Allocation of economic costs in trigeneration systems at variable load conditions including renewable energy sources and thermal energy storage

As energy systems become more and more complex, the issue of the appropriate way to allocate the cost of the resources consumed increases because the way in which allocation is made directly affects the prices of the products obtained and, thus, the consumers’ behavior. Thermoeconomics has been used to explain the cost formation process in complex energy systems. The thermoeconomic analysis of a trigeneration system including renewable energy sources (RES) and thermal energy storage (TES) was developed to determine the energy, capital, and total unit costs of the internal flows and final products. This work addresses issues not yet deeply studied in thermoeconomics, namely the joint production of energy services in dynamic energy systems and the incorporation of TES, RES (photovoltaic panels) and a component with different products for each operation mode (heat pump producing heat in heating mode and cooling in cooling mode). The interconnection between charging and discharging periods through the TES units was explored, allowing the discharged flow to be traced back to its production period. The trigeneration system resulted more profitable than the reference system, with total cost savings of 9942 €/yr, which was translated into the lower annual total unit costs of the final products

Thermoeconomic cost allocation in simple trigeneration systems including thermal energy storage

The present paper tackles the issue of allocating economic costs in trigeneration systems including thermal energy storage (TES) for buildings of the residential-commercial sector. As energy systems become more and more complex (multiple resources, products and technologies; joint production; TES) the issue of the appropriate way to allocate the cost of the resources consumed arises. This is important because the way in which allocation is made directly affects the prices of the products obtained and, thus, the consumers' behavior. Thermoeconomics has been used to explain the cost formation process in complex energy systems. In this paper, two issues in thermoeconomics that have not been deeply studied are addressed: (i) the joint production of energy services in dynamic energy systems; and (ii) the incorporation of TES. A thermoeconomic analysis of a simple trigeneration system including TES was performed and the hourly unit costs of the internal flows and final products were obtained for a day of the year. The cost allocation proposal considered that the cogenerated products must share the benefits of the joint production. Regarding the TES, the interconnection between charging and discharging periods was explored, allowing the discharged energy flow to be traced back to its production period

Managing family conflict and resilience. Results of a universal socio-educative family drugs prevention program developed in school settings

This paper assesses changes in family conflict and resilience among families participating in a socio-educative short universal drug prevention program (PCF-U 11-14). A pre-post test quasi experimental design with control and experimental groups was implemented with 275 families. The work addresses the convenience of family training in social and parenting skills to strengthen families’ capacity to cope with difficulties and boosting family cohesion, but it also highlights the need to research deeper into the factors that affect parent and adolescent conflict to create new training strategies for families.Este trabajo evalúa los cambios en los conflictos familiares y la resiliencia entre las familias que participan en un programa socioeducativo universal, de corta duración, para la prevención de drogas (PCFU 11-14). Se implementó un diseño cuasi experimental pre-post test con grupos control y experimental con 275 familias. Se aborda la conveniencia de la capacitación familiar en habilidades sociales y de crianza para fortalecer la capacidad de las familias para hacer frente a las dificultades y fomentar la cohesión familiar, pero también se destaca la necesidad de investigar más a fondo los factores que afectan al conflicto entre padres y adolescentes para crear nuevas estrategias de capacitación para familias

Fragmentation of very high energy heavy ions

A stack of CR39 (C12H18O7)n nuclear track detectors with a Cu target was exposed to a 158 A GeV lead ion beam at the CERN-SPS, in order to study the fragmentation properties of lead nuclei. Measurements of the total, break-up and pick-up charge-changing cross sections of ultrarelativistic Pb ions on Cu and CR39 targets are presented and discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 EPS figures included with epsf, uses article.sty Talk presented by M. Giorgini at the Int. Conf. on Structure of the Nucleus at the Dawn of the Century, Bologna (Italy), May 29-June 3, 200

Studies on the susceptibility of pruning wounds to infection by fungi involved in grapevine wood diseases in Italy

