A technical evaluation, performance analysis and risk assessment of multiple novel oxy-turbine power cycles with complete CO2 capture

In recent years there has been growing concern about greenhouse gas emissions (particularly CO2 emissions) and global warming. Oxyfuel combustion is one of the key technologies for tackling CO2 emissions in the power industry and reducing their contribution to global warming. The technology involves burning fuel with high-purity oxygen to generate mainly CO2 and steam, enabling easy CO2 separation from the flue gases by steam condensation. In fact, 100% CO2 capture and near-zero NOx emissions can be achieved with this technology. This study examines nineteen different oxy-turbine cycles, identifying the main parameters regarding their operation and development. It also analyses the use of advanced natural gas (NG) combustion cycles from the point of view of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) and considering political, legislative and social aspects of deploying this technology. Six oxy-turbine cycles which are at the most advanced stages of development (NetPower, Clean Energy Systems CES), Modified Graz, E-MATIANT, Advanced Zero Emission Power AZEP 100% and Semi-Closed Oxy-fuel Combustion Combined Cycle (SCOC-CC)), were chosen to conduct a Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Legislative and Economic (PESTLE) risk analysis. This compares each technology with a conventional combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant without carbon capture as the base-case scenario. Overall, the net efficiency of the different oxy-turbine cycles ranges between 43.6% and 65%, comparable to a CCGT power plant, while providing the extra benefits of CO2 capture and lower emissions. A multi-criteria analysis carried out using DECERNS (Decision Evaluation in Complex Risk Network Systems) software determined that, depending on the specific criterion considered, one can draw different conclusions. However, in terms of technology, environment and social opinion, the most promising cycles are the NetPower and CES cycles, whereas from an economic point of view, E-MATIANT is more competitive in the energy market. Giving each factor equal importance, the NetPower cycle must be considered to be the best oxy-turbine cycle based on our analysis. Most of the oxy-turbine cycles are still under development and only a few cycles (e.g., CES and NetPower) are progressing to the demonstration phase. In consequence, political measures such as CO2 tax and emission allowances need to be implemented for oxy-turbine technologies to become the preferred option for fossil fuel power plants burning natural gas

The physics potential of a reactor neutrino experiment with Skipper CCDs: Measuring the weak mixing angle

We analyze in detail the physics potential of an experiment like the one recently proposed by the vIOLETA collaboration: a kilogram-scale Skipper CCD detector deployed 12 meters away from a commercial nuclear reactor core. This experiment would be able to detect coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering from reactor neutrinos, capitalizing on the exceptionally low ionization energy threshold of Skipper CCDs. To estimate the physics reach, we elect the measurement of the weak mixing angle as a case study. We choose a realistic benchmark experimental setup and perform variations on this benchmark to understand the role of quenching factor and its systematic uncertainties,background rate and spectral shape, total exposure, and reactor antineutrino flux uncertainty. We take full advantage of the reactor flux measurement of the Daya Bay collaboration to perform a data driven analysis which is, up to a certain extent, independent of the theoretical uncertainties on the reactor antineutrino flux. We show that, under reasonable assumptions, this experimental setup may provide a competitive measurement of the weak mixing angle at few MeV scale with neutrino-nucleus scattering.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Recovering Old Grapevine Varieties

[EN] In this work we report new findings related to the recovery of old vines in The Comunitat Valenciana (Spain), where great diversity of grapevines varieties was present prior the phylloxera arrival. New accessions of old varieties previously recovered by our group and in risk of disappearance were located. Accessions with new SSR profiles were also found and, in some cases, could be ascribed to old grapevine ampelonyms; new synonymies were also detected. Chlorotypes were determined in the recovered germplasm. Several actions for the preservation of the recovered accessions have been initiated.This work was supported by the projects 'Recuperacion de variedades de vid', AGCOOP_D/2018/007' (co-funded by FEADER, MAPA and Conselleria d'Agricultura, Desenvolupament Rural, Emergencia Climatica i Transicio Ecologica (Generatitat Valenciana) and MINECO CGL2015-708432-R (co-funded by FEDER). We thank the IMIDRA and The Domain the Vassal Collection that provided two accessions each used as controls in our workGarcía, J.; Peiró Barber, RM.; Martinez-Gil, F.; Soler, JX.; Jimenez, C.; Yuste Del Carmen, A.; Xirivella, C.... (2020). Recovering Old Grapevine Varieties. VITIS. 59(3):101-103. https://doi.org/10.5073/vitis.2020.59.101-103S10110359

Summary report of MINSIS workshop in Madrid

Recent developments on tau detection technologies and the construction of high intensity neutrino beams open the possibility of a high precision search for non-standard {\mu} - {\tau} flavour transition with neutrinos at short distances. The MINSIS - Main Injector Non-Standard Interaction Search- is a proposal under discussion to realize such precision measurement. This document contains the proceedings of the workshop which took place on 10-11 December 2009 in Madrid to discuss both the physics reach as well as the experimental requirements for this proposal.Comment: Proceedings of the MINSIS Workshop, Dec 10-11, 2009 in Madrid. 15 pages late

Canagliflozin and Renal Events in Diabetes with Established Nephropathy Clinical Evaluation and Study of Diabetic Nephropathy with Atrasentan : what was learned about the treatment of diabetic kidney disease with canagliflozin and atrasentan?

In April 2019, two major Phase 3 randomized clinical trials were published that assessed primary renal outcomes in diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The Canagliflozin and Renal Events in Diabetes with Established Nephropathy Clinical Evaluation (CREDENCE) tested an already available antidiabetic drug, canagliflozin, and the Study of Diabetic Nephropathy with Atrasentan (SONAR) tested a novel molecule, the endothelin-1 receptor blocker atrasentan, both on top of renin-angiotensin system blockade. Both trials demonstrated significant nephroprotection in patients with overt DKD (albuminuria >300 mg/g urinary creatinine) for combined primary endpoints of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), doubling of serum creatinine or death from renal or cardiovascular causes in CREDENCE {hazard ratio [HR] 0.70 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.59-0.82]} and ESKD and doubling of serum creatinine in SONAR [HR 0.65 (95% CI 0.49-0.88)]. Canagliflozin also decreased the secondary renal endpoint ESKD, doubling of serum creatinine or renal death [HR 0.66 (95% CI 0.53-0.81)], which was similar in nature and impact to the primary endpoint in SONAR. In addition, canagliflozin decreased a secondary endpoint of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure [HR 0.69 (95% CI 0.57-0.83)], whereas atrasentan had no significant impact on a secondary cardiovascular composite endpoint or on hospital admissions for heart failure and, despite restrictive exclusion criteria, there was a non-significant trend towards more frequent episodes of heart failure. Based on these results, canagliflozin will likely be approved for the indication of treating DKD in T2DM and the estimated glomerular filtration rate threshold for prescribing it will be lifted, whereas the future and place of atrasentan in the treatment of DKD remain unclear

Baby MIND: A magnetised spectrometer for the WAGASCI experiment

The WAGASCI experiment being built at the J-PARC neutrino beam line will measure the difference in cross sections from neutrinos interacting with a water and scintillator targets, in order to constrain neutrino cross sections, essential for the T2K neutrino oscillation measurements. A prototype Magnetised Iron Neutrino Detector (MIND), called Baby MIND, is being constructed at CERN to act as a magnetic spectrometer behind the main WAGASCI target to be able to measure the charge and momentum of the outgoing muon from neutrino charged current interactions.Comment: Poster presented at NuPhys2016 (London, 12-14 December 2016). Title + 4 pages, LaTeX, 6 figure