Oil spill hazard bulletin

Dissemination Method: Web Product weblink: https://glamor.sincem.unibo.it The MSFD, the new Directive on Safety of offshore oil and gas operations (2013) and the European Maritime Safety Agency require robust tools for oil spill hazard mapping, from accidental to operational. In this activity WP7 and Marine Core Service products were coupled to Medslik-II oil spill model in order to produce, on request, an Oil Spill Hazard Bulletin based upon the hazard mapping data generated earlier in the project. This report contains background information and some examples of oil spill hazard bulletins for target Atlantic areas. The web-GIS Portal GLAMOR developed for Task 8.4 “Oil spill hazard mapping and disaster risk reduction best practices” is used to create the information content in the requested bulletins. Please note: bulletins are only produced on a request basis

Stabilization of apple peel by drying. Influence of temperature and ultrasound application on drying kinetics and product quality

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Drying Technology on 2019, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/07373937.2018.1474476[EN] Increasing the value of the waste generated by food processing is a must from an environmental and economic point of view. This paper addresses the influence of drying temperature and ultrasound application on the drying kinetics and quality of apple peel (Royal Gala var.). Samples were dried at -10, 30, 50 and 70 ºC without and with (50 W) ultrasound application. Color, antioxidant capacity, total phenolic and ascorbic acid content were measured. Ultrasound application and drying temperature significantly shortened the drying time and affected the quality parameters. The drying carried out at 30 ºC with ultrasound application was a fast process that provided samples with good color and antioxidant attributes.The authors acknowledge the financial support of INIA-ERDF throughout the project RTA2015-00060-C04-02.Martins, MP.; Cortés, EJ.; Eim, V.; Mulet Pons, A.; Carcel, JA. (2019). Stabilization of apple peel by drying. Influence of temperature and ultrasound application on drying kinetics and product quality. Drying Technology. 37(5):559-568. https://doi.org/10.1080/07373937.2018.1474476S55956837

Planetary Nebula Abundances and Morphology: Probing the Chemical Evolution of the Milky Way

This paper presents a homogeneous study of abundances in a sample of 79 northern galactic planetary nebulae whose morphological classes have been uniformly determined. Ionic abundances and plasma diagnostics were derived from selected optical line strengths in the literature, and elemental abundances were estimated with the Ionization Correction Factor developed by Kingsbourgh & Barlow (1994). We compare the elemental abundances to the final yields obtained from stellar evolution models of low-and intermediate-mass stars, and we confirm that most Bipolar planetary nebulae have high nitrogen and helium abundance, and are the likely progeny of stars with main-sequence mass larger than 3 solar masses. We derive =0.27, and discuss the implication of such a high ratio in connection with the solar neon abundance. We determine the galactic gradients of oxygen and neon, and found Delta log (O/H)/Delta R=-0.01 dex/kpc$ and Delta log (Ne/H)/Delta R=-0.01 dex/kpc. These flat PN gradients do not reconcile with galactic metallicity gradients flattening with time.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal, in pres

Modular multilevel converter in electrified railway systems: applications of rail static frequency converters and rail power conditioners

The Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) has become the most preferable multilevel converter topology for medium and high-power systems, due to the MMC's high reliability and redundancy. This paper focuses on MMC applications in electrified railway traction grids, namely, applications of rail static frequency converters and rail power conditioners. These applications provide a higher railway traction grid capacity and improve the power quality of the three-phase power grid. Simulation results of a case study are presented to show the features when using the MMC in electrified railway grids.This work has been supported by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT), within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020 and PTDC/EEIEEE/28813/2017. The first author Mohamed Tanta is supported by FCT Ph.D. grant with a reference PD/BD/127815/2016

Can we speak of a negative psychological tetrad in sports? A probabilistic Bayesian study on competitive sailing

INTRODUCTION: Researchers display an interest in studying aspects like the mental health of high-performance athletes; the dark side of sport, or the earliest attempts to study the so-called dark triad of personality in both initiation and high-performance athletes. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to determine the possible existence and magnitude of negative psychological aspects within a population of competition sailors and from a probabilistic point of view, using Bayesian Network analysis. METHODS: The study was carried out on 235 semi-professional sailors of the 49er Class, aged between 16 and 52 years (M = 24.66; SD = 8.03). RESULTS: The results show the existence of a Negative Tetrad-formed by achievement burnout, anxiety due to concentration disruption, amotivation and importance given to error-as a probabilistic product of the psychological variables studied: motivation, anxiety, burnout and fear of error. CONCLUSION: These results, supported by Bayesian networks, show holistically the influence of the social context on the psychological and emotional well-being of the athlete during competition at sea

