Efficiency and Regulation of the Slovenian Electricity Distribution Companies

Energy demand, and in particular electricity demand in India has been growing at a very rapid rate over the last decade. Given, current trends in population growth, industrialisation, urbanisation, modernisation and income growth, electricity consumption is expected to increase substantially in the coming decades as well. Tariff reforms could play a potentially important role as a demand side management tool in India. However, the effects of any price revisions on consumption will depend on the price elasticity of demand for electricity. In the past, electricity demand studies for India published in international journals have been based on aggregate macro data at the country or sub-national/ state level. In this paper, price and income elasticities of electricity demand in the residential sector of all urban areas of India are estimated for the first time using disaggregate level survey data for over thirty thousand households. Three electricity demand functions have been estimated using monthly data for the following seasons: winter, monsoon and summer. The results show electricity demand is income and price inelastic in all three seasons, and that household, demographic and geographical variables are important in determining electricity demand, something that is not possible to determine using aggregate macro models alone.

Lameness in piglets

Lameness in suckling piglets is a major problem in farrowing enterprises. Apart from animal suffering, lameness contributes to losses in form of dead piglets, decreased growth, and increased use of antibiotics and manual labour. The present study focused on risks for development of lameness in different housing systems. In the first study, lameness in piglets up to nine of age was studied in a research station herd for four years. 9,411 piglets were born alive, out of which 9.8% were treated for lameness during suckling. Lameness was observed in about every second litter and around 75% of the treatments against lameness were effectuated in piglets less than 3 weeks of age. The incidence risk of lameness decreased from 2.7% during the first week of life to 0.3% after weaning. Litters with 12 or more piglets had a higher incidence of lameness, but no difference between the sexes was seen. In the second study, the implications of skin lesions in young piglets and the protective role of maternal immunity towards development of arthritis was estimated. Skin lesions were present already on day 3. They increased in magnitude until day 10 and thereafter declined. They were generally bilateral and most commonly observed as abrasions over the carpal joints. Hocks, face, abdomen and tails were affected in a similar way, but at lower magnitudes. Sole bruisings were observed in 87% of the piglets at the third day of life, and moderate to severe lesions dominated until day 10. Thereafter the incidence decreased, indicating healing with time. Still, 39% of the piglets were affected at day 17. In the third study, the overall incidence of lameness was decreased and lameness was only diagnosed in every fourth litter in a system with deep litter peat, compared to in every second litter in the systems with solid concrete floor. Still it must be remember that concrete floor system facilitate hygienic measurements in a technical way. Therefore, the influence of floor type and bedding intensity on the incidence and severity of foot and skin lesions and development of arthritis in young piglets was monitored in identical farrowing pens in the fourth study. Floor maintenance decreased the significance of abrasions and sole bruisings, and also reduced the incidence of lameness. Also doubling the amount of chopped straw prevented lameness to some extent

Assessing Russian impact on the Western Balkan countries' EU accession: cases of Croatia and Serbia

The matter of EU enlargement to the Western Balkans has become overshadowed by pressing issues such as Brexit, the rise of the radical right and international terrorism. Notwithstanding the pressure to address these issues accordingly, increasing tensions and ethnic outbursts across the Western Balkan region are reason enough for the European Union to devote significant attention to accession talks. This article addresses the Western Balkan countries’ Europeanization process with consideration of Russia as an external actor. By assessing the candidate countries’ progress amid EU negotiations, the article suggests that the countries’ bilateral ties with Russia have an impact on the Europeanization process which is particularly visible in Chapter 31 Foreign, security, and defence policy of the acquis communautaire. The broader geopolitical framework that comprises the multifaceted relationship between the EU and Russia is crucial for understanding the dynamics of EU-Western Balkans-Russia triangle

Approach of turbulent boundary layer to similarity

CER68-69DLZ9.September 1968.Prepared for U.S. Army Material Command.Project was supported by the Integrated Army Meteorological Wind Tunnel Research Program.Includes bibliographical references.Page 23 is missing.A large scale turbulent boundary layer with no pressure gradient, developed on a flat plate 95 feet long has been investigated. Theoretical considerations of the existence of local similarity yield the requirements which should be found in the turbulent boundary layers in order that similarity exists. Measurements of the mean motion, the turbulent velocity components and the turbulent shear stress have been made for the free stream velocity range 60 to 100 ft./sec. Reynolds numbers based on the boundary layer thickness were of the order of 106. Turbulence quantities were evaluated from a single rotating hot-wire probe along the entire length of the boundary layer. For all quantities measured, the uncertainty intervals were calculated in order to provide a measure of the reliability of the results. The large scale turbulent boundary layers are shown to approach closely the theoretical requirements for similarity. Displacement and momentum thickness grow as a linear function of x-coordinate, the form factor is constant. The constant wall shear stress requirement is very closely approached. An asymptotic similarity form is considered and reported. For similarity function of the turbulent shear stress distribution across the boundary layer thickness, an approximate linear function is proposed. The best average universal velocity profile is tabulated.Under grant contract no. DA-AMC-28-043-65-G-20

