Smart Control : En reaktion på EU:s ekodesignkrav

The purpose of this thesis is to assist the Swedish energy company NIBE Energy Systems in their studies of adaptive regulation applicable to electrical water heaters. Due to coming energy classifications of these appliances in the European Union, NIBE Energy Systems needs to use adaptive regulation, called Smart Control, to keep their products in the best possible energy class and remain competitive to the market. By using this Smart Control regulation a 2-3 % improve-ment of efficiency can be credited the system. This is a small number, but heavily needed, since the energy classes are based on the idea that the European Union is provided with electricity from coal condensate power resulting in a 40 % maximum efficiency. Furthermore, doing noth-ing will result in some water heaters not being approved to use on the market from 2015 due to low efficiency. The thesis is made out of three sections; product-/literature studies of products already commercially available using similar principles, data analysis on existing Smart Controlled water heater and recommendations to the company for future development of their own system. Limitations have been made through simplified calculations and thermodynamic assumptions. A conclusion can still be made from the thesis; electrical water heaters using Smart Control saves 10 - 15 % of electrical energy use today in a real world environment. Main sources to this thesis have been data analysis, Internet, brochures and conversations with the mentors.Syftet med det här examensarbetet är att assistera det svenska energiföretaget NIBE i deras stu-dier av adaptiv reglering beträffande företagets sortiment av varmvattenberedare. På grund av kommande energiklassificering av dessa inom EU behöver NIBE Energy Systems använda en adaptiv reglering kallad Smart Control, för att placera deras produkter i bästa möjliga energiklass och fortsätta vara konkurrenskraftiga på marknaden. Genom att använda denna Smart Control får 2-3 % verkningsgrad tillgodoräknas systemet. Detta kan tyckas vara ett litet tillskott men är istället mycket nödvändigt. Eftersom energiklasserna är baserade på tanken att hela EU förses med el från kolkondenskraftverk, resulterar det i en teoretisk maximal verkningsgrad av 40 %. Görs ingenting blir vissa varmvattenberedare ej godkända att sälja redan år 2015. Rapporten består av tre delar; produkt-/litteraturstudie av varor som redan finns kommersiellt tillgängliga och använder liknande principer, dataanalys av ett existerande system som styrs av Smart Control och rekommendationer till företaget för framtida utveckling av ett eget system. Avgränsningar har gjorts genom att till viss del förenkla och anta värden i beräkningar och termodynamisk teori. En slutsats kan trots detta dras i arbetet; eluppvärmda varmvattenberedare som använder sig av en Smart Control sparar i dagsläget 10 - 15 % elenergi i en verklig miljö. Huvudsakliga källor i arbetet har varit mätdataanalys, Internet, broschyrer och konversationer med handledarna

To Alfred Deakin

The first results of the Women's Health Initiative dietary intervention trial were published in the USA in February. This is a colossal intervention designed to see if diets lower in fat and higher in fruits, vegetables and grains than is usual in high-income countries reduce the incidence of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, heart disease and other chronic diseases, in women aged 50-79 years. As interpreted by US government media releases, the results were unimpressive. As interpreted by a global media blitz, the results indicate that food and nutrition has little or nothing to do with health and disease. But the trial was in key respects not reaching its aims, was methodologically controversial, and in any case has not produced the reported null results. What should the public health nutrition profession do about such messes

Resilience to substance use disorder following childhood maltreatment: association with peripheral biomarkers of endocannabinoid function and neural indices of emotion regulation

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a risk factor for substance use disorders (SUD) in adulthood. Understanding the mechanisms by which people are susceptible or resilient to developing SUD after exposure to CM is important for improving intervention. This case-control study investigated the impact of prospectively assessed CM on biomarkers of endocannabinoid function and emotion regulation in relation to the susceptibility or resilience to developing SUD. Four groups were defined across the dimensions of CM and lifetime SUD (N = 101 in total). After screening, participants completed two experimental sessions on separate days, aimed at assessing the behavioral, physiological, and neural mechanisms involved in emotion regulation. In the first session, participants engaged in tasks assessing biochemical (i.e., cortisol, endocannabinoids), behavioral, and psychophysiological indices of stress and affective reactivity. During the second session, the behavioral and brain mechanisms associated with emotion regulation and negative affect were investigated using magnetic resonance imaging. CM-exposed adults who did not develop SUD, operationally defined as resilient to developing SUD, had higher peripheral levels of the endocannabinoid anandamide at baseline and during stress exposure, compared to controls. Similarly, this group had increased activity in salience and emotion regulation regions in task-based measures of emotion regulation compared to controls, and CM-exposed adults with lifetime SUD. At rest, the resilient group also showed significantly greater negative connectivity between ventromedial prefrontal cortex and anterior insula compared to controls and CM-exposed adults with lifetime SUD. Collectively, these peripheral and central findings point to mechanisms of potential resilience to developing SUD after documented CM exposure.Funding Agencies|Swedish Research Council for Infrastructures and Science for Life Laboratory, Sweden; Swedish Research Council [2013-07434]; Medical Training and Research Agreement in Ostergotland Region [ALF 2017: LIO-599451, ALF 2018: LIO-692621, ALF 2019: LIO-791581, ALF 2020: RO-888021, ALF 2021: RO-935602]; Systembolagets alkoholforskningsrad [2016-0018, 2017-0075, 2018-0030, 2019-0007]; Brain &amp; Behavior Research Foundation NARSAD Young Investigator Grant [27094]</p