Conventional Stations Research Articles

How frequently is alcohol advertised on television in Canada?: A cross-sectional study.

Alcohol marketing is a commercial driver of alcohol use, including among youth. This study sought to quantify and characterize alcohol advertising on broadcast television in Canada. Open-source television program logs for January to December 2018 submitted to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission by 147 stations with alcohol advertisements were analyzed. Overall, 501628 alcohol advertisements were broadcast. Four companies accounted for 83% of advertisements, namely, Anheuser-Busch in Bev (33.7%), Molson Coors (22.7%), Diageo (16.1%), and Arterra Wines Canada (10.8%). On conventional stations, advertising was highest on French-language stations [Median (Mdn) = 3224; interquartile range (IQR) = 2262] followed by those with programming in foreign/mixed languages (Mdn = 2679; IQR = 219) and English-language stations (Mdn = 1955; IQR = 1563). On speciality stations, advertising was most frequent on those primarily focused on sports programming (Mdn = 8036; IQR = 7393), movies and scripted shows (Mdn = 7463; IQR = 5937), and cooking (Mdn = 5498; IQR = 4032). On weekdays, 33% of alcohol ads aired from 6 to 9a.m. and 3 to 9p.m. and on weekends, 52% aired from 6a.m. to 9p.m. when children or adolescents are more likely to be watching television. On youth-oriented stations (n = 4), 7937 alcohol advertisements were broadcast with most airing from 9p.m. to midnight (44-45%) or 12-6a.m. (50%) on both weekdays and weekends. While few alcohol advertisements were broadcast on youth-oriented stations, young people in Canada are likely exposed to such advertising on programming intended for older or general audiences (e.g. sports). More research is needed to ascertain the extent to which broadcast television constitutes a source of alcohol advertising exposure among youth and to inform policies aimed at protecting them from the influence of such exposure.

A Modular Multilevel Converter Station With Multiple MVac Ports

Medium voltage (MV) ac/dc hybrid distribution network attracts much interest due to its high reliability, high power quality, and high compatibility with distributed generation and dc loads. As the key enablers to interconnect ac and dc grids, the converter stations usually adopt the modular multilevel converter (MMC) topology due to its superior modularity and scalability. Unlike the conventional stations that are implemented with multiple MMCs to accommodate multiple ac feeders, a novel multi-ac-port MMC station (MACP-MMC), which evolves from the MMC topology, is proposed in this paper to interconnect different ac feeders and facilitate flexible power exchange in the MV hybrid distribution network. In addition to the benefits inherited from the MMC, the proposed MACP-MMC also features easy multiport extension, bidirectional power flow adjustment, high power density and low cost. The operation principle, energy balance mechanism, and control strategies are elaborated. Finally, its effectiveness is verified by both simulation results in a 3-MVA case and experimental results obtained from a 3-kVA scaled-down lab prototype.

Multi‐objective optimal planning of EV charging stations and renewable energy resources for smart microgrids

AbstractDistribution system planners and operators have increasingly exposed great attention to maximizing the penetration of renewable energy resources (RERs), and electric vehicles (EVs) toward modern microgrids. Accordingly, intensive operational and economic problems are expected in such microgrids. Specifically, the operators need to meet the increased demand for EVs and increase the dependence on RERs. The charging strategy for EVs and the RER penetration level may result in increased power loss, thermal loading, voltage deviation, and overall system cost. To address these concerns, this paper proposed an optimal planning approach for allocating EV charging stations with controllable charging and hybrid RERs within multi‐microgrids, where the charging strategy in the proposed planning approach contributed to improving power quality and overall system cost, where the voltage deviation, energy not supplied, total cost have been reduced to 26.03%, 49.57%, and 70.45%, respectively. The simulation results are compared with different optimization techniques to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The proposed simultaneous allocation approach of EV charging stations and RERs can reduce operating costs for RERs and conventional stations while increasing the charging stations' capacity.

