Fish consumption advice is depriving children of neurolipids and other nutrients essential to brain and eye development

A large and growing body of published research has found considerable evidence of improvements and little evidence of harm to children’s neurodevelopment, including IQ, when pregnant women eat more fish -- particularly ocean species -- as compared to when they eat less or none. Fish is the primary dietary source for people of omega-3 fatty acids that are essential building blocks for brain structure and function. The human body cannot synthesize adequate amounts of these omega-3s for normal brain development so they must be obtained preformed, mainly from fish. However, notwithstanding the evidence women often reduce or eliminate their fish consumption when they become pregnant out of fear that methylmercury will harm their children’s neurodevelopment. This discrepancy between scientific findings and behavior appears to be caused or amplified by highly influential federal advice (fish advisories) that have been urging pregnant women to observe precautionary limitations on their consumption since 2001. Our concern is that these limitations are inadvertently encouraging pregnant women to avoid what could be substantial gains to their children’s neurodevelopment on a population-wide basis. We discuss how a new fish advisory based on the latest scientific findings could benefit children’s brain and cognitive development. We urge the academic/scientific community to develop and disseminate it and use it as a basis for education campaigns

Pricing Mechanisms for Energy Management in Smart Cities

The power supply network, Smart Grid, is one of the most critical infrastructures which help to realize the vision of Smart Cities. Smart GridsSmart Grid can provide a reliable and quality power supply with high efficiency. However, the demand for electricity fluctuates throughout the day, and this variable demand creates power instability leading to an unreliable power supply. The inherent difficulties can be addressed to a certain extent with demand-side managementDemand-Side Management (DSM) that can play a vital role in managing the demand in Smart Grids and Microgrids, by implementing dynamic pricing using Smart Meters. This chapter reviews relevant challenges and recent developments in the area of dynamic electricity pricing by investigating the following pricing mechanismsPricing mechanisms: Time-of-Use PricingTime-of-Use Pricing, Real-Time PricingReal-Time Pricing, Critical Peak PricingCritical Peak Pricing, Day-Ahead PricingDay-Ahead Pricing, Cost Reflective PricingCost Reflective Pricing, Seasonal PricingSeasonal Pricing, and Peak Time RebatePeak Time Rebate PricingPeak Time Rebate Pricing. We also discuss four real-world case studies of different pricing mechanisms adopted in various parts of the world. This chapter concludes with suggestions for future research opportunities in this field