Evaluating the New Greek Electricity Market Rules

The Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE), in view of the initiation of the new wholesale electricity market on January 1st 2009 as a Day-Ahead mandatory pool, undertook the design and implementation of a simulator for the market. The simulator consists of several interacting modules representing all key market operations and dynamics including day-ahead scheduling, natural gas system constraints, unplanned variability of loads and available capacity driven either by uncertain stochastic outcomes or deliberate participant schedule deviations, real time dispatch, and financial settlement of day ahead and real-time schedule differences. The modules are integrated into one software package. The intended use of the simulator is to elaborate on and allow RAE to investigate the impact of participant decision strategies on market outcomes. The ultimate purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of Market Rules, whether existing or contemplated, in providing incentives for competitive behaviour and in discouraging gaming and market manipulation. In this paper the simulator is used to analyze market design aspects and rules concerning the co-optimization of energy and reserves in the Day-Ahead energy market and the efficiency of the imbalance settlement procedure compared to real-time pricing.Electricity Market Design; Market Simulation; Regulation; Unit Commitment

US stock market regimes and oil price shocks

The paper investigates the ability of oil price returns, oil price shocks and oil price volatility to provide predictive information on the state (high/low risk environment) of the US stock market returns and volatility. The disaggregation of oil price shocks according to their origin allows us to assess whether they contain incremental forecasting power compared to oil price returns. Overall, the results suggest that oil price returns and volatility possess the power to forecast the state of the US stock market returns and volatility. However, the full effects of oil price returns can only be revealed when the oil price shocks are disentangled and as such we claim that the oil price shocks have an incremental power in forecasting the state of the stock market. The findings are important for stock market forecasters and investors dealing with stock and derivatives market

SPECT and PET Imaging of Meningiomas

Meningiomas arise from the meningothelial cells of the arachnoid membranes. They are the most common primary intracranial neoplasms and represent about 20% of all intracranial tumors. They are usually diagnosed after the third decade of life and they are more frequent in women than in men. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, meningiomas can be classified into grade I meningiomas, which are benign, grade II (atypical) and grade III (anaplastic) meningiomas, which have a much more aggressive clinical behaviour. Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are routinely used in the diagnostic workup of patients with meningiomas. Molecular Nuclear Medicine Imaging with Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) could provide complementary information to CT and MRI. Various SPECT and PET tracers may provide information about cellular processes and biological characteristics of meningiomas. Therefore, SPECT and PET imaging could be used for the preoperative noninvasive diagnosis and differential diagnosis of meningiomas, prediction of tumor grade and tumor recurrence, response to treatment, target volume delineation for radiation therapy planning, and distinction between residual or recurrent tumour from scar tissue

The Clinical Use of SPECT and PET Molecular Imaging in Alzheimer’s Disease

Non

US stock market regimes and oil price shocks

The paper investigates the ability of oil price returns, oil price shocks and oil price volatility to provide predictive information on the state (high/low risk environment) of the US stock market returns and volatility. The disaggregation of oil price shocks according to their origin allows us to assess whether they contain incremental forecasting power compared to oil price returns. Overall, the results suggest that oil price returns and volatility possess the power to forecast the state of the US stock market returns and volatility. However, the full effects of oil price returns can only be revealed when the oil price shocks are disentangled and as such we claim that the oil price shocks have an incremental power in forecasting the state of the stock market. The findings are important for stock market forecasters and investors dealing with stock and derivatives markets

Evaluating the New Greek Electricity Market Rules

The Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE), in view of the initiation of the new wholesale electricity market on January 1st 2009 as a Day-Ahead mandatory pool, undertook the design and implementation of a simulator for the market. The simulator consists of several interacting modules representing all key market operations and dynamics including day-ahead scheduling, natural gas system constraints, unplanned variability of loads and available capacity driven either by uncertain stochastic outcomes or deliberate participant schedule deviations, real time dispatch, and financial settlement of day ahead and real-time schedule differences. The modules are integrated into one software package. The intended use of the simulator is to elaborate on and allow RAE to investigate the impact of participant decision strategies on market outcomes. The ultimate purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of Market Rules, whether existing or contemplated, in providing incentives for competitive behaviour and in discouraging gaming and market manipulation. In this paper the simulator is used to analyze market design aspects and rules concerning the co-optimization of energy and reserves in the Day-Ahead energy market and the efficiency of the imbalance settlement procedure compared to real-time pricing

