Bi-level Programming Based Optimal Strategy to LSEs with Demand Response Bids

With the increasing demand-side participation in electricity market, as a profit-seeking market participant, load-serving entities (LSEs) have been trying to apply demand response (DR) programs to induce the demand elasticity to further their profit. However, due to the different preference of DRs, it is difficult for LSEs to generate the optimal strategic bidding strategy considering DR in the ISO/RTO’s market. Therefore, this paper proposed a bi-level optimization model with the consideration of demand response bidding to maximize the total profit of LSEs: 1) conceptually, different from previous related works, the consumers participate DR through setting their bidding prices to LSEs with respect to their own preference and LSEs should determine the optimal reward value of DR as well as the amount of demanded electricity; and 2) technically, an original method has been implemented to solve the bi-level optimization model. The closed form of shadow price function with respect to the total load demand is derived to reduce the complexity of the proposed bi-level model. Hence, the proposed model is converted to a mixed integer second order cone programming and able to achieve the global optimality. It needs to be note that the closed form of shadow price introduced in this paper can also be applied to other bi-level programming models. Moreover, case studies have been performed to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method: 1) the proposed method to obtain the closed form of real-time price is verified on a 9-bus system; 2) 118-bus test system with three demand response participants is tested to show that by the proposed method, LSE can benefit from the DRs under various circumstance

Facilitating Self-monitored Physical Rehabilitation with Virtual Reality and Haptic feedback

Physical rehabilitation is essential to recovery from joint replacement operations. As a representation, total knee arthroplasty (TKA) requires patients to conduct intensive physical exercises to regain the knee's range of motion and muscle strength. However, current joint replacement physical rehabilitation methods rely highly on therapists for supervision, and existing computer-assisted systems lack consideration for enabling self-monitoring, making at-home physical rehabilitation difficult. In this paper, we investigated design recommendations that would enable self-monitored rehabilitation through clinical observations and focus group interviews with doctors and therapists. With this knowledge, we further explored Virtual Reality(VR)-based visual presentation and supplemental haptic motion guidance features in our implementation VReHab, a self-monitored and multimodal physical rehabilitation system with VR and vibrotactile and pneumatic feedback in a TKA rehabilitation context. We found that the third point of view real-time reconstructed motion on a virtual avatar overlaid with the target pose effectively provides motion awareness and guidance while haptic feedback helps enhance users' motion accuracy and stability. Finally, we implemented \systemname to facilitate self-monitored post-operative exercises and validated its effectiveness through a clinical study with 10 patients

Derivation and validation of a prognostic model for predicting in-hospital mortality in patients admitted with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China:the PLANS (platelet lymphocyte age neutrophil sex) model

Background Previous published prognostic models for COVID-19 patients have been suggested to be prone to bias due to unrepresentativeness of patient population, lack of external validation, inappropriate statistical analyses, or poor reporting. A high-quality and easy-to-use prognostic model to predict in-hospital mortality for COVID-19 patients could support physicians to make better clinical decisions. Methods Fine-Gray models were used to derive a prognostic model to predict in-hospital mortality (treating discharged alive from hospital as the competing event) in COVID-19 patients using two retrospective cohorts (n = 1008) in Wuhan, China from January 1 to February 10, 2020. The proposed model was internally evaluated by bootstrap approach and externally evaluated in an external cohort (n = 1031). Results The derivation cohort was a case-mix of mild-to-severe hospitalized COVID-19 patients (43.6% females, median age 55). The final model (PLANS), including five predictor variables of platelet count, lymphocyte count, age, neutrophil count, and sex, had an excellent predictive performance (optimism-adjusted C-index: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.83 to 0.87; averaged calibration slope: 0.95, 95% CI: 0.82 to 1.08). Internal validation showed little overfitting. External validation using an independent cohort (47.8% female, median age 63) demonstrated excellent predictive performance (C-index: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.85 to 0.89; calibration slope: 1.02, 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.12). The averaged predicted cumulative incidence curves were close to the observed cumulative incidence curves in patients with different risk profiles. Conclusions The PLANS model based on five routinely collected predictors would assist clinicians in better triaging patients and allocating healthcare resources to reduce COVID-19 fatality

POLITIK SUBALTERN ‘STRATEGI VINOLIA WAKIJO SEBAGAI AKTOR INTERMEDIARY DALAM MEREPRESENTASIKAN WARIA DAN PENGAKUAN ATAS GENDER KETIGA

ABSTRAK   Studi ini ingin melihat bagaimana Vinolia Wakijo atau Mami Vin dan LSM Kebaya berperan sebagai aktor non electoral dalam Politik Intermediary yang mampu menjadi representasi akan hak-hak para waria sebagai warga Negara. dari Negara dan juga masyarakat lainnya. Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan politik subaltern, politik representasi, dan juga teori kekuasaan Pierre Bourdieu. Dengan metode penelitian kualitatif berbasis pendekatan etnografi. Waria sebagai kaum subaltern ini dalam menegaskan dan mempertahankan identitas tidak terlepas dari kemampuan mereka untuk memperoleh, memperluas dan mempertahankan identitas tersebut sebagai bukti nyata dalam representasi sosial. Sehingga mereka dapat diakui dan melepaskan “baju” minoritasnya. Diskriminasi tersebut sangat berhubungan erat dengan prasangka masyarakat terhadap kaum waria. Prasangka masyarakat terhadap kaum waria sendiri berasal dari perilaku negatif dari kaum waria. Komunitas waria sebagai bagian dari kelompok marginal mengalami berbagai tekanan dari penekanan. Pengakuan akan keberadaan waria sebagai gender ketiga (diluar laki-laki dan perempuan) ternyata hanya didapatkan oleh waria tertentu, terutama waria yang memiliki prestasi dan juga para elite dari waria tersebut. Semisal contoh apa yang ada dalam LSM Kebaya, pengakuan atas waria sebagai gender ketiga hanya didapatkan oleh Mami Vin. Mami Vin tidak lagi pernah mendapatkan diskriminasi dari masyarakat. Kini Mami Vin lebih dipandang sebagai sosok seorang „IBU‟ ketimbang waria, mami Vin dapat dengan mudah berinteraksi dengan masyarakat dan Negara tanpa ada rasa takut. Karena dia yakin telah diterima dalam masyarakat. Hal tersebut mami Vin dapatkan bukan hanya karena prestasi dan konsistensinya sebagai representasi dari waria dalam penanggulangan dan penyebaran Virus HIV/AIDS dikalangan waria saja, melainkan justru datang dari dirinya yang mampu menampilkan sisi yang berbeda dari waria pada umumnya. Kata-kata kunci : Subaltern, Politik Representasi, Dan Kekuasaa

A dumbbell probe-mediated rolling circle amplification strategy for highly sensitive microRNA detection

We herein report the design of a dumbbell-shaped DNA probe that integrates target-binding, amplification and signaling within one multifunctional design. The dumbbell probe can initiate rolling circle amplification (D-RCA) in the presence of specific microRNA (miRNA) targets. This D-RCA-based miRNA strategy allows quantification of miRNA with very low quantity of RNA samples. The femtomolar sensitivity of D-RCA compares favorably with other existing technologies. More significantly, the dynamic range of D-RCA is extremely large, covering eight orders of magnitude. We also demonstrate miRNA quantification with this highly sensitive and inexpensive D-RCA strategy in clinical samples

65 GOPS/neuron Photonic Tensor Core with Thin-film Lithium Niobate Photonics

Photonics offers a transformative approach to artificial intelligence (AI) and neuromorphic computing by providing low latency, high bandwidth, and energy-efficient computations. Here, we introduce a photonic tensor core processor enabled by time-multiplexed inputs and charge-integrated outputs. This fully integrated processor, comprising only two thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) modulators, a III-V laser, and a charge-integration photoreceiver, can implement an entire layer of a neural network. It can execute 65 billion operations per second (GOPS) per neuron, including simultaneous weight updates-a hitherto unachieved speed. Our processor stands out from conventional photonic processors, which have static weights set during training, as it supports fast "hardware-in-the-loop" training, and can dynamically adjust the inputs (fan-in) and outputs (fan-out) within a layer, thereby enhancing its versatility. Our processor can perform large-scale dot-product operations with vector dimensions up to 131,072. Furthermore, it successfully classifies (supervised learning) and clusters (unsupervised learning) 112*112-pixel images after "hardware-in-the-loop" training. To handle "hardware-in-the-loop" training for clustering AI tasks, we provide a solution for multiplications involving two negative numbers based on our processor.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Identification of Amino Acids in HA and PB2 Critical for the Transmission of H5N1 Avian Influenza Viruses in a Mammalian Host

Since 2003, H5N1 influenza viruses have caused over 400 known cases of human infection with a mortality rate greater than 60%. Most of these cases resulted from direct contact with virus-contaminated poultry or poultry products. Although only limited human-to-human transmission has been reported to date, it is feared that efficient human-to-human transmission of H5N1 viruses has the potential to cause a pandemic of disastrous proportions. The genetic basis for H5N1 viral transmission among humans is largely unknown. In this study, we used guinea pigs as a mammalian model to study the transmission of six different H5N1 avian influenza viruses. We found that two viruses, A/duck/Guangxi/35/2001 (DKGX/35) and A/bar-headed goose/Qinghai/3/2005(BHGQH/05), were transmitted from inoculated animals to naïve contact animals. Our mutagenesis analysis revealed that the amino acid asparagine (Asn) at position 701 in the PB2 protein was a prerequisite for DKGX/35 transmission in guinea pigs. In addition, an amino acid change in the hemagglutinin (HA) protein (Thr160Ala), resulting in the loss of glycosylation at 158–160, was responsible for HA binding to sialylated glycans and was critical for H5N1 virus transmission in guinea pigs. These amino acids changes in PB2 and HA could serve as important molecular markers for assessing the pandemic potential of H5N1 field isolates

Immunoprotectivity of HLA-A2 CTL Peptides Derived from Respiratory Syncytial Virus Fusion Protein in HLA-A2 Transgenic Mouse

Identification of HLA-restricted CD8+ T cell epitopes is important to study RSV-induced immunity and illness. We algorithmically analyzed the sequence of the fusion protein (F) of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and generated synthetic peptides that can potentially bind to HLA-A*0201. Four out of the twenty-five 9-mer peptides tested: peptides 3 (F33–41), 13 (F214–222), 14 (F273–281), and 23 (F559–567), were found to bind to HLA-A*0201 with moderate to high affinity and were capable of inducing IFN-γ and IL-2 secretion in lymphocytes from HLA-A*0201 transgenic (HLA-Tg) mice pre-immunized with RSV or recombinant adenovirus expressing RSV F. HLA-Tg mice were immunized with these four peptides and were found to induce both Th1 and CD8+ T cell responses in in vitro secondary recall. Effector responses induced by these peptides were observed to confer differential protection against live RSV challenge. These peptides also caused better recovery of body weight loss induced by RSV. A significant reduction of lung viral load was observed in mice immunized with peptide 23, which appeared to enhance the levels of inflammatory chemokines (CCL17, CCL22, and IL-18) but did not increase eosinophil infiltration in the lungs. Whereas, significant reduction of infiltrated eosinophils induced by RSV infection was found in mice pre-immunized with peptide 13. Our results suggest that HLA-A2-restricted epitopes of RSV F protein could be useful for the development of epitope-based RSV vaccine