Towards the Usage of MBT at ETSI

In 2012 the Specialists Task Force (STF) 442 appointed by the European Telcommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) explored the possibilities of using Model Based Testing (MBT) for test development in standardization. STF 442 performed two case studies and developed an MBT-methodology for ETSI. The case studies were based on the ETSI-standards GeoNetworking protocol (ETSI TS 102 636) and the Diameter-based Rx protocol (ETSI TS 129 214). Models have been developed for parts of both standards and four different MBT-tools have been employed for generating test cases from the models. The case studies were successful in the sense that all the tools were able to produce the test suites having the same test adequacy as the corresponding manually developed conformance test suites. The MBT-methodology developed by STF 442 is based on the experiences with the case studies. It focusses on integrating MBT into the sophisticated standardization process at ETSI. This paper summarizes the results of the STF 442 work.Comment: In Proceedings MBT 2013, arXiv:1303.037

DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF OPTIC NEURITIS

Abstract: Optic neuritis is inflammation of the optic nerve, which in a single or repeated attacks can severely and permanently damage visual function. Errors in diagnostic are daily and usually occur because of incomplete diagnostic procedure performed. This manuscript presents a series of 19 patients reffered with optic neuritis diagnosis. The diagnosis was confirmed in 15, while four had other changes in the optic nerve or macula. We analyzed the diagnostic specificity of the basic parameters of optic neuritis diagnosis and afferent pupillary defect showed the highest sensitivity. The spectrum of differential diagnoses is shown within this finding. Optic neuritis diagnosis should be established carefully, using usual and available diagnostic methods in ophthalmologic and neurological practice, and if necessary, refer patients to neuro-ophthalmologist, as well as to electrophysiological evaluation and other methods that help fifferentiate disease

Phase Voltage Harmonic Imbalance in Asymmetrical Multiphase Machines with Single Neutral Point

Multiphase (n-phase) machines are often designed with l sub-windings on stator, each having k phases, and the machine is typically operated with l isolated neutral points. However, such a machine can also operate with a single neutral point, which improves the fault-tolerant properties. When a machine is inverter supplied, low order harmonics may be present due to the low switching frequency and nonlinear inverter properties. Moreover, low order zero-sequence harmonics can be deliberately injected to increase dc bus voltage utilisation. This paper investigates a phenomenon that has not been reported so far in relation to asymmetrical multiphase machines with a single neutral point, namely that the presence of balanced low order harmonics in leg voltages produces unbalanced phase voltage harmonics and consequently unbalanced phase current harmonics. By analysing the neutral point (common mode) voltage harmonics, imbalance in the phase voltage harmonics is explained. Analytical expressions for neutral point voltage harmonics and phase voltage harmonics are provided for asymmetrical machine configurations with a single neutral point having arbitrary numbers of sub-windings and sub-winding phases. Theoretical considerations are verified using simulations and experiments with asymmetrical twelve- and nine-phase loads with a single neutral point, respectively

Lameness in piglets - should pain killers be included at treatment?

Background: Joint swelling and lameness are the most obvious and persistent clinical signs of infectious arthritis in piglets. For a positive treatment effect of piglets with arthritis, early initiated treatments with antibiotics are desired. Hitherto pain-reducing drugs have rarely been used within veterinary medicine, but the potential of non steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are interesting from an animal welfare perspective. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the long term efficiency of treating lameness with and without pain relief. Further, the incidences of affected joints in lame piglets were analysed. Results: In total 415 of the 6,787 liveborn piglets included in the study were diagnosed with lameness (6.1 %). Around 86 % of these diagnoses took place during the first 3 weeks of life. There was no difference in the incidence of lameness between the sexes, but lameness was most commonly diagnosed in the offspring to old sows (>4 parturitions). Lameness was diagnosed in about every second litter and on average about two pigs were diagnosed in the affected litters. The incidence of affected litters as well as affected piglets increased with ageing of the sows. Treatments with antibiotics solely and in combination with NSAID improved (P < 0.01 to 0.001) the clinical status from day to day, but the clinical response did not differ between the two treatment groups. Piglets that remained healthy were 1.1 and 1.7 kg heavier (P < 0.001) than piglets diagnosed with lameness at 5 and 9 weeks of age, respectively. There were no differences in piglet body weights between the treatment strategies at any time. Conclusions: The clinical response to penicillin was good. It was neither improved nor reduced by a concurrent administration of NSAIDs. Nevertheless NSAIDs may improve the animal welfare due to pain relief. An important finding of this study was that decreasing pain due to lameness not was negative in a long term perspective, i.e. reducing pain did not lead to overstrain of affected joints and no clinical signs of adverse effects were noted. Therefore the use of NSAIDs ought to be considered to improve the animal welfare, at least in severe cases

Corrosion coupon testing of commercial inhibitor in simulated cooling water

In maintaining cooling systems, one of the biggest challenges is to control the corrosion process. Various corrosion inhibitors are often used for this purpose. Which type of corrosion inhibitor will be chosen depends on the material from which the plant has made. The main causes of corrosion in these systems are: pH, dissolved gas, ammonia, temperature and microbiology. In this paper it was studied the efficiency of two multicomponent commercial corrosion inhibitors based on phosphates and one of which containing zinc chloride. For the purposes of research, the pilot plant of open recirculation cooling system is constructed and made of stainless steel (EN 1.4301) and copper (EN 13601). Experiments were performed in a simulated cooling water witch recirculated for 3.5h. For the purpose of accelerating corrosion processes, it was added a corrosion activator (5% NaCl). It was monitored the corrosion rate of the mentioned materials in the cooling water with the corrosion activator, with and without inhibitor. Corrosion rate is determined by using corrosion coupons according standard ASTM D2688 and by analyzing physical-chemical parameters of cooling water. The results showed it was achieved higher protection efficiency for copper and stainless steel by using an inhibitor containing zinc chloride in addition to phosphate