Thermoeconomic analysis method for optimization of combined heat and power systems

This article presents an thermoeconomic analysis of cogeneration plants, applied as a rational technique to produce electric power and saturated steam. The aim of this new methodology is the minimum exergetic manufacturing cost (EMC), based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The decision variables selected for the optimization are the pressure and the temperature of the steam leaving the boiler in the case of using steam turbine, and the pressure ratio, turbine exhaust temperature and mass flow in the case of using gas turbines. The equations for calculating the capital costs of the components and products are formulated as a function of these decision variables. An application of the method using real data of a multinational chemical industry located in S��o Paulo state is presented. The conditions which establish the minimum cost are presented as finals conclusions.

Thermoeconomic analysis method for optimization of combined heat and power systems - part II

In this paper, a thermoeconomic functional analysis method based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics and applied to analyze four cogeneration systems is presented. The objective of the developed technique is to minimize the operating costs of the cogeneration plant, namely exergetic production cost (EPC), assuming fixed rates of electricity production and process steam in exergy base. In this study a comparison is made between the same four configurations of part I. The cogeneration system consisting of a gas turbine with a heat recovery steam generator, without supplementary firing, has the lowest EPC. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Thermoeconomic analysis method for optimization of combined heat and power systems. Part I

This article presents a thermoeconomic analysis of cogeneration plants, applied as a rational technique to produce electric power and saturated steam. The aim of this new methodology is the minimum Exergetic Production Cost (EPC), based on the Second Law of Thermodynamics. The variables selected for the optimization are the pressure and the temperature of the steam leaving the boiler in the case of using steam turbine, and the pressure ratio, turbine exhaust temperature and mass flow in the case of using gas turbines. The equations for calculating the capital costs of the components and products are formulated as a function of these decision variables. An application of the method using real data of a multinational chemical industry located in S��o Paulo state is presented. The conditions which establish the minimum cost are presented as final output. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The European Union���s Rule of Law Promotion in its Neighbourhood: A Structural Foreign Policy Analysis. EU Diplomacy Paper 04/2013

The promotion of the rule of law has become an important dimension of the European Union���s relations towards its neighbourhood. The rule of law is, however, a complex and multifaceted notion and the EU���s rule of law promotion policy has often been criticised for being either inefficient or self-interested. This collection of short papers offers an analysis of various case studies using the analytical framework of structural foreign policy (SFP) developed by Stephan Keukeleire. It aims to promote an original analytical perspective on the EU���s foreign policy but also to critically test and further develop the SFP analytical framework. The contributions of this collection consist of the shortened version of students��� Master���s theses written at the College of Europe during the academic year 2011-2012 in the framework of the course ���The EU as a Foreign Policy Actor��� taught by Stephan Keukeleire, Chairholder of the TOTAL Chair of EU Foreign Policy in the Department of EU International Relations and Diplomacy Studies.

The ���Lisbonisation��� of the European Parliament: Assessing progress, shortcomings and challenges for democratic accountability in the area of freedom, security and justice. CEPS Paper on Liberty and Security in Europe No. 58, September 2013

This paper examines the performance of the European Parliament in EU AFSJ law and policy-making from the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty until the end of the first half of 2013. The paper situates the EP in the new post-Lisbon institutional setting, documenting its transition to ���AFSJ decision-maker���, and its new powers to shape and make policy covering the EU���s internal and external security agenda. While the paper finds that the EP has become an active co-owner of the EU AFSJ post-Lisbon, with the Parliament demonstrating a dynamic adjustment to its new post-Lisbon role and powers, the authors identify a set of new developments and challenges that have arisen in the conduct of democratic accountability by the EP in the AFSJ since 2009, which call for critical reflection ahead of the new parliamentary term 2014-2019 and the post-2014 phase of the EU���s AFSJ.

The EU���s Rule of Law Initiative for Central Asia: From Initiative to More Substance? EUCAM Policy Brief No. 18, June 2011

All five Central Asian states are weak in terms of rule of law, good governance and democracy. The EU chose to devote specific attention to the rule of law through a regional initiative with Central Asian partners' participation. What is the current state of the initiative and is the EU on track?

