Optimal placement of fuses and switches in active distribution networks using value-based MINLP

Contingency conditions in distribution networks create financial losses for different parts of the system including electricity customers, electricity retailers, distributed generation (DG) units, etc. Therefore, protective device allocation methods have been introduced in recent years to enhance the reliability of the power system. In this study, a new formulation is proposed to find the optimal places of sectionalizing switches and fuses while taking the financial loss of both electricity customers and DG units into account. The current method has the flexibility to consider DG effect on any location of the network and its islanded operation in case of contingencies. Moreover, the uncertainty in load and renewable generation is taken into account using stochastic programming. The results demonstrate that the DG units and their financial loss can change the results of switch and fuse placement dramatically when there are no tie switches in the network. Furthermore, it is found that this method can decrease the total reliability costs by 3.86% when high penetration of DG units is introduced into a modified Roy Billinton test system (RBTS). The problem is modeled as a mixed-integer nonlinear (MINLP) formulation and is handled using BARON solver in GAMS environment

Sentinel node biopsy in early breast cancer patients with palpable axillary node

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy is a reliable method for evaluation of the axillary lymph node status in early stage breast cancer patients with non-palpable lymph nodes. The present study evaluated the status of sentinel and non-sentinel lymph nodes in T1T2 patients with palpable axillary lymph nodes. Materials and Methods: One hundred and two women with early breast cancer were investigated in this study. Patients were selected for axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy and then surgery.Then the rates of false negative and true positive, and diagnostic accuracy of sentinel lymph nodes biopsy were evaluated. In addition, the hormone receptors status of the tumor was determined through IHC and data was analyzed in SPSS21. Results: In this study, the mean age of the patients was 49 years, 85 had invasive ductal carcinoma in their pathology reports, 77 were ER/PR positive, 30 HER2 positive and 9.8 triple negative and 69 had KI6714 (p<0.002) whereas the rate of involvement was lower in triple negative patients. Conclusion: Sentinel node biopsy can be used in a significant percentage of breast cancer patients with palpable and reactive axillary lymph nodes. © 2020 Asian Pacific Organization for Cancer Prevention

Measurement of peripheral dose to the pelvic region and the associated risk for cancer development after breast intraoperative electron radiation therapy

This study aimed to measure the received dose to the pelvic region of patients during breast intraoperative electron radiation therapy (IOERT). Furthermore, we compared the findings with those of external beam radiation therapy. Finally, secondary ovarian and uterus cancer risks following breast IOERT were estimated. In the current study, the received dose to the pelvic surface of 18 female patients during breast IOERT boosts were measured by thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD-100) chips. All patients were treated with 12 Gy given in a single fraction. To estimate the dose to the ovary and uterus of the patients, conversion coefficients for depth from the surface dose were obtained in a Rando phantom. Given the received dose to the pelvic region of the patients, secondary ovarian and uterus cancer risks following breast IOERT were estimated. The received doses to the ovary and uterus surface of the patients were 0.260 ±0.155 mGy to 31.460 ±6.020 mGy and 0.485 ±0.122 mGy to 22.387 ±15.476 mGy, respectively. Corresponding intra-pelvic (ovary and uterus) regional doses were 0.012 ±0.007 mGy to 1.479 ±0.283 mGy and 0.027 ±0.001 mGy to 1.164 ±0.805 mGy, respectively. Findings demonstrated that the ratio of the received dose by the pelvic surface to the regional dose during breast IOERT was much less than external beam radiation therapy. The mean of the secondary cancer risks for the ovary in 8 and 10 MeV electron beam energies were 135.722 ±117.331 �10 -6 and 69.958 ±28.072 �10 -6 , and for the uterus were 17.342 ±10.583 �10 -6 and 2.971 ±3.604 �10 -6 , respectively. According to our findings, the use of breast IOERT in pregnant patients can be considered as a safe radiotherapeutic technique, because the received dose to the fetus was lower than 50 mGy. Furthermore, IOERT can efficiently reduce the unnecessary dose to the pelvic region and lowers the risk of secondary ovarian and uterus cancer following breast irradiation. © 2019 Society for Radiological Protection. Published on behalf of SRP by IOP Publishing Limited. All rights reserved

Investigation of the influence of different level of plant protein (30, 50 and 70 percent) in Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp diet, with 38 percent protein

The influence of different percent’s of plant protein (30, 50 and 70) in the diet of white leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) with 38 percent protein, in comparison with a commercial shrimp diet (Fenneropenaeus indicus) with 39 percent protein (contain20 percent plant protein) was studied. Initial weight of shrimp was 10±1 gram. The average increase of shrimp weight in the end of culture period in experimental treatment 1 (contain 30 percent plant protein and 70 percent animal protein), 5.89±0.06 gram, experimental treatment 2 (contain 50 percent plant protein and 50 percent animal protein), 6.22±0.25 gram, experimental treatment 3 (contain 70 percent plant protein and 30 percent animal protein) 6/19±0/24 gram and in the control treatment (contain 20 percent plant protein and 80 percent animal protein) 6/42±0/40 were measured. Generally in the study of influence of experimental diets and control diet on the growth rate(GR), food conversion rate (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), specific growth rate (SGR), average daily gain (ADG), demonstrate that, mentioned parameters in the control treatment is better than experimental treatments. But no significant difference measured between them (p>0/05). Also results showed that, application of diets contain 50 percent of plant protein (with 22 percent soybean meal), and 70 percent of plant protein (with 72 percent soybean meal), can decrease costs of diet preparation and therefore shrimp production

