Energy Management and Privacy in Smart Grids

Despite the importance of power systems in today’s societies, they suffer from aging infrastructure and need to improve the efficiency, reliability, and security. Two issues that significantly limit the current grid’s efficient energy delivery and consumption are: loadollowing generation dispatch, and energy theft. A loadollowing generation dispatch is usually employed in power systems, which makes continuous small changes so as to account for differences between the actual energy demand and the predicted values. This approach has led to an average utilization of energy generation capacity below 55% [49]. Moreover, energy theft causes several billion dollar losses to U.S. utility companies [31] [16], while in developing countries it can amount to 50% of the total energy delivered [48]. Recently, the Smart Grid has been proposed as a new electric grid to modernize current power grids and enhance its efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. Particularly, in the Smart Grid, a digital communication network is deployed to enable two-way communications between users and system operators. It thus makes it possible to shape the users’ load demand curves by means of demand response strategies. Additionally, in the Smart Grid, traditional meters will be replaced with cyber-physical devices, called smart meters, capable of recording and transmitting users’ real-time power consumption. Due to their monitoring capabilities, smart meters offer a great opportunity to detect energy theft in smart grids, but also raise serious concerns about users’ privacy. In this dissertation, we design optimal load scheduling schemes to enhance system efficiency, and develop energy theft detection algorithms that can preserve users’ privacy

Energy Management and Privacy in Smart Grids

Despite the importance of power systems in today’s societies, they suffer from aging infrastructure and need to improve the efficiency, reliability, and security. Two issues that significantly limit the current grid’s efficient energy delivery and consumption are: loadollowing generation dispatch, and energy theft. A loadollowing generation dispatch is usually employed in power systems, which makes continuous small changes so as to account for differences between the actual energy demand and the predicted values. This approach has led to an average utilization of energy generation capacity below 55% [49]. Moreover, energy theft causes several billion dollar losses to U.S. utility companies [31] [16], while in developing countries it can amount to 50% of the total energy delivered [48]. Recently, the Smart Grid has been proposed as a new electric grid to modernize current power grids and enhance its efficiency, reliability, and sustainability. Particularly, in the Smart Grid, a digital communication network is deployed to enable two-way communications between users and system operators. It thus makes it possible to shape the users’ load demand curves by means of demand response strategies. Additionally, in the Smart Grid, traditional meters will be replaced with cyber-physical devices, called smart meters, capable of recording and transmitting users’ real-time power consumption. Due to their monitoring capabilities, smart meters offer a great opportunity to detect energy theft in smart grids, but also raise serious concerns about users’ privacy. In this dissertation, we design optimal load scheduling schemes to enhance system efficiency, and develop energy theft detection algorithms that can preserve users’ privacy

Dual antibacterial effect of immobilized quaternary ammonium and aliphatic groups on PVC

A coating comprising quaternary ammonium salts (QAS) and aliphatic moieties was formed on the poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) surface in order to confer antibacterial activity. This was achieved by grafting mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane onto PVC, followed by aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Betaine and dodecenyl succinic anhydride (DDSA) were bonded to free amine groups. The modified PVC samples were characterized by FT-IR, showing that the PVC surface was successfully coated. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy showed the spatial distributions of the elements Si and S, indicating that the coatings were homogeneous. Betaine and DDSA coated PVC showed a better antibacterial performance than the controls. This antibacterial effect was extremely reinforced in betaine-DDSA modified PVC showing greater antibacterial activity than both treatments separately applied. Antibacterial activity against Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis was studied in the treated samples showing that the coating was effective against Gram positive and Gram negative species.Fil: Villanueva, María Emilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco; ArgentinaFil: Salinas, Ana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco; ArgentinaFil: González, Joaquín Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco; ArgentinaFil: Teves, Sergio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Copello, Guillermo Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Química y Metabolismo del Fármaco; Argentin

Programa de Recuperação Urbana Ribera Norte; vinte anos de sucessos e fracassos dos projetos de política urbana no Chile

The Ribera Norte (North Riverbank) Urban Recovery Program in the city of Concepción is one of the major urban renewal projects promoted by the Chilean government in the 1990s and is still underway to date. Its importance lies in its large intervention area and the complexity of a highly marginal sector just blocks from the city center. Twenty years after the program's inception, this article gives a synthesis of the development and evaluates the results achieved in relation to the program's objectives. The methodology consists of a chronological analysis that reviews the proposed objectives, management model and achievements of the program's three dimensions: social, urban and real estate. As a result, those public policy tools that have been effective in solving complex urban problems that continue to generate conflicts in most Latin American cities are validated.El Programa de Recuperación Urbana Ribera Norte desarrollado en la ciudad de Concepción, es uno de los grandes proyectos de renovación urbana impulsados por el Gobierno de Chile en los años noventa y en desarrollo hasta nuestros días. Su importancia está dada por el amplio territorio de intervención y la complejidad de un sector de alta marginalidad a solo cuadras del centro histórico. A veinte años de iniciado el programa, este artículo entrega una síntesis del desarrollo y evalúa los resultados alcanzados en mérito de sus propios objetivos. La metodología consistió en un análisis temporal que revisó los objetivos propuestos, modelo de gestión y logros conseguidos en las tres dimensiones del programa: social, urbanística e inmobiliaria. Como resultado se validan aquellas herramientas de las políticas públicas que han sido eficaces para dar solución a problemáticas urbanas complejas, que siguen siendo generadoras de conflictos en la mayoría de las ciudades latinoamericanas.O Programa de Recuperação Urbana Ribera Norte, desenvolvido na cidade de Concepción, Chile, é um dos grandes projetos de Renovação Urbana promovidos pelo governo do Chile durante os anos noventa e que permanece vigente até hoje. Sua importância provém pela amplitude do território de intervenção y pela complexidade de um setor com alta marginalidade à poucas quadras do centro. Há vinte anos do início do programa, este trabalho entrega uma síntese do desenvolvimento do programa e avalia os resultados alcançados a partir do seus próprios objetivos. A metodologia consiste num análise temporal que revisa os objetivos propostos, modelo de gestão e logros conseguidos nas três dimensões do programa: social, urbana e imobiliária. Como resultado validam-se aquelas ferramentas das políticas públicas que foram eficazes para solucionar problemas urbanos complexos, que seguem sendo geradores de conflitos na maioria das cidades latino-americanas