The rule of law in world affairs /

On cover: A contribution to the discussion of the free society.

Constructivism, constitutionalism and the EU's area of freedom security and justice post-Lisbon

This essay addresses the fundamental conceptual challenges which face the development of the Area of Freedom Security and Justice (AFSJ) in the post-Lisbon Treaty era. It argues that Onuf style constructivism is a valid lens with which to examine the development of the AFSJ to date, involving as it does the development of a shared understanding by practitioners, predominantly law enforcement and prosecution professionals, within the structures provided for them, in order to develop a completely new area of law and practice. While this approach will continue to need to be deployed in the development of further new operational areas, such as cybercrime, a new approach is now required, that of constitutionalism. A variety of forms of constitutionalism are then examined in order to establish their suitability as a mode of analysis for these developments.

'The application of Bayesian Optimization and Classifier Systems in Nurse Scheduling'

Abstract. Two ideas taken from Bayesian optimization and classifier systems are presented for personnel scheduling based on choosing a suitable scheduling rule from a set for each person's assignment. Unlike our previous work of using genetic algorithms whose learning is implicit, the learning in both approaches is explicit, i.e. we are able to identify building blocks directly. To achieve this target, the Bayesian optimization algorithm builds a Bayesian network of the joint probability distribution of the rules used to construct solutions, while the adapted classifier system assigns each rule a strength value that is constantly updated according to its usefulness in the current situation. Computational results from 52 real data instances of nurse scheduling demonstrate the success of both approaches. It is also suggested that the learning mechanism in the proposed approaches might be suitable for other scheduling problems.

'The application of Bayesian Optimization and Classifier Systems in Nurse Scheduling'

Abstract. Two ideas taken from Bayesian optimization and classifier systems are presented for personnel scheduling based on choosing a suitable scheduling rule from a set for each person's assignment. Unlike our previous work of using genetic algorithms whose learning is implicit, the learning in both approaches is explicit, i.e. we are able to identify building blocks directly. To achieve this target, the Bayesian optimization algorithm builds a Bayesian network of the joint probability distribution of the rules used to construct solutions, while the adapted classifier system assigns each rule a strength value that is constantly updated according to its usefulness in the current situation. Computational results from 52 real data instances of nurse scheduling demonstrate the success of both approaches. It is also suggested that the learning mechanism in the proposed approaches might be suitable for other scheduling problems.

A practical framework for the generation and selection of strategic plans of action, The relevance of timeframe considerations and a systems thinking approach

The paper proposes a methodology especially focused on the generation of strategic plans of action, emphasizing the relevance of having a structured timeframe classification for the actions. The methodology explicitly recognizes the relevance of long-term goals as strategic drivers, which must insure that the complex system is capable to effectively respond to changes in the environment. In addition, the methodology employs engineering systems techniques in order to understand the inner working of the system and to build up alternative plans of action. Due to these different aspects, the proposed approach features higher flexibility compared to traditional methods. The validity and effectiveness of the methodology has been demonstrated by analyzing an airline company composed by 5 subsystems with the aim of defining a plan of action for the next 5 years, which can either: improve efficiency, redefine mission or increase revenues.

Resonancia Magn��tica Nuclear aplicada al estudio de nuevos sistemas farmac��uticos y biol��gicos, complejos polim��ricos y conjuntos de espines modelo. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance applied to the study of new pharmaceutical and biological systems, polymeric complexes and model spin clusters.

