Scenarios for the Dutch gas distribution infrastructure in 2050

In the Netherlands 98 percent of the households are connected to the gas grid. Th is grid, aging, will need investments. What are its system requirements in the future? No consensus exists on that question. Th erefore, it is diffi cult to determine what to invest in. To help solve this problem, we have developed four scenarios for the Dutch gas distribution infrastructure in 2050. A structured scenario development process was used taking a number of existing scenarios as a starting point. Th e key forces that form the basis of our scenarios are the willingness and ability to reduce green-house gases and the perceived resource scarcity. Next to these, we have included forces that shape the scenarios, namely projected energy demand, available sources of supply, technological developments and institutional developments. Th e energy demand and the available sources of energy were quantifi ed for each scenario. We have determined what the impact will be on the geographical scope of the grid, the type and mix of gases that are transported, and the function of the distribution grid in the larger energy system. We argue that these scenarios may help in dealing with the investment dilemma. Th ey can be used to detail the possible functions of the gas distribution system in the Netherlands in 2050

Finding robust investments for the Dutch gas distribution infrastructure in 2050 by a scenario study

In the changing Dutch energy market, the ageing gas distribution grid needs investments. There is, however, a large uncertainty regarding certain aspects that affect the future role of this gas distribution grid, such as the eventual share of biomethane in the gas mix, whether power-to-gas will take-off and the expected lifetime of the grid. Hence, it is currently unclear what investments need to be made for the gas distribution infrastructure in order to cope with future changes. To find out how the future may unfold for the Dutch gas distribution infrastructure in 2050, four scenarios have been developed. Two key forces – a key force is a factor that has a large impact on the gas distribution grid but great uncertainty exists regarding its outcome – were chosen, namely “perceived energy resource scarcity” and “willingness and ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”. Each scenario sketches the future Dutch gas infrastructure by defining, among others, the extent to which biomass will be used to produce biomethane, whether fossil fuel is allowed to be burned locally, and what types of gas will flow through the gas grid. With these scenarios at our disposal, in the next research step, we will establish the impact of the scenarios on the gas distribution grid – i.e. what the layout will be and the corresponding costs – and the accompanying biomethane infrastructure. For this, 3 typical locations were chosen: a rural region, an urban region, and an intermediate region. Through a multi-objective optimization – with maximizing net present value, maximizing biomethane production, and maximizing CO2 emission reduction as objectives – the possible layout of the gas distribution grid and the biomethane infrastructure will be determined for each region. The study’s aim is to find similarities in investments among the different layouts, to come to robust investments for the gas distribution infrastructure

Potential advantages in heat and power production when biogas is collected from several digesters using dedicated pipelines - A case study in the "Province of West-Flanders" (Belgium)

In the case study “West-Flanders” costs of electricity and heat production are estimated if a dedicated biogas grid using pipelines would be implemented to centralize energy production in a region. Heat may not be used effectively at digester sites, e.g. because of a change in treatment of digestate. A large scale centralized combined heat and power (CHP) engine can produce additional electrical power at a hub, i.e. central collection point, and has lower specific costs compared to decentralized CHPs at digester sites. A biogas transport model is used to calculate transport costs in a grid. These costs, partly balanced by a scale advantage in CHP costs, are attributed to the additional electrical energy (80%) and heat (20%) produced. If the hub is at a digester site, costs of additional electricity can be as low as 4.0 €ct kWhe−1 and are in many cases below 12 €ct kWhe−1, i.e. in the same order of magnitude or lower than costs of electricity from biogas produced using separate CHPs at the different digester sites; costs of heat at the hub show to be lower than 1 €ct kWhth−1 assuming an effective heat use of 50%. In case a hub is situated at a location with high potential heat demand, i.e. a heat sink, transport of biogas from one digester only to a central located hub can provide 3.4 MWth of heat at 1.95 €ct kWhth−1. For such a centrally located hub additional electrical energy costs show to be slightly higher, but with three or more digesters these costs are lower than 20 €ct kWhe−1 and heat costs are around 0.5 €ct kWhth−1. With a centralized hub more renewable energy is produced, i.e. a more efficient use of biomass feedstock. It is concluded that costs for additional electricity and heat can be at a competing level and scale advantages in a CHP can be a driver to collect biogas at a hub using a biogas grid

