A novel bidding method for combined heat and power units in district heating systems

We propose a bidding method for the participation of combined heat and power (CHP) units in the day-ahead electricity market. More specifically, we consider a district heating system where heat can be produced by CHP units or heat-only units, e.g., gas or wood chip boilers. We use a mixed-integer linear program to determine the optimal operation of the portfolio of production units and storages on a daily basis. Based on the optimal production of subsets of units, we can derive the bidding prices and amounts of electricity offered by the CHP units for the day-ahead market. The novelty about our approach is that the prices are derived by iteratively replacing the production of heat-only units through CHP production. This results in an algorithm with a robust bidding strategy that does not increase the system costs even if the bids are not won. We analyze our method on a small realistic test case to illustrate our method and compare it with other bidding strategies from literature, which consider CHP units individually. The analysis shows that considering a portfolio of units in a district heating system and determining bids based on replacement of heat production of other units leads to better results

On the usefulness of finding charts Or the runaway carbon stars of the Blanco & McCarthy field 37

We have been recently faced with the problem of cross--identifying stars recorded in historical catalogues with those extracted from recent fully digitized surveys (such as DENIS and 2MASS). Positions mentioned in the old catalogues are frequently of poor precision, but are generally accompanied by finding charts where the interesting objects are flagged. Those finding charts are sometimes our only link with the accumulated knowledge of past literature. While checking the identification of some of these objects in several catalogues, we had the surprise to discover a number of discrepancies in recent works.The main reason for these discrepancies was generally the blind application of the smallest difference in position as the criterion to identify sources from one historical catalogue to those in more recent surveys. In this paper we give examples of such misidentifications, and show how we were able to find and correct them.We present modern procedures to discover and solve cross--identification problems, such as loading digitized images of the sky through the Aladin service at CDS, and overlaying entries from historical catalogues and modern surveys. We conclude that the use of good finding charts still remains the ultimate (though time--consuming) tool to ascertain cross--identifications in difficult cases.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, accepted by A&

Operational planning and bidding for district heating systems with uncertain renewable energy production

In countries with an extended use of district heating (DH), the integrated operation of DH and power systems can increase the flexibility of the power system achieving a higher integration of renewable energy sources (RES). DH operators can not only provide flexibility to the power system by acting on the electricity market, but also profit from the situation to lower the overall system cost. However, the operational planning and bidding includes several uncertain components at the time of planning: electricity prices as well as heat and power production from RES. In this publication, we propose a planning method that supports DH operators by scheduling the production and creating bids for the day-ahead and balancing electricity markets. The method is based on stochastic programming and extends bidding strategies for virtual power plants to the DH application. The uncertain factors are considered explicitly through scenario generation. We apply our solution approach to a real case study in Denmark and perform an extensive analysis of the production and trading behaviour of the DH system. The analysis provides insights on how DH system can provide regulating power as well as the impact of uncertainties and renewable sources on the planning. Furthermore, the case study shows the benefit in terms of cost reductions from considering a portfolio of units and both markets to adapt to RES production and market states

Preheating After Modular Inflation

We study (p)reheating in modular (closed string) inflationary scenarios, with a special emphasis on Kahler moduli/Roulette models. It is usually assumed that reheating in such models occurs through perturbative decays. However, we find that there are very strong non-perturbative preheating decay channels related to the particular shape of the inflaton potential (which is highly nonlinear and has a very steep minimum). Preheating after modular inflation, proceeding through a combination of tachyonic instability and broad-band parametric resonance, is perhaps the most violent example of preheating after inflation known in the literature. Further, we consider the subsequent transfer of energy to the standard model sector in scenarios where the standard model particles are confined to a D7-brane wrapping the inflationary blow-up cycle of the compactification manifold or, more interestingly, a non-inflationary blow up cycle. We explicitly identify the decay channels of the inflaton in these two scenarios. We also consider the case where the inflationary cycle shrinks to the string scale at the end of inflation; here a field theoretical treatment of reheating is insufficient and one must turn instead to a stringy description. We estimate the decay rate of the inflaton and the reheat temperature for various scenarios.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in JCA

Surface stress of Ni adlayers on W(110): the critical role of the surface atomic structure

Puzzling trends in surface stress were reported experimentally for Ni/W(110) as a function of Ni coverage. In order to explain this behavior, we have performed a density-functional-theory study of the surface stress and atomic structure of the pseudomorphic and of several different possible 1x7 configurations for this system. For the 1x7 phase, we predict a different, more regular atomic structure than previously proposed based on surface x-ray diffraction. At the same time, we reproduce the unexpected experimental change of surface stress between the pseudomorphic and 1x7 configuration along the crystallographic surface direction which does not undergo density changes. We show that the observed behavior in the surface stress is dominated by the effect of a change in Ni adsorption/coordination sites on the W(110) surface.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures Published in J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 24 (2012) 13500

Nanostructured Chitosan-Based Biomaterials for Sustained and Colon-Specific Resveratrol Release

