Static Hedging of Weather and Price Risks in Electricity Markets

We present the closed-form solution to the problem of hedging price and quantity risks for energy retailers (ER), using financial instruments based on electricity price and weather indexes. Our model considers an ER who is intermediary in a regulated electricity market. ERs buy a fixed quantity of electricity at a variable cost and must serve a variable demand at a fixed cost. Thus ERs are subject to both price and quantity risks. To hedge such risks, an ER could construct a portfolio of financial instruments based on price and weather indexes. We construct the closed form solution for the optimal portfolio for the mean-Var model in the discrete setting. Our model does not make any distributional assumption

Dynamical component exchange in a model phase separating system: an NMR-based approach

Biomolecular phase separation plays a key role in the spatial organization of cellular activities. Dynamic formation and rapid component exchange between phase separated cellular bodies and their environment are crucial for their function. Here, we employ a well-established phase separating model system, namely, a triethylamine (TEA)–water mixture, and develop an NMR approach to detect the exchange of scaffolding TEA molecules between separate phases and determine the underlying exchange rate. We further demonstrate how the advantageous NMR properties of fluorine nuclei provide access to otherwise inaccessible exchange processes of a client molecule. The developed NMR-based approach allows quantitative monitoring of the effect of regulatory factors on component exchange and facilitates “exchange”-based screening and optimization of small molecules against druggable biomolecular targets located inside condensed phases

Avaliação genômica de Piper yellow mottle virus da pimenteira do reino (Piper nigrum L.).

Edição dos resumos do 44º Congresso Brasileiro de Fitopatologia, 2011, Bento Gonçalves. Resumo 776

Curvature singularity of the distributional BTZ black hole geometry

For the non-rotating BTZ black hole, the distributional curvature tensor field is found. It is shown to have singular parts proportional to a $\delta$-distribution with support at the origin. This singularity is related, through Einstein field equations, to a point source. Coordinate invariance and independence on the choice of differentiable structure of the results are addressed.Comment: Latex, 7 page

Antagonismo in vitro de Trichoderma sp. a Lasiodiplodia sp. e Fusarium sp. patogênicos ao dendê (Elaeis guineensis Mart.) variedade tenera.

Edição dos resumos do 44º Congresso Brasileiro de Fitopatologia, 2011, Bento Gonçalves. Resumo 810

Fitopatógenos do dendenzeiro (Elaeis guineensis mart.), variedade Tenera, cultivado no município de Moju, estado do Pará.

Edição dos resumos do 44º Congresso Brasileiro de Fitopatologia, 2011, Bento Gonçalves. Resumo 811

Mechanism of the High-Tc Superconducting Dynamo: Models and Experiment

High-Tc superconducting (HTS) dynamos are experimentally proven devices that can produce large, >kA, DC currents in superconducting circuits, without the thermal leak associated with copper current leads. However, these DC currents are theoretically controversial, as it is not immediately apparent why a device that is topologically identical to an AC alternator should give a DC output at all. Here, we present a finite-element model, and its comparison with experiment, which fully explains this effect. It is shown that the DC output arises naturally from Maxwell’s laws, when time-varying overcritical eddy currents are induced to circulate in an HTS sheet. We first show that our finite-element model replicates all of the the experimental electrical behavior reported so far for these devices, including the DC output characteristics, and transient electrical waveforms. Direct experimental evidence for the presence of circulating eddy currents is also obtained through measurements of the transient magnetic field profile across the HTS tape, using a linear Hall array. These results are also found to closely agree with predictions from the finite-element model. Following this experimental validation, calculated sheet current densities and the associated local electric fields are examined for a range of frequencies and net transport currents. We find that the electrical output from an HTS dynamo is governed by the competition between transport and eddy currents induced as the magnet transits across the HTS tape. These eddy currents are significantly higher (∼1.5X) than the local critical current density J_c, and hence experience a highly non-linear local resistivity. This non-linearity breaks the symmetry observed in a normal ohmic material, which usually requires the net transport current to vary linearly with the average electric field. The interplay between local current densities and non-linear resistivities (which both vary in time and space) is shown to systematically give rise to the key observed parameters for experimental HTS dynamo devices: the open-circuit voltage V_oc, the internal resistance R_int, and the short-circuit current I_sc. Finally, we identify that the spatial boundaries formed by each edge of the HTS stator tape play a vital role in determining the total DC output. This offers the potential to develop new designs for HTS dynamo devices, for which the internal resistance is greatly reduced and the short circuit current is substantially increased.New Zealand (NZ) MBIE Endeavour Grant No. RTVU1707 NZ Royal Society Marsden Grant No. MFP-VUW1806

Detecção de Piper yellow mottle virus em espécimes de Cochonilhas de pimenteira-do-reino por meio de PCR.

A pimenteira-do-reino (Piper nigrum L.) pode ser infectada pelos vírus Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) e Piper yellow mottle virus (PYMoV) que podem causar grandes perdas na produção. Os sintomas causados por estes vírus são clorose, mosqueado, clareamento de nervuras, deformação foliar, nanismo e redução da produção de frutos. O CMV é transmitido por pulgões enquanto que o PYMoV é transmitido por cochonilhas. Nos plantios de pimenta-do-reino é comum a presença de cochonilhas, e no Brasil já foram relatadas como vetoras do PYMoV as espécies Ferrisia virgata e Planococcus minor. Segundo a literatura na Índia há outras espécies transmissoras. O objetivo deste trabalho foi o de verificar a adequação do teste de PCR para detecção do PYMoV em espécimes de cochonilhas. Foram colocadas vinte cochonilhas F. virgata e vinte P. minor para se alimentar em folhas infectadas pelo PYMoV, destacadas, por um período de 24hs. Dez de cada espécie tiveram seu ácido nucléico extraído separadamente para proceder o teste de PCR com primers específicos para PYMoV. Este trabalho dará subsídios para os estudos da interação cochonilha x PYMoV, além da elaboração de estratégia de inspeção da vetora no campo e mudas de pimenta-do-reino.PIBIC-2011