Methodology for Estimating Streamflow by Water Balance and Rating Curve Methods Based on Logistic Regression

Both water balance (WB) and rating curve (RC) are methods for estimating streamflow. The first is mostly used to estimate reservoir outflows, while the second is usually adopted in hydrometeorological network streamflow gauges. While WB uses hourly collected data, the RC estimates streamflow using current water level and extrapolation techniques. The objective of this study was to analyze variations in the reservoir’s hourly outflow at Queimado Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP Queimado) and to propose a method to evaluate whether the estimate of the daily outflows, obtained by the WB method, is similar to the flow values obtained at a conventional station. The logistic regression (LR) model was used because it is a method that adopts binary, categorically dependent variables to identify the event of interest. The results showed that the values of streamflow, obtained from an average of two daily readings, were a good representation of the flows in the region. The LR was able to identify atypical data, especially in the rainy season. This means that data consistency analysis can be faster and safer, when adequately employed and considering the proposed conditions, contributing to both management policies and the management of water resources.

A comparison of birth-fall protective apparatus with conventional setting on nursing students' self-efficacy and skill in simulated vaginal parturition: A randomized trial.

Undergraduate nursing students must study and train on simulation before patient practices because of patient safety policy. Their most concerns were the inadvertent mistakes, particularly in obstetrical training, which had limited room for supervisors to assist them in any phase. As a result, their self-efficacy was one of the important factors that contributed to their learning success. This research was a randomized trial design in 120 nursing students who volunteered to improve their self-efficacy in vaginal birth training by applying birth-fall protective apparatus to conventional simulation settings. When compared to another intervention station, the educational self-efficacy score at the intervention station was statistically significantly higher. (t = 7.33, p<.01) Furthermore, this station's clinical performance ratings were higher than the conventional station's. (t = 4.69, p<.01) Most students were pleased with this safety apparatus and required to use it in their practices.

Enhanced thin film analysis via High Resolution RBS using the NEC CARBS system

Advancements in thin film deposition techniques can now produce films of only a few monolayers in thicknesses, with multiple applications emerging in the nano technology field. This maturing manufacturing technique is driving the need for diagnostics tools able to accurately measure depth profiles. To meet this need, the Compact Automated Rutherford Back-Scattering (CARBS) system is under development at National Electrostatics Corp. (NEC) for nanometer thin film analysis using High-resolution RBS (HRBS) within a 4 x 4meter footprint. We present the recent development of the system and demonstrate a study of HRBS applied to a 30nm CoAl alloy film. We compare the performance of the CARBS system with the conventional NEC HRBS end station and discuss the advantages of HRBS over SIMS method.

Macroinvertebrates Reveal Water Quality Differences in Various Agricultural Management

Monitoring benthic communities under different agricultural practices and management could potentially become an important tool to evaluate ecosystem health and stability. Benthic macroinvertebrates have been widely used as water quality bioindicators. This study aims to analyze macroinvertebrates in rice field ecosystems affected by three types of management practices, including conventional, semi-organic, and organic. This study was conducted in Sumberjambe and Kemiri, Jember Regency. Macroinvertebrate samples were collected at three sampling stations for each type of rice field, giving out a total of nine stations. Through Ekman grab, samples were obtained and transferred into a jam jar filled with 70% ethanol using a brush. Six ecological indices were selected to describe the diversity of each station. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using PAST3 software provided the sample's preference towards the stations and the higher taxa (Class). We also analyzed the similarity of the macroinvertebrate communities between the sampling stations using the Jaccard Similarity Index (JSI). A total of 11 families and 4 classes of macroinvertebrates are recorded. The Shannon-Wiener index shows high diversity for stations with organic management practices (1.318), while the Evenness index shows the highest value for conventional stations (0.9449). The Jaccard similarity index value reports two stations with semi-organic stations as well as semi-organic and organic stations having the highest similarity (JSI = 76.47%), while the lowest similarity value is characterized for conventional and organic stations (JSI = 13.19%).

