A Distributed Algorithm for Demand Response with Mixed-Integer Variables

This letter presents a fast distributed algorithm for aggregating a large number of households with mixed-integer variables and intricate couplings between devices. The proposed fast distributed gradient algorithm is applied to the double smoothed dual function of the adopted DR model. The results also show that, with minimal parameter adjustments, the convergence of the dual objective exhibits the same behavior irrespective of the system size.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to be published in IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid Letter

Golgotha, Beirut: A Feminist Memoir of the Port Blast

This partly biographical narrative recounts its narrator’s first-hand, ground-zero experience of the Beirut Port explosion, one of the largest and most destructive in living memory. As the narrator recollects her mother’s distress over the possibility of losing her children post-divorce and her joy at finally obtaining—after a seven-year legal battle—the annulment of an abusive marriage, Beirut Port explodes. The focus shifts to a memorable encounter with another anguished mother who, on the heels of the blast, is hysterical but then completely transformed once reunited with her children. The writer of the memoir culled its material through a number of interviews with the narrator who consented to have her story shared in narrative format, so that the resulting creative nonfiction may contribute to the nascent corpus of gendered writing exploring and interrogating, not only the August 4, 2020 national tragedy in Lebanon, but also the patriarchal system facilitating this calamity

Robust vehicle suspension system by converting active and passive control of a vehicle to semi-active control ystem analytically

This research article deals with a simplified translational model of an automotive suspension system which is constructed by considering the translation motion of one wheel of a car. Passive Vehicle Suspension System is converted into Semi Active Vehicle System. Major advantage achieved by this system is that it adjusts the damping of the suspension system without the application of any actuator by using MATLAB® simulations. The semi-active control is found to control the vibration of suspension system very well

La rebelión de los represores : Una aproximación a las huelgas policiales de los últimos años

Los reclamos salariales y sindicales llevados a cabo recientemente en nuestro país por las fuerzas represivas del estado desembocaron en diversos cuestionamientos respecto de su caracterización y la de sus miembros. Para algunos sectores -la mayoría- quienes componen las fuerzas represivas del estado pueden ser caracterizados como "represores" y para otros son "desclasados". Sólo unos pocos los consideran "obreros". En este contexto se presentan diversas discusiones que pretenderán ser tratadas en este trabajo, a saber: la forma en que definimos el concepto de "clase" y cómo esa definición incide sobre la caracterización de los integrantes de las fuerzas represivas del estado al igual que sucede con los trabajadores de otras ramas o incluso con el resto de los trabajadores estatales. En ese camino discutiremos con las hipótesis que afirman que la función social de estos "obreros" es la que los define y la que hace a la "naturaleza" de clase. Esta ponencia forma parte de un trabajo más amplio en el que la pretensión de es aproximarnos a una visión científica de los trabajadores que integran las fuerzas represivas del estado a partir de y así explicar cuál es su pertenencia de clase y por tanto cuáles son las tareas que deben darse como tales. Para ello -y en esta ponencia- comenzaremos por ver las huelgas de las que formaron parte durante los años 2012 y 2013 y cómo actuaron a lo largo de ella

Intramuscular versus submucosal Dexamethasone injection in surgical extraction of impacted mandibular third molars: Narrative review

The aim of this narrative review is to compare the results of different studies concerning the intramuscular route versus the submucosal route for injection of dexamethasone in cases of surgical extraction of mandibular impacted third molars. The advantages and disadvantages of the different techniques will be reported. Studies discussed in this paper revealed that the submucosal route featured so many benefits over the intramuscular one by being simple, comfortable, highly bioavailable, painless, less risky and able to reduce trismus

Performance Feedback: How Structure, Culture, and Agency Affects Feedback

Federal and state mandates have placed an added pressure on teachers to demonstrate “effective” instructional practices. These mandates also affect the role of a principal, as an evaluator of “effective” instructional strategies, and as an instructional leader who continuously needs to build teacher capacity to satisfy these mandates. Accountability mandates promise to improve students’ academic performance but they have lacked professional development that would provide the support teachers and principals need to achieve success. Feedback is arguably a valuable mechanism to build teacher capacity and respond to accountability pressures, however, the implementation of feedback and its consequences for teacher’s professional growth is not well understood. In general, research on efforts to improve educational outcomes show that structural, cultural and agentive factors, in interaction, influence educational outcomes. Using this theoretical frame, this study examines the factors that support or challenge the feedback that occurs between principals and teachers in an educational context. To understand feedback processes, a qualitative comparative case study was conducted at two school sites in a southern Californian district. To gather multiple perspectives on the implementation of feedback at each school, two principals and eight teachers were interviewed. The findings of this study suggest that principals’ beliefs regarding feedback, prioritization and strategies used by the principal increase teachers’ willingness to use feedback to improve their teaching. Teachers see the perceived benefits when: they have trust in their principal, feedback is tied to a planned goal, there is a clear understanding of the feedback process, and teachers have a growth mindset. Additionally, the findings suggest that context has an influence on feedback. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that when teachers and principals do not define feedback as professional development, there are implications for practice, although more research is warranted in this area. This study deepens our understanding of what makes and does not make the implementation of feedback at a school site successful and exposes the factors that influence teachers’ willingness to receive feedback from their principals. It offers significant implications for principals and policy makers who seek to enact strategies that can build teacher capacity

On East Jerusalem streets, Palestinians say settlements trump social media as source of violence

This project uses interviews with Palestinian residents of violent East Jerusalem neighborhoods to get at the root causes of a year-long wave of lone wolf Arab attacks against Jews in Israel and the West Bank. Link to capstone project: https://medium.com/@jadalisleiman/c4187cc3660b#.oibq7chq