Modeling methodologies of synergic effects related to climate change and sustainable energy management

The main aim of the present article is to highlight the synergic effects related to climate change and sustainable energy management. Due to our model and given methodology it is possible to examine the relations between the terms mentioned above. In our Knowledge Attributed Petri Net based simulation model the most significant elements are highlighted in question of integrating Cellular Neural Networks and Fuzzy Systems into an object oriented formal description. This methodology implies the importance of holistic approach - namely the usage of predefined risk categories, spreading of causes and effects in physical space - that is crucial in these investigations. Only marginal attention is paid to the synergic effects related to adaptation and mitigation efforts according to climate change. Taking every result into account, this methodologically complex subject is possible to examine from the point of sustainability

Využití obrazové spektroskopie pro monitoring zátěže vegetace polutanty obsaženými v půdním substrátu Sokolovské hnědouhelné pánve

Lesy mohou být považovány za jeden z nejdůležitějších ekosystémů Země nejen kvůli produkci kyslíku a ukládání uhlíku prostřednictvím fotosyntézy, ale současně jako zdroj mnoha přírodních surovin (např. dřeva) a jako životní prostor mnoha specifických druhů rostlin a živočichů. Monitoring stavu lesa je proto naprosto zásadní činností k udržení všech ekologických a produkčních funkcí lesních ekosystémů. Hlavním cíle práce je vývoj alternativního přístupu k monitoringu zdravotního stavu lesa založeného na analýze leteckých hyperspektrálních dat (HyMap) s podporou pozemního průzkumu. Navrhovaný postup se snaží využívat obdobné parametry vegetace jako současné klasické metody hodnocení stavu lesa založené na terénním průzkumu. Význam navrhovaných metod pravděpodobně významně vzroste v době, kdy plánované družicové hyperspektrální mise (např. EnMap) dosáhnou operační fáze. Vyvíjený přístup k monitoringu stavu lesa je prakticky demonstrován na příklad dospělých porostů smrku ztepilého (Picea abies L. Karst) v oblasti Sokolovské hnědouhelné pánve, které byly dlouhodobě ovlivňovány těžbou uhlí a přítomností těžkého průmyslu a u kterých byla tudíž předpokládána značná variabilita zdravotního stavu. Dvojice modelů přenosu záření byla použita pro simulaci spektrálních signatur na úrovni jehlic: PROSPECT-5 a...Forests can be considered as one of the most important Earth's ecosystems not only because of oxygen production and carbon sequestration via photosynthesis, but also as a source of many natural resources (such as wood) and as a habitat of many specific plants and animals. Monitoring of forest health status is thus crucial activity for keeping all production and ecosystem functions of forests. The main aim of the thesis is development of an alternative approach for forest health status based on airborne hyperspectral data (HyMap) analysis supported by field sampling. The proposed approach tries to use similar vegetation parameters which are used in case of the current methods of forest health status assessment based on field inspections. It is believed that importance of such new methods will significantly increase in the time when the planned satellite hyperspectral missions (e.g. EnMap) will move into operational phase. The developed forest health monitoring approach is practically demonstrated on mature Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) forests of the Sokolov lignite basin which were affected by long-term coal mining and heavy industry and therefore high variability of forest health status was assumed in this case. Two leaf level radiative transfer models were used for simulating spectral...Katedra aplikované geoinformatiky a kartografieDepartment of Applied Geoinformatics and CartographyPřírodovědecká fakultaFaculty of Scienc

