Hydrogen storage for off-grid power supply based on solar PV and electrochemical reforming of ethanol-water solutions

The hybridization of hydrogen and solar energy technologies is an interesting option to satisfy power demands in locations that are isolated from the electric grid. The main advantage of the photovoltaic (PV)-H2 hybrid system is the possibility of power storage by means of an electrolyzer (EL) which transforms the electricity into hydrogen (H2). The work described here concerns a methodology to design PV-H2 hybrid systems that considers the weather data and the electrical variables of the components to perform energy balances and to assess the system in terms of the load requirements, the levels of energy stored and the resulting costs. Two electrolytic systems (water splitting and ethanol electrochemical reforming) were studied in an attempt to find a best trade-off between the size and voltages of ELs. Ethanol reduced the energy requirements of EL at the expense of reagent consumption and lower current density. The energy supplied by these systems costs 0.28 €/kWh (i.e., roughly the same as power prices paid by domestic customers in Spain), but they have the merit of being autonomous and hydrogen has the capacity for seasonal energy storage ‒ thus avoiding electrification constraints in off-grid locations and limitations of short-term electrical energy storages.La hibridación de las tecnologías del hidrógeno y la energía solar es una opción interesante para satisfacer la demanda de energía en lugares aislados de la red eléctrica. La principal ventaja del sistema híbrido fotovoltaico (PV)-H 2 es la posibilidad de almacenamiento de energía mediante un electrolizador (EL) que transforma la electricidad en hidrógeno (H 2 ). El trabajo aquí descrito se refiere a una metodología para diseñar sistemas híbridos PV-H 2 que considera los datos meteorológicos y las variables eléctricas de los componentes para realizar balances de energía y evaluar el sistema en términos de los requisitos de carga, los niveles de energía almacenada y la costos resultantes. Se estudiaron dos sistemas electrolíticos (división de agua y reformado electroquímico de etanol) en un intento de encontrar el mejor compromiso entre el tamaño y los voltajes de los EL. El etanol redujo los requisitos de energía de EL a expensas del consumo de reactivos y una menor densidad de corriente. La energía suministrada por estos sistemas cuesta 0,28 €/kWh (es decir, más o menos lo mismo que los precios de la energía que pagan los clientes domésticos en España), pero tienen el mérito de ser autónomos y el hidrógeno tiene la capacidad de almacenamiento de energía estacional, evitando así las restricciones de electrificación. en ubicaciones fuera de la red y limitaciones de almacenamiento de energía eléctrica a corto plaz

Narcissism and the strategic pursuit of short-term mating : universal links across 11 world regions of the International Sexuality Description Project-2.

Previous studies have documented links between sub-clinical narcissism and the active pursuit of short-term mating strategies (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality, marital infidelity, mate poaching). Nearly all of these investigations have relied solely on samples from Western cultures. In the current study, responses from a cross-cultural survey of 30,470 people across 53 nations spanning 11 world regions (North America, Central/South America, Northern Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and East Asia) were used to evaluate whether narcissism (as measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory; NPI) was universally associated with short-term mating. Results revealed narcissism scores (including two broad factors and seven traditional facets as measured by the NPI) were functionally equivalent across cultures, reliably associating with key sexual outcomes (e.g., more active pursuit of short-term mating, intimate partner violence, and sexual aggression) and sex-related personality traits (e.g., higher extraversion and openness to experience). Whereas some features of personality (e.g., subjective well-being) were universally associated with socially adaptive facets of Narcissism (e.g., self-sufficiency), most indicators of short-term mating (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality and marital infidelity) were universally associated with the socially maladaptive facets of narcissism (e.g., exploitativeness). Discussion addresses limitations of these cross-culturally universal findings and presents suggestions for future research into revealing the precise psychological features of narcissism that facilitate the strategic pursuit of short-term mating

Narcisismo y búsqueda estratégica del emparejamiento a corto plazo a través de las culturas: Enlaces omnipresentes a través de 11 regiones mundiales del Proyecto de la descripción de la sexualidad internacional 2