Evaluating the New Greek Electricity Market Rules

The Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE), in view of the initiation of the new wholesale electricity market on January 1st 2009 as a Day-Ahead mandatory pool, undertook the design and implementation of a simulator for the market. The simulator consists of several interacting modules representing all key market operations and dynamics including day-ahead scheduling, natural gas system constraints, unplanned variability of loads and available capacity driven either by uncertain stochastic outcomes or deliberate participant schedule deviations, real time dispatch, and financial settlement of day ahead and real-time schedule differences. The modules are integrated into one software package. The intended use of the simulator is to elaborate on and allow RAE to investigate the impact of participant decision strategies on market outcomes. The ultimate purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of Market Rules, whether existing or contemplated, in providing incentives for competitive behaviour and in discouraging gaming and market manipulation. In this paper the simulator is used to analyze market design aspects and rules concerning the co-optimization of energy and reserves in the Day-Ahead energy market and the efficiency of the imbalance settlement procedure compared to real-time pricing

The cientificWorldJOURNAL Review Article SPECT and PET Imaging of Meningiomas

Meningiomas arise from the meningothelial cells of the arachnoid membranes. They are the most common primary intracranial neoplasms and represent about 20% of all intracranial tumors. They are usually diagnosed after the third decade of life and they are more frequent in women than in men. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, meningiomas can be classified into grade I meningiomas, which are benign, grade II (atypical) and grade III (anaplastic) meningiomas, which have a much more aggressive clinical behaviour. Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are routinely used in the diagnostic workup of patients with meningiomas. Molecular Nuclear Medicine Imaging with Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) could provide complementary information to CT and MRI. Various SPECT and PET tracers may provide information about cellular processes and biological characteristics of meningiomas. Therefore, SPECT and PET imaging could be used for the preoperative noninvasive diagnosis and differential diagnosis of meningiomas, prediction of tumor grade and tumor recurrence, response to treatment, target volume delineation for radiation therapy planning, and distinction between residual or recurrent tumour from scar tissue

ON THE WIND FLOW PATTERNS UNDER NEUTRAL AND UNSTABLE CONDITIONS IN AN URBAN AREA

thermal behaviour of the materials, e.g., the street floor under the sun and on the geometrical characteristics of the surrounding buildings under low wind conditions. They have a detrimental effect on the stability conditions within and above street canyons, which in turn affect the wind flow patterns and the local air quality. The purpose of the present work is to study experimentally and numerically the flow field developed under neutral and unstable stratification conditions within a typical square urban street canyon. A two-dimensional set up is employed including several canyons in order to simulate an urban environment. Experiments were carried out with the use of a triple hot sensor anemometer upwind above and downwind an isolated building. Measurements were taken under neutral stratification conditions for a wind speed of 3ms-1. Two dimensional numerical simulations have also been conducted for typical urban street canyons. The numerical results have been obtained by the solution of the time averaged Navier-Stokes equations coupled with the standard k-ε turbulence model. The performance of the CFD algorithm is increased by the unstructured Cartesian grid. The numerical code was firstly validated with the experimental results derived under neutral stratification conditions. The effects of stability within a typical urban area were also studied numerically. Spatial distributions of wind velocity, turbulence and pollutants, within street canyons, were analyzed under neutral and unstable conditions for Richardson number Rb=-0.17. Under unstable conditions a great deal of mixing exists within the street canyons. The buoyancy induced flow affects the air exchange between the street canyons and the free surface layer. Vertical air motions extend beyond the level of the street canyons causing instability to increase. It was found, that the stratification effects on the flow can be successfully predicted by the CFD numerical code