Access to and consumption of natural gas: spatial and sociodemographic drivers. ESRI WP639, November 2019

In the context of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the residential sector, fuel switching from coal and oil to natural gas is considered as a policy option. The paper considers fuel choice decisions among households within 30 metres of the Irish natural gas network. Consistent with earlier research a range of building attributes and household characteristics are associated with fuel choice for household space heating. Additionally, there are substantial distance decay effcts with respect to gas network connection within relatively close proximity to the network, meaning that properties further distant from the gas network are less likely to be gas customers. The distance decay effects are likely attributed to network connection fees, which are proportional to the connection distance. The paper simulates the impact of eliminating distance decay effects, i.e. the marginal connection cost associated with distance is set to zero, and examines emission and expenditure impacts across socioeconomic groups. The analysis finds that up to 13% of unconnected properties are likely to respond to such an incentive, yielding a 3.9% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 1.5% reduction in fuel expenditure relative to pre-policy levels of unconnected households within the study. Expenditure and emission impacts differ across socio-economic groups with the largest reductions expected to occur among semi-skilled/unskilled households, which are frequently among the least affluent households. Though counter-intuitive, greenhouse gas emissions from the residential sector could be reduced by incentivising connections to the natural gas network

Fuel switching and emissions savings in the residential sector. ESRI Research Bulletin 202016 July 2020.

Network connection fees serve as a barrier to gas being selected as a home heating fuel. A flat-rate connection fee of €249.70 is levied for gas network connections up to 15 metres distance to the gas network. It increases by €51.32 per metre thereafter. This research suggests that switching to a flat-rate connection fee would result in up to 9,000 new residential gas connections; with associated CO2 emissions estimated to fall by 3.9% and residential fuel expenditure by 1.5% summed across all 69,000 unconnected households within 15-30 metres of the network

An examination of energy effciency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in Ireland. ESRI Working Paper 700 May 2021.

This paper studies the determinants of why low-income households in Ireland abandon energy efficiency retrofit applications using administrative data from a targeted energy efficiency grant. By applying for the scheme the applicants overcome any financial barriers for undertaking retrofits and demonstrate their willingness to improve the energy efficiency of their dwellings. Hence this study contributes to the scarce literature on non-financial barriers preventing low-income households from undertaking energy efficiency retrofits. Contrary to previous findings, we find that the higher the number of retrofits to be implemented, the lower the probability of households abandoning their applications. We also find that planning to undertake retrofits such as ventilation, which can significantly improve the health and safety standards of the dwelling, is associated with a higher probability of abandonment. Both findings indicate the presence of key behavioural and informational barriers which prevent low-income households from fully comprehending the purpose or benefits of proposed energy efficient retrofits. Our findings also suggest that higher grant expenditure on dwellings with poor pre-works energy efficiency rating and on retrofits such as attic insulation and heating system upgrades may have the highest energy efficiency improvements per unit of expenditure. Within the constraints of limited budgets for retrofit grant supports, this research can inform the redesign of grant schemes to achieve the greatest aggregate improvements in residential building energy efficiency

Active Disturbance Rejection Control based on Generalized Proportional Integral Observer to Control a Bipedal Robot with Five Degrees of Freedom

An Active Disturbance Rejection Control based on Generalized Proportional Integral observer (ADRC with GPI observer) was developed to control the gait of a bipedal robot with five degrees of freedom. The bipedal robot used is a passive point feet which produces an underactuated dynamic walking. A virtual holonomic constraint is imposed to generate online smooth trajectories which were used as references of the control system. The proposed control strategy is tested through numerical simulation on a task of forward walking with the robot exposed to external disturbances. The performance of ADRC with GPI observer strategy is compared with a feedback linearization with proportional-derivative control. A stability test consisting on analyzing the existence of limit cycles using the Poincaré's method revealed that asymptotically stable walking was achieved. The proposed control strategy effectively rejects the external disturbances and keeps the robot in a stable dynamic walking

Robust compound control of dynamic bipedal robots

This paper presents a robust compound control strategy to produce a stable gait in dynamic bipedal robots under random perturbations. The proposed control strategy consists of two interactive loops: an adaptive trajectory generator and a robust trajectory tracking controller. The adaptive trajectory generator produces references for the robot controlled joints without a-priori knowledge of the terrain features and minimizes the effects of disturbances and model uncertainties during the gait, particularly during the support-leg exchange. The trajectory tracking controller is a non-switching robust multivariable generalized proportional integral (GPI) controller. The GPI controller rejects external disturbances and uncertainties faced by the robot during the swing walking phase. The proposed control strategy was evaluated on the numerical model of a five-link planar bipedal robot with one degree of under-actuation, four actuators, and point feet. The results showed robust performance and stability under external disturbances and model parameter uncertainties on uneven terrain with uphills and downhills. The stability of the gait was proven through the computation of a Poincaré return map for a hybrid zero dynamics with uncertainties (HZDU) model, which shows convergence to a bounded neighborhood of a nominal orbital periodic behavior

Propuesta para promover la educación estadística crítica en estudiantes de secundaria a través de la cultura mediática