Engineering User-Centric Smart Charging Systems

Die Integration erneuerbarer Energiequellen und die Sektorenkopplung erhöhen den Bedarf an Flexibilität im Elektrizitätssystem. Elektrofahrzeuge koordiniert zu Laden bietet die Chance solche Flexibilität bereitzustellen. Allerdings hängt das Flexibilitätspotential von Elektrofahrzeugen davon ab in welchem Umfang sich die Nutzer der Fahrzeuge dazu entschließen intelligentes Laden zu nutzen. Ziel dieser Dissertation ist es Lösungen für intelligente Ladesysteme zu entwickeln, welche die Nutzer zu flexiblerem Laden anreizen und diese dabei zu unterstützen. Anhand eines Literaturüberblicks und einer Expertenbefragung werden zunächst Ziele identifiziert, welche Nutzer zu einer flexiblen Ladung motivieren können. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass neben finanziellen Anreizen auch die Integration erneuer-barer Energien und die Vermeidung von Netzengpässen einen Anreiz für das flexible La-den darstellen können. In der Folge wird untersucht, ob das Framing der Ladesituation hinsichtlich dieser Ziele die Ladeflexibilität von Elektrofahrzeugnutzern beeinflussen kann. Hierzu wird ein Online-Experiment mit Elektrofahrzeugnutzern evaluiert. Das sich ein Teil der Nutzer bei einem Umwelt-Framing flexibler verhält, macht Feedback darüber, wie die CO2-Emissionen von der bereitgestellten Flexibilität abhängen zu einem vielversprechenden Anreiz intelligentes Laden zu nutzen. Um solches Feedback zu er-möglichen werden als Nächstes die CO2-Einsparpotenziale eines optimierten Ladens im Vergleich zu unkontrolliertem Laden untersucht. Dazu werden die marginalen Emissions-faktoren im deutschen Stromnetz mithilfe eines regressionsbasierten Ansatzes ermittelt. Um Echtzeit-Feedback in realen Systemen zu ermöglichen wird darauf aufbauend eine Prognosemethode für Emissionsfaktoren entwickelt. Die Zielerreichung intelligenten Ladens hängt hauptsächlich von der zeitlichen und energetischen Flexibilität der Elektrofahrzeuge ab. Damit Nutzer diese Ladeeinstellungen nicht bei jeder Ankunft an der Ladestation von Hand eingeben zu müssen, könnten sie durch intelligente Assistenten unterstützt werden. Hierfür werden probabilistische Prognosen für die Flexibilität einzelner Ladevorgänge basierend auf historischen Ladevorgängen und Mobilitätsmustern entwickelt. Darüber hinaus zeigt eine Fallstudie, dass probabilistische Prognosen besser als Punktprognosen dazu geeignet sind die Ladung mehrerer Elektrofahrzeuge zu koordinieren

Energy for Sustainable Future

Energy and the environment are irrevocably interrelated, and they are critical factors that influence the development of societies. The pollution of the environment without considering various consequences has become one of the most important global issues today. This environmental pollution is mainly the result of increases in economic activities, population, transportation, electricity generation, agriculture, forestry, and land use. The exigency of energy for these activities, the rapidly rising price of petroleum oil, the harmful effect of greenhouse gases, and the quest for energy security have steered our attention towards sustainable sources of energy. It is fundamental to find innovative solutions that are sustainable from the perspective of energy management and environmental protection. This book includes three review articles which review the state-of-the-art of different sustainable energy resources. These articles include ammonia as a renewable energy carrier, integration of solar photovoltaic, and bio-oil from waste tires for automotive engine application. In addition, eight research studies reveal new knowledge about energy for a sustainable future. The topics covered span many diverse areas associated with sustainable energy, including various biofuels, photovoltaic, and other aspects of sustainability. These complementary contributions provide a substantial body of knowledge in the field of Renewable and Sustainable Energy

Autonomous Navigation of Automated Guided Vehicle Using Monocular Camera

This paper presents a hybrid control algorithm for Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) consisting of two independent control loops: Position Based Control (PBC) for global navigation within manufacturing environment and Image Based Visual Servoing (IBVS) for fine motions needed for accurate steering towards loading/unloading point. The proposed hybrid control separates the initial transportation task into global navigation towards the goal point, and fine motion from the goal point to the loading/unloading point. In this manner, the need for artificial landmarks or accurate map of the environment is bypassed. Initial experimental results show the usefulness of the proposed approach.COBISS.SR-ID 27383808

