Operational Flexibility of Future Generation Portfolios Using High Spatial- and Temporal-Resolution Wind Data

Increasing amounts of variable renewable energy sources will cause fundamental and structural changes to thermal power plant operating regimes. Maintaining key reserve requirements will lead to an increase in power plant start-ups and cycling operations for some units. An enhanced unit commitment model with energy storage and flexible CO2 capture is formulated. High-resolution on-/offshore wind data for the U.K., and probabilistic wind power forecast, model wind imbalances at operational timescales. The strategic use of flexible CO2 capture and energy storage helps maintain reserve levels, decreasing power plant cycling operations and wind curtailment. A temporally explicit variability assessment of net demand illustrates the generation flexibility requirements and the nonlinear impacts of increasing wind capacity on power plant operating regimes

Eksperimentalna infektivna pneumokonioza

Quartz and coal-mine dusts were introduced into the lungs of rats by inhalation, in a high concentration, for four months, and then groups of these dusted animals were infected with a virulent strain of human tubercle bacillus (37 Rv). Dusting was continued for a further period of ten months in the case of coal-mine dust. No variation in lung pathology was seen in the quartz groups, although both produced classical silicotic nodules. In the coal-mine dust the infective group showed slightly more fibrosis, diffuse in nature, than either the noninfected or the tuberculous control group. These are preliminary experiments, and the results must be considered as both tentative and not very conclusive. Work is being continued.Prašina kvarca i ugljenokopna prašina bile su unesene inhalacijom u pluća štakora. Koncentracija je bila visoka, a ekspozicija je trajala 4 mjeseca Nakon toga su grupe zaprašenih životinja bile inficirane virulentnim sojom humanog tuberkuloznog bacila (H 37 Rv). Kod grupe životinja, koje su bile izvrgnute djelovanju ugljenokopne prašine, nastavljeno je zaprašivanje daljih 10 mjeseci. U kvarcnim grupama nije bilo razlike s obzirom na patologiju pluća, iako je u obje grupe došlo do stvaranja klasičnih silikotičnih čvorova. U grupi životinja, koje su bile izvrgnute ugljenokopnoj prašini, nađeno je nešto više fibroze, koja je bila difuzna, nego bilo u neinficiranoj ili tuberkuloznoj kontrolnoj grupi. Ti eksperimenti su preliminarni i ne treba ih smatrati previše konkluzivnima. Rad se nastavlja

Giant Alcohol: A Worthy Opponent for the Children of the Band of Hope

From its foundation in 1847, the temperance organisation the Band of Hope addressed its young members as consumers, victims, and agents. In the first two roles they encountered the effects of drink of necessity, but in the third role they were encouraged to seek it out, attempting to influence individuals and wider society against 'Giant Alcohol'. With an estimated membership of half the school-age population by the early twentieth century, well over three million, the Band of Hope also acted more directly to influence policy, and encouraged young people to consider issues of policy and politics. With its wide range of activities and material to educate, entertain and empower millions of children, and its radical view of the place of the child, the Band of Hope not only mobilised its child members to lobby for legal change, including prohibition, but took an active part in pointing out the cost of alcohol to society, particularly during the 14-18 war. The organisation began to decline post 1918, and this paper focuses on the address made to children by the Band of Hope in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, at a time when its innovative view of children as able to understand and influence policy decisions reflected developments in the construction of childhood. This article draws on the archive of the British National Temperance League, over 50,000 items located in the Livesey Collection, University of Central Lancashire

Rank change and growth within social hierarchies of the orange clownfish, Amphiprion percula

Social hierarchies within groups define the distribution of resources and provide benefits that support the collective group or favor dominant members. The progression of individuals through social hierarchies is a valuable characteristic for quantifying population dynamics. On coral reefs, some clownfish maintain size-based hierarchical communities where individuals queue through social ranks. The cost of waiting in a lower-ranked position is outweighed by the reduced risk of eviction and mortality. The orange clownfish, Amphiprion percula, maintains stable social groups with subordinate individuals queuing to be part of the dominant breeding pair. Strong association with their host anemone, complex social interactions, and relatively low predation rates make them ideal model organisms to assess changes in group dynamics through time in their natural environment. Here, we investigate the rank changes and isometric growth rates of A. percula from 247 naturally occurring social groups in Kimbe Island, Papua New Guinea (5° 12′ 13.54″ S, 150° 22′ 32.69″ E). We used DNA profiling to assign and track individuals over eight years between 2011 and 2019. Over half of the individuals survived alongside two or three members of their original social group, with twelve breeding pairs persisting over the study period. Half of the surviving individuals increased in rank and experienced double the growth rate of those that maintained their rank. Examining rank change in a wild fish population provides new insights into the complex social hierarchies of reef fishes and their role in social evolution

A convenient band-gap interpolation technique and an improved band line-up model for InGaAlAs on InP

The band-gap energy and the band line-up of InGaAlAs quaternary compound material on InP are essential information for the theoretical study of physical properties and the design of optoelectronics devices operating in the long-wavelength communication window. The band-gap interpolation of In1-x-y Ga (x) Al (y) As on InP is known to be a challenging task due to the observed discrepancy of experimental results arising from the bowing effect. Besides, the band line-up results of In1-x-y Ga (x) Al (y) As on InP based on previously reported models have limited success by far. In this work, we propose an interpolation solution using the single-variable surface bowing estimation interpolation method for the fitting of experimentally measured In1-x-y Ga (x) Al (y) As band-gap data with various degree of bowing using the same set of input parameters. The suggested solution provides an easier and more physically interpretable way to determine not only lattice matched, but also strained band-gap energy of In1-x-y Ga (x) Al (y) As on InP based on the experimental results. Interpolated results from this convenient method show a more favourable match to multiple independent experiment data sets measured under different temperature conditions as compared to those obtained from the commonly used weighted-sum approach. On top of that, extended framework of the model-solid theory for the band line-up of In1-x-y Ga (x) Al (y) As/InP heterostructure is proposed. Our model-solid theory band line-up result using the proposed extended framework has shown an improved accuracy over those without the extension. In contrast to some previously reported works, it is worth noting that the band line-up result based on our proposed extended model-solid theory has also shown to be more accurate than those given by Harrison's mode

Larval fish dispersal in a coral-reef seascape

Free to read at publisher's site. Larval dispersal is a critical yet enigmatic process in the persistence and productivity of marine metapopulations. Empirical data on larval dispersal remain scarce, hindering the use of spatial management tools in efforts to sustain ocean biodiversity and fisheries. Here we document dispersal among subpopulations of clownfish (Amphiprion percula) and butterflyfish (Chaetodon vagabundus) from eight sites across a large seascape (10,000 km(2)) in Papua New Guinea across 2 years. Dispersal of clownfish was consistent between years, with mean observed dispersal distances of 15 km and 10 km in 2009 and 2011, respectively. A Laplacian statistical distribution (the dispersal kernel) predicted a mean dispersal distance of 13-19 km, with 90% of settlement occurring within 31-43 km. Mean dispersal distances were considerably greater (43-64 km) for butterfly-fish, with kernels declining only gradually from spawning locations. We demonstrate that dispersal can be measured on spatial scales sufficient to inform the design of and test the performance of marine reserve networks