Renewable Energy Policy in Ukraine

The purpose and motivation behind the creation and administration of a renewable energy policy creation simulation was to test the usefulness and feasibility of a participatory simulation as a way to teach concepts of policy, negotiation and energy strategy. The learning objectives of the simulation were illustrate the challenges associated with developing comprehensive policy, to teach the content of the simulation in an effective and meaningful way, and to provide a chance to practice discussion and negotiation skills in a practical setting. I chose to place the simulation in the setting of Ukraine to avoid preconceptions about energy policy on behalf of the participants, to utilize Ukraine’s energy policy structure, to use Ukraine’s need for energy policy reform to contextualize the discussion, to illustrate a manageable scenario of cooperation and competition among the participants, and to use Ukraine’s imminent shift in energy policy as a way to frame the need for the fictional conference to develop a comprehensive energy plan. I also chose to place the scenario within Ukraine because of Ukraine’s myriad energy challenges and the diverse problems facing the country as it moves forward with securing safe, affordable and sustainable energy. Included in the project is a discussion of Ukraine’s energy production, consumption and potential – both with conventional and renewable energy resources. Important events shaping both national regulation and private practice are also included to provide basic political, economic and social background. Qualitative and quantitative findings are discussed, ranging from similar behaviors discovered in each trial to trends illustrated by collected data. Although a section explaining the process by which I tested and calibrated the simulation is not explicitly included, I do make note of interesting lessons I learned about the creation and administration of simulations as a result of developing and completing the project. Both examples from past simulations and interviews from experts in the use of simulations have been included and drawn from in developing a rationale for the simulation aspect of the project. The pretest, posttest and data have been included as appendices, along with the transcribed text from the interviews with experts

Distant Representatives for Rectangles in the Plane

The input to the distant representatives problem is a set of n objects in the plane and the goal is to find a representative point from each object while maximizing the distance between the closest pair of points. When the objects are axis-aligned rectangles, we give polynomial time constant-factor approximation algorithms for the L?, L?, and L_? distance measures. We also prove lower bounds on the approximation factors that can be achieved in polynomial time (unless P = NP)

Modeling of Human Prokineticin Receptors: Interactions with Novel Small-Molecule Binders and Potential Off-Target Drugs

The Prokineticin receptor (PKR) 1 and 2 subtypes are novel members of family A GPCRs, which exhibit an unusually high degree of sequence similarity. Prokineticins (PKs), their cognate ligands, are small secreted proteins of ∼80 amino acids; however, non-peptidic low-molecular weight antagonists have also been identified. PKs and their receptors play important roles under various physiological conditions such as maintaining circadian rhythm and pain perception, as well as regulating angiogenesis and modulating immunity. Identifying binding sites for known antagonists and for additional potential binders will facilitate studying and regulating these novel receptors. Blocking PKRs may serve as a therapeutic tool for various diseases, including acute pain, inflammation and cancer.Ligand-based pharmacophore models were derived from known antagonists, and virtual screening performed on the DrugBank dataset identified potential human PKR (hPKR) ligands with novel scaffolds. Interestingly, these included several HIV protease inhibitors for which endothelial cell dysfunction is a documented side effect. Our results suggest that the side effects might be due to inhibition of the PKR signaling pathway. Docking of known binders to a 3D homology model of hPKR1 is in agreement with the well-established canonical TM-bundle binding site of family A GPCRs. Furthermore, the docking results highlight residues that may form specific contacts with the ligands. These contacts provide structural explanation for the importance of several chemical features that were obtained from the structure-activity analysis of known binders. With the exception of a single loop residue that might be perused in the future for obtaining subtype-specific regulation, the results suggest an identical TM-bundle binding site for hPKR1 and hPKR2. In addition, analysis of the intracellular regions highlights variable regions that may provide subtype specificity

A Novel Method for Detecting Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in Blood Serum of mdx Mice

