Connection of Thermal and Emissions-Performance of GT-Plants

Abstract The new issue of the PTC22 performance test code explains the evaluation of power and heat rate, as well the determination of the exhaust gas mass flow and its composition. The verification of emission requirements is normally tested independently from the thermal performance test and the actual EPA methods refer normally to an extensive determination of the exhaust gas flow, by measuring the velocity profile in the stack or the exhaust gas system of the gas turbine. This paper explains an easier way of determining the exhaust gas volume-or mass flow that is used as reference for all emission data. Additionally it shows that the emission measurement can easily be used as a verification of the exhaust gas mass flow determined in the thermal performance test. The basis for both tests is, however, an accurate fuel flow measurement. Since this measurement is also used for the heat rate or thermal efficiency determination it can certainly be used for the verification of the emissions performance. An uncertainty analysis has been added as well. The authors try to explain the procedure in a way the performance engineers on site can understand

3DLC: A Comprehensive Model for Personal Health Records Supporting New Types of Medical Applications

Motivated by the demographic change, many new medical applications are installed in the user's home environment. These applications make use of ambient sensors, enabling new forms of medical care. Personal Health Records (PHRs) are an instrument for the storage, presentation and communication of health related data provided by these applications. But there are still open issues regarding the cooperation between PHRs and the new applications. On the basis of two medical application scenarios, we developed a new model which defines the appropriate level of abstraction of data generated by medical applications to be stored inside the PHR. The model also determines which part of these data is relevant for the clinical decision making process, and how these data should be communicated to physicians. This paper describes the 3DLC model, which uses three dimensions (clinical decision, frequency and context dependence) to determine the type of the data. We further introduce a prototype PHR system that is able to fulfil the requirements of our scenarios

Climate change, negative emissions and solar radiation management: It is time for an open societal conversation

This white paper resulted from a risk dialogue project with climate scientists and experts on the subject of climate engineering – conducted by the neutral and independent Risk-Dialogue Foundation St. Gallen between April 2016 and March 2017. The aim was to identify the current state of research on the topic as well as related risk and to evaluate a potential need for wider public deliberation. The project was carried out on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Climate Division. In line with views expressed during the dialogue, the sole objective of this paper is to argue for an open and public deliberation process and not to favour or promote any technologies or deployment thereof. The views expressed in this report are solely those of its authors, and do not reflect any official position

An overall health and well-being data model for employer-sponsored personal health records

With the need for employee-directed health management in organisations, employers have started to utilise personal health records' (PHRs) potential to shift health management responsibility to employees. Whilst the overall well-being of employees in organisations has become the trend in wellness activities at work, existing literature has paid less attention to identifying proper data organisation and management in employer-sponsored personal health records (ESPHRs) for overall health and well-being management of employees. We conducted three focus group discussions with 26 participants comprised of employees and employers to identify information concerns in occupational health and well-being management. We found that health and well-being data can be organised into six main domains when considering the overall health and well-being of employees. Consequently, a survey was conducted among 360 respondents to identify employees' and employers' perception of the usefulness of having overall health and well-being information in ESPHRs. We found that both parties accept the importance of all health and well-being information domains in ESPHRs. However, employees believe there is more usefulness in having physical health and healthy behaviour information in ESPHRs, while employers see the importance of work environment, emotional health, basic access and life evaluation information as more useful to have in ESPHRs. Information concerns identified through a thematic analysis were then used to develop an overall health and well-being data model for ESPHRs. These findings suggest that a new data organisation in ESPHRs when profiling employee health and well-being data has a high chance of achieving effective ESPHR system use in organisations

Association between location of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, on-scene socioeconomic status, and accessibility to public automated defibrillators in two large metropolitan areas in Canada and France

International audienceAimTo compare walking access times to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) between area-level quintiles of socioeconomic status (SES) in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) cases occurring in 2 major urban regions of Canada and France.MethodsThis was an international, multicenter, retrospective cohort study of adult, non-traumatic OHCA cases in the metropolitan Vancouver (Canada) and Rhône County (France) regions that occurred between 2014 and 2018. We calculated area-level SES for each case, using quintiles of country-specific scores (Q5=most deprived). We identified AED locations from local registries. The primary outcome was the simulated walking time from the OHCA location to the closest AED (continuous and dichotomized by a 3-minute 1-way threshold). We fit multivariate models to analyze the association between OHCA-to-AED walking time and outcomes (Q5 vs. others).ResultsA total of 6,187 and 3,239 cases were included from the Metro Vancouver and Rhône County areas, respectively. In Metro Vancouver Q5 areas (vs. Q1-Q4), areas, AEDs were farther from (79% over 400m from case vs. 67%, p<0.001) and required longer walking times to (97% above 3min vs. 91%, p<0.001) cases. In Rhône Q5 areas, AEDs were closer than in other areas (43% over 400m from case vs. 50%, p=0.01), yet similarly poorly accessible (85% above 3min vs. 86%, p=0.79). In multivariate models, AED access time ≥ 3min was associated with decreased odds of survival at hospital discharge in Metro Vancouver (odds ratio 0.41, 95% CI [0.23-0.74], p=0.003).ConclusionsAccessibility of public AEDs was globally poor in Metro Vancouver and Rhône, and even poorer in Metro Vancouver’s socioeconomically deprived areas

Ketamine inhibits transcription factors activator protein 1 and nuclear factor-kappaB, interleukin-8 production, as well as CD11b and CD16 expression: studies in human leukocytes and leukocytic cell lines.

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND: Recent data indicate that ketamine exerts antiinflammatory actions. However, little is known about the signaling mechanisms involved in ketamine-induced immune modulation. In this study, we investigated the effects of ketamine on lipopolysaccharide-induced activation of transcription factors activator protein 1 (AP-1) and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) in human leukocyte-like cell lines and in human blood neutrophils. METHODS: Electric mobility shift assays were used to investigate ketamine's effects on nuclear binding activity of both transcription factors in U937 cells, and a whole blood flow cytometric technique was used for AP-1 and NF-kappaB determination in leukocytes. Cell lines with different expression patterns of opioid and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors were used for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to investigate receptors involved in ketamine signaling. Ketamine's effect on interleukin-8 production was assessed in a whole blood assay. RESULTS: Ketamine inhibited both transcription factors in a concentration-dependent manner. These effects did not depend on opiate or N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. Ketamine also reduced interleukin-8 production in whole blood and expression of CD11b and CD16 on neutrophils. CONCLUSION: The immunoinhibitory effects of ketamine are at least in part caused by inhibition of transcription factors NF-kappaB and AP-1, which regulate production of proinflammatory mediators. However, signaling mechanisms different from those present in the central nervous system are responsible for ketamine-mediated immunomodulation

The Lower Saxony research network design of environments for ageing : towards interdisciplinary research on information and communication technologies in ageing societies

Worldwide, ageing societies are bringing challenges for independent living and healthcare. Health-enabling technologies for pervasive healthcare and sensor-enhanced health information systems offer new opportunities for care. In order to identify, implement and assess such new information and communication technologies (ICT) the 'Lower Saxony Research Network Design of Environments for Ageing' (GAL) has been launched in 2008 as interdisciplinary research project. In this publication, we inform about the goals and structure of GAL, including first outcomes, as well as to discuss the potentials and possible barriers of such highly interdisciplinary research projects in the field of health-enabling technologies for pervasive healthcare. Although GAL's high interdisciplinarity at the beginning slowed down the speed of research progress, we can now work on problems, which can hardly be solved by one or few disciplines alone. Interdisciplinary research projects on ICT in ageing societies are needed and recommended