Spatial Optimization of Residential Urban District - Energy and Water Perspectives

AbstractMany cities around the world have reached a critical situation when it comes to energy and water supply, threatening the urban sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to develop a spatial optimization model for the planning of residential urban districts with special consideration of renewables and water harvesting integration. In particular, the paper analyses the optimal configuration of built environment area, PV area, wind turbines number and relative occupation area, battery and water harvester storage capacities, as a function of electricity and water prices. The optimization model is multi-objective which uses a genetic algorithm to minimize the system life cycle costs, and maximize renewables and water harvesting reliability.The developed model can be used for spatial optimization design of new urban districts. It can also be employed for analyzing the performances of existing urban districts under an energy-water-economic viewpoint.Assuming a built environment area equal to 75% of the total available area, the results show that the reliability of the renewables and water harvesting system cannot exceed the 6475 and 2500 hours/year, respectively. The life cycle costs of integrating renewables and water harvesting into residential districts are mainly sensitive to the battery system specific costs since most of the highest renewables reliabilities are guaranteed through the energy storage system

On the role of forests and the forest sector for climate change mitigation in Sweden

We analyse the short- and long-term consequences for atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations of forest management strategies and forest product uses in Sweden by comparing the modelled consequences of forest resource use vs. increased conservation at different levels of GHG savings from carbon sequestration and product substitution with bioenergy and other forest products. Increased forest set-asides for conservation resulted in larger GHG reductions only in the short term and only when substitution effects were low. In all other cases, forest use was more beneficial. In all scenarios, annual carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration rates declined in conservation forests as they mature, eventually approaching a steady state. Forest set-asides are thus associated with increasing opportunity costs corresponding to foregone wood production and associated mitigation losses. Substitution and sequestration rates under all other forest management strategies rise, providing support for sustained harvest and cumulative mitigation gains. The impact of increased fertilization was everywhere beneficial to the climate and surpassed the mitigation potential of the other scenarios. Climate change can have large—positive or negative—influence on outcomes. Despite uncertainties, the results indicate potentially large benefits from forest use for wood production. These benefits, however, are not clearly linked with forestry in UNFCCC reporting, and the European Union\u27s Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry carbon accounting, framework may even prevent their full realization. These reporting and accounting frameworks may further have the consequence of encouraging land set-asides and reduced forest use at the expense of future biomass production. Further, carbon leakage and resulting biodiversity impacts due to increased use of more GHG-intensive products, including imported products associated with deforestation and land degradation, are inadequately assessed. Considerable opportunity to better mobilize the climate change mitigation potential of Swedish forests therefore remains

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Ebs1p is a putative ortholog of human Smg7 and promotes nonsense-mediated mRNA decay

The Smg proteins Smg5, Smg6 and Smg7 are involved in nonsense-mediated RNA decay (NMD) in metazoans, but no orthologs have been found in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Sequence alignments reveal that yeast Ebs1p is similar in structure to the human Smg5-7, with highest homology to Smg7. We demonstrate here that Ebs1p is involved in NMD and behaves similarly to human Smg proteins. Indeed, both loss and overexpression of Ebs1p results in stabilization of NMD targets. However, Ebs1-loss in yeast or Smg7-depletion in human cells only partially disrupts NMD and in the latter, Smg7-depletion is partially compensated for by Smg6. Ebs1p physically interacts with the NMD helicase Upf1p and overexpressed Ebs1p leads to recruitment of Upf1p into cytoplasmic P-bodies. Furthermore, Ebs1p localizes to P-bodies upon glucose starvation along with Upf1p. Overall our findings suggest that NMD is more conserved in evolution than previously thought, and that at least one of the Smg5-7 proteins is conserved in budding yeast

A healthy bladder: a consensus statement

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86931/1/j.1742-1241.2011.02763.x.pd

Design and manufacturing of a microcomputer-based prototype for a error-detection unit in a landing system

Examensarbetet hos Combitech Arboga gick ut på att utveckla en mikrodatorbaserad prototyp med ett grafiskt användargränssnitt för implementering i ett landningssystem. Dagens tekniska utveckling går snabbt och detta gäller särskilt inom försvarsindustrin. Behovet att förnya äldre tekniska system ökar med tanke på det samhällspolitiska läget som vi befinner oss i och då behöver materialet som används inom industrin vara tillförlitlig och användarvänlig för att kunna ge stöd åt personalen som använder det.  Arbetet utfördes under våren 2023 under en 20 veckors period och påbörjades med en analys av det nuvarande systemet för att skapa koncept åt prototypen. Ny hårdvara utvecklades och implementerades med den allmänt tillgängliga mikrokontrollern Arduino Mega 2560. En grafisk display användes också i projektet. Målet med examensarbetet var att efterlikna den nuvarande layouten av felsökningsenhetens informationsvisning fast på en digital display. Arbetet berörde många områden som kretsdesign, kretskonstruktion, mjukvaruutveckling samt några olika tester och simuleringar. Arbetet resulterade i en funktionell prototyp som uppfyller de satta kraven och en prototyp som skapar bra förutsättningar för vidareutveckling och slutgiltig serieproduktion.The thesis project conducted at Combitech Arboga aimed to develop a microcomputer-based prototype with a graphical user interface for implementation in a landing system. Today's technical development is progressing rapidly, especially in the defense industry. The need to modernize outdated technical systems is increasing due to the current socio-political situation, so the materials used within the industry need to be reliable and user-friendly to support the personnel using it. The thesis work was carried out during the spring of 2023 over a period of 20 weeks and began with an analysis of the current system to generate concepts for the prototype. New hardware was developed and implemented using the widely available microcontroller Arduino Mega 2560. A graphical display was also utilized in the project. The objective of the thesis work was to emulate the current layout of the troubleshooting unit’s information on a digital display. The thesis work encompassed various areas, including circuit design, circuit construction, software development, as well as several tests and simulations. The outcome of the work was a functional prototype that fulfills the specified requirements, thereby establishing a solid foundation for further development and eventual production

Design and manufacturing of a microcomputer-based prototype for a error-detection unit in a landing system

Examensarbetet hos Combitech Arboga gick ut på att utveckla en mikrodatorbaserad prototyp med ett grafiskt användargränssnitt för implementering i ett landningssystem. Dagens tekniska utveckling går snabbt och detta gäller särskilt inom försvarsindustrin. Behovet att förnya äldre tekniska system ökar med tanke på det samhällspolitiska läget som vi befinner oss i och då behöver materialet som används inom industrin vara tillförlitlig och användarvänlig för att kunna ge stöd åt personalen som använder det.  Arbetet utfördes under våren 2023 under en 20 veckors period och påbörjades med en analys av det nuvarande systemet för att skapa koncept åt prototypen. Ny hårdvara utvecklades och implementerades med den allmänt tillgängliga mikrokontrollern Arduino Mega 2560. En grafisk display användes också i projektet. Målet med examensarbetet var att efterlikna den nuvarande layouten av felsökningsenhetens informationsvisning fast på en digital display. Arbetet berörde många områden som kretsdesign, kretskonstruktion, mjukvaruutveckling samt några olika tester och simuleringar. Arbetet resulterade i en funktionell prototyp som uppfyller de satta kraven och en prototyp som skapar bra förutsättningar för vidareutveckling och slutgiltig serieproduktion.The thesis project conducted at Combitech Arboga aimed to develop a microcomputer-based prototype with a graphical user interface for implementation in a landing system. Today's technical development is progressing rapidly, especially in the defense industry. The need to modernize outdated technical systems is increasing due to the current socio-political situation, so the materials used within the industry need to be reliable and user-friendly to support the personnel using it. The thesis work was carried out during the spring of 2023 over a period of 20 weeks and began with an analysis of the current system to generate concepts for the prototype. New hardware was developed and implemented using the widely available microcontroller Arduino Mega 2560. A graphical display was also utilized in the project. The objective of the thesis work was to emulate the current layout of the troubleshooting unit’s information on a digital display. The thesis work encompassed various areas, including circuit design, circuit construction, software development, as well as several tests and simulations. The outcome of the work was a functional prototype that fulfills the specified requirements, thereby establishing a solid foundation for further development and eventual production

Loss-of-load probability analysis for optimization of small off-grid PV-battery systems in Bolivia

This study evaluates the use of energy storage technologies coupled to renewable energy sources in rural electrification as a way to address the energy access challenge. Characteristic energy demanding applications will differently affect the operating conditions for off-grid renewable energy systems. This paper discusses and evaluates simulated photovoltaic power output and battery state of charge profiles, using estimated climate data and electricity load profiles for the Altiplanic highland location of Patacamaya in Bolivia to determine the loss of load probability as optimization parameter. Simulations are performed for three rural applications: household, school, and health center. Increase in battery size prevents risk of electricity blackouts while increasing the energy reliability of the system. Moreover, increase of PV module size leads to energy excess conditions for the system reducing its efficiency. The results obtained here are important for the application of off-grid PV-battery systems design in rural electrification projects, as an efficient and reliable source of electricity

Stand transpiration and sapflow density in relation to weather, soil moisture and stand characteristics

Sapflow density was measured in six stands in a boreal forest in central Sweden, to assess its dependence on soil moisture and stand characteristics. The stands were mixed and pure Scots pine and Norway spruce stands, which were between 34 and 105 years old. Sapflow was measured in 12 trees per stand using the Granier method during two contrasting growing seasons; one warm and dry and one wet and cool. The canopy conductance of the stands was estimated by the inverse of the Penman-Monteith equation, using time-lag-adjusted sapflow as input. Maximum canopy conductance varied between 8 mm s(-1) and 88 mm s(-1) for the stand with the lowest and highest conductance, respectively. Transpiration was higher in the dry, warm season, mean values for the different stands ranging between 1.30 to 4.64 mm day(-1) during July to September. The corresponding range in the wet, cool season was 0.95 to 2.65 mm day(-1). Besides climatic factors, stand age, stem density and diameter explained most of the variation in sapflow density. By use of multiple regression analysis for 5-day periods it was possible to estimate sapflow density and transpiration for a larger area of the forest. This upscaled area) transpiration was compared with evaporation measured by an eddy-correlation system located centrally in the area. It was shown that areal transpiration constituted 78% of total evaporation in the warm, dry season and 52% in the wet, cool season. It was not possible to establish with confidence a critical limit for soil water at which transpiration began to be reduced, mainly because of wide scatter in the relationship between potential and actual transpiration