Spectro-angular analysis of roadside-integrated bifacial solar power systems with reflecting sound barriers

Bifacial photovoltaic modules along highways provide energy supply and act as sound barriers simultaneously. This study examines the impact on energy production when incorporating sound barriers with varying light reflection properties into this integrated solar infrastructure along roadways. Specifically, we use advanced computational simulations to analyze the effects of integrating black, ideal specular, and ideal diffuse (Lambertian) reflectors into an existing highway solar power plant located in the Netherlands. Our analysis combines realistic spectro-angular irradiance data as input with our in-house reverse ray tracing software. Our calculations show that for an east-west facing system, an ideal diffuse reflector increases the annual yield by 70%, while a specular reflector decreases the yield due to shading. Most notably, the diffuse reflector doubles the energy yield during winter months, thereby offering a pathway to decrease the seasonal energy demand and supply gap.</p

Re-emergent Tongue Tremor in Neuroleptic Induced Parkinsonism

Background: A re-emergent tremor is suggested to be specific to Parkinson’s disease and although a tongue tremor has been reported in levosulpiride-induced parkinsonism (LIP), re-emergence has never been reported. Case Report: A 59-year-old female presented with a 3-month history of bradykinesia, 2-week history of right-leg tremor, and 10-day history of lip and tongue tremor. A review of the medication revealed a 15-month history of levosulpiride consumption. On examination, asymmetric bradykinesia, rigidity, rest tremor of the right leg, and re-emergent tongue tremor were observed. The parkinsonism subsided after levosulpiride was stopped. Discussion: This is the first report of re-emergent tongue tremor in LIP

Fast Orthostatic Tremor in Parkinson’s Disease: Case Report and Comprehensive Review of Literature

Background: Orthostatic tremor (OT) is a rare symmetric tremor disorder occasionally observed in association with other movement disorders. Case report: We report the presence of a fast OT in a case of Parkinson’s disease (PD), and provide a comprehensive review of the literature. Discussion: A fast OT presenting as unsteadiness may be a presenting symptom of PD. This symptom may be nonresponsive to levodopa, and benzodiazepines should be prescribed to adequately control the OT and reduce disability

Examining leopard attacks: spatio-temporal clustering of human injuries and deaths in Western Himalayas, India

Shared spaces in Africa and Asia accommodate both humans and big cats. This engenders rare but distinctive cases of human fatalities by lions, tigers, and leopards. Among big cats, leopards have the widest range and occur even among high densities of humans. This increased potential for encounters with humans results in attacks, exemplified most by India where 50% of the states report human injuries and deaths due to leopards. Himachal Pradesh (HP) state reported 30 lethal and 287 non-lethal leopard attacks on humans per year between 2004 – 2015 (N=317). Identifying patterns in big cat attacks on people facilitates targeted interventions for decreasing such fatalities. This study aims to detect if leopards are cluster-causing agents of human injuries and deaths. We identify the patterns of leopard attacks on humans in Himachal Pradesh by examining the following questions: (a) do leopard-attributed attacks on humans cluster in space and time? and among the leopard-attributed attacks (b) do unprovoked attacks on humans cluster spatio-temporally? and (c) what environmental factors are associated with the clustered leopard attacks on humans? We employed a space-time permutation scan statistic commonly used in epidemiology to test for spatio-temporal clustering of leopard attacks. Attacks were spread across 75% (~42,000 km sq.) of HP in 11 out of 12 districts. We found that 23% of attacks clustered into 12 significant spatio-temporal clusters. Nearly 14% of the leopard-attributed attacks (N=317) were unprovoked and attacks displaying “predatory” signs did not form significant clusters. Binomial regression models were run to test association of eight environmental factors with clustered attacks. We found that leopard-attributed attacks farther away from the protected area boundary and closer to the district boundary had higher probability of clustering. The framework developed in this study to identify the outbreak of unprovoked leopard attacks confirms the absence of dedicated “man-eaters” in the study region. This approach can be applied to adaptively manage human-wildlife conflict and it also demonstrates the utility of scan statistic in ecological research

Storage stability of commonly used haematological parameters at 33 °C

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate the analytical bias in haematological parameters induced by storage at 33 ºC. Materials and methods: Blood from the diversion pouch of 20 blood donors were collected in K2EDTA vials and stored at 33 ºC. Readings from each vial were taken at 0, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours after collection on the Sysmex XP-100 analyser (Sysmex Corporation, Kobe, Japan). The percent difference from the baseline readings were calculated and subjected to a Wilcoxon signed rank test at a Holm corrected significance level of 0.05. A median percent difference, which was statistically significant and greater than the maximum acceptable bias (taken from studies of biological variation), was taken as evidence of unacceptable shift. If the median shift was lesser than the maximum acceptable bias, two one-sided Wilcoxon signed rank tests for equivalence were used to determine whether the percent differences were significantly lesser than the maximum acceptable bias. Results: Haemoglobin, red blood cell count, white blood cell count, mean corpuscular haemoglobin and lymphocyte count showed acceptable bias after storage for at least 24 hours at 33 ºC. Haematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, platelet count and mean platelet volume showed unacceptable shift in less than 4 hours when stored at 33 ºC. Conclusions: Since many haematological parameters show unacceptable bias within 4 hours of sample storage at 33 ºC, the recommended limit of time from collection to processing should be revised for areas where high environmental temperatures are common