Structural and topological analysis of electric energy consumption of municipalities as the basis for the development of the regional energy efficiency strategy

The amplifying polarization of the development of municipalities, the concentration of megalopolises' development possibilities and the decrease of potential of the development of small territories make it urgent to create tools for monitoring, estimating and forecasting of the electric energy consumption in order to develop the regional energy efficiency strategy, which will facilitate the sustainable development of municipalities. The paper gives the authors' definition of the energy efficiency of municipal units as the degree of real electric energy consumption compliance with the indicators of efficient energy consumption, along with providing comfortable habitation for the residents. The target indicators of municipal units' energy efficiency can be achieved by the efficient consumption and usage of electric energy. The authors carried out structural and topological analysis of electric energy consumption municipal units of the region, based on the sustainable development methodology. The formulated S-distributions of electric energy consumption of municipal units revealed a self-organization regularities in the region, which were reflected in municipal units' three-zone rating, formulated in accordance with electric energy consumption intensity. The results of the structural and topological analysis of electric energy consumption in absolute indicators and competitive speed indexes (intensity of electric energy consumption) are the basis for electric energy consumption forecasting of the region, as an integral structure formed by municipal units. © 2014 WIT Press.International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering;International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning;WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environmen

Studying the long-time variability of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4388 with INTEGRAL and Swift

We present analysis results on the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 4388 based on 6 yr of INTEGRAL data combined with Swift/Burst Alert Telescope survey and Swift/X-Ray Telescope pointed observations. These data, taken from 2003 to 2009, allow us to study the broad-band properties of this active galactic nucleus in the 0.3-300 keV energy range. The continuum emission of NGC 4388 is well represented by an absorbed power-law model with exponential cut-off at high energies and an upper limit on the reflection component of R < 0.5. We find slow strong variations of the hard X-ray emission, indicating both flux and spectral slope changes on the 3-6 months time-scale. In comparison with previous results on NGC 4388, the source shows a complex variability behaviour, i.e. the spectral shape and the 20-60 keV flux vary independentl

The study of spectral and luminescent properties of humic acids and their impact on the photodegradation process of 2,6-bis(hydroxymethyl)-4-methylphenol

UV photolysis (KrCl excilamp, λ rad ~ 222 nm) of aqueous humic acids (HAs) samples was carried out without and in the presence of 2,6-bis(hydroxymethyl)-4-methylphenol. The samples of HAs fractions were obtained from Aldrich Chemical Co and prepared from peat of Arkhangelsk region. The presence of Aldrich humic acid in the solution has a essential effect on the processes of phenolic compound photochemical degradation under the action of light from the excilam

Probiotic Potential and Functional Properties of Lactobacillus Reuteri, Lactobacillus Rhamnosus and Lactobacillus Helveticus: A Comparative Study

This study was conducted to evaluate and comparethe probiotic propertiesofLactobacillus helveticusNK1, Lactobacillus rhamnosusF and Lactobacillus reuteriLR1lactobacilli strains.Changes in pH, cell growth, proteolytic activity, antioxidantactivity, and angiotensin-converting enzyme(ACE)inhibitoryactivity were monitored during fermentation ofreconstituted skim milk (RSM) by pure cultures of lactobacilli.Among the tested strains, L. helveticusNK1 showed the highest proteolytic, ACE inhibitoryand antioxidantactivitiesduring milk fermentation,followed by L. rhamnosus F and L. reuteriLR1.The promising capability of all of the lactobacilli strains to release bioactivepeptides from the milk proteins was demonstrated. Keywords: Lactobacillus, probiotic, milk fermentation, bioactive peptide

Fréchet mimo-filters

Медианная фильтрация получила широкое распространение при обработке скалярных изображений в качестве методов фильтрации, сохраняющих перепады яркости. Главная идея медианной фильтрации состоит в том, что центральный пиксель сканирующей маски заменяется медианой всех пикселей, содержащихся в маске. В этой работе идея расширяется на векторно-значные изображения. Расширение основывается на том факте, что медиана является также точкой, которая минимизирует сумму расстояний между ней и всеми скалярными пикселями внутри маски. Точкой Фреше конечного множества векторно-значных пикселей в некотором метрическом пространстве (с заданной метрикой) является такой вектор, сумма расстояний до которого от всех векторных пикселей (находящихся внутри маски) имеет минимальное значение. В данной статье понятие точки Фреше расширяется до обобщенной медианы Фреше, в которой используется агрегация расстояний, а не их сумма. Более того, при обобщении используются не классические расстояния, а их агрегационные обобщения. Обобщенные медианы Фреше используются для построения новых медианных MIMO-фильтров

N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) Gene Polymorphisms and the Effectiveness of Infertility Treatment in Patients with Peritoneal Endometriosis

Today, infertility has become a global issue. WHO ranks it the fifth among the major diseases of those below 60 years, after alcoholism, depression, injuries and eyesight disorders. Numerous studies conducted on the problems of infertility in endometriosis still do not offer clear answers regarding the pathogenesis and mechanisms of this disease and its influences on fertility. According to the survey results, point mutations of the NAT2 gene (NAT2*5 and NAT2*6) have been identified in 75.6% of the patients with infertility problems and the peritoneal form of endometriosis, that create “slow” allelic variants, which exceed the average index in the population. The peculiarities of the NAT2 gene polymorphisms have been proven to be associated with the effectiveness of the infertility treatment of female patients with peritoneal endometriosis. In the group of non-pregnant patients, the presence of с.341Т>C, c.481C>T, c.590G>A and c.803A>G heterozygous point mutations are 73.2, 73.2, 5.4, and 62.5%, respectively. The significant difference in the comparison of the allelic polymorphism during the various stages of the endometriosis was not identified. At stage III-IV endometriosis the frequency of three and more point substitutions was significantly higher. NAT2 gene polymorphisms can find use as an additional criterion for predicting the effectiveness of the infertility treatment of patients with peritoneal endometriosis

Non-conservative Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables

We suggest a new mechanism to account for the loss of angular momentum in binaries with non-conservative mass exchange. It is shown that in some cases the loss of matter can result in increase of the orbital angular momentum of a binary. If included into consideration in evolutionary calculations, this mechanism appreciably extends the range of mass ratios of components for which mass exchange in binaries is stable. It becomes possible to explain the existence of some observed cataclysmic binaries with high donor/accretor mass ratio, which was prohibited in conservative evolution models.Comment: LaTeX, 32 pages, to be published in Astron. Z