Optimal allocation of a wind turbine and battery energy storage systems in distribution networks based on the modified BES-optimizer

Recently, incorporating renewable energy resources (RERs) like wind turbines (WTs) in a distribution network is rapidly increased to meet the load growth. However, distribution networks have been facing many challenges to withstand the intermittent output power of RERs. Battery energy storage (BES) is used with RERs to smoothly inject the output power to the grid by RERs. Therefore, this paper proposes an effective strategy for optimal allocation of WT and BES in RDS to decrease the total system losses. In addition, a modified bald eagle search (BES-optimizer) is proposed to obtain the preferable allocations of WT and BES simultaneously in the radial distribution system (RDS) considering the probabilistic distribution of the WT and load demand. IEEE 69-bus RDS is utilized as a test system. Based on the obtained results, installing WTs with BES gives better results than installing WTs alone in the RDS. However, the proposed algorithm proved its efficiency to obtain the best global results compared with other well-known techniques

Implementation of ANN Controller Based UPQC Integrated with Microgrid

This study discusses how to increase power quality by integrating a unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) with a grid-connected microgrid for clean and efficient power generation. An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) controller for a voltage source converter-based UPQC is proposed to minimize the system’s cost and complexity by eliminating mathematical operations such as a-b-c to d-q-0 translation and the need for costly controllers such as DSPs and FPGAs. In this study, nonlinear unbalanced loads and harmonic supply voltage are used to assess the performance of PV-battery-UPQC using an ANN-based controller. Problems with voltage, such as sag and swell, are also considered. This work uses an ANN control system trained with the Levenberg-Marquardt backpropagation technique to provide effective reference signals and maintain the required dc-link capacitor voltage. In MATLAB/Simulink software, simulations of PV-battery-UPQC employing SRF-based control and ANN-control approaches are performed. The findings revealed that the proposed approach performed better, as presented in this paper. Furthermore, the influence of synchronous reference frame (SRF) and ANN controller-based UPQC on supply currents and the dc-link capacitor voltage response is studied. To demonstrate the superiority of the suggested controller, a comparison of percent THD in load voltage and supply current utilizing SRF-based control and ANN control methods is shown

Does Globalization Cause Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Pakistan? A Promise to Enlighten the Value of Environmental Quality

Global environmental issues such as environmental degradation, climate change, and global warming have posed a threat to the global economy, including Pakistan. The primary source of these problems is greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions are the result of human activity. The objective of the study was to investigate the symmetric and asymmetric relationship between globalization and greenhouse gas emissions in Pakistan. The ARDL modern econometric techniques of the time series model were used. Firstly, the stationarity test favors the use of the ARDL model in this study. The BDS test result confirmed that the ARDL model has a non-linearity issue. As a result, the ARDL approach was used to test both the symmetric and asymmetric effect. The results of the asymmetric ARDL model are more robust and reliable than those of the symmetric ARDL model. According to the results of the symmetric ARDL, economic, social, and political globalization have a positive relationship with greenhouse gas emissions in both the short and long run. Furthermore, the long-run results of the asymmetric ARDL model show that positive and negative shocks of economic and political globalization have positive and negative shock effects on greenhouse gas emissions. In the long run, however, the positive shock of social globalization has a negative relationship with greenhouse gas emissions. According to the results of impulse response functions, economic globalization has a significantly more relationship with greenhouse gas emissions than social and political globalization. A policy should be developed that allows only the positive effects of globalization while prohibiting the negative effects of globalization. © 2022 by the authors

Is quadratus lumborum block combined with low dose-spinal anesthesia an effective alternative to general anesthesia in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy?

Background: General anesthesia in high-risk patients has many complications and needs long preoperative preparations and postoperative intensive care unit (ICU). Therefore the present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of combined low-dose spinal anesthesia with quadratus lumborum block (QLB) as an alternative to general anesthesia for patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Patients and methods: A prospective study was conducted at the urology department of Al-Azhar University Hospitals in Cairo, Egypt, from January 2021 to January 2022. The study included 60 patients of ASA ll-lll scheduled for percutaneous nephrolithotomy. All patients received low-dose spinal anesthesia (5 mg bupivacaine) and QLB (QL1-QL2-QL3) approaches. The primary observation parameter was the efficacy of this technique as an alternative to general anesthesia. The secondary parameters measured were evaluation of need for intraoperative narcotics, postoperative pain score (VAS), and patients satisfaction as assessed using a 5-point Likert Scale. Results: None of the patients was given general anesthesia, and intraoperative sedation was given to nineteen patients (32.2%). No hemodynamic changes were observed in all patients. There was a significant correlation between the use of intraoperative sedation and stone site, intraoperative blood loss, and hospital stay. Pain intensity on VAS at rest and movement was low until the 24th postoperative hour. Patient satisfaction score was 3, 4, and 5 in 1 (1.7%), 4 (6.7%), and 55 (91.6%) patients, respectively. Conclusions: Combined low-dose spinal anesthesia with quadratus lumborum block is an effective alternative to general anesthesia in patients undergoing PCNL procedures with good postoperative analgesia. Patients with lower calyceal punctures have a lower incidence of intraoperative sedation requirements

A systematic review on the effectiveness of physical and rehabilitation interventions for chronic non-specific low back pain

Low back pain (LBP) is a common and disabling disorder in western society. The management of LBP comprises a range of different intervention strategies including surgery, drug therapy, and non-medical interventions. The objective of the present study is to determine the effectiveness of physical and rehabilitation interventions (i.e. exercise therapy, back school, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), low level laser therapy, education, massage, behavioural treatment, traction, multidisciplinary treatment, lumbar supports, and heat/cold therapy) for chronic LBP. The primary search was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and PEDro up to 22 December 2008. Existing Cochrane reviews for the individual interventions were screened for studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria. The search strategy outlined by the Cochrane Back Review Groups (CBRG) was followed. The following were included for selection criteria: (1) randomized controlled trials, (2) adult (≥18 years) population with chronic (≥12 weeks) non-specific LBP, and (3) evaluation of at least one of the main clinically relevant outcome measures (pain, functional status, perceived recovery, or return to work). Two reviewers independently selected studies and extracted data on study characteristics, risk of bias, and outcomes at short, intermediate, and long-term follow-up. The GRADE approach was used to determine the quality of evidence. In total 83 randomized controlled trials met the inclusion criteria: exercise therapy (n = 37), back school (n = 5), TENS (n = 6), low level laser therapy (n = 3), behavioural treatment (n = 21), patient education (n = 1), traction (n = 1), and multidisciplinary treatment (n = 6). Compared to usual care, exercise therapy improved post-treatment pain intensity and disability, and long-term function. Behavioural treatment was found to be effective in reducing pain intensity at short-term follow-up compared to no treatment/waiting list controls. Finally, multidisciplinary treatment was found to reduce pain intensity and disability at short-term follow-up compared to no treatment/waiting list controls. Overall, the level of evidence was low. Evidence from randomized controlled trials demonstrates that there is low quality evidence for the effectiveness of exercise therapy compared to usual care, there is low evidence for the effectiveness of behavioural therapy compared to no treatment and there is moderate evidence for the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary treatment compared to no treatment and other active treatments at reducing pain at short-term in the treatment of chronic low back pain. Based on the heterogeneity of the populations, interventions, and comparison groups, we conclude that there are insufficient data to draw firm conclusion on the clinical effect of back schools, low-level laser therapy, patient education, massage, traction, superficial heat/cold, and lumbar supports for chronic LBP

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival