An integrated decision support tool for the prediction and evaluation of efficiency, environmental impact and total social cost of forestry projects in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol

For the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, governments of annex I countries need to develop strategies and policies for greenhouse gas reduction. Land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) offer CO2 emission reduction opportunities both home and abroad. Selection of effective forestry opportunities is a complex decision process based on multiple information concerning the greenhouse gas emission reduction potential, the environmental impacts and the cost efficiency of potential scenarios. In this paper, a decision support framework to evaluate forestry scenarios for greenhouse gas emission reduction was presented and tested on five different scenarios (existing and new multifunctional forest in Flanders, Belgium, energy crop with short rotation poplar, energy crop with annually harvested Miscanthus, forest plantation in the subtropics, and conservation of tropical rainforest). The framework is organized as a serial connection of a carbon accounting module, an environmental module and an economic module. Modules include a combination of models and quantitative assessments procedures. In order to make scenarios comparable, the environmental and economic modules calculate their outputs on a functional unit basis of 1 ton CO2 emission reduction. The framework is universally applicable, straightforward, transparent and quantitative. Data requirements are medium, but applicability is fairly complex due to the interdisciplinary character of the tool. Further developments would require automated data flows between models and a user interface. As to the results of the scenario analysis, the only attractive possibility for sinks in Flanders is the establishment of new multifunctional forests. This even yields a net benefit because it replaces the generally loss-making agriculture and, in addition, yields other environmental and recreational benefits. The establishment of bioenergy plantations is a very efficient way of reducing CO2 as far as land occupation and environmental impacts are concerned. However, it also turns out to be a very expensive option. Plantation forestry in the tropics is advantageous when evaluated over longer periods of time. Conservation of tropical forest does not come into consideration as a CDM project, but is nevertheless economically attractive for Flanders since the cost per ton CO2 emission reduction is in the neighborhood of the world market price.CO2 emission reduction, carbon balance, Life Cycle Assessment, Land use impact, Cost benefit analysis

Make it personal: a social explanation system applied to group recommendations

Recommender systems help users to identify which items from a variety of choices best match their needs and preferences. In this context, explanations act as complementary information that can help users to better comprehend the system’s output and to encourage goals such as trust, confidence in decision-making or utility. In this paper we propose a Personalized Social Individual Explanation approach (PSIE). Unlike other expert systems the PSIE proposal novelly includes explanations about the system’s group recommendation and explanations about the group’s social reality with the goal of inducing a positive reaction that leads to a better perception of the received group recommendations. Among other challenges, we uncover a special need to focus on “tactful” explanations when addressing users’ personal relationships within a group and to focus on personalized reassuring explanations that encourage users to accept the presented recommendations. Besides, the resulting intelligent system significatively increases users’ intent (likelihood) to follow the recommendations, users’ satisfaction and the system’s efficiency and trustworthiness

Fuzzy logic tuning of a PI controller to improve the performance of a wind turbine on a semi-submersible platform under different wind scenarios

The integration of renewable energy sources in power systems, specially wind energy, is growing as environmental concerns arise in society. Nevertheless, the low amount of viable sites onshore or in shallow waters restricts the use of wind energy. In this sense, offshore semi-submersible platforms appear as an option, which in addition enables the integration of complementary elements, for instance wave energy converters. However, the complexity of the system increases due to the interactions between the platform movements and the wind turbine, and traditional control techniques do not enable to cope with these interactions in an easy way, hence limiting the efficiency of energy harvesting. Intelligent control techniques are an option with a great potential to take full account of the said interactions and to improve energy production efficiency. Still, it is required to have simulation models including those effects beforehand, so that the effects of a designed controller on the system can be evaluated. This paper presents an original fuzzy logic controller that tunes a reference controller, improving its performance according to a developed methodology that allows evaluation of controllers for wind turbines in semi-submersible platforms. The resulting fuzzy logic controller allows higher efficiency concerning mechanical loads in the system, electric energy production and tracking error of the speed reference.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Development and Evaluation of Fuzzy Logic Controllers for Improving Performance of Wind Turbines on Semi-Submersible Platforms under Different Wind Scenarios

Among renewable energy technologies, wind energy features one of the best possibilities for large-scale integration into power systems. However, there are specific restrictions regarding the installation areas for this technology, thus resulting in a growing, yet restricted, rate of penetration of the technology because of the limited viable sites onshore or in shallow waters. In this context, the use of offshore semi-submersible platforms appears as a promising option, which additionally enables the incorporation of other elements, such as wave energy converters or aquaculture. Nevertheless, this kind of offshore facility involves interactions between platform movements and the wind turbine, increasing the complexity of the system, causing traditional control techniques to not be able to fully cope with the dynamics of the system, and thus limiting the efficiency of energy extraction. On the contrary, the use of intelligent control techniques is an interesting option to take full account of the said interactions and to improve energy capture efficiency through the control of the pitch of the blades, especially under turbulent, above-rated wind profiles. This work presents an original fuzzy logic controller that has been validated by comparing it with previously validated controllers, following a developed methodology that allows comparison of controllers for wind turbines in semi-submersible platforms using performance indexes.This work was partially supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Government of Spain) and European Union (RTC-2016-5712-3); by the European Union, CDTI (Spain) and BEISS (UK) through the call H2020 ERA-NET DEMOWIND (WIP10+ project); by the Regional Government of Andalusia and European Union (UMA-CEIATECH-18); and finally, by partial funding for open access charge from the Universidad de Málaga. Partial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málag

Seroprevalence Survey of American Trypanosomiasis in Central Valley of Toluca.

