A flexible AC distribution system device for a microgrid

published_or_final_versio

Smart distribution network device for microgrid applications

This paper focuses on the design of a smart distribution network device for improving the power quality and reliability of the overall power distribution system that the microgrid is connected to. The control design employs a newly developed Model Predictive Control algorithm which optimizes the steady-state and the transient control problems separately to achieve a faster computational time for large power systems. Kalman filters are also employed as state observers to identify the required signals needed for monitoring purposes as well as to extract the harmonic spectra of the grid voltage and the load currents. The design concept is verified through different test case scenarios to demonstrate the capability of the proposed device and the results obtained are discussed. © 2012 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Rethinking the Impact of Activity Design on a Mobile Learning Trail: The Missing Dimension of the Physical Affordances

This paper investigates the relationship between activity design and discourse on a mobile learning trail, considering the physical affordances of the real world platform in designing contextual learning experiences. We adopted a context-oriented and process-oriented pedagogical approach in designing the mobile learning trail conducted at Singapore Sentosa Island. Activities were categorized into performative and knowledge-generative on a continuum from well-structured to ill-structured activities. To examine the impact of activity design on discourse types, all audio-recorded verbal data of the three groups of secondary students was analysed with respect to two key dimensions in the knowledge construction process, namely, the epistemic and the social. Analysis showed that activity types and physical affordances of the learning environment have a definitive bearing on group discursive moves. Importantly, the presence of a real world context could generate critical thinking and collaborative knowledge building even for mundane performative activities when they are embedded with unforeseen contextual variables. We argue that the design of activity and the degree of its structuredness, and the assumed desired learning outcomes, are very much subjected to the affordances of physical and social resources in the mobile learning environment-a missing dimension that could possibly be overlooked and understudied.X1144Ysciessciscopu

Coordinated control and energy management of distributed generation inverters in a microgrid

published_or_final_versio

Treadmill exercise suppressed stress-induced dendritic spine elimination in mouse barrel cortex and improved working memory via BDNF/TrkB pathway

published_or_final_versio

The impact of hyperhidrosis on patients' daily life and quality of life : A qualitative investigation

Background: An understanding of the daily life impacts of hyperhidrosis and how patients deal with them, based on qualitative research, is lacking. This study investigated the impact of hyperhidrosis on the daily life of patients using a mix of qualitative research methods. Methods: Participants were recruited through hyperhidrosis patient support groups such as the Hyperhidrosis Support Group UK. Data were collected using focus groups, interviews and online surveys. A grounded theory approach was used in the analysis of data transcripts. Data were collected from 71 participants, out of an initial 100 individuals recruited. Results: Seventeen major themes capturing the impacts of hyperhidrosis were identified; these covered all areas of life including daily life, psychological well-being, social life, professional /school life, dealing with hyperhidrosis, unmet health care needs and physical impact. Conclusions: Psychosocial impacts are central to the overall impacts of hyperhidrosis, cutting across and underlying the limitations experienced in other areas of life.Peer reviewe

A retinoraphe projection regulates serotonergic activity and looming-evoked defensive behaviour

published_or_final_versio

Students’ Use of Knowledge Resources in Environmental Interaction on an Outdoor Learning Trail

This study examined how students leveraged different types of knowledge resources on an outdoor learning trail. We positioned the learning trail as an integral part of the curriculum with a pre- and post-trail phase to scaffold and to support students’ meaning-making process. The study was conducted with two classes of secondary two students. We coded two groups’ discourse to examine the use of knowledge resource types in the meaning-making process in an outdoor learning setting: contextual resource, new conceptual resource, prior knowledge resource, as well as the relationship among these knowledge resource types. Next, we also examined environmental interaction and integration in the students’ use of these knowledge resource types. Analysis showed that contextual resources are chiefly instrumental in fostering students’ capacity to harness new conceptual resource and to activate prior knowledge resource in interacting with and integrating the outdoor learning environment in the meaning-making process.This research is supported by the FutureSchools@Singapore project under the Singapore National Research Foundation’s (NRF) Interactive and Digital Media (IDM) in Education Research and Development (R&D) Programme

Biochar From Waste Banana Peels as Growth Promoter for Holy Basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum) And Chili Pepper (Capsicum annuum)

Biochars are porous materials prepared by combustion of biomass under the presence of low oxygen levels. Its application as soil fertilizer has been shown to have positive effects on the plants by increasing the fertility and raising the soil pH, increasing nutrient cycling and moisture holding capacity, improving cation exchange capacity, and reducing the amount of pesticides and nutrients leaching to the surface and ground water (Laird 2008, Speratti 2017). In this study, waste banana peels of the Lakatan variety (Musa x paradisiaca) were pyrolized at temperatures 300, 400, 500 and 700 °C, the resulting basic char were obtained at 4-9% yield. The char from the different pyrolysis conditions were characterized and evaluated as growth promoter for holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum) and chili pepper (Capsicum annuum). The results show that the ability of the char to promote growth were found to be beneficial when the pyrolysis temperature of the char is lower (300 – 500 °C) for both plants. Conversely, the soil containing 1 wt% of char was found to be beneficial to the growth of chili compared to the control

Genome and proteome analysis of Pseudomonas chloritidismutans AW-1T that grows on n-decane with chlorate or oxygen as electron acceptor

Growth of Pseudomonas chloritidismutans AW-1T on C7 to C12 n-alkanes with oxygen or chlorate as electron acceptor was studied by genome and proteome analysis. Whole genome shotgun sequencing resulted in a 5 Mbp assembled sequence with a G+C content of 62.5% The automatic annotation identified 4767 protein-encoding genes and a putative function could be assigned to almost 80% of the predicted proteins. The distinct phylogenetic position of P. chloritidismutans AW-1T within the Pseudomonas stutzeri cluster became clear by comparison of average nucleotide identity values of sequenced genomes. Analysis of the proteome of P. chloritidismutans AW-1T showed the versatility of this bacterium to adapt to aerobic and anaerobic growth conditions with acetate or n-decane as substrates. All enzymes involved in the alkane oxidation pathway were identified. An alkane monooxygenase was detected in n-decane-grown cells, but not in acetate-grown cells. The enzyme was found when grown in the presence of oxygen or chlorate, indicating that under both conditions an oxygenase-mediated pathway is employed for alkane degradation. Proteomic and biochemical data also showed that both chlorate reductase and chlorite dismutase are constitutively present, but most abundant under chlorate-reducing conditions.Technology Foundation STW, Applied Science Division of the Netherlands Science Foundation NWO, Chemical Sciences (CW) of NWO, the technology program Economy Ecology Technology and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) and the Teaching Grant of Wageningen UniversityERC grants (project 323009 and 250172) and the Gravitation grant (project 024.002.002) of the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Netherlands Science Foundation (NWO