Financial Benefit Analysis of an Electric Water Heater with Direct Load Control in Demand Response

The peak demand reduction during peak hour is a challenge to the retail energy providers. Demand response program plays a major role to fulfil this purpose. The small household appliances like electric water heater can participate in the demand response program by aggregating it in the smart building energy management system. This paper discusses demand response possibilities of a residential electric water heater, the overall consumption profile, temperature profile and the financial benefit in the consumer level. The direct load control demand response method in yearly timeframe is proposed and applied. Realtime electricity pricing with incentive-based demand response is considered and applied to the direct load control with financial benefit to the consumers. The study includes the difference between normal consumption and consumption after using DLC, normal temperature profile and temperature profiling after DLC. The results exhibit that there is significant energy consumption reduction in the consumer level without making any discomfort.The present work was done and funded in the scope of the following projects: H2020 DREAM-GO Project (Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 641794); SIMOCE (ANI|P2020 17690); and UID/EEA/00760/2013 funded by FEDER Funds through COMPETE program and by National Funds through FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Demonstration of Electric Water Heater DR Possibility with Financial Benefit Analysis

The household small electrical appliances can participate in demand response events to support the local electrical infrastructures. Demand response (DR) plays a major role by reducing peak load consumption and controlling distributed generations. This paper presents a demonstration of DR participation of a water heater with financial benefit analysis by using a convenience tool. It also discusses a residential water heater DR possibility by analyzing the obtained data. The smart grid concept with building energy management system, DR flexibility and financial benefits are also discussed here. The main framework of the task consists of electric water heater modeling with several parameters and planning for the DR participation. The overall model is also demonstrated here with the execution of the planned tasks. The results obtained by using this tool is also represented graphically for the demonstration in the paper. It shows that the proposed methodological analysis is financially beneficial for both consumers and aggregators.The present work was done and funded in the scope of the following projects: H2020 DREAM-GO Project (Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 641794); SIMOCE (ANI|P2020 17690); and UID/EEA/00760/2019 funded by FEDER Funds through COMPETE program and by National Funds through FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Electric Water Heater Modelling for Direct Load Control Demand Response

Home Energy Management System creates the scopes to small household electrical appliances users to participate in the demand response programs. Among several load controllable electrical household appliances water heater is more suitable. Integration of water heater is considered to manage the demand response events that can contribute to smart grid technology. This paper represents a thermodynamic load model for a water heater, which is considered as to be controlled through direct load control for demand response program. The daily electricity consumption and temperature profile of the heater is also considered, the direct load control method is activated to the heater as soon as the energy consumption reaches to 1 kW, with the effects the device is turned off for next one hour. In results, it gained a significant reduction in the electricity consumption for the users without making any discomfort as temperature does not reduce to disruption level. Real time electricity pricing is also compared which implied financial benefit to the consumers. The result exhibit that the method applied to this heater can contribute and participate in the demand response events.The present work was done and funded in the scope of the following projects: H2020 DREAM-GO Project (Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 641794); SIMOCE (ANI|P2020 17690); and UID/EEA/00760/2013 funded by FEDER Funds through COMPETE program and by National Funds through FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A novel multivariate STeady-state index during general ANesthesia (STAN)

The assessment of the adequacy of general anesthesia for surgery, namely the nociception/anti-nociception balance, has received wide attention from the scientific community. Monitoring systems based on the frontal EEG/EMG, or autonomic state reactions (e.g. heart rate and blood pressure) have been developed aiming to objectively assess this balance. In this study a new multivariate indicator of patients' steady-state during anesthesia (STAN) is proposed, based on wavelet analysis of signals linked to noxious activation. A clinical protocol was designed to analyze precise noxious stimuli (laryngoscopy/intubation, tetanic, and incision), under three different analgesic doses; patients were randomized to receive either remifentanil 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0 ng/ml. ECG, PPG, BP, BIS, EMG and [Formula: see text] were continuously recorded. ECG, PPG and BP were processed to extract beat-to-beat information, and [Formula: see text] curve used to estimate the respiration rate. A combined steady-state index based on wavelet analysis of these variables, was applied and compared between the three study groups and stimuli (Wilcoxon signed ranks, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests). Following institutional approval and signing the informed consent thirty four patients were enrolled in this study (3 excluded due to signal loss during data collection). The BIS index of the EEG, frontal EMG, heart rate, BP, and PPG wave amplitude changed in response to different noxious stimuli. Laryngoscopy/intubation was the stimulus with the more pronounced response [Formula: see text]. These variables were used in the construction of the combined index STAN; STAN responded adequately to noxious stimuli, with a more pronounced response to laryngoscopy/intubation (18.5-43.1 %, [Formula: see text]), and the attenuation provided by the analgesic, detecting steady-state periods in the different physiological signals analyzed (approximately 50 % of the total study time). A new multivariate approach for the assessment of the patient steady-state during general anesthesia was developed. The proposed wavelet based multivariate index responds adequately to different noxious stimuli, and attenuation provided by the analgesic in a dose-dependent manner for each stimulus analyzed in this study.The first author was supported by a scholarship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT SFRH/BD/35879/2007). The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of UISPA—System Integration and Process Automation Unit—Part of the LAETA (Associated Laboratory of Energy, Transports and Aeronautics) a I&D Unit of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal. FCT support under project PEst-OE/EME/LA0022/2013.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Long Lived Fourth Generation and the Higgs

