1.0μL.L-1) for a period of 12 hours. The fruitwas again then stored at a temperature of 7 °C. The rate of respiration was determined, together withcoloration of the epidermis, SS, TA, ratio, vitamin C, total carotenoids, phenolic compounds, total and reducing sugars, weight loss and juice yield. The data were submitted to analysis of variance (F-Test), and the averages were analysed by regression (P≤0.05). According to the results, it could be seen that higher doses of 1-MCP may have caused chemical stress to the orangesunder evaluation, being responsible for the increasein the rate of respiration. A change in coloration of the epidermis from green to yellow/orange was delayed by the application of 1-MCP; the application of 1-MCP did not cause any alteration to such chemical characteristics as SS, TA, ratio, carotenoids, phenolic compounds or sugars.47462463

Accelerometers can measure total and activity-specific energy expenditures in free-ranging marine mammals only if linked to time-activity budgets

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Enhancement of antimicrobial activity of antibiotics and antifungals by the use of natural products from Pityrogramma calomelanos (L.) link

The ethanol extract and methanol fraction of Pityrogramma calomelanos (L.) link were evaluated for antibacterial, antifungal and modulatory activities against strains of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, C. krusei and C. tropicalis. The antimicrobial activity of the natural products was evaluated by the microdilution method associated or not with aminoglycosides and antifungals. The ethanol extract and methanol fraction of P. calomelanos showed good activity against S. aureus when associated with aminoglycosides and with benzoilmetronidazol against species of the genus Candida. These results indicate that P. calomelanos should be studied as a possible source of natural products to combat bacteria and fungi either directly or by modulating the mechanisms of resistance of these microorganisms, enhancing the antimicrobial activity of these drugs and combating microbial resistance

Generalized Species Sampling Priors with Latent Beta reinforcements

Many popular Bayesian nonparametric priors can be characterized in terms of exchangeable species sampling sequences. However, in some applications, exchangeability may not be appropriate. We introduce a {novel and probabilistically coherent family of non-exchangeable species sampling sequences characterized by a tractable predictive probability function with weights driven by a sequence of independent Beta random variables. We compare their theoretical clustering properties with those of the Dirichlet Process and the two parameters Poisson-Dirichlet process. The proposed construction provides a complete characterization of the joint process, differently from existing work. We then propose the use of such process as prior distribution in a hierarchical Bayes modeling framework, and we describe a Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampler for posterior inference. We evaluate the performance of the prior and the robustness of the resulting inference in a simulation study, providing a comparison with popular Dirichlet Processes mixtures and Hidden Markov Models. Finally, we develop an application to the detection of chromosomal aberrations in breast cancer by leveraging array CGH data.Comment: For correspondence purposes, Edoardo M. Airoldi's email is [email protected]; Federico Bassetti's email is [email protected]; Michele Guindani's email is [email protected] ; Fabrizo Leisen's email is [email protected]. To appear in the Journal of the American Statistical Associatio

The Mythology of Game Theory

Non-cooperative game theory is at its heart a theory of cognition, specifically a theory of how decisions are made. Game theory\u27s leverage is that we can design different payoffs, settings, player arrays, action possibilities, and information structures, and that these differences lead to different strategies, outcomes, and equilibria. It is well-known that, in experimental settings, people do not adopt the predicted strategies, outcomes, and equilibria. The standard response to this mismatch of prediction and observation is to add various psychological axioms to the game-theoretic framework. Regardless of the differing specific proposals and results, game theory uniformly makes certain cognitive assumptions that seem rarely to be acknowledged, much less interrogated. Indeed, it is not widely understood that game theory is essentially a cognitive theory. Here, we interrogate those cognitive assumptions. We do more than reject specific predictions from specific games. More broadly, we reject the underlying cognitive model implicitly assumed by game theory

Enhancement of antibiotic activity by Cordia verbenacea DC

Escherichia coli is known to produce enterotoxins whose properties and its role in diarrheal disease has been extensively investigated. Some species of Staphylococcus are often recognized as etiological agents of many animal and human opportunistic infections. This study is the first test of change in resistance of antibiotic activity by Cordia verbenacea DC. against multiresistant strains of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. In this study, the hexane and methanol extract of Cordia verbenacea DC. were tested for antibacterial activity alone and in combination with aminoglycosides against bacterial strains. The synergy of the methanolic and hexane were verified by microdilution method. A synergistic effect of both extracts combined with the aminoglycosides was demonstrated. It is therefore suggested that the extracts from Cordia verbenacea DC. could be used as a source of natural products derived from this plant with resistance-modifying antibacterial activity, providing a new weapon against the problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Enhancement of antibiotic activity by Cordia verbenacea DC

Escherichia coli is known to produce enterotoxins whose properties and its role in diarrheal disease has been extensively investigated. Some species of Staphylococcus are often recognized as etiological agents of many animal and human opportunistic infections. This study is the first test of change in resistance of antibiotic activity by Cordia verbenacea DC. against multiresistant strains of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. In this study, the hexane and methanol extract of Cordia verbenacea DC. were tested for antibacterial activity alone and in combination with aminoglycosides against bacterial strains. The synergy of the methanolic and hexane were verified by microdilution method. A synergistic effect of both extracts combined with the aminoglycosides was demonstrated. It is therefore suggested that the extracts from Cordia verbenacea DC. could be used as a source of natural products derived from this plant with resistance-modifying antibacterial activity, providing a new weapon against the problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire