Increasing the Hydropower Generation at the Rio das Antas with Seasonal Pumped Hydropower Storage

The increase in intermittent sources of electricity in national grids is increasing the need for energy storagesolutions. Brazil’s energy grid has a hydrothermal conformation that the provision of power to meet the demand iseasily met with its numerous hydropower generators if there is water available to turn their turbines. With the intent ofstoring water and energy with a small flooded area for a whole cascade of hydropower plants, this paper proposes theconstruction of a new seasonal pumped storage plant (SPHS), named São Tomé SPHS, at the head of the Antas river inthe Rio Grande do Sul state. Results show that the proposed SPHS plant would increase the hydropower in the dams incascade in around 260 MW. Apart from this, the SPHS plant could also be used to store energy generated from solarand wind sources and generate electricity during peak hours

Neurodevelopmental and Perinatal Correlates of Simple Brain Metrics in Very Preterm Infants

OBJECTIVE: To explore perinatal correlates of 3 simple measures of brain size, known as metrics, in very preterm infants at term-equivalent age and their relationship to 2-year neurodevelopmental outcomes.DESIGN: Prospective cohort study of preterm infants born at a gestational age of less than 30 weeks or a weight of less than 1250 g between April 1, 2001, and December 31, 2003, and followed up at 2 years of corrected age. SETTING: The Royal Women\u27s Hospital and the magnetic resonance imaging unit at the Royal Children\u27s Hospital. PATIENTS: Two hundred thirty-six preterm infants. INTERVENTIONS: Brain metrics--biparietal, bifrontal, and transverse cerebellar diameters--on magnetic resonance imaging for preterm infants at term-equivalent age and neurodevelopmental assessments at 2 years of corrected age. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mental Development Index and the Psychomotor Development Index of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-Revised. RESULTS: Higher birth weight z score, shorter duration of assisted ventilation, and postmenstrual age at magnetic resonance imaging were independently associated with increases in the 3 brain metrics, and male sex was associated with larger bifrontal and biparietal diameters. Only the biparietal diameter was predictive of cognitive and motor indices after adjustment for perinatal variables and social risk. CONCLUSION: This study provides further evidence of altered brain growth in preterm infants, relating to growth restriction and severity of illness, that in turn relate to neurodevelopmental outcome

A Novel Quantitative Simple Brain Metric Using MR Imaging for Preterm Infants

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The application of volumetric techniques to preterm infants has revealed brain volume reductions. Such quantitative data are not available in routine neonatal radiologic care. The objective of this study was to develop simple brain metrics to compare brain size in preterm and term infants and to correlate these metrics with brain volumes from volumetric MR imaging techniques.MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR images from 189 preterm infants <30 weeks’ gestational age or <1250 g birthweight scanned at term-equivalent age and 36 term infants were studied. Fifteen tissue and fluid measures were systematically evaluated on 4 selected sections. The results were correlated with total brain, gray matter, white matter, and CSF volumes. RESULTS: The mean bifrontal, biparietal, and transverse cerebellar diameters were reduced (−11.6%, 95% confidence interval [CI], −13.8% to −9.3%; −12%, 95% CI, −14% to −9.8%; and −8.7%, 95% CI, −10.5% to −7% respectively) and the mean left ventricle diameter was increased (+22.3%, 95% CI, 2.9%–41.6%) in preterm infants (P < .01). Strong correlations were found between the bifrontal and biparietal measures with total brain tissue volume, whereas the size of the ventricles and the interhemispheric measure correlated with CSF volume. Intraobserver reliability was high (intraclass correlation coefficients [ICC], >0.7), where interobserver agreement was acceptable for tissue measures (ICC, >0.6) but lower for fluid measures (ICC, <0.4) CONCLUSIONS: Simple brain metrics at term-equivalent age showed smaller brain diameters and increased ventricle size in preterm infants compared with full-term infants. These measures represent a reliable and easily applicable method to quantify brain growth and assess brain atrophy in this at-risk population

Methodology for ranking controllable parameters to enhance operation of a steam generator with a combined Artificial Neural Network and Design of Experiments approach