Estimation of river flow using CubeSats remote sensing

River flow characterizes the integrated response from watersheds, so it is essential to quantify to understand the changing water cycle and underpin the sustainable management of freshwaters. However, river gauging stations are in decline with ground-based observation networks shrinking. This study proposes a novel approach of estimating river flows using the Planet CubeSats constellation with the possibility to monitor on a daily basis at the sub-catchment scale through remote sensing. The methodology relates the river discharge to the water area that is extracted from the satellite image analysis. As a testbed, a series of Surface Reflectance PlanetScope images and observed streamflow data in Araguaia River (Brazil) were selected to develop and validate the methodology. The study involved the following steps: (1) survey of measurements of water level and river discharge using in-situ data from gauge-based Conventional Station (CS) and measurements of altimetry using remote data from JASON-2 Virtual Station (JVS); (2) survey of Planet CubeSat images for dates in step 1 and without cloud cover; (3) image preparation including clipping based on different buffer areas and calculation of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) per image; (4) water bodies areas calculation inside buffers in the Planet CubeSat images; and (5) correlation analysis of CubeSat water bodies areas with JVS and CS data. Significant correlations between the water bodies areas with JVS (R2 = 88.83%) and CS (R2 = 96.49%) were found, indicating that CubeSat images can be used as a CubeSat Virtual Station (CVS) to estimate the river flow. This newly proposed methodology using CubeSats allows for more accurate results than the JVS-based method used by the Brazilian National Water Agency (ANA) at present. Moreover, CVS requires small areas of remote sensing data to estimate with high accuracy the river flow and the height variation of the water in different timeframes. This method can be used to monitor sub-basin scale discharge and to improve water management, particularly in developing countries where the presence of conventional stations is often very limited.

Vegetation degradation in ENSO events: Drought assessment, soil use and vegetation evapotranspiration in the Western Brazilian Amazon

In recent years, the degradation of the Amazon forest has been the target of studies at the global level to identify elements and factors influencing this process. Thus, this study had as objective to study the vegetation degradation during the years of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon in the State of Amazonas. We used remote sensing data, forest typologies, and weather elements from 14 conventional stations located in Amazonas. Evapotranspiration images obtained from the MODIS Global Evapotranspiration Project (MOD16A2), and data from fire sources from the Terra and Aqua collection (MOD146) platforms were used. The 6 different forms of forest typologies found in the region were also used, in addition to the climatic elements maximum, minimum temperature, relative humidity, sunshine and wind speed of 14 conventional stations in the state of Amazonas. The weather station data were used to estimate the reference evapotranspiration, using the empirical methods Val-1, Val-2, Val-3, Val-4, Irmak-1, Irmak-2 and Alex. The results show differences in the correlations between the evapotranspiration methods used. The highest evapotranspiration was found in the Open Ombrophilous Forest. Fire foci were concentrated in Dense Ombrophilous Forest areas. The Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) showed to be an efficient index to characterize the drought in El Niño events, besides showing the agricultural expansion in the region. The largest trends of the weather elements and the SPEI were during the El Niño phenomenon. A better understanding of the ENSO effects on vegetation could prevent uncontrolled forest loss. Governance interventions involving national and financial actors, as well as local populations, also play a role in this.

Analysis of the Variability and Future Evolution of Snowfall Trends in the Huaihe River Basin Under Climate Change

Global warming changes the characteristics of regional climate and crop growth environments and affects human production and life in the long term. In this study, the historical snowfall observation data from 199 conventional meteorological stations in the Huaihe River Basin were analyzed with the climate tendency rate method and the nonparametric Mann-Kendall (M-K) test to determine the variability and abrupt changes in climate trends in the Huaihe River Basin during 1951-2018. Then, the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) datasets were used to analyze the evolutionary trend of snowfall under four climate change scenarios in 2015-2065. The results show the following: (1) Due to climate warming, both the historical data and the simulated data under different climate change scenarios show declining snowfall in the Huaihe River Basin. (2) Based on the analysis of historical data from meteorological stations, the snow events had a clear latitudinal distribution—the higher the latitude, the lower the occurrence of snow events. In contrast, as shown by the analysis results obtained under different climate change scenarios, the snow mass flux had a clear longitudinal distribution—the higher the longitude, the larger the snow mass flux. (3) In Scenario SSP370, 2050 is an important year for snowfall to change from decreasing to increasing; in 2065, the snowfall in most areas of the basin is larger than that in 2050, and the snowfall in the southeastern coast of the basin has the largest variability.

