The EU has undertaken a thorough reform of its energy model. Current EU 2050 climate commitment sets an 80–95% GHG reduction goal. To reach this goal, the EU must make continued progress towards a ...low-carbon society. Renewable energy sources and electric vehicle play an important role for a gradual transition. The power grid faces a challenging future due to intermittency and the non-dispatchable nature of wind and solar energy production, but flexibility needs can migrate from generation to load, with the expansion of demand-side resources and storage technologies. A novel grid technique is presented and evaluated in this paper for the optimal integrated operation of renewable resources and electric vehicle to increase penetration of renewable energy. It is proposed a distribute control system to manage a charge and discharge strategy to support mismatching between load and renewable generation thru V2G technology. Demand response, peak saving and ancillary services are introduced to keep a reliable power quality, stable frequency and flatten load profile.
Display omitted
•Europe 2050 low-carbon scenario based on RES and energy efficiency is reviewed.•The effects of high renewable and efficient electricity system are assessed.•A smart charging strategy for EV is presented to provide grid services.•Demand response and EV storage are analyzed to match with non-dispatchable resources.•The impact of proposed charging strategy on electric load curve is evaluated.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disease that is specially characterized by impairments in social communication and social skills. ASD has a high prevalence in children, ...affecting 1 in 160 subjects. Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as an effective tool for intervention in the health field. Different recent papers have reviewed the VR-based treatments in ASD, but they have an important limitation because they only use clinical databases and do not include important technical indexes such as the Web of Science index or the Scimago Journal & Country Rank. To our knowledge, this is the first contribution that has carried out an evidence-based systematic review including both clinical and technical databases about the effectiveness of VR-based intervention in ASD. The initial search identified a total of 450 records. After the exclusion of the papers that are not studies, duplicated articles, and the screening of the abstract and full text, 31 articles met the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcomes) criteria and were selected for analysis. The studies examined suggest moderate evidence about the effectiveness of VR-based treatments in ASD. VR can add many advantages to the treatment of ASD symptomatology, but it is necessary to develop consistent validations in future studies to state that VR can effectively complement the traditional treatments.
The aim of this investigation was to determine the position and duration specific activity of the most demanding passages of play in football players. Global positioning system data were collected ...from twenty-three football players across a competitive season. A total of 605 individual match files were analysed. Players were categorised based on positional groups; full-back (FB), central defender (CD), midfielder (MF), wide midfielders (WMF) and forwards (FW). The most demanding passage of a match play was analysed using a rolling average method, where maximal values were calculated for four different time durations (1', 3', 5' and 10') using distance (m·min
), high metabolic load distance (HMLD) and average metabolic power (AMP) as variables of interest. Using distance as the criterion variable, MF and WMF positions covered greater distance, and fewer sprinting meters (>7.0 m·s
, m·min
). With HMLD as the criterion variable, the values for WMF and MF positions were higher than the CD and FW positions. The MF and WMF positions performed more high-intensity accelerations and decelerations when the criterion variable was AMP. These results provide an understanding of the most demanding passages of play to inform training practices for specific football playing positions.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, FSPLJ, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
ABSTRACTMartín-García, A, Gómez Díaz, A, Bradley, PS, Morera, F, and Casamichana, D. Quantification of a professional football teamʼs external load using a microcycle structure. J Strength Cond Res ...32(12)3520–3527, 2018—The aims of this study were to (a) determine the external load of a football team across playing position and relative to competition for a structured microcycle and (b) examine the loading and variation the day after competition for players with or without game time. Training and match data were obtained from 24 professional football players who belonging to the reserve squad of a Spanish La Liga club during the 2015/16 season using global positioning technology (n = 37 matches and n = 42 training weeks). Training load data were analyzed with respect to the number of days before or after a match (match day MD minus or plus). Training load metrics declined as competition approached (MD-4 > MD-3 > MD-2 > MD-1; p < 0.05; effect sizes ES0.4–3.1). On the day after competition, players without game time demonstrated greater load in a compensatory session (MD + 1C) that replicated competition compared with a recovery session (MD + 1R) completed by players with game time (MD + 1C > MD + 1R; p < 0.05; ES1.4–1.6). Acceleration and deceleration metrics during training exceeded 50% of that performed in competition for MD + 1C (80–86%), MD-4 (71–72%), MD-3 (62–69%), and MD-2 (56–61%). Full backs performed more high-speed running and sprint distance than other positions at MD-3 and MD-4 (p < 0.05; ES0.8–1.7). The coefficient of variation for weekly training sessions ranged from ∼40% for MD-3 and MD-4 to ∼80% for MD + 1R. The data demonstrate that the external load of a structured microcycle varied substantially based on the players training day and position. This information could be useful for applied sports scientists when trying to systematically manage load, particularly compensatory conditioning for players without game time.
The present study aimed to examine the effects of the Spanish confinement derived from the COVID-19 crisis on children and their families, accounting for child's age. A range of child negative (e.g., ...conduct problems) and positive outcomes (e.g., routine maintenance) were examined, along with a set of parent-related variables, including resilience, perceived distress, emotional problems, parenting distress and specific parenting practices (e.g., structured or avoidant parenting), which were modeled through path analysis to better understand child adjustment. Data were collected in April 2020, with information for the present study provided by 940 (89.6%) mothers, 102 (9.7%) fathers and 7 (0.7%) different caregivers, who informed on 1049 Spanish children (50.4% girls) aged 3 to 12 years (M
= 7.29; SD = 2.39). The results suggested that, according to parents' information, most children did not show important changes in behavior, although some increasing rates were observed for both negative and positive outcomes. Child adjustment was influenced by a chain of effects, derived from parents' perceived distress and emotional response to the COVID-19 crisis, via parenting distress and specific parenting practices. While parenting distress in particular triggered child negative outcomes, specific parenting practices were more closely related to child positive outcomes. These findings may help to better inform, for potential future outbreaks, effective guidelines and prevention programs aimed at promoting the child's well-being in the family.
