A comprehensive overview of industrial demand response status in Europe

Industrial demand response (IDR) will play a crucial role in shaping future electricity systems, as it is a key element of a just energy transition and industrial development. The aim of this work is to provide an overview of the current status of IDR in a holistic perspective. First, the main benefits and potential of IDR are reviewed, together with the motivations and challenges for the industrial sector. Most recent advances in European markets and regulations with specific focus on IDR applications are explored. Then, the different resources which are currently available to help industries participate and implement IDR programmes are reviewed. In particular: 1) the (possible) tools for defining energy-aware scheduling and planning of the manufacturing systems are ana- lysed; 2) The role of aggregators (i.e. intermediaries between industries and power markets) for facilitating explicit IDR is examined; 3) the importance of digitalisation to provide better IDR services from the manufacturing industry is highlighted, pointing out that digital twins, cyber-physical systems, Internet of Things sensors, robots, edge computing, artificial intelligence, and big data are promising technologies; and 4) most recent related research projects are reviewed. Finally, it is analysed and discussed how each of those resources can address the different challenges that are still preventing industries to apply IDR programmes

Randomized trial of skin closure after laparotomy for gynaecological surgery

Background: New suture materials may provide patients with a better cosmetic outcome at similar pain and wound complication rate. Methods: To assess pain and cosmetic outcome among patients randomized to receive wound closure after laparotomy for gynaecological surgery using staples, polyglecaprone 25 orpolyglecaprone 6211 subcuticular sutures. Results: Overall, 90 patients (87.4% consent rate) were randomized. There was no difference in wound complications and pain between the three groups. Patients randomized to polyglecaprone 6211 subcuticular sutures rated the cosmetic result at 1 and 6 weeks after surgery somewhat lower than patients randomized to the two alternative groups; however, at 3 months after surgery, all three groups rated the cosmetic result as similar. Conclusions: This study suggests that the three wound closure methods have similar short-term pain and cosmetic outcomes, as well as a similar rate of wound complications, leaving the decision of the most appropriate closure method to individual surgeons

Agroecological practices as territorial development: an analytical schema from Brazilian case studies

Agroecological practices have been widely promoted as an alternative to the hegemonic agri-food system, yet they also can help to ‘green’ the system. To strengthen a transformative agroecology, Latin American activists have promoted the concept desenvolvimento territorial rural (DTR or rural territorial development), which has different versions. The dominant version advocates broad multi-actor coalitions to strengthen DTR and thus benefit poor people, yet this obscures rival territorial agendas. An antagonistic version instead analyses how capital accumulation drives societal conflicts, contingently resulting in DTR trajectories. Here an analytical schema helps identify how agroecological practices are appropriated for diverse trajectories of territorial development, illustrated by Brazilian agroforestry case studies