Analysis of curtailment at The Geysers geothermal Field, California

Geothermal energy has traditionally been viewed as a baseload energy source, but the rapid growth of intermittent renewable energy has led to a need for more flexibility in power generation to avoid mandatory curtailment imposed by grid operators. This study of curtailment at The Geysers provides insights into the magnitude, duration, frequency, temporal and spatial distribution, and potential causes of curtailment events between 2013 and 2018. Annual levels of curtailment range during this period from 9 to 47 GW h, representing 0.15 to 0.81 % of the net generation. Most curtailments occurred at the power plants connected to a lower capacity transmission line and may result from transmission constriction. There is a clear link between negative pricing and economic curtailment, especially when solar production is higher. Economic curtailment events tend to be only a few hours and vary in magnitude up to almost 300 MW, whereas transmission-related curtailment events can be up to several weeks in duration. It is likely that curtailment of geothermal power will be an increasing concern, and could be mitigated by flexible generation strategies and increases in energy storage. It is critical to know the nature of curtailment events so that flexible generation options can be assessed properly

A clinical study to determine metformin as a cause of serum vitamin B12 decrease and effect of combination of metformin and mecobalamin on serum vitamin B12 levels in type 2 diabetics

Background: Several evidences show metformin decreases vitamin B12. Diabetics are also at the risk of developing neuropathy which is treated with vitamin B12. metformin being initial therapy for diabetic patients, it becomes all the more important to know the extent of this decrease. The study was designed with the objective to compare the levels of vitamin B12 in patients on metformin vis-à-vis on antidiabetic drugs other than metformin and to evaluate the increase in vitamin B12 levels after prescribing a combination of metformin and mecobalamin, in T2DM patients.Methods: Of 500 enrolled, 321 patients completed the study for duration of 6 months, divided in two periods of 3 months each. At the end first period of 3 months the vitamin B12 levels were compared form Metformin vs. that of other antidiabetics. In second period of 3 months a combination of metformin and mecobalamin was given instead of plain metformin and vitamin B12 levels were repeated at the end of this period.Results: There was reduction in vitamin B12 levels with metformin with levels of 272.5pg/ml compared to 714.6pg/ml with other antidiabetics at the end of first period. The levels increased from 272.5pg/ml to 615.9 pg/ml at the end of second period after receiving the combination of metformin and mecobalamin.Conclusions: T2DM patients being treated with metformin had a greater risk of reduction in vitamin B12 levels and addition of vitamin B12 in the form of mecobalamin would decrease the reduction in vitamin B12 levels associated with Metformin therapy

Plant Leaf Disease Detection Using Efficient Image Processing and Machine Learning Algorithms

India is often described as a country of villages, where a majority of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. The landscape of Indian agriculture is approximately 159.7 million hectares. Agriculture plays a pivotal role in India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), accounting for about 18% of the nation's economic output. Diseases and pests can have detrimental effects on crops, leading to reduced yields. These challenges can include the spread of plant diseases, infestations by insects or other pests, and the overall degradation of crop health. Early detection of diseases in crops is crucial for several reasons. Detecting diseases at an early stage allows for prompt intervention, such as applying appropriate pesticides or taking preventive measures. The main aim of this study is to develop a highly effective method for plant leaf disease detection using computer vision techniques. Here, leaf disease detection comprises histogram equalization, denoising, image color threshold masking, feature descriptors such as Haralick textures, Hu moments, and color histograms to extract the salient features of leaf images. These features are then used to classify the images by training Logistic Regression, Linear Discriminant Analysis, K-nearest neighbor, decision tree, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine algorithms using K-fold validation. K-fold validation is used to separate the validation samples from the training samples, and the K indicates the number of times this is repeated for the generalization. The training and validation processes are performed in two approaches. The first approach uses default hyperparameters with segmented and non-segmented images. In the second approach, all hyperparameters of the models are optimized to train segmented datasets. The classification accuracy improved by 2.19% by utilizing segmentation and hyperparameter tuning further improved by 0.48%. The highest average classification accuracy of 97.92% is achieved using the Random Forest classifier to classify 40 classes of 10 different plant species. Accurate detection of plant disease leads to the sustained growth of plants throughout the growing span of the plants

Design of Super Twisting Integral Sliding Mode Control for Industrial Robot Manipulator

In the present work, integral sliding mode based continuous control algorithm is extended to multi input multi output system. The typical integral sliding mode control (ISMC) contains nominal control with discontinuous feedback control due to which overall control becomes discontinuous in nature. The proposed controller is a fusion of two continuous terms and one of which is able to handle, estimate and reject the disturbance successfully. A proposed robust ISMC technique is applied for industrial robot manipulators which utilizes interactive manipulation activity. Here, robust position tracking control obtained via ISMC principle for two link IRM scheme influenced by parametric uncertainties and external disturbances. The proposed ISMC design replaces the discontinuous part by continuous control, which super twisting control is able to handle the disturbance rejection completely. The effectiveness of the proposed control technique is tested under uncertain conditions and comparison study with other controllers has been done. The simulation result shows that the tracking error is effectively minimized by the proposed technique in presence of uncertain conditions

Efficacy and safety of a fixed dose combination of paracetamol, chlorpheniramine maleate and phenylephrine in treatment of common cold: a phase IV, open-labelled, multi-centric study

