An Agent-Based Infrastructure for Energy Profile Capture and Management

Accurately and dynamically monitoring energy usage patterns in households forms a first requirement for more efficient and ecofriendly energy management in the future. Monitored energy usage data can be used by power systems engineering—to inform demand-side management systems in the near future term—and in architecture/civil engineering—where it can be used to carry out long-term studies across populations and sectors to estimate future demand and to evaluate prospective (social) policies. This paper presents an agent based prototype of an architecture to meet these needs. The proposed system remains flexible to new functional requirements and adaptable to new edge devices for data collection, as well as offering the potential to ‘close the loop’ and permit remote control of power supplies to individual appliances. Some preliminary analyses of data collected is used to illustrate what may be possible in the longer term.Multi Actor SystemsTechnology, Policy and Managemen

The value of magnetic resonance spectroscopy in tumour imaging

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has a key role in the management of many childhood tumours. There is increasing interest in extending these investigations to MR techniques that give information on tumour biology in vivo. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is one such method and it provides information on tissue biochemistry. Promising results have been obtained from many preclinical and clinical studies, leading to an expectation that MRS will play a valuable clinical role. However, the role of MRS is not yet well defined and there is a paucity of data from multi-centre clinical trials. In this article we concentrate on MRS in paediatric oncology and provide some general guidance on current applications and outline areas that need to be developed further