Impact of sampling rates for state-of-the-art NILM: A case study with sequence-to-point algorithms and the UK-DALE dataset

Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) is a technique that aims to disaggregate household electrical power consumption into individual appliance-level readings. With the massive deployment of smart meters and advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Deep Learning (DL), NILM research has gained significant attention in recent years. By leveraging big data and AI, NILM has the potential to contribute to energy efficiency applications and support the transition to smart grids. DL algorithms have shown promising results in NILM, surpassing traditional approaches. However, these algorithms are data intensive, and academia has mainly focused on high-resolution data in the kHz range, which is not feasible for real-world applications at present times. This limitation hinders scalability and widespread adoption of the technology. To address this issue, this research utilizes Python and the NILM Toolkit (NILMTK) to investigate the performance of the state-of-the-art Sequence-to-Point (s2p) algorithm using a regression approach. The study employs the UK-DALE (UK Domestic Appliance-Level Electricity) dataset to test the impact of lower resolutions on the algorithm's performance, ranging from 6 up to a 900 s sampling rate, which aligns more closely with data granularity commonly used by utility companies. The selection of evaluation metrics plays a crucial role in assessing the algorithm's performance, with the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) being a key metric in this study. The MAE results indicate that resolutions within the range of 6 to 60 s generally yield better performance, although the optimal sampling rate varies depending on the specific appliance. It is worth noting that the improvements in MAE were not linear as the sampling rates increased. For certain appliances, lower resolutions may still yield competitive results, and increasing the sampling rate may only result in marginal gains or even reducing algorithm’s performance. The findings of this research were benchmarked against previous studies, ensuring consistency and reliability. Additionally, the study acknowledges the limitations of NILM technology and explores the potential social and environmental impacts of this research and the broader implications of AI in societ

The Dynamics of a Mobile Phone Network

The empirical study of network dynamics has been limited by the lack of longitudinal data. Here we introduce a quantitative indicator of link persistence to explore the correlations between the structure of a mobile phone network and the persistence of its links. We show that persistent links tend to be reciprocal and are more common for people with low degree and high clustering. We study the redundancy of the associations between persistence, degree, clustering and reciprocity and show that reciprocity is the strongest predictor of tie persistence. The method presented can be easily adapted to characterize the dynamics of other networks and can be used to identify the links that are most likely to survive in the future

Physical Conditions in the Dwarf Local Group Irregular Galaxy IC10. I- Diffuse Ionized Gas

A detailed analysis on the physical conditions of the Interstellar Medium in the main body of the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy IC 10 is carried out using long-slit spectroscopy. Maps of the excitation, the H$\alpha$ flux, [NII]/H$\alpha$ and [SII]/H$\alpha$ are presented. The Diffuse Ionized Gas inside the galaxy is studied. We found that the spectral characteristics are not similar to those for spiral galaxies: the values of the ratios [NII]/H$\alpha$ and [SII]/H$\alpha$ are not as large as in spiral galaxies but the excitation is much larger. These values, especially the large excitation, can be explained by proposing an extra source of ionization. Different sources are studied but any of the models at hand could be really fitted except a combination of photons leaking from the HII regions in addition to the ionization provided by the WR stars present in this galaxy. Shocks are not needed for explaining the line intensity ratios except in a small part in the west side of the galaxy.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Vacuum energies due to delta-like currents: simulating classical objects along branes with arbitrary codimensions

In this paper we investigate the vacuum energies of several models of quantum fields interacting with static external currents (linear couplings) concentrated along parallel branes with an arbitrary number of codimensions. We show that we can simulate the presence of static charges distributions as well as the presence of classical static dipoles in any dimension for massive and massless fields. We also show that we can produce confining potentials with massless self interacting scalar fields as well as long range anisotropic potentials.Comment: 18 latex page

Determination of physical-mechanical characteristics in potatoes (Fianna variety) as parameters for mechanical design

Potatoes are one of the most important agricultural products due to their great nutritional and industrial value. However, the mechanization of this crop is low in many countries. The main aim of this investigation was to characterize the Fianna potato variety. The potatoes were characterized morphologically (polar diameter, equatorial diameter, thickness, geometric diameter, arithmetic diameter, sphericity, and weight), mechanically (static friction coefficient, rolling angle, and axial compression), and by impact and firmness tests. The sample potatoes were distributed into four groups (S1, S2, S3, and S4) according to their size. A random complete blocks design was used to determine the mean values of their characteristics. The results of the physical characteristics showed a higher coefficient of variation in the S1 group. All values tended to decrease except sphericity. The results of the mechanical tests show that the coefficient of static friction increases as the size of the potato decreases, while the relationship of the rolling angle was the opposite. The axial compression results showed values that decreased from Group S1 to Group S4 except for Young's modulus, which ranged from 1,306 to 3,697 MPa in the four groups. Determining these data is necessary because they represent design parameters useful for the development of mechanical equipment

Iris recognition using the JAVAVis Library

This project has been created to develop a biometric identification system through a man’s iris using a computer to perform the processing of the pictures. To develop this application, and to differentiate the project from others who have already implemented, we have used the image processing library JAVAVis and JAVA as a programming language

Using the soil and water assessment tool to simulate the pesticide dynamics in the data scarce Guayas River Basin, Ecuador

Agricultural intensification has stimulated the economy in the Guayas River basin in Ecuador, but also affected several ecosystems. The increased use of pesticides poses a serious threat to the freshwater ecosystem, which urgently calls for an improved knowledge about the impact of pesticide practices in this study area. Several studies have shown that models can be appropriate tools to simulate pesticide dynamics in order to obtain this knowledge. This study tested the suitability of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate the dynamics of two different pesticides in the data scarce Guayas River basin. First, we set up, calibrated and validated the model using the streamflow data. Subsequently, we set up the model for the simulation of the selected pesticides (i.e., pendimethalin and fenpropimorph). While the hydrology was represented soundly by the model considering the data scare conditions, the simulation of the pesticides should be taken with care due to uncertainties behind essential drivers, e.g., application rates. Among the insights obtained from the pesticide simulations are the identification of critical zones for prioritisation, the dominant areas of pesticide sources and the impact of the different land uses. SWAT has been evaluated to be a suitable tool to investigate the impact of pesticide use under data scarcity in the Guayas River basin. The strengths of SWAT are its semi-distributed structure, availability of extensive online documentation, internal pesticide databases and user support while the limitations are high data requirements, time-intensive model development and challenging streamflow calibration. The results can also be helpful to design future water quality monitoring strategies. However, for future studies, we highly recommend extended monitoring of pesticide concentrations and sediment loads. Moreover, to substantially improve the model performance, the availability of better input data is needed such as higher resolution soil maps, more accurate pesticide application rate and actual land management programs. Provided that key suggestions for further improvement are considered, the model is valuable for applications in river ecosystem management of the Guayas River basin

Sequential Quadrature Measurements for Plasma Diagnostics

The ionosphere is the atmosphere layer characterized by its high concentration of ionized plasma. It has a great impact on radio communications with satellites, causing disturbances and disruptions. Therefore, it is important to understand and predict the ionosphere characteristics. The Sweeping Impedance Probe (SIP) is an instrument for characterizing the ionosphere used for many decades with great success. In this thesis, a new SIP architecture design is presented using the latest techniques and components available. The design is detailed and analyses have been performed to ensure the required performances. The new SIP will be flown in the Auroral Spatial Structures Probe (ASSP) sounding rocket mission in early 2015, and it is expected it will make the most accurate measurements to date. Lastly, the conclusions of this project are presented and future work is outlined for what will become the next generation of SIP instruments