Enabling Micro-level Demand-Side Grid Flexiblity in Resource Constrained Environments

The increased penetration of uncertain and variable renewable energy presents various resource and operational electric grid challenges. Micro-level (household and small commercial) demand-side grid flexibility could be a cost-effective strategy to integrate high penetrations of wind and solar energy, but literature and field deployments exploring the necessary information and communication technologies (ICTs) are scant. This paper presents an exploratory framework for enabling information driven grid flexibility through the Internet of Things (IoT), and a proof-of-concept wireless sensor gateway (FlexBox) to collect the necessary parameters for adequately monitoring and actuating the micro-level demand-side. In the summer of 2015, thirty sensor gateways were deployed in the city of Managua (Nicaragua) to develop a baseline for a near future small-scale demand response pilot implementation. FlexBox field data has begun shedding light on relationships between ambient temperature and load energy consumption, load and building envelope energy efficiency challenges, latency communication network challenges, and opportunities to engage existing demand-side user behavioral patterns. Information driven grid flexibility strategies present great opportunity to develop new technologies, system architectures, and implementation approaches that can easily scale across regions, incomes, and levels of development

Characteristics of Hydroxypropyl Starch of Sorghum Mutant Line ZH-30 and Its Potential Use in Paper Industry

Sorghum mutant line Zh-30 is a breeding line developed at the Center for the Application of Isotope and Radiation Technology, BATAN by using mutation techniques. Gamma irradiation with the dose of 300 Gy was used to induced plant genetic variability. Through selection processes in several generations, the mutant line Zh-30 was identified to have better agronomic characteristics, better grain quality and higher yield than the original variety. Research on starch quality of this mutant line was done to identify its potential use in a paper industry. Hydroxypropyl starch derivatives of this sorghum lines were prepared by varying alkalinity of the reaction mixtures using propylene oxide to reach Molar of Substitution (MS) of 0–0.180. Its pasting behavior, paste properties and application in wet end paper processing were evaluated. The optimal amount of addition of hydroxypropyl starch was 1-2 %. At this level, drainage time was lower, so that it decreased paper machine speed. At higher level, it did not improve the burst and tensile strengths but tended to decrease the tear strength of handsheets. The properties of lower pasting temperature, higher water holding capacity lower retrogradation susceptibility, increased viscosity and stability of pastes suggested that hydroxypropyl starch of sorghum ZH-30 was suitable for use in wet end paper processing. Comparing to the original starch, the hydroxypropyl starch of sorghum Zh-30 could significantly improve the strength of handsheets

Development of Sorghum Tolerant to Acid Soil Using Induced Mutation with Gamma Irradiation

Water scarcity still becomes a problem in some dryland agricultural areas in Indonesia. Development of dryland farming system may be focused on crops that are required less water such as sorghum. Sorghum is a cereal crop that is usually grown under hot and dry condition and it is ideal for Indonesia. Sorghum is a good source of food, animal feed and raw material for ethanol. Indonesia is currently looking for alternative renewable energy resources and sorghum is regarded as one of the promising source of bioethanol as bioenergy. Unfortunately, most agricultural land in western part of the country particularly in Sumatera and Kalimantan is dryland and dominated by acid soil. The main constraint of crop production in acid soil is deficiency and Al toxicity. Therefore, development of sorghum cultivation in dryland farming system requires a variety which is tolerant to such conditions. Sorghum breeding for acid soil tolerance had been conducted at PATIR-BATAN by using induced mutations with gamma irradiation. The breeding objective was to search for sorghum genotypes tolerant to acid soil condition and with regard to sorghum use for bioethanol production. A number of 66 breeding materials, including the mutants, had been screened for acid soil tolerance on land with soil pH of 4.2 and 39% Al saturation in Lampung Province. Ten sorghum genotypes had been identified as high yielding in the acid soil condition. The mutant lines GH-ZB-41-07, YT30-39-07, B-76 and B-92 had grain yield higher (>4.5 t/ha) than the control plants (Durra, Mandau and Numbu). Sorghum mutants ZH30-29-07, ZH30-30-07 and ZH30-35-07 were promising for grain-base bioethanol production with ethanol yield exceeded 2,000 l/ha. Meanwhile, the sweet sorghum mutants ZH30-35-07, ZH30-30-07 and ZH30-29-07 had brix content of 11.59, 11.95 and 10.50%, respectively. These mutant lines are promising to be developed further in sorghum breeding since they are highly tolerant to acid soils. Received: 20 November 2009; Revised: 20 April 2010; Accepted: 21 April 201

Half a million excess deaths in the Iraq war:Terms and conditions may apply

Hagopian et al. (2013) published a headline-grabbing estimate for the Iraq war of half a million excess deaths , i.e. deaths that would not have happened without the war. We reanalyse the data from the University Collaborative Iraq Mortality Study and refute their dramatic claim. The Hagopian et al. (2013) estimate has four main defects: i) most importantly, it conflates non-violent deaths with violent ones; ii) it fails to account for the stratified sampling design of the UCIMS; iii) it fully includes all reported deaths regardless of death certificate backing, even when respondents say they have a death certificate but cannot produce one when prompted; iv) it adds approximately 100,000 speculative deaths not supported by data. Thus, we reject the 500,000 estimate. Indeed, we find that the UCIMS data cannot even support a claim that the number of non-violent excess deaths in the Iraq war has been greater than zero. We recommend future research to follow our methodological lead in two main directions; supplement traditional excess death estimates with excess death estimates for non-violent deaths alone, and use differences-in-differences estimates to uncover the relationship between violence and non-violent death rates

Establishing a meaningful human rights due diligence process for corporations : learning from experience of human rights impact assessment

The United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, has constructed a new international framework, which is set to become the cornerstone for all action on human rights and business at the international level. The principle of human rights due diligence (HRDD) is the central component of the corporate duty to respect human rights within that framework. This article argues that Ruggie's HRDD principle contains the majority of the core procedural elements that a reasonable human rights impact assessment (HRIA) process should incorporate. It is likely that the majority of corporations will adopt HRIA as a mechanism for meeting their due diligence responsibilities. However, in the context of the contentious debate around corporate human rights performance, the current state of the art in HRIA gives rise to concerns about the credibility and robustness of likely practice. Additional requirements are therefore essential if HRDD is to have a significant impact on corporate human rights performance – requirements in relation to transparency; external participation and verification; and independent monitoring and review

Association of Body Mass Index of HIV-1-Infected Pregnant Women and Infant Weight, Body Mass Index, Length, and Head Circumference: The NISDI Perinatal Study.

This study assessed the relationship between the body mass index (BMI) of HIV-1-infected women and their infants' perinatal outcomes. The study population consisted of women enrolled in the NICHD International Site Development Initiative (NISDI) Perinatal Study with data allowing calculation of the BMI adjusted for length of gestation (adjBMI), who delivered singleton infants. Outcome variables included infant growth parameters at birth (weight, BMI, length and head circumference) and gestational age. Of 697 women from Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil and Mexico who were included in the analysis, the adjBMI was classified as underweight for 109 (15.6%), normal for 418 (60.0%), overweight for 88 (12.6%) and obese for 82 (11.8%). Median infant birth weight, BMI, birth length and head circumference differed significantly according to maternal adjBMI (P</=0.0002). Underweight mothers gave birth to infants with lower weight, lower BMI, shorter length and smaller head circumference, while infants born to normal, overweight and obese mothers were of similar size