A MPCC approach on a Stackelberg game in an electric power market : changing the leadership

An electric power market is studied as a Stackelberg game where two firms, A and B, produce energy. It is analyzed two distinct situations, according to the firm who plays the leader role: the first one, when the firm A is the leader and the other firm is the follower, and the second that is the reverse of the players roles. The main goal is to understand the behavior of the various agents that compose the electric power network, such as transmissions capacity, quantities of power generated and demanded, when changing leadership. The problem is formulated as a Mathematical Program with Complementarity Constraints (MPCC) and reformulated into a Nonlinear Program (NLP), allowing the use of robust NLP solvers. Numerical results are presented and some final considerations are carried out.Universidade do Minho. Centro AlgoritmiFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Endovascular repair versus open surgery in patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms: Clinical outcomes with 1-year follow-up

ObjectiveTo compare the clinical outcomes of treatment after endovascular repair and open surgery in patients with ruptured infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), including 1-year follow-up.MethodsAll consecutive conscious patients with ruptured infrarenal AAAs who presented to our tertiary care teaching hospital between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2005, were included in this study (n = 55). Twenty-six patients underwent endovascular repair, and 29 patients underwent open surgery. Patients who were hemodynamically too unstable to undergo a computed tomography angiography scan were excluded. Outcomes evaluated were intraoperative mortality, 30-day mortality, systemic complications, complications necessitating surgical intervention, and mortality and complications during 1-year follow-up. The statistical tests we used were the Student t test, χ2 test, Fisher exact test, and Mann-Whitney U test (two sided; α = .05).ResultsThirty-day mortality was 8 (31%) of 26 patients who underwent endovascular repair and 9 (31%) of 29 patients who underwent open surgery (P = .98). Systemic complications and complications necessitating surgical intervention during the initial hospital stay were similar in both treatment groups (8/26 [31%] and 5/26 [19%] for endovascular repair, respectively, and 9/29 [31%] and 8/29 [28%] for open surgery, respectively; P > .40). During 1-year follow-up, two patients initially treated with endovascular repair died as a result of non–aneurysm-related causes; no death occurred in the open surgery group. Complications during 1-year follow-up were 1 (5%) of 20 for endovascular repair and 4 (16%) of 25 for open surgery (P = .36).ConclusionsOn the basis of our study with a highly selected population, the mortality and complication rates after endovascular repair may be similar compared with those after open surgery in patients treated for ruptured infrarenal AAAs

Estimation of compensation ratio by identifying the presence of different hopping conduction mechanisms in SnO2 thin films

WOS: 000287543300044The electrical properties of undoped SnO2 thin films prepared by the sol-gel technique were investigated by conductivity measurements in a temperature range of 50-200 K. Structural characterizations of the films were performed by atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Optical properties of the samples were also characterized by optical absorption spectroscopy. The different hopping models were used to investigate the characteristics of electrical conduction by hopping in employed temperature range. It was shown that three types of behavior can be expected, nearest-neighbour hopping at high temperatures, the Mott variable-range hopping at low temperatures and Efros-Shklovskii variable-range hopping at lower temperatures. The criteria for the observation of these three regions were established and the transitional behavior of the conductivity was determined. The experimentally determined critical transition temperatures were at the orders of magnitudes with what could be expected based on hopping conduction calculations. Under these analyses, the compensation ratio of the films was determined. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.State of Planning Organization of TurkeyTurkiye Cumhuriyeti Kalkinma Bakanligi [2001K120590]; Ankara University BAPAnkara University [2007-07-45-054]This work is supported by the State of Planning Organization of Turkey under Grant No. 2001K120590 and the Ankara University BAP under Project Number 2007-07-45-054. We would also like to thank Prof. Dr. Yusuf Kagan Kadioglu and Ms. Murat Yavuz for providing XRD and AFM measurements

Investigation of Coordination Environments in Heterogeneous Catalysis

Increasing energy demand, environmental causes, and sustainable energy goals give rise to the study of energy conversion systems extensively. More efforts have been devoted to oxygen evolution reaction because of kinetic considerations and improving electrocatalytic behavior of a vast number of materials including both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. In heterogeneous catalysis, a small number of catalytically active sites are believed to be involved in electrochemical reactions. The properties and coordination environments of these sites play a key role in the design of optimum electrocatalyst. However, direct analysis of the coordination environments is often challenging and requires more systematic analysis. This analysis can be done by a systematic perturbation of a system and measuring the structural and electrochemical response. This thesis focuses on the analysis of the identification of distinct coordination environments in nickel and cobalt hydroxides through structure-property analysis. Correlations between structure-activity and structure-property give information on the electrochemical activity and ultimately serve as a method to design more efficient and high-performance materials for various electrochemical energy conversion applications

Optimization methods for electric power systems: An overview

Power systems optimization problems are very difficult to solve because power systems are very large, complex, geographically widely distributed and are influenced by many unexpected events. It is therefore necessary to employ most efficient optimization methods to take full advantages in simplifying the formulation and implementation of the problem. This article presents an overview of important mathematical optimization and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques used in power optimization problems. Applications of hybrid AI techniques have also been discussed in this article

Hybrid Approach for the Treatment of Thoracic Aortic Arch Aneurysm in a Patient With Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease and Retrosternal Adhesion

A 73-year-old woman with a history of chronic hypertension and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, presented to a district general hospital with thoracic pain in a profound state of shock. She was diagnosed with cardiac tamponade, severe mitral regurgitation, and Stanford type A (Debakey type I) intramural hematoma. Her ascending aorta was of a significant size and therefore emergent repair was done to replace the ascending aorta and mitral valve. After 6 months, an increased aneurysmal size of 6.0 cm was observed in a follow up contrast-enhanced computed tomography angiography. The patient was successfully treated by a staged hybrid procedure involving initial supra-aortic reconstruction

Changes in Inflammatory Response after Endovascular Treatment for Type B Aortic Dissection

This present study aims to investigate the changes in the inflammatory markers after elective endovascular treatment of Type B aortic dissection with aneurysm, as related to different anatomical features of the dissection flap in the paravisceral perfusion. Consecutive patients with type B aortic dissections with elective endovascular stent graft repair were recruited and categorized into different groups. Serial plasma levels of cytokines (Interleukin-1β, -6, -8, -10, TNF-α), chemokines (MCP-1), and serum creatinine were monitored at pre-, peri- and post-operative stages. The length of stent graft employed in each surgery was retrieved and correlated with the change of all studied biochemical parameters. A control group of aortic dissected patients with conventional medication management was recruited for comparing the baseline biochemical parameters. In total, 22 endovascular treated and 16 aortic dissected patients with surveillance were recruited. The endovascular treated patients had comparable baseline levels as the non-surgical patients. There was no immediate or thirty day-mortality, and none of the surgical patients developed post-operative mesenteric ischaemia or clinically significant renal impairment. All surgical patients had detectable pro-inflammatory mediators, but none of the them showed any statistical significant surge in the peri-operative period except IL-1β and IL-6. Similar results were obtained when categorized into different groups. IL-1β and IL-6 showed maximal levels within hours of the endovascular procedure (range, 3.93 to 27.3 higher than baseline; p = 0.001), but returned to baseline 1 day post-operatively. The change of IL-1β and IL-6 at the stent graft deployment was statistically greater in longer stent graft (p>0.05). No significant changes were observed in the serum creatinine levels. In conclusion, elective endovascular repair of type B aortic dissection associated with insignificant changes in inflammatory mediators and creatinine. All levels fell toward basal levels post-operatively suggesting that thoracic endovascular aortic repair is rather less aggressive with insignificant inflammatory modulation