Application of a Novel Stability Control System for Coordination of Power Flow Control Devices in the Future GB Transmission System

With increasing large-scale renewable energy sources in the UK and the need for adequate transmission capacity to accommodate the upcoming renewable generations, more state-of-the-art power flow control devices such as embedded High Voltage DC (HVDC) links will soon be commissioned in the GB HV transmission system to provide the additional capacity. An operational stability control system is required to ensure the coordinated control of power flow control devices in order to achieve better dynamic performance and stability. The focus of this paper is to demonstrate the capability of a multi-variable controller for the coordinated control using a non-parametric sampled regulator control design method. This method is practical for applications in large power systems since the complexity of the controller design does not increase with the size and dynamic of the power system. Also, this design method is demonstrated in two power system applications in this paper

Progress in Time-Dependent Density-Functional Theory

The classic density-functional theory (DFT) formalism introduced by Hohenberg, Kohn, and Sham in the mid-1960s, is based upon the idea that the complicated N-electron wavefunction can be replaced with the mathematically simpler 1-electron charge density in electronic struc- ture calculations of the ground stationary state. As such, ordinary DFT is neither able to treat time-dependent (TD) problems nor describe excited electronic states. In 1984, Runge and Gross proved a theorem making TD-DFT formally exact. Information about electronic excited states may be obtained from this theory through the linear response (LR) theory formalism. Begin- ning in the mid-1990s, LR-TD-DFT became increasingly popular for calculating absorption and other spectra of medium- and large-sized molecules. Its ease of use and relatively good accuracy has now brought LR-TD-DFT to the forefront for this type of application. As the number and the diversity of applications of TD-DFT has grown, so too has grown our understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the approximate functionals commonly used for TD-DFT. The objective of this article is to continue where a previous review of TD-DFT in this series [Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. 55: 427 (2004)] left off and highlight some of the problems and solutions from the point of view of applied physical chemistry. Since doubly-excited states have a particularly important role to play in bond dissociation and formation in both thermal and photochemistry, particular emphasis will be placed upon the problem of going beyond or around the TD-DFT adiabatic approximation which limits TD-DFT calculations to nominally singly-excited states. Posted with permission from the Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, Volume 63 \c{opyright} 2012 by Annual Reviews, http://www.annualreviews.org

The Flexible Group Spatial Keyword Query

We present a new class of service for location based social networks, called the Flexible Group Spatial Keyword Query, which enables a group of users to collectively find a point of interest (POI) that optimizes an aggregate cost function combining both spatial distances and keyword similarities. In addition, our query service allows users to consider the tradeoffs between obtaining a sub-optimal solution for the entire group and obtaining an optimimized solution but only for a subgroup. We propose algorithms to process three variants of the query: (i) the group nearest neighbor with keywords query, which finds a POI that optimizes the aggregate cost function for the whole group of size n, (ii) the subgroup nearest neighbor with keywords query, which finds the optimal subgroup and a POI that optimizes the aggregate cost function for a given subgroup size m (m <= n), and (iii) the multiple subgroup nearest neighbor with keywords query, which finds optimal subgroups and corresponding POIs for each of the subgroup sizes in the range [m, n]. We design query processing algorithms based on branch-and-bound and best-first paradigms. Finally, we provide theoretical bounds and conduct extensive experiments with two real datasets which verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithms.Comment: 12 page

Polymorphism of the H-FABP, MC4R and ADD1 genes in the Meishan and four other pig populations in China

Genes such as the Heart Fatty Acid-Binding Protein (H-FABP), the Melanocortin-4 Receptor (MC4R) and the Adipocyte Determination and Differentiation factor-1 (ADD1) play an important role in meat quality in pigs. The Meishan is one of the most prolific pig breeds in the world, but it is in danger, in China, of being replaced by other exotic pig breeds because of its slow growth rate and high body fat content. To know their present genetic status, the polymorphism of the three genes in the Meishan and four other pig populations (Sutai, Yorkshire×Sutai, Landrace×Sutai and Duroc×Landrace×Yorkshire) in China was analysed, using PCR-RFLP and PCR-SSCP, and were further compared with each other. The results showed that gene and genotype frequencies differed significantly between the Meishan and the other four populations. This is suggested to be one of the reasons for the good meat quality of the Meishan compared to the other breeds. In addition, since half of the genetic background of Sutai is from the Meishan, results also indicated that marker assisted selection (MAS) is very important for the development of new pig breeds. South African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 36(1) 2006: 1-

