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Acute oral administration of ethanol (3.2g/kg) to rats increased (DOPAC) levels in the caudate nucleus, but had no effect on DOPAC levels in the substantia nigra and frontal cortex and failed to modify dopamine content in any of the above areas. On the other hand, the administration of the same dose of ethanol to rats which had been chronically treated with ethanol (3.2g/kg daily for 60 days), produced a decrease of DA content and a parallel increase of DOPAC levels in all areas studied. In chronically treated rats, 24 hrs after last ethanol administration dopamine levels in the frontal cortex were 60% higher than in controls. The results suggest that ethanol administration causes dopamine release in different brain areas.

Two studies conducted in Guadeloupe (West Indies) and Réunion (Indian Ocean) islands were designed to investigate the benefits of producing sugarcane as an energy crop and to assess the influence of agroclimatic factors on energy efficiency, respectively. In this context, it is essential to know the low heating value of the dry above-ground biomass (LHVd, MJ/kg) and its energy yield (EY, MJ/m2) in order to select the best varieties and set up a payment method for growers. Eighteen Poaceae (sugarcane and Erianthus) cultivars were compared under wet tropical environmental conditions in Guadeloupe. Three sugarcane cultivars were studied in four contrasting environments in Réunion. The partition sampling and biomass measurement procedures were identical at both locations. Low heating value (LHV) predictions were achieved using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) after specific calibration (Guadeloupe), or arithmetically after lignocellulosic compound prediction (Réunion). In both studies, LHV variability was very low and slightly dependent on the site, cultivar and above-ground biomass components (millable stalks and tops, and green and dead leaves). Considering the overall dry above-ground biomass (DAB, kg/m2), the LHVd was calculated by averaging 159 samples (mean 16.65 MJ/kg) in Guadeloupe and 315 samples (mean 16.45 MJ/kg) for Réunion. An excellent linear relationship between the DAB and its EY, regardless of cultivar, age and environment, was found (n = 474 and R² = 0.99). Sugarcane energy content assessment could thus be simplified by measuring the DAB, while enabling development of a faster method of payment for growers based on the DAB measurement and the correlation between DAB and EY. Finally, the findings of this study should allow growers to rapidly determine the commercial value of their sugarcane crops, and also enable purchasers to assess the amount of recoverable energy. (Résumé d'auteur)

Biomass can replace fossil raw materials and fuels, and thus decrease greenhouse gas emissions and use of declining non-renewable resources. Biomass resources are not unlimited, and the competition within different energy sectors and between the use for food, energy and raw material will be increasing in the future. It can already be noticed as increasing prices and volatilities of prices on cereals, wood raw material and energy wood in several countries in Europe and other continents. The basis on the sustainable and sound use of biomass is discussed and comparisons on energy and green house gas balances within different energy sectors are presented.

This report presents an analysis of sensors data leading to an initial assessment of the power performance from sea trails of the DEXA D05 Wave Energy Converter (WEC). The sea trails where performed approx. 1 nautical mile offshore from Hanstholm, Denmark during 2011. The converter was 1:5 scale model of the planned full scale DEXA WEC with a hydraulic Power Take Off (PTO). The converter had sensors to measure mooring forces, motions, as well as pressure and displacement sensors in the PTOs. The report gives the calculated power production efficiency and an analysis of the mooring forces. The DEXA D05 WEC was built, deployed and operated by the client DEXAWAVE ApS and the analysis of the sensor data, given here, has been carried out by John Lavelle under supervision by Jens Peter Kofoed in the Wave Energy Research Group at the department of Civil Engineering, Aalborg University (AAU).

The rapid increase in worldwide energy demands and its environmental impacts directs countries for more strategic energy policies. In terms of environmental impact of energy and security of supply, there is no source which has zero risk. In 21 century, coal is regarded as the world's most important and reliable source of energy. Our country is facing a serious energy supply security. In this process, the most rational thing can be done is to use the limited resources efficiently, economic and ecologically. Today, in the level achieved technologically, the capacity of conventional thermal power plants must be definitely improved and required rehabilitation. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) techniques have been developed the concept of traditional availability of fossil resources. Furthermore, to adopt the terms of mitigation of carbon dioxide (CO2), the use of different areas of CO2 such as chemical, biological and biotechnological products, has been investigated. It can be seen in western European countries the best practice examples of this. In this study, in order to contribute our country's energy policies and strategies and acquire new technologies to the sector, technological and ecological developments in modern thermal power plants were examined. 23rd International Mining Congress and Exhibition of Turkey, IMCET 2013 -- 16 April 2013 through 19 April 2013 -- Antalya -- 105453 Boren;DEMiR Export;et al;metso Expect results;Outotec;TMMOB Maden Muhendisleri Odasi

