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Particle receivers are gaining importance in the field of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) due to the high temperature that particles can achieve without degradation. Several researchers are studying the potential of this technology by means of system analyses, which need simple and light models of the system. This study presents two simple models for the particle receiver. The simplest model is a correlation obtained by fitting the results calculated with a more complex receiver model simulated in CFD. The other model is a 1D model, which is benchmarked against the same CFD results. Although both models achieve high coefficient of determination, R2, when compared to CFD results, the 1D model seems to provide more accurate results (especially during sunsets and sunrises). Both models are integrated into a tecno-economic model developed in previous work. The LCOE obtained with the 1D model is between 7% and 10% greater than the one obtained with the correlation.

This study focuses on formulating the most sustainable concrete by incorporating recycled concrete aggregates and other products retrieved from construction and demolition (C&D) activities. Both recycled coarse aggregates (RCA) and recycled fine aggregates (RFA) are firstly used to fully replace the natural coarse and fine aggregates in the concrete mix design. Later, the cement rich ultrafine particles, recycled glass powder and mineral fibres recovered from construction and demolition wastes (CDW) are further incorporated at a smaller rate either as cement substituent or as supplementary additives. Remarkable properties are noticed when the RCA (4–12 mm) and RFA (0.25–4 mm) are fully used to replace the natural aggregates in a new concrete mix. The addition of recycled cement rich ultrafines (RCU), Recycled glass ultrafines (RGU) and recycled mineral fibres (RMF) into recycled concrete improves the modulus of elasticity. The final concrete, which comprises more than 75% (wt.) of recycled components/materials, is believed to be the most sustainable and green concrete mix. Mechanical properties and durability of this concrete have been studied and found to be within acceptable limits, indicating the potential of recycled aggregates and other CDW components in shaping sustainable and circular construction practices. The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support from EU Horizon 2020 Project VEEP ‘‘Cost-Effective Recycling of C&DW in High Added Value Energy Efficient Prefabricated Concrete Compo-nents for Massive Retrofitting of our Built Environment” (No.723582).

Effective access control techniques are in demand, as electronically assisted healthcare services require the patient’s sensitive health records. In emergency situations, where the patient’s well-being is jeopardized, different healthcare actors associated with emergency cases should be granted permission to access Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of patients. The research objective of our study is to develop machine learning techniques based on patients’ time sequential health metrics and integrate them with an Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) mechanism. We propose an ABAC mechanism that can yield access to sensitive EHRs systems by applying prognostic context handlers where contextual information, is used to identify emergency conditions and permit access to medical records. Specifically, we use patients’ recent health history to predict the health metrics for the next two hours by leveraging Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) Neural Networks (NNs). These predicted health metrics values are evaluated by our personalized fuzzy context handlers, to predict the criticality of patients’ status. The developed access control method provides secure access for emergency clinicians to sensitive information and simultaneously safeguards the patient’s well-being. Integrating this predictive mechanism with personalized context handlers proved to be a robust tool to enhance the performance of the access control mechanism to modern EHRs System.

Abstract AP1000® Generation III+ reactor bases its safety concept on passive systems, differently from the previous Generation II reactors. This fact has led the approximations and methodologies previously used for modeling active safety systems to be reviewed and adapted to simulate the physics of passive systems. Diverse studies about the AP1000 containment have demonstrated the difficulty to correctly model the occurring phenomenology. In this paper, an integral AP1000 3D containment GOTHIC model is presented, including the Passive Containment Cooling System (PCCS). The model includes the compartments inside and outside the metallic containment liner that influence the thermal–hydraulic behavior. The model is tested against a Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident (LBLOCA) to assess its thermal–hydraulic performance, assuming a PCS tank malfunction, what is a conservative hypothesis. The pressure and temperature evolution predicted by the 3D containment model is analyzed and compared with a single node Lumped Parameters model, allowing to evaluate some preliminary benefits of 3D modeling for containment safety analysis. The 3D containment model allows to predict the thermal evolution in each containment compartment capturing the heterogeneity of this phenomenon, with higher resolution than the lumped parameters models traditionally used in this kind of analyses. It allows to observe the thermohydraulic conditions locally at any time during the transient.

This research presents a 100% renewable energy (RE) scenario by 2050 with a high share of electric vehicles on the grid (V2G) developed in Ecuador with the support of the EnergyPLAN analysis tool. Hour-by-hour data iterations were performed to determine solutions among various features, including energy storage, V2G connections that spanned the distribution system, and long-term evaluation. The high participation in V2G connections keeps the electrical system available; meanwhile, the high proportions of variable renewable energy are the pillar of the joint electrical system. The layout of the sustainable mobility scenario and the high V2G participation maintain the balance of the electrical system during most of the day, simplifying the storage equipment requirements. Consequently, the influence of V2G systems on storage is a significant result that must be considered in the energy transition that Ecuador is developing in the long term. The stored electricity will not only serve as storage for future grid use. Additionally, the V2G batteries serve as a buffer between generation from diversified renewable sources and the end-use stage.

Micro hydro power plants (µHPP) are typically used to supply electric energy to microgrids outside the national power grids taking care of the frequency control of the isolated system. A conventional way to maintain the load balance in the system is to use thyristor switched AC-AC converters controlled dump loads. A disadvantage of the AC-AC converters is their reactive power consumption decreasing the power factor at the generator output. To avoid this problem the authors have earlier proposed two converter topologies utilizing symmetrical switching scheme resulting to zero reactive power consumption. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the frequency regulation loop performance of the dump load controlled single generator system by using the symmetrically switched converter structures. Evaluation is carried out by analyzing the performances of different converter structures in a simulator representing the operation of a Cuban µHPP “Los Gallegos”. The results showed that the frequency regulation loop performance using each proposed converter structure satisfied the Cuban standard of frequency regulation, but with the symmetrically switched structures reactive power consumption was reduced resulting to reduced losses and improved effective current delivery capacity of the generator.