Integrated Resource Plan for Portland General Electric (PGE)

An integrated resource plan (IRP) for Portland General Electric (PGE) is developed in this master’s project. The IRP is based on capacity expansion modeling for zero-carbon emission scenarios. PGE is a public electric utility based in Oregon and serves around 887,000 customers across a territory of 4,000 sq. miles. The utility’s resource mix is currently heavily dependent on natural gas making up almost 50% of its capacity. While the state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) require Oregon power utilities to derive 50% of their generation from renewable sources by 2040, PGE plans to move rapidly into a clean energy mix by investing more in wind, hydro and solar resources. We performed a regression-based load and resource assessment for PGE and estimated a gap of 4350 MW between existing resource capacity and projected load till 2050. With a research goal of achieving zero-emissions by 2050, we model three different scenarios for PGE. The first scenario, a Reference case is based on business as usual operations with a target to achieve the state RPS, the other two scenarios go beyond the RPS and meet a zero-emissions target by 2050. These cases include a High Renewables scenario and a Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) scenario. While the High Renewables scenario considers rapid addition of renewables into the capacity mix, the CCS scenario considers meeting the zero-emissions target by adding CCS technology to natural gas plants. A hybrid fuel with 10% biogas is used in such natural gas-plus-CCS plants. Using data available from U.S. Energy Information Administration, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, we performed optimizations and designed a model to obtain results for the three scenarios. The model considers all key clean energy policies in Oregon and is in alignment with the Oregon Public Utility commission (OPUC) regulations. This includes the Coal Transition Act that mandates all utilities to end coal-based energy by 2035 and no further addition of coal plants after retirement of existing plants. Through quantitative analyses and graphical representations, we compare results from different scenarios and study the impacts of each on the existing system. Results demonstrate significant changes in the energy resource mix, annual costs, retail rate of electricity, curtailment and emission intensity across 2020 to 2050. Based on our results, analyses and conclusions, we propose recommendations to the PGE that may be considered for achieving zero-emissions by 2050

Authoritarian Recall: Mexico's Drug War and Subnational Patterns of Opposition to Democracy

In times of crisis, citizens' support for democracy can depend on how well they think their democracy can address that crisis compared to authoritarian alternatives. Mexico is in the midst of just such a crisis, as its war on drug trafficking organisations has brought an unprecedented rise in violence and, in some areas, posed a direct challenge to the state's capacity to govern. At the same time, its subnational political landscape ranges from vibrant, multi-party states to those with continued connections to a dominant one-party past. We leverage these variations in subnational political context and levels of drug-related violence to examine how the subnational political context mediates the relationship between a crisis and support for non-democratic alternatives. When faced with a violent shock to the system, public attitudes towards democracy depend in part on one's experiences with non-democratic alternatives and whether these authoritarian options appear to solve the crisis at hand more effectively

Different brain structures exhibit the same caffeine levels after the administration of a single dose of caffeine