American trypanosomiasis is a growing health issue in the Americas. Me ́xico is an endemic country, where some locations such as in the State of Me ́xico are considered highly prevalent. In the valley of Toluca city, the capital of the State of Mexico, there exists an apparent high prevalence in dogs. The absence of triatomine vectors suggests that dogs may not be infected. Therefore, we conducted a directed survey to domiciliated and nondomiciliated dogs to reassess dogs’ T. cruzi seroprevalence status. HAI and ELISA serologic tests were applied to 124 and 167 serums of domiciliated and nondomiciliated dogs in the target city. Risk factors were estimated, but the results did not show any evidence to assess them. No domiciliated dogs tested positive to both tests, whereas only one non-domiciliated dog resulted positive. This animal may have acquired the infection in an endemic area and then migrated to Toluca. Research results indicate that T. cruzi infection is not actively transmitted among dogs, and it is pointed out that dogs are the main sentinel animal population to evaluate a possible expansion of the territory affected by Chagas’ disease.Researches thank Universidad Autoónoma de Estado de México, whose support was significant to conclude the professional project SF009/2009. No competing commercial associations or financial interests exist in connection with the submitted manuscript for all authors concerned

Microtermometría de rocas carbonatadas de las formaciones Hondita-Loma Gorda, sector vereda Bomboná, municipio de Palermo – Huila, Colombia

Geochemical properties in the petroleum industry are used to understand the origin, migration, accumulation, and alteration of hydrocarbons in the basin that contains them. The formation temperature of the rocks of the petroleum system that may be in the hydrocarbon generation window is of utmost importance, as this is the main objective of this article.     The present research used the technique of Microthermometry of fluid inclusions to recognize the formation temperature, homogenization, density, determine some basic physicochemical variables and the salinity of the fluid at the time of trapping, providing evidence about the history of different events in different geological environments in the evolution of the sedimentary basin where the Hondita and Loma Gorda formations belong.     The Hondita and Loma Gorda formations extend along the Upper Magdalena Valley basin, which have been characterized by having the main hydrocarbon producing rocks of the petroleum system.     With the data obtained from Microthermometry, the homogenization temperature and salinity values were estimated, and histograms of homogenization temperature frequencies were made. The salinity vs. homogenization temperature graphs show that the fluid inclusions found in the different samples analyzed have salinities that vary from 19.20% a 20.47% eq. in NaCl weight, similar densities found in the 0.93 a 1.06 g/cc intervals and homogenization temperatures between 120.0°C y 180°C.     The homogenization temperatures obtained indicate that at the time of trapping, the rock was in the medium-light hydrocarbon generation window, which with subsequent diagenetic processes reached the current hydrocarbon characteristics of the Hondita and Loma Gorda formations, as evidenced in many oil fields in the Upper Magdalena Valley area.Las propiedades geoquímicas en la industria del petróleo son utilizadas para poder conocer el origen, la migración, acumulación y alteración de los hidrocarburos en la cuenca que los contiene. Es de suma importancia la temperatura de formación de las rocas del sistema petrolífero que pueden estar en la ventana de generación de hidrocarburos ya que este es el objetivo principal de este artículo. La presente investigación utilizó la técnica de Microtermometría de inclusiones fluidas para reconocer la temperatura de formación, homogenización, densidad, determinar algunas variables fisicoquímicas básicas y la salinidad del fluido en el momento de su atrapamiento aportando evidencias sobre la historia de distintos eventos en diversos ambientes geológicos en la evolución de la cuenca sedimentaria donde pertenecen las formaciones Hondita y Loma Gorda. Las formaciones Hondita y Loma Gorda se extienden a lo largo de la cuenca del Valle Superior del Magdalena las cuales se han caracterizado por tener las principales rocas productoras de hidrocarburos del sistema petrolífero. Con los datos obtenidos de Microtermometría se llegó a estimar los valores de la temperatura de homogenización y salinidad, se realizó histogramas de frecuencias de temperaturas de homogenización. Los gráficos de salinidad vs temperaturas de homogenización evidencian que las inclusiones fluidas halladas en las diferentes muestras analizadas poseen salinidades que varían desde 19.20% a 20.47% eq. en peso NaCl, densidades similares encontradas en los intervalos de 0.93 a 1.06 g/cc y temperaturas de homogenización entre 120.0°C y 180°C. Las temperaturas de homogenización obtenidas indican que, en el momento de entrampamiento, la roca se encontraba en la ventana de generación de hidrocarburos medianos–livianos, que con procesos diagenéticos posteriores alcanzaron las características actuales de los hidrocarburos de las formaciones Hondita y Loma Gorda, como se evidencia en muchos campos petrolíferos presentes en la zona del Valle Superior del Magdalena