Use of Tabu Search in a Solver to Map Complex Networks onto Emulab Testbeds

The University of Utah\u27s solver for the testbed mapping problem uses a simulated annealing metaheuristic algorithm to map a researcher\u27s experimental network topology onto available testbed resources. This research uses tabu search to find near-optimal physical topology solutions to user experiments consisting of scale-free complex networks. While simulated annealing arrives at solutions almost exclusively by chance, tabu search incorporates the use of memory and other techniques to guide the search towards good solutions. Both search algorithms are compared to determine whether tabu search can produce equal or higher quality solutions than simulated annealing in a shorter amount of time. It is assumed that all testbed resources remain available, and that hardware faults or another competing mapping process do not remove testbed resources while either search algorithm is executing. The results show that tabu search produces a higher proportion of valid solutions for 34 out of the 38 test networks than simulated annealing. For cases where a valid solution was found, tabu search executes more quickly for scale-free networks and networks with less than 100 nodes

Explicating sex differences in marketing managers\u27 egoist versus utilitarian ethical orientations: The effects of the enactment of agentic versus communal social roles

This study examines the issue of sex differences in ethical orientations and suggests that the enactment of social roles and the associated use of information processing strategies influence the presence of sex differences in managers\u27 ethical orientations. Managers\u27 ethical judgments and intentions to use punishments or rewards to encourage ethical behavior are the two dependent variables in the study. A 3 (prime: gender-role, work-role, no role) by 4 (ethical condition: positive egoist/positive utilitarian, positive egoist/negative utilitarian, negative egoist/positive utilitarian, and negative egoist/negative utilitarian) experimental design was applied in the efforts to answer the main research question: What is the role of a subject\u27s sex in the explanation of their ethical orientation? This design entailed the gathering of data from a probabilistic sample of 4000 U.S. managers. Two thousand of these managers were accounting and human resource managers and two thousand were sales and marketing managers. Furthermore, each group of managers was composed of 1000 males and 1000 females. The effective response rate for the survey was 11.2%. The results of this research show that the influence of a subject\u27s sex on their ethical orientation is most evident when a gender-role prime is present. When a gender role prime was not present, sex differences in ethical judgment and intention to punish or reward subordinate behavior were not significant. Furthermore, when subjects were exposed to a work role prime, those that occupied similar work roles did not differ in their ethical judgments and intentions based on their sex. Subjects that differed in their work roles, however, differed significantly in their ethical orientations. This suggests that a subject\u27s ethical orientation is dependent on the social role they are enacting and because individuals generally enact multiple social roles, their ethical orientation is not inherent. The teleology evaluation in this study was separated into egoist, or individual consequences, and utilitarian, or organizational consequences, so that the separate effects of these components on subjects\u27 ethical judgments and intentions could be studied under the separate prune conditions. It was also found that the egoist component of the teleology evaluation, along with the ethical judgment variable, were the main predictors of intentions for subjects enacting agentic work roles. In contrast, the utilitarian variable and the ethical judgment variable were the main predictors of intentions for subjects enacting communal work roles. These findings lend credence to the effort to separate the teleology evaluation in the H-V model of ethics

The Relationship Between Equity Dependence and Environmental Performance

How does a corporation’s dependence on its shareholders affect the sustainability of its commitment to environmental performance? Although the literature has investigated how the financial markets respond to environmental and green initiatives, it has yet to examine the relationship between a firm’s commitment to the environment and its dependence on the equity markets. In this research, we explore the relationship between equity dependence and environmental performance and find equity dependence is significantly related to corporations’ environmental concerns but not their environmental strengths

Estimating the Benefits of Electric Vehicle Smart Charging at Non-Residential Locations: A Data-Driven Approach

In this paper, we use data collected from over 2000 non-residential electric vehicle supply equipments (EVSEs) located in Northern California for the year of 2013 to estimate the potential benefits of smart electric vehicle (EV) charging. We develop a smart charging framework to identify the benefits of non-residential EV charging to the load aggregators and the distribution grid. Using this extensive dataset, we aim to improve upon past studies focusing on the benefits of smart EV charging by relaxing the assumptions made in these studies regarding: (i) driving patterns, driver behavior and driver types; (ii) the scalability of a limited number of simulated vehicles to represent different load aggregation points in the power system with different customer characteristics; and (iii) the charging profile of EVs. First, we study the benefits of EV aggregations behind-the-meter, where a time-of-use pricing schema is used to understand the benefits to the owner when EV aggregations shift load from high cost periods to lower cost periods. For the year of 2013, we show a reduction of up to 24.8% in the monthly bill is possible. Then, following a similar aggregation strategy, we show that EV aggregations decrease their contribution to the system peak load by approximately 40% when charging is controlled within arrival and departure times. Our results also show that it could be expected to shift approximately 0.25kWh (~2.8%) of energy per non-residential EV charging session from peak periods (12PM-6PM) to off-peak periods (after 6PM) in Northern California for the year of 2013.Comment: Pre-print, under review at Applied Energ

Time-Resolved Scanning Electron Microscopy Analysis of Nanodynamical Structures

We have developed and characterized a time-resolved scanning electron microscopy (SEM) operational mode which provides non-destructive mechanical characterization of nanodynamical structures with 8-bit image resolution and 200 ns time resolution. This time-resolved SEM scheme does not require blanking plates, nor does it require any hardware modification to a commercially available scanning electron microscope. Both time-resolved images and line scan profiles of nanofabricated single crystal silicon tweezers are obtained. This time-resolved SEM operational mode can be used to evaluate a number of important mechanical properties of nanodynamical structures, including time response and resonance mode-shapes

Batch Measurement Extremum Seeking Control of Distributed Energy Resources to Account for Communication Delays and Information Loss

Distributed Energy Resources (DER) have great potential to enhance the operation of electric power distribution systems. Previously, we explored the use of 2 Dimensional Extremum Seeking (2D-ES) control algorithms to enable model-free optimal control of DER to provide grid services to both the distribution and transmissions systems. Motivated by preliminary deployments of DER managed by 2D-ES algorithms in hardware-in-the-loop tests and in operational distribution grids, in this work, we extend the control scheme to accommodate communication delays and information loss. We propose a modification to the 2D-ES scheme to allow for the processing of batches of possibly noncontiguous objective function measurements at unknown and possibly uneven intervals. We provide a proof of the convergence of the batch 2D-ES (2D-BES) scheme when optimizing a generic convex objective function, as well as simulation results that demonstrate the suitability of the approach for substation active and reactive power target tracking