Existence & uniqueness of consistent conjectural variation equilibrium in electricity markets

The real electricity markets are usually oligopoly, where market suppliers (generators) will have some market power and can adopt strategic bidding strategies for maximum profits. Generally, the game-theory based methods are the natural way to analyze the market equilibrium and study the strategic behaviors. As a widely studied method in game theory, the conjecture variation technique is reported to model the strategic behavior in deregulated electricity markets recently. Unfortunately, the conjecture variation models have been criticized for the drawback of logical inconsistence and abundant equilibria. Aim for this, the existence and uniqueness of consistent conjectural variation equilibrium in the electricity markets are investigated. Due to some good characteristics of electricity markets and using an infinite horizon optimization model, it is shown that the consistent conjecture variation will satisfy a coupled nonlinear equation system and there is only one equilibrium. © 2005 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Control theory application in power market stability analysis

This paper proposes a new framework to model the system dynamics and study the system stability for the quantity bidding competition in power market. From the viewpoint of control theory, the quantity bidding competition is modeled as close-loop dynamic system, where market price is the system feedback signal. Based on the objective of maximizing individual profit in a shot-game, a general dynamic process is given to describe supplier's adjustment behavior, which can be used to model all classical bidding strategy and CV-based bidding strategy. With the application of control theory, sufficient stability conditions and market equilibrium are presented. Computer test results support the analytic conclusion very well.published_or_final_versio

Main Progress of Microgravity Sciences and Space Life Sciences Research in China

The progress of the research activities on space material sciences, microgravity ‰uid physics and combustion, space life sciences and biotechnology research, fundamental Physics in China are brie‰y summarized in the present paper. The major space missions and experimental results obtained on board the Chinese recoverable/non-recoverable satellites and the Chinese manned spaceship named ``Shen-Zhou'' are presented summarily. The recent main activities of the ground-based studies in China are introduced in brief

Surface morphology and deformation mechanism of single crystal copper treated by laser shock peening

To study the relation between surface morphology and deformation mechanism of the target material under the shock, a flexible boundary loading, in laser shock peening(LSP), the macroscopic and microscopic surface morphology of a single crystal copper treated by LSP was investigated. The optical profilometer shows a 200-μm-deep pit forms on the shocked surface under LSP. The optical microscopy shows a set of parallel slip bands appear at the center of the shocked region and many vertical cross slip bands appear at the edge of shocked region. This indicates a large plastic deformation occurs by means of slip for the single crystal copper under LSP and the distributing features of slip bands correspond to the spatial distribution of the shock pressure. The results confirm that the surface morphology of materials under LSP can reflect the deformation mechanism and it can be a new method of studying the deformation mechanism of materials under LSP. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland

Framework design of a general-purpose power market simulator based on multi-agent technology

Power system deregulation has become a worldwide trend which introduces competition in power system in order to realize efficient electricity production and investment. In this regard, power market simulator will be a useful tool to study bidding strategies, market operation and market power and to train market operators. In this paper, the framework design of a novel power market simulator based on the state-of-the-art multi-agent technology is suggested and described in detail, which is the first phase in developing a general-purpose power market simulator.published_or_final_versio

Exploring the "energy-saving personality traits" in the office and household situation: An empirical study

Behavior-driven energy conservation has been a promising strategy for reducing building energy consumption as well as carbon emissions. With the intention of revealing the impacts of an individual’s personality basis on energy conservation behavioral attitudes and intentions in households and offices, the present study proposes and conducts an experiment in Xi’an, China with two groups for the investigation of such attitudes towards household energy-saving behavior (HESB) and office energy-saving behavior (OESB), respectively. The research adopts structural equation modeling for experiment data analysis. The analysis results suggest that the two personality traits, Agreeableness and Neuroticism, are significantly related to both HESB and OESB attitudes. Especially, agreeable people tend to present stronger energy-saving attitudes, while individuals with higher Neuroticism are less likely to do so. The results indicate that the impacts of these two traits on energy-saving attitude are found to be less influenced by different environment settings. Further, the results find that Extraversion positively influences energy-saving attitude in the office environment, while Openness only significantly works in the household environment. It is hoped that the findings of the present study can provide informative references to energy-saving intervention design as well as further studies on the spillover of pro-environmental behaviors.</jats:p

Solar influenced late Holocene temperature changes on the northern Tibetan Plateau

Considerable efforts have been made to extend temperature records beyond the instrumental period through proxy reconstructions, in order to further understand the mechanisms of past climate variability. Yet, the global coverage of existing temperature records is still limited, especially for some key regions like the Tibetan Plateau and for earlier times including the Medieval Warm Period (MWP). Here we present decadally-resolved, alkenone-based, temperature records from two lakes on the northern Tibetan Plateau. Characterized by marked temperature variability, our records provide evidence that temperatures during the MWP were slightly higher than the modern period in this region. Further, our temperature reconstructions, within age uncertainty, can be well correlated with solar irradiance changes, suggesting a possible link between solar forcing and natural climate variability, at least on the northern Tibetan Plateau. © 2013 The Author(s).published_or_final_versio

Effect of magnetic bias field on magnetoelectric coupling in magnetoelectric composites

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A Novel Antioxidant Multitarget Iron Chelator M30 Protects Hepatocytes against Ethanol-Induced Injury

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Genome-wide analysis of the nucleotide binding site leucine-rich repeat genes of four orchids revealed extremely low numbers of disease resistance genes

Orchids are one of the most diverse flowering plant families, yet possibly maintain the smallest number of the nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) type plant resistance (R) genes among the angiosperms. In this study, a genome-wide search in four orchid taxa identified 186 NBS-LRR genes. Furthermore, 214 NBS-LRR genes were identified from seven orchid transcriptomes. A phylogenetic analysis recovered 30 ancestral lineages (29 CNL and one RNL), far fewer than other angiosperm families. From the genetics aspect, the relatively low number of ancestral R genes is unlikely to explain the low number of R genes in orchids alone, as historical gene loss and scarce gene duplication has continuously occurred, which also contributes to the low number of R genes. Due to recent sharp expansions, Phalaenopsis equestris and Dendrobium catenatum having 52 and 115 genes, respectively, and exhibited an "early shrinking to recent expanding" evolutionary pattern, while Gastrodia elata and Apostasia shenzhenica both exhibit a "consistently shrinking" evolutionary pattern and have retained only five and 14 NBS-LRR genes, respectively. RNL genes remain in extremely low numbers with only one or two copies per genome. Notably, all of the orchid RNL genes belong to the ADR1 lineage. A separate lineage, NRG1, was entirely absent and was likely lost in the common ancestor of all monocots. All of the TNL genes were absent as well, coincident with the RNL NRG1 lineage, which supports the previously proposed notion that a potential functional association between the TNL and RNL NRG1 genes