Approximation Strategies for Incomplete MaxSAT

Incomplete MaxSAT solving aims to quickly find a solution that attempts to minimize the sum of the weights of the unsati sfied soft clauses without providing any optimality guarantees. In th is paper, we propose two approximation strategies for improving incomp lete MaxSAT solving. In one of the strategies, we cluster the weights and approximate them with a representative weight. In another strategy, we b reak up the problem of minimizing the sum of weights of unsatisfiable clauses into multiple minimization subproblems. Experimental res ults show that approximation strategies can be used to find better solution s than the best incomplete solvers in the MaxSAT Evaluation 2017

Deadbeat predictive current control for circulating currents reduction in a modular multilevel converter based rail power conditioner

This paper presents a deadbeat predictive current control methodology to reduce the circulating currents in a modular multilevel converter (MMC) when it operates as a rail power conditioner (RPC) in a conventional railway system-based V/V connection. For this purpose, a half-bridge MMC based on half-bridge submodules, operating as an RPC is explained, and the total system is denominated as a simplified rail power conditioner (SRPC). The SRPC in this study is used to compensate harmonics, reactive power, and the negative sequence component of currents. This paper explains the SRPC system architecture, the key control algorithms, and the deadbeat predictive current control methodology. Mathematical analysis, based on the MMC equivalent circuit, is described and the reference equations are presented. Moreover, simulation results of the deadbeat predictive current control methodology are compared with the results of the conventional proportional-integral (PI) controller. This comparison is to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. Simulation results of the SRPC show reduced circulating currents in the MMC phases when using the predictive control approach, besides accomplishing power quality improvement at the three-phase power grid side.This work has been supported by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT), in Portuguese, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020 and PTDC/EEI-EEE/28813/2017. The first author Mohamed Tanta is supported by FCT Ph.D. grant with a reference PD/BD/127815/2016

A comprehensive comparison of rail power conditioners based on two-level converters and a V/V power transformer in railway traction power systems

Electric locomotives in the traction power systems represent huge nonlinear single phase loads and they affect adversely the public electrical grid stability and the power quality. Some of such problems are related to the harmonic distortion and the Negative Sequence Components (NSCs). The Rail Power Conditioners (RPCs) are widely used to accomplish harmonics mitigation, besides NSCs compensation, then, maintaining balanced and sinusoidal public electrical grid currents. This paper presents a comprehensive comparison study between three different RPCs based on the two level converters and a V/V power transformer. The Four Wire Rail Power Conditioner (FW RPC), the Three Wire Rail Power Conditioner (TW RPC) and the Half Bridge Rail Power Conditioner (HB RPC) are the main conditioners of interest. The main contribution of this paper is to perform a comprehensive comparison between the aforementioned RPCs, including the control algorithms and the compensating performance regarding the power quality problems. Simulation results with different operation scenarios are presented to establish an appropriate comparison between the aforementioned RPCs topologies.Mohamed Tanta was supported by FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) PhD grant with a reference PD/BD/127815/2016. This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145–FEDER–007043 and FCT within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Topologies and operation modes of rail power conditioners in AC traction grids: review and comprehensive comparison

Electric locomotives in AC traction power systems represent a huge single-phase non-linear load and, detrimentally, affect the power quality and the efficiency of the three-phase power grid. Nevertheless, along the last decades, power electronics are being used to mitigate power quality problems in the three-phase power grid. In particular, Rail Power Conditioner (RPC) helps to increase the loading capacity of traction substations and improve the power quality of three-phase power grids. As the main characteristics, an RPC can supply reactive power, suppress current harmonics and overcome currents imbalance of the three-phase power grid. On the other hand, the traction substations may be constituted by different types of power transformers. For instance, single-phase power transformers and open-delta (V/V) power transformers are widely used, while Scott power transformers are less frequently used, since they are more complex and expensive. In this framework, this work presents a review study of RPC topologies, including their operation modes, and a comprehensive comparison between the characteristics of the RPC topologies when using different types of AC traction substations and power transformers. This helps to ensure the correct selection of the RPC topology for a specific application, according to the main structure of the traction substation. Consequently, and based on the established review, it is possible to sort and allocate each RPC topology for limited or wider applications.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) (in Portuguese, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/2020). The first author Mohamed Tanta is supported by FCT Ph.D. grant with a reference PD/BD/127815/2016