The use of social media for improving energy consumption awareness and efficiency: An overview of existing tools

Raising consumers’ awareness of energy consumption is one of the first steps in encouraging the adoption of energy saving behaviours that result in energy efficiency. Green information systems are becoming recognised as a solution to many environmental problems although information technology (e.g. disposal of IT devices) has also been associated with causing detrimental effects on the environment. Researchers and practitioners have begun to focus on Green ICT but there is little scholarly research on the use of ICT tools such as social media from an energy efficiency context to raise consumer awareness and improve their engagement in tackling environmental issues. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the use of social media and existing tools for the interaction of people on energy saving discussions and for generating awareness and engagement (which thereby leads to energy efficiency behaviour). In this paper the authors provide a state of the art review around the concept of energy awareness, models of consumer engagement, and more importantly the use of social media in the energy efficiency context. This research is based on a desk-based normative review and seeks to provide a better understanding to both scholars and practitioners involved in the use of ICT for driving energy consumer awareness and engagement for energy efficiency.This work evolved in the context of the project DAREED (Decision support Advisor for innovative business models and useR engagement for smart Energy Efficient Districts), www.dareed.eu, a project co-funded by the EC within FP7, Grant agreement no: 609082

Predicting risk of hospitalisation: a retrospective population-based analysis in a paediatric population in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

OBJECTIVES: Develop predictive models for a paediatric population that provide information for paediatricians and health authorities to identify children at risk of hospitalisation for conditions that may be impacted through improved patient care. DESIGN: Retrospective healthcare utilisation analysis with multivariable logistic regression models. DATA: Demographic information linked with utilisation of health services in the years 2006-2014 was used to predict risk of hospitalisation or death in 2015 using a longitudinal administrative database of 527 458 children aged 1-13 years residing in the Regione Emilia-Romagna (RER), Italy, in 2014. OUTCOME MEASURES: Models designed to predict risk of hospitalisation or death in 2015 for problems that are potentially avoidable were developed and evaluated using the C-statistic, for calibration to assess performance across levels of predicted risk, and in terms of their sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value. RESULTS: Of the 527 458 children residing in RER in 2014, 6391 children (1.21%) were hospitalised for selected conditions or died in 2015. 49 486 children (9.4%) of the population were classified in the \u27At Higher Risk\u27 group using a threshold of predicted risk \u3e2.5%. The observed risk of hospitalisation (5%) for the \u27At Higher Risk\u27 group was more than four times higher than the overall population. We observed a C-statistic of 0.78 indicating good model performance. The model was well calibrated across categories of predicted risk. CONCLUSIONS: It is feasible to develop a population-based model using a longitudinal administrative database that identifies the risk of hospitalisation for a paediatric population. The results of this model, along with profiles of children identified as high risk, are being provided to the paediatricians and other healthcare professionals providing care to this population to aid in planning for care management and interventions that may reduce their patients\u27 likelihood of a preventable, high-cost hospitalisation

Delayed - Choice Entanglement - Swapping with Vacuum-One Photon Quantum States

We report the experimental realization of a recently discovered quantum information protocol by Asher Peres implying an apparent non-local quantum mechanical retrodiction effect. The demonstration is carried out by applying a novel quantum optical method by which each singlet entangled state is physically implemented by a two-dimensional subspace of Fock states of a mode of the electromagnetic field, specifically the space spanned by the vacuum and the one photon state, along lines suggested recently by E. Knill et al., Nature 409, 46 (2001) and by M. Duan et al., Nature 414, 413 (2001). The successful implementation of the new technique is expected to play an important role in modern quantum information and communication and in EPR quantum non-locality studies

A stable, power scaling, graphene-mode-locked all-fiber oscillator

This is the final version. Available from AIP Publishing via the DOI in this record.We report power tunability in a fiber laser mode-locked with a solution-processed filtered graphene film on a fiber connector. 370 fs pulses are generated with output power continuously tunable from 4 up to 52 mW. This is a simple, low-cost, compact, portable, all-fiber ultrafast source for applications requiring environmentally stable, portable sources, such as imaging.European Research Council (ERC)Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)Emmanuel College, CambridgeIsaac Newton Trust, Trinity College Cambridg

A stable, power scaling, graphene-mode-locked all-fiber oscillator

We report power tunability in a fiber laser mode-locked with a solution-processed filtered graphene film on a fiber connector. ∼370 fs pulses are generated with output power continuously tunable from ∼4 up to ∼52 mW. This is a simple, low-cost, compact, portable, all-fiber ultrafast source for applications requiring environmentally stable, portable sources, such as imaging.</jats:p

Stellar Collisions and Ultracompact X-ray Binary Formation

(abridged) We report the results of SPH calculations of parabolic collisions between a subgiant or slightly evolved red-giant star and a neutron star (NS). Such collisions are likely to form ultracompact X-ray binaries (UCXBs) observed today in old globular clusters. In particular, we compute collisions of a 1.4 Msun NS with realistically modelled parent stars of initial masses 0.8 and 0.9 Msun, each at three different evolutionary stages (corresponding to three different radii R). The distance of closest approach for the initial orbit varies from 0.04 R (nearly head-on) to 1.3 R (grazing). These collisions lead to the formation of a tight binary, composed of the NS and the subgiant or red-giant core, embedded in an extremely diffuse common envelope (CE) typically of mass ~0.1 to 0.3 Msun. Our calculations follow the binary for many hundreds of orbits, ensuring that the orbital parameters we determine at the end of the calculations are close to final. Some of the fluid initially in the envelope of the (sub)giant, from 0.003 to 0.023 Msun in the cases we considered, is left bound to the NS. The eccentricities of the resulting binaries range from about 0.2 for our most grazing collision to about 0.9 for the nearly head-on cases. In almost all the cases we consider, gravitational radiation alone will cause sufficiently fast orbital decay to form a UCXB within a Hubble time, and often on a much shorter timescale. Our hydrodynamics code implements the recent SPH equations of motion derived with a variational approach by Springel & Hernquist and by Monaghan. Numerical noise is reduced by enforcing an analytic constraint equation that relates the smoothing lengths and densities of SPH particles. We present tests of these new methods to help demonstrate their improved accuracy.Comment: 41 pages, 17 figures, accepted by Ap

Muscle thixotropy: more than just cross-bridges?

AbstractAlthough Campbell and Lakie in a Comment to the Editor in this issue of Biophysical Journal suggested that exclusive cross-bridge action is behind muscle thixotropy, recent findings and our preliminary observations suggest that additional mechanisms could also be involved