Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions and Energy Implications of High Penetration of Photovoltaics and Electric Vehicles in California

California has set two ambitious targets aimed at achieving a high level of decarbonization in the coming decades, namely (i) to generate 60% and 100% of its electricity using renewable energy (RE) technologies, respectively, by 2030 and by 2045, and (ii) introducing at least 5 million zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2030, as a first step towards all new vehicles being ZEVs by 2035. In addition, in California, photovoltaics (PVs) coupled with lithium-ion battery (LIB) storage and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are, respectively, the most promising candidates for new RE installations and new ZEVs, respectively. However, concerns have been voiced about how meeting both targets at the same time could potentially negatively affect the electricity grid’s stability, and hence also its overall energy and carbon performance. This paper addresses those concerns by presenting a thorough life-cycle carbon emission and energy analysis based on an original grid balancing model that uses a combination of historical hourly dispatch and demand data and future projections of hourly demand for BEV charging. Five different scenarios are assessed, and the results unequivocally indicate that a future 80% RE grid mix in California is not only able to cope with the increased demand caused by BEVs, but it can do so with low carbon emissions (<110 g CO2-eq/kWh) and satisfactory net energy returns (EROIPE-eq = 12–16).

Urban Segregation in a Nordic Small Town in the Late-Seventeenth Century: Residential Patterns in Sortavala at the Eastern Borderland of the Swedish Realm

The general view of urban segregation in pre-modern towns has been that the wealthy lived near the administrative and economic center(s), while the poor were pushed to the limits of the town. This approach has been questioned by studies proving that urban spaces were socially mixed. This dilemma has been studied here by examining in detail the urban segregation in one small town, Sortavala, at the eastern borderland of the Swedish realm. The analysis shows that the town space was bipolarly segregated. The “gentry,” officeholders and the like, lived near the market square and town hall; the wealthy burghers along the main street. However, even the poorest taxpayers lived among the wealthy and those of high social rank. The segregation was relative: the proportion of the wealthy grew in the grid plan in the town center; the settlements growing “freely” outside the original grid plan were for the poor only.

Zastosowanie analizy planimetrycznej w badaniach geologicznych – eksperymenty i spostrzeżenia

Planimetric analysis is a well-known and commonly used method for determining the content of a given component in the area of the analyzed surface. In geology, it is used to determine both the mineral and maceral composition, and its results are helpful in solving a wide range of research problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between the obtained results of planimetric analysis and the density of the measurement grids, which can be adapted to specific situations in geological samples in order to optimize the ratio of the accuracy of the result to the time of analysis. The research was divided into two stages. Models were used in the first stage, while in the second, coal samples were investigated. In the first stage, a virtual grid of measurement points with dimensions of 100 by 100 points was created, which gave a total of 10 000 points. After creating the measurement grid model, 102 scenarios were established, differing in the content of the analyzed component A (0.1%, 0.5% and from 1 to 100%). In each of the adopted scenarios, 100 combinations were carried out so that the arrangement of points on the measurement grid corresponding to component A was random. Then, the number of measuring points was reduced several times from the original 10 000 to 100 and each time content of component A was calculated. The obtained average component A content in most cases turned out to be only slightly different from the original, which cannot be stated in the case of both minimum and maximum values – here a wider range of results is observed. In the second stage, 3 coal samples of varying maceral composition complexity were investigated and a measurement grid of 100 by 100 points was used. The original grid density was gradually reduced (down to 144 points) and maceral composition was calculated each time. Results obtained from models as well as from samples show a clear trend of decreasing accuracy with decreasing density of the measuring grid. The obtained results were also analyzed in terms of the established acceptance criteria for which the content of the component was assumed to be different from its content based on a grid of 10 000 points by up to 5%, 10% or 30% of the original value. The analysis of the relationship between the accuracy of the obtained results and the time of conducting the analysis seems to indicate that the choice of the measurement grid based on 500 points is optimal.

The Riskin Grid: A Mixed Legacy

In considering whether Len Riskin’s Understanding Mediators’ Orientations, Strategies and Techniques: A Grid for the Perplexed is a formative piece, I start with the definition of “formative.” Formative is defined as “helping to shape, develop or mold.” For me, the grid is formative in that Riskin’s original grid idea became fertile ground for criticism of his model, which together resulted in a productive debate that in some ways is more important than the grid itself. The grid should be credited with shaping the framework for conversations integral in the development of the mediation field for at least a decade, if not more....

Reconsidering the Topography of al-Balīd (Oman): A Preliminary Review of the Graphical Documentation

In the last 70 years several groups investigated the ancient site of al-Balīd. From Costa onwards all researchers placed their spatial data on the grid provided by the Italian archaeologist; in order to precise the positioning of the monuments and of the single excavations, the scholars sub-divided the original grid in smaller units. Jansen introduced a completely 3D digital recording system by the use of total station. Isenberg improved the information system using more sophisticated and accurate spatial technologies. From Jansen onwards all data were geo-referenced according to local cartographical coordinates. The paper focused on the graphical documentation provided by each research group and on the methodology underlying the data.

