Enhancement of deregulated and restructured power network performance with flexible alternating current transmission systems devices.

Doctoral degree. University of KwaZulu- Natal, Durban.The increase in power transactions, consequent open access created by deregulation and restructuring has resulted into network operation challenges including determination as well as enhancement of available transfer capability (ATC), and congestion management among others. In this study, repeated alternating current power flow (RACPF) approach was implemented for determination of ATC. ATCs for inter-area line outage and generator outage contingency conditions were obtained and analyzed. Analyses of most severe line outage contingencies resulting from evaluation of different performance index (PI) ranking methods were carried out for severe line outage contingency identification. A comprehensive review of FACTS controllers with their various background, topological structures, deployment techniques and cutting-edge applications was carried out for network performance enhancement. In addition, different placement methods were investigated for optimal performance evaluation of FACTS devices. Following this, comparative performance of static var compensator (SVC) and thyristor-controlled series compensator (TCSC) models for enhancement of ATC, bus voltage profile improvement and real power loss minimization was investigated. In addition, particle swarm optimization (PSO) and brain-storm optimization algorithms (BSOA) were engaged for optimum setting of FACTS devices through multi-objective problem formulation and allocation purposes. Thereafter, sensitivity-based technique involving incorporation of proposed FACTS device loss with the general loss equation for the determination of optimum location with same objectives was developed and TCSC location was established based on this sensitivity factors analyses, obtained from partial derivatives of the resultant loss equations with respect to control parameters. Subsequently, investigation and analyses of capability of an optimized VSC-HVDC transmission system in enhancing power network performance were conducted. Furthermore, this optimized VSC-HVDC transmission system was applied for mitigation of bus voltage and line thermal limit violation as a result of n-1-line outage contingency. All these investigations and analyses were implemented for bilateral, simultaneous and multilateral transactions as characterized by network liberalization and IEEE 5 and 30 bus networks were used for implementation in MATLAB environment. RACPF method found to be more accurate especially when compared with other methods with 11.574 MW above and 29.014 MW below recorded ATC values. Voltage and real power PI have also been proven to be distinctly dissimilar in severe contingency identification. In placement method comparison however, disparities in ATC enhancement ranges between 2% and 85% were achieved while real power loss minimization of up to 25% was obtained for different methods. Real power loss minimization of up to 0.06 MW and voltage improvement of bus 21 to 30 were achieved with SVC, while ATC enhancement of up to 14% were recorded for both devices. However, BSO behaved much like PSO throughout the achievements of other set objectives but performed better in ATC enhancement with 27.12 MW and 5.24 MW increase above enhanced ATC values achieved by the latter. The comparison of set objectives values relative to that obtained with PSO methods depict suitability and advantages of BSOA technique. Sensitivity based placement technique resulted into ATC enhancement of more than 60% well above the values obtained when TCSC was placed with thermal limit method. In addition, a substantial bus voltage improvement and active power loss reduction were recorded with this placement method. With incorporation of a VSC-HVDC based transmission system into ac network however, there was an improvement in power flow up to 15.66% corresponding to 46 MW for various transactions, transmission line power loss minimization up to 0.38 MW and bus voltage profile deviation minimization. Besides, automatic alleviation of violated thermal and voltage limits during contingency present VSC-HVDC system as a solution for network performance optimization especially during various transactions occasioned by unbundling power processes. Therefore, ATCs were properly enhanced, bus voltage profile improved, and system real power loss minimized. Likewise, HVDC system enhanced network performance and automatically alleviated violated thermal and voltage limits during contingency

Intelligent Circuits and Systems

ICICS-2020 is the third conference initiated by the School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering at Lovely Professional University that explored recent innovations of researchers working for the development of smart and green technologies in the fields of Energy, Electronics, Communications, Computers, and Control. ICICS provides innovators to identify new opportunities for the social and economic benefits of society.　 This conference bridges the gap between academics and R&D institutions, social visionaries, and experts from all strata of society to present their ongoing research activities and foster research relations between them. It provides opportunities for the exchange of new ideas, applications, and experiences in the field of smart technologies and finding global partners for future collaboration. The ICICS-2020 was conducted in two broad categories, Intelligent Circuits & Intelligent Systems and Emerging Technologies in Electrical Engineering

Evolutionary Computation 2020

Intelligent optimization is based on the mechanism of computational intelligence to refine a suitable feature model, design an effective optimization algorithm, and then to obtain an optimal or satisfactory solution to a complex problem. Intelligent algorithms are key tools to ensure global optimization quality, fast optimization efficiency and robust optimization performance. Intelligent optimization algorithms have been studied by many researchers, leading to improvements in the performance of algorithms such as the evolutionary algorithm, whale optimization algorithm, differential evolution algorithm, and particle swarm optimization. Studies in this arena have also resulted in breakthroughs in solving complex problems including the green shop scheduling problem, the severe nonlinear problem in one-dimensional geodesic electromagnetic inversion, error and bug finding problem in software, the 0-1 backpack problem, traveler problem, and logistics distribution center siting problem. The editors are confident that this book can open a new avenue for further improvement and discoveries in the area of intelligent algorithms. The book is a valuable resource for researchers interested in understanding the principles and design of intelligent algorithms

