大电网下基于故障域的PMU配置和故障定位新方法

提出一种基于故障域的PMU配置和故障定位新方法。根据故障时PMU可观性的配置要求,在假想故障下划分全网的故障配置域,进行了基于故障配置域的PMU整数线性规划配置。系统发生故障时,根据各故障域内附加差动电流的响应,确定实时故障域,在实时故障域内采用虚拟电流法对故障进行了精确测距。算例分析表明,所提方法以少数的PMU配置实现故障网络的拓扑可观,为构建可靠经济的强壮电网监测系统提供了参考;故障域的实时响应使得快速锁定故障区域,防备连锁跳闸误动作成为可能;并且文中的故障测距技术对各种故障类型、故障位置以及线路结构均有良好的定位效果。     

Dramatic improvements in toughness in poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanocomposites

Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLG), a biocompatible and biodegradable polymer, is dramatically toughened by adding small amounts of surface modified clay nanoparticles. The elongation during tensile tests increases from 7% for the pure polymer to 210% for the nanocomposite, accompanied with a modest increase in modulus. In contrast, PLG nanocomposites based on fumed silica treated with hexamethyldisilazane show only modest improvements in toughness. Electron microscopy, X-ray scattering, rheometry, and dielectric relaxation spectroscopy are used to investigate the toughening mechanism. Multiple crazing occurs in the clay nanocomposite after yielding. Small angle X-ray scattering studies show significant orientation of the clay nanoparticles along the tensile stress direction during deformation. The clay nanocomposites show a new, slow relaxation mode, most likely due to interfacial adsorbption of PLG chains on the surface of the clay nanoparticles. The dramatic increase in toughness is attributed to physical crosslinks introduced by the clay nanoparticles, a mechanism absent in the PLG/silica nanocomposites. The physical crosslinks increase the brittle fracture strength of the polymer and, consequently, trigger a toughening mechanism via multiple crazing and shear yielding.     

Dietary intake of cadmium from Bangladeshi foods

Human exposure to cadmium (Cd) is associated with various diseases and high levels of Cd have been detected in Bangladeshi population warranting further research to identify the source of this exposure. In this study, Cd levels in 327 and 94 samples of Bangladeshi food and non-food samples, respectively, were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. This is the largest number of Bangladeshi food and nonfood samples investigated for their Cd content. High Cd levels were detected in leafy vegetables (mean 31 [SD 29]μg/kg). Of these vegetables, lal shak (Amaranthus tricolor) contained the highest Cd level (303 μg/kg [wet weight]; mean 100.5 [SD 95]μg/kg). Bangladeshi rice also showed significant concentration of Cd (mean 37.2 [SD 30]μg/kg). Of particular concern is the very high level of Cd detected in some puffed rice, which we attribute to the illegal practice of using urea for whitening the puffed rice. Tobacco leaves, which are commonly consumed during betel quid chewing by Bangladeshis, contain significant levels of Cd (mean 95 [SD 87]μg/kg). The total daily intake (TDI) of Cd from foods for Bangladeshis was estimated to be 34.55 μg/d. This is rather high when compared to the TDI of Cd for other populations. Our analysis reveals that this is mainly due to the very high intake of rice and vegetables, and lower consumption of animal products (which are low in Cd), by the Bangladeshis. We also determined the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake and target hazard quotients values for Cd. Clearly a more balanced diet is necessary to reduce the Cd intake in the Bangladeshi population, especially by reducing the very high intake of rice and certain leafy vegetables. Food manufacturing and agricultural practices needs to be altered to reduce the entry of Cd into the food chain. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Exposure to high levels of Cd can be harmful to human health and this study provides a comprehensive analysis of Cd levels in a variety of food items from Bangladesh. The findings are of particular importance to consumers of Bangladeshi foods in both Bangladesh and in other countries. Data obtained will be valuable resources for food safety and regulatory bodies as our study suggests entry of Cd in foods through use of illegal chemicals in food manufacturing processes.     

Artificial Bee Colony and Tabu Search Enhanced TTCM Assisted MMSE Multi-User Detectors for Rank Deficient SDMA-OFDM System

In this paper, we present a generalized accurate methodology to predict the bit error rate performance for non-coherent chaos-based communication systems. The Gaussian approximation approach, which is widely used to compute the performance of such systems, leads to inaccurate results, especially with respect to low spreading factors. Our new approach based on the chaos bit energy distribution gives accurate results even for low spreading factors. The system is studied and simulated under an additive white Gaussian noise, Rice and Rayleigh channels. Finally, we compare our approach to the Gaussian approximation approach. Computer simulations shows a high accuracy for our method, especially for small spreading factors.     

