Frequency of Genital Involvement in Women with Oral Lichen Planus in Southern Iran

Background. Lichen Planus is a chronic mucocutaneous disease of immunological basis and unknown etiology. women with oral lichen planus may have concomitant manifestations in vulvovaginal areas. Objective. To determine the frequency and risk factors of genital involvement in a group of Iranian women affected by oral lichen planus. Methods. Thirty-six women with clinical and histopathological diagnosis of oral lichen planus were evaluated for demographic, historical, and clinical parameters of the oral disease. All the patients were referred for careful vulvovaginal examination, as well as histopathological assessment upon clinical indication. Results. Nineteen patients complained from genital symptoms but the number of women with the final diagnosis of genital lichen planus (n = 2) was too small to show any correlation with the parameters evaluated. Conclusion. In spite of low genital involvement possibly due to inadequate patient population, lack of follow-up visits, and contribution of genetic or ethnic factors, for conservative patient care, women with the oral lichen planus in particular those having some relevant genital symptoms, should preferably be referred for careful vulvovaginal examination. Multicenter cohort studies on women of different geographical regions or ethnicities who have genital lichen planus alone or in combination with other common sites are encouraged

Reactive Security for Smart Grids Using [email protected] Simulation and Reasoning

Smart grids leverage modern information and communication technology to offer new perspectives to electricity consumers, producers, and distributors. However, these new possibilities also increase the complexity of the grid and make it more prone to failures. Moreover, new advanced features like remotely disconnecting meters create new vulnerabilities and make smart grids an attractive target for cyber attackers. We claim that, due to the nature of smart grids, unforeseen attacks and failures cannot be effectively countered relying solely on proactive security techniques. We believe that a reactive and corrective approach can offer a long-term solution and is able to both minimize the impact of attacks and to deal with unforeseen failures. In this paper we present a novel approach combining a [email protected] simulation and reasoning engine with reactive security techniques to intelligently monitor and continuously adapt the smart grid to varying conditions in near real-time

An Insight into Practical Solutions for Electric Vehicle Charging in Smart Grid

The electrification of transportation has been developed to support energy efficiency and CO2 reduction. As a result, electric vehicles (EVs) have become more popular in the current transport system to create more efficient energy. In recent years, this increase in EVs as well as renewable energy resources (RERs) has led to a major issue for power system networks. This paper studies electrical vehicles (EVs) and their applications in the smart grid and provides practical solutions for EV charging strategies in a smart power system to overcome the issues associated with large-scale EV penetrations. The research first reviews the EV battery infrastructure and charging strategies and introduces the main impacts of uncontrolled charging on the power grid. Then, it provides a practical overview of the existing and future solutions to manage the large-scale integration of EVs into the network. The simulation results for two controlled strategies of maximum sensitivity selection (MSS) and genetic algorithm (GA) optimization are presented and reviewed. A comparative analysis was performed to prove the application and validity of the solution approaches. This also helps researchers with the application of the optimization approaches on EV charging strategies. These two algorithms were implemented on a modified IEEE 23 kV medium voltage distribution system with switched shunt capacitors (SSCs) and a low voltage residential network, including EVs and nonlinear EV battery chargers

Optimal siting and sizing of multiple active power line conditioners to minimize network THD considering harmonic couplings

Active power line conditioner (APLC) is an advanced shunt active filter that can limit the voltage total harmonic distortion (THDv) of the entire network or a designated area below 5% as recommended by most standards such as the IEEE-519. A research gap in design and implementation of APLCs is the consideration of harmonic couplings, which is an inherent characteristic of most realistic distorted networks. This paper proposes a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm based on smart meter transmitted data for optimal siting and sizing of APLCs that include harmonic couplings of the nonlinear loads. The objective function of the proposed PSO is minimization of cost (associated with APLC size) and network THDv, respectively. For the nonlinear modelling of APLCs, a five-level neutral-point clamped (FL-NPC) inverter equipped with an adaptive hysteresis current control (AHCC) is used. Detailed simulations without and with harmonic couplings are performed in Matlab/Simulink to find the optimal locations and sizes of the APLCs in a 15-bus network with six nonlinear loads

Rooftop PV with battery storage solar smoother

© 2014 IEEE. Utilities are becoming concern about the increasing number of solar panels feeding unstable power into generator-based mini-grids particularly in rural locations. When the mini-grid experiences large changes in the injection of solar power, for example on cloudy days, the generators have to work hard to keep up. This paper recommends inclusion of battery storage (BS) solar smoother across terminals of existing rooftop PVs to compensate fluctuations in active output power due to environmental factors such as passing clouds and variations in solar radiation. A BS energy management strategy (BS-EMS) will be implemented to control the solar smoother and regulate the voltage at point of common coupling (PCC) while providing the grid with constant output power profile during daylight. A simple approach is also introduced and implemented to estimate battery rating based on typical measured PV characteristics

Hybrid Islanding Detection in Microgrid with Multiple Connection Points to Smart Grids Using Fuzzy-Neural Network