New emerging technologies have proven their efficacy in aiding people in their rehabilitation. The tests that are usually used to evaluate usability (in general) or user satisfaction (in particular) ...of this technology are not specifically focused on virtual rehabilitation and patients. The objective of this contribution is to present and evaluate the USEQ (User Satisfaction Evaluation Questionnaire). The USEQ is a questionnaire that is designed to properly evaluate the satisfaction of the user (which constitutes part of usability) in virtual rehabilitation systems. Forty patients with balance disorders completed the USEQ after their first session with ABAR (Active Balance Rehabilitation), which is a virtual rehabilitation system that is designed for the rehabilitation of balance disorders. Internal consistency analysis and exploratory factor analysis were carried out to identify the factor structure of the USEQ. The six items of USEQ were significantly associated with each other, and the Cronbach alpha coefficient for the questionnaire was 0.716. In an analysis of the principal components, a one-factor solution was considered to be appropriate. The findings of the study suggest that the USEQ is a reliable questionnaire with adequate internal consistency. With regard to patient perception, the patients found the USEQ to be an easy-to-understand questionnaire with a convenient number of questions.
By using small focus group discussions, the present study aims to gain insight into students' perceptions about the impact of WhatsApp use in their learning process. More specifically, this study ...presents a cross-cultural analysis of British and Spanish university students' personal beliefs about the effectiveness of using WhatsApp to complete group tasks outside the classroom. In so doing, this research represents a step forward in technology-enhanced instruction insofar as it not only incorporates the voices of learners themselves, but also contrasts students' beliefs with their group interactions on WhatsApp. The exploration of these WhatsApp interactions makes it possible to argue that the use of WhatsApp does not seem to create a natural context for non-native language users to produce contextualise relevant utterances while interacting with native English speakers. Furthermore, the results show that the lack of pragmatic competence on the part of the participants prevents them from communicating effectively. These pragmatic failures, in turn, have a negative impact on their interpersonal relationships and make them develop negative opinions towards the use of WhatsApp as a learning tool.
We analyse the global effects from the austerity policies recently implemented in the EU, by developing an extension of the GTAP general equilibrium model. The extended model incorporates a new ...specification of the trade balance (i.e. endogenous), the labour market (i.e. unemployment under a wage curve framework) and the public sector (i.e. split from the representative national agent, with endogenous expenditure and savings). Three alternative policies aimed to get a one percentage point reduction in the EU’s government deficit to GDP ratio are simulated, and their effects on the main macroeconomic variables of seven regions of the world economy are examined. The three policy measures led to contractionary effects on the EU’s activity levels, together with changes in income distribution, always detrimental to labour. The effects on the rest of the world, driven by changes in trade flows, were, however, mostly negligible.
Aims and objectives:
This study examines the role of age of first exposure and experience with input in the syntax of English–Spanish bilinguals. More specifically, I examine the production of clitic ...climbing constructions in Spanish (e.g., lo quiero ver “I want to see it” Kayne; Rizzi).
Design/methodology:
I compare two experimental groups of heritage speakers of Spanish (n = 16) and L2 Spanish learners (n = 17) from the United States (matched in proficiency) against a group of native Spanish speakers from Mexico (n = 20). A sentence completion task was employed to elicit proclitic sentences across four verbal conditions: two in which clitic climbing is possible but with a higher or lower probability of occurrence, and two in which proclitic placement is agrammatical.
Data and analysis:
Results show a strong tendency to avoid clitic climbing constructions across all testing conditions. Two logistic regression analyses report no differences across all groups, who only favored the proclisis in highly grammaticalized verbs; proficiency among the experimental groups was a predictor in the production of these sentences.
Findings/conclusions:
A different time of onset of first exposure to the second language and a different experience with linguistic input (heritage language acquisition vs L2 acquisition) do not appear to affect the production of complex proclitic sentences in Spanish.
Originality:
Previous studies have employed a few selected periphrastic conditions to elicit clitic climbing constructions among English–Spanish bilinguals. This study further expands the range of verbal matrices employed in the four testing conditions and uses a more controlled testing environment.
Significance:
This study adds adult bilingual data to the ongoing debate on whether an early exposure to the second language results in advantages in the morphosyntactic domain.
This paper presents the design of a wireless sensor network particularly designed for remote monitoring and control of industrial parameters. The article describes the network components, protocol ...and sensor deployment, aimed to accomplish industrial constraint and to assure reliability and low power consumption. A particular case of study is presented. The system consists of a base station, gas sensing nodes, a tree-based routing scheme for the wireless sensor nodes and a real-time monitoring application that operates from a remote computer and a mobile phone. The system assures that the industrial safety quality and the measurement and monitoring system achieves an efficient industrial monitoring operations. The robustness of the developed system and the security in the communications have been guaranteed both in hardware and software level. The system is flexible and can be adapted to different environments. The testing of the system confirms the feasibility of the proposed implementation and validates the functional requirements of the developed devices, the networking solution and the power consumption management.