Action-understanding and imitation learning in a robot-human task

We report results of an interdisciplinary project which aims at endowing a real robot system with the capacity for learning by goaldirected imitation. The control architecture is biologically inspired as it reflects recent experimental findings in action observation/execution studies. We test its functionality in variations of an imitation paradigm in which the artefact has to reproduce the observed or inferred end state of a grasping-placing sequence displayed by a human model.European grantArteSImit (IST-2000-29686)

Culture-based prescribing to improve mental health: a scoping review protocol

Objective: The objective of this review is to investigate what is known about culture-based prescribing to improve mental health and well-being. Introduction: Culture-based prescribing, where a person is referred by a clinical professional to an arts or cultural activity aimed at improving mental health and well-being, is increasingly used as a community-based source of support. Although culture-based prescribing seems promising, the field is heterogeneous with respect to definition, underlying hypotheses, and cultural activity, and this hampers its further development and implementation. Inclusion criteria: We will consider publications that report on or explore culture-based prescribing to improve mental health and well-being for adults suffering from symptoms related to mental health conditions who are seeking care from any clinical professional. Methods: We will search 8 electronic literature databases for published or unpublished reports on culture-based prescribing, without time limits. We will also search for gray literature and screen reference lists of relevant reviews. No language restrictions will be applied during the screening process, but for data extraction, we will only extract studies in languages our team has proficiency in. The screening and data extraction will be performed by 2 reviewers, independently. Data analysis will be descriptive, with results tabulated separately for each subquestion. The results will be complemented with a narrative summary

Effects of stimulus response compatibility on covert imitation of vowels

When we observe someone else speaking, we tend to automatically activate the corresponding speech motor patterns. When listening, we therefore covertly imitate the observed speech. Simulation theories of speech perception propose that covert imitation of speech motor patterns supports speech perception. Covert imitation of speech has been studied with interference paradigms, including the stimulus–response compatibility paradigm (SRC). The SRC paradigm measures covert imitation by comparing articulation of a prompt following exposure to a distracter. Responses tend to be faster for congruent than for incongruent distracters; thus, showing evidence of covert imitation. Simulation accounts propose a key role for covert imitation in speech perception. However, covert imitation has thus far only been demonstrated for a select class of speech sounds, namely consonants, and it is unclear whether covert imitation extends to vowels. We aimed to demonstrate that covert imitation effects as measured with the SRC paradigm extend to vowels, in two experiments. We examined whether covert imitation occurs for vowels in a consonant–vowel–consonant context in visual, audio, and audiovisual modalities. We presented the prompt at four time points to examine how covert imitation varied over the distracter’s duration. The results of both experiments clearly demonstrated covert imitation effects for vowels, thus supporting simulation theories of speech perception. Covert imitation was not affected by stimulus modality and was maximal for later time points

Epidemiology of Chronic Pain in Denmark and Sweden

Introduction. Estimates on the epidemiology of chronic pain vary widely throughout Europe. It is unclear whether this variation reflects true differences between populations or methodological factors. Information on the epidemiology of chronic pain can support decision makers in allocating adequate health care resources. Methods. In order to obtain epidemiological data on chronic pain in Denmark and Sweden, we conducted a literature review of epidemiological data primarily on chronic noncancer pain, prioritising studies of highest quality, recency, and validity by conducting a systematic search for relevant studies. Following quality assessment, data were summarised and assigned to the research questions. Results. The prevalence of moderate to severe noncancer pain was estimated at 16% in Denmark and 18% in Sweden. Chronic pain impacts negatively on perceived health status, quality of life and is associated with increased cost. Despite using pain medications, a large proportion of chronic pain sufferers have inadequate pain control. There was a lack of high-quality and low-bias studies with clear inclusion criteria. Conclusions. In both Denmark and Sweden, chronic pain is a common health problem which is potentially undertreated and warrants attention of health care workers, policy makers and researchers. Future research should utilise clear reporting guidelines to assist decision and policy makers, in this important area

