Realizing solar power's potential in the European Union

The European Union aims at largely decarbonizing its energy system by 2050. In this context, this paper reviews the status of the solar electricity technologies that can exploit our largest renewable energy resource. Although substantial progress is being made, the possibility, for instance, to more than double the efficiency of photovoltaic systems underlines the continued need for coordinated R&D efforts, aimed also at promoting European expertise and industrial competiveness. In parallel, it is important to expand the market by developing integrated building products and by demonstrating the viability of very large scale systems for both technologies.JRC.F-Institute for Energy and Transport (Petten

Erratum:New mechanistic insights into the lignin β-O-4 linkage acidolysis with ethylene glycol stabilization aided by multilevel computational chemistry (ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering (2021) 9:5 (2388-2399)

In the Supporting Information of the original article (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c08901), the x-axes in Figures S6c and d are wrongly labeled. It is stated that the reaction times are in “minutes”; however, the reaction times are actually in hours. Additionally, for Figure S6d, the indicated times are incorrect. A new Supporting Information file is provided here in which these mistakes have been corrected

New Mechanistic Insights into the Lignin beta-O-4 Linkage Acidolysis with Ethylene Glycol Stabilization Aided by Multilevel Computational Chemistry

Acidolysis in conjunction with stabilization of reactive intermediates has emerged as one of the most powerful methods of lignin depolymerization that leads to high aromatic monomer yields. In particular, stabilization of reactive aldehydes using ethylene glycol results in the selective formation of the corresponding cyclic acetals (1,3-dioxolane derivatives) from model compounds, lignin, and even from softwood lignocellulose. Given the high practical utility of this method for future biorefineries, a deeper understanding of the method is desired. Here, we aim to elucidate key mechanistic questions utilizing a combination of experimental and multilevel computational approaches. The multiscale computational protocol used, based on ReaxFF molecular dynamics, represents a realistic scenario, where a typical experimental setup can be reproduced confidently given the explicit molecules of the solute, catalyst, and reagent. The nudged elastic band (NEB) approach allowed us to characterize the key intermolecular interactions involved in the reaction paths leading to crucial intermediates and products. The high level of detail obtained clearly revealed for the first time the unique role of sulfuric acid as a proton donor and acceptor in lignin beta-O-4 acidolysis as well as the reaction pathways for ethylene glycol stabilization, and the difference in reactivity between compounds with different methoxy substituents

Effect of Fuel Ethanol Content on Exhaust Emissions of a Flexible Fuel Vehicle

The European Union is aiming at increasing the market share of biofuels in order to improve the security of supply of transport fuel and to reduce CO2 emissions. The target is to reach a 10% of biofuels on energy basis in the transport sector by 2020. Bioethanol and biodiesel represent the only biofuels currently available on the market in big quantities and technologically mature and bioethanol is probably the most widely use alternative fuel in the world (mainly in Brazil and in the USA). According to the literature, the success of bioethanol as alternative fuel is linked to some clear advantages but there are also disadvantages: Advantages: - Very high octane number - As a renewable fuel produces lower CO2 emissions compare to conventional fuels - It reduces some pollutant emissions - Its ozone forming potential is lower than that of gasoline and diesel - It contains no sulphur and is biodegradable Disadvantages: - It increases evaporative emissions (when blended with gasoline at low percentages) - Because of the lower vapour pressure and high latent heat of vaporization of neat ethanol, it makes cold start in cooler climates more difficult. - It increase acetaldehyde emissions but reduces those of formaldehyde. - E85 vehicles give higher unregulated emissions (ethane and acetaldehyde) than gasoline fuelled vehicles. Due to its characteristics neat ethanol cannot be used as transport fuel mainly because its high heat of vaporization and low volatility make cold start very difficult especially in cold climates. The most common way to overcome this problem is to blend ethanol with a small fraction of a much more volatile fuel such as gasoline; the most popular blend is E85 which consists of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline by volume. Although E85 has been extensively used worldwide, engine manufacturers guarantee problem-free operation without any modification only to catalyst equipped cars fuelled with gasoline containing no more than 5% ethanol. However modern catalyst-equipped cars are probably able to run without any material problem with up to 20% ethanol which seems to be the upper limit for cold climates. An experimental activity has been planned and carried out at the JRC to investigate the emissions of a flexible fuel vehicle using different ethanol/gasoline blends. The results of this experimental programme are briefly summarized here below. The details of the work and the complete results are described in the first part of this document ( In particular, three different fuels have been tested: a standard commercial summer gasoline marketed in Italy used as base fuel and two gasoline/ethanol blends, which have been obtained by splash blending ethanol in the standard gasoline. The two gasoline/ethanol blends contained respectively 10% ethanol (E10) and 85% ethanol (E85). The test vehicle was a passenger car currently marketed in Europe and one of the most popular models belonging to the flexible fuel vehicle category. Emission tests were carried out both following the European certification procedure (NEDC cycle) and using a US driving cycle (US 06). Regulated and unregulated emissions were measured.JRC.H.4-Transport and air qualit

