Energy Exchange Alpen Adria: Marktmodell und Implementierung

The deregulation and opening of energy markets give consumers the possibility to select their supplier. This liberalization process can be seen as requirement for more open and frequent energy trading transactions which should lead to more transparent and decreasing electricity prices for the consumers. Hence, up-coming power exchanges enable participants to benefit from possible price margins at transparent energy trading places. This paper describes the market model and the software system for the auction algorithm of the EXAA — Energy Exchange Alpen Adria. As a first step a spot market will be implemented only. The system is fully web based and very user friendly in order to attract many market participants.     

Stahlbetonschalen ohne Schalung – ein neuer Weg im Schalenbau

Reinforced Concrete Shells without Formwork – a new Approach to the Construction of RC‐Shells Diversity of designs, slenderness and elegance are the qualities of RC‐shells that leave one amazed at the sight of such structures. New architectural schools are currently about to induce a renaissance in shell structures, at least for public prestigious buildings. The main obstacle, that inhibits a more widely acceptance of those aesthetically pleasing shell‐structures is their cost of construction. One of the biggest cost‐factors in case of geometrically more complex designs is the construction of the formwork. Yet the placement of reinforcement and concrete turns out often to be equally complicated and thus costly. A new shell construction method developed at the Vienna University of Technology relies on post‐tensioning a RC‐membrane into a spatially bent shell, thus cutting the cost of construction considerably.     

Thermodynamics of mixing of poly(vinyl chloride) and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate)

The miscibility of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer with 85 wt[percnt] of vinyl acetate units (EVA85) has been studied by measuring the glass transition temperature and the enthalpy of mixing of several mixtures covering the whole composition range. An accurate thermal characterization as regards the specific heat of the two polymers and their blends has also been obtained. The enthalpy of mixing has been found negative for all the mixtures, indicating that specific interactions are involved between the polar groups of the two components. Particular attention has been paid also to the excess specific heat, which comes out positive for the PVC-rich blends and with a small negative value in a narrow region at high contents of EVA85. This finding is in agreement with negative and positive deviations that are observed for the glass transition temperature. Modelistic considerations about the type of interactions and the organization between PVC and EVA85 in the blends are proposed.     

Is GRP78/BiP a potential salivary biomarker in patients with rheumatoid arthritis?

Purpose : In the last few years, serum and joint synovial fluid have been extensively analyzed for the proteomic research of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) biomarkers. Nonetheless, to date, there have been no studies investigating salivary biomarkers in this condition. Therefore, aim of this study is to investigate the presence of potential biomarkers of RA in human whole saliva. Experimental design : We combined 2‐DE and MS to analyze the whole saliva protein profile of 20 RA patients in comparison with 20 sex‐ and age‐matched healthy subjects. Results : Eight salivary proteins resulted differentially expressed, namely calgranulin A, calgranulin B, apolipoprotein A‐1, 6‐phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, peroxiredoxin 5, epidermal fatty acid‐binding protein, 78 kDa glucose‐regulated protein precursor (GRP78/BiP), and 14‐3‐3 proteins. It is particularly interesting that chaperone GRP78/BiP showed the greatest increase in RA patients. This finding was validated by Western Blot analysis and the over‐expression of GRP78/BiP appear to be distinctive of RA and drugs treatment independent. Conclusions and clinical relevance : This study provides a rationale for further studies aimed at evaluating any correlation between GRP78/BiP and different clinical/serological aspects of the disease in order to improve the diagnostic algorithms of RA.     

Reconstruction of Articulated Objects from Point Correspondences in a Single Uncalibrated Image

This paper investigates the problem of recovering information about the configuration of an articulated object, such as a human figure, from point correspondences in a single image. Unlike previous approaches, the proposed reconstruction method does not assume that the imagery was acquired with a calibrated camera. An analysis is presented which demonstrates that there is a family of solutions to this reconstruction problem parameterized by a single variable. A simple and effective algorithm is proposed for recovering the entire set of solutions by considering the foreshortening of the segments of the model in the image. Results obtained by applying this algorithm to real images are presented.     

Gap Junction Channelopathies and Calmodulinopathies. Do Disease-Causing Calmodulin Mutants Affect Direct Cell–Cell Communication?

The cloning of connexins cDNA opened the way to the field of gap junction channelopathies. Thus far, at least 35 genetic diseases, resulting from mutations of 11 different connexin genes, are known to cause numerous structural and functional defects in the central and peripheral nervous system as well as in the heart, skin, eyes, teeth, ears, bone, hair, nails and lymphatic system. While all of these diseases are due to connexin mutations, minimal attention has been paid to the potential diseases of cell–cell communication caused by mutations of Cx-associated molecules. An important Cx accessory protein is calmodulin (CaM), which is the major regulator of gap junction channel gating and a molecule relevant to gap junction formation. Recently, diseases caused by CaM mutations (calmodulinopathies) have been identified, but thus far calmodulinopathy studies have not considered the potential effect of CaM mutations on gap junction function. The major goal of this review is to raise awareness on the likely role of CaM mutations in defects of gap junction mediated cell communication. Our studies have demonstrated that certain CaM mutants affect gap junction channel gating or expression, so it would not be surprising to learn that CaM mutations known to cause diseases also affect cell communication mediated by gap junction channels.     

Probabilistic seismic response and uncertainty analysis of continuous bridges under near-fault ground motions

Performance-based seismic design can generate predictable structure damage result with given seismic hazard. However, there are multiple sources of uncertainties in the seismic design process that can affect desired performance predictability. This paper mainly focuses on the effects of near-fault pulse-like ground motions and the uncertainties in bridge modeling on the seismic demands of regular continuous highway bridges. By modeling a regular continuous bridge with OpenSees software, a series of nonlinear dynamic time-history analysis of the bridge at three different site conditions under near-fault pulse-like ground motions are carried out. The relationships between different Intensity Measure (IM) parameters and the Engineering Demand Parameter (EDP) are discussed. After selecting the peak ground acceleration as the most correlated IM parameter and the drift ratio of the bridge column as the EDP parameter, a probabilistic seismic demand model is developed for near-fault earthquake ground motions for 3 different site conditions. On this basis, the uncertainty analysis is conducted with the key sources of uncertainty during the finite element modeling. All the results are quantified by the “swing” base on the specific distribution range of each uncertainty parameter both in near-fault and far-fault cases. All the ground motions are selected from PEER database, while the bridge case study is a typical regular highway bridge designed in accordance with the Chinese Guidelines for Seismic Design of Highway Bridges. The results show that PGA is a proper IM parameter for setting up a linear probabilistic seismic demand model; damping ratio, pier diameter and concrete strength are the main uncertainty parameters during bridge modeling, which should be considered both in near-fault and far-fault ground motion cases.     

Value analysis as a decision support tool in cruise ship design

In the cruise ship industry product development and production activities are really complex and must follow strict rules imposed by naval registries. Designers are frequently required to choose among several alternative solutions (e.g., materials, components, layouts, etc.). Because of time constraints, as a matter of fact, design decisions are made fast and in a reactive way, according to the particular case, without considering decisions made in the past and without using specific decision support tools. The final choice is often left to a single designer's experience, whose selection criteria are unknown and not formalised. As a consequence there is no shared knowledge justifying the reason why a design solution has been chosen and whether it is the best one. We developed and implemented in Fincantieri S.p.A. – a leading company in the cruise ship industry – an original decision support tool, based on value analysis, designers can use to document and formalise their choices. Value analysis is a well known structured method to increase product value and/or cut costs, thus supporting the selection of the most valuable solution by means of objective parameters. We demonstrate that the proposed tool can also facilitate reuse of the available knowledge base on decisional criteria, increase interactions between people (design staff, buyers, shipyard personnel, etc.) involved in different stages of different value analysis projects, and reduce decision time.     

Exploring the Interplay Between Ligand Derivatisation and Cation Type in the Assembly of Hybrid Polyoxometalate Mn‐Andersons

Herein a library of hybrid Mn‐Anderson polyoxometalates anions are presented: 1 , [(MnMo₆O₁₈)((OCH₂)₃‐C‐(CH₂)₇CHCH₂)₂]^3?; compound 2 , [(MnMo₆O₁₈)((OCH₂)₃C‐NHCH₂C₁₆H₉)₂]^3?; compound 3 , [(MnMo₆O₁₈)((OCH₂)₃C‐(CH₂)₇CHCH₂)₁((OCH₂)₃C‐NHCH₂C₁₆H₉)₁]^3?; compound 4 , [(MnMo₆O₁₈)((OCH₂)₃C‐NHC(O)CH₂CHCH₂)₂]^3? and compounds 5 – 9 , [(MnMo₆O₁₈)((OCH₂)₃C‐NHC(O)(CH₂)_xCH₃)₂]), where x = 4, 10, 12, 14, and 18 respectively. The compounds resulting from the cation exchange of the anions 1 – 9 to give TBA ( a ) and DMDOA ( b ) salts, and additionally for compounds 1 , 2 and 3 , tetraphenylphosphonium (PPh₄) ( c ) salts, are explored at the air/water interface using scanning force microscopy, showing a range of architectures including hexagonal structures, nanofibers and other supramolecular forms. Additionally the solid‐state structures for compounds 1c , 2c , 4a , 6a , 9a , are presented for the first time and these investigations demonstrate the delicate interplay between the structure of the covalently derivatised hybrid organo‐clusters as well as the ion‐exchange cation types.