El presente proyecto plantea utilizar integralmente la t��cnica de Resonancia Magn��tica Nuclear en s��lidos como un medio experimental que permite entender fen��menos de la f��sica fundamental, como as�� tambi��n realizar aplicaciones de inter��s en el campo de la qu��mica, los desarrollos farmac��uticos y la biolog��a. Novedosas t��cnicas experimentales ser��n empleadas, en conjunci��n con otras m��s tradicionales, en la caracterizaci��n de nuevas estructuras polim��ricas acomplejadas a metales, membranas biol��gicas y compuestos de inter��s farmac��utico en v��as de desarrollo, los cuales presentan el fen��meno de polimorfismo . Esto se llevar�� a cabo complementando los resultados de RMN en s��lidos con t��cnicas tanto espectrosc��picas como anal��ticas (Infrarrojo, Difracci��n de Rayos X, Calorimetr��a, RMN en soluci��n) y trabajo interdisciplinario. Paralelamente al desarrollo de estos temas, profundizaremos mediante investigaci��n b��sica, en la compresi��n de la din��mica cu��ntica y el surgimiento de la irreversibilidad en sistemas de espines nucleares. Observaremos en particular la generaci��n, evoluci��n y control de las coherencias cu��nticas m��ltiples en sistemas cu��nticos abiertos, lo cual nos da informaci��n sobre tama��o de clusters de espines. Esto permitir�� la correcta implementaci��n de secuencias de pulsos sofisticadas, como as�� tambi��n desarrollar nuevos m��todos de medici��n aplicados a la caracterizaci��n estructural y a la din��mica molecular de s��lidos complejos. Debemos resaltar que este proyecto est�� conectado con aspectos tanto b��sicos como aplicados de la RMN en s��lidos como t��cnica experimental, la cual se desarrolla en el pa��s ��nicamente en FaMAF-UNC. Se nutre adem��s de trabajo multidisciplinario promoviendo la colaboraci��n con investigadores y becarios de distintas ��reas (f��sica, qu��mica, farmacia, biolog��a) provenientes de distintos puntos del pa��s. Finalmente podemos afirmar que este plan impulsa la aplicaci��n de la f��sica b��sica proyectada a diferentes ��reas del conocimiento, en el ��mbito de la provincia de C��rdoba. The aim of the present proyect is to use Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) as a complete techique that allows the understanding of fundamental physics phenomena and, at the same time, it leads to important applications in the fields of chemistry, pharmaceutical developments and biology. New experiments will be used together with traditional ones, in the characterization of new metal-polymer complexes, biological membranes and pharmaceutical compounds, some of them presenting polymorfism. NMR experiments will be complemented with diverse spectroscopic and analytical techniques: Infrared, X ray Diffraction, Thermal Analysis, solution NMR, as well as multidisciplinary investigation. Additionally, the present proyect plans to study in depth several aspects of quantum dynamics phenomena and decoherence in nuclear spin systems. The present proyect is connected with basic and applied aspects of the solid state NMR technique, developed in our country, only at FaMAF-UNC. It is is composed by multidisciplinary work and it promotes the collaboration with researchers and students coming from different fields (physics, chemistry, pharmaceutical developments, biology) and different points of our country.

Fast Approximation of Nonlinearities for improving inversion algorithms of PNL mixtures and Wiener systems

This paper proposes a very fast method for blindly approximating a nonlinear mapping which transforms a sum of random variables. The estimation is surprisingly good even when the basic assumption is not satisfied.We use the method for providing a good initialization for inverting post-nonlinear mixtures and Wiener systems. Experiments show that the algorithm speed is strongly improved and the asymptotic performance is preserved with a very low extra computational cost.

A Comparative Study of Desktop, Fishtank, and Cave Systems for the Exploration of Volume Rendered Confocal Data Sets

We present a participant study that compares biological data exploration tasks using volume renderings of laser confocal microscopy data across three environments that vary in level of immersion: a desktop, fishtank, and cave system. For the tasks, data, and visualization approach used in our study, we found that subjects qualitatively preferred and quantitatively performed better in the cave compared with the fishtank and desktop. Subjects performed real-world biological data analysis tasks that emphasized understanding spatial relationships including characterizing the general features in a volume, identifying colocated features, and reporting geometric relationships such as whether clusters of cells were coplanar. After analyzing data in each environment, subjects were asked to choose which environment they wanted to analyze additional data sets in - subjects uniformly selected the cave environment.