Effect of Biodiesel Fuels on Pollutant Emissions from EURO 3 LD Diesel Vehicles (1)

Transport is a key factor in modern economies. However, the EU transport system is currently not sustainable, and in many respects moving away from sustainability rather than towards it. The European Environment Agency highlights in particular the sector's growing CO2 emissions that threaten the EU meeting its target under the Kyoto protocol. Transport also represents a key challenge to sustainability in terms of depletion of resources and European competitiveness, safety and security concerns, especially due to the monolithic reliance on a single energy source. As stated in the Commission’s November 2000 Green Paper on security of supply, in 1998 energy consumption in the transport sector was to blame for 28 % of emissions of CO2, the leading greenhouse gas. In particular, road transport alone accounts for 84 % of the CO2 emissions attributable to transport. Furthermore, in terms of security of energy supply, there is growing concern for the current situation of transport sector that depends on crude oil for more than 99%. In the above mentioned Green Paper the European Commission has also identified the measures to tackle these problems and, among them, one the most important is the promotion of alternative fuels; the ambitious target that has been proposed by the Commission is to replace 20% of conventional fuels with substitute fuels by 2020. According to the Commission White Paper “European transport policy for 2010: time to decide” the most promising forms are biofuels in the short and medium term, natural gas in the medium and long term and hydrogen in the very long term. On the basis of the above mentioned Papers, in 2003 the European Union has adopted two Directives, the EC/2003/30 and the EC/2003/96, with the overall objective of promoting the use of biofuels. The first Directive set the targets for market share of biofuels for 2005 (2% in terms of energy content) and 2010 (5.75%); the second Directive set the framework for tax incentives for the promotion of biofuels. Biodiesel is currently the most produced biofuel in Europe: the production in 2003 was about of 1500000 (EU25) tons with an increase of more than 32% compared to the 2002 figure. Within this policy framework, the Joint Research Centre and the European Biodiesel Board have decided to cooperate to investigate the effect of biodiesel on pollutant emissions from diesel engines. In particular, in this report the effect of biodiesel fuels produced from different raw materials on the regulated emissions from light duty diesel vehicles are compared to the effect on other regulated and unregulated pollutants.JRC.H.4-Transport and air qualit

Psychological, rather than organic and/or relational components are involved in sexual dysfunction in Young/Middle Aged Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-Infected Men.

BACKGROUND: HIV-infection is associated to an increased prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED)1,2. In HIV- infected men ED seems to be less related to serum Testosterone (T)2-4, ED and sexual dysfunction mainly depending from other factors1,2. However, data on other components of sexual dysfunction in HIV are scanty2. AIM: To investigate the role of different components (organic, relational, psychological) of erectile function by using different validate questionnaire in HIV-infected men with normal serum T who are mainly homosexual (70%). METHODOLOGY: Prospective, cross-sectional, observational study on 225 eugonadal, HIV-infected male patients with ongoing Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) attending the Clinic of Infectious Diseases. The International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF)-15, IIEF-5 and Structured Interview for Erectile Dysfunction (SIEDY) were used for the evaluation of sexual function. Moreover, the sexual desire was further evaluated using a direct question during the visit. Statistical analysis: comparison of continue variables among groups was performed using Kruskal-Wallis test and Dunnet test for post-hoc analyses. RESULTS: 225 HIV-infected patients were enrolled (mean age 45.19±5.36 years) with average duration of HIV- infection and of HAART treatment of 187.62±101.71 and 156.38+89.81 months, respectively. Table 1 summarizes the score obtained in each item evaluated by questionnaires.The SIEDY scores obtained at appendix and scale 3 were significantly higher in patients with ED at IIEF-15 (n=136, 60.4%) compared with those without ED (appendix: 7.64+4.39 vs 4.35+3-14, p<0.001) (scale 3: 2.72+4.39 vs 2.07+1.86, p=0.015). Conversely, scale 1 (2.76+2.16 vs 2.46+2.10, p=0.448) and 2 (0.53+1.02 vs 0.61+1.47, p=0.503) of SIEDY did not differ between patients with or without ED. This suggests that the psychological basis of ED was predominant in HIV-infected men. However, when patients were grouped according to the severity of ED at IIEF-15 all SIEDY items did not differ among the 3 groups (p>0.05). The erectile function domain at IIEF-15 was directly correlated with IIEF-5 score (0.778, p<0.001). Similarly, the score at SIEDY appendix was significantly different among the ED degree found at IIEF-15 (p<0.001). In particular, lower score was found in HIV-infected men without ED compared to those with mild, moderate and severe ED (p<0.001, p=0.001, and p<0.001, respectively), confirming the reliability of these tools. Sexual desire was evaluated using IIEF-15 appropriate domain and during the interview through direct question performed by the clinician. Sexual desire was impaired in 73 patients (31.33%) at interview with a good correlation with the item of IIEF-15 on sexual desire (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The psychological component of ED impacts in a significant manner on ED in men with HIV. Despite the high prevalence of comorbidities in these patients the organic component does not affect erectile function. Similarly, the relational component seems to play a not significant role probably because of the high percentage of men not in a stable relationship. All the three validated questionnaires well describe the degree of erectile dysfunction, with a good correlation index, suggesting that they are all reliable and accurate for the diagnosis of ED in this peculiar population. REFERENCES 1Zona S et al. Erectile dysfunction is more common in young to middle-aged HIV-infected men than in HIV-uninfected men. J Sex Med. 2012 Jul;9(7):1923-30. 2Santi D et al. Male sexual dysfunction and HIV--a clinical perspective. Nat Rev Urol. 2014 Feb;11(2):99-109. 3Rochira V et al. Premature decline of serum total testosterone in HIV-infected men in the HAART-era. PLoS One. 2011;6(12):e28512. 4Rochira V & Guaraldi G. Hypogonadism in the HIV-infected man. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2014 Sep;43(3):709-30

