Decomposition Analysis of District Heating System based on Complemented Kaya Identity

AbstractThe paper analyses possibilities for CO2 emission reduction into the centralized district heating system by using the index decomposition analysis: Kaya identity equation. The classical Kaya equation is complemented with an energy efficiency indicator of a district heating system. The paper focuses on the impact of the Kaya equation components on the CO2 emission reduction. The elaborated methodology is tested in order to analyze possibilities for CO2 emission reduction at district heating systems in Latvia. 3 scenarios were formed for the forecast of the CO2 emission reduction. In case the current model for the state development is continued (scenario1) CO2 emissions will be reduced for 13%; however, in the scenario of orderly and balanced DH systems they will reduce for 29% by 2020 as compared to 2012

Disturbed sleep is associated with reduced verbal episodic memory and entorhinal cortex volume in younger middle-aged women with risk-reducing early ovarian removal

INTRODUCTION: Women with early ovarian removal (&lt;48 years) have an elevated risk for both late-life Alzheimer's disease (AD) and insomnia, a modifiable risk factor. In early midlife, they also show reduced verbal episodic memory and hippocampal volume. Whether these reductions correlate with a sleep phenotype consistent with insomnia risk remains unexplored.METHODS: We recruited thirty-one younger middleaged women with risk-reducing early bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO), fifteen of whom were taking estradiol-based hormone replacement therapy (BSO+ERT) and sixteen who were not (BSO). Fourteen age-matched premenopausal (AMC) and seventeen spontaneously peri-postmenopausal (SM) women who were ~10y older and not taking ERT were also enrolled. Overnight polysomnography recordings were collected at participants' home across multiple nights (M=2.38 SEM=0.19), along with subjective sleep quality and hot flash ratings. In addition to group comparisons on sleep measures, associations with verbal episodic memory and medial temporal lobe volume were assessed.RESULTS: Increased sleep latency and decreased sleep efficiency were observed on polysomnography recordings of those not taking ERT, consistent with insomnia symptoms. This phenotype was also observed in the older women in SM, implicating ovarian hormone loss. Further, sleep latency was associated with more forgetting on the paragraph recall task, previously shown to be altered in women with early BSO. Both increased sleep latency and reduced sleep efficiency were associated with smaller anterolateral entorhinal cortex volume.DISCUSSION: Together, these findings confirm an association between ovarian hormone loss and insomnia symptoms, and importantly, identify an younger onset age in women with early ovarian removal, which may contribute to poorer cognitive and brain outcomes in these women.</p

Benefits of dry comminution of biomass pellets in a knife mill

The potential benefits of dry comminution in a knife mill for a diverse range of biomass 6 pellets are explored. The impact of dry comminution on energy consumption, particle size and shape, 7 is examined as well as the link between milling and mechanical durability. Biomass pellet comminution 8 energy was significantly lower (19.3-32.5 kW h t-1 [fresh] and 17.8-23.2 kW h t-1 [dry]) than values 9 reported in literature for non-densified biomass in similar knife mills. The impact of drying was found 10 to vary by feedstock. Dry grinding reduced milling energy by 38% for mixed wood pellets, but only 2% 11 for steam exploded pellets. Particle size and shape, particle distribution dispersion, and distribution 12 shape parameters changes between fresh and dry milling were also material dependent. Von Rittinger 13 analysis showed that to maximise mill throughput, pellets should be composed of particles which can 14 pass through the screen and thus have a neutral size change. A strong correlation was found between 15 pellet durability and energy consumption for fresh biomass pellets. Dry grinding has the potential to 16 significantly reduce energy consumption without compromising the product particle size, as well as 17 enhancing product quality and optimising biomass pellet comminution and combustion

Working Memory in Oral Contraceptive Users: Does Time of Pill Ingestion and the Catechol-o-methyltransferase Val158Met Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Influence Working Memory?

