Systematic tool to plan and evaluate demand side strategies during sustained energy crises in hydrothermal power systems

HARE, a systematic tool to evaluate demand side measures to face sustained energy supply risk in hydrothermal power systems is presented in this paper. The main focus of the paper is to help centralized planners to systematically discuss, select, and plan the measures that better respond to the variety of critical situations that can arise due to expected energy shortage, integrate them into the usual medium-term scheduling tool and consequently keep the associated overall costs as low as possible. A medium-term definition of the system state is proposed as a decision-making aid, as well as a set of general energy saving measures that can be applied with their corresponding attributes (time delays, costs of implementation, and energy saving impact). The tool is demonstrated and applied to a simplified version of Chilean’s medium-term hydrothermal scheduling model and to a specific risk scenario experienced during 2011. The results show that it is possible to define various sets of demand side measures that avoid the impacts on the system and subsequently to select among them those with least expected implementation costs. This tool seems mainly useful for hydro-electric systems, which are more vulnerable to sustained energy supply risk. Every power system will have to go through a detailed review and planning process to implement this type of tool.     

The validation and further development of a multidimensional cognitive load scale for virtual environments

Measuring cognitive load is important in virtual learning environments (VLE). Thus, valid and reliable measures of cognitive load are important to support instructional design in VLE. Through three studies, we investigated the validity and reliability of Leppink's Cognitive Load Scale (CLS) and developed the extraneous cognitive load (EL) dimension into three sub-scales relevant for VLE: EL instructions, EL interaction, and EL environment. We investigated the validity of the measures using the Partial Credit Model (PCM), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and correlations with retention tests. Study 1 (n = 73) investigated the adapted version of the CLS. Study 2 describes the development and validation of the Multidimensional Cognitive Load Scale for Virtual Environments (MCLSVE), with 140 students in higher education. Study 3 tested the generalizability of the results with 121 higher education students in a more complicated VLE. The results provide initial evidence for the validity and reliability of the MCLSVE.     

Military crisis responses to COVID‐19

Countries across the globe have mobilized their armed forces in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Current contributions of armed forces have resulted from an urgent need for additional personnel and resources, and were facilitated by a framing of the crisis in terms of war. These deployments were in the interest of armed forces and enabled them to improve their operational readiness, boost their societal standing and support societies with their expertise. Even though armed forces may provide crucial aid in times of need, it is important that civilian crisis organizations are not undermined, civilian control and civil rights are guaranteed, and the effects on other military operations are considered and discussed. This Forum contribution offers some reflections and recommendations.     

Operational scheduling of responsive prosumer farms for day‐ahead peak shaving by agricultural demand response aggregators

This paper proposes a novel structure to optimize the operational strategies of responsive farms for day‐ahead peak shaving. To achieve the aim, the modern irrigation system of farms, including groundwater, surface water, and booster water pumps, are modeled mathematically. To develop the demand response (DR) potentials of the farms, electrical storage systems, and self‐generation facilities, including thermal distributed generations and on‐farm solar sites, are addressed. In order to facilitate the integration of the agricultural DR programs into the electricity market, a mathematical formulation for agricultural demand response aggregator (ADRA) is suggested. The ADRA participates in the day‐ahead electricity market on behalf of the responsive farms. To overcome the price uncertainty of the electricity market, a robust optimization approach is addressed. This approach determines the robust decisions of farms in the worst‐case realizations of the uncertain electricity price. Regarding on‐farm solar sites located in rural areas, a data‐driven approach is used to estimate the solar power generation of a significant number of sites without needing to install costly communication and measurement infrastructures. Finally, the proposed approach is implemented on agricultural lands in the northeast of Iran. The numerical results show that the suggested approach provides day‐ahead peak shaving for the power systems meeting the crop's water requirements.     

Microwave vacuum drying and puffing of the meat tissue - process analysis

Tenderization based on papain and microwave vacuum drying and puffing (MVDP) as well as adequate processing conditions enabled expansion of slices of the raw meat tissue. The main aim of the study was to use the response surface method and find the conditions of puffing that could maximize the expansion of meat during MVDP. The bound was set on the expansion: the most expanded puffings should be of good quality, including a desirable porous structure. The best combination of values of the MVDP process conditions (e.g., the initial moisture content in meat slices, microwave energy, and the vacuum absolute pressure) was found during experiments using the central composite design. The volume of slices puffed under these conditions was 1.60–1.78 times greater than the volume of slices before MVDP, and the sensory quality index remained acceptable. The research showed that pretreatment reduced the hardness of sample by over 25% and increased its crispiness, which was confirmed in cryo-scanning electron microscopy images.     

