Optimal Tuning for Linear and Nonlinear Parameters of Power System Stabilizers in Hybrid System Modeling

This paper focuses on the systematic optimal tuning of the power system stabilizer (PSS), which can improve the system damping performance immediately following a large disturbance. As the PSS consists of both linear parameters (such as the gain and time constant) and nonsmooth nonlinear parameters (such as saturation limits of the PSS), two methods are applied for the optimal tuning of all parameters. One is to use the optimization technique based on the Hessian matrix estimated by the feedforward neural network, which identifies the first-order derivatives obtained by the trajectory sensitivities, for the nonlinear parameters. Moreover, the other is to use the eigenvalue analysis for the linear parameters. The performances of parameters optimized by the proposed method are evaluated by the case studies based on time-domain simulation and real-time hardware implementation.     

New soft-switching current source converter for photovoltaic power system

This paper proposes a soft-switching CSI for a photovoltaic power system which has an H-type switched-capacitor module composed of two semiconductor switches, two diodes and an L-C resonant circuit. The operation of the proposed system was analyzed using a theoretical approach with equivalent circuits and verified by computer simulations using a simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis and experimental work with a hardware prototype. The proposed system could be effectively applied to the power converter of a photovoltaic power system interconnected with an a.c. power system.     

Flavonoids from Machilus japonica Stems and Their Inhibitory Effects on LDL Oxidation

Stems of Machilus japonica were extracted with 80% aqueous methanol (MeOH) and the concentrated extract was successively extracted with ethyl acetate (EtOAc), normal butanol (n-BuOH), and water. Six flavonoids were isolated from the EtOAc fraction: (+)-taxifolin, afzelin, (−)-epicatechin, 5,3''-di-O-methyl-(−)-epicatechin, 5,7,3''-tri-O-methyl-(−)-epicatechin, and 5,7-di-O-methyl-3'',4''-methylenedioxyflavan-3-ol. The chemical structures were identified using spectroscopic data including NMR, mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy. This is the first report of isolation of these six compounds from M. japonica. The compounds were evaluated for their diphenyl picryl hydrazinyl scavenging activity and inhibitory effects on low-density lipoprotein oxidation. Compounds 1 and 3–6 exhibited DPPH antioxidant activity equivalent with that of ascorbic acid, with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values of 0.16, 0.21, 0.17, 0.15 and 0.07 mM, respectively. The activity of compound 1 was similar to the positive control butylated hydroxytoluene, which had an IC₅₀ value of 1.9 µM, while compounds 3 and 5 showed little activity. Compounds 1, 3, and 5 exhibited LDL antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ values of 2.8, 7.1, and 4.6 µM, respectively.     

Comparison of liquid-phase and methanol-swelling crosslinking processes of polyimide dense membrane for CO2/CH4 separation

To overcome the plasticization effect in polyimide membranes, many researchers have proposed crosslinking method. This can reduce an inter-segmental mobility by tightening and rigidifying the polymer chains. However, it is difficult to modify the whole polymer chains throughout the membrane because the reaction can be hindered by the diffusion rate of the crosslinker. In particular, it is hard for bulky crosslinker to penetrate a dense membrane with a small d-spacing. This study investigated the effect of crosslinking a dense Matrimid membrane with p-phenylenediamine (p-PDA) via two different crosslinking methods (i.e., methanol-swelling crosslinking process [M-SCP] and liquid-phase crosslinking process [L-PCP]). Most of the crosslinking reaction in M-SCP occurs on the membrane surface due to difficulty in penetration of the bulky p-PDA into the Matrimid dense membrane. In contrast, the L-PCP allows uniform crosslinking across the membrane. The membranes crosslinked using L-PCP showed excellent chemical resistance. Furthermore, the plasticization phenomenon was not observed in the membranes crosslinked using L-PCP with p-PDA more than 15%. Meanwhile, the membrane crosslinked using M-SCP exhibited poor plasticization and chemical resistance properties. These results showed that the L-PCP method can be more effective for the crosslinking of dense membrane to deliver both high plasticization and chemical resistance.     