Antecedentes: La cafeína es el estimulante del sistema nervioso más consumido a nivel mundial. Aunque, la cafeína tiene diferentes efectos sobre las funciones cerebrales, poco se sabe acerca de su farmacocinética en el cerebro. Por ejemplo, la mayoría de estudios que evaluaron la distribución de cafeína en el cerebro de rata han medido niveles de cafeína en corteza y estriado, pero no en áreas cerebrales más específicas. Objetivo: El propósito del trabajo fue medir la concentración de cafeína en sangre y diferentes regiones encefálicas (corteza, estriado, hipocampo, cerebelo, tallo cerebral), a diferentes tiempos, después de administrar una única dosis de cafeína. Método: Ratas Wistar adultas (250-300 gr) recibieron una dosis intraperitoneal de cafeína de 30mg/Kg de peso. 20, 40 60 y 80 minutos después de la administración, los sujetos se sacrificaron por decapitación y se obtuvieron muestras de plasma, corteza cerebral, estriado, hipocampo, cerebelo y tallo cerebral. Los niveles de cafeína en plasma y estructuras encefálicas se determinaron por RP-HPLC y se realizó análisis estadístico. Resultados: Los niveles de cafeína fueron mayores en plasma que en las regiones encefálicas estudiadas. Las distintas regiones encefálicas presentaron concentraciones similares de cafeína. En todas las regiones, la mayor concentración de cafeína se obtuvo 40 minutos después de la administración de cafeína. Conclusiones: Este estudio soporta resultados previos que muestran concentraciones similares de cafeína entre la corteza y el estriado, además los extiende a otras regiones encefálicas. La concentración de cafeína aumenta similarmente en plasma y estructuras encefálicas. 40, 60 y 80 minutos después de la administración, la concentración de cafeína en plasma es casi el doble de la encontrada en el cerebro. Lo anterior sugiere que los efectos de la cafeína en distintas funciones cerebrales no dependen de diferencias farmacocinéticas entre regiones encefálicas sino que son más bien explicadas por factores farmacodinámicos.Caffeine is a highly consumed stimulant of the nervous system. Although caffeine has diverse effects on different brain functions, little is known about the specific pharmacokinetics of this substance in the brain. For instance, most studies that assessed caffeine distribution in the rat brain have only measured caffeine levels in the cortex and striatum but not in more specific brain areas.Aims: The purpose of this work was to measure the caffeine concentration in blood and different brain regions (i.e. cortex, striatum, hippocampus, cerebellum and brainstem) at different times after the administration of a single intraperitoneal dose of caffeine.Methods: Adult Wistar rats (250 to 300 gr) were injected with a single intraperitoneal dose of 30 mg/ Kg of caffeine. 20, 40, 60 and 80 minutes after administration, subjects were sacrificed by decapitation and samples of plasma, cerebral cortex, striatum, hippocampus, cerebellum and brainstem were obtained. Caffeine levels in the blood and each brain structure were measured by RP-HPLC and statistical analysis was performed. Results: Caffeine levels were higher in the plasma compared to all the brain structures studied. Different brain regions displayed similar caffeine concentrations. For all brain regions, the maximal concentration levels of caffeine were reached in the first 40 minutes after caffeine administration.Conclusions: The results support previous studies that show similar caffeine concentration between cortex and striatum, but also extend the results to other brain structures. Furthermore, caffeine concentration increases similarly in the plasma and brain structures. 40, 60 and 80 minutes after administration, caffeine concentration in the blood is almost two times higher than in the brain. This suggests that the effects of caffeine on different brain functions do not depend on pharmacokinetic differences between brain areas and are rather explained by pharmacodynamics

Mangrove and saltmarsh distribution mapping and land cover change assessment for south-eastern Australia from 1991 to 2015

Coastal wetland ecosystems, such as saltmarsh and mangroves, provide a wide range of important ecological and socio-economic services. A good understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of these ecosystems is critical to maximising the benefits from restoration and conservation projects. We mapped mangrove and saltmarsh ecosystem transitions from 1991 to 2015 in south-eastern Australia, using remotely sensed Landsat data and a Random Forest classification. Our classification results were improved by the addition of two physical variables (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM), and Distance to Water). We also provide evidence that the addition of post-classification, spatial and temporal, filters improve overall accuracy of coastal wetlands detection by up to 16%. Mangrove and saltmarsh maps produced in this study had an overall User Accuracy of 0.82–0.95 and 0.81–0.87 and an overall Producer Accuracy of 0.71–0.88 and 0.24–0.87 for mangrove and saltmarsh, respectively. We found that mangrove ecosystems in south-eastern Australia have lost an area of 1148 ha (7.6%), whilst saltmarsh experienced an overall increase in coverage of 4157 ha (20.3%) over this 24-year period. The maps developed in this study allow local managers to quantify persistence, gains, and losses of coastal wetlands in south-eastern Australia

Articulación de la educación media con la superior en el manejo integrado de cultivos hortícolas

Este proyecto de articulación tiene como finalidad capacitar estudiantes de bachillerato de colegios departamentales de la zona, que se encuentren cursando décimo y/o undécimo grado, en temas de importancia para el sector hortícola, como son el riego, la fertilización y la sanidad vegetal. Comprende la asociación de los municipios de Cajicá donde se encuentra ubicada la sede de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad Militar Nueva Granada y Chía específicamente la vereda Fagua con la empresa de flores MG. Consultores y el Colegio Departamental Fagua. Esta zona se encuentra inmersa en un área mucho mayor que se conoce como la Asociación de Municipios de la Provincia de Sabana Centro (Asocentro), creada en la década de los ochenta y conformada por 11 municipios (Cajicá, Chía, Cogua, Cota, Gachancipá, Nemocón, Sopo, Tabio, Tenjo, Tocancipá, Zipaquira) de vocación agropecuaria, enfocada a la solución de problemas como lo son el de mejorar la calidad de vida y el bienestar social de los habitantes de la región, la toma de decisiones de impacto regional relacionadas con el agro, la creación de un área agropolitana que funcione como fuente de productos agrícolas para la capital y el fortalecimiento del desarrollo de actividades agrícolas como el cultivo de flores. De esta forma se busca aplicar los avances y resultados obtenidos de las investigaciones en la universidad a la comunidad de su área de impacto directo (ASOCENTRO).Pregrad