Se ha realizado, en el marco de la Maestría en Docencia de las Matemáticas en la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, un estudio teórico para proponer escenarios de investigación que promuevan el desarrollo de la Educación Estadística Crítica en Ambientes de Aprendizaje usando como insumo la información dada desde la Cultura Mediática, para propiciar el desarrollo de ciudadanos estadísticamente cultos. Para esto se han revisado diversos antecedentes y establecido posturas frente a cada teoría, logrando destacar la innovación en el desarrollo de la estructura teórica que armoniza y orienta la propuesta de diseño para el aula. Es necesario mencionar, que esta propuesta está en construcción, por lo que hasta el momento se evidencia los avances respecto el marco teórico

Routing Aware DSME Networks

Best oral communication Award (in ex aequo)3rd Doctoral Congress in Engineering will be held at FEUP on the 27th to 28th of June, 2019Deterministic Synchronous Multichannel Extension (DSME) is a prominent MAC behavior of IEEE 802.15.4e can avail deterministic service using its multisuperframe structure. RPL is a routing protocol for wireless networks with low power consumption and generally susceptible to packet loss. A combination of these two protocols can integrate real-time QoS demanding and large-scale IoT networks. In this paper, we propose an architecture to integrate routing with DSME. We also show a simulation result by which we improve reliability by 40 % using routing.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Urinary tract infection among hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Colombia

Background: Urinary tract infection is more common among diabetic patients. Aim: To describe the frequency and features of urinary tract infection among diabetic patients admitted to a medicine service in Colombia. Material and Methods: Review of a database of diabetic patients aged over 18 years, admitted to a Medicine Service in Colombia. The medical records and hospital evolution of those with urinary tract infections were reviewed. Results: Data from 470 patients aged 65 ± 13 years (50% females) were reviewed. Urinary tract infections were detected in 68 (14%), all community acquired. A culture was done in 50 (73%), which was positive in 80%. The most common microorganisms isolated were Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae in 52 and 18% respectively. Twenty eight percent of E Coli strains were resistant to extended spectrum beta lactamases and 14% of K pneumoniae strains were resistant to ampicillin. Complications were observed in 28% of these patients and 6% died, mainly due to septic shock. Glycosylated hemoglobin levels in patients with and without urinary tract infection were 9.2 and 8.5% respectively (p = 0.016). Conclusions: Urinary tract infection is common among hospitalized diabetic patients and associated with complications and higher mortalit

La prueba indiciaria y la acreditación de la tipicidad en los delitos complejos en el sistema jurídico peruano año 2020

La tesis denominada “La prueba indiciaria y la acreditación de la tipicidad en los delitos complejos en el sistema jurídico peruano año 2020”, tiene como objetivo establecer sin los magistrados construyen y aplican adecuadamente la prueba indiciaria a fin de acreditar los diversos tipos penales de los denominados delitos complejos. En cuando a la metodología se utilizó el enfoque cualitativo con diseño de investigación se aplicó la dogmática propositiva o jurídica proyectiva en tanto que propongo nuevos alcances sobre la prueba indiciaria en su construcción y aplicación en la demostración de la tipicidad de los delitos complejos, teniendo como instrumento de evaluación la guía de entrevistas conformada por preguntas semi estructuradas, que respondían al objetivo tanto general como específicos. Como centro de estudio se consideró en un alcance nacional en tanto que el sistema jurídico peruano es de carácter general, los participantes lo conformaron especialista en el estudio y manejo de los delitos complejos bajo el nuevo código procesal penal, Juez Superior, Juez Especializados, abogados con grado de magister y doctor que vienen laborando en la Procuraduría Pública Especializada en Delitos contra el Orden Público y docentes universitarios. Se tuvo como conclusión que existe un alejamiento intelectual entre la teoría y la práctica, consistente al momento de investigar, construir, motivar, y controlar la prueba indiciaria al momento de acreditar la tipicidad objetiva y subjetiva de los delitos denominados complejos. Así mismo se requiere de un escenario práctico para mejorar dichas capacidades que aparejado de protocolos y capacitaciones superarían dichas deficiencias los magistrado

KKT conditions satisfied using adaptive neighboring in hybrid cellular automata for topology optimization

The hybrid cellular automaton (HCA) method is a biologically inspired algorithm capable of topology synthesis that was developed to simulate the behavior of the bone functional adaptation process. In this algorithm, the design domain is divided into cells with some communication property among neighbors. Local evolutionary rules, obtained from classical control theory, iteratively establish the value of the design variables in order to minimize the local error between a field variable and a corresponding target value. Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) optimality conditions have been derived to determine the expression for the field variable and its target. While averaging techniques mimicking intercellular communication have been used to mitigate numerical instabilities such as checkerboard patterns and mesh dependency, some questions have been raised whether KKT conditions are fully satisfied in the final topologies. Furthermore, the averaging procedure might result in cancellation or attenuation of the error between the field variable and its target. Several examples are presented showing that HCA converges to different final designs for different neighborhood configurations or averaging schemes. Although it has been claimed that these final designs are optimal, this might not be true in a precise mathematical sense—the use of the averaging procedure induces a mathematical incorrectness that has to be addressed. In this work, a new adaptive neighboring scheme will be employed that utilizes a weighting function for the influence of a cell’s neighbors that decreases to zero over time. When the weighting function reaches zero, the algorithm satisfies the aforementioned optimality criterion. Thus, the HCA algorithm will retain the benefits that result from utilizing neighborhood information, as well as obtain an optimal solution