Mechanisms of Step-Stress Degradation In Carbon-Doped 0.15 μm AlGaN/GaN HEMTs for Power RF Applications

We discuss the degradation mechanisms of C-doped 0.15-μm gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs tested by drain step-stress experiments. Experimental results show that these devices exhibit cumulative degradation effects during the step stress experiments in terms of either (i) transconductance (gm) decrease without any threshold-voltage (VT) change under OFF-state stress, or (ii) both VT and gm decrease under ON-state stress conditions. To aid the interpretation of the experiments, two-dimensional hydrodynamic device simulations were carried out. Based on obtained results, we attribute the gm decrease accumulating under OFF-state stress to hole emission from CN acceptor traps in the gate-drain access region of the buffer, resulting in an increase in the drain access resistance. On the other hand, under ON-state stress, channel hot electrons are suggested to be injected into the buffer under the gate and in the gate-drain region where they can be captured by CN traps, leading to VT and gm degradation, respectively

Long-Acting GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Exenatide Influence on the Autonomic Cardiac Sympatho-Vagal Balance

Long-acting glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists are increasingly used to treat type 2 diabetes. An increase of heart rate (HR) has been observed with their use. To elucidate the role of the cardiac sympatho-vagal balance as a possible mediator of the reported increase in HR, we performed power spectral analysis of HR variability (HRV) in patients receiving exenatide extended-release (ER). Twenty-eight ambulatory patients with type 2 diabetes underwent evaluation at initiation of exenatide-ER and thereafter at 3 and at 6 months. To obtain spectral analyses of HRV, a computerized acquisition of 10 minutes of RR electrocardiogram intervals (mean values of ~700 RR intervals) were recorded both in lying and in standing positions. All patients showed a substantial increase of HR both in lying and in standing positions. Systolic blood pressure, body weight, and glycated hemoglobin A1c significantly decreased both at 3 and 6 months compared with basal levels. The low-frequency/high-frequency ratio varied from 3.05 \ub1 0.4 to 1.64 \ub1 0.2 (P < 0.001) after 3 months and to 1.57 \ub1 0.3 (P < 0.001) after 6 months in a lying position and from 4.56 \ub1 0.8 to 2.24 \ub1 0.3 (P < 0.001) after 3 months and to 2.38 \ub1 0.4 (P < 0.001) after 6 months in a standing position compared with basal values, respectively. HR variations, induced by exenatide-ER treatment, do not appear to be related to sympathetic autonomic tone. Of note, we observed a relative increase of vagal influence on the heart

Building capacity to provide innovative interventions for early psychosis in mental health professionals

Abstract Despite international guidelines, cognitive behavioural therapy for early psychosis (CBTep) is still under-used in daily clinical practice, mainly due to the lack of specific skills among mental health professionals. The aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a CBTep training course and to investigate the impact of trainees' variables on the level of skills acquisition. An intensive and graded CBTep training programme consisting of 112 hours of plenary lectures, 30 hours of group supervision and 3 months of practical training was offered to mental health professionals of 65 Italian community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs). CBT expert psychologists were used as the comparison group. Participants underwent pre-planned exams to test the level of skills acquisition and were requested to complete a satisfaction survey. The vast majority of participants (93%) completed the training with medium–high evaluation scores and reported to be highly satisfied with the course. CMHCs staff members achieved high scores in the examinations and no major differences between them and CBT expert psychologists were found in most of the final exam scores. Our results support the feasibility and the efficacy of the training to build specific CBTep capacity in a large cohort of professionals working in Italian Generalist Mental Health Services. Key learning aims (1) To understand the capacity building of a short training programme in CBT for early psychosis dedicated to community mental health professionals. (2) To consider the optimal characteristics of a CBT training programme for early psychosis. (3) To reflect on the feasibility of a CBT training programme for early psychosis in the context of Italian Community Mental Health Services