Large scale underground energy storage for renewables integration: general criteria for reservoir identification and viable technologies.

The increasing integration of renewable energies in the electricity grid contributes considerably to achieve the European Union goals on energy and Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions reduction. However, it also brings problems to grid management. Large scale energy storage can provide the means for a better integration of the renewable energy sources, for balancing supply and demand, to increase energy security, to enhance a better management of the grid and also to converge towards a low carbon economy. Geological formations have the potential to store large volumes of fluids with minimal impact to environment and society. One of the ways to ensure a large scale energy storage is to use the storage capacity in geological reservoir. In fact, there are several viable technologies for underground energy storage, as well as several types of underground reservoirs that can be considered. The geological energy storage technologies considered in this research were: Underground Gas Storage (UGS), Hydrogen Storage (HS), Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), Underground Pumped Hydro Storage (UPHS) and Thermal Energy Storage (TES). For these different types of underground energy storage technologies there are several types of geological reservoirs that can be suitable, namely: depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, aquifers, salt formations and caverns, engineered rock caverns and abandoned mines. Specific site screening criteria are applicable to each of these reservoir types and technologies, which determines the viability of the reservoir itself, and of the technology for any particular site. This paper presents a review of the criteria applied in the scope of the Portuguese contribution to the EU funded project ESTMAP – Energy Storage Mapping and Planning.

Redução para piano: três especificidades

Este projeto de investigação foca a análise das diversas problemáticas no domínio da redução para piano suscitadas por linguagens e por obras emblemáticas do repertório musical contemporâneo. O estudo teve como principal objetivo compreender realizar uma redução para piano, tendo como base os estudos que se debruçam sobre questões de orquestração, transcrição, acompanhamento, bem como inúmeros exemplos de reduções existentes. São realizados estudos sobre as diferenças entre redução e transcrição para piano, sobre os critérios de escolha de material musical, sobre a reorquestração da conteúdo nas reduções, sobre a problemática de execução das reduções ao piano, sobre questões de leitura à primeira vista e, finalmente, sobre aspetos de apresentação. O conteúdo de investigação é dividido de acordo com três especificidades das reduções para piano. Como exemplo de cada uma delas foram realizadas novas reduções das seguintes obras: Concerto da Camera col Violoncello Obbligato de Lopes-Graça; Pli selon pli de Boulez e ópera Lady Sarashina de Eötvös. A génese destas obras e os procedimentos necessários à sua redução foram também objeto de estudo nesta dissertação. Todas as reduções foram apresentadas publicamente e preparadas para edição. O estudo aqui realizado pretende contribuir para a melhoria do conhecimento sobre as reduções para piano, procurando definir ou ajudar à compreensão das soluções viáveis pianisticamente e facilmente aplicáveis na prática. This research project focuses on the analysis of various problems in the field of piano reduction that are caused by languages and emblematic works of contemporary repertoire. This work aims to understand how to make a piano reduction and is based on studies that address various issues in orchestration, transcription, accompaniment and numerous examples of existing piano reductions. Studies were made on the difference between piano reduction and transcription, on the selection criteria of musical material, on re-orchestration of content in piano reduction, and on issues related with performance of reduction at the piano, sight-reading and aspects of score presentation. The content of this research is divided into three specifications of piano reductions. For each section an example was done of each of these works: Lopes-Graça´s Concerto da Camera col Violoncello Obbligato; Boulez´s Pli selon pli and Eötvös´s opera Lady Sarashina. The genesis of these works and their related process of reduction was also studied in this dissertation. All reductions were prepared for edition and presentation to the public. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge on piano reduction, seeking for viable pianistic solutions which can be easily applied in practice.

Assessment of the elderly’s functional ability to manage theirmedication: a systematic literature review

Background The evaluation of the elderly’s ability to manage medication through the use of a validated tool can be a significant step in identifying inabilities and needs, with the objective of increasing their self-care skills, and promoting successful aging. Aim of the review To identify studies assessing the elderly’s functional ability to manage their own medication. Method For the search strategy, the PICO method was used: P—Population(elderly), I—Instruments (tools for assessing medication management ability), C—Context (community) and O—Outcomes (functional ability to manage medication). Thefinal search query was run in MEDLINE/PubMed,CINAHL Plus, ISI Web of Science and Scopus. The whole process was developed according to the PRISMA statement. Results The search retrieved 8051 records. In each screening stage, the selection criteria were applied to eliminate records where at least one of the exclusion criteria was verified. At the end of this selection, we obtained a total of 18 papers (17 studies). The results allow the conclusion to be drawn that studies use several different instruments, most of them not validated. The authors agree that medication management abilities decrease as cognitive impairment increases, even if a lot of studies assess only the physical dimension. DRUGS was the instrument most often used. Conclusion Older adults’ ability to manage their medication should be assessed using tools specifically built and validate for the purpose. DRUGS (which uses the real regimen taken by the elderly) was the most widely used assessment instrument in the screened studies.