Long-Lasting Growth Hormone Regulated by the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System

To increase the half-life of growth hormones, we proposed its long-lasting regulation through the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). We identified lysine residues (K67, K141, and K166) that are involved in the ubiquitination of human growth hormone (hGH) using ubiquitination site prediction programs to validate the ubiquitination sites, and then substituted these lysine residues with arginine residues. We identified the most effective substituent (K141R) to prevent ubiquitination and named it AUT-hGH. hGH was expressed and purified in the form of hGH-His, and ubiquitination was first verified at sites containing K141 in the blood stream. Through the study, we propose that AUT-hGH with an increased half-life could be used as a long-lasting hGH in the blood stream.     

An adaptive ARQ–HARQ interworking scheme in WiMAX systems

For reliable data transmissions, WiMAX systems support automatic repeat query (ARQ) that operates at the upper MAC and hybrid automatic repeat query (HARQ) that operates at the lower MAC and PHY. ARQ and HARQ schemes have their own weakness that results in low throughput and high delay in WiMAX systems. Although ARQ and HARQ schemes can complement with each other, they operate independently. Some studies focus on the benefits of the interaction between ARQ and HARQ schemes, but these studies have limitations. In this paper, we propose an adaptive ARQ and HARQ interworking scheme to provide reliable transmissions without performance degradation in WiMAX systems. The proposed scheme has five features that are designed to solve the weaknesses of the ARQ and HARQ schemes. We compare the proposed scheme with existing schemes that utilize the ARQ and HARQ interaction through simulations, and the simulation results show that the proposed scheme shows improved performance over existing schemes.     

Intelligent adaptive process control using dynamic deadband for semiconductor manufacturing

This paper proposes an efficient control method to minimize process error and to reduce process variance in semiconductor manufacturing. The photolithography (photo) process forms a complex semiconductor circuit and is important for quality. Obstacles to the process include the facility itself, vibration, wear and tear, product/process changes and environmental influences. Control methodologies being currently used to address these issues often amplify the variation of the process by failing to perform adequate process control. Therefore, this paper proposes an effective process control method to reduce process variance by quickly detecting and identifying process disturbances and accurately reflecting the degree of change to process control. This study proposes dynamic deadband control that uses a region (band) to detect the status of a process change. It adjusts the process control based on the changes detected. In this research, the semiconductor manufacturing company is supported to perform control that is more precise and reduces fluctuations by producing products of uniform quality. In addition, it can contribute to yield due to the quality incentive and increased process control of semiconductor manufacturing.     

Web image retrieval using majority-based ranking approach

Web image retrieval has characteristics different from typical content-based image retrieval; web images have associated textual cues. However, a web image retrieval system often yields undesirable results, because it uses limited text information such as surrounding text, URLs, and image filenames. In this paper, we propose a new approach to retrieval, which uses the image content of retrieved results without relying on assistance from the user. Our basic hypothesis is that more popular images have a higher probability of being the ones that the user wishes to retrieve. According to this hypothesis, we propose a retrieval approach that is based on a majority of the images under consideration. We define four methods for finding the visual features of majority of images; (1) majority-first method, (2) centroid-of-all method, (3) centroid-of-top K method, and (4) centroid-of-largest-cluster method. In addition, we implement a graph/picture classifier for improving the effectiveness of web image retrieval. We evaluate the retrieval effectiveness of both our methods and conventional ones by using precision and recall graphs. Experimental results show that the proposed methods are more effective than conventional keyword-based retrieval methods.     

Performance of the MAP/G/1 Queue Under the Dyadic Control of Workload and Server Idleness

This paper studies the steady-state queue length process of the MAP/G/1 queue under the dyadic control of the D-policy and multiple server vacations. We derive the probability generating function of the queue length and the mean queue length. We then present computational experiences and compare the MAP queue with the Poisson queue.