Previous studies have documented links between sub-clinical narcissism and the active pursuit of short-term mating strategies (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality, marital infidelity, mate poaching). Nearly all of these investigations have relied solely on samples from Western cultures. In the current study, responses from a cross-cultural survey of 30,470 people across 53 nations spanning 11 world regions (North America, Central/South America, Northern Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and East Asia) were used to evaluate whether narcissism (as measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory; NPI) was universally associated with short-term mating. Results revealed narcissism scores (including two broad factors and seven traditional facets as measured by the NPI) were functionally equivalent across cultures, reliably associating with key sexual outcomes (e.g., more active pursuit of short-term mating, intimate partner violence, and sexual aggression) and sex-related personality traits (e.g., higher extraversion and openness to experience). Whereas some features of personality (e.g., subjective well-being) were universally associated with socially adaptive facets of Narcissism (e.g., self-sufficiency), most indicators of short-term mating (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality and marital infidelity) were universally associated with the socially maladaptive facets of narcissism (e.g., exploitativeness). Discussion addresses limitations of these cross-culturally universal findings and presents suggestions for future research into revealing the precise psychological features of narcissism that facilitate the strategic pursuit of short-term mating.Estudios previos, en primer lugar a través de las muestras de culturas occidentales, han documentado asociaciones sistemáticas del narcisismo subclínico con múltiples indicadores de estrategias del emparejamiento a corto plazo (p. ej. sociosexualidad ilimitada, infidelidad, caza de pareja). En este estudio se han usado respuestas de la encuesta transcultural de 30.470 personas de 53 naciones de 11 regiones mundiales (América del Norte, América del Sur/América Central, Europa del Norte, Europa del Oeste, Europa del Este, Europa del Sur, Oriente Próximo, África, Asia del Sur/Sudoeste de Asia, Asia del Este y Oceanía) para evaluar si el narcisismo (medido por el Inventario de Personalidad Narcisista; NPI) se asocia panuniversalmente con los indicadores del emparejamiento a corto plazo, tanto en la dirección, como en la intensidad. Los resultados sugieren que el narcisismo (incluidos muchos aspectos suyos medidos por el NPI) tiene las mismas asociaciones básicas con los rasgos de personalidad relacionados con el sexo (p. ej. extraversión alta) y con los resultados sexuales claves (p. ej. búsqueda más activa de las estrategias del emparejamiento a corto plazo) a través de las 11 mayores regiones mundiales del PDSI 2. La discusión se enfoca en las implicaciones y limitaciones del estudio actual

Catalogue of urban surface finish materials: optimizing solar energy management in Latin American cities located in different climatic zones

The use of surface materials with adequate thermo-optical properties at pavements, facades and roofs is an effective strategy to optimize the management of solar energy in cities, mitigate urban overheating and improve energy efficiency in their buildings. This work presents an analysis of urban surface finish materials in five cities that cover a wide range of geographic and climatic locations along Latin America: Campinas (Brazil), La Paz (Bolivia), Mendoza (Argentina), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and Valparaíso (Chile). One residential neighborhood was selected in each city with special need for urban and building rehabilitation. A unified procedure was defined to examine the in-use urban finishing materials and collect preliminary data affecting their interaction with solar radiation at the five neighborhoods. The results indicate that in-use materials were not selected according to the specific climatic characteristics of each location. These preliminary data were compiled into a catalogue that will be expanded in future research with the experimental thermooptical properties of the in-use materials and those locally available for urban rehabilitation. The final objective of the research is the proposal of urban surface materials adapted to the local conditions in each city and considering sustainability aspects as well.Fil: Perez, Gloria. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja.; EspañaFil: Medina Lagrange, Orisell. Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra; República DominicanaFil: Martin Consuegra, Fernando. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja.; EspañaFil: Alchapar, Noelia Liliana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ambiente, Hábitat y Energía; ArgentinaFil: Flores Sasso, Virginia. Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra; República DominicanaFil: Martinez, Patricia. Universidad de Valparaíso; ChileFil: Pezzuto, Cláudia Cotrim. Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Campinas; BrasilFil: Prado, Luis. Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; BoliviaFil: Alonso, Carmen. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja.; EspañaFil: Arnsdorff, Max. Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; BoliviaFil: Frutos, Borja. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja.; EspañaFil: Guerrero, Ana. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja.; EspañaFil: Martinez Ramirez, Sagrario. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Estructura de la Materia; EspañaFil: Ojeda, Juan. University of Valparaiso; ChileFil: Ruiz Valero, Letzai. Pontiticia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra; DominicaPassive and Low Energy Architecture: Will cities survive? The future of sustainable buildings and urbanism in the age of emergencySantiago de Chile.ChilePontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Estudios UrbanosUniversidad de ConcepciónAgencia de Investigacion y DesarrolloPassive and Low Energy ArchitectureCentro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentabl

Down syndrome as risk factor for respiratory syncytial virus hospitalization : A prospective multicenter epidemiological study

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in childhood, particularly in premature infants, is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. To compare the hospitalization rates due to RSV infection and severity of disease between infants with and without Down syndrome (DS) born at term and without other associated risk factors for severe RSV infection. In a prospective multicentre epidemiological study, 93 infants were included in the DS cohort and 68 matched by sex and data of birth (±1 week) and were followed up to 1 year of age and during a complete RSV season. The hospitalization rate for all acute respiratory infection was significantly higher in the DS cohort than in the non-DS cohort (44.1% vs 7.7%, P<.0001). Hospitalizations due to RSV were significantly more frequent in the DH cohort than in the non-DS cohort (9.7% vs 1.5%, P=.03). RSV prophylaxis was recorded in 33 (35.5%) infants with DS. The rate of hospitalization according to presence or absence of RSV immunoprophylaxis was 3.0% vs 15%, respectively. Infants with DS showed a higher rate of hospitalization due to acute lower respiratory tract infection and RSV infection compared to non-DS infants. Including DS infants in recommendations for immunoprophylaxis of RSV disease should be considered

How do women living with HIV experience menopause? Menopausal symptoms, anxiety and depression according to reproductive age in a multicenter cohort

