Energy Disaggregation for SMEs using Recurrence Quantification Analysis

Energy disaggregation determines the energy consumption of individual appliances from the total demand signal, which is recorded using a single monitoring device. There are varied approaches to this problem, which are applied to different settings. Here, we focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and explore useful applications for energy disaggregation from the perspective of SMEs. More precisely, we use recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) of the aggregate and the individual device signals to create a two-dimensional map, which is an outlined region in a reduced information space that corresponds to ‘normal’ energy demand. Then, this map is used to monitor and control future energy consumption within the example business so to improve their energy efficiency practices. In particular, our proposed method is shown to detect when an appliance may be faulty and if an unexpected, additional device is in use

Optimising Parameters in Recurrence Quantification Analysis of Smart Energy Systems

Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) can help to detect significant events and phase transitions of a dynamical system, but choosing a suitable set of parameters is crucial for the success. From recurrence plots different RQA variables can be obtained and analysed. Currently, most of the methods for RQA radius optimisation are focusing on a single RQA variable. In this work we are proposing two new methods for radius optimisation that look for an optimum in the higher dimensional space of the RQA variables, therefore synchronously optimising across several variables. We illustrate our approach using two case studies: a well known Lorenz dynamical system, and a time-series obtained from monitoring energy consumption of a small enterprise. Our case studies show that both methods result in plausible values and can be used to analyse energy data

Electric vehicles and low-voltage grid: impact of uncontrolled demand side response

The authors are looking at the impact of electric vehicles (EV) charging from low-voltage (LV) networks. Based on the data obtained from two different pilot projects: (i) Mini-E trial where EV users were incentivised to charge during the night; (ii) My Electric Avenue trial, where there were no similar incentives, authors want to quantify the impact of EV charging, presuming that the number of home-charging EV users will increase significantly in the near future. By assuming that the current load at individual household level is known or inferred, simulations are performed to estimate the future load. The authors look at different percentages of EV uptake and model clustered scenarios, where the social networking effect is imposed – users adopt an EV with a higher probability if their neighbour already has one. Simulations demonstrate that incentivising night-time charging can create large new peaks during the night, which could have negative effects on LV networks. On the other hand, simulations based on the data with no incentives shows that naturally occurring diversity in charging behaviour does not automatically result in comparable network stress at the same penetrations

Water Planning, Tribal Voices, and Creative Approaches: Seeking New Paths Through Tribal-State Water Conflict by Collaboration on State Water Planning Efforts

More than a century after the Supreme Court issued its foundational Indian water law cases, only a handful of American Indian tribes have secured decrees or settlements of legally enforceable water rights. Efforts to resolve tribal water claims are typically hampered by legal and factual complexities as well as the equitable and political legacy of the United States’ western expansion. Meanwhile, those difficulties notwithstanding, planners are refining their methodologies and rising to new challenges our water resource management systems now face (e.g., climate variability, aging infrastructure, changing use-value priorities, etc.). Signaling a departure from exclusive reliance on formal dispute resolution mechanisms for facilitating tribal-state engagement on water resource issues, states have begun to engage tribal governments in collaborative water planning efforts. While planning cannot serve as a substitute for the enforceable legal finality of a decree or congressionally approved settlement, tribal-state collaboration in appropriate context and structure may present new opportunities for making overdue progress. Drawing on law, history, political science, Native American studies, and principals of dispute resolution and management, this article situates and explores the experiences of California, New Mexico, and Oklahoma in their outreach to tribes in state-led water planning efforts

Chicago\u27s Wall: Race, Segregation and the Chicago Housing Authority

When the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) was created in 1937 the organization\u27s mission was to provide decent and affordable housing for low-income people. As thousands of African Americans migrated to Chicago from the South after World War II, a combination of public policy and private exclusion forced them to turn to the CHA for housing. Through political manipulation and racism, the CHA became a tool to segregate, confine, and conceal Chicago\u27s burgeoning African American population. By the 1960s, 99 percent of CHA tenants were African American and over 90 percent of CHA developments were located in predominantly African American neighborhoods. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the CHA\u27s role in segregating African Americans through three events in the organization\u27s history. After an exploration of the city\u27s historical background, the first event examined is the political struggle in the late 1940s that determined the location of future CHA projects in African American neighborhoods. The experience of an African American family that integrated a CHA project in 1953 and the rioting that followed is the focus of the second event. Finally, the construction of a figurative wall of public housing projects served to isolate, segregate, and concentrate thousands of low income African Americans. This blatant discrimination motivated a group of CHA tenants and a dedicated public interest lawyer to challenge the CHA\u27s racist housing patterns in court. The nearly twenty-year effort to end state sponsored segregation would be the dramatic conclusion to the CHA\u27s discriminatory housing policies and is the final event described. This thesis shows how the process of segregating African Americans took generations and undoing this public housing failure will take even longer