Small scale experiments and Fe model validation of structural response during hydrogen vented deflagrations

University of Pisa (UNIPI) conducted a series of vented deflagration tests at B. Guerrini Laboratory. The tests were part of the experimental campaign performed by UNIPI for the European HySEA project (Hydrogen Safety for Energy Applications). Experiments included homogeneous hydrogen-air mixture contained in an about 1 m³ enclosure, called SSE (Small Scale Enclosure). The mixture concentration was variable between 10% and 18% vol. During the deflagrations, structural response was investigated by measuring the displacement of a test plate. The collected data were used to validate the FE model developed by IMPETUS Afea. In this paper experimental facility, displacement measurement system and FE model are briefly described, then comparison between experimental data and simulation results is discussed.     

Psychrophilic hydrogen production from petrochemical wastewater via anaerobic sequencing batch reactor: techno-economic assessment and kinetic modelling

Independent hydrogen production from petrochemical wastewater containing mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) via anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) was extensively assessed under psychrophilic conditions (15–25 °C). A lab-scale ASBR was operated at pH of 5.50, and different organic loading rates (OLR) of 1.00, 1.67, 2.67, and 4.00 gCOD/L/d. The hydrogen yield (HY) progressed from 134.32 ± 10.79 to 189.09 ± 22.35 mL/gMEG_initial at increasing OLR from 1.00 to 4.00 gCOD/L/d. The maximum hydrogen content of 47.44 ± 3.60% was achieved at OLR of 4.0 gCOD/L/d, while methane content remained low (17.76 ± 1.27% at OLR of 1.0 gCOD/L/d). Kinetic studies using four different mathematical models were conducted to describe the ASBR performance. Furthermore, two batch-mode experiments were performed to optimize the nitrogen supplementation as a nutrient (C/N ratio), and assess the impact of salinity (as gNaCl/L) on hydrogen production. HY substantially dropped from 62.77 ± 4.09 to 6.02 ± 0.39 mL/gMEG_initial when C/N ratio was increased from 28.5 to 114.0. Besides, the results revealed that salinity up to 10.0 gNaCl/L has a relatively low inhibitory impact on hydrogen production. Eventually, the cost/benefit analysis showed that environmental and energy recovery revenues from ASBR were optimized at OLR of 4.0 gCOD/L/d (payback period of 7.13 yrs).     

Oil Demand and Stocks

Current data of world oil demand. This includes international bunkers and refinery fuel. Updated on a monthly basis. Current data of oil demand from counties such as Canada, the United States of America, Japan, OECD Europe, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, and Turkey. Updated on a monthly basis. Current data for crude oil and refined product stocks in Canada, Chile, Mexico, the United States (Western Hemisphere), France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and Other Europe (Europe), Japan, Republic of Korea, Other Pacific (Asia-Pacific), and Total OECD (Table 12.1) Current data for refined product stocks in the OECD Western Hemisphere, OECD Europe, OECD Asia-Pacific and Total OECD. Products include gasoline, diesel and gasoil, and heavy fuel oil. Updated on a monthly basis (Table 12.2).     

Multimodal sensing and active continuous closed‐loop feedback for achieving reliable manipulation in the outdoor physical world

The use of field robots can greatly decrease the amount of time, effort, and associated risk compared to if human workers were to carryout certain tasks such as disaster response. However, transportability and reliability remain two main issues for most current robot systems. To address the issue of transportability, we have developed a lightweight modularizable platform named AeroArm. To address the issue of reliability, we utilize a multimodal sensing approach, combining the use of multiple sensors and sensor types, and the use of different detection algorithms, as well as active continuous closed‐loop feedback to accurately estimate the state of the robot with respect to the environment. We used Challenge 2 of the 2017 Mohammed Bin Zayed International Robotics Competition as an example outdoor manipulation task, demonstrating the capabilities of our robot system and approach in achieving reliable performance in the fields, and ranked fifth place internationally in the competition.     

考虑流固耦合的管道机器人冲击环焊缝过程动力学建模与分析

以管道机器人（Pipeline inspection gauge，PIG）为载体的内检测技术是保障油气管道安全运输的重要手段。针对管内高压流体作用下，管道机器人在冲击管内环焊缝过程中产生的动力学行为突变问题。建立了管道周向受限空间中基于Kelvin弹簧阻尼的管道机器人密封盘等效动力学模型，结合管道机器人本体建立了多体系管道机器人动力学模型；详细推导了管道机器人轴向振动微分方程，以及管内流体的流动方程；并使用Matlab/Simulink与Adams进行流固耦合仿真，作为重要的工艺参数之一，研究了管道机器人速度改变时，其在冲击环焊缝过程中的动力学响应情况。结果表明：所建立的密封盘及管道机器人动力学模型能够很好地表征密封盘在管道轴向、径向以及周向的力学特性；运行速度越快，管道机器人通过环焊缝引起的轴向振动越剧烈，冲击振动越明显；而垂向和俯仰振动现象随运动速度增大而显著减弱。