The operation of complex systems can drift away from the initial design conditions, due to environmental conditions, equipment wear or specific restrictions. Steam generators are complex equipment and their proper operation relies on the identification of their most relevant parameters. An approach to rank the operational parameters of a subcritical steam generator of an actual 360 MW power plant is presented. An Artificial Neural Network - ANN delivers a model to estimate the steam generator efficiency, electric power generation and flue gas outlet temperature as a function of seven input parameters. The ANN is trained with a two-year long database, with training errors of 0.2015 and 0.2741 (mean absolute and square error) and validation errors of 0.32% and 2.350 (mean percent and square error). That ANN model is explored by means of a combination of situations proposed by a Design of Experiment - DoE approach. All seven controlled parameters showed to be relevant to express both steam generator efficiency and electric power generation, while primary air flow rate and speed of the dynamic classifier can be neglected to calculate flue gas temperature as they are not statistically significant. DoE also shows the prominence of the primary air pressure in respect to the steam generator efficiency, electric power generation and the coal mass flow rate for the calculation of the flue gas outlet temperature. The ANN and DoE combined methodology shows to be promising to enhance complex system efficiency and helpful whenever a biased behavior must be brought back to stable operation

Finding the complement of the invariant manifolds transverse to a given foliation for a 3D flow

A method is presented to establish regions of phase space for 3D vector fields through which pass no co-oriented invariant 2D submanifolds transverse to a given oriented 1D foliation. Refinements are given for the cases of volume-preserving or Cartan-Arnol’d Hamiltonian flows and for boundaryless submanifolds

The ARID1B spectrum in 143 patients: from nonsyndromic intellectual disability to Coffin–Siris syndrome

Purpose: Pathogenic variants in ARID1B are one of the most frequent causes of intellectual disability (ID) as determined by large-scale exome sequencing studies. Most studies published thus far describe clinically diagnosed Coffin–Siris patients (ARID1B-CSS) and it is unclear whether these data are representative for patients identified through sequencing of unbiased ID cohorts (ARID1B-ID). We therefore sought to determine genotypic and phenotypic differences between ARID1B-ID and ARID1B-CSS. In parallel, we investigated the effect of different methods of phenotype reporting. Methods: Clinicians entered clinical data in an extensive web-based survey. Results: 79 ARID1B-CSS and 64 ARID1B-ID patients were included. CSS-associated dysmorphic features, such as thick eyebrows, long eyelashes, thick alae nasi, long and/or broad philtrum, small nails and small or absent fifth distal phalanx and hypertrichosis, were observed significantly more often (p < 0.001) in ARID1B-CSS patients. No other significant differences were identified. Conclusion: There are only minor differences between ARID1B-ID and ARID1B-CSS patients. ARID1B-related disorders seem to consist of a spectrum, and patients should be managed similarly. We demonstrated that data collection methods without an explicit option to report the absence of a feature (such as most Human Phenotype Ontology-based methods) tended to underestimate gene-related features

Improving the browse supply for deer with aerial applications of 2,4-D

Published as Scientific Journal Paper Series No. 4448 of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station

Early surgery and neurodevelopmental outcomes of children born extremely preterm

To (1) compare the neurodevelopmental outcomes at 8 years of age of children born extremely preterm (EP) who underwent surgical procedures during the course of their initial hospital admission with those who did not and (2) compare the outcomes across eras, from 1991 to 2005.Prospective observational cohort studies conducted over three different eras (1991-1992, 1997 and 2005). Surviving EP children, who required surgical intervention during the primary hospitalisation, were assessed for general intelligence (IQ) and neurosensory status at 8 years of age. Major neurosensory disability comprised any of moderate/severe cerebral palsy, IQ less than -2 SD relative to term controls, blindness or deafness.Overall, 29% (161/546) of survivors had surgery during the newborn period, with similar rates in each era. Follow-up rates at 8 years were high (91%; 499/546), and 17% (86/499) of survivors assessed had a major neurosensory disability. Rates of major neurosensory disability were substantially higher in the surgical group (33%; 52/158) compared with those who did not have surgery (10%; 34/341) (OR 4.28, 95% CI 2.61 to 7.03). Rates of disability in the surgical group did not improve over time. After adjustment for relevant confounders, no specific surgical procedure was associated with increased risk of disability.Major neurosensory disability at 8 years was higher in children born EP who underwent surgery during their initial hospital admission compared with those who did not. The rates of major neurosensory disability in the surgical cohort are not improving over time.Rodney W Hunt, Leah M Hickey, Alice C Burnett, Peter J Anderson, Jeanie Ling Yoong Cheong, Lex W Doyl