Hybrid Advanced Optimization Methods with Evolutionary Computation Techniques in Energy Forecasting

More accurate and precise energy demand forecasts are required when energy decisions are made in a competitive environment. Particularly in the Big Data era, forecasting models are always based on a complex function combination, and energy data are always complicated. Examples include seasonality, cyclicity, fluctuation, dynamic nonlinearity, and so on. These forecasting models have resulted in an over-reliance on the use of informal judgment and higher expenses when lacking the ability to determine data characteristics and patterns. The hybridization of optimization methods and superior evolutionary algorithms can provide important improvements via good parameter determinations in the optimization process, which is of great assistance to actions taken by energy decision-makers. This book aimed to attract researchers with an interest in the research areas described above. Specifically, it sought contributions to the development of any hybrid optimization methods (e.g., quadratic programming techniques, chaotic mapping, fuzzy inference theory, quantum computing, etc.) with advanced algorithms (e.g., genetic algorithms, ant colony optimization, particle swarm optimization algorithm, etc.) that have superior capabilities over the traditional optimization approaches to overcome some embedded drawbacks, and the application of these advanced hybrid approaches to significantly improve forecasting accuracy

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Kernel Methods and Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithms in Energy Forecasting

The development of kernel methods and hybrid evolutionary algorithms (HEAs) to support experts in energy forecasting is of great importance to improving the accuracy of the actions derived from an energy decision maker, and it is crucial that they are theoretically sound. In addition, more accurate or more precise energy demand forecasts are required when decisions are made in a competitive environment. Therefore, this is of special relevance in the Big Data era. These forecasts are usually based on a complex function combination. These models have resulted in over-reliance on the use of informal judgment and higher expense if lacking the ability to catch the data patterns. The novel applications of kernel methods and hybrid evolutionary algorithms can provide more satisfactory parameters in forecasting models. We aimed to attract researchers with an interest in the research areas described above. Specifically, we were interested in contributions towards the development of HEAs with kernel methods or with other novel methods (e.g., chaotic mapping mechanism, fuzzy theory, and quantum computing mechanism), which, with superior capabilities over the traditional optimization approaches, aim to overcome some embedded drawbacks and then apply these new HEAs to be hybridized with original forecasting models to significantly improve forecasting accuracy

Hybrid Advanced Techniques for Forecasting in Energy Sector

Accurate forecasting performance in the energy sector is a primary factor in the modern restructured power market, accomplished by any novel advanced hybrid techniques. Particularly in the Big Data era, forecasting models are always based on a complex function combination, and energy data are always complicated by factors such as seasonality, cyclicity, fluctuation, dynamic nonlinearity, and so on. To comprehensively address this issue, it is insufficient to concentrate only on simply hybridizing evolutionary algorithms with each other, or on hybridizing evolutionary algorithms with chaotic mapping, quantum computing, recurrent and seasonal mechanisms, and fuzzy inference theory in order to determine suitable parameters for an existing model. It is necessary to also consider hybridizing or combining two or more existing models (e.g., neuro-fuzzy model, BPNN-fuzzy model, seasonal support vector regression–chaotic quantum particle swarm optimization (SSVR-CQPSO), etc.). These advanced novel hybrid techniques can provide more satisfactory energy forecasting performances. This book aimed to attract researchers with an interest in the research areas described above. Specifically, we were interested in contributions towards recent developments, i.e., hybridizing or combining any advanced techniques in energy forecasting, with the superior capabilities over the traditional forecasting approaches, with the ability to overcome some embedded drawbacks, and with the very superiority to achieve significant improved forecasting accuracy

Short-Term Load Forecasting by Artificial Intelligent Technologies

In last few decades, short-term load forecasting (STLF) has been one of the most important research issues for achieving higher efficiency and reliability in power system operation, to facilitate the minimization of its operation cost by providing accurate input to day-ahead scheduling, contingency analysis, load flow analysis, planning, and maintenance of power systems. There are lots of forecasting models proposed for STLF, including traditional statistical models (such as ARIMA, SARIMA, ARMAX, multi-variate regression, Kalman filter, exponential smoothing, and so on) and artificial-intelligence-based models (such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), knowledge-based expert systems, fuzzy theory and fuzzy inference systems, evolutionary computation models, support vector regression, and so on). Recently, due to the great development of evolutionary algorithms (EA) and novel computing concepts (e.g., quantum computing concepts, chaotic mapping functions, and cloud mapping process, and so on), many advanced hybrids with those artificial-intelligence-based models are also proposed to achieve satisfactory forecasting accuracy levels. In addition, combining some superior mechanisms with an existing model could empower that model to solve problems it could not deal with before; for example, the seasonal mechanism from the ARIMA model is a good component to be combined with any forecasting models to help them to deal with seasonal problems

Epstein-Barr virus:more than 50 years old and still providing surprises

It is more than 50 years since the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), the first human tumour virus, was discovered. EBV has subsequently been found to be associated with a diverse range of tumours of both lymphoid and epithelial origin. Progress in the molecular analysis of EBV has revealed fundamental mechanisms of more general relevance to the oncogenic process. This Timeline article highlights key milestones in the 50-year history of EBV and discusses how this virus provides a paradigm for exploiting insights at the molecular level in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer

Event Horizon Telescope imaging of the archetypal blazar 3C 279 at an extreme 20 microarcsecond resolution

3C 279 is an archetypal blazar with a prominent radio jet that show broadband flux density variability across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. We use an ultra-high angular resolution technique - global Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at 1.3 mm (230 GHz) - to resolve the innermost jet of 3C 279 in order to study its fine-scale morphology close to the jet base where highly variable gamma -ray emission is thought to originate, according to various models. The source was observed during four days in April 2017 with the Event Horizon Telescope at 230 GHz, including the phased Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), at an angular resolution of similar to 20 mu as (at a redshift of z=0.536 this corresponds to similar to 0.13 pc similar to 1700 Schwarzschild radii with a black hole mass M-BH=8x10(8) M-circle dot). Imaging and model-fitting techniques were applied to the data to parameterize the fine-scale source structure and its variation. We find a multicomponent inner jet morphology with the northernmost component elongated perpendicular to the direction of the jet, as imaged at longer wavelengths. The elongated nuclear structure is consistent on all four observing days and across different imaging methods and model-fitting techniques, and therefore appears robust. Owing to its compactness and brightness, we associate the northern nuclear structure as the VLBI "core". This morphology can be interpreted as either a broad resolved jet base or a spatially bent jet. We also find significant day-to-day variations in the closure phases, which appear most pronounced on the triangles with the longest baselines. Our analysis shows that this variation is related to a systematic change of the source structure. Two inner jet components move non-radially at apparent speeds of similar to 15 c and similar to 20 c (similar to 1.3 and similar to 1.7 mu as day(-1), respectively), which more strongly supports the scenario of traveling shocks or instabilities in a bent, possibly rotating jet. The observed apparent speeds are also coincident with the 3C 279 large-scale jet kinematics observed at longer (cm) wavelengths, suggesting no significant jet acceleration between the 1.3 mm core and the outer jet. The intrinsic brightness temperature of the jet components are less than or similar to 10(10) K, a magnitude or more lower than typical values seen at >= 7 mm wavelengths. The low brightness temperature and morphological complexity suggest that the core region of 3C 279 becomes optically thin at short (mm) wavelengths