Compliance of Distribution System Reactive Flows with Transmission System Requirements

Transmission system operators (TSOs) often set requirements to distribution system operators (DSOs) regarding the exchange of reactive power on the interface between the two parts of the system they operate, typically High Voltage and Medium Voltage. The presence of increasing amounts of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) at the distribution networks complicates the problem, but provides control opportunities in order to keep the exchange within the prescribed limits. Typical DER control methods, such as constant cosϕ or Q/V functions, cannot adequately address these limits, while power electronics interfaced DERs provide to DSOs reactive power control capabilities for complying more effectively with TSO requirements. This paper proposes an optimisation method to provide power set-points to DERs in order to control the hourly reactive power exchanges with the transmission network. The method is tested via simulations using real data from the distribution substation at the Sundom Smart Grid, in Finland, using the operating guidelines imposed by the Finnish TSO. Results show the advantages of the proposed method compared to traditional methods for reactive power compensation from DERs. The application of more advanced Model Predictive Control techniques is further explored.©2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Part of this work was carried out in the SolarX research project with financial support provided by Business Finland, 2019–2021 (grant No. 6844/31/2018).fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

University students' perceptions of social networking sites (SNSs) in their educational experiences at a regional Australian university

Higher education institutions, and the way education is delivered and supported, are being transformed by digital technologies. Internationally, institutions are increasingly incorporating online technologies into delivery frameworks and administration – both through internal learning management systems (LMS) and external social networking sites (SNSs). This study aims to explore how higher education students in a regional Australian dual-sector institute use and manage SNSs for personal and study-related activities and their perceptions of how this impacts their educational experiences. This mixed-methods study involved a quantitative and qualitative survey of 355 vocational training and higher education students and in-depth focus groups with ten higher education students. Four key themes were identified through thematic analysis: SNSs as a tool for fostering peer connectedness with fellow students; deliberate and distinct variation between personal and educational use of SNSs; resistance to external SNSs within education settings; and, need for a balance between digital and face-to-face learning and connectedness. Implications for curriculum design and delivery, and development of support for students in diverse learning contexts, are considered

Machine Learning Techniques for Personalized Detection of Epileptic Events in Clinical Video Recordings

Continuous patient monitoring is essential to achieve an effective and optimal patient treatment in the intensive care unit. In the specific case of epilepsy it is the only way to achieve a correct diagnosis and a subsequent optimal medication plan if possible. In addition to automatic vital sign monitoring, epilepsy patients need manual monitoring by trained personnel, a task that is very difficult to be performed continuously for each patient. Moreover, epileptic manifestations are highly personalized even within the same type of epilepsy. In this work we assess two machine learning methods, dictionary learning and an autoencoder based on long short-term memory (LSTM) cells, on the task of personalized epileptic event detection in videos, with a set of features that were specifically developed with an emphasis on high motion sensitivity. According to the strengths of each method we have selected different types of epilepsy, one with convulsive behaviour and one with very subtle motion. The results on five clinical patients show a highly promising ability of both methods to detect the epileptic events as anomalies deviating from the stable/normal patient status

Wize Mirror - a smart, multisensory cardio-metabolic risk monitoring system

In the recent years personal health monitoring systems have been gaining popularity, both as a result of the pull from the general population, keen to improve well-being and early detection of possibly serious health conditions and the push from the industry eager to translate the current significant progress in computer vision and machine learning into commercial products. One of such systems is the Wize Mirror, built as a result of the FP7 funded SEMEOTICONS (SEMEiotic Oriented Technology for Individuals CardiOmetabolic risk self-assessmeNt and Self-monitoring) project. The project aims to translate the semeiotic code of the human face into computational descriptors and measures, automatically extracted from videos, multispectral images, and 3D scans of the face. The multisensory platform, being developed as the result of that project, in the form of a smart mirror, looks for signs related to cardio-metabolic risks. The goal is to enable users to self-monitor their well-being status over time and improve their life-style via tailored user guidance. This paper is focused on the description of the part of that system, utilising computer vision and machine learning techniques to perform 3D morphological analysis of the face and recognition of psycho-somatic status both linked with cardio-metabolic risks. The paper describes the concepts, methods and the developed implementations as well as reports on the results obtained on both real and synthetic datasets

Mirror mirror on the wall... an unobtrusive intelligent multisensory mirror for well-being status self-assessment and visualization

A person’s well-being status is reflected by their face through a combination of facial expressions and physical signs. The SEMEOTICONS project translates the semeiotic code of the human face into measurements and computational descriptors that are automatically extracted from images, videos and 3D scans of the face. SEMEOTICONS developed a multisensory platform in the form of a smart mirror to identify signs related to cardio-metabolic risk. The aim was to enable users to self-monitor their well-being status over time and guide them to improve their lifestyle. Significant scientific and technological challenges have been addressed to build the multisensory mirror, from touchless data acquisition, to real-time processing and integration of multimodal data

Applications of Clustering on Distribution Use-of-System Τariff Design

Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία. Διεπιστημονικό-Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών (Δ.Π.Μ.Σ.) "Επιστήμη Δεδομένων και Μηχανική Μάθηση

Pathway to success : Using students’ insights and perspectives to improve retention and success for university students from low socioeconomic (LSE) backgrounds

In an increasingly complex landscape of diversification and massification, universities are grappling with challenges of student attrition. This paper presents findings from a project investigating how students from low socio-economic backgrounds at a regional Australian university perceive challenges and supports associated with retention and success. Twenty-seven students received intensive one-to-one support from a Faculty-embedded ‘academic advisor’, and reflected on this support, their overall student experience, and strategies to enhance student success. Students identified a range of challenges that they experienced across an academic year (personal circumstances, lack of preparedness for university study, timely access to support, course/programme difficulties) and what worked well for them (academic advisor, University support services, growing confidence in self as competent student, peer support). A range of strategies for enhancing student success were identified by students, namely consistency across teaching design and delivery, transparency of delivery modes, mandatory orientation, access to a dedicated academic advisor, and increased peer connectedness. The applicability and viability of the proposed strategies within current higher education settings are explored. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Välkommen?! : En fallstudie angående nyanländas skolsituation

Den svenska skolan är inte som den har varit. Vi har i samband med oroligheterna ute i världen fått ta emot ett antal människor därav många barn i skolåldern. Många skolor har inte haft någon direkt handlingsplan för detta. Vi ville i vår uppsats ta reda på hur dessa elever upplever den svenska skolan och att börja i förberedelseklass för att sen slussas ut i ordinarieklass. Framför allt så har vi riktat in oss på övergången från förberedelseklass till ordinarie klass. Forskningen idag har framför allt handlat om mottagande men ett fåtal tar upp hur de nyanlända upplever sin situation. För att belysa detta valde vi två olika former, intervju samt observationer. På så vis fick vi en sammanhängande bild av eleverna. Empirin tolkades utifrån en holistisk syn där man tar hänsyn till alla delar i en människas liv. Vi ville även ta del av hur pedagogerna upplever övergången och att ta emot nyanlända i sin undervisning.  Vad som var intressant var att eleverna föredrog att starta i en förberedelseklass, vilket kan tala emot den forskning som har gjorts. Tryggheten var en faktor som var genomgående för de nyanlända och att börja i en förberedelseklass upplevde dem positivt. Pedagogerna ville ha mer underlag för att kunna hjälpa dessa elever. Resultatet visade att pedagogerna såg en viktig funktion i att arbeta språkutvecklande i alla ämnen. Att lära sig prata svenska är en sak, men att få ett ämnesspråk är något helt annat