Multinational Enterprises and the Geographical Clustering of Innovation

Research on the geographic clustering of economic activity dates back to the early twentieth century. It is recognized that in spite of advances in transportation and communications, clustering remains most critical, and is consequently prevalent, in knowledge-intensive fields. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) that increasingly base their value creation and competitive advantage on knowledge-intensive activities are key participants in clusters, affecting both the nature and intertemporal evolution of local innovative activities. However, the role of MNEs in clusters remains under-researched. This paper traces the origins of research on geographic clusters, identifies the seminal contributions focusing on the role of MNEs, discusses potential problems inherent to this area of inquiry and develops an organizing framework for new research.     

Optimizing convolution operations on GPUs using adaptive tiling

The research domain of Multimedia Content Analysis (MMCA) considers all aspects of the automated extraction of knowledge from multimedia data. High-performance computing techniques are necessary to satisfy the ever increasing computational demands of MMCA applications. The introduction of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) in modern cluster systems presents application developers with a challenge. While GPUs are well known to be capable of providing significant performance improvements, the programming complexity vastly increases. To this end, we have extended a user transparent parallel programming model for MMCA, named Parallel-Horus, to allow the execution of compute intensive operations on the GPUs present in the cluster. The most important class of operations in the MMCA domain are convolutions, which are typically responsible for a large fraction of the execution time. Existing optimization approaches for CUDA kernels in general as well as those specific to convolution operations are too limited in both performance and flexibility. In this paper, we present a new optimization approach, called adaptive tiling, to implement a highly efficient, yet flexible, library-based convolution operation for modern GPUs. To the best of our knowledge, our implementation is the most optimized and best performing implementation of 2D convolution in the spatial domain available to date.     

Broadband and knowledge intensive firm clusters: Essential link or auxiliary connection?

This study evaluates the relationship between the spatial distribution of broadband providers and the presence of knowledge intensive firm clusters in US counties. Results highlight this relationship is heterogeneous and localized. In some places, broadband appears to be an essential link that enables knowledge firms to strategically locate in lower cost counties and in close proximity to major knowledge centres. In other places, the availability of broadband Internet connections are unable the negative externalities associated with locations in more remote areas of the country. From a policy perspective, this suggests that broadband should be viewed as a key component, but not the only component, of comprehensive local economic development plans.     

城市微网接地方案探讨

针对低压微电网在不同接地方式下运行的安全稳定性问题,提出了典型微网的接地方案。基于国家/行业标准,结合理论分析和实践应用比较,对低压微电网主变压器接地方式、微源接地方式、低压微网系统接地方式分别进行了比选,给出了不同情况下各种接地方式的适用条件和场合。结合微网系统特点得出了适用低压微网的接地方案,即主变优选用D,yn11连接组别,中性点有效接地,微源并网时中性点不接地,孤岛时仅主电源中性点接地。整个微网系统采用TN-S/TN-C-S与TT混合接地方式,微源和三相用户采用四级开关,单相用户采用两级开关。     

Online Droop Tuning of a Multi-DG Microgrid Using Cuckoo Search Algorithm

This article presents an intelligent strategy to achieve appropriate real power sharing among distributed generators in a microgrid. The presented strategy employs two droop-based control methods and automatically adjusts their parameters. The first method is unit power control, which has specifications similar to the conventional droop method, and the second is feeder flow control, showing significant characteristics in both grid-connected and islanded modes operation of a microgrid. A combination of unit power control and feeder flow control methods is used for a multi-distributed generator microgrid. The microgrid operation mode passes from the grid-connected to the islanded through a transition. A new evolutionary algorithm called cuckoo search is employed to coordinate the power management of distributed generators within an on-line droop tuning. In comparison to the predecessor evolutionary algorithms, the cuckoo search algorithm represents more effective random processes with fewer parameters. Using the proposed control strategy, while the distributed generators contribute to load demand provision based on their rated powers, their powers are optimized in terms of overshoot and settling time. Digital time-domain simulation studies are carried out in the MATLAB/SIMULINK (The MathWorks, Natick, Massachusetts, USA) environment to verify the performance of the proposed control system.     

并网运行风/光/储微电网容量配置双目标优化

目前关于微网电源容量配置的研究主要针对独立运行情况,虽配置结果可保证系统运行的可靠性,但增加了冗余投资。针对并网运行的风/光/储微电网,制定了其运行策略,分别建立了微网经济性和供电可靠性模型,采用多目标模拟退火粒子群优化算法求取模型的最优解集,得到了微网中风力和光伏发电及储能系统容量配置方案。结果表明,相比于独立运行,在相同的可靠性要求下,以并网运行的角度配置风/光/储微电源容量关系,可明显降低微网投资成本。     

微网友好接入的柔性变流器并网接口控制方法

针对微网友好接入对高性能并网接口的需求,提出了一种新型的柔性变流器并网接口。为了使该并网接口有效地工作,给出了基于瞬时无功功率理论的电流检测方法,深入研究了柔性变流器并网接口直流侧电压和定无功功率控制方法;此外,基于加权电流反馈的思想,提出了谐波和不对称电流综合补偿的滞环电流控制方法。最后应用Matlab/Simulink进行了仿真,仿真结果进一步验证了使用所提并网接口与控制策略实现微网友好接入的有效性和可行性。     

基于多状态建模的独立型微网优化配置

针对风速、光照强度和负荷不确定性对独立型微网优化配置的影响,应用三者的概率密度函数对每个月份构造典型日,利用多状态系统理论对典型日各个时刻风光出力和负荷进行了多状态建模。以经济性和环保性为目标,建立了基于多状态建模的独立型微网多目标优化配置模型,并采用改进的非劣排序遗传算法(NAGA-Ⅱ)对模型进行了求解。最后,针对某一算例分别使用所提出的优化配置方法和已有的基于确定历史场景的优化配置方法进行了仿真计算,通过对仿真结果在若干随机场景下的比较分析,验证了所提优化配置模型和方法的合理性和有效性。