A model of gender prejudice, power, and discrimination: How hierarchy-enhancing factors predominate over hierarchy-attenuating factors

Gender inequalities remain an issue in our society and particularly in the workplace. Several factors can explain this gender difference in top-level managerial positions such as career ambitions but also biases against women. In our chapter, we propose a model explaining why gender inequalities and particularly discrimination against women is still present in our societies despite social norms and existing legislation on gender equality. To this purpose, we review research on discrimination through two different approaches, (a) a prejudice approach through the justification-suppression model developed by Crandall and Eshleman (2003) and (b) a power approach through the social dominance theory (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). In our work, we integrate these two approaches and propose a model of gender prejudice, power and discrimination. The integration of these two approaches contributes to a better understanding of how discrimination against women is formed and maintained over time.

Optimization of short term power trading between Russia, Finland and Baltic countries

Russian and Baltic electricity markets are in the process of reformation and development on the way for competitive and transparent market. Nordic market also undergoes some changes on the way to market integration. Old structure and practices have been expired whereas new laws and rules come into force. The master thesis describes structure and functioning of wholesale electricity markets, cross-border connections between different countries. Additionally methods of cross-border trading using different methods of capacity allocation are disclosed. The main goal of present thesis is to study current situation at different electricity markets and observe changes coming into force as well as the capacity and electricity balances forecast in order to optimize short term power trading between countries and estimate the possible profit for the company.

Del dibujo a la realidad : decoraci??n del aula de juegos del IES Teobaldo Power

Se pone en com??n una actividad realizada con alumnado de 4.?? de la ESO del ??rea de Educaci??n Pl??stica y Visual realizada en un centro educativo de Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Consiste en fomentar el uso del aula de juegos mediante un tratamiento est??tico integral que va desde la promoci??n y publicidad (carteler??a, folletos???) hasta la decoraci??n interior y exterior del aula, a trav??s de murales, cuadros y dibujos decorativos, Se desarrollan las capacidades perceptivas, expresivas y est??ticas propias del ??rea, a partir del conocimiento te??rico pr??ctico, as?? como diversas competencias seg??n los niveles de intervenci??n del proyecto propuesto.

Basins of attraction changes by amplitude constraining of oscillators with limited power supply

We investigate the dynamics of a Duffing oscillator driven by a limited power supply, such that the source of forcing is considered to be another oscillator, coupled to the first one. The resulting dynamics come from the interaction between both systems. Moreover, the Duffing oscillator is subjected to collisions with a rigid wall (amplitude constraint). Newtonian laws of impact are combined with the equations of motion of the two coupled oscillators. Their solutions in phase space display periodic (and chaotic) attractors, whose amplitudes, especially when they are too large, can be controlled by choosing the wall position in suitable ways. Moreover, their basins of attraction are significantly modified, with effects on the final state system sensitivity. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A mechanical analogous model for the power system with Automatic Voltage Regulator

This paper deals with the subject-matter of teaching immaterial issues like power system dynamics where the phenomena and events are not sense-perceptible. The dynamics of the power system are recognized as analogous to the dynamics of a simple mechanical pendulum taken into account the well-known classical model for the synchronous machine. It is shown that even for more sophisticated models including flux decay and Automatic Voltage Regulator the mechanical device can be taken as an analogous, since provided some considerations about variation and control of the pendulum length using certain control laws. The resulting mathematical model represents a mechanical system that can be built for use in laboratory teaching of power system dynamics. © 2010 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved.

A comparison of performance indexes in DC-DC converters under different stabilizing state-dependent switching laws

This paper deals with the problem of establishing stabilizing state-dependent switching laws in DC-DC converters operating at continuous conduction mode (CCM) and comparing their performance indexes. Firstly, the nature of the problem is defined, that is, the study of switched affine systems, which may not share a common equilibrium point. The concept of stability is, therefore, broadened. Then, the central theorem is proposed, from which a family of switching laws can be derived, namely the minimum law and the hold state law. Some of these are proved to stabilize the basic DC-DC converters and then, their performances are compared to another law, from a previous work, by simulation, where a great reduction in overshoot is obtained. © 2011 IEEE.

Experimental results and thermodynamic analysis of a natural gas small scale cogeneration plant for power and refrigeration purposes

In this work, experimental results are reported for a small scale cogeneration plant for power and refrigeration purposes. The plant includes a natural gas microturbine and an ammonia/water absorption chiller fired by steam. The system was tested under different turbine loads, steam pressures and chiller outlet temperatures. An evaluation based on the 1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics was also performed. For the ambient temperature around 24°C and microturbine at full load, the plant is able to provide 19 kW of saturated steam at 5.3 bar (161 °C), corresponding to 9.2 kW of refrigeration at -5 °C (COP = 0.44). From a 2nd law point-of-view, it was found that there is an optimal chiller outlet temperature that maximizes the chiller exergetic efficiency. As expected, the microturbine presented the highest irreversibilities, followed by the absorption chiller and the HRSG. In order to reduce the plant exergy destruction, it is recommended a new design for the HRSG and a new insulation for the exhaust pipe. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Load analyser using conservative power theory

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Stopping power and depth dose profile of H+ and He+ ion beams in hydroxyapatite thin films.

Hadron therapy is a promising technique to treat deep-seated tumors. For an accurate treatment planning, the energy deposition in the soft and hard human tissue must be well known. Water has been usually employed as a phantom of soft tissues, but other biomaterials, such as hydroxyapatite (HAp), used as bone substitute, are also relevant as a phantom for hard tissues. The stopping power of HAp for H+ and He+ beams has been studied experimentally and theoretically. The measurements have been done using the Rutherford backscattering technique in an energy range of 450-2000 keV for H+ and of 400-5000 keV for He+ projectiles. The theoretical calculations are based in the dielectric formulation together with the MELF-GOS (Mermin Energy-Loss Function – Generalized Oscillator Strengths) method [1] to describe the target excitation spectrum. A quite good agreement between the experimental data and the theoretical results has been found. The depth dose profile of H+ and He+ ion beams in HAp has been simulated by the SEICS (Simulation of Energetic Ions and Clusters through Solids) code [2], which incorporates the electronic stopping force due to the energy loss by collisions with the target electrons, including fluctuations due to the energy-loss straggling, the multiple elastic scattering with the target nuclei, with their corresponding nuclear energy loss, and the dynamical charge-exchange processes in the projectile charge state. The energy deposition by H+ and He+ as a function of the depth are compared, at several projectile energies, for HAp and liquid water, showing important differences.

Nonlinear constrained and saturated control of power electronics and electromechanical systems

Power electronic converters are extensively adopted for the solution of timely issues, such as power quality improvement in industrial plants, energy management in hybrid electrical systems, and control of electrical generators for renewables. Beside nonlinearity, this systems are typically characterized by hard constraints on the control inputs, and sometimes the state variables. In this respect, control laws able to handle input saturation are crucial to formally characterize the systems stability and performance properties. From a practical viewpoint, a proper saturation management allows to extend the systems transient and steady-state operating ranges, improving their reliability and availability. The main topic of this thesis concern saturated control methodologies, based on modern approaches, applied to power electronics and electromechanical systems. The pursued objective is to provide formal results under any saturation scenario, overcoming the drawbacks of the classic solution commonly applied to cope with saturation of power converters, and enhancing performance. For this purpose two main approaches are exploited and extended to deal with power electronic applications: modern anti-windup strategies, providing formal results and systematic design rules for the anti-windup compensator, devoted to handle control saturation, and “one step” saturated feedback design techniques, relying on a suitable characterization of the saturation nonlinearity and less conservative extensions of standard absolute stability theory results. The first part of the thesis is devoted to present and develop a novel general anti-windup scheme, which is then specifically applied to a class of power converters adopted for power quality enhancement in industrial plants. In the second part a polytopic differential inclusion representation of saturation nonlinearity is presented and extended to deal with a class of multiple input power converters, used to manage hybrid electrical energy sources. The third part regards adaptive observers design for robust estimation of the parameters required for high performance control of power systems.

Practice Movements: The Politics of Non-sovereign Power

Practice movements, that is, forms of unorganized collective action, are a central site of politics. Their defining moments are that their goals are expressed in practices rather than in words, and that these “pre-ideological” practices aim at access to or redistribution of goods, whether material or symbolic, rather than at representation. They are transgression rather than resistance in that they transgress restrictions inherent in the material organization of space, property relations, status orders, and normative regulations, be they laws, morals, or customs. Practice movements are above all about access and participation rather than about autonomy, and thus have an ambiguous relation to the transformation of the status quo. Their politics are transformative and they can produce temporary or lasting changes in the material grounds or in the regulation of the everyday life of those who pursue them, and potentially of the normativity and the organization of the wider social order.

Surface-Assisted Luminescence: The PL Yellow Band and the EL of n-GaN Devices

Although everybody should know thatmeasurements are never performed directly onmaterials but on devices, this is not generally true. Devices are physical systems able to exchange energy and thus subject to the laws of physics, which determine the information they provide. Hence, we should not overlook device effects in measurements as we do by assuming naively that photoluminescence (PL) is bulk emission free fromsurface effects. By replacing this unjustified assumption with a propermodel forGaN surface devices, their yellow band PL becomes surface-assisted luminescence that allows for the prediction of the weak electroluminescence recently observed in n-GaN devices when holes are brought to their surfaces.