Simulación y control predictivo del sistema de transporte de gas en una gran zona industrial

El artículo describe un enfoque para el control operativo y de supervisión de un sistema de transmisión de gas para grandes zonas industriales utilizando un modelo de control predictivo, así como métodos analíticos y de simulación. El control operativo y de supervisión del sistema de transporte de gas cubre el horizonte temporal de varias horas a varios días e implica la realización de varias acciones cíclicamente repetidas. Los autores proponen un modelo predictivo de series de tiempo del parámetro de consumo de gas considerando las condiciones climáticas de temperatura, que se amplía con base en la contabilidad de las relaciones de correlación entre los volúmenes de consumo de cada consumidor. Los métodos de control utilizados en la actualidad, reaccionando a las desviaciones actuales del régimen planificado, a priori no permiten lograr los mejores resultados. Se puede lograr un aumento significativo en la estabilidad del control y una reducción en el costo del combustible y los recursos energéticos utilizando el método de control basado en modelos predictivos. En este caso, el modelo de objeto de control se utiliza para predecir su comportamiento dentro del horizonte de tiempo seleccionado, y las acciones de control óptimas se seleccionan sobre esta base. El proceso de predecir y seleccionar acciones de control se repite periódicamente, cambiando constantemente los límites del horizonte temporal. El método descrito para cambiar el diagrama de flujo consiste en cambiar todos los flujos al mismo tiempo o en una transición preventiva y suave basada en la introducción de un diagrama de flujo ponderado para varios modos estacionarios, siempre que su desajuste se minimice en intervalos de tiempo vecinos. correspondiente a los intervalos de constancia de las solicitudes de consumo

Pulmonary function correlates with arterial stiffness in asthmatic patients

SummaryBackgroundAt the population level, asthma has been associated with chronic systemic inflammation as well as adverse cardiovascular outcomes.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to investigate peripheral vascular hemodynamic variables of arterial stiffness (AS) and their relationship to pulmonary function tests in asthmatic patients.MethodsYoung asthmatic patients from the tertiary center for pulmonary diseases at the Barzilai Medical Center underwent pulmonary function evaluation and non-invasive radial artery hemodynamic profiling, pre- and post-exercise. Results were compared to age matched, non-asthmatic controls.Results23 young asthmatics and 41 controls, completed all evaluation points. Pulmonary flow parameters were significantly reduced in the asthma group at all points. There were no differences between groups in BMI, blood pressure, pulse rate or measurements of AS at baseline or after bronchodilation. The % predicted forced expiratory volume in the first second at baseline (FEV1%) in asthmatics was positively correlated with the small arteries elasticity index (SAEI) and negatively correlated with the systemic vascular resistance (SVR) in these patients. These correlations were not observed in non-asthmatic controls. In multifactorial regression FEV1 remained the major factor associated with measurements of AS in asthmatic patients, while gender was the only significant factor in non-asthmatic controls.ConclusionsSignificant correlations between measurements of AS and FEV1 in young asthmatics, suggest the presence of a common systemic, most likely inflammatory pathway involving both the cardiovascular and respiratory systems

ВЫБРОС ПРИРОДНЫХ РАДИОНУКЛИДОВ В ОКРУЖАЮЩУЮ СРЕДУ В РЕЗУЛЬТАТЕ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ПРЕДПРИЯТИЙ НЕЯДЕРНЫХ ОТРАСЛЕЙ

In the present overview we analyze the literary data concerning discharges of natural radionuclides into the environment due to functioning of the enterprises of non-nuclear industries. We consider their quantitative characteristics of discharges, the peculiarities of the formation of radionuclide composition of discharges from various industrial branches, the information about the population exposure doses due to these discharges, as well as the possibilities of standardization of the industrial discharges of natural radionuclides. В настоящем обзоре анализируются литературные данные о выбросе природных радионуклидов в окружающую среду за счет деятельности предприятий неядерных отраслей. Рассматриваются количественные характеристики выбросов, особенности формирования радионуклидного состава выбросов предприятиями разных отраслей и сведения о дозах облучения населения за счет выбросов, а также возможности нормирования величины выброса природных радионуклидов за счет деятельности предприятий

Using social cognitive career theory to understand why students choose to study computer science

The aim of this research is to use Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to identify and understand reasons why students choose to study Computer Science (CS) at university. SCCT focuses on students’ prior experience, social support, self-efficacy and outcome expectation. The research is part motivated by the desire to increase female participation rates in CS, particularly in the UK. Policymakers can use the factors that both females and males identify as influencing their choice of studying CS to enhance the experiences of all students prior to coming to university, but female students in particular. The study uses a semi-structured interview with 17 mixed gender subjects currently studying CS at three Scottish universities. The findings are that social support from family, teachers, friends and mentors is a particularly important factor in choosing to study CS, especially for female subjects. The career paths offered by a CS degree is another major factor, not just the potential jobs, but also the general value of a CS education and the potential to make useful contributions to society. School education appeared to have limited influence, though exposure to problem solving, programming, online self-learning and internships are positive influences. The stereotypical view of CS students as ‘geeks’ is outdated and unhelpful – it is more appropriate to see them as ‘analytical’ or ‘over-achievers’. Subjects make many suggestions for improving the CS education provided at school, especially to make it more attractive to females, including: make it compulsory, teach it earlier, include more programming and problem solving, and increase the visibility of female exemplars and role models