Development of a multi-objective optimization algorithm based on lichtenberg figures

This doctoral dissertation presents the most important concepts of multi-objective optimization and a systematic review of the most cited articles in the last years of this subject in mechanical engineering. The State of the Art shows a trend towards the use of metaheuristics and the use of a posteriori decision-making techniques to solve engineering problems. This fact increases the demand for algorithms, which compete to deliver the most accurate answers at the lowest possible computational cost. In this context, a new hybrid multi-objective metaheuristic inspired by lightning and Linchtenberg Figures is proposed. The Multi-objective Lichtenberg Algorithm (MOLA) is tested using complex test functions and explicit contrainted engineering problems and compared with other metaheuristics. MOLA outperformed the most used algorithms in the literature: NSGA-II, MOPSO, MOEA/D, MOGWO, and MOGOA. After initial validation, it was applied to two complex and impossible to be analytically evaluated problems. The first was a design case: the multi-objective optimization of CFRP isogrid tubes using the finite element method. The optimizations were made considering two methodologies: i) using a metamodel, and ii) the finite element updating. The last proved to be the best methodology, finding solutions that reduced at least 45.69% of the mass, 18.4% of the instability coefficient, 61.76% of the Tsai-Wu failure index and increased by at least 52.57% the natural frequency. In the second application, MOLA was internally modified and associated with feature selection techniques to become the Multi-objective Sensor Selection and Placement Optimization based on the Lichtenberg Algorithm (MOSSPOLA), an unprecedented Sensor Placement Optimization (SPO) algorithm that maximizes the acquired modal response and minimizes the number of sensors for any structure. Although this is a structural health monitoring principle, it has never been done before. MOSSPOLA was applied to a real helicopter’s main rotor blade using the 7 best-known metrics in SPO. Pareto fronts and sensor configurations were unprecedentedly generated and compared. Better sensor distributions were associated with higher hypervolume and the algorithm found a sensor configuration for each sensor number and metric, including one with 100% accuracy in identifying delamination considering triaxial modal displacements, minimum number of sensors, and noise for all blade sections.Esta tese de doutorado traz os conceitos mais importantes de otimização multi-objetivo e uma revisão sistemática dos artigos mais citados nos últimos anos deste tema em engenharia mecânica. O estado da arte mostra uma tendência no uso de meta-heurísticas e de técnicas de tomada de decisão a posteriori para resolver problemas de engenharia. Este fato aumenta a demanda sobre os algoritmos, que competem para entregar respostas mais precisas com o menor custo computacional possível. Nesse contexto, é proposta uma nova meta-heurística híbrida multi-objetivo inspirada em raios e Figuras de Lichtenberg. O Algoritmo de Lichtenberg Multi-objetivo (MOLA) é testado e comparado com outras metaheurísticas usando funções de teste complexas e problemas restritos e explícitos de engenharia. Ele superou os algoritmos mais utilizados na literatura: NSGA-II, MOPSO, MOEA/D, MOGWO e MOGOA. Após validação, foi aplicado em dois problemas complexos e impossíveis de serem analiticamente otimizados. O primeiro foi um caso de projeto: otimização multi-objetivo de tubos isogrid CFRP usando o método dos elementos finitos. As otimizações foram feitas considerando duas metodologias: i) usando um meta-modelo, e ii) atualização por elementos finitos. A última provou ser a melhor metodologia, encontrando soluções que reduziram pelo menos 45,69% da massa, 18,4% do coeficiente de instabilidade, 61,76% do TW e aumentaram em pelo menos 52,57% a frequência natural. Na segunda aplicação, MOLA foi modificado internamente e associado a técnicas de feature selection para se tornar o Seleção e Alocação ótima de Sensores Multi-objetivo baseado no Algoritmo de Lichtenberg (MOSSPOLA), um algoritmo inédito de Otimização de Posicionamento de Sensores (SPO) que maximiza a resposta modal adquirida e minimiza o número de sensores para qualquer estrutura. Embora isto seja um princípio de Monitoramento da Saúde Estrutural, nunca foi feito antes. O MOSSPOLA foi aplicado na pá do rotor principal de um helicóptero real usando as 7 métricas mais conhecidas em SPO. Frentes de Pareto e configurações de sensores foram ineditamente geradas e comparadas. Melhores distribuições de sensores foram associadas a um alto hipervolume e o algoritmo encontrou uma configuração de sensor para cada número de sensores e métrica, incluindo uma com 100% de precisão na identificação de delaminação considerando deslocamentos modais triaxiais, número mínimo de sensores e ruído para todas as seções da lâmina

Image Frames, Cascading Activation, and Formation of Foreign Policy: A Case Study of the 2012 Benghazi Attacks

