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Residential chargers are going to become the standard in the near future. Their operational cycles are closely tied to users' daily routines, and the power consumption fluctuates between zero and peak levels. These types of installations are particularly challenging for the grid, especially concerning the balance of electricity production and consumption. Using battery storage in conjunction with renewable sources (e.g., photovoltaic power plants) represents a flexible solution for grid stabilization, but it is also associated with additional costs. Nowadays, grid authorities penalize a destabilization of the grid resulting from an increased imbalance between electricity generation and consumption and reward contributions to the system balance. Hence, there is a motivation for larger prosumers to make use of this mechanism to reduce their operational costs by better aligning their energy needs with the grid. This study explores the possibility of utilizing battery storage when it is not needed to fulfil its primary function of supporting charging electric vehicles, to generate some additional profit from providing a counter-imbalance. To test this idea, we develop an optimization model that maximizes the economic profit, considering system imbalance penalties/rewards, photovoltaic production, electric vehicle charging demand, and battery storage utilization. By means of computer simulation, we assess the overall operational costs while varying key installation parameters such as battery capacity and power, the installed power of photovoltaic panels and the prediction model's accuracy. We identify conditions when counter-imbalance has proven to be a viable way to reduce installation costs. These conditions include temporal distribution of charging demand, electricity prices and photovoltaic production. For the morning time window, with a suitable setting of the installation parameters, the cost reduction reaches up to 14% compared to the situation without counter-imbalance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to present possible consequences caused by the development of commodity market financialization understood by the influence of financial investor’s speculation. Also the task of elaboration is to outline the existence of financial factors in the price creation process of commodities. The existing impact of financialization on the volatility of commodity prices significantly modifies the market. The results of the research and analyzes carried out indicate a similarity in the behavior of the markets of commodities. The situation results from the redistribution of the risk of financial investors who having a few goods in the investment portfolio, next to large transaction volumes affect the unification of price trends. Price shaping factors are being transformed. The decrease importance of supply or consumption in the context of the commodities market changes its form. The growing influence of investors who create numerous speculations transforms the market. Trade in futures contracts affects the level of commodities prices.

Most work on the relationship between science and science fiction focuses on how science fiction can advance science by speculatively elaborating scientific theories. This text, to the contrary, argues that we should understand some science fiction texts as contributing to the making of science as a social practice rather differently: namely by seeing them as a form of didactic literature which offers moral exempla to scientists or potential scientist readers. In order to illustrate this point, this article considers the representation of scientist-heroes in Gregory Benford’s Cosm and Ursula K. Le Guin The Dispossessed. It illustrates the ways which these authors depict model scientists that can help readers to imagine what it might mean to be a scientist, and to engage in science as a profession. It brings out the ways in which their drive to create such didactic examples may have emerged out of a crisis within the ideology of science itself, namely the crisis of legitimacy and authority of science today known as the Science Wars.

Background Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer among women worldwide and also in Egypt and causes the greatest number of cancer-related deaths among women. Mammography remains the method of choice for breast imaging. In the field of mammography, significant technical improvements have been realized, mainly owing to the introduction of digital mammography (DM) and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). Aim To determine the added value of DBT over DM in evaluation of suspicious breast lesions. Patients and methods A total of 50 female patients who had breast lumps or positive findings in screening by mammography were included. Results The study population was 50 female patients. They were subjected to imaging by DM and DBT. The study reveals that DBT has a superior role in assessment and characterization of suspicious breast lesions over DM. Conclusion DBT showed higher sensitivity and specificity and diagnostic accuracy over DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[fr] En 802/1400-803/1401, Tamerlan occupa Damas. Les marchands européens partirent de la Syrie et la nouvelle de cet événement ne tarda pas à circuler dans les principaux centres commerciaux européens semant la panique en perturbant le fonctionnement des marchés et bouleversant les prix des épices. Par quels moyens cette nouvelle fut-elle diffusée et quelles furent ses séquelles sur l’ensemble du commerce méditerranéen?