The paper deals with modelling of transport energy demand related to an electric vehicle (EV) fleet. The main aim of the paper is to provide a proper methodology of deriving a simple transport energy demand model aimed to be used within: (i) real-time control of EV fleet charging, (ii) planning of EV fleet routes, and (iii) various EV fleet-related techno-economic analysis studies. The model is represented by maps also known as response surfaces, which are obtained by simulating the considered EV model over synthetic driving cycles. The synthetic driving cycles are introduced to replace a high number of recorded driving cycles in a statistically representative way, thus reducing the number of time-consuming EV simulations. The final transport energy demand model is validated against the more precise energy consumption data obtained by simulating EREV model over the full set of recorded driving cycle.

Earth observation (EO) data are useful tools to analyse geomorphological processes, among which slow-moving landslides triggered by rainfall. EO data are also used to evaluate climate change and to assess its impact on geomorphological processes and geo-hydrological phenomena. The latter is the topic of the Project OT4Clima (Innovative Earth Observation technologies to study Climate Change and its impact on the environment) joined by CNR-IRPI within a consortium that includes other CNR institutes, universities and private companies. The OT4CLIMA project moves from the awareness that the impacts of climate change on the environment need to be better observed, understood, and modelled, especially at a regional scale, in order to put in place appropriate and effective risk mitigation strategies. Within the project, the CNR-IRPI group works on the development of rigorous methods and procedures for evaluating the impact of climate and its change on landslides, in particular on those characterized by a slow cinematic, at a regional scale. The test site is represented by four catchments located in the Basilicata region, southern Italy, namely the basins of the Bradano, Basento, Agri, and Sinni rivers. Long-term rainfall series gathered from 22 rain gauges located in the four catchments are analysed to evaluate the presence of temporal trends. To this aim, non-parametric and statistical tests are applied to the series. Historical landslide information is gathered from the analysis of the IFFI (Inventario dei Fenomeni Franosi in Italia) database, the Idrogeo platform (https://idrogeo.isprambiente.it/app/) and the AVI (Aree Vulnerate in Italia) catalogue. Only some types of landslide movements are considered, namely rotational-translational slides, slow slides/flows, complex movements. Moreover, Copernicus Sentinel-1 images are employed to detect the spatial and temporal distribution of slow earth surface deformations. The obtained results are used for checking the completeness of the landslide inventories. More in detail, the deformation maps of the test site are obtained by means of the application of the SBAS (Small BAseline Subset) technique to three datasets of Sentinel-1 images: t146 ascending orbit and t51 and t124 descending orbits, for the period 2015-2020. Then, a comparative analysis of rainfall data with displacement series is carried out with the aim of identifying clusters of satellite measurements with homogeneous behaviour likely correlated to variations in the rainfall regime. In particular, only the points with a mean velocity in the observation higher than 0.1 cm/year are considered to be moving. Moreover, only the displacement series of points located in areas mapped as landslides - as for the historical inventories - and sited within the influence regions of each rain gauge in the study area are analysed. A 10-km circular buffer centred in the stations are used to define the influence region of each station. The displacement series are analysed and compared to the rainfall series to search for correlations and to evaluate the effects of climate drivers on slow moving landslides.

RFID tags will really become smart objects of the Internet of Things (IoT) if they will be able to exploit the passive nature of the communication also for exchanging data with any other networked devices in the Internet. To this aim, an adaptation layer, named 6lo-RFID, has been specifically designed to run IPv6 over the RFID link technology. In this paper we draw the design principles for the development of a fully passive, IPv6-compliant, and energy-efficient 6lo-RFID tag platform. In particular, we discuss the block's design of an RF energy harvester and evaluate the simulated performance of a fully-passive 6lo-RFID tag when GET/PUT CoAP methods are used to execute operations on the tag memory.

The winter package to reform EU’s energy system Diritto dell'energia