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common form of muscular dystrophy, typically affecting males in infancy. The disease causes progressive weakness and atrophy of skeletal muscles, with approximately 20,000 new cases diagnosed yearly. Currently, methods for diagnosing DMD are invasive, laborious, and unable to make accurate early detections. While there is no cure for DMD, there are limited treatments available for managing symptoms. As such, there is a crucial unmet need to develop a simple and non-invasive method for accurately detecting DMD as early as possible. Raman spectroscopy with chemometric analysis is shown to have the potential to fill this diagnostic need

Bridge vibrations under road traffic during concrete hardening of widened bridge deck

daptations of road infrastructure must often be performed without interruption of traffic. Vibrations induced by"br" ongoing traffic propagate to structural elements under construction and may affect the concrete hardening"br" process and thus negatively influence quality of the final structure. This paper examines major influencing"br" factors that contribute to large bridge vibration velocities during widening of bridge deck with ongoing traffic."br" The vibrations are evaluated in light of the considered limit for fresh concrete in hardening process. The analysis"br" presents a case study of a reinforced-concrete bridge under traffic excitation. Vehicle velocity, type, mass, as"br" well as road profile characteristic were varied in the simulation and bridge vibration amplitudes were calculated"br" using full vehicle-structure interaction. The simulation results provide a basis for meaningful discussion on"br" necessary traffic restrictions or other measures to avoid quality impairment in construction

Verfahren und Modelle zur Quantifizierung der Zuverlässigkeit von dauerüberwachten Bestandsbrücken

Die Dauerüberwachung wurde schon in der Vergangenheit als eine mögliche Kompensationsmaßnahme zur Sicherstellung von Standsicherheit und Gebrauchstauglichkeit erkannt. Dabei soll die Überwachungsanlage eine Warnmeldung auslösen, wenn der Brückenzustand kritisch wird. Durch die rechtzeitige Umsetzung von Maßnahmen soll das Brückenversagen dann verhindert werden. Die Versagenswahrscheinlichkeit des Bauwerks ist folglich geringer, da zusätzliche Information aus Dauerüberwachung vorliegen. Die Quantifizierung dieser Versagenswahrscheinlichkeit war bislang nicht möglich. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war, eine Methode zur Quantifizierung der Zuverlässigkeit von dauerüberwachten Brücken vorzuschlagen. Im Zuge dieser Arbeit wurden u. a. die bestehenden Überwachungsmaßnahmen analysiert und Bewertungsmethoden verglichen. Dazu wurde eine Population aus 100 Brücken eines Typs künstlich erstellt und analysiert. Die vorgeschlagene Methode zur Quantifizierung der Zuverlässigkeit von dauerüberwachten Brücken geht von zwei Arten des möglichen Versagens der Überwachungsmaßnahme aus. Erstens, dass trotz Analyse der Überwachungsdaten ein gravierender Schaden nicht erkannt wird und es zum Versagen kommt; und zweitens, dass nicht genug Zeit bleibt, eine risikoreduzierende Maßnahme umzusetzen. Es wurde eine Methode vorgeschlagen, die die Versagenswahrscheinlichkeit in beiden Fällen quantifiziert. Dabei werden gewisse Annahmen, z. B. bezüglich des Versagensmechanismus und der Extremwertverteilung der Verkehrslast und der Indikatoren, getroffen. Die Auswirkungen von lastbedingten Schädigungen auf die gemessenen Indikatoren werden hierbei durch FE-Simulationen bestimmt. Mögliche Ausfälle der Anlage werden durch Verlängerung der nötigen Erfassungsdauer berücksichtigt. Die Datengrundlage dazu wurde durch Erfahrungswerte der Ausfallraten, die im Rahmen des Projektes durch eine Umfrage erhoben wurden, gebildet. Unsicherheiten der Messwerterfassung werden bei der Festlegung der Schwellwerte berücksichtigt. Die Methode wurde am Fallbeispiel der Hochstraße Gifhorn angewandt und der Zugewinn der operativen Zuverlässigkeit durch die Überwachungsmaßnahme wurde ermittelt