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Distribution System State Estimation Using PV Separation Strategy in LV Feeders With High Levels of Unmonitored PV Generation
No full textDistribution system state estimation (DSSE) is a critical analysis tool for active distribution networks (DNs). Unlike weighted least squares techniques, which are static DSSE methods, the augmented complex Kalman filter (ACKF) is a novel technique that considers the system’s dynamic behavior. Currently, most DNs integrate a large number of unmonitored residential photovoltaic (PV) generations. Existing unmeasured PV sources violate the white noise assumption in Kalman and least-squares-based estimators, causing the estimator to be biased. Because the one-step difference of aggregated customer demand is characterized as white noise, the suggested PV estimation technique based on the differencing strategy is used to decouple PV from the measured load. Using the specified contribution factors, the new online pseudo current injections are generated. In addition, the estimator’s accuracy is improved by using a new PV-scaling-aided ACKF approach based on the PV separation strategy. For validation purposes, this method is applied to real DN case studies. This study also makes use of an actual dataset to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed technique. The proposed technique outperforms the existing snapshot and dynamic DSSE techniques, and significant improvements are achieved in terms of accuracy and computational cost
Emotion dysregulation and heart rate variability improve in US veterans undergoing treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder: Secondary exploratory analyses from a randomised controlled trial
Get PDFBackground
Emotion regulation (ER) is a key process underlying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet, little is known about how ER changes with PTSD treatment. Understanding these effects may shed light on treatment processes.
Methods
We recently completed a non-inferiority design randomised controlled trial demonstrating that a breathing-based yoga practice (Sudarshan kriya yoga; SKY) was not clinically inferior to cognitive processing therapy (CPT) across symptoms of PTSD, depression, or negative affect. Here, in secondary exploratory analyses (intent-to-treat N = 85; per protocol N = 59), we examined whether self-reported ER (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; DERS) and physiological ER (heart rate variability; HRV) improved with treatment for clinically significant PTSD symptoms among US Veterans.
Results
DERS-Total and all six subscales improved with small-to-moderate effect sizes (d = .24–.66) following CPT or SKY, with no differences between treatment groups. Following SKY (but not CPT), HR max–min (average difference between maximum and minimum beats per minute), LF/HF (low-to-high frequency) ratio, and normalised HF-HRV (high frequency power) improved (moved towards a healthier profile; d = .42–.55).
Conclusions
To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that a breathing-based yoga (SKY) improved both voluntary/intentional and automatic/physiological ER. In contrast, trauma-focused therapy (CPT) only reliably improved self-reported ER. Findings have implications for PTSD treatment and interventions for emotional disorders more broadly.
Trial registration
Secondary analyses of ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02366403
Molecular methodologies for improved polymicrobial sepsis diagnosis
Get PDFPolymicrobial sepsis is associated with worse patient outcomes than monomicrobial sepsis. Routinely used culture-dependent microbiological diagnostic techniques have low sensitivity, often leading to missed identification of all causative organisms. To overcome these limitations, culture-independent methods incorporating advanced molecular technologies have recently been explored. However, contamination, assay inhibition and interference from host DNA are issues that must be addressed before these methods can be relied on for routine clinical use. While the host component of the complex sepsis host–pathogen interplay is well described, less is known about the pathogen’s role, including pathogen–pathogen interactions in polymicrobial sepsis. This review highlights the clinical significance of polymicrobial sepsis and addresses how promising alternative molecular microbiology methods can be improved to detect polymicrobial infections. It also discusses how the application of shotgun metagenomics can be used to uncover pathogen/pathogen interactions in polymicrobial sepsis cases and their potential role in the clinical course of this condition
Reviving academic psychiatry in Australia and New Zealand
No full textFostering the next generation of academic psychiatrists is crucial to maintaining our leading role in providing evidence-based care for the patients we serve..
Wolframin is a novel regulator of tau pathology and neurodegeneration
No full textSelective neuronal vulnerability to protein aggregation is found in many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Understanding the molecular origins of this selective vulnerability is, therefore, of fundamental importance. Tau protein aggregates have been found in Wolframin (WFS1)-expressing excitatory neurons in the entorhinal cortex, one of the earliest affected regions in AD. The role of WFS1 in Tauopathies and its levels in tau pathology-associated neurodegeneration, however, is largely unknown. Here we report that WFS1 deficiency is associated with increased tau pathology and neurodegeneration, whereas overexpression of WFS1 reduces those changes. We also find that WFS1 interacts with tau protein and controls the susceptibility to tau pathology. Furthermore, chronic ER stress and autophagy-lysosome pathway (ALP)-associated genes are enriched in WFS1-high excitatory neurons in human AD at early Braak stages. The protein levels of ER stress and autophagy-lysosome pathway (ALP)-associated proteins are changed in tau transgenic mice with WFS1 deficiency, while overexpression of WFS1 reverses those changes. This work demonstrates a possible role for WFS1 in the regulation of tau pathology and neurodegeneration via chronic ER stress and the downstream ALP. Our findings provide insights into mechanisms that underpin selective neuronal vulnerability, and for developing new therapeutics to protect vulnerable neurons in AD
Flow induced by a line sink near a vertical wall in a fluid with a free surface, Part II: finite depth
Get PDFFlow caused by a line sink near a vertical wall in an otherwise stagnant fluid with a free surface is studied. A linear solution for small flow rates is obtained and a numerical method based on fundamental singularities techniques is applied to the full nonlinear problem. The sink is located at an arbitrary location away from all boundaries and the fluid is of finite depth. Steady solutions are presented for various flow rates and sink location. It is shown that the numerical results and linear solutions are in good agreement for small flow rates. The results suggest that steady nonlinear solutions are limited to flow rates below some critical value. Some interesting surface shapes are obtained depending on the location of the sink
Adverse Events and Safety of SARS-Cov2 Vaccines: What’s New and What’s Next
No full textJust over one year following rollout of the first vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), 572 million doses have been administered in the United States. Comparatively to the number of vaccines administered, adverse effects such as anaphylaxis have been rare, and seemingly, the more serious the effect, the rarer the occurrence. Despite these adverse effects, there are few, if any, true contraindications to COVID-19 vaccination and most individuals recover without further sequelae. This review provides guidance for the allergist/immunologist regarding appropriate next steps based on patient’s known allergy history or adverse reaction after receipt of COVID-19 vaccine in order to assist in safe global immunization
Does exercise influence burn-induced inflammation: A cross-over randomised controlled feasibility trial
Get PDFBackground
Burn injuries trigger a greater and more persistent inflammatory response than other trauma cases. Exercise has been shown to positively influence inflammation in healthy and diseased populations, however little is known about the latent effect of exercise on chronic inflammation in burn injured patients. The aims of the pilot study were to assess the feasibility of implementing a long duration exercise training program, in burn injured individuals including learnings associated with conducting a clinical trial in COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
Fifteen participants with a burn injury between 5–20% total body surface area acquired greater than a year ago were randomised in a within-subject designed study, into one of two conditions, exercise–control or control–exercise. The exercise condition consisted of six weeks of resistance and cardiovascular exercises, completed remotely or supervised in a hospital gym. A comprehensive outcome measurement was completed at the initial, mid and end point of each exercise and control condition. To determine the success of implementation, the feasibility indicator for the data completeness across the comprehensive outcome battery was set at 80%.
Results
Half (49%) of eligible participants in the timeframe, were recruited and commenced the study. Six participants withdrew prior to completion and a total of 15 participants completed the study. Eight participants were randomised to the exercise-control and seven to the control exercise group. Five participants trained remotely and seven did supervised training. Three participants completed a mix of both supervised and remote training initiated due to COVID restrictions. Outcome measures were completed on 97% of protocolised occasions and 100% of participants completed the exercise training.
Conclusions
Conducting a long duration exercise training study on burn injured individuals is feasible using the described methods. The knowledge gained helps improve the methodology in larger-scale projects. Insights into the impact of COVID-19 on this clinical trial and success enhancing adaptations for the researcher, research practice and the participant, are presented
A stochastic model for estimating sustainable limits to wildlife mortality in a changing world
Get PDFHuman-caused mortality of wildlife is a pervasive threat to biodiversity. Assessing the population-level impact of fisheries bycatch and other human-caused mortality of wildlife has typically relied upon deterministic methods. However, population declines are often accelerated by stochastic factors that are not accounted for in such conventional methods. Building on the widely applied potential biological removal (PBR) equation, we devised a new population modeling approach for estimating sustainable limits to human-caused mortality and applied it in a case study of bottlenose dolphins affected by capture in an Australian demersal otter trawl fishery. Our approach, termed sustainable anthropogenic mortality in stochastic environments (SAMSE), incorporates environmental and demographic stochasticity, including the dependency of offspring on their mothers. The SAMSE limit is the maximum number of individuals that can be removed without causing negative stochastic population growth. We calculated a PBR of 16.2 dolphins per year based on the best abundance estimate available. In contrast, the SAMSE model indicated that only 2.3–8.0 dolphins could be removed annually without causing a population decline in a stochastic environment. These results suggest that reported bycatch rates are unsustainable in the long term, unless reproductive rates are consistently higher than average. The difference between the deterministic PBR calculation and the SAMSE limits showed that deterministic approaches may underestimate the true impact of human-caused mortality of wildlife. This highlights the importance of integrating stochasticity when evaluating the impact of bycatch or other human-caused mortality on wildlife, such as hunting, lethal control measures, and wind turbine collisions. Although population viability analysis (PVA) has been used to evaluate the impact of human-caused mortality, SAMSE represents a novel PVA framework that incorporates stochasticity for estimating acceptable levels of human-caused mortality. It offers a broadly applicable, stochastic addition to the demographic toolbox to evaluate the impact of human-caused mortality on wildlife
Conservation agriculture with optimum fertilizer nitrogen rate reduces GWP for rice cultivation in floodplain soils
Get PDFWetland rice cultivation contributes significantly to global warming potential (GWP), an effect which is largely attributed to emissions of methane (CH4). Emerging technologies for wetland rice production such as conservation agriculture (CA) may mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but the effects are not well defined. Investigations were carried out in an irrigated rice (Boro rice) field in the fifth crop after conversion of conventional tillage (CT) to strip tillage (ST). Two crop residue levels (low versus high, LR versus HR) and three nitrogen (N) application rates (N1 = 108, N2 = 144, and N3 = 180 kg N ha−1) were laid out in a split-plot experiment with three replicates. Yield-scaled GHG emissions and GWP were estimated to evaluate the impacts of CA on mitigating CH4 and N2O emissions in the rice paddy field. There was a 55% higher N2O emission in ST with HR coupled with N3 than that in CT with LR coupled with N1. The N2O emission factors ranged from 0.43 to 0.75% in ST and 0.45 to 0.59% in CT, irrespective of the residue level and N rate. By contrast, CH4 emissions were significantly lower in CA than in the conventional practices (CT plus LR). The ST with LR in N2 reduced the GWP by 39% over the GWP in CT with HR in N1 and 16% over the conventional practices. Based on our investigation of the combination of tillage, residue, and N rate treatments, the adoption of CA with high and low residue levels reduced the GWP by 10 and 16%, respectively, because of lower CH4 and N2O emissions than the current management practices. The relatively high N2O emission factors suggest that mitigation of this GHG in wetland rice systems needs greater attention