The main estrogen produced by the ovaries, 17-beta estradiol (E2), interacts with different DA availabilities due to the COMT Val158Met polymorphism to modulate WM. Whether the commonly used synthetic estrogen, ethinyl estradiol (EE), does the same is unknown. To addressed this question, we investigated WM in OC users. Additionally, we examined if the pharmacokinetics of EE affect WM by testing OC users at a peak EE state 1-2 hours after pill ingestion, and at a low EE state just before pill ingestion. Naturally cycling controls were tested at low and high E2 menstrual cycle phases. Our preliminary results indicate time since pill ingestion does not affect WM performance, but COMT genotype may differentially affect WM in NC and OC women. These data suggest that despite the pharmacokinetics of EE in OC users and the variability of DA breakdown, women on OCs have stable WM throughout the day.M.A.2021-07-28 00:00:0

Studies of grinding of wood and bark-wood mixtures with the Szego mill

grantor: University of TorontoThe grinding of various woody materials in the Szego Mill, a unique ring-roller mill, was studied. Wood wastes consisting primarily of bark, and aspen chips were ground dry, and jack pine sawdust was ground wet. Mill performance was determined by measuring particle size, characterized by the 80%-passing size ('x'80), and mill power, from which is derived the specific energy, as functions of the material rate, mill speed, the number of passes of material through the mill, and, for wet grinding, the oven-dry solids content of the product. It was determined that, as a first approximation, the power for a given mill (and hence the specific energy) is independent of the type of material being ground, and depends only on the mill speed and the mass throughput. After sufficient grinding, the product particle-size distributions of woody materials are self-similar, i.e., their non-dimensionalized distributions conform to a single curve, e.g., all the distributions for products of bark-wood mixtures with 'x'80 values below 700 [mu]m conformed to the same curve. Bark is more grindable than wood. When bark-wood mixtures were ground, bark particles were concentrated in the finer size fractions. Wood particles fractured primarily by splitting due to transwall failure of wood cells in the direction of the fibre axis under compression perpendicular to this axis, and secondarily, across the fibre axis due to bending stress. The primary breakage mechanism of bark particles appears to be intercellular fracture. When moist wood or moist bark-wood mixture is dry-ground, size reduction is limited to relatively coarse sizes by the formation of agglomerates. No agglomeration was observed in dry grinding of dry wood or dry bark-wood mixture, nor in wet grinding. In multiple-pass grinding of aspen, the particle shape evolved from that of chips to that of Szego-milled particles after extensive size reduction. Particle-size distributions predicted by the SGK matrix method were clearly better once the shape transition was complete. Size reduction for wet grinding of wood is considerably greater than that for dry grinding.Ph.D

Deliberation Platform for Energy Transition Policies: How to Make Complex Things Simple

The energy transition from inefficient fossil-based to sustainable energy systems can face various lock-ins. There are no pathways that are free of stress. However, many routes are possible. A good understanding of the dynamic behavior of systems is crucial, and proper support tools are needed to assess the outcomes of every selected pathway. This study aims to develop an Internet-based interface tool for the national energy simulation model as a tool for a “hybrid forum”; study energy transition lock-ins in one of the Eastern European countries; and apply the interface tool to study different pathways to Latvia’s climate and energy goals. System dynamics are used to reach the goals of the study. A causal loop diagram is applied to study feedback loops and lock-ins, a stock-and-flow structure is used to build a simulation model, and a user interface tool is built on top of it. The results show that the developed interface tool is user-friendly and can be used as a discussion platform. The results from the case study reveal how the soft power of Russia can lock in the energy transition in Eastern European countries by creating policy choices with additive effects and what pathways towards energy transition can be used to lock-out

Do oral contraceptives affect young women’s memory? Dopamine-dependent working memory is influenced by COMT genotype, but not time of pill ingestion.

This research, done by Laura Gravelsins, Dr. Katherine Duncan, and Dr. Gillian Einstein, investigated whether the pharmacokinetics of oral contraceptives, in concert with the single nucleotide polymorphism (Val158Met; rs4680) of the catechol-o-methyltransferase gene (COMT), influence working memory performance in young women