Designing and simulating smart grids

Growing energy demands and the increased use of renewal energies have changed the landscape of power networks leading to new challenges. Smart Grids have emerged to cope with these challenges by facilitating the integration of traditional and renewable energy resources in distributed, open, and self-managed ways. Innovative models are needed to design energy infrastructures that can enable self-management of the power grid. Software architectures smoothly integrate the software that provides self-management to Smart Grids and their hardware infrastructures. We present a framework to design the software architectures of autonomous Smart Grids in an intuitive domain-oriented way and to simulate their execution by automatically generating the code from the designed autonomous smart grid architectures

An approach for shipping emissions estimation in ports: the case of ro–ro vessels in port of Vigo

Despite most atmospheric emissions being produced by vessels when navigating at sea, they are also important when in port because of their proximity to urban areas and their harmful effects on climate change and health. First, we carried out a bibliographical review of the nine most relevant methods to estimate the emission of ships in ports. These methods have been used to estimate the emissions of the sixteen most representatives Ro–Ro (roll-on–roll-off) ships calling at the Port of Vigo. From the results obtained, a new simplified method for estimation is proposed, which is based on linear regression curves and takes into account the number of ships and the average number of hours they remain in port annually. This simplification could be a useful tool when making preliminary assessments of the emissions from ships in port, which can also be extrapolated to other ports or types of ships.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. PID2021-127876OB-I0

Magallanes project: testing the marine tidal current platform in the “Ría of Vigo”

In this study, the behavior of a platform for tidal energy is analyzed. The turbine of this platform is formed by two counter-rotating rotors aligned with the tidal current, such that one rotor is always under the wake of the upstream rotor. The platform has been tested by towing it with a tugboat to emulate tidal currents. The results of these tests are analyzed in this paper in order to estimate the generation capabilities of the platform.Peer Reviewe

Large-Scale smart grids as system of systems

Smart Grids are advanced power networks that introduce intelligent management, control, and operation systems to address the new challenges generated by the growing energy demand and the appearance of renewal energies. In the literature, Smart Grids are presented as an exemplar SoS: systems composed of large heterogeneous and independent systems that leverage emergent behavior from their interaction. Smart Grids are currently scaling up the electricity service to millions of customers. These Smart Grids are known as Large-Scale Smart Grids. From the experience in several projects about Large-Scale Smart Grids, this paper defines Large-Scale Smart Grids as a SoS that integrate a set of SoS and conceptualizes the properties of this SoS. In addition, the paper defines the architectural framework for deploying the software architectures of Large-Scale Smart Grid SoS

Frecuencia y factores asociados a caídas en adultos mayores atendidos en Consulta Externa en el Servicio de Geriatría del Hospital Almanzor Aguinaga Asenjo. 2013

Objetivo: Determinar la frecuencia y los factores asociados a caídas en adultos mayores atendidos en consulta externa en el Servicio de Geriatría del Hospital Almanzor Aguinaga Asenjo en el año 2013. Material y Métodos: Se realizó un estudio descriptivo-transversal. La muestra estuvo formada por 301 personas, elegidos por un muestreo aleatorio simple. Se tomaron datos generales, patologías y consumo de fármacos registrados en su historia clínica. Asimismo, realizó una entrevista en el consultorio, donde se aplicaron múltiples escalas validadas para valorar los factores asociados a caídas. Resultados: La frecuencia de caídas en los adultos mayores fue de 60,42%; de los cuales, 104 mujeres (57,14%) y 78 (42,86%) varones presentaron caídas en el último año. La edad promedio de los pacientes incluidos en el estudio fue de 77,8 años en las mujeres y 74,95 años en los varones. La mayoría de las caídas ocurrió en la casa (59,9%) y vía pública (41,1%). Entre los factores asociados a caídas se encontraron: edad mayor de 80 años (RP=1,51; [IC 95%=1,26-1,82]), alteración cognitiva (RP=1,84; [IC 95%=1,51-2,25]), alteración del equilibrio y la marcha (RP=2,25; [IC 95%=1,44-3,49]), miedo a caer (RP=2,11; [IC 95%=1,81-2,47]), depresión (RP=1,87; [IC 95%=1,53-2,28]), polifarmacia (RP=1,27 ; [IC 95%=1,05-1,53]), diabetes (RP=1,46 ; [IC 95%=1,24-1,73]), cataratas (RP=1,44 ; [IC 95%=1,21-1,70]) y accidentes cerebrovasculares (RP=1,53 ; [IC 95%=1,27-1,84]). Conclusiones: Las caídas son eventos frecuentes en la población adulta mayor, incrementándose el riesgo en el sexo femenino y mayores de 80 años