Influence of meteorological variables on reference Evapotranspiration in the State of Alagoas, Brazil, based on multivariate analysis

Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is an important agro-meteorological parameter used in several meteorological, climatological and hydrological studies. This study aimed to diagnose the effect of the meteorological variables and large-scale variability modes in ETo, based on logistic regression models. Monthly data from five conventional meteorological stations located on the State of Alagoas, Brazil, were used: Agua Branca, Maceio, Pao de Acucar, Palmeira dos Indios and Porto de Pedras, from 1960 to 2016 period. The variables used were as follows: temperatures (air—Tair, maximum—Tmax and minimum—Tmin), relative humidity (RH), sea level pressure, sunshine, wind speed (WS), rainfall, evaporation and also two climatic proxies: Oceanic Nino Index (ONI) and Tropical South Atlantic (TSA). ETo was estimated using the Penman–Monteith FAO method. The binary logistic regression procedure evaluated ETo values below the percentile 75 (ETo75 characterized as 1). Regarding the variables used the percentile 75 (except Tair and rainfall that used the percentile 30). The temperatures were the main variable for ETo75 events, except in Agua Branca. The Tmax presented the highest odds ratio (OR) in Palmeira dos Indios with value of 21.10 times on occurrence of ETo75. The wind is the most important variable in Pao de Acucar, due the heat capacity of the Sao Francisco River, with OR value of 3.72 times. The ONI did not integrate the models. Based on AIC and ROC curve values, Palmeira dos Indios presented the best model with a value of 195.95 and 0.979, respectively.

INCREASE IN WATER-SCARCITY RISK IN A BRAZILIAN DRY-REGION RESERVOIR

ABSTRACT This study assesses the extent to which silting increases water-scarcity risk, considering the temporal reduction of water availability and increased demand using land use and water-demand scenarios at the transition of Caatinga and Cerrado biomes of the Bocaina reservoir watershed (103hm4), in the Brazilian dry region. Methodological steps were: reservoir silting measured in-situ 20 years after dam construction; climate variables computed with the aid of a conventional station (2005-2014); soil erodibility assessed using 16 soil samples; and topography and land cover estimated based on 21 years of Landsat imagery. Three land use scenarios were generated (invariability, degradation and preservation) with the climate scenario derived from the semi-arid rainfall temporal variability; whereas two water-demand scenarios (invariability and higher efficiency) were a function of the efficiency of the irrigation systems. Water availability was calculated using the volume-yield elasticity (VYELAS) Model. The field results (1985-2015) showed a gross erosion rate of 13.5 Mg-ha-1 -yr-1 in the basin. The annual sediment yield (1.7 Mg-ha-1) and the decadal reservoir silting (1.0%) were below regional average due to the low sediment delivery ratio (12.6%) in the area. Scenario projections (2040) suggest water demand may double if irrigation methods do not improve, whereas siltation may cause water availability to decrease up to 10% in the period. In this case, the water-supply reliability will be below the recommended standard value (90%), regardless of the land use scenario. Nevertheless, simultaneous soil preservation and improved irrigation efficiency can reduce the decadal water-scarcity risk from 82% (worst scenario) to 17%.

Properties of Chinese railway network: Multilayer structures based on timetable data

Railway is a main transportation mode for medium-distance and long-distance travel in China, which provides various services to satisfy different type of traffic demand. Recent studies exhibit that railway network is a complex network that has hierarchical structures. In this paper, we employ a network-based method to evaluate the structure of railway network as a multilayer network according to railway routes with different prefix letter. A node failure process is proposed to identify important stations. Results show that the degree of nodes follows a shifted power law distribution and a few nodes have large degree. The railway network is an assortative network with obvious community structures. Moreover, the connection among layers is heterogeneous. Dynamic node failure process shows that nodes with large degree play key roles in the railway network. Finally, we analyze the railway network performance from 2014 to 2018. The results imply that the efficiency increases year by year, which mainly because more and more conventional stations have been built to comprehensive stations that also serve high speed railway lines.

