Progress in regional PV power forecasting: A sensitivity analysis on the Italian case study

The increasing penetration of PV generation, driven by climate strategies and objectives, calls for accurate production forecasting to mitigate the negative effects associated with inherent variability, such as overgeneration, grid instability, supplementary reserve request. The regional PV power forecasting is crucial for Transmission and Distribution system operators for a better management of energy flows. In this work many aspects of regional PV power forecasting are investigated, by means of a comparison of six different forecasting models applied to predict the hourly production of the following days on six Italian bidding zones for one year. In particular, the work shows that the forecasting accuracy is mainly affected by the algorithm and its pre and post processing, with a range of 30% in performance accuracy, while it is less impacted by the forecasting horizon. It has been verified that the accuracy in the irra- diation prediction, used in input to the power forecasting algorithm, has less impact compared to single plants. The work confirms the performance improvement which can be obtained by increasing the size of the area to which the prediction refers, through a comparison between the forecasting at bidding zone and national level. Finally, we show that the larger the controlled forecast area, the smaller the impact on the forecast accuracy due to the non-uniform spatial and capacity distribution of the PV fleet. This means that as the size of the region increases, the average irradiance progressively becomes the best PV power predictor. We refer to this phenomenon as: “input smoothing effect"

Dysregulation of NF–Y splicing drives metabolic rewiring and aggressiveness in colon cancer

NF-Y is an evolutionarily conserved transcription factor that binds specifically to the CCAAT elements of eukaryotic genes, most of which frequently deregulated in cancer. NF-YA, the regulatory subunit of the NF-Y complex, has two isoforms generated by alternative splicing, NF-YAl and NF-YAs, which differ in the transactivation domain. Transcriptomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database highlighted a significant increase in the expression of NF-YAs at the expense of NF-YAl in colorectal cancer (CRC), compared to healthy tissues. Despite this, high NF-YAl levels predict lower patients’ survival and distinguish the mesenchymal molecular subtype CMS4, which is characterized by the worst prognosis. Through the analysis of 3D cellular models, we demonstrated that altered expression of genes related to extracellular matrix and epithelial-mesenchymal transition sustains enhanced migratory and invasive behavior of NF-YAl-transduced cells. Moreover, the integration of metabolomics, bioenergetics and transcriptional analyses demonstrated a direct role for NFYAl in metabolic flexibility of cancer cells that adjust their metabolism in response to environmental changes to potentiate migration. The zebrafish xenograft model confirmed the metastatic potential triggered by NF-YAl in CRC cells. Altogether, our data highlight the transcriptional role of NF-YAl in CRC aggressiveness and suggest splice-switching strategies to hinder NF-YAl-induced metastatic dissemination

Racial Segregation, Income Inequality, and Mortality in US Metropolitan Areas

Evidence of the association between income inequality and mortality has been mixed. Studies indicate that growing income inequalities reflect inequalities between, rather than within, racial groups. Racial segregation may play a role. We examine the role of racial segregation on the relationship between income inequality and mortality in a cross-section of US metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas were included if they had a population of at least 100,000 and were at least 10% black (N = 107). Deaths for the time period 1991–1999 were used to calculate age-adjusted all-cause mortality rates for each metropolitan statistical area (MSA) using direct age-adjustment techniques. Multivariate least squares regression was used to examine associations for the total sample and for blacks and whites separately. Income inequality was associated with lower mortality rates among whites and higher mortality rates among blacks. There was a significant interaction between income inequality and racial segregation. A significant graded inverse income inequality/mortality association was found for MSAs with higher versus lower levels of black–white racial segregation. Effects were stronger among whites than among blacks. A positive income inequality/mortality association was found in MSAs with higher versus lower levels of Hispanic–white segregation. Uncertainty regarding the income inequality/mortality association found in previous studies may be related to the omission of important variables such as racial segregation that modify associations differently between groups. Research is needed to further elucidate the risk and protective effects of racial segregation across groups