A chiral fourth generation is a simple and well motivated extension of the standard model, and has important consequences for Higgs phenomenology. Here we consider a scenario where the fourth generation neutrinos are long lived and have both a Dirac and Majorana mass term. Such neutrinos can be as light as 40 GeV and can be the dominant decay mode of the Higgs boson for Higgs masses below the W-boson threshold. We study the effect of the Majorana mass term on the Higgs branching fractions and reevaluate the Tevatron constraints on the Higgs mass. We discuss the prospects for the LHC to detect the semi-invisible Higgs decays into fourth generation neutrino pairs. Under the assumption that the lightest fourth generation neutrino is stable, it's thermal relic density can be up to 20% of the observed dark matter density in the universe. This is in agreement with current constraints on the spin dependent neutrino-neutron cross section, but can be probed by the next generation of dark matter direct detection experiments.Comment: v1: 19 pages, 5 figures; v2: References added; v3: version to appear in JHE

Abundance and Diversity of Dockerin-Containing Proteins in the Fiber-Degrading Rumen Bacterium, Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1

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Expression of a barley cystatin gene in maize enhances resistance against phytophagous mites by altering their cysteine-proteases

Phytocystatins are inhibitors of cysteine-proteases from plants putatively involved in plant defence based on their capability of inhibit heterologous enzymes. We have previously characterised the whole cystatin gene family members from barley (HvCPI-1 to HvCPI-13). The aim of this study was to assess the effects of barley cystatins on two phytophagous spider mites, Tetranychus urticae and Brevipalpus chilensis. The determination of proteolytic activity profile in both mite species showed the presence of the cysteine-proteases, putative targets of cystatins, among other enzymatic activities. All barley cystatins, except HvCPI-1 and HvCPI-7, inhibited in vitro mite cathepsin L- and/or cathepsin B-like activities, HvCPI-6 being the strongest inhibitor for both mite species. Transgenic maize plants expressing HvCPI-6 protein were generated and the functional integrity of the cystatin transgene was confirmed by in vitro inhibitory effect observed against T. urticae and B. chilensis protein extracts. Feeding experiments impaired on transgenic lines performed with T. urticae impaired mite development and reproductive performance. Besides, a significant reduction of cathepsin L-like and/or cathepsin B-like activities was observed when the spider mite fed on maize plants expressing HvCPI-6 cystatin. These findings reveal the potential of barley cystatins as acaricide proteins to protect plants against two important mite pests

Diversity and Strain Specificity of Plant Cell Wall Degrading Enzymes Revealed by the Draft Genome of Ruminococcus flavefaciens FD-1

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Deconstruction of a Metastatic Tumor Microenvironment Reveals a Common Matrix Response in Human Cancers.

We have profiled, for the first time, an evolving human metastatic microenvironment by measuring gene expression, matrisome proteomics, cytokine and chemokine levels, cellularity, extracellular matrix organization, and biomechanical properties, all on the same sample. Using biopsies of high-grade serous ovarian cancer metastases that ranged from minimal to extensive disease, we show how nonmalignant cell densities and cytokine networks evolve with disease progression. Multivariate integration of the different components allowed us to define, for the first time, gene and protein profiles that predict extent of disease and tissue stiffness, while also revealing the complexity and dynamic nature of matrisome remodeling during development of metastases. Although we studied a single metastatic site from one human malignancy, a pattern of expression of 22 matrisome genes distinguished patients with a shorter overall survival in ovarian and 12 other primary solid cancers, suggesting that there may be a common matrix response to human cancer.Significance: Conducting multilevel analysis with data integration on biopsies with a range of disease involvement identifies important features of the evolving tumor microenvironment. The data suggest that despite the large spectrum of genomic alterations, some human malignancies may have a common and potentially targetable matrix response that influences the course of disease. Cancer Discov; 8(3); 304-19. ©2017 AACR.This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 253