Oscilações climáticas das temperaturas extremas, média e amplitude térmica do ar em Bom Jesus Piauí, Brasil

A temperatura do ar é um elemento climático que ao longo do tempo e em regiões tropical e semiárida poderá afetar o sistema produtivo agrícola ocasionando significativas mudanças nos próximos anos em consequência ao aquecimento global. O objetivo foi caracterizar as diferencias existente no clima de Bom Jesus Piauí quanto às oscilações climáticas nas temperaturas extremas, média e amplitude térmica para o período de 1990-2018 e seu comparativo com a média histórica de 1960-2018. Os dados utilizados foram adquiridos da estação meteorológica convencional do Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia para o período de estudo, as informações dos dados térmicos extremos, médio e amplitude térmica auxiliaram aos tomadas de decisões no meio agropecuário, rural, urbano e em várias áreas do conhecimento cientifico. As médias das temperaturas mínimas tendem a aumentar e as médias das temperaturas máximas tendem a manterem-se inalteráveis. Desta forma a temperatura média e as amplitudes térmicas tendem a manter-se em elevações. A altitude e a latitude têm analogias inversamente proporcionais, enquanto a longitude teve uma relação proporcional com a temperatura. Das temperaturas em estudados, a temperatura mínima é, destacadamente, a que apresenta maior aumento e maior consistência espacial.

Models for Estimating Reference Evapotranspiration in Different Periods in Rio Verde, Goiás, Brazil

The water management in irrigated agriculture begins determining the need of water for the culture. Therefore, it was intended to evaluate the performance of the models of estimation reference of evapotranspiration (ETo) with regard to the method Penman-Monteith (PM), standard method, for Brazilian Cerrado Region (tropical grassland/savannah). The climate elements were obtained from the conventional weather station of Rio Verde from January/1972 to December/2016. It was compared the performance of the daily average ETo, during the dry, rainy and annual periods, by the PM method with regard to another 26 methods. Through the coefficient of determination, it was verified the methods of Turc (T) and Radiation-Temperature (RT) approached more to the PM, at any time of the year, being able to replace the standard method. The ETo average in the annual period was 3.8 mm day-1, for the dry period due to the smallest amount of solar radiation, the period submitted lower levels of ETo. The other models in which were used fewer amounts of climate data, they overestimated or underestimated the PM model by up to 57.9% and 60.7% respectively. With the management of water in agriculture, water availability can be increased in the hydric bodies, characterizing it as a tool for water management with the rational use of water resources.

Modeling hourly air temperature based on internationally agreed times and the daily minimum temperature

ABSTRACT There are several fields that require knowledge of air temperature variation throughout the day, such as disease prediction or calculation of chill-hours. However, automatic meteorological stations are not always located in the vicinity to accurately monitor this variable. In this sense, models that describe the daily temporal variation of air temperature can be used to meet this demand, and transform the climatic data series of conventional meteorological stations into an estimated hourly series. The aim of this study was to adjust and validate models for the hourly air temperature variation through data obtained at internationally agreed times (0, 12 and 18 h Universal Time Coordinated: UTC) and the daily minimum air temperature. The hourly database of the automatic station was used for model adjustment and validation. Functions were adjusted based on values measured at internationally agreed times and the daily minimum air temperature for certain daily variation patterns. The air temperature estimation was performed on an hourly basis using sinusoidal and linear models. The model that presented the lowest root mean square error (RMSE) was used for the estimation. The accuracy of the air temperature estimates varied according to the time, presenting RMSE from 0.7 to 1.6 °C, with maximum mean deviation of 0.4 °C. The results of this study showcase the necessity of knowledge of the daily air temperature variation, as well as a series of data from conventional meteorological stations, which can be estimated using hourly models.

Bioclimatic zoning and trend analysis applied to broilers

ABSTRACT The objective of the present study was to establish the bioclimatic zoning by the temperature and humidity index (THI), considering a historical period and a future scenario, in order to represent the thermal environment for broiler breeding in the State of Minas Gerais. A historical series (1976 - 2014) of THI minimum, average and maximum calculated based on data from 48 conventional meteorological stations was used, belonging to the National Institute of Meteorology of the State of Minas Gerais. The analysis of the temporal series was based on the Mann-Kendall test and linear regression. A geostatistical analysis was also carried out to determine the comfort zoning of broilers as a function of the THI intervals. In this way, the THI spatial mapping methodologies and trend analysis for the prediction of a possible future climate scenario can help in the development of risk maps for monitoring thermal comfort of broilers, being indispensable in the planning of actions for the mitigation of the climatic change impacts on the productive chain of the State of Minas Gerais.