Grain refinement of Al-Mg-Sc alloy by ultrasonic treatment

In foundry practice, ultrasonic treatment has been used as an efficient technique to achieve grain refinement in aluminium and magnesium alloys. This article shows the strong effect of pouring temperature and ultrasonic treatment at various temperatures on the grain refinement of Al-1 wt% Mg-0.3 wt% Sc alloy. Without ultrasonic treatment, a fine grain structure was obtained at the pouring temperature of 700 °C. The average grain size sharply decreases from 487 ± 20 to 103 ± 2 μm when the pouring temperature decreases from 800 to 700 °C. Ultrasonic vibration proved to be a potential grain refinement technique with a wide range of pouring tem- perature. A microstructure with very fine and homogeneous grains was obtained by applying ultrasonic treatment to the melt at the temperature range between 700 and 740 °C, before pouring. Cavitation-enhanced hetero- geneous nucleation is the mechanism proposed to explain grain refinement by ultrasound in this alloy. Moreover, ultrasonic treatment of the melt was found to lead to cast samples with hardness values similar to those obtained in samples submitted to precipitation hardening, suggesting that ultrasonic treatment can avoid carrying out heat treatment of cast parts.This research was supported by The Project Bridging The Gap, funded by the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window Programme. Acknowledgements also to the University of Minho, for the provision of research facilities

A composite transcriptional signature differentiates responses towards closely related herbicides in Arabidopsis thaliana and Brassica napus

In this study, genome-wide expression profiling based on Affymetrix ATH1 arrays was used to identify discriminating responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to five herbicides, which contain active ingredients targeting two different branches of amino acid biosynthesis. One herbicide contained glyphosate, which targets 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), while the other four herbicides contain different acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibiting compounds. In contrast to the herbicide containing glyphosate, which affected only a few transcripts, many effects of the ALS inhibiting herbicides were revealed based on transcriptional changes related to ribosome biogenesis and translation, secondary metabolism, cell wall modification and growth. The expression pattern of a set of 101 genes provided a specific, composite signature that was distinct from other major stress responses and differentiated among herbicides targeting the same enzyme (ALS) or containing the same chemical class of active ingredient (sulfonylurea). A set of homologous genes could be identified in Brassica napus that exhibited a similar expression pattern and correctly distinguished exposure to the five herbicides. Our results show the ability of a limited number of genes to classify and differentiate responses to closely related herbicides in A. thaliana and B. napus and the transferability of a complex transcriptional signature across species

DETORQUEO, QUIRKY, and ZERZAUST Represent Novel Components Involved in Organ Development Mediated by the Receptor-Like Kinase STRUBBELIG in Arabidopsis thaliana

Intercellular signaling plays an important role in controlling cellular behavior in apical meristems and developing organs in plants. One prominent example in Arabidopsis is the regulation of floral organ shape, ovule integument morphogenesis, the cell division plane, and root hair patterning by the leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase STRUBBELIG (SUB). Interestingly, kinase activity of SUB is not essential for its in vivo function, indicating that SUB may be an atypical or inactive receptor-like kinase. Since little is known about signaling by atypical receptor-like kinases, we used forward genetics to identify genes that potentially function in SUB-dependent processes and found recessive mutations in three genes that result in a sub-like phenotype. Plants with a defect in DETORQEO (DOQ), QUIRKY (QKY), and ZERZAUST (ZET) show corresponding defects in outer integument development, floral organ shape, and stem twisting. The mutants also show sub-like cellular defects in the floral meristem and in root hair patterning. Thus, SUB, DOQ, QKY, and ZET define the STRUBBELIG-LIKE MUTANT (SLM) class of genes. Molecular cloning of QKY identified a putative transmembrane protein carrying four C2 domains, suggesting that QKY may function in membrane trafficking in a Ca2+-dependent fashion. Morphological analysis of single and all pair-wise double-mutant combinations indicated that SLM genes have overlapping, but also distinct, functions in plant organogenesis. This notion was supported by a systematic comparison of whole-genome transcript profiles during floral development, which molecularly defined common and distinct sets of affected processes in slm mutants. Further analysis indicated that many SLM-responsive genes have functions in cell wall biology, hormone signaling, and various stress responses. Taken together, our data suggest that DOQ, QKY, and ZET contribute to SUB-dependent organogenesis and shed light on the mechanisms, which are dependent on signaling through the atypical receptor-like kinase SUB