CatedresBackground: To estimate the prevalence and severity of menopausal symptoms and anxiety/depression and to assess the differences according to menopausal status among women living with HIV aged 45-60 years from the cohort of Spanish HIV/AIDS Research Network (CoRIS). Methods: Women were interviewed by phone between September 2017 and December 2018 to determine whether they had experienced menopausal symptoms and anxiety/depression. The Menopause Rating Scale was used to evaluate the prevalence and severity of symptoms related to menopause in three subscales: somatic, psychologic and urogenital; and the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire was used for anxiety/depression. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) of association between menopausal status, and other potential risk factors, the presence and severity of somatic, psychological and urogenital symptoms and of anxiety/depression. Results: Of 251 women included, 137 (54.6%) were post-, 70 (27.9%) peri- and 44 (17.5%) pre-menopausal, respectively. Median age of onset menopause was 48 years (IQR 45-50). The proportions of pre-, peri- and post-menopausal women who had experienced any menopausal symptoms were 45.5%, 60.0% and 66.4%, respectively. Both peri- and post-menopause were associated with a higher likelihood of having somatic symptoms (aOR 3.01; 95% CI 1.38-6.55 and 2.63; 1.44-4.81, respectively), while post-menopause increased the likelihood of having psychological (2.16; 1.13-4.14) and urogenital symptoms (2.54; 1.42-4.85). By other hand, post-menopausal women had a statistically significant five-fold increase in the likelihood of presenting severe urogenital symptoms than pre-menopausal women (4.90; 1.74-13.84). No significant differences by menopausal status were found for anxiety/depression. Joint/muscle problems, exhaustion and sleeping disorders were the most commonly reported symptoms among all women. Differences in the prevalences of vaginal dryness (p = 0.002), joint/muscle complaints (p = 0.032), and sweating/flush (p = 0.032) were found among the three groups. Conclusions: Women living with HIV experienced a wide variety of menopausal symptoms, some of them initiated before women had any menstrual irregularity. We found a higher likelihood of somatic symptoms in peri- and post-menopausal women, while a higher likelihood of psychological and urogenital symptoms was found in post-menopausal women. Most somatic symptoms were of low or moderate severity, probably due to the good clinical and immunological situation of these women

COVID-19 in hospitalized HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients : A matched study

CatedresObjectives: We compared the characteristics and clinical outcomes of hospitalized individuals with COVID-19 with [people with HIV (PWH)] and without (non-PWH) HIV co-infection in Spain during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods: This was a retrospective matched cohort study. People with HIV were identified by reviewing clinical records and laboratory registries of 10 922 patients in active-follow-up within the Spanish HIV Research Network (CoRIS) up to 30 June 2020. Each hospitalized PWH was matched with five non-PWH of the same age and sex randomly selected from COVID-19@Spain, a multicentre cohort of 4035 patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19. The main outcome was all-cause in-hospital mortality. Results: Forty-five PWH with PCR-confirmed COVID-19 were identified in CoRIS, 21 of whom were hospitalized. A total of 105 age/sex-matched controls were selected from the COVID-19@Spain cohort. The median age in both groups was 53 (Q1-Q3, 46-56) years, and 90.5% were men. In PWH, 19.1% were injecting drug users, 95.2% were on antiretroviral therapy, 94.4% had HIV-RNA < 50 copies/mL, and the median (Q1-Q3) CD4 count was 595 (349-798) cells/μL. No statistically significant differences were found between PWH and non-PWH in number of comorbidities, presenting signs and symptoms, laboratory parameters, radiology findings and severity scores on admission. Corticosteroids were administered to 33.3% and 27.4% of PWH and non-PWH, respectively (P = 0.580). Deaths during admission were documented in two (9.5%) PWH and 12 (11.4%) non-PWH (P = 0.800). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that well-controlled HIV infection does not modify the clinical presentation or worsen clinical outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalization

Narcissism and the strategic pursuit of short-term mating: universal links across 11 World regions of the international sexuality description Project-2

Previous studies have documented links between sub-clinical narcissism and the active pursuit of short-term mating strategies (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality, marital infidelity, mate poaching). Nearly all of these investigations have relied solely on samples from Western cultures. In the current study, responses from a cross-cultural survey of 30,470 people across 53 nations spanning 11 world regions (North America, Central/South America, Northern Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and East Asia) were used to evaluate whether narcissism (as measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory; NPI) was universally associated with short-term mating. Results revealed narcissism scores (including two broad factors and seven traditional facets as measured by the NPI) were functionally equivalent across cultures, reliably associating with key sexual outcomes (e.g., more active pursuit of short-term mating, intimate partner violence, and sexual aggression) and sex-related personality traits (e.g., higher extraversion and openness to experience). Whereas some features of personality (e.g., subjective well-being) were universally associated with socially adaptive facets of Narcissism (e.g., self-sufficiency), most indicators of short-term mating (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality and marital infidelity) were universally associated with the socially maladaptive facets of narcissism (e.g., exploitativeness). Discussion addresses limitations of these cross-culturally universal findings and presents suggestions for future research into revealing the precise psychological features of narcissism that facilitate the strategic pursuit of short-term matingPsichologijos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta