Load frequency control of power system

In case of an interconnected power system, any small sudden load change in any of the areas causes the fluctuation of the frequencies of each and every area and also there is fluctuation of power in tie line. The main goals of Load Frequency control (LFC) are, to maintain the real frequency and the desired power output (megawatt) in the interconnected power system and to control the change in tie line power between control areas. So, a LFC scheme basically incorporates a appropriate control system for an interconnected power system, which is heaving the capability to bring the frequencies of each area and the tie line powers back to original set point values or very nearer to set point values effectively after the load change. This is achieved by the use of conventional controllers. But the conventional controllers are heaving some demerits like; they are very slow in operation, they do not care about the inherent nonlinearities of different power system component, it is very hard to decide the gain of the integrator setting according to changes in the operating point. Advance control system has a lot of advantage over conventional integral controller. They are much faster than integral controllers and also they give better stability response than integral controllers. In this proposed research work advanced control technique (optimal controller, optimal compensator) and IMC-PID control technique has been applied for LFC of two area power systems. The optimal controllers and compensators are capable of working without full state feedback and at the presence of process and measurement noise. The IMC-PID controller is capable of giving better response and is applicable under different nonlinearities

Bull by the Horn

To decisively fight the Maoists, India needs a culture of accountability at all level

To evaluate and compare the hypoglycemic, antioxidant and hypolipidemic effect of lycopene with atorvastatin in hyperlipidemic New Zealand white rabbits

Background: During recent years, the carotenoid lycopene has attracted much attention for its potentially beneficial cardiovascular effects, which is located mainly in tomato peels. The antioxidant properties of tomatoes has been extensively studied for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, but the beneficial effects of pure lycopene supplement is still debatable. Therefore, this study was planned to evaluate and compare the hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects of pure lycopene powder and to compare it with that of atorvastatin in hyperlipidemic New Zealand white rabbits.Methods: Adult male New Zealand white rabbits (1.5-2.5 kg) were divided into three groups of six animals each. Group I - High fat diet (HFD) (5 ml/kg). Group II - HFD (5 ml/kg) + lycopene (10 mg/kg) orally. Group III - HFD (5 ml/kg) + atorvastatin (5 mg/kg) orally. Blood samples were taken from all 18 rabbits for baseline estimation of blood sugar levels (BSL), lipid levels and blood superoxide dismutase levels. Same tests were performed in all groups after 6 weeks.Results: The lipid lowering activity of atorvastatin 5 mg/kg was better than that of lycopene while the antioxidant activity of lycopene was better than that of atorvastatin. Both the results were statistically significant. There was no significant difference in fasting BSLs in both the groups.Conclusion: Findings suggest that lycopene may have considerable therapeutic benefit as an antioxidant and hypolipidemic agent, but may not be effective as a hypoglycemic agent

Genetic diversity of coal mine spoil by metagenomes using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker

90-96Pit-scarred-landscape with huge heaps of coal mine spoil is the usual scenario of an open cast coal mine area. To assess the status of microbial ecosystem, genetic characterization among 18 metagenomes, sampled within six different age series coal mine spoil overburdens, were analyzed using RAPD. Among studied populations, the genetic diversity was high, having 66.21% polymorphic bands, and it showed Shannon’s information index value 0.3414. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that 90% of the genetic diversity among populations was attributed to different age series overburdens, while 10% was attributed to different habitats. The existence of genetic variation, as revealed by RAPD, was coupled with bacterial colony forming units (CFUs; r =0.945), and 81.49% variability in CFU can be explained due to genetic diversity (r = 0.902). Further, the relationship between polymorphic loci and Nei’s genetic diversity index (H) was observed to be significant (r =0.876), indicating gradual enrichment in the existing genetic composition due to reclamation process with the increase in age, and mine spoil gradually starts supporting greater genetic diversity

Solar photovoltaic power forecasting using optimized modified extreme learning machine technique

Prediction of photovoltaic power is a significant research area using different forecasting techniques mitigating the effects of the uncertainty of the photovoltaic generation. Increasingly high penetration level of photovoltaic (PV) generation arises in smart grid and microgrid concept. Solar source is irregular in nature as a result PV power is intermittent and is highly dependent on irradiance, temperature level and other atmospheric parameters. Large scale photovoltaic generation and penetration to the conventional power system introduces the significant challenges to microgrid a smart grid energy management. It is very critical to do exact forecasting of solar power/irradiance in order to secure the economic operation of the microgrid and smart grid. In this paper an extreme learning machine (ELM) technique is used for PV power forecasting of a real time model whose location is given in the Table 1. Here the model is associated with the incremental conductance (IC) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique that is based on proportional integral (PI) controller which is simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK software. To train single layer feed-forward network (SLFN), ELM algorithm is implemented whose weights are updated by different particle swarm optimization (PSO) techniques and their performance are compared with existing models like back propagation (BP) forecasting model. Keywords: PV array, Extreme learning machine, Maximum power point tracking, Particle swarm optimization, Craziness particle swarm optimization, Accelerate particle swarm optimization, Single layer feed-forward networ

An ethnomedicinal survey of medicinal plants from a sacred forest of Western Odisha, India.

Sacred forests are being protected by means of cultural and religious beliefs by the local communities and act as people participatory conservation sites for several important medicinal plants. Sacred forests are one of the oldest forms of biodiversity conservation sites still effectively managed by local people and act as in-situ conservation sites. In this context, the present study was carried out in Andhari sacred forest of Jharsuguda district as to collect the information regarding the traditional ethno medicinal knowledge acquired by the local medical practitioners. Only few indigenous people have adequate knowledge regarding the medicinal plants and their uses. These traditional knowledge were rapidly degrading and if not documented will be lost forever.  The present study reveals the presence of 91 plants species belonging to 46 families being used by the practitioners to treat various diseases like dysentery, diarrhea, indigestion, worm infection, wound healing, headache, stomach disorders, Rheumatic disorders, snake bite, poisonous bite, menstrual problem etc. This ethnomedicinal information further needs to be validated by clinical trials for their safe uses. The study also reported the existence of 8 RET (Rare, Endangered and Threatened) medicinally important species which makes this site a biological hotspot and needs further effective conservation efforts

Pharmacovigilance in India

New drug development is a challenging and costly process as it involves focus on quality, efficacy as well as safety. Some of the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are predicted based upon the previous experience with the pharmacologically similar drugs and others are detected during clinical trials. For detection of ADRs, clinical trials usually provide limited information as they are conducted under strictly controlled condition and largely focus on efficacy evaluation. Some of the ADRs can be detected only after long-term use in large population and in specific patient groups due to specific concomitant medications or disease. The visual field defect of vigabatrin therapy and valve defect of fenfluramine-phenteramine therapy are few such examples. Therefore early recognition of previously unknown adverse effects of medicines during post-marketing period is the primary objective of pharmacovigilance

Improvement in Blood Supply After “Heparin-Dextran” Therapy in Patients of Buerger’s Disease with Critical Limb Ischemia

Il presente lavoro si propone di monitorare, attraverso la raccolta di dati quantitativi e qualitativi, l’andamento dell’iniziativa “Fai il pieno di cultura”, che ha avuto luogo a maggio 2008 con il sostegno e la promozione di Regione Lombardia. Rispetto alla programmazione degli anni precedenti, “Fai il pieno di cultura” ha introdotto numerosi elementi di complessità, perché ha accorpato iniziative già esistenti ma distinte, prolungandone la durata su tre giorni e intensificando le attività, con diffusione su tutto il territorio regionale. La verifica dei risultati raggiunti, attraverso la somministrazione di un questionario al pubblico presente all’iniziativa e l’organizzazione di due focus group con gli operatori delle istituzioni culturali che hanno aderito, costituisce quindi una fase fondamentale del progetto: non solo per stimare la validità degli investimenti - materiali e immateriali - sostenuti, ma anche per la possibilità che un’analisi retrospettiva offre di riconoscere gli aspetti critici di successo (o insuccesso) e disporre così degli strumenti adeguati per sostenere una strategia di intervento mirata. Tale verifica costituisce inoltre un’opportunità per avviare un approfondimento sul consumo culturale sull’intero territorio regionale (sono state considerate 59 istituzioni distribuite su 30 comuni), in particolare nei musei e nelle biblioteche, per analizzare quella relazione di scambio tra patrimonio culturale, in senso lato, e comunità, che oggi rappresenta una delle leve principali sulle quali concentrare le forze per avviare o intensificare processi di sviluppo locale