Performance evaluation of structures with reinforced concrete columns retrofitted with steel jacketing

Several existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings fail to conform with current seismic codes, increasing its susceptibility to damage and collapse during earthquakes. A concern for building upgrading and rehabilitation has grown considerably in the last decades. However, there is limited information related to the seismic performance of RC buildings retrofitted with steel jacketing. Retrofitting of RC buildings leads to different techniques that have been developed in the last decades. The selection of adequate techniques commonly depends on desired performance levels, financial criteria, or other non-technical judgment. This paper assesses the seismic performance of a six-story RC building retrofitted with steel jacketing that is located in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia). The building was designed and constructed in 2010 without considering the requirements prescribed by the NSR-10 Colombian code. In 2017, another building collapsed in the same city for several non-compliances with Colombian seismic code. This investigation focuses on the seismic upgrading of the building, studying the influence of different material properties of the existing building and load scenarios on the building behavior. The proposed steel jacketing improves the compressive and flexural capacity of retrofitted columns, along with the ductility of the building

PFS: A Productivity Forecasting System for Desktop Computers to Improve Grid Applications Performance in Enterprise Desktop Grid

An Enterprise Desktop Grid (EDG) is a low cost platform that gathers desktop computers spread over different institutions. This platform uses desktop computers idle time to run Grid applications. We argue that computers in these environments have a predictable productivity that affects a Grid application execution time. In this paper, we propose a system called PFS for computer productivity forecasting that improves Grid applications performance. We simulated 157.500 applications and compared the performance achieved by our proposal against two recent strategies. Our experiments show that a Grid scheduler based on PFS runs applications faster than schedulers based on other selection strategies

El nuevo procedimiento de control de la ejecución de las sentencias del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos tras el Proceso de Interlaken: la evolución técnica de un mecanismo político

La segunda fase del proceso de reforma del sistema europeo de protección de derechos humanos, iniciada en la Conferencia de Interlaken, ha servido para diseñar un nuevo procedimiento de control de la ejecución de las sentencias del Tribunal. El objetivo es el reforzamiento de la acción en distintos planos para hacer frente al incremento de la carga de trabajo del sistema. Los elementos principales de este nuevo procedimiento son la identificación de dos vías o procedimientos de control y el desplazamiento de hecho del centro de gravedad, colocando al Servicio de Ejecución de sentencias como el órgano encargado de la gestión cotidiana del mismo, aligerando así la carga de trabajo del Comité de Ministros. Los resultados constatados han puesto de manifiesto el acierto de ese nuevo procedimiento, elevándose el número de sentencias cuya ejecución es objeto de control. The second phase of the reform process of the European system for the Protection of Human Rights, initiated in the Interlaken Conference has served to design a new mechanism of supervision of the execution of the European Court of Human Rights’ judgments. The goal is the strengthening of the action at various levels to deal with the increase in the workload of the system. The main elements of this new procedure are the identification of two ways or procedures of control and the displacement in fact of the center of gravity, placing the Department for the Execution of Judgements as the responsible body for the daily management of it, thus lightening workload of the Committee of Ministers. The established results have relieved the success of this new procedure, increasing the number of judgments whose execution is under control

Efecto del destartraje supra y subgingival en las variables: hemoglobina glicosilada y glicemia, en pacientes diabeticos

81 p.Objetivo general: Determinar los efectos en las variables biomédicas (hemoglobina glicosilada y glicemia), luego de realizar un destartraje supra y subgingival en pacientes diabéticos del Centro de Salud de San Rafael. Materiales y métodos: Se examinaron 34 pacientes, registrando variables biomédicas como glicemia y hemoglobina glicosilada. Se realizó el examen CPITN (con sonda OMS) para evaluar estado periodontal, en donde se consideró Enfermedad Periodontal cuando poseían al menos un código >3. El total de la muestra se dividió en dos grupos (estudio y control) de 17 personas cada uno. Al grupo estudio se le realizó destartraje supra y subgingival. Resultados: Los pacientes sometidos a tratamiento periodontal presentan 7.9 veces más posibilidades de tener sus niveles de hemoglobina glicosilada compensada que aquellos pacientes que no se realizan dicho tratamiento. También presentaron 6.7 veces más probabilidad de tener valores normales de glicemia que aquellos pacientes a los que no se les realizó el tratamiento. Conclusiones: El tratamiento periodontal mejora el control biomédico de los pacientes diabéticos. PALABRAS CLAVES: Enfermedad periodontal, hemoglobina glicosilada, glicemia,diabetes mellitus, CPITN

El financiamiento empresarial a través de la emisión de valores: ventajas, desventajas y perspectivas

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