Images powerfully influence foreign policy. At one level, the existence of disturbing images directs attention to a problem that has not been on the agenda of political actors responsible for the formation of foreign policy in the United States. Bosnia, Darfur, and Abu Ghraib serve as examples of foreign policy issues in which images significantly affected the direction of policy. On another level, images function as a component of narrative establishing news frames about an issue. The diffusion and manipulation of images should be an integral part of discourse regarding foreign policy. Entman’s Cascading Activation Model (later revised as the Cascading Network Activation Model) describes a discursive process that provides insight into the construction of foreign policy. The model assumes that images and text inserted into the middle of the cascade by media establishes news frames. This project both tests whether the setting of news frames can be understood by analyzing images used in discourse surrounding a policy and whether non-media actors in the cascade have employed images. Images linked to articles on Benghazi published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, and USA Today during the year following the attack were analyzed for origin of the image, hierarchy in the cascade, and frame content. The results showed that images do not behave in the cascade in the same manner expected of textual frames. The attacks on American facilities in Benghazi on September 11-12, 2012 are placed in the context of Libya’s diplomatic history with the United States. The American presence (principally CIA) in Benghazi has never been explained. Using original materials from the Department of State and Congressional investigative committees, the project concludes that it is highly probable the CIA established facilities using a State Department diplomatic mission to cover secret activities

2015 GREAT Day Program

SUNY Geneseo’s Ninth Annual GREAT Day.https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/program-2007/1009/thumbnail.jp

Autonomous Exchanges: Human-Machine Autonomy in the Automated Media Economy

Contemporary discourses and representations of automation stress the impending “autonomy” of automated technologies. From pop culture depictions to corporate white papers, the notion of autonomous technologies tends to enliven dystopic fears about the threat to human autonomy or utopian potentials to help humans experience unrealized forms of autonomy. This project offers a more nuanced perspective, rejecting contemporary notions of automation as inevitably vanquishing or enhancing human autonomy. Through a discursive analysis of industrial “deep texts” that offer considerable insights into the material development of automated media technologies, I argue for contemporary automation to be understood as a field for the exchange of autonomy, a human-machine autonomy in which autonomy is exchanged as cultural and economic value. Human-machine autonomy is a shared condition among humans and intelligent machines shaped by economic, legal, and political paradigms with a stake in the cultural uses of automated media technologies. By understanding human-machine autonomy, this project illuminates complications of autonomy emerging from interactions with automated media technologies across a range of cultural contexts

Program and Proceedings: The Nebraska Academy of Sciences 1880-2011

PROGRAM FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2011 REGISTRATION FOR ACADEMY, Lobby of Lecture wing, Olin Hall Aeronautics and Space Science, Session A, Olin 249 Aeronautics and Space Science, Session B, Olin 224 Collegiate Academy, Biology Session A, Olin B Collegiate Academy, Chemistry and Physics, Session A, Olin 324 Chemistry and Physics, Section A, Chemistry, Olin A Biological and Medical Sciences, Session A, Olin 112 Biological and Medical Sciences, Session B, Smith Callen Conference Center Chemistry and Physics, Section B, Physics, Planetarium Junior Academy, Judges Check-In, Olin 219 Junior Academy, Senior High REGISTRATION, Olin Hall Lobby NWU Health and Sciences Graduate School Fair, Olin and Smith Curtiss Halls Junior Academy, Senior High Competition, Olin 124, Olin 131 Teaching of Science and Math, Olin 325 Aeronautics and Space Science, Poster Session, Olin 249 Applied Science and Technology, Olin 325 Aeronautics and Space Science, Poster Session, Olin 249 MAIBEN MEMORIAL LECTURE, OLIN B Dr. Erin Flynn, Nocturnal Manager, Omaha\u27s Henry Doorly Zoo LUNCH, PATIO ROOM, STORY STUDENT CENTER (pay and carry tray through cafeteria line, or pay at NAS registration desk) Aeronautics Group, Conestoga Room Anthropology, Olin 111 Biological and Medical Sciences, Session C, Olin 112 Biological and Medical Sciences, Session D, Smith Callen Conference Center Chemistry and Physics, Section A, Chemistry, Olin A Chemistry and Physics, Section B, Physics, Planetarium Collegiate Academy, Biology Session A, Olin B Collegiate Academy, Biology Session B, Olin 249 Collegiate Academy, Chemistry and Physics, Session B, Olin 324 Collegiate Academy, Chemistry and Physics, Session C, Olin 325 Earth Science, Olin 224 Junior Academy, Judges Check-In, Olin 219 Junior Academy, Junior High REGISTRATION, Olin Hall Lobby Junior Academy, Senior High Competition, (Final), Olin 110 Junior Academy, Junior High Competition, Olin 124, Olin 131 NJAS Board/Teacher Meeting, Olin 219 BUSINESS MEETING, OLIN B AWARDS RECEPTION for NJAS, Scholarships, Members, Spouses, and Guests First United Methodist Church, 2723 N 50th Street, Lincoln, N

Play Among Books

How does coding change the way we think about architecture? Miro Roman and his AI Alice_ch3n81 develop a playful scenario in which they propose coding as the new literacy of information. They convey knowledge in the form of a project model that links the fields of architecture and information through two interwoven narrative strands in an “infinite flow” of real books