Entrenamiento en habilidades directivas basado en el aprendizaje virtual

Curso de Especial Interés: Consultoría del Talento HumanoEl objetivo del presente trabajo fue diseñar un programa de entrenamiento en habilidades directivas, basado en la metodología del aprendizaje experiencial, mediante el uso de la herramienta tecnológica como lo es la realidad virtual, orientando a participantes empresariales a desarrollar herramientas y potencializando las competencias ya establecidas e instaurando competencias novedosas para que de esta forma se logre la consecución de objetivos que le permitan una adecuada resolución de conflictos o problemáticas presentadas en un ámbito laboral. para ello se elaboró un programa denominado Smart Coaching, el cual contempla cuatro fases de desarrollo, las cuales comprenden de una fase inicial teórico práctica, una segunda fase comprendida por el contacto de la persona con la realidad virtual, una tercera fase de socialización y retroalimentación y finalmente una cuarta fase, en la que se lleva a cabo un seguimiento.PregradoPsicólog

Evaluation of occupational and professional profiles in Ecuadorian context based on guide of Knowledge SWEBOK and ontological model

Bodies of Knowledge (BOK), contain the relevant knowledge for a discipline, and it is necessary for the development of the science, and application in the professional, and occupational profiles, and the possible incidence in the industry of Ecuador. In this paper, it is shown an evaluation of professional and occupational profiles based on standard Software Engineering Body of Knowledge SWEBOK 2004 (Spanish Version), and the development of ontological model, in order to obtain the necessary information to establish the relationship, and the criteria to evaluate the profiles based on the guide of knowledge

Evaluation of occupational and professional profiles in Ecuadorian context based on guide of Knowledge SWEBOK and ontological model

Bodies of Knowledge (BOK), contain the relevant knowledge for a discipline, and it is necessary for the development of the science, and application in the professional, and occupational profiles, and the possible incidence in the industry of Ecuador. In this paper, it is shown an evaluation of professional and occupational profiles based on standard Software Engineering Body of Knowledge SWEBOK 2004 (Spanish Version), and the development of ontological model, in order to obtain the necessary information to establish the relationship, and the criteria to evaluate the profiles based on the guide of knowledge

Factors that predispose to causing diseases of abortions in dairy cows: a review

Sin resume

Differential Regulation ofchordinExpression Domains in Mutant Zebrafish

AbstractPatterning along the dorsal–ventral (D–V) axis ofXenopusandDrosophilaembryos is believed to occur through a conserved molecular mechanism, with homologous proteins Chordin and Short gastrulation (Sog) antagonizing signaling by bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP-4) and Decapentaplegic (Dpp), respectively. We have isolated a zebrafish gene that is highly homologous tochordinandsogwithin cysteine-rich domains and exhibits conserved aspects of expression and function. As inXenopusembryos, zebrafishchordinis expressed in the organizer region and transiently in axial mesoderm. Injection of zebrafishchordinmRNA to the ventral side ofXenopusembryos induced secondary axes. Ectopic overexpression in zebrafish resulted in an expansion of paraxial mesoderm and neurectoderm at the expense of more lateral and ventral derivatives, producing a range of defects similar to those of dorsalized zebrafish mutants (Mullinset al.,1996). In accordance with the proposed function ofchordinin D–V patterning, dorsalized zebrafish mutants showed expanded domains ofchordinexpression by midgastrulation, while some ventralized mutants had reduced expression; however, in all mutants examined, early organizer expression was unaltered. In contrast toXenopus,zebrafishchordinis also expressed in paraxial mesoderm and ectoderm and in localized regions of the developing brain, suggesting that there are additional roles forchordinin zebrafish embryonic development. Surprisingly, paraxial mesodermal expression ofchordinappeared unaltered inspadetailmutants that later lack trunk muscle (Kimmelet al.,1989), while axial mesodermal expression was affected. This finding reveals an unexpected function forspadetailin midline mesoderm and in differential regulation ofchordinexpression during gastrulation