Homogeneity Evaluation of Historical Rainfall and Temperature Series in Mato Grosso

The homogeneity investigation of a series can be performed through several nonparametric statistical tests, which serve to detect artificial changes or non-homogeneities in climatic variables. The objective of this work was to evaluate two methodologies to verify the homogeneity of the historical climatological series of precipitation and temperature in Mato Grosso state. The series homogeneity evaluation was performed using the following non-parametric tests: Wald-Wolfowitz (for series with one or no interruption), Kruskal-Wallis (for series with two or more interruptions), and Mann-Kendall (for time series trend analysis). The results of the precipitation series homogeneity analysis from the National Waters Agency stations, analyzed by the Kruskal-Wallis and Wald-Wolfowitz tests, presented 61.54% of homogeneous stations, being well distributed throughout Mato Grosso state, whereas those of the trend analysis allowed to identify that 87.57% of the rainfall-gauging stations showed a concentrated positive trend, mainly in the rainy season. Out of the conventional stations of the National Institute of Meteorology of Mato Grosso, seven were homogeneous for the precipitation variable, five for maximum temperature and four stations were homogeneous for minimum temperature. For the trend analysis in the 11 stations, positive trends of random nature were observed, suggesting increasing alterations in the analyzed variables. Therefore, the trend analysis performed by the Mann-Kendall test in the precipitation, and maximum and minimum temperature climate series, indicated that several data series showed increasing trends, suggesting a possible increase in precipitation and temperature values over the years. The results of the Kruskal-Wallis and Wald-Wolfowitz tests for homogeneity presented more than 87% of homogeneous stations.

Calibration Methods for Estimation of Reference Evapotranspiration in Morro Do Chapéu, Bahia, Brazil

The objective of this work was to calibrate and to validate the methods of Camargo, Hargreaves and Samani, and Priestley and Taylor, according to the Penman-Monteith model, for the estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ETo), in the four seasons of the year for the municipality of Morro do Chap&amp;eacute;u, Bahia. Climatological data from the conventional meteorological station belonging to the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) were used, in the period of 18 years (2000-2018). The first 16 years were considered to adjust the parameters. The years of 2016 and 2017 were assigned as independent data to validate the adjustments. To analyze the results, it was used the root mean square error (RMSE in mm d-1), coefficient of determination (R2), systematic error (BIAS in mm d-1), and Willmott&amp;rsquo;s concordance index. After adjusting the parameters, the three methods improved their performance in the estimation of ETo, however, the Camargo method presented high values of RMSE, reaching 0.41 mm d-1 during the spring. It is concluded that the calibrated methods of Hargreaves and Samani, and, Priestley and Taylor can be recommended for the estimation of the reference evapotranspiration, for planning and execution of irrigation projects in the municipality, regardless of the season.

A novel modification on preheating process of natural gas in pressure reduction stations to improve energy consumption, exergy destruction and CO2 emission: Preheating based on real demand

One of the tools for optimizing energy systems is the design of the system output based on real (desired) demand. Thermodynamic performance of natural gas pressure reduction stations are functions of inlet conditions. In order to investigate the impacts of changes in inlet pressure and temperature on performance of a natural gas pressure reduction station, energy consumption and exergy destruction of a natural gas pressure reduction station of 10,000 SCMH are evaluated for different inlet conditions. In order to improve the station performance, a novel modification is proposed in the present research based on the real demand of preheating, wherein thermodynamic operation of the regulator is modeled and minimum pre-heating temperature of natural gas is calculated based on desirable temperature at the regulator outlet (natural gas hydrate formation temperature). Indeed, once the temperature at the heater outlet reaches the calculated minimum temperature, the heater is turned off. Compared to conventional stations, the modified station exhibits at least 33% and 15% reductions in energy consumption and exergy destruction, respectively. The results of investigating the performance of two sample stations also show that by implementing the proposed modification, CO2 emission can be reduced by up to 80% or even higher.