Proteins that function at telomeres : genetic and biochemical investigation

PhD ThesisThe telomere is a nucleoprotein structure found at the ends of all eukaryotic chromosomes that plays a key role in ageing and cellular proliferation. It prevents chromosome ends being recognised and processed as double strand breaks and therefore preserves genomic integrity. This study aimed to further investigate the role of a telomere capping protein complex found in S. cerevisiae, which comprises three proteins, Cdc13, Stn1 and Ten1 forming the CST complex. The CST complex associates with the single stranded G‐rich overhangs found at telomere ends acting as a nucleating centre for various telomere associated factors, and preventing access to enzymes that might process the telomere as a double strand break, in particular exonucleases. This is evidenced from genetic studies involving temperature‐sensitive mutants of CDC13, STN1, TEN1 all of which accumulated single stranded DNA at the telomere end resulting in activation of the G2/M checkpoint. However, the ability of these proteins to protect telomere‐like structures in vitro has yet to be demonstrated. Furthermore, similarities have been drawn between the domain architecture of the components of the CST complex and Replication protein A (RPA) a ubiquitous single stranded DNA binding protein extensively involved in DNA metabolism. This has led to the suggestion that CST could be a telomere specific version of RPA. In this study, an in vitro telomere protection assay was developed and optimised to directly test the ability of CST and RPA to inhibit 5’ to 3’ resection of telomere mimics and non‐telomere controls. It was found that while RPA was able to protect telomere and non‐telomere control substrates from resection, Cdc13 only protected telomeres. Furthermore, it was found that the DNA binding domain of Cdc13 was able to inhibit resection by the 5’ to 3’ exonuclease, λ‐exonuclease, and was able to outcompete RPA for binding to the 3’ G‐rich overhang found at the end of the telomere mimic. The two small subunits of the CST complex, Stn1 and Ten1, were not able to inhibit nuclease resection by λ‐exonuclease at telomere mimics or nontelomere controls. Two synthetic genetic arrays and quantitative fitness analyses were carried out using temperature‐sensitive alleles of STN1 and RPA3 (the second largest subunit of the CST ii complex and the smallest subunit of the RPA heterotrimer respectively). The aim of these screens was to determine the extent to which the genetic interaction profiles of these screens overlapped with that demonstrated previously for cdc13‐1. It was found that, similarly to cdc13‐1, the stn1‐13 temperature‐sensitive phenotype was suppressed by deletion of EXO1 or nonsense‐mediated mRNA decay genes. However, deletion of a genome integrity checkpoint protein required for cell cycle arrest in G2/M, RAD9, in the stn1‐13 background, enhanced the temperature‐sensitive phenotype, suggesting that the G2/M checkpoint was important for the vitality of stn1‐ 13 strains in contrast to cdc13‐1. It was also found that deletion of the two subunits of the Ku heterodimer (YKU70 and YKU80) did not affect the growth of rpa3‐313 strains in contrast to cdc13‐1 and stn1‐13 strains where these deletions had a negative effect on growth. In addition deletion of EXO1 had no effect on the fitness of rpa3‐313 strains in contrast to its suppressive effect on temperature‐sensitivity in the cdc13‐1 and stn1‐ 13 background. These results demonstrate biochemically that Cdc13 and RPA inhibit 5’ to 3’ resection at telomere ends. Furthermore they demonstrate the importance of STN1 in preserving the telomere end, and the involvement of the nonsense‐mediated mRNA decay pathway in disrupting CST‐mediated telomere capping. Finally they underline the difficulty of disentangling the role of RPA in telomere capping using genetic techniques due to its extensive involvement in DNA metabolism throughout the cell

Investigating Robustness of Energy Management Maps for SMEs

Using the data from three small businesses, we are investigating robustness of the recently proposed Recurrence Quantitive Analysis (RQA) based method for energy management of small and medium enterprises. The method consists of two phases, the training phase where the map or maps of ‘usual’ behaviour is obtained, and the operational phase where the new data is tested against the existing map(s). We measure how the output changes when there is a small change in input, with respect to the sampling rate, missing data and noise. Our results over three qualitatively different datasets show that the method is relatively robust and can be used for different SMEs

The application of phenotypic microarray analysis to anti-fungal drug development

Candida albicans metabolic activity in the presence and absence of acetylcholine was measured using phenotypic microarray analysis. Acetylcholine inhibited C. albicans biofilm formation by slowing metabolism independent of biofilm forming capabilities. Phenotypic microarray analysis can therefore be used for screening compound libraries for novel anti-fungal drugs and measuring antifungal resistance