This study aims at surveying some verses of the Holly Qur’an in order to give emphasis to the presence of language faculty as a genuine and original concept in the Holly Qur’an. Religious origins of human language have not been given the same interest, and many of the linguists and scholars who concern themselves with the speculations about the origins of human language have mentioned slightly some verses from the holly books in which some mentioning of the origins of language is stated. The majority of the studies has not tackled this religious background about language seriously. Therefore, the prime objective of this study will be directed to the religious origins of language because we believe that language is one of the essential endowments given to people by Allah. For that end, a review of some related studies will be outlined to establish a theoretical framework on which this study will be processed. The qualitative survey in this study will be a survey of some verses from the Holly Qur’an, as we believe that language origins are established clearly in many verses of the Holly Qur’an. Five categories will be formulated to process the study in terms of worship, creation, teaching of the Qur'an, Jesus the Christ (P. B. U. H.) infancy speech, and limbs of the body speech. The study will be a qualitative content – base analysis approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology is the property of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The buying-selling currency activity is a specific kind of trade within which currency is considered to be a good. The result of this trade is a price (currency rate of exchange) that depends on the demand-supply conditions existing on the market; this price may be limited from legal point of view. The purpose of this article is to define various transactions on the currency market including that of the Republic of Moldova and to single out currency transactions within foreign currency accounts of the residents and non-residents.

Copyright of Anthropologia Integra is the property of Masaryk University, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Transformation of value system and mentality, being a constituent part of transition, goes slowly with certain consequences. Values favourable in the former system (equality, collectiveness) should be replaced by universal democratic values (individualism, democracy, human rights and freedom, private property, fair privatization and similar). Believing in the old system of conception and principles, citizens were not ready to meet changes, having thought that the end of the communism would immediately bring democracy which automatically generates economical, social and political safety, as well as the increase of the cultural level. There is no country with a high result in a fight against corruption in its all forms, therefore in transition as well. This claim can be reasoned by a number of files processed by authorities. According to its main characteristics, corruption is a form of social pathology. Its appearance changes in a parallel way with changes in society. Beside the standard form, each novelty in modelling certain businesses where the participant is the official administration can bring corruption in a new form. This leads to the existence of its characteristic of adaptation to new situations. When we talk about the causes of corruption we imply that beside its standard causes, transition as a process is a possible one.

I present here a brief reassessment of T. E. Hulme’s essays and notes posthumously published asSpeculations(1924), with particular regard to ongoing discussion of the relationship between history and art. I argue that, despite comparative neglect through the twentieth century, Hulme’s treatment of that relationship may be of continuing interest to theorists – especially inasmuch as it is concerned with such matters as history’s role in investigating presuppositions and (in tandem with other forms of art) challenging accepted definitions of ‘reality’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology. Organization & Management / Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Slaskiej. Seria Organizacji i Zarzadzanie is the property of Silesian Technical University, Organisation & Management Faculty and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The buying-selling currency activity is a specific kind of trade within which currency is considered to be a good. The result of this trade is a price (currency rate of exchange) that depends on the demand-supply conditions existing on the market; this price may be limited from legal point of view. The purpose of this article is to define various transactions on the currency market including that of the Republic of Moldova and to single out currency transactions within foreign currency accounts of the residents and non-residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, financial markets are criticized for a high proportion of speculative activities and an unsustainable game of risk. The function of speculation as a stimulus for activities in financial markets has changed radically during last decades. At present, speculation has nevermore served the real economy as a mean for more efficient market functioning. The real economy has become a victim of uncontrolled and unsustainable increase of speculative activities. The main problem of speculation concept is a leverage principle that causes layering risk and creating in the world economy systematic risk that the market is not able to bear. The specific examples are the events of the past decade, especially the global financial and economic crisis. The main aim of contribution is to discuss the questionable relation between speculative activities in the financial markets and the real economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Singidunum Journal of Applied Sciences is the property of Singidunum University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology is the property of Issues in Ethnology Anthropology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Current global economic crisis is neither conjuncture nor a cyclic one, but rather a serious systemic crisis, which roots lay in the Breton-Woods (1944) decision to let the American currency – US dollar become world’s reserve currency, and to let Fed guarantee the full convertibility of the US dollar into gold. The USA, however, could not resist the temptation to abuse the chance they were given, and they started paying for imported goods in dollars without adequate cover (in gold). Finally (in 1971) USA unilaterally gave up on the undertaken obligation and quitted the convertibility standard. In that way we reached a situation, in which USA supposedly managed to find the magic formula, which alchemist were seeking for centuries – to create gold out of nothing. Americans were now able (with help of their political, military and economic power) to acquire huge material goods from all over the world by mere dollar-printing. In order to satisfy growing ambitions, USA undertook measures to widen the area where US dollar is used, either by: 1) New territories, or 2) New methods of commerce. Later, thanks to the globalization, the US dollar became present in the whole world, and taking into account that the aggregate amount of material goods is limited, the new period emerges where new "virtual" instruments are made, which are being traded on financial markets. Through speculative operations (virtually out of a mere air) a big bubble has been inflated over time, or to put in other words a huge mass of financial assets has been created which has a manifold higher valuation than the actual value of the real sector economy. When the bubble burst we faced the current crisis, from which now we seek the exit. Measures undertaken by world leading economies and the USA in first place (flooding the markets with money and lowering the interest rates) seem like extinguishing fire with petrol. It is hard to believe that the very same measures which cause the problem could also solve it. Causes of current global crisis are more deep-rooted and reach deeply into morality and spirituality, so it is not sufficient to look for the exit from the crisis solely in economy.

How have large fortunes been formed in the world during the millenniums? What had especially- if they had- their holders? It is a disturbing evolution. "Captains of industry", entrepreneurs of excellent quality who, on the merits of industrial revolutions, pushed the world ahead, generated economic and social progress, they are the ones who have enjoyed and still enjoying all the appreciations. In contradistinction to speculators, especially those of today, in the time of crisis, whose actions had and have less to do with the economic progress of the world. What are the prospects? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the question of improving the detection of nonlinear dependence by means of recently developed nonparametric tests. To this end a generalized version of BDS test and a new test based on symbolic dynamics are used on realizations from a well-known artificial market for which the dynamic equation governing the market is known. Comparisons with other tests for detecting nonlinearity are also provided. We show that the test based on symbolic dynamics outperforms other tests with the advantage that it depends only on one free parameter, namely the embedding dimension. This does not hold for other tests for nonlinearity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estonia and other Baltic countries experienced speculative boom in years 2004- 2008. The boom resulted in rapidly rising relative price level or real exchange rate. Euro wages are used as proxies for bilateral real exchange rates. Rapid reversal of capital inflow created instantly short-term real exchange rate overvaluation. The data shows that some other developing countries, like Poland and Russia let their price level to adjust through depreciation of nominal exchange rate. Estonia and other Baltic countries decided to go through adjustment with deflation of prices and wages. This contributed to higher unemployment rate and GDP loss. The most positive way out appears to be restoration of foreign investors interest in local economy and raising equilibrium real exchange rate reducing likely real exchange rate overvaluation. The other important implication was that local businessmen and other individuals were too much risk-takers for volatile emerging market economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jacob's Room is Virginia Woolf's first conscious and calculated departure from the established conventions of novel writing. To some degree Virginia Woolf successfully conveyed the chaotic complexity of human nature in this novel. What we know of another person are bits of his/her personality. This is because intentionally or unintentionally a person never communicates wholly his personality to another. In Jacob's Room, Jacob's character is never unfolded in chronological sequences. Rather from time to time glimpses of Jacob are shown in his interactions with different people at different stages of his life. This paper focuses its attention on the kind of life included in Jacob's Room. Life according to Virginia Woolf is evasive. An attempt to grasp life in its totality is impossible. We may grasp parts of a character's personality but never the whole. This is the case with Jacob Flanders. We do not know Jacob Flanders completely but come nearer to the real Jacob Flanders which evades us. This paper throws light on how Virginia Woolf reveals Jacob's personality and to what degree she succeeded in unveiling the figure of Jacob Flanders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with a more general way of defining conjectures than that presented in Trillas et al. Here conjectures are defined once an operator of consequences in the sense of Tarski is given, and like in Trillas et al. they result classified in consequences, hypotheses and speculations. With all that, it appears for the first time the actually non-surprising idea that a formalization of deduction seems to be required previously to formalize induction and abduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the use of speculations, a form of distributed transactions, for improving the reliability and fault tolerance of distributed systems. A speculation is defined as a computation that is based on an assumption that is not validated before the computation is started. If the assumption is later found to be false, the computation is aborted and the state of the program is rolled back; if the assumption is found to be true, the results of the computation are committed. The primary difference between a speculation and a transaction is that a speculation is not isolated—for example, a speculative computation may send and receive messages, and it may modify shared objects. As a result, processes that share those objects may be absorbed into a speculation. We present a syntax, and an operational semantics in two forms. The first one is a speculative model, which takes full advantage of the speculative features. The second one is a nonspeculative, nondeterministic model, where aborts are treated as failures. We prove the equivalence of the two models, demonstrating that speculative execution is equivalent to failure-free computation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]