Association of Neurocognition With Transition to Psychosis: Baseline Functioning in the Second Phase of the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study

Neurocognition is a central characteristic of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Identifying the pattern and severity of neurocognitive functioning during the “near-psychotic”, prodromal, clinical high-risk (CHR) state is necessary to develop accurate predictors of psychosis and more effective and potentially preventative treatments

Avanzamenti : il DVD

Si potrebbe dire che non vi sia quasi ricerca condotta dall'Archivio di Etnografia e Storia Sociale (AESS) nelle montagne lombarde, dall'inizio degli anni '70 in avanti, che non abbia incontrato, a vario titolo, la presenza significativa del 'ferro': i passaggi, le convivenze, le persistenze di vari modi di produzione - preindustriali, industriali, postindustriali - che hanno segnato l'arco di un secolo. Nei luoghi che hanno praticato attivit\ue0 di estrazione o di trasformazione del ferro si sono trovati i materiali etnografici pi\uf9 interessanti, le comunit\ue0 pi\uf9 sensibili alla 'conservazione' di elaborati folklorici, gli informatori pi\uf9 straordinari: per i repertori canori, per i carnevali, per la ritualit\ue0 religiosa e, naturalmente, per molti saperi tecnici specialistici. Di 'ricerca' si parla dunque in questo libro, sul campo e d'archivio: di memorie orali, di immagini e di suoni, di riflessioni sulla cultura di gruppi sociali (minatori, artigiani, operai), attraverso punti di vista che rappresentano la molteplicit\ue0 di interessi e competenze con cui, sul territorio, si sono affrontate e si affrontano problematiche complesse di conservazione, interpretazione e fruizione di documenti, materiali e immateriali. Con contributi di Angelo Bendotti, Graziella Pedretti, Carolina Lussana, Maria Costa, Maddelena Cerletti, Alberto De Cristoforo, Primo Ferrari e Bruno Pianta che amplia, in una articolata riflessione sulla cultura operaia e proto-operaia, i risultati raggiunti in una pionieristica ricerca realizzata nel 1972 sui minatori della Valtrompia che, ripubblicata ora nel volume, \ue8 all\u2019origine dei successivi studi etnografici sulla miniera e sul mondo della lingera in Lombardia. Le immagini d'autore, introdotte da Roberta Valtorta, appartengono alla vasta raccolta di AESS (Maurizio e Federico Buscarino, Pepi Merisio, Ferdinando Scianna) e dell'Archivio del Lavoro di Sesto S. Giovanni (Silvestre Loconsolo). Allegato al volume un CD, con la riproposta del repertorio della famiglia Bregoli, e un DVD con una "videoballata" che, realizzata da Guido Bertolotti, Elisa Piria e Diego Ronzio, si ispira idealmente alle 'radio ballads' create da Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger e Charles Parker nel 1958 per la BBC

Stochastic energy diffusion of electrons in a plasma by an electron cyclotron wave

The investigation of the energy diffusion process of the electrons in a magnetized plasma due to an electron cyclotron wave in perpendicular propagation with respect to the magnetic field is performed. Starting from the description of the relativistic electron motion by means of an action\ue2 angle Hamiltonian H(I,\u3b8,t), the Fokker\u2013Planck\u2013Kolmogorov (FPK) approach to the diffusion is considered for a globally stochastic regime of the system. In this regime, the phase correlation process is analyzed, and the characteristic decay time is estimated analytically. The action diffusion coefficient D(I) is derived and compared with a local quasilinear expression. With explicit reference to the low\ue2 density regime, where D increases with I, and is very close to the quasilinear coefficient, the solution of the diffusion equation is compared with the results obtained by direct numerical integration of the motion equations for a statistically significant ensemble of particles. A good agreement with the local quasilinear FPK diffusion is observed. In addition, when the amplitude of the perturbation is varied, oscillations of the average action values around the quasilinear results are found on the long time scale