Efficient Visualization Method and Implementation of Reservoir Model Based on WPF

In view of the slow speed and poor effect of real-time rendering of large-scale reservoir geological grid model, a new grid model hidden algorithm is proposed by analyzing the Eclipse reservoir grid model storage format, grid model representation, and cell sorting rule, which optimizes the original grid data and improves the rendering speed of reservoir grid model. The algorithm in this paper eliminates hidden points and faces according to the topological relationship of the grid, and finally, only the visible point and face data are extracted as the final visual input data. Through the realization of 3D visualization software of reservoir geological model and well trajectory, the correctness and efficiency of the hidden algorithm are verified. In the software, firstly, the number of display grids is effectively reduced by preprocessing, and the 3D graphics technology of WPF and helix is adopted to realize the high-efficiency display of reservoir grids. The comparison test of different scale reservoir models shows that the method can reduce the point and surface data by more than 85% and shows that the speed optimization effect is significant. The 3D display function realizes the interactive functions such as roaming, zooming, and viewpoint switching of the reservoir model, truly reveals again the geological environment and borehole information of underground drilling, which is helpful for drilling interpretation and decision-making, provides a reasonable drilling tracking geological target drilling scheme for the drilling process, and realizes the seamless connection of geological engineering integration.

Why Dilated Convolutional Neural Networks: A Proof of Their Optimality

One of the most effective image processing techniques is the use of convolutional neural networks, where we combine intensity values at grid points in the vicinity of each point. To speed up computations, researchers have developed a dilated version of this technique, in which only some points are processed. It turns out that the most efficient case is when we select points from a sub-grid. In this paper, we explain this empirical efficiency proving that the sub-grid is indeed optimal – in some reasonable sense. To be more precise, we prove that all reasonable optimality criteria, the optimal subset of the original grid is either a sub-grid, or a sub-grid-like set.

An Efficient Row Key Encoding Method with ASCII Code for Storing Geospatial Big Data in HBase

Recently, increasing amounts of multi-source geospatial data (raster data of satellites and textual data of meteorological stations) have been generated, which can play a cooperative and important role in many research works. Efficiently storing, organizing and managing these data is essential for their subsequent application. HBase, as a distributed storage database, is increasingly popular for the storage of unstructured data. The design of the row key of HBase is crucial to improving its efficiency, but large numbers of researchers in the geospatial area do not conduct much research on this topic. According the HBase Official Reference Guide, row keys should be kept as short as is reasonable while remaining useful for the required data access. In this paper, we propose a new row key encoding method instead of conventional stereotypes. We adopted an existing hierarchical spatio-temporal grid framework as the row key of the HBase to manage these geospatial data, with the difference that we utilized the obscure but short American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) to achieve the structure of the grid rather than the original grid code, which can be easily understood by humans but is very long. In order to demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method, we stored the daily meteorological data of 831 meteorological stations in China from 1985 to 2019 in HBase; the experimental result showed that the proposed method can not only maintain an equivalent query speed but can shorten the row key and save storage resources by 20.69% compared with the original grid codes. Meanwhile, we also utilized GF-1 imagery to test whether these improved row keys could support the storage and querying of raster data. We downloaded and stored a part of the GF-1 imagery in Henan province, China from 2017 to 2018; the total data volume reached about 500 GB. Then, we succeeded in calculating the daily normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) value in Henan province from 2017 to 2018 within 54 min. Therefore, the experiment demonstrated that the improved row keys can also be applied to store raster data when using HBase.

BRaVE Project: processing an evidence-based tool to develop and evaluate vaccination strategies

Introduction Deaths and epidemics due to vaccine-preventable diseases still occur even though there are effective vaccines available. Albeit recommendations released by the Italian Ministry of Health, vaccination coverages remain unsatisfactory. An improvement is therefore needed and new strategies are deserved in order to increase coverage. Nevertheless, neither a validated tool nor an institutional guideline to plan and/or evaluate vaccination strategies are available. The aim of BRaVE project was to build an evidence-based tool to develop and assess them. Methods In May 2019, a scoping review in MEDLINE and a search of ECDC and WHO websites were performed to look for validated tools to plan and/or evaluate vaccination strategies. The results of the search and the four phases of the Deming cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act) were used to develop a grid. A multiprofessional panel of 7 experts validated the items included in the grid through a Delphi process followed by a face-to-face meeting. Results The original grid submitted to the panel of experts included 30 items (13 planning, 7 implementation, 4 check, 4 act, 2 other). The first round of Delphi led to the suggestion of 11 additional items and to the amendment of 4 out of 30 original items. During the second round of the Delphi the 41 items proposed were approved. At the end of the face-to-face meeting, 1 item was split. Seven items belonging to “Planning” (Plan) and “Implementation” (Do) were labelled as requisites for launching a vaccination strategy and the remaining 35 as items to be considered in their evaluation (15 planning, 11 implementation, 8 check, 4 act, 4 other). Conclusions Despite its importance, vaccination coverage is low. Evidence shows possible improvement in coverage, if innovative vaccination strategies are put in place. The developed grid is proposed as an organizational instrument which could improve and standardize vaccination strategies fostering their success and transferability. Key messages Novel organizational strategies could be a useful answer to improve vaccination coverage. The proposed grid could be used for the development and assessment of vaccination strategies.

Dynamic Coarsening and Local Reordered Nonlinear Solvers for Simulating Transport in Porous Media

Summary We present a robust and flexible sequential solution approach in which the flow equation is solved on the original grid, whereas the transport equations are solved with a new dynamic coarsening method that adapts the grid resolution locally to reduce the number of cells as much as possible. The resulting grid is formed by combining precomputed coarse partitions of an underlying fine model. Our approach is flexible and makes very few assumptions on cell geometries and the topology of the grid. To further accelerate the transport step, we combine dynamic coarsening with a local nonlinear solver that permutes the discrete transport equations into an optimal block-triangular form so that these can be solved very efficiently using a nonlinear back-substitution method. Efficiency and utility of the overall approach are assessed through a number of conceptual test cases, including the Olympus field model.