Cost of saving natural gas through efficiency programs funded by utility customers: 2012–2017

This study estimates the cost of saving a therm of natural gas from energy efficiency programs funded by utility customers during the period 2012 to 2017. Berkeley Lab researchers compiled and analyzed efficiency program data reported by investor-owned utilities and other program administrators in a dozen states representative of the four U.S. Census regions — Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Utah. Depending on the year, the dataset accounts for about 50 percent to 70 percent of annual national spending on natural gas efficiency programs. The estimated cost of saving natural gas during the study period is $0.40 per therm. The analysis also includes estimates of the program administrator cost of saved energy for three core sectors for natural gas: commercial and industrial, residential, and low-income households. It aggregates these sectors to provide regional and national values. Our metrics include savings-weighted averages, unweighted medians, and interquartile ranges (25th and 75th percentiles) of the levelized program administrator cost of saving gas, in constant 2017 dollars. In addition, the study analyzes cost trends during the study period, finding that average program costs trended downward. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office supported this work

Cost of Saving Electricity Through Efficiency Programs Funded by Customers of Publicly Owned Utilities: 2012–2017

This report finds that energy efficiency programs for customers of publicly owned utilities saved electricity at an average cost of 2.4 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) from 2012 to 2017. Utilities use such cost performance metrics to assess effectiveness of efficiency program portfolios, determine what programs to offer customers, and, more broadly, ensure electricity system reliability at the most affordable cost as part of electric utility resource adequacy planning and resource procurement processes. The study analyzed efficiency program data reported by 111 program administrators for 219 publicly owned utilities in 14 states — about 90 percent of the municipal utilities and public utility districts that report the data to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The data represent 88 percent of all spending and 75 percent of all savings that publicly owned utilities reported to EIA in those years. Berkeley Lab used data from several sources, including data provided directly by American Public Power Association members, publicly available annual reports and regional data collections

Sex differences in misperceptions of sexual interest can be explained by sociosexual orientation and men projecting their own interest onto women

Sex differences in misperceptions of sexual interest have been well documented; however, it is unclear whether this cognitive bias could be explained by other factors. In the current study, 1226 participants (578 men, 630 women) participated in a speed-dating study, where participants rated their sexual interest in each other as well as the sexual interest they perceived from their partners. Consistent with previous findings, we found that men tended to overperceive sexual interest from their partners, while women tended to underperceive sexual interest. However, this sex difference becomes negligible when considering potential mediators, such as the raters’ sociosexual orientation, and raters projecting their own levels of sexual interest onto their partners. These findings challenge the popular notion that sex differences in misperceptions in sexual interest have evolved as a specialised adaptation due to different selection pressures in men and women

Photoactivated release of membrane impermeant sulfonates inside cells.

Photouncaging delivers compounds with high spatial and temporal control to induce or inhibit biological processes but the released compounds may diffuse out. We here demonstrate that sulfonate anions can be photocaged so that a membrane impermeable compound can enter cells, be uncaged by photoirradiation and trapped within the cell

Can we really say getting stronger makes your tendon feel better? No current evidence of a relationship between change in Achilles tendinopathy pain or disability and changes in Triceps Surae structure or function when completing rehabilitation: A systematic review

Objectives: Determine if improvements in pain and disability in patients with mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy relate to changes in muscle structure and function whilst completing exercise rehabilitation. Design: A systematic review exploring the relationship between changes in pain/disability and muscle structure/function over time, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Methods: Six online databases and the grey literature were searched from database inception to 16th December 2022 whereas clinical trial registries were searched from database inception to 11th February 2020. We included clinical studies where participants received exercise rehabilitation (± placebo interventions) for mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy if pain/disability and Triceps Surae structure/function were measured. We calculated Cohen\u27s d (95 % confidence intervals) for changes in muscle structure/function over time for individual studies. Data were not pooled due to heterogeneity. Study quality was assessed using a modified Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. Results: Seventeen studies were included for synthesis. No studies reported the relationship between muscle structure/function and pain/disability changes. Twelve studies reported muscle structure/function outcome measures at baseline and at least one follow-up time-point. Three studies reported improvements in force output after treatment; eight studies demonstrated no change in structure or function; one study did not provide a variation measure, precluding within group change over time calculation. All studies were low quality. Conclusions: No studies explored the relationship between changes in tendon pain and disability and changes in muscle structure and function. It is unclear whether current exercise-based rehabilitation protocols for mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy improve muscle structure or function. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42020149970)

Reviving ghost alleles: Genetically admixed coyotes along the American Gulf Coast are critical for saving the endangered red wolf

The last known red wolves were captured in southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas in 1980 to establish a captive breeding population. Before their extirpation, gene flow with coyotes resulted in the persistence of endangered red wolf genetic variation in local coyote populations. We assessed genomic ancestry and morphology of coyotes in southwestern Louisiana. We detected that 38 to 62% of the coyote genomes contained red wolf ancestry acquired in the past 30 years and have an admixture profile similar to that of the canids captured before the extirpation of red wolves. We further documented a positive correlation between ancestry and weight. Our findings highlight the importance of hybrids and admixed genomes as a reservoir of endangered species ancestry for innovative conservation efforts. Together, this work presents an unprecedented system that conservation can leverage to enrich the recovery program of an endangered species

For the good of evolutionary psychology, let's reunite proximate and ultimate explanations

First paragraph: In Lee, Sidari, Murphy, Sherlock, and Zietsch (2020), we showed using a large speed dating study that sex differences in misperceptions of sexual interest can be explained by sociosexual orientation and, primarily, the tendency to project one's own interest onto others. We suggested that our results called into question the influential theory that the sex difference in misperception of sexual interest evolved via sex-specific specialized adaptations because it is advantageous for men, relative to women, to overperceive sexual interest (error management theory; EMT). Roth, Samara, and Kret (2020) criticise our interpretation, claiming that 1) our analyses are confounded and 2) we have confused proximate and ultimate levels of explanation. We reject both claims, but the second is an interesting and important issue that has arisen repeatedly in discussions of our paper, as well as in other contexts in the broader literature on evolution and human behavior. We spend some time discussing why proximate explanations are crucial to a healthy evolutionary psychology, and why we believe evolutionary psychologists should pay more attention to them

Are power calculations useful? A multicentre neuroimaging study

There are now many reports of imaging experiments with small cohorts of typical participants that precede large-scale, often multicentre studies of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Data from these calibration experiments are sufficient to make estimates of statistical power and predictions of sample size and minimum observable effect sizes. In this technical note, we suggest how previously reported voxel-based power calculations can support decision making in the design, execution and analysis of cross-sectional multicentre imaging studies. The choice of MRI acquisition sequence, distribution of recruitment across acquisition centres, and changes to the registration method applied during data analysis are considered as examples. The consequences of modification are explored in quantitative terms by assessing the impact on sample size for a fixed effect size and detectable effect size for a fixed sample size. The calibration experiment dataset used for illustration was a precursor to the now complete Medical Research Council Autism Imaging Multicentre Study (MRC-AIMS). Validation of the voxel-based power calculations is made by comparing the predicted values from the calibration experiment with those observed in MRC-AIMS. The effect of non-linear mappings during image registration to a standard stereotactic space on the prediction is explored with reference to the amount of local deformation. In summary, power calculations offer a validated, quantitative means of making informed choices on important factors that influence the outcome of studies that consume significant resources