Optimization of Operation Sequencing in CAPP Using Hybrid Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing Approach

In any CAPP system, one of the most important process planning functions is selection of the operations and corresponding machines in order to generate the optimal operation sequence. In this paper, the hybrid GA-SA algorithm is used to solve this combinatorial optimization NP (Non-deterministic Polynomial) problem. The network representation is adopted to describe operation and sequencing flexibility in process planning and the mathematical model for process planning is described with the objective of minimizing the production time. Experimental results show effectiveness of the hybrid algorithm that, in comparison with the GA and SA standalone algorithms, gives optimal operation sequence with lesser computational time and lesser number of iterations

Optimization of Operation Sequencing in CAPP Using Hybrid Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing Approach

In any CAPP system, one of the most important process planning functions is selection of the operations and corresponding machines in order to generate the optimal operation sequence. In this paper, the hybrid GA-SA algorithm is used to solve this combinatorial optimization NP (Non-deterministic Polynomial) problem. The network representation is adopted to describe operation and sequencing flexibility in process planning and the mathematical model for process planning is described with the objective of minimizing the production time. Experimental results show effectiveness of the hybrid algorithm that, in comparison with the GA and SA standalone algorithms, gives optimal operation sequence with lesser computational time and lesser number of iterations

Autonomous Navigation of Automated Guided Vehicle Using Monocular Camera

This paper presents a hybrid control algorithm for Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) consisting of two independent control loops: Position Based Control (PBC) for global navigation within manufacturing environment and Image Based Visual Servoing (IBVS) for fine motions needed for accurate steering towards loading/unloading point. The proposed hybrid control separates the initial transportation task into global navigation towards the goal point, and fine motion from the goal point to the loading/unloading point. In this manner, the need for artificial landmarks or accurate map of the environment is bypassed. Initial experimental results show the usefulness of the proposed approach.COBISS.SR-ID 27383808

Ra: The Sun for Science and Humanity

To guide the development of the Ra Strategic Framework, we defined scientific and applications objectives. For our primary areas of scientific interest, we choose the corona, the solar wind, the Sun's effect on the Earth, and solar theory and model development. For secondary areas of scientific interest, we selected sunspots, the solar constant, the Sun's gravitational field, helioseismology and the galactic cosmic rays. We stress the importance of stereoscopic imaging, observations at high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions, as well as of long duration measurements. Further exploration of the Sun's polar regions is also important, as shown already by the Ulysses mission. From an applications perspective, we adopted three broad objectives that would derive complementary inputs for the Strategic Framework. These were to identify and investigate: possible application spin-offs from science missions, possible solar-terrestrial missions dedicated to a particular application, and possible future applications that require technology development. The Sun can be viewed as both a source of resources and of threats. Our principal applications focus was that of threat mitigation, by examining ways to improve solar threat monitoring and early warning systems. We compared these objectives to the mission objectives of past, current, and planned international solar missions. Past missions (1962-1980) seem to have been focused on improvement of scientific knowledge, using multiple instrument spacecraft. A ten year gap followed this period, during which the results from previous missions were analyzed and solar study programmes were prepared in international organizations. Current missions (1990-1996) focus on particular topics such as the corona, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections. In planned missions, Sun/Earth interactions and environmental effects of solar activity are becoming more important. The corona is the centre of interest of almost all planned missions. It seems that no international long-term strategy has yet been adopted. For these plans the number of necessary future missions can be reduced and the onboard instrumentation can be optimized by performing a comparative analysis. The study of the corona must be done from different observing locations, orbits closer to the Sun, and by different means. The Cluster mission replacement is in progress; however, if the replacement is not implemented, the ISTP programme will fade after 1998. Furthermore, the physics of the Sun's interior should be emphasized more in the Mid- and Far-Term programmes. Finally, more emphasis should be placed on monitoring space weather and forecasting Sun/Earth interactions