Potential for Solar Energy in Food Manufacturing, Distribution and Retail

The overall aim of the study was to assess the potential for increasing the use of solar energy in the food sector. For comparative purposes the study also included an assessment of the benefits that could arise from the use of other renewable energy sources, and the potential for more effective use of energy in food retail and distribution. Specific objectives were to: i) establish the current state of the art in relevant available solar technology; ii) identify the barriers for the adoption of solar technology; iii) assess the potential for solar energy capture; iv) appraise the potential of alternative relevant technologies for providing renewable energy; v) assess the benefits from energy saving technologies; vi) compare the alternative strategies for the next 5-10 years and vii) Consider the merits of specific research programmes on solar energy and energy conservation in the food sector. To obtain the views of the main stakeholders in the relevant food and energy sectors on the opportunities and barriers to the adoption of solar energy and other renewable energy technologies by the food industry, personal interviews and structured questionnaires tailored to the main stakeholders (supermarkets, consultants for supermarket design; energy and equipment suppliers) were used. The main findings from the questionnaires and interviews are: - Key personnel in supermarkets and engineers involved in the design of supermarkets are aware of the potential contribution of renewable energy technologies and other energy conservation measures to energy conservation and environmental impact reduction in the food industry. A number of supermarket chains have implemented such technologies at pilot scale to gain operating experience, and more importantly, for marketing reasons, to gain competitive advantage through a green image. - From installations to date in the UK the most notable are a 600 kW wind turbine at a Sainsbury's distribution centre in East Kilbride and a 60 kWp photovoltaic array at a Tesco store in Swansea. - The main barrier to the application of renewable energy technologies in the food sector is the capital cost. Even though significant progress has been made towards the improvement of the energy conversion efficiencies of photovoltaic technologies (PVs) and reduction in their cost, payback periods are still far too long, for them to become attractive to the food industry. - Wind energy can be more attractive than PVs in areas of high wind speed. Apart from relatively high cost, the main barrier to the wide application of wind turbines for local power generation is planning restrictions. This technology is more attractive for application in food distribution centres that are normally located outside build-up areas where planning restrictions can be less severe than in urban areas. In these applications it is likely that preference will be for large wind turbines of more than 1.0 MW power generation capacity as the cost of generation per unit power reduces with the size of the turbine

Eric Wittkower and the foundation of Montréal's Transcultural Psychiatry Research Unit after World War II

International audienceEric Wittkower founded McGill University’s Transcultural Psychiatry Unit in 1955. One year later, he started the first international newsletter in this academic field: Transcultural Psychiatry. However, at the beginning of his career Wittkower gave no signs that he would be interested in social sciences and psychiatry. This paper describes the historical context of the post-war period, when Wittkower founded the research unit in Montréal. I focus on the history of scientific networks and the circulation of knowledge, and particularly on the exchanges between the French- and English-speaking academic cultures in North America and Europe. Because the history of transcultural psychiatry is a transnational history par excellence, this leads necessarily to the question of the reception of this academic field abroad

The Informational Approach to Global Optimization in presence of very noisy evaluation results. Application to the optimization of renewable energy integration strategies

We consider the problem of global optimization of a function f from very noisy evaluations. We adopt a Bayesian sequential approach: evaluation points are chosen so as to reduce the uncertainty about the position of the global optimum of f, as measured by the entropy of the corresponding random variable (Informational Approach to Global Optimization, Villemonteix et al., 2009). When evaluations are very noisy, the error coming from the estimation of the entropy using conditional simulations becomes non negligible compared to its variations on the input domain. We propose a solution to this problem by choosing evaluation points as if several evaluations were going to be made at these points. The method is applied to the optimization of a strategy for the integration of renewable energies into an electrical distribution network

Historicizing transcultural psychiatry: people, epistemic objects, networks, and practices

International audienceThe history of transcultural psychiatry has recently attracted much historical attention, including a workshop in March 2016 in which an international panel of scholars met at the Maison de Sciences de l'Homme Paris-Nord (MSH-PN). Papers from this workshop are presented here. By conceiving of transcultural psychiatry as a dynamic social field that frames its knowledge claims around epistemic objects that are specific to the field, and by focusing on the ways that concepts within this field are used to organize intellectual work, several themes are explored that draw this field into the historiography of psychiatry. Attention is paid to the organization of networks and publications, and to important actors within the field who brought about significant developments in the colonial and post-colonial conceptions of mental illness

Peroxisomes and disease - an overview.