Background: Acute coryza or common cold affects the upper airways, sometimes in association with low-grade fever and systemic symptoms, and usually presents with at least two of the following symptoms: cough, dysphonia, throat discomfort, sore throat, nasal congestion, rhinorrhoea, sneezing, headaches, myalgia and fever. A triple combination of analgesics, decongestants and antihistamines provides better relief for multiple symptoms in common cold and allergic rhinitis according to various studies. A combination of Paracetamol as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic, Chlorpheniramine maleate, an anti-histaminic and Phenylephrine as a nasal decongestant is popular in the treatment of common cold. Hence the present study was planned to evaluate efficacy and safety of this combination in treatment of common cold.Methods: This was a phase IV, open-labelled, multicentric study in 159 patients. Efficacy assessment was done by analyzing the reduction in mean TSS at each follow-up visit and safety assessment was done by analyzing the adverse events during the study.Results: There was reduction in mean TSS from 6.62 (day 1) to 3.56 (day 3) and 0.69 (day 5). Most of the patients had >50% reduction in total symptom score at visit 3 and 58.49% patients had complete relief from the symptoms at the end of study. Out of 159 patients, 26 i.e. 16.36% experienced adverse events. Sedation and drowsiness (6.29%) were the most common adverse event seen in patients.Conclusions: A fixed dose combination of Chlorpheniramine maleate, Paracetamol, and Phenylephrine is safe and effective in the treatment of common cold

Morphological and molecular analyses of Rosa damascena x R. bourboniana interspecific hybrids

Rosa damascena Mill is the most important scented rose species cultivated for rose oil production. Rosa bourboniana L. (Edward rose), a related species, is popular on account of its longer blooming period and ease of propagation. With an aim to combine the oil quality of R. damascena and recurrent flowering habit of R. bourboniana, two cultivars (Jwala and Himroz) of R. damascena were crossed with R. bourboniana. The F1 hybrids obtained were evaluated using morphological, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and microsatellite (SSR) markers. Twenty-two selected RAPD and three SSR primer pairs were utilized for hybrid identification. According to presence or absence of bands RAPD and SSR markers were classified into seven types of markers. The bands specific for the pollen parent and occurring in the hybrids were good markers to confirm the hybridity. The non-parental bands expressing uniquely in hybrids were effective in distinguishing the hybrids from each other. Cluster analysis, based on Jaccard's similarity coefficient using unweighted pair group method based on arithmetic mean (UPGMA), reliably discriminated the hybrids into two main clusters. These results indicate the practical usefulness of RAPID and SSR markers in hybrid identification in scented roses. The approach is advantageous for its rapidity and simplicity, for identification of hybrids at the juvenile stage. One of the studied morphological traits - prickle density, can also complement in the identification of interspecific hybrids between R. damscena (female) and R. bourboniana (male)

HTLV-1 Integration into Transcriptionally Active Genomic Regions Is Associated with Proviral Expression and with HAM/TSP

Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) causes leukaemia or chronic inflammatory disease in ∼5% of infected hosts. The level of proviral expression of HTLV-1 differs significantly among infected people, even at the same proviral load (proportion of infected mononuclear cells in the circulation). A high level of expression of the HTLV-1 provirus is associated with a high proviral load and a high risk of the inflammatory disease of the central nervous system known as HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). But the factors that control the rate of HTLV-1 proviral expression remain unknown. Here we show that proviral integration sites of HTLV-1 in vivo are not randomly distributed within the human genome but are associated with transcriptionally active regions. Comparison of proviral integration sites between individuals with high and low levels of proviral expression, and between provirus-expressing and provirus non-expressing cells from within an individual, demonstrated that frequent integration into transcription units was associated with an increased rate of proviral expression. An increased frequency of integration sites in transcription units in individuals with high proviral expression was also associated with the inflammatory disease HAM/TSP. By comparing the distribution of integration sites in human lymphocytes infected in short-term cell culture with those from persistent infection in vivo, we infer the action of two selective forces that shape the distribution of integration sites in vivo: positive selection for cells containing proviral integration sites in transcriptionally active regions of the genome, and negative selection against cells with proviral integration sites within transcription units

Multi-Language based Android Application for Motor Control

some wise individual once aforementioned that system could be a system wherever we will finish off the machine whenever we'd like. That’s the distinction between controlled and uncontrolled system. Our project is regarding create this system economical and dynamic. Because the name instructed the automated management is for dominant the motor from remote place, look over its operational conditions; get feedback from the motor itself. Our target is to manage the motor from distant place by mobile DTMF tone and conjointly get feedback by SMS whereas it's in ON or OFF condition. We tend to conjointly make sure the safe operation of the motor by police investigation the voltage of the supply and guarantee feedback from system whereas it's over or below voltage. Once more we tend to conjointly get these feedbacks by SMS additionally. GSM network is all over in our country that’s why we decide GSM network to control our motor conjointly transferring feedback data through it. We tend to conjointly use GSM network as a result of if we tend to use it then we tend to don’t have to be compelled to establish further instrumentation for networking. To transmit feedback signals we tend to use GSM electronic equipment at the motor finish conjointly generate management signal by mobile DTMF as a result of it's terribly simple to get DTMF by mobile station and send feedback SMS by electronic equipment additionally. In industrial sector we tend to hope our project is become handy and value effective to control motor and provides its protection

An Enhanced IUPQC Controller to Provide Grid Voltage Regulation

This paper shows an enhanced controller for the double topology of the brought unified power quality conditioner (iUPQC) developing its materialness in power-quality remuneration, and additionally in smaller scale network applications. By utilizing this controller, past the traditional UPQC control quality components, including voltage list/swell remuneration, the iUPQC will likewise give responsive power support to manage the load-bus voltage as well as the voltage at the matrix side bus.A FUZZY controller is executed in this venture in the place of PI controller. IUPQC will fill in as a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) at the network side, while giving likewise the routine UPQC pay at the heap or small scale framework reproduction results are given to check the new usefulness of the hardware. Reenactment results are introduced to confirm the practicality of the proposed approach in MATLAB/SIMULINK condition.