Youth–adult partnership: exploring contributions to empowerment, agency and community connections in Malaysian youth programs

Youth–adult partnership (Y–AP) has emerged as a key practice for enacting two features of effective developmental settings: supportive adult relationships and support for efficacy and mattering. Previous studies have shown that when youth, supported by adults, actively participate in organizational and community decision-making they are likely to show greater confidence and agency, empowerment and critical consciousness, and community connections. Most of the extant research on Y–AP is limited to qualitative studies and the identification of organizational best practices. Almost all research focuses on Western sociocultural settings. To address these gaps, 299 youth, age 15 to 24, were sampled from established afterschool and community programs in Malaysia to explore the contribution of Y–AP (operationalized as having two components: youth voice in decision-making and supportive adult relationships) to empowerment, agency and community connections. As hypothesized, hierarchical regressions indicated that program quality (Y–AP, safe environment and program engagement) contributed to agency, empowerment and community connections beyond the contribution of family, school and religion. Additionally, the Y–AP measures contributed substantially more variance than the other measures of program quality on each outcome. Interaction effects indicated differences by age for empowerment and agency but not for community connections. The primary findings in this inquiry replicate those found in previous interview and observational-oriented studies. The data suggests fertile ground for future research while demonstrating that Y–AP may be an effective practice for positive youth development outside of Western settings

Institutional creativity and pathologies of potential space: The modern university

This paper proposes the applicability of object relations psychoanalytic conceptions of dialogue (Ogden, 1986, 1993) to thinking about relationships and relational structures and their governance in universities. It proposes that: the qualities of dialogic relations in creative institutions are the proper index of creative productivity; that is of, as examples, ’thinking’ (Evans, 2004), ’emotional learning’ (Salzberger-Wittenburg et al., 1983) or ’criticality’ (Barnett, 1997); contemporary institutions’ explicit preoccupation in assuring, monitoring and managing creative ’dialogue’ can, in practice, pervert creative processes and thoughtful symbolic productivity, thus inhibiting students’ development and the quality of ’thinking space’ for teaching and research. In this context the paper examines uncanny and perverse connections between Paulo Freire’s (1972) account of educational empowerment and dialogics (from his Pedagogy of the oppressed) to the consumerist (see, for example, Clarke & Vidler, 2005) rhetoric of student empowerment, as mediated by some strands of managerialism in contemporary higher education. The paper grounds its critique of current models of dialogue, feedback loops, audit and other mechanisms of accountability (Power, 1997; Strathern, 2000), in a close analysis of how creative thinking emerges. The paper discusses the failure to maintain a dialogic space in humanities and social science areas in particular, exploring psychoanalytic conceptions from Donald Winnicott (1971), Milner (1979), Thomas Ogden (1986) and Csikszentmihalyi (1997). Coleridge’s ideas about imagination as the movement of thought between subjective and objective modes are discussed in terms of both intra- and inter-subjective relational modes of ’dialogue’, which are seen as subject to pathology in the pathologically structured psychosocial environment. Current patterns of institutional governance, by micromanaging dialogic spaces, curtail the ’natural’ rhythms and temporalities of imagination by giving an over-emphasis to the moment of outcome, at the expense of holding the necessary vagaries of process in the institutional ’mind’. On the contrary, as this paper argues, creative thinking lies in sporadic emergences at the conjunction of object/(ive) outcome and through (thought) processes

The patriotism of gentlemen with red hair: European Jews and the liberal state, 1789–1939

European Jewish history from 1789–1939 supports the view that construction of national identities even in secular liberal states was determined not only by modern considerations alone but also by ancient patterns of thought, behaviour and prejudice. Emancipation stimulated unprecedented patriotism, especially in wartime, as Jews strove to prove loyalty to their countries of citizenship. During World War I, even Zionists split along national lines, as did families and friends. Jewish patriotism was interchangeable with nationalism inasmuch as Jews identified themselves with national cultures. Although emancipation implied acceptance and an end to anti-Jewish prejudice in the modern liberal state, the kaleidoscopic variety of Jewish patriotism throughout Europe inadvertently undermined the idea of national identity and often provoked anti-Semitism. Even as loyal citizens of separate states, the Jews, however scattered, disunited and diverse, were made to feel, often unwillingly, that they were one people in exile

Cytochrome P450-derived eicosanoids: the neglected pathway in cancer

Endogenously produced lipid autacoids are locally acting small molecule mediators that play a central role in the regulation of inflammation and tissue homeostasis. A well-studied group of autacoids are the products of arachidonic acid metabolism, among which the prostaglandins and leukotrienes are the best known. They are generated by two pathways controlled by the enzyme systems cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase, respectively. However, arachidonic acid is also substrate for a third enzymatic pathway, the cytochrome P450 (CYP) system. This third eicosanoid pathway consists of two main branches: ω-hydroxylases convert arachidonic acid to hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs) and epoxygenases convert it to epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs). This third CYP pathway was originally studied in conjunction with inflammatory and cardiovascular disease. Arachidonic acid and its metabolites have recently stimulated great interest in cancer biology; but, unlike prostaglandins and leukotrienes the link between cytochome P450 metabolites and cancer has received little attention. In this review, the emerging role in cancer of cytochrome P450 metabolites, notably 20-HETE and EETs, are discussed