The susceptibility of grapevine annual pruning wounds to Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, Phaeoacremonium aleophilum and Diplodia seriata was investigated over three years (2005–2007) in a 15 year-old vineyard, cv. Sauvignon blanc. Vines were pruned each year in January, February and March and the wounds were inoculated weekly with conidial suspensions, and with sterile water as a control. Penetration of the fungi into the wood was assessed after 4 weeks by plating pieces of host tissue on agar medium. The susceptibility of annual pruning wounds, expressed as the infection percentages of inoculated spurs, varied with both the trial year and the fungus inoculated. Average infection percentages of inoculated spurs in the three years were respectively 14.7, 38.5 and 50.9% for Pa. chlamydospora, 31.7, 32.2 and 49.4% for Pm. aleophilum and 84.2, 43.8 and 40.9% for D. seriata. The period of pruning was significant for the infection percentages of all fungi in 2005, and for D. seriata in 2006. Natural infection of control spurs by Pa. chlamydospora (2, 4.4, and 11.7% of spurs in the three years respectively) and by Pm. aleophilum (0.3, 1.8, and 6.4%) began when average weekly temperatures stabilized around 10°C, while infection by D. seriata (12.2, 12 and 18.3% in the same period) occurred even below that threshold. Higher infection percentages of both artificially and naturally infected spurs in 2007 were probably due to the higher temperatures recorded in February and March (besides the use of a more efficient selective medium for the isolation of Pa. chlamydospora and Pm. aleophilum). Only artificial infections with D. seriata showed an opposite trend that cannot be explained by the weather data. Infection of one-year-old wood appeared to be an important factor in disease spread. Spurs remained liable to infections with any of the fungi for up to 4 months after pruning, and isolation percentages could be fairly high also in late spring. As a consequence, the planning of pruning does not seem to be an effective means to counteract the wood diseases caused by these fungi

Cu-BTC Functional Microdevices as Smart Tools for Capture and Preconcentration of Nerve Agents

Cu-based metal-organic framework (MOF) microdevices are applied in sampling and preconcentration of nerve agents (NAs) diluted in gaseous streams. An in situ electrochemical-assisted synthesis of a Cu-benzene-1, 3, 5-tricarboxylate (BTC) thick film is carried out to functionalize a Cu-modified glass substrate. This simple, rapid, reproducible, and easy-to-integrate MOF synthesis approach enables the microfabrication of functional micro-preconcentrators with a large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area (above 2000 cm2) and an active pore volume (above 90 nL) for the efficient adsorption of nerve agent molecules along the microfluidic channel 2.5 cm in length. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of the bulk material has been characterized through thermogravimetric analysis after exposure to controlled atmospheres of a sarin gas surrogate, dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), in both dry and humid conditions (30% RH at 293 K). Breakthrough tests at the ppm level (162 mg/m3) reveal equilibrium adsorption capacities up to 691 mg/g. The preconcentration performance of such µ-devices when dealing with highly diluted surrogate atmosphere, i.e., 520 ppbV (2.6 mg/m3) at 298 K, leads to preconcentration coefficients up to 171 for sample volume up to 600 STP cm3. We demonstrate the potentialities of Cu-BTC micro-preconcentrators as smart first responder tools for "on-field" detection of nerve agents in the gas phase at relevant conditions

Androgens and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol interplay in modulating prostate cancer cell fate and metabolism

Background: Androgens, the known drivers of prostate cancer (PCa), have been indicated as important metabolic regulators with a relevant role in stimulating lipid metabolism. Also, the relationship between obesity and the aggressiveness of PCa has been established. However, it is unknown if the androgenic hormonal environment may alter the response of PCa cells to lipid availability. Purpose: The present study evaluated the effect of 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in regulating lipid metabolism, and the interplay between this hormone and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol in modulating PCa cells fate.Methods: Non-neoplastic and neoplastic PCa cells were treated with 10 nM DHT, and the expression of fatty acids transporter, fatty acid synthase (FASN), and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A) evaluated. PCa cells were also exposed to LDL (100 mu g/ml) in the presence or absence of DHT.Results: Treatment with DHT upregulated the expression of FASN and CPT1A in androgen-sensitive PCa cells. In contrast, LDL supplementation suppressed FASN expression regardless of the presence of DHT, whereas aug-menting CPT1A levels. Our results also showed that LDL-cholesterol increased PCa cells viability, proliferation, and migration dependently on the presence of DHT. Moreover, LDL and DHT synergistically enhanced the accumulation of lipid droplets in PCa cells.Conclusions: The obtained results show that androgens deregulate lipid metabolism and enhance the effects of LDL increasing PCa cells viability, proliferation and migration. The present findings support clinical data linking obesity with PCa and first implicate androgens in this relationship. Also, they sustain the application of phar-macological approaches targeting cholesterol availability and androgens signaling simultaneously.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Localization of ss-Wave and Quantum Effective Potential of a Quasi-Free Particle with Position-Dependent Mass