© 1969-2012 IEEE. This paper presents a new hybrid islanding detection approach for microgrids (MGs) with multiple connection points to smart grids (SGs) which is based on the probability of islanding (PoI) calculated at the SG side and sent to the central control for microgrid (CCMG). The PoI values are determined using a combination of passive, active, and communication islanding detection approaches based on the utility signals measured at the SGs sides which are processed by discrete wavelet transform using an artificial neural network (ANN). If {\text{PoI}}-{{\rm{ANN}}} is larger than the threshold value (indicating high possibility of islanding) then a more accurate approach based on fuzzy network is used to recompute it ({\text{PoI}}-{{\rm{FUZZY}}}) where the fuzzy parameters are determined by an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system. In the proposed technique, an active islanding is only performed when PoI is high and the amplitudes of the disturb signals are proportional to {\text{PoI}}-{{\rm{FUZZY}}}. Furthermore, if the PoI is not correctly received by CCMG, two auxiliary tests will be performed in the MG side to detect islanding. These tests include an intentional passive islanding detection in a short preset time and an active islanding detection with disturb signals proportional to the calculated PoI. Detailed simulations are performed and analyzed to evaluate the performance of the proposed method

Engaging residents from different ethnic and language backgrounds in disaster preparedness

Modern societies are increasingly a melting pot of people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds which needs to be taken into consideration in disaster planning. People from different ethnic and language backgrounds are sometimes more vulnerable in a disaster due to a number of challenges including language barriers, cultural perceptions, social isolation, poor assimilation with the local community and distrust of authorities. The level of disaster preparedness differs significantly at a household level, yet there is little understanding of how an individual's attributes such as age, ethnicity, language skills and gender, influences and sustains the level of disaster preparedness. Past research has explored one or more of these attributes, but the relationship between ethnicity, language skills and disaster preparedness is least understood. To address this gap, this paper investigates how an individual's ethnicity and language skills influence their levels of disaster preparedness. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 180 residents from a variety of ethnic and language backgrounds in Logan City, a local government area in Australia. The survey results were analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis, and suggest that ethnicity and English Language skills, accounted for significant variations in levels of disaster preparedness in the case study location. The findings suggest that policy makers need to give due consideration to how different ethnic groups understand and prepare for disasters, and to design disaster management and communication plans that cater for different language ability

Coordination of Generation Scheduling with PEVs Charging in Industrial Microgrids

Conventional industrial microgrids (IMGs) consist of factories with distributed energy resources (DERs) and electric loads that rely on combined heat and power (CHP) systems while the developing IMGs are expected to also include renewable DERs and plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) with different vehicle ratings and charging characteristics. This paper presents an electricity and heat generation scheduling method coordinated with PEV charging in an IMG considering photovoltaic (PV) generation systems coupled with PV storages. The proposed method is based on dynamic optimal power flow (DOPF) over a 24-hour period and includes security-constrained optimal power flow (SCOPF), IMG's factories constraints, PV storage constraints and PEVs dynamic charging constraints. It will utilize the generators waste heat to fulfill thermal requirements while considering the status of renewable DERs to decrease the overall cost of IMGs. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, detailed simulation results are presented and analyzed for an 18-bus IMG consisting of 12 factories and 6 types of PEVs without/with PV generation systems operating in grid-connected and stand-alone modes. The main contribution is including PEVs with dynamic constraints that have changed the nature of scheduling formulation from a simple hourly OPF to a dynamic OPF

Disaster awareness and information seeking behaviour among residents from low socio-economic backgrounds

An individual's socio-economic status can increase their vulnerability to, and ability to prepare for and recover in the aftermath of a disaster. People from low socio-economic (LSE) backgrounds often face greater disaster risks, but are least prepared for disaster events due to a number of factors including a lack of housing affordability, low income and literacy levels. While there is an established relationship between a person's socio-economic status and disaster vulnerability, very little is understood about the disaster information seeking needs and preferences of LSE population groups and how this affects their levels of disaster awareness. This paper addresses this gap through a comparative study of LSE and non-LSE population groups to identify key disaster information sources and how it shapes levels of disaster awareness. A survey of 224 residents was conducted, and multivariate regression analysis of both LSE and non-LSE respondents revealed a trend of disaster passivity in both population groups. English language proficiency, occupation, familiarity with the local environment are the most important factors influencing disaster awareness among the LSE population groups. For non-LSE population groups, disaster awareness is gender-dependent with females showing higher levels of awareness. Overall, television was the most trusted information source regardless of socio-economic status. The results provide a better understanding of the underlying impact of socio-economic status on disaster awareness and information seeking behaviour, which can assist practitioners and policy makers in making informed decisions on disaster mitigation strategies to reduce the disaster risk vulnerability of targeted population groups

Antibacterial activity of indium curcumin and indium diacetylcurcumin

Studies on curcumin, the principal element of turmeric powder, have demonstrated several biological actions such as antibacterial activity. Evaluation of new analogs or new compounds of curcumin for theirantibacterial effect is interesting for researchers. In this in vitro study, we attempted to test the antibacterial activity of indium curcumin (In(CUR)3), indium diacetylcurcumin (In(DAC)3), and diacetylcurcumin (DAC) in comparison with curcumin. The action of these agents were examined on Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 14990), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), and Escerichia coli (ATCC 25922). Curcumin was effective against S. aureus and S. epidermidis, whereas In(DAC)3 showed activity against S. epidermidis and P. aeruginosa. The effect of In(DAC)3 on P. aeruginosa is an advantage. Strikingly, In(CUR)3 exhibited antibacterial activity on all the four mentioned strains. DAC did not show antibacterial effect on any of the four test bacteria.The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of curcumin was 187.5 ìg/ml for S. aureus, and 46.9 ìg/ml for S. epidermidis. However, the MIC of In(CUR)3 was lower for the same bacterial strains (93.8 ìg/ml forS.aureus and 23.4 ìg/ml for S. epidermidis). Therefore, In(CUR)3 was found to have more antibacterial effect than curcumin itself and could be a suitable candidate for further in vivo investigations