meta-analyses

c i a l D i s t r i b u t i o n U n a u t h o r i z e d u s e p r o h i b i t e d . A u t h o r i s e d u s e r s c a n d o w n l o a d , d i s p l a y , v i e w a n d p r i n t a s i n g l e c o p y f o r p e r s o n a l u s e Current Medical Research & Opinion Vol. 27, No. 7, 2011, 1477-1491 Abstract Objective: For chronic pain treatment many health care authorities consider morphine to be the reference standard for strategic decisions in pain therapy. Although morphine's effectiveness is clear and its cost is low, it's unclear whether morphine should remain the first choice or reference treatment. Research design and methods: We performed a systematic review to evaluate the evidence available to support the position of morphine as the reference standard for step III opioids based on efficacy and tolerability outcomes. Results: The search yielded 5675 titles and 56 studies were included. Considerable heterogeneity precluded pairwise meta-analysis on change of pain intensity and no difference between morphine and other opioids were found for tolerability outcomes. The network meta-analysis showed no statistically significant difference in change of pain intensity between morphine and oxycodone, methadone and oxymorphone. Compared to morphine, patients using buprenorphine are more likely to discontinue treatment due to lack of effect (OR 2.32, 95% CI 1.37 to 3.95). Patients using methadone are more likely to discontinue due to adverse events (OR 3.09, 95% CI 1.14 to 8.36), whereas this risk is decreased for patients using fentanyl (OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.50) or buprenorphine (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.53). The most important limitation of this review is that the included studies are heterogeneous with regard to study population and intervention, which may affect the pooled effect estimates. The main strength is that we only included parallel RCTs, the strongest design for intervention studies. Conclusions: The current evidence is moderate, both in respect to the number of directly comparative studies and in the quality of reporting of these studies. No clear superiority in efficacy and tolerability of morphine over other opioids was found in pair-wise and network analyses. Based on these results, a justification for the placement of morphine as the reference standard for the treatment of severe chronic pain cannot be supported

Noord4Bio: concrete kansen voor een biobased economy in Noord-Nederland

Noord-Nederland (de drie noordelijke provincies) kan een grootschalige producent en leverancier worden van hernieuwbare grondstoffen voor de regionale productie van ‘groene’ chemicaliën, kunststoffen en veevoeder eiwit. Voortbouwend op eerdere rapporten zoals het actieplan van de commissie Willems en de roadmap van de NOM, zijn in deze Noord4Bio-studie concrete kansen geïdentificeerd om de agrarische sector aan te laten sluiten op de chemie- en kunststoffensectoren van de regio, en zijn op basis van deze kansen aanbevelingen geformuleerd waarmee duurzame groei van de regio kan worden bewerkstelligd

Altered neurodevelopmental DNA methylation status after fetal growth restriction with brain-sparing

It is under debate how preferential perfusion of the brain (brain-sparing) in fetal growth restriction (FGR) relates to long-term neurodevelopmental outcome. Epigenetic modification of neurotrophic genes by altered fetal oxygenation may be involved. To explore this theory, we performed a follow-up study of 21 FGR children, in whom we prospectively measured the prenatal cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) with Doppler sonography. At 4 years of age, we tested their neurodevelopmental outcome using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, the Child Behavior Checklist, and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. In addition, we collected their buccal DNA to determine the methylation status at predefined genetic regions within the genes hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF1A), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA), erythropoietin (EPO), EPO-receptor (EPOR), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and neurotrophic tyrosine kinase, receptor, type 2 (NTRK2) by pyrosequencing. We found that FGR children with fetal brain-sparing (CPR <1, n = 8) demonstrated a trend (0.05 < p < 0.1) toward hypermethylation of HIF1A and VEGFA at their hypoxia-response element (HRE) compared with FGR children without fetal brain-sparing. Moreover, in cases with fetal brain-sparing, we observed statistically significant hypermethylation at a binding site for cyclic adenosine monophophate response element binding protein (CREB) of BDNF promoter exon 4 and hypomethylation at an HRE located within the NTRK2 promoter (both p <0.05). Hypermethylation of VEGFA was associated with a poorer Performance Intelligence Quotient, while hypermethylation of BDNF was associated with better inhibitory self-control (both p <0.05). These results led us to formulate the hypothesis that early oxygen-dependent epigenetic alterations due to hemodynamic alterations in FGR may be associated with altered neurodevelopmental outcome in later life. We recommend further studies to test this hypothesis