A Long-Term Electricity Dispatch Model with the TIMES Framework

A new Swiss TIMES (The Integrated MARKAL-EFOM System) electricity model with an hourly representation of inter-temporal detail and a century-long model horizon has been developed to explore the TIMES framework's suitability as a long-term electricity dispatch model. To understand the incremental insights from this hourly model, it is compared to an aggregated model with only two diurnal timeslices like in most MARKAL/TIMES models. Two scenarios have been analysed with both models to answer the following questions: Are there differences in model solutions? What are the benefits of having a high number of timeslices? Are there any computational limitations? The primary objective of this paper is to understand the differences between the solutions of the two models, rather than Swiss policy implication or potential uncertainties in input parameters and assumptions. The analysis reveals that the hourly model offers powerful insights into the electricity generation schedule. Nevertheless, the TIMES framework cannot substitute for a dispatch model because some features cannot be represented; however, the long model time horizon and integrated system approaches of TIMES provide features not available in conventional dispatch models. The methodology of the model development and insights from the model comparison are describe

Location independent distributed model for on-line load flow monitoring for multi–area power systems

The main objective of this paper is to construct a location transparent distributed environment through which the on-line load flow of multi-area power systems can be monitored and controlled. A single-server/multi-client architecture has been proposed which enables that the neighboring powered system clients can access the remote relay control server at any time, with their respective data. The location transparency is the key feature of Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). Location transparency of the proposed model is the ability to access and invoke operations on the CORBA server object without needing to know where the power system object resides. Developed distributed model also provides language transparency that facilitates the implementation of the power system logic in any programming language. A CORBA based distributed model has been developed in such a way that for every specific period of time, the remote relay control server obtains the system data simultaneously from the neighboring relays which are the clients registered with it and the server send back the response to the respective clients. The relay control server creates a new thread of control for every client request and hence complete distributed environment has been exploited

A plug and play model for JINI based on-line relay control for power system protection

The main objective of this paper is to construct a distributed environment through which the on-line relay control of power systems can be monitored and controlled. A single-server/multi-client architecture has been proposed which enables the neighboring relays to access the remote relay control server at any time, with their respective identity to enable to get the plug and play service of on-line relays. A JINI based distributed model has been developed in such a way that for every specific period of time, the remote relay control server obtains the system data simultaneously from the neighboring relays with which the clients are registered so that the server sends back the response to the respective clients. The relay control server creates a new thread of control for every client request and hence a complete distributed environment has been exploited

Effective data compression model for on-line power system applications

The main objective of this paper is to develop an efficient data compression model for online power system applications such as load flow studies, state estimation, contingency analysis etc. and to calculate the round triptime taken for sending the compressed data in client/server architecture. Martin Burtscher algorithm is used for data compression since most of the power system data is expressed in per unit representation which is in floating point format. Many research works have been reported for representing and solving power system problems in distributed environments which include RMI, Component based, SOA and Grid computing. As the size of power systems is growing larger and larger due to increase in demand and as the interconnections between large power systems may vary from time to time due to addition of new generating units and due to geographic conditions, it becomes difficult to estimate the current operating states of the real time electric power system networks and data communication between the networks becomes difficult. The proposed method of power system data compression finds faster rate of data communications where the data is required for real–time analysis in a distributed environment

A distributed model for capacitance requirements for self excited induction generators

The main objective of this paper is to construct a distributed environment through which the capacitance requirements of self excited induction generators can be monitored and controlled. A single-server/multi-client architecture has been proposed which enables the self excited induction generators to access the remote server at any time, being able with their respective data to get the minimum capacitance requirements. An RMI (Remote Method Invocation) based distributed model has been developed in such a way that for every specific period of time, the remote server obtains the system data simultaneously from the neighbouring self excited induction generators with which the clients are registered and the server sends back the capacitance requirements as a response to the respective clients. The server creates a new thread of control for every client request and hence a complete distributed environment has been exploited

A distributed model for capacitance requirements for self excited induction generators

The main objective of this paper is to construct a distributed environment through which the capacitance requirements of self excited induction generators can be monitored and controlled. A single-server/multi-client architecture has been proposed which enables the self excited induction generators to access the remote server at any time, being able with their respective data to get the minimum capacitance requirements. An RMI (Remote Method Invocation) based distributed model has been developed in such a way that for every specific period of time, the remote server obtains the system data simultaneously from the neighbouring self excited induction generators with which the clients are registered and the server sends back the capacitance requirements as a response to the respective clients. The server creates a new thread of control for every client request and hence a complete distributed environment has been exploited

abSNP: RNA-Seq SNP Calling in Repetitive Regions via Abundance Estimation

Variant calling, in particular, calling SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) is a fundamental task in genomics. While existing packages offer excellent performance on calling SNPs which have uniquely mapped reads, they suffer in loci where the reads are multiply mapped, and are unable to make any reliable calls. Variants in multiply mapped loci can arise, for example in long segmental duplications, and can play important role in evolution and disease. In this paper, we develop a new SNP caller named abSNP, which offers three innovations. (a) abSNP calls SNPs from RNA-Seq data. Since RNA-Seq data is primarily sampled from gene regions, this method is inexpensive. (b) abSNP is able to successfully make calls on repetitive gene regions by exploiting the quality scores of multiply mapped reads carefully in order to make variant calls. (c) abSNP exploits a specific feature of RNA-Seq data, namely the varying abundance of different genes, in order to identify which repetitive copy a particular read is sampled from. We demonstrate that the proposed method offers significant performance gains on repetitive regions in simulated data. In particular, the algorithm is able to achieve near-perfect sensitivity on high-coverage SNPs, even when multiply mapped

Excess cash holding and audit pricing: a further consideration of precautionary motives and other factors

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate auditors’ pricing of excess cash holdings and the variation in their pricing decisions in light of the precautionary motives of cash holdings and certain firm-specific conditions and during periods of crisis. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conduct the two-stage-least-squares multivariate analysis using a sample of publicly listed non-financial US firms for the period 2003 to 2021 (42,413 firm-year observations). Findings: The findings show a significant positive relationship between excess cash and audit fee. Next, the authors find that audit pricing of excess cash is significantly higher for firms with lower financial constraints. However, the authors do not find evidence to suggest that auditors price excess cash significantly higher for firms with lower hedging needs. In additional analysis, the authors find evidence to suggest that auditors charge significantly less for excess cash in firms that report financial loss and firms operating in industries with high litigation risk. The additional analysis also reveals excess cash is not positively and significantly priced by auditors as a result of the global financial crisis and Covid-19 pandemic. Originality/value: Most researchers have analyzed excess cash holding from the perspective of managers, i.e. agency conflict or managerial prudence, while somewhat neglecting auditors’ perception of the embedded risk of excess cash holdings. The authors provide new insights on auditors’ perspective of excess cash holding and identify certain factors/situation/conditions that cause variation in the audit fee premium. The findings offer useful insights for managers and shareholders who are interested in assessing the effects of excess cash holdings policies on the audit fee premium