The properties of the s-wave for a quasi-free particle with position-dependent mass(PDM) have been discussed in details. Differed from the system with constant mass in which the localization of the s-wave for the free quantum particle around the origin only occurs in two dimensions, the quasi-free particle with PDM can experience attractive forces in $D$ dimensions except D=1 when its mass function satisfies some conditions. The effective mass of a particle varying with its position can induce effective interaction which may be attractive in some cases. The analytical expressions of the eigenfunctions and the corresponding probability densities for the s-waves of the two- and three-dimensional systems with a special PDM are given, and the existences of localization around the origin for these systems are shown.Comment: 12pages, 8 figure

Harnack inequality and regularity for degenerate quasilinear elliptic equations

We prove Harnack inequality and local regularity results for weak solutions of a quasilinear degenerate equation in divergence form under natural growth conditions. The degeneracy is given by a suitable power of a strong $A_\infty$ weight. Regularity results are achieved under minimal assumptions on the coefficients and, as an application, we prove $C^{1,\alpha}$ local estimates for solutions of a degenerate equation in non divergence form

Peer e-assessment and feedback for student self-regulation and strategic learning at university: Student perception

[EN] The implementation of successful assessment for learning practices requires a co-responsibility of students and teachers. Participative assessment practices and feedback are key elements in assessment for learning to enhance student’s self-regulation and strategic learning. More specifically, through peer-assessment students participate in a dialogic process where they assess their co-equals’ performances and tasks offering constructive feedback. In such cases, technologies can facilitate and enrich the whole process. This paper provides an insight of student perceptions about their participation in peer-assessment and peer-feedback practices using information and communication technologies (ICT). Nine lecturers from different studies and 195 students participated in the research. Data gathering was implemented with a questionnaire that questioned about the possibilities and difficulties of three main topics: peer-assessment and peer-feedback process, the assessment task and the use of technologies to support the process. Results show positive appraisal of students in all the categories. Participants seem to highlight that providing peer-assessment and feedback enhance their critical skills when assessing their own performance. Still, to improve the results there is a need to train students in assessment, communication and technologies. To conclude, some prospective research actions are drawn stressing the contributions to feedback that electronic and virtual resources can provide.[ES] En la evaluación para el aprendizaje la responsabilidad de la evaluación se comparte entre profesorado y alumnado. Mediante la participación del estudiante en los procesos evaluativos y la retroalimentación se pretende fomentar la autorregulación y el aprendizaje estratégico de los implicados. De forma concreta, a través de la evaluación entre iguales los estudiantes participan en un proceso dialógico donde evalúan el trabajo de sus compañeros y les ofrecen retroalimentación orientada a la mejora, siendo un facilitador del proceso la mediación tecnológica. Los beneficios de estas prácticas en la literatura son abundantes, sin embargo, se ha considerado importante indagar sobre qué piensan los propios estudiantes sobre su participación en la evaluación y retroalimentación electrónica entre iguales. De esta forma, se ha realizado una investigación que involucró a nueve docentes de distintas titulaciones y un total de 195 estudiantes universitarios. La recogida de información se realizó a través de un cuestionario que incluía preguntas sobre las posibilidades y dificultades de la evaluación y retroalimentación entre iguales, sobre la tarea diseñada y sobre el uso de herramientas tecnológicas. Los resultados revelan valoraciones positivas del alumnado en todas las dimensiones. Los participantes han destacado sobre todo que evaluar y retroalimentar a compañeros les ha permitido aumentar su capacidad crítica ante trabajos y ejecuciones propias. No obstante, para mejorar estos resultados se plantea la necesidad de mayor formación sobre evaluación, comunicación y tecnologías. Para finalizar se exponen futuras líneas de investigación destacando el papel predominante de los recursos virtuales en la aportación de retroalimentación.Gallego Noche, B.; Quesada Serra, V.; Gómez Ruiz, M.; Cubero Ibáñez, J. (2017). La evaluación y retroalimentación electrónica entre iguales para la autorregulación y el aprendizaje estratégico en la universidad: la percepción del alumnado. REDU. Revista de Docencia Universitaria. 15(1):127-146. doi:10.4995/redu.2017.5991.SWORD12714615