EU–MENA energy technology transfer under the CDM: Israel as a frontrunner?

The majority of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries possess substantial potential for the implementation of CDM projects. Abatement of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions can mainly be achieved through utilizing the abundant Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the region and the implementation of Energy Efficiency (ENEF) measures. However, most of the MENA countries have a limited track record as regards CDM projects in the pipeline comparing to the major CDM-players, like Asia-Pacific regions and Latin America. In the above framework, this paper investigates the current status of CDM in the MENA region and the related perspectives for further diffusion of the CDM though the elaboration of a Strengths–Weaknesses–Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Analysis. Particular emphasis is laid on the case of Israel, which seems to make an exception to the rule, since it hosts most projects in the region and dominates among the MENA countries.     

Hybrid image segmentation using watersheds and fast region merging

A hybrid multidimensional image segmentation algorithm is proposed, which combines edge and region-based techniques through the morphological algorithm of watersheds. An edge-preserving statistical noise reduction approach is used as a preprocessing stage in order to compute an accurate estimate of the image gradient. Then, an initial partitioning of the image into primitive regions is produced by applying the watershed transform on the image gradient magnitude. This initial segmentation is the input to a computationally efficient hierarchical (bottom-up) region merging process that produces the final segmentation. The latter process uses the region adjacency graph (RAG) representation of the image regions. At each step, the most similar pair of regions is determined (minimum cost RAG edge), the regions are merged and the RAG is updated. Traditionally, the above is implemented by storing all RAG edges in a priority queue. We propose a significantly faster algorithm, which additionally maintains the so-called nearest neighbor graph, due to which the priority queue size and processing time are drastically reduced. The final segmentation provides, due to the RAG, one-pixel wide, closed, and accurately localized contours/surfaces. Experimental results obtained with two-dimensional/three-dimensional (2-D/3-D) magnetic resonance images are presented.     

First-order derivative-based super-resolution

A single fast super-resolution method based on first-order derivatives from neighbor pixels is proposed. The basic idea of the proposed method is to exploit a first-order derivatives component of six edge directions around a missing pixel, followed by back projection to reduce noise estimated by the difference between simulated and observed images. Using first-order derivatives as a feature, the proposed method is expected to have low computational complexity, and it can theoretically reduce blur, blocking, and ringing artifacts in edge areas compared to previous methods. Experiments were conducted using 900 natural grayscale images from the USC-SIPI Database. We evaluated the proposed and previous methods using peak signal-to-noise ratio, structural similarity, feature similarity, and computation time. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method clearly outperforms other state-of-the-art algorithms such as fast curvature-based interpolation.     

Controlled secret sharing protocol using a quantum cloning circuit

We demonstrate the possibility of controlling the success probability of a secret sharing protocol using a quantum cloning circuit. The cloning circuit is used to clone the qubits containing the encoded information and en route to the intended recipients. The success probability of the protocol depends on the cloning parameters used to clone the qubits. We also establish a relation between the concurrence of initially prepared state, entanglement of the mixed state received by the receivers after cloning scheme and the cloning parameters of cloning machine.     

Kurszuordnung über stabile Zuordnungsverfahren

The allocation of students to courses is a wide-spread and repeated task in higher education, often accomplished by a simple first-come first-served (FCFS) procedure. FCFS is neither stable nor strategy-proof, however. The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Al Roth and Lloyd Shapley for their work on the theory of stable allocations. This theory was influential in many areas, but found surprisingly little application in course allocation as of yet. In this paper, different approaches for course allocation with a focus on appropriate stable matching mechanisms are surveyed. Two such mechanisms are discussed in more detail, the Gale-Shapley student optimal stable mechanism (SOSM) and the efficiency adjusted deferred acceptance mechanism (EADAM). EADAM can be seen as a fundamental recent contribution which recovers efficiency losses from SOSM at the expense of strategy-proofness. In addition to these two important mechanisms, a survey of recent extensions with respect to the assignment of schedules of courses rather than individual courses is provided. The survey of the theoretical literature is complemented with results of a field experiment, which help understand the benefits of stable matching mechanisms in course allocation applications.