Detailed energy analysis of a sheet-metal-forming press from electrical measurements

This paper presents a methodology that allows for the detection of the state of a sheet-metal-forming press, the parts being produced, their cadence, and the energy demand for each unit produced. For this purpose, only electrical measurements are used. The proposed analysis is conducted at the level of the press subsystems: main motor, transfer module, cushion, and auxiliary systems, and is intended to count, classify, and monitor the production of pressed parts. The power data are collected every 20 ms and show cyclic behavior, which is the basis for the presented methodology. A neural network (NN) based on heuristic rules is developed to estimate the press states. Then, the production period is determined from the power data using a least squares method to obtain normalized harmonic coefficients. These are the basis for a second NN dedicated to identifying the parts in production. The global error in estimating the parts being produced is under 1%. The resulting information could be handy in determining relevant information regarding the press behavior, such as energy per part, which is necessary in order to evaluate the energy performance of the press under different production conditions.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. IN854A 2020/0

Late-onset thymidine kinase 2 deficiency: a review of 18 cases

Background: TK2 gene encodes for mitochondrial thymidine kinase, which phosphorylates the pyrimidine nucleosides thymidine and deoxycytidine. Recessive mutations in the TK2 gene are responsible for the ‘myopathic form’ of the mitochondrial depletion/multiple deletions syndrome, with a wide spectrum of severity. Methods: We describe 18 patients with mitochondrial myopathy due to mutations in the TK2 gene with absence of clinical symptoms until the age of 12. Results: The mean age of onset was 31 years. The first symptom was muscle limb weakness in 10/18, eyelid ptosis in 6/18, and respiratory insufficiency in 2/18. All patients developed variable muscle weakness during the evolution of the disease. Half of patients presented difficulty in swallowing. All patients showed evidence of respiratory muscle weakness, with need for non-invasive Mechanical Ventilation in 12/18. Four patients had deceased, all of them due to respiratory insufficiency. We identified common radiological features in muscle magnetic resonance, where the most severely affected muscles were the gluteus maximus, semitendinosus and sartorius. On muscle biopsies typical signs of mitochondrial dysfunction were associated with dystrophic changes. All mutations identified were previously reported, being the most frequent the in-frame deletion p.Lys202del. All cases showed multiple mtDNA deletions but mtDNA depletion was present only in two patients. Conclusions: The late-onset is the less frequent form of presentation of the TK2 deficiency and its natural history is not well known. Patients with late onset TK2 deficiency have a consistent and recognizable clinical phenotype and a poor prognosis, due to the high risk of early and progressive respiratory insufficiency

Institutional Science for Policy Report on the damages produced by and the conservation status of wolves in Europe

Informe presentado por la Estación Biológica de Doñana a petición de la Comisión Europea.The Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC has been working on large carnivore management and conservation and on the management of wildlife damages for decades, in collaboration with multiple international research bodies. In this Science for Policy Report we provide, together with collaborating scientists from other institutions, evidenced-based scientific information related to the petition expressed by the EC. This response also includes an evaluation of the suggested changes in management policies raised in the EC press release, which are of particular concern for the conservation of wolf populations. Those changes could compromise human-wolf coexistence in Europe and eventually downgrade coexistence targets in the management of other predators in Europe and worldwide.Peer reviewe