Large-scale unit commitment under uncertainty: an updated literature survey

The Unit Commitment problem in energy management aims at finding the optimal production schedule of a set of generation units, while meeting various system-wide constraints. It has always been a large-scale, non-convex, difficult problem, especially in view of the fact that, due to operational requirements, it has to be solved in an unreasonably small time for its size. Recently, growing renewable energy shares have strongly increased the level of uncertainty in the system, making the (ideal) Unit Commitment model a large-scale, non-convex and uncertain (stochastic, robust, chance-constrained) program. We provide a survey of the literature on methods for the Uncertain Unit Commitment problem, in all its variants. We start with a review of the main contributions on solution methods for the deterministic versions of the problem, focussing on those based on mathematical programming techniques that are more relevant for the uncertain versions of the problem. We then present and categorize the approaches to the latter, while providing entry points to the relevant literature on optimization under uncertainty. This is an updated version of the paper "Large-scale Unit Commitment under uncertainty: a literature survey" that appeared in 4OR 13(2), 115--171 (2015); this version has over 170 more citations, most of which appeared in the last three years, proving how fast the literature on uncertain Unit Commitment evolves, and therefore the interest in this subject

Comparative study of IgA nephropathy with and without crescents

Glomerular crescents were analyzed as a prognostic factor in retrospectively reviewed data from 144 patients with biopsy-proven IgA nephropathy. Crescents were found in 26 (18%) patients, and detected in 2 to 100% of glomeruli in each specimen. In 5% of the patients more than 50% of the glomeruli were affected. Thirty patients with IgA nephropathy without crescents were studied as a control group. Mean age was 30.3 ± 9.4 and 30.2 ± 12.0 years for the patients with and without crescents, respectively, and males prevailed in both groups. The length of follow-up was 23.2 ± 41.6 months for patients with crescents and 29.3 ± 35.3 months for patients without crescents. Eighty percent of the patients with crescents were hypertensive, compared to 27% of the non-crescent control group (P < 0.05). Mean serum creatinine at the time of diagnosis was 3.9 ± 2.9 and 1.9 ± 2.1 mg/dl for the patients with and without crescents, respectively. Initial urinary protein excretion was higher in patients with crescents (4.6 ± 3.5 vs 1.2 ± 0.9 g/day; P < 0.05). At the end of follow-up 17 patients (77.3%) from the crescent group and 3 (11.1%) from the non-crescent group had end-stage renal disease (P < 0.0001). The presence of crescents was associated with higher levels of initial serum creatinine and urinary protein excretion, and a higher frequency of hypertension and progression to end-stage renal disease

Clin Nephrol.

Acesso restrito. Disponível apenas o resumo do artigo.Different patterns of glomerulonephritis (GN) are reported from all over the world and the occurrence of primary GN is changing in the course of time. We report the frequencies of primary GN in a major teaching hospital in Brazil, from 1979-1999

Utilização do planejamento experimental em rede simplex no estudo de resíduo de rocha ornamental como filler para obtenção de máxima compacidade Use of simplex lattice experimental design in the study of ornamental rock waste as filler to obtain maximum compaction

A utilização de agregados industrializados vem crescendo ao longo dos anos para atender a grande demanda da construção civil devido ao crescimento econômico do país. O objetivo deste trabalho foi utilizar o planejamento experimental em Rede Simplex para avaliar o efeito da adição do resíduo de rocha ornamental como filler na composição de misturas ternárias (brita 0, pó de pedra e resíduo), que levem a máxima compacidade (densidade seca aparente máxima). Foram tomados dezesseis pontos experimentais, cujos teores dos materiais utilizados variaram de 0 a 100%. O modelo em rede simplex cúbico completo apresentou melhor ajuste aos resultados experimentais, o qual resulta em respostas estatisticamente mais adequadas para as composições estudadas. A superfície de resposta gerada indicou que a densidade seca aparente máxima de 2,0 g/cm³ foi obtida para a composição ternária: 63% de brita 0/17% de pó de pedra/20% de resíduo de rocha ornamental. Portanto, o uso de resíduo de rocha ornamental como filler em agregados para a construção civil pode ser uma alternativa viável para deposição final deste abundante resíduo de forma ambientalmente correta.<br>The use of industrial aggregates has grown over the years to meet the great demand of the civil construction due to the country's economical growth. The aim of this work was to use the experimental design in Simplex Lattice to evaluate the effect of the addition of ornamental rock waste as filler in the composition of ternary mixtures (crushed rock 0, stone powder, rock waste), leading to maximum compaction (maximum apparent dry density). Sixteen experimental points were taken, whose contents of the used materials ranged from 0 to 100%. The complete cubic simplex model showed to best fit to the experimental results, which results in more statistically appropriated responses to the studied compositions. The response surface generated indicated that the maximum apparent dry density (2.0 g/cm³) was obtained for the ternary composition: 63% crushed rock 0/ 17% stone powder/ 20% ornamental rock waste. Therefore, the use of ornamental rock waste as filler in aggregates for civil construction can be a viable alternative for final deposition in an environmental correct way

The helminth community of a population of Rattus norvegicus from an urban Brazilian slum and the threat of zoonotic diseases

Urban slums provide suitable conditions for infestation by rats, which harbour and shed a wide diversity of zoonotic pathogens including helminths. We aimed to identify risk factors associated with the probability and intensity of infection of helminths of the digestive tract in an urban slum population of Rattus norvegicus. Among 299 rats, eleven species/groups of helminths were identified, of which Strongyloides sp., Nippostrongylus brasiliensis and, the human pathogen, Angiostrongylus cantonensis were the most frequent (97, 41 and 39%, respectively). Sex interactions highlighted behavioural differences between males and females, as eg males were more likely to be infected with N. brasiliensis where rat signs were present, and males presented more intense infections of Strongyloides sp. Moreover, rats in poor body condition had higher intensities of N. brasiliensis. We describe a high global richness of parasites in R. norvegicus, including five species known to cause disease in humans. Among these, A. cantonensis was found in high prevalence and it was ubiquitous in the study area - knowledge which is of public health importance. A variety of environmental, demographic and body condition variables were associated with helminth species infection of rats, suggesting a comparable variety of risk factors for humans