A Concept for Standardized Benchmarks for the Evaluation of Control Strategies for Building Energy Management

Given the expected high penetration of renewable energy production in future electricity systems, it is common to consider buildings as a valuable source for the provisioning of flexibility to support the power grids. Motivated by this concept, a wide variety of control strategies for building energy management has been proposed throughout the last decades and especially for the previously mentioned components. However, these algorithms are usually implemented and evaluated for very specific settings and considerations. Thus, a neutral comparison, especially of performance measures, is nearly impossible. Inspired by recent developments in reinforcement learning research, we suggest the use of common environments (i.e. benchmarks) for filling this gap and finally propose a general concept for standardized benchmarks for the evaluation of control strategies for building energy management

Open Energy Services -- Forecasting and Optimization as a Service for Energy Management Applications at Scale

Energy management, in sense of computing optimized operation schedules for devices, will likely play a vital role in future carbon neutral energy systems, as it allows unlocking energy efficiency and flexibility potentials. However, energy management systems need to be applied at large scales to realize the desired effect, which clearly requires minimization of costs for setup and operation of the individual applications. In order to push the latter forward, we promote an approach to split the complex optimization algorithms employed by energy management systems into standardized components, which can be provided as a service with marginal costs at scale. This work is centered around the systematic design of a framework supporting the efficient implementation and operation of such forecasting and optimization services. Furthermore, it describes the implementation of the design concept which we release under the name \emph{Energy Service Generics} as a free and open source repository. Finally, this paper marks the starting point of the \emph{Open Energy Services} community, our effort to continuously push the development and operation of services for energy management applications at scale, for which we invite researchers and practitioners to participate

Incommensurate magnetic order: a fingerprint for electronic correlations in hole-doped cuprates

Intertwined charge and magnetic fluctuations in high-$T_\text{c}$ copper oxide superconductors (cuprates) are hypothesized to be a consequence of their correlated electronic nature. Among other observables, this is apparent in the doping dependence of incommensurate magnetic order, known as the Yamada relation (YR). We analyze the Hubbard model to challenge the universality of YR as a function of interaction strength $U$ through Kotliar-Ruckenstein slave-boson (SB) mean-field theory and truncated unity functional renormalization group (TUFRG). While TUFRG tends to lock in to a doping dependence of the incommensurate magnetic ordering vector obtained for the perturbative weak-coupling limit, SB not only exhibits an enhanced sensitivity upon a variation of $U$ from weak to strong coupling, but also shows good agreement with experimental data. It supports the placement of weakly hole-doped cuprates in the intermediate-to-strong coupling regime

Evidence of Electromagnetic Absorption by Collective Modes in the Heavy Fermion Superconductor UBe13

We present results of a microwave surface impedance study of the heavy fermion superconductor UBe13. We clearly observe an absorption peak whose frequency- and temperature-dependence scales with the BCS gap function. Resonant absorption into a collective mode, with energy approximately proportional to the superconducting gap, is proposed as a possible explantation

Safety of ethyl lauroyl arginate (E 243) as a food additive in the light of the new information provided and the proposed extension of use

Acknowledgements: The Panel wishes to thank the following for the support provided to this scientific output: Eleonora Alquati, Anna Christodoulidou and Fabiola Pizzo.Publisher PD

Safety of use of Monk fruit extract as a food additive in different food categories

Acknowledgements: The FAF Panel wishes to acknowledge all European competent institutions, Member State bodies and other organisations that provided data for this scientific output.Publisher PD

Safety evaluation of buffered vinegar as a food additive

The EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings (FAF) provides a scientific opinion on the safety of buffered vinegar as a new food additive. Buffered vinegar is a liquid or dried product prepared by adding sodium/potassium hydroxides (E 524 to E 525) and sodium/potassium carbonates (E 500 to E 501) to vinegar, compliant with European Standard EN 13188:2000 and exclusively obtained from an agricultural source origin (except wood/cellulose). The primary constituents of buffered vinegar are acetic acid and its salts. No biological or toxicological data obtained with the proposed food additive were submitted by the applicant as part of the dossier as, following oral ingestion, buffered vinegar dissociates into the acetic anion and acetate a natural constituent of the diet, and of the human body for which extensive data on their biological effects exist and for which EFSA in 2013 has previously concluded that the establishment of an acceptable daily intake (ADI) is not considered necessary. At the proposed maximum/typical use levels, the mean exposure to buffered vinegar from its use as a food additive expressed as acetic acid equivalents ranged from 8.9 mg/kg body weight (bw) per day in infants to 280.3 mg/kg bw per day in children. The 95th percentile of exposure to buffered vinegar ranged from 27.9 mg/kg bw per day in infants to 1,078 mg/kg bw per day in toddlers. The Panel concluded that there is no safety concern for the use of buffered vinegar as a food additive at the proposed maximum/typical use levels. The Panel could not conclude on the safety for the proposed uses at quantum satis as Group I food additive since the resulting exposure could not be estimated