Optimal Operations Management and Network Planning of a District Heating System with a Combined Heat and Power Plant

District heating plants are becoming more common in European cities. These systems make it possible to furnish users with warm water while locating the production plants in the outskirts having the double benefit of lowering the impact of pollution on the center of the city and achieving better conversion performances. In order to amortize the costs throughout the year, the system often includes a combined heat and power (CHP) plant, to exploit the energy during the summer as well, when the demand for warm water decreases. A linear programming model for the optimal resource management of such a plant is presented and some results for a real case are reported. A distribution network design problem is also addressed and solved by means of mixed integer linear programming.     

Simulation of dynamic speckle sequences and its application to the analysis of transient processes

Dynamic speckle has been used in recent years to analyse several transient processes that are produced in industrial and biological applications. We present here a numerical simulation to generate a temporal sequence of dynamic speckle patterns which is based on a model used for speckle formation by the superposition of waves from discrete scattering centres. It is demonstrated that the first and second statistics of the intensity of each speckle image, the time history of the speckle pattern, the temporal evolution of the correlation coefficient, and the power spectral density of the intensity generated by the proposed model reproduce quite well those obtained from experimentally recorded data. The process of a fast drying paint is presented as an example of the application of the proposed numerical model.     

Limit Consistent Solutions in Noncooperative Games

Strong and limit consistency in finite noncooperative games are studied. A solution is called strongly consistent if it is both consistent and conversely consistent (Ref. 1). We provide sufficient conditions on one-person behavior such that a strongly consistent solution is nonempty. We introduce limit consistency for normal form games and extensive form games. Roughly, this means that the solution can be approximated by strongly consistent solutions. We then show that the perfect and proper equilibrium correspondences in normal form games, as well as the weakly perfect and sequential equilibrium correspondences for extensive form games, are limit consistent.     

Stereoselective synthesis of (Z)-axino- and (Z)-debromoaxinohydantoin

(Z)-Axinohydantoin and (Z)-debromoaxinohydantoin, two pyrrole-imidazole alkaloids isolated from different marine sponges, possess moderate activities in inhibiting the progress of the cell cycle at different phases. A stereoselective synthesis of both natural products was achieved. The key step in the synthetic pathway was the installation of the hydantoin northern ring by using 1-benzoyl-2-methylsulfanyl-1,5-dihydroimidazol-4-one.     

Sui gruppi unitari finitari e sulla congettura di dieudonné

In this paper we consider some questions concerning unitary spaces (V, h), even though (V, h) is not finitely generated. Our main result is as follows: letF be an infinite field of characteristic ≠2 andD anm ²-dimensional central division algebra overF with an involutionj≠1. Let Σ_j(D) denote the subgroup of the multiplicative groupD ^* generated by the non zero symmetric elements. If (V, h) is an infinite dimensional regular unitary space of Witt index at least two overD, then the finitary unitary groupFU(h) is a simple group if and only ifD*=Σ_j(D)[D*, D*]. On the other hand, when (V, h) is not regular,FU(h) cannot be simple since it containsFU ₀(h), the subgroup of elements ofFU(h) acting trivially onrad(V, h), as a normal subgroup. In the non regular case we show that under the above assumptions evenFU ₀(h) is not a simple group.     

Intelligent variable orderings and re-orderings in DAC-based solvers for WCSP

Weighted constraint satisfaction problems (WCSPs) is a well-known framework for combinatorial optimization problems with several domains of application. In the last few years, several local consistencies for WCSPs have been proposed. Their main use is to embed them into a systematic search, in order to detect and prune unfeasible values as well as to anticipate the detection of deadends. Some of these consistencies rely on an order among variables but nothing is known about which orders are best. Therefore, current implementations use the lexicographic order by default. In this paper we analyze the effect of heuristic orders at three levels of increasing overhead: i) compute the order prior to search and keep it fixed during the whole solving process (we call this a static order), ii) compute the order at every search node using current subproblem information (we call this a dynamic order) and iii) compute a sequence of different orders at every search node and sequentially enforce the local consistency for each one (we call this dynamic re-ordering). We performed experiments in three different problems: Max-SAT, Max-CSP and warehouse location problems. We did not find an alternative better than the rest for all the instances. However, we found that inverse degree (static order), sum of unary weights (dynamic order) and re-ordering with the sum of unary weights are good heuristics which are always better than a random order. This research is supported by the MEC through project TIC-2002-04470-C03.     

Quantum key distribution without reference frame alignment: Exploiting photon orbital angular momentum

We present a new implementation of the BB84 quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol that employs a d-dimensional Hilbert space spanned by spatial modes of the propagating beam that have a definite value of orbital angular momentum. Each photon carries log d bits of information, increasing the key generation rate of the protocol. The states used in the transmission part of the protocol are invariant under rotations about the propagation direction, making this implementation independent of the alignment between the reference frames of the sender and receiver, and hence appealing for free space QKD. The protocol still works when these reference frames rotate with respect to each other.     

Denoising in digital speckle pattern interferometry using wave atoms

We present an effective method for speckle noise removal in digital speckle pattern interferometry, which is based on a wave-atom thresholding technique. Wave atoms are a variant of 2D wavelet packets with a parabolic scaling relation and improve the sparse representation of fringe patterns when compared with traditional expansions. The performance of the denoising method is analyzed by using computer-simulated fringes, and the results are compared with those produced by wavelet and curvelet thresholding techniques. An application of the proposed method to reduce speckle noise in experimental data is also presented.     

Electrodes/Electrolyte Interfaces in the Presence of a Surface‐Modified Photopolymer Electrolyte: Application in Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Since hundreds of studies on photoanodes and cathodes show that the electrode/electrolyte interfaces represent a key aspect at the base of dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSSC) performances, it is reported here that these interfaces can be managed by a smart design of the spatial composition of quasi‐solid electrolytes. By means of a cheap, rapid, and green process of photoinduced polymerization, composition‐tailored polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) with siloxane‐enriched surfaces are prepared, and their properties are thoroughly described. When assembled in DSSCs, the interfacial action promoted by the composition‐tailored PEMs enhances the photocurrent and fill factor values, thus increasing the global photovoltaic conversion efficiency with respect to the non‐modified PEMs. Moreover, the presence of the siloxane‐chain‐enriched surface increases the hydrophobicity and reduces the water vapor permeation into the device, thus enhancing the cell′s durability.