In the present work, we demonstrate the preparation of chitosan-based composites as vehicles of the natural occurring multi-drug resveratrol (RES). Such systems are endowed with potential therapeutic effects on inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis, through the sustained colonic release of RES from long-lasting mucoadhesive drug depots. The loading of RES into nanoparticles (NPs) was optimized regarding two independent variables: RES/polymer ratio, and temperature. Twenty experiments were carried out and a Box–Behnken experimental design was used to evaluate the significance of these independent variables related to encapsulation efficiency (EE). The enhanced RES EE values were achieved in 24 h at 39 °C and at RES/polymer ratio of 0.75:1 w/w. Sizes and polydispersities of the optimized NPs were studied by dynamic light scattering (DLS). Chitosan (CTS) dispersions containing the RES-loaded NPs were ionically gelled with tricarballylic acid to yield CTS-NPs composites. Macro- and microscopic features (morphology and porosity studied by SEM and spreadability), thermal stability (studied by TGA), and release kinetics of the RES-loaded CTS-NPs were investigated. Release patterns in simulated colon conditions for 48 h displayed significant differences between the NPs (final cumulative drug release: 79–81%), and the CTS-NPs composites (29–34%)

Reheating the Universe After Multi-Field Inflation

We study in detail (p)reheating after multi-field inflation models with a particular focus on N-flation. We consider a variety of different couplings between the inflatons and the matter sector, including both quartic and trilinear interactions with a light scalar field. We show that the presence of multiple oscillating inflatons makes parametric resonance inefficient in the case of the quartic interactions. Moreover, perturbative processes do not permit a complete decay of the inflaton for this coupling. In order to recover the hot big bang, we must instead consider trilinear couplings. In this case we show that strong nonperturbative preheating is possible via multi-field tachyonic resonance. In addition, late-time perturbative effects do permit a complete decay of the condensate. We also study the production of gauge fields for several prototype couplings, finding similar results to the trilinear scalar coupling. During the course of our analysis we develop the mathematical theory of the quasi-periodic Mathieu equation, the multi-field generalization of the Floquet theory familiar from preheating after single field inflation. We also elaborate on the theory of perturbative decays of a classical inflaton condensate, which is applicable in single-field models also.Comment: 46+1 pages, 19 figure

Cosmic string formation by flux trapping

We study the formation of cosmic strings by confining a stochastic magnetic field into flux tubes in a numerical simulation. We use overdamped evolution in a potential that is minimized when the flux through each face in the simulation lattice is a multiple of the fundamental flux quantum. When the typical number of flux quanta through a correlation-length-sized region is initially about 1, we find a string network similar to that generated by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. With larger initial flux, the loop distribution and the Brownian shape of the infinite strings remain unchanged, but the fraction of length in infinite strings is increased. A 2D slice of the network exhibits bundles of strings pointing in the same direction, as in earlier 2D simulations. We find, however, that strings belonging to the same bundle do not stay together in 3D for much longer than the correlation length. As the initial flux per correlation length is decreased, there is a point at which infinite strings disappear, as in the Hagedorn transition.Comment: 16 pages and 9 figures. (Minor changes and new references added

Tailoring chitosan/collagen scaffolds for tissue engineering: Effect of composition and different crosslinking agents on scaffold properties.

Chitosan/collagen (Chit/Col) blends have demonstrated great potential for use in tissue engineering (TE) applications. However, there exists a lack of detailed study on the influence of important design parameters (i.e, component ratio or crosslinking methods) on the essential properties of the scaffolds (morphology, mechanical stiffness, swelling, degradation and cytotoxicity). This work entailed a systematic study of these essential properties of three Chit/Col compositions, covering a wide range of component ratios and using different crosslinking methods. Our results showed the possibility of tailoring these properties by changing component ratios, since different interactions occurred between Chit/Col: samples with Chit-enriched compositions showed a hydrogen-bonding type complex (HC), whereas a self-crosslinking phenomenon was induced in Col-enriched scaffolds. Additionally, material and biological properties of the resultant matrices were further adjusted and tuned by changing crosslinking conditions. In such way, we obtained a wide range of scaffolds whose properties were tailored to meet specific needs of TE applications.The authors are grateful to Dr. von Kobbe (Chimera Pharma of Bionostra Group) for the gift of MCF7 cells. The financial support of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain (FIS PS09/01513), and the FPI grant from UCM to A. Martínez are gratefully acknowledged.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2015.06.08

Volume modulus inflection point inflation and the gravitino mass problem

Several models of inflection point inflation with the volume modulus as the inflaton are investigated. Non-perturbative superpotentials containing two gaugino condensation terms or one such term with threshold corrections are considered. It is shown that the gravitino mass may be much smaller than the Hubble scale during inflation if at least one of the non-perturbative terms has a positive exponent. Higher order corrections to the Kahler potential have to be taken into account in such models. Those corrections are used to stabilize the potential in the axion direction in the vicinity of the inflection point. Models with only negative exponents require uplifting and in consequence have the supersymmetry breaking scale higher than the inflation scale. Fine-tuning of parameters and initial conditions is analyzed in some detail for both types of models. It is found that fine-tuning of parameters in models with heavy gravitino is much stronger than in models with light gravitino. It is shown that recently proposed time dependent potentials can provide a solution to the problem of the initial conditions only in models with heavy gravitino. Such potentials can not be used to relax fine tuning of parameters in any model because this would lead to values of the spectral index well outside the experimental bounds.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, comments and references added, version to be publishe