What is needed for citizen-centered urban energy transitions : Insights on attitudes towards decentralized energy storage

This paper aims to fill a research gap in the area of consumer-citizen attitudes to business models for decentralized energy storage, at the level of households and buildings. The study focuses on the interaction of such attitudes and their underlying motivation factors with socio-cultural, contextual factors. Self-determination theory (SDT) is used as a theoretical framework, to connect interpersonal and contextual factors, addressing the question of how contexts influence the motivation to support energy storage. Drawing on SDT, this study examines the role of autarky (independence from the energy system), autonomy (control over energy management) and relatedness (degree of sharing required) in this regard, embedded and interpreted in the socio-cultural local context of two demonstration sites in Sweden and Portugal. A mixed method approach is used. Quantitative survey data provides information on local social and cultural dimensions, followed by stakeholder consultation workshops that elicit participants’ views on different models of decentralized energy storage. The findings raise questions of how to improve autarky and autonomy for prosumers, while keeping the need for time investment low and provide flexibility regarding the required degree of interaction between prosumers. Implications for business models and policy support for citizen-centered sustainable urban energy systems are derived

Timing techniques with picosecond-order accuracy for novel gaseous detectors

A simulation model is developed to train Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), for precise timing of PICOSEC Micromegas detector signals. The aim is to develop fast, online timing algorithms as well as minimising the information to be saved during data acquisition. PICOSEC waveforms were collected and digitised by a fast oscilloscope during a femptosecond-laser test beam run. A data set comprising waveforms collected with attenuated laser beam intensity, eradicating the emission of more than one photoelectron per light pulse from the PICOSEC photocathode, was utilised by a simulation algorithm to generate waveforms to train an ANN. A second data set of multi-photoelectron waveforms was used to evaluate the ANN performance in determining the PICOSEC Signal Arrival Time, relative to a fast photodiode time-reference. The ANN timing performance is the same as the results of a full offline signal processing, achieving a timing precision of 18.3$\pm$0.6 ps.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Analytical approximation of the exterior gravitational field of rotating neutron stars

It is known that B\"acklund transformations can be used to generate stationary axisymmetric solutions of Einstein's vacuum field equations with any number of constants. We will use this class of exact solutions to describe the exterior vacuum region of numerically calculated neutron stars. Therefore we study how an Ernst potential given on the rotation axis and containing an arbitrary number of constants can be used to determine the metric everywhere. Then we review two methods to determine those constants from a numerically calculated solution. Finally, we compare the metric and physical properties of our analytic solution with the numerical data and find excellent agreement even for a small number of parameters.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

Inconsistent Effects of Iron-Folic Acid and/or Zinc Supplementation on the Cognitive Development of Infants

Despite concerns over the neurocognitive effects of micronutrient deficiencies in infancy, few studies have examined the effects of micronutrient supplementation on specific cognitive indicators. This study investigated, in 2002, the effects of iron-folic acid and/or zinc supplementation on the results of Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII) and the A-not-B Task of executive functioning among 367 Nepali infants living in Sarlahi district. Infants were enrolled in a cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of daily supplementation with 5 mg of zinc, 6.25 mg of iron with 25 µg of folic acid, or zinc-iron-folic acid, or placebo. These were tested on both the tasks using five indicators of information processing: preference for novelty (FTII), fixation duration (FTII), accelerated performance (≥85% correct; A-not-B), deteriorated performance (<75% correct and >1 error on repeat-following-correct trails; A-not-B), and the A-not-B error (A-not-B). At 39 and 52 weeks, 247 and 333 infants respectively attempted the cognitive tests; 213 made an attempt to solve both the tests. The likelihood of females completing the A-not-B Task was lower compared to males when cluster randomization was controlled [odds ratio=0.67; 95% confidence interval 0.46-0.97; p<0.05]. All of the five cognitive outcomes were modelled in linear and logistic regression. The results were not consistent across either the testing sessions or the information-processing indicators. Neither the combined nor the individual micronutrient supplements improved the performance on the FTII or the A-not-B Task (p>0.05). These findings suggest that broader interventions (both in terms of scope and duration) are needed for infants who face many biological and social stressors

An Industry-Relevant Metal Mixture, Iron Status, and Reported Attention-Related Behaviors in Italian Adolescents

BACKGROUND: Exposure to environmental metals has been consistently associated with attention and behavioral deficits in children, and these associations may be modified by coexposure to other metals or iron (Fe) status. However, few studies have investigated Fe status as a modifier of a metal mixture, particularly with respect to attention -related behaviors. METHODS: We used cross-sectional data from the Public Health Impact of Metals Exposure study, which included 707 adolescents (10-14 years of age) from Brescia, Italy. Manganese, chromium, and copper were quantified in hair samples, and lead was quantified in whole blood, using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Concentrations of Fe status markers (ferritin, hemoglobin, transferrin) were measured using immunoassays or luminescence assays. Attention -related behaviors were assessed using the Conners Rating Scales Self -Report Scale-Long Form, Parent Rating Scales Revised-Short Form, and Teacher Rating Scales Revised-Short Form. We employed Bayesian kernel machine regression to examine associations of the metal mixture with these outcomes and evaluate Fe status as a modifier. RESULTS: Higher concentrations of the metals and ferritin were jointly associated with worse self -reported attention -related behaviors: metals and ferritin set to their 90th percentiles were associated with 3.0% [0 = 0.03; 95% credible interval (CrI): -0.01, 0.06], 4.1% (0 = 0.04; 95% CrI: 0.00, 0.08), and 4.1% (0= 0.04; 95% CrI: 0.00, 0.08) higher T -scores for self -reported attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) index, inattention, and hyperactivity, respectively, compared with when metals and ferritin were set to their 50th percentiles. These associations were driven by hair manganese, which exhibited nonlinear associations with all self -reported scales. There was no evidence that Fe status modified the neurotoxicity of the metal mixture. The metal mixture was not materially associated with any parent -reported or teacher -reported scale. CONCLUSIONS: The overall metal mixture, driven by manganese, was adversely associated with self -reported attention -related behavior. These findings suggest that exposure to multiple environmental metals impacts adolescent neurodevelopment, which has significant public health implications. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1298

Exact relativistic treatment of stationary counter-rotating dust disks I: Boundary value problems and solutions

This is the first in a series of papers on the construction of explicit solutions to the stationary axisymmetric Einstein equations which describe counter-rotating disks of dust. These disks can serve as models for certain galaxies and accretion disks in astrophysics. We review the Newtonian theory for disks using Riemann-Hilbert methods which can be extended to some extent to the relativistic case where they lead to modular functions on Riemann surfaces. In the case of compact surfaces these are Korotkin's finite gap solutions which we will discuss in this paper. On the axis we establish for general genus relations between the metric functions and hence the multipoles which are enforced by the underlying hyperelliptic Riemann surface. Generalizing these results to the whole spacetime we are able in principle to study the classes of boundary value problems which can be solved on a given Riemann surface. We investigate the cases of genus 1 and 2 of the Riemann surface in detail and construct the explicit solution for a family of disks with constant angular velocity and constant relative energy density which was announced in a previous Physical Review Letter.Comment: 32 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.