The Priority of Exploiting Fiscal Revenue or Lessening Public Expenditure: Evidence from China

In the past 28 years, we find that except for the fiscal revenue of 5,132.1 billion yuan in 2007, which is greater than the fiscal expenditure of 4,978.1 billion yuan, presenting a fiscal surplus, the fiscal expenditure of the rest years is greater than the fiscal revenue, showing the situation of public sector net cash requirement (psncr), especially in 2011, the deficit( the gap between fiscal expenditure and fiscal revenue) is 537.3 billion yuan. Since then, the gap between expenditure and revenue has been increasing with each passing year. In 2015, the fiscal deficit is 2,368 billion yuan. In 2018, the fiscal deficit has been expanded to 3,754.4 billion yuan. In order to avoid the continuous increment of the deficit. This paper discusses the causal relationship between China's fiscal revenue and public expenditure from 1990 to 2018. If fiscal revenue has a positive impact on public expenditure, showing that the government shall reduce fiscal deficit through tax increment. On the contrary, it makes public expenditure continue to expand, leading to the continuous deterioration of fiscal deficit, so as to further decide whether China's future fiscal policy should adopt increasing fiscal revenue or deducting public expenditure policy to reduce the deficit

Semi-Automated & Collaborative Online Training Module For Improving Communication Skills

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from ACM via the DOI in this recordThis paper presents a description and evaluation of the ROC Speak system, a platform that allows ubiquitous access to communication skills training. ROC Speak (available at rocspeak.com) enables anyone to go to a website, record a video, and receive feedback on smile intensity, body movement, volume modulation, filler word usage, unique word usage, word cloud of the spoken words, in addition to overall assessment and subjective comments by peers. Peer comments are automatically ranked and sorted for usefulness and sentiment (i.e., positive vs. negative). We evaluated the system with a diverse group of 56 online participants for a 10-day period. Participants submitted responses to career oriented prompts every other day. The participants were randomly split into two groups: 1) treatment - full feedback from the ROC Speak system; 2) control - written feedback from online peers. When judged by peers (p<.001) and independent raters (p<.05), participants from the treatment group demonstrated statistically significant improvement in overall speaking skills rating while the control group did not. Furthermore, in terms of speaking attributes, treatment group showed an improvement in friendliness (p<.001), vocal variety (p<.05) and articulation (p<.01)

Confocal Raman Spectroscopy for Assessing Bioequivalence of Topical Formulations

The evaluation of bioequivalence (BE) for topical dermatological drug products is challenging, and there has been significant interest from regulatory authorities in developing new BE methodologies in recent years. Currently, BE is demonstrated by comparative clinical endpoint studies; these are costly and time-consuming and often lack sensitivity and reproducibility. Previously, we reported excellent correlations between in vivo Confocal Raman Spectroscopy in human subjects and in vitro skin permeation testing (IVPT) with the human epidermis for skin delivery of ibuprofen and a number of excipients. The aim of the present proof-of-concept study was to evaluate CRS as a method to assess BE of topical products. Two commercially available formulations, Nurofen Max Strength 10% Gel and Ibuleve Speed Relief Max Strength 10% Gel, were selected for evaluation. Delivery of ibuprofen (IBU) to the skin was determined in vitro and in vivo by IVPT and CRS, respectively. The formulations examined were found to deliver comparable amounts of IBU across the skin over 24 h in vitro (p > 0.05). Additionally, the formulations resulted in similar skin uptake values measured with CRS in vivo, either at 1 h or 2 h after application (p > 0.05). This is the first study to report the capability of CRS for the demonstration of BE of dermal products. Future studies will focus on the standardisation of the CRS methodology for a robust and reproducible pharmacokinetic (PK)-based evaluation of topical BE

Top and Bottom Seesaw from Supersymmetric Strong Dynamics

We propose a top and bottom seesaw model with partial composite top and bottom quarks. Such composite quarks and topcolor gauge bosons are bound states from supersymmetric strong dynamics by Seiberg duality. Supersymmetry breaking also induces the breaking of topcolor into the QCD gauge coupling. The low energy description of our model reduces to a complete non-minimal extension of the top seesaw model with bottom seesaw. The non-minimal nature is crucial for Higgs mixings and the appearance of light Higgs fields. The Higgs fields are bound states of partial composite particles with the lightest one compatible with a 125 GeV Higgs field which was discovered at the LHC.Comment: Minor changes, Published Versio