Peroxisomes are indispensable for human health and development. They represent ubiquitous subcellular organelles which compartmentalize enzymes responsible for several crucial metabolic processes such as β-oxidation of specific fatty acids, biosynthesis of ether phospholipids and metabolism of reactive oxygen species. Peroxisomes are highly flexible organelles that rapidly assemble, multiply and degrade in response to metabolic needs. Basic research on the biogenesis of peroxisomes and their metabolic functions have improved our knowledge about their crucial role in several inherited disorders and in other pathophysiological conditions. The goal of this review is to give a comprehensive overview of the role of peroxisomes in disease. Besides the genetic peroxisomal disorders in humans, the role of peroxisomes in carcinogenesis and in situations related to oxidative stress such as inflammation, ischemia-reperfusion, and diabetes will be addressed.This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG SCHR518/6-1)

Wegberm biedt hulp tegen bestuivingscrisis

De achteruitgang van bloemzoekende insecten is een bedrieging voor een scala aan ecologische processen en diensten die deze dieren verzorgen. Wegbermen zijn vaak rijk aan bloeiende kruiden en kunnen daardoor van groot belang zijn voor deze dieren. Maar hoe kunnen deze bermen het beste beheerd worden? Wageningen Universiteit deed een experiment in een grazige berm, waarbij bloembezoek bekeken werd in relatie to vijf maairegime

Jean-Luc Verna - "Vous n’êtes pas un peu beaucoup maquillé ? - Non"

Publié à l’occasion de l’exposition du MacVal, le catalogue rassemble huit essais et un entretien, entrecoupés d’une production graphique inédite et de photographies plus connues de l’artiste performer. Le titre de l’exposition, souvent repris par le passé, est à l’image de la pratique de Jean-Luc Verna : un ton ironique faisant l’« éloge du maquillage », pour reprendre les termes de Baudelaire. Les reproductions sur papier mat offrent des portraits dont le romantisme macabre évoque le symbol..

Vincent Lamouroux : trajectories / trajectoires

Le catalogue est issu de l’exposition Néguentropie qui a eu lieu à l’Abbaye de Maubuisson fin 2012. Contenant les photographies de projets réalisés et en train de se réaliser, l’ouvrage se ponctue par un mot politique et un essai bilingue d’Anne Couillaud. Peu d’informations sur les intentions de l’artiste ou les processus de l’œuvre y sont répertoriées. Il vaut mieux - une fois n’est pas coutume - s’intéresser à l’image pour comprendre la démarche de Vincent Lamouroux. La reproduction de can..

L'Ecole dans l'art

Cet ouvrage collectif rassemble quarante-cinq exemples de pratiques artistiques dont le milieu pédagogique est le dénominateur commun. A la manière de séquences pédagogiques dispensées dans le secondaire, ces pratiques sont analysées à travers le prisme de « l’acte artistique comme enseignement » (p. 8), réunies en quatre sections. On retrouve l’école et ses outils scolaires comme motif récurrent utilisé par les artistes comme Joseph Beuys et son usage du tableau, de l’ardoise par Philippe Fa..

Frédéric Bisson, La Pensée rock : essai d’ontologie phonographique

L’essai d’ontologie phonographique de Frédéric Bisson porte sur un objet composite, celui de la musique rock. Il s’agit de définir en quoi le rock peut être essentialisé et défini à partir de sa présence sonore et matérielle, qui tient à la fois de la production, de l’enregistrement et de l’écoute. En ce sens, l’auteur se détache des conceptions souvent caricaturales de la performance du rocker et du caractère souvent hagiographique qu’elles recouvrent. Bien plus philosophique qu’historique, ..