Estrutura de comercialização de energia entre consumidores e prosumidores de uma microrrede por intermédio de um leilão duplo

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo propor uma estrutura de comercialização de energia local entre consumidores e prosumidores de uma microrrede conectada a rede elétrica por intermédio de um leilão duplo com uma hora de antecedência. A microrrede é composta por três tipos de unidades consumidoras que são classificados em função da existência de geração e armazenamento de energia em suas instalações. Para cada classificação, foi desenvolvido um algoritmo para representar um agente autônomo que toma decisões em relação à oferta que a unidade consumidora na qual ele está instalado enviará para a plataforma digital de leilão. Esses algoritmos definem como cada agente deve comprar, armazenar e vender a energia elétrica na próxima hora. As transações reais de energia entre as unidades consumidoras e a concessionária ocorrem durante a hora para qual o leilão foi previsto. Assim, após a finalização dessas transações, comparam-se as transações financeiras previstas pelo leilão e as trocas de energia elétrica que foram realizadas. A concessionária realiza o ajuste financeiro, comprando ou vendendo a diferença de energia para cada agente para que eles possam cumprir os contratos firmados no leilão. Para ilustrar o funcionamento e os benefícios proporcionados pela utilização da estrutura de comercialização proposta, foram considerados diferentes cenários de análise simulados no software Matlab. Nesses cenários foram avaliados a influência do leilão, do armazenamento e da modalidade da tarifa da concessionária (convencional ou branca) utilizada como referência para as ofertas realizadas no leilão. Conclui-se esse trabalho apresentando os ganhos financeiros e benefícios aportados pela estrutura de comercialização proposta.The goal of this paper is to propose a local energy trading framework between consumers and prosumers of a microgrid connected to the power grid based on an hour-ahead double auction. The microgrid consists of three types of consumers which are classified according to the existence of energy generation and storage in their facilities. For each classification, an algorithm has been developed to represent an autonomous agent who makes decisions regarding the offer that the consumer unit in which it is installed will send to the digital auction platform. These algorithms define how each agent should buy, store and sell electricity in the next hour. Actual energy transactions between consumer units occur during the time for which the auction was predicted. Thus, after the conclusion of the transactions, the financial transactions provided by the auction and the actual electricity exchanges are compared. The utility makes the financial adjustment by buying or selling the energy difference for each agent so that they can fulfill the contracts signed in the auction. To evaluate the functioning and benefits provided by the use of the proposed energy trading framework, different scenarios were simulated in the software Matlab. In these scenarios, the influence of the auction, storage and utility tariff (conventional or white) used as a reference for the offers sent to the auction were evaluated. This paper is concluded by presenting the financial gains and the benefits provided by the proposed framework

Trends of the Major Porin Gene (ompF) Evolution: Insight from the Genus Yersinia

OmpF is one of the major general porins of Enterobacteriaceae that belongs to the first line of bacterial defense and interactions with the biotic as well as abiotic environments. Porins are surface exposed and their structures strongly reflect the history of multiple interactions with the environmental challenges. Unfortunately, little is known on diversity of porin genes of Enterobacteriaceae and the genus Yersinia especially. We analyzed the sequences of the ompF gene from 73 Yersinia strains covering 14 known species. The phylogenetic analysis placed most of the Yersinia strains in the same line assigned by 16S rDNA-gyrB tree. Very high congruence in the tree topologies was observed for Y. enterocolitica, Y. kristensenii, Y. ruckeri, indicating that intragenic recombination in these species had no effect on the ompF gene. A significant level of intra- and interspecies recombination was found for Y. aleksiciae, Y. intermedia and Y. mollaretii. Our analysis shows that the ompF gene of Yersinia has evolved with nonrandom mutational rate under purifying selection. However, several surface loops in the OmpF porin contain positively selected sites, which very likely reflect adaptive diversification Yersinia to their ecological niches. To our knowledge, this is a first investigation of diversity of the porin gene covering the whole genus of the family Enterobacteriaceae. This study demonstrates that recombination and positive selection both contribute to evolution of ompF, but the relative contribution of these evolutionary forces are different among Yersinia species

Personality profiles of cultures: aggregate personality traits

Personality profiles of cultures can be operationalized as the mean trait levels of culture members. College students from 51 cultures rated an individual from their country whom they knew well (N = 12, 156). Aggregate scores on Revised NEO Personality Inventory scales generalized across age and gender groups, approximated the individual-level Five-Factor Model, and correlated with aggregate self-report personality scores and other culture-level variables. Results were not attributable to national differences in economic development or to acquiescence. Geographical differences in scale variances and mean levels were replicated, with Europeans and Americans generally scoring higher in Extraversion than Asians and Africans. Findings support the rough scalar equivalence of NEO-PI-R factors and facets across cultures, and suggest that aggregate personality profiles provide insight into cultural differences

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Abstracts from the 8th International Conference on cGMP Generators, Effectors and Therapeutic Implications

This work was supported by a restricted research grant of Bayer AG

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects