Co-optimized bidding strategy of an integrated wind-thermal system in electricity day ahead and reserve market under uncertainties

Nowadays renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, whether independently or integrated with other resources, are considered in power system, specifically self-scheduling, bidding and offering strategy problems. However, the uncertain nature of these sources has turned out the greatest challenge for their owners, which makes the bidding and offering in the restructured electricity market more complicated because wind energy generation may cause penalty fees for its generation mismatches. Hence, the primary objective of this paper is to suggest a novel bidding strategy framework based on fuzzy random variable for a wind-thermal system in the electricity market for the first time. The uncertainties associated with day ahead energy, spinning reserve market prices and imbalance prices, are characterized by random fuzzy variables and the uncertainties associated with wind power outputs are modeled as a LR fuzzy numbers. The proposed self-scheduling model maximizes the expected profits while it controls the risk by providing different possibility and probability levels for decision makers.A mathematical modeling approach is applied in this research by using a mixed-integer non-linear programming model which is implemented in Lingo software in a case study of thermal generation unit to investigate the efficiency of the proposed model. A sensitivity analysis is applied to validate the performance of the proposed model. Numerical results reveal that taking advantage of wind power generation alongside with thermal generation will substantially increase the profitability of the integrated generation company

Probiotics and Treatment of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis

Background: Genital infections are among the most common diseases for which women refer to gynecologists. Vulvovaginal candidiasis is the second most common infection among women. Objective: A few studies have been conducted on new therapeutic regimens improving the effectiveness of current medications; accordingly, the present study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of clotrimazole with clotrimazole plus probiotics in the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis. Materials and Methods: The present double-blind clinical trial was conducted on 80 women admitted to Shohada hospital in Tehran in 2014. The participants were randomly divided into 2 groups of clotrimazole and clotrimazole plus probiotics. The collected data included the participants’ sociodemographic information and their medical records along with their symptoms and laboratory results before and after the treatment. Finally, the collected data were analyzed using chi-square test, t test, McNemar test and Fisherexact test. Results: The results showed that both treatments (i.e. clotrimazole and clotrimazole plus probiotics) are equally effective in the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis (P = 0.499). Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that supplementing clotrimazole with probiotics results in similar effects compared to administering clotrimazole alone in the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis